Dead trees were a big no no. I felt for my fellow trees.

YEAR 80 MONTH 1

With data from the root sensors on subsidiary trees spread out throughout the valley and also the city area, Trevor helped to map out an overlay indicating the pollution problem.

I firstly needed to know how bad the poop situation was.

The source was, of course, the city.

There were multiple latrine pits, which the frequency of sanitization by those responsible had been a bit lacking. The priests and workers were supposed to cleanse the pits once every three days, but it was an incredibly unpleasant task, so they only did it once every two weeks.

That meant some of the sewage accumulated, and the extra period for it to stew in the pit meant quite a bit managed to contaminate the ground. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the cleanse spell was range - limited, so it didn�t cure the sewage accumulated deeper in those pits.

The first issue was, like I said, the priests were not doing their jobs. They generally viewed this duty as demeaning for these self - proclaimed servants of god, to literally cleanse the filth of others. Even the priests, those in the Order�s employ, abhorred the task.

- I hate that part of the job, - a priest would routinely say.

So usually the most junior of priests, those who possessed the skill, would be sent on the toilet duty.

That meant the strength of the cleanse skills were poor because skills scaled with levels, and because of how deep and massive the latrines were, to accommodate sixty thousand citizens, the skills of these low - level cleanse just wouldn�t do. At most, it just created a superficial clean and dry layer on top of the rest of the sewage, deluding the priests that the job was done.

But I had no cleaning skills myself, even if I did have the ability to filter such toxins and other unfavorables out.

- Huh, the most senior priests on toilet duty? No, no amount of money will make that happen. We were servants of god, not the city�s sewage cleaners. The fact that we send our most junior priests to do it was good enough! -

The task was seen as dirty, disgusting, and demeaning. Money wouldn�t fix it.

- Can we import the worms? Or the cleaning artifacts? -

- Artifacts were ridiculously expensive. As for the worms, I will reach out to the Elven kingdoms whether they were for sale. Transporting those worms will need special arrangements, as they rarely survive outside their sewage environment. - Yura was rather amused by the sanitation issue; he didn�t really feel it. In fact, most of the citizens were not even aware of the contamination of the groundwater, since those things reached deep, not floated up above.

Trevor�s map of subterranean water flow indicated the groundwater flowed toward the valley, so as the latrine pits tended to be close to the forest�s edge, the New Freekans were lucky that their own drinking water was clean.

Perhaps if somehow it stunk up the entirety of the town, then it would make them realize the gravity of the situation. Or maybe I should somehow reverse the flow of groundwater such that their wells got contaminated with poopwater?

Ah, maybe I shouldn�t be so nasty.

Solutions, solutions. Relying on the priests to constantly use cleanse on poop and sewage was not exactly what I considered a scalable and reliable solution. These priests were going to hold the skill as some kind of ransom, eventually, if they discovered what it meant to the regular trees. And the idea of having an army of priests going around town sanitizing all the latrine pits in a big city just felt. lame.

So I needed some kind of natural solution, something I could manage. Something I could create.�

- Yura , are you familiar with plants that survive in sewers or other such wastelands? -

- Uhmm. no. But let me get the herbalist? -

- We do not have any plants that are capable of surviving in sewers, - the herbalist responded to Yura �s question. - Most plants have a natural state, and while these differ slightly, I am not aware of any plants that survive entirely in sewers. We do have plants that can somewhat tolerate sewer waters, though. -

Hmm. How about algae? Fungi? There must have been something that lived in sewers. I recalled trees destroying sewer pipes back home because the roots were drawn to them, so the trees must have some tolerance for wastewater.

I found it strange that the normal trees here were unable to process the sewage. They were native, they should have been adapted to native waste from the native population. Was it because the type of toxins or minerals in the sewage?

- What do large cities do with their waste? -

- Other than what I told you, no clue. Honestly, sewers are not something I pay attention to, and our village was so small a few pits were sufficient. - Yura shrugged. He was really quite amused by my recent fascination and questions around waste, and he didn�t really get my frustration with dying trees. Trees died all the time; not all of them could be healed.

Which was true.

But I was a tree, and it offended me that I let a fellow tree die from something as stupid as sewage intolerance.

- Are you even sure it�s sewage? - Alexis shrugged. - Not a bug? Or sickness? -

And that was how I ordered the beetles to gather multiple wastewater samples from all the different latrine pits.

New beetle species unlocked. Dungbeetle

- No, fuck you, TreeTree. I am not analyzing poop. - Alexis absolutely resisted letting the poop anywhere near her. - I am. Not. Touching. Poop. -

- TreeTree, why were the beetles carrying poop? - the elves asked.

Analysis, duh.

- Can the poop not drip everywhere in the hideout? -

Uh.

Despite much resistance, I eventually got the poop into the biolabs for analysis. I did feel disgusted, but only mildly. I thought saving the rest of the trees to be a far larger and more important goal.

I doubted my feelers and vines felt a thing when they prodded and dug into the poop. Well, they did feel kinda moist and sticky.

But it was just poop. I was pretty sure the dirt all around me was poop some point in its long, ever - changing lives.

Testing in progress

I supposed feces and poop were considered biological matter as the biolabs ran through a range of tests. It took some time to actually know what was happening since there were so many tests to run for so many different samples.

I needed a control group.

- You want our poop now? - Yura , Laufen, and the elves were all appalled by my request.

- Yes. Fresh samples. Just to measure change in fecal composition versus that of the latrine. All of you are healthy, clearly, so your fecal matter should be, too. -

- Uh. how do we give it to you? Poop inside those pods? -

Hmm. The pods weren�t meant for pooping.

Biolab upgraded. Biolab now has multiple extra rooms, functioning as a toilet, bathroom, and others for collection and harvesting of biological wastes.

- Well, you poop in this place that looks kind of like an outhouse, and the biolab will do the rest. -

- Eww. - The elves were generally quite disgusted, but still, they eventually did proceed to do their business in the special poophouse designed for collection of their poop.

- Why are you so disgusted? Don�t some societies use cow manure as fertilizer? -

- Uh. it�s still poop. -

Anyway, poop or not, the tests must go on.

And speaking of fertilizer, would minotaur poop be fertilizer, too? Since they were part cow? Or did I need some kind of bacteria to degrade the poop first? Had I seen a minotaur?

Tests. We needed more tests. The culprit of what exactly in poop that caused the trees to feel sick was still unclear. Could it be some kind of disease transmitted via poop? Was it some kind of metal? Some kind of mineral, or some kind of bug?

I needed to get to the root of the problem.

So, more tests. One of the other things I started Alexis on, since she refused to look at poop, was to look at the filtering nature of roots instead.

My body, due to rhizofiltration that I learned long ago, was able to filter out all these bad things, whatever they were.

There should have been some membrane - like structure to the roots, either that or the skill created some kind of filtering/extracting effect.

If I could do it, maybe there was some way to filter the poop and ring - fence the latrine pits such that their contamination was contained, and perhaps in the future I would find some ways to convert the waste into something more usable, like fertilizer.

As of now, the contamination was spreading, ongoing, as people continued to poop and pee every day, so the first step was, of course, containment. The source of these pollutants needed to be restricted.

Research status:

Roots - Volcanic mineral processing - stage 1 - completed

Tree - lab varieties - stage 1 - completed

Magically attuned materials Stage 1 - completed

Beetle - anti - magma armors stage 4 - 17 months

Material labs - stage 1 - 6 months

Magical sensors - 6 months

Normal Tree - Root filters stage 1 - 6 months

YEAR 80 MONTH 2

- Did somebody plant these trees around all the outhouses? It makes it feel like I�m doing my business out in the jungle or something. -

- Must be the druids. -

- I think it�s the tree spirit. He�s a bit fond of meddling, after all. -

- It�s kinda creepy if you say it that way. Is the tree spirit watching us take a shit? -

- Uh. I doubt tree spirits are interested in us taking our shits, though. I mean, only perverts like that kind of stuff, and we aren�t exactly the most attractive old men around. -

- It�s a fetish for some people? A fetish for trees? -

- Eww. -

Anyway, I had to implement a stopgap measure. I couldn�t get the priests to do their jobs, and I wasn�t inclined to threaten them because it revealed a weakness about me.

So I decided to surround most of the larger latrine pits and outhouses in New Freeka with subsidiary trees and use my roots to then form a subterranean wall to block the fecal matter from leaking into the wider valley�s groundwater.

I couldn�t process the shit, but I had to deal with the shit. So blocking the shit was my temporary measure. The findings from my first round of analysis of the collected samples revealed that there was no particular culprit.

The problem was, well, there was just a whole damn load of shit. There was a lot of minerals that were generally not well accepted by trees, and there was also a whole mix of fungi, bacteria, and other stuff, all of which the normal trees normally could tolerate in small quantities.

Small quantities. Normally.

It wasn�t a result I wanted.

- Well, I suppose you could have some kind of waste treatment plant before it�s discharged? Like, you know, split the sewage into components and treat them separately? I can�t seem to recall the water treatment process, though. - Alexis rubbed her head.

- Never mind, focus on researching the roots. That�s probably going to help minimize the damage. -

I was guessing it was going to be something like filtering, sedimentation, adding chemicals to kill bacteria or take out certain types of metals. I also couldn�t remember the details, it�d been so many years since school, and honestly, I wished I could google wastewater treatment and find the answer. But then, even if I did, I�d have to find ways to develop actual skills or tools suitable for the growing city.

For now, the poop was contained by the roots of my subsidiary trees, and because there was just a whole load of poop, even my subsidiary tree�s root filters occasionally failed and it absorbed some of the poop, and it made the subsidiary tree weak and sickly, which Trevor or myself had to step in and use some of our tree - healing powers.

Important lesson: skills could fail.

And because the roots kind of stopped the poop from escaping the pits, the pits got filled up faster, so the city had to build more of these pits.

Ugh.

Not. Sustainable. They couldn�t constantly be digging new pits all the time.

I needed to figure out a way to decompose the poop.

- You could maybe, erm. separate their components? Then store them separately? I think some plants can consume or extract certain kinds of elements in the wastewater sludge. -

Thus I ordered some beetles to bring back some of the trees near the sewers of on the outskirts of Salah. Salah�s got a vast network of underground sewers, some of which piped their waste for disposal somewhere further, far from the city.

There, the beetles brought back different types of plant samples, collected from near the sewer outlets and the sewers itself for my biolab�s analysis.

I wondered whether I could make a plant able to eat poop.

Meanwhile.

- I - I want to drop out, - one of the girls said. She was tired and frustrated, even if she was making progress. - It�s too hard. So much fighting and so much studying. I - I can�t. I can�t do this. -

- But what will you do, then? - another of the girls asked. - We don�t get chances like this. We�re just orphans. -

- Er. - The young girl didn�t know. She only knew she didn�t actually want it as much as she did.

Lozanna nodded. - It�s intense. If you really want to drop out, please let Tree Spirit know. It�s fairer for everyone, so that someone else who wants it can try it out. Let�s not force yourself. I think now you know what you truly want. -

The young girl cried and covered her face with her palms. She didn�t know what to do, actually. Yvon sat next to her. - I spoke with the Tree Spirit. If you drop out, you will return to being a regular orphan, so you can still stay. But you will lose the benefits you have, like the stipends you get. -

The girls got some pocket money for their participation. I thought it was fairer that way, since this was like an apprenticeship or internship. I thought of it as being a reward for their hard work, since their routine was literally a whole lot of combat and studies, some eat, sleep, poop, and repeat. Rest days were few and far between, perhaps a day in a month.

Honestly, my expectations were not very high, but I wanted dedication and a display of effort from the girls. They needed to at least try.

- Are you sure? - Yvon was sort of their counselor. I thought she was probably suspicious of my activities and didn�t trust my intentions, but because of that, she�d taken a personal interest in the girls and was now quite close to the girls, acting like their mother.

Or maybe Yvon was just bored.

- I - I don�t know. This was so hard. My body hurts everywhere, and I feel overwhelmed. I�m tired. I thought being a warrior, a fighter would be nice, and I�ll be those super cool adventurers who defeat monsters and all. I just didn�t expect the work to be so. so. much. I don�t even have much time to play anymore. -

Yvon tapped her on her shoulder. - I understand. This program is rough. I told Tree Spirit as well that it�s extremely intense, but he insists on it being this way. -

The young girl sobbed. Her friends gave her a hug.

- If you are sure you want to drop out, we�ll go and see the Tree Spirit. -

She nodded.

The next day, I cancelled her familiar contract, and she lost her status as one of the Valthorn Initiates. I was down to four girls.

Though she cried, I thought she�d be happier just as a regular person.

Ah well. Not everyone made the cut.

This was a good thing. In the future batches, the girls would do some self - selection, and only those who truly wanted it would participate.

YEAR 80 MONTH 3

Salah had yet to provide an update on our request, though from the intel sources Yura had, it seemed they were discussing it in great detail.

According to the grapevine, it seemed that they wanted to find a scapegoat for the incident, someone related but junior that they could throw under the bus. If that really happened, I would be very disappointed, but for now, more intel needed to be gathered.

After that string of conversations with the elves, I felt a bit magnanimous. I wondered whether I should look past this incident, and maybe what I did next should not be out of vengeance.

But I should still send a message that such actions had consequences. Even if the consequence was ten years later.

- Please. Take care of my children and my wife. Protect them from the demons. and these monsters, too. -

I recalled feeling angry, these humans, killing the elves, when there were demons out there, something as scary and overwhelmingly powerful like a demon king, and yet the Freeka villagers all slaughtered and burned alive.

If I descended into a war with the Salah again, would I be doing what they did to me? Fighting amongst ourselves while a demon threat awaited?

It wasn�t going to be long. This month, I began to feel strange fluctuations in the star manas, and they made my leaves tingle. It was a familiar feeling, like that strange dream I had before the previous demon king. I could feel it, the looming presence of the demons.

The first of the many demonic rifts would soon open.

YEAR 80 MONTH 4

I had my first material lab. It deconstructed what I inserted into its underlying components, and the level of deconstruction was proportional to the energy supply and the level of the material lab.

I inserted a wooden plank.

First, it stripped any skills out of it, and there were many skills. They appeared as little blobs of light, and most of these skills appeared as unidentified. I knew the blobs represented skills because one of those blobs was actually readable Fine - cut wood , and so I drew the conclusion that all the blobs were skills. Besides, what else could those formless blobs be?

After that, what was left was raw, unskilled wood in the shape of an ordinary plank. The lab�s energies slowly broke the wood apart, strand by strand, strip by strip. The plank peeled off, layer by layer, along the grooves of the plank.

Then the separated layers, or strips, got further broken down into smaller pieces, almost little specks. After that, it split up into its constituent components, like bubbles of air, blobs of water, blobs of. unidentified things; it appeared like a piece of plank was flash - dried and drained of all fluids and air bubbles, and then one of the last components was. mana? Or maybe that life - force thing that the souls generated.

First revelation of the day, unlike our world, mana actually existed as part of things, even things as simple as wood. Maybe mana replaced one of the primary fundamental forces? Or did it become an additional fundamental force?

Somehow, I thought I should�ve known this.

Anyway, the remaining strips of dried, airless, manaless specks could be further broken down. But I needed material labs of a higher level.

- Well, do you want to further develop materials labs or work toward magic labs? - Alexis asked.

- I don�t know. It�s kind of cool that it breaks things down to these components. And actually, I can use it to analyze the poop samples. -

- Ugh. - Alexis rolled her eyes at the mention of poop, and she floated away, back to doing her own thing. She was busy anyway.

The materials lab took the form of a single tree outside my inner circle of subsidiary trees, its appearance like any other, but its internal structure contained multiple little bubbles that stored the separated materials. It was power intensive, draining quite a bit of energy from the normal trees, with each separation process. I supposed it was kind of like those labs where they spun stuff until they split apart.

Anyway, back to the poop samples.

I used the materials lab to test out the poop samples, and. well, the first thing that surprised me was that there were also some blobs of skills. Unidentified, of course, but seriously, who used skills on their poop? Either that, or it was. some kind of passive that got applied? Rhetorical question.

Moving on, I ran the tests through few more different samples of poop, and then seriously, quite a few of them had skills. All unidentified. At this point, I was wondering whether it was unidentified because I didn�t know them or whether because the amount of it was so small that I couldn�t tell it apart. Maybe I couldn�t identify it because the quantity of skill was too small?

The poop split apart to more components, like water, air, and the type of materials that made up the poop. and also. mana? Oh great. There was mana in poop, too.

Now that the poop had been drained and dried, it started to break apart and easily separate into different kinds of metals without requiring much energy. What was left was a collection of mostly unfamiliar metals and some of the usual iron, copper, and stuff.

Was this normal?

Deciding that I probably needed a bit more of each type of metal to be identified, I broke down more of the poop, including some fresh samples from the elves, and I got about a handful of each unidentified metal type, at different ratios.

Next, I asked Yura for any professionals who might be able to assist on such samples.

- I�ll probably need help identifying these metals. - There were about thirty small plates of different metal types on top of Yura �s desk, all from splitting up the poop samples.

A blacksmith and a merchant came along. It was rather easy for Yura to ask for help. These people were here to curry favor anyway, and he was the counsel, so he could give them big deals someday.

The two quickly went through the samples, easily identifying them. All of them were just some kind of local metal mineral, our world�s equivalent of sand, or tin, or iron, and stuff like that. This world�s metal types didn�t exactly match ours, since they did have iron - like things that were stronger and also some that were weaker. Variants, but different metal types.

Maybe they were alloys?

- Metals and elements in this world exist in a spectrum, rather than distinct types in my world. or I think they have a larger, more granular version of the periodic table. - Alexis was nerding out; she was paying attention to the descriptions given by the merchants and smiths. - You should buy some books, then I can explain this better. -

- You can read? -

- Uh. Yeah? Why wouldn�t I know how to read? - Wait. Did I know she could read? - Ask the merchant whether anyone published any guide or summary on the metals and minerals of the world. -

I placed an order for three different tomes on materials and resources found in the world. I wouldn�t want to make basic research from scratch; there should be some body of knowledge already in tomes and books.

Back to the poop analysis, that material breakdown of knowing what the metals were kind of did. nothing? Though the merchants were able to identify the metals, it still didn�t give me an idea whether those metals were harmful or beneficial to the plants, since their knowledge was more of use for trade and metalworking. Also, I couldn�t rule out that there was most likely an optimal level of each metal, and exceeding that would result in some kind of poisoning, and a deficiency may result in stunted growth and other kinds of problems.

So, there was to be more studies. More tests. I ordered the beetles to take samples of the dirt throughout the valley, around healthy trees, and around sick trees, to compare the composition of the dirt in the ground. Maybe there was some minerals appearing in different ratios that may lead to something more conclusive.

- Frustrating, isn�t it? There was no skill that just tells you what�s wrong, other than something�s wrong. -

- On the contrary, I feel happy that at least I need to use my head. And because of it, I�m getting you, Trevor, and Dimitree to run more tests. -

- Ugh, I was just thinking wouldn�t the druids know the answer? -

- Asking the druids. - Hmm. that was a good point. Why not use this chance to test out the druid�s abilities?

So, with a bit of backhanded string - pulling, Yura managed to get the newly settled - in druids to pay a visit to a small patch of sick trees, somewhere on the edges of New Freeka. - What do you think? I was told something�s wrong with these trees, but I can�t tell what. -

There was four of them; all of them looked middle - aged and were dressed in robes. They knelt over the ground. They all had a wooden staff of some kind.

- Natural diagnosis , - a druid called out, and his wooden stick glowed. A spirit - like wisp appeared and entered the ground, and then after a while, it came back out.

- Hmm. the wisp tells me there seems to be groundwater contamination. The ground�s concentration of metals is all too high. Particularly Whitetin and Green Iron. -

Oh I knew that - Eh?!

Another of the druids touched the ground, picked up a bit of dirt, and tasted it. I thought he used some kind of skill there, but I couldn�t quite make out what it was. He looked a bit puzzled, and then he spit. - Agreed. Groundwater contamination, likely to be from the city. Counsel Yura , I suggest we move all the trees somewhere a bit further away. -

- Can�t you heal the trees or the ground? -

- We could, but usually the sickness will come back after about a month, unless you find a way to stop the groundwater contamination. The earth itself was contaminated due to exposure to the city. Healing the trees was just a temporary fix. -

- What do you normally do in such cases? -

- We move the trees. There is usually no way of convincing the populace from changing how they live, just for the sake of some trees. - The druid shrugged. - Trees are just. resources to most normal people. -

Yura just nodded, looking around. The druids continued to touch a few of the normal trees.

- So. do you want us to move the trees, Counsel? -

- I don�t think it�s necessary, - another druid spoke up. - They were just mildly sick. At least, they look better than they did a few months ago. -

Yura shook his head. - Well, leave them here for the time being. We�ll know if things get worse if they start dying. Thanks for your time, druids. - Yura passed the four druids a bit of coin to thank them for their time.

As the druids and Yura walked back to New Freeka, one of them asked, - Council, may we have an audience with the Tree Spirit? I understand you speak to it often. -

- Oh, why? -

- Erm. well, we are druids. We make it a point to meet and greet with the tree spirits of the land. Kinda comes with the job class. -

- Ah. that was a druid thing, no? -

The druids grinned. - Yeah, kind of. -

- I see. I�ll have a word with the Tree Spirit. -

In the meantime, I was still trying to process what I�d just see, i.e. the druids actually having skills able to diagnose the problem without the need for experimentation. And why did I not have a similar skill?

I had a few theories on that, but I wanted to see what they were up to.

As for the waste situation, it was sort of under control. With my subsidiary trees roots acting as a barrier and filter, the sewage�s leakage to the greater valley was now limited.

The druids clearly could identify the problem, though their solution was meh. Moving the trees was a solution, but I didn�t like being moved, and I thought the trees wouldn�t like it, either.

Personally, I thought it wasn�t really an issue about meeting the druids, but I had to prepare, so I called Madeus and the Order�s top guys back in for explanations on the druids. - I�ll get straight to the point. I�ve met druids, many times in fact, but I don�t know much about them. So let�s start from the beginning. What do they do? What are their powers? -

The leaders stared at each other, and they shifted a little uncomfortably.

One of the priests went first. - They�re tree - lovers. They tend to go around healing the land after the destruction left behind by the demon king. The druids are famous as the major supporter of the Restorers. -

- They can summon trees and animals, use wood magic, earth magic, and water magic. They also usually have some animal companions as well. - The captain was pretty much reciting the norm; it sounded like the usual myth around druids. Did the makers of this world somehow start off as dungeon masters?

- Anyone know the specifics of their jobs? Like. what do they do? -

- When I was a young child, a druid came and gave simple tips on farming. He tried to teach us the power to boost fertility and speed growth, but none of us picked it up. -

- Fine, clearly they have some ability to have earth and restoring powers. Were they like some kind of generic mage but with more of a focus on earth, wood, and water? - I asked.

Madeus nodded. - Close, though pure mages like me think druids are. erm. a bit of a hack, since druids mostly borrow powers from their surroundings and neglect their own physical and mental training. So druids pick their battlefields, such that they have more power and things to tap on, but that�s kind of predictable. -

- Okay, they have some kind of connection to the surroundings, too. Anyone know the history of druids? -

Everyone shook their heads. One of the priests tried to answer. - Some say they learned it from trees. Some say they learned it from treefolk. -

- Fine, how many types and groups of druids were there? Who exactly were the druids in my valley? -

- They�re from the far southeast, and they were under the Hutan, one of the three largest groups of druids. The other two were the Tarimba and the Mulfic. The three druidic councils are just. well, kind of like guilds. They are separate but work together for common goals, like restoring the land and focusing on training. The councils themselves are neutral, but their druids are free to work with any kingdom they want, though they generally speaking, most druids will avoid participating in the kingdom - wars. -

Okay. - What do they want? -

- I don�t know, really. -

- I think they�re just interested in you, Tree Spirit. -

- What do they want with me? -

Everyone shook their heads.

- Trevor, Ivy, what�ve you got? -

After my discussion with them, I consented to the meeting a day later.

The next day, the four druids came without their apprentices and assistants. They came fully in their druid - ish attire, which included some kind of headwear that resembled an antler�s horns, or a wolf headdress, elaborate and fancy carved woodstaffs, armor, and all the rings they could wear.

- Dressed for combat, druids? - Yura chuckled. He was dressed up for the purpose in armor, sword in hand.

- It was but a tradition of druids, to show our best to the tree spirits, especially when we face the tree spirit�s true body, - one of the druids said, but he looked nervous. My seeing eye noticed the subtle shaking in his hands.

The four stood in the inner circle of subsidiary trees before my main body. Yura was on one side, and I had Horns hidden in the corner, but I thought they could sense his presence.

They looked around, and they sweated. They whispered a bit, so softly, or perhaps a skill, that I couldn�t make out what they were saying.

- State your business, druids, - Yura prompted the guests to start.

The four bowed. - We are druids of Hutan, one of the many caretakers of the land and those who live on it, protectors of the forests and trees, and we. uh. humbly seek an audience with the great Tree Spirit of the valley, as we. come to seek an understanding of the needs and wishes of the valley and its true guardian. -

- Flowery greeting. - I chuckled. It sounded like they practiced it.

- They sound nervous, - Alexis whispered into my mind.

- Their body was tense. They might be up to something, - Ivy advised.

The four druid�s eyes started to glow green, and I felt my defensive instincts kick in. - Tree Spirit, we come in seek of your name and hope to gain your blessing. - Oh well, my roots were ready to strike at any time.

- Oh? I�m TreeTree. - What kind of blessing?

The four druids glanced at each other. I thought they gulped, but I wasn�t sure.

- Is that all you�re here for, druids? - Yura sounded a bit amused.

- No. we�d like to acquire the Tree Spirit�s blessing. -

- Uh. what blessing? -

The four druids shared a glance. - Surely the Tree Spirit is testing us. We mean the blessing. -

- Well, I�ve got no idea what you are talking about, so explain what this blessing is. - I really didn�t know what blessing meant, yet the four druids seemed to take the question a bit. negatively? They didn�t seem particularly keen on answering the question.

One of the druids stepped forth; he looked to be the youngest, but his staff and headgear were the most flamboyant. - O great Tree Spirit, the aspect which we ask, we will give our share in return. We offer our services, and that of the Druid Council of Hutan, which we represent. Our oath, as druids, as guardians, is to come to your aid should you ever find yourself in peril. -

- Okay, but what�s an aspect? - I wondered. - You introduced the concept of blessing and aspect. Can you explain? -

The first one knelt, his staff embedded in the ground. I felt a bit of magic swirl around me, it felt kind of pleasant, so I didn�t feel a need to react. I later would realize this was when I made a mistake; I should have stopped them there and then.

The second druid stepped forth, standing next to the first. - O great Tree Spirit, behold the oath of mortals and the true mother, a promise as ancient as the world. Give us your aspect, and we shall give you ours. - Green glowing lines started appearing throughout his entire body, and then he knelt. The green glowing lines then flowed into the ground and formed a greenish glowing circle around the four druids. It still felt rather pleasant, and then I noticed I was starting to get a little sluggish, like I was drunk.

- Ivy, Trevor? - I tried to prompt my tree - minds to help, but then I noticed all of them, including Alexis, were in a daze. They were struggling to fight off whatever the druids were doing.

- What were you doing? - Yura and Horns noticed, so they quickly jumped in, attempting to break the ritual or spell, whatever it was. They were both unaffected by the effects of the ritual. Maybe because it only worked on trees?

They charged in, but a barrier of some kind repelled them, pushing both of them far back.

Despite feeling like I had too much alcohol, like a happy drunkard, I managed to collect my will together to activate my anti - magic aura, which sadly didn�t really work on that barrier or the ritual that they were using.

Still feeling dizzy, I pulled my mind together and used Root Strike s on the two druids. A glowing wooden shield magically appeared and blocked the root strike. The third druid stepped forth.

- O great Tree Spirit, for the land requires us, requires all of us, all our worship and care. - The third and fourth druid were both covered in green lines, and this time, I noticed that their familiars were out - two massive wolves, also covered in similar green lines, and a small wood - like bear appeared.

I was starting to shake off that drunken feeling, just a minute into the ritual, and so I unleashed more root strikes. One of the druids called up a large, half - wooden totem with a beetle - head, and it created a shield that blocked my root strikes. Each strike cracked the totem instead of the shield, and the totem needed about five to seven hits to crack.

Meanwhile, Yura was easily stronger than the two wolves, yet despite how much pain or damage they received, they just kept getting in his way, the two wolves really determined to stop Yura from interfering with the rituals. - DRUIDS! What is the meaning of this?! - he shouted while trying to shake off the two wolves.

The druids focused on their ritual.

Two minutes in.

- O great tree spirit, we seek your power to complete our oath to the true mother. - The fourth druid stepped forth and entered into a kneeling position as well, just as the earlier ones did. To protect the four druids, more familiars and creatures appeared, two tiger - like creatures, a cat, and an owl. They were all large, easily the size of an elephant, their bodies covered in the green lines, and their job was to block Horns from entering the circle.

The two wounded wolves now received backup from the tiger and the cat. Yura then unleashed some kind of sword - skill I hadn�t seen before, and it instantly diced up all the four animals.

Yet the druid wasn�t done. Another wooden staff appeared; this one had the head of a tortoise, and it glowed. The glow restored the diced - up animals and made them whole almost instantly.

Three minutes in.

The four druids were mumbling, singing some kind of hymn. Whatever ritual this was, it was really quite fast. They certainly prepared for this.

The totem cracked and broke apart as my Root Strike s landed a few hits.

TING.

It was then I got a notification.

Four druids have each entered into a non - cancellable Druidic Aspect contract with you.

New familiar contract type obtained: Druidic Aspect Contract.

Druidic Aspect contracts allow druids to use lesser versions of the master�s abilities.

You�ve received 8 Druid Class seeds.

EH?

The glowing green lines on the four druids faded, and along with it, so did the barrier. The four kneeling druids stopped kneeling, and one of them almost jumped. - We did it! -

- It�s not over yet. We still need to run! - The one druid clearly realized they were not out of the woods just yet, and so they quickly started to run.

You four are not going anywhere! A wall of roots appeared around them, and the four druids attempted to use their druid powers to interfere with the roots. but it didn�t work. Not this time.

But the root strikes got to the familiars and skewered all of them.

Yura charged in, furious, and the druids attempted to dodge.

- Don�t kill them yet, - I mentally pinged him.

Oh, I was gonna interrogate them before I did.

Maybe I should torture them.

Hang them on trees in the city for attacking me.

The tip of Yura �s sword closed in, now on one druid�s neck. - Take a step, and I�ll slit your throat. -

- All you four wanted was this. druid - style familiar contract? - I asked aloud.

I thought I had a massive communication problem with the natives. Why did so many of my encounters with the natives end up like this? Why didn�t the druids just ask nicely?

Seriously. I liked to think I was a reasonable person. I could be negotiated with!

Right?

Did I have a sticker somewhere that said, - Pushover. Just take whatever you want, - written on me?

Yura , his sword still at the druid�s neck, said, - Answer the Tree Spirit�s question. -

One of the druids nodded. - Yes. We made a contract for the Tree Spirit�s power. It -

Sigh.

- I honestly didn�t know what you meant by blessing. Why didn�t you just have a bit more patience and explain? All of you wanted this familiar contract - like thing? This was the blessing? -

One of the druids mumbled, - Yes? -

Ugh!

I was annoyed. Sad. Angry.

The roots formed a cage, trapping them all, thorns and barbs closing in. They attempted to use their druid powers to move the roots, but it wasn�t working.

The four druids realized how much shit they were in. Immediately, all four of them knelt. No, they literally prostrated themselves on the ground. - Our sincerest apologies, O great Tree Spirit! We. we thought we�d never get a chance to get this close to a Tree Spirit of your level of strength! We apologies for our. recklessness. Please, don�t kill us! -

- What sort of stupid assumption is that? -

- Access to the true body of all the great tree spirits is heavily restricted and controlled, and here we are, four mid - ranked druids, getting the chance to meet a great tree spirit. We had to jump on the chance! - one of them started to justify what they did. His hands and head were on the ground, prostrating. - We thought we would never get a chance! -

- Fools! - If I could yell like a villain, or an evil angry emperor, I would. - Give me one good reason why I shouldn�t kill all four of you right now. -

The cage�s roots closed in, the thorns on the roots making little cuts but nothing lethal.

I mean, how�d they think they�d get away with it? Come up to me, use this ritual - style spell, which gave them some level of protection, but did they think they could run away from me? Seriously. My roots spanned the valley. Even if they succeeded, I�d still be able to kill them.

They would have to knock me down for at least an hour or two for them to even give themselves a chance.

- We. we really mean no harm. We really mean what we said during the ritual. We will come to your aid should you need it, us and the Hutan. -

Rubbish. I could protect myself as it was.

- We. we offer you our services. We�ll revoke whatever arrangements we had with the councilors! Anything! -

- I still plan to kill all of you. Not good enough. - One of the roots pretty much poked the druid�s skin.

- I. we. can arrange the archdruids to provide you with unique items. We can arrange for you to be in contact with other spirits! -

Oh.

Other spirits.

The druids picked up on my pause. - There are other great tree spirits, too. We. the druid council of Hutan, our senior archdruid is in contact with the Guardian Tree of the Elf Capital, and also the Giant Lilypod City�s Spirit. If we tell them about you, we can make some arrangements for the spirits to commune. -

Well, meeting other similar tree spirits was something I always wanted.

- Please, please spare our lives and forgive us. -

- I recall the four of you saying you were but ordinary druids. How can you arrange for us to meet with the other spirits? -

- We can�t, but our archdruids can. I. I�ll do my best - no, I�ll give everything to arrange for it. Please, don�t kill us. -

Hmm. fine.

- I suspend your punishment. On a few conditions!

- All of you will remain under house arrest in New Freeka and the valley. Make any attempt to leave, and all of you will die. If you need to, call for more druids to come assist you with all the necessary arrangements for me to communicate with the other tree spirits. If any of you try anything funny, all of you die. You all will remain in Freeka as my guarantee, until contact with the other spirits is established. If I don�t have contact with the other tree spirits within a reasonable amount of time, of perhaps three years, all of you will die. And I want you to cooperate with me fully, and you will revoke your arrangements with the councilors. Double - cross me or attempt to use any kind of ritual or spell on me ever again, and I will not hesitate to put my roots through all of your skulls. -

The four druids breathed a sigh of relief. - Certainly, certainly. -

- Go. -

After I let the druids go, I called for a meeting again. I wanted to know what was causing all these people to react so recklessly in front of me.

- Why did the meeting unfold in that manner? - I complained to the audience, the senior leaders of the Order, and when Yura explained how it went, Madeus pretty much facepalmed.

- To be fair, your main tree was really intimidating and scary. Even walking in the woods feels intimidating. - The priest seemed able to relate to the feeling.

- Lozanna walked in and out without a problem. -

- Lozanna �s not a good example. -

It was the Order�s captain that offered a bit of honesty. - Counsel Yura , Lady Laufen, and Lozanna were natives, and so they were oblivious to its appearance, but for the rest of us, being before your main tree was like standing before a council of monsters. The presence of the various ghosts and wisps around your main body, the crackle of magic radiating from every root, branch, and leaf, how the surrounding trees feel like a prison. those strange trees around you, or that few trees that look like they�ve been burned and charred by thunder. Seeing it for the first time, I had nightmares. It�s a place for monsters, for. gods. The druids probably panicked, overthought, and probably did what they thought they needed to do. -

Oh.

Well, the layout of my main body was surrounded by the two tree - minds and their root - brain complex , the soul forge and all its extensions, the labs and pods, and then a ring of subsidiary trees, home to the beetles and spiders. The canopy was covered in webs and vines, and because of the effects of soul forge: black , there were all the soul collectors floating around. And maybe Alexis�s body as well, which appeared like a deformed, mutant tree.

- Fine. Next time, all meetings will be held here. Only those truly deemed worthy will face my main body. - I guessed that was why access to a tree spirit�s main body was restricted. If they were all similarly high level, their presence was going to be incredibly intimidating.

Now, I was really curious what the other tree spirits were like.

YEAR 80 MONTH 5

Back to the sewage issue. Containment by way of subsidiary tree worked, for now. A long - term solution was still in progress. Broadly, the idea we had was to use plants and algae to digest the sewage. I couldn�t help but feel that I was a tree, so all solutions I developed must involve trees, kind of like how everything looked like a nail when I was a hammer.

I let Alexis take the lead on the plant samples, so she conducted research on all the different kinds of collected plant samples. The hope was to develop some kind of poop - processing hybrid plant. There were some plants with slight tolerance, so the idea was that tolerance level could be amplified such that the plants were able to obtain some kind of resistance.

There were promising results from algae and trees, but as with all research, more time and more samples were needed. Well, it was just time. I had plenty now.

Meanwhile, Trevor was in charge of the materials lab, with a focus on creating filtration systems, whereby the different elements of the sewage was separated. Different plants had different tolerance of elements, and if there was no single sewer - eating miracle plant, then it�d have to be multiple plants working together. To do so, splitting the toxins was critical!

At the same time, Yura and the Order lobbied the Council to actually build a proper sewage system. The sewage system would then connect to a sewage tunnel, and that tunnel would move all the sewage to a designated spot out of town. That spot would be where my future sewage - processing plant would be located.

Yura phrased the argument to the council using pride as the main emotional hook. I admired that.

How could any self - respecting capital city still rely on primitive poopholes? Could you call yourself a developed nation? If New Freeka wanted to be respected as a kingdom, it had to have a proper sewer. Think about all the adventurers it would train, all the secret passageways it would create!

Sewers were a source of revenue! A source of jobs and experience for newbie adventurers! No more poopholes! More time for priests! Less regular cleansing needed because the poop could pile up out of town!

And so the Council debated the New Freeka Subterranean Sewage Project.

YEAR 80 MONTH 6

Demons.

News of their presence spread through the merchants, through communication spells, through artifacts.

Demons, humanoid demons. They were humanoid and yet had appendages that resembled weapons, some in the form of spears, some in the form of swords or axes. They also seemed to have particularly strange behaviors, building fortresses and camps, which had never done in recorded demon king history.

The news of the multiple rifts sent all the nations into high alert. When did the rifts appear so quickly?

Unlike all other occasions, the number of rifts were significantly more.

- TreeTree, you�ll protect us, right? - Lozanna asked.

- Yes, Lozanna . But if you have to fight them, will you? -

Lozanna paused. She was eleven now, and it�d be another nine years before she was mature physically. If I could, I�d like her to stay out of it. - Yes. I�m not as strong as I�d like to be, but yes, I will protect my family and friends. -

- Good. - I didn�t think she was ready yet. But sometimes, you had to throw them into the water.

YEAR 80 MONTH 7

- We need to talk about defenses. - The council gathered in the large meeting room. Some of the councilors sighed. - First up, we need walls and more soldiers. -

- We already have walls. -

- Not enough. The news coming from those near the rifts was quite concerning. - The meeting was led by Yvon�s replacement, a guy called Arza. He�d been in the job for some time now, but really, he was just a very clever coordinator and spokesperson for his faction of councilors.

The other councilors looked at him quizzically. - Is there something that�s on your mind, council leader Arza? - Council leader was an informal title, since all in the council were theoretically equal, but there was always one taking a chairing role.

- Yes. Demons. Our defenses are inadequate for demons, with their numbers and their strength. We need to urgently improve our defenses. -

- Walls don�t work against demons. They�ve got crazy numbers, and they�ve got those large monsters. -

- Not this time. The news coming out from the nations facing the demons is that they are like. - Arza paused, and then he took a deep breath. - They are like us. They�re using our tactics and strategies. -

- That�s absolutely crazy. Are we talking about demons? - one of the councilors said. - In recorded history, demons have never adopted our tactics. -

Arza nodded. - I think it�s crazy, too, but. but. it�s our chance to bolster our military. We needed this excuse. -

- You mean. -

Arza paused, then whispered, - We�ve lost the druids. We�ve got to find something else, and this is it. -

- Ah. Then we must! - One of the councilors spoke.

- We�ll take this excuse to raise taxes and train more soldiers and mages. We need the Order�s money, and this is a good excuse to force them to collaborate. If they don�t, we�ll shame them publicly for being selfish! - The other councilors added fuel to the flame.

- I see! -

- But didn�t. Wait. Why would that work, Council Leader Azra? The Order�s strength is the Tree Spirit, no? The tiny militia and force they maintain are nothing compared to the amount of warbeetles they can deploy. - One of the more skeptical councilors asked Arza.

- Indeed, so we have more to gain! We need to use this excuse to adjust the revenue rate that the Order gets, so here�s the message I want everyone to spread. The Order�s not spending enough on defense! We need the money to defend the city! Arza emphasized to the group.

- AH! So the idea is to make the Order seem like they are spending money on frivolous things like collecting plants and animals, gifts for babies, and unnecessary rituals! -

One of the councilors objected, - I wouldn�t talk about the rituals. They�re quite popular among my electorate, and many find them meaningful. Stick to the collection of plants. -

- Agree, wouldn�t this move backfire? -

- Maybe, but we must be subtle about it then. First, we need to expose how the Order spends their tax money and then tie it to our defense needed. Show the people that they are not doing what they can to defend the city. -

- Uh. they have beetles, Councilor Azra. -

- I know, then we must explain to the people that beetles are not trustworthy! We need our own strength! The strength of our people! Inspire them not to rely on a secretive power, like a tree spirit. We don�t even know whether it will protect us when it really matters or if it will only choose those it cares about! -

- Ahh! -

- Think about it. We embed a belief in our people that we must rely on our own mortal strength, with powers within our control, ideally, with us, the councilors in charge. We represent them, whereas the Tree Spirit is unelected, and it is a magical being, not mortal, not one of us! Now we suffer the whims of a magical creature! Where is our dignity? -

A murmur rippled around the councilors, mostly in agreement.

- So, we must have more walls, more soldiers, more mages. We may not be stronger than the army of beetles, but I�ll be damned if we are beggars, begging for mercy and protection from a magical creature! -

- Our founding documents say they would protect us. -

- Myths! Tell the tale of when the great cities who suffered the wrath of dragons who no longer wanted to protect them, tell the tale of the city who fell when the sacred beast turned on the royal family! -

- Isn�t the message of that story about doing good because the royal family was evil? -

- Doesn�t matter! It�s about self - reliance, strength! We are refugees, and if we fled Salah to be subservient to a magical beast, what good was that? -

- Councilor Azra, is this something your faction thought up? - a centaur councilor said, an independent in the sense that he was unaffiliated to either the Order or the independence faction. That was partly because his voting district also comprised the slopes of the valley where the rural centaurs lived rather happily.

Azra paused. - Well, yes. -

- I agree on the need to bolster the city�s own strength with more soldiers. I also agree on the need for more defensive walls. Yet, among the centaurs, treefolk, and even the lizardmen, A/ �s presence is a reassuring force. So tone down the rhetoric. It will backfire on your faction�s election chances. -

- Hmph. We�ll see about that. But more importantly, I�m glad to see you agree with our need to improve our own military prowess. -

The centaur shrugged.

Meanwhile, the druids.

The Druidic Aspect familiar was clearly a double - edged sword for the druids. On one hand, they got to store about three to five percent of my power, depending on their own level, for their own use, but because of the link and how it was magically entangled with me, I could see them clearly, wherever they went in New Freeka, kind of like how Lozanna glowed like a lightbulb in my overview of the valley. In other words, I could observe them through the Aspect.

The Aspect stole their experience and mana, too. I did recall that the familiars took a portion of the experience, too, which was why I leveled up when the contracted warriors died, but in the Aspect�s case, the ratio was even more skewed. I could also see their skills and also mark two skills of my choice as targeted for collection on death. Oddly, there was a time counter on those marked skills. I thought it meant it took some time to mark the skills.

So much for blessing. Were the other tree spirits also secretly taking skills from their believers? After all, how would they know that their blessing was actually not free? But if so, why did the tree spirits not give it freely?

Aspect contracts were limited to Level divided by 10. You were allowed up to 13 Aspects.

Ah, limited again. Just like familiars, which I could give out about 132, since I was level 132, or the Possession of the devoted , which I could give five. I supposed there was a mana - maintenance cost to it, which was why these were limited.

The four druids just used up four valuable slots. But they were called druidic aspects, so only druids could use them?

Druidic Aspects can be awarded to druids, herbalists, farmers, and gardeners (and variants). Can also be awarded to treefolks, with no job class requirements.

Confusing! System, you need a massive cleanup!

Anyway, I did somewhat regret letting the druids go, and I realized I was not very good at making high - quality decisions when I was in a spot. The druids could read my interest in meeting the other spirits and managed to, therefore, save themselves.

So what do I need to do?

Being able to make good, high - quality decisions? That was something I needed to try to do, but if I failed, what should I do then?

- Honestly, I wanted to help you, but their spell made me feel so drowsy and weak that I couldn�t. -

Should I kill and drain the druids? Ah, well. I thought of looking, studying, and learning from them first, since I had them under my custody.

- Pods. - The druids gulped. - Go in. -

- Are. are you planning to drown us? -

- You were not making much progress on arranging the meeting. It�s almost three months. In. -

- The archdruid was coming. He. he needed to assess the situation. Please don�t do this! -

- In. -

The vines and roots pulled the druids inside, and all four of them were now in the biolab pods. They struggled a lot for adults, compared to my four girls, who were getting rather good and used to the biolab. One of them even said it was quite relaxing.

Under the scope, the druids bodies were actually rather ordinary. They had a spring like any other, and a collection of stones around the lifespring, which were the skills and levels of the druid. What was quite unique were the animal head�shaped stones, which were the links between the druids and their animal followers.

Then there was the Druidic Aspect. The Aspect took the form of a vine - like plant, it grew and made a space around the spring, and its vines and roots spread around the stones, growing into the gaps between them, like a well that was partly abandoned and now reclaimed by plants.

Some of the stones around the spring had more vines around them, but most of them just had little roots at the sides, like small climber plants.

The Aspect�s main body, a large central flexible trunk, was like a parasitic plant living on the wellspring of his soul. On the aspect�s plant body, there were three large, gourd - shaped organs, and from a little prodding, it reads, - Aspect�s storage organ. Stores energy from the main body. -

Strange.

I thought back to Lozanna and Yura �s souls. In Lozanna �s case, the familiar appeared like a separate plant in the shape of a sunflower, growing at the side of the well, but it didn�t have vines or feelers growing like crawlers on the well. Instead, her special familiar had a strange, swirling portal.

In Yura �s case, the eidolon Bamboo didn�t even appear as a plant in Yura �s soulspring. Instead, there was something in the shape of a Bear Statue that had a small waterspout on its mouth, and it was located outside the Soulspring. It seemed the relationship of the druid�s familiars would be similar to Bamboo, since they too appeared as statues or stones.

I would later discover, from the druid�s mouth, the druid�s familiars weren�t familiars, but actual animal spirits that had agreed to become their companions. These animal spirits were somewhat similar to artificial souls. They formed from the collective energies of many animals of their kind, the remnant outer shells of animals souls. Druids and beastmasters had an ability to separate the outer shells of their slain animals through a ceremony of some kind, where the inner soul was sent forth to reincarnate, leaving the outer shell in their service.

That said, it was also possible for druids and beastmasters to form lifelong bonds, a kind of soul contract whereby the animal served them for as long as they lived. These sorts of bonds were rare but also way more powerful.

It was also why the animal companions of druids and beast trainers were usually able to independently gain levels, due to them retaining a part of their souls.�

Back to the four druids, I decided to let them be. The Aspect�s presence in their soulspring was fascinating and was something I wanted to watch.

So, rather than let them do as they please, I tasked them with training my four Initiates and Lozanna .

The four young girls were doing well, though I should be looking for five more new recruits soon. They were now about level ten and had gained basic proficiency in the usual sword, dagger, staff, and shields.

They were just six to eight, though, so they practiced with wooden weapons and wooden dummies in the training room . That formed the bulk of their combat practice, on top of spars against each other.

Still, a very long way before they could enter battle. I would reckon they needed to be at least twelve before they would fight any real battle.

The minder familiar kept me updated on their levels; the moment I focused on them, a game - like panel appeared and showed me all the skills and levels, their mental state of mind, whether they were happy or sad or stressed, and also their health, whether they were hurt or healthy.

It was helpful and allowed me to tailor my Dream Tutor and the nutrition I was feeding them; when they were stressed or frustrated, I would have a bit of that calming fruit tea on the menu.

Lately, my control of Dream Tutor improved. I still couldn�t control the exact specifics, but I could use the essence of summer in dream tutor so that they got rather pleasant ones, like beaches, warm suns, things to help them unwind.

I also regularly talked to the girls, but they were young, so it was usually silly things, like how far did a tree see or how high did I go.

YEAR 80 MONTH 8

More rifts were spotted.

Apparently, there were a few rifts near Salah, but they were on the other side, so it�d be some time before they came near me. Their army had been dispatched to deal with the demons coming out from the rifts.

So far, only heroes had the power to close rifts, so the rifts remained open, and the army stationed a garrison force near the rifts to fight the demons that came out.

- If only we had our star mana powers again, then we could close the rifts. - Meela had popped by after so long.

- Do you want to go back into battle? -

- Ugh, true. - Meela shrugged. She�d gained a lot of levels since her hotel started operations one and a half years ago, so like Alexis predicted, her mobility had increased, though she still mostly stayed back in her hotel.

- But maybe we can help, somehow. -

- We are stuck here. What do you have in mind? - Meela�s body was like a treefolk, and frankly, it took quite a bit of effort to figure out she wasn�t a treefolk. She had a dress that was formed from wood, and for her, changing attires meant changing how the wood was shaped around her body.

- Hmm. maybe we should try to help the next generation, perhaps research? The materials lab should count for something, right? -

As they discussed, I turned my attention to research.

Research status:

Beetle - anti - magma armors stage 4 - 10 months

Material labs - stage 1 - completed

Magical sensors - completed

Normal Tree - Root filters stage 1 - completed

Metal hyperaccumulator trees - Stage 1 - 12 months

Phytoremediation process - basic - 12 months

Dedicated Filtering Blackwater - Plant - stage 1 - 6 months

We had some normal trees gain filtering abilities, and this allowed them to reduce the effects of the poop - contamination.

But the materials lab was more of a properties kind of lab, which identified the components and the qualities of materials and also distilled the different types of materials. It looked like there were further upgrades, which allowed me to design specific materials and forge special alloys, but that was a whole lot further down the road.

Next was the magical sensors.

The magical sensors were instantly installed on my material labs and gave me a reading of the mana flowing through the air and the composition. Mana had many types, after all. It also detected spells and area - of - effect skills. Together, with sensors in multiple material labs, they formed an array able to triangulate sources of unusual activity, like sudden surges of energy in the air.

At first, there was a whole load of false positives. Spells were being cast daily, in many battles throughout the world, some not very far away. Adventurers of New Freeka constantly traveled the region, slaying rogue monsters and bandits. Or priests and healers taught in Madeus academy for the junior students.

All these false positives had to be removed.

So we had to set a very high threshold to remove all the lesser spells from detection. My assumption was they probably wouldn�t be much of a threat.

- TreeTree, can we help the next generation of summoned heroes? - Meela asked. - Alexis has some ideas, and she thought, well, we need your help. -

- Hmm, honestly, I�m not sure why I should help the next group of heroes. From what I hear, heroes are pretty dangerous. They have a whole lot of magical power and are extremely idealistic. -

- But isn�t protecting the world from demons aligned with yours? Protecting the valley means also protecting it from demons. -

- They certainly overlap, but what are the benefits of helping the heroes? -

- Uh. protecting the valley? -

- Honestly, if it�s just demons, I don�t need heroes. -

Alexis paused. - True. but would you permit me and Meela to aid them? -

- Hmm. - I couldn�t control Meela, since she was her own independent soul, so. Frankly if she did, and it wasn�t against me, I wouldn�t stop her. - Fine. -

- Great! -

YEAR 80 MONTH 9

An uneventful month in the valley.

Training, practice, observing the druids and citizens. Eavesdropping on conversations about battles from far away against the demons.

The humanoid demons were appearing everywhere, and the battles were getting more and more intense.

Unlike all recorded history of demons, this time, the demons had brought a special item that spawns demons, and it took the form of a camp. Larger variants had been spotted in places where towns and villages used to be.

And so, it could be said that overnight, all mortal wars ended, as the focus turned to face this new era of demons.

Demons used to be a continental affair. Only a few rifts would open, and when they did, it was usually not far from each other, at least, until the demon king came.

Not anymore.

And for me, the big question was why?

Why did the demons, after what seemed to be years of taking the same strategies, finally trying this sort of carpet - bombing technique?

YEAR 80 MONTH 10

I chose another five children, this time two boys. Overall, due to the relative peace in New Freeka, the number of new orphans was trending downward. Still, accidents, fights, and death were inevitable, and there were also migrant orphans.

In certain communities where there was no capacity to support another orphan, it was better to send them off to a place where they would be cared for.

Anyway, the first four girls were around level twelve; the highest level was level fifteen, with eight levels in soldier . This job class thing was fascinating and more for me to learn.

As for Yura , he was still at level eighty and stuck.

Which was why today I harvested a three - year - old ginseng plant , leaving two others to continue maturing.

Three - year - old magical ginseng root

Permanently improves lifeforce (faster mana, stamina and health regeneration)

- So. how do we use this? - Yura held the ginseng root; even though it was three years old, it actually looked like it was a one - hundred - year - old ginseng root from my old world. I thought it was its a mana and probably my influence and bounty.

- Do you want me to cook it? - Meela offered. There was a cookhouse in her lodge.

- No. - I was trying something more direct. - Please step into the soul forge. -

- Uh, okay. - Yura looked at the lightning - burned tree and then stepped in.

I�d thought about it for some time, and essentially, what I wanted to do was try to inject the ginseng into his soulspring. It sounded like some kind of cultivation novel when I described it like that.

I attempted to start up the soul forge and start the merging process.

I got an error message when I put the ginseng roots in.

Ginseng roots needed to be further refined before they could be used in the soul forge. Refining required access to an essence concentrator.

Essence concentrator?

At the same time the soul forge was still active, Yura was still inside, his body sleeping in a special altar within the forge - tree. A prompt appeared.

Do you want to remove some of Yura �s skills or job classes? Doing so will free up lifeforce to learn other skills or gain levels. Removed skills have a chance to be converted into skill seeds. Skill seeds made this way can�t be reused on donor.

Eh.

I suddenly recalled the day, some six years ago, when the Wisp told me about surrendering of levels and skills.

- Why didn�t it work when I captured the ranger? -

- It�s called surrendering. If Yura �s willing, you will be able to remove skills he doesn�t want. And as I recall, you partially succeeded since you received a few skill seeds and class seeds. The conversion odds are higher if it�s a voluntary surrender of the skills. -

- Huh, so surrendering skills isn�t exactly all bad, either. - Was this like that pocket monster game again, where you unlearned a move, and somehow there was a chance the move you unlearned got transformed into a TM? In a way, the soul�s ability to support the person�s level and skills was limited, and this ability technically. technically allowed minmaxing. - Can a hero surrender his hero class or blessing? -

- What comes from the gods can only be removed by the gods. -

INTERLUDES � AKBAR

SOMETIME AROUND YEAR 80, MONTH 9 (TREETREE - TIME)

Every demon king was slightly different, every generation of demons usually a variation of the previous. Scholars, inquisitors, and demon-hunters had often wondered why it was so, but since these invading demons didn�t seem to be able to communicate, no one knew for sure.

Still, the inhabitants facing the demons could still observe and make a note of how subtle differences existed. The first demon rifts revealed little hints about the characteristics of the demon king they faced and the sort of battles they would have to prepare for. Usually this meant elemental and/or monster variants, like how Andraas had earth - golems, earth centipedes, and fire hounds, and as time went by, its larger versions of such monsters.

Spotting a demon rift was something every warrior learned by experience. Once they�d seen it, they would remember it for life. The way reality itself warped and broke, a tear in reality that linked to another world, it was an unforgettable sight. The portal to the demon world.

- General Akbar. - A human knight rode up to central c& there were about five thousand soldiers there.

- Commander Akbar, - the older man emphasized. - I�ve been demoted, and you need to remember that. Had it been in the city, you could get in trouble. -

The knight shrugged. - You�re still my general. Anyway -

Commander Akbar frowned and gave the knight a stern look. - Get to it. What�s the status? How many demons did you spot? -

- Twelve hundred. Surprisingly easy to get a count now that they look like humans. They made something that resembles a large house or camp. Still no sight of the rift yet. I�m waiting for the other scout to report back. -

- Demons, making camp. - Commander Akbar scratched his chin. - What has the world come to? I must see this. -

The force of five thousand men marched toward the site of the reported demon camp, and what they saw was indeed a demon camp.

- There it is, Commander. -

The demon camp�s surface resembled a dark - reddish hue, its existence as if magic itself was forced to form the fabric.

- What�s it doing? -

Akbar started counting, his eyes looking through his portable telescope, right at the demon camp. He watched intently for about thirty minutes.

- It�s making more demons, soldiers. Get the mages. I want a magical reading on this area right now. -

Akbar�s hunch was right. The camp�s location had slightly stronger natural mana and energies. There was only one decision to make: the camp had to be destroyed before it spawned more demons.

They crushed the twelve hundred or so demons easily.

A few days later, they were back at the camp.

- The news is unsettling. - Akbar pored over the news coming in from all the other continents and kingdoms. Demonic news didn�t have the usual diplomatic embargo and political filters, and frankly, Akbar enjoyed fighting demons. It was just plain fighting, without the bullshit of politics or the worries over the unnecessary death of others. It allowed him to be a true military man; the only thing he had to focus on was crushing this faceless, demonic enemy.

- There were so many. - Both of his aides nodded, and they looked over a rough map of the world. It was one of Akbar�s personal collections as a general. Akbar placed a small red flag wherever they received reports on rift sightings.

There were multiple rifts in every large continent, and even in smaller continents. In earlier demon kings, the rifts were concentrated, most of the time on a single continent. Maybe two, at most, and even those, the bulk of them usually formed on one continent.

It didn�t take much for Akbar to conclude the obvious. - This demon is planning to overwhelm the world with sheer numbers by attacking everywhere simultaneously. -

One of the aides shook his head. - But does it matter? If they come with us with that tiny force, scattered throughout the world, they won�t be a threat! And the heroes will come around and save the world when the demon king arrives. - Akbar frowned a little at the aide�s statement.

Two knights and a mage walked into the war - planning room.

Akbar looked at his aides. - True. But between now and the Demon King was at least a few years. This tactic may potentially destroy the world before the heroes even appear. -

- So what? We can stop them. The quantity from the rifts reported so far has been small. -

Akbar paused and remembered the demon champions. No reported sighting of the champions yet, though they often arrived before the king.

The other aides answered before Akbar got to it. - If the demons can build camps that generate more demons, their quantity won�t be small for very long. How many rifts do we know nothing about? How sure are we all these are the only rifts out there? If the rift and camp were made in a secluded area we know nothing about, they could suddenly surprise us with a large force! -

- True, true. -

- How�s the analysis on the camp and the demons? - Akbar asked.

The mage shifted uncomfortably.

A soldier ran into the camp. - Gene - sorry, Commander! The mages, they. uh. they turned into demons. We had to kill one of them. -

Akbar�s eyes widened, and he stared. - When did this happen, and why did I not know about it? -

- It just happened, General, - the soldier shouted, trying to catch his breath. He�d been running. - The mages, they were just meddling with the demonic staff, and suddenly it started to absorb one of the mages! So we had to destroy the staff, and we couldn�t save the mage. -

Akbar stopped. - You know about this? -

- No, sir. - The mage in the room shook his head, but then he walked over to the soldier to talk.

Before Akbar could ask more, another person came in. He was a mage, too, and he looked younger than the other mages. - General. -

- Commander. -

- We have the report you wanted. -

Akbar glared at the young mage; he was unfazed. - What happened? -

- Accident. It was quite unfortunate that I could not save him. But we now know that the staff seeks magic and consumes it to create demons. -

The two aides paused.

- So, my guess is we should probably seek out major magical locations and dungeons and seek to take over them. -

- But how does the demons expect to beat the dungeons with their tiny force? - Dungeon, generally, had a respectable defense force and multiple boss - level creatures within their base.

- Maybe not immediately, but over time their force will grow. -

- We must let the world know, - Akbar acknowledged. - This fact may be helpful for the other nations. -

- Commander, we must first report this to high command. The king will want to know before this is shared, - one of the aides said.

Akbar nodded, but inside he just felt annoyed. Politics. He could see it coming; the king probably wanted to sell this information for money. The awkward truce with the Nung and Takde wasn�t something the king enjoyed, especially since he wanted his reign to be one of glory.

And so, Akbar and his retinue returned to the capital, Ransalah, leaving the rest of the force behind. The rest would continue to hunt demons and look for the rift.

The journey took them a few days, and soon Ransalah entered their view. The massive sprawl of the city, the faint stench of human activity, the smell of the forges and factories, it was a sign they were getting close. Even at night, one could see the dispersed glow from the city�s lights.

The aide cheered. - Civilization! I can�t wait for a hot bath! - The captains were relieved; one of them was from the capital, so his family was here.

Akbar just sighed. As a military man, he never felt like he had a place in Ransalah. Earlier in his career, he lived fortresses and camps, and till this day, that was where he felt where he belonged. Ransalah just reminded him of all the politics of the court, unnecessary reports to various nobles who wanted to build rapport, and bureaucracy.

- Don�t look so glum, Commander. Let�s have some good food. And good wine! I hear there was quite a good vintage coming from New Freeka, something we�ve never managed to try before! -

One captain nudged the aide, signaling him not to mention New Freeka.

Akbar just shrugged. Perhaps he shouldn�t be so upset. The capital did have a whole load of good eateries. - Well, let�s do that. I do miss having properly cooked food from a good chef. -

The group passed a damaged set of roads, some trees, and shrubs. - Ah, I notified the city that we were arriving soon. - The aide messaged the city using some kind of message spell. At this distance, the spell didn�t cost much mana, and the message decay wasn�t bad.

Akbar�s mind was still occupied with the strategies of this generation�s demons. What would the champions bring this time? Was the demons plan to split the heroes?

He distracted himself and looked at two rings on his fingers, one made of a greenish gold, another just regular silver. - Anyone coming to greet us? -

The aide shook his head.

Akbar smiled. - Best news I heard all day, then. - He hated the whole greeting and welcoming ceremony, frankly, the best thing since his demotion from general. Even his aides knew how much he hated it. - Let�s eat some good food! -

Since they didn�t have a welcoming ceremony, that meant he also didn�t have to immediately go and face the king or the senior ministers. Not that the king was eager to see him.

So the group went for one of the many famous eateries in Ransalah, this one located on the commoner�s district. Despite being the commoners district, there were many such eateries, serving adventurers, or wealthy merchants, or just some young men looking to impress a woman.

They had a spread of grilled and roasted meats, mostly from the nearby farms and also some of the edible monster meats, and a few different dishes of potatoes and yam, accompanied by wine. They had wine in regular wooden cups; though glass was available as a material, it was far too expensive for restaurants to use regularly, given how often glass things broke when an adventurer brawl happened.

Akbar, his aides, and the two accompanying captains took their time and dined, their conversation beginning with demons because, well, that was their job, and it was an easy thing to talk about in a dinner with colleagues.

Most of them wondered when the demon champions would start appearing; demon champions were still the single - highest risk outside of the demon king, and there were usually multiple champions. In terms of actual destruction, the champions were probably ahead of the demon king. The captains joked about running if they ever saw one, and Akbar just nodded. - I would run, too, if I saw a demon champion. -

And they all laughed. Demon champions were difficult; even a general like Akbar would need a strong mage and healer team to defeat one.

But once all of them were progressively drunker, the conversation turned to less serious topics, like how everyone�s love life was and whether Commander Akbar would ever remarry. Or other silly things, like what some of the soldiers were doing when in camp or stupid manliness challenges.

One of the aides talked about his failed dates with the local girls whenever they went on expeditions, and the rest of them just laughed, but they all also admired his guts for trying to date girls from all the various villages.

As they were about to leave, two men approached Commander Akbar. - Are you Commander Akbar? -

Akbar was a little tipsy, but he still managed to turn and face the two men. The two looked like plain, ordinary villagers; their presence honestly didn�t seem anything special.

One of Akbar�s aides, probably drunker than Akbar, tried to step in. - Why were you bothering our commander? - The aide was usually a little more timid; maybe it was alcohol - fueled machismo.

- May we talk to the commander, just for a while? - One of the men smiled politely.

Commander Akbar looked at them from top to bottom. If they wanted to rob or kidnap him, they did not need to ask. Though, even while drunk, Akbar could easily fight off two men, his alert passive did not trigger, so he had a good hunch that these two men didn�t mean to harm him. Besides, he had a General class, and that meant he could hold two men down, easy.

The aide�s attempt to respond on Akbar�s behalf was stopped by Akbar�s hand.

- Yes, let�s talk. Back inside? - Akbar pointed back to the eatery.

The two men nodded, and they walked back inside. - Yes, inside is fine, but without your aides, please? Just something we want to ask you personally. -

Akbar smiled. - Let�s use one of the private dining rooms, then. They can wait outside. -

- Commander, no. General Akbar. - The two men sat. It was a small room with one round table and chairs for six. Akbar sat opposite them. - What do you think of the demons? -

Akbar chuckles. - They were bad, of course. - What kind of question was that, anyway? Demons caused tremendous destruction and death, couldn�t be negotiated with, and didn�t have any useful functions. The only possibly positive thing about them was the daemolite left behind when the demon kings died.

- Do you think the heroes were doing a good job of fighting demons? -

- . not as well as I think they should. - Akbar spoke his mind. He had a hunch they were leading him somewhere, but he�d see.

The two men grinned. - Great. Do you enjoy fighting demons? -

Akbar paused and stared at the two men. Enjoy fighting demons? In what sense? - I�m sorry? -

- Have you ever thought of joining a cause dedicated to fighting demons? -

Akbar�s stern eyes met with two others; the room felt heavy then. - I�m afraid I need a bit more than that. What exactly was your cause? -

At that time, a third man appeared in that small private room, he materialized from the two�s shadows.

Akbar, though, still didn�t react and just took a sip out of the wooden cup of water. - I was wondering when you would come out. -

- As expected of a general . Proper introductions now. I am from the Laenza Alliance, a secret society. Allow me to do the full explanation. The Laenza Alliance�s main purpose was to support the heroes in their quest to defeat the demon king, and we would like you to join us in that quest. -

Akbar didn�t react; he just took a good look at the man. - Have we met? -

- Yes. But that matters little. Our issue was the coming demonic conflict. We believe you�ve realized the gravity of the issue, and so we�d like to invite you to join us. - He felt familiar, but Akbar couldn�t pin it down.

Akbar sipped from the cup of water and said, - When you say, Support the heroes in the quest to defeat the demon king, what does that actually mean? You want me to put my life on the line and fight the demon king myself, together with the heroes? -

- Well, no. You won�t be the ones actually fighting the demon king. Ultimately, the heroes received the gods blessing, and only with the blessing can the heroes hope to stand toe to toe with the demon king. Our presence in that fight would be unnecessary. We may even be a hindrance. I would say we would be throwing our lives away. -

- So what do you do? -

- We, the Laenza, aim to support the heroes by spotting them early, guiding them, removing the barriers to their growth, and giving them what they need to progress. -

- Barriers. - Akbar looked at the three Laenza men.

- Politics. Bureaucracy. Think about it: these otherworldly heroes, they arrive in the world with very minimal guidance from the gods. They are lost, despite their gifts, and when they meet the locals, they need time to find their way. If it so happens they come under a nation�s protection, kings and rulers often have their own political agenda. Every step of the way, they face resistance and unnecessary barriers, from locals who have no idea whether they really are heroes, to politicians and rulers who seek to manipulate them. -

The man paused to catch his breath, then continued.

- Our role was to offset those resistance, help them discreetly, and where we can take them away from politics. We try to be the first or among the first to find and contact the heroes and to offer them assistance, guidance, training. And if the heroes need any special equipment or items, or need to get somewhere, we try our best to help them along. -

Akbar sighed. It suddenly occurred to him that the heroes had it rough. They started off weak at first, thrown into a world they knew nothing about, they were still young and naive, and that usually made them gullible, and nobles usually tried to manipulate them. It suddenly made sense how things usually did work out for the heroes, especially if there was a secret organization that supported them in the shadows.

- So, would you be interested? -

- I have a feeling that you already know I would be. -

The shadow man offered his hand. - We must hear it from you. -

Akbar nodded, and they shook hands. - Yes. Let me be a part of it. -

The shadow man took out a ring with a single red stone surrounded by various smaller red stones and passed it to him. - Drop your blood in the ring�s inner stone. -

Akbar gently pricked his finger, and a single drop of blood touched the inner stone. It glowed gently, a soft reddish hue, and then the shadow man walked over, and he too pricked his finger, adding a drop of his blood in the same ring. The two bloods mixed, and the ring released a red flash.

- The ring, it�s invisible to all but the rest of us who also have it. It marks the Laenza and is how we communicate. -

Akbar put the ring on, and he could feel its magic mix with that of his own. The ring fit nicely. - Intricate carvings. -

- Made by our magesmiths, from where we are from, Rhongo. -

Akbar nodded. - That�s far. -

- The demons rifts are everywhere. And we follow. -

- True. -

- Welcome to the Laenza. We have taken too much of your time, Commander Akbar. We will not keep your aides waiting any longer. - The three gave a gentle bow, and the shadow man vanished into the shadows again.

YEAR 80 MONTH 9

- The fact that I�m here means it�s not good news for the four of you. - A lady arrived in New Freeka and quickly found the four druids. There were many other ladies looking like her, and she didn�t emit any visible presence or magical energy, so her arrival didn�t even trigger any of my sensors.

A mature - looking lady, in human terms, she looked like she was in her fifties, though I suspected she was probably older. Despite her petite size, her very presence sent the four druids into a tense combat stance.

- The enforcer. - The four fumbled over their staff and called out their familiars. They were right in the middle of town, and the citizens cleared a space. It was common for brawls and fights to break out in town, and citizens generally knew to just give way. When there were fights among adventurers or people of that level, everyone would just let them fight.

- I�ve been busy, and I wish I could�ve come sooner. But you know how it is. Investigations take time. A crime would be committed months ago, and only now the sentence was meted out. Such was the speed of justice, always lacking. - The lady shrugged; she was dressed in a loose - fitting shirt and pants, but they were clearly woven with high - quality materials. When she took out a scythe from nowhere, all my alarm bells started to ring.

She wasn�t exactly tall and probably on the older side, but the way the massive scythe swung around her, I knew she was trouble.

An intense aura spread around her. It even made the subsidiary trees around New Freeka feel heavy. It was some kind of suppression aura.

- On what crimes? - The druids put on a brave face, attempting to feign ignorance in the face of the lady.

- Oh, this trick has been done many times. But fair, the one carrying out the punishment must repeat it, just so that the offender may drill it into their souls for their next life. -

The lady stepped forward one small step.

- For lying to the council, jail time. For forcing a high - tier spirit tree to a spiritual contract, the four of you have contravened one of the core tenets of the Hutan Council. And for that offense, the Hutan Council has empowered me to bestow your punishment. Death. -

The four men summoned their wolves, armor, and whatnot, and whatever they had. All the familiars charged at the lady.

But the battle was awfully short.

The lady swung her scythe, and it glowed in a dark - greenish color. - Druidhunter . -

A dark wave spread out, and the familiars of the druids all just turned into dust. Then, from the earth, four black roots emerged and stabbed them each in the heart, killing them instantly.

She then walked up to the four impaled bodies of the druids.

- Children, everyone, please don�t watch. - It was in the middle of town, and the announcement of the execution sent a lot of younger children and their parents running away.

And her scythe beheaded all four of them. Their heads fell easily, like harvesting hay. She chucked their heads into a gunny sack and then into her magical pocketspace.

- Should we do something? - I wondered and asked my tree - minds.

- She�s scary. I suggest not, - Ivy said. - She�s got the ability to sneak in and find the druids and then kill them. She might use it on us. -

Well, the lady quickly went and met Yura .

- Supreme Counsel Yura , I apologize for my sudden, unannounced presence. My name is Leithia, a conducts enforcer of the Hutan Council. I�ve been informed that I may be able to seek a meeting with the Tree Spirit through you? -

No? I didn�t feel like I should meet her because she was dangerous! Yura seemed unfazed, though; he even managed to sit comfortably in his chair and took a sip from his tea. He was really into tea these days.

- I understand that the Spirit is probably apprehensive to meeting another druid, and that�s fine. I would like, on behalf of the Hutan Council, to apologize for the acts of our rogue druids. It was a great disappointment to us as well, that our druids acted in such manner in the face of a chance to get power. -

Yura nodded and offered her tea. - Well, glad to know that laws are being enforced after all. -

- Indeed, I would like to assure the Spirit that we will still fulfill its wishes to commune with the other great tree spirits, and we are in the process of arranging that. It�s not easy to convince other tree spirits to participate, and we will need specialized items to allow the tree spirit�s thoughts to be transmitted. In the meantime, the council will send someone over as compensation. -

Eh? Wait. Was there really a need for such things? Couldn�t I just erm. chain my subsidiary trees all the way to wherever the other spirits were? Or was this subsidiary tree skill rarer than I thought?

- So, please assist us and manage the spirit�s expectations. -

Yura nodded. - I think the Tree Spirit will. give some concessions on this. Though I�m not sure for how long, I will try my best to convince him. -

Leithia smiled back at Yura and nodded a little. - That�s the most we can ask for the offense the council�s poorly trained druids have caused. -

They both sipped on the tea. It was an awkward silence, but Yura looked more comfortable than the lady. - Would there be anything else? -

- That�s all we wish to say, Counsel. I�ll take my leave and will leave your town in a few days. -

- Enjoy your stay. -

Druidic Aspects failed to collect the chosen skills as the period of the contract was too short.

Received 24 x Essences of Druid

Received 4 x druid class seeds

Received 1 x experience seeds

Aiks. Oh well, I would have to use the essences to teach the girls then, but twenty - four essences might not even lead to a single skill. Sigh.

Anyway, I was happy that the druid enforcer didn�t push to see me, and so I turned my attention elsewhere. Ivy was still keeping tabs on her, though, and as she said, she spent her time in town. Thankfully, she left after two days of eating and meeting.

I�d decided to reward one of the girls, the one who reached level fifteen, by giving her a choice of the class seeds to take and one skill seed for archery .

The choice was actually just between Druid and Ranger , since I�d like to keep Dark Knight for later. I also had some random jobs from the deceased, like farmer , merchant , scribe and stuff like that, but since the Valthorn Initiates were meant to be a combat unit, it�d be combat skills and jobs. They also already had soldier , which I found quite strange, but I supposed that was the result of being trained by soldiers?

The problem about the druid class seeds was that the trainers were now dead.

- Can�t we learn from you? - the girls asked. Good question. If I was playing a game, I would think going to the source was a good way to truly learn a skill.

But no. Druids and tree spirits understood the same kind of abilities differently.

The way I sensed and commanded trees was different because I was a Tree, and I had access to certain kind of senses that elves or centaurs, like these girls, did not have. So, even if our powers looked and felt similar, the mechanics of how our powers worked, at its core, were different. The way I commanded and used Root Strike was different from how a druid would. I could move my roots as if they were. a button I could press.

For the druids, they had an incantation to call on the earth and trees to obey they commands. It was like I was the wheels, whereas the druids moved the wheels through a steering that went through the transmission.

- I am afraid it would be very challenging for me to directly teach you druid magic, though I can use the essences I have to give you lessons through Dream Tutor . -

And the druids magic actually covered a wider scope; their field extended into earth magic, water magic, some air magic, and also some animal - mastery. Whereas mine so far was rather wood - focused and a mix of tree abilities. In a way, they were generalists.

- But you are a tree. Are you not superior to druids? -

- Superior�s not a fair way to say things. Our natures are different. -

- Why? - the young girls asked. Perhaps to them, everyone could be placed on a spectrum from weak to strong, and that may be true from a strictly combat perspective. But there was a nuance to abilities that extended beyond pure direct combat. - But why? You�re a giant tree with strange powers. Shouldn�t you be better than them? -

These young girls could be strangely naive.

- Well, there are some things you can do when you have hands, and there are some things you can do when you have roots. -

They have job classes. I don�t.

YEAR 80 MONTH 10

The Hutan Council sent a strange person to serve me. - Compensation, - they said, accompanied by a beautifully written letter.

An Arborist by the name of Zhiga.

- Uh. why did the council send you? - Yura looked a bit puzzled.

- I am here to make the Tree Spirit feel better, of course! - Zhiga smiled. He was an old man, but there was plenty of spring in his step. He came with a bag of tools, like little scissors, small shovels, and multiple bottles of dirt.

- Uh. after the recent incident, I am afraid that the Tree Spirit is a bit reluctant to meet new people. -

- Nonono, totally understand. I shall remain in the city and take care of the trees here. - The arborist remained in the city, with Ivy watching his every move. The city was open to visitors, it was peacetime after all, and so long as he obeyed the rules, he could stay in city.

Yura had a lot of time to think. When I offered to remove some of his skills, especially those from his earlier days that he may no longer need, he needed some time to think about it.

His levels and skills, experience as a villager, and also a fighter - some of those held certain memories to him and may have saved his life back in the day. Some skills made the difference between victory or death, and although they seemed weak now, they had special meaning.

- I�m not sure whether I want to remove my villager skills. I have like. fifteen levels in them. - Well, Yura �s overall level was eighty, and it comprised of sixty levels in warlord, being a combination of forty levels in fighting and twenty levels in diplomacy and administration. - What if there was a way for it to merge with Warlord? Maybe I will be Village Warlord? -

Hmm.

If such merging was possible, it would improve the organization and presentation of his soulspring, but I wasn�t sure whether that freed up lifeforce to support new skills and levels.

Was there a way to assign a lifeforce consumption/drain value to skills and levels because perhaps there was some skills that used up more lifeforce than others? I would imagine these skills had a slot - value.�

- What if someday I need those villager�s skills again? When I grow older and I can no longer fight? - Wasn�t that a long way to go?

- Uh. -

- You said I won�t be able to relearn the skills? -

- No, I mean, I can�t use the skillseeds on you, but I suppose you could learn it on your own again? -

Yura paused and sipped his ginger - tinged tea. - Hmm. I think I�m fine. TreeTree. I appreciate you trying to push me past level eighty, but. I think I value my existing skills, they have meaning to me, and I�m not willing to let go of them. -

Inwardly, I felt like sighing. I guessed skills were like scars; they punctuated certain moments in a person�s life. Yura knew what it meant to be higher level. It meant he could fight stronger monsters, do more, but he had somewhat decided there were certain things he wouldn�t do to get there.

- I can respect that, but if you ever change your mind. -

Yura nodded. - I think rather than that, maybe let�s get back to basics, and erm. figure out how to restore my hand? -

He flexed his wooden hand. It was made using his mental link with Bamboo, his eidolon�/familiar. It�d been wonderful since Bamboo obtained the skill Extended Self , which sort of functioned like a power armor, and because how frequently Yura used it, it was really like having a hand again.

The challenge about lost limbs was that, well, the soul itself lost the blueprint and memory of the limb. Essentially, when healing magic attempted to heal a person�s body, it accessed the soul�s blueprint. That blueprint was then used as the basis for restoring the body.

When a limb was cut off, there was a crucial period during which the limb must be healed. After that, the soul lost the blueprint relating to that limb, and then healing the limb became impossible, and what was left was a stump.

In my earlier days, I didn�t have the soul forge when I saw Yura ; he had already lost his hand. I didn�t have any ability to heal the lost arm.

But I�d changed, and altering his soul to recreate the blueprint - was certainly something I was now willing to try.

At least, I would first need to do some. experiments.

Animals.

If all souls were reincarnated, sometimes as animals, I probably should not be doing this. These poor animals could be me, in my next life.

Alexis and Meela clearly felt disturbed by what I was doing, even if they understood the rationale of what I was planning to do.

I had the Order gather stray animals in New Freeka and those further out: dogs, cats, deer, wolves, cows, any stray animals that were injured, amputated, limbless.

If I was to alter and recreate the limb, I needed some practice.

And then, I went to do my testing on these animals, using the soul forge to repair their souls.

The first animal died from the magic overload instantly. A gruesome death, best not to be described.

- What you are trying to do seems to require precise tools, beyond just what the soul forge normally does. - Alexis was curious, of course. I thought she was attracted to such gory things, even if she was disturbed.

- I healed the princess many years ago. Her soul spring was wrecked. Why do you think is this different? -

- The fact that you are doing experiments tells me you know it is different. The princess�s spring was wrecked, but the body was still there. It�s like her house collapsed, but the components were just a mess. I think in Yura �s case, the component is lost, and you are trying to rebuild it. You need to do something in the soul so that the left arm can regrow. -

- . okay. - To rebuild that soul blueprint, I would have to alter the form of the outer shell of the soul.

- Maybe something like a massive mold? Like those casts people make? -

A mold, eh? But let�s see.

For the second animal, I planned to put the animal inside the mana soaking facility, wait for a day, and then start up the soul forge. I put two subsidiary trees with biolabs right next to the Forge tree and attempted to use the vine - tools from the Biolab to make the changes.

The Soul Forge did have some default tools, but unlike the biolab pods, the array and precision of the tools were lacking. At least for the augmentation I was thinking of.

During the test run, the vines from the biolab burned once they entered the forge tree. It was more like. they started to darken and turn to ash. Details were a little lacking when it came to the Forge Tree .

I thought it looked like I had to get something with more mana resistance. Something that did not burn from mana or allow the mana to flow around it.

I had some ideas there. But I would need to buy some jewels.

At the same time, I asked Yura for his oldest belongings, ideally something before he lost his hand.

Like the princess, maybe his belongings had a remnant, a shard of his soul that I could somewhat work with.

- I think they all burned down during the burning. except my sword. -

- Your sword it is then. Give it to me. -

- Uh. - It was precious.

- I�ll make you a new one. -

The sword went into the forge tree , and there were some shards of his being, but because he�d been using it even after the incident, the shards and fragments in there were all without his hands.

- Sorry, I really have nothing else. -

Perhaps these items were like loose memory cards, and contact refreshed their memory to the latest version? Or did they merge?

- So. my sword was gone? - Well, the sword was still there, but in order to analyze the shard, I had to break it down, and unlike people or souls, the soul forge wasn�t designed to put them back together. It was quite strange how the soul forge knew what to keep and what to break. I mean, why was it that a person inside could survive, but a steel sword got broken?

- Uh. kind of. - It wasn�t that great a sword anyway. It was really just a basic steel sword, despite the fancy design.

- Ah. - Yura sighed. But he understood why I did it. Even now, I had an inkling of how to do it, but I still needed to test it out on animals.

YEAR 80 MONTH 11

The merchants delivered a bunch of ores containing various unprocessed jewels and metals.

The idea was simple, really.

Some of these metals should be able to strengthen the biolabs and their tools, via mineral augmentation , and together with woodshaping , I could make the tools necessary to perform more precise adjustments in the soul forge.

Should.

Or maybe. Could I use star mana ?

Anyway, that was also worth testing. First, the ore and jewels test.

Before the second animal test, I fired up the soul forge, put the ores in, and measured how long each of the ores lasted before they melted into a puddle. Some would last longer, and if so. some of them should last?

Nope.

All of them melted, some a little bit slower than others, but all melted into a puddle. It was as if they were stripped apart, bit by bit. Or maybe I just didn�t have the right kind of ore.

Maybe I should use my main body? Wouldn�t that work? My main body should be more resilient than using it via subsidiary trees.

But I would have to move things around.

- Can I have a forge tree inside my main body? - I asked the Wisp. The Forge Tree was created to minimize the pain of using the soul forge; that was why it was. outside.

- You certainly could, but you will feel quite an intense pain when you use it. - The forge tree received lightning and vibrated like mad when the mana spun. - It will feel a bit like when you were evolving. And you will feel like mana - poisoned, but then again you were an evolved tree. maybe you can. -

- Let�s try it anyway. -

So, in my body, within the secret hideout I set aside a space and made it into a forge tree. It came easily after all, I already had the tree, and this was just internalizing it.

Secret hideout modified: Internal Soul Forge Chamber

And I fired the internal soul forge up.

whoomm

It spun.

It was kinda like a really bad stomachache, the mana spinning in my metaphorical tummy. But not as bad as I thought.

- Uh. you okay in there? - Alexis asked. She couldn�t see this part, inside here, deep inside the secret hideout.

- Yeah. -

Using woodcrafting , I created layers of wooden walls around the chamber, which formed a barrier, to protect myself from the swirling mana. The space here was flexible in sizing, after all.

And I fired up the soul forge, again.

These protective walls were in a state of constant regeneration. The gathered mana swirled and sped up. As it did so, it expanded and burned the protective wooden walls.

At higher speeds, and at full power, it felt like I was surrounded by fire. Like I was in a sauna.

But my initial theory was correct: my main body, vines, and feelers were more resistant to the mana - burn, and they did last longer. Not only that, thanks to Self - awareness , I was far more aware of what was happening.

Zaapp!

A lightning bolt struck my main tree, followed by loud thunder.

Ugh. I felt it travel down from the branch to the trunk, leaving a streak. It burned a little while, but my fire resistance and healing power quickly kicked in and put it out.

The mana in the forge spun, and it sped up. As it sped up, it quickly took the shape of a spinning ball. Time for another test, so I put an ore in with a feeler. The ore started to disintegrate into a puddle, levitating in the middle. My soft, green, viney feeler started to disintegrate as well as the swirling mana bombarded it.

Hmm. There must be something. Maybe just starting up the soul forge wasn�t the complete process.

I needed to see how the Soul Forge did it normally.

I decided. to test it out on an animal.

The animal was one of the many stray ones, a small hamster - like animal. It�d lost its tail. This time, I observed it intently instead of letting the skill do what it needed to do. And partly, being inside me also allowed me to truly see it, perhaps through my skill Self - awareness , since my vision of the separate Forge Tree wasn�t as holistic.�

And I saw it. The mana - dispensing feeler in the soul forge.

The moment the animal stepped into the soul forge, a small layer of mana was applied to the creature by a tiny feeler. As the soul forge started to spin, the body was protected by the mana funneled by two vertical magical connections, and then. the soul was pulled out of the body.

Even the tiny hamster had a soul.

Were you possibly human in some previous reincarnation?

Sorry I have to do this. It�s for. science. May your soul move to a better place, reincarnated into some other form.

The soul was in the shape of a hamster, too. It. it didn�t have a tail. I could see the soul, it had multiple layers, and the soul forge started to split those up. One layer representing the spirit - body, and one multi - sub layered spirit representing the skills and outer soul.

Seemed like all these details were omitted when looking at the forge tree . With the princess or the artificial souls.

The body was moved aside, and the two spirit layers moved to the center of the soul forge.

What did I do at this point? How did I recreate the tail�? I tried to look back at all the other animals that the Order gathered, and yes, there were a few samples of this animal. Some of those animals had tails.

I pulled up the data, stored in my biolab, and cross - checked to the body.

Ugh. Firstly, the data from my biolab was in a different format, presented in the form of the soul spring and its extensions.

This meant my biolab wasn�t collecting data suitable for the soul forge . The way things were presented and the information was different. It�s like one was an X - ray photo, and another was a 3D MRI scan. The information was different, even if the body was the same.

Still, the creature was in. No point stopping. I tried to use the data I had to recreate a tail. Using soul fragments, which I had plenty of, I formed it into a rudimentary shape of a tail. Ugh. My difficulty in shaping the soul fragment into the tail was partly because my feelers only lasted a short while before the swirling mana burned their tip up.

The soul forge spun, and another lightning fell. It felt like when I touched a light switch after a shower, only stronger, more intense, and it traveled to my belly, where the soul forge was.

The tail slowly, clunkily merged with the spirit - body, my burning feeler clumsily trying to adjust its position, and then it merged with the layered spirit. The real body now came back and rejoined the spirit, and then the hamster - creature was whole again.

The forging complete, I put the hamster - creature back into a healing pod.

And I used a healing ability.

The creature�s bottom started to heal; indeed, there was a small dot that was regenerating, and it resembled the shape of what I made. It was somewhat mispositioned, like. the root of the tail started a little too low.

A rough tail shape appeared, like an engorged balloon stuck on the creature�s bottom.

Then the tail expanded. and exploded in a massive splatter of blood. The hamster - creature died instantly.

I�m sorry, hamster - creature.

Looking at the remains of the splattered body, the cause was simple: the tail lacked all the details of the blood vessels, muscles, and bones that were needed in a real tail. All it had was a layer of skin in the shape of a tail as a result of my poor drawing of a tail.

The healing accelerated the blood flow into that tail, so when the skin could no longer take the pressure from the blood inflow, it exploded, and the creature died of blood loss.

Ugh.

Looked like it wasn�t going to be easy to rebuild a limb when the soul had forgotten what the limb was like. And I wouldn�t want Yura to go through that sort of miserable death.

The barriers?

The first challenge would be to get a good soul forge level imagery of what a hand should be. I would have thought I could fix this by taking a good scan of Yura , again, this time in a biolab pod inside my body, using the soul forge�s power. Something of a similar resolution and detail as what I had now seen, preferably more. Maybe create some kind of soul forge�biopod hybrid. Maybe, if I could somehow flip the image of his existing hand, then I wouldn�t have to start from scratch.

Next barrier, a way to recreate that image in the soul forge, using soul forge. My expectation was that a full soul - copy of the limb would be extremely detailed and would need a lot of work to recreate such a thing with soul fragments. Even if I had a lot of soul fragments, my concern here was whether I had the correct tools and means to recreate it, and how long would it take?

And lastly, even if I could recreate the hand in a soul form using the soul fragments, I would need to figure out a way of accurately joining it all together and then heal it in such a way that he would have a functional arm. I still didn�t know even if I created the hand correctly whether healing would somehow regenerate a hand with all the necessary bones, muscles, blood vessels, and stuff. I had taken the assumption that magic would handle it, but I did want to minimize that risk.

Lastly, what if there were things I didn�t know? Maybe there were other details that I couldn�t see because I was not using the right equipment.

Skill upgraded: Biolab healing pod

Yura thought healing his hand was going to be easier than breaking level eighty, but I thought both of these challenges were equally difficult.

YEAR 80 MONTH 12

The news of demons from the distant lands trickled in. More rifts had been spotted, but the military remained fully in control and had been suppressing the demons from the rifts, though perhaps the military was greatly downplaying the threat of the demons. So, for now, our part of the world remained safe.

The reason we were all generally suspicious of the good news was because the kingdoms were stockpiling resources; whether this was due to habit as a precaution from all prior demonic wars, or a sign of true distress, we still did not know. In past instances, trade lines got disrupted, and sources of food became unreliable, so it could be that there was really nothing, and some of these kingdoms were just being prudent, preparing for the worst.

Still, it was infectious. New Freeka was also in a mood for preparations; the council hired more soldiers, conducted extensive training for their militia, and stockpiled food. They also tried to run a campaign to smear the Order�s name, especially on the way we spent money, and to some extent, it did convince the regular citizens.

But we didn�t part with the Order�s money. Instead, we decided to spend the money on new walls and defensive towers.

This was partly because I had a good range of defensive skills, and I wanted to make use of them. We built an outer wall a short distance away from New Freeka, and it was filled with trees on both sides of the wall. The skill Reinforce Defensive Structure created a vine - based structural reinforcement with sharp thorns on the outside of the wall and carnivorous plants and cactus defense system as traps.

The walls were separated into segments by defensive watchtowers. Next to that, I had subsidiary trees filled with beetles, and they functioned as watchposts and the beetles patrolled the walls. In front of that, we placed some subsidiary trees with shield generators to block large projectiles.

This whole thing was Trevor and Ivy�s suggestion. Ivy listened in on military defensive strategies from other nations and collated the information and put forth this suggestion.

Which I thought worked for the large hordes. If it was going to be a large army of hounds, the wall would work swimmingly well.

Still, the core issue with demons was their demonic champions. Like the massive golems, or the large centipedes, with opponents like that, these reinforced walls were not going to last very long.

On that front, the plan would be anti - demon weapons. It�d been something I�d been hatching since the previous battle with the champion.

Magical wooden spears were filled with all the anti - demon abilities I had, also made with damage boosting essences, and all the holy enchantments I could get from the priests and mages in New Freeka. I would use them to cap my super anti - demon root strike . I even managed to weave a bit of star mana into it, and hopefully that�d make the difference. It worked before, so, I thought it�d work again.

This time, I was going to stockpile a whole load of these anti - demon weapons. If the heroes were going to come around, they�d probably do crazy tricks like that again.

- You could make a sword like that? -

- Huh? -

- The anti - demon weapons you were making. Could I get one? You did take my sword. you know. -

- Oh. - Ah yes. I needed to make a weapon for Yura . - But these were wooden. spears? - I showed him one of the spears, and well, it was massive; after all, it was made for me. It was bigger than a lance, and so it was really heavy. It worked for me because their wooden nature meant my roots merged with their other end, and this was the largest size my roots could handle. The size helped because you could fit more spells into bigger things without having to increase the complexity of the spell or use more magically compatible materials, which may not work with my roots.

He touched them, and he looked quite impressed. - So, this was what Madeus and the group of priests have been doing for the past week. enchanting this? -

- Yeah. I can make a wooden sword, but I doubt it can carry the same quantity of enchantments as these large, multi - layered, wooden uh. bolts. -

- I�ll take it. I would like it to have anti - demon effects, too. I might need it. -

Well true. Maybe I should outfit Horns, Lozanna , and the rest with anti - demon weapons as well.

So, I went and made wooden weapons for them.

- Ooh, this is new. You didn�t show me this before. - Meela poked her head when I was growing wooden weapons using woodcrafting .

- I didn�t? -

- You didn�t use it much, or if you did, I wasn�t there. -

- I used it to make toys and furniture. I made Lozanna �s toys with this, and the playpen was made using this. -

- Oh, true. Come to think of it, that explains where a lot of your tools come from. - Meela stared a bit too closely at the little growing sword, and she poked it. Now that she�d gotten a physical body, she was frequently walking around New Freeka.

So, I made more wooden weapons, swords, spears, and stuff. The process of making wood weapons was actually quite time consuming because for them to have a comparable strength to a regular metal weapon, I actually cheated, meaning I used irons and other metals harvested via my roots and infused them into the wood itself, the wood using them to form a kind of metallic frame in their structure.

But that wasn�t enough, so I then infused essences . I had elemental essences, strength essences, and life essences, and adding essences strengthened the overall weapon. The best part of essences was that they could coexist with magical enchantments; for small weapons like a sword or a spear (relatively speaking), they could take one or two enchantments, more if I embedded jewels in them.

But since I didn�t have many magical enchantments, I used the only one I had, lesser holy enchantment .

- Cool weapon. - Meela nodded, looking at my completed wooden sword. It was almost black in color because of the essences used. In terms of sharpness and strength, it was above a regular steel sword. It was no super - sword, but eh.

Yura tried to swing it around, nodding. - Hmm. the weight distribution feels a little weird. Probably need a bit of getting used to. But I suppose it�s good enough. -

He still liked his own steel sword.

Meela was also examining Yura �s new dark - wood sword now that it was done.

- Mika, you like swords? - Yura asked. Mika was Meela�s name in New Freeka, and Yura thought Meela was one of my artificial souls, like Horns. Meela didn�t want to be known as a former hero. There was just too much baggage, hence the new name. Alexis�s new name was Alix, but for now, nobody could see her except me and Meela.

- A bit. I think they�re quite cool. I generally like things made of wood. -

Yura nodded. - I see. It makes sense. Treefolk like wood stuff, too. But don�t you find it weird, in a way? It�s like an elf admiring a weapon made of elf - bones. I would be somewhat creeped out. -

- Eh, I don�t see it like that. If your entire life you were brought up that this was what your species does, you wouldn�t think it�s strange. -

Yura paused, nodded. - I see. -

The two chatted for a while, mostly talking about swords.

- TreeTree, you should fuse an artificial soul into a sword. You could make a talking - sword! - Meela casually said; she also took a swing of the new sword. It was a little too heavy for her, so after a swing or two, she gave it back to Yura .

Eh.

I felt like I�d had a stump rammed into me.

That. that was. actually quite a good idea. But then the poor, artificial soul was stuck in a sword, and what if he didn�t want to be in there? What if the sword broke?

But those were minor challenges. It was an idea worth exploring. It�d been two years since I�d made Ivy, so I already had enough fragments for more artificial souls. I just need to check whether I had enough potatopower.

59,400 normal trees. 5,630 subsidiary trees. One leyline. Currently have enough power to support a total of 11 artificial souls.

Oh. There was really a lot of trees now, since. well. it was peaceful.

Now let me think.

Back to Yura �s arm. I had Yura sit down and go for a full scan in the biolab again, this time specifically the one inside my body. And then, when he did, I pulled the power from the soul forge and used it to get a scan.

Now that I had some idea what I needed, based on my experience with the hamster - monster, I was trying to recreate that sort of data.

And it worked. But it was a far longer scan that the usual biolab, which took about two hours. I had to sedate Yura and put him in sleep, since the mana from the soul forge had to scan the arm.

To use my earlier analogy, the biolab was an X - ray, and the soul forge was an MRI, and now, the mana from the soul forge was entering the hand to collect data on what Yura �s existing body looked like. And because it went section by section, it took Yura the whole day.

When he woke up, he was not too pleased.

- I was asleep for a day! -

- Sorry, didn�t expect it to last so long. -

- I mean. you should tell me first. I had work back in the Order! -

- Uhm. -

Laufen, who came to check on Yura , smiled. - No worries I postponed all your meetings and briefings to tomorrow. I figured they understand that you�ve got a personal life, and that involves seeing your healers. Honestly, some of those issues, I told them to deal with it themselves. -

It�s just a day, I thought. I slept for weeks sometimes, and I had my three lovely artificial minds running things on my behalf. Looked like the Order needed to delegate more.

Yura nodded. - Fine, fine. -

- Let me look through the results. I�ll let you know. -

The scan was a lot more detailed than the ones from the biolab pods, but it was missing something.

Maybe this too was incomplete.

So I tried putting my two scans together, the one from the biolab pods and from this soul forge�powered scan. I needed some additional processing power from the root - brain complexes, so I had to temporarily tap on their root - brains for a bit more mental juice.

Suddenly, a string of notifications appeared in my head. It seemed there was a whole load of upgrades available for the internal soul forge chamber, but they would require me to build or grow certain things.

Secret hideout: Internal Soul Forge Chamber upgrades

Upgrade - Dedicated root - brain complex - to support higher resolution data - analysis of souls & storage of scan output

Wait. This reminded me of something I didn�t finish.

- A ton of gold and a ton of quartz? And all these crystals and stuff? - The men looked amazed at the order.

- That�ll cost us quite a bit of our revenue, - one of the treasurers said. - We�ll need to dig into our reserves, then. -

The master of ceremonies opened his arms wide. - Our reserves were meant for moments like this, when A/ calls on us to meet his demands. Do you not answer? -

The men gulped. The treasurer shook her head and nodded. - Certainly. -

- Go before A/ finds us lacking. -

YEAR 81, MONTH 1

- How are the preparations? -

- Shouldn�t you not care about this anymore? - Yura asked. He parried a vertical slash from Lozanna and then ducked to dodge another Initiate�s horizontal slash.

- I can�t. You know I care, - Yvon answered. She was sitting on a bench, watching Yura spar with Lozanna and the Initiates.

- Didn�t see the walls? - Yura jumped, and he elbowed the young initiate on the chest. The initiate wore a wooden breastplate; all of them did. It made them look a bit like a wooden knight. It cracked. The initiate was out.

- I did, but you know walls alone do nothing. -

- Haven�t visited them? - Yura ducked, and Lozanna momentarily vanished and emerged behind him.

But Yura blocked it anyway.

- Good move, Shadow stab . But you tend to appear right behind me. It�s predictable. -

Lozanna �s sword bent, and it curved toward Yura �s head. He grabbed it with a reinforced wooden hand and, with a strong yank, pulled the sword out of Lozanna �s hand. Lozanna protested. - It�s a spar! -

- You used two skills, so I retaliated. -

- It�s a handicapped spar! -

- Rest. We can continue later. - Lozanna was still a bit upset, but she did as she was told. She was close to the initiates now.

Yura walked to Yvon and grabbed a drink from a wooden flask.

- Where were we? Oh yes, the walls. I thought you would have visited them. Didn�t you? -

- I did. - Yvon looked at the girls. All of them were young; Lozanna was the oldest at eleven. The rest were between six and nine.

- Not enough? -

- Yeah. My own sources tell me nasty things. About massive armies in the southern continent popping out of the hills, ravaging cities and setting up camps. I fear for us, whether we can survive that. -

- I wouldn�t worry too much. The Order�s making preparations, and so is TreeTree. He�s making a whole load of preparations. Even the council�s busy preparing for the demons. As a whole, we�re doing fine. -

Yvon paused, breathed a long sigh. - Is there something underground? -

- Oh? Is there? -

- You don�t know about it? - Yvon looked puzzled. - Then. is TreeTree. doing something? All these tremors and shaking. Is it not him? -

- Didn�t sound like it�s related to what I know. - Yura shrugged. He motioned to the initiates. - Anyway, time�s up! Three initiates this time. Lozanna , you sit out and watch! -

Lozanna raised a fist.

More spars. The girls and Yura would spar a few times that day. The initiates benefited the most, since they lack combat experience. Lozanna , on the other hand, was starting to plateau. I wasn�t sure how it worked, but it sure seemed like there was a limit how much one could gain experience from fighting the same person over and over, even if the gap was huge.

Yvon asked during one of the other breaks, - Do you think we can beat a demon champion? -

- What? -

- You, and me. - Yvon pointed to herself.

- Hmm. No. - Yura shook his head.

- Why not? -

- Have you ever faced one in battle, Yvon? -

- . no. -

- I have. We�re quite good. Both of us. But a demon champion. I don�t think we are there yet. Not without TreeTree�s powers. -

- How is it that TreeTree is able to defeat demons, anyway? I�ve never heard of a Tree Spirit that�s able to defeat demons. It�s. unlike their nature. -

Yura paused. - That�s a question I do not ask. -

- You should. There was something, isn�t it? Maybe he�s some kind of unique anti - demon variant sent down by the gods? -

- This is a conversation that I don�t want to have, Yvon. -

Yvon hmphed. - Fine. But you are his spokesperson. You should know. -

- I am fine with other people having secrets, Yvon. I am not a young teenage elf who�s obsessed with everything anymore. -

- It�s not the same. You could lose your life. -

- Lives have been lost for far pettier things, Yvon. Let�s leave it at that. -

Yvon sulked.

Research Status:

Beetle - anti - magma armors stage 4 - 4 months

Metal hyperaccumulator trees - Stage 1 - 6 months

Phytoremediation process - basic - 16 months

Dedicated Filtering Blackwater - Plant - stage 1 � completed

With the blackwater filtering plant research complete, I now had a specialized tree type, derived from the trees near the sewers of Ransalah.

New Freeka�s sewer project was still under construction, so this tree was a bit early. Thanks to the budget reallocation to the military, the New Freeka Sewer Project was now crawling, with less than half the original workforce and artisans.

Meh. But I didn�t want the Order to fund the project, so I deployed some of these new Filtering Trees near the present latrines. These trees helped segregate the contaminated water, such that only filtered water passed through.

Poop was generated daily. Daily. It grew. And it must have some way of being recycled or processed. Reluctant to use the Order�s funds, I decided to get the newly obtained Dungbeetles to dig a subterranean tunnel to act as a wastetunnel for a designated spot, where the poop was aired and sun - dried. My hope was the sun and air could kill or allow natural microbes to partially process the poop, and my future poop - processor trees would be able to do the rest.

The Dungbeetles rolled the poop into balls, and over the month, they pushed massive balls of rolled - up poop to a field outside town, where they remained. It kind of resembled a futuristic art installation, a field of round balls of poop.

Thankfully the rain didn�t break it up. Seemed like the poopballs had some water resistance.

Or maybe I could use them as a weapon, roll these balls of poop into the enemy, like a bowling ball.

Oh well, this was a temporary measure, while research continued.

- Okay, we decided on helping the heroes. but what are we going to do? I am already eavesdropping on my guests, and it seems like the heroes are not here yet. - Meela frowned. She was sitting on the bar in her hotel - tree; Alexis appeared as a ghost on the other seat. There was no one else in the bar.

- I�ve got magic sensors, so that�s going to help a bit when they do appear. I�ve used what I remember of our own magic to calibrate the sensors, but they keep having false alarm, so I�m still trying to tweak it. -

- But seriously, even if we do locate the next batch of heroes, then what? I�m a hotel, and you are a tree - lab. What can we do? Without TreeTree, at least. He�s got subsidiary trees! -

- Can�t you get subsidiary trees like TreeTree? Like. hotel chains? -

- Yes, I can, but it�s like a level eighty upgrade. I�m only level forty - one! And even then I�m limited to two branches initially. -

- That�s pretty fast, considering you just started. but yeah. It was a bit risky. if the demon king pops out in another year or so, and the heroes three to six months after that. We�ve only got like. two years to gain those thirty - nine levels. - Alexis twirled a drink. It seemed Meela�s bar was ghost - friendly.

- I can make drinks and foods that makes my guests stronger. And as part of a hotel�s hospitality services, I do have some healing abilities. I have a VIP escort unlock at level fifty, but I�m not sure whether that�s any help to the heroes. - Meela looked at her upgrades. It seemed she had visibility of what skills she would gain, up until level one hundred. Something that I had yet to figure out why, but I was guessing it was part of the hero - blessings.

- Hmm. fine. Let�s do a recap. Maybe we can figure something out. In terms of potentially useful abilities, I have probe beetles , magical sensors , decipher runes , copy biological ability , life - scan , and multiple versions of heal , - Alexis said. - We have a lot of healing. -

- Our physical forms were both derived from TreeTree, and TreeTree�s got incredible healing powers. -

- Ngeh. You should�ve taken the beetle. Or the wooden body. - Alexis frowned.

- But that copy biological ability . what does that do? -

- Pretty much transplant an ability native to a living thing, to another entity. But copying is one thing. After copying, I get an ability seed . Then I need to create a fruit with the ability seed . -

- So. what can you copy? -

- Native racial abilities. Like the beetles, that would be armored body , elves, nature - affinity , centaurs, and centaurion endurance . -

- Cool! You can give that to the heroes! -

- You could be right, but then I just realized the heroes don�t lack overpowered abilities. They lack. -

- Experience. Knowledge. Other people to take the heat off them. True friends, not scheming nobles and greedy adventurers. People. that won�t backstab them. - Meela sipped from her wooden cup.

Alexis paused, and she looked up at the chandelier. It was weird having a magical chandelier on top of the bar, but it was one of the aesthetic options Meela had to decorate her hotel. The chandelier comprised of almost twenty little glowing lights, and multiple merchants had inquired about it to buy it from her.

Meela waited. There was no one else in the bar, but a few autonomous Tree - servants, cleaning the rest of the tables and adjusting the chairs. It was quiet; the bar was quite soundproof.

- You�re right. They don�t need more power or abilities. They need friends. -

- Didn�t have to be us, though. And they won�t trust us just because we come from Earth, and frankly, I don�t think I want to tell them that we are from Earth. Maybe. we need to narrow our scope. As it is, helping the heroes is probably out of our league. -

Alexis tapped on the bar countertop. It was ghost - friendly. - True. But we do need to find them. They will be most vulnerable at the start. It�ll be horrible if. -

- Don�t say it. - Meela glared.

Alexis nodded. - I know. -

- Your probes, can they communicate? -

- I�ll find a way. -

- But if they don�t spawn in this continent. -

- Then it�s out of our control. They won�t be the last batch of heroes. This plan can be used for all subsequent generations if it works. -

Meela nodded. - Ah, true. I would have more branches by then. If I have branches on different continents, they could be like assassin safe houses, like you know, that John Wick film. I�d be a brand name, like the Continental. -

- That wasn�t something I expected you to reference, Meela. -

- But heroes do need a safe house of some kind. A place to keep their stuff. I�ve got a niche I can fill! -

Alexis frowned. - How. how about me? -

- You. you could make weapons? Or be like those skill - editing NPCs in the safe areas? -

YEAR 81 MONTH 2

Spring began, and a strange structure was spotted emerging from one of the rifts in our continent. Massive, it resembled a giant walking tortoise with a castle on its back.

Any attempts to approach had been met with stiff resistance from new types of humanoid demons.

- Uh. what do you think? - Yura read the circular from the merchants guild. It advised alternative routes of trade. Somehow, the merchants guild�s trade routes circular was one of the best updates on the demonic invasion.

- Sounds like a champion, - Meela said.

- A large walking castle. -

- If TreeTree could walk, we�d have a Walking Tree versus Walking Castle fight. -

- Ugh no. - I groaned. - Not keen on that. - Besides, I�d lost a lot of power and my consciousness the moment I was no longer connected to the earth, so not exactly keen. - But it does sound like a. champion? -

- How far was it? - Meela asked.

- Not far enough. - Yura smiled.

- According to the circular, they predict. maybe four months? - The merchant guild circular came with a map, and it had a shaded heatmap, resembling a hurricane path kind of map. The merchants used this information for trade - route planning, and there was a small disclaimer saying the information was not guaranteed and demonic movements were unpredictable. The merchants guild bore no responsibility for any loss or damage arising from the use of these maps.

- Should we do anything? - I asked the group.

- Against demon champions. - Madeus paused. - We would need to get the temples aide. Else we stand no chance. -

- The Gaya temple and the other large temples were already mobilizing their best priests and paladins to the capitols. I doubt we will get much aid from them. Their resources are limited, - Wesley, the senior priest, responded. - And for them to aid another. uh. faith was weird. -

Yeah, we were kind of like a faith now, with me as the deity. I still found it weird, but apparently that was what the temples said, since I had rituals, priests, and a focal point. I hoped I didn�t get classified as a cult, though for now the temples classified the Order as a folk - faith, a kind of animistic religion.�

- So, we were on our own. -

- Oh, well, nothing different, then. - I had been making my own preparations for demon champions. I just did not expect it to be. a walking castle.

Madeus then went off tangent. - Ermm. if I may, A/ ? I would like to request we offer refuge. -

- To whom? -

- Uh. somebody from Baroosh got in touch with me yesterday. The demonic forces were very close to where they are, and although the army was trying their best to hold back the demons, it seemed the presence of this monster has tipped the scales in the demons favor. -

Ah, Baroosh. That was where Madeus was from. They exiled him, didn�t they? Looked like he still had some positive feelings for his former state.

- Many of them are still friends. And they want a backup plan if the Barooshian army can�t hold them back. -

- Yura ? - I wanted to add some conditions, but I thought of asking for views.

- We could accommodate, but they are guests, so they will be expected to behave themselves and follow our rules. - Hmm, looked like Yura had similar thoughts.

- Certainly, I will relay the message. - Madeus nodded.

- Back to us, what should we do? -

- The walls are not going to hold if a massive monster like that can just. walk through it. -

- TreeTree, that. dungeon we attacked. Is it still there? -

- Yeah. -

- Can we convert it into a shelter? And I recall there was a deep tunnel from the giant demonic centipede? -

- The tunnel is now home to beetles and fungus, but I can make some space. The former dungeon is empty. I think there are rats, but that shouldn�t be a problem. -

- Then it�s decided. We need to start convert these two locations into fortified shelters. If we can�t fight, we need to hide. -

There was an uncomfortable look around the group, a realization that this was going to be it. Demons were real.

- Should we tell the people? -

Vice Counsel Laufen nodded. - Yes. If this was going to be hideout, it�s best if everyone knows about it. -

- Even those outside the order? -

- Yes. We�re not going to pick survivors when demons come around, - Laufen insisted before anyone could respond. - Whoever gets to the shelters deserve a chance. -

The group discussed other matters, usual administrative, trade, and training stuff, and they left when the sun was starting to set.

- TreeTree. The. secret hideout , you�re not willing to let anyone go in. -

- Yes. As I said before, it�s only for all of you. The most I�m willing to accommodate is in the outer subsidiary trees , and those for the people I trust. - It was a risk, and frankly, after what happened with the druids, I felt I should be more careful with whoever got to come near me, what more inside me.

It was unfortunate that some lives would be lost this way, but I thought my own self - preservation trumped that. I couldn�t save everyone, and I didn�t plan on trying.

Laufen sighed. I wasn�t sure whether she was happy or sad. - Your secret hideout was probably one of the safest places this valley has, though. -

- If I still stand. But I believe the two options are pretty good. The tunnels don�t require me, and the dungeon�s been reinforced. - The root networks should last for at least a few months before the spatial magic started to collapse on itself. It was probably a good idea to get the builders working on it.

One of the things when disaster happened was that people prayed. It wasn�t my first time to receive prayers, but there was something about impending death that caused more people to pray. Some of those citizens prayed to every god, even if they only professed to one. Some even prayed to me.

Not all behaved this way, of course. Some became more devout in times of crisis, putting in a more offerings, going for more blessings and masses.

But this. behavior led to something that was new to me. Throughout New Freeka and the valley, there were about seven trees of prayer: one in the treefolks village, one up on the slopes of the centaur camps, and the remaining five in New Freeka itself, mostly in the Order�s compounds. These functioned as mini - shrines.

Tree of prayer upgraded

Tree of prayer�s calming presence significantly improved. Those around more likely to express their grievances. Tree of prayer gained ability to extract some negative emotions and convert them into essence.

I mostly listened. After all, there was no real need to interact. I thought to a certain extent most of these citizens knew what they wanted to do with their lives, but anxiety, fear, and worries just clouded their minds, so. they needed a place to vent, to relax, to just think in peace. So if I could talk back, that wasn�t exactly something pleasing.

Instead, the Tree of Prayer just bobbed its branches, the leaves shook, and occasionally a small fruit would fall down on right on the person�s lap, kind of like, hey - I - heard - you - have - a - fruit. The fruit was just a regular fruit, it was sweet, though, so. most of them ate it, and some of them actually displayed it in their homes. Which was creepy.

Anyway, the amount of too - much - information when people poured their hearts out in their prayers and whispers was. well, immeasurable. Seriously. Elves, centaurs, treefolks, all still had their emotional problems, their professional challenges, financial and money issues. It may be a magical world, but problems were persistent across worlds.

The Tree of Prayers had an odd side effect, which was. it remembered the prayers. Especially those who prayed often, regularly over the same thing.

It was an annoying side effect. Because I�d suddenly remember who - and - who cheated on who - and - who and I didn�t need that sort of telenovella in my tree life.

I told myself that it was a public service and it helped to keep the citizens pacified. Like my other services, the birth and death services -

- We should have more, - Ivy suggested.

- Huh? -

- They�re good intel. It helps me with my dossier. - Ivy�s like a real spymaster now. - If you could create one in Ransalah, that would be ideal. -

- . that�s a great idea. -

On the Salah side of things, they�d finally responded to Yura �s letter. There was a follow - up letter sent two months ago, just lightly reminding the kingdom of the official letter sent a year ago.

So it seemed they picked someone to be the scapegoat.

An unfortunate administrator and some of his subordinates were identified as the mastermind of the massacre, and he would be transported to New Freeka.

- A scapegoat. -

- Could really be him. We have to interview him to know for sure. The prisoner convoy will be escorted, and they will arrive in a month. - Yura shrugged. - Let�s see what comes out of this. -

- Perhaps he has a passing involvement. -

- I would think so. Salah isn�t that stupid to surrender someone with totally no involvement. The point was to sacrifice the tail to spare the head, so the real mastermind of such slaughter was spared. -

- It could be it�s just some prince up there, who just goes, Burn the rebels, and everyone down there just carries it out, - Madeus chimed in. - It�s very common for royalties to say things without actually thinking about the lives lost. -

- You say that like it�s. an everyday thing. - Meela/Mika frowned.

- Yes, Mika. That was indeed how the kings and royalties are. Our role as their servants and subordinates was to understand our liege and guess what they truly desire. We cannot always take the words of our king for what it is. -

At that point, I thought, That sounds like insubordination or treason.

- After all, our king has a wish, a desire, and sometimes the words he has cannot communicate that will, though some kings have skills that help with that. -

Yura raised a hand, and everyone quiet down. - Let us not speculate. We will wait for whoever they sent. TreeTree, I must trouble you to help us in our interrogation. Would you happen to have those. tree saps from long ago? The ones that make them. delirious? -

- Of course. I�ll make some. - It wasn�t hard to make different kinds of tree saps; regular plants made poisons and allergy - triggering saps all the time, so it was easy - peasy for a magic tree. In fact, I should totally infuse more magic into it.

Anyway, back to Ivy.

- Ivy, you suggested having a tree of prayer in Ransalah? -

- Yes, master. These people seem to confess their challenges to the Tree so easily. Why go through all the trouble of spying when they are more than willing to tell a tree? There is nothing to lose, and if anything, we gain insights into the human mind. -

- . fine. But where and how should we do it? -

- New Freeka can make a goodwill gift, since they gave this scapegoat to us. Then manipulate the officials to plant the sapling in a public park, which we can then replace with the tree of prayer . Call it the New Freeka - Salah friendship tree . -

That sounded like something politicians did back on Earth, but I thought it could work.

- I could make a sapling - sized tree of prayer . -

And so Yura arranged for a small sapling of a tree of prayer to be sent as a gift. It was sent, planted in a large vase so the Tree of Prayer didn�t die, escorted by the Arborist . Since Hutan sent a tree - caretaker, it made sense to call on his services for such transportation duties.

The merchants completed their big deal, and the demanded goods were finally delivered.

- Good job. Now, leave them here. - Wesley and the master of ceremonies pointed to a place. The workers started to unload.

- Just. leave them here? - the merchants stuttered. The master of ceremonies nodded, and the jewels and gold were unloaded.

- Yes. - Beetles started to emerge from the woods, and some started to tug at the shipment. The merchant wanted to say something and pointed to the beetles, and the master of ceremonies smiled. - The shipment was for the Tree Spirit, and it was time for us to leave. -

The master of ceremonies and a few of the Order�s men started to walk. The merchants were still a bit shocked by the beetles that were pulling the shipments into the tunnels that suddenly appeared. - Uhh. uhh. this was fine? -

- Have you not done business for tree spirits before? - Wesley grinned.

- aa. of. of course, I have. - The merchant tried to straighten himself up. Procuring the gold and hiring a large escort, only to put them in an empty spot for beetles. it was a first, for sure.

After everyone leaves, the beetles continued unpacking the goods in the network of tunnels underneath my trees. I created these tunnels recently because realizing how vulnerable I was, I wanted some of the structures to be underground, and that was. the ten new root - brain complexes and the Grand Mind Tree project.

Grand Mind Tree�s construction has begun. 18 months to completion

YEAR 81, MONTH 3

The updates from the merchant network increased in frequency, especially from the Western Theatre head office. Two towns were lost in a month, a large army of demons escorted the walking demon castle wherever it went, and throughout the continent, the demons had been spotted in more locations.

- One of our merchants was attacked. Half his convoy was destroyed, but luckily a party of riders managed to come to their aid! -

- Are we not far away? -

- Well. it seems the demons now have small raiding parties, targeting weak spots and gaps in the nation�s defenses. It�s a very. uh. kingdomish tactic. -

The raiding parties were one to two hundred demons strong, populated by mounted humanoid demons on hellhounds.

- Don�t kings and many generals have some kind of Watcher ability? - Yura asked. - I had the impression kings have ways of watching over their territories. -

- Well, yes, but such skills are not exactly. detailed. -

The Council deployed multiple two hundred�strong militia patrols to help protect the trade routes, but honestly, I would know. My subsidiary trees functioned like my watchtowers; failing that, there was the rootnet so if there was anything, I would like to think that I would be the first to know the presence of demons near New Freeka.

But with demons, one could never be too careful, so I spread out my beetles to a few locations around as an additional protection force.

This month, I added more to my anti - demon bolts and more weapons for the elves and the Order. In fact, this occupied most of my time, my preparations to face the demon champions. And made a whole load more bolts and weapons.

Woodcrafting upgraded

Skill learned: Wooden Anti - demon equipment - crafting

Essence infusion upgraded

More! More bolts. Spears. Shields. More!

- What if it�s the demon king? - Yura asked.

- Then we die. - If I could shrug, I would. The demon king was as close to a death sentence, wasn�t it? If the heroes could die, how could we face it? I didn�t think some anti - demon shield was going to survive a nuclear explosion.

Anyway, demon king was not here yet. So that was not something to worry about.

- Heh. I guess we will all run. -

- Yes. On that front, maybe we should be preparing like Madeus�s friends. Tell the Hutan council druids to grant you safe passage as compensation. Just in case. -

Yura paused. - Okay. -

- I will be fine. I want you to take everyone as far as you can if a demon king comes our way. Arrange for some kind of teleportation. -

- I�ll speak to Madeus about it. - Yura sat on his chair. - This feels. morbid. -

- Why? Staring death in the face sounds morbid? -

- Not that. We villagers used to live and let live. Things happened, and then we reacted to it. For me, having to predict what might happen and then try to prevent or prepare for it. -

- Unusual. -

- Yes. It�s a strange thing to do. Plotting and planning. The most we planned for was when to plant our crops and when to build houses. And even then, we defer to the wisdom of our elders or tree spirits. -

- It is the burden of those who lead to see what lies ahead and to guide them. Know that your actions will determine whether your friends and family lives or dies. - Was that me? Where did such TreeTree wisdom come from?

Yura slumped on his chair. - That is a mindset I am still coming to terms with. Truly, only when faced with demons I realize how heavy this burden is. -

- Everyone prepares for it. This is just on a larger scale, with more players. It was once about how much stronger you can be, but now, it is about how much stronger the Order is. -

Yura paced the room and had a sip of ginger - flavored tea. I thought he preferred ginger tea over the other flavors. Meela had been experimenting on tea flavors as a specialty drink for her morning and lunch crowds, so she had funky flavors like Garlic Tea, Herbal Mint Tea, and Grape - Ginger Tea.

- Ahh. - Yura stretched, tired.

A knock and then a voice from outside the door. - Counsel, the suspect is awake. - There was a small prison in the Order�s compound, located beneath one of the buildings. It was lightly guarded, just two beetles there.

Salah�s scapegoat.

- Yes. I ordered the burning. I was the officer in charge of the military draft for that region, - he said when interrogated. He tried to put up a brave face, but it seemed like he was hiding something.

Yura looked. So did everyone else behind the bars. The elves shared a glance, and one of them, Emile, started to cry. Somehow, it brought out a strange emotion in her heart.

A vine administered the hallucinatory sap I�d prepared.

Yura sat, facing the officer. - I ask you again, did you order the burning of Freeka? -

- Yes. yes, I did, - he said. Something wasn�t right.

So he went into the biolab pod for testing. Hmm.

His soulspring looked fine. The skills were okay. If he was lying or being forced to, there should be something to hint at the truth. I would have to go deeper and call on the powers of the soul forge.

Once he was knocked unconscious, a few beetles helped to transport his body into the main pod in my main body. With it, I used the soul forge�s power to pry into the outer soul shell.

What I saw was the usual human soul, semi - translucent, but in that soul�s head, there was a small bluish blob.

As I attempted to alter or touch it, a strong force repelled me.

Blocked by Oath

Huh?

It seemed there was no progress here, either, and it looked like he wasn�t under the influence of magic.

- Is he lying? - Yura asked.

- I have no clue. - The oath could have nothing to do with the burning. Or it could be key.

It looked like I had to use other means of interrogation, so I subjected him to some more hallucinogens and relaxants.

With my vines wrapped around him, I used an authoritative version of my telepathic voice.

- You died. - I spoke to the prisoner, now in a daze because of the crazy cocktail of hallucinogens, relaxants, and other stuff.

- I - I have? How? - he asked, flailing his arms.

- Poison. Died in your sleep. -

- Ah. so that�s what they were feeding me. Why am I looking at a scary - looking Tree? Is this hell? -

- Yes. This is the entrance to hell. You died near a Tree Spirit, so this is where you will depart to hell. -

He paused and looked confused. - I still feel. a pulse? -

- What made you think hell would not have a pulse? -

- Ah. so I might not be dead? -

- It�s a common mistake. When you die, your soul goes to this other soul realm , awaiting reincarnation. During that waiting time, life goes on normally. -

He paused. - Uh. okay. -

- So, please wait. There is a long queue to enter hell, so it will take some time. Make yourself feel comfortable here. - I didn�t know how successful this would be, but I was going to overload his body with so much of these saps that he was going to lose his grasp with reality.

- Heh. there is a queue to hell? -

- Everyone�s a sinner. So it�s natural the path to hell is extremely crowded and why we have demons so often. Since we are on this topic, would you like to confess your sins? - That was a whole load of bullshit, but he bought it.

He paused, and he started to break down, shouting and weeping. I was not sure whether he realized it, but I increased the dosage a bit more.

He started talking about how many people he killed, the people he betrayed, the families he lost. It was kind of like we were having a session of Tree of Prayer confessions.

He talked for a good hour, alternating between breaking down, crying, and anger.

But then I got what I wanted. - I. It was just fair that I died this way. I sent the army to burn the village. I mean, the commander said that dissenters should be punished. but maybe I did go overboard. I gained levels in Authoritarian when I ordered all those villages burned. I - I was drowning in joy when I gained levels. The skills were powerful, too! I got a skill like Submission , which worked so wonderfully with the commoner ladies! -

Oh. I�d expected a scapegoat. but color me impressed, Salah actually sent the right guy. And a scum, too.

- But could you fault me? The commander himself burned many villages to the ground when they rebelled against the king. All of us did. We did what we had to to enforce order. Fear was key to maintaining control. It was either that or we would be chopped for punishing the villages too lightly. -

Hmm. looked like maybe not. It was an institutional failure.

- We burned many villages. When there was a plague, we culled. When there was a suspected demonologist, we culled the villages. There was no time for proper justice, we lack the resources, manpower, and even if we did, there was no way of ensuring justice was properly conducted. Every kingdom did what it felt was right! -

Uh.

- Maybe. maybe all of us should just burn to the ground, you know? -

He sat, surrounded by the vines and roots.

- I. All of us were sinners. Maybe the demon king should just crush all of us. -

Did I overdo the tree saps?

Uh.

- Say, would I be able to meet the commander here? Or is he already on the other side? How long a backlog are we talking about? -

I definitely overdid the tree saps.

Skill upgraded: Tree saps

Skill obtained: Condensed Tree Psychedelics

Dream tutor variant obtained. Skill: Psychedelic dreams

Dream tutor variant obtained. Skill: Mystical dreams

YEAR 81 MONTH 4

The war in the Barooshian territories deteriorated. The presence of the walking demon castle greatly hindered all attempted progress, and even with high - level individuals, the demons had now deployed knights.�

These demons had been described as elites, capable of standing up to a level forty elite soldier toe to toe, and were described as humanoid, horned demons, usually with one large, unnaturally crimson wing. They had been seen wielding spears, swords, axes, and many other types of melee weapons.

- No rifts near our location yet, - the captain elaborated. It was a once every other day meeting to gather data on the demons. They were coming, and everyone was feeling a little tense.

- That�s of no comfort. We are just waiting. - Yura sighed.

- One of the merchants wants to meet, Counsel. -

- Huh. Sure. -

A merchant walked into Yura �s office chambers. - Salutations, Counsel. I�ll get to the point. The merchant guild is trying to build a coalition force to protect key trade routes, especially those that cut through the kingdoms nearest to the spotted giant demon walker. In exchange for the various nations contributions to the force, led by a group of senior military men, the merchants guild will offer preferential prices on goods well below market rates, and also the rights of first purchases on goods passing through these routes. -

- You sure didn�t mince words there. - Yura sat and thought for a moment. - How many men were you talking about? Have you spoken to the High Council? -

- Yes, I have. They are keen, but only if the Order also participates. They will match every person you put in. -

- Heh, clever of them. If the Order doesn�t participate, then we look like scum. - Yura sat and twirled a wooden pen. - Back to my question, how many men does the guild want? -

- Ideally, we want high - level individuals. Elites, if possible. Numbers, while they do have their own quality, are not the most suitable countermeasure against a demonic force - of - nature like the giant demon walker. -

- I - I need to have some discussions. Come back in two days. - The merchant bowed and left.

Yura turned and called in the management team. - Madeus, would you be keen? I�m also planning to talk to Yvon. If anything, I would like both of you to participate. -

Madeus shook his head. - I�m having fun teaching the kids in the orphanage. -

Well, turned out Yvon also had a similar idea. - The Valthorn kids need me. I�m not leaving them alone with TreeTree, not without my supervision. -

Also, now that we knew quite certainly the Salah guy was the right guy, I was a bit stuck with what to do.

- Y�know, if he wasn�t the right person, it�s not cool to drug him and make him think he died. How did you plan on integrating or undoing the effects of such a powerful hallucination? -

- Hmm, I had a hunch he was hiding something. -

- He could be hiding other things. -

- Too bad. I�ll just make him think it�s all a dream. You know, like those exceedingly vivid dreams that you wake up from wondering what in the world just happened. -

- That sounds like the kind of essays I used to write for school. - Meela grinned.

When I delivered the message to the elves that he was the right guy, Laufen stormed up and went to one of the Tree of Prayers to gather her thoughts. Somehow the reality that she faced the person who indirectly caused the death of her husband made her. angry.

- I want to slap him many, many times. -

- Okay. - So the drugged delirious prisoner was freed from his biopod prison, and Laufen slapped him many times. In fact, the other elves joined when they saw Laufen started to slap the man.

- You! You evil man! Our lives lost just because you felt like it! - Laufen slapped. - I had thought that maybe you had a vendetta, but no. - She slapped again. - We were just. - Another slap. - Another village to burn. - Another slap. The guy was delirious. The overdose of hallucinogens had massively distorted his sense of reality.

- Is this like purgatory? Where I meet those I have sinned and answer for them? - he asked.

Which only made Laufen even more mad. - Hell yeah, it is. - She slapped him some more. The other elves, like Emile and Belle, both just gave him one slap. One big, fat slap. And that was it.

They walked away. Because although they were angry, watching Laufen�s ugly chain of slaps made them feel like they needed to be above this.

- All because of some stupid levels! Were our lives all so meaningless and insignificant to these nobles and lords? - Laufen slapped.

The guy just laughed. He�d lost it, really. - Yes, my dear. Yes. Actually, even lords and nobles were meaningless. We all die in the end. Everyone�s just out for themselves and we make life difficult for everyone that is not us. -

Laufen slapped him in between those words, so it was actually not so coherent. - Agghh. - She slapped him a few more times, until she stopped, sat on the ground, and started to weep.

Lozanna watched and gave her mom a hug. - Mommy. it�s okay. it�s okay. -

The guy�s face was red and blue from all the slaps, and I thought it�s time to end it. So some vines pulled the guy back into the pod. - I�ll keep him for now. -

Laufen still cried, so she didn�t respond to my statement. Yura just watched, and he walked away.

- TreeTree. just kill him already. Him being insane and mocking us with that insanity just makes us feel worse. -

Hmm. Well, I kind of figured he was gonna die anyway, but to kill him would be a waste of valuable mortals. He would join the other criminals on death row that I�d reserved for my soul - related experiments.

I mean, if the justice system said who was to die, might as well contribute to science while dying. It wasn�t as if the manner of death made a difference. It was a position opposed by Meela and Alexis, of course, but they couldn�t stop me.

If I was going to figure out how to fix Yura �s arms, I needed more experience with all the sophisticated meddling in the soul forge.

In the past month, in between creating more of those anti - demon bolts and weapons, I�d been experimenting with creating an arm, and indeed, the first thing I needed was to reverse - engineer the thing that protected a body while undergoing the forge process.

It seemed there was a specific frequency to the mana, kind of like a state in which the mana was able to hold its form despite the maelstrom within the soul forge , and mastering this process would allow my feelers to interact with the exposed soul fragments in the soul forge.

So, firstly, the process required the creation of more mana - tuning organs. It took quite a few tries, but it was a whole lot easier once I used some of the jewels as regulators. I knew this because it was part of why jewels were so commonly used in magic items because precious gems and jewels had a kind of mana - storage, mana - stabilizing quality to them.

Essentially, it was like a ball of roots organized along a few jewels as nodes, with two feeler ends. Kind of like a large tuning fork, and the length - width of that fork determined the frequency and spin.�

With it, I was then able to coat my feelers with a tuned mana, which protected it from the effects of the soul forge by about ninety to ninety - five percent. Pretty good, I thought.

Next was to make simple organs. Using animals as my test case, I tried to make small tails and whiskers, repair ears, and repair skin.

Most of them failed, but I was getting better at the smaller stuff. Relatively speaking.

I judged my performance by the size of the little animals explosion when healed.�

YEAR 81 MONTH 5

My first encounter with this generation�s demons, a pack of humanoid demon riders spotted passing through one chain of subsidiary tree that stretched up to the previous dungeon hole. The chain of subsidiary trees, with New Freeka Valley as the center, was kind of like a spider net.�

They didn�t attack my trees. But I moved some beetles to the area as I watched their actions.

These demonoids were clearly more intelligent than before. There was a visible leader, giving some kind of instruction, in a language I couldn�t fathom. They were setting up an ambush.

I watched them camp there for five days until a trader caravan approached the area.

Their ambush was countered by an ambush from my beetles. It went well. Despite their intelligence, their ability to fight was just about. average. A regular demonoid was at the same strength as a regular hellhound. Which wasn�t much.

Their leader was much better; it took two beetles to take him down.

- The merchants are struggling to keep certain trade routes with the demons employing such guerilla tactics. -

- I�m impressed that demons have the concept of attacking supply chains. -

- Impressed? This was horrifying. We could spot demons a mile away thanks to their unfettered destruction! Now we can�t! That�s not a good thing! -

- Hmm. I think we shouldn�t overreact. It seems the precautions needed will be similar to bandits, if their raiding parties are so small. A small group of adventurers would�ve been able to defeat that raiding party. -

- The threat of the raiding party was small, but the thought that there is potentially sophisticated intelligence behind the demons. -

- TreeTree, you said your trees spotted them? -

- Yeah. -

Yura paused and sat. The captain then asked, - Can we have a perimeter of trees? Would it be possible? -

- Uh. no. I can�t make that many trees. - Four lines as it was almost maxed out my subsidiary tree quota. Unless I gained levels or the skill got an upgrade, I didn�t think I could spam more subsidiary trees .

I did have my basic tree - eye, but there were only ten of those, and I wanted to keep those for special places where I wanted to see things for myself.

Trevor interrupted.

Demons.

- There was more of them, - Trevor said to me.

- What? -

- A pack of three hundred demons appeared. North. Mostly regular demonoids, but this pack had about ten of the captain grade demons and one mounted knight. -

- Beetles? - I looked at the map, and Trevor pointed me to the nearest group of fifty or so beetles. There was another group of thirty beetles further away. - Okay, let�s group them together. -

- They won�t make it in time to save that convoy if they do. - What? A convoy?

Trevor changed my vision to see a convoy of eight carriages and about twenty merchants. - Recommend we send the fifty beetles now, and hopefully the thirty beetles can join the battle midway. Or if you want to intervene directly. with root strikes. -

- Heh, - Well, I was itching for a fight.

Rooting field .

Roots emerged from a field of grass, and they quickly entangled the group of three hundred demonoids. The leaders of the group were able to cut the roots off, and then my squad of fifty beetles arrived. The beetles charge easily destroyed quite a bit of the regular demonoids.

Except the knight. It had a black sword, and in a single slash, it cut one of the beetles in half.

- Noo. - Horns was upset. - Kill that enemy. -

The demon knight cut down a few more beetles. I recalled seeing demon knights during the previous war, the demonized humans. But this knight was pure demon, and I would say he was about level. forty? I wasn�t too sure.

Heh. No point delaying.

Serpentine Rootstrike .

Multiple roots appeared and pierced through the demons, like a multi - headed hydra. The knight dodged and cut through some of the roots, but the roots, when cut down, instead split into more roots, which attacked the knight.

The knight cut down more roots, but it kept breaking up into more roots. And then one root speared through the knight from the back.

And it turned into ash.

- Huh. - If the demons could create more knights at that level, the kingdoms were going to have a whole lot of problems.

Turned out, shit was already pretty bad. News from the Southern Continent came, and it wasn�t pretty down south. Another walking castle had been spotted, and they�d overrun a few kingdoms. The Southern continent was essentially in a pure - war mode, every nation in the region combining their forces, where they could, to delay the demons advance.

- These numbers. -

The captain started to read out the merchants guild report. - Are they trying to ask for help? - The report had a whole load of numbers on the size of the demon armies. In the southern continent, they�d spotted six different armies with at least fifty thousand demons.

- Sounds like it. The merchants guild can�t formally request for aid without the consent of the local kingdoms. At best, they will try to build a coalition with the local kingdoms, but it�s something they were already doing. -

- Is it normally this bad? - I asked the captains. They shrugged.

- I don�t know, but. it�s sure messier this time around. -

- How many have been displaced? - Yura wondered. - Are we going to get more refugees? -

- A lot. With all continents facing some demon issues, the refugees don�t really have a lot of choices on where to go. -

- What about the islands? -

- Hmm. sounds like they won�t be able to run away from the south that easily. So, if anything, we�re still going to get Baroosh - ian refugees. -

- The elven kingdoms were up north, right? - Laufen suddenly asked.

- Yeah. Why�d you ask? -

- If Baroosh was in trouble, how about the other elves? -

Madeus paused. - I - I believe they would not be in any better shape. The demon walker is a massive size and the army�s not been defeated yet. -

- We need to figure out how to hide, - Yura pondered. It was only six months into the beginning of the demons, and things were already not great.

And that was how I spent more time on the underground tunnels. The farmers did already have warmed farmhouses and underground chambers, but I didn�t, and I thought I may be able to do things. differently.

The underground tunnels were humid but had no sunlight. Any plants that needed to survive here would have to have long roots and somehow have tubers that stored their food in the tunnels, which the refugees could use.

Using root tunnels , we built a network of tunnels, with rooms, and with some wood magic and woodcrafting made wooden furniture and flooring to make the rooms somewhat habitable. In the event the demons overran the surface, though, they would need a source of food and water. It was fairly easy to create roots that stored some water and food as emergency rations, since I had the tuberous storage , which, when not storing energy, could be converted into a massive edible potato and a high - water content potato.

- Preparing for the apocalypse? - Meela seemed quite interested in all the preparations. I thought she recently added a few underground chambers to her hotel, so I thought we were aligned on that part.

- Yeah. This demon king feels different. -

- I doubt it�ll be that different. Maybe it�s just a change in the minions. The previous demon king we faced was a floating castle. -

Alexis then butted in. - I like all these preparations. Reminds me of the kind of nuclear bunkers we have, preparing for eventual doomsday. -

- I should add something like that to the basement of my hotel, huh? -

- Of course, if a disaster happens, a hotel must have a safe space for its guests! It should be reinforced and close to impenetrable. - Alexis laughed, and Meela nodded.

- True. I guess if I wanted to make a hotel like the Continental, it better be a battle - ready hotel. -

- You can start by adding a vault, a strong room, an armory. - Alexis rattled on a list of things to add.

- Uh. I think we�re getting sidetracked. I�m trying to make habitable hideouts for the citizens in case things deteriorate. - I had to bring the conversation back on track. - And if both of you want to help, help me with it. -

Alexis stopped and thought for a moment. - Hmm. it�ll need some artificial sunlight. Perhaps mana - powered lights, and then with it, grow some kind of vegetables under those lights? -

- Oh. - That was kind of like the greenhouse idea again, but indoors.

So we tried it out. I got Trevor and Dimitree to help, since I was really kind of tired of doing things on my own; there was just so much to do, so many things to manage.

We upgraded the tunnels into canister - like compartments, each canister a self - sufficient setup, with a water storage plant, fungi and plant growing area, food storage, and wooden beds. It had metal - reinforced wooden pillars and walls, for additional strength and toughness.

It was kind of like segments and sections in buildings.

New skill acquired: Customizable Roots

Customizable Roots function like the underground equivalents of your customizable branches. Each subsidiary tree now can support one customizable branch and one customizable root. Choosing the customizable roots will shrink the Tuberous Storage of that subsidiary tree.

Oh. Cool?

- How does it look? -

Yura and the elves looked around at the new network of underground housing cum hideouts.

- Just needs some more lights for additional brightness, but for a war - time hideout, absolutely luxurious. -

- The food supply may be insufficient, though, since these things depend on you growing your own vegetables. But at least there is water, and the potatoes on the wall are still growing. - The potatoes on a segment of the wall were still linked to the roots. It was like the seed of the potato, so the refugees could pluck the potato and a new one would grow.

- Good enough. I suppose next will be fortification and security. -

Alexis and Meela added, - How about air? Is there sufficient oxygen down there? Ventilation is super important in underground spaces! People could die from choking and smoke! -

- Good point. - I had thought of using the plants, but the plants probably didn�t produce enough oxygen.

- Could you use mana to create oxygen? -

- Uh. is there a spell like that? -

Natural Tree Ability: Water, oxygen, carbon cycle - converts water to air, or air to water. Uses mana.

Oh. That was easy. Turned out I had that ability all the while.

But it didn�t solve the problem if I wasn�t there. How did the refugees get air?

- Do you have plants that create air? -

- No. - Maybe there were, but I�d need to find them.

It was Madeus that gave the solution. - We�ll get some Gems of breathing. Those gems can produce air at a mana cost, and with that we can breathe. It doesn�t require much mana that ordinary folks with some magic should be able to operate. -

- That�s quite expensive. - Yura nodded after the Treasurer told him the expected cost. - But we�ll get a dozen. And the gems of sunlight as well, if we plan to grow these plants underground. -

Ah, turned out, there were some off - the - shelf solutions already.

Alexis paused. - Can you ask for some of those gems? Ask Yura to buy a bit more? -

- Our coffers are a bit low after my recent spend on the gold and jewels for the Grand Mind - Tree, so. -

Alexis frowned. - I could use some of those for research. -

YEAR 81, MONTH 6

The magical sensors went crazy. Across my many subsidiary trees and biolabs, the array picked up multiple large surges of energy.

- Something�s happening. - Alexis was the first to be disturbed by the sensor readings. The air seemed tense, and a sudden gust of wind followed. A while later, my network of roots started to detect tremors from afar, the sign of a massive explosion.

- Yura , any idea what�s going on? - Yura was oblivious to it because, well, unless you had a built - in magical sensor in your body, you wouldn�t notice it.

- Uh. -

It was Madeus who ran in, along with Yvon, to the Yura �s Counsel Chambers. - A massive magical explosion has been detected. The demon walker was attacked with some kind of projectile weapon. -

- Oh, isn�t that good news? Who did it? - Yura asked.

- The Barooshian court gathered their mages and the voluntary sacrifices of a few young men and women. It�s. forbidden blood magic. And it didn�t work. Instead of destroying it, the magical projectile heavily injured the demon walker, and now it�s marching for the Barooshian capital. -

- Blood magic. - Yura looked at Madeus suspiciously. - Baroosh has blood magic? And sacrifices? -

- . there was a hidden faction in the wizarding academy studying blood magic. Secretly. But the king gave his consent to do this. -

- The blizzard may have links to Baroosh. - Meela said. - What�s Baroosh�s relationship with Nung, Takde, and Salah? -

Madeus shrugged, a little bit ashamed.

- Okay, I don�t know. But whatever it is, that magical disturbance came from Baroosh. -

The magical sensors went off again. But this time, it wasn�t from Baroosh�s general vicinity. It came from further north, from the coast.

- Uh. any idea what�s going on? -

We didn�t know. Until news came about a week later that the same Blood Magic Ritual was repeated in another kingdom south of Salah. with more sacrifice.

And the worse part? The second projectile missed the demon walker and left a crater filled with an unpleasant miasma.

- Madeus. is there a cult practicing blood magic throughout the continent? -

- Uh. there are all sorts of cults out there, practicing all kinds of obscure magics. No one really knows, but I would say. yes? -

- The demon walker changed direction. It. it�s now heading south. -

- What? -

Another magical disturbance. My sensors were starting to become quite attuned to this. It was the same country, and they did the ritual. Again.

- How many times can this ritual be repeated? -

- I - I don�t know? -

This time, we all saw it, because the dark purple and red magical projectile flew overhead. Even with my spiritual vision, I could see it. It was a missile made of condensed magics, sacrificed lives, and a whole load of unknown energies.

- It�s from a country called Gila. - The array of magical sensors could now track the movement of the magical energy. A kingdom led by a new king? There was little I knew of them that wasn�t outdated.

This third blood ritual bullet exploded at the edges of Barooshian border. Scrying revealed half of the castle on the demon walker�s back was destroyed. The regular demons died. But it didn�t stop the walker.

Oh no, it didn�t. - Uh. it�s still headed south. -

- Are they planning to use this against the demon king? -

Well, it turned out Gila and Baroosh were not alone. In the southern continent, a few similar spells were used to great success. They destroyed a demon walker.

The demon walker, though, now moved as fast as it could toward Gila, devouring every single town or village in its path and, with it, a growing army of demons.

- Uh. it�s coming here. -

- This is insane! - Alexis screamed. She used the readings from the magical sensors and her own sensors. - It�s pretty much a magical nuclear weapon, tuned to cause immense destruction in a narrow area. -

News indeed spoke of the location of the missed shot turned into a corrupted, haunted, poisoned place, where everything died and strange alien monsters emerged from it.

But, despite the costs, the fact that there was a reliable weapon against these demonic walker - giants gave great hope to many kingdoms. A weapon that could fight back! So it seemed there was widespread propaganda that the magus had discovered a potent magical spell able to defeat the demons. No longer did they have to fear the champions.

- TreeTree, I hate you, - Alexis said one evening at the news that more such rituals were being used throughout the world.

- Why? -

- You were preparing for underground hideouts. Did you have a spirit vision or epiphany that you somehow saw this coming? Hex Bombs? - Alexis called them hex bombs because they left a hex on the land.

- Honestly, no. I was preparing for the possibility that a demon champion would defeat me. But this feels too coordinated. Who�s teaching the process of this ritual to all the different kingdoms? The speed this ritual spread was unreal. -

- The kings won�t hear naysayers now. They all bought the story that this spell can defeat the walkers, and they have two success cases now. - One in the Southern Continent, and one in the Eastern Theatre. People celebrated, ignoring the reality that there were sacrifices needed for each shot, which numbered between hundreds to thousands, less if the person was of a high magical power and level.

- But one was still walking our way. - After Gila�s two shots, they stopped. The demon walker was wounded, with a strong hex on its body, but it was still headed this way.

Deep inside, I just knew that it was going to come through here. I didn�t need a messenger running inside the room shouting.

- Demon walker was headed for New Freeka. expected to be two to three weeks away. With an army of forty thousand demonoids. -

It was just how it was. I was a magical tree, and somehow, I would always end up fighting demons.

Which was fine. Demons were my natural enemies.

I just didn�t appreciate being potentially in the line of fire of a Hexbomb.

YEAR 81 MONTH 6

The demonoids came over the hills, the giant walker with the body of something resembling a mutant giant tortoise with a castle on top. The castle consisted of multiple reddish spires with jagged edges, resembling the teeth of a monster.

It wasn�t hard to tell that it was approaching. The demonic army would cut down the trees in its path, and I could feel the walker�s energy; with each step, a bit more of its energy pushed back on my bubble and caused the effective radius of my lesser demonic suppression aura to shrink.

But whatever that was, it only worked on the outer area. At this distance, in this valley, the aura from my main body was strong, and here, it overlapped against whatever that demon walker emitted.

Together, with the walker, the fifty thousand or so demonoids crossed the rolling hills. By the scouts count, the army increased by ten thousand, and this was due to the bases and the walker itself being a mobile demon production factory.

Or as Alexis called it, a hive. Like a beehive that made more bees.

The past three weeks, along the expected path of the demon army, we built a few more layers of walls, filled with traps and places for the soldiers to retreat, and tunnels for the beetles to spring a surprise attack.

Honestly, I felt confident. A defensive battle was pretty much how I could fight, and it was something that I was good at. And we had been preparing for this fight.

And when the demon walker emerged, I felt ready.

The demon walker�s spires somewhat recovered, the damage from the blood hex magic was no longer noticeable, so we presumed they had some self - healing ability. Until we saw the other side of the giant walker, where a large chunk of its body glowed purple, as if it oozed a magical rot. This massive giant tortoise with a big castle on its shell stomped, and the earth shook. Luckily, the walls held. The roots and plants helped to absorb the shockwave.

- A zaratan. - Alexis was the one with a wide general knowledge. - A walking zaratan, instead of an island on its back -

A loud but deep roar shook the entire valley.

- Trivia will have to wait. -

The demon walker roared again, and that signaled the beginning of this battle. The army of demonoids charged toward the first layer of walls into the carnivorous plants and cactus defense systems .

And the sound of wood and demon colliding became the background chorus. The demons chopped the defenses down, but not before the carnivorous plants devoured some of the demonoids, and in doing so, gradually, but surely, reduced the number of demonoids. I reckoned about one thousand to two thousand demonoids fell before the outermost layer was breached.

Yura , Madeus, and Yvon prepared on top of the fourth makeshift wall layer. - Lozanna , stay with TreeTree. This is not your battle, not yet. -

- But my level is already in the thirties! I should be out there fighting! - the young lady protested. She, too, was armed for battle, and she had two anti - demon wooden short - spears on her back.

- She�s right. She�s a valuable battlefield asset. We need her on the field, together with the girls, - one of the captains said. The archers got into position. They�d been waiting for this moment. Many had a good meal last night, perhaps in preparation of death.

- No. Not Lozanna , and not the kids. The Valthorns stay back, - Yura insisted. - Right, TreeTree? -

- Lozanna should be fighting, but let her take one of the flanks where it�s less risky. Together with Horns, the beetles will cover her. - The beetles were all hidden in the tunnels. All ten thousand of them. But I could spare some to act as Lozanna �s squad.

The demon walker roared, and the demonoids all received a boost it. My lesser demonic suppression was effective, and the roar merely offset the effects of my aura.

Yvon nodded. - You can�t coddle her forever. Fighting demons is a regular affair. She best get some experience -

The giant walker had a large head, and its head resembled part - tortoise, part - dragon. It had spikes and horns, and it roared, revealing its fangs. It was a different roar; the vibration was different. And that roar sent out an energy blast.

Steelwood barrier Woodshield Shield Generators .

The subsidiary trees that functioned as shield generators created a large wall of wood, blocking the energy blast -

Crack.

The energy projectile from the blast slammed into the shields, and it crushed the first barrier and woodshield and then cracked the last shield.

- Okay, fine. Go. Keep yourself safe. - Yura sighed, turned, and faced the horde of demonoids. The demon knights led the charge against the first layer walls. - Remember what we discussed. We�ve got to take on the demon knights. TreeTree will focus on the demon walker. -

Yvon nodded and then shrugged. - Though I would prefer to observe TreeTree in action, but I suppose we don�t have a choice. Be careful of the knights. -

Lozanna smiled. - Okay. Stay safe, everyone. - Yura gave Lozanna a pat on the head.

- You, too. Retreat or ask for TreeTree�s help if you�re in trouble. Better alive than dead. -

An armor of wood surrounded Yura , and in his hand, a dark - brown wooden sword. There were multiple wooden spears on his back and multiple smaller wooden stakes enchanted to weaken demons.

- And Yvon, you can watch after the knights are destroyed. -

The demonoid horde still charged. And in one area where the density was highest, I activated Root Surge and skewered about two thousand demonoids.

The walker stepped closer, and the earth shook. It roared another energy blast, this time aimed for the second layer of walls. I couldn�t stop the full power of the energy projectile in time, and this time, a section of the second layer walls disintegrated and killed about twenty archers and the beetles hiding underneath.

- TreeTree, can you stop that blast? - Yura asked while running toward the army. The archers had started their volley overhead.

- I am creating shields right in front of it to deflect and absorb the blast. That should take the heat off you. But be prepared to run if I can�t stop it in time. -

- Great. - Yura cut down a few more demonoids in the way. He was looking for the knights.

A roar and another energy blast, but this time, I stopped it. It took four layers of steelwood barriers .

A special demon, one with wings, appeared, and it landed with a bang. The explosion from its crash crushed another section of the second layer of walls. And then it stabbed the few soldiers right in front of it.

- Yura , there was a winged demon elite. Look out for it. It should be on your left. -

- Aye. I don�t see it. - Yura was deep in battle, fighting some more demonoids.

The horde breached through the new gaps in the second layer of defenses, like a pipe with holes.

The mages conjured their fireballs and spells. And the demonoids raised a shield made of their demon-matter. Since when did the demonoids have shields? The explosions from the spells still destroyed a few demonoids, but the shields reduced the damage.

Two knights closed in on Yura �s position. Tall, dark, and honestly quite cool looking with that jagged - edged demonic body, one used an axe, and the other used a spear. I should create wood knights. They looked cool.

Rooaar.

An energy blasted from the walker again. My shields blocked it, but there was still collateral damage from some of the deflected blast; a part of the third layer walls was destroyed. It was using the blasts to open a way for the horde. These makeshift walls weren�t that tough, but the fourth layer was the one we built previously. The fourth wall was tougher, and where most of the men were stationed.

- So you�re the demon knights. - Yura was deep in battle near what remained of second layer walls, and his wooden sword glowed. - Show me what you can do. -

Speed slash . Yura �s sword flickered like streaks of light, and the first demon knight turned to mincemeat.

- Oh. Easy? - Yura looked at the other knight and closed in. Indeed, the level eighty warlord crushed the level fortyish knight within five swipes. Honestly, using his high - speed skill was overkill.

Rooaar.

The walker stomped, and it interrupted the archers and mages spells.

Another energy blast, and somehow I got the angle a bit wrong. The projectile deflected and made a hole in one of the valley - cliffs.

The walker�s large size meant it could easily walk over the walls, and it did so. It stepped across the second layer of walls. He�d entered the range where my root strikes were at full power.

Something hopped off the demon walker�s back and landed right in front of Yura .

A demonoid with wings, proper demon-like horns, and a sword large enough to cut a cow in half, he radiated a magical aura.

Yura smirked. - So, the demons now have tiers of elite forces, too, eh? TreeTree, you watching this? This the guy? -

- Yes. - But my focus was on the walker. My three artificial minds were working really hard to help. Trevor, Dimitree, and Ivy managed the beetles, created root tunnels, and helped to activate all the subsidiary trees , cactus defense system , shield generators , and provided battlefield intel to Horns, who was deep in the fighting with Lozanna . It was a good thing I could delegate some of my abilities to them.

Yvon landed next to Yura after killing one demon knight. - Need help? -

Yura shrugged. - I�ll let you know. But I�ll try to handle him myself, for now. I�ve got skills I�ve been itching to test out on. something strong. -

- All right, I�ll keep the demon knights from meddling. -

- What should we call this demon? - Yura looked at Yvon, and the demon-elite looked quizzically back at them. Its large sword glowed red and then black. A black flame emerged from it.

Demonfire, again. How nostalgic.

The walker stepped closer. A bit more. I just needed its entire massive body entirely within range. Most of the horde of soldier - demonoids crossed the second layer of defenses. Those makeshift walls really didn�t last very long, but it served the purpose.

- For TreeTree! - Horns mentally shouted. - Battle - beetles, let�s go! - There was no new beetle type; it was just a name Horns came up with. It was punny, he said. Wisp said their personalities took after an aspect of their creators, so I thought Horns inherited a punny part of me.

Beetles streamed out of the tunnels under the second and third layer of walls, charging into the mass of demonoids from both sides, and the entire area turned into a massive brawl.

Strangely, despite the chaos of the brawl, all the demons had the sense to avoid the demon-elite and Yura , both in intense, rather high - speed combat.

The demon-elite or general could fly, but at that distance, neither could really hurt each other. It seemed that the demon-elite wasn�t much of a spellcaster, so they went into a full melee.

Yura ducked, dodged, and sidestepped the demon-elite�s large bastard sword repeatedly, often narrowly avoiding mini - explosions from the sword - blast.

- demon-general�s a better name? - Yura �s sword cut the demon-general�s wings, but the wings regenerated. It roared in response, its mouth shooting out a mini - projectile at Yura . - And screw this. - Bamboo generated a massive wooden shield in front of Yura . The wooden shield disintegrated, but it seemed like the demon-general didn�t have that many uses of that projectile, since it went back into melee.

Right above, the demon walker stepped even closer. Its feet now crossed over the third layer walls easily. It roared again, this time the energy blast aimed right at the forest, right at me.

- It can sense our presence, Master, - Trevor commented. - It knows of the magical energies you are radiating. -

In my mind, I didn�t think so.

Steelwood barrier x 5. Thank goodness I seemed to have more than few hundred uses of these shield - skills per day. Multiple large wooden barriers once again appeared to block the energy blast. Four barriers disintegrated, but the last one held. - Well, what do you know? My shields at this distance can stop that blast. -

Below it, the beetles and the demonoids fought it out in a massive brawl. The militia and the Order�s soldiers kept up the volley of arrows, but in such state, there was quite a bit of friendly fire. The beetles large sizes didn�t help.

The walker roared again, and. the spires on its back glowed red, and another spire glowed purple. Once that started, the demonoids glowed red, too, and they went into a kind of battle - frenzy, and the damage suffered by the demonoids seemingly regenerated.

- Oh. That castle�s an aura - machine. - I mentally smacked myself. Of course, the castle imparted passive buffs, like me.

The spires started to shoot out smaller, less powerful energy blasts.

- And it�s equipped with laser - turrets. - Alexis looked in amazement. - It�s a walking laser tank. -

For me, those glowing red spires reminded me of the Obelisk of Light.

- The blood - rituals don�t look so bad now. - I sighed. To be fair, without the walker, I�d defeat the forty thousand, even sixty thousand demonoids without a problem. Ten thousand beetles would�ve taken out twenty thousand demonoids, easy. Clearly, for regular humans without special anti - demon skills and weapons, they would need to gather a large group of high - level individuals. At least multiple level eighties.

It really made my multiplier against demons a great advantage.

Madeus, together with the mages of New Freeka, changed their targets to the giant walker, since it was hard to avoid friendly fire with the beetles fighting literally in the trenches. Lozanna was doing fine. She had a whip - like weapon that seemed to cut through the demons like they were made of paper, and it was only against the knights that she needed help from the beetles.

- We�ve got them held up at the third layer, - one of the captains said. Well, the fourth layer was the last layer of walls, and after that, it was New Freeka�s own town walls or the forest itself. I wasn�t keen on letting the walker anywhere near the forest since the treefolk village was between me and them.

The walker stepped and kicked the third layer�s walls with its large feet.

- Oh. - I kind of forgot that it could just. hit things instead of using the energy blast. And it kicked again.

And that segment of the walls crumbled. Most of the men had retreated to the fourth layer; it was mostly just ranged combat, except for beetles. Some of the soldier - elites also tried to fight the demonoids. By now, the demonoids thinned to about thirty thousand, and I�d lost about half of my beetles, some losses of soldiers or the Order, mostly from the walker. But it looked like they would have to bear some more.

The walker stepped through the crumbled sections. It kicked the fourth layer walls with incredible force, and then, strangely, walked past the fourth layer of walls. It walked toward me as if it knew I was there. Waiting.

- Oh, it dares to approach TreeTree? - Alexis grinned. - Even though TreeTree has anti - demon powers? -

It roared. My wooden shields blocked the energy blast. Good. Come.

- Get as close as you need to so I can shove all the roots I have through your body. -

Hmm, let�s see whether there was going to be any collateral damage.

- Have the treefolk evacuated? -

- Let me check. yes, - Trevor said.

Most of them were now in the designated safe houses. Those that could fight were on the fourth wall and some back at New Freeka�s town walls. The demonoid army was still behind it, caught up in the brawl with the beetles, though some were trickling past the third wall.

Yura and the demon-general fought toe - to - toe as Yvon focused on fighting the other demon knights that tried to come to the demon-general�s aid.

Yura �s still had an edge, but if there was two of them, he�d be in trouble. He took a few hits, but thankfully the armor bore the brunt of it. Yvon, on the other hand, focused on the other demon knights.

At first Yvon wanted to help, but her own level was only about sixty, so she changed her targets. Yura and the demon-general traded blows.

The demon general leaped high up, half of its wings torn from an earlier well - placed slash. Its large bastard sword cracked, and a massive wooden fist punched it right in the body. It staggered back, and Yura changed weapons again. The wooden swords didn�t last long, but he had a whole lot stored.

- So, any tricks? - Yura �s body was surrounded by Bamboo�s wood - armor, and its flexible form meant it was also a weapon. - Or were you just faster, stronger, and hit a whole lot harder? -

The demon-general staggered, even with the aura - effects from the Demon Spires. There were three wooden spears lodged in its body, the wooden spears enchanted with holy magic and made from TreeTree�s anti - demon wooden stakes. Its enchantment meant it drained some demonic energy out of the demon-general.

- Well, time to end this. Speed Slash . -

A flash of light and the demon-general�s body was cut in half, then it disintegrated.

- Just a faster, stronger demon knight. I�d be worried if they start having actual skills. - Yura did a fist, and then he realized there was still a whole lot of demons to fight.

- Good, I�m going to be fighting the demon walker now. -

- Is this what Godzilla looked like? It�s massive. - Meela looked in amazement. - Are we going to have a monster fight now? Tree versus demon walker. -

Size - wise, it was larger than the earlier demon-champions. But it felt like maybe it was not as strong. Or maybe there was some trade - off. It certainly didn�t feel as threatening, despite its enormous size.

A demon champion. I�d long awaited this day.

The special anti - demon bolts were ready. I�d gained twenty levels and many skills since I last fought the demon champions eight years ago, and I had more hero fragments, too. I had prepared for this moment, with skills and items. I believed I could take it, and now to see whether I could.

The giant demon walked, and now it was on the very edges of my forest.

And that was as far as I was going to let it go. A wall of wood shields appeared in front of it.

- You shall not pass! - Alexis shouted.

Meela did a facepalm. - That�s lame. -

Super anti - demon rootstrikes x 5. All tipped with the specially made demon bolts. One rootstrike for one of those giant legs. The roots shot out of the ground, a dense energy surrounding each of the bolts and the edge.

And it exploded right on the legs. The demon walker roared, and this time, it shot out a few energy blasts. I blocked three of them, but the fourth one left leveled a patch of forests and destroyed a section of the treefolk�s village.

Still, I was happy. The rootstrikes did what I expected them to do. It stopped walking as large chunks were taken out of its five legs. It looked unsteady, as if it was going to crumble on its own weight. But it didn�t.

It roared again, and this time it turned its head. It wasn�t aimed at me, but at the fourth layer of walls.

Shit! I created the wood shields in the wrong place, and the blast vaporized a large chunk of the fourth layer walls. Some of the beetles and soldiers there were killed.

- TreeTree! Don�t let it shoot at us! - Yura shouted. Some of the men were buried under the rubble.

Heh, all it could do now was shoot? The spires on its back glowed and shot out red beams, and it set a portion of the forest on fire. Its large head roared again and blasted one more energy blast.

My wooden shields caught the shot, but still, the impact caused the space right before the shield to burst into flames.

Constrict . Using vines, I attempt to force the head to aim only at me.

Super anti - demon root strike x 5. More bolts, and this time, before it could release another round of energy blasts, I took out its five feet. The giant crashed into the ground, and with it came a huge shockwave of smoke and dust. But it wasn�t dead yet, the spires on its back still shooting beams.

Still, I was confident. Let�s see whether it had any tricks left.

Super anti - demon root strike x 5.

More bolts. I had about ninety bolts left and had many more super - root strikes to go.

It struggled.

It roared again and more energy blasts. This time, I thought it used a special attack because it blasted through all of the defensive shields I had and then blew up three subsidiary trees , and then the energy blast smacked right into my main body.

And I felt a chunk of my bark fall off. - Oh. I�m still alive. - Thank goodness for all the fragments.

Well, let�s retaliate.

Super anti - demon root strike x 10. The hard shell around the main body shattered on impact, and a few of my roots struck whatever was inside. I thought I hit something important.

The ground shook, like something exploded inside of its body.

Its head roared again, charging another energy blast. This time because of the poor angle, the shot went wide and flew into the sky.

No chances. I shot out another ten Super Anti - demon Root Strike , aimed at the giant head. It cracked, and then the entire head crumbled.

The spires of the castle collapsed. A humanoid giant appeared in its place. Its. body was half - hexed, as if the demon-flesh was rotting, and each step, chunks of it fall off, as if it was melting. If this was what the hexbomb did, it felt like the future was gonna be quite. grim.

- Uh. -

The giant humanoid demon stepped forward, and more parts fell off. Yet I saw it struggling as it attempted to regenerate the destroyed parts. It was an ongoing battle between the demon�s regeneration and the corruption of the hexbomb.

- Uh. -

It was a demon, and there was no time for caution.

Super anti - demon root strike x 2.

Two roots shot out of the ground and impaled the giant through its chest and what I suspected was the head. Seriously, a humanoid demon.

And then it disintegrated, along with the rest of the demon walker body.

- Uh. is that it? -

- The walker is down! The walker is down! - Alexis shouted and clapped her spirit - like hands.

I mentally made a fistbump. I�d finally reached the point where I could take on a champion by myself.

As the body disintegrated, the aura from the spires faded, too. The elves, centaurs, treefolk, and beetles who were busy fighting the regular demonoids suddenly found their opponents had become far weaker than they originally were. The energy that was resisting and offsetting my lesser demonic suppression was gone, and now, they felt the full effect of the aura.

What was left of the twenty thousand or so weakened humanoid demons fell to the might of the remaining forces or were skewered in the flood of root strikes that followed.

Level up! You are now level 137! (+5 levels)

Skill acquired: Healing Aura

Skill upgraded: Subsidiary Trees - 15,000. Subsidiary Trees gains a share of main body�s environmental adaptations and auras. Only applies to subsidiary trees within 100km of main - tree.

Skill upgraded: Woodcrafting

Skill upgraded: Steelwood Barrier

Skill upgraded: Root tunnels

YEAR 81 MONTH 6 (CONTINUED)

- We lived. - Yvon sat. - I thought that was. not the hardest battle I�ve been in. -

Yura tapped her shoulder. - We�ve still got work to do. - He pointed to the many, many injured soldiers and the dead. The energy blasts from the demon walker still killed many, and there was a portion of New Freeka that was blasted wide open. A whole load of repairs had to be done.

- But. but. the demon walker was defeated. We deserve a celebration! - the captains said.

Yura smiled. - Perhaps. Though I would give credit to TreeTree�s exceptional anti - demon weapons. The demon general would have lasted a lot longer without his demon-draining weapons. -

- But you would still win. - Yura just smiled and looked at a young girl running over, her short hair fluttering.

Lozanna was covered in dirt, blood, and a whole load of demonic shards. Mostly unhurt.

- Uncle! - She landed right in front of him. - I destroyed eighty - seven demons! -

- Good job. - Yura smiled and just rubbed her head. - Hope you gain a level! -

- I hope I gain many levels! -

Yura smiled. - How was it, your first true battlefield experience? -

- Oh, it was a lot less bloody and messy than my dreams. I think TreeTree exaggerated how gory and brutal it is. -

- TreeTree been giving you gory war - dreams, eh? - Yura frowned a little. Using the essences, and my own memories of wars, I could somewhat mold the general direction and types of dreams Lozanna got. I honestly didn�t know what exactly happened in the dreams; Dream Tutor was kind of like a random map generator where I put in the parameters and ingredients, and things just happened.

- Yeah. I told him I wanted to feel like - Lozanna then paused. - Oops. -

Yvon frowned, too. - I better check what dreams the other kids are getting. It�s not good to have visions of death and destruction at that age. -

What, I needed to start parental guidances for dreams now?

Lozanna shook her head. - TreeTree was just helping so that I know what to do when it�s the real thing. -

Yura sighed. - Anyway, not a good time to argue about it. Let�s get the wounded to the healers, those seriously wounded to the biopods, and the dead to the morgue. -

There was a lot of wounded and dead soldiers, despite my interference. About eight hundred soldiers and close to seven thousand beetles still died in the fight against the demons, the soldier deaths mostly from the demon knights. But then, my new healing aura kicked in, and for the injured, their wounds began to heal even before the healers got to them. And my new aura even improved the effect of healing.

- New skill? - Yura asked, noticing the unusually quick recover of his own cuts and wounds and those injured suddenly finding their strength returning to them.

- Yup. -

The mood all round was mixed but getting better. Some groups were upset and mourned the deaths of their comrades. Some were just incredibly amazed that they survived a battle against a towering giant, and of those that survived, a lot of the soldiers would gain levels from this battle.

The citizens also got the signal to leave their respective bunkers and hideouts, and there was a big blast that wrecked a portion of the city. I also had to get the mages to help put out the fires, since I didn�t have my own water magic.

Beetles closed in on what remained of the demon walker. I had a quarantine zone established, and Madeus, our resident wizard, was tasked to investigate the remains. There was massive rubble where the main body of the walker collapsed, and most of the demon walker�s body disintegrated into nothingness, but there were still some remains.

The rotting thing was the hex. Like a sludge, it now pooled on the ground.

- A/ , can you see this? - Madeus poked it with his wooden stick. It kind of latched on, like a slimy thing. Madeus likes to refer to me as A/ , since he felt it was inappropriate to refer to me as TreeTree. He poked it. It was not exactly. a slime, but it sure radiated a kind of energy. - I don�t feel too good being so close. -

- Hmm, then stay away. -

Inspection .

A hex, made from the sacrifice of souls.

Uh. Didn�t tell much.

- Can you do anything about it? -

- Uh. - Madeus tried to use some spells, but the hex kind of just. stayed there. It didn�t react.

- Can you blast it to smithereens or something? -

- Nope. - Madeus did a fireball. Hex remained. It was not exactly. destroy - able. It kind of just got splattered.

- So. we just leave it there? - I asked. This was new to me.

Madeus looked at his staff. The hex had damaged the wood somewhat; a section that had come in contact with the hex was rotting. - Yeah. I think it�s best we just seal off this area and let the hex dissipate naturally. -

- Uh. - Hmm. I wasn�t sure whether I should get near the hex, though. Alexis�s nuclear description somehow made me suspicious that this hex might be radioactive residue. But I had to know for sure. - Can you take a very small sample? Just one cup? -

- Oh. Okay. - I had one of the beetles carry the small wooden container. The almost - black hex - slime seemed to have a purple glow, and really, Alexis took a glance at it, shook her head.

- Disgusting. -

As a precaution, I created a biolab some distance away, such that if anything happened, such as. rotting, I could cut off the biolab and I wouldn�t suffer the consequences.

- This hex thing. it�s created from sacrifices, eh? - I asked.

- Yeah. Blood magic�s quite special in the sense that it powers itself and lasts really long. But of course, the cost of it is. usually someone�s life. It�s common in the countries with extensive slavery some time ago, but its practice and use has dwindled as the constant use of slaves is. unsustainable, and there is often a great deal of backlash from blood magic, such as the spellcasters suffering nightmares or perpetual hauntings. - Alexis went into full nerdy magic mode. Even Madeus didn�t know that much, but it seemed Alexis was a mage, and she did somehow manage to read such things.

- It�s just bad. - Meela frowned her wooden eyebrows. I thought they looked like little stems from a flower. She had an actual flower on her head now; she said it helped in the whole hospitality business thing.

- According to our modern sensibilities. - Alexis frowned. - But blood magic is primordial. I recall meeting a shaman on one of the islands we visited, and they used to sacrifice goats and cows to the gods, and they say they�ve been doing for ages. Kind of like our ancient civilizations, Meela. -

- Which one? -

- Most of the Mesoamerican ones. Even now there are some ritual sacrifices that happen in many cultures. I would think there must be some parallels with how blood magic is in this world. Perhaps they sacrifice and trade for some godly powers? -

I took a look at the blackish hex - liquid. Godly? Certainly didn�t feel that way, but well, what did I know?

- How do you plan to investigate it? Biolab? Pour it into your pod and figure it out? - Alexis asked.

- Yeah. It certainly looked a bit. organic. - Well. Yeah. Black, hex - like thing. Maybe it was like sludge, from like. a petrol spill? But there was a purple glow, so there was clearly some magic to it happening.

I decided I needed more time to think about what I was going to do, so I let the specimen sit on a little storage container in that lone biolab in a corner of the valley.

YEAR 81 MONTH 7

After a brief status check, New Freeka emerged mostly. unharmed. The site of where the hex - sludge left behind by the massive demon walker, by order of the Council and Order, was to be quarantined. So it was now surrounded by walls and guarded by beetles. If reports were true, they would spawn monsters, though so far, I�d not seen any.

The sludge kind of just pooled together into a large, blackish pool, and it seemed they were somewhat magically intertwined, like magnets, that they would naturally merge into one interconnected body. Not that anyone wanted to get near it. It seemed Madeus said he felt sick for a few days, and I had to check on him.

It wasn�t a bodily sickness, or maybe if it was, it wasn�t something that healing aura or my powers did offset. It really did give credence to the whole radiation theory that Alexis had, but the idea of doing nuclear fusion or fission with souls just. boggled my mind.

- I think the tree of prayer does relieve the symptoms a bit. I think it�s all the negative energy from the blood sacrifice, - Madeus theorized. Again, something worth investigating. Or maybe it could just be additional placebo from the calming effects of the Tree of Prayer .

On the political front, the defeat of the demon walker was significant and greatly boosted the Order�s standing. Yura was now viewed as a hero, and the soldiers, even those from the Council, now viewed Yura as a respectful, good man because he fought on the front lines, unlike the Council who hid or fled. That meant the council had to shut up on their anti - Order rhetoric, though I suspected this silence was only a temporary one.

The euphoria and memories of this battle would fade, and with it these power - hungry folks would rear their head again someday.

And the news of the victory spread quickly, drawing the attention of the guilds. - The Merchant guild has determined that we are a high - priority safe zone in the region, and they will send a fair bit of resources and manpower here. - The Order�s treasurer read out the notice. - The guild plans to explore the possibility of establishing a regional trade coordination and cartography center and also a collection of high - security storage warehouses. -

Yura clapped his hand. - I must confess I don�t exactly understand what some of those words are, but it sounds like a good thing. -

The merchants guilds were essentially like the world�s shipping companies; they were the blood vessels that connected the world. So much produce and money changed hands through the guilds that they often were able to sway kingdoms into fighting wars for them. But I wondered whether this world had protests against banks and corporations. After all, capitalism could be pretty nasty.

The treasurer nodded. - It is. They will be having a proper office here, and an actual merchant prince or guild trader , rather than just appointed representatives. This is usually followed with the opening of a guild�s marketplace and exchange, and the regional contracts department. The council will be approached to discuss the regulations on the markets once they arrive to survey the location. -

Yura nodded. Honestly, trade was not his strongest suit, though he had improved. Laufen just smiled. - Don�t worry, most of us will attend the meetings and will let you have the summary. -

The recent battle also made the elves think about the future of their combat forces.

- We need more combat experience. - Lozanna looked at Yvon. - The demons are coming, you know it, we know it, everyone knows it. All of us need to have experience. - Lozanna referred to the rest of the Valthorn, especially the four girls from the first batch.

Yvon shook her head. - I spoke with TreeTree and Yura , and we�re only letting those at level twenty actually join the battle. Until then, the rest of them are staying back. - Only one of the girls had hit level twenty, so she would join the next battle, if there was one.

- But Lady Yvon! It doesn�t make sense! We gain levels when we participate in battles. Holding us back is just taking away our levels! And TreeTree needs high - leveled fighters to fight the high - leveled enemies. -

- I know, but they are too young, and they are not ready. They are not you, Lozanna . -

- If they don�t get chances, they will never be. - Lozanna was now. twelve, so she had more opinions. - I gained seven levels in that battle. Seven! I�m almost level forty now. - By most accounts, she�d be classified as a genius. - Wasn�t it you that told us that during great battles, explosive leveling happens? Then why are they not given the chance? -

Yvon sighed. - I - I get your point. Let me discuss with the rest perhaps an arrangement depending on what kind of battles. If it�s a smaller - scale battle, we can consider putting you and the girls on support. -

Lozanna nodded.

For me, I did need to expand the Valthorns. It was true that I couldn�t multi - task as well as I liked, and when I ended up focused on the demon walker, my ability to coordinate all the other fights on the ground had to be delegated to my tree - minds, and yet I needed my skills on hand against the walker.

So I needed more high - level fighters, multiple Yura s and Yvons, to win such a fight consistently, with minimal casualties. Speaking of casualties.

There was a funeral procession for those who fell in battle. It was something one of the officers suggested, something they had from where they came from. A practice of one of the world�s southern continental religions, the Urgama, to honor the dead, and the benefits of it was that the dead�s spirit apparently enchanted the surviving soldiers to carry on the fight. The mechanics of how such a magic worked was interesting, and as a Soul Tree that helped the reincarnation and passing on of the fallen spirits, it was. educational.

- Surely they don�t have time to do such processions when a demon army is on their doorstep? - Alexis wondered. The Southern Continent was embroiled in massive wars with the demon hordes. According to the merchants, there were four demon walkers in that continent alone, and inland trade prices were sky - high.

- I wouldn�t know. -

Well, for us, the procession went on, and. we didn�t get any blessings. Or at least, nothing I could see for now. It was all business - as - usual in my soul realm, too; people were dying all over the continent to the demon hordes, but thanks to the fall of the demon walker, it seemed the rate of death throughout the entire continent also somewhat dropped.

I wondered whether it was a coincidence or the walker had some kind of continental - boost ability. If it did, would the king have some kind of worldwide ability?

But anyway, it was still not the end. Now that the demon walker battle was over, I went back to making more demon-weapons and research. The whole schtick with restoring Yura �s hand was still ongoing, so. more brutal animal explosion followed, but. I was getting there. I think.

I had to get some help in cleaning the room, though, since. there was a lot of blood splattered everywhere. So I made a quarantine area where the specimen animals remained.

And blew up. Or lately, it was more like leaking pipes. Like the tail would regrow and then somehow a hole would appear, and blood just kept dripping out of it. And no amount of healing would fix it because it was a flaw in the soul.�

In a way, it was like. 3D printing. I had to set up the template in the soul, and then the body would heal in accordance to that template. At the same time, I needed to make the soul - part using my new tools, in a 3D - printing fashion, putting the bits and pieces in, piece by piece. All of this was from a sudden epiphany when I saw a key - duplication contraption one of the New Freeka�s smiths had.

Essentially, I needed a tool that worked simultaneously, that read whatever scan results I had, and reproduced it in the soul forge.

Also, I needed to also build a library of organs that I could use in the future. Kind of like playing Spores, the game. Honestly, I didn�t know why it took me so long to figure shit out. Maybe there was mold in my wooden brain somewhere.

Oh and on research. where was I?

Research Status:

Beetle - anti - magma armors stage 4 - completed

Metal hyperaccumulator trees - Stage 1 - completed

Phytoremediation process - basic - 10 months

Ah yes. I had new accumulator trees. These Hyperaccumulators functioned primarily to absorb high levels of metallic content from the contaminated poop - ground, which continued to be something of a problem, even if a contained one.

But I supposed it was a good time to force the council.

- We�re having the upper hand after the recent victory. The population sees us as the protectors of the valley, and TreeTree�s position was close to unassailable. And we want to use that goodwill on. sewers? - One of the treasurers tried to debate with Yura in the meeting room.

- Yes. Sewers. We need sewers. -

- Why not more seats? Have our own candidates on the council against the other group? Some of the independent - leaning councilors now feel they should lean toward us, given the Order�s secure position as the defenders of the valley. No political power can change that. -

Yura frowned. Sometimes, the Order�s own officers got sucked into politics.

- Perhaps we need more resources for the Order�s military? - Yura frowned, too. Between me and Yura , both of us generally felt that quantity was unnecessary. I�d need about three to four months to replenish the beetles, but my beetle army was tough and, for what it was worth, unlimited and expendable. The only drawback was that they couldn�t gain levels, but who cared when I had so many of them? If anything, it was the Valthorns that needed to be expanded. There was really no point throwing more fodder at a monster like the demon-general or the demon walker.

The merchants delivered the gems that provided light and other stuff meant for the hideouts, and it came with an alchemist�s contraption thing, so I requested for one of each for research, which led to an upgrade for my labs.

Biolab upgraded: Centrifuge

Material lab upgraded: Centrifuge

These gems were essentially concentrated light, mana - sensitive rock, and mana that, via some fluke of natural magical forces, formed into a gem. There were apparently artificial variants as well, but these didn�t last as long as the naturally mined gems.

This new centrifuge essentially acted as a concentrator, creating for higher concentrations and enriched versions of. Ginseng. Okay, it worked for more than just ginseng. I meant things, but when I was thinking about the possible uses of this item.

Wait.

If I needed to concentrate ginseng, and concentrating them eventually made them into gems, that meant I should be able to use gems as soul forge components. But I tried that previously. When I acquired gemstones.

Running the ginseng through the centrifuge, I got.

Concentrated ginseng - medium quality that took the appearance of a brownish paste, kind of like those funky pastes used in exotic oriental massages.

Was this it? Maybe I needed to soak it in mana or something? Like how there was a layer of mana on the body? It was really not going anywhere, was it?

- Again? - Yura asked. Well, he was busy. There was still a lot of demonic movements to keep track off. It�d been a year since the rifts opened, so the demon king should appear soon.

- No, I just wanted to test something out. -

Infusing ginseng into Yura �s soul using the soul forge took about an hour, strangely easy.

Ginseng infusion successful.

- How do you feel? -

- Uh. nothing? Did you do anything? - Yura woke up from the quick nap. - Or maybe not yet? -

- Maybe it takes a while. -

YEAR 81 MONTH 8

- Will the Council grant us rights to grant us refuge, rights to purchase land and build a mansion? - A royal envoy from a nearby nation of Rajahskan came, with gifts and money. They were not the only ones.

What was happening was quite simple.

The royalties of the nearby nation, now that they realized I could fend off a demon walker, wanted to set up a refuge. Essentially, they would buy land and build a small palace where their family could hide. Although the kings usually did not leave; there were some weird rules about king�s powers being related to being present in their kingdoms, but these kings wanted to protect their offspring and successors by sending them away to a safehouse. Kind of like what Madeus allies did. But they wanted exemptions, special treatment, and the ability to rule over their own properties. Which was absolutely ridiculous.

- It�s politically advantageous for us to accept. But if we do, we must be prepared to accept most of them, except those who have crossed us, - a councilor said.

A delegation from the Council and the envoys came to present the case. The Council, being the usual politicians, would like to agree. But Yura said, - This is a decision for A/ . It is his protection to give, not us. -

- I do not fancy the creation of a royal district where our laws do not apply. - The idea that all these runaway princes came to my place and set up little outposts just frankly annoyed me. When I imagined all these stuck - up royals treating this little valley of mine as their summer palace, I just felt disgusted. - No. They may come as regular guests, but they will be treated in the same manner as any other refugee in this valley. If the Council wishes to extend any privileged treatment to them, let them know that I will not recognize that privilege, and if I so desire, I will not hesitate to crush them. In this valley, they are ordinary souls, like anyone else. -

The Councilors froze. - But. but. Counsel Yura , surely A/ can recognize the value these royals can bring? -

Yura shrugged. - I�m afraid the Tree Spirit was very firm about not giving royals any privileged treatment. And if I may add, accepting royals and granting them special treatment contradicts why New Freeka exists. Do you guys really want to put up with the whims of royalty all over again? Do you not forget that it was royal conflicts that brought all of you here? They can still come, should the demons ever threaten their lands, but they will be like any other refugee. -

One of the Councilors stared at Yura . - The Tree Spirit has no concept of royalty? -

Yura nodded. - He is aware of it, but he does not intend to recognize their power in this valley. -

Three of the envoys from three kingdoms were present. - Surely there is something that our kingdoms may provide to sway the Tree Spirit�s view? -

It was one of the Order�s head priests who responded. - A/ �s protection is a blessing, and one couldn�t haggle or bargain one�s blessing, even if you are royalty. Accept, or do not. When you stand before a local deity, what is a royal? -

I mentally cheered for the priest - good comeback. I was a bit embarrassed that they thought I was some kind of deity, but I was too far into that whole religious schtick to bother correcting it now. And if I gained even more levels, I guessed a deity wasn�t too far off anyway.

The envoys frowned. One of the envoys, the one from Rajahskan, then said, - It�s a shame that the Tree Spirit of this valley rejects our king�s offer. I will relay the message, and I fear he will not be pleased. -

I told Yura then, - Is that a threat? I don�t like receiving threats. - Of course, the envoys couldn�t hear this.

Yura smiled at the envoy. - I am afraid your king must get used to it. A/ �s under no obligation to obey a king�s demands - what more one of another nation. -

- And A/ didn�t not even heed the views of his Council? - the envoy retorted.

- A/ was here before the Council was born, and he may remove the Council should he so pleases. - Yura smiled, but it was a creepy kind of smile, and the room�s air suddenly felt heavy. A Warlord �s skill, Heavyweight Presence . He looked at the Councilors, and the Councilors somehow all took two steps back.

The envoy, too, took a step back. Then he drew in a deep breath and sighed. - I see. But surely. we can still purchase property in New Freeka? -

- You may, but your property will be subject to all of New Freeka�s rules and regulations. There will be no exemptions. In short, you will be like any other wealthy merchant who invests in a property in New Freeka. And know this, you will be watched. -

The envoys traded glances. They discussed with each other a bit, but then they all decided to leave. But I could still eavesdrop on them as they walked back to their inns.

- Who does this Tree Spirit think it is? - one envoy said. - Our king�s adventurers can chop down a tree. -

- But your adventurers cannot slay a demon walker, - the envoy for another country said. - Or you wouldn�t be here. -

- Ugh. -

The Rajahskan envoy said, - A powerful druid or monster tamer should be able to sway this Tree Spirit�s mind. -

- I wouldn�t count on that. Any monster able to slay a demon walker has to be at least level one hundred, and you won�t find many druids or monster tamers willing to even try taming a creature of that level. It�s a life - or - death battle. -

The Rajahskan envoy nodded. - Perhaps. Maybe a heroic artifact could. -

The two other envoys eyes lit up. - Ah. that certainly changes things. Is there such an artifact? -

The Rajahskan envoy said, - The Elven kingdoms may still possess Roana�s Staff. I reckon a level eighty druid wielding that can bend this Tree�s will. -

The two envoys laughed. - And I thought you have such an item! That staff was destroyed long ago! -

- Was it? I had the impression it was what they used to keep the Guardian Tree of the Elven Capital under control. -

- Hah. Don�t tell me you believe some of that kind of silly propaganda. It�s a myth to maintain the royal family�s legitimacy. -

The envoy frowned. - Well. the king won�t be pleased with this. I - I don�t know how to go back. -

- Well, we�re in the same boat. I bet the king�s gonna have my head. He tends to do that when he loses his temper. -

- I�m just going to fake my death. Demons killed me on the journey back. That�s going to be my story. -

The three envoys sulked together. Were there seriously no good kings around? Or do they just die because they were too nice?

YEAR 81 MONTH 9

Another demon walker had been spotted on our continent this month, and strength returned to the demonoid forces throughout the continent. Thankfully, it appeared far south, nearer to Gila. I guessed they could use their newfound sacrificial blood - magic powers and test it out. For us, we still saw small packs of roaming demonoids close to our territories, but they were easily crushed by the patrolling beetles.

It was a bit annoying that we were only free from demon walkers for three months, but then again, I was expecting the demon king within the next six months. Couldn�t be helped that the escorts would increase before the main character came along. We just hoped it appeared on the Southern Continent, where there were now six demon walkers. The nations in the South managed to kill one using the blood magic, but it took more than one shot to slay the demon walkers.

So it was really quite a miserable battlefield, the Southern Continent. I heard from Yura that they�d sent all sorts of requests for assistance.

Ah, too bad for them, that was their problem. For now, I focused on rebuilding my stockpile of anti - demon bolts.

YEAR 81 MONTH 10

Winter arrived early. Apparently something to do with moon - movements, according to Madeus - every thirty to thirty - two years or so, the moons changed position and somehow caused this world�s winter to last a month longer. Not sure how that actually worked and why, or whether it was magic.

And fun fact about the world: nobody could agree on how many moons there were. Some said three, some said four, some said ten. The night sky, even with magic, sometimes revealed odd moons that only appeared every now and then.

- Elliptical moons, - Alexis said. She�d been sky - gazing almost every day. She�d even gotten a telescope recently. - I suspect some of them have century - long orbits. -

- That�s like. crazy. - Meela was quite into the moon and star stuff, too, but mostly for astrological sign stuff. Some of her guests enjoyed that kind of service. - I thought even the biggest planets from our world orbit the sun in a few years. How can something orbit a small planet so slowly? -

- Or they could just be comets. Not strange for them to mistake comets for moons. Comets have crazy orbits. -

- Could just be magic. - Well, that was my view. I mean, there was really no reason why the astronomical rules that applied from one world should carry over into another world. The forces acting on interstellar objects could be different; maybe there was a fifth magic force, or maybe dark matter in this world comprised of aether or star mana. You know, weird shit like that.

- True. - Alexis sighed. - TreeTree, how high can you grow? -

- Uh. why? - That was a weird, off - topic comment.

- I wonder whether it�s possible for you to grow until well. space. Like a space elevator. Or maybe you could be like a super - tall viewing gallery and observation tower. -

- That�s going to be absurdly high, - I said. - No way. - The required height of a space elevator was dependent on rotational spin and planetary gravity; unless I had some kind of magical item or object that created some kind of levitation effect such that it functioned as a counterweight. I doubted it. I recalled Earth�s space elevator needed to be like. thirty - five thousand kilometers high. How could a tree ever grow that tall? Unless there was some really wonky magic.

- I mean, maybe you could be like. magically super strong that you could support the weight. Maybe you could even reach like. uh. what�s the word for it? Geostationary orbit? - Alexis mused. - Or Low Planet Orbit? -

Meela shook her head. - I think you should just think about using magic. Magical rockets, Alexis. Magical rockets and levitation. -

But why would I even want to grow so tall that I reached space? Was there something to achieve there? Fruit - satellites? Or would star mana harvesting be far more efficient because of the altitude and exposure to direct star - light? Or more solar power?

Seriously, growing so tall just sounded like. Jack and the beanstalk. Unless.

- You know, maybe ancient space elevators were how stories of world trees came around. You know, Yggdrasil supposedly connected itself to nine worlds, and if you imagined a modern, futuristic setting, a tree - shaped space elevator would be the gate to those other worlds, - Alexis said. - Oh, wait. Do you want me to explain what all those words are? -

- Yeah. - And Alexis went on about space elevators, Yggdrasil, and stuff like that. I sort of recalled the story.

It was a fascinating thought, but I supposed there were magical. alternatives to a tree that grew into space. And why would I want to go to space?

A tree couldn�t grow into space. Or could it?

Anyway, enough about space, and winter, and moons. Demon battles intensified throughout the world, refugee movements increased, and news of death, destruction, glory, and victories flooded the merchant channels. And that Gila country was crazy enough to actually use the blood sacrifice again.

And I thought Gila used three rounds of that blood sacrifice ritual. Because my sensors detected three surges of magic.

But it didn�t kill the walker, though it did somewhat disable it. News reported two of the hex - bombs hit the walker�s legs, so the walker was unable to move. Still, that didn�t bring an end to the intense fighting, as the walker did what it could, which was to spawn demonoids and flood the area with them.

So it kind of sucked because. the walker was a walking demon-hive. It just vomited out demonoids when it didn�t move.

And thanks to the merchants, there was increasing awareness that the demonic camps were all hives as well, constantly spawning demonoids, and taking them down would be key to reducing their threat.

- I think they were like ants, despite looking like. humans, - Meela suddenly said, giving a cleaning analogy. - How do you kill ants? Wipe out the nests, or the ants will just keep roaming the entire kitchen. -

Turned out, she was not the only one with that idea. Yura had been asked to support a five thousand strong force meant to take down a demon fort found in the vicinity of a neighboring kingdom. A coalition force, a common thing during demonic wars. I recalled that Lord Rajjiv Nung was also part of a coalition force.

- So. are you going? - Yvon asked.

Yura shrugged. - I�m not keen, and I told the merchants that my place was here. Joining coalition forces is for youngsters. -

- I�m starting to think you spend too much time with TreeTree, that you�re getting his stationary habits. -

Yura didn�t mind the jab. - TreeTree�s got a point. Staying home�s nice, and I�ve got better things to do. Like practice. Besides, they�ve got a general, don�t they? Or some of the human elites. They don�t need me. -

Yvon sneered.

- They�ll be fine. I don�t quite trust this coalition force anyway. - Yura felt these coalitions generally had ulterior motives, like getting a good sense of what his strengths were, and so on. I thought that was his diplomatic sense tingling.

- Heh. - Yvon wasn�t exactly trusting of them, either. - Merchants probably just want to clear that base for a trade route. It was between this side of the city and the other, and they can�t be using their airships all the time. -

The coalition was partly funded by the merchants, and they would handle the logistics and supplies and also provide reimbursement. Forces from various kingdoms would join, usually the lower - ranked ones. Battles were a good chance to gain levels, and usually such coalition forces tried not to take on challenging opponents, due to the political fallout from a failed coalition attack.

Throughout the world, there were multiple such coalitions, many based on century - old treaties for mutual protection or ancient commitments with temples and religions.

- But they will insist on someone, and the council will look to us to volunteer someone, - Madeus, who was also in the meeting, responded. He wasn�t keen, either, and like Yura , he�d prefer if he could just study and conduct magic research all day.

- I�ll ask one of the captains to volunteer, then. He�s about in his level forties and should see more battle experience. -

- I�d send Lozanna if she was a few years older. - Yvon shrugged.

- True, but she�s not. So she stays. We have enough demons roaming the countryside as it is. -

Well, Lozanna and the Valthorns were now attached to a mobile cavalry unit. They rode beetles, in a way, as the proto - beetleknight squad, traveled the countryside, and hunted any demon packs that we spotted. Helped that I could telepathically communicate with her over the distances, for coordination.

A feature of her special - familiar contract.

- Maybe Roma can join if he�s a bit older. depending on how long this demon king lasts. -

Yvon shook her head. - Roma didn�t seem to have inherited our combat talents. He�s more. into books. Perhaps a mage. - Yvon�s son, Roma, was about nine now, and he seemed to prefer being at home with his books. His mom struggled to get him to practice with her, and well, there was a bit of resentment between the two. Maybe he needed a father figure. In fact, Roma�s relationship with Eriz was a whole load better, and Yvon frequently had to rely on Eriz to speak to Roma.

Yura nodded. It was between her and her son, not for us to intervene.

- Ah, never mind. - Yvon diverted the subject. - I hope the girls come back safely. -

Lozanna led four of the girls, together with a group of one hundred beetles. They were headed for a hundred - strong demonic raiding force. They should win relatively easily, and Horns was close behind with a force of another hundred beetles.

Even though New Freeka�s territory was small, my subsidiary tree network stretched far, thanks to my prior expansions, and with my newfound Aura - sharing skills, the subsidiary tree network functioned like defensive lines, a place where the intercepting troops could return should the battle turn bad.

Gradually, I am extending this network of trees further. They were, after all, a great early warning system. Trees had eyes, y�know.

YEAR 81 MONTH 11

Wars. Wars. Wars.

Battles and battles, seemingly endless ones. So much that my soul realm was filled with the souls of the recently departed. My soul harvesters were busy, battlefield after battlefield they visited, and each trip, they brought back more souls.

Even as the cold swept through the continent, the demons didn�t stop fighting. And so the defenders were forced into battle even when they didn�t wish it.

- I feel a little bad, being safe and warm here, - one of the captains joked. The other one was out as part of the merchant coalition force.

Madeus laughed, and then he sipped on his ginger tea. The group decided to have something a bit cozier, so they brewed a few pots of fruit tea, ginger tea, garlic tea, and snacks, mainly some fried potatoes, chips, fries. One of Meela�s kitchen projects was to recreate potato fries because part of the global - domination plans involved being a chain - restaurant, like. McDonalds. So she had to have fries.

Wesley and our priests sat around the meeting room, too. - Don�t jinx us. Appreciate that we can still huddle around in such comfort, even when there was a demon walker around. -

Meela was happily playing the caterer. Apparently serving food contributed to her levels as a Hotel - Tree. Yura , Laufen, and Lozanna also ate the snacks. - Yeah. Never know when the good times come to an end. -

There was a nod of agreement throughout the room. I wondered whether they felt it, that the demon king was coming. I certainly thought I could. The strange twitches to my star - mana leaves. The unusual fluctuations there.

- I�m just missing good chili sauce to go with my fries. Or ketchup, for that matter, - Meela whined to both me and Alexis. - I need to get chilies and tomatoes. -

Meela was clearly more focused on unlocking new recipes for her restaurant. I was starting to think she was playing hotel - tycoon or Overcooked, since the whole demon king thing was really just a distraction for her.

- The council is of the view that we should be building more walls and have the sewer project modified, - one of the treasurers said to the group. Even though it was cozy, it was still a Valtorn Order meeting.

- Four layers of walls was insufficient? -

- Well, they thought that some of the collateral damage could be minimized, and we do have the capacity to add walls. As for the sewer project, they�re now thinking of adding bunkers and hideouts to double its function as a safe zone from the demons. Should we oppose such a motion? -

Yura shook his head. - I think it�s fine. It�s aligned to what we wanted, and the city should be allowed to protect itself. But it should be funded by the Council, not from the Order. -

Most of the other meeting attendees nodded, then went back to eating.

- Any other business? - Yura asked. Most of them had just completed regular updates and reports. Discussions on the demonic forces took up about half the time, due to the far - reaching implications of the demons on trade, funding, military, and infrastructure.

- The demon king, according to whispers among the temples, will arrive within the next three months, - a priest said.

In my mind, that was what I thought, too. This meant the temples may have some kind of star - mana equipment.

- How reliable is this prediction? - Yura leaned forward. - And even if so, what can we do about it? -

One of the captains said, - I believe the best thing to do, Counsel, is to just keep watch. You were right to say that we have no way to stop whatever the demon king does. Be on the lookout, and move out of its way. -

- Agreed. - Yura nodded. I thought it was probably the best decision as well. - I�m personally more interested in when the heroes will arrive, what powers they have, and how we can spot them so that we can stay out of their way. -

- We. don�t like heroes? - Meela asked. The crowd here didn�t know her true identity as a former reincarnated hero.

- If they are not humans, I will like them, - a captain said. - Else these stupid heroes will buy into the propaganda the royals feed them and treat us non - humans as enemies once the war is over. -

Meela did not reply. I thought she was trying to remember what the other kings and royalties had said to her in the past. She deftly served a plate of fried potatoes to one of the priests.

- Thankfully all the previous generation heroes died with the demon king. - It was a priest that said it. - The post - war political jostling was usually. terrible. Heroes who see it as their duty from the gods to correct all that was wrong in this world. -

Meela stopped. She sighed.

Yvon, who was invited for the food, nodded. - Indeed. We should do our best not to offend them. We stick out, with our presence as a non - human nation in this region. But let�s hope the gods spread out the heroes a bit and that some of them are non - humans. If that�s the case, the heroes will balance each other out. Or maybe all of them will die to the demon king. -

Meela sagged a little.

- Never mind, never mind. Let�s just wait and see what happens. - Yura munched on a piece of bread.

YEAR 81 MONTH 12

The Hutan druids responded that the meetup with the other tree spirits would be delayed because of the demons. Their efforts were dedicated to defending their areas against the demons.

Ah well, I didn�t expect much from these druids anyway. I intended to reach out to these tree spirits without their intermediation, anyway. I certainly would prefer to have discussions without the eavesdropping of others. Somehow, I had a gut feeling that there would be things only we, tree spirits, should know.

Or should I say root - feeling? What would be a plant equivalent of gut, anyway.

After my recent level gains, and my recent subsidiary tree numbers, I might have just enough to extend one long chain to the Giant Lilypod City, but I would have to give up all the other subsidiary trees around, and that would leave the valley defenseless and without its early warning system.

Ugh.

I�d wait for my next subsidiary tree upgrade, then.

Or maybe. I could extend halfway there and see whether I gained levels killing the demons I encountered along the way. But Giant Lilypod City was way down south of my continent. Hmm, even past that Gila country where the legless demon walker was.

Hmm.

Decisions.

YEAR 82 MONTH 1

A new year, but same old threats. The demons found the volcano, and now we were fighting a three - way battle: the native golems, the demonic forces who seemed to be interested in the same mana - source in the volcano, and my beetles. This to me was sufficient confirmation that the demons were looking for mana - rich sources, so maybe they would look to my ThreeTrees of Mana soon.

Without the walkers, it wasn�t that difficult to defend these two locations, but I was having some trouble with the demon knights, so I did need to deploy Horns, Lozanna , and the Valthorns. I mean, I could root strike the knights, and I did every now and then, to delay and postpone the battle until I could get Lozanna and gang into battle.

The reasoning was really simple. I was way too high level that defeating the knights was really quite pitiful for my experience gain, even with my overpowered experience gain. It was far more fruitful to save mobs of this level to Lozanna and the budding initiates, such that they got to a level where they could be of some use against the demons.

At first, they were excited.

But after one full month of constant battles throughout the volcanic area against the demons, Lozanna and the initiates were beginning to realize the enormity of the task.

- Wars are not nice. - One of the young initiates - she�s eight - sat next to Lozanna at a campsite. She sipped on a small wooden flask containing a kind of healing fluid. There were a few subsidiary trees here, so they benefitted from my Healing Aura and Demonic Suppression Aura , so it was a relatively good campsite.

One of the captains who�d come along nodded. - Good that you realize that when you�re young. It�s not a nice feeling going out to fight and realizing you might not come back. We�re lucky our Tree Spirit watches over us in this area. -

The volcanic area�s outer area was mostly conquered by my subsidiary trees by now, effectively forming a ring of trees to block out the demons. I called it the volcano tree line. That didn�t stop the demons from trying to break through, occasionally with five hundred to one thousand strong forces.

Lozanna sighed and massaged her left shoulder. A wooden vine surrounded her, an effect of the special tree familiar. She was level forty - two from a whole month of demon-fighting, most of it from taking on a few demon knights. - Doing it every day was quite different from fighting occasionally. -

The captain smiled. - You may be a genius, Lady Lozanna , but fighting daily is a reality for most common soldiers and guards in small villages. - There was a group of soldiers who also came along. It didn�t look good to leave the fighting to young kids.

She nodded. Yura did tell her stories of the past, when Freeka was still the village of Freeka and the men frequently patrolled the woods to defeat monsters. But still, nothing beat the experience of active duty, to know what it was like. - If only we can stop this for good. -

The captain smiled and patted Lozanna on her lean shoulder. - Honestly, New Freeka has it good. The protection of the A/ �s beetles meant we soldiers can fight more carefully and less frequently. -

Lozanna twirled her right hand, and the vine formed itself into a spear. - Ah, let�s not have this talk. - She twirled her fingers again, and the spear unmade itself into a vine and then into a wooden sword. This was one of her daily practice routines, to hone her mastery over the flexible vines from the special familiar. She would alternate the vine�s forms: a spear, a sword, a whip, a lasso, a bow.

The rest of the initiates watched. To them, it was a bit like a magic trick.

They would rest for an hour before continuing their journey home. Thankfully, the beetle army carried them. A few of the beetles had things resembling seats, and since each beetle was about the size of a large rhino, about two to three could fit on each beetle. Except for one of the centaur Valthorns. She was one of the younger Valthorns, from the second batch, but centaurs tended to be bigger despite having similar ages. She would gallop next to the beetles, and her stamina was pretty good.

The soldiers who returned did so to relieved family members, happy to see their family returning safe. The Valthorns would mostly be greeted by the ladies of their orphanage.

The orphanage was frankly overloaded. The number of kids aged three to thirteen was close to eleven hundred, and Laufen and Belle were tasked with supervising the expansion of two additional buildings. The population was generally supportive of the orphanage, so there really wasn�t any challenge in terms of funding or land, though the politicians saw it like a private military academy, given the extensive combat training in their curriculum, so according to my people - watcher Ivy, there were little pockets of discontent.

In fact, the expansion of the orphanage meant about thirty percent of the Order�s budget was now used to fund the charitable segment. Both the death services, orphanage, and birth gifts all did not generate money.

One of the priests suggested Tithes or Donations, but I shot down the idea. I felt if people started giving money to priests, that was going to just send us into a downward spiral of corruption. So, no, I insisted on the priests being paid a salary, and no donations or tithes.

Instead, the Order had to do work for money. We ran a vegetable market, food market, and herbs market.

- Herbal soup, herbal soup. - There was actually a lesser variant of ginseng, grown by our herbalist. It didn�t have the full effect of the Ginseng Plant , and this variant�s boost was temporary. We thought of using the term ginseng, but then that might ruin the branding of the real ginseng plant, so we decided just plain old herbal root soup.

- Ginger tea, ginger tea! - an employee of the Order shouted.

- Flavored olives! -

- Oranges! -

- Cotton! And clothes! -

Yeah. A market. I thought of having a more upmarket feel to the premises, but somehow it just organically transformed into this chaotic mess of a market that wouldn�t feel out of place in any Asian or Middle Eastern metropolis. I wondered whether this was what the Grand Bazaars of Baghdad would be like.

I would usually tune out the shouting match in the markets. There was only so many times you could bear a middle - aged lady repeatedly shouting, - Potatoes for sale! Potatoes for sale! - Listening to it for too long, I found that those words ended up repeating in my thoughts, too.

Thank goodness, like the rootnet , I could tune out all the chatter.

But Ivy liked the market. She said the gossip in the markets was her top five ways of getting information. The things ladies shared with each other while haggling over carrots and tomatoes was quite. interesting.

Ninety - five percent made up, by the way, but still, that five percent was worth it.

Oh. And the bigger orphanage kids were usually tasked with security. If they weren�t in the orphanage, they�d be the ones stealing. I thought it was a good way to deter the food thieves - it took a thief to catch a thief.

Until we got some rather interesting comments from the general populace.

- Why can�t we just give our surplus away? -

- Can we just run charity kitchens for the poor and hungry? -

Hmm. the council already did have some kind of community kitchen, a legacy of the New Freekans origins as refugees. The generation that came and survived the move to New Freeka generally appreciated the community kitchen.

- Never mind. - I decided to just stick to the plan.

The little tree of prayer shipped to Ransalah had safely arrived and was planted in a small public garden. A rarity in Ransalah, from what I heard.

Sadly because it was way too far from any of my other subsidiary trees, it was not connected by root to the rest of the rootnet, so I couldn�t really communicate with that tree. All I knew was it lived, and it was there in that little garden somewhere.

My rootnet needed to get some kind of wide - area network service. I mean, did we have like 4G transmission trees? Or Wide - Area Network ?

Ah. Nothing much I could do, except to find a way to extend my roots into that area of town, so for now, I hoped that tree of prayer was well taken care of. It�d take a few generations of rootnet upgrades before I�d get there.

In a way, my network of trees was essentially a subterranean cable line, kind of like those subsea fiber - optic cables that crossed oceans to form my homeworld�s internet. Of course, the scale of my rootnet was miniscule in comparison, but I�d like to think, with all the research and advancements I was doing, I was like a precursor to DARPA, and my rootnet was like. root - arpanet?

So, I was TARPA? Tree�s Advanced Research Projects? Wait. Wasn�t that TARP? TARPANET?

Never mind. That was horrible. I mentally told myself that set of names was to be forever banished from existence.

YEAR 82 MONTH 2

Demon King Sabnoc has arrived.

The news came like a wave. An actual energy wave swept through the world, coming from all directions. I felt it, and I was sure everyone else felt it, too.

But the wave stayed, like some kind of background. disturbance. Buzzing. Like. white noise from a radio.

Yura gathered all the leaders. - What�s going on? -

- We. we don�t know. None of my message spells are working. - Madeus looked afraid. - It seems like the demon king has somehow managed to interrupt all long - range communication spells. -

I tried to check on my beetles and got no response.

I lost contact with all the beetles that wandered too far off from my subsidiary trees . Immediately, I ordered all beetles to stay close to my subsidiary trees.

- Lozanna �s out on patrol. - I spoke to Yura . Looked like here, near my main tree, it still functioned. I couldn�t contact her.

- We�ll have to do it the non - magical way. Couriers, messengers. Escorts. - Yura looked, and the captains ran out to summon as many couriers and messengers they could get.

Madeus sat; there was another mage I rarely saw next to him. - This has never happened. -

Well, times had changed. Certainly, this new demon king seemed to try rather exotic strategies. I wondered whether he was a reincarnator. That would be something very, very scary to think about.

In the past, dedicated couriers, messengers, or even scouts used to travel long distances to deliver highly classified messages before the encrypted magical means of communication were invented by one of the heroes a few generations back. These days, diplomats and merchants took over the role of official documentations and treaties, and the magical encrypted messages were the mode of communication for discussions. Magical obsolescence, I supposed.

But I supposed a return to the analogue ways had its. interests. - What do we know? - Yura sent out the couriers and messengers to all the nearby kingdoms, requesting for status updates. A new set of magical seals were made to facilitate these sorts of letters and messages.

The merchants were the first to quickly summarize the effects of the demon king. It seemed they managed to retain some form of communication network throughout the continent, though their intercontinental networks were now broken.

- Message spells are unreliable at ten kilometers. High - tier communication spells are unreliable at thirty kilometers. Warnings on summons, magically controlled monsters have a chance to break their servant - master link at a distance of five hundred meters to five kilometers, depending on the type. -

Hmm. all my subsidiary trees were still in contact. Rootnet was still online.

- Message integrity decays at five kilometers onward. Merchant�s guild is still experimenting with supercharging magical messages. -

The Message spell was essentially the communication backbone of the present society. War, commerce, and trade all relied on it. A message spell was essentially a message wrapped up into a magical container and sent like an invisible letter, where it then arrived at the other side as a letter. It was possible to secure the packet by way of encryption codes, and similarly, it was possible to intercept them as they passed through.

All message spells traveled along corridors high up in the sky, known as the Aurora currents. These currents helped to reduce the mana load required to travel long distances, as the Aurora currents had a positive, recharging effect on these message packets. Apparently, and this was also something that was debated, the Aurora currents were created by some heroes a long time ago to facilitate their anti - demon efforts. Some said it was made by the gods because why else would the currents be so convenient? It boggled the mind that a supposedly natural phenomenon could be exploited to function as a global airborne message superhighway.

A mage learning how to use message learned about the world�s magical currents and sent the coordinates along the packets. The way I understood it, as Madeus explained it, was that the message network was essentially like a collection of email servers with some snail mail features.

For example, a mage who wanted to send a message from New Freeka to, say, Ransalah must know which current, node, and sub - node, kind of like a traditional country - state - city hierarchy common in addresses and old - school mailing systems. The message packet itself was then wrapped with some identifiers and locators so that it could locate the intended receiver. Or what most nations had was a magical artifact that acted as an anchor to receive the messages , sort of like a post box.�

But now, this network was unusable. The chaos was perhaps similar to what happened when the internet went out. Learning the intricacies of the message system worked, only when the system went down, was like how people started to study the intricacies of how planes worked after a flight crash occurred. A little too late.

Merchants, especially, scrambled to find alternatives to their usual sources. Trading prices for certain goods started to fluctuate because the merchant�s ability to obtain market price information from other cities was now gone, and a merchant�s willingness to purchase local goods dropped significantly because he was unable to guarantee his own ability to make a profit by locking in another deal in some other part of the world.

- How about scrying and remote viewing? - I observed the mages in New Freeka�s mage guild in a discussion with the local merchants. Thankfully, this newfound magical interference from the demon king didn�t affect my ability to see my own trees, and I believed my own energies were repelling that interference somewhat.

It really brought back memories. The guys banging on our IT admin�s tables, demanding to know why the payment systems were down and how soon we could fix it.

- Didn�t work, either. and we do not have mages who focus on such spells. -

- Then what works? I�ve got a warehouse full of goods, and I can�t find out where to send them or whether the route is even safe! There has got to be something?! -

- I�m afraid the best chance, at this point, is a messenger. - The mage tried to placate the angry merchant.

- That�s too slow! -

- We�re still trying. -

Over at the military side, Yura attended a meeting with the New Freeka council, together with a lot of military guys. A strategist under the council�s employ was present to give a quick briefing on the situation.

- One, our ability to coordinate our military with our allies is now significantly reduced. Two, our ability to locate the demon king and demon walkers on a close to real - time basis is also almost gone. This means the blood sacrifice spells used to bombard the demon walkers is effectively useless. -

Ah. Shit. That was a bad thing. What use was a nuke if you didn�t know where to shoot it?

- Also linked to that second point, we�ll need to rely a whole lot more on scouts to monitor the demon�s movement. -

I supposed they needed to return to flares, fire signals, and stuff like that.

I still hadn�t heard from Lozanna , so I decided to send some subsidiary trees toward her last known location.

YEAR 82 MONTH 3

Silence was eerie. Without the communication networks to inform one�s decisions, most travelers decided to stay put and wait. Only those truly desperate, or daring, made the journey.

Throughout my network of trees, demons appeared more frequently and in larger numbers. Given my now - smaller effective range due to the interference of the demon king, it was also harder to move my beetles from one place to another as they had to travel close to my chain of subsidiary trees .

- When are the damn messages going to get through? - Some of the merchants had started drinking extensively. It seemed they were in a limbo. Some of them started to band together and try to make the trip to the next town. A small minority sold all their inventory and decided to stay put.

- I�m not going anywhere. This town can defend itself against a demon walker. I�ll just stay. It�s a risk to go out there. You might not know if a demon walker was nearby! -

- We are merchants! We do not sit still in a place. We need to sell to make money! -

Anyway, back to the beetles, the attacks throughout my network increased, and so, with Trevor and Dimitree�s advice, I�d split my beetle force into six squads of fifteen hundred each, all stationed in a different part of my network, the rest of them in New Freeka. I couldn�t move the beetles as quickly as before because of the longer route they now had to take, and with lesser visibility, I had a lesser amount of time to plan and respond to any incursion.

In a way, this was a hub - and - spoke strategy, mini - bases for my beetles.

Frankly, I didn�t see this coming. I thought demon kings were just overpowered and had high destructive abilities. Utility or passive abilities wasn�t something I expected. It really felt like there was a mind behind the demon.

- Would you think it�s a reincarnator? A hero from your world? -

Alexis paused. - That. would be terrible, wouldn�t it? If they brought someone from my world. -

- There was really no reason why the demon kings would change tactics this time. There has to be a trigger point. When you fought the demon king, what did you think? -

Alexis waited, and then she responded, off tangent, but very relevant. - . I wonder whether the demons accessed my memories. -

- Huh? -

- When I was trapped as a fire - demon. Whether. whether the demons looked into my mind, just like how I saw their homeworld. -

- You. you saw their homeworld? -

- I think so. I�m not sure whether it�s a dream or it�s their home world, but after the demon walker, it brought back memories. It�s a massive desert with large spires, similar to the ones on the demon walker�s back, but many, many times bigger, and more. -

- Okay, now we have two suspects. One, the demons somehow brought a reincarnator or offworlder. Two, the demons took a look at your mind and decided to copy some tactics. Or possibly both were true. Or you may have let the demons in on where you were from, and therefore they can now summon their own version of heroes. -

Alexis�s spirit body rotated and twirled in the air. She looked horrified. - That. I hope not. We need to warn everyone if we were potentially dealing with an enemy reincarnator. All the nations must treat the demons as intelligent! -

- Hmm. let�s not panic yet. - I did suspect that this generation�s demons were possibly intelligent or had some kind of thought process to their tactics, but the fact that they only had a small variety of units seemed to imply that there was some kind of migration - limit on what they could bring to this world. Maybe the reincarnator himself wasn�t here in this world.

- We need countermeasures. We need to do something! - Alexis spun. I thought her spiritual body was changing color. - Meelaa. -

Meela was happily in her inn. Now that the merchants weren�t going anywhere, they needed a place to stay, so her inn was full house. And many merchants were drinking their worries away.

- Busy, Alexis. I�ve got a full house to manage. - Meela waved her off.

- This is important, Meela, IMPORTANT! ! -

- After I�m done with my customers. which is like, really, really much later. Later, okay? -

- Meelaa! - Alexis pouted.

In the meantime, I called Yura and Madeus to discuss the possibility of an intelligent demon king.

- Demon kings were somewhat monster - like, at least in history. They seek out places with large populations and have an ability to sense the presence of heroes. Their instincts seem to drive them toward the heroes. They have some primitive intelligence, according to statements from past heroes, but in combat, and once provoked, they are like. monsters, - Madeus clarified.

- So, how bad is it if the demon king is intelligent, say. like an average human? - I asked.

- On the bigger scale of things, it�s probably the demonic equivalent of a very very nasty undead necromancer. -

- Is that bad? It sounds bad, - I continued with my questions.

Yura shook his head. His knowledge about such things was quite. shallow. Madeus had a better understanding of historical outbreaks.

Madeus nodded. - Hmm. if the heroes can work with the kingdoms, it should still be possible to defeat the demon king. After all, the demons can�t level, and the lower - level demons and demon walkers don�t display the kind of intelligence that I would associate with sentience. So. it�s likely that only the demon king was fully intelligent. -

- I agree with that theory. - Indeed, the demon walker or the demon general did not appear to be intelligent, even if they had some tactical sense. Else, they would not have walked in a straight line toward the source of the Hexbombs. If so, all the thinking must be done by the demon king, and that was inherently a weakness.

Yura and Madeus looked at the map. There was nothing on it, now that we had no data on the demons.

Yura shrugged. - Nothing�s actually changed, has it? The heroes still have a demon king to slay. It just means the process is harder for them. For the rest of us, the demon king will continue to wreak havoc. Our preparations just need to continue. -

- True. -

Alexis, on the other hand, said, - We need to send letters to all the kingdoms. The threat of the demons should be higher. -

- That achieves nothing. For kingdoms already fighting for their survival, such as those in the Southern Continents, the demons are already their number - one threat. For those currently safe, all of them are preparing. By now, no one is treating the demon king lightly. I believe many other strategists and kings must have come to the same conclusion as we have, that this demon king is sentient and intelligent. -

Alexis pouted.

- Our best course of action is hunker down and prepare for war. And pray the demon king isn�t on our continent. As for you, what have you got from all your research? Can you research how to counteract or offset this demonic interference so that we can restore the communication with all our neighbors? -

- I will get started. -

Lozanna came back at the end of the month. They had been forced into hiding to avoid the roaming demons. With the beetles asleep, they did not have the numbers to take the demons in a fight, so their progress home was super slow.

Laufen was delighted to see her daughter again and gave her a big hug.

- Happy to see you, too, Mom. - Laufen was worried sick, even if she put on a strong face in front of others.

- We need to stick closer to the trees from now on. - Yura was relieved, of course. Lozanna wasn�t alone; her squad had twenty others. Luckily, none of them died. Avoiding battle was a good choice.

YEAR 82 MONTH 4

- When will the heroes be summoned? -

- Usually six months to a year after the demon king. - Maybe less? I hoped it was less.

If the demon king was smart, he would expand as fast as he could and crush all the allied kingdoms. That way, the heroes had less support; the kingdoms stood no chance against a creature like the demon king. If he was truly intelligent, he would use this headstart to cement his position.

- A/ ! A demon army in the distance! - I spotted it, too; they seemed to employ a scorched - earth strategy and were headed for the volcano. New Freeka wouldn�t deploy itself, but I would have to defend the volcano.

After the demon walker battle, I had fifteen thousand subsidiary trees, about a third of which were beetle - nests. Each tree, with Horn�s upgrades, was home to five beetles, so I had a total beetle force of twenty - five thousand. I was literally a one - tree beetle army, but I had to spread this force throughout my network.

Seven thousand were at home, in the valley as its defensive force, and I�d lost about four thousand beetles in various smaller skirmishes in the past months. That left fourteen thousand, of which spread into the six fifteen hundred squads, give or take a few hundred.

Twenty thousand demons. There were already fifteen hundred beetles stationed in that segment of my tree network. The rest of my beetles, the seven thousand stationed at home, would take about five days to get there. It was a battle away from my main tree. Not my ideal battleground.

- They. they are headed for the volcanic area? - The Order captains were surprised, of course. They presumed they would head here.

- The volcano was a natural mana source. A difficult one to work with, but a mana source. We must defend it, else we will have a demon factory as our neighbor, - I told the Order, and Yura relayed the message to a clearly spooked New Freekan council.

The councilors were afraid, so they summoned their local supporters for views. Some of them wanted to participate; they saw why it should be defended. Some preferred to wait and hold a defensive line here, in the Valley.

So the choice was given to the councilors, and they gathered support: either send an army to fight a force near the volcano or tolerate a demon base next to New Freeka and die eventually, anyway.

In a way, it was an easier battle since it was just a large army of regular demonoids. There were no giant walkers. But the flipside was my ability to intervene slightly weakened by the distance.

- Yura and Yvon, I need both of you at that battle. -

Lozanna tapped herself. - Me too. - Well, I planned on including her, anyway.

- And you. - Laufen gave her daughter a hug. - And the Valthorns. I need every high - level person I have at that battlefield. Go, and go quickly. The beetles there may not be able to hold the line for more than three days. And the demons were only two days away. -

In a way, this could have been prevented had I created an outer perimeter of subsidiary trees, but even that would only give me one extra day�s advance warning. Still, I made a note to further fortify the Southern forest and ThreeTree of Mana . Clearly that magic leyline would be a juicy target for the demons should they discover it.

To delay the demonic force while the rest of the forces got into position, I activated rooting field and poison field multiple times. Sadly, poison didn�t work on demons, but the roots did manage to delay them.

The battle began as expected, five days later on the edges of the volcanic area. I had increased the amount of subsidiary trees I had so that I could keep control over the beetles, and with new subsidiary trees , the present beetle force stood at two thousand five hundred. My seven thousand beetles were a day away, and the New Freekan army of four thousand soldiers were two days away.

The demons? Twenty - one thousand or so. The demons themselves were increasing. The demons charged, led by humanoid demons, riding on demon hounds, wielding long halberds and spears.

- Fucking hell, they have cavalry. - They had demon knights that rode hellhounds some time ago, a small elite brainwashed humans that chased the heroes, but this was my first time witnessing pure - demonoid cavalry as combat force.

Actually, how did the demons brainwash those humans? Could they be the source of this change in tactics, too?

Something wasn�t right. If demon knights brainwashed by the demons existed, that meant the demon kings had always been sentient. Because you needed a certain measure of intelligence to utilize demonic - corrupted human knights. And the previous demon king had manticores and wyverns, too.

Ah, I needed to come back to this thought later. Now I needed to focus on the fight to defend the volcano.

The demonoid riders smacked into my beetles; we were fighting defensively, using the trees as a kind of makeshift wall. Beetles could fight even when they were partly crawling on trees, the demonoids less so. I needed to delay them as long as I could, until the rest of my seven thousand beetles arrived.

Utilizing their ability to burrow, the beetles dug numerous trenches throughout the battlefield, all meant to delay the demons.

A kind of treench warfare, but these were mixed in between the layers of trees.

Some of my subsidiary trees were carnivorous plants , and they chomped on one or two demonoids before they needed time to recharge.

Here, at this distance, the effect of my lesser demonic suppression aura was slightly reduced, and a defensive battle meant my beetles could still benefit from my healing aura .

But these things merely served to delay the inevitable.

The number disadvantage was too massive, and they killed fifteen hundred beetles within the first few hours of skirmish. The remaining one thousand retreated back to the last line of trees. On the positive side, half of the demonoid cavalry had been killed, and the demon army was now about nineteen thousand strong.

- Yura , Lozanna , Yvon. Situation isn�t good. We are likely to have to fight the demons after they breach the tree line. There are a few demon knights in the force. - Indeed, the demon knights, with their various short - range weapons, made the trenches unfavorable to the beetles.

A mistake, on hindsight. Silly me, thinking my beetles were the only ones who had an advantage in the trenches.

The seven thousand beetles were still half a day away.

The demons continued their charge, and the fighting continued into the night.

- Master, bad news: another twenty thousand have been spotted in the north corridor. They are headed to the former dungeon, the naga - hole. - Trevor flagged the news. In fact, by the time we spotted the demons, they were already at the dungeon�s doorsteps.

- There was nothing there? - How did the demons spawn so many demons? Didn�t they need bases for this?

With another battle ongoing at the volcano, I had to concede the former naga dungeon. I didn�t have enough beetles to fight two battles at the same time, so the beetles in that area retreated.

Back at the volcano, my defensive line broke quickly. There really was no way I could stop an army of nineteen thousand demons with only one thousand beetles, even if I kept using my skills to thin their numbers.

I had to make a call then. I retreated with the five hundred surviving beetles and joined them up with the seven thousand that arrived a little too late. The demons had breached the tree line and entered the volcano area.

- The demons were in the volcanic area. -

- Should we continue, then? -

- Yes. We must defeat the demons before they establish a base in the volcano. We cannot let them tap into the volcano�s mana source. -

- The men were not keen, - one of the captains said. Some of the men didn�t see why they should risk their lives protecting a volcano.

- Then die when the demons come along. - It really wasn�t a lie. A demonic base next to us? They could spawn more demons, more than the beetles I could field.

Still, keen or not, we had to fight. I was not planning on letting the demons get too far into the volcanic area, and already I saw the demons fight the native magma golems.

The native magma monsters didn�t mount any extra defense; after all, they didn�t even know an army was headed their way, but the giant magma golems were more than a match for conventional demonoids.

But the demons were focused. While some demonoids kept the magma golems occupied, they charged for the caldera. And I didn�t plan on letting them get there and establish a foothold.

I spawned subsidiary trees, even in this hostile terrain, and the army of beetles and New Freekans chased after the demons. They had one day�s head start, and the army passed by more casualties by the wayside. Some soldiers took this chance to collect any loot that the golems dropped, since the demons were not interested.

As the beetles and soldiers headed up, I felt it.

A surge in mana, a shiver in the magma and earth below. - Shit, - I told myself. They might have already started. Demonic energy was starting to corrupt the volcano�s energies, and all the trees in the area could feel the incursion.

After an hour of climbing up the volcano with this army, we saw the demon�s fortress. Past a field of crushed golems and the half - skewered demonoids, right at the edge of the volcanic caldera, a fortress in the making. It was growing slowly, but it already had the shape of spires, similar to the spires of the demon walker. There it was, at the center of the under - construction fortress, a banner - like reddish object, the so - called demon-rod as told by the merchant guilds.

- This. this was a terraforming army, - Alexis muttered. - They plan to turn the world into the factories of their homeworld? - We could see the demonic energy leaking from the rod into the ground, and it was trying to take control of the land beneath it. But the volcano would not be tamed so easily.

This scene somehow reminded me of a game I played, where the four factions used little magical rods to conquer the land, and with it convert the neutral land into the four types of racial terrains, hell, blight, frost, or bloom.

- No time to waste. The fortress was not ready, and we must destroy it now. - Or actually destroy the rod first. If the rod was the source of the corruption, there was really no need to focus on the army.

In fact, I thought of cheating, so I created a few subsidiary trees as close as I could to the fortress and started unleashing Root Strike s at the rod.

But it all met a barrier of some kind. And that barrier prevented my roots from approaching, and it also blocked my subsidiary tree.

There were three demonoids standing around the rod in a mini - circular formation. They seemed to channel the energy from within the rod to create the fortress and the barrier protecting the rod. I needed to stop them, or by tomorrow they would start to spawn demons. The barrier blocked the roots attacking the three demons, too. Ugh.

- Yura , I need you to take those three demonoids down. -

- What, where? - I forgot they couldn�t see past walls, unlike my top - down visual through all my subsidiary trees. The demonic army formed up around the fortress, and now we had a better sense of what we were up against. The demonoid army had suffered losses to get to this part, a section so close to the top of the volcano.

No matter. Sixteen thousand demons noticed our presence, and they fought hard to hold back our seventy - five hundred beetles and four thousand soldiers. And once again, another larger scale battle.

Without a demon walker to focus on, my role in this battle was to prevent unnecessary deaths. This meant observing the soldiers and interfering when they were in trouble. At the same time, I also cleared a path for Yura and Yvon that led to the three channeling demons, so that they could quickly end the rod�s corrupting magics.

They were my best combatants, and since there was a magical barrier, I hoped they could still physically pass through the barrier.

Yura quickly cut through tens of demon knights; Lozanna , Yvon, and some of the captains took out a few as well. The battle lasted three hours, and the beetles finally managed to punch through the wall of demons. A path was open, and Yura , Yvon, and some soldiers charged in. The barrier did let them through.

Yvon rushed ahead, and with a quick slash, she slashed through the three demonic channelers.

The rod was almost completely enveloped in some kind of demonic energy, and when the three demonic channelers evaporated into demon-dust, it just levitated in mid - air, unmoving.

- Is it done? - Yura asked. I sensed the corrupting influence of the demonic rod slowly subsiding.

- I think we need to hit it, - another soldier said. Apparently other countries had destroyed such rods before.

- Uh. - Yura looked at it; it was surrounded by a black flame. - I am not touching that. Madeus? -

- Guard it. Don�t let any of the other demons continue channeling the rod. - The beetles and Order soldiers fought off the rest of the demonoids. We should not stay long. I saw a giant magma golem starting to form in the distance. The native monsters were trying to fight back, and they saw both us and the demons as intruders.

- TreeTree, can you move it or knock it out? The channelers are gone, so the barrier should be down, - Yura asked. Madeus was busy blasting some demons. Yura continued to cut through demonoids. The captains reorganized the men into defensive formations, the beetles doing the bulk of the fighting.

I launched a few more Root Strike s, and there was no barrier blocking it. It hit through the demonic flame, my roots just lightly scathed by the black flame, and the massive banner - rod fell down. But even as it collapsed, cracked, I could sense residual demonic energies from it.

The rod fell to the ground, dark energies jumped out like an arc lightning, and it tried to create more demonoids. This rod was the spawner of the demonic hordes, wasn�t it?

- Destroy it! - Yura shouted. - It�s trying to spawn more demons. - That was obvious enough. The demonic fortress and the spires around the soldiers started to vibrate, and chunks started to collapse. By now, the demonoids had been defeated. We were only left with the rod.

But no, I didn�t plan to destroy it just yet. - Take the rod, - I said to Yura , but then I realized it was massive.

- What? No way. It�s still emitting that black demonflame. You need to knock it out a bit more. -

Ugh. That meant I was the only one that could manipulate it? A beetle approached and the flames burned the beetle.

I briefly considered leaving it here, but that meant the rod would spawn more demons, and that defeated the purpose of this incursion.

I decided to weaken the rod a bit more, so with some Root strikes , the demonic energy dissipated, and the rod itself cracked. Still, I could sense some remaining demonic energy, and that was what I wanted. Good, I felt it would be better for me to hold onto it and subject it to some research, see what I could learn from it. If this demon king was intelligent as I predicted it was, then I needed to know how I could counter him, whether I could use the energies from such rods against it.

No one wanted to touch the demon rod surrounded by the residual black flames, and only I had the necessary resistances.

I used a bit of my vines, and the black flames were unable to hurt the vines much, and I moved the rod. It took a bit of effort to play pass - the - baton with my vines, tossing the rod from one subsidiary tree to another, all the way down from the volcano, back to New Freeka. This baton - pass took two days for the rod to arrive back at the valley.

It must have looked rather silly, trees passing a cracked rod, swinging it from tree to tree. It took a lot of effort to get the rod to move correctly.

Wait. Why did that sound wrong?

- Okay, let�s retreat before the golems respawn. There was no need to fight the natives. - Meanwhile, Yura ordered the army to retreat home. I would rebuild my defenses around the volcano after this.

You gained a level. Level 138

New Skill learned: Vine - Ropeway Network. Vine - Ropeway networks allows you to move things and people from place to place, like a cable car or aerial gondola system. Must be part of the same connected network of vines.

Star mana - variant: Consumes 150 star mana: Creates a star - mana vine - network that temporarily folds space and time, and opens a portal between any two subsidiary trees or your main body. Allows movement of any one animal or item instantaneously from any subsidiary tree to any other subsidiary. Need not be connected.

TreeTree presently has 300 star mana, and generates 30 star mana per month.

Uh. Wait.

This was like that story Yura , or was it Casshern, said so long ago, of the twinned tree spirits that had a steady portal between one another. Like paired stargates.

YEAR 82 MONTH 5

Two moons, high up in the sky. One blue, one white. Alexis said sometimes they changed color, and apparently, the alignment of the moons influenced the power of certain magics and monsters. Back home, there were stories of how some werewolves gained power from the moon; in this world, there were also certain kinds of werewolves that gained different powers, depending on which full moon was in the night sky. It was certainly a fascinating mechanic to magic. There was a third moon that moved a whole lot slower, and for now, it stayed out of sight.

Anyway, my immediate focus was on the now - broken demonic banner - rod, and I put it inside a large lab - tree close to my main body.

This was because, unlike the lab that experiment on the hexbomb�s hexsludge, which was located really far away for safety, I was a whole lot more confident fiddling with the demonic rod, thanks to all of my anti - demon resistance. In fact, it was better for it to be nearer since the demonic suppression aura was stronger.

There was a layer of extremely dense demon-mana swirling in the core of that rod, a crystalline object that resembled daemolite. In fact, I thought it was daemolite. The dense demon-mana protected the core from the probing vines, and I was in the process of overpowering the demon-mana by slowly draining it.

It tried to fight me. The demon-mana from the rod even attempted to latch onto my body, but as expected, my body was resistant and pushed back. I activated natural mana overwhelming and did what I�d done in the past, just like how I used the mana from me and all the trees to overwhelm the demon hounds, and Alexis.

So slowly, but surely, my mana began to break into the rod, untangling it, and bit by bit, in slightly less than a month.

And then.

Your mana has completely taken over the demonic - presence rod. Demonic rod has now transformed into The Stick of TreeTree. The Stick Of TreeTree retains the mana - conversion and assimilation abilities of the original rod, will grow trees wherever it was placed, and will spread your influence.

The strange - looking rod now resembled a large wooden spear, with overgrown vines all tangled up around it. The daemolite core, once purple and reddish, was now entirely light green in color.

But seriously, I didn�t come up with such a name. Or maybe I did. Maybe it was my subconscious.

Deciding it was a horrible name, I decided to call it the Forest Rod instead. I was just too embarrassed to even tell my beetles to carry the Stick of TreeTree .

Throughout New Freeka, news was rare. Most message services were not operational, and there were not many couriers or messengers in service; they were often employed, at great cost, to deliver the most important messages.

Some merchant groups decided not to wait any longer, and instead, they spent money to hire a large escort force. It was a well - reasoned choice, since the demon king would not die until the heroes arrive. How long could they wait, anyway?

Messengers, couriers were escorted by riders, and armed cavalry. At this point, speed was key.

- Airships. Where are the airships, anyway? -

- I would think they are reserved for the most important tasks, like patrolling the capitols, transporting royalty, or urgent expeditions. Smaller ones are used by adventurers, but charging the daemolite�s usually really. costly. -

I was starting to suspect the airship I downed so many years ago was somehow stolen. Or just somehow. airships just fell out of favor? Under such circumstances, I would think airships would work, unless something was interfering with that, too.

Throughout my network of trees, I was starting to see more travelers, merchants, and others.

A courier from Salah arrived today. Yura looked at a letter and then casually placed it aside. - They must be truly desperate to demand that we all contribute military to their defense. What a waste of valuable couriers time. -

- Huh? -

- Well, just a strongly worded letter demanding that New Freeka provide protection to the royals of Salah and support the continental coalition army. Salah�s part of the organizing nations this time around, together with Takde and the eastern Nagra. -

- Nagra. Where�s that? -

- Further east of Salah. It�s a coastal nation, and its capital is actually on a large island just off the coast of our mainland. Funny it decided to play a part. -

- Maybe demons found a way to sail across the oceans. -

- Demons can fly, though. At least, elder demons, - Madeus added. - If one of these giant demon walkers have some kind of flying ability. -

- The previous demon king was a floating castle, after all. But what�s the point of the coalition army anyway, if they can�t hold a candle to the demon king? -

- They can act as a big, fat decoy, - a captain said. - That�s what happened to the last coalition army. A decoy to redirect the demon king elsewhere. -

- Ignore them, then. - I thought all these royal schemes tended to fail in the face of the demon king.

Yura laughed. - I�ve never intended to respond. We�ve got enough on our own plate. -

YEAR 82 MONTH 6

Now that I had this. stick, suddenly a whole load of ideas came back to my mind. Could I do what the demons did? To claim the volcano as my own using this rod? The fact that it had that spread my mana thing seemed to suggest, yes. I could. I mean, that was how it worked in that other game I played, right? Rods spread influence, and if I had a rod, I could do it, too.

And after dwelling on the idea for a few days, I decided to call on my beetles and Horns, and it was time for me to try to use the demon�s tactics for myself.

The trees I had on the volcano had been destroyed, uprooted by the magma golems, but it wouldn�t be hard for me to get back there again. Six thousand beetles charged up the volcano.

We fought golems, and giant golems along the way, and it was a little easier this time around, with healing aura somewhat offsetting the natural burn damage from the volcanic environment. With stronger beetles, thanks to the upgrades, we managed to secure a one - way chain of trees up till the caldera.

And there we had it. The giant magma golems.

Defeating the giant golems was easy. But consistently holding on to it, while saving all the things that were dying? That was harder. I had to personally intervene every time the giant golems attacked, and that made holding onto the volcano exceptionally time - consuming. That was even before the issue of the volcano�s raw natural mana, which I couldn�t seem to access. My subsidiary trees also kept burning from the natural heat of the volcano, and that meant I had to constantly replace them.

Thankfully, after the past few upgrades, they were a little bit tougher.

I hoped the Forest Rod changed that. If this worked, I was going to start hunting the demons for more rods.

A torrent of Root Strike s later, the golems were down, and four beetles helped to insert the Forest Rod into the edge of the caldera.

One of my subsidiary trees �s vines and roots then tangled with the Forest Rod �s growing vines, and I felt a strange sensation. I felt like I was in a hot sauna, but I was a tree. Focusing on the Forest Rod , I quickly saw that it was the natural mana from the volcano and my own natural mana mixing.

I thought this might work.

And more of those magma golems appeared. They seemed to have been riled up by the sudden shift in mana, and we, the trees, and the beetles now played defense.

I supposed it was like tree versus volcano, then?

And we spent five days defending the Forest Rod while it channeled slowly. There really was no way I could speed it up, since the rod itself seemed to just work. automagically once supplied with mana. Increasing it didn�t work.

Maybe it was like cooking: you couldn�t speed up a natural process. Not too much, at least.

So, we endured for five days, constantly healing all the damaged subsidiary trees from all the spontaneous combustion. The heat meant the trees were drained of all their liquids, and when they were sufficiently dry, they would just burst into flames. That on top of the attacks by golems.

To slow down the effects of the intense heat, I tapped on the waters from the rest of my network and constantly pumped water to the subsidiary trees on the volcano. It worked, somewhat, but instead some of the trees started to boil. Which killed them, too.

But we held our ground.

Five days of constant fighting against golems, and I lost forty - five hundred beetles after five days. Battling in this unfavorable terrain meant their effectiveness was low, and I�d seen it firsthand during the earlier battle with the demons. A beetle that was normally able to take on three, maybe four demons could only take on one demon because of the damage from the terrain itself.

For five days, golems attacked the subsidiary trees and the makeshift walls from all sides, and I had the beetles try to do some rudimentary digging. The beetles suffered much, digging through hardened magma, and didn�t help that there had been a few. accidents. Some beetles accidentally stepped on a chunk of loose rocks and then slid to their deaths into the molten lava lake in the center of the caldera. Or some chunks of ground suddenly erupted and a geyser of lava torched a few trees.

Five days. Honestly, five days was just a blink of an eye, usually. But this long grind of barely defending the Forest Rod really reminded me of the early days of the ginseng tree . At least the rod was pretty tough. It could take a few punches.

Five days. I supposed I wasn�t as good at corrupting the land since the demons were almost done in two.

And five days of magma - golem genocide later, the volcano filled with the burned trees, burned beetles, we completed the channeling of the rod.

The Forest Rod transformed into a large tree right at the edge of the caldera. It was massive.

And then, one of the longest skill notifications I had ever had.

And I meant it was really, really long.

Natural Feature - Volcano integrated. Volcano has now transformed into Verdant Volcano.

Verdant Volcano will now spawn Giant Wildbeasts instead of Magma Golems. Giant Wildbeasts and other spawned creatures will recognize your trees and subordinates as natives.

Volcanic Minerals - Passive - Must maintain connection to volcano - Subsidiary trees now share nutrients and minerals from the volcano to its surroundings. Provides significant improvement to crop output, tree growth and regeneration and crop health. Bathing and drinking volcanic waters improve overall health. Resistance to disease, plague improved for New Freeka inhabitants.

Soul Forge: Red unlocked

Soul Forge: Red increases artificial soul level caps to Level 50.

Soul Forge: Red unlocks additional repair options and allows the repair of souls damaged by psychic or mental attacks. Improves a soul�s ability to withstand exposure to other kinds of mana and also improves skill harvesting rate.

Dream Harvester Spirits unlocked. Dream spirits harvest essences, soul fragments, and occasionally skills from those having dreams, aspirations, and strong passions.

As you have unlocked 3 Soul Forge colors, you�ve gained access to the Titan Souls . Titans were guardian monsters, protectors of incredible power, and summons of yore. You have sufficient power to support one Titan. To create a Titan, you must have a Titan Frame . Titans start at level 70 and have a level limit of 150. Once destroyed, they will respawn in one year in your main tree, until deployed again.

Titan Frames are collected when a level 150 person, or a divine hero, or a dragon (or monster of similar grade) dies in your vicinity.

Trevor, Bamboo, and Horns, who were now at their level - forty cap, had unlocked new upgrade options. Taking these upgrades would allow them to level up to level fifty.

Trevor

Red - blood - path - Requires 10 rubies, and three barrels of monster blood.

Bamboo

Red - Flower path - Requires 10 star garnets and two boxes of red flower petals.

Horns

Red - Scarlet Steel Beetle path - requires 1 ton of Iron and 10 rubies.

And I�m not done yet.

You have gained a level! You were now Level 139.

Skill obtained: Main Body Environmental Adaptation. Your main tree body was now able to survive all environments.

Metaphorically, I felt like I had to sit down and digest all that. In fact, that meant just. doing nothing. A tree couldn�t sit. I could move my roots to resemble sitting, but it was not sitting.

YEAR 82, MONTH 7

I had a lot to think about, particularly about the nature of my new powers. Firstly, the colors of the soul forge, how many colors were there? I had earlier suspected that there were at least five colors, similar to how some trading card games did it, white, blue, green, red, and black.

If there were five colors, would that imply a level limit of seventy if I had all five colors for my artificial souls? Or if there were more?

And acquiring more colors expanded the kind of souls I could create, so if three colors unlocked Titans, what would five colors do? Or if there were more, what would those functions be? These were things I thought I would discover in the future.

Then the Titans. Sadly, its effects were not retrospective, so I did not benefit from Alexis�s death in my hands. I wondered whether it still counted if I killed the heroes when they were weak. Did it? Or slaying dragons?

And environmental adaptation. Uh. kind of lame of a level 139 skill, since. I was here. At least if somebody used a super - blizzard, I�d be fine.

Also, the rod worked.

To me, this rod was a great gamechanger. I couldn�t make the rod, but I could find more. And then I could corrupt it to expand my influence. It even helped to expand my forests. More forests was good. I liked having more forests everywhere.

Even now, the volcano�s surface was filled with small shrubs and trees, the once violent mana now a whole lot less hostile to vegetation. I should have more of these rods.

So it was time for me to turn the heat back on the demons. Because these rods were awesome.

And for that purpose, I created a new artificial soul . Too bad I couldn�t have a Titan yet, but I supposed Titans were like endgame units. Like Khaine, or the Warboss.

- Stratreegy, online. Awaiting your instructions, commander. - Damn, I loved the fact that the artificial soul could leech on my memories to shape his voice and conduct. I honestly modeled him after the adjutants and advisors in all the 1990s RTS games I used to play.

- Good. Here�s our plan. Dimitree, Trevor, your roles remain. That is defense and administration of the southwest forests, the valley, and now also the volcano area. Ivy, your role remains to monitor the inhabitants of New Freeka. Stratreegy, your role is to be my war room and battlefield command. Your task is to find and hunt for these demonic rods. -

- Acknowledged. -

- As it is, our visibility and scouting range has been significantly weakened, thanks to the interference of from the demon king, and beetles are only able to operate within a specified range of our subsidiary trees . This will be a difficult task. But together, we will hunt down more of these rods. -

Silence.

- As such, I am delegating control over four thousand beetles and five hundred unused subsidiary tree slots to you. Get me more of those rods. -

- Understood, Commander. -

And so, I let my new artificial soul on its way. I felt a bit like the Overmind, creating new cerebrates to perform specific tasked. It helped that my special project, the Grand Mind Tree , was going to be ready in two more months.

What would I be called, then? I honestly didn�t want a name with a mind in it because I thought my mind wasn�t really all there. As much as I tried to resist it, my mind splintered and went off in weird tangents. It was almost like my mind was some kind of multi - threaded computer, jumping from one train of thought to another.

I wondered sometimes whether I was still Matt. But then, a part of me just brushed that off and pushed me back to my duties, which was the valley and caring for all my trees and citizens. I liked my trees. There were so many of them now, and I considered them extensions of me.

Yeah. My mind wasn�t all there. I wondered whether the gods were playing tricks on my me like how they played tricks on the heroes.

How long before the heroes arrive anyway? It�d already been five months. It seemed that the courier services were getting more and more active, with more people taking on the job of delivering messages to nearby towns.

We still hadn�t received any news from the other continents, but we were starting to get a better sense of what was happening on our own. The merchant�s guild had finally set up something of a high - priority courier network, using their best scouts and messengers to travel along specified routes.

The good thing was at least the demon king wasn�t on our continent. The bad news was there were a lot more demon walkers. But that was a small matter. Now that I was aware of the value of the demon-rod, I wanted more of it.

So I needed to help Stratreegy along.

Yura seemed quite puzzled, but once I explained how I corrupted the demon rod, he, too, saw value in it.

- Yes. Preferably ones where there are known demon rods. Yura didn�t want to explain too much but said that I have uses for them. -

- Uh. - The captains seemed strangely appalled.

- You do not have to engage. You just need to find it and report back. -

- We�d rather not, Counsel. With communication lines so limited, the men would prefer to remain close to home. - The captains didn�t like the idea of looking for demons outside our immediate territory.

I could sense their hesitation, and I decided to tap on another source of valuable talent. Adventurers.

Twenty gold for the first party that spotted a demonic banner - rod. And indeed, that helped to mobilize the adventurers. I mean, conventional military men weren�t really looking to risk their lives unnecessarily. The idea of poking the hornet�s nest was strange to most regular forces, and only those with high levels in Scout or Spy or Infiltrator would even think of risking their lives.

Adventurers, on the other hand, were more than willing to take on danger for simple, good old moolah.

I mean, at what point did money lose value anyway? In a world where monsters and demons were so insane, why should money have any value? Shouldn�t protection and safety be more valuable? What really gave money value in a world with no certainty of value? I mean, theoretically, if you were more likely to die than ever be able to trade that gold for anything of value, the gold was essentially worthless once you stepped out of the city gates, no? Perhaps one of the gods somehow guaranteed the value of gold, then? Acting as some kind of universal monetary authority? Or did the merchant�s guild play that role indirectly, functioning as a de facto reserve bank?

It was a rhetorical question. I needed to stop getting side - tracked.

I needed more rods. Maybe I could plant them at the lake. Or what if I used it on the large mound of daemolite?

How did I get green - and - white - colored soul forges?

YEAR 82, MONTH 8

The fact that the rod worked made me ask more questions about the nature of these mana sources. Why were my normal subsidiary trees able to tap into the magical leyline, yet it didn�t work on the volcano?

What made the rod special?

I made a few theories, but I must admit these were shaped by my experiences with my own games.

The first possibility was that there were compatible and incompatible colors for mana, and so, if my base color was blue, then red was therefore an opposing color. So I would have to go through a lot more steps and upgrades to assimilate an opposing color mana, hence the Forest Rod .

That, of course, was just a theory. I had asked the Wisp, but the Wisp was surprisingly clueless about such things, and I suspected only other Tree Spirits would be able to answer me.

The second but not mutually exclusive theory was that there were tiers to the mana. In this theory, the dungeon core and leyline beneath constituted directly accessible mana, and the volcano�s natural mana constituted mana that required processing.�

The mental model I had for this theory was similar to the oil and gas industry, which had different types of rigs and mines, like regular pumps, deep - sea rigs, oil sands, or shale oil, each with different rates of recovery, at different kinds of technological difficulty. I built this theory on the knowledge that heroes and I had star mana, and the sick princess was exposed to void mana, so it may not be too hard to then theorize star mana was like nuclear fuel. So, if we were to lay down the types of mana on a scale, there would be an increasing difficulty.

Of course, the fact that I had the ability to produce star mana challenged this theory, like. if I could make star mana, why was the volcanic mana a challenge?

Anyway. whether these were types of mana or tiers of mana, or even both, I frankly had no proof. Or maybe I was just imagining things.

The rod was able to circumvent the tiers, or whether it was the colors, but other than it worked, I had little insights into the underlying mechanics of how it took the volcanic mana and made it usable to me. So what I could do was keep expanding and growing, using the rods in different circumstances and then observing the outcomes.

Meanwhile, somebody important came. We knew it was important because that person came in a rare airship. Apparently, after some sniffing, daemolite - powered airships were quite sensitive to the magical interference by the demon king, and so many, many fleets had been grounded. This airship was powered by Quantium, an expensive and rare crystal. The fact that it was deployed meant a lot.

- The Kingdom of Takde summons all high - level individuals to assault a demonic fortress. It�s located in the ruins of a once - large city. All individuals above level fifty are invited to participate, and Takde will bear all lodging and costs. -

The demons had managed to take down a large city, and a rod had been planted. In the ruins of a place that witnessed intense death, the rod�s magical harvesting ability mixed with the residual death energy, and as a result, they started producing special kinds of demonoids.

The envoy described it as an upgraded version of demon knights, bound to the ground, without wings, but they were twice as large as any regular demonoid. The size of a troll or a large ogre, these demons were equal in strength to a regular demon knight, the equivalent of a level thirty to thirty - five captain. Not a problem per se, but the issue was really about numbers. This rod produced these demon ogres by the hundreds every week.

- Fascinating, - Alexis mused. - It�s like these rods have some kind of natural - adaptation ability to produce special kinds of units. Like an. adaptive breeder. -

It was expected. The volcano�s conversion created special giant beasts. Looking at this sort of trend, the former snake - dungeon might be spitting out snake - demons very soon. I should look into that.

- But why didn�t these sorts of special units appear earlier? - I wondered. Perhaps it was a condition for unlocking the next tier units that required the presence of the demon king. Or like queens in a beehive, it was the demon king who introduced genetic diversity into their population?

A few adventurers in New Freeka agreed to join. I had the impression adventurers avoided participating in such high - profile demon-related matters unless the heroes were involved, but I supposed some people were going to bite if the rewards were good.

- So. that snake - dungeon, were you just going to leave it? - Alexis asked. Well, no.

I looked at Stratreegy�s overlay, showing a large map, split into numerous hexagons. It was an overlay and presentation resembling Age of Wonders, with my main body at the center. There were five straight lines of trees, one to the volcano, one to the south - forest, one that went all the way to Ransalah, one that led close to the former snake dungeon, and another one that was headed south, toward where the other demon walker was once spotted.

- I�m thinking. - It took one beetle pod, one month to regrow one beetle. So, theoretically, I could lose about five thousand beetles per month with no real loss to my force. I could consistently assault that location with five thousand beetles, but it was probably better to hammer it with a larger force.

Unlike the humans, or the elves, or any other nation who manned their force with non - renewable lives, my beetles essentially allowed me to fight the demons with their own strategy, a war of attrition.

Outside of my own extremely overpowered abilities against demons, this was my second advantage against demons.

- How about your spiders? They�ve not been seeing use. Outside making webs here. -

- They�re anti - air. and were campers. They�re not suitable as an invasion force. Beetles, being a mobile unit, were kind of like. cavalry. -

- Your other beetle - variants? The dungbeetles or the spear - beetles? -

I looked at the map again. Visibility was still crap. A comparison to age of wonders would be being able to see only one or two hex away.

- So. TreeTree, would you want to send anyone to join the Takde�s force? - Yura interrupted my thoughts; the envoy had met a whole load of other adventurers and fighters.

- No. - I�d deal with them separately. - Get me a map of where that location is. - I was still very happy that I could actually see now instead of just spirit vision. I could read maps! Apparently Takde�s airship was already filled with other adventurers the envoy picked up. It was going to be a rather massive force, and the Takde High - King intended to use a large, collected group of high - leveled adventurers as a sledgehammer. - What about the coalition army that Salah�s leading? Or was it Nagra? -

- It�s participating, of course. But to minimize casualties, they need this high - leveled force. Every week delay increases the demon-ogre force by a few hundred, - Yura explained.

Alexis magically created a floating, holograph - like map. - So either strike early with a smaller force or strike later and face a bigger standing army. Sounds like fun. -

From Ransalah, a chain of trees up to the Takde Demon Fort wouldn�t be too far. I wanted to see the demon-ogres for myself, whether they really were the threat that the envoys said it was.

- So. you�re going to sweep in to save the day? - Alexis asked.

- The beetles won�t get there in time. Not with that kind of distance. -

- Even with your new ability? -

- It�s a pulley system based on vines, it�s better for goods, and it�s not fast. - Pulley systems existed in this world. Many ports had engineers who designed large contraptions to help with moving goods. It seemed one of the heroes, a long time ago, did manage to introduce some rudimentary container system, though the practice was competing with magical holding bags.

- So what�s your plan? Just create a chain of trees and watch the battle? - Alexis didn�t seem too impressed.

- Honestly, yes. I like seeing new types of demons. I think it�s fascinating, and it gives us insights into how intelligent this demon king is. -

Alexis frowned. The airship with the adventurers left. There was some information trading as well.

Some of the adventurers we hired did come back with some targets. And after a few battles with smaller demon bases, this was where I made a discovery.

The rods must be collected, either when they were unused or still under construction or in transport. Once fully channeled and transformed into a base, or a fort, most of that mana - corrupting ability was lost. Left untouched, the fully channeled rods could still continue to generate small amounts of demonoids, but they lost most of their base - creation ability.

In short, a single - use item. Ugh.

I had the idea of smashing some demon bases and stealing the rods, but it made more sense that the rods were mostly a single - use item.

Back to the drawing board.

YEAR 82 MONTH 9

Completed The Grand Mind Tree project

The grand mind tree resembled a bunch of walnuts stacked on top of each other. The entirety of the Mind Tree was wrinkly, with multiple branches twirling around.

Located just next to me, the moment it was fully completed, I could see it glow a faint greenish light.

And then I had a massive, massive headache.

For a good. one hour.

But only one hour. I�d had worse headaches.

Mind Control resistance significantly increased. Each of your artificial minds will now act as counterchecks against attempted mind control attacks. Mind control must now apply to more than half of your artificial minds to work.

Ah wonderful. The blockchain node approach to mind control resistance.

Also, my awareness of soul matters suddenly took a giant leap. If I focused, I could now observe greater details in the folds of my soul realm . And most importantly, the processing power to alter souls was at a fine level. It�d been something that I wanted, something I figured might solve what I had been facing with Yura .

After a string of successes with smaller rats and animals, I tried moving onto bigger things, and realized. I just couldn�t.

I had resolution issues. Because I couldn�t create a canvass big and detailed enough. That meant I would work halfway and realized I couldn�t copy more. Even with a live version as a reference.

It was like working with a forced 600x480 resolution when I needed ten times that.

This grand mind tree was kind of like a massive RAM and solid - state hard disk.

- Yura . Soul forge, now. - With the grand mind, I now had what I needed to create a functional copy of the hand.�

He looked puzzled, but he wasn�t one to challenge me that much. So he agreed. I had Lozanna and Laufen gather all sorts of materials and animals and place them around my main tree.

With all three soul forge: red, blue and black , I drew the mana from all over my network of trees, and they appeared as three separate balls of energy, one blue, one red, and one black. This distinction was also made possible by the improved mana - manipulation ability from the grand mind tree .

And from the soul realm , I took a bunch of the soul fragments and started to form the shape of a hand.

Yura �s now asleep inside, the vines pumped nutrients and mana. And three viney feelers, ethereal, both physical and spiritual, reached into his body and pulled his soul out. Just partly.

It revealed an elf - shaped soul, but with one hand gone. A gap. It was rounded now, like a soul - version of a stump.

Two more feelers appeared and touched the other still - present hand. The Grand Mind Tree glowed, and in sync, another feeler started to work on the floating hand formed from the broken soul fragments of the dead. With the mental processing and storage power of the grand mind tree we had the necessary mental capacity to copy all the details of his existing hand. And we started to work.

Ivy and Trevor acted as my assistants. They helped maintain some of the mana flow and regulated the soul forge .

Cocooned in mana, it took a good four hours, and the floating hand now resembled the other, with the necessary corrections. Previously I could only do three hours. It had all the vessels, muscle strands, and bone shapes, a perfectly flipped copy of the other hand.

Then multiple ethereal feelers appeared, and it cut into the stump on Yura �s soul. It was a slow process using the fragments of souls to create all the components and joining the existing soul to this new hand. Bit - by - bit, vein - by - vein, bone - by - bone, strands of muscle joined their counterparts on Yura �s soul.

This took another four hours, and day had now turned into night. There were people looking for Yura , but Laufen sent them off.

The three glowing mana balls entered the new hand, and then the energies mixed and bound them together. Before I woke Yura , I checked.

And double - checked. I made sure I fixed every part of the connection. Trevor and Ivy helped to check as well.

Checking my own work took another two hours. I had to be sure. If I lost Yura to my own mistakes, I was not sure how I could forgive myself.

But after that, I felt I was okay. Yura �s body was stable. Gently his soul returned back to his body, and then I used the biolab functions to check another time. Fifteen minutes. He was all right; his soul spring appeared stable. There was a new section in there.

I injected something and roused him from his slumber.

Yura woke up and shouted.

He felt immense, immense pain. Because what was once a stump was now something he could feel in his soul. The loss, the lack of a hand, the pain that once was, all of it returned.

He shouted. But now, I could apply healing magic.

With more. surgery. And I sent him back into sleep. I had to wake him to check his response.

This time, with real physical feelers, inside a biopod, I cut into the physical stump on his body and started to apply healing . And instead of healing back to a stump, it started to form a hand.

I did it slowly, making sure the recovery of the hand didn�t cause any cuts or gaps that would leak blood. Trevor and Ivy helped monitor his vital stats.

And after another two hours of slow reconstruction, Yura woke up to find that he had. both his arms.

Yura was speechless when he saw his returned hand.

He touched it, and he felt it. And he just stared at his new hand for a good fifteen minutes, just moving his fingers, his wrist, his muscles.

I decided to just let him have his moment. He sat, and he cried for a while.

- TreeTree. you. fixed my hand. Only gods and their miracles can do such things. Maybe. maybe heroes, too. -

Great, I took so long to do something a hero probably could do in his sleep.

- I didn�t know I could, too. So. uh. be gentle with your new hand? - I wasn�t sure whether everything was fine yet, even though all the stats from biolab were positive.

- Yeah. - He stretched it. - It. It still feels kind of strange to be having my own hand and not Bamboo�s wood hand. I�ll be careful. -

When he stepped out of the biopod room, everyone gasped. Yura smiled. - Hey. TreeTree made a hand. -

- So. that tree makes you smarter? - Alexis asked. - Is it like your brain, but. bigger? -

- No. It�s just a special - tree type I have, increases research, and improves my mental resistances. -

- Huh. For something that takes up so many resources, and almost two years to grow, I expected it to be more. impressive. Like, warp space - time or something. -

- I believe there are abilities that I have yet to discover. -

- But I guess you needed it to fix Yura �s hand. That�s pretty good, - Alexis mused and looked at the magical labs. - Too bad you can�t fix this magical interference. Could it create like a psychic bubble to push back the demon king�s interference? You know, like erm. Professor X�s. -

- Why? -

- Well, you can fix this newsless world for a change. -

- Hah. - I was a bit torn. Should I care about the outside world? I liked just caring about growing more trees, spreading trees from place to place. I liked looking after what was mine, my forests, and my valley, the trees that I had.

Wait. Was that me?

But then, the world was never going to just let me be. A part of me echoed the words of Gewa, that I had great power, and I should use it to fight the demons. The lives that could have been saved if I did something.

Yet that earlier part of me resisted that notion. I wondered whether this was the tree part of me that just wanted to mind my own business and focus on growing trees. Helping trees. Trees were my friends, my family, and they were mine, in a way these elves and humans could never be. Maybe a part of me felt that they, these trees, were. me. I sometimes thought about where all this came from, a yearning for self - preservation?

A collective instinct for self - preservation, drawn from the thoughts of all the trees?

Was this world, and all these artificial minds and grand mind tree, unknowingly influencing my thought processes? Was it deliberate? Or was there something like how the gods could subtly guide one�s thoughts in a particular direction without one knowing?

Again, why did my mind wander like that? I was having a discussion on the demons, was I not?

- TreeTree, you. okay? - Alexis seemed puzzled. - You just stopped. talking. -

- I. have a lot on my mind. -

- Ah, because you actually have a mind, now. - Alexis pointed to the mind tree. She laughed. - I was wondering where you did your thinking, like. is there a brain in your tree? Or were you like jellyfish and the roots in the ground functioned like some neural network? -

- Uh. - Well, I was beginning to suspect it was some kind of neural network. Or was it overstimulation from all the data coming in from all those other trees?

- Never mind. I often make jokes that only I find funny. - Alexis shrugged.

- Yes. Back to subject. Demons. - There was a big fight with the demon ogres.

The Takde�s force of fifteen hundred high - leveled adventurers and fighters was super impressive, and it managed to crush the force at the demon city. The battle lasted for about half a day, and they were successful.

Of course, I had some trees nearby to watch the action. The demon ogres were just giant versions of their own demonoid soldiers, nothing much to be afraid of, and their combat ability was less than a captain. The kingdom of Takde exaggerated the threat, but I supposed that helped to ensure a smooth defeat of the demons.

The adventurers and generals did have to work a bit harder against the few demon-generals, but they still vastly outleveled most of the demons.

And, as a bystander, I witnessed many high - level skills used by some of the higher - leveled adventurers.

Yet even the best of them were just about level eighty to ninety.

I supposed it was a bit of a letdown on both the adventurer and demon fronts, but hey, the variants the demon-rods made weren�t that overpowered unless the source itself was powerful. Or maybe. there were more powerful variants?

Maybe the demons captured a dragon cave or cemetery and spawned dragon - demons?

That would be a hell of a sight.

YEAR 82 MONTH 10

After the demon base over the ruined city was destroyed, the captured souls were gradually released. The city, a field of death of many, had many wandering souls, spirits, and the rod caught on to them and leeched off their energies. I could tell because now that my trees were nearer to this location, some of these lost souls entered my soul realm, and their condition looked pretty bad.

It seemed the demonic interference also meddled with the navigational abilities of souls. Would it be like Warp Immaterium? Now corrupted by the presence of the demon king?

Ah, well.

Class seeds - Knight x 6 received

Class seeds - Paladin x 2 received

Class seeds - Ranger x 4 received

Class seeds - Mage x 4 received

Skill seeds - various classes

The souls, as they returned to the soul realm , gave me various class and skill seeds. Many of those perished in combat, many more in the chaos after the demonic army breached the walls. These were the fragments; as they died, the things that held their soul spring together started to break apart. So I might as well pick them up.

After all, once they entered the soul realm, only the inner soul was needed for reincarnation.

- It�s a horrible thing, for these souls, that even in death they have to serve the demons for a while. -

- Different demons, or are we talking about the same demons? - I asked Alexis. If these demons were extraplanar in nature, wasn�t the term aliens more appropriate?

- Yeah. but I mean, the native demons of the world are more of. djinns. Or like. dark faeries who make unfair deals. Any resemblance of the physical appearance is coincidental because what powers them underneath it all is very different. These demons. are invaders. -

- That�s because you�ve seen it. To most of the mortals fiddling with demons, I�m not sure if they know. But heh. too bad there aren�t any demon-hunter classes. -

- There are. I guess you�re just unlucky. But then, paladins can gain skills that boost damage against demons. -

But if they were aliens, why did they benefit from the same boosts? The skill system clearly acknowledged that they were demons. Even my own skills considered them demons. Or was this some kind of godly classification?

- Hmm. - I wondered whether I could just plant these class and skill seeds and let them grow, so that I had more such seeds. Each of these class seeds gave one level in that class to the person that consumed the fruit made from these seeds. But second helpings did nothing. Skill seeds, on the other hand, there were specific types, and generic types. Specific types would grant a skill in the type if the person had a compatible class. Generic ones would grant a skill from that class�s pool of skills. In a way, generic ones were stronger, since it was theoretically possible to give someone one class seed and multiple generic skill seeds to let him have multiple skills.

They were seeds, right?

You can compress ten class seeds or ten skill seeds of the same type into a class tree or skill tree. These class or skill trees produce 1 - 3 seeds every year.

Oh. Was it theoretically possible to create an orchard of these class trees and skill trees?

I mean, if I had a hundred paladin seeds, I could create a hundred paladins, right? Level one, for sure, but still, a hundred paladins! What if I had crazy powerful classes like kings or heroes or emperors ?

What happened if I gave a hundred people all king classes? Did they fight each other for a chance to be king? What if I had a hundred knight seeds and had them fight each other to level up? That was possible, right? A survival of the fittest gauntlet to produce a strong fighter? Sounded like something out of those mobages where one fused units together to level up.

Why couldn�t I just fuse those class seeds together? Wouldn�t fusing class seeds create hybrid classes? Or did this world�s classes not work like that?

Class fusion and creation requires a compatible class or creature type and the divine gift - Taskmaster, or the divine gift - Evolutionist

What? It was possible! And divine gifts? What was that?

- So. are you doing anything with those class seeds? -

I was sitting on a lot of class seeds, skill seeds, and experience seeds. I thought I had enough experience seeds for about twenty levels now. Too bad only class and skill seeds could be multiplied, else imagine a fruit that gave levels? That was really overpowered, wasn�t it?

But skill seeds were pretty good, too, since they gave new skills. If I could create a skill seed - tree that produced a strong skill every year, I could have a team of very highly skilled fighters.

- Uh. nothing. - For the experience seeds, I�d like to use it on Lozanna or Yura or Laufen, but Lozanna continued to gain levels from all the demon fights she participated in. So there was really no need to use it now. The rest of the Valthorn Initiates too were on the lower side of the levels, so they were still able to gain levels.

- Commander. - A part of me felt happy every time I got called that. Really felt like the days when I was playing RTSs as a kid, only, well, I was fully immersed in it. Stratreegy had been really busy with all the demonic movements. He deployed another three thousand beetles and subsidiary trees to go with it to hunt for more rods.

He wanted to get his first rod. He was thirsty.

- Glory to the Countree. We will expand our reach. - He even had a catchphrase, like what usually happened when a player selected a unit in an RTS.

Uh. Did he just invent a new name for the state? Countree of Freeka? Did that make me the primogenitree? Count - Tree A/ ?

Anyway, focus, focus. Stop getting distracted. Grand Mind Tree, if you can, help me stay on track.

Demon rods, well, the issue really was intercepting the rods before they were fully deployed. Maybe someday I could get the necessary powers to make my own rods rather than robbing the demons for their rods.

- Operation Rob the Rod status update. We are pursuing a small demonic base that�s just been spotted. The beetles will attack the rod as soon as we spot it to disrupt its channelling. -

Well. The attack failed to secure the rod. The demons were able to protect the base until it was fully channeled, and because it was located in an open space, there was nothing slowing down the channel.

The demon rod�s channel time was correlated with the ambient magic energy in the area, so using the rod in a regular plain didn�t take very long.

Ugh. Next target.

- Please bestow your punishment on me for my failure, Commander. - Stratreegy wasn�t happy.

- Do a postmortem and tell me what you think. It can improve your chances for success. -

- Maybe. maybe you should flip it around. Look for magical places, and lure the demon rods to them, - Alexis suggested.

- Genius! - I mean, why didn�t I think of it? All these minds and I couldn�t get a good idea?

News from the southern states of the continent. A demonic walker had been spotted swimming across the ocean. The southern naval states were forming an armada to intercept the walker before it hit land.

- This means the southern continent was done for. - Yura looked at the parchment. - Else why would the walker make the journey across the ocean? -

- Intercepting the walker before it hits land is a good idea. The regular demonoids are unable to fight on water. -

- Could the demonoids be. I don�t know. walking beneath the oceans? Like that. pirate movie where the undead marched underwater? - Alexis asked. - I mean, they aren�t exactly living things, right, so. they may be able to function in water just as well as on land. -

That was a good point, Alexis. So I asked Yura and the leadership team.

- Uh. there have been documented records that some generations of demons were able to function underwater or fly. But walking underwater is not something that has been observed, - Madeus explained. He rummaged through a few massive tomes. - But. A/ is right. Nothing rules out the possibility that the demons can simply walk underwater. -

- So. -

- Perhaps it is a trap? I mean, what can the naval forces do? Shoot cannons and fire spells at the walker until it somehow sinks? But if it doesn�t breathe, that doesn�t change a thing, does it? - Yura thought out loud.

- Whatever the outcome, I feel it didn�t change that we�re going to have more demons from the south, so we need to increase our southern - sector defenses. - This did mean I needed to widen my net of subsidiary trees , but I�d already deployed most of my subsidiary trees. I needed my next level up.

Fifteen thousand trees was pathetic compared to the kind of numbers the demons could put out. I�d like to be a tree supercluster with billions, no, trillions of trees. I mean, if I could somehow become a massive forest that covered the entire continent, I could take on the demon king myself. I could just keep throwing beetles and trees at it until I won by attrition.

That was what ants did. That was what invasive plants did. Outnumber and overpower.

I would like to see a world where trees ruled the entire world. Where there were all kinds of trees, from the north pole to the south. Maybe trees on the moon and other planets. Earth was once like that.

If I was back home, I could solve global warming by just spawning trees everywhere. I recalled reading some articles while working that a few billion trees would help fix the whole carbon dioxide emissions thing.

Anyway, I wanted to gather my thoughts.

So much had happened, so many places to watch, a whole load of news from all over the world. I had had so many new skills and faced new foes.

Since the end of the year was coming, it was time for me to do a bit of a checkup. Maybe I should do such things once a decade, or maybe once every few years, since a year was really short to me.

Introspection, or I supposed intreespection, was very much overdue.

Wait! Didn�t I assign one of the artificial souls to keep track of things for me? - TREVOR! -

- Apologies, master. I had minimized the task manager when the demon king spawned, - Trevor noted. - Pulling it out now and updating. Volcano. completed. Airship. pending. Research and Upgrades. suspended due to demon king. Mineral hunting. suspended due to poor visibility and reduced beetle range. Rune deciphering. no progress. -

- Is that all? -

- The task list remained what was given five years ago. -

- You didn�t add new things to it? -

Trevor didn�t reply, but then I thought he either needed explicit instructions or he wasn�t sure what needed to be included.

The artificial souls had quite a bit of ability, and they were able to make judgments in their fields of expertise. But I supposed being artificial, their ability to make judgments and self - organizing didn�t apply to all fields and all kinds of tasks. Then again, even a regular folk had different parameters for tasks. Some people were better able to judge cooking ingredient sizes than others. Trevor was really good at forest management, and he could decide on the direction of growth of plants and decide when to cull and replace normal trees that had gotten sick or damaged due to animals or monsters. So, perhaps this issue of judgment was a matter of. unfamiliarity?

- Never mind. - I wouldn�t have been able to handle that much, anyway. - Where are we on the sewage issue? -

- The newer hyperaccumulator trees are performing well, and we are introducing layered trees to the area. However, utilizing one thousand subsidiary trees to contain and process sewage and high magical toxin fecal matter is honestly not the best application of the subsidiary trees. I would recommend further research into the hyperaccumulator trees, as the single metal/magic type restriction on trees means we have to utilize multiple trees adapted to different materials to remove all the toxins. -

- Ah. Upgrades. - The demon king�s interference meant most of the merchant networks were down, and intercontinental traffic slowed down significantly. What this then meant for me was that I was unable to purchase the materials needed to upgrade my three artificial souls without incurring significant spending and without the usual delivery guarantee.

- No progress, Master. -

Of course, rare gems were rare. Even if I could mine some of the gems, it remained that there were other materials that would be located far away.

- Ivy, Dimitree, what else is being worked on? Anything of note? -

- Observation of the citizens is ongoing. Nothing to report. -

Dimitree�s turn. - Defense is strong. Preparations and traps for the southern demonic incursions are ready. -

Winter was coming.

YEAR 82 MONTH 11

A fairly quiet month for the valley. Maybe it was the cold.

During this month, Lozanna and the Valthorns spent a lot of time fighting smaller demonic incursions. It was good for their experience, and they did need it. The second strongest girl in that Valthorns was now level eighteen, and that was pretty decent at the age of nine. I recalled Lozanna had only reached level sixteen at age nine. It was partly due to a mix of starting early and being exposed to the effects of all the leveling skills. It was still a long way for them.

Stratreegy was also busy extending trees to places where the demons might want to establish a base. We wanted to lure them there, just as the volcano did. I did hope to mount an offense against the snake dungeon and retake that location, but I was waiting for more information to come in. Not easy when the cold reduced the operating range of beetles.

According to recent courier reports, another demon walker had been spotted in the south, on top of the one that was immobile. That made two demon walkers on our continent. And if we added in the demon walker that was somehow swimming across the ocean like some kind of massive island - turtle, that was gonna be three demon walkers in the southern parts of our continent.

- I don�t recall having that many demon-champion equivalents during the last demon king? - I asked Alexis.

- You have a point. It�s likely that the demon king delegated more powers to its walkers rather than holding most of the power. Even the demon champions were just a wee bit stronger than the walkers. But then again, this demon king was also harvesting energies and mana from the world itself, and it may be using that energy to create more demon walkers. If so, the demon king may be just as insane as my time. -

- Insane, eh? -

- I mean, it did blow up a massive crater, did it not? A crater that still remains today and left all that stray daemolite embedded throughout, creating weird monsters. -

- I wonder whether the demon rods work on daemolite. - It was a thought, right? If these demon rods worked on mana sources, would it work on the demon king�s remains?

- I wonder what happens when your captured rods are in the demon king�s crater, - Alexis retorted.

Had the demons taken control of where the previous demon king perished? From what I understood, after the defenders of the valley were cleared, the nearby nations usually attempted to mine all the daemolite for sale, given how valuable it was. Maybe it was cleared out by now. Apparently most demon kings corpses had been cleared out due to how valuable daemolite was as a store - of - mana. Maybe it was like this world�s equivalent of a super - lithium - ion battery.

YEAR 82 MONTH 12

Winter�s fury mixed with demonic attacks. With winter in full swing, my beetles were forced into a retreat, even with their upgrades. It was harder for the beetles to move in such cold, but at least around my trees, the effect of heat transmission roots meant I could keep the surroundings of New Freeka relatively warm and the beetles could still perform optimally in the warmed areas.

Yet this also meant I couldn�t attack the snake - dungeon. The cold affected my beetles more than the demons.

So we waited for this winter to pass. We fought mostly defensive battles where my roots provided warmth and worked on research.

Winter also meant traffic and news from the south came. really slowly.

On some days during the cold winter, the sky turned really, really clear. And we could see about multiple astral objects. The moons, the stars, and things that just seemed to drift in space. On days like this, my star - mana production was slightly, very slightly, better.

For the New Freekans, it was a month of preparation, hiding, and retreat. The subterranean hideouts were now popular, thanks to the presence of heated water from the volcanoes, a great way to warm up.

News also slowed to a crawl, thanks to the thick snow and occasional blizzards. With news being carried physically, almost all the towns would be in a similar state. It was only thanks to my network of roots that I could still see what was going on in my surroundings.

Midway through the cold, we detected the presence of blood magic being used again. Somewhere, somebody out there was desperate enough to use blood magic, perhaps the demon king?

- Triangulating. Southern Continent. -

- That far? - The readings of the amount of sacrifice were insane. Trevor and Alexis ran through some calculations and calculated perhaps three thousand to five thousand were sacrificed for a spell this large.

With little else to do, we spent our time theorizing about the nature of blood magic.

How did Blood Magic even work, really?

What really was blood magic, and why was it so powerful?

I mean, I could see the effects of the hex created from blood magic, even at the few locations near to me. It was just corrupted by the hex, though it was slowly decaying.

Alexis�s theory was that it was like was a nuclear weapon. The hex was a magical version of radiation. I mean, looking at the indicator�s high power, fallout. It felt like it.

She wondered if the origins of blood magic would be similar, that it was the magical equivalent of weaponizing the. soul? Perhaps the numbers made the spell stronger, by the same principles of nuclear fusion or fission, that blood magic fused or broke apart the components of a soul into some kind of unstable form, and in doing so released all this magical energy, and the unstable soul - remnant form was what created the fallout�?

Given how difficult it was to access the soul, I thought it was quite unlikely that the blood magic worked at that level. So I thought maybe it was really the blood that was like some kind of superfuel, and blood magic bound the superfuel and concentrated it into a bomb. The hex was just the leftover, unexploded bomb. Essentially, what I thought happened during a blood ritual was life energy or mana of the sacrificed was converted into an energy form, and that was the bomb.

Kinda like when you packed a big bunch of low - quality fireworks together, and then when you blew it up, sometimes there were some of these fireworks that didn�t ignite, or old World War II bombs that for whatever reason failed to detonate.

When I thought about it, I realized our theories were similar, just at different levels. I just presumed the blood ritual converted the energy of the living into that of a weapon, essentially whatever that was happening at the mana pool and body into another form.

I liked Alexis�s theory, since there was an elegance to it. It was like the blood magic version of breaking the atom and had far more consequences. Like, the realization that there was a kind of magic or energy that fundamentally held the souls together. A peek into the true natural forces of the world.

I supposed it could be tested. If Alexis�s theory was true, I should be able to witness some kind of soul - change during a blood ritual. Or perhaps detect whether there were soul - residue in the hex, which I so far did not. Perhaps it was a size thing; if Alexis�s analogy of nuclear bombs was true, perhaps the soul - fission created even smaller particles that required specialized equipment to be detected.

Like. soul - quarks? Squarks?

SIDE STORY - Lozanna MEETS THE HEROES

SOMETIME AROUND YEAR 83 MONTH 2

- I�m off, Mom. - Lozanna walked over and gave her mum a hug. Laufen smiled and hugged her back. Lozanna was about to turn fourteen years old, and she was now an active member of the regional patrols.

- All right. Come home safely. - Laufen kissed her on her forehead. Laufen smiled; her age was starting to show, lines and all. Even elves suffered from stress and age, though at a slower pace than others. - Don�t stay too far from TreeTree�s trees, all right? -

- Yup. Got it. - Lozanna nodded, but a part of her knew it was a lie. Very often, she and her patrol group had to stray from the trees, sometimes to help a stranded group of merchants or just reach out to some refugees who�d lost their way.

But after their first incident of losing contact with TreeTree, they�d improved their strategy. Now their squad had three rangers, all with a focus on tracking. One of the Valthorn girls was also a ranger, a choice that they got as they progressed under TreeTree�s tutelage.

Lozanna grabbed a small pack of food, equipped a few wooden spears on her back, and then two wooden swords, all enchanted to be extra - effective against demons. There were some basic armlets, made to her size, and she walked to the meeting place.

New Freeka was a whole lot bigger now. A lot more crowded, at least compared to a few years ago. TreeTree didn�t really feel it - to him, it was just a blip - but for Lozanna , the smell, the ambient noise, the chatter, sometimes she wished it was a bit quieter. Still, she knew that TreeTree was always watching, even if his vision was brief. She could feel it, if she had his attention. It would just resonate with her special familiar. The Warden.�

Lozanna looked at her own status menu, and then the familiar�s. It had its own mana - meter, there was a star symbol next to it. It lived in her, and it slithered out like a snake, detecting its host�s attention on it.

- Routine patrols, - she whispered. The tree - snake nodded and disappeared again. It had never spoken, but Lozanna believed it understood what she said. - Let�s see what we bump into this time. -

- Hello, mi�lady. - Two of the patrolmen bowed. Lozanna sighed. The captain nodded in acknowledgment.

- All right, everyone�s here. - The captain brought out a makeshift map. - We�re traveling a bit further today, to this section. - He gestured, and the rangers nodded. - Our scouts this morning saw some flares out in that direction, and we�d like to check it out. Counsel Yura has already stationed some beetles near to the location, but as you know, the beetles range was limited. As usual, we have to investigate. If we encounter any opposition, we lure whatever we face to the designated beetle hideouts here and here. The beetles will take care of them. -

The captain looked around. Everyone nodded. It was a routine task, something they�d been doing since the whole communication shutdown.

- Well, looked like we�re good. Remember, our role is to minimize our fight. We scout, and we lure. Don�t do anything stupid. If in doubt, check with myself or Lady Lozanna . -

She mentally sighed, but in New Freeka, Lozanna had had many titles. Some referred to her as the princess, some as the Avatar of the Tree Spirit. Things she never really noticed until recently, as she approached the teen years. Lozanna looked around the patrol group. There were four other Valthorn Initiates and about twenty patrolmen, a mix of soldiers and rangers. Most of the soldiers also had movement - assistance skills due to the mobility - focus of the squad.

A young Valthorn Initiate came over and sat next to Lozanna . - Lady Lozanna , what do you plan to teach us today? -

Lozanna rubbed her chin. Her role was part - tutor as well. She didn�t really have a tutor - plan in mind. - Some sword - spear forms, perhaps. If we encounter demons. Anything you�d like to see, Ssaera? -

- Erm. can we see your Warden in action? - Lozanna shrugged. She tried not to rely on the warden too much.

- All right, let�s move out. -

A convoy of beetles helped transport them to the designated starting area. There was a bunch of beetles that functioned as buses; they moved at regular intervals along the five chains of trees. It conserved the patrol group�s energy, and the beetles were plenty fast.

They arrived at the nearest location about an hour later. - All right. Let�s stop here. - The captain tapped the beetle on the head twice, and the beetle obediently moved to the side, then stopped. - Don�t forget anything, especially your supplies. You may never know if we�re cut off again. -

Well, nobody was going to make that mistake. Everyone had enough rations for a week. And the Warden could even create healing fruits , just like TreeTree.

- All right. - The beetle moved away and continued its route. It was headed for the next waypoint. There was another tree on the next hill. Lozanna looked around; it was hilly, and there were a whole bunch of bushes and grass. The past demon invasions left some damage to the area, but things regrew quickly.

- Let�s move out. -

One of the soldiers walked next to Lozanna . - Mi�lady, what do you think we�re getting this time? -

- Refugees? - Nine out of ten sightings had been refugees. No merchant was going to travel without escort in this environment. Unless they were extremely desperate.

They walked past animal corpses and some debris. There was also some damage on the ground from normal monsters.

- It�s quite quiet for a sighting, - one ranger said, but Lozanna knew their scouts were rarely wrong about sightings.

- I hope it�s just a dud. -

Ssaera and the Valthorns sometimes caught up to Lozanna , and they would try to chat. - Lady Lozanna , what kind of dreams do you get? -

- Huh, the Dream Tutor ? - The Valthorns looked to Lozanna as an idol, thanks to her high level, special familiar, and position as the first Valthorn.

- Yeah. Does A/ give you more. erm. scary ones? - Ssaera asked sheepishly. They wanted to know more about what they could do better to be like her.

Lozanna looked at the ten - year - old girl. - Sometimes. - Lozanna did recall the war dreams were especially gruesome. She vomited after she woke up from that one.

- Often? Do. funny people appear in your dreams? -

- Sometimes? It�s usually someone to teach me how to fight. -

A streak of light in the sky. And everyone knew. They stopped their conversation and focused. - Magic? -

They increased their pace and headed in that direction. A few more flashes of light. - Somebody�s using quite a bit of magic. And. demons? - As they approached closer and closer, they could hear it. In the faint distance, the sounds of demons.

When they arrived, they saw three young persons, one boy and two girls, about Lozanna �s age. Humans. And around them, a whole lot of destroyed demons. But the battle was not yet over. There were five demon knights.

It seemed they�d only managed to defeat the regular demons.

- Should we help? - They looked at the three, and they looked tired, weak. Not injured, though. They were on a hill, and the three were down below in a small valley.

- I�m out of mana. - Mirei looked at her two friends. They weren�t much better.

Harris shook his head. - I�m almost out of mana, too. -

- How�d they find us so quickly? - Becky sighed, and a floating shield appeared. - We need rest. We can�t even choose our level - ten perks like this! -

The demon knights closed in. Mirei looked again. It was a tactical mistake to use her powers so quickly on the regular demon army. The demon knights wanted to drain them out.

Inexperience.

Harris lifted his wooden shield. He wished he had something sturdier, but after being popped in the middle of nowhere, this was all he could make with his newfound knowledge of shields. - I can�t block all of them. -

Mirei sighed. They were backed into a corner. They were too green to take on demon knights, and she hoped her friends would do better. Her fists were both charged with lightning, but she knew that it wasn�t enough.

Becky�s back faced hers, and she had a magical sword in her hand. A summoned weapon.

Becky was probably in the best shape. The five demon knights, however, didn�t move. They turned.

And they saw a girl about their age. She was surrounded by vines, dark - greenish vines.

- Uh, is that a bad guy? - Harris asked. - Because we�re dead if she is. - Harris had a skill Battlesense , and he knew the odds.

And those vines moved incredibly quickly; to them, they saw it almost instantly impaled the three demon knights, destroying them. The two moved to engage, and a wooden snake chewed off its head, its fangs sinking into the body of the demon knight.

One left. And she threw a wooden spear. It struck the demon knight�s shield, but then the girl took the chance to impale the last demon knight with another spear. It died then.

- Adventurers? - Lozanna asked. - Are you all right? -

More soldiers came down the hill. Harris wondered whether they saw the battle the entire time but was just relieved to be saved. - Yeah. Thanks. We. uh. tried to bite off more than we could chew. -

Mirei and Becky were absolutely relieved and, at the same time, impressed. But they were so exhausted that they just sat and took a short shut - eye.

Harris smiled at his two friends and then turned to face Lozanna . - How�d you beat the five demon knights so easily? -

Lozanna shrugged. One of Warden�s unique abilities was the ability to use variants or lesser versions of TreeTree�s skills. That meant she could use anti - demon strikes and a smaller anti - demon aura . With those two skills, taking down a few demons knights wasn�t exactly difficult.

- Apologies for my two friends, mages. We�ve been fighting and running for the past. eight hours. They�re so tired their mana isn�t even regenerating anymore. -

The captain nodded. - Well, it�s not a safe place here. They can rest elsewhere. Where were you three headed? -

- Uhm. we don�t know. - Harris rubbed his head. - We�re still trying to get directions. Can we go to wherever you are? -

The captain looked at Lozanna . - Mi�lady, your decision? -

Lozanna looked at the three, all of them about the same age as her. Maybe younger. - Very well, let�s take them back to New Freeka. -

Harris bowed. - Thank you. - The two mages were still too exhausted but found some energy to walk back after some rations.

They made the journey back to the tree line, and the convoy of beetles was their ride home.

- So, what happened back there? - the captain asked. Harris seemed to be the leader of the three; the two other mages were napping on the beetle�s seats.

- Uhm. - Harris looked a whole lot better after some food and water. Fighting for so long was exhausting, and they looked visibly green at it. - I don�t know where to start, honestly. -

- Well, whatever you were comfortable talking about. - The captain smiled. The beetle ride was one hour, after all.

- Uh. let�s just say we got lost and somehow we found ourselves being chased by demons. We fought where we could, but the three of us were just level one. I mean, I think I�m level fourteen now, but before that rest, I was still just level five. -

- You had a lot of skills for a level five person. - The captain smiled.

- Uh. it�s a bloodline thing. -

- Ah. The gifted children. Mi�lady Lozanna here is also one of those gifted children. - The captain grinned, and Lozanna just glared.

- Well, that vine - strike thing was impressive, and I felt like they froze in place. So, uh. where we heading? And what are these. giant beetles? -

- New Freeka, and transportation. - The captain laughed. - Impressive, right? Most refugees are extremely excited when they see one of these. Merchants less so, some of them say the giant elephants or the sandbeasts are more impressive as transports. But whatever, we have giant beetles. -

Harris nodded. - Indeed. It�s my first time seeing such. obedient beetles. Do you control them? -

The captain shook his head. - Nah. A/ does. -

- A/ ? - Harris asked.

- Our city�s guardian spirit. -

- Nice. - Harris nodded, and he looked at Lozanna . Lozanna was talking to the younger Valthorns, who were extremely impressed by her display of the Warden�s abilities.

Soon, they arrived at New Freeka and passed by the five layers of walls that now encircled the entire city.

- This was impressive. - Harris looked; the two girls were still asleep. They�d really drained their energies for the battle. Harris, being the physical combatant, less so.

The captain nodded. - Indeed. Even during the last demon walker�s attack, they only got as far as the fourth wall before A/ destroyed it. I know because I was on the walls. - He pointed to one part of the wall. - I was there. -

One of the soldiers tapped the captain on the shoulder. - All right, Captain, don�t have to talk about the same story to every single refugee. -

- I can�t help it! -

- We were there, too, but we were right in the trenches, with the other beetles. -

Harris looked at the captain and the soldiers. - So. is every city in the world like this? -

Everyone instantly shook their heads. The captain even sniggered, as if they said something ridiculous. - All this was possible because we have a guardian spirit. Without it, this valley would be uninhabited. Many of us were refugees from other cities that were attacked by demons. -

- Hmm. - Harris soaked in this knowledge. He looked at Lozanna again, who wasn�t really talking. She seemed more interested in something else. But Harris wanted to talk to her, at least, to learn about her powers.

- So, uh. do you guys have any money? - the captain asked. - If you do, I�d recommend the Oakwood. It�s the fanciest inn we have in New Freeka. Otherwise, you can head to Inn Street, there was a few good ones like Roommies, and The Paul House. -

- Ah. - Harris tapped at his menu. He smiled. He did have some cash. - Yeah. Is there an. uh. adventurer�s guild? -

- Yup, right next to the Council offices. Oh yeah, one more thing, we�re from the Valtorn Order, we�re sort of an independent arm of the city, but New Freeka has its own militia and guards, so don�t mix us up. You can identify us by our armband. -

Harris nodded. He looked at his two sleeping friends. He tapped both of them. - Hey, it�s time to wake up. -

The beetle stopped right outside the city gates. There was a tree - woman waiting. - Eh, Lady Mika, what brings you here? - the captain asked.

- Your. guests. They�re with me. - Meela flashed a wide, hospitable smile. It was something she�d practiced over the years.

- Ah. - The captain tapped Harris on his shoulders. - You�re in luck. The Oakwood boss is already here. -

Lozanna hopped off the beetle with the rest of the Valthorns and headed back to the Order�s HQ.

As for Meela, she looked at the three visibly human heroes. - Hello. - She extended her wooden hand. - Come, all of you must be hungry, poor, and extremely confused. And probably have a whole load of questions. -

Harris looked at her and noticed she looked like a very high - quality wooden carving of a young girl. - What, don�t trust me? -

Harris nodded.

- There was probably no one you can trust if you can�t trust me. Especially if you are. heroes, - Meela whispered into Harris�s ear, and his eyes immediately opened wide. - There are ears everywhere, best to come with me. -

Those words made Harris nod, and they followed her to a large, opulent wooden lodge that looked like a hybrid between a tree and a hotel. Two treefolks waited at the lobby and working for Meela immediately passed them their keys, and there was proper food waiting for them in a quiet, private dining room.

Harris, Becky, and Mirei sat, and it was. food from home. A burger.

- Sit. Eat. Leave us. - Meela motioned to the attendants, and the doors were closed. She snapped a finger, activated a few skills. High Security Room , Private Quarters . - All right, here, now it�s just the three of you and me. My name is Mika. Speak freely. You three are the reincarnated, summoned heroes? -

Harris stared at Meela. Becky ate a bite of the burger and nodded. - Yes. We are. How�d you know? -

- I received the notification that heroes have arrived. And then I saw the three of you traveling on A/ �s beetles. And your clothes. -

- Ah. -

- So, let�s talk. -

YEAR 83 MONTH 1

At the end of the first month, the heroes, long awaited, finally arrived.

I had a brief vision, like I always did. Twelve streaks of light, split into four groups of three, and then each landed at a different part of the world. This was important because that meant the heroes were in smaller groups of three and were scattered.

A vague reddish hand appeared in that same vision. It tried to swipe at the streaks of light. But another hand stopped it.

That was when I woke from the vision.

Twelve reincarnators have arrived.

- I wonder where they are, - Alexis said. - I hope they don�t make the same mistakes we did. - She got the same ping as I did. - And TreeTree, why do you get. the notification? -

- I have no idea. I do see a vision. - Hmm, was she wondering why I knew about the heroes? Well, I suspected it was because I came from their world, too.

- Maybe TreeTree�s like some kind of super - entity and that�s why the gods sent the ping to him, too. - Meela came to the rescue. She�d gotten the notice as well; that was why she came over. Her hotel/inn could run itself quite well; she�d hired quite a few treefolk to work for her.

I wondered how many would survive this time. The world was in a shittier state than it was.

- TreeTree, I have a request, - Meela said. - I know you didn�t have a good impression of us heroes, so let me deal with the next generation of heroes. If they ever swing our way. -

- Hmm? -

- I assure you that I won�t bring you any harm. The heroes need to be educated in the ways of the world, and both Alexis and I have seen more of the world without the distorted lenses as a hero. We should be the best placed to advise the next generation, so they do not walk the mistakes we did. - Meela sounded like she was begging.

- Fine. But keep me updated. -

- Sure. -

- You know where they are? -

- No. But I will tell you if I do. -

Other than the return of the reincarnators, another month of mostly defensive battles. Quiet. The southern parts, where it was warm, were battling demons daily. Up where we were, where the winter was relatively mild, we focused efforts on research and making more anti - demon weapons.

I was also gradually extending my trees to where the legless walker was. But I was taking it slow, as the terrain was unfamiliar, and there were demons walking all over the place, so I had to clear out the area before expanding.

YEAR 83 MONTH 2

- They�re with me, - Meela said, a week or so after that announcement.

- Huh? - Honestly, it felt like just yesterday that I had that conversation with Meela.

- Three heroes. Reincarnators. They arrived somewhere near our borders. They�ve just been summoned and were still getting used to their new powers. One of your patrols picked them up. -

- Oh. -

- I�ll take care of them. Don�t worry about it, - Meela assured. - It�s only been a week since they arrived. They�re still a bit confused and lost, but they�ve managed to survive thanks to their special powers. -

At this point, I remembered my titan souls, and I thought, well, since they were so vulnerable, they could die around me easily, wasn�t it?

Divine: Moratorium on Hero Killing. In force until demon king�s death. Those who murder a hero before the demon king�s death will receive a divine curse and be marked as a hero - killer, inviting the wrath of other heroes.

The fuck?!

Hmm. Looked like the gods already thought about it.

- So, what did you talk to them about? -

- I gave them an overview of the world, what they were facing, and. what the previous heroes did, without telling them I was a hero. I think they bought it. They are just. thirteen - year - olds, after all. Unlike me or Alexis. -

Thinking about it, if they arrived at age thirteen, and it�d been close to thirteen to fourteen years, did that make them pretty much twenty - six - year - olds? - Well, that�s good. Hope they don�t put New Freeka in danger again. Do you feel old talking to them, since you are their. senior? -

- Honestly, yes. I feel a bit afraid. Of course, we can�t be older than you, TreeTree. You must be centuries old now, or millennia? -

I was not answering that.

Meela continued anyway. - But yeah. They�re still in a state of panic, and they were just relieved that we were here to give them some. cover. The two girls were just sleeping in for days and exploring New Freeka�s markets and shops. -

- It�s not a holiday, though. - Alexis popped in. - They need to start leveling soon. The demon king won�t wait for them, and TreeTree, you need to make preparations. The demon king can sense us, and they will send men after the three heroes. -

- I know, I know, Alexis, but I think taking care of their mental state is important, too. We made that mistake of rushing from battle to battle, and that made us fight each other, remember? -

Alexis sulked. - They need experience, and they need it soon. We do not need to nanny them. They need to level up and gain full access to their star mana and heroic tier skills as soon as possible. And find some items of the right tier. -

- Oh, yeah! Items! TreeTree, erm. can I get some of your anti - demon weapons? The one that Lozanna has? And a wooden anti - demon shield, too. -

- Only the normal ones. And they�ll need to buy it like anyone else. - There were the regular - series wooden weapons that were distributed to the patrol force, so I thought that was fine.

- I�ll pay for it, then. -

I soon learned, thanks to Ivy�s updates, that the three heroes in New Freeka were Harris the Shield Guardian , Becky the Horde Summoner , and Mirei the Lightning Guardmage . Of course, I took some time to watch them as they walked around New Freeka.

- Well, today I�m taking you to some of the bars and restaurants and having some local food. You may be on a mission, but if you feel overwhelmed, don�t hesitate to demand a break. You only live once, even in a magical world like this. Revival magic only works if one of you was a hero - grade specialist - healer, and it must be used within the same day. So if you feel your team is moving too fast, say it. Honesty matters. -

- How do you know all this, Mistress Mika? - Mirei seemed impressed.

- I worked with the heroes. The last generation of heroes at least. All of them died in their final battle, but they told me to help where I can. - Meela pulled off the act swimmingly. It was part of her skill; as the proprietress of the hotel, she had superb acting skills. In many ways, working as a hotelier really made her more. mature.

It was something I didn�t realize, of course, because to me, the months just flipped by so quickly, but Meela�s hotel had been open for the past four years, since year 79. So she�d had a lot of experience dealing with people and customers. I supposed it was strange for them to change, when I was the one still being the same. Four years was long for them, but not for me.

They stopped at a restaurant with an al fresco frontage. Meela�s restaurant was one of the first to feature al fresco dining, but soon, many other restaurants caught on.

The waiter bowed and quickly let Meela and the three humans in. - Right this way, Lady Mika. - Meela, as the owner of the best hotel in town, was pretty much a local tycoon, a respected member of the hospitality industry. She was apparently even the chairwoman of the local innkeeper�s guild. Things I forgot, of course, since I was focused on my own things.

Maybe if Alexis wasn�t so. rebellious, maybe. Ah. Never mind.

They sat and had a cup of local tea with milk. And some snacks. - So, I�ve arranged for some anti - demon weapons. That should be your starting equipment. You will outgrow them quite quickly with experience multipliers from your blessings. -

Harris sighed. - Honestly, I�m a bit. uh. how do I say this. intimidated by what we went through. Why can�t people like Lozanna fight the demon king? We saw her crush the demon knights like nothing. -

Meela shook her head. - Lozanna �s impressive, but she doesn�t have the special gifts. Heroes are needed because of the cheat - skills. It�s also important that you think about the cheat skills that you have and figure out how to maximize them. The last demon king was a giant castle that had a few forms, lastly, an exploding demon-crystal. -

- We�re here. And you�re talking about something like that. I don�t see how we can face something like that. -

Meela smiled and sipped her tea. - Baby steps. You must first be able to take on demon knights, like Lozanna . -

- Can she accompany us? I mean. I�d feel much safer if she�s with us, - Becky said.

- Even if she does, she can only stay with you for a short while. With the blessings, you will gain levels very, very quickly. When the last generation fought the demon king, all of them were at least level one hundred. Lady Lozanna , if I�m not mistaken, is only around level forty to fifty. -

- We�re level ten or so. We need a babysitter, - Harris said, and he ate a cookie. Meela asked for some local potato slices with olives.

Meela nodded. - I can have a skill that can give you a Bodyguard , but I feel that will hobble your growth. You must realize that leveling and experience is scaled to difficulty. -

- Can�t we like. uh. have some practice first? - Mirei asked. - I mean, if you see those RPG games, we usually have tutorial or practice stages so that we get a good hang of how things work. I mean. -

Meela sipped her tea and thought for a moment. At this point, I had a hunch Meela was going to ask me for something. And she did. She telepathically pinged me.

- TreeTree, can we borrow the Order�s Training Rooms? I�ll have the captains and Yvon spar with them. Madeus, too, if he is willing. -

- Hmm. when are they leaving New Freeka? -

- When they are ready. The faster we can get them up to speed, the faster they will leave, - Meela insisted, and well, she had a good point.

- Fine. Only the one in the Order Quarters. -

Meela then turned to the three heroes. - Well, I�ve arranged for the three of you to use the Valtorn Order�s training rooms. That will be a suitable practice session, for you to know your limits. Unfortunately, you can only use them for a few days, and after that, it�s out to the field as an adventurer or join the patrols. -

- Huh, so short. - The three looked reluctant but soon accepted that it was better than nothing, and then they walked back to the hotel.

- So, do you want to watch some practice today? -

- Oh, can we? -

- Magic or swordfighting? -

- Uh. magic? - the two girls said together.

Meela brought them to one of New Freeka�s magic academies. The Council ran one academy, as part of the mage�s guild, and the Order ran another one, led by Madeus. There was also a third independent academy, but it was mainly for merchants, smiths, and others, as it was more of a craft - focused magic academy.

They watched some children practice some basic magic.

Both of them, though, instantly learned a spell. - Oh. That�s. that�s easy. -

Meela shrugged. - That�s your advantage. You won�t learn much from the children if it comes to you so easily. -

Meela led them to the back area of the guild, and there were multiple sparring areas for mage - adventurers to practice.

- Go, participate. You might gain some levels. -

And they did. - How many levels can we gain like this? -

- I don�t know. Depends on the system. -

- I was wondering, why didn�t the gods just give us all our levels from the start? Then we don�t have to struggle like this, - Harris asked Meela as he watched.

- I don�t know that, either. You can ask them the next time you see them. I guess it�s some restriction on the gods that anyone new starts from level one. -

The heroes practiced a few times, the two girls were visibly outclassed, even with their overpowered abilities, but with each battle, they improved, very quickly.

According to Alexis, it was a gift. Heroes, when they started out, had a special blessing on top of their overpowered ability. I didn�t recall seeing these blessings in their soul spring, but then again, maybe I was not able to see divine items. The blessings did a whole lot of things, like improve their rate of experience gain, the ability to choose the direction of the skill growth, meaning heroes could actually select what kind of skills they wanted to learn, a natural affinity to combat, enhanced recovery rates.

And there were usually a few gates, which unlocked star mana at different amounts. At level one hundred, that was when their entire mana pool was converted into star mana, which meant they had way more star mana than I had. Like. easily ten to fifty times more.

Meela then brought the three heroes to one of the Order�s militia practice yards. And where the soldiers practiced. Similarly, they also had a few spars.

- Why were you bringing them to all these places? - I mentally asked Meela.

- They can gain levels from practice, and it�s a safe way to gain these early levels. I�ll ask Yura for permission to include them in a few patrol missions, so they can fight some demons. I�ll send my bodyguard with them, just to be safe. -

Well, more spars. Meela then led them back to the hotel to rest, and the next day, they were at the Training Rooms .

- We�re fighting Lozanna ? - The three looked surprised.

- Yeah. I asked whether she�s willing to spar, and she said sure. -

- Does she know? -

- Nope. It�s my first time watching Lozanna in action, too. - Meela smiled.

- Uh. I don�t think we can take her alone. Unless she�s fighting handicapped, - Becky said, and Lozanna obviously heard it.

- I won�t be using my familiar. Don�t worry. And we�re just using wooden swords. -

- But you whooped the demons with those wooden swords! - Harris seemed visibly panicked.

Meela clapped. - Oh, come on. Just fight. If you can�t face Lozanna , you�ll have trouble facing demon walkers and the demon generals. - Meela�s pep talk worked, and they started to spar.

Indeed, they�d seemed to have gained levels from yesterday�s spar, and their performance was much better than before. But the heroes weren�t good at sparring, in the sense that they couldn�t seem to control their powers. It was one hundred percent on all the time, so Mirei accidentally loosed a lightning blast and it hit the Training Room walls. Thankfully, no damage. The training room was exceptionally sturdy.

Still, as one who watched their fights yesterday and today, their progress was unnatural. It was like there was a genius that guided their growth; they instinctively knew what to do to improve. For now, Lozanna was still better, but I would think within a month they would be able to stand toe - to - toe with her, without her familiar powers.

All of them took turns to spar over the course of the next week, and for Lozanna , whose usual sparring partners were Yvon and Yura , this was a welcome change. In fact, Lozanna had her first loss on their last day. Their exceptional growth was very humbling for Lozanna , even if it was just a sparring match without Lozanna �s full skillset.

After the week was over and their time was up, Lozanna came back to me. - TreeTree, who were those people? They. they make me feel like I�m stupid. -

- Why? -

- I mean. I took so many years of practice to get to this point, but they just got from newbies to be able to do that in a week. -

Well, it was all relative, wasn�t it? To the other Valthorns, Lozanna was an exceptional fighter. But as with all things, there was always a higher mountain out there.

- They�re the gifted ones, blessed by the gods themselves. Don�t hold onto your defeat too hard. -

- Are they heroes? -

- I think so. - I knew the truth, but I was not sure whether I should tell her.

Lozanna paused. She was in my secret hideout , her home. She sat in bed and looked at the wooden spear next to her bed. - Is this what heroes need to be able to do? I suddenly feel like. I�m not good enough. -

Hmm. She was fourteen and feeling demotivated and discouraged? Should I inject her with some psychedelic dreams ? Was this puberty? Or teen angst? Should I give her a pep talk? Or should I ask Laufen to do it? Maybe I should ask her mom to talk to her first.

And indeed, Laufen came into her room and sat next to her bed.

- Hi, darling. - Laufen smiled and patted her leg. - I heard you lost. -

- Losing�s fine. But it�s just that. I don�t know. erm. facing genius. -

Laufen moved herself a little closer. - Every now and then, the gods create people who are so exceptionally good that they blow the rest of us out of the water. There are those born with a unique ability or unique skill since birth. These are champions. -

- I want to be a hero, Mom. I just feel like. suddenly. that dream feels very, very far away. -

- It�s okay. - Laufen gave her daughter a hug. I felt a bit guilty spying, but then again, I did want to check on Lozanna �s mental state. - It�s a privilege that you could even attempt to dream such a dream. I wouldn�t have dreamed of what we have today, my dear. -

- Mom. That�s not helping. - Lozanna still sulked.

Laufen just hugged. - Think of it as a challenge, then. No great things are achieved without great obstacles. -

- But then why do the heroes get such great powers? -

- They have the burden of defeating the demon king. Would you want that burden? -

Lozanna sulked.

YEAR 83 MONTH 3

The heroes, annoyingly, made Meela�s Oakwood Hotel their base of operations. At least they were now participating in the Order�s patrols and were helping to defeat demons that they encountered, and within a month, they had gained about thirty levels, so they were now about level thirty - five to forty and seemed to have unlocked their first quarter of star mana .

This meant they could now stand toe - to - toe with multiple demon knights, just like Lozanna . What seemed crazy to them a month ago was now something they could do.

- The first fifty levels are easy, - Alexis explained. - We got it within a month, too. It�s the grind up to level one hundred that took a whole lot longer, and past level eighty, we only seemed to gain levels when we fought champion - level monsters. -

- Good thing is I think they will leave New Freeka soon, - Meela, their de - facto nanny, said. - Thanks, TreeTree. I�m happy to have helped them get on their feet. After this, they must find other places to go, other monsters to fight. I told them about the demon walkers and that they need to start attempting to fight them. -

- Can they? I would recommend level fifty before trying the walker. At least they get their second quarter of the star mana . -

It was mostly a conversation between Alexis and Meela, both of whom had differing views of what the optimal strategy was for heroes.

- At the rate they are going, they will encounter demons and level up along the way. And all of them have summoned units. I think the gods gave them all a mini - army - like ability. -

I didn�t watch their battles, especially those that happened with the patrols. So this really piqued my attention. - Explain. -

- Yeah. Harris has a defense aura and can summon living armors, with massive shields. Mirei has lightning elementals and thunderstorm rods. Becky has like. a squadron of magical knights. -

This meant something. Did the gods intentionally delay the summoning of the heroes so that they knew what they were facing? And then, they tailored the gifts to the heroes based on what they saw the demons were doing?

What if the demons knew this, too? I didn�t see how the previous heroes abilities were tailored to the demon king at all. Or it was just a coincidence that this roster of abilities leaned toward the heroes being a one - man army�?

In any case, after a week or more of fighting, the three heroes eventually decided to make a move for the next town. As advised by Meela, they were going to head south, toward the stationary walker.

The heroes took one of the beetles to head south.

A magical ball appeared in front of them.

- Hi, guys. Everyone alive? - A voice came out of the ball.

The three heroes jumped but then nodded. - Astra, was that you? -

- Yeah, it�s me, all right. Sorry it took so long. I had to reach my level thirty perk to unlock the Hero - Chat communication ability. Everyone here? -

- Yup. - It seemed that they could see each other�s faces in the magical ball, but my spirit vision was able to only see the presence of a pure - white magical orb and not what was on it. Kinda like an overexposed camera facing a television. It was all white to me. But at least I could still hear the message.

- Good. How�s everyone? I�ll start. We had a rough first month. We got ambushed by multiple demon groups, but luckily a group of knights helped us out. We�re based in one of the kingdoms in the far south. -

- South? - Harris asked. - Isn�t the South in very bad shape? -

- Not gonna lie, it totally is, it is. The Southern Continents entire northern half was, and still is, lost to the demons, and the far - southern kingdoms, thankfully, through luck and some good strategies, managed to keep the demons away, however barely. The kings were super relieved to see us. We�re trying to gain levels as fast as we can, and thankfully we met some locals who were very willing to help us, - this Astra person explained.

- Your story sounds similar. We got saved by the locals, too. - Another voice. - Totally not what I expected. If I see the gods again, I�m gonna give them a piece of my mind for dropping us in the middle of nowhere. -

Harris and Mirei nodded. - Yeah. We also got saved by the locals. -

- Hmm. we�re in the east, and we�re quite lucky. We didn�t see many demons, and we fought whatever we could. We�re now based in one of the towns. There were some helpful locals as well. -

- Ah, shit. This skill drains my star mana faster than Pokemon Go does. My star mana is running out. All right, we�ll catch up again once my star - mana recovers. Sorry! - Astra complained.

- It�s fine. Good to know everyone�s alive, - someone said.

- Yeah. -

And the magical orb vanished. And the three of them shared glances while still riding the beetle.

- That�s like. a Skype group - video conference call. -

- Who uses Skype these days? - Becky looked puzzled.

- My dad does. - Mirei shrugged. - For work. -

For me, this meant the heroes star mana was able to overcome the demon king�s magical interference.

YEAR 83 MONTH 4

I was so glad they were gone. The heroes headed south, and I thought they passed by some other cities. I thought they would probably reach the demon walker in the next month, or maybe the month after, depending on which route they took.

I felt like I was on edge whenever they were doing something in the city. Or maybe it was that subtle presence they had, the heroes aura or whatever. I got a sense that it was a subtle aura the gods gave them, albeit bundled up in the blessing that they had.

So, with them gone, I focused my attention back on New Freeka and those under my care.

- TreeTree, do you have any special powers you can give me? - Lozanna sat. She was done with another round of practice with the rest of the Valthorns. Still, even though the heroes left, the heroes left a mark on her mind. She was too young the last time the heroes came, but this time, she was old enough to even spar with them.

- You already have some, no? - Well, the possession of the devoted was a special skill. It gave her that weird, whip - like ability, and she�d already gotten exceptional resonance to my own abilities.

Hmm, but what would I have to do? Let�s say if the heroes survived and they started having political ideas, like Alexis, what would I do? Clearly not everyone would agree with them, and the divine moratorium on their death was lifted.

A super - condensed version of Dream Tutor and a whole bunch of level and skill seeds? What else? Physical enhancements? Soul modification?

I could probably do some physical enhancements and give her a super - strong dose of Dream Tutor , but skill seeds. did she want some special class? Dark Knight , perhaps? Would that be enough to even stand up to a hero?

- Lozanna , what�s your class at this point? -

- Main class, Elven Swordfighter , secondary class, Villager . I�m level thirty - one at my main class, level eight villager. Total level forty - seven. -

- Hmm. I thought you broke level fifty? - This segregated and accumulated class level system that humanoids had still felt a bit like a cheat, but on the flipside, creatures like me had way higher base stats and gained more of such stats per level than humanoids.

- Not yet. - Lozanna sulked. - Is that why I lost? - But before I could answer, she answered herself. - No. They improved so fast. Higher levels didn�t change that. It would be a matter of time, unless I could improve just as fast as them. -

Hmm, I would need to have some kind of anti - hero countermeasures.

- So, uh. do you have any kind of fruit that can make me smarter? So that I can level up faster? Or just as fast as the heroes? -

How would I do that, Lozanna ? Maybe not make you smarter. but the process of gaining levels was essentially these experiences were absorbed via the soul. Experience was in the outer soul, and the blessings acted as a modifier on the.

The soulspring was the gatekeeper of levels. It would make sense, therefore, that any experience multipliers, such as the divine blessings , would exist as a layer outside the soul. So, if I were to make a super - leveling follower, I would have to somehow influence the soulspring.

- Might be possible, Lozanna , but not something I can do now. - If I could create the effects of training room , Dream Tutor , Power - leveling , Learning Aura , or even my very own hero fragments , as a part of Lozanna �s soul spring, then she could level up faster.

But would the soul spring affect natural ability? It seemed quite pre - deterministic if that was the case, the fate of these young infants had been decided at the start of their lives. I felt that must not be true because there were tales in this world of young men and women of modest upbringings and station rising into greatness. One would then argue that perhaps these young men already had the seed in them. Those who never had the seed would never do something like it.

- You may have to wait. -

- They would get so much better than me already! - Lozanna sulked, but she sighed. - But then again, they were blessed by the gods to be heroes. I�m just an ordinary girl. -

- Still on that subject? - Yura walked in. He smiled at some of the young Valthorns and motioned for them to spar with him. He was careful with his new hand, even though it�d been months. He was gradually testing it out more, though, using skills to parry with his repaired hand and test the strength of the bones and joints.

- Yea, Uncle Yura . I�m asking TreeTree whether he can help me cheat the level system, like the heroes. -

Hmm. would I be able to modify the familiar to create this effect if I was unable to alter the soul directly? Perhaps this was a stopgap measure?

Learned Familiar type: Studious Spirits

Studious Spirits loses almost all familiar abilities except Wood Shield. In exchange, the host�s experience gain is doubled. Skills and levels gained since acquiring Studious Spirit are more likely to be transferred to the grantor on death of host.

Okay! That worked, too. But clearly Lozanna wouldn�t benefit from this, since she already had one familiar spirit contract, and strangely, although you could get multiple familiars, each from a different giver, you couldn�t get multiple from the same giver. I wondered why.

Could Meela give a familiar as she was a tree like me? Even if she was a hospitality - focused one.

My thoughts strayed a bit, then Yura and Lozanna started to spar again. Yvon was playing the role of a teacher for some more Valthorns, but my twenty Minder - Familiar slots were full. It was a half - yearly thing where I selected new students to receive the Minders, but now that I had this leveling familiar, I wondered how I should organize the Valthorns.

Should the Minders be a lower tier?

Lozanna ducked and went close to all - out, stopping short of using her special familiar. Yura outclassed her, of course. Even Yvon outclassed Lozanna , though the gap between them was a lot smaller.

But the Studious Spirits clearly had no limitation. Was it because I allocated a portion of my mind to oversee the Minder - Familiars , so the twenty minders were essentially a limitation of my ability to simultaneously track my young Valthorns?

In such case, wouldn�t the Minders be inferior?

Curious, I had the Valthorns spar with one of the captains who possessed a regular familiar and fight entirely using the familiar�s abilities. I wanted to hear from them on what they thought.

- Isn�t it about the same? - the Valthorns and captain asked. Turned out they had no insight that the Minder - Familiars were different. They fought, and the abilities were similar, and the regular familiar was no weaker than the minder - familiar, though the minder - familiar was more in tune with the host, so its response time wasn�t that different. Fair, I supposed if the Minder�s task was to observe, it didn�t make sense for those being watched to know they were being watched.

All right then, at least I could easily swap them for a regular familiar, since they didn�t know any better.

- Are you planning to give us better familiars? Like Lady Lozanna �s? - The Valthorns sounded quite excited.

Uh. I had druidic aspects, and Yura had Bamboo, the Artificial Soul - Eidolon. And now this Studious Spirit .

Only the Artificial Soul and the Possession Of the Devoted was a clear upgrade. The rest were just a question of what was being traded off.

- I have a familiar type that increases your leveling, but you lose almost all familiar abilities. -

- Oh, I wouldn�t want that! - One of the Valthorns shook her head vigorously. - I like eating fruits from the familiar. I�ll never go hungry ever again! - Ah, this young girl was one of those who suffered through a period of starvation during the refugee - runs, so the concept of having a magical companion who made food was like. heaven.

- If you have a familiar type that focuses on producing food and water, we�d have to worry a lot less about supply chains, - Yura casually remarked. - Just one or two guys focused on making food, and we�ll be able to send a small squad anywhere around the region quickly. -

- What if they die or get targeted? -

- It�s an alternative, and it is a compromise for speed and range. Hauling food using conventional holding bags is possible, too, but more expensive. Doesn�t help that holding bags food feels kind of stale, even if it�s mostly preserved. -

Yura and Lozanna sparred again. Lozanna was using a stick this time. She said she had to try something different. I thought she even asked Madeus to give her magic lessons.

Though I could give her mage class seeds if she ever needed it, I wondered if multi - classing too much was a good idea. I recalled some game designs intentionally hindered or scaled multiclassing such that they became jack - of - all - trades, and the gains of multi - classing were often less than the benefits of a focused class.

- I didn�t feel any drawbacks from multi - classing, I think, - Alexis wondered. - But then, I don�t do Player, not I mean, People - versus - People, so I really don�t know how I stack up against another person at the same level, but with a more focused class. demon-hunting heroes are essentially a People - versus - Environment setup. - Alexis intentionally avoided the word player.

- Oh, yes. Before my diplomat and fighter class merged into warlord, I did feel weaker. A consolidated class was easily better, with benefits from both. -

- If the multi - classing is within the same category of classes, it�s usually not a problem. Mages are known to take multiple related magic types, with little to no drawback versus a focused mage. In fact, as our magic levels are gated, where we need to perform certain feats to progress, taking multiple classes is how we make progress. - Ah yes, Madeus and magic�s weird requirement for feats or accomplishments to pass a certain level barrier.

- I don�t have that, - Alexis retorted to me. - I was an archmage and a pyromancer , which later merged into arch - firemage . I still kept a few other classes! -

I sort of mentally rolled my eyes. I didn�t have actual eyes to roll, of course. Even my tree - eyes couldn�t physically roll. I mean, we all knew heroes worked differently. It was quite clear by now.

- Which class should I take, TreeTree? - Lozanna asked. She wanted to add more learning into her time, so she wanted the Dream Tutor to be something new. Yet she was unsure of what other class she should take.

As it was, she was a combat, melee - focused unit. Should she get some range, or maybe she should head for the spell - sword kind of route? Enchanted blades and Magical Sword Attacks?

YEAR 83 MONTH 5

- I hope they remember what I told them. - Meela sat and enjoyed a cup of wine. Alexis sat next to her. I thought they both were quite high leveled by now. Meela was in the level sixties or so, and she was waiting to get some kind of branch - hotel ability. In here, Alexis could somehow take up a form that could enjoy wine.

- Well, you did what you could. - Alexis sighed. - If only some of us survived to fight with them. -

- Heroes don�t get summoned until all the previous ones die. -

- Is that really a rule, or just a heavenly preference? - Alexis sipped on the wine. For Meela, wine tasted kind of funny because she was also a tree like me. Drinking wine didn�t give her the same effects. So her preferred drink was, strangely, a grape - flavored cordial made of condensed nutrient - stuff.

Meela shrugged at the question. - Well, if they are careful, they�ll be able to hide from the demon king for a while. -

One of the key lessons Alexis wanted Meela to share was that the demon king could sense their presence, and the stronger they got, the easier it was for the demon king to find them. It was like a fire in the darkness. A stronger fire burned brighter and easier to see.

- Think they�ll come back? -

- Honestly? - Meela paused and sipped on her nutrient cordial.

- They will. - Alexis sighed. - I see us in them. We were just as desperate and lost as they were, the burdens on them so heavy that they will look for anyone, anything to help them, and if they can find a safe harbor like TreeTree, they will. -

- That�s why I didn�t tell them anything about TreeTree. - Meela stopped. - You know TreeTree won�t agree to help them. -

- They�re stuck in between a rock and a hard place. And TreeTree�s just concerned with this. valley. -

Huh. But then, I liked only paying attention to my things and things related to my things. The demon king was one of my top three threats. Other kingdoms, other monsters, and demons. All of them were threats because they threatened the existence of this valley, and they were often destructive to me, the trees, and the valley around me.

- You know he�s listening, right? - Meela shrugged, and she sipped on her cordial again.

- But then again, he�s not exactly bothered by what we say about him. Look at the New Freekans. So many of them say weird stuff about A/ all the time. Nothing happened. -

- As someone who�s mostly tree, I think he�s still thinking whether he should do anything. - Meela finished the cordial and walked over to the sink. - I mean, I sort of can understand his slow response, now that I am a tree hotel. We get assaulted with so much sensory information from all over our tree, and in his case, his network of trees, that we need a lot of time to just take it all in. -

- But he fights battles surprisingly well for someone that lives life on a different time scale. -

- It�s probably an emergency reaction. It�s like how some of us can enter into bullet time and fight things differently. -

Alexis frowned. - Hmm, that implies that if TreeTree fights too long, he�ll need to rest like the rest of us. -

- Why not? A tree is still a living being, and energy fluctuates. But what�s long to him is probably extremely long to us. -

- Shouldn�t it be the other way round, that someone who lives on a longer time scale should consume more energy to focus on a short battle? But then again, he does have a mind now. Maybe that helps. -

I wondered what they were on about.

- Mission accomplished, Supreme Leader. -

Stratreegy managed to capture a demon rod ! But Supreme Leader made me feel like some hermit kingdom�s dictator.

The luring tactic worked; we located a force of demons headed for the ThreeTrees of Mana , and after we had confirmed the existence of the demon rod, Stratreegy led the fight.

It was a fairly easy battle. The demons were only five thousand strong, and the South Forest had more than that in beetles alone. Added to it, it was a defensive battle, so we crushed them easily and took a rod.

Another one week to convert it into Forest Rod , and now I had a tree - creating item. Now, I needed to think about where to use it.

With winter over, and the snake - dungeon now spitting out more demons, I gathered the beetles from across my valley.

I probably wouldn�t use the demon rod on the snake dungeon, though. I didn�t quite fancy having snakes, and I recalled the residual mana in that location was quite weak. So I would rather save it for something that was more likely able to unlock the next Soul Forge color.

Still. Time to crush the annoying nest of demon-insects in my neighborhood.

Pests.

The battle was relatively brief. Lozanna , Horns, and Yura , accompanied by eight thousand beetles, led the charge into the snake - hole - turned - demon-base. Unlike the dungeon, this demonic base didn�t block my subsidiary trees , and as such, I could still use the beetles even within the dungeon.

It was one of my concerns, that the demon rods could possibly enhance the effects of the demon king�s magical interference. But I was happy to see this was not the case.

Anyway, Lozanna spoke of two demon generals defending the demon rod after the battle; she gained a level after Yura and Lozanna defeated them. The rod itself apparently transformed into a large, nest - like structure, which crumbled under the attack of giant beetles.

YEAR 83 MONTH 6

While no actual news arrived on our shores, I had a sense there had been a lot of fighting.

My soul realm collected a whole load of souls, and they seemed to come from all directions. Even my wandering soul harvesters seemed to bring back souls from far away.

I hadn�t heard of the heroes, nor did I care all that much, but I wondered whether this was linked to them.

And then refugees.

By the thousands, they came from north and south. Trevor and Stratreegy detected them as they approached the outer ring of subsidiary trees . Curious, I had my assistants zoom in and try to pick out what was the cause.

- There were two walkers. - That was the gist of the chatter amongst the escaped refugees, many of whom were soldiers themselves. It seemed the walkers weren�t headed my way, so that was a relief.

It seemed that two walkers had somehow managed to move into position together, the second one being from the south. It landed on some poor, unsuspecting village and then started to wreck chaos. The other one came from the north, headed south.

Were they planning to meet with the third immovable demon walker? What was the point of two walkers in the same place?

Still, it was amusing, and I would like to see a battle of walkers and heroes.

- Would you have problems with two walkers? - I asked Alexis and Meela.

- When we were in our level one hundreds? I could probably take on one single - handedly, but when I was level ninety and our heavenly forms needed channeling? That was a bit harder. But then, it�s hard to say. there were so many things to consider. For example, I think piercing magic works better than explosive ones with the walkers, so there may be an issue of compatibility. - Sometimes Alexis got really long winded, and I was quite certain it was her laboratory spirit doing the talking.

I thought we handled the walker quite easily, but then again, I did have anti - demon boosts. Apparently, not all the heroes conventional abilities included an anti - demon boost. This meant a paladin hero with anti - demon abilities far stronger than a generic archmage with no specific anti - demon ability. Except their star mana , which star mana by nature were especially effective against demons.

- I recall all of you struggled against three champions and had to come to me. - Ten years was but a short while ago, though ancient to them. - That didn�t make sense. -

Meela looked awkwardly, and it was Alexis who responded. - We were in our level nineties, and uh. we were just coming to grasp with our star mana and heavenly form . Unlike you, somehow the gods didn�t give all of us anti - demon blessings. Only paladins, healers, and some of the sword - mages. Regular mages like me got supersized mana pools, high - tier spells, multi - elemental enchantments, and that sort of stuff. And supersized star mana . -

- Why wouldn�t they? - Again, another nonsensical idea. If the heroes were created to fight demons, why wouldn�t the gods give them anti - demon blessings? Such a thing did, after all, exist.

- How would I know? Maybe they thought it wouldn�t be necessary since the star mana was so damned good at killing demons? Besides, those anti - demon blessings don�t work against the demon king itself that much. -

- They don�t? - I thought they did. I survived a demon king thanks to them! Did the fragments manifest differently from blessings? I pulled out my Tree Heart �s status again, just to reread the narration.

The Tree�s Heart and Spirit - Lantern

This is the heart of the tree, adorned with the fragments of 67 heroes. It gives the tree 3350% increase in experience gain, 670% extra damage against mid - tier demons, 335% extra damage against elder demons, significant demon armor - negation, immunity to lesser demons, significant damage reduction against elder demons, and immunity from all lesser forms of fire, and significantly reduced damage from higher form of fires.

- Meela, Alexis, when your friend died, did you get a. fragment? Or a blessing�? -

Meela nodded. - We did. All of us received a fragment. It�s called Baton of the Fallen . It boosts our experience gain, blessings against lesser and mid - tier demons, some demonic resistance, and other stuff like that. I lost it, though. We lost it. -

Was it not effective? Or did they not know whether it was effective or not because they�d not seen its effects? When they fought the demon king, that fragment had always been with them, and. they probably had one fragment? Maybe the effects were too miniscule for them to realize?

Or was it because the demon king was perhaps. an otherworldly, divine being, perhaps something of a. demonic half god? Therefore star mana was the only true counter for the demon king. All these stat boosts negated only an aspect of its power.

- Why did you ask, and uh. how did you know there was a fragment? - Alexis suddenly probed. - That�s not something anyone knows, except for heroes. -

- Uh. a hero told me once? But I didn�t know what it did. -

Alexis paused, thought for a while, and I witnessed her eyes change, as if something dawned on her. - TreeTree, how did you get those. heroic fragments? You know. the ones in your treeheart , the ones you showed us so many years ago. -

Did she figure it out?

What should I say? - I don�t know. I just get them. -

- Who? - Alexis asked. Her voice seemed almost angry.

Meela seemed puzzled. - Alexis, what�s happening? -

- It�s so painfully obvious now. I cannot believe how I have been so blind. You, TreeTree, have heroic fragments. You clearly don�t like heroes. Hero fragments are the shattered remains of a soul. TreeTree has a soul forge . Did you steal fragments from us through your soul forge ? You cut into our souls and take it out of us, a bit of us, didn�t you? Or a familiar . -

Uh. What?

- That time when Meela was in your biopod , you took a fragment from her, didn�t you? And the same when I was here. Or that familiar of yours! That�s a thing to steal hero fragments , right? That�s why you insisted on all of us taking a familiar ! -

Huh?!

Meela rubbed her chin. - I don�t think so, though. I don�t feel a thing. -

- Of course you don�t feel a thing! It probably happened after we died. -

- Timeline didn�t line up. TreeTree didn�t have a soul forge until later? - Meela retorted.

- Then it must be the familiars , - Alexis mused. - The familiars are scavengers, like vultures that wait for us to die and then pick on our soul fragments! -

- That�s not true. -

- I don�t believe it! It all makes sense now! - Alexis shouted. - That�s why you asked Meela to offer your familiars to the three new heroes! - Which all of them accepted. - You�ve planned this all along! -

- Look. You�re a smart girl. Think about it for a moment. It�s not as if you actually lost anything. You died. Your attachment to your body and whatever fragments stops there. It�s like your corpse, after it�s buried in the ground, some worms come and eat your dead body. It�s just nature, naturally consuming and assimilating the deceased! Do you curse the worms for eating the bodies buried in the ground? I am a soul tree . My job is to recycle the souls and spirits of the world, and reality is you, as a person who died, were part of that cycle. -

Oh. Did I just make it worse?

- Ugh! Oh my god, I cannot believe that I am soul - contracted with someone who�s been collecting our fragments! I want out. I want to break this contra - And Alexis screamed in pain as the soul contract acted on her mind.

Meela sighed. Alexis�s screaming slowly faded into the background. She seemed calm, but she was thinking, and she asked, - TreeTree, did you steal or take fragments from us. through those. familiars? -

- No. I can assure you I did not steal them via familiars or any other methods. - I wanted to keep my presence as also a reincarnator a secret. No one should know. - I received them, only after your death, as part of my duties as a soul tree . But I did not steal or take them. -

Meela paused and sat on a chair. - TreeTree. -

The screaming stopped as the soul contract put Alexis�s mind to sleep.�

- I don�t believe you were malicious, - Meela said. - Alexis might be right, that the kind of magic you have, this. soul magic isn�t something we can comprehend.

- I�ll. I�ll talk to Alexis. - Meela sighed. - I need to think about this. I guess, I guess neither of us has ever really come to terms about how different you are as a soul tree. Alexis, and myself. there are concepts about this world that we still have not accepted. -

Huh.

- I think. it�s probably like I died and somebody took over my online identity and sold it. Sure, I didn�t lose anything, but a part of me didn�t feel right. Like the dead has been desecrated. -

Uh. there was reincarnation? You had a new body, and if you always held onto your previous bodies, then eventually you would need to care for so many previous bodies. There was a time to move on.

- I. uh. give me some time. I - I need to check on Alexis. - Alexis was in deep slumber. She�d probably wake up in a day or two.

Hmm. Looked like I must revisit my assessment of Alexis and Meela. Should I still keep them around? Perhaps not.

How did I split without making them enemies? They were former heroes, and they knew a lot about me. If they wanted to harm me, a stationary tree, there was a lot they could do. Should I just. kill them?

I didn�t think I could keep one and kill the other, and Alexis�s value to me was clearly not there anymore. I mentally sighed. I could probably banish Alexis as she was soul contracted to me, but Meela as an independent soul, even if I destroyed her present body, she could still manifest in this world as another entity, find another body. If I were to kill both of them now, Meela would find another body, and I would just make her an enemy.

If I could just wipe their minds, or send both of them into the reincarnation cycle on another world, that would be great. But alas.

There were no clean divorces.

YEAR 83 MONTH 7

Alexis somehow fell back into moments of that mental breakdown constantly. It seemed that whatever she realized really possessed her, it would trigger the soul contract almost every other day, even if she woke up. Since Alexis had entered into this state, Meela closed her Oakwood Hotel to spend more time with her.

- Why does she keep relapsing into that screaming fit? -

- I - I don�t know. Something keeps triggering the soul contract . -

- Stop it? -

- I can�t. I don�t know how to. -

Hmm. This seemed to be a mechanics of the soul contract , so I attempted to -

Assessing Soul Contract detailed menu

Master: TreeTree. Servant: Alexis

Current security setting: Intention to break contract and related causes were purged from memory (default)

Other security settings possible:

1.Notify Master of rebellious intentions

2.Warn servant

3.Suppress/Confuse rebellious intentions with other thoughts

4.Personality mind - wipe (Levels and skills will be lost. Chance of possible soul - crash�)

5.Do nothing

6.You may also change the memory purge period and targeting conditions.

Warning. Skill - Conflict detected. Alexis Laboratory Spirit possessed the skill Discovery Log . Discovery Log records and collates all findings and important facts to produce hypotheses. Discovery Log was in conflict with Soul Contract �s purging attempt. Conflict was overwhelming servant�s mental & memory faculties. Skill modification not available.

Do you want to remove Alexis�s skill, Discovery Log , or suppress the memory purge?

- Oh. - A fix was possible, but let�s talk to Meela. I was not too keen on keeping Alexis anymore; temporary solutions were just unnecessary bandage.

But before that, I took some time to look at the other items in this Soul Contract �s menu, such as the option to undo form . This would be useful for Eriz and Yvon�s future role as my servant. Next time, I should mind - wipe Yvon and Eriz, since as a newly dead souls their level must be level one anyway. Then I didn�t have to deal with this. loyalty issue.

- TreeTree, this can�t continue, - Meela said. Obviously she didn�t know I had an idea how to fix her. - I - I can�t see her like that. I know we died before and all, but Alexis like that is a fate worse than death. The moment she sees you, this happens. -

Alexis screamed again. The conflict of skill and soul contract was clearly causing some kind of malfunction, and her tree - lab main body transformed into this haunted - tree like thing, the relapse and pain clearly affecting her presence. It was indeed unpleasant to have her like this around, and that negative energy also affected the nearby trees.

Meela said, - Can I take her place? -

- What? No. - That was worse. If Meela was the one soul - contracted, and Alexis was free, Alexis would be vengeful. She�d clearly shown the potential for retaliation, and I was not giving her just cause, however flimsy.

- Then. what can I do to spare her from this pain? -

- Meela, will you hold it against me if I were to banish her and return her to the reincarnation cycle? The gods of reincarnation will deal with what happens next. -

- You mean. kill her? But. why? Can�t you just free her? -

- She clearly has the means and motives to harm me. She has attempted that before. I cannot, in good conscience, free a person who has a high possibility of hurting me and my valley sometime in the future. -

- I - I will stop her, - Meela said. - TreeTree, I offer to soul contract myself to you in exchange for Alexis�s freedom. And I commit, as part of the contract and without reservation, to stop her from ever attempting to hurt you and this valley. -

- Alexis will not accept that. -

- She will. And if you free both of us, I will guide her away from you. TreeTree, there was really no need to kill her. The world needed us. Me and her. And you, too. Together, we can do so much to reduce the destruction caused by the demon king. We can help the heroes and help to break this cycle. That�s good for you, too, if the threat of demons is reduced. -

- That�s. - It felt a bit like blackmail.

- I�m not trying to blackmail you, - Meela said. I suddenly felt like she was probably using a skill to negotiate with me. Was it her hotel - manager skill? - And yes, I am using a skill. It�s called sense intent . -

Now that was not exactly fair, was it?

- The best outcome was all three of us to split up, you do your thing, we do ours. I will find a way to compensate you in the future, for all the troubles you have gone through to protect both of us. It�s probably clearer for you to kill Alexis, but please don�t. The long - term benefits of retaining her as a force against demons outweighs the risk, and I will stop her. I am willing to enter into any kind of contract with you to prove that I will stop her from trying to retaliate against you. -

Sigh.

- Undo her research tree , and seed her into a wooden body or a seed, or a beetle, and put it in my body. I - I can arrange to move my hotel out. I have a special one - off skill to move my body. Please, TreeTree. The world needed people like Alexis. This demon king cycle isn�t going to stop itself. -

- I won�t release the contract. -

- Why? -

- I won�t release her soul contract because it�s my only way to prevent her from ever harming me. And I will need you to be in a contract as well, to agree to stop her. If you agree, then I will let you both go away and roam, under the conditions of the soul contract . - I had very little faith in the promises of these heroes, so I thought it was best to bind both of them.

I considered my options in the long run.�

One: kill both Alexis and Meela. Pros: I wouldn�t have to deal with them for a while. Cons: I had significant uncertainty about the mechanics of this reincarnation system. I was unable to conclude whether killing them actually sent them to another world or they would somehow reincarnate and come back into this world. Particularly Meela, since her god told her to stick around for a thousand years or so. If so, I may end up having to deal with two former heroes in the future.

Two: free Alexis, but contract with Meela. Pros: Meela was more trustworthy, and Alexis was the one with a desire to escape. Con: Alexis clearly wasn�t going to let that slide, and her being free would mean she could acquire all the means necessary to retaliate. Rejected.

Three: free both of them. Pros: honestly none. Cons: Alexis was clearly suspicious of me, and this fragment thing seemed to have somehow cemented her perception, even despite the restrictions of the soul contract . My act of goodwill may not be reciprocated, and the long - run risks outweighed it. Rejected.

Four. Free them, but hold them onto contract. The contract was my insurance. Clearly it was good at knocking them out, like what it did to Alexis, and I did realize I could make her experience a headache if I so desired. Considering the ability to trigger a mindwipe, I could trigger that at the very end of their soul contract.

- If you do that, when we die, we will both come back to you. Do you really. uhm, want to see us again? -

- Yes. That�s the point. Only you can stop her. That�s why you need to be in a contract . If you somehow move on and reincarnate, while leaving her here in this world with me, I will kill her so that she moves on, too. So. It�s best that no matter what happens, the fates of you two are intertwined like married trees, forever. -

Meela paused. - That. makes sense. Not the deal I would hope for, but. but yes. Fine. I, Meela Adams, agree to be soul contracted to TreeTree and vow to stop Alexis from ever attempting to harm TreeTree and the valley. -

The contract was sealed. I also insisted that they never spoke of my fragments ever, ever again.

And I unmade Alexis�s form as a soul fused into research tree.

This stripped her of all her levels and experience, and she was back to a glowing soul in my soul realm . Then, with soul forge , I fused her into a small beetle. Then a beetle moved that small sleeping beetle to Meela�s hotel lodge. I chose a beetle because. it was a choice between beetles and spiders. I didn�t want to give her that dryad body; that was mine.

I recalled that there was a restriction or cooldown for re - fusing souls into new body forms, but it seemed heroes and former heroes were not subject to such restriction.

- Thank you, TreeTree. - Meela�s Oakwood hotel started to change shape into a gigantic peashooter, and it shot out an absolutely massive seed - like thing, containing a disassembled hotel. - This peashooter was able to send us anywhere around the world, so we�ll be on another continent, and we will not bother you anymore. -

- Where? -

- The North! - Meela said. - Where it�s cold! -

- Is this the best time to do it, with the demons everywhere? -

- I - I know a place. We�ll be fine. See you, someday. I�ll handle Alexis. -

In a flash, the peashooter expanded and then shot the massive seed across the skies. Then the peashooter decayed and withered, its purpose fulfilled.

They were gone now. Was that the best way to separate? Would I regret this decision someday?

Alexis�s experience as research tree has been converted into experience, similar skill seeds and class seeds.

You received Class Seeds - Magic Researcher x 4, Pyromancer x 2, Schemer x 4

You received Skill seeds - Magic Researcher x 11, Pyromancer x 5, Schemer x 10

You gained one level. You were now level 140!

You gained a passive skill - Forest of Giants

Forest of Giants causes the trees around your main body to experience significant growth, resulting in the creation of a valley of gigantic trees. Their size will be equal to your own. Produces giant - timber.

You have gained a new skill - Giant Attendant Trees x 100

Giant Attendant Trees are supersized version of Subsidiary trees, with 10 times the customizable branch space, and 10 times the customizable roots space. They also have a root - network that was 10 times larger and also expand the communication range by 10 times. They also retain a larger percentage of the main tree�s auras and passive, but this was capped at a max of 50% of the main body�s aura and passives.

Wow.

Well, at least she gave me a farewell gift.

With that over, I turned my focus on the southern walker. The heroes should be there soon, but it seemed they took the scenic route, fighting demon after demon, helping town after town with their demon problems. That was fine, that was what heroes did, but I thought something was messing with them.

Still, my trees were not far behind. I had a vested interest in following them. After all, if they died and my trees were nearby, I got a Titan Soul ! And I couldn�t wait to try one. Too bad I didn�t get it when I unmade Alexis, but meh.

The southern areas of the continent were ravaged; they bore the mark of many battles fought, some between kingdoms and, lately, against the demons. The Gila Kingdom�s recent use of hexbombs meant quite a few impassable terrain, thanks to the corruption of the hex.

I wondered if hexbombs got used too often, would this world end up like kind of nuclear wasteland, ala Fallout? I mean. the hex spawned alien - ish monsters, hostile to everything.

The heroes didn�t look like they planned to attack just yet.

Lozanna received something from me this month. I had an idea while working on the soul contract , that I wanted her to have a special weapon . All heroes had special weapons. Thor had Mjollnir, Iron Man had his suit, and Captain America had his shield.

So I made a wooden staff with the largest gem I had in it, and I fused an artificial soul into it. Yura had Bamboo, so I thought Lozanna should get one.

- This was Thorny. It�s a level one living staff . If you practice with it, it will get stronger. - I wasn�t very creative with names.

Lozanna looked at it and twirled it around. To me, it didn�t look any different from another staff; the fusing somehow made the large gem melt into the entirety of the spear, but Lozanna could feel it. I sometimes forgot they weren�t used to voices other than my own.

I chose a staff because it seemed to be a common equipment for druids, since she took the druid class fruit recently. Compatibility with the possession of the devoted . Maybe she�d do something cool with it.

I would still want to provide more training, but I thought I would need more. powerful dream tutors .

Maybe it could be like. another world - in - another world. Or a VR experience via dreams?

YEAR 83 MONTH 8

The heroes defeated the walker. A hard - fought battle, with plenty of deaths from the coalition army. But a victory, nonetheless.

Also, this was when I realized all the heroes had some kind of summoned army.

Perhaps it was the theme this round; maybe the gods were like the designers for Magic the Gathering where they designed block - mechanics and all the heroes of that block shared the same mechanics.

Or were they just rolling the wheel, like how I rolled mine?

A few days later, after that walker was slain, the two other walkers, one of which swam across the seas. combined.

Like fucking Voltron.

And then I detected it.

- Magical bombardment detected! - Trevor literally shouted. - Coordinating magic sensors and shield generators . -

The magical projectile flew overhead. It wasn�t aimed at us.

So two walkers combined into a long - range magical artillery cannon. A stationary bombardment weapon. It was like the Big Bertha from Total Annihilations!

It shot again.

- Can we stop it? - I asked the artificial souls.

- We need more subsidiary trees in that direction so that we can triangulate the magical signatures and coordinate the shields to intercept accordingly. -

It shot again.

- What the hell was that flying overhead? - Some civilians finally noticed as the magical projectiles flew past, like a giant comet glowing in the sky.

If you asked me, it felt like the demons were now able to retaliate against the blood ritual.�

Then it stopped. Three shots, and the combined demonic supercannon seemed to be recharging. I wondered whether it was recharging or if it was just waiting for new targets.

- What if that thing fires at us? - Yura asked, worried.

- We can stop it. Thankfully, the projectile isn�t very fast, and I can detect it coming. - Despite this, I created more subsidiary trees in that direction, and a few giant attendant trees . The giant attendant trees could act as a shield. After all, they shared a lot of my toughness and auras. Better safe than sorry.

- I. I�ll get the men to expand the underground hideouts and sewers. - Yura breathed a sigh of relief, but there was an undercurrent of concern.

It didn�t fire for a week, and we traced the arc of the magical projectile to find that it was aimed at Gila.

Half of their capital city had been vaporized by the projectiles.

Two days later, another city in Gila retaliated with one big blood ritual , and it sacrificed one thousand souls for it.

It hit, but the demonic supercannon created a massive wall out of demonic flesh that blocked most of the damage.

Was this it?

I couldn�t help but feel like this was the beginning of a thermonuclear war. The threat of mutually assured destruction to maintain a fragile peace didn�t work here, if one side was a race of trigger - happy demons.

The heroes, as I followed them, changed their targets for the demonic supercannon. They would have to backtrack, since the demonic supercannon was located a distance away, to the north.

For me, if two walkers could do this, why wasn�t the demon king bombarding the world to death? Couldn�t it do that? Surely, with the demon king�s ability, which was supposedly one order of magnitude higher, it could shoot projectiles like that all the time.

What was stopping it? A lack of. imagination?

A lack of bullets? Did it need to tap into some kind of magical leyline to power the supercannons beyond what they were normally able to do?

Oh well. Or maybe it was some strange systemic limitations that were imposed?

I sometimes felt the system�s rules didn�t really apply all that well for those in the higher rungs of power. I wondered whether it was like my home world, where money allowed one to get away with rules that those with limited resources couldn�t.

After some thinking, I felt it wouldn�t go anywhere unless I could interview the demon king, so I stopped thinking about it.

Closer to home, I focused on Lozanna , the Valthorns, and the Valtorn Order.

Meela�s Oakwood hotel was gone, and that left a gap in the hospitality business. Eager to fill it, I created an artificial soul and merged it with the Tree Lodge to create a similar thing. Still, the gap was far too huge compared to Meela�s level seventy - plus hotel.

Oh, I called my new artificial soul Treeveller. Travelers, Treeveller. And the business was called Pine Lodge.

It had complaints on the first day.

- Who�s this pathetic person running this pathetic establishment! -

Well, I had to intervene and quickly re - hire the treefolks that Meela used to employ and pay them slightly more to make up for the gap she left behind. It�d take some time before Treeveller even became a decent inn - manager, but a business was a business.

- We need a chef! Lady Mika used to cook great vegetarian dishes! -

- Uh. -

Well, in a roundabout way, it was Emile who volunteered to cook for the kitchen. She didn�t have any chef classes, but I had chef and cook class seeds from the many dead people�s souls I collected over the decades. I�d also need a barkeeper , but that was for later.

- A/ . - A group of fifteen children stood around a circle, around a tree of prayer in Yura �s courtyard. An old lady led them; she was one of the caretakers of the orphans. There had been more. refugees this month.

Even though the heroes had been out helping to squash the demons, there were still way too many demons crawling around the continent. The demonic supercannon really messed up a lot of defensive strategies, as armies needed to split into smaller detachments to avoid total loss. Yet, with the message network down, this meant the separated armies needed to rely on old school means of communicating by couriers or riders.

It was a strangely effective strategy. Split up the large armies, and with the communications down, pick on whichever force that was lost.

Anyway, the old lady bowed. The fifteen children followed. - This is A/ �s many, many bodies. He is everywhere in the valley, and he watches over us. Are you ready, to be the next batch of Valthorn Initiates? -

The fifteen children, aged six to ten, nodded.

- Good. This was a test. You will receive a familiar from A/ if A/ sees you worthy for the first step. -

All of them got a familiar. It really wasn�t a test, but nobody needed to know that. These children were young, and the intention was for them to be forged in the flames of battle.

This was because I decided to expand the Valthorns significantly, and I expanded it to a group of one hundred. The minder�s use was rather limited, and yes, it was useful for me to observe the levels and skills they acquired, but I would use the minders on people that were more sensitive and with special gifts.

In short, the regular kids would become regular warriors with familiars, though they would have the Valthorn title, and the truly talented would be observed using the minders.

The fifteen children walked back happy. For many of them, this was a great gift, and they were eager to test it out.

So far, I had not lost any of the Valthorns in battle, but I believed some of them would die over the next few years. It was just inevitable.

YEAR 83 MONTH 9

The supercannon fired multiple times, and I believed the shots were aimed at the heroes, or at least it tried to shoot them the moment the demons found them. Many times, the network of magical sensors picked up the surge of the magical projectile, and after we concluded it wasn�t going to land anywhere near us, we let it zip by.

This, naturally, was a problem for the heroes. The heroes wanted to fight the demons, and they did as much as they could to fight the demons. They and their summoned magical army went out of their way to stop as many demons as they could.

Yet fighting demons personally also meant they revealed their own presence to the supercannon. The supercannon clearly had no concern for friendly fire and would not hesitate to annihilate any demons present in the area to get a shot at the heroes.

That said, the heroes did have some measures to protect themselves. Harris, the shield - hero, had a massive absorption shield, and he was able to absorb one shot from the supercannon. Based on the current firing patterns, the supercannons could fire three long - range shots consecutively every five to six days, so after the shots, the heroes actually had a short window in which they could advance as fast as they could or fight as much as they could, since the threat of the supercannon didn�t hang over their heads after every volley.

The supercannon was also a huge demon factory, and the nearest subsidiary tree near that area saw thousands to tens of thousands of demonoids sent in all directions. It was just a lucky thing that the supercannon usually wouldn�t target conventional targets, since they seemed focused on the heroes. or anyone that invoked a blood ritual against it.

Or so I thought.

Middle of the month, multiple smaller battles happened throughout the valley. Some of these demons attempted to attack the volcano, some attempted to retake the former snake dungeon, some attempted to just. well, punch through my line of trees.

It was good combat practice for the Valthorns, and with the expanded operating range around the Giant Attendant Trees , I was able to use these giant trees like regional hubs for my beetles to operate it.

- Well, at least TreeTree sees things my way, - Lozanna said. She�d been out fighting, and I thought she was using the fighting to work through her frustrations about leveling and how insanely overpowered the heroes were.

- Some of these girls are too young to be fighting, - a captain complained. - We�re babysitters! -

- Experience counts. Age shouldn�t stop them from seeing the demon war for what it is. - Lozanna shrugged.

- You watch them! - the captain complained.

Lozanna nodded, and she played protector of the young Valthorn convoys. Each squadron of one hundred soldiers played nanny to a group of five Valthorns, excluding Lozanna and the first generation Valthorns, who were considered regular soldiers. There was usually a small beetle force of fifteen hundred that acted as the bulk of any combat force.

The general consensus on the accepted age for a person to start fighting in this world was about fourteen, but children younger than that had played support roles, such as food handlers, helpers at healer - tents, tending to animals and stuff. I mean, if one reached age fourteen, one must have survived at least one demon king era, right?

Children matured quickly in the face of death and destruction, though not by choice.

And then, we felt it.

A shot from the demonic supercannon, and this time, it was aimed right at me.

Ah well. I�d been waiting for this moment. I wanted to know how my shields stacked up.

Steelwood Barrier x 5. Five large wooden shields manifested midair, supported by roots appearing from the ground. And the magical projectile smashed through four of them.

- Oh. - It was more of an - oh - of relief, really.

Honestly, this meant if the actual bullet hit my main body, it probably wouldn�t cause much damage thanks to all my perks. But the rest of the subsidiary trees and New Freeka itself would suffer damage. It wasn�t really me that needed protecting from demons, but the valley.

My fellow lovely, lovely trees and flowers, plants, herbs, and crops. Biodiversity of the valley was fragile; it had to be so, so gently preserved. This valley was our prized garden, and we were its gardeners and protectors.

Ain�t no nasty demon gonna step on my field of herbs or crops.

It fired again. Trevor quickly calculated its trajectory and alerted me to be ready. Just as before, five steelwood barrier blocked it successfully. And we blocked the third shot, too.

The Steelwood Barrier was clearly a league above the previous wood shields, so that was a plus point. Next time if a demon walker came close, I could have this right in its face. Maybe I could use it as a weapon?

- Should we retaliate, Commander? - Stratreegy asked.

- How? -

- Tree line. Or perhaps invent a weapon similar to the one used by Lady Meela. -

- Oh. A peashooter? -

- Indeed. The strategic advantages of a weapon like that can�t be understated. It�s capable of long range. We could build a massive wooden bullet enchanted with anti - demon magic as a projectile. Would be extremely beneficial with the commander�s superior anti - demon powers. -

- Huh. - Well, were there. naturally occurring versions of the peashooter for my research, since the system wasn�t so willing to give it to me?

Maybe some other time. I�d need adventurers to get them, but with the demons running amok, most of them now found a safe base of operations and worked from there.

I hoped the merchant networks got restored soon. All my artificial minds had pending upgrades. Even with the merchant guild�s regional coordination center being here, trade routes were still unstable, and that meant total value of trades was still way lower than pre�demon king.

- TreeTree! I got an idea! - Lozanna came to me one day.

- Yes? -

- Can you animate wooden stuff for us to practice combat with? I was thinking like. you know. moving wooden figures shaped like monsters or other humans, and we get to fully simulate all kinds of situations. If you can add weather effects, that would be even better! -

Where�d she get that idea? That sounded like the kind of training room Kung Fu Panda had. But. - Oh. should be possible. -

- I saw a bunch of fighters out in the barracks using these wooden dummies as practice. I�ve got no idea why, but I thought with your power, you could create a totally awesome version of those dummies! -

- I - I could. - Well, that was certainly worth exploring. I mean, it was a natural extension of the current training rooms.

- Yeah. I think it�ll be a good experience for the younger kids to practice with dummies their own size and gradually work up to larger and full - size dummies! I mean, we�re small! - Lozanna wasn�t exactly small anymore. She was fourteen, and at this age she was about eighty - five to ninety percent of her full height. - But think of it, if you could animate dummies that resemble all sorts of monsters, we could get similar combat experience before we even face the real thing! So the room should have like. dummies for kids! -

That was a good point.

- It�s totally going to be great. It�s like your Dream Tutor ! But because it�s real, we could build what Uncle Yura calls muscle memory! -

- So. essentially have wooden dummies resembling all kinds of monsters as practice. - Essentially a VR for battle. Or like. Matrix�s dojo?

Fine, but the amount of variation was beyond what I thought a regular training room could provide, so I decided to make an artificial soul merged with a training tree to form a Tree of Learning .

- I�m your Treeiner. Let us begin practice. - A wooden dummy appeared, and he could speak. He bowed to Lozanna like a kung - fu master. He was literally a wooden avatar that represented the merged Tree. He was level one, of course, but yes, I decided Treeiner sounded like a good name for a trainer. I was contemplating between Treeiner, or Treetor, or Practreece. But I supposed if I had multiple Trees of Learning, I could use all of those names. Should a basic Valtorn version of the Boot Camp be called Root Camp?

I digressed. The death of all the mortals in the region to the demons meant that I had a large supply of soul fragments to make artificial souls, and the volcano also happened to help expand my artificial - soul capacity since it, too, supplied a kind of power.�

Lozanna looked impressed and happily started. So, since she and the young kids were busy with their newfound practice toy, kinda like how athletes went hyper over their new practice equipment, I left them alone.

Not that I had much of a choice.

Because the damned supercannon fired three shots at me again. Like, I had the wonderful honor of taking so many shots. Was I, like, firing practice? A wooden dummy for the demon supercannon to practice their aim?

- Any ideas on how we convert that energy from the shot into something usable? Can we have magic - absorbent wooden shields? - I mean, it was energy in some form.

No answer. Ah well.

I blocked all of the shots, of course, but one of them blew up extremely close to New Freeka, which freaked everyone out. That was good. Everyone should be reminded of their mortality every now and then.

YEAR 83 MONTH 10

The supercannon decided to change target. I wondered if it was because it presumed I died or it just found something better to shoot at. I mean, how did the demon even know whether it hit or not, right? It wasn�t like there were eyes on the projectile. right?

My own suspicions were they had spotter demons, but with my expanded trees and network, I didn�t think so. There was not a single demon within fifty miles of me.

So they decided to shoot. at Ransalah. And the capital of Takde. And also the capital of Barsoom to the north. It wasn�t hard to calculate, since the energy signatures movement gave a direction, and the travel of the magical projectile was something that could be pinpointed by using an array of magical sensors, then triangulating the route based on the time - gap different sensors detect the same energy signature.

But this raised a question.

How did the demon even know about the concept of capitals�? Did they go by population density�? Or did they have some kind of scanning mechanism that allowed them to spot where exactly were the big cities? I had the impression it could detect heroes, and the concept of a retaliation could be easily understood, but if it could deliberately target capitals, it meant the demons could understand the concept of what was a human capital, being the political constructs that they were, therefore was sentient and intelligent.

Or maybe it was simpler?

- Maybe it just detects the presence of a king ? -

Yura �s idea was that, well, king s actually had an aura - thing that spanned their domain. A demon in that domain should be able to sense where the king was if it had the right kind of. sensors. If Alexis�s previous theory was that the demon king could sense heroes, what was stopping them from looking for kings?

- Didn�t that mean the king can never run away or flee? -

- I think. they can turn their presence off and on? -

I thought it was both.

News, about the attack, traveled quickly. I happened to have the benefit of having a front row seat of the destruction. Ransalah�s main palace suffered a massive explosion that vaporized the entire royal palace. The king and the royal family. were dead. Even from the subsidiary tree that I had in the Ransalah�s Forest Reserve, which was luckily spared from the projectile, I could vaguely see the destruction of Ransalah�s royal district. A very, very precise shot from the demon supercannon.

Seemed like Yura �s idea that it detected a king had merit. This precision didn�t make sense without it.

The news eventually arrived via courier and got to Yvon two weeks later, and as expected, she took this news the hardest. In that, she was most. conflicted. The king, then the prince, was the one that killed her previous benefactor. and Roma�s father. Eriz and Roma, and the former councilors that formed her inner circle, quickly met up in her house to discuss the events.

- The king is dead? You are certain about this? - Yvon asked, and all of them, the first - generation founders of New Freeka, in a sense, gathered. The first generation were refugees from a civil war, after all. They lost.

- Yes, Lady Yvon. I confirmed with at least ten other sources. The blast from the demon somehow managed to break through all the magical barriers protecting the palace and destroyed the palace. Even the royal chambers, with its ancient magics, did not last. -

- But A/ just blocked a few of those shots. -

- Perhaps those ancient magics have eroded. But regardless, what matters is that the king and the immediate family that lived in the royal palace is dead. Even the king�s four sons, their bodies have been found charred and burned. The king�s own body was founded half - vaporized, his head and left hand partly protected by the protective magic of the royal crown and the ring of the hero�s throne. -

Two of the other men and women squirmed at the description. The others let out a bit of a sigh. Some just kept their mouths shut and looked at Yvon.

- So, Lady Yvon, there will be a war soon, perhaps not an outright war because of concerns over the demon king. -

- For the Throne of Salah. -

Yvon sighed. - My duties and commitment are here. I am after all bound to A/ under contract. -

- Pretenders to the throne will emerge. And Roma, as the child of Prince Galan, has a claim. -

Yvon sighed. - All of you knew, too. -

- We always did. I�m sure many back in Ransalah know, too. The pretenders will come for his life, whether he likes it or not. He�s only ten and may not be ready for such conflicts, but yet the blood of the kings runs through him. And that means responsibility, Lady Yvon. A duty to the old throne to claim his birthright. -

- I cannot leave. And here, Roma is safe. A/ �s eyes and ears watch over all of us. No one will be able to attempt to take his life. -

- Lady Yvon, if I may. can you convince A/ to support Roma�s claim? -

- That was absurd. - Yvon shook her head. - Why would a tree spirit even bother with the royal affairs of another kingdom! A/ has shown no respect or regard for the thrones of mortal men. It was but a flimsy thing to him. -

- But he can be bargained with. A deal can be struck. Just as you did. -

- Only when it was aligned to A/ �s goals, however ephemeral and random that goal may be. And Roma may not want to be king. We should ask him. -

- I�m afraid his reluctance will earn him support. Many of the old court prefers a puppet on the throne, someone who would just delegate the duties of a king to the royal court. He cannot avoid this fight, Lady Yvon. It is infinitely better to take this fight on our terms, with a base of support that�s unshakeable. A/ , as a great spirit of the land, is clearly one support the citizens of Salah will respect and fear. -

They met in Yvon�s house, and there was tea on the table. Some ginger biscuits, too, made from the Order�s herbal gardens. Yvon looked at the rest of the men.

- We owe it to the humans, our human friends who supported Prince Galan�s fight back then. There are many who were forced to kowtow to the new King of Salah. This is our chance to pay them back. If not for Roma or yourself, do it for Prince Galan. Prince Galan who would�ve been a better king than his brother. -

Yvon�s fingers were shaking. - I. My contract with A/ is unshakeable. But Roma is free. -

- There are many who would see you return. Those of us who can return to support Roma�s claim will do so. -

- There are also many who will kill me and Roma without blinking an eye. And there will be those who rally against us. The other pretenders will claim Roma�s a New Freekan and no longer has a claim on the throne. -

- No matter the naysayers. The blood doesn�t lie, and the Crown of Salah is a magical artifact from the first kings, and it will recognize any man who is a legitimate heir. If Roma has the pretender to the throne of Salah title, he has a right to the throne. -

Roma came in with Eriz. One of the councilors asked, - So, my dear Roma, did you get a notification about your class? -

Roma looked puzzled at the gathered group. - What. what�s this, Mommy? -

Yvon sighed. - Roma, there is a long and difficult conversation I need to have with you. -

The others let Yvon and Roma have a bit of personal space, as Yvon explained to Roma who his father actually was and what had happening in Salah. Roma seemed to take it quite well, but perhaps he was just too stunned to even react in any way. At ten years old, maybe that was a good reaction.

And when the conversation was over, Roma just ran out of the house.

Okay.

Yvon walked out to the living room again and looked at her compatriots.

- Didn�t go well? -

- He said he needed some time to think. -

- I see. I was thinking. Lady Yvon, how close were you to Lozanna ? -

- Quite. close? -

- Lady Lozanna �s an amazing fighter, and if I may. she has all that is needed to be a valuable protector of Roma. Could you. convince her to go with Roma? -

Yvon shook her head. - No. Roma has his own friends. -

Takde and Barsoom, strangely, didn�t suffer that badly. The news from couriers relayed that Takde�s royal castle had an ancient magical circle that activated just in time, and it was actually strong enough to absorb the magical attack. Barsoom, on the other hand, also had similar magical protections and had so much reinforcement from Barsoom�s own council of archmages that the blast was deflected to somewhere else.

I supposed not all kingdoms were that helpless against demons. Else a society like this wouldn�t have survived all that long.

Still, the blast, and the wars, meant refugee season again. There was a whole load of refugees, and thanks to the fear of the demon blasts, they traveled in smaller packs, away from the heroes. Even some of Ransalah�s citizens were running because if even the king with all his protections couldn�t protect himself, how could a regular citizen hope to even survive such a blast?

New Freeka was already massively populated, and the poop - issue was only thankfully under control due to my recent advancements in filtration and metallic concentration trees. One hundred ten thousand now after all the massive waves of immigration, comprising of about fifty percent elves, twenty percent dwarves, ten percent centaurs, five percent humans, five percent treefolk, and ten percent others such as beastmen, lizardmen, garudas, or harpy - likes.

Anyway, with the great attendant tree , this skill significantly improved my force - projection abilities outside my immediate range. These Great Trees essentially functioned as mini - mes, with fifty percent of my abilities.

Fifty percent was still plenty because, with a few great attendant trees , and with some support of higher - level fighters, I thought I could take on the supercannon. In a way, it was like a carrier battlegroup. It was just so overpowered because I could lose the great attendant trees, without much risk. I could just add more!

Since the heroes were headed that way, I could strike at the supercannon at the same time, and that would improve my chances. So I mapped a path of subsidiary trees to execute that plan.

Meanwhile, further south, the heroes were now making their way back. Their path would likely bring them through New Freeka.

- Say, do you think these trees belong to A/ ? - Becky asked. She looked at one of my subsidiary trees that was on a hill. There were some bushes and other plants nearby.

- I don�t think so? It looked quite different. - Ah, my intendent camouflage of tailoring the types and species of my subsidiary trees paid off!

- Didn�t make sense that these trees somehow survive, though. -

- There are trees everywhere. You underestimate how resilient nature is at reclaiming wastelands. -

- True, true. - And the hero - chat popped up again.

- Hi, guys! - Astra�s voice boomed. - I�ve got a task for all of you! -

- Huh. -

- I�ve gotten my level ninety perk! And it�s a telecommunications tower ! -

- Oh, wow. That�s fast. We haven�t reached level ninety yet, although we fought a demon walker! - Harris frowned. - Anyway, so what�s the task? Does it help us against the demons? -

- Yes. Yes, it does! So anyway, this world used to rely extensively on a kind of magical messaging system, something like SMS in our world, at least before the internet took over. So the demon king arrived, and that messed up the entire messaging network. -

- Oh, it�s just messaging , isn�t it? What�s the big deal? - Harris frowned. - The guys I met all use couriers and scouts to deliver letters. -

- It fucking matters, Harris. Instantaneous communication means real - time targeting of spells, real - time military coordination and cross - continental trade. It means you can find out where the demons are instantly by just asking! So my level ninety perk allows me to build telecommunication towers , and this will restore the messaging function within the area. All these telecommunication towers are magically linked so this will also allow the nations to talk to each other again. -

- Oh. I don�t see the awesomeness, but sure. If it helps us against the demons. -

- So, the task is I�m going to send you five deployment gems via hero cloudtrading . These things will expand into the telco towers . But the catch is you need to find a place that has some protection, perhaps a city with strong magical protection or some ancient defensive matrixes left behind by the previous generations of heroes. If the towers go down, the message function goes down with it. -

- Uh. can�t the tower just stay with us permanently? I could protect it. - Harris didn�t seem keen.

- Well, how about the rest of the world, then? The range of each of these towers isn�t that big. At most, one or two countries. We need to spread it as much as we can. If you can find places with some kind of magical supply, or leyline, even better because the magical energies will amplify the telco tower �s range. -

- That�s not good. The demons want those kinds of spots, too, - Becky responded.

Astra just chuckled. - Well, if you guys get your level ninety perks, you�ll get some kind of structure, too. I think Helen�s level ninety perk was a healing tower that also has a garrisoned army of magical knights. -

- So, you�re saying we need to get our level ninety perks, then use our towers to protect your telco tower ? -

- Yup. That�s part of the strategy we were going for. Like Gerrard�s level ninety tower was a cannon tower that shoots stuff at any demons in range. -

Then five gems appeared next to Becky.

- One last thing, it�s activated via star - mana. All right, gotta go. Got a battle coming up in a few hours. - And hero - chat disappeared.

- Level ninety perks? - Harris looked around. They were camped near one of my subsidiary trees.

- I wonder why our leveling was slower. We seem to be fighting just as much as them, - Becky said as they munched over some barbequed rabbits.

- It�s just a few levels. We�re already in our level eighties! - Mirei shrugged. - Don�t think about it too much. Maybe they killed more demon generals than we did. -

- I guess. -

Becky stretched and yawned. - Well, I for one, am very much look forward to going back to New Freeka. I can�t wait to see Lady Mika again. There is so much I want to ask her! -

Harris smiled. - Yeah. And proper beds! I will kill a thousand demons for a proper bed right now. -

- Me too. -

YEAR 83 MONTH 11

- They want us to host their families. -

- I recall we have answered that request before. - Yura frowned. - They were welcome as regular guests, but no special treatment. That means no special area where existing New Freekan law does not apply to them. -

- I understand this time it�s temporary, Counsel Yura . We can have a small area set up for all these royals outside New Freeka, a temporary camp for them. The royals will handle their own camps. It�s a united request from the envoys of the five countries. The heroes will destroy the demonic monster soon, and the royals will return back to their respective homes. -

- I�m afraid that still sounds like they want their own enclave. Honestly, it sounds like a no. But for you, I will consult A/ for his views, - Yura answered to the councilor.

- I have informed them that in no way this will affect New Freeka or A/ �s sovereignty over this valley. The royals acknowledge they are here as guests. it�s just that they want to continue their life of privilege. -

Yura sighed. This was the second time they asked. Or maybe it was the third. Perhaps there were more instances where the request went through other channels. - TreeTree, what�s your view? -

- They are guests, nothing more. Follow the rules and they can stay. Behave improperly and they will feel my wrath. Whatever privilege granted is in a personal capacity, but not by law. -

The politics behind this request was frankly rather simple. Not all capitals had the kind of magical protection that some kingdoms did. Some of the older kingdoms like Barsoom had a wealth of inherited artifacts from heroes of a different era, and those artifacts powered various shields and barrier magic.

Survival.

It struck fear into the hearts of royals. The thought of dying in your own palace from a magical projectile from far away.

Maybe it was like us; someday, we would die to an asteroid we could do nothing about.

- They are willing to bend over backward for your protection, TreeTree, - Yura explained. - Some of them are already here, secretly. I hear one of the young princes of Rajahskan is already living with one of the merchants here. Smuggled, I hear, since it didn�t sound good to some nobles if the princes were seen fleeing. -

Well, Ivy told me about some strange foreigners, escorted by a small group of knights. But I supposed they didn�t seem dangerous to warrant any action.

- Indeed. No unusual behavior detected, other than complaining about everything to the merchant. But it seemed the prince�s minders were managing him. They have all been advised to remain within their respective premises. -

Well, I did say they could come if they could behave themselves. - They? -

Ivy then responded, - There was also a princess and prince from one of the Nung houses. - Ah, Nung. That country had a few sub - kingdoms within a kingdom. Weird practice. Not too interested to find out more.

Yura frowned. - Looked like some of the earlier messages from the envoys have gotten out. -

- Who else? -

- A few princes and princesses, a queen from one of the city states down south. - Yura explained. - Some lords, ladies, and dukes, too. It�s quite a big list, apparently. -

Okay. I wasn�t exactly keen on hosting a royal or elite party, but my word was law, and I had said they were permitted to visit, so long as they did not do anything funny.

- Trevor, hand over some of your tasked to Stratreegy. Stratreegy, we can hold off on the rod for now, since we already have one Forest Rod . Trevor, I want you to help Ivy with observation of the royals. I do not intend to have these royals prance about my valley like they own it. -

- Acknowledged. -

- So. ? - Yura was oblivious about my conversation with Ivy and Trevor. - Do you think we should set up a special quarter for them? Some of the councilors think that was a good choice. -

- That was special treatment. Let them find their own accommodation. I am not creating a special district or allowing them to have a special tent area just for royals. And there is probably going to be a fight. They stay among us, and if they act up, I want the Order on them. -

It was then that there was a knock on the door. - Counsel Yura , may I come in? - It was Madeus.

- Sure. -

Madeus looked uneasy. - Counsel Yura . I received a request from royal court of Barsoom. -

Yura frowned. He knew where this was going. - Oh? They survived the attack, I recall? -

- Indeed, but the ancient shield matrix of the grand palace will not be recharged within a week. It takes at least two months for that matrix to come up again. The royals now fear a second strike. -

- And they would like to be here. -

- It was as you say, Counsel. They. wish to hide it out until the heroes slay the demons. -

I was not quite keen on being the swiss alpine hideout or the nuclear bunker of the rich and powerful. Seriously. But then again, I also believed in the free movement of living beings. After all, what were boundaries in nature? Animals roamed the terrain all the time, and did lions bother about little rats moving into their realm? Did trees and forests care which animals hunted in their woods? So if these people came over like any other, I didn�t believe in stopping them. I just wouldn�t go out of my way to help.

- Yes, temporary. Barsoom was greatly indebted after what we did for the young princess a few years back, and they would like to offer various perks if we do protect them. -

- No special treatment, Madeus. If we take from Barsoom and do not take from the others, I do not think that is a fair trade. Nor is New Freeka in any kind of diplomatic arrangement with Barsoom, whether as an ally or in a mutual defense pact, - Yura answered. - I believe TreeTree has similar views, but I�m afraid you will have to accommodate the Barsoom royals in your own quarters or with any of your merchant friends. Or the hotels. -

Madeus sighed. - Ah. I was hoping to use the Order�s guesthouses. With Oakwood Hotel gone, there is really no place fit for royals in this town. -

- That would be us taking sides, Madeus. The councilors will use this against us. I am sure you understand. -

Madeus was silent for a moment, then he nodded. - I - I will relay the message. - He left.

Yura sighed. - I think Madeus got offered an amnesty of some kind. I think. But I do agree with your position. New Freeka�s position as a uniquely neutral place was made possible thanks to you, TreeTree. So the Order cannot be seen as taking sides, especially with a party that�s not formally allied with us. But perhaps, TreeTree, if any of the nations do want an alliance or treaty of some kind, would you consider it? -

- I would, but truly, it�s all about the terms. -

- With all the royals coming over, it might be a good time to talk about what would be a dealbreaker and what�s a must have, - Yura said and then took out a notebook. - I am certain discussion about alliances would come up, and I�d have to do some. sensing of what the other kingdoms were willing to give. -

- I will refuse any alliance requiring me personally to protect their lands. And I will not take part in any offensive war between kingdoms. -

Hmm. Actually, was that wise? Maybe I should ask the question to Yura instead.

- No. Ignore that. I do not want to be dragged into any conflict with other nations or between nations. What kind of treaty will allow that? -

Yura tapped on the notebook. - Well, that rules out any alliance or mutual defense pact, since being in a group means there are countries that are outside of a group, and a conflict will emerge one way or another, which, inevitably, you will get involved. -

- Oh. -

- We�ll just have to survive on our own, like we always have. - Yura smiled and happily sipped on his hot tea. There was a cold wind blowing outside. Once again, winter came far too quickly. - Honestly, I like it that way, too. -

Hmm. that didn�t sound right. I did think making connections and alliances were a good thing, but I thought my issue essentially was that. these nations. I didn�t think I�d ever be able to rely on them. There was something about alliances with nations that felt. fickle. These nations, with their millions of citizens and changing leaders, could I make a deal with them that would last hundreds of years? After all, it�d be a major waste of my personal time and energy if I allied with a nation that probably lasted only ten years.

I thought I would prefer individual deals with powerful individuals who could hold up their end of the bargain than with nations as a whole and the political complexity that entailed.

Perhaps I should seek out other spirits and make alliances with them instead? At the very least, as fellow long - lived beings, our arrangements would last. longer.

Did that make me speciesist? - Or spiritist? Ah, I should really extend my trees to the Lilypod city. then I could talk to another spirit. Maybe other spirits had experiences on this matter?

Was there some ancient alliance of ancient spirits I could apply to?

- There were murmurs of unhappiness in the ground, - Trevor and Ivy reported.

- Oh? So quickly? -

- These royals didn�t take long to make their displeasure apparent to their hosts, and their hosts were rattled and were now pressuring the councilors to do more to appease them. -

Ngeh. - Like what? -

- One of them wants to go hunting in the woods. and were requesting the councilors to permit them access. -

Hmm. How should I handle this? Perhaps this was a good time to send some fear into the royals, else they would constantly badger them.

- Well, if that prince was up for it, let him into the woods. Let�s see how he likes. ghosts. -

The heroes finally arrived.

- What? How�d a hotel like Oakwood just. vanish? - Harris grumbled. - And why were all the hotels so full? -

- You must be new here, - the innkeeper responded. - New Freeka�s the safest place in all of the central continent! A/ , our great protector, blocked many, many shots from the vile, monstrous demons! Naturally, those who can afford it want to be here! It�s safe, and there are secure food sources! -

- No wonder you look rich. - Becky frowned. - This was ridiculous. -

- Ah. a safety premium is naturally to be expected. Did you think safety comes free? - The innkeeper laughed. Eh, I didn�t recall charging that sort of tax, but I guessed I could consider it. A protection fee. But that made me like those cheap gangsters that extorted money. But then again, that was what the government did, right? It was only who and how the protection was charged.

If I was the local government, then did I have that right?

- Do we have to camp in this place? -

- Maan. This sucks. I was soo looking forward to meeting Lady Mika again. It�s so strange that she just. vanished. - Mirei kicked a pebble on the floor. There was a lot of roots on the ground, and they formed into steps.�

- If you miss her so much, I hear she left some notes for the hospitality guild and the Valtorn Order. And the adventurers guild. Maybe you can check with them whether she left anything for you? -

Harris nodded. - Okay. Let�s check with the adventurer�s guild first. -

Indeed. Meela left them a note. I wondered what it said.

- Huh, she had to move north because of some personal commitments. -

- Really? So sudden? And how does she even move north with so many demons? Did she mean north of this continent, or north. where? -

- I don�t know. She didn�t say. But she did leave some instructions. - The three heroes walked to one of the treefolk�s wooden homes.

- Ah, you must be the chaps Lady Mika asked me to host. Come in, come in. - An aged treefolk female greeted them. She was one of Meela�s former employees. She let them into her house, a small place in one quiet corner of New Freeka�s bustling town.

- Sorry for bothering you. -

- It�s fine, Lady Mika left a bit of money for all the trouble. And here�s a box of things she wanted me to leave for you. -

A wooden box. It was small, probably no bigger than a shoebox.

- oo. fancy amulet! - Becky opened. - And books? -

They opened it and started reading. And I cursed internally. I couldn�t read with spirit vision .

They rested for a day. They went to the market the next day.

- Where do we even start? - Becky looked a bit lost.

- The merchants selling ores and stuff, at least. - Harris pointed, and they walked over, glancing at the things.

- Crystals, right? - Mirei seemed equally puzzled. The merchant said the price, and the three heroes glanced at each other. - Discount? -

They haggled.

And eventually they bought some. And then they went to one of the many blacksmiths and forges and rented one of furnaces. They spent a good four to five hours in there, seemingly trying to work at the crystal and use their star - mana.

I overheard them complain about how tiring it was, and eventually they emerged with a small crystal dagger.

They admired their hard work for a bit and then concluded that they all need to spend more time on their work.

Then we all sensed it. A shot from the demonic supercannon.

At me. At them.

They ran out of the furnace, but they were too slow.

But I wasn�t taking chances. Five steelwood barriers emerged midair, suspended and supported by roots and vines. And it absorbed the shot easily, crushing the first four barriers as expected.

Then the demonic supercannon fired again.

And I blocked.

And another shot.

I blocked it, too. I wasn�t going to let the shot ruin my beautiful, growing valley of giant trees.

Then it was quiet. Harris, Becky, and Mirei all shared glances.

- First time? - some passerby asked. He was probably oblivious they were heroes. Then again, it wasn�t like they publicly declared they were heroes.

The three didn�t reply.

- Yeah. Those loud booms are scary, but it�s happened a few times already. - The pedestrian shrugged. - Anyway, don�t block the road? -

The three quickly shuffled out of the way. The three of them looked at each other. - Guess we know where to put our first tower. -

- Agree. -

The three walked to the Valtorn Order�s premises. and they bumped into Lozanna .

- Oh, Lady Lozanna , nice to see you again. - Lozanna was similarly equipped for war. Her new living weapon was now about level fifteen or so.

Lozanna just nodded. - Hi. Rematch? -

- Ah. not today. We�d like to meet Counsel Yura . We were told that Counsel Yura can assist us if we want to place an object in New Freeka. -

- By who? - Lozanna led them to Yura �s main office.

- Oh. Lady Mika. -

And they were in Yura �s room.

- Pleased to meet you, Counsel Yura . - The three bowed. - We�re the summoned heroes. from the other world. We�d like the Order and A/ �s permission to deploy a magical artifact, a tower that restores message to the region. -

- Can I see the artifact? -

Becky walked over and passed the small gem to Yura . Yura looked at it and then placed it into a circular bowl that waws actually connected to magic lab for analysis.

Analyzing.

The analysis wasn�t very useful, since my magic lab didn�t seem to be able to look very deeply into the composition of the item. Indeed, it looked to be magically linked to the heroes, in from what little I could see, the heroes could take down the towers once they didn�t need it.

It was. surprisingly similar to a subsidiary tree in theory. In short, my understanding seemed to be that the heroes had these towers, they acted as extensions of themselves, and like subsidiary trees , these towers functioned primarily to create a magical lighthouse for message spells.

- What else does it do, other that restore message ? Does it allow you to filter through the messages? - Yura asked. If we were to depend on the heroes infrastructure for communication, did that not mean we owe them? Was that why there was all these concerns over network infrastructure providers.

Then again, it was a short - term thing. While I could use my network of subsidiary trees to monitor my domain, restoring the message network meant a return of the trade routes, which was important to get the materials needed for my subordinates upgrades.

- A/ �s agreeable, but only until the death of the demon king. After that, he may decide to destroy the tower. -

- That�s acceptable to us. Can A/ shield it from the demon�s attacks? -

- He. will try. -

- Good enough. Where should we put it? -

- In the town square. -

The telco tower was deployed. It was a white crystalline tower about four stories high and shone like with a faint white glow that was unmistakable, visible even in my own spirit vision .

And it was then it occurred to me.

Did the demons have some kind of spirit vision , but tuned to heroes instead? Perhaps it was like how vision was different for animals and humans because of the spectrum we saw.

The heroes sent a message to Astra as a test, and they left two days later.

YEAR 83 MONTH 12

Despite the raging winter, the heroes still pressed on. Together with their summoned armies, they mounted an attack on the supercannon. And the supercannon annihilated their summoned armies easily. They were then forced to retreat.

At this point, I was tempted to ask. how�d they think it�d go?

It was winter, where, strangely, demons suffered none of the challenges of winter, and yet the mortal defenders of the world suffered all of it. Cold, slower response times, and their summoned units were immune to cold, but seriously, did they think that cannon that shot across the continent couldn�t aim at their armies?

- That was stupid. - The three looked at each other.

- I know, but you said we should. -

- I blame all the people we�ve been meeting, telling us we should kill the demon beast as soon as possible. -

- Why�d we do it? -

- Because we all somehow agreed to? -

The advantages of a summoned army were that once your mana returned, you could just summon more. And that was what they did to hold the chasing demons back.

There were plenty.

Demonic generals or elites wielded massive axes. It was the best opponent because they could gain levels from them.

If I were the demon king, what would I have done?

In a way, should I ignore the heroes and just keep attacking all the kingdoms with conventional demonoids, such that the heroes gradually lost the ability to find any kind of shelter, food source, learning, or support and healing?

Or was it better to concentrate all my energies and create super - demons, and just attack once when the heroes were low leveled and kill them all?

One super - demon, and that was it. No subordinates or walkers, since they gained levels by killing them.

Why give them the chance to gain levels?

YEAR 83 MONTH 12 (CONTINUED)

While the heroes decided to rethink their strategy, here in New Freeka, we had to fend off the little swarms of demons sent to surround the heroes.

And I spent quite a bit of time tinkering with the heroes tower. As I kept poking and trying to figure out what it was, I got a good update.

Biolab, material lab, and magic lab upgraded. Field equipment obtained. You are now able to perform investigations of objects using field equipment. Full analysis requires more comprehensive equipment.

There was a layer of somewhat - divine magic protecting it, so I reckoned it�d take more than one hit of the demon�s supercannon to be destroyed. Certainly not as fragile as they said it was. Or maybe it was just fragile to certain kinds of demonic energies or heroes star mana. That same divine magic also shielded it from me attempting to make changes or convert or claim the tower.

Yet it was a change barrier. That meant I could look into it but not change a thing.

And look I did.

There was a lot to see, about how it wove magic and mana into a structure like that, how it drew mana from the ambient surrounding and the connection, however wireless it was, to its creator.�

Unlike my subsidiary trees , which form a linked network, all connected by roots, these towers were independent, freestanding structures, yet had a connection. And it was more complex than just some kind of wifi. It was almost like. they were entangled in some surreal way. As if it was resonating with something else far away, and yet. it emitted or absorbed nothing through the air.

Stumped. I observed and looked for days.

It was as if I�d invented a bow, and right here was an interstellar rail gun.

How did I even replicate such a thing?

How did the heroes even come up with such a thing?

It certainly felt like impossible that young kids would know how these things were, so. were the gods creating such objects and skills and implementing or executing them via the heroes? Or was this a system thing, where there was like a drawer or library of hero - grade skills that they got access to?

Stumped again, I looked at other parts of the tower, my vines growing around the base. I attempted to use my vines and what powers I had and even my long - forgotten inspection ability.

Perhaps the resonance was how it communicated with other towers, but the means which it acted as a conduit or router for messages was something less sophisticated. Or not.

At this point, could I just build a massive X - ray or MRI scanner around the tower so I could see what was inside?

- Mom, Uncle Yura . I�ve got to go. -

- TreeTree says no. -

- I know he said that. but. but I want to go. I believe it�s good for my own growth, to see how I fare. I want to know where I am. -

- You know where you are, you�re here! - Laufen was furious and worried. - Your place is here. -

- I know my place is here. But. I. erm. I want to measure my strength. I won�t die. Trust me, Mom. -

Well, the heroes, utilizing the now - restored message network, requested for help. And they asked for Lozanna to help with the attack on the demon supercannon. Not just her, of course. A lot more than her.

- You�re not a hero, Lozanna . - Laufen held her daughter. - Don�t do this. -

- But. - Lozanna sulked. - I want to go, Mom. Please. -

- No. -

- I�m fourteen and almost level sixty. I can help. -

- Men higher level than you have tried fighting demon champions and died. -

- They. they don�t have TreeTree�s powers. Or Thorny. - She pointed to the wooden staff on her belt. - We can do it. -

Laufen sighed. - TreeTree, can you talk some sense into my daughter? -

In my mind, should I let Lozanna go? Though I spent a lot of effort in grooming and training Lozanna , ultimately, should she be able to decide how she wants to wield that power? Lozanna �s turn to retaliate. Maybe she was fourteen and having a teenage rebellious age? Oh I sounded like my mom; my mom used to tell me I was rebellious.

I thought what Laufen was afraid of was death. With a few well - placed giant attendant trees, I thought I could ensure Lozanna �s survival. So if I could do so, would it be a good idea for her to join the battle?

Maybe. maybe it was a good lesson in the brutality and the high levels that the heroes walked. A dose of reality. And I could use the chance to attack the demon supercannon with some of the roots, masked as coming from her.

I should let her earn her right to participate rather than just say yes.

- Lozanna , there are a lot of demons coming from that direction. Among them, there are probably a few demon generals. If you take down three, I think you can take part. And I want you to restrict your familiar use to only two abilities. -

Laufen sighed. - TreeTree, what? -

- It�s training. If she can take on a few more demon generals, then she earned her right to participate. If she can�t handle the generals, she shouldn�t bother trying. -

- Yes! So. I�ll go hunt some demons! -

Laufen shook her head. - I - I wasn�t expecting that. -

Yura shrugged. - I like that, though. Want me to go with her? -

- She can go with the initiates. -

- Someone�s gonna have to babysit the rest of the initiates. - Well, eventually, Yvon wanted to go. The mission was simple. Between us and the demon supercannon, there were about ten to fifteen groups of demons, led by the knights and generals. With an attendant tree in place, a beetle force would engage the demons, and Lozanna could then challenge the knights and generals. Yvon and a group of other captains would help out.

She went all out.

I guessed a part of her wanted to know that the gap between herself and the heroes wasn�t that big. A path that was honestly going to fail. Even Yura couldn�t keep up with the heroes, though he could probably give them a bit of trouble.

Still, it was winter, and it was hard to get the beetles to operate effectively far from the attendant trees, even with the winter adaptations and the giant trees warming the environment with the heat transmission roots .

So, Lozanna complained and grumbled, but there wasn�t much she could do. She couldn�t take on an entire army herself, nor did she have a summoned army at her beck and call.

YEAR 84 MONTH 1

The presence of royalty, many living in the homes of the wealthy merchants here, made the political environment a little bit touchy.

Mainly because the councilors each sought out the royals for some shoulder - rubbing, or as the euphemism went, building relationships. It was a sensible thing from their perspective, since royals by nature had strong skills. A prince or a princess could bestow royal privileges, blessings, and rights, improve or upgrade classes, and even create gifts using their powers as royals. There were also certain unique classes that only royals with the right skills could grant.

Like one prince I observed had the ability to create a custom diplomatic gift out of midair, which was given to the princess of another country. And it was a permanent item, too. It was like the prince skipped the entire creation process, activated skill, and the system gave him an item.

It was not totally strange, of course. Apparently some merchants and bankers could create small quantities of gold, and some smiths and makers could create materials, too.

In a way, it was like how I created timber and fruits. It was different derivations of the same kind of mana/system to item process. If I could create wooden items, why couldn�t princes? Maybe heroes could make hero - items, too!

So, with the councilors spending a bit more time trying to manage or please these visiting royals, that meant conflict. Even between councilors as they served different groups.

Some of them were rather silly, like competition of the best seats or rooms in New Freeka�s restaurants or who managed to book out the entire bar or tavern for their respective entourage. It was like billionaires trying to one - up one another in a ski town. Silly, so I didn�t interfere with this.

The more annoying ones were the horny ones, or those with a fetish. There was an old duke or something who seemed to enjoy picking on young elven ladies, so I sent a group of beetles into his temporary residence.

It scared him.

But the councilor who was supposedly his buddy quickly came and complained to Yura .

And I sent beetles and spiders into his house, too.

After that incident, I decided it was probably best to amplify my show of force, to remind these royals that they were. visitors. So we had more beetles around New Freeka. The locals were clearly not too bothered by the presence, but for the foreigners, it was a threat. I intended it to be a threat.

The councilors bore the brunt of the complaints. - What were all these monsters roaming around your town! -

- They are A/ �s servants, and they execute his will. Please don�t say too much! A/ listens! - The councilors quickly tried to manage some of the more belligerent royals or nobles.

- So what if he listens? - It turned out, among the royals, many truly, truly believed that I was actually just a puppet, a beast used by the council, controlled by some great item or equipment. The idea of an existence above the royal class was. alien to them. Except heroes, who were divine, those the only ones royals viewed as equals.�

Generally, of course. And I supposed in the history of this world, existences like mine were not common or perhaps even if they did exist, they may not have the same mindset as I did.

Perhaps they were slumbering giants, a sleeping mountain. Or they were giant tortoises, the zaratans, although they carried massive cities on their backs, the zaratans were treated just like the captains of a cruise ship. The rulers of the cities still ruled, and their rule was supreme.

So, feeling a bit annoyed at all the murmurs and chattering, one massive projectile from the demon supercannon came.

And this time, I intentionally blocked it just enough that it smacked right into the telco tower . The telco tower was fine, of course. I calculated it just enough that it wouldn�t be destroyed.

But I wanted to borrow the attack to weaken the divine protections, so I could look a bit more into it.

And, at the same time, scare the councilors and royals. The earth shook, and I had a wooden barrier created around it such that the blast radius was limited to the town square. Beetles, my vines, and roots had cleared the square of all citizens.

Yura was quick to figure out what I was doing. - TreeTree, that was intentional? -

- Yes. -

Yura laughed and then went out to make an announcement to the council.

- A/ would like to remind that he finds the conduct of the visitors appalling, and he is tempted to not stop the next projectile from the demons. He would like to recommend the visitors are brought to the blast site for a tour. -

The councilors roared in protest. - Is he threatening us? -

Yura just smiled. - Yes. He is. What were you going to do about it? -

One councilor sat. - Oh. Nothing. -

I thought it was just a people thing, that after living in comfort for a while, they forgot that there was still a war and demons shooting bullets everywhere. Especially for some of these nobles who didn�t seem like they�d ever seen war, even though it was just so common.

Or maybe they were just desensitized to war and death, since it was so common.

Huh.

Since war and death was bound to happen, might as well have my share of fun, go on a power trip and all since we were all going to die.

I felt like I suddenly understood some of these royals. Sure, yes, we were going to die. We knew that. So why couldn�t I do things my way? If the meaning of life was me just. hiding away like this, why bother?

Were these royals nihilists? Or was it some other word?

Lozanna spent time trying to hunt for more demon generals. The winter was gradually clearing, and at certain parts of the region where it was warmer, she finally took down one demon general herself.

Still, the goal was three, so she had to hunt for two more. And later in the month, she took down another one, bringing her total kills to two.

Meanwhile, the heroes were out gathering a strike force, again. Similar to what that other kingdom did, the strike force was meant to be an elite force, to help punch a path through to the demon supercannon, so that they could attack it directly.

As it was, they could already punch a way through, but between the summoned army and their OP skills used to get through the chaff, they didn�t have much star mana left to actually take on the main body of the demon supercannon.

- I heard that you might be king. -

- Where�d you hear that? - Roma asked. He was a quiet, studious young boy. Despite Yvon�s attempts to train him in fighting, his interests were more into magic and reading. Although he was healthy and fit, physical combat wasn�t his thing. He didn�t inherit Yvon or Prince Galan�s talent in fighting.

- The others were talking. I even heard one of the actual princes say it when one of their servants came to buy some bread, - the black - haired baker boy said. He had a small knife at the side.

Roma sighed. - Mom told me about it, but I can�t accept it yet. Some of her friends asked whether I want to travel to Ransalah. What do you think? Should I be king? -

- I think you�d make a good king, - the baker boy said. - Then I can be your king�s guard. -

- You can�t even fight. - Roma laughed.

- Well, you�ve never ruled, - the baker boy ribbed Roma. - Besides, all I need is your mom to teach me some tricks. I heard she�s really good. -

- We might die. -

- Or you�ll just be working as one of the employees of the Valtorn Order, and I�ll just be an ordinary baker. Why live, if not for honor and glory? -

- You�ve been reading too much of your uncle�s writings. -

- You�ve been reading too much. -

Salah was now ruled by a regent. One surviving archduke took the position of regent to govern the state of Salah. Apparently, it was quite normal for the succession wars to only commence after the demon king was slain, and if a king fell without an appointed successor, a proper contest for the right of the throne would start when the demon king was slain, something the regent would announce. After all, it was hard to properly choose a king in a time of chaos. At least, that was the principle of such a rule.

I supposed kings did die quite often when the demon king was around, so there was already a cultural norm for it.

In theory, that meant Roma had time to prepare. That also meant everyone else had time to prepare.

In practice, whoever the ruling regent preferred had tremendous advantages, since this was the time where all the things and pieces could be put in place. Still, the regents would obey the norm because to some extent, obeying the norms was what allowed the heir to convert their class to king . Weird system rules like that, or so it was believed.

Or maybe nobody tested whether that norm was actually a requirement of the title king or whether it was just a product of whether the citizens of the kingdom acknowledged the heir as the true king .

Things I learned from eavesdropping on Yvon�s conversations with her advisors.

YEAR 84 MONTH 2

Lozanna finally killed two more demon generals, so her total kills was four. And she gained some levels while she was at it.

- Can I go now? Please? -

Laufen was similarly reluctant, but then privately, I told Laufen I�d look after her. With my assurance, Laufen agreed.

If it went well, I�d even get some experience out of playing a small part.

And I was getting quite annoyed with all the shots fired at me. I wondered whether I could do like some kind of kung - fu stunt where an attack was deflected back at the demon. Like how so many manga main characters were able to do to show off their insane overpoweredness.

In honesty, the heroes were just about ready with their force, too, and they were already prepared to strike the demon supercannon, with or without Lozanna . So Lozanna �s arrival at the battlefield was just on time. Just to be sure, I placed a few giant attendant trees in the vicinity as a retreat - point for Lozanna .

The battle against the supercannon went well, all things considered. The heroes successfully destroyed the supercannon with their star mana abilities, but the cost was. a whole load of deaths, mainly from the adventurers and military leaders that decided to take part in the attack.

Lozanna returned from the battle bloody, and there was a look of despair on her face. I was there, and perhaps there was something about watching the demon supercannon�s explosions incinerate people up close that just. uh. felt brutal. It wasn�t the first time she�d seen death. She had seen death when she fought the demon walker.

It was, as expected, the despair of realizing how high the mountain was.

Laufen, of course, gave her daughter a hug. - It�s okay. You�re blessed by TreeTree, he�s just one tree spirit, but the heroes, they were blessed by all the gods. -

Lozanna , of course, instantly perked up. - Mom! You�re a genius! -

- Huh? -

- A/ �s blessings alone are not enough for me to be a hero! -

- What do you mean? -

- I will visit other spirits like TreeTree and get their blessings. If I can get multiple blessings, I will be as strong as them! -

YEAR 84 MONTH 3

With the demonic supercannon down, the royals and nobles quickly made their way home. Truth be told, I thought that was a bit premature. The supercannon was but one of many demon walkers that were on the continent, and the demon king seemed to be summoning more and more of them.

There were now supercannons on all continents.

The heroes, too, after defeating the supercannon and gaining levels, expanded the network of telecommunication trees . Indeed, all of them acquired level ninety towers . At this point, I honestly didn�t see anything other than the demon king himself making a dent at the heroes progress, so I felt the demon king�s stay in the world would last no longer than one year.

The restoration of the messaging network also brought a return of intercontinental news and trade, something we sorely needed. The first thing I did, of course, was order all my upgrade materials I needed. Lozanna �s Living Weapon, Thorny, reached level twenty and was level capped until I got the materials needed to upgrade him.

Then there was also the issue of Lozanna �s new bright idea.

She wanted to visit other tree spirits and things like that. Perhaps it was similar to the old elven pilgrims that used to visit the great elf tree - guardians, even if just to acknowledge their role in the protection of the elven capital.

- Traveling in this environment is quite difficult, and. we will need you here for defense, - Yura explained his views. He was fine with it, but he preferred if Lozanna waited till after the demon king was slain. Elves lived for many, many years, and Lozanna could always compare herself to future heroes.

Lozanna , of course, agreed. She was smart, and she was patient. There was also much about the outside world she didn�t know about, so she agreed, on the condition that Yura and everyone else included her on trips to nearby kingdoms if they ever went on those visits. She had to learn how to conduct herself in foreign lands, after all.

In principle, I agreed with Lozanna �s idea, and I would even like to tag along such that I could also communicate with the other spirits. In short, Lozanna was going to be my envoy to the spirits. I, too, had much to learn about the spirits of this world; my experience had solely been through my own lenses and what little I learned from the dead.

The destruction of the demon supercannon also brought about a period of rejuvenation. Throughout the areas where my subsidiary trees and giant attendant trees were, trees were starting to regrow, and that made me happy. It was nice to see little trees starting to pop up next to my bigger trees or a little field of flowers or grass.

I got significant enjoyment from having new grasses or trees join my network of trees. Increasingly, it was the tree part of me that found joy in this. Or perhaps it was just Trevor and the gang�s enjoyment?

The refugee situation temporarily subsided now that message and the demon supercannon�s death spread. There was something about uncertainty that added to that fear, so with open communications restored, those living in different places no longer lived in darkness. It was just a thing about knowledge that allowed people to make better decisions.

All in all, with the royals and nobles making their way out.

YEAR 84 MONTH 4

The heroes were out hunting for the other demon bases. There were many throughout the continent, but at least they knew where to look for them. Benefits of real - time communication.

As for me, I turned my focus to further studies of the telco tower. I wasn�t getting much insight into how it stayed synchronized with the other towers, but with the help of more lab equipment around the tower and attempting to intercept magical messages , over time, I started to figure out what was happening.

The Telco Tower had multiple components to it. The other parts were a form of demonic barrier that created a safe zone for messages going to the sender and from the sender. These repelled the effects of the demon king�s global ability. Second was a kind of repeater, where the Telco Tower received a message and sent it to someone else but within the same tower - range. For longer range and continental messages, that went through the somewhat quantum - entangled communications that existed between the towers.

Of all of those, I decided to focus on the aura repelling the demon king. It was the easiest for me to study, and in many ways, similar to my lesser demonic suppression aura . I reckoned the similarities would help me in understanding what exactly was happening.

And my suspicions were rewarded because, after some poking and thinking, I had a notification.

Demonic Ability Reduction Aura - lesser obtained

Yay!

Feeling a bit accomplished, I went back to the hex wasteland. Apparently, the heroes had been sending a whole load of messages to all the kings and leaders they could contact to stop using the hexbomb because it made their work a lot harder, since it would disrupt their travel paths.

I thought heroes would have some resistance, but maybe it was just caution on their part.

The hex had been a significant stumbling block in my research, mainly because the hex was the byproduct of some kind of magical ritual, and it was like I was trying to guesstimate what exactly happened in the ritual to know what created a nasty side effect like hex. It was as if someone gave me a piece of plastic, asked me how that plastic was made, and which process gave the plastic the qualities it possessed.

So, I did want to observe a blood ritual for myself.

If the nuclear fusion theory had any relevance, the blood ritual should be some kind of incomplete process that created this. monstrosity.

In my mind, I had a clear, obvious reason for researching the hex. I couldn�t help but suspect that one day, some country was going to think I was no better than the demon king and use this same hexbomb against me. This horrid poison that corrupted the land just offended the trees and vegetation in every way possible, even more that the magically tainted poop. So much so that I got feelings of anger through the rootnet .

If a forest could react in anger to a factory spewing poison into its lands, I guessed that was how it felt.

Even though it repulsed me, I steeled myself and placed one subsidiary tree right into a pool of hex.

It was a risk, but somehow. I felt like I had to reach into it.

And then I felt my mind assaulted and overwhelmed by strange, twisted emotions and memories. Death. Pain. Suffering. Love. Hope. It lasted for a good two hours, a short flicker of a moment for me; my various root brain complexes and The Grand Mind Tree all instantly kicked in and worked hard to allay those invading memories and emotions. It was not all bad, but it was all kinds of emotions, both positive and negative, warped in some way or form or joined together.

At the same time, I witnessed my subsidiary tree rot from the root upward, its bark and trunk turning brittle before breaking up by bits and pieces. It took a while, and after that two hours and I�d regained emotional control, I soon used the root brains and mind tree to invade into the subsidiary tree.

It was too late.

The subsidiary tree was dead; it crumbled and turned into dust.

Yet it was not all wasted.

The hex, as we saw it, shrunk a little bit.

Ah. Typical of blood rituals. It was essentially an emotion - memory conversion into power, and so fixing the hex meant facing those emotions head on and unwinding them. But that still didn�t answer the underlying force. Was it still some kind of soul mechanism? Or did emotions and memories have their own power?

I supposed the true way to fix the hex was to connect a root to it and run it through the root minds and the grand mind tree ?

- So, did you ask your mom? -

- About what? -

- About teaching me how to fight. -

Roma frowned. - You should stick to baking. -

- Easy for you to say, - the black - haired boy responded. - I only have my granny to look after me. -

- I only have my mom. -

- And her army of loyalists and servants. - The black - haired boy was sharp, and there was indeed an army of loyalists. Even now, there were two guards tasked to watch after Roma.

Roma sighed. - Fine, I�ll ask her to teach you something. -

- Yay! I can�t wait to hit someone with one of the long, hard breads! - Roma facepalmed, and the black - haired boy laughed. Indeed, Roma later did go see Yvon.

- Mom. I got a request. It�s got nothing to do with books or magic. - Yvon probably looked puzzled because it was quite rare for Roma to have requests outside those topics.

- What? -

- I - I have a friend. He. wants to learn how to fight, so, uh. could you. um. teaching him? - Roma asked awkwardly, and Yvon looked at her son. He twiddled his fingers even though he was already in his teens, and Yvon nodded.

- I won�t have much time to teach him, with my duties at the Valthorn kids, but sure. Maybe he can start joining us for a few rounds of basic spars. I have open sessions with the newer Initiates. -

News from the distant continents came in, and the demon king was on the move. It seemed the heroes were quite successful in defeating the demon walkers and the demon supercannons, if they had an ability similar to Meela and Alexis�s Star Mana - form. I reckoned that was probably a standard loadout for a hero.

The heroes were now trying to gather up somewhere and take down the rest of the demonic walkers. There were many; after all, this demon king was really fond of walkers, and so far, the heroes were successful, so much so that almost every three to four days we had news that another walker or supercannon had been destroyed. The heroes by now had moved out of my tree�s observational range, and so any news about their movement was via message .

A part of me thought, well, this was too easy. There must be something.

Was this it? Really? Was this the slow end of the demon king? The demon king that peaked early and then ended because it tried to attack all the continents at once?

I didn�t think so. There must a trick. The demon king had been wandering continent to continent doing something. There must be a trap waiting for the heroes; there was no reason for demon king to just hang around idle when the heroes were still gaining strength.

The heroes must be expecting it, too; things had been going a bit too easy for them now that they�d unlocked star mana.

Oh well, let�s just watch the show.

- Where has the demon king gone? Would anyone have any idea now that the message network is restored? Can we find out about all historical sightings of the demon king? -

Yura was getting better at guessing what I was trying to do, and he vaguely sounded like he sensed my concern. - I�ll send out a request to the merchant�s and mage�s guilds. -

Still, once I acquired the demon ability reduction aura , that had an instant benefit because that aura pushed back against the demon�s interference; doing so expanded the field of the beetle�s range. After all, the beetles, being a form of summoned creature, had little resistance against demonic interference.

In fact, I wondered whether there was an insect tamer or insect master that would someday come up to me and mind control one of my mindless beetles.

YEAR 84 MONTH 5

Treeiner leveled up quickly and gained some rather cool abilities. Like his level ten ability literally distorted his training room into a larger one. I wondered what his higher - tier abilities would be; a practice dungeon would be quite cool.

That�d make him his own little dungeon core, wouldn�t it?

A dungeon of our own for practice would be fantastic, since the Valthorn kids had expanded, and we were short of nannies to look after them, and it didn�t feel quite right to let their older, earlier students to look after them with their limited life experience.

Even if the first generation of Valthorns, the first nine, were now all above level twenty, Lozanna being the exceptional one crossing level sixty, but her leveling was stagnating. She complained about it sometimes, and it was also partly why she wanted to find other ways of growing. Her living weapon was also level capped at level twenty, and the cool thing about Thorny was that, well, it literally gave her a barb armor. Still, it was nothing compared to the kind of star - mana weapons the hero wielded.

Lozanna was super proud of Thorny before this, but after the supercannon battle, she�d been working really hard. Apparently their star - mana weapons literally sliced through high - tier demons like a hot knife through butter. Things that she needed a full - powered strike to kill could be easily cut through.

I thought it was the level difference. They were, after all, in the level eighties to nineties, Lozanna was just sixty, and the gap of ten levels was extremely big. Like how thirty levels meant I could tank a demon walker a lot more comfortably than before.

Maybe if Thorny had the anti - demon abilities like I did, he�d cut through the demons like water, too!

Anyway, Lozanna �s daily affairs consisted of training, helping, and guiding all the younger initiates who looked up to her. We�d had to build a dedicated compound for the Valthorns on top of the existing orphanage. With my new Giant Attendant Trees , it really opened up the possibility of subsidiary cities or suburbs.�

Maybe that was something I should do. With that in mind, I made an announcement to the Valthorns to find places suitable for an extra town. Perhaps somewhere close to a mine where I could do some mining using my deep roots.

Or somewhere with mana.

Or should I just ask them to settle down in the southwest forests, with my ThreeTrees of mana?

With the valley itself restricted, the forest now littered with the giant trees, New Freeka�s expansion was forced toward the open plains, where all the enemy armies liked to march. New segments of town, new walls were built, as the city expanded to accommodate more and more refugees and new citizens.

According to Ivy�s census data, she counted about seventy - two thousand people living in New Freeka�s borders. Clearly a bit too cramped for some of them.

Yet the demons continued presence meant the lack of space in New Freeka was a small bother. Out in other cities, there were constant issues of food shortages, so much so New Freeka had been sending food aid to the nearby kingdoms. It was a move by the Council, of course, since the Council�s past efforts of building wineries, underground heated farms, underground silos, and our most recent underground self - sufficient hideouts meant a surplus of food even for the large number.

The council liked allies, and well, I didn�t blame them. I wanted my own allies, too.

I needed to visit the giant lilypod. So I undid all the trees that I no longer needed and continued my long chain of trees toward it. I stopped previously when the heroes started their attack on the wounded demon walker.

It would take me a month or two to get there. But if Lozanna wanted to talk to another Tree Spirit, maybe I should do the introductions.

This was some time ago.

SIDE STORY

AROUND YEAR 83, MONTH 8

Harris, Becky, and Mirei weren�t having a good time. If anything, the past few months had been absolutely terrible.

With demons crawling all over the continent, there was no journey that was ever safe. Almost every night, when they camped outside, they would be attacked. At first, it was stressful, but now, all three of them were now around level sixty. Thankfully, Becky�s class as a summoner meant she had a magical guard that kept watch while all of them rested and slept.

- I wish we had nice beds. - Mirei�s number one complaint, almost every other night, was the lack of comfortable beds. Coming from another world, the significant decline in mattress quality was really getting to her. - It�s absurd that the people in this world accept this bullshit. -

They sat around a makeshift campfire. A lightning elemental was helping to barbeque the roasted meat.

- Let it go. At least we�re not hungry. - Harris nodded. They didn�t like being hungry. They were hungry on some days, when they went through areas that were so devastated there was absolutely nothing to harvest or hunt. - Anyway, it should be any time now. - The two girls came and sat on the logs next to him. They were friends, after all.

And the magical orb appeared again. Hero Chat .

- Hey, guys. Everyone okay? - Astra asked from the other side of the screen. They could hold the chat for about one hour, so that meant they could really catch up. - Oh, hey, Harris, were you guys going to challenge the demon walker? -

Harris nodded. - We�re supposed to rendezvous with an army from Salah. Apparently, it was part of the coalition army from this continent. But my scouts tell me things aren�t great, the terrain around the demon walker has been absolutely wrecked by all the blood rituals that were used against it, so approaching it isn�t that straightforward. - Harris�s summoned force was essentially an elite army in itself.

Another voice came out. Harris identified her as Helen, and she was in the north. - Yeah. We�re trying to convince the locals to stop using the blood magic because it is making our attempts to approach the demons a lot harder. A few routes have been made unusable because of the blood magic used to bombard it. But it is quite hard to get that message across because the guys that fire the damned blood magic are not here anymore! It doesn�t help that the kings used some kind of charisma or charm skill to convince all these guys to sacrifice themselves, and these guys have far too large an ego to accept that their decisions were wrong. -

Mirei looked and pointed. She noticed Helen�s background wasn�t. outdoors. - Are you guys in an inn? -

Helen laughed at the question. - Hell yeah! Check out my lovely bed! I can�t freaking stand camping outside. Thankfully we found a small town with an inn that�s still standing! You cannot believe how few and rare independent inns are in this world, since all these traveler�s inns are absolutely defenseless! -

It was laughter all the heroes shared, but all of them felt bittersweet. The pain of lacking proper rest and sleep was apparent to all twelve of them, even if the magic and drive from the god�s blessing did constantly spur them on.

- All right, all right. We�ve got fifty minutes left. Let�s start the recap. I�ve recently hit level sixty, too, and I�ve unlocked an avatar , - Astra said. - It lets me create three copies of myself that I can send elsewhere to do things, and it can cast all the spells I can, except those using star mana . -

- We�re all multi - unit heroes, aren�t we? - Everyone had a summon or companion force of some kind. Harris had scouts and living armors; Becky as a pure summoner had the most expansive force. She could singlehandedly summon fifteen hundred magical soldiers to battle if she expended all her star mana.

- Fitting, since we are facing a war. Anyone else not level sixty yet? Any interesting skills? Any new demon units we should be afraid of? -

- I fought the demon general you mentioned. Not as hard as I was made to believe. -

- The locals generally exaggerate their strength. I reckon it�s a level fifty threat. -

Harris frowned. They hadn�t been having easy fights. Were they doing something wrong? - Huh. Only one? - They fought a battle with six demon generals.

- Yup! -

- Uh. anyone have any clue where the demon king is? -

- Quite sure it�s in the Southern Continent, - Astra responded. - But I think it hasn�t moved at all since it came to this world. I think it�s. churning out walkers. -

- Oh. Does that mean all of us need to head to the south? -

- Eventually, yes. Once we can get past the walkers on our continent. But who knows? Maybe the demon king will move. I heard them say the demon king moved from place to place for previous generations. -

- Uh. that�s a future thing. Let�s focus. So. on the walkers. -

Everyone looked worried. At that point, they had not fought anything that powerful.

- Any tips for facing the walker? - Harris asked. - Anyone fought one since last week? There was one near you, Astra? -

- We�re hoping you�d set the example, Harris. We do have plenty of walkers down here in the south, but somehow, they travel in pairs, so we have not yet attempted to fight them. You�re facing one along, and that�s probably the easiest fight available. -

- Hey! - Mirei called out. - Why do we have to be first? -

Awkward silence. Harris frowned. Becky sighed. All of them received overpowered abilities and blessings from the gods, and here they were, arguing who should face the demon walkers first.

- Never mind, never mind. Time to share some knowledge. - Astra needed to save time. - Did you know some kings have a protective presence ability that allows the use of message spells in their domain? -

One of the other heroes on the Eastern continent spoke. - But it only works for messages within the domain. I think there should be other kings or leaders with similar powers. -

- Oh. - Harris wasn�t that interested, but he wondered whether that was how A/ looked after his own domain, but that didn�t seem to be the case. - Astra, what�s the range of your avatars ? -

- Huh? -

- Becky�s squadrons can�t stray more than ten miles from her. What�s yours? -

- I - I haven�t tested. - Astra flushed, and he wrote it down somewhere. - I�ll get to it. -

- My birdmen raiders have a range of about twice that, - another one spoke, Simone. - I suppose the range depends on the unit type. -

- Makes sense. -

- We should test it, - Harris said. - We should be careful. The demon king knows where we are. -

- How does your source know that? I�m starting to suspect that source of yours. is a former hero. -

- She�s not human. She can�t be. -

- Is that a rule? -

- We�re all human, right? And the previous generation was all human, too. It should be a rule. Why else did the gods pick us? -

- I still don�t think it�s a rule. I need to check the records, - one voice spoke. - The locals say there were non - human heroes. Long, long time ago. -

Astra cut the discussion off. - All right, we need to save time. Have you guys thought about the walkers? What�s your strategy? -

- Destroy the aura spires, chop the head off, and aim for the humanoid core. Beware of energy blasts and beams from spires and heads. -

- How do you know that? -

- Uh. previous records? Apparently the city we started in defeated a walker before. -

- What?! You guys totally lucked out with your start point. We�re clueless about demon walkers. Let us know after you fought it, okay? - Astra asked.

Becky and Mirei looked at each other. There was a subtle bitterness in that statement, and they all felt it. They didn�t feel like they had a good time fighting through demons.

The Hero call ended shortly after.

- Y�know, this hero thing isn�t as nice as the gods put it. - Becky sighed and ate some of the barbequed meat from the lightning elemental. It wasn�t that great. The lightning elemental had no taste buds and no sense of smell to estimate how cooked the meat was.

Harris, too, chewed on a rather burned meat and said rather bluntly, - The gods screwed up and we, the earthers, are the emergency response team. -

- I expected to be a princess. Instead I�m a demon hunter. Not the fairy tale I was hoping for, - Becky ranted. - But someone�s got to do it, and it sure looks like we are the only ones anywhere equipped to deal with it. -

- I was told the food was exotic. - Mirei sighed. But exotic also meant. weird and often untasty.

All of them collectively sighed. A part of them was tempted by the rewards; they felt like hamsters chasing after dangled food.

- So. should we still attempt to fight the walker? -

That question made all of them pause. They reflected on the damage demons had caused the lands they had seen.

- We have to, - Mirei said, her mind filled with the scenes she witnessed. All the deaths and destruction. The crying and weeping.

- We should. -

Harris shook his head. - Lady Mika said it in very clear terms that we can die. We are sure about this? -

- Yes. -

Harris nodded. He felt it, too, like a calling, to fight the demon walker. It was almost as if he was being summoned to it.

An army came, ten thousand strong. Not much, but it was all the coalition could spare, with multiple other battles happening throughout the continent. A group of thirty rode forth to meet with the three of them.

- The heroes? - an older - looking man asked. Harris nodded.

- Yes. We. we were the reincarnated ones. - He wasn�t sure whether he deserved the hero title just yet.

- Great. - The older man dismounted and walked toward them. He offered a handshake, and Harris took it. - I�m Commander Akbar, and I�m here on behalf of the coalition force. It�s a small army, but even this took a whole load of persuasion. -

Akbar shook both Becky and Mirei�s hands.

- I was told the three of you plan to attack the walker and relieve the pressure on Gila. -

- Indeed, but. we�re not sure how. -

- Our intel said the demon walkers have projectile attacks from its main head and lesser beam weapons from some of the spires. The army will split into smaller forces and attack the demon walker from all sides. This way the head can only aim at one group at a time. An elite force will stay with you and cut a path for you to get close. Can you disable the head? Once you do, we can start channeling the longer - time spells like our siege fireballs , since our mages were relieved from shielding duties. -

Harris nodded. He had a massive shield ability. It should do.

- Sounds like a lot of people were going to die. -

- Or do you want to. tunnel? - Akbar asked.

Harris paused. - What? -

Akbar brought a group of thirty humans; they looked very much like miners with large pickaxes and shovels.

- Oh. - They suddenly got it.

Akbar�s battle at New Freeka really seared into his mind, and he thought of emulating the tunnels used by the giant beetles.

- This. - All three heroes nodded. It was far less risky since it was not an open confrontation, but that was hinged on the demon walker being unable to detect their presence.

- It�s worth a try, don�t you think? -

Harris, Mirei, and Becky nodded.

YEAR 84 MONTH 6

- Master, right now on your dashboard, there is the following outstanding items.

- One, extend to Giant Lilypod city. Two, find a new location to set up a second town. Third, find more magical leylines for more soul forge upgrades. Four, acquire research and upgrade materials for us. Five, demonic research and telco tower further research. Six, blood ritual observation and related hex research. Seven, prepare for demon king surprises. Eight, work on Yura �s soul vitality and level cap. Nine, research potential anti - demonic objects to create super - anti demonic weapons. Ten, upgrading the feces and refuse processing and absorption. Eleven. -

Trevor went on. But I had gotten it. I had a lot on my big wooden plate, and well, I tended to forget things a lot. Even though trees were supposed to remember things because of how they were burned into our tree rings.

So, let�s go back to the list.

I was working on the extension to the Giant Lilypod city, and I should be there in one month. After that, I was hoping to establish some means of contact if we were able to telepathically connect; if not, I might try to connect my roots directly.

Would that be too risky? What if it was more powerful than me and the energy in it was roots attempt to take over me instead? A direct root connection was, after all, a two - way exchange of information, magic, and nutrients. It was almost as if two trees were married. Thinking about it, I decided I probably should not connect my roots directly.

But then again, my roots were everywhere. Even treefolks had been somewhat connected to me, their roots frequently touching and making contact. It was only thanks to my rootnet that so far, I�d not been massively disturbed.

Perhaps a fellow tree spirit of that level could overpower and brute force through my rootnet �s defenses.

And what did I even say to a fellow tree spirit? Like. hi?

Feeling a little bit concerned about my competence at communicating, I asked Yura , - Yura , do we have historical records of past encounters with great spirits? Can I have their stories? -

- Oh. we�ll need to ask the various guilds, but sure. - Yura nodded. - Is something happening? Last month was about demon king�s movement, and this month ancient spirits. -

- I just have some. thoughts. -

Yura nodded. - It�s costing us a bit of money to do these sorts of searches, since there is no central library where all these things are stored. -

And that was a problem, wasn�t it? Wikipedia was awesome. This world needed a Wikipedia. Maybe I could set up a large network of trees that functioned as terminals for people to upload information. I�d call them. treeminals. Wait. Sounded too much like criminals. Intreeface? No, sounded too much like In Tree�s Face. Or maybe, Wikitree? Treewiki?

eek.

Never mind. I was getting distracted. I needed a 101 on how to communicate with other spirits.

Second was the location expansion. Some of them didn�t get the idea of why I wanted to search for potentially habitable locations, but it was quite obvious to the cleverer ones.

- A/ �s looking to germinate? -

- Will there be a second A/ ? -

- Can Tree Spirits multiply? Is A/ making a special tree? -

Okay. I thought they misunderstood. I had giant trees. Why didn�t they ask whether those were my babies? I even had subsidiary trees, or did they think those were just normal trees. Or was it the way I asked?

There were actually a few places, a bit further, that was in sort - of no - man�s land thanks to the fall of some cities to the demons. After all, if demons happened every ten years, your continent wasn�t going to be densely populated all the time. There was going to be large patches where the fires had burned for so long, for so much, that ten years wouldn�t reverse that kind of damage. It�d take a lot longer than that.

Far north, there was another valley where there was a river running through it, and some metals in the gentle, rolling hills. A rather pleasant valley, but uninhabited. There were also a few others, but I liked this valley the most, so I decided to also stretch a few trees there and then placed one giant attendant tree in it. Over time, I would like this to be like the Valthorn�s actual academy, the Root Camp, where young Valthorns learned their roots.

These giant attendant trees were wonderful in their own way; their large number of customizable rooms meant one giant tree could house easily one hundred people, and another giant tree could be converted into barracks and all the other things the Valthorns needed. I recalled having trading cards where massive trees were the superstructures and skyscrapers of the world, and these giant trees were my closest attempt at them.

Perhaps one day these giant trees could even be ancients, like in Warcraft, and fight wars on my behalf.

Maybe I should get some treefolks into the Valthorns, too.

Speaking of treefolks. my research into their fallen was quite insightful. They were built just like any normal flexible limb, just that their texture was woody and their organs were distributed. They did have organs, and their means of absorbing nutrients via their rooted form was a very fancy thing.

But the younger treefolks, those who benefited from my special saps and milk, were growing up, and now we were able to get a clearer comparison of those who went for the longer pregnancy versus those who went for the shorter external gestation period. The saps closed the gaps by close to fifty to sixty percent, so the saps significantly improved the treefolk�s reproduction because now the drawbacks of the high - volume external gestation was reduced.

Of course, the whole point of looking into them was to find out how to develop flexible wooden parts. Yet I believed Meela�s tree - form was a lot more interesting, in that Meela�s treeform resembled a quasi - liquid thing with a wooden layer, whereas the treefolks had more distinct muscles.�

What I�d like to do was incorporate these muscles and stuff into the giant trees and essentially build my own treant. With an artificial soul in it, I could probably get a super - tank.

Which reminded me. what happened if I fused an artificial soul with a giant tree? Did they become mini - versions of me?

Anyway, back to the list. The leylines. well, I thought the nearest one to me was where the demon supercannon was, but the heroes had already placed a telco tower there after they defeated the demon. Maybe the Giant Lilypod�s spirit would know more.

Research and upgrades were on the way! The merchants needed some time before things got back to business as usual. The presences of demons and demon kings were still quite disruptive, and the long period of when businesses essentially were dead meant a lot of merchants ran into financial problems. Ah, the realities of business. I supposed it was harder to be a billionaire in a world where the demon king might just wipe you out every ten years. Businesses needed long periods of growth, stability!

Unless one was a war merchant. There should be bankers or war merchants, right? I didn�t believe a world like this didn�t have its Rothschild equivalent.

- Are there. merchants who fund wars? -

Yura scratched his chin. - Uh. yeah? But usually they are a nobility as well. -

Yup. This world was fucked.

YEAR 84 MONTH 7

- Pleased to meet you, Lady Lozanna , the Chosen of A/ . - The baker boy bowed. He wasn�t good at it.

Lozanna didn�t react. She merely got into position and lifted her sparring short - spear; Thorny was on her back. She was getting taller. - Come. -

They were sparring.

The baker boy nodded and attacked with a wooden sword. He swung with all his might, but then somehow his leg got tangled with Lozanna �s spear, and he fell flat into the soft wooden floor.

Lozanna shrugged. - Again? -

The baker boy got up and nodded. - Yes. - And he was easily defeated. Multiple times.

- All right. Time�s up, - Lozanna said and then walked away to spar with the next person. There were many more to train.

Then Yura walked in. - Everyone, we�ve got new instructions from A/ . We�re forming a squad. Lozanna , pick fifty. We�re going on a trip. Everyone pack up enough supplies for two weeks. -

- Where were we going? -

- A/ �s instructions were to head to a giant tree grove located at one of the northwestern valleys. There is accommodation, but we will camp out there. -

- That�s. -

- I�ll give you further details. Later. A/ did tell me a bit. - In public, both Yura and Lozanna referred to me as A/ because, well, it was just my public and divine name. All of them were given about two hours to pack for two weeks, and off they went. As Valthorns, they were all expected to be deployed as soon as they could.

The Valthorn quarters were now vacant, and the baker boy was left with the rest who weren�t selected. A young girl about the baker boy�s age came up.

- Hi, I saw you just now. Let�s practice! -

The baker boy nodded. - Okay. - He wasn�t that good, but he was improving.

Roma walked in a bit later with Yvon. - Oh, where�d everyone go? - Yvon asked, and one of the older caretakers explained Yura �s instructions.

- Oh, Mom, this was the friend I�m talking about. Nero, meet my mom. Mom, meet Nero. -

- Hello, Nero. - Yvon smiled at the baker boy. He was slightly taller than Roma. - Finally I get to meet the boy that�s been making my son gain all that weight. -

- Uh. -

- I�m kidding. All right. Come, let�s practice. Let�s see whether you can learn some combat skills. -

It was quite therapeutic to use my bloom and create new patches of trees. Vast barren, destroyed lands - with a bit of tender loving care from me and my artificial minds - transformed into scenic watering holes and oases.

As my network of trees stretched further, I was now exposed to slightly different climates as well. Further to the south, the air was hotter, drier, and so my trees had to adapt. They shared a portion of my environmental adaptations, so they wouldn�t die, just not functioning at one hundred percent. It was interesting to see the subtle changes in vegetation further south, and I wondered whether there had been any proper studies into the effects of magic, and the multiple moons, on this world�s plants.

Warmer, warmer. Another tree, another tree, and every other day I crossed a chain of hills on the way to meet another spirit.

But it seemed that we met a lot earlier.

A visitor from afar, yet so familiar.

Huh? There were voices. Not one, but many. It was as if it was a choir in the background, with one person occasionally taking the lead. The sudden presence of that voice jolted me from my usual daze. I felt like I was in a trance when I was expanding my presence and network, so that voice really knocked me out.

He brings the greening of the lands and yet also its destruction.

Wait, I was about two to three days away from Giant Lilypod. Was this the voice of the Giant Lilypod? Who was I talking to?

One of us, one of many.

Was that the Giant Lilypod? I attempted to respond. Hello!

The words of mortals, and he speaks like one.

I paused. Maybe I should speak the same way. I come in peace.

Peace is but one of many states. But it is welcome.

What? I am A/ , a Tree Spirit. I greet thee. I tried to respond, but it was hard to even speak the way they did. They clearly understood the language differently. I hoped, if anything, that I did not offend them.

A greeting like a mortal. Strange, but we accept. Greetings, A/ .

I didn�t know what to say. Was this how the others were when they spoke to me?

We are the Lilies of the Lake. We are one and We are many.

So. the Giant Lilypod City was a hivemind? I kept on my journey. I wanted to physically see their body, what they were like, what they looked like.

Come, the world is for all of us.

It seemed the Lilies had a larger telepathic communication range than I did, since it picked up my presence long before I did. Was it because it was a hive mind?

Tell us of the world outside the lake.

It talked while I kept up my network of trees. It is big and there are monsters everywhere.

Beasts roam wherever we go.

And there are demons. Well, I thought of testing its knowledge of demons.

. I heard a long droning sound in my head, and I had to forcefully cut it off using my grand mind tree . It went on for quite a while, and it lingered.

Heroes have appeared to fight them.

The droning continued and then faded. I wondered what was on such a hive mind�s mind, and clearly, I failed to understand it.

Perhaps it is like us, Master. Only that they all get to speak.�

A Medicine That May Kill, A Choice of Desperation.

I was starting to suspect I�d struggle to get along with this fellow. tree spirit. Or tree spirits?

How should I refer to you?

We are Lilies. We are many.

That�s. Hello, Lilies.

Hello. A/ . It sounded like those two words really took a lot of out of them. Perhaps they were not used to this sort of interaction?

And silence. I was quite comfortable with the silence, and clearly, so was Lilies. It seemed both of us being. plants, silence didn�t make us uncomfortable. In fact, it was quite. relaxing.

You sought us out, why?

My. disciple needs your blessing. I wasn�t sure how to refer to Lozanna . Was she my minion, or was she a disciple? Or was she. a personal representative? What would she call herself in reference to me? Was she a subordinate, then? Or just an employee?

A blessing from us?

Yes.

Strange.

Was it strange? Why? Did people not get blessings from their tree spirits?

Bless? Why?

Why? What? Trees didn�t give blessings?

Seemed the mortal minds have tainted the thoughts.

I was starting to think I made a wrong decision of talking to this tree spirit. Or even attempting to get close. Its lake was still far away, and yet it already knew I was here? It must have something similar to subsidiary trees.

Nature�s cycles of life come and go. Individuals are but specks, motes on a sunbeam, so long as the whole continues to grow. Like leaves, shed them when they are no longer needed. Focus on the whole, the. ecosystem. To focus on individuals, a single tree, is but a mortals way.

Then grant your familiar to this one, as part of a whole.

He who wishes to taste the highest fruits must make the climb. The gates are open.

It took another few more days, and I eventually reached the edge of the lake. And I had to see it for myself, so I used one of my few physical eyes. The lake was vast, and it stretched really far. And the Giant Lilypod was essentially a city around a massive moat, the lake itself.

There was a bridge that connected the shore to the main city, but the city was actually all built on massive. multiple - building - size giant water lily leaves. The largest of those leaves were larger than city blocks, and there were smaller but still giant lily pads that acted as a land bridge, and visually, the lily pads closer to shore were more. thorny, as if they were ready to spring a trap at any time.

Welcome, A/ from afar. This is Lake Lilypod, and the mortal city of Giant Lilypod stands on my 26,485 lily pads. Home to 615,000.

Each lily pad acted as its own district, and together they formed the city. There were three land bridges formed by the lily pads, and it was clearly fortified. The humans that lived here also build massive forts around the entrances of all three bridges.

At twenty - six thousand lily pads, I was inclined to think that it was probably its version of the subsidiary tree .

What do you do when the demons come for you?

Like fire, a cycle of destruction and rebirth. Let it be.

Heh. Well, from what I could see, it looked like this spirit was more than happy to let the lily pads burn.

How many years have you been here?

It didn�t answer me. Maybe it was sensitive. We didn�t speak for days as I went about my other tasks.

Madeus and a few others were gathered, and Lozanna was there, too, since I thought it�d be relevant to her. The history of the Giant Lilypod city in its initial stages was lacking, but it was said that the city and the lake were greatly intertwined. The lilies that blossomed in the lake had been attacked by demons many times, and often the lilies would be destroyed. Some of the lilies, those further inland, were about to close and submerge to hide away from the demons.

This was, of course, aided by the fact that the demons couldn�t seem to walk in water, and the waters of the lake were filled with monstrous vines and floating things. There were also giant fish and other lake monsters living in there that would attack any demon that went into the water.

So essentially, they hid, and the massive lake acted as a giant moat because these stupid demons were not well adapted to underwater combat. The massive lilies were also extremely resilient, so they could take multiple hits and bombardments; they had to be because the city was built on it. Even if the lilies were destroyed, because the core body of the lily was underwater and probably a large network of tubers and roots that wasn�t exactly destroyed, it could just regenerate after every destruction. It was literally a water - weed that waited for the demonic disaster to go away.

Of course, I wondered what level it was.

No one knew, and apparently, no one knew whether the Lilies could communicate. The druids had apparently attempted to communicate, but they couldn�t even reach it, other than sensing that it briefly existed.

So, hiding its main body was a smart thing. Maybe I should do that, too.

Of course, this also exposed one of the druid�s lies. They couldn�t communicate with other tree spirits and yet promised such a thing to me? Or was it just Lilies that was being unnaturally shy?

Or maybe it did communicate, but it just did so very, very selectively?

After that conversation about the history of that city, Lozanna came and asked me about it. - TreeTree, do you think I should go to Giant Lilypod City? Nobody has even found how to communicate with the spirit yet. -

- Probably. not. Let�s see whether there were other spirits we can communicate with. -

The next one would be the elven capital�s tree spirit. I thought that one was probably younger that the Lilies, but it also had a few hundred years of history to it.

- But you won�t mind waiting, right? -

Lozanna nodded. - It�s fine. I want to learn more about traveling before making the journey. I feel like all my life I�ve been here. Mom says I need more. uh. life experience. I�m too young in her eyes. -

- Moms will always view you as their children. It is just the way they are. Talk to her and convince her otherwise. -

YEAR 84 MONTH 8

While Yura �s network was trying to gather information about the demon king�s whereabouts, well, we found out what the trap was. It was tough trying to filter through crap and false positives, so much so that by the time any good information was obtained, it was often no longer useful. This was one of those times.

The demon king had been visiting the sites of the previous demon kings, the places of their death and destruction, and tapped into the remaining energies to create a massive demon monster that was stronger than the super cannon. We knew this because on the eastern continent was where one demon king died perhaps fifty to sixty years ago, the location of Astaroth.

Of course, at this point, I wondered if there was a limit. The world must have seen countless demon kings, so by sheer number and a long history, there should be some demon king�s destruction in almost every location at some point of this world�s life. So. perhaps the residual magics got fully decayed and the demon king couldn�t tap into that energy?

Or only if there was remaining daemolite?

Was it looking for daemolite?

The new monster, well, apparently, resembled Astaroth. That said, very few descriptions of Astaroth�s appearance remained, so it could well be a corrupted version of the story.

The new monster, at least, didn�t seem to have a long - range weapon. Instead, it was just a gargantuan creature that seemed to excel in short - range bursts, and well, it wrecked a few nations in its immediate surroundings.

Naturally, this meant the demon king was headed for the other demon king�s deathland.

This conjecture immediately caused panic because there was actually a rather massive mining operation in the area to get at the daemolite. Mining daemolite suddenly didn�t seem that profitable now that the demon king�s eyes were on it, too. Hazard pay only went so far.

Are you there?

Always.

Do you speak to the mortals?

A foolish endeavor.

My knowledge of the world was indeed lacking, and very much, what I knew was shaped by what I could see and what I could infer from observing the mortals. But I did agree that my viewpoints were colored greatly by these mortals that I mingled with. It had been something on my mind for a while, and I did sense the growing influence of the network of trees.

Every day I felt like I was switching between. myself and a tree.

I am. a young tree. I want to learn more.

Age is but the passing of time. For immortals, another day. Speak of where is lacking.

Was there really a me?

Was I really an individual person, or was I conflating the previous me, the once - human me, the one that was both a soul and also a mammalian homo sapiens needs and desires?

Was there really a me that was independent of our bodies? After all, our souls were plugged into the bodies we inhabited. We shared and felt the desires, needs, the bodily wants of that body.

Now that I was a tree, naturally I would change. But was this change a new me, since I had lost my human body so many years ago? Was I still the same person as I was?

What should I do with this. aspect that thought, behaved, and had the desires of a tree? Was it me?

Was my yearning for a social circle a relic of my once mortal, humanoid, clanning, and family - oriented society, something that was ingrained in my human genetic code?

We are what we are.

What if we once were something else?

Like rings on a tree, we are the product of cumulative experience. Why cling onto the past? That something else will never return. The future and the big picture remains.

I was confused.

But I did feel like I was struggling a bit with an identity crisis. What should I be? What. was I? Was I just a talking, thinking magical soultree, bane of all demons?

Was there something more to me? That past history of mine, however short it now felt? Was I more TreeTree or more Matt?

Locally, the demons were on a retreat, and a sense of normalcy returned for the inhabitants of the region. This, of course, ignored the fact that the demon king had somehow made a mini - demon king.�

It was a stupid decision by the demon king. If I was in charge, I would�ve absorbed the energy from the previous demon kings and made myself stronger, rather than create new minions. But maybe there was some physical or magical limitation.

It was like letting the heroes get a trial run before actually fighting the real thing. How was that a good idea?

Anyway, it was just like a regular citizen giving opinions on world matters. These, to some extent, were matters beyond one man�s control.

Focusing back on what I could do, trade and research! Trade routes restored, and the materials necessary for research gradually returned.

Research Status:

Phytoremediation process - advanced (mineral concentration) - 12 months

First things first, I resumed research for upgrades to the feces - processing plant. Reason being. well, my previous solution could be better. Also, currently all the metals were absorbed by dedicated trees that functioned as a sponge for specific types of metals or toxin, so it was mixed with that tree. The next step would be, therefore, to then specifically expel these collected metals into some kind of usable form.

Then, I�d been thinking about what I�d been facing and what my artificial souls said. About a counterattack, and also the strange magics from the telco tower , and so a bit more on the flexible branches needed to have a kind of tree - catapult. The lattice was derived from the tower, with the way its magic was twisted and intertwined to form a layered structure that resulted in greater endurance.

Ultraflexible compression branches - 24 months

Latticeworks - 12 months

And on top of that, the hex�s ability to influence my mental state was something worth researching, as it was possible to design or construct specialized artificial minds, or at least develop routines that were suited for absorbing these hexes. Still, as a field of research, it overlapped quite a bit with me absorbing shit. Just emotional shit.

Magical residue filtration - basic 1 - 12 months

I still had one spare Forest Rod that I�d not used, and that was something I wanted to find a place to plant. One spot that I was aware of was the location of the demonic supercannon and also where the heroes telco tower was. Once the demon king was dead, I was going to attack the telco tower and replace it with my rod.

That was a backup plan, of course. I was sure there were others.

Lilies, are there. magical spots that you know of?

It took one day for it to reply. Yes.

Would you tell me?

Two days later, all I got was, No.

Why?

Another day later, Stranger.

Ah. Dammit. Still, time to capitalize on the return of magical communications! So I asked Yura to gather information about other magical sites besides the places of former demon king. I didn�t want anything to do with the demon king at the moment. Of course, this meant dungeons. or holy sites.

Yet, I was feeling a bit meh with all these info networks because they didn�t seem to be generating good information. Seriously, I wondered whether I was giving Yura �s contacts too much work or they were just that crappy. Maybe the adventurers guild would be better, perhaps a list of all dungeons on the continent?

- We�d like to set up a small adventurer group, - Lozanna told the older elves gathered. - Right now, the Valthorns are advancing quite quickly, and many of us are gaining levels. A/ �s intent is that the Valthorns are a special elite force, and so we need experience against other kind of foes, not just demons. -

It was something Lozanna suggested one day, after fighting extensively with her dedicated Training Artificial soul, Treeiner. It was true that Treeiner could simulate all sorts of combat situations, but the leveling effect from that may not be superior to actual combat experience. Even if I had supplemented that with realistic dream tutors , there was still a gap. They needed to fight real enemies, to put all that training into reality.

- So I�d like to lead the first squad. I�ve already gotten five others that are at least level twenty - five to join. - Lozanna �s intent was, of course, to hit as many birds with one stone. She was often bound to New Freeka, so being an adventurer allowed her to travel to fight other monsters and encounter other spirits, and also, a high - ranking adventurer was allowed entrance to many cities. It was a formalized recognition of her levels. In the long run, Lozanna �s intention was to use a high ranking to earn access to all the other great spirit cities.

Yura just nodded. This was something Lozanna had already discussed with Yura beforehand. It was really for the wider Valtorn Order leadership team. In practice, Lozanna could do whatever she wanted, and she�d get away with it.

- My intention is that if it works, these five that are with me will go on to lead their own adventurer squads. -

- The political aspect is going to be touchy, won�t it? - Madeus asked Yura . - I thought there were some restrictions about quasi - military institutions setting up or sponsoring adventurers? -

- Just formalities, really, - Yura said. - The squad can still function as a team of adventurers, and the team needed to be briefed about which country is going to accept recognition as adventurers, given their connections with the Valtorn Order. -

- The mages guilds won�t share high - tier resources and knowledge to politically connected adventurers. -

- They never shared anything to anyone from outside their hometown anyway, - one captain opined.

- We�d have to open up access to our dungeons to the foreign adventurers as well, then? - Madeus asked.

- We don�t have any but yes. It�s something I�ll have to handle through the Council, - Yura said. - There will be some opposition, but given that A/ was also supporting this, they probably won�t ask too much. -

As a policy, my beetles mostly focused on demons. If there were life - threatening emergencies, then only my beetles would intervene against the native monsters. This was partly to maintain some semblance of work for the adventurers guild. But then again, my beetles also had a limited range thanks to the demon king, so there were threats that needed the specialized help of adventurers. The merchants guild regional coordination center also was a big source of escort work for them.

After a bit of back and forth about the political impact, which Lozanna just had to endure, eventually all of them agreed to it.

- Well, agreed then. Perhaps we can meet with the guildmaster of the local chapter to take this further? -

Well, the next day, a middle - aged man came to the Valtorn Order�s offices.

- Counsel. - The man tipped his hat, placed it on a hat - hanger, and then sat on the chair, his arms wide and posture slightly slouched.

There was only Yura and him in the room. Yura smiled. - I see you�re already comfortable, Garrosh. Wine? - Yura offered. - I had a special blend made, mixed with our special herbs. -

- Sure. - Garrosh took a glass and sipped on it. - Could use some with the stupid shit that goes on. -

- People problems were like that. - Yura had a sip, too. - Lozanna spoke to you? -

- She did. - Garrosh finished the glass, then he leaned forward. - And I told her I�ll think about it. -

- The answer has to be a yes, you know. - Yura offered another glass.

- And I�ll lose my job if I don�t. - Garrosh took a second glass. - Well, in terms of pure combat competence, Lozanna �s up there, probably close to the best of my adventurers. But the regional adventurers guild is going to kick up a fuss. -

- But you will ignore them. - Yura just smiled.

Garrosh laughed. - Damn right. I�ve always wanted to meet A/ . So that�s my price. Bring me into the deep woods, past the strange magics that swirl around it. -

Yura finished his own glass. - I see you�ve attempted to find A/ . -

Garrosh took the role of the guildmaster about two years ago, and despite being mostly a guildmaster, he was quite obediently stuck to the rules of New Freeka. Still, he occasionally did try to sneak into the woods.

Yura just looked at his glass and then back at him.

- I�m still an adventurer at heart, and you know I�ve been itching to see it ever since I came to this place. The stories I heard from the older folks, before the deep forests were wrapped in a thick mist, really, really interest me. -

Ever since the druids did what they did, my inner body was always shielded with mist , haunted forests . It�d be a disaster to me if a druid could somewhat get his way to my main body and attempt another ritual.

I was prepared for this. Ivy and Yura had both vetted Garrosh�s intentions, and so I was quite comfortable with him coming to my main body. I also had other preparations in place if Garrosh ever tried anything.

But it didn�t need to come to that. The very journey through the woods, with all the ghosts and soul harvesters roaming about, was enough to intimidate him, and he froze when he saw my main body.

- This. this is it? -

Well, I was massive. As a tree, I towered high up above the rest of the valley, and due to my camouflage and mist skills, that enveloped the entire forest of trees that I was unseen. Lately, I also had other giant trees in the forest, which helped act as a distraction and diversion.�

He froze, and he stared at me.

- Well? - Yura nodded. He was used to the sight.

- I - I will go now, - the middle - aged guildmaster said.

- Hello, Garrosh. - I decided to speak directly into this head. Somehow, that caused his legs to buckle, but he quickly regained his composure.

- A/ ? - he asked.

- Yes. -

- I - I - I will go now. -

Yura happily escorted him away, and apparently, he spent that day sleeping.

- Why do they react like that? -

- Hmm. I think your voice has gotten more. complicated recently. It is almost as if you are multiple people talking at the same time, and there is a greater pressure in your voice. -

- Really? - I clearly wasn�t aware of what my voice sounded like when I telepathically spoke to people. I mean, it was not as if telepathy had an echo. How did you even record telepathy? Would that be possible, or was that like copying memories? It was like trying to replay a thought, wasn�t it?

YEAR 84 MONTH 9

A string of battles broke out across the continents. The demon king had landed on our shores! It was probably headed for the former demon king�s place, and so. that was not good news.

And apparently one group of heroes attempted to fight the demon animated from Astaroth�s residual energies.

They won. But a heavy price was paid.

Pooja Pooran died. You received one hero fragment. You now have 68 fragments. .

I�d been observing the Giant Lilypod City from the shore; after all, my trees couldn�t grow underwater, or at least, not yet. Perhaps someday I�d have submersible trees, or seaweeds, something of a thought for the later days.

I was particularly fascinated by the structure of the Giant Lily pads themselves. How did these massive things managed to even stay afloat or what was supporting them from beneath? Or was it magic?

A long history. Well, it seemed Lilies clearly noticed I was watching. For millennia we stood. Multiple destruction seen. Death, and rebirth. The eternal cycle, the great wheel of life. Even this form was not our first.

I decided to leave and ponder on that statement. I kept watching.

How did the citizens even build things on the lily pads? The lily pads were clearly quite thick, so thick that the citizens must be able to drill or hammer some foundation into it, to support the tall stone and wooden structures, the highest of them were at least ten stories tall. The lilies themselves were not entirely stationary, they drifted a little, and so the bridge that connected the various lily pads were usually based on some kind of magical string or ropes which could somewhat stretch.

The dark, murky waters, are they magical? Or are there monsters lurking in them? Despite it being a lake, there was very little fishery activity going on, though I did notice some people fishing.

Curious, I put another tree closer to the entrance, on the lake�s shore. Perhaps some of the travelers or passersby would somehow reveal something.

Was there something in the lake? I tried my luck; the Lilies were quite secretive in a way, or maybe I hadn�t figured out the trick to communicate with them properly. It was really a communication gap.

Death.

What?

But in death, life.

Okay. That was two days later. I realized I didn�t plan my meeting with another tree spirit well enough. What should I ask it? Or them?

Lozanna and gang finally had their first few adventurer missions, hunting some monster wolves and stuff. The retreat of the demons meant the return of native monsters, and they really didn�t get along.

If I were to put the world into factions, I�d probably make it into a three - kingdoms kind of situation. The demons, the living mortals, and the monsters, all with their own gods.�

Fun, for them because for one, they got to wear adventurer gear and not in the usual Valtorn colors.

In fact, Lozanna had so much fun she came home and talked for hours about it to her mom. Perhaps it was that whole field trip kind of effect. Just a group of young kids on an adventure, without adult supervision! In a way, it was rare for Lozanna to go so far without a captain, or Yvon, or any of the older Valtorn Order people around. Even if she outranked them in many ways, it was still having an adult around.

Laufen just patted her on the head and looked really amused at her daughter.

The demon king was getting nearer to Takde and Nung, and that meant a round of fleeing. It was hilarious, really. The kingdoms should all just set up some kind of massive teleportation array between continents so that they could play hide and seek with the demons.

The death of that one hero, though, quickly spread, and it became chatter in the bars and inns.

- One hero died? -

- Does this mean this generation�s heroes were weak? -

- But many of them died before! -

I mean, many didn�t really know how many heroes there were. They didn�t get fragments to track, and the past heroes didn�t really talk that much with the natives, so eavesdropping on the chatter was amusing. - I wish more of them die! - After the demon king was killed! - When the demon king was killed! -

That kind of chatter would probably make Meela or Alexis feel depressed, but hey, that was what happened when one was reincarnated as the pawn of the gods.

Some of them made the journey to me. again. Sigh.

I wondered how Meela and Alexis were doing.

YEAR 84 MONTH 10

Battles. It was inevitable that a battle would break out now that the demon king was on this continent. The demon king generated lesser demons like a zerg hive; its minions gushed out in all directions. The nearby kingdoms attempted to defend and delay the inevitable, creating large armies to fight.

Yet the demon king itself also had the ability to fire projectiles like the supercannon, so that curtailed any attempt to form up into a larger force. Thankfully, it didn�t seem trigger happy.

So this month, my beetles and gang faced multiple medium - scale battles, at about five to ten thousand demons. Since it was going to be a battle of attrition, we mostly fought a defensive battle, concentrating my forces around my larger giant attendant trees . This made the most of the aura effects and helped minimize casualties.

My beetles needed a few months to replenish themselves, so it was entirely possible for the demons to overwhelm my surroundings if I lost too many beetles.

Still, we had communication channels, so Yura had been really busy, coordinating with other nearby kingdoms to fight defensive battles together.

Lozanna was unhappy, though.

- Why�d the demon king have to spoil my adventurer fun! -

- It�s too dangerous with the demon king on our continent! -

- But it was fine just a month ago! -

Well, it was hard to explain the erratic behavior of the demon king. Or maybe it just seemed erratic from our point of view. We, after all, did not understand or appreciate its thought processes.

Still, more defensive battles, and despite racking up kills, I didn�t seem to be gaining levels. Which was really quite sad.

The demon king, of course, was headed for the site of the previous demon king and would probably attempt to summon something similar to the previous demon king, if the news of the Astaroth copy was to be believed.

So we were going to have a mini - rerun of the previous demon king on our hands. Something that perhaps I had to deal with. Since I could handle a demon walker, I supposed in some ways, this was a good test of my own strength. Would I stand up to a mini - demon king�?

There was time to prepare. And so I intensified all my anti - demon preparations by stockpiling my anti - demon bolts and weapons.

Yet there was quite a bit of apathy amongst the general populace. To them, all this news was just like regular citizens watching a news channel on the television, talking about some virus or war in some faraway place. There was no personal relationship, so most of these regular folks didn�t feel a thing and they didn�t react to it. If I wasn�t a tree who regularly had to move my beetles to face these forces, perhaps I�d be like that, too.

Not my problem.

Someone else would handle it.

How did I get proactive people? Was there a way to let these people imagine they had control over things?

It was clear by now that a part of it came from the influence of the classes and levels that people of a certain class had their mindsets influenced by the constraints and scope of those classes. So if I wanted proactive, I needed to give these people the right kinds of classes, which then shaped how they thought.

And so I got the feeling like. I needed to shape my minions more actively, on top of helping them with leveling. So I decided to grant some of my lesser - grade classes more freely and also even grant some of the Valthorns the Knight classes.

The intention was quite simple; that was, if I had a larger population, I could then make a general assessment of the mindsets of those possessing different classes and see whether there were any differences.

I could run them through standardized tests in Dream Tutor and evaluate their performance. If the class really influenced thoughts, then it should be something exhibited throughout the population, and not just individuals.

So, on top of expanding the Valthorns previously to some five hundred kids, I�d segregated the newer pool of three hundred kids into three groups. One with Knight class, about a hundred of them, one with Ranger class, about one hundred fifty of them, and another fifty kids with Druid classes. If there was some kind of uniformity of thought processes, I thought this was large enough to tell.

Then the issue that emerged was. we didn�t have enough knights to properly train the knights.

- Get me some, - I told Yura , and so he put up a banner and notification hiring Knight Trainers. Strangely, knights tended to be a human kind of role, so it made some of the New Freeka council people look and ask questions.

But they didn�t dare to touch us.

Some of the royals, though, saw this was an opportunity to curry favor with us, so a few royal families quickly offered their Knights.

Strange how even if I tried to avoid these royal politics, they always happened.

- So. which royal family do you want to pick? Quite a few volunteered their best knights. I even heard about some of them. -

As a Tree, I just wanted to grow. Why did everything have to do with people jostling for power? Sigh.

- How many can we afford? -

- Probably five. -

- Then pick one from the five nearest kingdoms. Use the proximity as a basis. Publish and let the kingdoms know about how we chose the five, too, just so that we don�t seem like we�re intentionally sidelining the others. -

- Sure. They will ask for favors from us for this. -

- Let it be clear to them that I will not owe them favors. -

- They will make me owe them favors. - Yura frowned.

- Maybe we should�ve made it anonymous. -

- That won�t work. Everyone knows we�re the only institution with Knights in New Freeka. The council has some knights, but not to the point where they need. knight trainers. They�ll be able to trace it from us. -

- Ah, well. - I sighed. I spent a day or two mulling over it and decided it was still better to get the knight trainers. It was good to get insights from other nations military, there should be good points we could learn.

The demons come for you. Their king was here. I attempted, out of goodwill, to warn Lilies. Perhaps I hoped to learn something from the interaction; I speculated that it, with its long age, must have encountered many demon kings in the past, and yet it survived, just like I did.

The bringer of otherworldly destruction.

Did it care, or did it not care? That was like a statement of fact.

Let it come.

Do you not fear it?

Like fire, it was fearsome, but the rain will come.

What if the rain didn�t?

Then it was so.

Uh.

What should I say?

The demons would rule the world then?

It would not be the first time, nor the last.

Oh.

Oh, shit.

Did Lilies just said that the demons actually won before? Wait, that didn�t make sense. These demons were clearly out to destroy the world. If they did, and the world we lived in managed to recover, that meant they didn�t totally destroy it.

So. what do they want?

What do they want?

We do not ask why the fire burns, but only know that the fire burns.

How did the world recover?

As it always has, with a little divine touch.

Uh, meddling gods? If they had powers beyond summoning gods, then why didn�t they use it?

Well, we had a short break, and what followed the break was a bit more fighting. A large demonic army actually headed for Lake Lilypod and the Giant Lilypod City, and fighting, of course, broke out. But the army mostly retreated back into the city itself, and then the lilies that connected the shore to the rest of the floating city just. submerged, forming a moat. There was a walker, too!

Where did the walker even come from? Did the demon king just make it?

Then massive lily bulbs appeared on the shoreline, and it fired. seeds?

The bulbs were like. turrets! Cool!

Interesting defensive system.

Pests.

Why do you bother defending them, if you say they are fire that burns?

Life is meant to be a struggle, but if it is time to die, so be it.

So be it indeed. It was like a quasi - religious view of the world, like, - Believe in God, but tie your camel. -

The walker fired a shot at the city now floating on the lake. The city was drifting away, further and further.

One of the lily pads flip up, together with all the buildings on it, and the shot destroyed the entire lilypad. I thought all the people on it died as well. But one lilypad for the safety of the other twenty - six thousand, I supposed, was a trade.

The walker fired again.

And again, Lilies sacrificed another lily pad to act as a shield.

And this dance continued for a good hour, Lilies sacrificing about thirty lilypads and probably a few thousand lives, but by then, the rest of the lilypad was now far away in the middle of the massive lake.

At this distance, some of the shots were starting to miss and just splash in the water. Yet the demon walker did not step into the waters. They weren�t afraid of water, were they?

The demon king crossed the seas, after all, and so did one of the walkers. So why wasn�t this demon walker entering the water? Was there something in the water? I decided to use a bit more of my spiritual vision, and well, the dark, murky waters were filled with. floating roots. A lot of them, so much so that they pretty much blocked out everything.

It was like using an X - ray to try to locate a small fishbone when there was a whole bunch of other larger bones. It was possible, but hard.

The demon walker, realizing that the Giant Lilypod was now pretty much a massive island floating in the middle of the lake, far enough that its attacks were missing, stopped.

And then it moved away.

May I offer some. assistance?

All yours, as the mortals say. They were clearly eavesdropping on the mortals, too. Otherwise it would not have known how to speak like them.

There was a walker after all. Experience! I like experience.

A distant proxy battle, by way of Giant Attendant Trees , and so, I spawned three of them on the shores. They emerged from the ground with a massive rumble and shake, the ground cracked, and then three giant trees emerged.

An interesting power, similar to our giant lilies.

And root strikes!

The walker, realizing that its foe was now the three trees, turned and started to shoot. At this distance, the Giant Attendant Trees only had thirty percent of my strength, but I believed that was good enough.

It attacked. My beetles emerged from the giant trees, fresh, newly spawned beetles. Only fifteen hundred beetles, but enough to distract and delay the regular demons, such that the walker�s attention was focused on the three giant trees. It attacked. I used my wood shields. But at this distance, so far away, the six wooden shields I created crumbled easily, and then the blast itself made a big hole in one of the giant trees. But the giant tree didn�t fall. I could still sense it, alive.

The walker was hammered by root strikes. At this distance, it wasn�t as effective as before. Darn. It scratched, and there were small wounds here and there.

I moved on to use my super anti - demon root strikes . Even at this distance, they worked a bit better, but not enough. The demon walker was still really quite tough. It fired another shot, and I activated fifteen wooden shields this time, and well, it went through almost all of them.

But it still blocked the shot.

Ngeh.

It shot again. And this time, I couldn�t stop it in time, and it broke one of the giant trees. I felt the pain. We felt the pain.

I unleashed all the attacks I had in my reservoir, using up all my root strikes. It thrusted into the bottom of the walker like a constant barrage, its demonic shell cracked, and then in its dying breath, it shot out another attack. That second strike destroyed another giant tree.

I felt that again. And, somehow, I felt really. mad.

It was like a part of me was cut off.

And I didn�t like that at all.

But, by now, I was out of root strikes, and it would take a day or two for it to recover. Still, I was pissed, and I wasn�t going to let the demon walker go. So my vines and roots appeared, entangling it.

It wasn�t dead yet.

But I wasn�t going to let it run away from me.

No.

It killed two of my giant trees. Two of. me.

I used my other skills. Everything else that I had. Fruit attacks , Poison field , Corrosive fruits , Tree saps , Constrict , and Natural Mana overwhelming .

And I pulled the demon walker down to the ground. It was weak. Our attacks made it weak. I spawned two more giant trees in place of where the two others fell, and they added strength to the roots that pulled the demon walker down.

It collapsed. Alive, but grounded, its mouth and other orifices tied up, tangled by roots. Like a parasite, we feasted on the demonic walker.

We drained, and we pushed our mana in.

It struggled. By now, the battlefield�s remaining demonoids were crushed in the onslaught of root strikes. There were a few demon knights. They hacked at the trees and the roots. They did a bit of damage, but the regeneration of the giant trees were faster.

So long as the demon walker fell, we could take a few hits.

It struggled on the ground, its wounds not recovering thanks to the interference of natural mana.

At times, it seemed like its strength recovered slightly or the effects of our constrict skill faded. But constrict was a skill that was meant to last long, and if I wanted, I could keep using it perpetually.

For days.

It attempted to struggle. The demon knights attempted to hack away the vines. Then my skills returned. And I cleared the battlefield of the lesser demons, whatever balance on the demon walker.

If this was next to me, it�d already be dead. But such were the perils of fighting at thirty percent strength.

I drew on the mana from wherever I could and channeled it there, the giant attendant tree acting like my regional power station. Mana weakened it. The demon walker attempted to resist, and I could sense it functioned on demonic mana or whatever that dried - up husk of a lake was. Perhaps I could call it desert mana to our natural water mana�? The mana inside fought against the mana we intentionally poured in.

Whatever. I wanted it dead. We wanted it dead.

We pummeled it again, and it turned weak. A day. Two days. It never really died. It still lived. Cursed distances, my roots not working as well.

A few more days, and my arsenal of skills refreshed itself.

And we repeated that. Each time, the demon walker edged weaker, its cracked skin starting to give way to our natural mana. The vines started to make roots into the skin of the walker. Every time it struggled, we unleashed our root strikes, and then finally, after two weeks, we broke through the head and cracked the demon walker�s inner structure.

It was almost there, dying.

Our vines reached into it. So did our mana. We ran out of root strikes again. So the vines, the branches, they extended like feelers, like a parasite finding the innards of the creature.

Like a hollowed log, infested by algae and mushrooms.

Natural mana overwhelming was capturing. assimilating a demon walker.

Assimilating.

Oh.

Assimilation successful.

Obtained Massive Woodwalker Shell

Massive Woodwalker Shell is inactive, as it requires a titan soul, or 5 artificial soul, a powerful mobile energy supply, a mobile root - mind complex and a mobile high density energy storage.

Low quality energy supply and storage will limit power and performance of the MWS.

Titan Frame Type: Wood - Walker unlocked. Future titan souls may select walker variants.

Creation of WoodWalker Titan Frames require construction of Titan�s Chambers, a special construction project.

You gained two level. You are now level 142.

Natural mana overwhelming upgraded

Only two levels?

What was left was now a verdant monstrosity, once a demonic giant that was now covered in vines, leaves, moss, and all other sorts of vegetation. As if an ancient machine was left to the effects of nature for a long period of time, and now the trees had reclaimed them, assimilated them, like those ancient temples where the roots were in every part of the structure.

But. there was no mind to it.

I had this. thing, but I couldn�t use it. Unless I got those mobile energy supply and energy storage. So it was time to turn to my trusty lab!

Commence research!

Additional Research added:

Super - Storage Potatoes ( - SSP - ) - stage 1 - 12 months

Massive leaf - power generation array - stage 1 - 16 months

I thought it�d probably look like an oversize Venusaur if there was a big bunch of trees on its back, with some potatoes.

Or would it look more like bulbasaur?

YEAR 84 MONTH 11

The heroes had been busy fighting smaller battles, and yet they had been unable to stop the demon king from going where it needed to go. Which was the site of the previous, most recent demon king�s death.

It was probably a problem for everyone. I also reckoned, logically, that if the demon king intended to somehow tap into whatever was left, this next one was going to be way stronger than the one they faced on the Eastern Continent. But probably not at the level of the demon king.

For the group of heroes that were here, it was probably a tense time. What if the demon king aimed for them? Could they fight it?

Already, four other walkers had been spotted throughout the continent, and the brief peace we had before once again shattered.

It was. just annoying.

I just wanted to grow.

Could I create a massive wall somewhere that all these demons couldn�t go?

Or maybe just go live on the moon or something where there were no demons to bother me.

Yeah, live on the moon. What would it be like to live on the moon?

Could I be the moon - tree? Or tree - moon? If I terraformed one of the moons into a land covered in trees, would it look green and yellow when I change their leaf colors from so far away? Which moon should I live on?

For a short while, I entertained the idea of living on another object where there were no demons and no. monsters.

Just. trees. And maybe animals to help the ecosystem get going. It�d be like those sci - fi movies where some guys travelled to some faraway planet home to ravenous trees.

A tree could dream, right?

- I want to fight monsters! - Lozanna protested. - I�m so sick of demons. -

- I lost count how many times you�ve said it. - One of the other Valthorns sighed. To them, it was one of Lozanna �s teenage frustrations.

She sulked in a corner. The other Valthorns practiced, in between the regular battles. Some Valthorns took the chance to just catch up on sleep and rest, since they�d been deployed periodically to fight the demons.

The knight trainers from the nearby kingdoms arrived, too, and they started to train the junior Valthorns in basic knight stances and moves. It was rather simple stuff, like. stand in a knightly manner, how to hold your sword, but I supposed one needed foundations.

- Come, let�s spar! - Nero was one of them who regularly sparred with the Valthorns, thanks to Yvon�s meddling. He wasn�t at Lozanna �s level, but he was at least competent enough to spar with the newbies and the later initiates.

He would regularly get beaten up, of course, but he seemed to take the pain better.

- What level are you, Lady Lozanna ? - someone sat next to her and asked. I thought it was one of the adventurers.

- Level sixty - five. -

There was an awkward silence. It was highly unusual for someone of that age to reach that level in combat. There had been cases of high levels, but usually in more menial roles, perhaps farmer, or herder or rancher.

Of course, that was due to all the training and leveling aura effects that I had. I had four dedicated training skills, one dedicated Treeiner, and a bunch of other practice things. Thinking about it, it didn�t feel that cheating. The heroes got close to level one hundred within two years. Lozanna started training when she was. six? And now she was already fourteen, turning fifteen. Nine years for sixty - five levels, versus two years for one hundred levels; I thought heroes were still at least seven times faster, ignoring the fact that the higher levels were harder!

Man, that made my hero fragments super overpowered.

I should think about weaponizing or sharing these shards someday. I wondered whether it was possible to lend the effects onto an item or as a blessing, such that they gained its effects?

The first 100 fragments cannot be given away.

- What? - I wondered to myself. Why such a restriction? What was the first one hundred fragments for?

No answer. It seemed like this wasn�t something the system was willing to tell yet.

Fine, could I set up a proxy, such that the effects of the fragments were shared, even if the actual fragment remained physically with me? A cloud aura server, with my trees acting as my transmitters.

No answer.

Did that mean it was impossible, or it was possible?

Yeah.

Why should a benefit be solely hoarded by me anyway?

- TreeTree, I�m sick of demons, - Lozanna protested.

- I know. -

She decided to eat some cake. I missed cake. I would like to have a nice coffee cake. I missed coffee cakes.

I asked some of the servants to mix coffee powder into some fertilizer and pour it around me instead. At least I could somewhat taste it, but it was just different. Really sucked not having taste buds.

Wait. There were those giant insect - eating bugs that resembled lips and mouths. Could I evolve those and make them have taste buds? Then I could still taste food!

- TreeTree, why did you ask the servants to pour coffee? - It was Laufen who strangely breached the topic.

- Coffee. is beneficial to trees. -

- I�ve never heard of such a thing. -

- Only ancient, ancient trees like me, - I lied. - Only those that have lived the A/ would desire the taste of things. -

- Ah. Then would you like tea as well? Or chocolate? -

- Yes. That would be great. Pour it into the small hole next to the tree of prayers. -

I first needed to evolve my roots to have taste receptors. Then I just needed to block out the taste of. dirt.

YEAR 84 MONTH 12

Do not fear the outworlders.

Fear them.

Huh? Lilies had randomly made a statement.

Am I. talking to the same person?

A mass, a hive, are many, made of many, and many minds make many different ways. A nation is one being, and one being is a nation. Only a nation can comprehend another.

What?

We are many. And we have many ways. We are aggressive. We are passive. We are quiet. We are loud. We are everything, and we are nothing.

Oh. In short. because Lilies was like a choir. there were bits of it that had. different personalities? And each of them did things differently?

Was there one in charge?

Yes and no

I. decided not to think about it. It was like I was talking to a bunch of schoolkids and each of them had a word to say.

Apparently, the heroes had a skirmish with the demon king. Somehow, they managed to escape the fight itself. But it was quite. uh. stupid of them. Three against the demon king? What were they thinking? At least none of them died.

Meanwhile, the other heroes in the other continents were still clearing their respective continents of the demons and, apparently, making some plans. Were they coming?

As winter set in, I sensed unusual energies coming from the heroes tower. I didn�t know what it was, and I tried to get the labs to scan, but the energy fluctuated slightly and then. went back to normal again. It felt like star mana, but without any detailed results, I wasn�t sure.

This winter, we�d managed to get a bit more evergreen plants to grow. Some traders managed to bring in winter - resistant plants from faraway lands, and that made me very happy. It was nice to have fellow winter - friendly trees.

Down far south, near Lake Lilypod, the Lake itself was a source of warmth, and it didn�t freeze over. The unmoving giant tree - walker was sprawled over the ground, now overgrown with trees.

It was warmer here. South was nearer to where the sun was, after all, and some simple astronomical rules still applied, even if there were more moons to complicate the water - level movements.

- The giant walker just. died, - a trader mentioned, walking past the giant thing. To them, it was dead. The difference between a dead giant walker and a giant walker infested with vines and trees, in practice, was really still a dead, unmoving thing.

- The king ordered that no one approach the walker, though. - The king referred to the elected ruler of the Giant Lilypod City, truly just the ruler of the humans. I suspected Lilies was in communication with him to some degree, but then, it was probably a secret it didn�t want to share.

A few carts filled with corpses moved past. And later, they dumped all the corpses into the lake.

- It�s really quite fast that the walker was covered in trees, though, - a trader said. They were just walking past my giant attendant trees . - And these massive trees, they just. appeared. -

- Must be the Lilypod magic. -

- Really, you think so? -

- All tree spirits have the bloom effect. It�s like. a fact, - one other trader said. - I�ve never heard of a tree spirit without having some kind of supergrowing ability. -

- Why would the Giant Lilypod do such a thing? -

- Maybe the giant walker�s like. super fertile or something? It does have a lot of magic in it. -

- Really? - I thought this trader just said really all the time.

- I�m guessing. I�m guessing! - The trader laughed.

A bunch of adventurers quickly pushed them on. - Good sirs, please, let�s get moving. -

- Ah, yes, yes. -

Escorts were still needed, after all. Demons weren�t over yet.

Huh. I would like to visit a floating city for a change. I wondered if it�d be more like Venice, or whether it�d be like those floating markets of Southeast Asia. Or was it more like living in some kind of floating oil rig?

The demons kept up their attacks, but without the walkers, the regular armies weren�t really much of a problem.

- That�s the thirtieth Demon Elite I killed, - Lozanna complained. - And no levels this time! -

Yura laughed. - Maybe. you should let them do the fighting. You just help when they really can�t do it. - There was a bunch of other Valthorns, the strongest of them in their level thirties, a pretty good level for their age. Almost genius, even.

- Uh. okay. - Lozanna realized she just said something that wasn�t going to go her way.

- Try to play a leader role then, instead of the vanguard. Maybe you can get some kind of leadership class. -

- Can�t I just ask TreeTree for it? -

- Stop asking TreeTree for everything, Lozanna . A good champion doesn�t depend on handouts. - I frankly disagreed with that. Handouts weren�t the problem. Not really.

- But heroes got their powers handed to them on a silver platter! -

Yura paused. - True, but still, if you depend on someone else�s power, it means you were not there yet! - With how cold winter was, everyone was practicing indoors. We had plenty of space.

Stratreegos found a magic spot.

A large, dark cave was located on one of the mountains. It was further west, even further from the volcano. There were monstrous bats, large crab - monsters.

I sighed.

Probably a black element location again. I honestly didn�t understand why my soul forge was blue. I was a tree; shouldn�t I be green? But magic did what magic did; it was what it was. Was black, red, and blue magic more common in this world?

Should I still take it, though, since I had one forest rod?

But with the heroes power growing so quickly, their summoned armies already sweeping through many parts of the continent, destroying demons in the process, the odds of me locating a demon rod for capture was slim.

Already, more rumors and news came from the land beyond. That the heroes were able to call on units that were like. superunits, able to take on a demon walker singlehandedly. That meant they could now attack the demonic forces on multiple fronts, expanding their force projection ability to counter the demon�s reach.

Had they passed level one hundred? It sounded like some of them did.

If so, the odds of a final battle with the demon king were high.

I wanted a superunit, too. It was quite unfair that I had to get a heroic soul to summon a titan, and they could do it with. level one hundred. The gods really loaded the die with them.

YEAR 85 MONTH 1

A new year began.

It was almost three years since the demon king had arrived, by my own clock, year 82 month two. This war had gone on for far too long.

Everywhere, it was weariness. A sense of exhaustion in the people. Rumors of frustrations among the many kings and queens. What was taking the heroes so long to just get to it? Even me, I was just tired of demons.

For the past three - no, four - years, I�d been battling demons throughout my domain.

But there was also rising hope.

It was going to end soon.

The question that happened, inevitably, was when and where it was going to end. And for most of the kings, how to avoid being. collateral damage in the cataclysmic battle that occurred.

The question of where was most certainly our current continent. The demon king was finally at the site of demon king, and predictably, consistent with the Astaroth incident, it summoned a demon. A demon shaped like a large airship.

It didn�t seem like the demon king was intent on going anywhere else. It wasn�t moving, and instead, it stopped and released a massive energy blast that incinerated the surroundings of the former site. What was once a crater turned into a larger one.

And we all felt it.

A strong energy that pushed back against my auras. A kind of energy so dry that I felt like it was attempting to strip my mana away from me. The tower vibrated, its divine energies triggered to create a shield, and even then it felt the tower pull, no, demand energy from the surroundings to reinforce itself.

So strange.

But it was a taunt.

Thanks to that unidirectional wave, we all knew where the demon king was. Like a blazing fire, all we had to do was follow the warmth.

It called out to them. The demon king and the image of the previous one.

I could almost feel the words that it meant, through that wave. Come, heroes.

Time to settle this fight.

That energy wave triggered magical defensive spells, like how lightning sometimes triggered alarms.

Even in New Freeka, some simple enchantments, like door reinforcement spells or enchanted weapons made unusual sounds and had strange shapes appear on them.

And the hex? The residual hex that was now pooled together cordoned away from the general masses? They reacted strongly to the wave. It wasn�t absorbing it, but it didn�t like it at all, and a strange, purple - ish glow appeared over them.

So it was time to bunker up or run away. Some of them chose to travel further away from it. It was a sensible choice. The demon king was taunting the heroes to go to it, but at the same time, it was a signal to everyone else to run away.

Which many did.

For those that didn�t, or couldn�t, we bunkered up. The sewers and underground tunnels project thankfully completed, the citizens started stocking up designated storage areas in the underground tunnels.

The tunnels went quite deep into the ground, after all; the demon kings clearly had incredible destructive power, and shallow, near - surface tunnels were still going to get destroyed easily.

I�d also restocked my constantly growing arsenal of anti - demon wooden bolts. If it ever came down to a fight, I wasn�t going to go down easily.

I hoped I didn�t get involved. But a part of me knew that was wishful thinking. It was on this continent, after all.

In the long eternity of time, one day, I would have to face the demon king. Whether by chance or intention.

HEROES FINAL BATTLE

- Eight, yes. three, no. So it�s time. - It was Astra who said it, announcing the decision of the vote to the group.

- Are you sure? Are we sure? - one of the heroes asked.

- We can�t hold this on forever. We�ve all voted yes. Let�s go with it. -

A quiet silence. Although the heroes power was incredible, they all felt it. The gnawing sense that the power was biting into their minds; the stronger it got, the more it compelled them to just go at the demons. It was almost like a bloodlust. They all looked like they hadn�t slept in months. Eyebags and all.

- Was it always like this? -

- I - I don�t think so. No records I checked had it. But then again. very few heroes took. three years to slay the demon king. Mostly because the battles were all confined on the same continent, so. it just tended to end rather quickly. -

All of them didn�t sleep well. At night, they all got nightmares. It wasn�t like this before, but it started a month, no, two months ago. At first it was mild, but lately it was more and more gruesome. Death. Destruction.

Were they going insane?

- But we�re just walking into the demon king�s trap. It wants us to go! We must hold on till the time is right. -

- When is the time right? We are all about level one hundred�plus now. Astra is even level one hundred twenty! We can�t wait forever. We�ve discussed this many times, and it�s time. It�s waiting for us, and I think we should take up the challenge. -

Some of them kept the thoughts to themselves. Harris, too, had nightmares. So much death. The slaughter of cities. The sacking of so many kingdoms to the demonic hordes.

But why?

Why?

- So. The plan is, using the existing tower network, I�ll do a mass recall , and that will teleport every one of us to one of the towers. Harris, Mirei, Becky, let us know which tower is the best. I�m guessing the demon king knows and can sense us, based on how their walkers and supercannons behaved, so honestly, the nearest tower will be the best. -

- The nearest tower is not functioning. It�s too near, and the demonic wave it emits has shredded the tower, - Mirei explained. - There is a tower near Nung�s capital. We�ll use that. -

- All right. Will you all be there? -

- We�re somewhere north, but we are headed down. -

- Before that. Harris. we heard you attempted to fight the demon king? You didn�t tell us about that in our previous call. -

- No. It�s more like. it. uh. erm. -

Mirei, Becky, and Harris looked at each other, wondering who should explain.

- So? - One of them was impatient. Truth be told, all of them were edgy, the lack of sleep and nightmares making everyone rough. Already, there was dissatisfaction with each other. Harris heard that even the previous heroes had conflicts; people, after all, never worked together perfectly.

- We kind of just. found it. It attacked us, and we fled as fast as we could. -

- How strong was it? -

- Strong enough. - Harris didn�t want to say too much.

- Didn�t try to fight it? - one of them asked. - Who knows, you could win? So far, all the demons we�ve faced were talked about as incredibly powerful, but now our summons can take them on! Maybe this demon king�s a chump, too. -

Two heroes looked at each other. Victor and Gustav, they were both there when Pooja died. It was an accident, in a way. They made a mistake, and Pooja was in the wrong position. They wanted to say something, but somehow both didn�t say it.

- No. We. we thought we should do it all together, - Harris said.

- Heh. As expected, - one of them sneered. It had been two years since they all arrived, and few friendships stayed the same in that time.

- So. we all teleport to the location? - one of the other heroes asked, stepping in.

- Yes, - Astra replied, sensing the moment. - Anything else? -

- No. -

Harris sighed to himself. They all just happened to be in the same bus, somehow. There was a camaraderie, at least, with Becky and Mirei, as the three of them traveled together and fought many battles together.

But none of that with the other nine. no, eight heroes. They were not close to Pooja, and honestly, when Pooja died, the three of them. didn�t really feel anything. No, actually, all they felt was a very strong desire for revenge, to get back at the demons.

- We need to think. Tea? - Mirei asked.

- Yeah. I need that tea now. - All three of them huddled together. Using some dried tea leaves, they made a brew. Ginger flavored, somehow. There was some ginger leaves mixed in.

They all had a sip of the New Freekan tea leaves and felt their anger, their. craving to fight subside a little.

- Okay. Let�s discuss what we heard. -

- All of them are going to port in, and we�re going to fight the demon king. Absolutely a trap, - Becky said, taking another sip. The smell of the ginger was in the air.

- Astra has a point. We can�t avoid this forever. Even if it�s a trap, they don�t seem to be in any state to resist the. effects of our powers. Even this tea�s effectiveness weakens with each level we gain. -

Harris sighed again. Somewhere, a squad of heavily armed shields was fighting demons. He could feel it.

- And Astra�s mind - link will help. -

- We�ve never tested it. We�re placing too much trust on a skill that supposedly will make us work seamlessly. -

- They seem to believe the skill will do what it says it does. -

- And no evidence so far refutes that. So I reckon it will help. -

Harris, Becky, and Mirei shared a glance. A lightning elemental was roasting a few chunks of meat. The lightning helped to char the skin a bit, giving it a bit of a crisp. A metallic suit of armor chopped some vegetables, and a small goblin - ish creature was peeling some meat of some shellfish.

There was a camp behind them. They�d been using their summons for all sort of chores, such as carrying camp - gear. All powered by star mana. Star mana was an amazing thing. It lasted long, and just a bit could sustain their summons for almost a week, longer for their smaller, menial summons.

- So, we�re still going with the plan, then, - Mirei said softly.

- It�s our best shot. Even with all these random factors remaining, and the rest of them clearly can�t wait any more. Any longer we�d probably fight each other. At least we can finish whatever we were brought to this world for. - Harris sighed. He was explaining it more for himself. He was hardly convinced it was the best idea, but in the end, he still voted for it.

It was like being forced to swallow a bitter pill to not die.

Becky refilled her cup of tea. - Well. Harris was right. It was our best shot. -

Harris finished his meal and then took out what resembled a forge. Two lightning elementals and a fire elemental helped him with his forging.

Truth was Harris scouted the demon king. Whatever Lady Mika left behind made him wonder whether there was a trap. The previous group of heroes fell for it, and here they were, walking right into it.

So Harris, without telling the other three groups, decided to scout the demon king out. He prepared beforehand, a special teleportation scroll, some backup abilities with both Becky and Mirei, a lightning - powered temporary recall, and a lightning speed boost. And high - powered summons as backup. Perhaps they could buy time.

The demon king took the shape of a massive spider with four circular rings on top, forming something resembling a verandah, and at intervals, the verandah functioned as a demonic summoning portal, it forcefully opened a massive rift, and each time, one more demon walker emerged. Next to it was a large floating castle filled with jagged spires that radiated a reddish glow.

He could feel its power grow and then ebb. Then he noticed that it was synchronized with the gate on the demon king.

It was acting as a power generator to summon more demons.

Instead of relying on leylines and magic spots, it decided to tap on whatever�s left on the previous demon kings.

Yet Harris watched a bit too long, and the demon walkers started firing.

He fled. As fast as he could. He wasn�t mad. There were at least two million demons in that massive valley. At least thirty walkers. It was going to be a massive battle at scale. And. flyers. There were creatures that resembled. wyverns.

It turned out. sure, they were gaining levels, but it was going to be a race. If these two million demons went out in all directions, how long would it take for them to stop it? Could they gain levels fast enough that they could beat back the horde of demons that ravaged the world?

And yet Harris didn�t feel guilty not sharing this information with the rest of them. And honestly, he didn�t know why his two friends didn�t, either.

Astra looked at the map. It was laid out on a large table, and it marked where the towers were located.

- Something didn�t make sense. -

- What? - Naya looked bored. - Why were you studying the maps they sent you? All we got to do is teleport there and do what we gotta do. We�ve got super - summons now, and the demons are still giving us the same kind of opponents. -

- Aren�t you underestimating the demon king? -

- And the gods were underestimating me, - Naya said. Astra could only roll his eyes.

Astra looked at the map again. He roughly measured the distance between where the demon king was and the nearest tower. Why such a large distance? What was the demon king planning? Harris met it, yet. why did he not say much? Did he have something to hide?

- I can�t wait, - Naya said. - After this is all over, I�ll get to live life as an emperor with a massive harem. -

Astra didn�t reply. There really was no need to.

- Go sleep. -

Astra didn�t. Naya slept. Feeling like he wasn�t going anywhere, he went for a walk and found Gerrard on a hill. It wasn�t hard spotting him.

Gerrard nodded at him. - Heya. Not sleeping yet? -

- I could ask you the same question. - Astra noticed a mug and a few barrels of beer by the side. They were all schoolkids when they got there, but it�d been two years, and well, everyone had different ways of coping with the. nightmares. In Gerrard�s case, it was. beer.

They were underaged, after all, but who was going to stop heroes with super - growth spells from buying beer?

He was through a barrel; sadly that was what he needed to get drunk, since as a hero, he had some poison resistance, and he had a summon that collected his beer from the nearby towns. Helped that some of his summons were gladiators that could speak a few words.

- Hmm. Were you here to make sure I fix my guys weapons? - There was a gladius at the side, made from a mix of regular metal and star mana, something they made in their free time. Gerrard had the benefit of having equippable summons. His elite star - mana gladiators could will items he made.

- We�ve passed that stage. - Astra grinned. There was a small magical staff at his side. It was weird, that all heroes gained a crafting option together with star mana, and that crafting option seemed exceptionally personal, in the sense that none could make something like someone else. It was through a mix of star mana and their personal will that these hero - artifacts were made.

Maybe there were crafter - heroes in past generations, and people, no. heroes who could recreate other heroic artifacts.

- So. why were you here? - Gerrard stood. They exchanged a look.

- You voted no. - The voting results were public. There was no use hiding who voted what. - Why? -

- Because I felt like it. -

Astra glared. Gerrard met the glare and after five seconds decided to look away. - You�re lying. -

- Maybe. -

- Won�t you tell me the truth? The demon king�s not far away. We should go in with our eyes wide open. -

Gerrard looked disgusted. - Must everything be the demon king? Every time I get drunk, the only thing on my mind is why everyone is just talking about the demons all the freaking time? -

- Because that�s why we are here. -

- Fucking twisted logic you got there. Why did we accept this task so wholeheartedly anyway? It�s not as if demons did anything to us. -

- But they did so much to the land. -

- How do you even know if they are real? If any of this is. real? -

- It feels like it, and that�s good enough. Real or not, the wrongs must be righted. -

- Again with that twisted logic. But you know, I had to vote no. Even if I knew all of you would have voted yes. -

- Then tell me why. -

- Because Naya�s overconfident in his skills, and you are overconfident in your skills. Almost everyone is overconfident in their own abilities. We�re going to go and fight the demon, and we�ll realize how inadequate we were all the while. -

- We�ve reached level one hundred. -

- So? Is there a rule somewhere that the demon king is a level one hundred threat? Why not level two hundred? How do we even know level one hundred is enough? Because it�s three digits instead of two? Because of a feeling you all feel and that nagging, screaming pain every time you sleep? -

Astra paused, and suddenly, yeah. Why did they feel it was. enough? Just because the demon walkers were now easy, did that mean they were ready for the next level, the king itself? What if the gap between the king and walkers was massive, as it should be? Yet that moment of discomfort and insecurity didn�t last; like a candle in the wind, it went poof.

- There are eleven of us. -

- And the demon king�s predecessors have clearly killed many of them. -

- And there were survivors. Many kingdoms have a hero in their lineage. No glory without some sacrifice. Don�t you want to be king? -

Gerrard looked disgusted. - That�s what we are, eh? We come here, defeat a demon king, and then go on and make a fuck - ton of babies and leave our magical weapons for them. -

- Well. - Astra wanted to say yes. But he knew better.

- Our alliance lasts up till we kill the demon king. We�re not friends after that. -

Astra shrugged. It was really optimistic to expect twelve kids in the same bus to somehow stick together for two to three years. - That�s all we need. -

A week later, they all teleported to the site. It was a secluded tower located on a mountain; there were subtle mana flows in the ground that helped amplify the tower�s energies.

Astra was first to arrive, and he activated the global recall . That brought the rest of them there.

- It�s much stronger here. its presence. - The heroes looked at each other. For those located on different continents, it was the first time they met face - to - face since that day on the bus or that moment with the gods. But they were referring to the taunt that the demon king emitted. Its constant. aura.

Harris, Becky, and Mirei looked at them. - Welcome to the central continent. -

- Yeah, yeah. We were going for the demon king immediately? - Naya shrugged.

Some of them nodded. A few looked uncertain. Astra, who was level one hundred twenty - five, took the lead. - Let�s go. There is really no point delaying this entire thing. Can you three lead the way? -

- Sure, but do you guys need to call on your summoned armies? Or they can appear at any second? -

Gustav and Lombard both nodded. - Ah, my powers need a bit time to appear, and I have artillery forces. I will need to position my bombardment units at a distance. -

Harris took out the map again. There was a red star showing where the demon king was, and a big red ring around it.

- What�s the red ring? -

- The demon king�s army. -

- Ah. Fodder for us. - Harris winced at the word but didn�t say a thing. He pointed to a chain of hills and slopes further out. - What�s the range of your artillery? Is this place far enough? -

- How far is that? I mean. uh. - Lombard looked at the map. He had an issue translating distances on maps into range. In practice, he used his own forces to sense where it was, and he had spotter units that helped his artillery units find targets.

Harris didn�t know how to explain distances, too, not in this world where kilometers and all didn�t really mean much. They didn�t have measurement tools. What was one day�s horse ride away, and was it even universal? Different horses travelled different speeds, what more for those with riding skills.

- Never mind, use the demon king�s aura as a gauge? - Astra intervened. - Let�s move. Feel free to break off to set up your forces. -

Gustav the golem - master and Lombard the cannoneer nodded. - Sure. -

It wasn�t hard to find a demon king that was actively transmitting its presence to the heroes. And stranger still, none of the kingdoms attempted to hexbomb the demon king. In fact, the hexbombs mostly stopped once the heroes got their groove going. After all, why sacrifice lives when the heroes summoned units could fight walkers for you?

The demon king warped the terrain with it right in the middle. Its large, massive legs embedded into the ground, drawing mana and energy from the planet. In a way, it resembled an extremely large oil rig that pulled that mana and then used it to produce walker after walker. The floating castle next to it also generated mana and fed it to the king.

When the heroes first saw what they were up against, it was a mixed reaction.

Those overconfident ones merely grinned. - Ah, no matter how many of these fodders they make, it�s not going to stop us. -

Some felt this validated their choice, that it was time to fight the demon king anyway. Delaying it was not going to solve the problem. And those who voted no, in their minds, this was the moment that made them feel like it was always inevitable. It was either they fight the demons or the demons destroy the world. It was a game, wasn�t it?

- It�s waiting for us. Let�s not keep it waiting. - Astra nodded, and he triggered the star mana forms. Around him, phantoms started appearing, and they charged into the horde of demons before them. Astra�s body itself was coated by a white sheen, as if he was a divine being here to bestow divine retribution.

Thousands, tens of thousands of phantoms appeared, a one - man army, and it ripped through the regular demonoids like paper. The walkers, some one hundred fifty of them, towered across the battlefield, and they started shooting their energy blasts. They were always in position, and the quiet skies were ripped by the thundering shots.

Each of the heroes summoned their forces. Tens of thousands of summoned creatures, almost a hundred thousand summoned creatures, magically appeared from portals, as if it was a scene from Endgame. One of them, of course, had to quip.

- We�re in the endgame now. And this is our final battle with Thanos. -

- I hope not. I don�t want one of us to die. -

- If only one of us die, that�s a win. -

Gustav summoned massive golems, fifteen of them, each as large as a walker, and with powers no inferior to it. Magical yet mechanical constructs, they resembled giant - size Ant - man fighting the massive leviathans when they wrestled the walkers. Lombard had self - propelling railguns in the distance, and they matched the walker�s energy blasts. Each hero brought their own type of special armies. Harris had walking shield generators that deflected energy blasts, protecting summoned units from the enemies.

For close to two hours, the entire crater was engulfed in battles, as demons and the summoned creatures clashed. Still, the demonoids were never able to hold back the heroes forces, even if they thinned them greatly. Even if giant, demonic wyverns ripped the summoned railguns to shreds, there were always more summoned units.

Yet the demon king remained unmoved in the middle. All it did was concentrate its power on its throne, its massive legs unmoving, its massive gate - like horns, eight of them, a rift right in the middle of that cavity.

As they got nearer, they changed targets, and they started to attack the demon king�s massive body. Those attacks met a massive energy barrier, the railgun bolts vibrating and rippling on the barrier like a rock that dropped into a lake.

Their summoned units gradually gained an upper hand. The overconfident heroes started to feel vindicated. The demon king�s army was nothing much after all, not against eleven heroes and their combined armies complete with all the stacking auras each of them had!

Yet the demon king didn�t move. Nor did the shadow of the former demon king.

The rift changed color.

The heroes attacked, again, at the barrier. The barrier held on, but it was cracking. Small holes started to emerge, and some summoned units got close to the demon king�s legs. They attacked.

The rift turned red.

Naya, the archmage with an army of summoned water and ice elementals, attacked, raining ice on the battlefield. He, too, was enveloped in a sheen of white - bluish light; his magical longstaff had a dark blue crystal.

The demon king�s army was down to half, and almost all the demon walkers, elites, and generals were down. The fodder surprisingly lasted longer because there was just so many of them.

But they were fodder.

Truly, only the demon king itself mattered.

The rift turned a darker red, almost maroon.

- Is it going to fire? - Harris looked. A massive ice blast finally cracked the barrier. The heroes units were cut down to less than a quarter now, but it was now between them and the king.

This was why they saved star mana.

The gigantic golems attacked the unmoving demon king; its massive body resembled a castle that didn�t move despite the attacks. That was not to say the golems attack were ineffective. They worked - there were small wounds and scars where the golems attacked. It was just that the demon king was a monstrous thing, a city in a creature. From a distance, its present form resembled a massive spider with super - thick legs, and another upside - down spider on the top, its legs representing the horns that created the rift.

The heroes attacked. Their summoned creatures damaged the demon king.

But it was too slow.

The rift turned purple.

Then, in a short flash, it shot out a thick purple beam that cut a massive gash in the ground, and all the way till the horizon, destroying everything in its path.

And one hero stood in its path, her body burning from its purple flames, and then she felt into the gash below. She died, and all her summoned units vanished with her.

All the heroes felt a surge of anger as they lobbed more attacks. There was no need.

The rift was gray again. This time, the floating castle moved to attack, firing smaller red beams from its many spires.

- Who was that? - Harris shouted. They were all spread out in the battlefield, their forces making everything messy.

Astra checked his status. He was like the chat administrator who could see who went offline. - . Simone. -

- What?! - Those from the same place felt some loss. For the rest of them, it was. just a name. The demon king was before them, and now this. thing was attacking them. It tore through the stronger summoned units easily.

- Focus on the demon king, there is still ten of us, and that rift takes forever to charge. We can win this. -

The rift turned orange.

- You fucking jinx of a mouth, - Naya cursed as he lobbed spell after spell at the demon king�s body. The demon king�s body had cracks, but it was like ants making microscopic cuts on a giant elephant. Sure, there were cuts, but it was going to take a while for it to take down the giant.

- Get rid of the floating castle! -

Spells flew, and golems, railguns, and lightning blasts zapped the floating castle. Slightly smaller than the demon king, and clearly less sturdy, each attack made it wobble in midair, and the red beams tended to lose their paths.

The rift was still orange, but it was getting darker.

More cracks appeared throughout the massive body of the demon king. Even the gargantuan golems looked like little children trying to fight with an adult. Some of the heroes concentrated fire on the floating castle.

A shadow of the former demon king, it was hardly as strong. No, it was perhaps only a quarter of its stats, and so, the hits got to it easily, and the floating castle crumbled then crashed into the ground below, exposing a round red crystal.

- Uh. -

The rift was red.

Harris instantly felt danger and quickly activated all the summoned shields he could gather. - Watch out for that thing! - he shouted.

The red crystal vibrated.

A golem lifted it up and flung it as far as it could.

The rift was dark red.

- The fuck, why is the color changing so quickly? -

- Ain�t a final boss without some asspull, y�know. This was probably one of it. -

A golem punched one of the legs, and the leg finally, after receiving so much damage from the army of summons around it, collapsed.

The rift was still dark red. And then, it released a shockwave of that dark red energy, scorching through most of the summoned units, destroying them instantly. It also destroyed many of the lesser demons, but by now, there were no demon walkers left.

The wave smacked right into the heroes protective items and shields, but one of the heroes was too near and couldn�t react to it time.

The wave burned him. And he flailed like a man on fire, the reddish fire got past whatever protection he had. Naya attempted an iceblast to negate the fire, but it didn�t work. It seemed like the fire found a life of its own, and somehow it wouldn�t subside.

- Healer! -

Despite the massive distance, healing was still entirely possible. The healing - dedicated hero still had a tremendous cast range and could instantly activate healing.

The fire didn�t go away, but the wounds recovered instantly.

Yet, the rift was still red, and then a second blast went out. The healer had to put up a shield. The burning hero was still too close, and the second blast turned him into ash.

- Fuck! - the healer cursed, and the earth rumbled. The demon king was finally moving! Even if one of its legs was broken, it still had seven other legs, and the two red energy waves incinerated most of the summoned units.

So the battlefield was quite clean. Just the surviving nine heroes, one demon king, and some of their summons.

- Anyone have summons left? - Astra asked through their live chat. At this distance, it wasn�t hard to maintain some kind of VC function. - Or should we focus on defense? -

- I still have star mana, but I think we should restrict summons to higher - tier ones. Those can take one shot! - Two gigantic golems remained, but the red flames enveloped them, and they slowly melted them. Some gladiators too were around; they had the benefit of having star - mana artifacts that allowed them to tank the wave.

The demon king moved rather slowly. It was pulling out its massive legs embedded deep into the ground. Each leg left a deep hole, and as it lifted its body up to walk, they saw something resembling a mouth for the first time.

Located at the bottom of its body, it looked like the central part of an octopus, only made with demonic - matter, and it glowed in various colors. And there were smaller mouths.

They were open.

- SHIELDS! - They all felt it, and all the mouths spat out a red fire, coating everything beneath the demon king in an inferno.

This time, the already damaged golems crumbled and turned back into. nothing.

- We need to skip our summons! -

- But then what�s the point of all our army skills? -

- It�s just to get to this point! -

- Then it�s fucked! -

Well, except for the ranged magical railguns that, thankfully, were out of range of the initial blasts. Two survived, and they could continue bombardment. Still, the damage they dealt were miniscule.

Well, the demon king did take damage from the earlier attacks, and throughout its massive body there were wounds and scars.

- Concentrated attack! Use star mana forms! - Harris yelled out. In his mind, he wondered why the notes talked about using star - mana forms to fight the demon king. - Let�s get on its body. There should be cores we can attack, rather than us trying to take on the entire structure! -

- Good point! - Naya waved his wand, and an icesheet levitated him up.

The demon king�s many mouths opened, and this time, they lobbed small energy blasts, in the millions. They rained down on the heroes below, attempting to delay the heroes from approaching its main body.

- Did this demon king take notes from bullet hell or something? - Layers on layers of ice shield appeared, blocking the little blasts.

- We made a mistake. We should have just gone for the main body right away! -

- What, and get caught by the red wave? We didn�t even know it could do that! - All the heroes had activated their defensive abilities. The overconfidence from the early stage had faded. They witnessed two of them die; maybe they�d be next. There was no time to be reckless and hold back some abilities in reserve.

Still, the rain of energy bullets did not deter the heroes at all, and very quickly, all of them were on the demon king�s main body. There were no lesser demons but parts of the demon king that attacked them. Throughout its body, spires transformed into tentacles or beam - towers, attacking the invading heroes.

The heroes spread out, looking for cores or hearts, things that powered the demon king. They hacked at everything that looked like it could hold something like that, their star - mana powered abilities, now at close range, easily cutting through any defenses the demon king had. Even while the massive monster moved.

They had to be wary. The rift was now orange again, and gradually, it turned reddish. And the massive size of the demon king meant they could be hacking and attacking nothing for hours. Their strongest area spells lacked the focused damage needed to cut through the demon king�s defenses.

One hero summoned her elites to help out, but the elites were useless. Unless they had equipment made or infused with star mana, the damage they dealt was close to nothing.

- We need to split up! -

The demon king suddenly stopped, and it. jabbed one of its large legs into the ground.

The heroes braced for the sudden shaking and collapse of the demon king�s body to the ground; they had magic to keep them steady and floating.

Then it did so again. A second leg pierced the ground.

- Why is it doing that? How far have we moved? -

The heroes suddenly realized they were no longer in the crater. The demon king had moved a good distance during the thirty to forty minutes they were attacking its body. Its massive size and magic meant they hardly felt the move.

- What�s going on? -

It was that very moment, through the entirety of the world. all the demonoids shook. and disintegrated into small, ash - like particles. Then the ashes started moving, as if swept by a wind, all toward the demon king. They moved intensely, and throughout the world, a strong, hurricane - like wind wrecked, damaged, and killed many, as this wind carried all these ashes to the demon king.

- It�s the transformation! All boss fights must have another form! This must be it! - The heroes didn�t realize the issue.

- Stop it! - Astra yelled. - We must find the source before this transformation completes! -

- HOW? - The heroes were attacking the demon king�s body as much as they could. Some of them concentrated their attacks on the center, believed that the demon king would have its core in the center.

Harris paused and took a sip from a flask. He closed his eyes momentarily, willing his body and soul to sense the demon king. The demon king could sense them, and they could sense the demon king. Lady Mika�s notes were clear on that. Maybe they had to find it using that sense. And indeed, he did. - There are four cores! - He pointed them out and quickly rushed to the one nearest to him.

The heroes managed to destroy three cores, and even so it took them two hours. Way longer than they liked, despite how strong their star - mana was. There were just too many tentacles, monsters, and spires in the way. Two hours never felt so long.

The ashes all arrived, and then the body itself also turned into ash.

- Quick! Find the core. Attack it when it�s in ash form! - They did find it. And they attacked it with all their might.

The ash was too thick. After all, it was a mass made from all the demons generated throughout the world.

The ash formed together into a large sphere; it floated in the sky as if there was a dark moon, its massive size turning day into night.

The heroes attacked relentlessly, hoping to interfere with its transformation.

The sphere split into ten smaller spheres, and nine of the spheres transformed into humanoid - shaped warriors. The heroes wondered why their attacks failed to stop the transformation.

The last sphere transformed into a grotesque massive demon rod. It was as large as a tower. And it then jammed deep into the ground.

- Uh? -

- Don�t stop! - Astra yelled. There were nine of them and nine demons. - That rod must be the core! -

What they saw then was the very earth itself transforming into an unnatural terrain. The demon rod was a scaled - up, demon-king version of the demon rod. They also saw something. strange.

Spirits. Of their two fallen comrades, bound by the demon king rod. It. siphoned energy from the two glowing white spirits, and it pulsed. With each pulse, the demon rod gained power and spread its influence further.

The heroes didn�t have to ask much. They understood it by seeing. They had to stop it. The demon king wanted their souls for energy.

And the nine demons stood in their way. Oddly sized just like them, they resembled. humans? All of them had two hands, two legs, one head all in human - like ways. And each of them held a different weapon. They were gray, unlike the usual reddish brown the demonoids had.

The heroes attacked. There was not much to talk, even if they looked human. And these nine demons matched the heroes for it. At first.

They felt the presence of the demon king spread further and further in the ground, and simultaneously, the environment around them started burning with a black fire. Demon fire. They�d seen this. They were briefed of it.

The nine demons kept up. Somehow the star mana wasn�t as effective on them as before. as if they were made of something. else. The heroes, exhausted from their earlier long battles, found themselves digging as deep as they could to stand up to them.

Some of the heroes did better, especially those proficient in close combat, like Gerrard, who was the first to stab his star mana sword through one of the demons, and the demon turned into ash. Eight left. And then one of the demons stabbed its rapier into Naya�s chest, and instantly, Naya started to turn into. ash. Eight of them left.

The eight gray ashdemons seemed to take their attacks as if they were just regular adventurers. A part of them wanted to ask, - How? - But the adrenaline and exhaustion meant they just kept fighting.

The heroes were leading. Those focused on close combat, Gerrard and Harris, started gaining an edge. They defeated five and lost Helen, Gustav, and Lombard.

Only five of them left. Harris, Gerrard, Astra, Mirei, and Becky. And three ashdemons left. The ashdemons power waned, and that was when they realized the demon king couldn�t keep maintaining them forever.

They killed the three ashdemons and turned their focus on the massive rod.

They had to break it. They all felt it, the scream and wailing of their comrades being drained, unable to move on. The earth itself tried to resist the demonic influence, but powered by the heroes star mana, the earth couldn�t hold it back.

The corruption had spread as far as their eyes could see, maybe even further. Maybe even some of the cities would have seen the demon flames because. the entire skyline was just. black fire. The battle against the ashdemons took too long. Three hours, maybe four. The sky was already dark, but because the demon fire was everywhere, they didn�t realize it.

They pulled their power together, exhausted as they were. They didn�t know how much star mana they used, and by now, it felt like they�d gone past their reserve and some. They didn�t even know how they managed to use that last attack and destroyed the demon king rod.

Demon King Sabnoc has been slain.

But the corruption. was not going away.

And the corruption had spread over almost half of the entire central continent, that half rendered nigh uninhabitable.

New Freeka was well within the range of the spread.

YEAR 85 MONTH 1

It was coming. We could feel it in our roots, our trunks, our bodies. Every bit of us, we felt it. As if the earth itself cried out for help, and none of us could do anything. There was a tide out there, in that distance, and it came so quickly.

So, so very quickly.

All at once, the soul realm was flooded with deaths.

Something had spread throughout the continent. I could almost feel it, the entirety of Nung burned up and destroyed. Barsoom, gone in a flash. It happened so quickly, as the earth itself rotted and turned into this. demonic thing.

Our extended subsidiary trees felt it first, its presence rushing in, and rather quickly, those distant subsidiary trees burned almost instantly in the dark demonic flames. The giant attendant trees, too, started to burn, but they were stronger, and they shared more of our powers, and so. they never truly burned. Instead, they resembled my past, when I was a small stump, engulfed in a black flame, but not dead.

It spread quickly, and it was amazing how quickly it did. But we had no time to think about that because we felt death everywhere, and we felt like pebbles on the beach, watching a tsunami come in.

All we could do was stand our ground and face it.

- Everyone, the best place now is to get as near me as possible. Into the woods. - We spoke to the elves and everyone, and they ran as fast as they could.

One - by - one, I lose my link to my faraway trees nearest to the demon king. It was as if I was playing Stellaris and some unknown extradimensional disaster started swallowing up all my stars. And it happened so quickly.

We had maybe. half an hour at the rate the corruption was expanding. That was our guess. Maybe it would slow down because of the area covered increased squared the further the corruption went, and so the same energy wouldn�t be able to corrupt as many places?

And it was coming through the ground.

- Don�t go underground. -

- What? -

- No. The best place now is above ground, and watch for things coming from beneath. -

- What�s even happening? - one of them asked, but Yura had trained enough that he didn�t question me all that much.

Batch by batch, my trees disappeared in a flash, but indeed. it was slightly slowing. But not by much. The fires and the corruption burned so quickly that I hardly got a view of what was going on. I placed a large wall of subsidiary trees and giant attendant trees as it approached. I wanted to see how they performed. It was literally like the earth itself was. rotting and burning simultaneously, and the wall held just a short second before it too overwhelmed my trees and burned them.

- Shit. - There was a whole load of madness and chaos, as some people did as they were told, but some didn�t.

They ran for the woods. I hoped that having a huge number of trees mutually reinforcing the aura would somehow slow it down or stop it altogether.

I tried again. It was getting much, much closer. The demon�s presence was like a wave; it pushed closer and closer. It was still not in the valley yet, but maybe. ten minutes to impact.

- Tell everyone to prepare for fire and the earth cracking. -

Those who managed to run into the woods did so, and we mentally braced for impact.

The trees lasted longer. They didn�t burn as quickly.

Five minutes.

The trees right outside the valley burned. We could see it coming. A black tide and a sky filled with black flames. It was coming into contact to my own roots now. And it. didn�t burn much. I pushed my mana into the ground, into my roots to strengthen them, and tried to hold it.

Like a rock in a river, this foul energy attempted to sweep me off, attacking my mana - strengthened roots. At first, I managed to hold on.

New Freeka was still fine, for now.

But the waves kept coming. Twenty minutes, the dark energies from somewhere kept up their pressure on my roots, and they even spiked and ebbed in waves. We were now like an island in a sea of corruption, and this tide threatened to sink us as well.

The wave was relentless, and gradually, my mana started to wane.

A crack appeared, and with it, a huge crack appeared in New Freeka, and fire shot out of the ground. Some of the houses caught on fire, and some of the citizens died there and then. It was screaming. For many of them, it was a sudden change because a while ago it was still clear skies and a sunny day.

I tried to pull as much mana as I could, hoping to resist it, but the corruption was strong and constant. Even so far away, another crack appeared, and this time it torched our underground sewers. I thought it got a few more people who didn�t listen to instruction, but I didn�t have time to focus.

- TreeTree! - Yura shouted.

- We�re trying to hold it back. - This was our immediate vicinity, and the demon king�s corruption was still so strong? How?

No time to theorize, though. We focused our efforts on stopping the corrupting energy. It felt a bit like a wooden dam that was cracking.

And more cracks, and another part of New Freeka burned.

Then the corrupting energy surged. It hit the wall like a massive wrecking ball, and in an instant, one third of New Freeka was in flames. There was screaming and shouting everywhere.

- TreeTree, what�s going on! -

- Demon king. - That was all I could answer as I tried to push back at the energy. Why did it surge so quickly? I didn�t even have time to see what happened to all the elves.

The corrupting energy surged again, and more, no, it burned more of New Freeka. People were running, and the edges of my forest were in flames. Demonic flames.

- This isn�t working, TreeTree! -

I felt the demonic corrupting energy surge in again. Did I try to hold back and let it smack into the forest? What worked? Me? Should I do it again, like with Alexis?

But. this energy was the demon king�s very own energy. It was unmistakable. Could I do it?

- Treetree! -

- A/ ! -

I heard faint chatter, and we felt the pain coming through the network. So many trees were burning.

So many, many trees. What if? We felt the call for aid from all the trees. Screaming, wailing, if trees could scream we would be deaf.

No.

While we kept up the wall of mana to hold the corruption at bay, we intentionally let some of it in, and using mana, we guided it to. me.

The demonic energies attacked my main body, but unlike the other trees, I could take it. And I kept holding on for an hour. two.

Three.

Four.

And after a while, all I saw was just. darkness. I felt demonic energy and mana, and it burned. My roots, my trunk, I felt. pain.

Pain.

The valley. was sinking. The corruption, taking the form of the demon king�s mana, was unable to break through our walls, except at the funnels where the corruption was instead drawn to me. So it went under, around, and over, and the entirety of the valley started to sink.

I didn�t know how long that was because the pain from the demon king�s corrupting mana messed with my already distorted sense of time.

I wasn�t even sure I was awake the entire time, in between feeling like I was like a chicken roasted over an open fire.

Pain.

The valley was submerged now. A shell made of distorted, demonic - mana tainted rock now surrounded the valley like an egg with a broken shell right on top that barely let some sun in. Or a snowglobe, only. our walls were made of demonic rock.

I didn�t know what happened to the elves or New Freeka. But I reckoned nothing much was left. I felt my soul realm get flooded with souls, and at the same time, a whole bunch of other notifications came in.

Connection to Verdant Volcano lost.

Connection to ThreeTree of Mana lost.

Connection to Dimitree lost

Pain. I lost the trees that linked me to the volcano and the magical leyline.

It was just so painful.

Pain. I felt the mana overwhelm me at times, and my entire main tree was burning. Yet I knew that the other trees in the valley were still somewhat safe. I could hear them.

Black flames danced across my body, my leaves now a mix of green and black.

- TreeTree! -

Who was that?

- TreeTree! -

I had no ability to respond, but it should be one of the elves.

Pain.

It was just. madness.

The pressure from the demon�s mana increased, and I felt the walls and roots buckle a little. I tried to push it back and relieve the pressure by drawing it more to me. I could barely see, but we were submerged.

It was as if the entire terrain around us had somehow partly turned into sludge. Or was it because we were resisting and that was why it turned out that way?

The pressure kept on, and I felt I was burning.

But I thought the valley was safe. I knew it was.

Curse: Demonic Mana Contamination

You have absorbed too much demonic mana, and you are now cursed. Your ability to remain conscious is now significantly impaired, and you will feel pain constantly.

The fuck was that?

The mana pressure surged.

And then stopped.

Demon King Sabnoc has been slain.

You received 6 fragments. You have a total of 74 fragments.

I felt like I needed less mana to push back against the corruption, but it still overwhelmed me. My entire body was still on fire. It was like I was the unlimited charcoal of the flame. My entire body was probably charred black now.

The fire of the demon king clearly wasn�t just fire, else I�d be immune to it.

The pain came and went. And came again.

The demon king was dead. But I was still in. pain. And after a while, I felt myself lose consciousness.

ONE YEAR LATER, YEAR 86

When I woke up, I noticed the time on my record had changed by a year. I was asleep for a year, and I was still burning. The demon king�s corruption was still around us, and the pain was still there.

In fact, I was jolted awake by the pain.

What was happening? Was everyone okay? Were my fellow trees alive? I couldn�t sense a thing; the demonic flames and their corruption had numbed all my senses.

Even if I attempted to see, all I felt was. fire.

It was like I started all over again, so many years ago.

When I had no. senses. It was just. numb.

I checked my notifications. There was clearly a lot that I�d missed when I was. asleep.

Eriz, Brislah , Walen , Emile, Belle, and 170 other familiar - users have died. You gained 3 levels. You are now level 145.

As Eriz was under soul contract, you received an assignable soul. Soul Forge is down.

Skill learned from Emile�s death - Basic Tea Making

Skill learned from Walen �s death - Basic Administration and Recordkeeping

Skill learned from a fallen Valthorn Initiate - Pain Endurance

The skill Hibernate has been significantly upgraded to Regenerating Sleep.

The skill Haunted Forests significantly upgraded to a unique Skill: Forest of Ghostfire

The skill Natural Mana Overwhelming upgraded.

- Oh. - I felt a twang of sadness for their deaths. But then again, that meant Yura , Laufen, and Lozanna were still alive.

What was happening out there? I couldn�t see a thing, even if I could feel like I was still holding back a barrier of demonic mana, and I was still drawing the demonic energies from outside.

I could still access my soul realm, at least.

- Eriz? - In the dark, large extradimensional space filled with many little floating lights, this was the place where the dead went to move on.

A small light floated and approached. - Oh? -

- What happened? -

- The valley sank and this black wall appeared and trapped the entire valley. Almost everyone died. I was killed by a stray fire from one of the cracks in the floor. -

- Do you know what else? -

- No. I died quite quickly. -

Ngeh.

I went back to my notifications. There were still a lot to go through. A year just zoomed by.

There were a whole bunch of skill seeds and class seeds I received from all the people that died throughout the world. There was so many skill seeds I could probably give ten thousand people and still have leftovers.

From my soul realm alone there were. perhaps. eight hundred thousand little lights. And there were probably more that already moved on to their next life.

So many died?

- Trevor? Ivy? Stratreegos? Treeiner? Horns? -

Silence.

Unable to establish connection to Trevor or Ivy or Stratreegos or Horns. Treeiner has been destroyed. Stratreegos has been destroyed.

Treeiner�s remains are pending collection. Do you wish to collect it?

Stratreegos�s remains are pending collection. Do you wish to collect it?

Yes.

Your skill: Learning Aura significantly upgraded to Genius Aura

Your skill: Dream Tutor significantly upgraded to Dream Academy

Your skill: Power - leveling upgraded.

You gained a skill: Instant Battlefield Root Tunnels

That sounded like Trevor, Ivy, and Horns were still alive. That was good.

And then I felt the pain again.

The surging, surging pain.

Why was it still so strong even when the demon king had fallen? Did his corruption take a mind of its own?

I couldn�t resist the pain, and it made me lose consciousness. again.

AFTERMATH, Lozanna

It was a sudden day. TreeTree started screaming in their heads that something was happening, and they had to be prepared.

- What�s going on? - one of the Valthorns asked Lozanna . - Why do we all hear A/ �s voice? -

- Something bad is coming! Let�s go, let�s go, - Lozanna snapped. They�d never had A/ suddenly warn them in this manner. Not. ever. - To the woods! -

Everyone fled, but it was a mess. The planned underground bunkers were not good places, but not everyone got the message, so some of them still ran for the bunkers. Some wondered whether it was a false alarm, like that time when the demon supercannon attacked.

Some just shrugged it off. - Nothing to worry about. A/ will take care of it. -

For the first time, sadly, A/ �s powers were not enough.

The sky darkened almost instantly as the shockwave of the demon king�s corrupting mana flooded the distant skies. The first wave came, and they felt the entirety of the valley shake like never before. Roots started popping out of the floor, and so did cracks.

It was as if the roots were fighting the earth itself, trying to hold the ground together despite the earth trying to break apart.

Then came the flames. The cracks started to spit out weird, blackish things that spawned strange, demon-like creatures.

- Demons! - It was a battle now, but the ground was shaking uncontrollably.

- Where�d they come from? -

Roots started emerging to impale the demons and often swallowed them altogether.

No one was free to answer.

Lozanna activated her special familiar and used the vine whips to quickly move, avoiding the cracking earth below. Luckily, her mom was usually found in the secret hideout , so she figured her mom was safe.

The ground shook, and they saw the skies turn red and then black. Black flames filled the distant skies, and the trees in the horizon burned.

It wasn�t hard to figure out that the demon king did something. But they could only hope to survive it.

Another crack, this time right across New Freeka, and a jet of black flames shot out, burning through multiple houses and people. The fires emitted were unnatural, a mix of black and red. People burned, and Lozanna had never seen so much death in her life.

But she didn�t panic. Somehow, somewhere, something drove her to run, using her vines to pull as many as she could out to safety.

Buildings started collapsing; the outer walls fell. Houses burned.

Another crack.

A streak of fire emerged.

They ran for the woods.

Another massive crack appeared in the ground, and black fires emerged from the gap. Roots appeared to try and pull the cracks back together, but the roots too got burned. Still, more roots appeared to take their place.

All she could hear were shouts, screams, and cries for help. She tried. Beetles appeared, and they moved on their own, carrying as many as they could toward the deep forests.

- Lady Lozanna , I�m glad you�re safe. - Madeus appeared; he levitated in the air using some kind of magic. He created shields, and they worked somewhat to redirect the flames.

- What�s A/ doing? -

- I�m sure it�s fighting this demonic energy. - Throughout the valley, there were many cracks and also many roots appearing. - We don�t have much time. The area closest to A/ is the safest. We must go quickly. - He levitated and also attempted to carry a few others with him, dodging jets of fire that emerged.

- Did you see Uncle Yura ? -

- I�m afraid not, but I think he should be fine, - Madeus said. - I must go. -

Lozanna nodded and sidestepped a fire jet. She created a wood shield to block a black fire. The shield disintegrated almost instantly, but it did block it.

People were running, but the cracks were getting bigger, especially in New Freeka�s outer districts. Even the Valtorn Order�s headquarters were not spared, as everything just went up in flames. The hotel was partially burning, too.

Few things lasted long against the flames, but Lozanna noticed quite a number of trees that seemed to resist the fire a lot better.

Kraark. Another rift appeared from another direction, and then they noticed it. The valley was starting to sink, and New Freeka was torn apart.

So many fled. A part of the dirt started to move, turning into a kind of sludge that swept through New Freeka. It was as if the land around the valley turned into a mudslide, and the roots appeared, attempting to hold the mudslide back. So the mud moved upward, and the roots followed.

- What. - Lozanna ran. Whatever this was, this wasn�t something for them.

It was then she saw it.

Six massive streaks of dark energy appeared, as if pulled by something toward. A/ . The streaks torched all the trees in their path but left those out of their way untouched.

It broke the illusion that hid A/ from everyone�s view, and they saw it, a massive, towering tree that almost pierced the sky go up in flames. Black fire danced and raged, hopping from branch to branch. A/ �s Camouflage had broken.

Those six streaks turned into rivers of dark energy; they seemed to flow toward A/ �s now revealed position, and A/ �s body burned, but it did not crumble.

The cracking. stopped. A/ had drawn in the energy to itself, and instead, a massive black pyre emerged like a tornado, and it surrounded A/ �s main body, cutting it off from everyone.

- Uh. - Lozanna stopped, not sure whether to go toward A/ or not. The black flame was clearly some kind of demonic energy, and it didn�t look safe.

They were now. trapped. The sludge had somehow formed into a cocoon that wrapped the entire valley, held back by massive walls of roots. There was a very small hole at the top that let in some light, but it was right above the pyre because the wall of roots was clearly centered around A/ .

New Freeka. was gone. Those who managed to flee and somehow got to an area where there was no. dark mana temporarily survived. But things looked bleak. What about food?

Lozanna looked around. She still had her familiar, which meant she could still create fruits and use some plant - growth abilities. Maybe it wouldn�t be that bad.

- TreeTree. - She tried to mentally call out.

Nothing. She looked around. This. wasn�t going to end soon. The sludge was still struggling against the roots, but at least the roots looked like they would hold.

The tremors stopped, and there were no new big rifts, just smaller cracks here and there. The survivors gathered into groups, only about five thousand left from what was a city of almost one hundred thousand. Most of the Valtorn Order and Valthorns died today.

So few, and because of how the circumstances favored those with levels, it was indeed the higher leveled that survived, mostly. Yura , Madeus, Yvon, and herself all made it. Mom, too, who happened to be somewhere near Uncle Yura .

- What now? - The survivors gathered, some of them naturally approaching Lozanna as a contact point.

- I can�t reach A/ . - Lozanna looked at the five thousand survivors. It was too sudden, too abrupt. A mud - tsunami and a firestorm later, here they were. What was left. The survivors could walk a bit now; the tremors had mostly stopped.

- Message was down, - a surviving mage complained. - The tower�s been destroyed. - The mud - sludge and firestorm took down the heroes communication tower.

The sky was dark. Everything was dark. Their source of light now was that little hole right on top or the dancing black flames that enveloped A/ �s body. - How do we get out? -

- Should we even get out? -

- A/ �s holding this place together. I doubt outside. will be any better. -

Lozanna ran and saw a few others. - MOM! - Lozanna and Laufen hugged.

- Glad you�re safe. -

- Yeah. -

Yura was next to her. He looked like he was covered in dust and ash. - Well. A/ �s not responding, we�re trapped here, and we have some food from our familiars. Not that bad. -

- Not that bad. Let�s get organized and see whether we can salvage any of the houses! A/ �s hideouts are all inaccessible. -

TREE OF A/ Three

2023 SPAIzzER

ANOTHER YEAR LATER, YEAR 87

When I woke up, another year had passed.

I had no idea what was happening, other than my mana was still pushing back against the corruption, but. it was easier for me to maintain it. Easier, and yet the pain was here. Constant, even, and I struggled. I could feel the demonic power was having a dip, a temporary one; that was why I could be conscious.

Why did I sleep from the pain? Did this pain restrict me so? Or was it the curse?

I could feel the demon�s fire swirl and turn around me, and I could now vaguely, just very vaguely, sense that there was. something outside, no. around me. Something beyond the flame.

Was this the valley? It should be.

Why were my senses so confused?

There was solid rock around us, held back by my roots. Funny, it was like molten lava that had now solidified, and the demonic mana was slightly less intense. Still very strong, but slowly it was subsiding. This demonic mana would take some time to decay. Maybe. ten years? Maybe twenty? Clearly, it was dissipating, very slowly.

Unable to do much, and all my energy was still concentrated on maintaining my barrier and dispersing the absorbed demonic energy, I fell back to sleep.

I was in a dark place; it was massive. It resembled my soul realm, and that was when I saw a young boy. He sat on a chair, and he looked like he was. part demon?

Was I in the soul realm? I didn�t have this ability back when I went into long periods of sleep, so. was this new?

- Where am I? - he asked, noticing that I appeared. - Who are you? Why do you look like a. tree? What are you? Have I gone crazy that I�m talking to a tree? -

Another girl appeared. She, too, looked like she was corrupted; her lower half was part demon.

The two kids looked at themselves, and then they looked at each other. - What have you done? -

- Me? - the other asked. - Couldn�t be! -

- Then who? -

- Uh. -

Both of them turned to face me. - Oh my god, a talking tree monster. We�re doomed! - They tried to fight and move but couldn�t.

- I don�t even know who you are. -

The two kids looked at each other; they kept flailing, but then they stopped. - Eh. we are the heroes. -

- Well, looks like both of you died. What are your names? -

- Simone, - the girl said.

- Victor, - the boy said.

It was then both of them suddenly shouted as if they�d gone crazy, and then an eerie voice emerged. It was a ragged, twisted voice.

- WHO? - it asked. It came from both of them, as if they were mind - controlled. I didn�t reply. If I could have guessed, I�d have said it was the demon king, or maybe some kind of demon. - ARE. YOU? -

I thought for a moment, wondering whether I should reply. - Are you the demon king Sabnoc? - I asked. It died, right, but let�s ask. Maybe demon kings had souls, too.

- YES, - it said, but then a while later, - NO. SABNOC. DEAD. -

Then both of them suddenly shouted again for a period of time, and then, all at once, they both stopped. They were both back to their human selves. - Ouch. -

- It looks like both of you are sharing a body with some kind of demon. -

- We know. -

Simone looked at Victor, and they stared at each other. - It�s reading our minds. It�s going through our. memories. -

- Well, now we know why the demons are getting smarter each round. - I mean, if it was reading their minds, it was reading it for a reason, right?

Simone and Victor�s faces paled.

- Well, if it could read your minds, surely you could do the reverse? - I wondered. How did these two even get here? Was it because their souls were still embedded in the demonic corruption somewhere? The heroes didn�t do a complete job and left this part hanging?

Was that why the demonic corruption was still strong and was able to keep up its pressure?

- Uh. -

Victor nodded. - We must try, then. What are we. and what are you? -

- I am a tree, and I believe the two of you are some kind of trapped, corrupted souls. Your appearance as part - demon is probably the demon king�s attempt to corrupt you. I say, it�s probably successful. -

- And. where are we? -

- If my understanding is correct, you two died, and somehow, your soul drifted here. Either that or you two are somehow trapped in the demonic flesh and because I�m linked to the demonic mana, you are able to see me and vice versa. -

The two started wailing and crying and screaming. They seemed to be unable to accept that they�d died. But that was strange; they seemed perfectly able to accept it earlier.

- Noo! -

- Uh. do you vaguely recall anything? - I asked. They were still screaming. - Like. how? -

Victor was sobbing, and it was Simone who somehow calmed down a bit and responded. - We. I. We were fighting the demon king, and there was this bright flash of light and. that�s all I remember before I was stuck in this dark, disgusting place where I don�t feel things and where I want to sleep but I can�t freaking sleep. -

- But. I don�t get it. Why are we able to be here if we are dead? -

- Weren�t you two listening? You are both dead. This is probably some kind of. shared spiritual realm. - I wasn�t going to be blunt and say it was my soul realm, because it wasn�t, but then again, even if I knew the answer, I wasn�t going to tell them anything. They shared a mind with the demon.

- Only the two of us? Everyone else survived? -

I paused. - Hmm. I don�t know? - Well, they were partly possessed by the demon king. How secure was any information that was shared with them, anyway?

- Can you help us? - Simone asked. - I would very much like to get out of this. place. -

Hmm. I didn�t think so. I didn�t have any access to the outside world; the demonic fire pretty much meant I was trapped in a prison of flame. Even if that didn�t make much sense.

But. I thought I had access to my own soul realm. I got a sense that this space was a pocket dimension of its own, and I could sense the other pockets of space.

The soul realm.

Funny I hadn�t spent much time exploring this space, but now I had all the time to do so. I vaguely recalled my soul forge was down, and for what it was worth, my consciousness was stuck inside myself, an asleep state. In a way, this was kind of like a reverse of my dream - related abilities, where I was the one in a dream state. Was I dreaming, or because I was unconscious, did my psyche retreat to this place? I couldn�t tell the difference, honestly. Anyway, what was I even thinking?

There were little blobs of light, floating on many little places. A wisp waited.

- Matt. -

- Hi. - I, too, took the shape of a little blob of light. - Wisp? -

- Yes. -

- So. what�s happening here? -

- You�re unconscious, and you�re stuck in this mind - dream - soul realm limbo. Time moves differently here, as you surely already know. -

- I see. -

- So, until your body somehow snaps itself out of the pain and suffering it�s going through. -

- I�m stuck here. - Well, I kinda knew that. How could the soul interact outside the body anyway? Unless my soul forge was somehow operating, but it wasn�t. I recalled one of the notifications said it was offline.

Dead, floating souls, little blobs of light. They floated past me, and they just wandered. These were those who died recently, waiting for the time to reincarnate.

- It�s going to take a while, - the wisp said. - Too many people died so quickly that it�s backlogged. -

- It�s backlogged? For real? - I thought that was a joke.

- Of course. And you�re probably the only somewhat - surviving soul tree in this half of the continent. -

- Tell me something. How do you know? - At this point, how did the wisp even know what�s happening outside of me? Didn�t the wisp stay inside me?

- The soul harvesters and dream harvesters can travel vast distances and pass through most objects and barriers. Occasionally, they also bring back fragments of memories, and you, too, can view those memories. And, well, if souls from far away are coming here, that can only mean there�s no other soul tree left. -

And the wisp shook, and smaller blobs of light appeared. They resembled tiny televisions, and they showed what the dead saw in their last days.

Strange demons. Monsters. Fires from all places. Burning. Destruction. It was common for all of it.

It was like watching little birds and ducks get lathered in a layer of oil and then burned to death. It�s like a magical version of the Deepwater Horizon and Exxon Valdez oil spills only, well, if you didn�t die in the first wave, the monsters that spawned from the sludge would eventually get to you.

But I honestly didn�t feel much for their deaths.

Instead, I felt a twang of sorrow when I saw vast. empty spaces. And burning trees. Ahh, what sorrow, that trees burned so easily. If I could, I should find ways to introduce fire - resistant trees to the entire world.

Why should trees be relegated to background features anyway? Why were we just features of the environment, things used to describe places?

We were trees, the precursors of civilization. Without plants, without trees, there would be no food, no agriculture, and without agriculture, there would be no large civilization! It was because humanity discovered farming that there was civilization; why were trees treated with such disrespect?

Ah! I was getting carried away.

Okay, let�s do some thinking. I could still think in this soul realm, so that wasn�t a bad thing.

I was trapped in my own body, because there was a massive infernal pyre outside that burned and scorched everything. It was only thanks to my levels and my high amounts of hero fragments that I could endure it.

That meant if I had higher levels, or more hero fragments, I would eventually escape this demonic prison, or at least pierce a hole through it.

And this demonic flame should decay over time, like it did with my first experience.

What else could I do?

Were there any skills I could use on myself in this subconscious state? My body was obviously on autopilot , and like before, actively managing the demonic mana such that I could survive it. Could I do it myself?

Could I force myself to wake instead of being stuck in this soul realm?

YEAR 88

The answer was mixed. I could somewhat remain awake, like a dreaming man forcing himself awake, but the pain was so overwhelming that I ended up losing consciousness just as quickly. It was only during ebbs of the demonic energy that I could maintain some semblance of consciousness.

If I forced myself to be awake when the demonic energy was at its peak, I felt like I was being operated on while lucid. It was insanely painful. So much so that autopilot quickly kicked in and knocked me back into the soul realm.

But I kept trying. I didn�t believe that I needed to rely on autopilot to manage the pain.

So I drifted back and forth, either experiencing intense pain or in my soul realm.

If this system worked the way I thought it did, only through constantly enduring and managing this pain would I gain a skill.

And when I gained a skill, I�d be able to break through this demonic fire.

- You guys are still here. - It�d been a year since I last went back to this space. I had thought the demons would�ve eaten the entirety of their souls already.

Simone and Victor didn�t look pleased. - Well, what brings you back? - Their bodies looked about the same, but I noticed a small part of their hands exhibiting more demonic features.

Honestly, I was just checking whether anything changed.

- What do you think? How much time has passed? - they asked.

- A year? -

- Oh. Sure doesn�t feel like it. It feels way longer with how much pain we�re in. - They didn�t look too good. The demonic corruption for other parts of their bodies looked to be growing.

Then the demon took over again. - GRooww. - The two of them couldn�t move, though, so I wasn�t afraid.

- Uh, yeah. Grow. - The demon made a scary sound, but I knew very well this was a spiritual plane of some kind, so I wasn�t afraid of it. Come on, it was like watching a scary monster behind a secure panel. Scary, sure, but it couldn�t hurt me. Not here.

- CONQUER! -

- Okay. -

- ADAPT! -

- Sure. -

- WE. LEARN. -

- No shit, demon. -

And then it stopped, and back to Simone and Victor, again. They rubbed their heads. - Oh man, it�s been repeating the same thing so many times. Conquer! Adapt! Learn! -

- Do you feel like you�ve been captured by some kind of alien monster species who�s out to assimilate you? - I mean, I wondered what it was like to be possessed. Was it like me, who�s trapped in a pyre?

- If you happen to either be referred to the Borg or the Zerg, yes, it does feel like that. - Victor shrugged, one of his demonic arms rubbing his chin. There were small, demonic spots appearing on his face, which he couldn�t do shit about.

- I see. But that�s not helpful. What does it feel like? -

- Like, uh. you lose control over your limbs every now and then? Like having a seizure? I. I don�t really know how to describe it. -

YEAR 89

Another fucking year passed. It�d been four years already since I�d entered this low - activity mode.

Four years!

This was a whole lot longer than my previous time, but then again, this corruption was probably active and had a set command, as if it was like a. computer virus that had some kind of execution hierarchy.

Was it the mind that possessed the heroes that allowed it so?

This year, I�d been partially able to maintain and resist the pain for longer. I stayed awake for close to two whole days, and on average, I�d been able to force myself to regain consciousness about once every two months.

I kept poking at the flames, and I gradually was able to comprehend what it felt like.

Ever touched a switch when wet? Well, it felt like a super - intense version of being electrocuted. Perhaps comparable to what someone who just got struck by lightning felt like. And it was constant.

Well, not constant - constant, but constant, wavelike, with peaks and lows. That was why I could be awake longer during the lows. I hoped to be able to gain a skill to withstand the peaks. But it�d been so long, and still without the skill, it was hard.

Or maybe I was just doing it wrong.

Maybe there�s a trick to this whole demonic - corruption thing.

I mean, I thought it was a disease, but at the same time, it also behaved like. a liquid. Or a sludge. How was my autopilot handling it? Maybe it was not doing it as well as it should.

Autopilot is configured to absorb demonic mana and attempt to filter it. Failing which, it is then expelled via all bodily extremities. Bodily extremities therefore experienced damage.

Uh. So wait, it was trying to absorb the demonic mana, and then it was expelling it via my barks, branches, and leaves? Was that why all of it was burning? Was that the right thing to do?

Autopilot is configured to protect the soul from damage.

Huh. Okay. That was logical. It was like saving the heart and letting everything else burn. Or where a seed was encased with a disposable shell or trees that had thick barks that insulated the core from the fires outside. I supposed that was what my body had been naturally doing since the very first fires.

What else?

Maybe I needed to spin it, like some mangas had stories where the Qi needed to be made to move in a certain manner such that it gained strength, so perhaps there were ways to spin the demonic mana in a way that caused it to weaken?

Or maybe there was a way to cause it to move slower, such that my body didn�t burn.

All things I needed to explore. once I was awake.

INTERLUDE � HEROES AND THEIR NEW WORLD

6 months after the death of the demon king (around Year 85, Month 7 or 8)

The terrain was wrecked. Almost everywhere the demon king�s corruption touched turned into this twisted terrain, where firestorms were a regular affair and the earth itself constantly shifted. Strange monsters also appeared, not quite like the usual demons, but not quite like monsters, either.

As if it was an odd mix of the two.

The terrain�s unstable energies also meant all communication spells were still jammed, despite the rest of the world no longer requiring the towers. It was an odd thing about this location, but not uncommon. There were other spots in the world where gravity and magic were inconsistent, volatile. The only difference was the size of the instability was. well. half a continent.

Still, it was not a total loss. Some cities had ancient, heroic defenses that never triggered until that very day, and it was those cities that survived. But it would be a reasonable thing to say that 90 percent of all living beings died within the demon king�s corruption, and of the surviving 10 percent, another 8 percent died within six months due to lack of food, monsters, and supplies.

Two percent left.

Harris, Becky, and Mirei stood at the edge of one such surviving city. The heroes didn�t stay together after the demon king had fallen.

Gerrard, relieved of the task to slay the demon king, wanted to just find a few barrels of booze and drown himself in it. Maybe find a lady or two to accompany him as well. Astra, well, he seemed like he had other things to do, so he left for another continent.

This part of the terrain used to be more. demonic, but the three of them worked with some surviving druids and mages, and they were able to channel and amplify a mix of the earth�s energy and also their own star mana to push the corruption back.

It would have been easier if they were druids themselves, but their skills were for war, not healing. - Too bad none of us are druids. Maybe we could�ve fixed this easily. -

- It�s kinda like an infection. The body must fight it. All we�re doing is augmenting it, making it stronger with our star mana. Kind of like an IV injection. -

- Do you even know what an IV injection means? -

- I don�t know, but it�s what all the medical shows like to talk about. - Becky shrugged. All they knew about medicine was what they learned in their years of schooling and then all the sitcoms and dramas they followed.

But they could see for themselves that their star mana wasn�t ideal, either. There was always something that seemed to push back against the star mana. Maybe it was just the demon�s energies; since the star mana was super effective, naturally the demonic resisted something that was effective from them.

It was slow, hard, tiring work. It took a lot of their massive star mana to undo the demon king�s corruption. It was so massive, the extent of the devastation.

Still, it made the three of them feel a bit better. Unlike Astra and Gerrard, they came to this continent, and most of what was destroyed, they�ve seen and visited them. Becky even had attachments for certain places she visited, and it made her sad to watch them destroyed or turned into this corrupted. place.

The druid that aided them was a middle - aged man who truly enjoyed restoring the terrain back to some semblance of normalcy. The journey was hard on the druids, the heroes were young, and they had skills that made them strong.

- Let�s rest, - he said, exhausted from using his druidic powers. - I�ve used up my mend earth , land restoration , and I don�t think I can take more of that. hero mana. -

The heroes nodded. Using star mana on the druids strained their bodies; star mana was strong, kind of like an extremely powerful chemical, and the body suffered from it. Overdose knocked them out. But it was way more effective than using mend earth and land restoration, so the druids did it. There were a few other druids, too, but they were far younger and less skilled than the middle - aged man. It was hard, and the odd monsters were tough for the druids.

- This corruption is unreal, - one young druid said, but then he had said it so many times. The other druids just shrugged. - When are we going to reach the border? -

- A few more days, I hope. - The druids talked. The heroes could just sigh. Harris wondered whether they would�ve been able to stop the demonic rod if they were faster.

Still, the corruption was so thick, trade and communications with the outside world were almost totally cutoff. The druids hoped to cut a road through the corrupted lands, as that could restore some of that trade and communication. There were some cities that survived, though they were all in a perilous state when the heroes found them.

The three heroes looked at each other and sighed.

All was not well. One of the main things they discovered was their blessings changed. Their blessings were weaker, now just regular blessings of gods, not whatever it initially was, and their star mana pool was no longer growing, and it took far longer to regenerate.

And their skills, especially those classified as divine , changed. Instead, all of them were replaced as a heroic skill. So that meant Astra�s Global Chat ability changed into limited uses.

What�s the point of such a change? they sometimes wondered. Harris recalled the conversation on the day all their skills changed: exactly three months after the demon king died.

- The gods never truly intended to give us this power forever. - Mirei sighed. - It must cost them something to summon us and maintain this power. Now that we�ve completed what we were needed for, they�ve tossed us out, like trash. -

Becky had a sip of tea and just mused. - What was freely given can be freely taken away. We�ve always been. pawns. -

Mirei looked at Becky. - I feel cheated. -

- All of us do. -

- The gods never intended for us to survive till the next demon king? Or will they return the divine power to us when the next demon king comes? -

That was a few months ago, and in the three months since then, they�d managed to purify quite a large area. There was a whole lot more to go.

TWO YEARS AFTER THE DEMON KING HAD FALLEN, AROUND YEAR 87

Harris was alone. Becky and Mirei got tired, and they all wanted to do something else. Both of them had left for another continent. Mirei said she wanted a holiday, and she said she would be back, but until now, she was still away.

Harris didn�t feel it was necessary to call her back. The process of detoxifying the terrain was hard, laborious work. He had to constantly infuse his star mana into the druids, such that the druids could then mix that star mana into their natural healing abilities. He could see why they weren�t keen on constantly doing it, especially when the gods just took away their divine powers. They felt cheated, and both the girls wanted to just enjoy themselves.

All of them did.

So the progress of detoxifying slowed. Only Harris was working on it. Even he slowed down significantly, only the prospect of claiming additional territory spurring him on.

Last time, he would�ve been worried if they�d separated, but now, after the levels they gained slaying the demon king, some twenty - odd levels, he wasn�t worried. They kept their levels, and they were still leagues above any regular human. He didn�t even know if there were other people in the high hundreds of levels.

And he had the shards of the fallen. Seven of them.

Heroic Fragments. Blessings of the Fallen Heroes .

- Archduke Harris, the new group of druids has arrived. -

A druid knelt on the grass.

Harris frowned and wished he had some tea. A king saw it fit to award Harris with the Archduke title and concurrently granted him dominion over the territory he reclaimed from the demonic corruption.

- Rise. - There were about a hundred druids behind the first druid; they were on their knees before high nobility, too. Many of them came from far away, from the other continents to do the laborious task of healing the world. - All of you are here for the quest? -

- Yes, Archduke. -

This was a game of some kind. After the heroes were done, the druids had their quest.

- Good. Accepted. I�ll grant all of you a bit of my hero mana, maybe in the next few days. My attendants will call for you. -

The gods gave druids the quest to heal the world. Healers. Restorers. Druids, shamans, and spiritualists of all sorts, many had received a quest from their own systems to aid in the fixing of the world. All of them had rewards. Fix the world, and gain a blessing of some kind. Or a special skill.

If heroes were the white blood cells, the super T - cells of the world, these druids were the platelets.

The corrupted terrain, vast and unforgiving, still remained incredibly hostile, comparable to a hex - wasteland. The demonic hybrids still roamed the vast expanse, some larger and more fearsome. It seemed that when enough of them spawned, they agglomerated into a larger beast, and it kept on, until the corrupted wasteland even had walker - tier creatures.

So it was his personal reputation as a hero that the druids came here for instead. He could guarantee their safety. - Serve Archduke Harris the First, Reclaimer of the Accursed Lands. -

Yet, at the same time, he had to admit it made him happy. He felt like he was someone, after the demon king fighting and all.

He was finally a person that people respected and feared. Women came for him, many gorgeous ladies that Harris could only fantasize about as a young teenager back home. Money, good food, all seemed to just flow in, and many of the surviving kingdoms now wanted his protection.

The things they were willing to do, the harem that he now personally had - he tried at first to not let it go to his head. But how could he? His heart wasn�t as strong as he thought it was. When women were willing to throw themselves at him, he discovered he was human after all.

Now that his friends had left, no one was around to check on his own personal moral compass. And to some extent, he got lazy and exhausted, just like his friends.

Harris noticed he had given himself excuses. He would still go and reclaim the lands, but he was increasingly less keen on it, and he took breaks every now and then to spend time with his growing harem and to enjoy the luxuries from reclaiming a land.

He even had a new class, on top of his original class, the Defender Hero .

Noble . And, if he wanted, the system allowed him to exchange some levels in Hero for Ruler . One level for five levels, at least, for the first thirty Noble levels. So he did. He gave up ten levels of hero, and instead he got fifty levels of Noble .

This was fine, Harris told himself. The gods had abandoned him. So had his friends. What was wrong with him indulging a bit? This was the reward after the victory, no? This was what the gods promised.

Gerrard had always been drinking. His heroic body meant he could enjoy the benefits of being drunk without ever suffering from the medical and health issues that over - consuming alcohol usually brought.

In fact, if he ever felt too tipsy, all he needed to do was activate rejuvenate , and he would be as good as new again.

But he enjoyed the state of being drunk. It gave him, if anything, a clarity similar to what he used to have before. When he was still just a normal person.

Which was insane, because here was a debauched man whose favorite hangout was sleazy brothels where the scent of aphrodisiacs, alcohol, and drugs was the only thing one could smell. In between rounds of drinking, he would often laugh at how insane it was, that here he, once a good student, a law - abiding young teenager who loved playing with toy trains even when he was already in his early teens, turned into this.

He cursed the gods. It was when he had a damned good wine that was imported from far away that he realized this whole thing was fucked up. Or maybe he was granted a blessing by the gods of wine and alcohol, if there was such a thing as a Bacchus of Dionysus equivalent in the world.

Today, he found that wine again. That special ginger - mixed herbal liqueur. The merchant was grinning, and he tossed a small pouch of gold and gems over. The merchant gladly passed it to one of the two ladies next to him.

- Should I open it? - a voluptuous lady next to him asked; she was half undressed, anyway. She held the bottle up, wondering what was so great about the herbal liqueur. - Or should I order something more expensive? -

- No. This is mine. Only mine. You two drink something else. -

He inspected it. It was a very old liqueur, made around three hundred years ago, mixed with the leaves and fruits of an ancient grove. That grove was destroyed during one of the demon king�s battles a hundred or so years ago, so the legend went.

He opened it gently and poured himself a small sip. And when he drank it, he felt it again.

Clarity.

That annoying haze suddenly pushed aside. And he could hear the voice in the drink again.

A gentle one. As if his grandmother was talking to him. He was quite sure it was the Earth Mother itself that was talking to him.

YEAR 90

Ugh. My attempts to manipulate demonic mana and energy had been mostly ineffective. I�d been too used to just flooding any demonic creatures I met without actually being focused and specific about it.

I tried all sort of manga - inspired moves.

I attempted to spin the demonic mana, and instead all it did was cause the fires around me to spin into a tornado, kind of like a whirlpool made of fire.

I tried to concentrate the demonic energy, but all that did was cause one particular branch where it was concentrated to just explode violently once it passed a certain breaking point, and I experienced a pain so intense I instantly lost consciousness.

I also tried to push and pull it back, tai chi style, into the outer valley. That just made the demonic mana move faster through the designated channels and did nothing else.

I then also tried to force it underground, into the depth of the ground below. Nothing happened other than some shaking and tremors.

All in, not very successful.

So I spent time in my soul realm.

The soul realm had always been this flexible space, a pocket dimension for the departed to rest and recuperate for their onward reincarnation. The cycle must continue, and the pieces would be replenished for the next bout.

The number of souls had dwindled quite a bit, the backlog starting to clear out. Many had left to go into this unknown other world, this plane where they would go to be further reincarnated.

Maybe they had to roll the wheel like I did.

Or maybe they�d get lucky and wouldn�t have to.

I thought it was quite boring in the soul realm, and if I was trying to fall asleep, it was quite easy. All I needed to do was count all the little souls that popped up.

pop

Kind of like counting sheep, but only wisp - like souls instead.

I mean, if souls were still appearing, logically that meant there were people still dying, which also meant there were survivors. Else everyone would have died instantly and no souls would pop up after that.

Since I had nothing else to do, I theorized that the presence of survivors was due to a few reasons.

One was that there were people who had skills to protect themselves and others in such situations. Perhaps the heroes, since it seemed like five of them survived. Or there may be crouching tigers and hidden dragons, hidden experts who had laid low but now, in such situations, used their powers to protect themselves.

Two was the existence of ancient artifacts and formations. Similar to the heroes magical protections, past heroes could have set up ancient formations or made powerful artifacts that triggered under such serious events. Surely, there were some who were paranoid about demon kings and had made ancient preparations for such things, especially heroes who survived their first demon king.

Three was perhaps divine interference. Given that the heroes were summoned by gods, and these gods did have some leeway in interfering with the world, maybe they would step in for such exceptional circumstances.

Four was luck and terrain. Perhaps the terrain�s curvature or the presence of other natural energy sources repelled the demon king�s corruption.

What else. high - levelled individuals, ancient magical formations, divine intervention, luck and terrain. or. Perhaps, most unlikely, was demonic selection. Maybe some kinds of people had skills that allowed them to resist demons?

Unlikely.

Anyway, I went back to looking at the little bobbing, floating souls. I poked some of them. I was bored.

They flickered a bit. Like little fairy lights being disturbed. Or like little fireflies.

I should have fireflies on my actual tree.

They looked pretty cool. I remembered this photo of a swamp where there was a bunch of fireflies. It was both beautiful and creepy. I thought that was a look I should aspire to.

I could even use fireflies to talk, you know, kinda like a massive LED board if I could control the fireflies and control which firefly lit up. Of course, that also depended on them understanding the language.

But yeah, fireflies as a board of LEDs was entirely workable. I should do that once I woke up. I wanted fireflies now.

I should find some in a swamp or a bog somewhere. Once I got out of this rotten demonic bog thing. Seriously.

YEAR 91

The fires were still pretty bad. And I was still thinking what the hell to do to get myself out of this situation. But because I didn�t seem to be making much progress, I�d decided to disturb the souls in my soul realm more.

But then I had an epiphany one random day.

Why did I even need fireflies?

I was able to somewhat manipulate the fires by moving the demonic energy within the body, guiding it in a certain manner.

So. could I move the demonic flames to make letters and signs? To tell those outside that I was okay?

But!

Was anyone watching?

Would anyone know what I was saying? I didn�t understand the languages of the world!

So if I were to use the demon flames as a screen, I could probably show. shapes? Would shapes work? I wished I�d taught the elves some basic Morse code or binary - language signaling.

Maybe I should still try it.

The deaths in the continent had slowed to a trickle. There were still deaths, of course, but I was starting to wonder where they�d come from, so I�d been poking them more.

Maybe some of them could talk, like how Meela was able to talk.

Most of them couldn�t. Most. Actually close to all. I thought Meela being an ex - hero and Eriz being a contracted soul were different.

I kept trying to interact with most of them. And I would say one in one hundred thousand did not respond. Maybe higher, I wasn�t really keeping track, but eventually one did say something.

- DIE! -

- Oh, you can talk. -

- I. DIE! -

- Yes. Yes, you died. - It sounded like Meela when she first came. When her soul was damaged, she too spoke in short words and sentences. Maybe most regular souls just suffered far more extensive damage, except those that somehow died close to me.

Wasn�t it? But darn! That meant I missed the boat on all the souls that died immediately after the demonic corruption! Maybe those could talk!

But oh well, I was asleep anyway.

- Where did you die? -

- MORKAN. -

Where in the fuck was that? Morkan?

- How? -

- MONSTER! -

- What level were you when you died? -

- Fifty - four! -

- Oh, pretty high. What kind of monster? -

- DEMON THING! -

Helpful. Yes. Very helpful. Maybe I could fix them. But I had no access to my soul forge. Darn it. What else, what else?

Anyway, a couple of months later, another soul could talk! Yay!

- DEATH. -

- Hi, little soul. Who might you be? -

- ADAM. -

- Hi, Adam. Where are you from, and where did you die? -

- PURKAI. PURKAI. -

- No idea where that is. Cause of death? -

- MONSTER. DEMON THING. -

- Okay, another one for the checklist. What does this monster look like? -

- DEMON. HORN. ANIMAL. -

All right. It was a demon, it had horns, and it probably looks like an animal. A demonic unicorn, a black unicorn perhaps, or a bicorn? Or maybe it was just a demonic cow? - All right, how many horns? -

- TWO. -

Okay, bicorn or cow. I went on and asked a bunch of questions about the monster. It was sort of a horned monster with two horns, spiky body, and resembled a cow more than a horse. So it was stocky.

Things I did to entertain myself in the incredible idleness of. being in a coma. It was pretty much a tree - coma, if such a thing were to exist. A state where the mind and the body were disconnected, because the body was in incredible pain.

Why didn�t it rain? Could rain put out the fire? I mean, if it rained, maybe the fire wouldn�t be that strong, then maybe I�d be able to regenerate faster.

It wasn�t going to rain, was it? I didn�t recall it raining for a few years now. I wondered how the elves were doing, at least those surviving.

YEAR 92

Well, it was still pretty quiet. Nothing much was happening, other than me constantly attempting to endure the pain and practice with the demonic flames. I sort of thought I was getting the hang of it. I thought, anyway.

YEAR 93

Time just felt. like a rubber band. At the rate this was going, I thought the next demon king was going to appear soon. I wondered whether the world could take something like this again.

Ivy was destroyed.

Treeveller was destroyed.

You gained 1 level. Level 146.

You gained Ivy�s skill - Surveillance State.

Surveillance State allows monitoring of multiple individuals simultaneously and allows playback of all recorded interactions. Also automatically flags individuals in accordance to a perceived threat level. Note � This ability may not identify all threats.

Oh. That sucked.

Ivy had been so helpful in keeping track of all the bad people that came to New Freeka, but I did recall the skills were not perfect, in the sense that they could be bypassed. Like that druid from Hutan that managed to elude our detection until it was in New Freeka. Or that assassin fellow.

I supposed a key thing I needed to remember was that skills were all fallible. They were offset and beaten by skills of other people, so I must always consider the possibility that there were always people who had the right skillset that happened to counter what skills we had.

Like this stupid demon king. I had tremendous anti - demon resistances, and yet I was still in this immense pain.

Pain. Some days, I felt the pain and woke up to see fire. I attempted to move the fire aside and attempted to look past the fire, and all I saw was just more. fire.

What was happening out there?

Ivy was dead. I wondered what destroyed her after so long.

Monsters? Or just other things? Had the monsters or the survivors turned on each other? How were they going to cope with the next demon king?

I kinda missed my fellow minds. It was nice having their gorgeous overlays. I thought my supermind project was still around. I didn�t recall seeing a notification it was destroyed.

I wondered whether all my orchards were still around, too.

I couldn�t sense any of them.

It didn�t make sense. Why did the demonic fire burn all my contact points to the outside world? There must be something I could do. I didn�t like being trapped. It was annoying.

Like, I was a tree! I was meant to feel the earth, taste the air, absorb the water. Fire was part of the renewal cycle of trees, no, like some countries and places had regular fires that helped refresh the landscape.

A tree could survive fire. No, it could thrive and coexist with fire.

I already had fire resistance. What more did I need to reach the point where I could endure this fire?

Or was it not actually fire? I mean, what if. uhm. let�s see. What if this corruption was just pure mana and the fire was something of a reaction? Kind of like a lightning strike. The lightning created the fire, and it was not as if the fire itself was what burned me.

Was that possible? Perhaps the demonic corruption had a low burning point, so it always tended to flare up, but it wasn�t actually fire.

Maybe it was like. oil? Coming back to my whole Exxon Valdez and Deepwater Horizon comparison, if this entire demonic corruption was just a massive magical oil sludge, and because magical oil and tree equaled a recipe for easily combustible fire, therefore it became this way?

Hmm.

Wait, were demons actually just. cars? Like some kind of steampunk, magical demon oil - powered creatures? And the people of this world were powered by water? Was that why their demonic bodies were so dry�?

I should see whether I could test that concept, whether it had any actual basis.

I went and checked on the two heroic shadows. And they were almost entirely demon now. Eighty percent, I�d say.

- Help. -

- I can�t even free myself. -

- Help us, - Simone said, her body entirely demon; what was left was her head and her neck and, strangely, one of her arms.

- I can�t. Not in this state. -

- WHAT. STATE? - they both asked together, and I knew it was the demon now. Its presence was unmistakable.

- You sound smart. You should figure it out. -

The two flailed like mad men, but like two angry people on an internet video call, they couldn�t reach me.

There was no saving them. Not in this state. And maybe not me.

YEAR 94

Nothing much happened. But the demon king should emerge soon.

YEAR 95

THE DEMON KING IBLIS HAS DESCENDED.

About two, no, three months later, I felt it: an incredibly intense surge of mana and energy from a hexbomb, but. way, way stronger. I wondered how many people were sacrificed this time. One hundred thousand? One million?

And then.

The Demon King Iblis has been destroyed.

The Hero Astra has been excommunicated.

Astra is now a Fallen Hero.

Killing of a fallen hero grants special blessings and gifts.

Killing Astra will not create a hero fragment.

What?

What the fuck was happening out there?

YEAR 96

Another year passed, and finally, I got something. Dammit. I�d been fighting the pain for so long!

Skill: Pain Endurance upgraded!

And that was when I realized I could stay awake a little bit longer. But the fires still remained. My body could endure the pain, but it still remained that my senses were still gone.

Fire, I thought. If this was oil, maybe I could. be like a refinery and have a designated flare - off location instead of it burning my entire body?

So I tried that. I tried to push all the demonic energy to the very top of my tree in a way such that it only burned the top off. I had no senses, but my body was still mine, so my branches now burned a lot more.

Along my trunk, there were still a few large lines of demonic flames, the tunnels used to carry the demonic corruption sucked in from the surroundings, and that tunnel was charred. I kept it up, and gradually, gradually.

Over a period of six months, I�d gradually concentrated the demonic corruption such that the fires were just on the very top of my head.

I imagined myself to look a little like Hades from Hercules, with fiery hair. Only, well, I was a tree, and he was a god.

The two heroes were still somehow holding on. Their face was half human, half demon.

I somehow expected both of them to give in already. I would have. I thought. Or maybe not. I did last in this world until now. Maybe I�d also stay around.

- How are you guys doing? -

- Could be better, - Simone responded. - We�re getting the hang of it. Maybe we can fight back soon. -

- Really? - Well, that was unexpected, but I supposed heroes were special.

- LIES, - they both said simultaneously. And then they were back to their human selves again.

- Why are you doing this, actually? I�ve never had a conversation with a demon before. Tell me more about yourself. - I mean, it was true. No one ever had a conversation with a demon to find out what their motives were, what they were trying to achieve, or whether it was something more fundamental.

- I think it�s just an animal. - Victor was the one who responded. - We just feel. strong emotions. Like, a need. To grow. To find. To conquer. To. have things. To seize things. To. multiply. -

- Really? - I thought that was quite strange. Its recent behavior clearly suggested it was somewhat intelligent, I meant the demon-king especially, so it was really strange to be told that it was actually, well. just a beast. Feral. - Is it. local? -

- I. I think it�s from another planet. Another. world. We see visions of this vast wasteland quite like our current decimated terrain. Areas filled with spires and crags that seem to spawn more of those monsters. It�s so big, yet so. broken, - Victor said.

- Why? -

- I. don�t know. It just. craves. It has something it wants. -

- But its recent behavior has been intelligent. The humanoid demons, what�s the deal with that? - I suspected whatever possessed these two heroes may not be truly intelligent, and that was why they just felt its craving. If I may, maybe this was just a program or software the demons had. Maybe demons had artificial souls, too, and the demon king was the only truly sentient one that it sent over.

Victor didn�t reply. Neither did Simone. A while later, the demon came again. - WHAT. ARE. YOU? -

- Tree, - I responded. I was going to be factual about it. - Who are you? -

They both muttered something incomprehensible.

- Well, I didn�t get that. So I�ll call you demon for now. -

- CONSUME! - Okay, I understood that word.

- Where are you from? - I had the golden opportunity to have a conversation with a lesser demon-alien. Why not take it?

- HOME. -

- Why did you come here? -

- ORDER, - they both muttered, and then a long pause later, - MOTHER. EARTH MOTHER. -

I paused. Mother? Earth mother? Hmm. I didn�t think the demon was referring to Earth itself; it was merely copying and reading the two�s memories to find a comparable word.

The demon responded to some kind of order, so they were compelled to invade our world.

- Why? What does Mother want? - I felt a bit corny saying that. It almost felt like I was talking about how Sephiroth kept talking about Jenova. It was so corny. Mother here, mother there. Especially Advent Children. I hoped it didn�t even repeat the same kind of corny motivations.

- CONQUER! -

I mentally sighed in relief. Thank goodness. - Why do you want to conquer our world? What�s here that Mother wants? -

The two paused. - CONQUER! -

Ah. For conquest. I guessed this was all I could squeeze out of a demonic artificial intelligence. Maybe a demon king would offer a proper conversation.

YEAR 97

You gained a level. You are now level 147.

You gained a passive skill: Demonic Energy Transmission.

- What in the fuck is that? - Well, I got the answer soon enough. The demonic corruption that was being sucked in through my roots, well, there was now a dedicated pipe - like root that now covered it, essentially reducing the damage from the rest of my body. It still hurt like hell, like being electrocuted, but less. And more specific.

I was starting to stay conscious longer. I could stay awake for two to three days straight for a month. The demonic energy was still strong, even with my new skills. But every small step counted.

Every level counted.

Demonic energy interferes with all telepathic and magical abilities. Most non - core functions are disabled.

- Shit. - I had so many heroic fragments. Why couldn�t my heroic fragments offset the demonic energy? I mean, could I use my heroic fragments as some kind of cleaning device?

But maybe I could just wait this out. If more heroes died, I would get heroic shards, and that would make my anti - demonic powers stronger, and that would eventually break me through.

So wait.

A tree could wait.

YEAR 98

Despite the demonic interference, I still sensed huge magical energies flying around. I couldn�t pin their location, other than a vague general direction. It was one of the few things I could still sense.

Was it something about blood magic that made it so. detectable?

YEAR 99

Well, not exactly how I was expecting to spend the year before I turned one hundred in this world.

Quiet and in the silence of my own world. I wondered why I�d not gone crazy, honestly. It was like. cabin fever. But I supposed it was quite silly for a tree to have cabin fever, right, since I mean. I was part of nature itself, and my nature was to stay still.

I could totally imagine the heroes felt claustrophobic, restless, because, well, they were trapped. But to be still, and to be here, was exactly where I wanted to be.

The two heroes were still somehow hanging on. Not much deterioration to their state.

- Is the demon keeping you around intentionally? -

- I think so. It wants you. Not us. -

- Oh. - So the demon intelligence was intelligent enough to keep the two heroes around, because that was the only way it could interact with someone it didn�t have some sort of mind control over. Well. suddenly I felt like I walked into a trap visiting them.

- It sees you as some kind of ally. -

- Ally? Why so? - Huh. Now that was even more unexpected.

- I don�t know. We don�t know. -

- Well, let me know if you find out. Happy to see the two of you holding up. -

Victor shrugged. - Now that it isn�t actively trying to take over us, we�re getting quite bored trapped in this stinking little place. It was even feeding us things to tell you. -

- So it�s listening. -

- Of course it is. I thought you figured it out already. -

- Just wanted a confirmation. -

- Heh. -

- So, what does it want to tell me that it doesn�t want to tell me itself? - Well, if the demon wanted to talk to me and wanted to show me something, then, well, let�s see it.

- It was actually quite strange. It was just showing us scenes of some kind of animals that resemble goats, dogs, apes, and elephants. So many different kinds of animals. -

- Well, they should have your memories of animals? - I mean, the demon read their minds; surely the topic of animals must�ve been covered somewhere. - This world has cows, dogs, goats. -

- I�m not sure if some of my terms will make sense, but it was a timelapse - like thing, if you understand me. The demon let us see scenes of creatures changing over time, slowly, and then some kind of red lightning struck, and then the earth around it cracked, changed, and then those creatures warped into the demons. It was like watching evolution happen, and then something disastrous happened and they turned into these demons. And then the demons were sent into this portal here. To fight. -

- It was giving you the history of demons? Why would it do that? -

- I don�t know? - Victor shrugged.

At that moment, I felt like I�d been given a monumental task. The heroes didn�t know why, but me, a tree, why would I get a history lesson? There must be something about that history, wasn�t it? That red lightning reeked of divine intervention.

Between Lilies�s history and the demons, I thought I sort of had enough to piece together what was actually happening. The gods were behind everything. Maybe there were two factions of gods or they were just the same faction toying with us, or something, but the gods were behind this.

What did they want?

No, what did the demons want?

Were they. pawns of the gods as well? Sacrificial lambs forced to play the role of an NPC in this world? Even if that was true, what could I do about it?

YEAR 100

Ah. I finally made it to a hundred years!

Title: Centurion obtained.

Oh, okay. I made it to a century old. The title did mostly nothing, anyway.

Quite a letdown. Maybe I should throw a party of some kind to celebrate that I�d survived a hundred years in this new world. Seriously. But then I would reveal my otherworldly origins and attract all sorts of people.

And I was trapped. If there was a time for a sad smiley, this would be it.

I guessed I should reflect a bit on my first hundred years, even if I was in such a terrible state. The first sixty or so years was just me. well, doing nothing. I couldn�t do much. Then I moved to that Gaya temple�s compound, and after that the move to Freeka, that little elf village, where I was till this very day.

Come to think of it, it was probably the second time Freeka was destroyed since I came. The people of this world were quite hardy, able to rebuild after so many disasters.

The next town should probably be called Neo Freeka. I mean, once I was out of this quagmire, I should propose the next town to be called Neo Freeka, but then that would also probably reveal my otherworldly origins.

Ah, naming matters for later.

The people of the world were hardy. So many species still survived despite constant world - ending level disasters; I supposed they must have patrons that watched over them in difficult times. Gods.

But difficult times also created high - level characters. I believed that to be a law. So.

Where were all these high - level characters hiding? Was there some elevated world where all these high - level people ascended to, like some cultivation fics with different tiered worlds?

YEAR 101

If I had dogs every year, this year I would have dalmatians. Maybe 101 decorated hellhounds. Woodhounds. I was pretty sure it died. There was no way it survived this. I would have all 101 of them, all with flowers.

One hundred one years, I mean, if there was a time for a tutorial, well, 101 was a good time to start. Like come on, Basics of Isekai - ing to Another Magical World As A Tree 101. Probably given by a lecturer or some sort, explaining things that were too freaking boring to understand but ultimately useful someday later on.

But nope.

Nothing. Like come on, give me a hand here, system! I wanna get out! Like, uh. give me some regeneration skills. Or some skill that bypassed the pain.

No?

Bored out of my mind, I went into that part of my soul realm that was linked to the two trapped part - demon heroes again.

- I�m back. I�m bored out of my mind. How are you two holding up? -

The two look the same as last time. - We�re part demons. All things considered, we�re doing all right. -

- So, now that it knows you are from another world, with your otherworldly heroic origins, what are the demons going to do with it? - I asked.

- Nothing much. It�s still processing, and I think it�s having difficulty transmitting the information back to its. homeworld. So in a way, the information is stuck with us, or whatever that�s possessing us. -

- It�s not a hive mind? I had the impression the demons are a hive mind of some kind. -

- Uh. it�s complicated, from what we�ve seen. It�s like a tiered intellectual system. All levels are capable of intellectual thought, but less so at the lesser levels. And despite that, there is an overarching command that it obeys without objection. -

- And it�s telling all of this because? -

- Look, Mister Weird Person who looks like a tree. I don�t know anymore! It doesn�t want to tell us, and yet it�s still showing us all these, about them. It�s random, and it�s making us confused! - The look of confusion on the faces of the heroes seemed to suggest it was true. The demons didn�t seem able to manipulate emotions just yet. - Look, I wish it could just show it to you directly instead of using the both of us as connectors. We don�t understand why it�s telling us about itself, and we honestly don�t really care. We were just ordinary kids on a bus that somehow got into the wrong place, at the wrong time, and now we�re going through this fucked - up nightmare of fighting demons, watching the world burn, and now being consumed by a demonic mind of some kind. -

Okay. They were snapping.

- Not only that, we�re only here because this damned demon wants us to somehow relay messages to you, and so it�s keeping us barely alive in this pathetic, miserable state. And then, you, of all people, only drop by once every few years! So we just spent days, the two of us, just in this miserable state, being bombarded with demonic imagery and scenes. -

True.

- So I�m sorry if I can�t freaking answer your questions, because I don�t fucking remember what it showed me for the past few years, other than what it repeats all the damned time! Have you ever been watching television, the same damned series, perhaps a few hundred times - no, make that a few thousand times? Well, we both have, and it sucks. It fucking sucks. Even if it�s awesome on the first watch, by the one thousandth time, it all sucks. I am sick of it, and if there was dialogue, I�d be able to repeat the words, word by word. -

I was confused. He said he didn�t remember, but he also said he was watching something so many times.

- Fuck you, Tree Creature. But I�ll tell you everything just to get this damned demon to show me something else for a fucking change. -

The Victor guy went on for an hour about demonic. society? There was a kind of hierarchy, and there was this. mother at the top. The mother made a decision, and they followed. They were sent into this portal, and then they were here. And he talked about their world. Dry. Filled with smoke and fog. Spires. Crags. Creatures that emerged out of weird spawning pools. All kinds of spawning pools.

And stars. Scenes of multiple massive spires shooting some kind of beam and creating the rift.

Well, demon origin story.

Now, what should I do about it? Leak out some kind of speculative story of its origins? What if I ended up empowering the demonic cults? Would that make things worse?

What if this was what the demon was trying to do? It wanted me to spread this knowledge. And what good did that do to me? Would the world start suspecting and looking for a demon sympathizer?

YEAR 102

Nothing of significance happened. I met the two heroes, they seemed bored, and well, the demon didn�t show them anything new, either. I was still trying to fix my shit and improve my pain endurance even more.

YEAR 103

Would the next demon king pop out around now? I mean. no? I sensed some magic flying here and there, but I had no clue what else.

YEAR 104

I had a dream. Usually dreams were divine or oracular in nature, since they often foretold or spoke of divine intervention, so this one was strange. There were like. five asteroids, bright red. They crashed on the world. And. that was it.

But it felt different. I wasn�t quite sure why.

- Still nothing? -

- Nope, - the two bored heroes responded. - Same imagery. -

- Ah. -

Based on when the previous demon king battle happened, the demon king should appear again in another year, so the world should be facing demonic attacks already. But there were five heroes remaining; I supposed they should be doing all right. Even if one of those heroes was somehow expelled.

I was sure they were doing fine.

YEAR 105

This year was the year the demon king was supposed to descend. After all, it�d been ten years, so, in the second half of the year, it did.

Demon King Phenex has descended.

I wondered what happened this time.

YEAR 106

Four months after the demon king descended, I felt it again.

A huge, huuge surge of magic, so overwhelming that it was disgusting. Even when my limbs were torched and burned, I could feel it. It even resonated with my very soul.

I was sure it was blood magic. There was something really sickening about this magic that made me feel like puking, if I could. A tree couldn�t puke, sadly.

I felt whatever it was headed toward its intended target. Like how you could feel the sun even with your eyes closed, I could feel it move, the change in its angle.

But the demon king lived.

The Excommunicated Hero, Astra, has died.

Huh.

That. was not expected. Indeed, not expected at all.

About one to two days later, the demonic corruption around me started behaving erratically. As if supercharged, I felt the demonic corruption surge through my body, my roots. I felt it push strongly against the root - walls of my valley.

I felt cracks in my root - walls. More cracks.

Here. There.

The demonic sludge that stabilized over the past twenty years suddenly started moving, flowing, and it pushed against my root - walls.

More cracks! I felt like I was trying to use sandbags to hold back a tsunami, and there were pockets where the levee broke. The demonic corruption rushed in, together with the sludge.

And then. all at once, it stopped. The sludge stopped.

Madeus has died.

Yvon has died.

34 other familiar - users have died.

You gained two levels. You are now level 149.

Skill: Pain endurance upgraded!

Obtained new skill: Root Fortress.

Obtained Yvon�s soul.

Obtained 7 experience seeds.

And on top of that, I received a long string of notifications about class seeds and skill seeds. From the many that died, there was wizard , swordmage , brawler , druid , knight and a whole list of many other classes.

I felt. sad.

What happened out there?

- Monsters. - A voice. I recognized that voice.

- Yvon? - I turned to face a glowing blob. It was, in fact, Yvon.

- Hi, - I said. I mean, I kind of missed talking to someone that wasn�t a demon.

- Happy to see you, A/ . We. really could�ve used your help. -

- I�m not sure if you can see, but I�m stuck in this state holding back the demonic energy. -

- That�s what we thought, too. You look like. a tree. This is the soul realm that Yura told me about? He said that you have this space where the dead linger. -

- I am a tree. Why wouldn�t I look like a tree? -

- Mistress Yvon! - Eriz�s soul detected her previous mistress�s soul. - Oh no. You died. -

- Well. it was inevitable. Things were looking really bleak for us. We have barely enough food and water, and every time we lose someone with familiars, a bit of our food supply goes along with it. -

I was very curious what�d been happening outside. - Stop. You two can catch up later. Tell me about what happened outside. -

- Uh. well, we�re in this valley where your roots are holding up the hardened sludge. But every now and then, cracks in the sludge appeared, and those cracks would spit out demonic hybrid monsters. They attacked us almost every other day. -

Yvon paused a bit.

- And well, what happened was a huge crack happened, and sludge flowed in. On top of that, larger monsters came in and attacked us, so well. I died killing a few. Many of us did. -

- Any idea what happened to the outside world? -

- We have no contact. The demonic sludge causes magic to decay, so all our attempts to communicate with the outside world have been unsuccessful. Our attempts to use other means of communication, like. climbing up that hole on top of you have been unsuccessful as well. So I have no idea. -

- Darn. - I sighed. - Well, the demon king appeared again. And it somehow amplified the effects of the corruption temporarily. -

- Fuck, - Yvon cursed. - That explains it. -

- How many of you are left? I�m blind at the moment. The demonic corruption robbed me of all my senses. -

- About. three thousand? Maybe less after today. Perhaps about two hundred died today. -

- That�s not. bad? -

- We�re at a higher level now. Many of us leveled tremendously over the past twenty years to survive this. But things are still bleak, with food in short supply and our equipment limited. At least, none of us were dying to the demons for a while. until today. -

- I see. - I mean, I felt kind of sad. - What about the forest? The trees? -

- Uh. oh. Erm. quite a bit of the giant trees are still there. Some of the weird trees are still there. We managed to locate a few surviving flower bushes and herbal spots, so that�s our spices. We also found quite a bit of potato buried, so we�re also eating that. -

- What about water? -

- A few of our druids are able to use their mana to create water. So. that�s our water supply. -

- I see. Let me think. - I let Yvon and Eriz catch up a bit. They spoke about Roma and generally about life in their new environment. It�d been a long time since they last met, almost twenty years, so they had much to talk about.

But I had a new skill. Root Fortress .

So, when I was awake again, I quickly activated Root Fortress and felt, for a brief moment, all the roots strengthen. It was like a sonar pulse, and at that moment I knew exactly how many trees survived, as I felt the effects of my skill spread throughout the valley.

And I stayed awake longer.

I thought it was my two new levels.

Now, if only I could get more levels.

- I can see why you can�t help us now. - Yvon�s blob of light sighed. I briefly explained my situation of being trapped in this demonfire. - You�re not even awake most of the time. -

- Not exactly ideal, but I hope I�ll be able to break free of it soon. Tell me about who�s left. -

Lozanna , Laufen, Roma, and Yura lived. Two of the Valtorn Order�s captains survived, too. One of the herbalists and quite a big chunk of the druid - in - training Valthorns also survived, by sheer coincidence that they were foraging in the forest during that time. It was a day they remembered, the day when the Valley sank.

At the later part of the year, the demon king was slain.

Demon King Phenex was defeated.

Becky has died. You received one fragment.

Oh wow. Only one hero died.

You gained 3 levels. You are now level 152.

Skill upgraded: Demonic Energy Transmission

Skill upgraded: Subsidiary Trees - 100,000. Giant Attendant Trees - 1,000

Level 150 crossed. You may select a DOMAIN.

Domain is your focus on the path of divinity and will impact future domain choices. The first choice is your primary domain. Choice of domain greatly influences type of future skills learned.

Choices are:

Domain of Nature

Domain of Spirit

Domain of Astral

Holy.

This was probably the first time I recalled ever being offered a choice in what I wanted for a skill. Like. domain? It sounded very much like what kind of god or deity I wanted to be. Was this like Age of Mythology where I got to choose which patron god I got to pray to and so had different kinds of perks?

How did I decide?

Nature, Spirit, and Astral.

Nature sounded like I was headed to more tree - like powers. Spirit sounded like I�d get even more soul and spirit - related perks. Astral.

What did astral mean again? Ah, stars. So. more star mana powers? From what I knew of star mana, it was super effective against the demons, which was why the heroes got it, so going into the Astral path may be the most effective way of getting myself out of this mess.

But then, I was not keen on that at all. I thought it conflicted with my sense of self.

I was a tree. I would like that being a tree was my identity. Well, I was a human, but by now I�d lived so long that my life as a tree had far exceeded that of my human life. Even if it felt brief because I spend so much of it sleeping.

How about spirit, then? Should I go into the entire path of spirits? Ghost, souls, and all. Well. I hadn�t actually found much joy in it.

There was nothing like watching a barren field being brought back to life. An empty plain transformed into a verdant forest. A volcano calmed into an oasis of giant life.

I thought I liked trees, flowers, bushes, and all of that. So nature was more in tune with me.

I thought I�d be a fool if I chose Astral because it was going to get me out of this shit. I�d get out of this eventually, with levels, and with more hero fragments. So I should play the long game. Choose something that I would like.

So I thought about it for a day or two, then selected.

Domain of Nature selected.

In an instant, I felt a spark and felt something rush to every tip of me. Every burned branch, every charred root.

Domain Ability: Roots of Life. So long as you are rooted to the ground, the ground will nourish you, heal you, and debuff negative statuses and effects. Strength of domain ability proportionate to amount of roots connected to the ground.

One domain ability is unlocked every 10 levels. Next domain ability at level 160. Next sub - domain focus at level 200.

Demonic Curse is suppressed by your Domain Ability. Effect of demonic curse is reduced.

My roots started to heal, even as the demonfire burned. It healed faster than it could burn, and within minutes, the demonic corruption was confined into the dedicated tunnels used to expel the absorbed demonic energy. So, even though the top of my body and the very tips of the branches were now emitting demonic flames, the branches themselves were no longer burning.

I�d become. an oil refinery that flared up. Okay, that was lame. Maybe Hades, then?

About one day after the healing, I saw my valley once more. Then I felt the reconnection of everything in the valley. All my fellow surviving trees, flowers, bushes, herbal plants, and roots. My brethren.

It filled me with joy to hear them all again, their ambient voices in the background. I felt my energy flowing back to them and theirs back to me.

I surveyed my valley. Oh, how terrible it looked. My roots were holding back the demonic sludge from the back, the roots hardened.

There were still a few large tunnels of demonic energies, but now, with my new Domain , I could forcefully suppress those flames into smaller, much smaller ones. It was like a gas stove, and with my new powers I turned the knob, and the fires shrunk.

Reconnecting to Trevor

- . mAsTeR? - A familiar voice.

- Yes, Trevor. -

I felt what amounted to joy and relief, and immediately after that, the overlay returned to me. Things were dire. About twenty thousand or so trees were left in the area protected by my wall of roots. There were also about one thousand or so natural giant trees and about fifty or sixty subsidiary trees that survived. The Grand Mind Tree was damaged and would need some materials to repair. Most other structures were gone. New Freeka was gone, too.

I mean, I knew that, but seeing it again really hammered that reality in. What was once New Freeka was replaced with blocks of demonic sludge, by now mostly hardened. But there were gaps in the sludge, and the demonic hybrids would emerge from them.

- Welcome back, Master. - Trevor quickly found back his composure. - You�ve been away for twenty - one years. -

- I know. What happened? -

- The valley has been attacked by demonic creatures. Without access to you, Master, we were unable to use your delegated abilities and could only activate our own abilities. As such, our attempts at defending the valley have met with mixed results. We attempted to aid the survivors where we could, but with our limited skillsets, we couldn�t do much. And after ten or so years, our functions and awareness began to decay. Until. today. -

- I see. - That was when I finally zoomed back on the survivors. I hardly recognized them now, it had been so long, but then Trevor�s overlay started to populate my vision with whatever data that he collected so far.

And I saw Yura , Laufen, and Lozanna . It�d been so long.

- Glad to see the three of you alive. - They were clearly observing the changes in the valley, and when my telepathic voice reached them, all of them froze. Yura immediately knelt on the floor, Laufen just froze, and Lozanna made a fist pump.

- OH, YEAH. I KNEW IT WAS TREETREE, - she said. - I KNEW IT. -

Laufen and Yura both seemed unable to say a word.

Lozanna . well. She wasn�t young anymore. She looked like an adult. She was. thirty - seven? Oh my. She wasn�t a young teenager anymore, even if she spent twenty years holed up in this valley. They all looked really skinny, like they�d not been eating well. In fact, they all looked malnourished.

At that moment, I suddenly remembered that Yura had some villager skills that were useful for such situations. Skills he didn�t let me remove because they were nostalgic. Looked like he was right; he would�ve died without those skills, with how this environment seemed to lack sufficient meat sources. All they had been eating were fruits, vegetables, leaves.

- All of you look like shit. -

They didn�t answer. Well, except Lozanna . - Of course we do. We�re not exactly having a feast here! Now get us out of this valley! -

- Easier said than done, Lozanna . - I attempted to look further, beyond the valley, and couldn�t do so because all my subsidiary trees outside this cocoon were all destroyed. Maybe those further away survived, because I didn�t get a notification for Dimitree, or those that guarded the volcano, or those near Lilies, too, but that was for another day. I would need to reclaim the terrain from the demons in order to see further, but for now, let�s get the house in order.

I focused back on the valley. Three thousand or so survivors. Quite a bit of treefolks, some centaurs, some lizardpeople, some dwarves, too, and the rest elves.

Trevor was already busy at work, quickly reconnecting me to all the surviving trees in the valley. I felt their voices return, and at the same time, their power. The valley�s root walls hardened, and in an instant, a bit more life returned to the land. The sickly looking trees, deprived of sunlight, started to sprout more green leaves.

I used my roots to force the hole on top of our valley to open up, and bit by bit, a little more sunlight came in. Well, not exactly sunlight. It was a stormy firestorm out there.

- Oh wow. - The survivors admired the sunhole expanding overhead. It wasn�t sunlight, but finally, a bigger view of the sky. They�d been missing the skies.

- Bad news is whatever happened, happened to probably most of this continent, - I said to Yura , Lozanna , and Laufen. The survivors had gathered up and heard their announcement.

- TreeTree. it�s so weird to hear your voice after so long, - Lozanna said. - I�ve grown up now. I�m also level eighty now. -

- . yes. - And I hadn�t quite come to terms with that. She still felt like a young sixteen - year - old girl last I saw her. This wasn�t quite right.

I felt like I�d woken up from a twenty - year coma to discover the world had changed and I was still that same old fart. I would need some time to adjust to this new reality.

They all looked really skinny. Yura looked haggard. Famine in this environment had been exceptionally hard. Sucked even more that the demons were not edible. Unlike monsters, some of which were edible.

Wait. Level eighty? That meant she�d capped out like Yura ? - Is that your cap? -

- . yes, - she said.

- How many of you hit your level caps? -

- Me. Uncle Yura , there. uh. Nero�s close, like level seventy - ish. And, uh. Roma�s level seventy - ish, too. - Well. In fact, about fifty of them were at level seventy to eighty, which was exceptionally high level for a band of survivors. - But in terms of class, I think me, Uncle Yura , and the captains have the best skills, since we have the familiars for extra power. -

That explained how they managed to stop the deaths after a while. With fifty level seventy to eighty, they could take on most high - level creatures. Even with just ordinary Knight or Soldier class, that was a very good place to be.

Twenty years.

I kinda felt like I just had a manga powerup timeskip. Only, well, it was these elves that had a big powerup.

- If all of you are so strong, why don�t you break out of this place? -

- Uh. the demons are strong, and there�s a lot of them. Like. every wave is a few hundred of them, - Lozanna said. - And that hole was our only exit. None of us wanted to break through the roots because we don�t want more monsters coming in if we fail. - She pointed at the hole.

Wave? And then I felt it, too. There was a crack in my wall of roots, and monsters emerged from it. Five hundred.

I was more than happy to unleash fury after being asleep for so long. A huge wave of root strikes, and all of the monsters crumbled.

- Where�s Horns? -

- Horns is in stasis, Master, - Trevor advised.

- What? -

And I saw him in one of the surviving subsidiary trees in the valley, his body severed in half, and left with his head. The subsidiary tree�s energies kept him alive and maintained him, but there wasn�t enough to heal him.

- I couldn�t communicate with the survivors to get their druids to help, - Trevor apologized.

- I see. -

I took a mental deep breath.

It was time to rebuild.

YEAR 106, LATTER HALF

Rebuilding. There was much to do.

I had a mission, and I wanted to return the forest to the continent. This devastation was foreign, alien, and it was my task to restore it.

Or at least, that was what the trees were telling me. A tree spirit�s role, along with many other similar creatures, was as the world�s fixers and balancers, the guys that cleaned up the court after a game, the cleaners and repairmen. I could feel the call of duty. A duty to the world, to fix it. To restore it to nature.

I wondered whether that was an effect of the Domain. I mean, just as I gained power over a domain, did it mean I also inherited some responsibilities to that Domain? It was strange, but I believed that the power imposed this sense of duty. I reckoned the heroes and the other tree spirits of this level felt it, too, that they had a calling. Why else would they go about their ways so single - mindedly?

I wondered what kind of duty I would have had I chosen Spirit or Astral. A duty to ensure the proper transmission of the dead? A duty to the stars? Or did Astral imply a more anti - demonic role, that I would have to play a bigger role in fighting demons?

Questions, of course. Stupid world. There needed to be a guidebook somewhere.

And the wisp was gone. - Wisp? - I couldn�t find him anywhere. No answer from him, either. I wanted to start using Eriz and Yvon, too, but that was stuck because the soul forge was out of commission.

Soul Forge requires a power source. Due to the effects of the weakened curse and reduced sunlight, the minimum normal tree required to power the soul forge is calculated to be 100,000.

- So. what�s going to happen? - Lozanna asked a few days after my awakening. I was still coming to terms with my new power and the realization that, well, there was this duty thing nagging me at the back of my head. With power came responsibility. Just as the energy of the earth nourished me and broke me free of this, it also imposed its desires on me.

I wondered if I went down the Spirit Path, maybe I didn�t even need other trees to power a soul forge. Oh well.

- I don�t know, Lozanna . I�ve been asleep. - I needed to rebuild my knowledge of the world. Twenty years may mean a lot had changed; at least, that was how it was in my world. In twenty years, we went from clunky landlines to smartphones. I wondered what the surviving heroes brought to this world.

- That�s. true. But we�ve been trapped in this place for twenty years, too. So we�re not much help. -

- Well, I suppose first things first, we need to get ourselves out of this hole. This isn�t a good place to be, and we need contact with the outside world. -

- How�d you plan to do that? -

- I don�t know. - I mean, I really didn�t. I needed to see what worked and what didn�t. I had some idea of what already worked, in the sense that my roots did manage to block out demonic corruption, so I wondered whether it was possible to push back at the corruption with more roots, kind of like using my roots as the blade of the bulldozer and pushing the corruption back.

I also needed to examine my own state. My curse was suppressed by my roots of life, but what did suppressed actually mean? Was I going to experience some kind of degradation, or would the curse flare up?

But the survivors, they felt a sense of calmness that�d been away for a long time. It seemed the entire beetle army had vanished after Horns was in stasis, so they didn�t have help from the beetles, either. Now, the horde of beetles returned, no longer in hibernation.

Horns still needed a lot of healing. It�d take a few months to rebuild his damaged body, but it wouldn�t be a problem.

The demons came again. More of them.

The demons now felt the full brunt of my stronger demonic suppression aura , no longer hindered by the curse. And they crumbled quickly. These strange, hybrid things. Some were less susceptible to the aura�s effects, but with the beetles back in large numbers, it wasn�t much. We only had to focus on the larger creatures that had the strength of a demon general or so.

I could now house the survivors in the secret hideout and the various subsidiary trees external rooms and tree lodges , a much - welcomed change from their basic homes, and also, I had beds! Beds that were stored in my secret hideout and various other supplies previously stockpiled in there were now available again.

Still, among the survivors, some of them resisted. - We can take care of ourselves. We did so for twenty years! -

It was understandable. For me, these twenty years feel like a dream; it passed by so quickly, it felt like two or three weeks, maybe a month of solitude and confinement for me. But for these guys, they lived twenty years out here, fighting the demons all the time. Life had been miserable for the past twenty years, but they�d made it through without me.

Why did they need me?

Most were more than happy to return to the comfort of proper beds and a safe environment.

- Tell me all you know about the monsters you�ve been fighting over the past twenty years. What abilities do they have, what are they like, when do they appear, any weaknesses? - I asked.

Those who frequently led the fights - Lozanna , Yura , the captains, and many others - all gathered around and talked about what they experienced. The demonic creatures were like half demon, half monster, and the larger monsters had two hearts, one demonic, one monster, and they had to take both of them down to kill it, else they would regenerate. These demons also retained the ability to agglomerate themselves and form a larger creature, something less powerful than a walker, but it was probably due to size limitations within the valley itself.

They had mini - projectile energy blasts, also similar to walkers, and the more humanoid forms tended to have crude weapons.

They had no tactics, other than a strange ability to sense and track them. Stealth abilities were not effective. They had heads, but their heads were actually just decorations. Chopping their heads off did nothing, because the heart was the engine of the monster. The part that resembled a head was nothing more than an arm. The eyes on the monster were also similarly useless, and blinding those eyes merely disabled the beam abilities.

In short, the parts that resembled a regular monster were there because the template required those sorts of appendages and parts, but they were not critical to the monster�s life. If it had one.

Other than that, they�d mostly taken life day by day. Living in the moment.

Monsters.

Unlike demons, their corpses lingered around a bit longer but were entirely inedible because their innards were contaminated with demonic juices. Demonic bodies decayed significantly faster than monsters, so it was quite difficult to harvest any of their body parts for materials or equipment.

The monsters had large spikes, horns, and tentacle - like features. Had they not decayed and could be preserved, maybe they could be made into strong weapons. But like wood, these organic materials needed treatment to last or they decayed quickly, and no one had enough time or survived demons to even research it.

Well, except these guys. One of the surviving war leaders, out of sheer boredom while trapped in a valley, soaked the small remains of a demon in olive oil and noticed it didn�t decay. Preserved demonic appendages in olive oil.

- Fascinating thing. - I observed the specimens shown by that seventy - year - old elf. They did have a surplus of olive oil since some of the olive shrubs survived. They cooked with it, seasoned their vegetables with it, preserved chunks of fruits with it, and this one elf had the inspiration to preserve demonic remains.

My inner biolab got to work quickly.

Preserved Demonic Parts - olive oil used to significantly slow and stop the decay of demonic matter.

- Yeah. I thought it was interesting, but I only worked with small parts of the demon. -

- Did you gain a class for it? - I reckoned there should be fermenter or preserver or something like that.

- I didn�t, �cause I�m already capped out at level sixty soldier and level twenty villager . -

Ah. - A shame. I would�ve liked a bigger sample. To observe demons in their native state without decay. - I did recall having captured hellhounds, and those were very interesting. But here I had other demonic specimens, and these were even half - demonic hybrids. So they had a lot of value to be understood.

Even the survivors were very interesting. It seemed twenty years of solitary confinement had also changed their physical appearance. Their ordinarily fair, pinkish skin had now turned almost gray. I wondered whether it was Vitamin D deficiency; perhaps elves, creatures of the forest, needed more sunlight than others, so lacking sunlight, their skin lost much of their color?

The treefolk seemed to suffer the effects of being trapped in the valley a little harder than the rest. The treefolk at first glance seemed the same, but they remarked their bodies felt weaker, more sickly, and the effects of little to no sunlight were especially pronounced on the quality of their inner structures. They were more prone to fall sick, and a few had died from sickness.

Some of the centaurs suffered from muscular degradation; they were used to having large areas to roam, like horses, so confinement into a valley meant their lower body parts became weak. Those with certain unique skills like tiptop condition or peak performance were able to remain physically fit, but for the rest of them, they had to resort to all kinds of exercises to maintain their health.

The dwarves, well, they seemed perfectly fine. Apparently, being in a valley trapped underground wasn�t something uncommon for dwarves, who remarked it sounded quite like being trapped in a mining accident. A few of them even had skills that made surviving in such an environment comfortable. I thought one dwarf probably had some kind of ale - making ability that he wasn�t sharing with others.

But oh well. It was something to examine, for sure, but I wanted to get out. My duty called to me.

And I had to work with some of the survivors that were still a bit skeptical of me; some of them wondered whether the flames on my head were signs of demonic influence, and they didn�t buy my curse explanation all that easily. Still, they were obeying my requests, but they were guarded. I could hear their conversations.

They must have forgotten I could do so since, for them, the memories of twenty years ago were probably hazy.

So, after a bit of information gathering, I decided to try pushing back at the sludge. It was a strange thing, this sludge. It had all hardened now, and yet monsters could spawn in it. How? The sludge itself created them?

Anyway, I pushed. At one corner, furthest away from where the survivors made their home, I pushed. The corruption from outside was strong, but now that I was awake, I liked to think I was stronger. At least, in this area.

The pushing worked. I pushed back at hardened sludge, and it buckled. It bent. And I kept pushing. Each time I pushed, my roots moved in to form a protective barrier. The protective barrier didn�t work every time, though, the roots sometimes would run into an aquifer or something, and it would squeeze out a bit of water, and those leaked through the gaps in the roots.

- Uh. water? - The survivors were watching with great interest from the safety of their treehouses.

Well, it made sense that there were pockets of water in the ground. I mean, I was sure rain or precipitation or condensation continued even if the demon king corrupted the land.

I pushed, and my ability root tunnels triggered to form a wall. But they were unfortunately porous and water could leak through.

- A/ , please stop, - one of the survivors said. - The water is still coming in. -

Ah. The water was still leaking through the root walls. Why? Maybe I should push upward instead?

So I started to push my roots upward and outward, in a way, like a stadium with movable roofs. It was already partly open from my earlier efforts, but I stopped midway as I realized more of the firestorm was getting into the valley.

- Maybe just one side, A/ , - Lozanna remarked. - Would it be possible for a tunnel or path that leads up to the surface? -

Indeed. That was what I tried over the next few days. Strategically, a tunnel would be better. It would be far easier to defend if anything massive came around rather than an open path. The sludge became a natural wall that hid this valley. I should keep that strategic advantage.

So a tunnel.

A second attempt. Hopefully I didn�t bump into pools of water trapped underground.

I pushed upward this time, again, from where the previous tunnel started.

Unlucky!

There was more water, the tunnel ran into a pool of water, and the water rushed down the tunnel like rainwater in a storm drain, spilling into that segment of the valley.

- Well, at least we�re not there. - Some of the elves, well, if the makeshift houses were there, they�d be in trouble. Eventually, the flow of water from whatever pool I bumped into, slowed down significantly.

There were small trickles of water that seeped through the tunnel walls, and those trickles turned into a small stream of water down the tunnel and into the valley. Unlike the first surge, it was just a small trickle, so no big waves there.

I pushed on. We were quite deep, and so I had to keep pushing. The angle couldn�t be too steep or it would be useless as a path.

It took a few weeks of constantly pushing, dealing with the monsters that appeared from the sludge, and eventually the tunnel was done. A reinforced path to the surface.

YEAR 107

The surface was hellish. More monsters roamed on this strange, apocalyptic land. Yura and the group that went out and explored it the first time remarked it resembled nothing. It was just as strange as a place that�d been thoroughly corrupted by hex.

The surface was not empty. There were many different demonic monsters that roamed the terrain, some of which they�d met in their twenty years of battle.

And there were stationary monsters.

That was what they assumed at first: stationary monsters that looked every bit like a monster, and they didn�t move. But they attacked things that approached them, or emitted poison. This was entirely new to the elves, because, well, these monsters couldn�t move, and they were stuck underground. There wasn�t a way for the two groups to ever meet.

Until now.

But, on closer observation, they noticed some of these monsters had branches. Like trees. They thought they were horns at first, like how antler horns resembled some branches.

It was reddish leaves on one subtype of demonic hybrids that finally made some of them go, - Aha! - Hybrid demon-plants.

If there were hybrid animals and monsters, surely there were hybrid plants!

This fact was extremely interesting to me, and I had a million and one questions.

Like, why did they exist? Magic? Divine powers? If divine creation was the answer, why were they created as hybrids and not pure monsters or trees? Or did it mean the influence of the terrain was able to interfere with the process of divine creation?

Or were these creatures products of the demonic corruption, that the demonic corruption borrowed from the land and thus created these hybrids?

Then there was the question of whether they were trees in the sense that could I, with my powers as a Tree Spirit, hold any influence, communicate with, and control them? Were these tree - like demonic things actually trees? I thought they might be part tree, just like how the demonic creatures that attacked the valley were part monster.

And how did they exist? How were they powered? Did they produce seeds or fruits? Any chance those were edible, or poisonous and thus could be weaponized? Did they have abilities or powers, like certain species of trees? Could they be made into items like how certain trees were harvested for timber? Was this their ideal environment? Did they respond well to different environments? What did they consume?

Did they need sunlight? Did they need water? Was that why there were puddles and pools of water underground? Did they have roots? I didn�t recall encountering any, but was that because their roots were shallow?

- Master. - Trevor�s voice broke through my deep contemplation. - A decision. The survivors have been waiting. -

I didn�t realize it, but I spent a month just studying the few demonic samples brought back by the scouts. It was just that fascinating to me. - Waiting for what? -

- They are asking whether you can start creating trees on the surface. -

- Why? -

- Oh, they wanted somewhere to stay outside the valley. Somewhere. safe. -

- When did I agree to this? -

- You didn�t. I recall Master ignored them the first time when you were studying the demonic specimens. -

- I did? - I didn�t even realize that they were talking to me. When did it happen? That was strange. Did I somehow ignore everything when I focused on the demonic tree samples?

- Yes, - Trevor said quite matter - of - factly.

The hybrid tree samples were too fascinating. Or did I somehow tune them out? - I don�t recall even having the conversation. Never mind. -

The terrain and the demonic corruption took the form of a sludge. The demonic energy passed through the sludge, kind of like a current of electricity travelling through a conductive liquid. It also radiated it like a radioactive material. According to the elves, some of them with the gift of darksight could see a faint glow in the sludge.

So the process of clearing the land meant either removing and pushing away the sludge or neutralizing it. What I had been doing so far was a mix. By pushing it away with my roots like a natural bulldozer, my main body acted as a filter and cleaner, using my roots to absorb the demonic sludge and the volatile, combustible mana that came with it.

It was slow. Because I was the bottleneck. Back to the oil pollution analogy, there was a limit of how much oil I could process per day, and against the constantly expanding oil, I felt like I was in a game of Candy Crush fighting against a field of ever - expanding chocolate. Or like Alpha Centauri where the native vegetation was encroaching on my forests. Come to think of it, this was very much like Alpha Centauri. Alien creatures attacking what it perceived as enemies? The only difference was, well, we�re the natives, and they were the aliens.

Were the demons colonists?

I�d gotten sidetracked again. Oil analogy. I had a processing rate, and the terrain itself imposed a minimum on me to process, else the root walls wouldn�t hold. Every time the strength of the root walls increased, I needed to process less, because the walls could hold back more of the corrupting demon mana and sludge. The walls were like an oil silo, then, and it had a capacity.

So could I increase my processing capacity now that I was back to consciousness?

Could my Giant Attendant Trees play that role to a lesser capacity? I would have to design the Giant Attendant Tree�s available customizable rooms specifically for the function to have much higher self - healing ability and demonic absorbent abilities.

The two heroes were still there.

- Hi. -

- Oh. You�re back. You must be bored to come and find us again. -

- Well, yes. I�m free now. - After I said that, I instantly regretted it.

- Oh, nice. Can you help us? -

- Not sure. I don�t even know where you are. -

- I think I do, - Simone said. - There�s a red, crystal - like thing somewhere near the demon king site. I think we�re there. Or at least our souls are imprisoned there. Free us. -

- Huh. - Fuck. Did I just get myself into a quest? - No. -

I felt a massive headache (ahem, I didn�t have a head, but yeah) then, like something trying to force me to say yes. I resisted. Fuck this. It was probably divine in nature, because the calling of duty generally radiated from my roots.

- Why not? - they asked.

That pain was getting stronger, but I pulled the energy from within me to resist it. I even pulled the energy from the nearby trees and the earth.

Domain has resisted divine influence.

- I�m no hero. - And fuck, did the gods just try to mind - control me? Since when did the gods directly attempt to influence things? I thought they weren�t supposed to do that.

YEAR 108

The important equation was how much demonic sludge we could process versus how much demonic sludge was expanding in the area. As long as my processing rate was higher than the sludge, we were taking back territory from the hybrid demons.

We were doing so very, very carefully.

Because, well, we lost a few people when some of the demonic monsters exploded. The forest of demon trees had a few types, and these demontrees actually fed and helped sustain the firestorm, because we�d discovered some of them spit out some kind of flammable gas that got ignited super easily. Another kind of tree was just perpetually smoking, and it constantly released dark smoke like an ancient super - polluting smokestack. The smoke - trees created so much smoke that it made a perpetual layer of dark smog that hung over the entire area and caused the lack of sunlight.

The exploding gas trees added to the mess and created areas where the gas might just suddenly ignite and blow up, and yet those trees were quite resistant to the effects of the explosion.

Not a pleasant environment to be in.

So, slow and steady. Thanks to the microclimate generated by these kinds of demonic trees, the weather was perpetually hot and stormy. The effects of the seasons were subdued.

We reclaimed the area immediately around our valley and the hole, mostly by me pushing back at the sludge. It was a long process; in one week, I could clear and clean the area the size of a football field, but the speed slowed the further away it was, because a larger area meant an increase in the overall root surface area with the demonic sludge, so it took up more of my demonic sludge processing ability.

In order for the expansion to continue, it was paramount - crucial - that the Giant Attendant Trees were able to add to the demonic sludge - processing capacity.

Else, the rate of expansion would stop the moment I hit the sludge - processing limit. Unless my roots got stronger.

It was just the math of the matter.

During this time, the survivors also brought a lot more of the demon tree specimens back to me. It was a slow process, and my ability to assist was limited because the demonic sludge essentially blocked my roots from interfering. I had to reclaim the territory from the demons for my abilities to work in that area.

It was quite difficult to bring the specimens back, of course. They were, after all, spawned of demonic matter, and the survivors abhorred the idea initially. But I just convinced a few of them to play a part, and that was all I needed. The survivors were not all uniform; some were more cooperative than the others.

I studied them like an obsessed scientist.

I wanted to know everything about them, and I wished I had a soul forge to look at them in far greater detail. For now, I would have to make do with analyzing them with my biolab and hope to understand these demonic plants.

Like the demonic hound, its inner structure was dry. And instead of a spring, there was a barren one. When I looked at the structure of the plant specimens, they had odd flames throughout the entire space. Every now and then, there would be flares.

How did it get the skill? Was that like some kind of basic racial or species ability, if it didn�t have a soul spring and the stones that signify the skills around it?

Clearly, this exposed one flaw of my understanding of the soul system. Sure, if you gained levels, the skills you gained were around the soul spring. But for these demons, they didn�t seem to be gaining levels, and they also didn�t seem to have a soul. They resembled automatons, machines, and yet they were not.

So, where were the skills? Or was it something elsewhere? Or if they were some extraterrestrials like the Earth heroes, then they must have had a mind somewhere that helped them to do things. Or was it biological, in the sense that their abilities were not born out of skill but out of their physical design?

Again, the flaw of my understanding was quite obvious. My biolab allowed me to look at their inner structures, if they had one. This worked well with the natives of this world, since they had souls. But with demons, they didn�t seem to have one, and using this biolab to examine them, in hindsight, was clearly an incomplete picture of the whole story.

But!

I did know that when I flooded their bodies with my mana, like with the demon walker, and prior to that, with the hellhounds and Alexis, I was able to take control of them. So it was either this soul thing existed as a higher - order control system, and the demon�s base structure was on a lower tier. or something. I didn�t know what.

I needed a living specimen.

These dead demonic trees were not good enough.

But the survivors were not able to capture a demon while alive. They did not have the strength to do so, and it was too high risk for them.

- You could dig and reclaim the area around a demon tree and then, uh, capture it that way? - Lozanna suggested. In short, encircle and siege.

Which was exactly what I did. Over twenty years, these demon trees had massively proliferated and they occupied huge chunks of the terrain. And it wasn�t hard to find many of these demontrees near our valley.

It took a bit of time, but essentially I would go around the target, and then once I trapped it, I would spawn a Giant Attendant Tree next to it and pull the targeted demontree into the biolab inside my tree.

And soon I had live specimens in my labs.

The survivors had been trying to message any nearby civilizations, but they had no idea who survived, so all their messages so far bounced. They wanted to try cities that were farther away, too, but those weren�t getting anywhere thanks to the interference from the demonic sludge. The survivors were in a meeting.

- We know which direction the demon king came from, - one survivor presented, and he pointed. - So, logically, if we head in the other direction, we will eventually find lands untouched by the corruption. I don�t believe the demon king destroyed the entire world. -

- Why not? We don�t know whether anything survived! -

Of course I did. Five heroes survived that demon king and went on to beat the next two demon kings, too! Surely, there were survivors.

- Still, I propose a squad of us go on an expedition. -

- We can�t even get far without losing people, and you want an expedition? -

- Yes! I�m pretty sure we�re not at the center of things, so we must be closer to the edge. And beyond the edge must be normalcy! Don�t you all want that? -

- Hmm. that�s true. - Lozanna nodded. - I agree with it. -

Yura shook his head. - I prefer we play it safe, ask A/ to clear a path for us toward that direction. -

- It�ll take too long, - Lozanna said. And some of the other survivors agreed. - We need to get in touch with civilization as fast as we can. If it�s up to A/ , it�ll be years before we get there. You know it�s true, Uncle. -

- But it is safe. Think about it, you want to face all the monsters out there? We�ve seen so many. -

- We�ve faced them before, - a survivor said. He too was one of the capped - out fighters. Level seventy - five. - And we�re high level. We can survive this. -

- Have you guys actually thought this through? Where are you going to live? What are you going to eat? The terrain is not what it was. -

- Better than being trapped in here for the past twenty years, Yura . Some of us have decided we want to see civilization again. It�s worth a shot. -

Yura frowned.

Lozanna agreed with that group. - Uncle. He�s right. We can�t stay here forever, and the fact is we need to rebuild the lines of communication. Get help. Find some people who�d be able to get us out of this mess. The town is no more, and the people deserve better. -

- At what risk? You can�t protect all of them. -

- But staying here as it is isn�t a way to live. We�ve been here for decades! -

- A/ �s getting there. -

- A/ �s going to take forever, - a survivor said. - No disrespect, but A/ works on different timescales. We�d be having kids before we are out of this place. It�s been more than two years since A/ woke up, and we�re still just clearing up the surrounding area. -

- We�re making slow, defensible progress. We can protect this place. -

- It�s too slow. Two years, Yura . For some of the centaurs and dwarves, it�s a big chunk of their lives. I know it means less to the elves. But they�ve already spent twenty years here, and another two years since. Let us go. -

Yura frowned. This was a common issue, in the fact that people of different life expectancies had different perceptions of the value of time. Like, two years for an elf that could live to five hundred to eight hundred years was different from a centaur or dwarf that usually lived up to one hundred fifty to two hundred.

Yura wasn�t too happy, but the survivors were split into those too afraid to take the risk and were willing to stay here, and those who believed it was worth a shot to get back their normal lives by making a trek across the hostile terrain, with their warriors protecting them. So Yura walked away.

- A small group is easier to protect. We have enough preserved food and our familiars can continue to produce fruits, - one of the survivors said.

Lozanna nodded. She asked for some beetles to accompany them, but the demonic sludge�s interference meant their operating range was limited. Go farther and they�d just shut down.

A day after they had that discussion, Lozanna came and talked to me.

- A/ . -

- Yes? - I was still studying the demonic trees at that time.

- I�m going to leave the valley. -

- I know. - I was still processing the matter. I didn�t know how to react. I mean, I just woke up. Okay, just was relative, because to me, it felt like I just woke up, but the survivors had a point; it was two years for them. Two wasted years, in a way. For two years, the world zoomed past them, and I could see why they wanted to rejoin society again.

- Are you. mad, A/ ? - she asked.

- You used to call me. TreeTree. - I wasn�t sure what made me say that.

- Ah. I�m already thirty - nine, A/ . - She looked a bit embarrassed. - It�s. been a long time. -

For me, I felt awkward. In my mind, she was still a child. I felt like it was yesterday that I saw her as a teenager, and now, at thirty - nine, she was pretty much an elven adult. I couldn�t accept that. No, I must accept that. People changed. Everyone changed. It was foolish of me to expect anyone to stay the same for years or, what�s more, decades.

- We�re always here, Master, - Trevor added. - We have gained levels, but we are the same. - Well, except them. And my fellow trees, who were as eternal as I was.

- Well, this was something I�ve been hoping to do, and I�ve waited years for it, - she said. - Remember when I used to say I wanted to visit the other spirits? -

Ah, yes. It was just yesterday for me. Really.

- Well, I don�t want it anymore. -

- Huh? -

- I had so many years to think about stuff, - Lozanna went on. This was. nostalgic. I recalled my earlier days in Freeka, when it was a small village, when the elves used to always sit down next to me and talk about their affairs. About how they felt about life in general. How Casshern used to make comments about the younger elves, or even Laufen then, about her worries of childbirth.

Lozanna paused a moment. She was in my secret hideout, the place that was once her old room. Nothing had changed in the room, but she had. She touched the things that she once used.

- Twenty - two years, A/ . In that long period of time, I felt broken. I felt robbed of my opportunity to travel the world. I was angry, A/ . Angry. So mad that the world did this, that our world, this stupid, stupid world, would be so self - destructive. That demons constantly came for us, and for what? We don�t even know why we are here, serving as fodders and decorations for the heroes and demons eternal conflict. It didn�t make sense. -

- It doesn�t. -

- But there wasn�t much I could do about the demons and heroes. Not with my powers. So after my anger, I grieved for my lost time. I felt sad. I felt lost. I wondered what the purpose of living was, A/ . Have you ever felt like that? Wondering why do you even exist in the world, like. why was I born into this world? I wanted reason. I wanted to know. I wanted to see a bigger picture. -

Well. honestly, for me, it was an accident. One that I accepted quite willingly, which was extremely strange in hindsight. How did I accept it so easily?

- Maybe it�s different for you, because you�re this great tree spirit that�s always been here. But for me, I felt lost. I have this. power. Your gift. But why? Why did the fates conspire for me to receive such gifts and power? And yet it�s insufficient in the face of such great evils. So I wallowed in that misery for a few years, every day just fighting the damned demonic monsters that came for our lives. -

Okay.

- But I eventually moved past that grief and into acceptance. I�ve accepted that I�ve lost twenty - two years being here in the valley. So I spent time just honing my skills. Even if our levels are capped out, it�s still possible to upgrade our skills to be stronger versions. And now my goal is different. I just want to see the world and appreciate what�s out there. I mean. I�ve accepted that I�m not a hero. -

What? Okay, how was that related?

- Surviving this disaster, then hitting my level cap. I realized that I wasn�t meant to be a hero and that, well, life�s not that great. You know, before this whole thing, I used to think I was special. I mean, Mom told me I was special, and everyone treated me like I was special because I had your special powers, and I even believed I was special. But I�ve come to accept that I am not that special. Special, but not much. -

- Well, that�s not a bad place to be. -

- Yeah. It isn�t. I wanted more at a point, but I believe it�s not really what I actually want. So. A/ . Uhm, TreeTree. I will leave with the group that wants to make the journey. I had to have this conversation with you, because I recalled how well you treated me and all these special powers and blessings you�ve given me. I�m leaving, and I want to thank you. -

Huh.

- Thank you, A/ . For all you�ve done for me so far. But it is time I go out there and find my own place in the world. It may not be much, but I�d like to think I�m like a bird. Finally freed of this cage, I should try to fly away. Maybe I might return, or maybe I may just drop by, but I have to take this chance. -

I felt. betrayed. And yet I felt that feeling of betrayal was wrong. I was a tree, and it was normal that animals occasionally stopped by, and maybe in the larger scheme of things, everyone was just a transient contact for the tree.

She waited.

I didn�t know how to feel. Was this reality for a tree?

It didn�t feel that long ago that I thought she was going to be loyal to me! This was betrayal! BETRAYAL!

Or was it? I mean, why did I feel like I owned her? I didn�t. Even if I helped her and watched her grow up, did that mean I owned her? Was I like a parent that watched a child grow up, and now that the child had grown up, the parent refused to let go?

But if I lost even her, then who could I trust?

I felt frustrated. And it was then some quotes from my human days came.

- If you love someone, set them free. -

So corny, and yet something told me this was the truth. Strange. I had trust issues, clearly. Was that why my relationships as Matt failed? How did I trust her?

- A/ ? - she asked. I thought she waited for half an hour already.

I inwardly sighed. I shouldn�t be like this. Was this me being upset and possessive? I was a freaking tree, damn it. Shouldn�t I be more magnanimous? What would Treebeard do? What would Grandmother Willow do?

- Ah. Go, Lozanna . It is fine. -

Even though I said those words, it felt difficult. I didn�t quite accept that time moved so slowly for the rest of them and so quickly for me. It was strange and uncomfortable to think others had far different expectations of the world and their life and that I couldn�t expect loyalty from them. At least, not on a longer term.

Was this why Lilies was a lot more big picture about things? They weren�t attached to individuals, and maybe because it was like that whole elf thing in The Lord of the Rings: we were doomed to watch those we loved grow old and die before us. Was this our fate for living so long?

- Are you sure, A/ ? - Lozanna asked.

No, I wasn�t sure. Why couldn�t I let go? I didn�t own her! I wasn�t even her parent, but then, I had showered her with powers and care. Was it because my investment, my sunk cost, that I cared that now she was pulling away? If so, I should�ve seen it coming.

So I decided to speak to Laufen, her mom. Twenty years had passed, but she�d aged only slightly.

- Lozanna is finally leaving. -

- Yes, A/ . It�s something I�ve always expected to happen. I remember they used to say that young adult elves have a calling to see the world, to see more of it. It�s something they must do to get it out of their system. I remember I used to do it, then I met Ricola and settled down. -

Oh. An elven thing. Was it like humans back home, where parents kicked their children out once they turned twenty - one?

- I hear human adults have that, too, though like us, it is stronger in some than the rest. -

- And you are not sad or worried or, well, disappointed? -

- Children must grow up, and Lozanna has been talking of this day for many years. Trapped in this valley for so long, it is quite a waste for her. Besides, how would she find a mate if she doesn�t visit the other elven cities? I�m sure I�ll still be worried sick, though. -

Trapped? But they were here with me! Okay, that was a fairly selfish and ignorant statement. I was a tree. I was a freaking one - hundred - year - old tree. I should act like one.

Lozanna was still in her room. I decided to just calm myself down and, well, do some breathing exercise. For a tree, that meant actually taking in the air and making oxygen, I supposed. I had to let her go, or should I force her to stay?

- Would you ever consider staying? -

Lozanna paused very briefly. - Maybe after I�m done? -

YEAR 109

Just like that, she was gone. A group of four hundred of them went on a quest to find the nearest surviving civilization. They packed up after months of preparing and finally set out when the weather was slightly less hostile.

I didn�t know when I�d see her again, or ever. I recalled those who left me usually died. But oh well. A choice had been made, and she had to live with it.

I didn�t know what lay out there, but maybe she would reach the edge way faster than I would. I was constrained by the terrain; I couldn�t move forward without clearing the demonic corruption that contaminated my path.

I tried slowly and worked to upgrade my Giant Attendant Trees so that they could help absorb and process the demonic corruption. It was a very long process and not very successful, so I went back to researching the demonic trees.

I had two main ideas of getting myself out of this place, and they overlapped in a way.

One was what I was doing presently: dispersing and processing the demonic mana using my super - high demonic resistance. Problem was this hinged on me having a high - level natural healing and demonic resistance from my hero shards, which was unique to my main body, and the benefits were only partly shared by my other trees. I wanted to upgrade the various healing and endurance abilities of my subordinate trees such that they had higher demonic resistance, better base healing, and toughness such that they could play my current role to a lesser extent.

To use an analogy, it was as if I and my other trees were made of water, and the demonic corruption was fire. Right now, my other trees couldn�t withstand the fire, so they just burned down before putting out any of the water. I had a finite amount of water I could produce, and the water I produced was used to fight the fires, kind of like what a fireman did facing a wildfire. If I had more water than fire at the boundary, I could expand that boundary. If not, my boundary would shrink. It was quite like fighting a perpetually growing wildfire, come to think of it.

So I must have stronger, tougher trees that could also produce that water to help fight the fire. This restored the land to what it was, too.

The other area of focus was something a little more inspired by my recent fascination with these demonic hybrid plants.

If I could not expand the safe areas and recover the corrupted lands, could I coexist with it such that my trees and roots all gained an ability to grow on these corrupted lands, instead of being blocked by it? It was a difficult endeavor, and my initial attempts at studying the live demon-trees were quite good.

I would need to figure out how to either be able to control the demonic trees or assimilate some of their natural attributes and qualities, which could then allow me to enhance my existing trees to better operate in the demonic terrain.

Going back to that earlier analogy, instead of looking at fire as the problem, I was attempting to create plants that could operate in fire or absorb fire instead of fighting it. Far harder than it sounded, since I was essentially attempting to graft demonic biology onto my trees.

But I thought it was possible. The fact that hybrids could exist meant I could create hybrids. Certainly possible in theory.

This idea, of course, was hugely opposed by the trees in the valley. They abhorred it. I could sense their rejection of the idea and that earlier duty to just restore the land to what it was before.

Duty. Responsibility.

The more it was imposed on me, the more I resisted it. Or was this just me after I woke up? I recalled being sucked in by the powers and influences of my fellow trees. Did the Domain make me more aware of all these influences and yet, at the same time, attempt to influence me?

So strange. It was a duty: restore and clear the world of demonic corruption.

Which I did. I mean, I resisted the thought of being told to do things, but I understood the principles of it, and so I did it anyway.

I supposed I was like a petulant child that hated to be told to do something but knew that it needed to be done, so I did it. How immature. I was a hundred - year - old tree. Now wasn�t the time to mentally regress and act like a child.

There was now a sizable area that�d been cleared of demonic influence around my valley, so much so that some of the survivors were now moving outside to live there. Once the corruption was cleared, the weather too quickly returned to normal. It seemed the corruption and the demonic vegetation did generate a microclimate, as predicted.

It was about as large as the former territory of New Freeka, so a semblance of normalcy had returned to the area.

Yet the corruption stretched far and wide, and there were more demonic monsters to attend to.

Every day we would be attacked, and our beetles would be at the forefront of the battle. Luckily, Horns was back in business after a few months of recovery. And he�d been incredibly chirpy.

- It�s totally awesome, - Horns said. - All I do all day is fight all these demons! I can�t level up anymore, but still, it�s awesome! I love fighting! -

I didn�t realize I�d created a combat maniac in Horns.

- Master, perhaps more Artificial Souls will help with the reclamation of the corrupted lands. We do produce some mana, or if some of us are dedicated mana - producing trees. -

I had been drawing mana from all the normal trees anyway, but they were not as effective against the demonic corruption as my own. I was guessing that was because my mana had anti - demonic properties.

What I did need was a massive mana cauldron. I pulled the mana to my main body and attempted to mix it. Maybe I could infuse the anti - demon qualities into the mana generated by normal trees. It was sufficient, previously, because I had the advantage. With the demon walkers, with Alexis, I could constantly draw on more trees to overwhelm whatever creature.

But the changed terrain limited the number of trees and cut off my connection to the volcano and the ley line, two of my bigger sources of mana. Now, I needed to squeeze a bit more efficiency and performance out of every drop of mana, to do more with less. Thankfully, I�d also been able to get my soul forge back online now that the surrounding area had been cleared of demonic corruption and replaced with a thick forest.

And so I experimented with mana in my main body, just like how I used to do it with my soul forge. I added star mana to the mix, too. I still only had three hundred star mana, but mixing star mana, my own mana, and the mana produced by the normal trees, the effectiveness of pushing back the demonic energy increased by a few multiples. Good enough to keep the expansion going.

We had not heard anything from the group that left, but it was fine. I thought it�d be years before we got news from them.

Food - wise, as the forest started to reclaim the land, the gods started to work their magic and regular monsters and animals started appearing again. I mean, it was really just divine spawning ability.

And with regular monsters and animals, meat started to return to the survivors diets. A welcome relief, really, and the remaining survivors now looked a lot better.

Although I felt sad that so many decided that they had enough of being here for over twenty years, I supposed I should then focus on those who remained instead. After all, although four hundred had left, three thousand still remained!

That was a big amount of people who�d decided to stick with me rather than go away.

With meat, proper lodging, and a bit more space and time for activities, the survivors were, of course, much happier.

- Well. why didn�t you leave, Laufen? Go with your daughter? - I asked Laufen one day.

- Nah. I�m too old for that. -

- As an elf, you still look really young. Elven agelessness is amazing. You should be able to go. -

- I�ll just hold Lozanna back from her adventure. It�s her coming - of - age moment. Me as her mom, I should just stay out of her way. She�d hate me if I tagged along. Besides, I am really quite content being protected and safe! -

- Really? -

- It�s better for her that I stay here, where I am safe. It�ll put her at ease that her mom is under your protection. She wouldn�t have made the decision to go if you weren�t around. -

Hmm, true. I supposed I�d become the safe harbor for her to come back to.

There were few children among the survivors. The young that grew up didn�t think of having kids, not in this hostile environment. Some did, of course. Perhaps an accident, or perhaps they didn�t care, but the more rational of them chose not to. It was a tough choice. I imagined it was like, well, how would you even know if you and your family would even have food or proper shelter? But I guessed that was also partly due to elves, centaurs being more rational than humans, who would just fuck and get pregnant regardless of the situation. It was more draining on their body, perhaps?

Many were now finally considering it, convinced by the recent three years of safety, comfort, and stability, and many approached me for advice on whether they should have kids.

I had yet to study the effects of pregnancy between different types of species. Would I then be the first pregnancy doctor? I mean, surely the effects of childbirth of different species were worth studying, and there was probably no worldwide compilation of various herbal and traditional remedies and therapies.

I digressed.

But I said sure. I would support and feed their young should they fail to.

It was not much anyway.

- Are you here to gloat? - the two heroes asked.

- Not really. I came to talk, as usual. With the demon, if possible. -

- WHAT. DO. YOU. WANT? - They instantly turned to the demonic voice.

- Tell me something. What would make you stop coming to our world? -

- GOD. MOTHER. PLANET. STOP. THEM. -

- Stop the gods. Kill the gods. Sounds impossible to me. - I shrugged. I was a tree; killing the gods didn�t sound like something I could do. - Then why do you come every ten years? -

- ANCIENT. MAGIC. RULES. -

Oh. Okay. There was a magical rule behind it?

Well, I didn�t even know whether the words of this demon could be trusted. It could�ve lied to me.

I mean, we must assume a demon or evil creature had no incentive to tell the truth, but let�s consider that if it spoke the truths, there were some key points.

There was an ancient magical rule that clearly whatever god or thing that controlled these demons had to follow. I could therefore surmise that this ancient magic existed above the gods, and so the gods of this world were not entirely omnipotent or omniscient, and it may actually be possible to stop them.

Next was that they conflated the god with mother and planet. Their homeworld�s god was probably some kind of earth - god, then? Something like a nativist conscience like the will of a groupmind like Alpha Centauri again? Or perhaps it was a tree mind taken to the extreme? A global network of trees that functioned as a planetary scale neural network and brain?

Or were those spires some kind of artificial intelligence and they were collectively a super AI, and the demon kings sent to us were their version of Terminators?

Or more fantasy - aligned, just an evil sleeping god and the demons were its worshippers?

- What rules? -

- ANCIENT. -

- Why? Who? -

- ANCIENT. -

- Who is GOD? -

- GOD. MOTHER. PLANET. -

If I had the power, I really should catch a demon king and try to talk to it. I felt like I was talking to some rudimentary chatbot from the earlier years of my life. I was stuck in some kind of conversation loop despite trying to ask more. This was probably the lowest - level answer they could give.

With that, the demonic voice faded and the two trapped heroes returned.

- Well, did you learn anything? - The two heroes looked quite annoyed. - We didn�t, and honestly, it really does sound like some kind of computer program. It�s really simplistic in its logic once you get it. -

- So you understand the demon now? - I asked the hero.

- To some extent. It just wants to grow, and build, and do whatever its mother asked of it. -

- Mother, not god? -

- It feels like a mother rather than a god. It nagged. -

I smiled and probably would�ve chuckled if I could.

- You�re not going to help free us? - Simone asked.

- . maybe? - I thought long and hard about this, even though I rejected the divine mission. I didn�t want the gods to start having influence over me. But should I still help them, then? - I probably can�t free you. -

- Oh. -

I probably could guide the few surviving heroes to them to help free them. But I chose not to reveal this to them. The demon was always listening, and I wondered what it would do with such knowledge.

Yeah. I probably could get the other heroes to free them rather than me doing it personally. They were mobile and would have the right skills for it. The heroes had every reason to help their fellow friends, didn�t they?

As the year approached its end, I had a small breakthrough with my demonic tree research.

Skill: Hybrid - botany

Able to communicate and cultivate hybrid trees.

Hell yeah.

I tried it out. Even though it was supposed to be winter, the localized effects caused by the demonic trees meant it was an exceptionally warm winter. So warm that it was probably like spring.

Well, all I got was spam.

It was nostalgic. Like when I had rootnet for the first time and all the grass and trees started giving me weird shit. It�d take some time before I understood these demonic trees.

- Is our combat ability significantly impacted by Lozanna �s departure? -

- With you back. no, - Yura said. - Lozanna is strong, but there are a lot of us who are level eighty. Me, Nero, one of the captains, there are easily fifteen people left who are now level seventy - five to level eighty who can play her role to a lesser degree. Her key advantage is that her special familiar has a lesser version of your power, so without you, her aura was key in reducing our casualties. -

Hmm.

- Everyone�s replaceable, I suppose. - Yura laughed out of nowhere. - I mean, that�s how it always has been, right? That�s why so many kings raise so many different children. You never know which one turns out a little crazy. -

It was risk management not to put all your eggs in one basket. But even for people?

- I suppose if you could give your special familiar to more of us, that would really help us. I guess the Valthorns were a step in that direction, until that day came. -

You know, maybe the kings had the right idea. I focused too much on developing Lozanna , and I lost track that Lozanna was also partly meant to be my first try at doing this at a larger scale.

I was a tree, and my domain was nature. Grow, strengthen, cultivate. I should now use what I�d learned from all these years to massively expand that program.

If I was to rebuild, I should do some things differently, and some things bigger and better. I had Yura , Lozanna , and a few others as my elite, then. In hindsight, I should�ve thought on a larger scale.

Like any nation or even a large company, talent scouting, hiring, development, and retention were an ongoing affair, constantly expanding to meet future needs. I somehow got sucked into the minutiae and messed up on the bigger picture. I needed a proper process for this, and on a larger scale, some dropouts and loss like Lozanna �s departure were just part of the natural attrition of any large body of people.

Scale. What else should I do on a larger scale?

YEAR 110

Another year. Time passed really quickly these days. I thought it was the effect of the curse. Even if I was awake, I felt as if it wasn�t totally gone. It was somewhat like nursing a mild headache, and I never quite felt like I was at my 100 percent state.

I supposed this was what a curse felt like, and that was why Yura never quite performed at his best when he had the curse. I wondered whether that princess I saved last time, the one that still had a bit of the curse left, was still alive. Maybe she�d died since Baroosh was destroyed. She, too, had a curse, and so did Meela, at least until that hero removed it.

Curses could be removed, and they could also heal naturally.

So my curse was one of overexposure to demonic mana. It was honestly very similar to the princess who had overexposure to void mana. Therefore, treating the curse was likely to be similar to the princess. In the case of the princess, her soul spring was wrecked, destroyed by the exposure to void mana, and so she was dying. In my case.

My soul spring was not destroyed, so I was able to survive those twenty - plus years. But perhaps it was damaged, and if damaged, I would have to find out how to mend my own soul spring. All this was conjecture; I didn�t even know if my soul spring was damaged yet.

After a while, my musings led me nowhere, and I attempted to find out.

I mean, I�d never seen my own soul spring. It was kind of like asking a doctor to self - diagnose. Not exactly possible to be objective about it, and I may have certain bias, too! But oh well, I needed to know whether something�s wrong with me and how to fix this curse!

I thought at lengths about whether it was possible to build a soul forge that was aimed at me while being powered by me. If the soul was the engine of the individual, then like a car engine, I must be able to add sensors, readings, thermometers, and all, and from that gain a sense of what�s happening.

- That analogy may not be the most suitable one, Master, - Trevor commented. - It�s more of the driver trying to figure out what�s wrong with the driver. If I may, it is similar to trying to figure out whether the driver is sick from the way he is driving. -

- Uh. - That was. how�d he do that? Was he using my memories?

- Yes, Master. We have access to your memories. -

Still, I tried.

I did something similar to a meditative state, trying to feel my own body and be one with myself. It was like Buddha meditating under a Bodhi tree, only, well, I was the tree.

And my senses were once again assaulted by the demonic mana. After all, the edges of my network of roots and trees were a constant battlefield, where the mixed mana produced by me and my fellow trees faced off against the demonic mana.

- Not working, - I mused to myself after about one month of constant meditation. In hindsight, it was obvious. I wasn�t able to meditate myself out of the curse, so why would it work now? - Any suggestions, Trevor? -

- Before you go there, Master, I would like to remind you of the things you wanted to do last year and the years before, which was to work on expanding your mana pool, improve the efficiency and effectiveness of your mana, work on your experiments on the hybrid demon trees, and also develop even more Lozanna - class individuals. -

Once again, my scatterbrain reared its head.

- May I add, Master, you have yet to decide on a vocation for your two contracted souls, Yvon and Eriz. You backed away from turning them into Mana Farms. -

- That wasn�t the most effective use of their skills. - I had a lot of thinking to do. I mean, this soul contract should be extremely overpowered since the person retained their memories. Even if they died, I could reuse their souls constantly. An individual who gained a ton of experience and therefore could retry different things at each life would be super powerful.

That was, after all, what made reincarnators like myself, or even heroes, super powerful, because their existing body of knowledge was brought over to their next life! So, as I wondered what happened as my soul contractors died, it appeared. The dreaded notification.

No penalty for first death. For subsequent deaths, one - year time penalty will be imposed and doubled with each subsequent death. One - third of all memories are wiped with each death after this first. No penalty on reassignment, as not considered as death.

Ah. The system wasn�t stupid, after all.

So, in a way, it was best to use their living knowledge and match it to somewhere where they could be most useful.

So I assigned Eriz, the maid that was responsible for caring for Roma all this while, to a subsidiary tree that was focused as a childcare area, and she took the form of a Nursery Tree . I wanted someone dedicated to look after the new children that the survivors would have and feed them supplements to make strong, high - potential individuals to support my future Lozanna - class project. Yes. Lozanna - class was a name for an individual at that grade. I imagined the Lozanna class to be something like the Corvette - class, and I would like to eventually reach Battleships and Aircraft Carriers.

As for Yvon, I fused her into one of the Training Trees , creating a different version of Treeiner. This was because she did have a long stint serving in the Valthorns as their guide and trainer, and she had good combat skills that I wanted her to pass on to the next generation. Though we didn�t agree with each other, she had some wisdom and knowledge of the world that would definitely contribute to a more holistic education and training for the next batch.

- I won�t have to care for people for a long time, - they both said, noting that the population of young children was extremely small. The survivors were almost all adults now. It�d been twenty years, and there was no immigration from abroad to fix the lopsided population pyramid.

- That�s fine. - I would think they needed some time to get used to their new bodies and their newfound abilities. I wanted to monitor what they could do. I had initially just let Meela and Alexis somewhat free rein, and I must admit my awareness of what Meela did was close to none. - You can provide training to the existing people. Consider it a gym. -

- How about me? It�ll be some time before any of them have kids, - Eriz mentally responded. She found her new body awkward. All of them did, since they were far too used to humanoid forms.

- Create supplements for the new moms. I�m sure they need to boost their body to take on the load of having children. -

- These two. trees are Yvon and Eriz? - Yura seemed extremely perplexed when I informed him of what I�d done.

- Yes. -

- I didn�t know you could do that. - Yura seemed to think about it at length.

- Lady Mika was one. -

- Oh. - After a while, he asked, - So if. if I were to have a soul contract with you, and I died, you could, in practice, make me into a tree? -

- Yes. -

He paused, and then of course, he quickly told Laufen about this, and soon the entire group of survivors knew about it. And then some interesting comments emerged.

- Well, I know the elves used to say that when we die, we return to the trees, but I didn�t expect it to be a literal statement. I always imagined it was more of a figure of speech. -

- What did they give for that? - Yura asked later that day.

- For Eriz, it was a punishment for luring an army here. For Yvon, she traded her soul for a patch of grapes and blessings on the land for her winery project. -

- Really. Was I there when that happened? -

- Yes. - I recalled Yura was in the same room. He was quiet for a moment.

- Lozanna got one? -

- No. -

Yura breathed a sigh of relief.

- I trust her. -

- That�s good to hear. I. I don�t think we want to be turned into trees, like. literally. -

Was it? It wasn�t that bad. Yvon�s Training Tree had a humanoid - shaped tutor that was able to verbally communicate once she gained a few levels. For now, as a level - one training tree, she was just like a combat dummy that was unable to talk. Eriz, I was not sure whether she would eventually gain the ability to talk, but I wouldn�t be surprised if she could. What was so bad about trees?

Trees didn�t really need to eat; we could generally regenerate almost all our body parts, and well, we could keep growing! What was not to like?

- Did you offer it to Lozanna ? -

- No. Why? -

- Ah. am I right to say this is more of a punishment than a reward? -

- You could say that. I have rarely offered the soul contract. -

Yura looked relieved, and then he changed the topic. - Good, good. So. children. That�s the plan for them? -

- Yes. We will have more children, and they need to grow up strong. I hope to make them as strong as Lozanna , if not more. -

- Ah. Planning for the long term. -

- Yes. -

Then Yura spoke about some other priorities, such as weapons for the survivors. Over the past few years, as the responsibilities for defense shifted to my army of beetles, the survivors were able to take a break from combat. Still, it didn�t escape anyone�s notice that they all needed anti - demon weapons, and that was something Lozanna had requested from me before she left. All her spears were damaged or broken over the decades. I dedicated some time to equip the remaining survivors with anti - demon weapons.

Over the past few years, the repairs to the general environment had been ongoing. This meant things like farms, houses, outhouses, gardens, things that generally contributed to happiness.

Some even asked for the Tree of Prayers . I gladly made one, again.

I went back to the next topic on Trevor�s list.

- Hybrid demon trees. -

I had a dilemma with them. If it was to be seen and known that I had some limited ability to control these demonic trees, would the outsiders suddenly suspect that I, too, might be a demon? After all, I already had demonfire on the top of my branches like Hades; it wouldn�t be a stretch for these narrow - minded natives to suspect that I was perhaps a demon, and that would make me a target of the world�s temples and kingdoms.

Yet understanding and controlling them were key to my attempts of breaking out of this place. If I could break them free of the demon�s controls, I would be able to accelerate my expansion. And I didn�t trust any of the survivors to not leak this fact to the outside world, and that was not because I doubted them. This world clearly had mind - controlling and mind - reading magic. The fact that the demons were able to access the heroes memories was obvious enough.

So, some things must be kept absolutely secret. Just like the fact that I was also an Earther.

My newfound abilities over the hybrid - botany meant I could vaguely, very vaguely, influence them. It was not yet outright controlled, like with the regular trees. We spoke different languages, and I was just a beginner in their language.

I would need more time with them. Secretly.

- Mana. - Trevor read out the list. - Mana processing, mana efficiency, mana allocation. - Yes. Mana. That juice that powered all the living beings of this world. That involved working on the Giant Attendant Trees to create super - mana farms.

- List of repairs. Grand Mind Tree. - Trevor went onto the next item. - We�ll need resources for this, Master. Which we do not have. - I wondered whether I could configure the Grand Mind Tree into a diagnostic program to check me, since it did have the ability to reduce the effects of any mind control on me, so it should have some kind of scanning ability to identify what the curse did to me.

- Inventory items. Forest Rod. - I wanted to keep the forest rod for any magical ley line I found, in order to get access to other kinds of soul forge colors. Though I believed they would�ve been extremely useful in converting this general area back to normal, I still thought the forest rod�s unique ability to capture special magical locations should not be wasted on just any regular sludge and corruption.

Well, unless I found the main source or node of this corruption, then I would want to use the rod. I mean, I�d risk it for the chance to convert the entire corrupted continent into my domain. That would just be awesome.

- Preparations for the next demon king? - Trevor asked. - Would that be something of concern? -

- Yes. We have to be prepared. - Though, if something like this happened again, what could I have done differently? Well. I honestly had no answer to this. If this corruption happened again, what could I have done?

As the year drifted ever closer to its end, a group of survivors returned, about thirty of them. Their return was met with a massive celebration.

- A/ , - the leader of the returned survivors spoke. - There is civilization out there. After four months of travelling, we finally got out of the corrupted area and made contact with a kingdom. Only our continent suffered significant damage from the corruption, and many are amazed that a pocket of us survived in the middle of the Rottedlands. -

- Rottedlands? - Yura and the rest of the survivors asked. They were very interested in the outside world.

- Yes. The outsiders refer to the entirety of the corruption as the Rottedlands. Well, it differs by region, but most call it the Rottedlands or the Blightlands. Many that we�ve met are interested in forming diplomatic relationships with us, but the terrain is too hostile unless the group is at least level fifty and above and has the ability to create their own food and filter water, since there�s nothing to harvest for a whole two months, and there�s no clean water anywhere in the entirety of the Rottedlands. -

- How many did we lose? - a Remainer asked.

- Of the four hundred, we lost one hundred on the journey out. We lost twenty on our way back, even after we came with better equipment and supplies. -

- How�s Lozanna ? - Laufen asked.

- Lozanna is fine. She and a small group of the younger ones are on a journey to the other cities and kingdoms. But more importantly, we have a map. - The returned men unfurled a massive map that indicated the edges of the Rottedlands, and as Yura described it to me, it seemed Lilies was so far away that she wasn�t harmed.

But my other forest and the Verdant Volcano were both in the range of the Rottedlands. Were they destroyed?

I only lost connection, but I didn�t get a message that Dimitree was destroyed. What about the Verdant Volcano?

The map was important for a few reasons. One, it showed the shortest path to civilization, where the edges of the Rottedlands and where Freeka once were. Next, well, who we wanted to form any sort of diplomatic relationship with. As it was, it was a large distance, and I may be able to open one path out of the Rottedlands. Maybe a few more once I got stronger.

On the flipside, I may also not open a path, such that the Rottedlands formed a natural moat or barrier. After all, the prospect of marching an army through these Rottedlands would greatly discourage any attempts to invade us.

So who and how we exposed and declared our presence was important. And I needed to balance this with other aspects of my long - term plans.

The demon king incident was my first but certainly wouldn�t be the last one I faced. If I lived for hundreds of thousands of years, as great old trees often did, then I must consider the plans to prevent such events over the longer period.

Sure, the first time wasn�t really my fault, but if I let it happen to me more than a few times, that was entirely on me.

The heroes and the demon king were part of a continuous cycle and therefore were a predictable, preventable crisis.

What could I do?

Find ways to let them fight it out elsewhere far from civilization and nature? How could I prevent them from destroying all the gains made by the jungles and forests? All the destroyed natural habitats?

That involved knowing, no, influencing where the demon king and heroes appeared. That was. unlikely.

Or should I aid the heroes such that they killed the demon king as soon as possible? I had hesitated in participating in this conflict, but as I predicted previously, it came for me whether I liked it or not.

Or could I. kill the demon king myself? How did the demon kings die so quickly? Was there some trick? I clearly needed to investigate this hex power and see whether I could make a safer version for myself. Like Clean Nuclear!

So. how should we approach the future? It came for us.

Hex. And I would need to gather power to slay the demon king myself. Only with power could we preserve nature. Without power, nature would just remain a setting for their conflict.

YEAR 111

- I didn�t think that the great protector of New Freeka lived, - Harris said as he arrived at the edges of my restored valley. He came with a group one hundred strong. - The rumors of the survivors are true, after all. Good decision, Commander. -

A commander bowed next to him. They saw the field of normal green trees. - Indeed. I wonder where they have hidden the past twenty years. -

- Perhaps they were biding their time. -

- All right, let�s stop. We�re in their territory now, - Harris said.

- Yes, Your Highness. - They nodded, and the group of one hundred moved nimbly. They were clearly well trained and of a decent level. They didn�t look like guards, and they were armed with magical star mana�enchanted weapons.

Yura went to meet them, along with one hundred other survivors.

- Stop. Who goes there? - Yura and all were well - armed, but their equipment paled in comparison. In a straight fight, they would�ve lost easily. Still, they were alerted to these visitors, and they moved quickly.

- This is the entourage of His Holiness, the Emperor Harris the First, Slayer of the Demon King, Supreme Ruler of the Harrisan Empire, and you stand before the Emperor himself. It would be wise to kneel, peasant, - one of the men said. He leaped ahead with his armor gleaming, showing off his enchanted gear.

Yura shrugged. He hadn�t lost his distaste for royals. - Greetings, Emperor Harris. You walk on the blessed lands of A/ the Ageless, the great Tree Spirit and Defender of the Valley. We, the believers of the true spirit of the land, kneel before no king or royal. -

The man was quickly offended and wanted to attack, but then Harris stepped in. - Greetings. Pardon my entourage. Their zeal to glorify my name is but a minor crime. Truly, does A/ still live? -

Yura shrugged. - We�ve never doubted him. But it seemed that the outsiders have. -

Harris laughed. He was no longer a child now, a man in his late thirties, yet the glow of his heroic presence was unmistakable. He was equipped from head to toe for war, every item he wielded radiating enormous amounts of star mana. It would not be out of place if anyone assumed he was preparing to face the demon king.

- What brings you here, Emperor? -

- Watch your words, - one of Harris�s lackeys interrupted.

Yura ignored it. Harris took a step forward. - I stayed very briefly in New Freeka, before my fateful battle with the demon king. I still remember the great Tree Spirit�s massive wooden shields that blocked out the demon�s attack. In hindsight, I should�ve predicted that the Tree Spirit lived. I still have his familiar, after all. -

Some of the lackeys expressed surprise. Goodness, the hero surrounded himself with sycophants?

- Anyway, may I speak to the Tree Spirit? I have much to discuss with a being of such great power. -

Yura paused, but I thought he wanted me to tell him what to do. I mentally agreed, and Yura looked at Harris. - Certainly, but the Tree Spirit would not have all of you armed, and only you alone. -

The lackeys were about to say something ridiculous again. - If there are any accommodations or rest stops for my group to rest, that will be sufficient. Perhaps a hotel, if such institutions survived. It�s fine for me to meet the Tree Spirit myself. -

- Unfortunately, twenty years without customers has been extremely hard on our hotels, so none of them remain, - Yura joked. - Let�s go this way. -

Yura led them into one of the tunnels, and from there, they arrived in the submerged valley. They looked quite surprised to see a massive tree with a burning top that was hidden underneath.

- How did we miss this? - Harris said quietly. But before the sycophants could answer, he cut them off. - Rhetorical question. -

Yura and the survivors watched the group carefully, and soon, they saw the beetles. But right before one of the sycophants wanted to attack the beetle, Harris stopped it.

- Idiot. Can you use your brain and think why is there a beetle here? It must be the tree�s servant. I see they haven�t changed much. -

- Oh? - Yura asked. - You�ve seen them? -

- Yes. I have. Over twenty years ago, - he said. - So. where can I meet the tree? -

- Ah, right this way. Could you request your men to wait over at that area? - Yura pointed to a resting area that had been made last year. There was a lot of wooden furniture, a small blossoming collection of fruit juice stalls, and some barbeque stalls that roasted the local meats, kind of like an alfresco food court.

Harris nodded, and the men obeyed. Only Yura and Harris walked to one of the larger Giant Attendant Trees that�d been converted to a meeting room. He sat alone inside.

- A/ will speak to you here. - Yura nodded, and he shut the door. Inside the Giant Attendant Tree, there was only him.

He looked around, as if he was waiting for something. - Hmm. -

- Hello, Harris, - I said.

- Ah. Makes sense that a tree spirit is telepathic. The last time we met, all I got was a notification about the familiar when Lady Mika spoke. Greetings, A/ . Much has changed. -

- I was told you sought us out once you learned of our existence. -

- Indeed. - Harris sat. - Let me cut to the chase, A/ . We are four years away from the next demon king, maybe five years if we are lucky. I�m trying to gather a force to defeat the next demon king as soon as it spawns, and your defensive abilities are something that�s quite firmly etched in my mind. Would you help me? -

- Interesting offer, but I suppose you did not forget that I�m an immobile tree? -

- That�s true. But we could make artifacts that could temporarily store some of your abilities as a single - use skill. With a bit of star mana and some special crystals, we could create a spell - matrix that could store some of your shields. In fact, I�d also like to store that demonic suppression aura of yours. It would prove incredibly helpful in a battle against the demon king. At least it would help to weaken the lackeys for the rest of us. -

Hmm. Well, it seemed all the survivors were making plans for the demon king, so that was an encouraging sign. Certainly, it was aligned to my own goals, so in this case, I should cooperate.

- Agreed. But I will demand some of those spell - matrices for my own use. -

Harris laughed. - That was quick. I expected a tree to take a longer time to deliberate such things. There�s also another matter. -

- Oh? -

- Over twenty years ago, New Freeka played host to many. refugees. Royalty of many families. And you might remember many kingdoms were destroyed, essentially beheaded, because the demons possessed powerful ranged weapons. -

- And? -

- Well. may I ask you to offer the same protection to my offspring? -

- I find that hard to believe, hero. You have star mana and the ability to create powerful magical defenses. Certainly your capital has been enchanted many times to prepare for such an event. -

- Yes, it has. But the children are fools. They squabble with each other over petty goals and trigger their star mana artifacts too easily, exhausting them. Artifacts meant for greater dangers, - he said, sighing.

A cup of tea appeared next to him.

He sipped. - And damn, I missed this tea so much. - He drank another sip. - Seriously. This damned world is trying to kill us. -

- Huh? - Who?

- They got Becky. Ah. It�s the tea that makes me feel upset. - Harris sighed. - The demons. They killed her a few years ago. Even though we fought together. Well, maybe except Gerrard, who�s too busy getting drunk and hiding in strange places throughout the world. -

The human hero looked sad, confused, and tired all at the same time. I wondered whether the tea was alcoholic, because I was damn sure it wasn�t. It was just a bit of hospitality.

- Fuck the gods, y�know. This fucking game is just engineered to kill us. We�re leader - heroes. We have armies of magical summons, and the gods just fucking turn it around and spawn super - demons where our army of magical summons are just fodder, and wide swathes of my army - boosting abilities are just absolutely useless. They made this game and tied one of our hands right behind our backs. -

Why was he ranting?

- Ah. It�s just so nostalgic to come back to the first place where we were saved. Dammit. I suddenly feel like I�m a young teen again. -

I checked whether any of my Tree of Prayers or psychedelics were active. Nope. I thought he was just having all these things pent up.

- Fuck it. I mean. - He took a deep breath. - I mean. yeah. Stupid kids. Would you protect them? They�re still my children, but damn if they are not idiots. I don�t remember being so idiotic as a young teenager. -

- When you look back, every generation has always thought the younger generation was idiots. -

Harris paused. - Well. Yeah. But still, they are my idiots. And that annoys me. This fucking world is out to kill us. Me, Mirei, Gerrard. Just three of us left. I just hope my stupid kids don�t get involved. -

- How many kids do you have? -

- Uh. - I thought he blushed. - I think about twenty - six. The youngest one is. one. Two of my wives are pregnant. -

I didn�t know what to say about that. Wait. He was only in his thirties; maybe he was going to turn forty soon. Didn�t that mean he had at least one baby a year?

- Well. Ahm. - He finished the tea. - Can I have more? -

A small vine produced hot water, and another added crumpled, dried powder into the cup. - You�ve been productive. -

- Ah. Yes. So uh. -

- You�re asking me to offer protection to a very, very large number of people. -

Harris frowned. - Yes. -

- I still don�t get it. You don�t trust your own magic, and you prefer to trust me? - I was skeptical. Extremely. This sounded like a royal asking for protection again.

- I thought long and hard about it. So long as I live, I am certain my family will survive. My star mana and my heroic powers mean I will still be able to protect them with my powers. I�ve tried my best to store my powers in spell - matrices and all that, but artifacts able to store hero - grade powers are few and far between and very often usable only once, sometimes twice. Unlike other generations of heroes, our powers are mostly summons and creatures, and that doesn�t extend to grand magical formations. We could still do them to a far lesser degree, but it�s not the same as what a ritual - focused hero or what a pure enchanter hero could achieve. When we level, our hero - grade skills are given, and it�s not like we can force those skills into something they are not. For example, Mirei has extremely powerful lightning abilities, but none of those are a usable shield of any kind. Strange to say this, we are constrained by the scope of our gifts. Our talents for skills outside our designated hero class is ordinary, and if we want more, we have to trade our hero levels for them. -

He paused.

- And so, if something falls outside our rather specialized scope, we have to then turn to native experts for aid. My life is unfortunately fragile, weak, and I am a marked man, hunted by future demon kings. I will fail eventually. -

- Before that, tell me how did you survive two demon kings? -

- Oh. The first one. Astra. - Harris took a deep breath. - He did a cursed ritual, melding blood magic, star mana, and the magic of the land. And whatever he did, well, it blew up the demon king. When the second demon king came along, he tried the same thing, but something happened and he died. That meant me, Becky, Mirei, and Gerrard gathered together to face the demon king when we found out it was headed toward the Northern Isles. And although Astra died, whatever it used weakened that second demon king significantly. Yet we still lost Becky. -

Ah. So whatever that hero did worked. Only the price was too high to pay for it to be done more than once?

- The next demon king, we won�t be so lucky. -

Harris seemed to be waiting for a response from me, but I didn�t reply.

- So, my family. My luck will run out eventually. I intend to still protect them, and existences like yourselves is an insurance I hope I never have to use. -

- Decades ago, though to me it feels just days ago, I told the royals then that they are free to seek refuge in my lands. I intend to maintain that principle, and so your offspring is free to seek refuge in my land. But like then, no special privileges. -

Was this the fate of people like me, repeating the same sentences over and over again? I felt like a broken record, and it should fucking annoy me. I should outsource it to an artificial soul or train a bunch of people to repeat my principles. Kinda like a call center or a visitor center that repeated the rules to a bunch of unruly tourists. It�d be even better if they got to do it with the same lack of enthusiasm and boredom.

Yeah.

I should outsource and automate it. It�d be the first TreeTree service and call center. Or maybe an artificial mind, tasked to repeat the same responses many, many times.

- Hmm. not what I hoped it�ll be, but that will do. - Harris frowned. - So. where have you been hiding for the past two decades? -

Me? - I was asleep. -

He laughed. - Ah. And the survivors, they somehow made do in this. sunken valley? -

- Yes. -

- Never mind. Back to what I initially came for, once I return, I will begin commissioning the construction of the spell - storage gems, and I will have them delivered. Let me know once you�ve finished infusing your skills in them. -

- How? - I mean, I�d never seen such an item. I doubted they came with easily understood manuals, and even if they did, they were usually made for humanoids, not trees.

- Good point. I�ll come over with it. -

At this point, I remembered the two heroes that were trapped. I pondered whether to let Harris know about them, and I considered the consequences, whether he would doubt or suspect that I had anything to do with it. Then I decided it was probably best if I told him anyway. Maybe heroes got special rewards for freeing their friends souls. - Harris. When I was asleep, I saw your friends. -

- My friends? -

- Simone and Victor. Their souls were captured by the demon king, and they are being corrupted. -

Harris�s face paled instantly. - What?! Where? How? How do you know? -

- I don�t know much, and I saw it in. a dream, but they are likely to be near where you all fought the demon king. Look for a red crystal, and break it. -

He paused, and he paced the room in circles. - I swore we cleared out the field in an attempt to clean up the corruption, but then again. it could be hidden underground. I must let Mirei and Gerrard know if this is true. It explains the weird dreams we�ve been having. They must have been trying to speak to us but couldn�t get through. -

Outside, Harris�s entourage was getting restless. It�d been almost two hours.

- I�m not able to free them, but maybe you could. - Honestly, there really was no way I could reach the demon king�s site, with all the sludge and corruption between us and them.

Harris nodded. - On this matter, I will handle it. I will be in touch. -

And with that, Harris and his entourage left. There wasn�t much he could do about the message system�s failure in this area, because the magical interference came from the vast fields of sludge, and the hero with the communication tower ability died a few years ago.

Theoretically, if I cleared out enough of the sludge, magical interference and decay would drop and the messaging system would restore itself. I supposed on top of behaving like a polluting oil, it also emitted some kind of magical wave that caused magic to break down over time. Very similar to hex, really.

- He was here before, TreeTree? - Yura asked.

- Yeah. You don�t recognize him? -

- He said he was mostly with Lady Mika, so he didn�t really particularly stick in my mind, - Yura said. - It�s hard to recognize people I met twenty years ago. He doesn�t even look the same. -

- He looks largely the same to my spirit vision. But his glow is larger than before. I suppose it�s the levels. He�s not exactly hiding his presence. Or maybe he can�t. He doesn�t have the right skills. -

- Ah, well. Thankfully, his entourage was well behaved once he was out of sight. They�re just putting up a show when he is around. Interestingly, they don�t like each other all that much. I think they all work for different people. -

- His different wives, perhaps. - I mentally chuckled. Was this the logical outcome of a harem? I mean, sure, the harem could get along, but once everyone had their own children with the same father, it was just a source of conflict, wasn�t it? Every mother wanted to protect her own offspring, so they competed for attention. Human nature made it so that it was hard to be fair and be seen and perceived as fair. Even if he acted fairly, it may appear as favoritism.

Yura laughed, too. - Well, that�s why I�m single. I spend too much time practicing. -

My efforts to mix normal mana and star mana did help to improve its efficiency, but I still hadn�t gotten a skill for it. Thanks to that, we�d managed to expand the forest to cover a long strip of land that led to one of the nearby towns. I�d decided to still leave a large patch of unconverted sludge between my forest and the town, just as a moat, but this entire process meant they only had to travel about one month through the sludge, and they�d arrive at the edges of that long forest.

Viewed from above, it was like the forest extended one long - ass vine to reach for the town.

Meanwhile, my research on the demonic hybrids also made some progress. I�d gained some more understanding of their nature, such as their bodies actually absorbed ambient energies and converted it to their demonic mana. In a way, it was. air - powered. They didn�t need sunlight, but they did need some water, and they absorbed it from the air, which was why they could exist in multiple forms and colors. They also had some kind of water - vision, which meant they would often target non - native animals, like elves or humans, or even ordinary wildlife that had far higher water content than the demonic hybrids.

Were these demons like. some kind of reimagination of animals in a post - water scarcity world? Mars in its dying days?

I�d yet to connect to the wider network of these hybrid trees, fearing that they may overwhelm me. So far, all my attempted connections had been with standalone hybrid trees that had been isolated. They responded well to demonic mana, but when flooded with my normal mana, they just froze and entered hibernation. Still, I persisted, and I carved a segment where I experimented more on them.

Maybe these hybrid trees could act as a first line of filter, such that they weakened the demonic energy�s pressure at the edges. Something like an absorbent or suspension, having a transitory species of trees that could act as a medium between the two varying ecologies. Maybe I could engineer something.

A new plant species that straddled the two worlds. At that very thought, I felt a huge repulsion from the rest of my network of trees. These feelings, they came from the native trees, and they despised that thought.

Hah! Natives. I was a foreigner, outworlder, too! Why did you not reject me, then?

Besides, plants certainly evolved in my world. These hybrids were clearly an adaptation, an evolution in this world. Why exclude these newcomers?

YEAR 112

At first, I left a gap of Rottedlands between the wider, uncorrupted world and my recovered areas as I expanded. Beneath all the once - corrupted lands were normal lands, and some of them had minerals or had geological features that were once hidden by the sludge. Clearing the land meant all these were revealed, and the new trees used to clear these spaces discovered the higher concentration of certain minerals when their roots extended into the ground.

Some of these were common minerals, like regular iron or copper. Some areas were just certain types of soil that were suitable for making pottery or clay. I�d imagined these resources would be suitable for construction or allow the creation of certain industries. Though our population was still only about three thousand, if the refugees came along, I would see this amount increase over time.

There would be refugees.

- How would they get past the Rottedlands? - Yura asked.

- Good point. - That was when I realized my idea of creating a moat was quite stupid. Sure, the moat made it harder for enemies to come in, and it also helped to thin any army�s numbers by having to fight the demons, but it almost completely denied the refugees or anyone who wanted to live in my domain. And that meant I would forever have a far smaller army to work with.

Refugees in this world were mostly escapees of war; though they were desperate and may have levels, they were mostly unarmed and would not survive a whole month through the Rottedlands.

Since any army that wanted a piece of me would march through the Rottedlands anyway, with all the necessary logistics to survive the journey, I decided to make smaller paths to the outside world, which would then be fortified with walls, various tree - defenses, and a huge bunch of beetles. That way, prospective refugees could still get a safe path in.

I couldn�t do the same things and still expect a better result.

An expansionary approach was something I didn�t try, though I was fond of the turtling concept. In fact, maybe that was why I was even a tree. A tree by nature was immobile, but perhaps I should embrace rapid expansion of weeds.

- We�re already drawing attention, - a few of the survivors said. - A/ �s expansion has made our lands very attractive. -

- There are so few of us. We can�t hold off those lands. -

Yura shook his head. - A/ has decided to hold on to those lands. Anyone who wants it will have to go through his army. -

In fact, a nearby kingdom officially launched an invasion force of thirty thousand. They would cut across the small strip of Rottedlands and then start to settle in reclaimed areas closest to their kingdom. It wasn�t much of a battle. By the time that army did cross the Rottedlands, they lost about two thousand people. They gained levels, though.

When they emerged from the Rottedlands, Yura helped make an announcement that they were invading my lands. Of course, they ignored it. Then they were attacked by hidden beetles scattered across the newly made forests. There were some high - leveled individuals in there, perhaps around level fifty to eighty, and I dealt with them personally, mostly by just harassing them with serpentine rootstrike and a volley of poisonous fruits from everywhere.

Didn�t take long for the thirty thousand to become only twenty thousand, and then deciding that it was better to just run away, since they soon realized the army of beetles was a lot bigger than they were prepared for. I had one hundred thousand subsidiary trees, and that meant if I ever maxed out on beetles, that was a total of five hundred thousand beetles. Five hundred thousand beetles that regenerated to one hundred thousand beetles per month. It was just. I could zerg - rush the nearest kingdoms. How many kingdoms could fight off one hundred thousand beetles each month, anyway?

Of course, I couldn�t practically max out beetles, since I had some dedicated for other roles, like housing, like training areas, or some as defenses.

There was also the issue of levels. I mean, if someone killed one hundred thousand beetles, I was damned sure the system was going to give him some super beetle immunity or beetle resistance or beetle - slayer abilities.

In fact, this very issue was why it was better to have a diversified army, because if at any time your opponent ever gained a skill advantage, it applied over the entirety of the army. Imagine if a general had beetle slayer general or something like that. That would mean my beetles were effectively useless. Or maybe some mage got Bugspray or something.

Ugh.

After that defeat, there was no more invasion for the rest of the year. I counted that as a yay, because obviously now the other kingdoms realized it wasn�t easy trying to take land away from a tree.

Trade and commerce were gradually returning, so the survivors reorganized themselves as a new administrative body for the entire land, once again with me as the spiritual leader. There was no large - scale refugee movement yet, not with the land being relatively peaceful. The demonic rifts had yet to reopen, and the hybrids of the Rottedlands didn�t seem to stray far from their native environment.

- Any opinions? - Yura went and met Yvon in her training tree. Yvon gained a wooden form that could talk and communicate with people, but unlike Meela or Alexis, her wooden body remained stuck in her tree. Quite strange, and I reckoned the heroes just had special treatment.

- Strategically, A/ should communicate with all the nearby kingdoms for alliances, and since the land is unoccupied, perhaps he could arrange some kind of lease or vassalage system. Maybe work with some unhappy nobles in the kingdoms who�d be happy to defect over to A/ �s side, since A/ would probably allow for a wider range of flexibility than some insecure king. In short, an arrangement similar to New Freeka, but open to the rest of them. -

- There�s going to be conflict. - Yura shook his head. - You�ve seen how sensitive A/ is with certain matters. -

- It can be managed. I personally have begun to realize it�s a question of distance. A/ cares a lot less about what the kingdoms do when they are far away. I suggest declaring this entire valley some kind of Holy Land, then all the cities that spring out around the valley to be the Holy Land�s Defender Nations. -

Yura just paused and stared at Yvon�s wooden face. - Seriously? -

- It�s what the human kingdoms did a long time ago. The lesser human vassal nations around the main human country were referred to as the Paladin Kingdoms, and the capital was the Sacred City of the Hero King. -

- Huh. -

- History�s interesting. It tells us what has been done before and what we can do again. - Yvon nodded. - I would definitely recommend this strategy to A/ . Lesser nations under one Spiritual Protector. A/ �s already worshipped back in the days of New Freeka. A returning deity surely can sway the minds of many. He should very much take advantage of his past reputation and his now - public relationship with the hero. -

The hero, Harris.

Ah yes. Harris�s visit was widely publicized. The affairs of Harris, the Harem Hero Emperor, were tabloid fodder. They speculated whether there was a woman waiting for him at my place, or perhaps an illegitimate child. Harris had quite a special position according to the merchants, as he built his empire by reclaiming vast amounts of Rottedlands. In fact, his entire territory sat on reclaimed Rottedlands, with his army of summoned knights to patrol and fight off any monsters. Each time one of his many women had a child, he would reclaim more land, which would be awarded to that newly born child, though still managed by the crown.

I couldn�t help but mentally laugh at the idea. I mean, he was living the life of many isekai main characters, and the consequences of that sort of lifestyle, such that he had to reclaim land to secure the future of each of his many children. As it turned out, heroes children actually did not inherit any of their father�s or mother�s special blessings, so their children were absolutely ordinary, except for their special station in life.

Of course, their special station in life meant they got the best trainers, teachers, equipment, and gear, which, if they used it properly, that�d be good. But his oldest child, a teenager at seventeen years old, was rumored to be arrogant, abused his status as the prince, and like his father was a womanizer. I mean, he had fun during the years having so many women; so now he had to deal with the consequences of having so many women, right?

Once he passed away some day in the future, maybe his kids would squabble and a war would break out among their children over the land. Since all the children all received special star - mana weapons, extra enchantments, and stuff, surely there would be perceived inequality and there would be war. I�d seen it in telenovela, or even business empires!

In a way, maybe Yvon was right. I was in the unique position of being a nigh - immortal tree; surely any empire I built would last longer than one of human heroes. It was a norm that few empires survived their founders.

I spent some time thinking about it, and I thought it was a good idea and totally worth trying. Let�s try an expansionary strategy. I did like the idea that this entire valley was sacred land.

The survivors grouped together and split the territories around us into ten parcels, for now, with more to come as I expanded further, and a declaration was made: ten parcels of land awaiting for settlement, a constitution drafted, with terms closely resembling that of the old New Freeka, but with some modifications.

A map was made, areas marked as protected territories, where no large - scale settlement or logging could be made, and areas where the settlers could build their own homes. Each of the ten parcels were to determine their own rulers or governors, but they would have to operate under my umbrella, provide a contribution to the overall military and magic defense, and accept instructions that I may periodically bestow.

In short, I�d become the tooltip or foreign monarch that was now going to hand out duties to my new vassals. Kind of like Tropico.

Then, with the aid of some merchants, an invitation was made to everyone on the entire continent. Though I supposed the message first got to the rich and powerful, eventually it�d spread to the common folk.

Come. Join the Rottedlands Restoration Effort! Open up New Lands! Rebuild the Lost Cities of the past! Be part of A/ �s Domain. A/ �s Frontier! Be a pioneer! Ten largely self - governing parcels for the taking! Come!

And I waited.

Of course, this decision rather surprised Yvon and Yura . Neither thought I would do something like that. I knew I probably wouldn�t. But my old strategy was not working; I wanted to grow! If it didn�t work, I could just crush them with my army of five hundred thousand beetles!

With that settled, I moved on to other matters.

Harris was supposed to return with a bunch of artifacts that could store my skills, but he didn�t come this year. A messenger came and notified us that procurement of the necessary materials took far longer than expected.

And Eriz�s transformation into a nursery tree was quite interesting and fascinating. She was essentially a large tree that was like a childcare center, and like Yvon, she too could take the form of a tree person. Interestingly, she could make multiple copies of herself within the childcare center, and her mind somehow allowed her to do all the things together. A part of her tree was able to produce all sorts of milk and saps to feed the young children, some even directly via vines that were shaped like milk bottles, or for the centaurs, udders, or for the treefolk, thick sap - like drops. It was really cool, and she gained levels quite quickly.

- It�s quite surreal to still see you, Mom, - Roma said to Yvon. He sat inside her tree, practicing. - I mourn your death, and yet here you are. -

She tapped Roma on the head. - Well, looks like fate has other plans for me. -

- More like A/ had other plans for you. And I�m not quite sure if I like it. -

She shrugged.

As the year slowly reached its end, after all that fighting and expanding, I got something I wanted.

You have gained a level. You are now level 153.

Your skill � Natural Mana Overwhelming has been upgraded.

I hoped for a new skill, but it seemed the system was more keen on just upgrading my skills. Still, it made it easier for my mana to push back and put out the demonic mana.

Next year, I would be closing in on the volcano and the southwest forest. I�d hoped to see how the rod and Dimitree�s artificial mind was holding up. I had the notification that I lost my connection to Dimitree, but not one that indicated that he died. Perhaps, with the use of the magical ley line, he was able to use its mana to push back against the demonic corruption. That would be great, since I wouldn�t have to rebuild that entire southwest forest.

I would like to start reconnecting with Lilies again. I had a lot of questions, and I thought only great old beings like them could answer it.

Oh. Naming!

- So, we need to brainstorm a name for our new city. - The survivors reconvened. Apparently it was an important matter, because they didn�t know how to describe themselves, and they didn�t want to use the name of New Freeka, which was destroyed.

The conversation went somewhat like this:

- Neo Freeka. -

- Too similar to the old name. -

- Freekabaru. -

- Eww. -

- Free - la? -

- No. -

- A/ Freeka? -

- Sounds too much like a bad nickname. -

- A/ land? -

- No! -

After days - and maybe even weeks - of numerous meetings, no one could settle on a name, because everyone wanted something else, and in the end, they voted as a whole to force me to name the area.

I didn�t have a good name, either.

NewNewFreeka? Nope. EvenBetterFreeka? Freeka 3.0? Nope.

In the end, because we were deep in the Rottedlands, I decided something that opposed the meaning of Rotted.�

Freshka.

Yes.

The City of Freshka. I felt numerous facepalms in the entirety of the valley, as if a million dreams were silenced and crushed all at once. I thought I was quite clever, but everyone else didn�t. But they reluctantly accepted my proposed name. Because Freshka was fresher! Fresh! Like new, but fresh! It was like a bad, cringey commercial. If Meela was here, she�d say my naming sense was atrocious.

Freshka! The good thing was it was just going to be the name of the new city that was going to be built at a new location, quite a distance from the valley. I mean, now that large areas were back to their normal, forested ways, not everyone wanted to live near a giant flaming tree anymore. So they found a place where there was a river, a nice slightly sloped flatland to start their new city.

Three thousand people made the move there to the second new capital of the other restored lands. The other was Harris�s empire, of course, which was on the other side of the continent. If the entire Rottedlands was an apple, his empire would be shaped like a bite into the apple.

Should I call the general area Freshlands, then? Freshans. Freeshkans. Freeshans didn�t sound that bad, either.

YEAR 113

Time was running out, and Harris�s panic reflected that.

- Only ten? - I asked. I looked at the ten crystalline objects.

- It�s a lot harder to obtain spell crystals at the necessary quality and purity. These ten spell - matrices are able to store one skill or ability, which can be reused up to three times each. -

- That�s only thirty uses. -

- It�s a lot better than nothing. - Harris nodded. - If I manage to get more, I certainly will bring them over, but rather than wait, I thought of just testing these ten out now. -

- True. Never know if they might fail. -

Harris was alone in the valley; his army of entourage was not allowed in, so they made themselves comfortable in the new city of Freshka. I looked at the ten items and asked, - So you�ll give me some of them? -

He paused, and he rubbed his head. - I know I agreed to give it to you, but, uh. it�ll affect my survival chances. Can I just give you one first? And if I live, I�ll give you five of these spell matrices. -

- Will they break after they are used? - I sort of thought they wouldn�t because they looked incredibly well made, and the material was gorgeous. I�d imagine these things to fetch an incredibly high price if one were to even try doing it.

- Uh, they shouldn�t. They need to have the skills re - inserted again. They just become empty. You can try it out, though, uh. There�s a recharge time before they can start receiving skills again. -

It wasn�t hard to input a skill into the crystal. All I had to do was think of the skill I wanted to use and then sort of will it into the gem. I got it after, like, twenty tries. So, all ten gems now had Steelwood Barrier , and he kept nine of them. They had a faint greenish glow.

- Partly why it took me so long is because I wanted a gem that essentially replicates all the effects of a skill, not just stores the skill. There are plenty of spell - matrices out there that store just the skill, but those lose the passive effects and other caster - specific qualities that make the spell or skill strong. After all, I�m quite certain your strength comes from a lot more than just the skill alone. -

I didn�t have to reply.

Harris probably noticed my reluctance as he quickly changed the topic to something else. - Oh, I didn�t tell you, but we found the red crystal that was mentioned. It was indeed hidden under a massive pile of sludge. And we broke it. - Oh. I hadn�t checked on the two heroes in a while. Indeed, I couldn�t access that area anymore.

- We? -

- Gerrard and Mirei found some time out of their busy schedules to visit. They should be on their way here. -

Two more heroes? I wasn�t prepared for that. - Why are they coming here? -

- Nothing much, just to meet up and discuss some things in your presence. Gerrard seems to have something that he says will be valuable to you and us. -

- Me? - What could a hero say that could be of use to me?

Harris took some time to stay in the new buildings in Freshka as the rest of the heroes arrived a few days later. They looked different, and in Mirei�s case, she�d grown a lot taller. Gerrard was lean, tanned, and had shoulder - length hair. They both had aged and now looked like actual adults.

- So, this is where the tree is? - Gerrard asked.

Mirei nodded. - Yeah. We got lucky when we started out around here, and we got our basic combat training here. At least, well, when it was here. -

- I see. - They soon approached Freshka and regrouped with Harris. After a bit of chitchat and catchup, they came to see me.

Gerrard seemed quite interested. - It�s really, really big. -

- I had the impression that all tree spirits are large, - Mirei said. - Or is this one of your half - drunk statements? -

- Not at all. I might be half drunk most of the time, but tree spirits do go through regular growth periods! I�ve met small tree spirits before. - Gerrard looked quite relaxed around me.

Harris took out the spell - matrices and showed it to the other two. Mirei oohed. - I�m still working on spell - matrices that are able to absorb and temporarily recreate the anti - demon aura. It�s a lot harder than I thought. -

- I could upgrade your familiars to special familiars. It comes with the demonic aura after a few levels, - I said as I recalled Lozanna did have a lesser version of the aura. - It�s not as strong as mine. -

They agreed, so I upgraded them. For Mirei and Harris, it seemed the levels that the existing familiars carried over to the new star mana�powered familiars, and they unlocked the lesser demonic suppression aura instantly. For Gerrard, this was the first time he received the familiar, but he didn�t seem entirely surprised by it.

- Fascinating, isn�t it? - Harris said.

- Not bad, - Gerrard said.

- So. you said there�s something you wanted to share? -

Gerrard nodded and opened his bag. He took out a strange item; it resembled a really, really dried piece of wood. - Yes. I also have a gift for A/ , actually. - He placed the dried piece of wood on the table, and the moment I touched it, I felt a notification in my head.

You�ve received a fragment of the ancient tree that was destroyed thousands of years ago.

That very moment, I felt happy. It was a joy that came from the entirety of my network, like all my trees felt happy to be touched by that. fragment.

I couldn�t respond for a while, as I had to manage a rush of emotions that went through my head. Thoughts, too.

There were objects that could do this to me in the world! Was it because my Grand Mind Tree still needed repairs? The three heroes waited for a while for my response, and they just talked among themselves.

- A/ ? - Harris asked. Gerrard looked at Harris and Mirei and then just sat down.

- It�ll take a while. I gave this same thing to a few other spirits, and they all froze or didn�t respond to me for at least a day. Maybe we can go have a drink first. - The heroes chatted among themselves again, and then they left.

You�ve analyzed the ancient tree�s fragment. You gained a level. You are now level 154.

Skill: Subsidiary tree upgraded. 200,000 Trees!

Skill: Woodshaping significantly upgraded.

Then I started to see. visions. It felt like I was watching television, as scene after scene flickered before me. Memories of the ancient tree engraved in its body. Like how a tree recorded what it suffered through in the rings of its trunk, the fragment contained its ancient memories.

A vision. Vast expanse of forests, jungles. Sea. Monsters. Dragons. Humans. Elves. Small towns and some cities.

Then a falling red star. Then it was an. emotion. Not a scene, but a feeling of instability, of falling. Like I was pulled out by something and then started falling.

Then demons. Demons everywhere. I saw visions of. dragons -

Then it ended, so very quickly.

No. More? I tried to access it again, but it felt like a teaser trailer that was too short. I accessed the shard again, but all it did was play the same scenes in repeat.

- I need more. - I spoke to the three heroes, who were relaxing in Freshka. That feeling, was like I was robbed of knowledge, of knowing some but not enough. I needed more.

- I�m afraid that�s the last one I have. I�ve given out every shard I have to other tree spirits. You�ll have to get it from them. - Gerrard shook his head. - I didn�t even know there was a tree spirit here, so I only kept one. -

- How many did you have? How many have you given out? - I asked, my entire being trying to hold back a sense of need and desperation that came from the rest of me. Was this a kind of mind control? I needed that Grand Mind Tree repaired as soon as possible!

- Uh. I had three. I gave one to you, one to Lilies, and another one to the Frozen Tree in the Northern Isles. -

Lilies had one. Maybe I could negotiate directly with Lilies for a loan. I didn�t really need to keep the fragment, just analyze it to get a more coherent picture of the past. Wait. Why was I going down this train of thought again?

Harris ribbed Gerrard. - So, uh, wait. What were you trying to do? -

- Oh. You know I�ve been going around making all sorts of herbal liqueur? I found that collecting those from ancient tree spirits or powerful tree spirits can produce a high - quality herbal liqueur with strong suppression qualities. So I set out creating, uh. a blended herbal liqueur. I�ve collected about seven tree spirit herbs, leaves, and barks. -

Mirei just smacked her palm to her face. - Oh. So all this just to fulfill your alcohol desires? -

- Look. Don�t judge me and my hobbies. Harris has his harem, and you have your ballroom and fancy otome - game politics. Leave me as the hermit eccentric brewer of strange drinks. - Gerrard got quite defensive. - I even gained levels with it. -

- What?! - They both paused. - I haven�t gained a level since we fought the demon king! -

- The system�s busted. We all know that. But it turned out you can actually gain levels from doing non - fighting things. -

- That doesn�t match my experience. - Harris frowned. - I�ve been clearing up large areas of land and all, not a single level. -

Mirei nodded, too. - Which class did you gain a level in? Your Hero class or something else? -

- No, not Hero . My Master Brewer class. Collecting unusual and rare items and brewing with them did gain me levels. ANYWAY! - Gerrard shouted. - A/ , right? Uh. I want your herbs, leaves, and a bit of your bark. -

- Fine. - He gave me a level; that was fair, I supposed. I�d made herbal drinks and tea all the time, anyway. Herbal alcoholic drinks, well, I sort of mentally smacked myself there. Why didn�t I think of that? Wait, maybe the wineries did create herbal versions of the wine. - But I want the other piece, the one with that Frozen Tree. Tell them it�s a loan, and you can return it to them after I�m done analyzing them. -

- Uh. - Gerrard seemed even more defensive. - A gift given to a tree spirit is never asked back. I won�t do that. I�ll lose my supply of magical frozen herbal leaves! -

Hmm. how did I negotiate this? Maybe I should do so directly. - Then bring a small sapling of mine to it. Place it near to it. - A small Tree of Prayer , a messenger from me. I would have to find a way to communicate with my other trees that were outside the network. Could I have roots that crossed the ocean? But the chance to communicate with another tree spirit!

- That. that I can do, - Gerrard promised, and he looked at the small bag of leaves, bark, and roots with great interest. He took a small piece of root out and smelled it. He licked it a bit. The other two heroes looked at him, and their faces were just plain disgusted.

- You lick your materials? -

- I�ve got to know how they taste. My tongue has a special skill, Brewer�s Taste Buds , which lets me know how well it�ll go together with the rest of my brew! Don�t worry, I�ll clean it up. -

- Eww. -

- You guys don�t know how hard it is to get an audience with tree spirits. So far, this tree fragment has been my most successful method to get new herbal materials! -

- Where did you even get such a thing? I don�t imagine you would end up checking every single fragment of wood you encounter, - Harris asked.

- It was in a random abandoned temple on the Shaffar Coast of the Western Continent in my quest to find rare herbal ingredients for my herbal alcohol. I was led there by a druid who spoke of a dead religion of some kind. -

At this point, I intervened. - Never mind. Are there more? -

- Uh. I took everything. Unless I missed it, which I could have, because honestly, I didn�t pay those fragments much attention. They look like half - rotten wood, not exactly something my eyes are drawn to. -

Half - rotten wood!

- Let�s change the topic. - Mirei shrugged. - Harris said A/ has some rather interesting. weapons. -

It was then that Harris brought out some of the wooden spears and swords. - Yes. These are the anti - demon weapons, and I�m wondering if we, the three of us, together with A/ �s wooden weapons as the chassis, would like to explore that possibility together. -

Harris didn�t mention this the last time we met, but heroic - grade anti - demon weapons made sense. The weapons they created using the rare materials from this world were strong, but not specifically anti - demon.

So the three heroes spent days with me. I used wood - forming magic to form wooden weapons infused with my anti - demon powers, and the three heroes added their enchantments. Later on, they formed the wooden weapons together with me as I shaped the wood into its weapon shape; their star mana joined in and helped.

It was a long process, but the heroes clearly feared for their lives. I could sense all three of them had lingering, deep - seated memories of their many battles with different demon kings, and it reflected the sudden focus they had.

After two weeks, they all had wooden weapons they were satisfied with, yet they still feared whether it was enough. As Mirei put it, they were summoner - heroes, and yet the world forced them to still play the role of a combat - focused hero, so they had to resort to such preparations.

- We can�t do this forever. - Gerrard looked at his curved wooden blade infused with a mix of wood and heroic energy. He sounded a bit dejected. They left all the rejected ones behind for me, which were all incredibly powerful items in their own way but just not to the level they needed. I intended to later spend some time to further analyze them and see whether I could use my own star mana to similar effects.

- No, we can�t. But we must try. -

- Age catches up to us, even if magic keeps us young for now. Killing the demon king is just. temporary. If there�s some way we can just seal the demon king, I wonder whether that would stop the demon king from repeating, - he said, and then he had a headache immediately. He quickly opened a gourd next to him and drank from it.

- We can�t even seal a demon walker. - Mirei laughed. They left a few days after.

Seal the demon king. Would that actually stop the cycle?

My prior year�s effort to market myself as fresh land for refugees, unhappy nobles, and all that brought a huge amount of people. There were fights, naturally, among refugees squabbling over the best spots, but the space was large enough that they dispersed over the ten sectors. Even then, fighting was going to happen, and this time, I was staying out of it. I would work with whoever their chosen ruler was, and so long as they operated under my framework, I would leave them be.

That was what a vassal was, right?

This promise of unclaimed lands attracted all sorts of people who were unhappy with their existing ruler�s tax regimes, or with insecure borders, or people on the run. Some just wanted to try out something else, and eventually, a few smaller settlements formed. Over time, many of these smaller villages and settlements would agglomerate and form into towns and cities proper, but that�d be over a few more years.

Freshka, too, located in what was considered the core region of the new land, experienced some influx of settlers. The promise of fertile lands and bountiful harvests blessed by a watchful tree spirit was attractive to some farmers.

In each sector, after the migrants started coming in, I placed a Tree of Prayer and a few Giant Attendant Trees , which acted as their segment�s focal points.

Yura , and some of the followers, set up a new Valtorn Order. And the Valtorn Order�s task, this time, was to recruit promising young children from all the ten segments to form my new Valthorn Initiates. Of course, for now, no recruitment had actually started.

It was only the first year they were coming in. I�d start next year. But the plan and infrastructure were ready.

By the end of the year, five of the ten sectors had been settled, and on average, home to about ten thousand each, for a total of fifty thousand! There were a bit of gang wars and internal fighting, but nothing overt yet.

I probably should get someone to watch them, like Ivy, to keep watch of any high - risk individuals, so I created a new artificial soul.

Jasmine. Not the princess, of course.

During this year, I�d also stretched my trees to reconnect with the Verdant Volcano and the Southwest Forests.

I was relieved to discover they both survived, even if the area they covered had shrunk significantly. It seemed that the energy from the volcano and the ley line was strong enough to push back at the sludge, and it helped that they were quite far from the epicenter of the sludge than I was, so lucky for them, the pressure from the sludge was weaker.

Dimitree, which I�d lost connection to, was still alive, if not a bit. insane. He went off in gibberish for a good three months as I spent time repairing his internal structure. So I was just glad to not have to start from scratch. Dimitree eventually recovered from his insanity caused by being disconnected from me for so long.

I didn�t allow him to speak for a long time, because he was just incoherent.

The volcano crater and the Forest Rod survived, thankfully, but the sludge got as far as halfway up the volcano.

So, with this, my soul forge�s other abilities were restored, and my soul collectors were back in business.

YEAR 114

A group of five mages came, selling some kind of service. For payment, they would help create spell formations around and on city walls for use against monsters and demons. They were all quite high leveled, around level fifty to sixty, and they quickly met the Freshkan leaders. In their mind, every new town or city must have protective enchantments.

They all were well dressed and clearly made good money making these enchantments for many towns, but they came to the wrong place. The new ruling body told them they were not interested, and they soon left to the rest of the smaller towns to ply their wares.

That said, I was actually quite interested in defensive spell formations, so when one of the new smaller villages actually coughed up a bit of money for a spell formation, my trees watched it intently.

Simply put, I was trying to learn their defensive spell formations by observation. Clearly, if I could augment my defensive formations with magical spells, that�d make me even more tanky.

Though, from what I could see using my spirit vision , the defensive spell formation was essentially a five - part process.

The first part was the power source; in the case of the small village, this was a set of mana stones they embedded in the village head�s home. The second was a set of runes or spells meant to extract power from that mana stone and also an activation keystone.

The third was the actual defensive spell, written into a formation of runes or stored in crystal matrices. Unlike the ones used by Harris, these crystals had the spell written into the crystal itself via physical carving of runes into the crystal, so that the spell memorized didn�t get forgotten.

The fourth was the projection and casing of the crystals, such that they didn�t get accidentally knocked out or triggered unnecessarily. So, there was a smaller set of items, usually metallic or wood, with some more runes to protect the crystals from other triggers. There was also an item - in the case of the village, a wooden holder that pointed the crystal outward - so that it projected the spell in the right direction.

The fifth was a coherence and synchronization process, such that all the crystal matrices triggered at the same time and responded to the same activation key.

Of course, the mages were more than happy to explain the mumbo jumbo to the clueless villagers, because they knew the villagers probably wouldn�t remember it anyway, nor would they be able to reproduce it. One of the mages was more than happy to show off how smart he was as he explained the process of creating defensive formations to a bunch of young ladies. Maybe he would get laid that night, but I didn�t care.

Essentially, if I were to think about it for me, it was entirely possible for me to use a magical ley line, or the volcano, or even myself, as the centerpiece of a magical defense formation. Or use a vast field of tuberous storage , which stored mana, as a massive battery array.

Then I�d use the mana from the tuberous storage to power a huge set of magical runes, which super - charged my various shield generators to create far stronger wooden shields.

Or if I could create star mana storage arrays, that would greatly work, too, but from what I overheard, the extraction method from the storage would need to be compatible with the spell. Runes were sensitive things and needed to be written to the right size and with the right types of mana.

I should learn runic enchantments, no? A magical tree with runes! What could go wrong?

Later, I spoke of this idea to Yvon and Yura . Strangely, Yvon was quite supportive. Then it hit me.

- It�s a good idea, but I don�t recall runes working on living beings. Runic carvings and symbols are usually on inanimate objects. -

- Oh. -

But why?

We did some research, Yura spoke to some surviving mages, and it seemed that runes needed to be fixed, in the sense that the shape and material needed to be fixed. So because living things grew and moved, the runes on living skin or bark would change shape.

In short, runes were like a language that somehow mana could understand and interact with, but it had to be fixed.

This concept was quite easy to understand. I imagined it as an integrated chipboard, where the shape and layout helped to produce a certain result. There was an energy source, and that energy source passed through a set of logic gates and then out came a result, as designed.

These runes were quite similar to wifi or wireless emitters, and their specific shape, design, and material allowed them to absorb or release these mana - waves. A specific runic shape, therefore, triggered an interaction with mana, which caused it to do certain things.

So, now that the communication channels had returned, I insisted that we gather all the known runes from the world. If I could understand and use runes to make myself even stronger, I must do so.

- Aren�t you concerned that your mana may interfere with the runes? - Yvon asked.

- True, but mana can be manipulated, and certainly I can shape it in such a way so as to not interfere with each other. - Taking the logic circuit concept a step further, surely there must be a way to isolate each rune�s input and output such that they did not clash with each other.

Yura and the Freshkan Council soon put out a request for rune - related books. A young mage was nominated to read the book to me, in Lozanna �s place.

Eriz levelled up quite quickly, and she was now level twenty and had the ability to create a split - body of herself, which I placed in the largest new town outside Freshka. Her service as a full - time babysitter was invaluable for parents who wanted to work the farm and all that. That was the angle we worked with, though she did have to hire some of the older folks to work with her in her Nursery Subsidiary Tree .

Unlike me, her limit was very low, and right now at level twenty, she could only create one subsidiary. In a way, it made sense, since I did get my subsidiary tree level at maybe around level eighty, so mine could make more parts. Now I could make tens of thousands! If she could make that many nursery trees, she could definitely flood the market and put nannies out of business.

Still, children were few, but at least people were giving birth to kids. Laufen, now that her daughter was not around, had more time to dedicate herself to the charity arm of the new Valtorn Order, again to help support and provide social services, which were so formally lacking in this world.

- You never give up on that idea of orphan children as weapons of war, do you? - Yvon rebuked me one day as I discussed the idea with Laufen. - That�s why you�re always out gathering young children. -

- They have few attachments and nothing to lose. They have everything to prove to the world, and they need protection. Training them to fight is only natural, and giving the path of serving as potential fighters is a benefit. -

- I still think that isn�t the best way forward. Fighters and mages are best when they have motivation and drive from deep within them. Some of these kids will get that, but most of them won�t. Don�t force them to fight if they don�t really want to, - Yvon disagreed. - I can tell from how they swing their weapons that they�re here because it�s the way to get fed. -

- Then what system do you propose to replace this? Unless parents are willing to subject their children to extensive training. The odds of creating the Lozanna - class warrior battlegroup are next to none. -

- A recruitment event. Promise them things. Find those with a passion for what you do. In this world, it is often better to have one level - ninety man than one hundred level fifties. Everyone loves heroes, and they aspire to be like them. -

- So you want me to sell a dream instead of training all these children who can�t fend for themselves? -

- Just give them basic training, but whether they want to move on to the next level, that depends on their passion, talent, and whether they really want it or not! They�re children. I wouldn�t force Roma to learn what he doesn�t want to learn. What you are doing, even if these young, impressionable children seem eager and willing, is forcing something on them, but they don�t really know what they want. -

- Wouldn�t that postpone their growth? -

- Why do you think so, A/ ? Levelling is not limited by age. A teenager that goes through hardship in his teens can gain as many levels as a young child under ten. Starting late is in no way a bigger impediment. A big part of levelling is about our own understanding and comprehension and is in no way slowed by starting late. -

- Wouldn�t a person who learned how to swordfight younger than an older man who just started be more skilled? -

- Yes, but the older man�s intellect and wisdom would have grown, and if he was the same level, he would catch up in time. Life experience contributes to level growth, not just starting from young. -

That made no sense. Lozanna clearly gained and reached levels far faster.

That was when Yura and one of the migrant scholars came into the training room. - Lady Yvon�s explanation of the late - bloomer levelling effect is fascinating, but it�s still unclear which idea is right. -

Huh. - Oh, pardon me, A/ . The idea of whether to start levelling young or levelling older is something that�s quite contentious, though most still prefer to start levelling from a younger age. In Lady Yvon�s defense, her argument can be modified that it is better for a young child to level in a wider variety of levels, or in generic levels, and only specialize in a later age. -

- True. - Yvon nodded. - That�s a good point. It�s really about specialization, not whether a child should learn and level. But back to our earlier conversation, A/ . What I�m trying to say is that a child may not know where his passions lie. I agree with training from young, but they should be exposed to a wider set of skills and let them see where their heart takes them. Passion for a cause and a set of skills is important, and people are more likely to find it in their later ages, as their life experiences tell them where they fit best. Passion contributes to levelling speed, not just age. -

- I�m confused, but I take it that I will continue to train children, but only at a base level for a wider skillset, and then let them choose their own focus or specialization. -

- Yes. -

I was not actually attempting to reinvent the wheel here; this was just a rehash of our common primary school education system, where the kids went shallow on a broad number of subjects and then went deep when they found something they liked.

Only, well, the curriculum was more combat and survival focused, like combat training, basic magic assessment, farming, basic businesses.

But Yvon, now a Training Tree , quickly renamed herself, with a big signboard outside her tree. - VonAcademy. -

- Quite full of yourself to name it after. yourself, - I teased her. Academyvon. But at the same time, I was pretty sure my poor naming sense infected her. Or was it just a Tree thing that trees weren�t good with names?

- What? I�m now a tree that focuses on training. The big training schools in the world all have big, well - known names, so I should have a name, too. - Naming aside, her job was to produce the future Lozanna - class warriors, and part of this was to recruit from the growing countryside. Because of that earlier discussion over late and young bloomers, she�d decided to accept disciples from all ages, though the training was age - segregated for now.

Yura , deciding that he didn�t want to do much politicking, converted his role to an advisory chairperson role in the Freshkan council, and he introduced a centaur migrant to me later that day.

- You stand before A/ , our true guardian of the valley and the refresher of the Rottedlands. Introduce yourself, Kavio. -

Refreshka. That was the next name if Freshka fell again.

- Wow. - The centaur Kavio had never entered the sunken valley before, referred to now as the Valley of the Unrotten. - So there really is a giant tree that survived in the valley. -

Yura shrugged. - Why do people even think we invented that story. in spite of all the evidence for it? -

- I mean, well, rumors. - Kavio nodded. - They tend to be massive, and because rumors are so common, the truth, if strange, becomes difficult to believe. -

- Anyway, introduce yourself. - Yura pointed to me.

- I�m supposed to shout? -

- No. I can hear you just fine, - I spoke. He instantly stumbled, and for a centaur with four legs, well, he wasn�t expecting it.

- Ah. I�m sorry. I�m Kavio, the newly elected leader of the Freshkan Council. I migrated here last year, and I was told that the council is in need of new people to help. I�ve been told that all incoming leaders of the council should meet you. I just wasn�t expecting it to be so. erm. massive. -

Yura smacked his head. I knew he tried, and anyone with a half - decent intelligence network knew I existed. But still, there were a lot of ignorant people in the world. I mean, in a world of demons, you didn�t believe a giant tree existed?

- So, uh. -

- The intent of such a meeting is simple, - I said. - The valley exists because I do. My powers hold the demonic sludge at bay. It�s important that any leader who enters the Freshkan Council is made fully aware of that my will is law here. -

Kavio gulped. Yura smiled. I thought he did say I needed to be more. aggressive in what I said. Being too tree - like and passive meant everyone�s going to try and get their way.

- The Freshkan Council�s ability to govern is a delegation of authority. My authority. Is that clear, Council Leader Kavio? -

- Yes. -

- Good. Your audience was well noted. You may leave. There are more lands I must reclaim. -

Yura nodded, and they both left. But I listened to their conversation as they walked out of the Sunken Valley�s tunnel.

- I�m not really a leader, am I? - Kavio asked Yura .

- Well, there�s a reason why no one wanted the job and you got it. Your new job requires you to regularly meet A/ and advise him on what is happening. Key diplomatic and military decisions must be approved by A/ personally. -

Kavio smacked himself. - No wonder none of the original survivors put themselves up for election. -

Yura smiled. He had the unfortunate task of being my spokesperson, and it was something few others actually wanted to do. - So do you still want the job? -

He paused and sighed. - I must. -

- Good. A/ �s not that bad once you get to know him. -

- Really? I need to get myself some fear charms. -

Meanwhile, the expansion of the lands continued. With my improving control of mana and the increasing effectiveness of natural mana overwhelming , we�d reclaimed more land. I estimated by now, I�d reclaimed about 5 percent of the entire Rottedlands, and that made my domain far larger than Harris�s country, which was 4 percent of the Rottedlands.

Of that land, some two hundred thousand migrants in total had begun resettling in the ten segments, and slowly they were forming up into new towns. There was still no city proper yet, but I observed the presence of new guilds, new adventurers.

The new villages and towns were given a choice, that if they contributed a certain number of bodies to the Valtorn Order, which I would train into a proper military force, warbeetles would be stationed near the villages and protect them from monster attacks.

But, if the citizens were to stray, on their own volition, into the protected forests, the monsters there would not hesitate to attack them. And there were no beetles to stop them. The protected forests were essentially my national parks, and the beetles only served to mark the barrier. What happened inside was at their own risk. If they lost anyone, or if anyone was lost in the protected forests, they had to mount their own search party.

For those villages who did not contribute headcount to the Valtorn Order Militia, a levy was instead imposed, a tax on all income or produce, in exchange for protection. For newly setup villages that were still trying to get their industry growing, I gave them a one - year to two - year tax - free incentive period.

Also, as I expanded, I eventually managed to breach past the southern part of the Rottedlands, and I found that my subsidiary trees that were outside the Rottedlands were all in hibernation mode.

They were all sleeping, resembling ordinary trees.

Once I reconnected them, I felt the entirety of my southern network return to life. Including my Titan Walker that was still covered in vines and leaves.

Lilies, are you there? I asked, using its way of communication.

Ah. Fellow Tree. We are glad to see you live.

Yes. But before that, you have a shard from the hero? A fragment of the old tree? I referred to the item that Gerrard gave. He said one fragment was with Lilies, and in my mind, I imagined to myself that it�d be difficult to get it and wondered what I could give to entice her.

Yes. We have. A memento of the tree that was, a time when we were few and tiny.

Can I have it? I just need to borrow it for a while.

Silence. Was Lilies going to reject me?

Certainly. Where should we send it to? A memento�s value is a memory shared. Let us share them.

Oh. Wow. Send them to my main body. Do you know where?

At that moment, I felt a root make contact with one of my subsidiary trees. In an instant, right in front of my main body, a small flower bulb emerged, and it gradually unfolded itself, revealing a wooden fragment.

What kind of magic was that? Wait. It was like that teleporting ability that I had with my star mana! Lilies could do it, too!

Thank you.

It didn�t reply. But my focus turned back on the fragment.

Such a small fragment, but I knew its history there. So old, old.

I greedily took it and started analyzing it. There were now two pieces. Then I saw the vision again. It was the same.

- dragons. Monsters. Dragons soared, and they fought. demons? They fought, and then a large demon appeared. It was massive; it resembled a demon king. The dragons fought the demons. Then the vision shifted. Giants of other kinds. Ice giants. Krakens? They fought the demons -

And that was it.

Fuck. I felt that greedy feeling again. I wanted more. I needed that third piece. The two pieces floated in my biolab.

You have gained a level. You are now level 155.

Skill: Psychedelic Dreams and Therapeutic Dreams upgraded.

Skill: Regenerating Sleep significantly upgraded.

Skill: Dream Academy upgraded.

What? Me going on a vision trip upgraded my dreaming and sleeping ability? And wait, was that four skill upgrades with one level? How did that work?

YEAR 115

The demon king didn�t come that year. The entire year, though, the heroes were out and about attacking and fighting any demon walkers that appeared. This time, they mostly resembled regular demons.

No unusual demons. The large demon champion or demon walker - class monsters were just giant upright demons with massive wings and claws that resembled something out of typical RPG games.

It was a good thing, I thought. Just regular demonic monsters that looked demonic. As the heroes travelled the world to fight demons, they occasionally dropped by.

This year, Harris managed to obtain another fifteen spell matrices of very good quality, so the heroes now had twenty - five crystals, of which I kept four, so each of them had twenty - one crystals, with three charges each. Sixty - three charges. These crystals were far superior to the ones used by the mages from last year that created the defensive matrices. They contained more runes and various crystals meant to absorb a different aspect of a spell or ability�s effects. It was through a combination of all the components within the spell matrices that they were able to store a wood shield that contained almost 90 percent of my real wood shield�s power.

It was impressive crafting and something Harris paid a lot of good money for.

- I come here so often I probably should set a teleportation beacon here. -

- If you want to set it, set it up in Freshka. Not here. -

- Of course. It�s good that the message system is partly online. Even if it takes a bit of. work. - Thanks to extensive clearing of the demonic sludge, and the conversion of more hybrid trees into my network, I was able to suppress the effects of the magical interference, and so message could now work, but it must be routed through the southern exits. Kind of like having to build telecommunication towers around an impassable mountain.

Without Astra, the heroes no longer had a flexible teleportation system, so they were forced to use the teleportation system of the natives, which meant portal magic, like the one used by Madeus when I healed the princess.

Harris was not a mage, so if he wanted to use portal magic, he had to use a beacon and a scroll, something normal mages didn�t, since they could manipulate the portal magic spell directly.

Of course, this was a good lesson. Just like me, as a tree, there were some things I was naturally better at. Like offensive abilities, mine was very low, if not for all the other boosts I got. The class system, while it worked to amplify certain skills, at higher levels was quite limiting.

- Why don�t you take mage classes? - curious, I asked Harris.

- I already have five classes: Shield Hero, Warrior King, Weaponmaster, Inquisitor, and Master Trader. -

- Don�t some of those overlap? Why not remove it? -

- I needed their offensive abilities to cover my defensive - focused Shield Hero class, else I would be quite useless in the battle against the demon king, and magic didn�t synchronize well with my base hero class. -

- Then the trader class? -

- My kingdom was poor when I started. The Master Trader skill gave my kingdom some financial boost. -

- Oh. -

Five classes for a human hero?

- You must be very high leveled. -

- If I add everything up, I�m almost level two hundred twenty. But I think that�s not how it works, because one hero level converts to about four to five normal class levels at the higher normal class levels, and if you divide it up using that principle, I�m probably about level one hundred forty or so. -

- So your base hero is about. level one hundred twenty? -

- Yes, about there with forty or so levels in king and about twenty levels each in the other three classes. -

- You haven�t unlocked a domain? -

- What�s that? -

- . Nothing. -

- In terms of pure hero levels, Gerrard�s the highest because he only traded away ten hero levels for his forty - five levels in Master Brewer. So his hero class level is one hundred thirty - five. Embarrassing, isn�t it, to think that Gerrard the Drunkard actually managed to keep most of his hero levels, and we two, the sane ones supposedly, traded more of our hero levels away? - Harris said. He placed his cup on the table.

- Is this supposed to be some kind of classified information? - I asked. Levels didn�t seem like something one should state out publicly.

- On the contrary, as king, it�s in my interest to publicly state my levels. My levels help to encourage and convince the citizens of my ability to protect them and the benefits that we have. Assassins are deterred by the fact that I�m so high level that they don�t even bother. But my children. well. they have reasons to keep their levels secret. -

- They�re going to fight each other? -

Harris sighed. - I could use another pot of tea right now. Yes. Everyone�s jostling to be the next crown prince. I�ve already told them that the will explicitly states that the country is to be broken up should it fall. -

- Isn�t it better for it to be together? -

- Honestly. yes, - Harris said. - But already I can see that my children are preparing for conflict should I not survive this next demon king. -

- Disgusting. Why do you not punish them? -

- I can�t. In the end, they are all my children, and what they are doing is building up their own group of supporters, and they have been clever enough not to actually start a fight. My spies tell me they�ve been goading and baiting each other to start an incident. -

- The younger ones will suffer. -

- I know, the lines are somewhat drawn by my wives. - Honestly, I was not interested in his kingly drama. This was the kind of thing that China or Hong Kong�s Ancient China Period dramas were super fond of. Courtly dramas. - It�s going to be like the warring states era. -

- Oh, so all the children of the same mother band together. That�s clever. How many wives do you have again? -

Harris frowned. - Uh. seven? - Seven splintered kingdoms.

- And how many kids? -

- I think twenty - nine now. - Twenty - nine smaller districts split into seven wives.

- You�re absolutely insane, - I mused. - You aren�t even being a good dad. -

Harris sighed. - Look, I�m not cut out for it, and my wives. they�re so sexy! And hot! When they speak and tease me, I just can�t help myself, and my wives refuse to take any contraceptives! They say it�s a sin to not receive my seeds, and the way they say it is so sexy and hot, at that moment I just can�t think! I�m human, too, and I need their care, their gentle touch, their pleasant, warm embrace. I�m alone in this world, and they are the closest thing I have to my old family, and they are my new family! I feel their love is genuine, even if I�m aware they are subtly manipulating me and taking full advantage of my status as a hero. -

I just felt so sorry for Harris then. I used a vine and poured another pot of tea for the poor guy being manipulated by his harem. But it was an equal exchange, no? - All human? -

- I took one elf, one they call Sandpeople, and yes, the rest humans. I prefer humans, I mean, but elves are sexy, too. -

He was just thinking with his dick, wasn�t he? But then, the demon king was defeated, and he was at the age where his libido was bursting. He wasn�t even twenty, and no wonder he succumbed.

- Honestly, I�m not even sure if that�s all the women I spent time with. I only invited seven into my harem as my consorts, but I may have had more than that. I mean, before I even started the kingdom, I already was kinda. uhm. fucking around. -

He was absolutely thinking with his dick. - Well, now that you might die, your mistakes are now starting to act up. I wonder what your kids think about you having that many wives. -

Harris laughed. - That�s a strange question from a tree of this world. Most people in this world are very accepting of a harem, and that question has never popped up. It is a medieval world where kings like to have many wives. -

Oops. Did I just out myself? Did I reveal my otherworldly origins?

- But my kids, well, they accept it. It�s just the norm here. Maybe because heroes that survived in the past. many end up having harems, too. Even the women keep an army of pretty boys around them. -

Harris finished his second cup of tea.

- Anyway, let�s get to work. -

We made armor and shields. One of the ideas they had, if the crystal matrices were insufficient, was to make actual shields that were strong enough to take a few hits. Gerrard and Mirei both were a little weak on defense, so Harris, being the guardian, with an army of summoned shield units, wanted to make real versions using my enchanted anti - demon wood as the base.

It was a mix of both heroic enchantments, star mana, and a dense, naturally anti - demon wood.

Over a course of two weeks, we made five sets of enchanted wooden armor for each of the three heroes and ten shields for each of them. They would store them in their pocketspace for later use. As payment, we also made five sets for me, which I may someday award to any of my promising minions. Well, actually one set was already meant for Yura .

I called these five sets the Woodshield Set.

I�d learned a lot from making these items with Harris.

The heroes essentially got a special system bypass, since they got to use their mana to shape a certain item, just by thought, without needing much effort.

They also had a special skill that all heroes got called the Hero�s Forge , which was used to make the special hero - class weapons.

It was kind of like some games where the heroes had the option to unlock upgrades and buy new equipment without actually having to go to a blacksmith or physical shop. The system handled the nitty - gritty stuff on their behalf.

The rest of us plebeians just had to do it the old - fashioned way. But observing how one of them used it constantly made me learn more about how the system did it, and I developed a better understanding behind the process of making their heroic weapons, and as a result, I got my skills upgraded.

Skill: Woodshaping significantly upgraded.

Skill: Subsidiary Tree option expanded. Woodshaping Workshop unlocked!

I wasn�t sure why Harris was quite amicable with me. Why couldn�t I have such a relationship with Meela and Alexis? Where did I go wrong? Or was it them that did it wrong?

They must be alive. I didn�t get a notification. What had they been doing the past twenty years?

I shifted my focus back on the hybrids and the growing of Freshkans and Freshlands. To me, they were segments one to ten, but each of them referred to themselves differently, and they had names that I felt too lazy to even remember.

Kavio, too, came rather frequently to provide briefings. He was gradually getting used to the role, and to ease his mental state, I made a Tree of Prayers at the meeting place and told him to present it as if he was talking to the smaller, much, much more peaceful - looking Tree of Prayer instead. It was a mental crutch, because apparently his fear charms broke every other week.

The regular updates were mainly for news, diplomatic activities, things that I couldn�t see using my trees.

Jasmine, Ivy�s replacement, had been hard at work securing the border together with Trevor and Dimitree, and I made three more artificial souls to help oversee my massive territory. I named them Acacia, Brootus, and Cyprus, and their task was to monitor the new refugees and ensure that the protected forests remained protected.

- How about some more beetles? - Horns asked. - We represent massive untapped potential, Master! Imagine it, an army of massive, hero - level beetles. -

And I agreed. It�d been too long since I had made more subordinates, and now was the time for massive expansion.

Exponential growth!

All right, I actually struggled with that concept.

So I made two more artificial souls to accompany Horns. I named them Bugsy and Thorex and sent them out to gain levels. They needed to fight monsters, demons, to hit their level caps, but Horns was just super eager to show off to his two new juniors.

I thought Horns was going to be quite useless in actual combat against the demon king, since, well. they were too powerful.

I needed to think about activating my Titan Walker, preferably with a hero�s soul. Maybe it was a good thing that Harris was close to me. If he somehow died of old age, I�d get the soul. Oh, and Lilies. I�d better check in with them.

Do you want the fragment back? Could you lend it to me again once I get the other piece?

Hold on to it. We do not need it.

Okay. I have questions. You once said that the demons won before. Do you know the details? Like, how did it happen? What happened next? What do you mean by won?

Gods champions destroyed, a decade of slaughter. Still, the world recovers, and life finds a way.

But why? Why do the gods not intervene?

It didn�t answer me.

Seeing that I wasn�t going anywhere with it, I went back to my own affairs. My attention was back on my large territory and the hybrid trees.

Within each protected forest, there were patches of demonic hybrid trees. I was beginning to understand them, at least their inner structure.

In a way, imagine a natural tree that had to deal with an overabundance of oil, and part of its chemical reaction was to manage the oil surplus in the environment. Naturally, they may try to break down the oil, or burn the oil, or store the oil somewhere. The demonic tree reacted to the natural mana, air, and water, so it spent these natural mana the way it knew, which was to blow it up.

In a greenhouse environment tailored to them, they were probably just as harmless as a normal tree.

Something tried to make trees that were adapted to the environment. I suspected maybe it was the spawning system.

Perhaps there was a spawning god whose main job was just to populate the world, quite like playing a strategy game with randomly generated maps and enemies. In its logic, it tried to create something that suited the environment.

Now it would be quite lame if this entire thing was just a game, no?

Skill: Hybrid Botany upgraded.

Control over hybrid trees improved.

YEAR 116

The demon king arrived. The heroes were ready. A battle was fought in the Southern continent, far away. It was the battle of legends. The heroes fought valiantly, and after days of constant fighting, they won a hard - fought battle.

The battlefield was ripped, the ground itself twisted by the magics.

Demon King Nergal was slain.

Or so the news went.

But on the very day the demon king died, the heroes teleported to me.

- A/ . - Gerrard was so frantic, he ran. - All of us have been cursed by the demon king�s disease. -

Gerrard looked extremely pale, and though he ran, I could see his spirit flickering, not a good sign by any measure. Mirei was awake, too, but she was flickering as well. Harris lost an arm and a leg, and he had a massive gash across his body, the armor that protected him half - charred and burned. Mirei, too, had lost both her legs, and two massive lightning elementals carried their master. In Harris�s case, one of his summons supported him like a crutch.

Gerrard was the only one with his limbs intact, but it looked like big chunks of his skin were covered in. pus. They all used their heroic magic to hold themselves together.

- A damned plague demon, - Gerrard said. - And we don�t have a healer! -

- And. -

- You�re a great healer, - Harris said, coughing.

I paused, and inwardly I took a deep breath. - Fine. But my medical services will cost you. - At that very moment, memories of exorbitant medical - insurance bills flashed before my very eyes, but then, I was the hospital. I could probably earn a lot of valuable supplies from this endeavor.

That was how I had three heroes in healing pods in my body. All of them suffered, and somehow, even though they lost their limbs on that very same day, the demon�s plague - touch meant it couldn�t be regenerated.

In normal cases where the cut occurred just recently, the soul hadn�t forgotten its limbs, so it was possible to regenerate a limb. But this demon king somehow inserted something into the soul that stopped that. I had to quickly intervene so that the limbs of their souls didn�t disintegrate. I also had to quickly use all the healing I had to gradually extract the demonic energy out.

But this was a plague - focused demon king, and its power here was not to be trifled with. It was almost like the demon king who received the bombardment of hexbombs learned to use the disease - like power of hex.

Adaptive demons.

That was such a scary, scary thought.

The three heroes rested in their pods for days as I tried to lessen the effect of the wounds. Gerrard, comparatively, had it easier than the rest. It was significantly easier to just cut off the sick part and then just regenerate it.

- Couldn�t you cut off for us, too? - Harris and Mirei both asked.

- In both your cases, the demon king�s damage is in the soul. Cutting it won�t fix it. The corruption must be purged from the soul, then only the limbs will regenerate. -

- Shit. -

Gerrard, relieved to be the first to be discharged after a week in the pod, didn�t leave yet. He stayed in the secret hideout and watched his two fellow Earthlings.

- We would�ve died if not for Harris�s beacon. There was no way we could get anywhere with a good enough healer in time. -

- Tough fight, eh? - I entertained him. Harris and Mirei, since the damage was a soul - level damage, had to go to sleep. I reckoned they needed something like my Domain: Roots of Life to actually fight back the demon king�s corruption. I had to use my soul forge to prevent decay of the soul�s blueprint for their limbs.

- Yeah. It wasn�t very physically tough to kill, but its use of gases, poisons, and that gooey stuff meant we were all constantly taking damage. All our armors were destroyed. - Gerrard showed off his specially made anti - demon weapon; it was half rotten, as if somebody poured a fuckton of acid on it.

- At least it didn�t detonate. -

Gerrard nodded. - That, too. I for one am relieved this demon king didn�t have a death - bomb ability, just a death - plague ability. -

- Plague. -

- Yeah. This game is rigged. - Gerrard took a deep breath. - Will they die? -

- As it is, no. They won�t die. But they won�t heal, either. I can keep them on suspended animation or probably prevent further deterioration, but unless I find a way to overpower the demon king�s corruption, it won�t actually heal. -

I wondered how those demonic cultists removed the demon king�s flames from my trunk so many years back. But then, that was just a physical ever - burning fire, not soul - level damage.

He breathed a sigh of relief. - That�s. that�s great. At least they live. When will they wake up? -

- I�ve put them to sleep for the next few days. I�ll inject them with food via my vines. You can get a drink if you�d like. -

He opened a magical holding bag and withdrew a really old - looking wine and some cups. - Yeah. - He sat there quietly and drank the wine for some time, and once he was done, he left for Freshka and found accommodation in Freshka�s many inns.

Harris still needed constant medical care as the demonic corruption and sickness were still in his soul. But physically, other than the lost limbs, he was fine. He still had only one leg and one hand, and I had Yura come in and teach both Mirei and Harris how to use their familiars to create a wooden leg.

- I lost my hand until A/ healed it for me, but still, it�s a useful ability to have. You need to first let your familiars take up the armor form, and. -

- Got it, - they both said and were able to replicate it. To them, magic was easy, and the system aided them, so they quickly understood what Yura wanted to do.

- Wow. - Yura was impressed. It took him some time to learn how to do it. - Heroes really are a different breed. -

But even with the tree familiars functioning as their artificial legs and hands, the two couldn�t leave very far. In Mirei�s case, the demon king�s attack penetrated near her chest, so there was a swirling demonic corruption very close to the center of her soul, and it took a lot of my energy to just suppress it.

This situation was different from what I expected. The demon king�s very own attacks possessed high - tier soul - damaging abilities, which meant it could potentially hurt me directly, even if I had extremely high anti - demon defenses, though, like the demonic curse, it may be possible to suppress with Roots of Life .

Harris, now that he began to feel a bit better, despite his limbs still burning in pain, sent a message to his subordinates and minions back home. I wondered if they were happy or sad that their king lived. Perhaps the kingdom would hold itself together for a bit more. Or it may just mean the conflict that happened when all the kids were older would be more deadly and ferocious.

- We both can�t leave this place, - Harris said. He sat in the lounge area in the secret hideout . Even with my healing, I was only able to suppress it so that they could still afford some degree of freedom, but left unattended, it would flare up within a week.

- We could teleport there and back, - Mirei said.

- I can�t run my kingdom like this, - Harris complained, and he had a lot of concerns. - I would have to delegate my role. -

Mirei just laughed at her friend. - Good! Finally, you have to bite the bullet and cut the damned cake. Handing over power and ensuring that they don�t fight each other before you die is the best thing you can do as a father, Harris. This medical issue is the best thing that has ever happened to your kingdom. -

Harris seemed reluctant to face the problem. It reminded me of myself, and damn, that hurt. I, too, hesitated far too much when faced with problems. - A/ , any chance you can uh. remotely heal me from my capital? -

- Uh. no. - Truth was there really was not. The kind of mana and energy needed to suppress the demon king�s curse on their bodies was something I had only here, and it needed the presence of my main body�s energies.

Mirei was cheerful, even though her condition was the worst of the three, because of the curse close to her soul spring. She took some time to enjoy herself in Freshka and went for long walks. As a hero, her powers meant she could still move around very quickly.

- Won�t you miss your pretty boys? - Harris laughed.

Mirei just shrugged. - That was my hobby a few decades ago. I�ve moved on now. How often do we talk about it, anyway? - To be fair, even though she was now in her mid - forties, she still looked really fit and youthful due to the influence of heroic magic. Heroes, I reckoned, if they survived, would probably live until they were in their two hundreds, just like the humans that practiced magic.

- Then what do you spend time on? -

- Like most typical ladies, good food, tea time, good cakes and cookies, and fashion! - Mirei laughed. - All I have to do now is move my entire operation here. -

- Oh. -

- You can�t move a kingdom! - Mirei ribbed him. - So let it go, Harris. It�s better to let your many children have their thrones now. At least you can watch and advise them. - After days of discussion, eventually Harris succumbed to Mirei�s idea.

Anyway, now that I was their healer and essentially their lives were in my hands, I�d started to demand for more things as compensation for my healing services. Like gems. A lot of them.

So, this finally allowed me to repair my Grand Mind Tree .

With that, I felt a return of more statistics and numbers to my mind, and it checked my thoughts for the presence of external influences.

Throughout this entire time, I continued with my Rottedlands expansion and claimed more areas. So, once a good amount of area was reclaimed, I opened up five new segments for new refugees and migrants. There were some areas I�d set aside as hybrid - tree parks, where these were the hybrid plants that I�d gained control over.

I reckoned some of these new refugees would be surprised by it, but I decided to let it be.

- You guys seriously didn�t find anything that was the source of the corruption? - I asked Harris about the crystal that they destroyed a few years back.

Harris probably was quite surprised that only now I spoke about it, since, well, we had that discussion many years ago. - Uh. no. We were honestly just looking for our fellow heroes. After we destroyed the crystals and got the notification, we just. stopped? -

- Is there a source of all this corruption? - I wondered to myself. It may be possible, if my understanding of the hybrid botany improved, to trace its energy source through the roots of these hybrid demon plants. It must come from somewhere.

But it was something I feared to do.

If it was the abyss I was looking into, it may well look into me as well. Would I end up like Zeratul, accidentally revealing the location of the homeworld to the demons? I immediately set the Grand Mind Tree to act as an antivirus and firewall to block out any attempted intrusions into my mind. Alexis had already revealed plenty to the demons when she was trapped in the fire - demon mode, and so did Simone and Victor.

- I�m home! - Lozanna returned after years of travelling. She gave Laufen a hug. It was pretty much the first thing she did.

- You�ve been away for very long. - Laufen looked at her growing daughter. - How was it? -

They had lunch together. - Oh. I�ve been to all the continents! I fought lots of monsters and creatures. -

- That�s good. Did you find anything or. anyone? -

Lozanna nodded shyly. - Yes. Erm. that�s part of why I came back, Mom. -

- Oh? -

- I. uh. joined an adventurer team when I was in the continents. And, erm. I travelled with them for a few years. -

- And? - Laufen had the look of an expectant mom, like, come on, drop the bomb already.

- I�m thinking of getting married to him. My captain. -

- Ah. - Laufen nodded knowingly. - So is he here? Did he come? -

- Yes. He�s in the inn. I wanted to just, uh. tell you about him first, before you meet him. -

- Don�t be silly. I was expecting this to happen! No young elven girl goes travelling around the world for almost seven to eight years and does not find someone to fall in love with. - Laufen smiled and gave her daughter a knowing look. - So you�re here to invite me to the wedding, I suppose? -

- Yeah, - Lozanna said shyly.

In my mind, well, that escalated quickly. She was just a kid. Then a teen. And now she was getting married. I. if I was human, I�d probably need to take some time off and accept this. Like. wow. Time sure moved quickly, and it was even more pronounced when I saw all these other people moving on with their lives.

I felt. lonely. At that moment, I could feel a sense of warmth and belonging from all my fellow trees, like they were trying to comfort me.

Grand Mind Tree has intercepted attempted Influence from trees. The following message was deleted: We are one, we trees are all one.

Yeah. A tree�s forever alone. All these other trees in the forest, but I was still just me.

YEAR 117

- This way. - Yura led them into the tunnels, fifteen of them, young teenagers who�d trained for a year or two. In another world, they�d be school - going teenagers, but here, they were warriors, rangers, mages, druids, or knights, ready to face monsters to the death.

- This way? - one of the young mages asked. He held up his staff, and the crystal glowed in the darkness of the tunnel. It was one of the many root tunnels that led to the Valley of the Unrotten. They�d never been there, after all; access to this area was restricted to the heroes, Yura , Laufen, Kavio, and a few others of the new priesthood, who escorted the dead bodies to their burial grounds in the valley.

- Yes. - Yura pointed. They walked past a bunch of beetle guards. They stood, a little surprised to see the unmoving beetles. - Your promotion awaits. Come. -

The fifteen nodded. They knew this was it. The moment many had been waiting for. They saw the faint light at the end of the tunnel, and they soon stood at the entrance of the Valley of the Unrotten.

The valley now was home to very few people, so Giant Attendant Trees, many of them on fire scattered throughout the valley, were the main source of light. There was still one small stairwell at the top, above my main tree.

The valley glowed with the orange fire. The trees here survived mainly on the nutrition and energy I fed them. Herbs and flowers were everywhere, and then there was the small stream of black fires, the suppressed energies of the demonic corruption. The excess corrupting energy gathered here to be processed by my main body and the trees.

Their path was made of wood, hardened from the roots that covered everywhere, and flanked by wooden statues. I made them, as practice. My surplus wooden weapons and the large anti - demon bolts were also used as fencing, since I had little place to store them.

They soon passed a field of olives, fruits, and a mix of other crops I had cultivated in small quantities, remnants of the earlier era when the survivors still lived in the valley. The old buildings looked like they�d seen some years. And ghosts. Soul harvesters and nightmare harvesters. Here in the valley, where they were closest to me, they were easily visible to anyone with the slightest affinity to magic. They resembled giant shrouds, and they floated everywhere.

Some of them felt fear.

Haunted Forest .

Yura tapped them on their backs. - Don�t embarrass yourself. A/ �s watching. - A test for the young Valthorns to receive their familiars. In many ways, this was actually a ritual more than an actual test, walking to the Valley of the Unrotten to see the origins of their institution.

A beetle would occasionally run across their backs, and they would turn, startled, the rangers especially with their bow and arrows.

Eventually, they arrived at where Kavio gave his briefing in a small, round area flanked by tall trees, with a small Tree of Prayer in the middle. There was also a pedestal, where they could stand to see my main tree.

- Well, we�re here. Stand on the pedestal and receive your familiar. -

A ritual. It was a silly thing; I could just as easily give them their familiar when they were sleeping in their rooms back in Freshka. But given easily, they would not know the weight and value of what was given, and they were young, impressionable teens. A part of me felt it was important that the weight of the responsibility was made clear.

So, a ritual it was.

A walk to the Valley of the Unrotten to see where the survivors lived and meet the protector of the valley.

How could one receive the familiar without ever knowing what gave you your familiar?

The fifteen teens broke down in different ways when they received their familiar contracts. They�d never been here.

One cup appeared for all fifteen of them, and each of the tall trees that flanked the tree of prayers revealed a pod.

- Time to drink, - Yura instructed. - Finish it and enter into the pods. -

Tree sap , Mystical Dreams , Dream Tutor

A dream was just a dream, or it could be more. For these fifteen young teens who�d accepted their familiar contract, I�d given them a dream of what the familiars could do, like a tutorial. At the same time, it was also. a message. Familiars had served many masters over the century. Many had died with their familiars, and I felt it was important to drill in to them the fact that when it came to familiars, though useful, it ultimately was up to them to make the full use of them.

Again, with power came responsibility. But also, with responsibility came power.

After about three hours in the pod, they all emerged a little dazed, and Yura led them back to Freshka.

I wondered about my methods. It was probably a little too. big brother. What I did with dreams maybe in another world would reek of a government reeducation camp.

After the kids were back in Freshka, Yvon asked Yura , - How�d they take it? -

- They�re quiet. I think they�ll be okay. - Yura nodded. It�d been a long day; he had a large cold tea mixed with a bit of lemon and ginger for refreshment.

- I wish I could be there. - Yvon sighed. - My form restricts me no further than ten feet out of that door. - Again, heroes were unique like that. Eriz�s ability to split her body into multiple nursery trees was special to her class, and Yvon too could split her body into each of the training trees she was in. Right now, she could have three training trees.

- Just talk to them when you see them. I think they all need a bit of sleep after what they�ve seen. -

Yvon frowned with her wooden form. She�d been their trainer for some time now, and she was about level forty as a Training Tree . Naturally, she cared for her students. - I hope A/ didn�t give them the dreams of brutal warfare. -

Of all the kinds of dreams I could give a person, the dreams of the brutality of war were apparently the scariest. It was the dream where they were placed in a massive battlefield and everyone around them was killed and mutilated in different ways, and all they could do was run, flee, feel pain, and scream.

- I think he didn�t. They didn�t look that horrified. -

- I see, - Yvon said, but she was not convinced.

The New Valthorns were recruited from all over the Freshlands, from all of the small villages and towns, to the few growing cities. Politics was messy, and Freshka was like the federal government squabbling with the cities and towns that functioned like municipal and state governments.

Kavio, the elected chief, had the difficult task of managing the loose federation, and he had to frequently rely on the strength of the beetles to make his point.

Fighting eventually broke out between two cities. To the refugees, I was but a distant, faraway image. In the minds of the cities quasi - independent rulers, they did not believe I would impose my authority until I did.

One hundred thousand beetles descended on the two cities, along with the Valtorn s men. The size and massive show of force meant the two cities surrendered quickly, and those responsible were quickly captured. Both leaders and those we found to be involved were publicly judged in accordance with the founding constitution of Freshka.

Defiance against their delegated authority was death. A root - spear through the heart. Gruesome, but a statement.

It was a statement I had to make. I had already foreseen my power to be challenged every few years, as the people did not believe what they did not see. This was my experience from New Freeka.

The law was meaningless until enforced. In the medieval times, order was established through force and fear. So, for a time, Kavio found his job as the chief mediator of the various segments easier. It was a job Yura did not want to do, because he saw how different the scale of things was. It was a difficult task for one person, so it had to change.

It was ironic, I supposed, when I remembered Freeka itself suffering because their king then demanded a draft and was punished for not complying. And now, I did what the king�s men did. I could only hope that I meted out these punishments justly, instead of randomly like the soldiers of Salah.

Soon, the Freshkan Council had to be expanded into something resembling a parliamentary or congressional system. Each city and district would send a representative, and those representatives together would elect a segment leader, for a total of fifteen segment leaders, one for each segment.

All of the segment leaders were given an audience with me.

Again, a ritual.

Just as how monarchs of my world had coronation ceremonies or how religious orders had complex conclaves, I saw it fit to drill the weight of my authority and that these men were delegates, that the constitution of this land had its weight and power derived from me, and it was important to cement the thought in their minds that their position represented a delegation of power. My power.

Perhaps I was a bit too power crazy. The thought of going crazy with power stirred in my mind for a moment. But this was a world of power and conflict. A world where higher - leveled people would not hesitate to have their way, and sometimes I thought maybe all this power was too much for one person. Then I recalled their stupid conflicts, and all my concerns faded away. Not everything from our world could be transplanted over. Not when the balance of power was so whacked.

The fifteen were brought to the Valley of the Unrotten, and unlike the young Valthorns, I gave them a different. drink. I gave them visions of the past.

The lives I�d taken. The foes I�d slain. The destruction of the valleys in the hand of the demons. The burning of Freeka. The corruption of the demons. The haunting screams of the dead. Wars.

The fifteen came out, holding their feelings in. Kavio escorted them back to Freshka, where a comfortable inn awaited. But a message was made, and these representatives now understood their place.

- You will outlive him, Lozanna . - Laufen held her daughter�s hand one day as they sat in a cafe in Freshka.

- I know. It is something I thought of, and you need not counsel me otherwise. -

- I didn�t mean to. Not when your wedding is tomorrow. I outlived your dad, too, even though we were both elves, - Laufen said. She sipped on a cup of coffee, a newly imported delicacy. - Our long lives mean little when the world is so cruel to us. Few survive till their hundreds, like Grandma Casshern. -

- I never met her. -

- You have, but you were just a baby. - Laufen smiled, and she tapped her daughter�s smooth palm. A human might think these two were good friends, or perhaps sisters, since elven aging slowed down dramatically once one reached adulthood. Maybe, except an elf would notice the faint lines around the eyes or the aging colors of her hair. - Are you ready for tomorrow? -

- Yeah. I already went through one. I don�t think our A/ ic wedding is going to be more challenging than the Gawa - styled ceremony. - For Lozanna , she held two ceremonies, one a Gawa - styled one in accordance with the Eastern Gaya Temple�s traditions on the Eastern Continent. It was meant for her husband�s extended family, and the need to travel from one continent to another meant it took a whole year to get both of her events sorted out.

- Good. -

The next day, a ceremony was held at the Freshka�s Valtorn prayer courtyard. It was an entirely new city, so we had space. I, together with some of the surviving priests, had designed this large park - in - the - temple - style courtyard, where there were multiple Tree of Prayers so different ceremonies could be held simultaneously.

It was also where I designated one of my many tree eyes , so here, the trees took on different colors every season. I remembered the verdant flower patches of home, the colors of fall, and spring, and winter, and had it recreated with the local plants. So it was a lovely place, a wedding in a garden, but still in a temple. An Earthling may vaguely tell the influences of Asian gardens and temples, and even the vast courtyards of many historical sites in the West.

Lozanna and her husband stood before a Tree of Prayer with light pink leaves. It was a garden of many colors. The couple wore ceremonial dresses and shirts. A ritual, for a wedding.

In a world of systems, rituals were also a means of communicating with the system. Weddings, burials, all acted to inform the system of change in status. For married couples, it was not unusual for them to receive a temporary blessing immediately after the wedding.

There was a small pedestal, and on it were two small pieces of wood. It was smooth, except for one part where it had a thorn, and they both pricked their fingers on it, a drop of blood on both pieces of wood. The wood absorbed the blood and was made into a necklace with a bit of magic, and the two would exchange necklaces. Wooden necklaces of the two�s blood.

It was a relatively new process, adapted from the practices of nearby nations. After all, ancient traditions were oft forgotten, so new ones must take their place.

Yura said quietly, - From one generation to the next. -

- Doesn�t that only happen when Lozanna actually has a baby? - Laufen grinned. She was clearly happy to see her daughter find a husband.

- Well, are you pressuring them? - Yura smiled.

- Maybe not in the next few years. -

- That�s a yes. - Well, in elven terms, a few years was very short. - So eager to see a grandchild? - Laufen grinned.

There was another event that happened during the year, and one with greater geopolitical impact on the continent: the great dissolution of Harris�s empire into the seven queenly states of his seven wives.

Harris had set up a teleportation beacon, and all of his wives and children came to Freshka. He used the tremendous funds he had at his disposal to construct a vast verandah on the outskirts of Freshka, where a treaty would be signed.

The treaty of Freshka. If it was up to me, I�d totally call it Tree - aty of Freshka, but oh well. Maybe a future treaty would enjoy that tree - atment.

Harris declared the Royal Capital his personal imperial holdings and essentially delegated the management of his empire into seven parts, each under one of his wives, turning them into queens, and then his now thirty children each princes or princesses of their own regions. Armies, budgets, artifacts, and magical items were all divided into seven parts, and any undividable parts were to be held by him personally.

Of course, this wouldn�t be ideal. But Mirei was right; it was better that the separation lines be drawn now rather than later. At least he lived to mediate any conflict. The signing was held. Everyone was present, even neighboring royalty. A big party was held, and the emperor himself, Harris, gave a long speech explaining that he had hoped for a peaceful transition of power to the seven wives and their children.

Jasmine, my spy - in - chief, quickly made me listen in to some of the politicians and some of the royals.

- It�s insanity, no? Has the emperor gone mad, to break up his own empire this way? The other nations will surely take the chance to bite! -

- It�s a hero�s naivety, perhaps, - another delegate explained. - Heroes have made very strange choices in the past. It seems Emperor Harris is no different. -

- Ah. Still, this is a wonderful opportunity for us. Which queen do you think will be easier to convince? -

- I reckon we should speak to each of the young princes and princesses, who are eager to show off their chops. We could give them some winning chips but trap them into our influence. Trade and wealth is the way forward, with the emperor�s summons still around to maintain peace. -

Though Harris was unable to depart for long, his army of summons still roamed his empire. No nation was foolish enough to fight the summoned armies of the hero; their strength in combat was legendary.

- A long - term investment, at least. until the next demon king. -

- A tough decision, honestly, - the delegate said. - These dissolved seven queendoms will surely fight the moment the emperor falls in battle with the next demon king, but then, if he cannot leave this place, surely the demon king will come here. -

A look of horror was on the other delegate�s face. - Oh. That would be bad. We may not be able to retain our investment if the next demon king targets this continent. -

- Perhaps that is a question we should ask the emperor, what his plans are for the next demon king. -

So, as Harris socialized with the rest of his children and wives, one of them asked.

- Your Majesty, what�s your plan for the next demon king? With your condition, would you lead the fight with the next demon king? -

Harris smiled. - Well, though our condition generally requires us to remain close to A/ �s healing powers, I foresee it�s not a problem for the three of us to fight the next demon king. With a set of teleportation beacons, we could fight the demon king and then be back. We are also working on an alternative, should that day come, but it is not something I can reveal. -

If there was a metaphorical moment when everyone was taking notes, that was it. I could sense a flood of magical messages outward, and I was damned sure Harris and Mirei could, too. They were heroes, and they had innate magical sense.

But he just smiled and let it happen. Eventually, the ceremony ended, an empire officially broken up. Harris let everyone choose whether they wanted to enjoy the comforts of Freshka or whether they wanted to go back. All of them went back, and surely, Harris himself predicted a torrent of planning and politicking.

That night, he met Mirei for a drink.

- You left early. -

- I didn�t want to steal your thunder. It was your event, Harris. No need for two heroes in the same event. -

- Heh. I still tire of such politics, even when I have levels for it. -

- You lasted the whole day. I�d say your levels did their job. - Mirei smiled. - How does it feel, a weight off your shoulders? -

- A bit. At the same time, I fear I may have laid the foundations for a civil war. -

- You could use this time to make more magical enchantments, such that if war ever breaks out, the magical enchantments will stop it. You know there are magics that do that. -

- It�s inevitable. -

- Indeed. -

- Ever regret sticking your thing into so many places? -

- Sometimes. - Harris sighed, and he got drunk on herbal liqueur that night.

- All the time, you mean. - Mirei laughed.

YEAR 118

Mirei�s condition deteriorated, despite my best efforts to heal her. A part of me felt conflicted about it. If she died, I got a titan soul. If she didn�t, well, there�d be one more hero to fight the demon king.

- I�m going to die, aren�t I? - she asked.

- Why is she deteriorating? - Harris asked. It didn�t make sense to him, and it didn�t make sense to me, either, but somehow, she just deteriorated like a sudden relapse. I spent months looking into her body, and I kept trying to suppress the demon king�s curse, but it was. weird. It was able to break through whatever my means of suppression and create new curses.

- If she deteriorates, you might, too, - I told Harris. - I�m trying, but I don�t know why it behaves this way. -

- It hurts, - Mirei said while she sobbed. The pain she felt was intense, and it was throughout her body. She described it like she was being roasted alive.

Some days, Mirei was absolutely delirious, and she just kept screaming, shouting, and struggling as the pain possessed her.

- Can�t you sedate her or something? - Harris said, upset at his screaming, semi - conscious friend.

- Uh, really? Do I have permission? -

Mirei herself shouted, - Yes. Do it! Just knock me out! -

She was a hero. Status effect resistance was the norm for heroes above level one hundred. My attempted sleep drug wasn�t strong enough to have any effect. - Not working, I need to overcome your natural hero resistance. -

- How? -

She screamed. She yelled.

I tried more things. Injected sleeping pills. Didn�t work.

- I don�t get it, - Gerrard, who was also around, said. - Why doesn�t it work? -

- Maybe she must want to sleep herself, - Harris said. - I mean. her body must let A/ �s drug do its thing. -

- Oh, you mean like my alcoholism, - Gerrard said. - Mirei, try to, uh. disable or suppress your hero status. You can do that by thinking about your hero class and then think about turning it off. -

Harris glared at Gerrard. - You can do that? -

- Uh, I don�t recommend it to everyone. - Gerrard shrugged. Mirei�s screaming was blocked by the panel.

- Is that a good idea? - I asked. - It�s entirely possible her hero class is what�s helping to delay and suppress the demonic curse. -

The two heroes nodded. - True. Didn�t consider that. -

Mirei continued to scream for days, my attempts at suppressing her pain or putting her to sleep not working. But she really needed sleep, yet her body�s pain didn�t let her.

- This is just cruel, - Harris said. - I never imagined our hero�s resistance to status ailments would sabotage us in this way. - It was really this cliff effect, where the hero�s resistance of status ailments did not prevent a demon king�s curse, and yet it prevented all attempts of suppressing the symptoms of the curse.

- It�s partly your level. - I remembered being able to put Meela to sleep, but then, she was a lot lower level at that time.

- What? -

- The effects of the hero�s natural resistance to afflictions are correlated to the level. The higher your level, the stronger your natural resistance. -

- She can�t give away her levels. We need her for the demon king! - Harris complained. Gerrard just stared at his fellow hero.

- Is her life more important, or is the demon king more important? - Gerrard asked.

- No. That�s not what I meant. -

- It sounded quite like what I think you meant. -

- Now�s not the time to argue. Let me see what I can do to put her out of her misery. Get me the strongest painkillers and sleeping potions and items in the world. My own sleeping and pain - suppression abilities are not strong enough, but together with the world�s best items, maybe I can still do something. -

The two heroes did so. Mainly Gerrard, since he was free to travel. Harris�s condition had to be monitored; his condition may suddenly deteriorate, too. They acted quickly, and within days I had all kinds of strange medicines and ointments from all over the world. Such was the power of heroes to mobilize their immense financial resources.

And we attempted to use each and every one of those ointments. Apparently, the sleep status, unless internally done, was viewed as a status ailment. Surely, there was a way to trigger sleep, even if her body was in pain?

The body naturally slept. That was a fact, and the hero system didn�t intervene with that. Yet all these inbound influences that attempted to put her to sleep did not work.

So, logically, if I could somehow fake the system to think that I was natural, wouldn�t that work? I was a tree with a nature Domain. If I couldn�t do it, who else could?

Days of struggling. Weeks. There were days when the pain somehow became more tolerable, when the demonic curse somehow subsided. Perhaps it was the alignment of the stars, but I could totally relate to Mirei�s pain. After all, I too went through something quite similar.

If she could somehow gain levels to be level one hundred fifty, would heroes gain a Domain, too? Wouldn�t that mean they�d become even more overpowered if they got their heroic divine blessings and a Domain?

I tried all my healing and sleep skills, from suspended animation , to mystical dreams , to even trying to use hibernate on her, but nothing worked.

The heroes tried using their own heroic energy to help suppress the demonic curse, but somehow it just made it worse, so they had to stop. They cursed and wondered how the demon king managed to create a curse of this strength and persistence.

They left again and went to look for other kinds of cures. Gerrard, it seemed, tried to go visit other healers and spirits.

Lilies, are you familiar with demonic curses?

No.

Ah.

How?

I mean, was there a way for a doctor to reach to the soul and just. turn off the Hero class for a while? Like general anesthesia or something?

Are you then familiar with how to. disable a class? Temporarily.

Lilies paused. They replied to me a week later.

The system has the power.

Well, no shit, the system gave us the power of levels, pretty damn sure it had the power to remove it, too. How do I acquire it?

Such power is beyond mortals.

Well, thank you for telling me nothing. I�d have to find some other way.

Mirei would have days where the pain subsided, and I would do extensive tests. Some days, the demonic curse just. shrank by itself. Its behavior was erratic and annoying. I didn�t understand why a curse didn�t behave consistently.

So I wondered whether it was outside interference, like. maybe something was remotely controlling the curse.

Could I form a magical barrier?

I had shield abilities, but did they work with demonic curses. uh. erm. entanglements? I mean, I guessed if the heroes magical transmission towers were somehow intertwined with each other without any obvious connection, that did suggest that a curse that was intertwined magically to something else was possible!

So I tried just that. Layers on layers of magical barriers.

It did nothing.

Maybe the type of barriers wasn�t right.

She yelled and screamed every now and then. It reminded me of a mental ward, where some people just couldn�t control their own mental state and frequently descended into shouting fits. Was this one of those?

Frustrated, I took Mirei to the soul forge within my body. I wanted to try to use my soul forge powers to temporarily suspend the effects of her hero class. Maybe I could then put her to sleep.

So, with the power of the soul forge, I examined her body again. At first, everything seemed the same.

Her soul spring was there; there were two massive vases that poured sparkling star mana into her spring. The spring was massive, and there were large chunks of it that resembled white marble. The curse was there, too.

Right next to the spring was a massive, swirling black pool of stuff. The swirling curse was fenced up by little bushes, which I thought was the result of my various healing abilities.

What powered this curse?

I used my soul forge, as I did before, to try and suppress the curse, but it did nothing. It was already fenced up.

Was it something else?

There was nothing else in here, in this inner body of hers. All. except the spring.

So I went back to my earlier idea. Could I turn off the hero ability temporarily? To do so, I attempted to reach for the spring, and nothing happened. With the power of the soul forge, I pushed at the spring itself. It creaked but didn�t do much.

Then I pulled. In a way, the entire spring was made of blocks, kind of like large LEGO bricks stacked on one another to form a spring. Each of them represented a skill or some a class.

It was then I saw it briefly. A small black thing. Something hidden in between the blocks. Then the blocks pulled themselves back together. Kind of like magnets snapping back once you let go.

- There�s something in your soul spring. - I told Mirei, Harris, and Gerrard the bad news. - I don�t know when it got in there, but I�m guessing it�s the cause of your pain. -

- Uh. - They didn�t understand the concept of a soul spring, of course. It probably felt like a young child listening to a doctor going about medical jargons.

So I had to explain in detail what I was doing and what I saw. They got it rather quickly. One of them described it like, - Oh, it�s like Naruto! That shikigami thing that pulled out the snake guy�s soul and chopped his arms off! So even if he had arms, he didn�t have arms, right? -

- Yes? -

- Cool. So, now we know that in her soul, that�s something that�s living inside the central key part of her soul. That central part is tied to all our levels, our mana and stuff, right? -

- Yes. -

- What if. we give you more power? -

- Huh? -

- You can�t move it with your power. But you have two heroes here. Me and Harris. We�re both heroes who have star mana, and star mana�s like crazy juice. Could it work? - Gerrard asked.

I thought about it for a moment, and I supposed it was worth trying. The star mana didn�t do much in suppressing the curse, because, well, it was already suppressed. That made sense in many ways now. We were targeting the wrong source.

- I don�t know, but it is worth trying. I will need both of you in the pods. - I wrapped their bodies with many vines and branches, simply because star mana was immensely powerful, and I was not sure regular vines by themselves could draw their mana.

Then I started the soul forge again and telepathically gave them the signal to start the star - mana transfer.

The overwhelming quantities of star mana. These heroes easily had a hundred times of my star mana each. As it flooded through my body and into the soul forge, I had to quickly increase the quantity of vines, so much so it essentially wrapped them up entirely.

Then, with their star mana and all my power, I pulled at Mirei�s soul spring again. It felt amazing. I felt like I was working with a small hammer before this, and now I was given a massive excavator. So much. power.

I pulled, and indeed, the soul spring started to come apart. Piece by piece was dismantled, and then I saw it.

A large, entirely black piece of rock. Rotten and festering right in the soul spring itself. When it got here, I had no idea.

But with their power, I pulled it out.

Mirei was in intense quantities of pain. Pulling apart one�s soul spring was like ripping through one�s very core. I sensed all her readings and measurements shoot through the roof, and if she could scream, she would�ve screamed and fainted.

I flooded her with all the sleep powers I had. Mystical Dreams , Psychedelic Dreams , Suspended Animation , Tree Sap - Sleep . Everything. I threw everything into her body, hoping it worked this time.

And it did.

The soul spring was broken, so the Hero class could not play its part.

I then added more pain relief and pain suppression tree saps. She quickly calmed down and entered into sleep.

A black piece of rock stood before me. It oozed a blackish liquid. What in the fuck was this thing? My inspection just went ? .

I decided to just destroy it then. I hit it with all my borrowed might. A massive root. It cracked and broke and turned to small black ash. Then it disappeared.

Mirei�s soul spring was still broken. I had to start repairing it.

My star mana�s running out, the two heroes telepathically communicated.

- I used too much to destroy that thing. -

Is Mirei alive?�

- Yes, but let me do some basic repairs. - I tried to put her soul spring back together. I could move the lesser pieces, those that did not look like white marble. But the Hero pieces, I couldn�t budge them at all, unless. I had their star mana.

- My mana�s out, - Harris said.

Ugh. - Fine, let�s stop here. -

The two heroes came out, absolutely exhausted. - I�ve never had so much star mana used up except when we fought the demon king! -

It was only expected, wasn�t it? Altering one�s soul was such a difficult thing, especially a hero�s soul.

Mirei was in the longest, deepest sleep in a long time. She was in a dream. I could sense it. A long, long dream. I thought I detected that she cried at parts.

The two heroes needed a few days to replenish their star mana before we could get back to repairing Mirei�s soul spring. I had, in the meantime, done all the other pieces, and with each piece, her condition recovered. But throughout these few days, she just slept and dreamed.

The heroes said that their star mana used to refill a lot faster. When they fought the first demon king, all they needed was a four - hour nap and they were good to fight again. These days, a few days was the minimum. They claim it was the downgraded blessings.

We got to work, and again, with their star mana, I finally managed to put everything back together without that one piece that rotted.

Done, I jolted Mirei out of her dreams.

When she woke up, she screamed briefly, then cried for an hour. Then she gave Harris and Gerrard both a hug.

- Mirei, are you all right? -

- . no. -

- What, it didn�t work? -

- Whatever you all did, it worked. I�m not in pain anymore, - Mirei said. - But I�m not all right. Not anymore. -

- What do you mean? -

- I saw home. -

- Home? -

- Earth, - Mirei said. - I dreamed of Earth, but it was so real, so vivid. I was back in school again. Friends. Our family. I could remember all their names and faces again. -

Gerrard and Harris looked at each other.

- We�ve known for a while that the gods suppress our memories of home. But during that long sleep, all I dreamed of. was home. -

- A/ , what did you do? -

- I put you into a dream state, but I have little input on what actually happens other than the type of dreams. I gave you a pleasant one. -

Mirei bowed briefly. - Thank you, A/ . I needed that reminder of home. Harris, Gerrard, I want to go home. -

The two men didn�t know what to say.

- I�ve had enough of playing here. Thirty years we lived here, fought this stupid war of the gods. I want to go home now. -

What could they even say to that? How could they even go home? How could I even go home?

- Mirei. -

- I�m not going to kill myself, but if I�m heavily injured in the next battle, don�t save me, - Mirei said. - I had enough. I want to go home. -

- Mirei. -

- Harris, you had your fun. Don�t you miss your parents? I saw them in my dreams. They were there. The gods told us if we died, we�ll be back where we started. I�ve had enough, Harris. It�s time to wake up from this silly game. -

She looked at the two dumbstruck men.

- I�m going to need some time. -

- Yes, - the two answered and quickly gave her space.

Mirei was alone, and physically she was fine. She sat on a chair inside my secret hideout and spoke. - A/ , was that real? -

- I gave you dreams. But I don�t know exactly what was in them. -

- Can you give me more of those dreams? -

- I. don�t know whether your hero power will interfere with it. -

She paused, and then she asked me a question I never expected. - Can you take my hero powers away? If I give them to you willingly, is that something you can take away? -

The answer was yes, of course. It was entirely possible to give away one�s levels and skills. It had happened before so many, many, many years ago. - Yes. -

- I see, - she said. - Harris probably wants me to fight with him the next time. But I�m tired of this artificial life. I miss my parents. I miss home. I miss being. normal again. I hate this hero thing now. -

- Things may not be well back home. -

- It doesn�t matter. - Mirei sobbed. - I didn�t realize how sad it is to never dream of my parents or my siblings all these years, that we�ve somehow accepted and rolled with this new role of ours as heroes so freaking easily. It�s just fucked up, so fucked up, and all I want to do is quit this game. -

- It�s not a game. - Well, who knew?

- It might well be, with how they�ve been toying with our feelings and emotions, - Mirei said. - The worst thing is I didn�t even know until you disabled my hero class! I never even realized how weird it is for us to just roll with it and forget so many important things about our world! -

I didn�t say much. I just gave her some tea, and now that she was not in pain, there was no reason to lock her up in here. Her curse still remained, though, and that was something even with the heroes star mana I still couldn�t solve. Maybe not yet.

She rested for quite a long time, alone. - A/ . I have a favor to ask. -

- Yes? -

- When it�s time for me to die, can you take my levels away? -

- I can�t do that. Levels must be given away freely. -

- I can give you my levels now. Or can I make it into a magical contract such that you take my levels the moment I die? -

- Why not give it to Harris or Gerrard? -

- They don�t realize it, A/ . Maybe Gerrard knows, but he is drinking away his worries. Maybe he knows and doesn�t want to admit it. It�s a kind of suffering to continue this game, knowing that our old life, our real family, is all waiting for me over there, on the other side. Giving them levels just prolongs their suffering. -

- It�ll help them. -

- It�s a twisted kindness, that heroes die frequently. Imagine never being able to die and being stuck in this world. If you realize that your loved ones are still there. -

Hmm, at this point, well, if she wanted to give it to me.

- I�ll give it to you. -

But then again, I couldn�t use it. If I remembered correctly, levels surrendered were converted to experience seeds . It just went into my growing pool of experience seeds . But. - Sure. -

That day, I gained a level. I thought it was when I used the hero�s star mana to crush that black ? thing.

You gained a level. Level 156

Skill: Natural Mana Overwhelming upgraded.

Skill: Soul Forge upgraded. Improved control and abilities over soul forge functions.

I was really slow at gaining levels. The last time I gained levels was five years ago!

That was slow, right?

YEAR 119

During the past few years, I�d been studying runes and formations. It�d been something on my mind since I saw those mages do it, and with the heroes financial resources, I had a lot to read and study.

Of course, I couldn�t read. So the task was left to some poor Valtorn Order magic student whose job was to come to the Valley of the Unrotten and read the book out loud. Kind of like Audible, but only a lot more boring because the subject matter was runic formations, magical theory, and stuff like that.

This, of course, served multiple functions. It was a means of education for these students. Reading out loud was a good way of learning and committing to memory. Two, it helped me! Three, I got to have a sense of how these young children were. After all, their behavior was quite clear when they were asked to read a book alone in a strange and scary place.

I didn�t get a skill, sadly.

But that was fine. I developed an understanding of the magical formations, and I began experimenting on them, mainly in some corner of my growing domain that wasn�t inhabited.

I had a few things I wanted to do, one of which was to use formations as a source of mana on a large scale. Instead of using mana, you could create formations that did the reverse of generating mana, like some kind of mana - gathering facility. There were smaller - scale variants, but I was quite inspired by the former hero Astra�s ability to apparently channel mana from various sources to create a super hex - bomb, no matter how he did it.

Mirei had been particularly cooperative, and she was very amused with the children reading books in the often uninhabited valley.

- Tree Spirits sure have strange ways of doing things. -

She helped with the mana - gathering formations.

- I had the impression trees are able to do this quite naturally. As in, trees gather mana naturally, do they not? -

- Yes. -

Mirei, after the earlier set of outbursts, stabilized. I suspected it was the effects of her hero class, now restored. It suppressed those emotions.

- But it�s a slow process, and I�m hoping to speed it up. -

- Why? -

- Why not? - A massive defensive array required mana. A lot of it. It took many, many iterations, but eventually we succeeded in producing an array of runes and structures able to produce more mana than it used. It had to be big, too, so it wasn�t something you could hide.

But that meant I could channel more of this mana to fight off the demonic energy and expand even more.

Gerrard returned in the latter half of the year with a fragment, the third piece that was given away. I scanned it, and sadly, it was still an incomplete image.

- demons. Dragons. Combat. A lot of combat. Earth cracked, and so did the skies.

It was still incomplete. There were pieces out there. But how did we find it?

Grand Mind - Tree has blocked attempted influence.

Ah. Again.

- The Frozen Tree was very willing to share, - Gerrard explained. - It told me that it would like to meet you someday. -

- Likewise. - A frozen tree spirit. That was extremely fascinating. This Frozen Tree lived in a frozen lake in the far north, in an uninhabited island that was almost completely frozen over. Home to ice giants, monsters and all that, the Frozen Tree was the overlord of that island and had kept the island free of demons for millennia.

I wondered what other tree spirits thought of this entire situation? Surely they didn�t just accept it like Lilies? Or they all did, because that was how trees were? Nature was what it was, and they just accepted it.

Was going against the rules of the world a thing that trees didn�t do?

Domain and Grand Mind Tree has blocked attempted divine action.

Uh. I took that as a yes. It seemed that trees really did not attempt to break the cycle, even if they were long lived and could see things with the benefit of history. Surely, this systematic, demonic destruction was not acceptable, since it was way more than just regular constructive destruction.

And yet they did nothing.

Why? I didn�t get it. Gods. Had to be the gods. Meddling, meddling gods.

You�ve gained a level. You are now level 157.

Skill: Natural mana overwhelming upgraded.

Uh. Why was the same skill getting upgraded over and over again?

And I still didn�t get why I gained a level from it.

The constant expansion of my territory and also the influx of more refugees meant the population had increased significantly. Outside of my research, I spent more time, together with Jasmine, watching over the multiple towns and cities that had popped up.

It was a very big area, and for the most part, Kavio and the new Council of Representatives all dealt with me directly.

The focus was on the next demon king and our preparations, readying ourselves for the coming wars.

The heroes also worked on making more anti - demon weapons, more armors, and more sets. Weapons! Yay! Over the years, I�d managed to equip a two hundred�strong group with a full set of anti - demon armor, and I hoped to grow this force to five hundred strong.

Of this group, about fifty were now at least level forty. Once they hit level sixty to seventy, they should be able to handle a demon walker without my assistance. They gained this level by hunting naturally spawning monsters and made regular trips into the Rottedlands to fight the hybrid spawns.

In a world where the Rottedlands was like a large dungeon, the level of the residents should be high, else it was jarring, even with protection like my army of beetles. But then, if their levels went up, that made them more dangerous to me, didn�t it? I was not too worried about high - level merchants or craftsmen, but then. warriors, I had to get them on my side.

Anyway, we regularly deployed soldiers and recruits into the Rottedlands to fight monsters. That way, the soldiers and recruits who worked for me gained levels and prepared for the real demonic attacks.

Was this what rulers did? I mean, I didn�t really actively do it, but it must be trying to do this whole play - each - faction - against - each - other schtick, balancing levels so that all the factions never got too powerful and they continued to obey me. Too fucking time consuming.

I mean, I was on this train of thought as news of civil war broke out in Harris�s now - fractured kingdom. I mean, the man was still alive, and already they were fighting. Children, fighting each other.

It must suck to be a father and watch your children fight. I suppose it was like a typical family drama where a wealthy tycoon passed away and the kids squabbled over the riches.

In fact, it absolutely drove him into depression of some kind. Well, I was not sure whether it was actually depression, but it made him feel very, very sad.

So much so that Mirei was the one comforting him.

- What should I do? - Harris was sad. Already, some of his sons and daughters came to talk to him and asked him to stop it. But he gave away his rights to those lands, and some of his more ambitious children were taking the chance to do something.

- Stop him, Father, - a boy said to Harris. - He�s attacking one of us. -

But the truth was everyone was provoking each other, and Harris had his own network of informants that seemed to suggest none of his children were entirely innocent. If he wanted to lay down the law, he would have to do it to everyone.

And yet he was but one person. He was not surprised if even those who served him were already taking sides in the conflict.

- You can do two things, - Mirei said to a sad Harris. - Stop it, and enter into a loop of constantly interfering. And eventually when you do die, they will still continue the fight that they�ve postponed. Or do nothing. They have land and territory now. Let them fight each other over it. Let them prove themselves by blood and war. -

- That�s so cruel. -

- It�s always been this way. Territorial disputes are as old as nations themselves, and the right to rule is one protected by might and magic, not by name or heritage. -

Harris regretted breaking his country up, then. He knew he would just be kicking the can down the road until the day he died and they�d fight it out anyway. But at least he wouldn�t be alive to see it.

So, as much as he knew it was a stupid thing to do, he started leaving frequently to stop the fighting with his summoned army. There was no way he could let it continue, even if it did lead to a constant, vicious cycle.

A cruel fate.

Mirei said as much as she watched her friend feel like shit.

- You know, that�s partly why I didn�t want to have children. After I discovered what happened to so many heroes and their families, I just felt really sad. I don�t think I could ever watch my children drift apart and start doing that. -

- Conflict is eternal. But perhaps so is reconciliation. -

I used more and more runes and formations to gather more mana and added runic formations to the Valley of the Unrotten. Mana meant territory, and I was pretty damned good with using mana to push back against the demons.

More mana.

More runes.

More mana! Eventually, I made a formation large enough to trigger a notification that I wasn�t quite expecting.

Soul Forge: Yellow Unlocked

Artificial Souls Level Cap increased to Level 60.

All artificial souls now have Yellow option unlocked.

Class/Skill/Experience Seed merging unlocked. Ability to merge souls and classes, and multiple class seeds and experience seeds together.

Class/Skill/Experience Seed upgrade unlocked. Able to upgrade classes, skills, and experience seeds to superior forms.

oo.

Looked like I was one step further, and closer, to make myself an army of super elites.

Yellow Soul Forge from just using a massive array and formation to gather mana. Who would�ve thought of that?

That meant soul forges actually just required different types or origins of mana, not necessarily unique or special magical ley lines. But. wait.

If I got enough star mana, could I have Soul Forge: Star? I mean, theoretically possible, perhaps? What overpowered ability would I have?

Or what about demonic mana? Could enough demonic mana power some kind of soul forge, too?

So I began to explore both aspects of these mana, experimenting more on the hybrid demonic trees. I hoped to unlock a better understanding of the demon�s mana at least somehow, even if it didn�t lead to a soul forge.

At the same time, I started the whole class seed upgrade and merging process. Essentially, class seeds were upgraded when one added essence, mana, and materials. Combining them increased their strength and power, and fusing multiple class seeds created special ones.

It was a bit like crossbreeding, splicing and grafting different trees together to create something different at the end.

I began rather conservatively, like fusing multiple ranger and druid class seeds together, which formed the Mountain Druid class. Or multiple druid classes were fused together and then obtained the Great Druid Class. The ratio was like ten normal classes to form one single better class. And I kept at it. I had a lot of class seeds and essences accumulated over the years, and I�d finally found a place to fuse them all!

Twenty Knight classes made one single Grand Knight class, and ten Warrior and Soldiers made a Warmaster .

It was honestly extremely enjoyable, and I felt like a cook when I fused all the different classes together.

Adding essences to it also did some strange things. Iron and mineral essences fused to a Knight eventually created a Steel Knight class.

But there was a limitation. Not all of these evolved classes could be further fused. I was still trying to find what could be fused.

Eventually, one of the few twice - evolved classes I discovered was thirty Great Druid classes fused into a single Lord of the Forest class and fifty Grand Knight classes fused into a Knight Master .

I was eager to test it out. So I selected one young, promising thirteen - year - old Valthorn.

His name was Faris, and he�d been living in one of the outer sections of the Freshlands before he was recruited to join the Valthorns three years ago. He�d been training with Yvon for a while, and in three years, he was already a level - thirty druid .

A regular druid class. I gave a Great Druid class seed to Yvon.

- You want to give this to him? -

- Yes. -

- Are you sure? -

- Why not? -

- I mean. this is a rare class, right? - Yvon didn�t know I unlocked the class - fusion ability. Let�s keep it that way.

- Yes, I believe it is time I stop hoarding these things and grant them. -

So Yvon did, in fact, give it to Faris. There was a small ceremony, something like a small award ceremony in school where the principal would then give out certificates, only he received a small seed.

- This, young Faris, is a gift from A/ himself, a fruit that will grant you the class Great Druid . -

Everyone in the room clapped. Faris didn�t waste much time and chomped down on the fruit. I observed him that entire day, and I watched his soul change slightly as the new class merged with his own. After one night�s sleep, he found himself with increased mastery over his druidic abilities.

Domain and Grand Mind Tree blocked passive influence from a Great Druid.

Ah. I supposed I should be more careful with giving out classes relating to control over trees. I thought that was a passive.

Faris and Yura came to me for an audience the next day. He was still a young boy in the end, even though he did have a good class.

Children.

So, so young.

- A/ , I bring the one that you�ve granted the seed. -

- Greetings, Faris. - I spoke mentally, and already I could sense some pressure pushing back.

Domain and Grand Mind Tree blocked passive influence.

- I believe you may be unknowingly using some passive abilities, young Faris. -

Faris flustered, and he seemingly nodded. - Ah. I. I�m sorry. - Then I felt the pressure lift. Did druids have these abilities all this while? Was this how they attempted to control trees?

He was still but a young child. - Good. How do you like your reward? -

- It�s quite amazing, A/ . Upgrading my class to a Great Druid at my age is unheard of anywhere in the world. All my skills are stronger now. -

- Good. It is a gift, and a reward, and with it responsibility and expectation that you will do more and better for us. Our land remains heavily damaged, and we need people like you to help heal it. -

Faris nodded. He was very agreeable and impressionable.

At that moment, I wondered whether I�d made a mistake in giving him such powers, the same way the gods gave their powers to young teenagers.

One of the foolish things about people was that, well, they seemed to forget that trees in the forests had eyes. So Jasmine and my artificial souls alerted me to the presence of some cultists.

It was common. A land newly reclaimed and filled with people, where law enforcement was still not yet secure and where leaders were still vying for power and position among themselves, some would inevitably turn to magic and occasionally blood magic.

So, in the depth of the unnamed woods, a group of thirty - five men and women were gathered. One of them was an old noble from the nearby city who migrated to the Freshlands and settled there. They had with them about fifteen slaves. The slaves all looked extremely afraid.

- Should we save the slaves, Master? - Jasmine asked. There were beetles and spiders who could easily intercept.

- Wait. -

I�d wanted to see this for a long time now. Blood magic. I was sorry, slaves, but I believed the benefit I gained from learning how blood magic worked would allow me to save more lives in the future.

Thirty men formed a circle, and with a quick cut, one of the slaves was killed. His body splattered in the middle of a strange formation. They chanted, and I could see the soul very clearly, torn apart by the blood magic.

They did so repeatedly, with all the slaves. I watched, with all my sensors, magical and not, blood magic being executed right before my eyes. I saw their magic rip the soul out of the slaves and fuse them together.

Oh wow. It really was a kind of soul fusion. But it was incomplete. I saw the core of their souls break free and the remnant, the outer souls of the slaves, stitched together by their rough blood magic. Incomplete. Irregular and messy.

But it was strong. Just like how my artificial souls were without a soul core, from this alone I could easily see that their blood magic was essentially using the outer part of the souls and fused together into this mess.

After a chant or so, the blood magic compressed the tangled, fused souls into a small reddish drop on a plate. The noble took it, and he drank it. Instantly, I saw his body�s energy levels spike up. This was quite like using blood magic to strengthen himself, and his features quickly turned younger.

Ah. Youth. Interesting.

The ritual was done. I thought I had an idea why the hex could be reversed gradually via those negative emotions.

No more reason to leave them alive. Most of them.

- Well. Capture the two chief ritual masters alive. - There were two of them that led the ritual, and I had plans for some good old interrogation.

An army of beetles and spiders descended on them. The noble was strong, his strength amplified by the blood magic. So it still took me a few hits of Serpentine Rootstrike , and an army of beetles quickly slaughtered the rest of them.

Hex. It was essentially an unstable fusion of the outer souls, which was why it leaked so much negative energy. And, because this negative energy was contagious, it caused others close to it to also suffer hex poisoning. Walking into a field of hex was like being infected with depression that killed you from within. A rot in the soul caused by exposure to unstable fusion of soul fragments.

YEAR 120

I gave away a Grand Knight class to a promising young student. She was fit, but with the Grand Knight class, she became fit and unnaturally strong. She had a skill that strengthened all the armor that she wore, and she turned into quite a monster to fight.

- These upgraded classes, A/ , how did you get them? - Yvon was extremely curious. At the same level, an upgraded class was at least 30 percent stronger. Perhaps this was the comparison between a lord and a king, or a king and an emperor?

- I collected them. - Which was partly true. Through all the souls of the dead, I�d been accumulating so many class seeds that I�d lost track of all of them. I�d also been growing class - tree - plants that produced more class seeds of the rarer classes, like Dark Knight .

I mean, would thirty Dark Knights give me a Dark Paladin?

- You know, this news spreads out, many are going to come calling. Fruits that can grant an upgraded class are unheard of in the world. Even kings may grant royal variants, but those are nothing like true upgraded classes. -

- And? -

- Well. Theft, for one. We�ll need to prepare for that, as there will be thieves who want to steal your stockpile of upgraded class seeds. -

Let them try. It was all inside me. How would they steal? Perhaps these thieves had some kind of skill, then?

Wait. That did sound possible. A thief with a skill able to take from one�s presumed safe pockets sounded exactly like what a high - tier thief should have.

- Jasmine, can you increase your surveillance for thieves? -

- Master, we�ve located many thieves. -

Already? Oh. It had been a year since I gave away my Great Druid Class.

- Most are petty criminals, but some appear highly skilled. -

Thieves. Should I just kill them?

Meanwhile, the captured blood ritualists were forced to do my bidding, mainly to conduct more blood rituals, using criminals that were on death row.

I had to learn a bit more about blood magic. There were some fundamental similarities between my soul forge and blood magic, and I intended to learn more of it.

The blood ritualists cooperated and used the criminals to cast all sorts of blood rituals, such as strengthening rituals and summoning rituals.

Of course, after over fifty rituals, they leveled up, and I thought they were close to level sixty. Then they got overconfident and started to attack me with the summoned creatures. Each ritual made them stronger, but I, too, gained a deeper understanding of blood magic.

I had a large army and now more elites.

I deployed my new Grand Knight and Great Druid , together with an army of beetles. The two ritualists didn�t stand much of a chance. They honestly should�ve used blood magic to cast some kind of warped teleportation, but perhaps that had too much risk.

Blood magic was inherently unstable; it was power derived from the stitching of the outer souls together in accordance with ancient writings. Those writings guided the ritualists, bound the fragments of the soul together into a shape, and each shape then created a specific effect. Some of these shapes were actually benign, and hence they empowered their hosts. Still, they were inherently unstable soul fragments, so over time they decayed and created problems for the host.

It was like cancer, really.

The two overconfident ritualists were captured again. This time, their punishment was death, and I gave them a punishment that I gave a long time ago: death by deconstruction in a biolab.

I received Blood Mage class seeds.

I wondered whether I could somehow get Hero Class seeds.

- Mirei. -

- Yes, A/ ? -

- Would you ever be willing to give away your hero class? - I asked her one day as she rested in one of the courtyards of Freshka. She had slowly dismantled her business and sold it to various merchants eager to take over her clothing chain.

- Yes. - She had a headache after she said it. - The hero class is pretty much the god�s remote - control button. It�s a trojan horse in our body. - It was quite predictable, and to some extent, Mirei got better at figuring out what triggered the headache. It was always something about heroes and gods.

She took a while to collect herself, and she continued.

- I mean, I would give it away, but I can�t. The system doesn�t let me do it. I just tried to do it just now. -

- Really. Yet it allows you to trade your hero levels for other levels. -

- Yeah. I could theoretically trade away all my hero levels for something else and then give you all those levels, but it sounds like you are interested in the hero class itself, A/ ? -

- Well, that�s right. - I mean, the Hero class itself was what was incredibly fascinating, like. was there a way I could trace it backward to the source, i.e. the gods? Did the gods actually have a physical location in this world? Like, was there a magical heaven somewhere, where they gazed on this world? Perhaps they were like players, looking at us through the screen. - Have you not considered it, giving away all your hero levels so that you can remove their influence? -

- I did think about it. But I didn�t do it because I wanted to still help Harris and Gerrard. I doubt the gods would just let all three of us trade all our hero classes away. Pretty sure there�s like a limit or something. -

Made sense that the gods would put in a failsafe like that. They already went ahead to actively mind control and mind wipe these heroes; why wouldn�t they put restrictions?

- Tending to flowers, Great Druid? - the young lady said. She was in full armor and had two large swords on each side and a long wooden anti - demon spear at the back. Edna, the Grand Knight , was only sixteen.

- As I am often compelled to do, yes. -

- Has A/ summoned you recently? -

- No, why? -

- It�s. well. I have had offers from nearby kingdoms to defect to serve them. -

Faris paused. - If it�s a good offer, it is worth considering. Though the term. defection is a bit too strong. -

- Oh? - Edna sat on a rock in the flower garden. - Explain. -

- I believe A/ may be open to us acting as his mercenaries. -

- Mercenaries? - Edna frowned. - That�s quite against the very nature of my class as a Grand Knight. -

- I spoke to some observers, Principal Yvon and Master Yura , and they agreed that A/ may be willing to consider stationing us in those other kingdoms. -

- Willing to consider doesn�t mean he will. -

- A/ �s willingness, of course, has a price. A good enough reward, he would definitely consider it. I believe if the kingdoms may offer something rare and unique from the ancient pasts, A/ may well be swayed into it. At least, Principal Yvon strongly thinks so. -

- I highly doubt he is willing to give any of us away. -

- Not give. Stationed. We are still loyal to him, and we act as his agents. Our services to those other kingdoms are similar to those of an adventurer. We would obviously abstain if those conflicts meant we would end up fighting each other. -

- So you have been similarly approached. - Edna smirked.

- Of course, - Faris said. - When the kingdoms, or even the Hutan Council, first gave me the offers, I quickly notified Valthorn leadership. Master Yura �s advice then was to ignore it, as if these kingdoms truly are desperate, they would offer far greater rewards than what they offered now. -

Edna shook her head. - That really makes it sound. mercenary. I wouldn�t do so. -

It was Faris�s turn to laugh. - If so, it�s best you stay put. I doubt the principles of these other kingdoms would be better than ours. -

- But a part of my class is enhanced by serving a King . There are knight - specific abilities for people like myself. -

- If there�s anyone who can make a king, it�s probably our great A/ . -

I didn�t have a King class, though. Wait. did Roma have the Prince class?

- Yes. But it�s still level two, - Roma said quietly when Yura approached him. - Why do you ask, Master Yura ? -

- A/ asked, not me. -

- Ah. - Roma�s an adult, like Lozanna . Unlike Lozanna , his focus had always been more academic and magical in nature, and now, having survived, he was mostly an administrator for merchant companies. It was almost like someone who�s a prince relegated to an office boy, though he certainly didn�t seem any bit bothered by that sort of reality. - Well, if anyone�s asking, I�m honestly not interested in the whole prince thing. I�d even give the class away, if I could. I�m honestly not sure why I even still have the class. -

- Salah�s still around, in some form, so the title remains. - Well, I wanted the Prince class, and so Yura asked. - So, since you do not want the class, would you consider giving it away? -

- That is. possible? -

- A/ may have the ability to take it away from you. -

Yvon objected strongly. - It�s your heritage! -

- The hell with it, Mom. I�m not interested in being caught in stupid political games that this faraway kingdom of Salah would probably have. I have no relationship with Salah, I never lived there, I don�t know anyone there, and honestly, I may well be a lifetime citizen of Freshka! I don�t know my father, either, and honestly, this class isn�t worth it. -

Well, turned out, I couldn�t take it away, simply because his level as a Prince was far too low. He needed to have at least ten to twenty levels in Prince for me to actually take it away from him.

Help, on this matter, came from a very odd party.

- I�m a king, - Harris said, back from his many peacekeeping duties. He had to come back frequently, but still, the civil war went on. His wives, now all queen mothers in their own right, squabbled over territory.

There were days he felt sad. His wives truly adored and loved him, and that part wasn�t a lie. But his harem was held together by him, and him alone. With him giving up his right over the entire kingdom, each queen had to protect her own children. Some of his children were more ambitious, and so, fighting broke out. He had no right to imprison his children now that they were legally king and prince regents of their own country. He could only reprimand them as a father.

- If you want my class, you honestly can take it. It�s useless now. I�m probably going to declare my capital city independent, and let what�s left of the council of ministers decide where to go. -

- You just sound incredibly sad. - Mirei tapped him. - What do you say, you know, let�s go out with a bang? Let�s end this farce with the next demon king. -

The two heroes plotted their plans for the next demon king. Indeed, they intended to win, but they also intended to die.

Harris was able to give me a few levels of his King class, but no more than 20 percent of it. But strangely, in my hands, the King class was unusable.

I mean, I had a King class seed, but I couldn�t give it or use it on anyone.

The class King cannot be used.

Could I change it such that I could use it?

So, with my Soul Forge: Yellow , I tried to experiment on the King class seed. and well, after injecting my own energy into it. it changed.

The King class seed transformed into a unique class seed The Anointed King, A/ �s Executor .

Uh. that was quite corny, wasn�t it? But that was so Starcraft. Executor. Maybe I could create a Hierarch, like uh. Artanis?

I had a dilemma now. I have a special class seed, and I wasn�t quite sure who to give it to. I didn�t want to give it to the heroes, because they had no ties with the valley and me. Ultimately, they were under the influence of the gods, and I wouldn�t want them to be king.�

The first person I had in mind was Yura . He served me loyally over the years and had demonstrated all the necessary skills of war.

He shot it down. - No, A/ . Me, a king? There�s no way I can do it. I prefer to just teach. -

Lozanna , perhaps? But she was happily travelling with her husband. Laufen? She shook her head; she was happy tending to young children at Eriz�s childcare centers and didn�t want the stress or the duties of a king.

So I reluctantly put this class aside. But I had my fellow artificial souls pay attention to the young Valthorns. Perhaps of these young ones, some of them would show promise, and of them one that I could elevate to a king.�

- Six more years to the demon king. -

- If we�re lucky, seven. -

- Six. I want it to come sooner, - Mirei said.

She was really quite eager to return home, so when I told her about the entire Soul Contract and how it worked with Yvon, she immediately rejected it. To her, a Soul Contract extended her misery in this world by one thousand years. She didn�t want any of that. She missed home, and she wanted to go home.

The idea of suicide didn�t quite work for her, so she was in this odd situation, perhaps quite like a Norse warrior seeking Valhalla through glorious battle with the demon king. Because little else could kill her.

Her curse had remained relatively stable since my last operation, and I still continued my experiments. I suspected there must be something that bound the curse to the demons, because I didn�t understand why it fluctuated at odd times.

A fluctuation may be internal or external, and after all my abilities, I was rather certain I ruled out the internal factors. So, that left the fluctuations in the curse down to two possible external factors: the gods, or the demons. The curse was a matter of the soul, and something I wondered was. what if a hero was sacrificed in a blood ritual? Or could blood magic�s ability to interact with the outer soul be used to fix the curse?

Harris, of course, hated the idea. - Blood magic should be outlawed. It�s a gruesome ability that shouldn�t even exist in this world. -

Ngeh. The world�s pretty gruesome. I mean, you gained experience by killing stuff; wasn�t that gruesome? How�s blood magic different? It was just the way of killing, wasn�t it?

I�d concede that the only thing different was that blood magic reached into a person�s soul and ripped it out, and perhaps that was a kind of desecration of the sanctity of the soul. Again, only if one believed that the soul was sacred.�

A mortal belief, really. For someone like myself who now had a good understanding of the soul, it certainly didn�t feel sacred.

In fact, I felt a bit of desensitization that came from knowledge that a person�s inner soul could always reincarnate, and death was but the departure of the inner soul from a physical vessel. If so, in this cycle of death and reincarnation, it was just a convoluted version of swapping one car for another or stopping one game and starting another new game.

So. why should outer souls or lives be sacred? If anything should be sacred, it was that moment in space and time. Space - time was sacred, because death took it away, and each period of time was unique, and what happened in that space was unique. So, death robbed away one�s ability to experience each unique segment of space - time.

Anyway, back to the blood magic. I certainly wanted to use my blood mage class seeds, and I wanted to use them differently.

All the previous blood mages had quite warped perspectives and were up to no good, so I was going to try to train a good blood mage. There must be something in their magic that was worth learning.

Yura , Laufen, and Yvon were horrified at the idea of training young blood mages. - No. No. No. -

- Our existing trainees generally gain their levels and experience against monsters and hybrids. Blood mages require blood sacrifice, and that means people! No. -

Something like that. Didn�t make much sense, though. What was wrong with using those about to die anyway?

YEAR 121

My own curse flared up. I wasn�t sure why, but if it could happen to the heroes, it certainly could happen to me.

Thankfully, Root of Life helped suppress it, but it felt like one of those days when I woke up on the wrong side of the bed and had to nurse a migraine the entire day. It was really one of those days.

And well, it was one of those years.

I had a few rebellions to crush. A few invasions to defeat. A surge in monsters and creatures from the Rottedlands.

But there were some good parts. I sent three of the ancient - tree shards to Lilies. Strangely, they actually agreed to give an enchantment should I ever ask for it. They had some powers over death.

They gave me a brief origin story of their powers of death. Because they took death - ceremonies to another level.

In the Lake of Lilypod City, any and every death was brought back to be submerged in the lake in a tradition almost a millennium old. Lilies had developed a method of gaining experience from the bodies of the dead. Beneath the lake�s murky waters were floating roots and vines that consumed the corpses of the dead.

They had somehow developed a skill that allowed them to collect experience from the dead. I mean, I got experience seeds, but they got experience and levels! I wondered if it was a function of their different species?

When we were small and few, we lived in this lake where the dead were thrown away. The dead fed us, strengthened us.

Class. Experience. Levels.

Perhaps, so many years ago, did Indra set me off on this path of being a Soul/Spirit Tree by requesting a familiar? Had I received experience in a different way, would my evolution had been different?

- I�m afraid not. - Yura shook his head. - A/ has a rather poor opinion of the Hutan Council after his encounters with your people a few decades ago. -

- Could you talk to it and convince it otherwise? The council has changed a lot over the twenty years. Surely it�s unfair for the Tree Spirit to pin the blame on this generation for the sins of the previous generation? - The Hutan Council had sent a decent - size delegation to Freshka after the news of the Great Druid class being gifted to Faris. It took them some time, but here they were.

Many wanted the class, of course. Some of these druids had been regular druids for decades and saw the upgraded class as a chance to break through their stagnant lives.

Yura shrugged. - Trees have long memories. I suggest you come back in, say. fifty years. - I thought that wasn�t true. It was just that we trees perceived time differently, so those memories felt quite fresh to me. It took more time for me to forget a grudge, even though it felt just as long or the same to me.

- No. Great Druid! To a child! - the druid shouted at Yura . - Even the entire Hutan Council, only two druids have that class! -

Yura frowned. - Perhaps A/ sees something in the child. And I don�t recall druids ever challenging the wisdom of the Tree Spirits. -

Domain and Grand Mind Tree has blocked attempted influence.

- And A/ has just said that he is annoyed at your attempt to use your power. -

The druid frowned. A few other druids looked unhappy. And they stomped off. Jasmine helped to monitor them, but then, a bunch of them were spotted sneaking into the Valthorns offices and buildings.

- The tree spirit may have hidden some of the class - granting fruits in the premises. We should sneak in and try to find it. - They managed to bribe a Valthorn employee to reveal where valuable items were hidden in the Valtorn Order�s premises. So they snuck in.

- But wouldn�t they hide it in its main tree itself? - another Hutan druid asked. At this point, I thought no one ever revealed to the druids that I had line - of - sight of the entire valley. Wouldn�t anyone be able to figure it out?

- Do you want a chance to find a Great Druid class or not? -

They snuck into the premises and then got a shock when they saw the valuables store only had money.

- It�s just storing money. -

That was because all the weapons and other items had all been given to the Valthorns, and they were responsible for caring for their own goods. Seriously, the concept of a store was not really valid when Jasmine and the other artificial minds could pretty much track all movement of these items almost all the time.

Distributing them minimized any risk of theft, and since the valley itself was under heavy surveillance, it wasn�t hard to find who took what, especially if it was of value. Money, on the other hand, was rather worthless to me, so its security was left to the Valtorn Council.

- You know it won�t be there. - Edna appeared behind the druids. There was a group of other Valthorn Knights with her. - The fruits of a special class only appear when A/ itself decides it is so. -

- You! - The Hutan druids turned and summoned animals to fight. They were outnumbered, honestly. There were knights everywhere. The knights overwhelmed the druids, and those who surrendered were arrested and thrown into a prison.

Time for Freshka to hold them ransom for some rewards from the Hutan Council. I had the impression they were on the decline, though, so I wondered what they were willing to cough up.

Later on, I awarded two more Valthorn Initiates with special classes: one a Mountain Druid and another a Ranger Master .

To some extent, a part of me began to enjoy the chaos that these advanced classes caused.

- I�m rather surprised that you have so many unique classes, A/ . -

- I�ve been hoarding them for some time. - There was some truth to it, but I also had an orchard of class - seed growing trees in the Valley of the Unrotten. And it helped that I gathered class seeds, skill seeds, and experience seeds when people died.

Everywhere, as long as it was within the range of my soul harvesters, essence, class - seed, and skill - seeds continued to come in. So I always had materials to fuse into bigger or upgraded seeds.

- Master, we need upgrades, too! - Horns reminded. Their level cap had increased to level sixty, but as previously, their upgrades required materials and gems.

I decided to upgrade Trevor and Dimitree first, since they�d been supporting me for so long, and they were both at their level cap anyway. After that, I upgraded Horns and Yura �s Bamboo. The Yellow - type upgrades generally granted my artificial souls to choose a class - specialization, so in Trevor and Dimitree�s case, they both gained Administrator - type skills. Horns gained General - type skills to control my large army of beetles.

I also created more Artificial minds, placing them subordinate to Trevor, Dimitree, and Jasmine to oversee my vast empire. I already had Acacia, Brootus, and Cyprus from earlier, but since Trevor could now hit level sixty, I elevated him to be pretty much my chief of artificial souls. Dimitree was his deputy.

I felt that my artificial souls or minds were like extremely good AI. They were extremely competent at monitoring and administration, but they were constrained on creation in scope and only improved by the new soul - forge colors.

The level cap also meant that they would never be able to really fight at the level I needed, simply because enemies like the demonic walkers needed a force around level eighty. Thinking about it, they were probably an organization�s field managers and middle managers.

Somewhere, in a quiet corner of my vast kingdom, I also had a secret experiment.

This was far from the rest of the inhabited area, away from Yura or Freshka.

I created a tree and infused it with blood. A lot of blood. My roots were able to transport liquids, so I stocked and absorbed the blood from the sick, the dead, or the dying and then infused a tree with all the blood.

Though the elves didn�t agree on my experimenting with blood mages , I could very much do it myself.

So, a tree.

I did so secretly, and eventually, I received a notification.

Unique Tree: The Bleeding Tree created.

I was swept with a sickening feeling, like nausea.

Grand Mind Tree blocked attempted influence from unknown source.

Then I felt better.

I needed to further upgrade the Grand Mind Tree.

Then I had my beetles secretly smuggle criminals to that location. It wasn�t hard; after all, through the entire Freshlands, all these vassal - states had criminals of various kinds. I supposed I was doing some mental gymnastics when I justified my process that these criminals were on death row anyway. So I may as well test some basic blood magic with their bodies.

Conceptually, runes were a kind of rituals. Blood magic, too, was a ritual. I myself, and my entire network of trees, was pretty much a massive magical array.

I tried to use my roots to cast a blood ritual.

It failed.

I tried again.

It failed.

By the time I was done with the fifty or so criminals, I had failed all my attempted blood magic. Why did I fail? Was it because I used a bleeding tree?

I was frustrated, but I got a skill.

Skill upgraded! Magic Labs - Blood Magic Sensor unlocked.

So, later that year, I spotted another bunch of blood mages. The world was filled with blood mages, very much a legacy of the hexbomb - era, when the knowledge of how to cast a hexbomb was widely distributed to so many kingdoms and countries.

Once again, I let them use their blood magic, but with my new blood magic sensors, I thought I began to understand it a bit more.

Blood magic essentially used their own soul as a chip in order to hack into the souls of those sacrificed. Each use of blood magic weakened their own soul and made them even more susceptible to the corruption of blood magic and the strange voices from beyond. It was like taking a part of themselves, making that into a consumable nail.

So the insanity and curse that came with all high - level blood mages was an inherent outcome of their use of such abilities. That insanity was also mixed into the very fabric of the loosely knitted outer soul fragments. Maybe it was like using a diamond to cut another diamond, because they didn�t have enough power for its alternatives.

- Have you never found who was spreading the hexbombs? - I asked the heroes one day.

- Find them? No one�s going to reveal themselves as a blood mage! -

In truth, it should be possible to find them, since their souls would clearly be damaged. Each use was like leaving gunpowder residue on their soul. But then, one would have to be able to spot it. I would be able to spot it; all I needed to do was put them under my biolab and it�d be clear as day.

Curse: Weakened Soul from Blood Magic . That was what appeared in the few captured blood mages. Their soul spring was clearly tainted, the spring itself cracked, and the waters in their spring were a muddy brown.

Based on all this, I was confident in my assessment. Hex was essentially a radioactive decaying outer soul fragments stitched together with blood magic. The decay was how the outer souls untangled the stitching and decay into normal matter.

YEAR 122

I did another controversial series of tests. I hauled a bunch of death row criminals to my soul forge and attempted a clean version of the outer - soul stitching. If blood magic was incomplete work, then could I, the master of four colors of the soul forge, perform a complete version?

I failed at first.

I failed my first ten tests, and in doing so, close to five hundred criminals were killed.

- That�s hell of a gruesome way to die, - the heroes said.

- But it�s painless. The overwhelming energies of my soul forge instantly kills them and liquefies them. - It was true. The amount of mana used to attempt clean soul fusion was absolutely insane, so much so that when I used it, everyone in the entire Freshlands could feel the mana flickering in the air.

Each time, I had a better understanding of the process.

- A/ , where do you get these ideas? - the heroes asked, unaware that I�d been watching and experimenting on the blood mages.

- Dreams. -

- Trees can dream? -

- Why not? -

- You don�t have brains. -

- Are brains necessary for dreams? -

Anyway, it was key to separate the inner soul and the outer soul as smoothly and cleanly as possible. After separation, the inner soul core was released so that it could proceed with its reincarnation, and what was left was a floating magical plasma blob of outer soul fragments.

Next, I used my overwhelming mana to forcefully compress the outer soul fragments together. The first few times, I didn�t control my mana properly, so the outer soul fragments leaked out, and then it just dissipated.

Then, as the soul fragments fused together, it finally turned into a small, solid object.

You�ve created a Soul - Strengthening Seed.

Consuming the Soul - Strengthening Seed will increase the level capacity of one individual. Needs to be combined with an herb of sufficient quality.

What? I thought. I expected something far more powerful than just a soul - strengthening seed. But then, the level capacity seemed to suggest that each individual had a cap, and I had just discovered the item that broke the cap!

And I knew exactly the person to give it to.

- Yura . - I fused the Soul - Strengthening Seed with a high - quality five - year - old ginseng from my Ginseng Trees. - Eat this. -

He did, and he felt like his entire body burned for the rest of the day. - A/ , what are you feeding me? Why do I feel like every part of me is breaking? -

Well, a good day later, he woke up and felt much stronger and healthier, as if he was younger by a few decades.

- A/ . I. I have a blessing! And I gained seven levels in Warlord overnight! -

- Oh? -

- Soul - Blessed . -

Did the Soul - Strengthening Seed give levels, or were those like overflow levels that were not affected because he was capped at around level eighty?

The only way to prove it, of course, was to make more and give it to someone else that was not stuck at the cap. It was a little disappointing, though; I had hoped to create something comparable to say. a fusion power plant. But I supposed a level - breaking ability was not bad, either.

That meant Lozanna could also break past level eighty if she wanted. But I thought she was still happily adventuring in the world.

- I want to talk about A/ , - Harris said to Gerrard and Mirei. They were gathered in a room in one of the lodges in Freshka.

- You know he�s listening, right? - Gerrard looked at Harris like an alien. - A/ �s presence permeates the entirety of this region. This entire region is a police surveillance state. We agreed on this. No talking about tree spirits anywhere near them! All of us have his familiars! Who knows if they�re eavesdropping on us? -

- I know, but I think I don�t mind if he listens, - Harris said. - I just wanted to say that he seems to be very intimately familiar with our world�s thought processes. Almost as if he knows what we know. -

- Evidence. -

- Remember how Yura described our wooden arms as Power - Armor�? - Harris promptly showcased his wooden limbs, made from familiar. I was still unable to fix the two lost parts, due to the effects of the curse. But at least it wouldn�t get worse.

- So what? -

- There are so many little references here and there that he understands. I believe he knows about Earth. -

- Look, I can posit a few theories of how he knows about us. One, he�s old, and he met a lot of us Earthers. Two, he has the power to create and alter dreams; by extension, he must have some access to our memories, such that he can create those dreams. Three, his soul harvesters harvest the souls of the dead, and each time, he gains something from the dead. If those dead include Earthers, it is no surprise that he knows what we know, - Mirei said.

Harris froze, and after thinking for a long time, he said, - You�re right. I probably didn�t think it through. -

- We have four years left till the next demon king. We�re in no condition to fight it, - Mirei said. Though she wasn�t dead, she was weakened by the curse. - If I must admit, we must be prepared to lose and die. -

Gerrard nodded. - So let�s do what Astra did. Kill ourselves and bomb it to death. -

- No! - Mirei said. - You saw what the system did to him! It made us hate him! -

- Well, if we want to go out with a bang, I can�t think of a better way. -

Mirei stopped. - Bang? Maybe we could make ourselves into a living bomb. You know, like that manga! This old dude fought the Ant King but as a failsafe planted a nuke into his heart. We could try that. -

They all got a headache at the same time, but Gerrard had already prepared cups filled with some herbal liquor. They all took a sip.

- Damned system meddling with our minds. -

- It�s a good idea, but who can make a bomb that powerful? -

- A/ �s been experimenting with souls. We could ask him to try it. Maybe he can do something about it. -

Harris looked confused and bewildered. - I cannot believe that both of you are suggesting to make yourself into some kind of suicide bomber. -

- It�s not suicide bombing. It�s a. contingency, - Gerrard said.

- I wouldn�t do it. - Harris frowned.

- If the demon king lives, it�ll still kill you. You know it can and will look for us. You�ve felt it. We�re just like the Ringbearer. The demon king can see us, one way or another. The higher levels we are, the brighter we are to him, - Mirei said. - It�s better for us to knock it out. -

Harris had been still busy quelling the conflict among his many sons and daughters, so the idea of dying to the demon king really didn�t sit well with him.

- So what are your alternatives, Emperor Harris? You know you can�t outrun it, and you cannot move your children�s kingdoms. Do them a favor, buy them some time, and knock out the demon king when you die. If the demon king lives and comes for you, your children�s kingdoms will be in ruins anyway. -

Harris was silent.

Gerrard looked at Mirei. - Well, if anything, both of us will find a way to make us self - destruct if we die. It�s honestly a pretty fitting way to end our lives, and ironic, too. We all died in a car crash. Now we get to die with a Michael Bay�style explosion. -

- Why can�t we summon the next generation of heroes? - Harris said. - There must be a way I can trade powers for the right to summon more heroes. -

Then he had a massive headache, so much so that it looked like he was having fits. Gerrard and Mirei quickly fed him some herbal liquor. - Wow. That�s some intense mental attack. -

- Ugh. - Harris took a while to recover and then said, - I mean, it takes power to summon heroes, right, but can we summon heroes, or perhaps aid the gods in summoning heroes? That way I don�t have to die. I don�t mind surrendering my blessings or my levels as cost. -

- You know, that�s really a rather good idea. - Gerrard nodded. - But where do we even start? How do we even commune and discuss this with the gods? -

YEAR 123

Since time immemorial, man searched for means to make themselves more powerful. That was true then, and that was true now. Even nature itself was forever locked in an arms race, as species evolved for an advantage and other species evolved in response to that advantage.

War and evolution were tied together in many ways. - This is the latest generation of wood - formed weapons. -

I showed my latest upgraded versions of the wooden spears to Yura and the selected Valthorns. I had given out two more upgraded classes, one Grand Knight and one Spearmaster . It was a small group, less than ten.

- Is its effectiveness against demons improved? -

- Slightly. - I had spent a lot of time analyzing the crystal matrices and had managed to copy a little of its effects. But to replicate it wholesale was still beyond me, for now.

Every iteration was slightly better, slightly more powerful. Sad to think that my Woodforming was used in this way. I should�ve made statues instead.

One of the wooden spears shrank, and the attendees jumped. - Wow. -

- It�s now. expandable. That way it�s easier to move around. I copied the idea from one of the heroes star mana withdrawable swords. - In hindsight, I should�ve made something like this way earlier. It was essentially just a magical lightsaber, but with wood. Not exactly difficult to make a seed - like thing that released a spear and later on retracted it. Nature already had many similar mechanisms.

In a way, it was also partly pocketspace, similar to my secret hideout .

- It�ll be tuned to all of you. -

- Tuned? -

- Yes, with runes. The gem - inserts have runes, so add a drop of blood to it and it�ll recognize you as its owner. - Again, not an original idea. Some heroes had invented star - mana weapons that only recognized people who had their blood, essentially as a means of preserving power for their descendants.

- The heroes have this? -

- Well. no. - They had better ones.

- Ah, - Edna said, examining her new lance and shield. As a knight, she got some mount - specific boosts, and so there was some new wooden protective gear for her mount. - Seems like I�ll have to fight demons soon. -

- It�s not hard. The rule is simple: focus on your target, and don�t stray too far outside A/ �s suppression aura, - Yura explained. He was now level ninety.

- A/ �s suppression aura should be everywhere, - Faris said as he too examined his wooden staff and armor. There were not many weapons I could make for Faris, because he was a ranged and support hero.

I agreed. But sadly, my suppression aura was weaker as I went further.

- This means A/ puts the odds of the heroes winning the next battle at close to zero, doesn�t it? - our Spearmaster asked.

Yura paused. - It would be so. It�s not exactly uncommon for heroes to die to the demon king. Their recent string of victories is quite abnormal and has happened no more than five times in the past few hundred years. -

- And so the peace of Harrisan ends, - Faris said. An era of relative peace named after the most visible of the hero kings, Harris. - It seems our upgraded classes have not been given out for no reason. -

- Are you afraid, Great Druid ? - Edna smiled.

- Should I not be? -

- Worry when the time comes, - Yura spoke. - For now, practice, and keep gaining levels. -

- Certainly. - Edna nodded. - A/ , are there any restrictions of use for these items? -

- No. Try them out on the hybrids. I recall a large group has been spotted. -

- Gladly. -

Those with the upgraded classes and Yura went for it. I believed they would succeed. Maybe even Yura himself would be sufficient with his recently acquired strength.

On the home front, the heroes had been experimenting with new kinds of spells. They wanted to make themselves into a bomb, just like the demon king. I couldn�t help them. I mean, I didn�t have the ability to give them that kind of power. Trees didn�t blow up. Except for hybrid trees, but that was an outlier.

So they had to speak to others, and Gerrard had been travelling everywhere.

Harris, too, had to frequently intervene in his family conflicts. It was just lucky that his curse did not flare up when he was temporarily away.

- A/ , - Mirei said when the two heroes were away. - What�s it like, being a tree? -

I didn�t answer. It was more like I didn�t even know where to begin describing it.

- Sorry. Must be offensive. I suppose it�s the equivalent of you asking me what�s it like being a hero, - Mirei said. - I asked because, well, I�m an alcoholic and tea addict now. Rumors are swirling about, that the heroes would not survive the next one. Of my curse, and Harris�s. -

She looked wistful.

- What do you think of this idea, the hero - bomb? - It wasn�t the first time she asked. I said it was a wise decision.

- It�s a good one. It�s pragmatic. -

Mirei paused. - I hoped you�d not give me the same answer. Tell me it�s wrong. -

- It�s wrong. -

Mirei laughed and then cried. - Fuck it. Gerrard�s running around in a wild goose chase. I don�t think there�s any mage who knows how to make themselves into a walking nuke. Even if it�s a damned good idea. -

- Keep cursing. -

- Yeah. I should probably stop wallowing in my misery. - Mirei stood. - Here�s an idea. Write runes inside my soul. Can you do that? There must be a nuclear rune somewhere. Invent one. -

- Runes work on physical objects. - Well, in honesty, I�d never tried. I wasn�t aware whether runes could be written in the soul realm, but then, the soul spring did have rune - like inscriptions and patterns.

- Says who? -

- No one. -

- Then can you try? -

- Writing runes in the soul spring. - I wasn�t sure if that was possible, but certainly worth trying.

- Try it on me. Don�t let Harris or Gerrard know. -

- Why not? - I had the impression Gerrard was open to the idea of nuclearizing themselves.

- Fine. Don�t let Harris know. -

I wondered then if it was possible to write a rune or blood ritual into the soul spring, such that it triggered a hexbomb - like event. Was this how we could assure victory, by making heroes into nukes? It was pragmatic, certainly. Sensible, even. But I got Mirei and Harris�s point that there was something quite wrong with it. How was it different from a kamikaze attack? Or in the case of a soldier charging into the firing range, preparing to die?

I couldn�t quite answer that, but no matter.

I poked into Mirei�s soul spring again, and this time I used my feelers to attempt to write runes in her soul spring. It didn�t work.

Not on the rocks of the soul spring. But I could write runes on the water or the ground around her spring. But then the waters from her soul spring quickly washed the rune away.

It was. actually possible. I was amazed. If one could find a way to make the rune stick, then it was possible to have a soul that was covered in runes. Or at least outside of the soul spring.

- What? Does that mean you can make me a nuke? -

No. Not just that. Could I use runes to suppress her curse even further? But. how and where did I start? There were two main hurdles. One, there was a need to find something that made lasting runes in the soul area, around the soul spring. Two, what runes should I use, and what were their long - term effects on a person?

That was, of course, something to research.

Criminals existed in every society. Each of the segments of the Freshlands administered its own set of rules and justice, and this was something we, as the Federal entity, did not generally participate in.

It was a federal - state relationship, though, simply because I didn�t want to be bothered by the minutiae, and I was also not interested in micromanaging people. I�d rather focus on trees, gardens, and stuff.

One area in which I did make orders was that every large town and segment had gazetted gardens and parks and long strips of tree - flanked roads. This was something the Federal Freshlands Authority, headquartered in Freshka, gazetted and required of all of its cities. A small requirement, really, since I�d handle the creation of trees and parks; the towns just had to leave the space and path for it. That was on top of the protected forests and jungles.

In a way, it was almost possible to imagine the Federal Freshlands Authority like the National Parks Service on extreme steroids, to the point that it was the main authority. The Valthorns rangers were just a militarized version of the park rangers.

And since they were militarized, they did also catch. criminals.

Which was useful.

Rumors had been swirling about that criminals caught were subjected to my experiments. That the A/ of Freshka was outwardly a benevolent deity, but it treated its criminals as materials for gruesome experiments.

I was rather amused by it. Because it was true.

Serious criminals were used for my soul - related experiments. For blood magic. For creating the Soul - strengthening seed .

After all, the legal terminology used to describe the punishment for serious crimes was Subject to A/ �s Mercy. I didn�t know who came up with that - I suspected one clever lawyer or justice of peace - but yes, it was a phrase that had begun to strike fear into everyone.

No one subjected to A/ �s Mercy had ever returned. How could they, with their souls ripped out of their bodies and turned into living experiments?

Still, criminals persisted, and many of these states had added a layer beneath that punishment. Their citizens demanded something less frightening. Most involved life imprisonment.

Criminals were quite fun, actually, and I received some rather interesting criminal classes. I even fused them to create more powerful criminal classes. Like Bandit Lord or Master Thief . As I thought of this, Yura had just finished capturing a runaway murderer.

Punishment for multiple murders? A/ �s mercy.

I felt like that was such an evil euphemism. It was like saying walk the plank, instead of jumping off the ship. The criminal was tied up and loaded into a beetle with a cage. A Cage - Beetle. There were hundreds of these beetles, travelling between all the various segments of the Freshlands, collecting all these criminals and ferrying them here.

To me. For my experiments.

A logistical network of high - sec criminals set up to feed my need for materials, coordinated by my artificial minds.

- All right. That�s three. - Yura locked the criminals inside. They wailed and screamed.

- Let me out! Please, counsel, I beg you. Not A/ �s Mercy! -

- The Federal Law is clear. Multiple murders and domestic crimes put you under Federal Jurisdiction. A/ has every right to claim you. -

- Please no! -

Such exchanges were common. Why was it that bad? Kings sentenced criminals to death all the time. Usually, an executioner with a massive axe would do the dirty job.

Yura shrugged. - You may consider your appeal before A/ himself. -

None succeeded. The very fact that my artificial minds had assessed them as targets meant they�d passed the preset thresholds.

A fellow Valthorn just gulped and looked at Yura . Every year they collected about one thousand or so criminals. It was on a steady decline, as more and more criminals learned not to cross that threshold. Not much, when the entire Freshlands region was now home to some four million people spread across the fifteen segments and the fifty cities, three hundred towns, and five thousand or so villages within it.

The Freshlands were massive, now that I had recovered close to 10 percent of what was the entire Rottedlands. Time needed for a beetle to travel from one end to another without rest took a full seven days. Freshka itself now was home to about one hundred and fifty thousand, being the Federal Capital and Administrative Seat of the Freshlands Representative Council.

They�d been changing the names every now and then. Little matters that I left to Kavio and the representatives.

- Oh, the A/ of the Freshlands. - My attention was drawn to a voice that called out to me. Jasmine was quick to prompt me to look. It was one of the nobles of the outer cities, he was alone, and he called out to me. - If you can hear me, please talk to me. -

- Father, have you gone insane? - His son was behind him; he was a lot younger, in his teens.

- No, - the noble said. Jasmine quickly gave me his brief. He was a level thirty - one Noble , and he was the ruler of this city. It was a mid - size city on the northern edges of the Freshlands and mainly worked with mining and farming from the recovered lands.

- Then why are you talking like that? -

- I got a skill, young foolish son of mine, and that skill tells me A/ knows I�m talking to him. -

- Really? What skill is that? - the teenage son asked.

- Territorial Awareness . It�s common for kings to have a version of it, but it seems I got lucky and somehow obtained this. -

- And so you�re testing it out by shouting and calling out to A/ , our faraway supposed benefactor? -

The noble smacked the young teenager. - Watch your words. -

At this point, I supposed I should respond, so I telepathically spoke to both of them. - Yes, nobleman. You called? - A vine emerged from the ground and crawled in through the window. The teenager looked deathly pale.

The nobleman instantly prostrated himself before the vine. - Greetings, A/ . So it is true, those rumors of A/ �s ever - presence in the Freshlands. -

- Had it not been true? -

- Indeed. It is just that us, those on the fringes, do not feel your presence. -

- Have the Valthorns not sent their men to deal with the hybrids? -

- . ah. - I was wasting my time.

- Is there anything serious? -

- No. I just wanted to test my skill. -

Ah. I sometimes wondered whether my presence and surveillance was a good thing.

I floated in my soul realm and watched the souls drift in. There were about one hundred fifty thousand souls in my soul realm , all awaiting reincarnation or whatever awaited their next step. When they were ready, they would shed their outer shells, and only the inner core would move on to inhabit whatever the gods had planned.

I wondered whether there was a standard process to it. I recalled Mozart, the being that reincarnated me, referring to himself as the administrator of this entire process. To think, since that day, I now played a part in the same process that they administered.

A cog in the big machine.

I once described the soul as a car and a driver, the driver as the inner core, the car as the outer core. But maybe it was also more accurate to imagine their bodies as the car, their clothes and look as their outer core, and their physical body as the inner core.

One could change their outer soul shells, just as how Meela and Alexis adopted new classes and new skills . The outer soul was, after all, just a frame and the skills that were attached to that frame.

Now that I had four colors, my ability to interact with these floating souls improved. Some of them were in need of repairs. In a way, this entire realm was my body, and there were segments where these damaged souls were repaired.

There were a lot of memories. Of their families. Of life in this world. I had chosen to just ignore these flashbacks. In a way, I was just behaving like a soulless office administrator, putting a stamp on their documents before sending them on their way.

I didn�t want to care about their life story. It was too much. In fact, the more I learned of their life story, it just made me feel worse, because here I was, as a soul tree. It was like that meme from the MCU movies. I guided others to a treasure I could not possess. And here, I saw memories of a life had and lost that I could not obtain.

Are you a soul tree, too, Lilies? Do you have a soul realm ?

Yes, but we accept only the souls of those thrown into the lake.

Ah. What do you do with their. memories?

Nothing.

I paused. Yeah. Me too.

Maybe it was right that I didn�t go through their memories. Did they deserve at least that bit of dignity?

I recalled that Lilies was rather aloof about this whole arrangement, that they looked at it all from the angle of an overarching ecosystem. That the death of one was but a necessity.

Was I becoming like that, desensitized to death? Now that my Domain and Grand Mind Tree were able to block outside influences, was this. really me that had transformed into this jaded tree?

I�m. I�m afraid of what I�m becoming. I didn�t know why I said that to Lilies, but at that point, I really didn�t have anyone else to turn to for advice on life as a tree.

I had become desensitized. When I thought about it, some of my choices were not my best. Even when I tried making better choices, it didn�t always turn out better.

Lilies didn�t reply for a whole week, then one day they just responded.

We are many things.

Some, forced onto us by the gods.

Some a reaction, or as a response. We think, and we act. Or we don�t think, and act. A reaction nonetheless.

What we become is a path on a confusing road.

Our faces are many, even if you are just one.

Fear not what you�ve become, because this world demands monsters of all kinds to do what we must.

How? Where? I didn�t know.

Grand Mind Tree had blocked outside influence from fellow trees.

Override.

Grand Mind Tree has temporarily allowed outside influence.

I felt a sense of comfort. My fellow forests. Our now - vast network of trees that stretched the entirety of the Freshlands. The land had been damaged by the demons, but we�d brought it back from the dead. The land was hurt, but we could fix it. Must I become one with the rest of the forests? Our fates were tied together. These trees depended on me, and as it was, I too depended on them.

Do you lean on your fellow trees? I supposed as a crutch. Maybe Lilies didn�t need it, because she, they, were born this way. But I was human, and my mind still had the lingering structure and processes of a human. It was a lot.

Certainly. Numbers are strength. Lean on them, but let them not be your crutches.

I felt like it was.

The two of them sparred. Yura was quicker. Edna was still about level sixty, though she had an upgraded class; Yura �s Warlord class was pretty much an upgraded class, too, though a common one. But as a Grand Knight , she had a unique set of skills.

It was the whole debacle of the fused classes, such as warlord versus specialist classes, such as Grand Knight and Great Druid.

The other Valthorns watched, Yvon, too.

- Yura �s gotten a lot stronger. -

- He somehow broke through his level cap. -

It was a secret, of course. No one knew how he broke through the level cap, just that it happened. But Yvon was no fool, and she quickly concluded that I did something. After all, it wasn�t the first time I tried to help Yura break through the level cap. She was also smart enough not to publicly say it.

Faris was level fifty - plus; his leveling was a little slower as somehow he didn�t gain levels as frequently from battling hybrids or demons. If he wanted, his ability to influence trees was quite strong.

Luckily, he couldn�t get past my defenses.

I wondered if the Lord of the Forest could, so I decided to just destroy that seed instead. If I wanted it again, I could just merge thirty Great Druid seeds, but keeping it lying around was a risk I didn�t want to take.

YEAR 124

The demon king�s coming closer, and the weakening barriers somehow strengthened the hybrids. Then we spotted the demonic portals, and out came the champions.

Ah, shit. Here we go again.

Champions. Walker - class demons. Or more like walkers were champion - class demons. The Rottedlands occasionally spawned champion - class monsters, but they were quite passive, usually just roaming around where they spawned. But a return of the champions meant the demon king wasn�t far.

- So, are you guys ready for the next one? - The three heroes were in their fifties now. They came forty years ago, and this would be their fifth demon king, although they didn�t have to fight the second one, thanks to Astra�s bomb.

- No. We haven�t fixed the fundamental weakness that we do not have a healer. - I couldn�t fill their role; I was not a battlefield healer. I was like that hospital back in town that they rushed back to. - And we do have a gap in damage output. -

- We could recruit Yura , - Gerrard suggested. - I sparred with him a few times, and I think he�s about 20 percent of our level, maybe less. -

- No. - I was quick to smack that down. I wasn�t going to send my best man to his death. But that was an interesting estimate. The heroes were around level one hundred thirty to one hundred forty, and yet a level - ninety Yura was only 20 percent of their strength. That meant the growth at the higher levels was higher, in terms of stats.

- Aww, I guessed it. But A/ , you should train an archmage that can reach level one hundred fifty! -

Easier said than done. I�d used so many experience - gaining and training - related abilities on my elite Valthorns, and Edna was only level sixty - two. Which was just a little bit faster than how long it took Lozanna to get there. I reckoned the speed was due to experience and also an abundance of hybrid demons for Edna and her batch to fight as real combat experience.

Anyway, Yura led my elite squad of Valthorns to one of the champions. They would attempt to fight one, with one of my Giant Attendant Trees nearby as aura and support. I wouldn�t let them die, of course, but I wanted to see how my new elite squad stood against a champion.

Could they do it?

Anyway, this was a good time to watch.

The demon champion wasn�t an exotic shape or form; instead, it took the form of a massive winged demon with horns. A typical demonic look.

Yura stood. - Well, it�s more intimidating than I expected. - It was a group of ten: Yura at about level ninety - two, Edna at level sixty - two, Faris at level fifty - five, and the rest about level forty to fifty. The gap was honestly big, but most of them had upgraded classes, which put them above the strength of their level.

- Fear Ward , Morale Boost . - The Grand Knight used her skills. - Well? -

Yura nodded, and he too had received upgraded familiars. - Aura - demonic suppression . All right. It�s ten on one. A/ �s watching, and he needs to know whether we can take it. -

There were swarms of beetles around to ensure that their ten - on - one fight was not interrupted.

They fought. They fought hard.

And they were still inadequate. Mainly, everyone else other than Yura . Even Edna�s shields and abilities were not at a level strong enough to parry the demon champion�s attacks, until she switched to the anti - demon weapons.

I supposed I cheated, because I had these hero - fragments, which just made me intensely overpowered against demons. Still.

They won. But I had to use a block or two. Conclusion, all of them needed to be around level seventy for the fight against the demon-champion to be a certainty. They also needed a far stronger damage dealer and live - healer.

A druid was not a pure - healer. Not like someone with the healer class was. I had some healer class seeds, and I wanted to create a pure high - tier healer.

It was not just healers. I wanted high - tier mages, too, and high - tier runemasters as well, to do the things I wanted.

Meanwhile, the heroes were getting ready. There was two years left, and already the continents faced the demonic attacks. It seemed that this time, the demons would be concentrated on our continent, because most of the demonic rifts had been detected here. Based on the heroes network of informants all over the country, this demon king was shaping up to be another conventional demon king.

Was that a good thing?

- We should be expecting hellhounds soon. -

Ah! That was nostalgic. I had a woodhound from back then.

- And the demon knights and their elites. -

- So, what should we prepare? - Edna asked.

- Anti - fire magic? The conventional demon king is heavy on fire, axes, and overwhelming force, - Yura advised. - What have you learned from our combat with the champion? -

- We need to be stronger, and our team - composition can be better. - Edna shrugged. - I have a few anti - demon skills as grand knight , but not enough. -

- I�ve been rather useless throughout the entire battle. - Faris frowned. - My vines are not strong enough to damage the demon champion at all! My summons are quite useless, too! - In truth, a druid and a fire - demon were a very bad matchup. The only reason I personally had any use was because my fragments made me overpowered.

- Stronger skills. - All of them agreed they needed stronger skills, but I wondered how I could give them some of my anti - demon properties, other than through my weapons and items. If only they could get some of my passives.

- Hero - weapons? -

- The gear we have here is as close to hero - weapons as we can get, - Yura explained. Well, I did have many, many sets of weapons I made with Harris and gang, but I kept that for now, mainly because after this generation of heroes, I may not get the chance to interact with the next batch, so I should keep this generation�s weapons as a rare item. - It ultimately comes down to .levels, and I agree with Faris. Faris should therefore be stationed in the back. I will request A/ for the grand knights to be deployed. -

Later on, the Freshlands Federal Authority and the representative of the segment - states had gathered for a military briefing. The topic was obviously the demon king. For these representatives, this was their chance to extract maximum benefit from the federal authority.

The states had all appointed their own generals and military commanders, but as enshrined in the constitution of our federation, and with my blessings, the beetles would be deployed to defend all the segments against the demons. The Valthorns, of course, had to join the battle as the elite force.

The heroes, too, had deployed their summoned units to fight demons beyond the borders of the Freshlands. Gerrard was frequently away to tackle the demon champions that appeared. He, a high - leveled hero, could handle the demon champions easily.

I was wary of another Rottedlands - style event, so I increased the number of Giant Attendant Trees in the distant regions, forming a ring. The idea was that if something like the Rottedlands happened again, the giant trees could last a bit longer and give me ample warning to prepare.

The last round, the demon king was on another continent, so I too somehow felt safe. It was totally a flaw in my thought process, but yeah, there was an urgency to this matter. I had reinforced the root walls on all the borders and had begun stockpiling my tuberous storage . If needed, I�d have to release large quantities of mana at one go to offset the pressure from a Rottedlands - style corruption bomb.

I also added another of trees and root walls around Freshka and the valley, for a total of three layers. One at the borders, one around the Freshkan region, and one around the Valley of the Unrotten. If a bomb blew up, I�d be able to buy two to three hours for a response.

I had made a basic strategy framework for a demon king.

One. Survival up till the point the demon king was slain. This meant constructing defenses, mobile populations, and armies to deal with the lesser demons. On this point, we had the beetles and a growing Valthorn Elite, and each of the regions had their own armies, adventurers, and so on.

Two. Supporting the heroes to slay the demon king. The longer the demon king was not slain, the more damage it could cause. So, once the heroes appeared, they needed to be supported so they could get to the level needed as fast as possible. Sometimes this took one to two years, and during this time there was absolutely nothing that could stand in the demon king�s way. Maybe I could, but I wasn�t sure, and I had no intention of taking that challenge on. Once the heroes were found, they should be groomed and properly armed. This, of course, was somewhat against my past practice of non - interference, but clearly it didn�t work that well.

Three. Surviving the aftermath. We�d seen from the past few demon kings that there was usually a death trigger and a post - recovery period. In some cases, it was a bomb, in some others a plague. We didn�t know what this demon king would bring, but walls, mana, a widely distributed force, and time would be needed. If it was a corruption - bomb, rootwalls would be effective. If it was a nuke, the rootwalls would be destroyed, but they would reduce the fallout area.

- What if a magic - interference ability happens again? - Yura asked. - We currently still have very little good alternatives to the message spell. That�s the number one risk, I think. A communication breakdown will damage our ability to mount a response. -

Ah. So I had Yura train and set up a system of runners and messengers.

The Valthorns were a bit taken aback when I suggested having a system of locating and supporting the heroes.

- You want us to make items for the next generation of heroes? - Harris and Mirei were both rather surprised by it.

- Yes. If you don�t make it, you should leave something for the next generation of heroes. I�ll keep it for you and give it to them. Unless you don�t trust me. - This was a response to point two, of course. How did we get the new heroes up to speed as fast as possible?

- No. just that that�s a good point. Why didn�t we think of it? - Harris said.

- Because there�s no one we could trust that would ever give up a hero - class item to the heroes. Why would they even tell the new heroes, who arrived a year or two after we died, that there are items for them? - Mirei answered on my behalf. - It�s a good idea, really. I just don�t know why I didn�t think of it, too. But then, we didn�t have an eternal tree that we could trust. I mean, our lives are already in A/ �s hands. What are some items? -

- Try to make enough for five generations of heroes. - If a hero could inherit the weapons of multiple generations of heroes, that may give them the leg up they needed. Or make them too powerful. But the heroes were already too powerful. The fact that there was always a successor generation of demon king, in ten years, essentially kept them in check. - If you want, you can also write a special journal or writing that can only be opened with star mana that you can leave for the next generation�s hero to read. -

They nodded, and they spent months on it. They made items, wrote magical books. Things. Memories from one generation to be passed on to another. They all made things. Harris made shields that summoned shield soldiers. Mirei made lightning axes and staffs that also summoned lightning elementals and flying thunderbirds. Gerrard made multiple swords that also summoned magical gladiators.

When they made items for others, like their descendants, they needed to be mindful that the items needed star mana to activate, so they had to ensure the items contained enough self - sufficient star mana such that their descendants, who were born without them, could still use the items.

But when they made for future heroes, who would have star mana, they could pretty much go all out, since they didn�t have to consider the star mana supply. So the power of the items contained, nigh unusable to anyone else because of its star mana requirements, was extremely high. Again, I didn�t see why they couldn�t have made it and stored it somewhere.

No one could have used these items other than heroes anyway. At least, the full abilities of it. It was still limitedly useful in the hands of non - heroes because it was generally strong and all that stuff.

And I had them stored. - I will give one of each item to one hero of the next generation, so each generation will receive around five to fifteen items. - It was rather difficult for the heroes to make the same items, so what I would do, as discussed with the heroes, was let the next generation of heroes choose what they wanted.

I�d become the tree of items, too.

Secret Hideout upgraded.

Woodforming upgraded.

YEAR 125

DEMON KING GUIHWANG HAS ARRIVED.

The demon king was early. At first, nothing much seemed to have happened. - The demon king is here, but we don�t know where it is. - The heroes convened.

- You don�t? - I was rather surprised by this. It was on this continent, no? No damage?

- Not a single sighting so far. -

- Huh? But then, isn�t it destroying anything? -

- I have no idea, either. - None of the heroes had any idea what was happening. Every demon king in the past left a trail of destruction wherever it went, so this one being absolutely unseen was strange.

- Is it in the Rottedlands, collecting its strength? - The Rottedlands were vast, and I did recall some demon kings generally just lazed around doing nothing for a while.

- We looked with our summons. Nothing, - Gerrard said.

- Then. -

Was this demon king. invisible? Or an assassin - type? If so, I had ensured that everyone was on high alert. - A/ thinks this demon king�s going to jump on us? -

- Yes. Likely to be an invisible or assassin type that would only pop up when it�s really sure it�s seen us. -

- We can sense it, right? - Gerrard closed his eyes and attempted to use his heroic sense. And yet, nothing.

- We should just travel together, just in case - An attack on the border. Demon champions, three of them. And an army of hybrid demons. I sent beetles to fight them, and then I allowed the demon champions closer. Once they were in the vicinity of my Giant Attendant Trees, I unleashed a flurry of anti - demon skills and my hoarded pile of anti - demon bolts.

They were tough. After all, the battle still occurred a distance away from my main tree, so the effects of my passives were weaker. But I eventually destroyed all three of them.

You gained a level. Level 158!

Skill obtained: Demonslayer Pit

Creates a pit that significantly weakens demons trapped within. Attacks made within the pit all gain anti - demon properties.

Huh. A stationary trap - ability.