TREE OF AEONS 2

- Good. HowÆs everyone? IÆll start. We had a rough first month. We got ambushed by multiple demon groups, but luckily a group of knights helped us out. WeÆre based in one of the kingdoms in the far south. -

- South? - Harris asked. - IsnÆt 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. WeÆre 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, IÆm 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. weÆre in the east, and weÆre quite lucky. We didnÆt see many demons, and we fought whatever we could. WeÆre 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, weÆll catch up again once my star - mana recovers. Sorry! - Astra complained.

- ItÆs fine. Good to know everyoneÆs alive, - someone said.

- Yeah. -

And the magical orb vanished. And the three of them shared glances while still riding the beetle.

- ThatÆs 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 kingÆs 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 sheÆd already gotten exceptional resonance to my own abilities.

Hmm, but what would I have to do? LetÆs 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 , whatÆs your class at this point? -

- Main class, Elven Swordfighter , secondary class, Villager . IÆm 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 didnÆt 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 Æs 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. IÆm 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 itÆd 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 . IÆm 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 hostÆs 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 wouldnÆt 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 couldnÆt 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, wouldnÆt 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 familiarÆs abilities. I wanted to hear from them on what they thought.

- IsnÆt 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 wasnÆt that different. Fair, I supposed if the MinderÆs task was to observe, it didnÆt 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 didnÆt know any better.

- Are you planning to give us better familiars? Like Lady Lozanna Æs? - 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 wouldnÆt want that! - One of the Valthorns shook her head vigorously. - I like eating fruits from the familiar. IÆll 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, weÆd have to worry a lot less about supply chains, - Yura casually remarked. - Just one or two guys focused on making food, and weÆll be able to send a small squad anywhere around the region quickly. -

- What if they die or get targeted? -

- ItÆs an alternative, and it is a compromise for speed and range. Hauling food using conventional holding bags is possible, too, but more expensive. DoesnÆt help that holding bags food feels kind of stale, even if itÆs 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 didnÆt feel any drawbacks from multi - classing, I think, - Alexis wondered. - But then, I donÆt do Player, not I mean, People - versus - People, so I really donÆt 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, itÆs 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 magicÆs weird requirement for feats or accomplishments to pass a certain level barrier.

- I donÆt 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 didnÆt have actual eyes to roll, of course. Even my tree - eyes couldnÆt 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 donÆt 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 didnÆt 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, theyÆll 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 theyÆll 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. -

- ThatÆs why I didnÆt tell them anything about TreeTree. - Meela stopped. - You know TreeTree wonÆt agree to help them. -

- TheyÆre stuck in between a rock and a hard place. And TreeTreeÆs 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 heÆs listening, right? - Meela shrugged, and she sipped on her cordial again.

- But then again, heÆs 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 whoÆs mostly tree, I think heÆs 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. -

- ItÆs probably an emergency reaction. ItÆs 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, heÆll need to rest like the rest of us. -

- Why not? A tree is still a living being, and energy fluctuates. But whatÆs long to him is probably extremely long to us. -

- ShouldnÆt 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 kingdomÆs 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 wouldnÆt use the demon rod on the snake dungeon, though. I didnÆt 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 didnÆt 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 kingÆs 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 hadnÆt 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 werenÆt 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, itÆs 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 didnÆt 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 didnÆt 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 wouldnÆt they? - Again, another nonsensical idea. If the heroes were created to fight demons, why wouldnÆt the gods give them anti - demon blessings? Such a thing did, after all, exist.

- How would I know? Maybe they thought it wouldnÆt be necessary since the star mana was so damned good at killing demons? Besides, those anti - demon blessings donÆt work against the demon king itself that much. -

- They donÆt? - 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 Æs status again, just to reread the narration.

The TreeÆs 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 blessingÆ? -

Meela nodded. - We did. All of us received a fragment. ItÆs 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 theyÆd 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. - ThatÆs not something anyone knows, except for heroes. -

- Uh. a hero told me once? But I didnÆt 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 donÆt know. I just get them. -

- Who? - Alexis asked. Her voice seemed almost angry.

Meela seemed puzzled. - Alexis, whatÆs happening? -

- ItÆs so painfully obvious now. I cannot believe how I have been so blind. You, TreeTree, have heroic fragments. You clearly donÆt 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, didnÆt you? Or a familiar . -

Uh. What?

- That time when Meela was in your biopod , you took a fragment from her, didnÆt you? And the same when I was here. Or that familiar of yours! ThatÆs a thing to steal hero fragments , right? ThatÆs why you insisted on all of us taking a familiar ! -

Huh?!

Meela rubbed her chin. - I donÆt think so, though. I donÆt feel a thing. -

- Of course you donÆt feel a thing! It probably happened after we died. -

- Timeline didnÆt line up. TreeTree didnÆt 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! -

- ThatÆs not true. -

- I donÆt believe it! It all makes sense now! - Alexis shouted. - ThatÆs why you asked Meela to offer your familiars to the three new heroes! - Which all of them accepted. - YouÆve planned this all along! -

- Look. YouÆre a smart girl. Think about it for a moment. ItÆs not as if you actually lost anything. You died. Your attachment to your body and whatever fragments stops there. ItÆs like your corpse, after itÆs buried in the ground, some worms come and eat your dead body. ItÆs 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 whoÆs 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. AlexisÆs 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 AlexisÆs mind to sleep.Æ

- I donÆt believe you were malicious, - Meela said. - Alexis might be right, that the kind of magic you have, this. soul magic isnÆt something we can comprehend.

- IÆll. IÆll 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. itÆs probably like I died and somebody took over my online identity and sold it. Sure, I didnÆt lose anything, but a part of me didnÆt 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. SheÆd 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 didnÆt think I could keep one and kill the other, and AlexisÆs 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 donÆt know. Something keeps triggering the soul contract . -

- Stop it? -

- I canÆt. I donÆt 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 - crashÆ)

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 Æs purging attempt. Conflict was overwhelming servantÆs mental & memory faculties. Skill modification not available.

Do you want to remove AlexisÆs skill, Discovery Log , or suppress the memory purge?

- Oh. - A fix was possible, but letÆs 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 Æs menu, such as the option to undo form . This would be useful for Eriz and YvonÆs 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 didnÆt have to deal with this. loyalty issue.

- TreeTree, this canÆt continue, - Meela said. Obviously she didnÆt know I had an idea how to fix her. - I - I canÆt 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. SheÆd 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? CanÆt 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 AlexisÆs 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. ThatÆs good for you, too, if the threat of demons is reduced. -

- ThatÆs. - It felt a bit like blackmail.

- IÆm 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. ItÆs 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. ItÆs probably clearer for you to kill Alexis, but please donÆt. 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 isnÆt going to stop itself. -

- I wonÆt release the contract. -

- Why? -

- I wonÆt release her soul contract because itÆs 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.Æ

One: kill both Alexis and Meela. Pros: I wouldnÆt 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 wasnÆt 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. ThatÆs the point. Only you can stop her. ThatÆs 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. ItÆs 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 AlexisÆs 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 MeelaÆs hotel lodge. I chose a beetle because. it was a choice between beetles and spiders. I didnÆt 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. - MeelaÆs 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 weÆll be on another continent, and we will not bother you anymore. -

- Where? -

- The North! - Meela said. - Where itÆs cold! -

- Is this the best time to do it, with the demons everywhere? -

- I - I know a place. WeÆll be fine. See you, someday. IÆll 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?

AlexisÆs 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 treeÆs auras and passive, but this was capped at a max of 50% of the main bodyÆs 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 couldnÆt wait to try one. Too bad I didnÆt 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 KingdomÆs 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 didnÆt 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. ItÆs a level one living staff . If you practice with it, it will get stronger. - I wasnÆt very creative with names.

Lozanna looked at it and twirled it around. To me, it didnÆt 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 werenÆt 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 sheÆd 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 wasnÆt 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.Æ

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 isnÆt 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. IÆll get the men to expand the underground hideouts and sewers. - Yura breathed a sigh of relief, but there was an undercurrent of concern.

It didnÆt 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 couldnÆt help but feel like this was the beginning of a thermonuclear war. The threat of mutually assured destruction to maintain a fragile peace didnÆt 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 wasnÆt the demon king bombarding the world to death? CouldnÆt it do that? Surely, with the demon kingÆs 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 systemÆs rules didnÆt 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 couldnÆt.

After some thinking, I felt it wouldnÆt 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.

MeelaÆs 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 MeelaÆs 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.

- WhoÆs 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. ItÆd 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 didnÆt have any chef classes, but I had chef and cook class seeds from the many dead peopleÆs souls I collected over the decades. IÆd 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 Æs 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/ Æs 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 wasnÆt 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 minderÆs 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 wasnÆt 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 didnÆt 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 wouldnÆt 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. SheÆd 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. - WeÆre babysitters! -

- Experience counts. Age shouldnÆt 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. IÆd 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 wouldnÆt cause much damage thanks to all my perks. But the rest of the subsidiary trees and New Freeka itself would suffer damage. It wasnÆt 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.

AinÆt 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 canÆt be understated. ItÆs 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 commanderÆs superior anti - demon powers. -

- Huh. - Well, were there. naturally occurring versions of the peashooter for my research, since the system wasnÆt so willing to give it to me?

Maybe some other time. IÆd 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 guildÆs regional coordination center being here, trade routes were still unstable, and that meant total value of trades was still way lower than preûdemon 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! -

WhereÆd 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. IÆve 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 itÆll 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, weÆre small! - Lozanna wasnÆt 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.

- ItÆs totally going to be great. ItÆs like your Dream Tutor ! But because itÆs 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. MatrixÆs 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 .

- IÆm 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.Æ

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 wasnÆt like there were eyes on the projectile. right?

My own suspicions were they had spotter demons, but with my expanded trees and network, I didnÆt 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 wasnÆt 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 capitalsÆ? Did they go by population densityÆ? 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 Æs 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 AlexisÆs previous theory was that the demon king could sense heroes, what was stopping them from looking for kings?

- DidnÆt 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. RansalahÆs 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 RansalahÆs Forest Reserve, which was luckily spared from the projectile, I could vaguely see the destruction of RansalahÆs royal district. A very, very precise shot from the demon supercannon.

Seemed like Yura Æs idea that it detected a king had merit. This precision didnÆt 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 RomaÆs 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 kingÆs four sons, their bodies have been found charred and burned. The kingÆs 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 heroÆs 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. IÆm sure many back in Ransalah know, too. The pretenders will come for his life, whether he likes it or not. HeÆs 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/ Æs 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 RomaÆs 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/ Æs goals, however ephemeral and random that goal may be. And Roma may not want to be king. We should ask him. -

- IÆm 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 thatÆs unshakeable. A/ , as a great spirit of the land, is clearly one support the citizens of Salah will respect and fear. -

They met in YvonÆs house, and there was tea on the table. Some ginger biscuits, too, made from the OrderÆs herbal gardens. Yvon looked at the rest of the men.

- We owe it to the humans, our human friends who supported Prince GalanÆs 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 wouldÆve been a better king than his brother. -

YvonÆs 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 RomaÆs 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 RomaÆs a New Freekan and no longer has a claim on the throne. -

- No matter the naysayers. The blood doesnÆt 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. whatÆs 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.

- DidnÆt 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 Æs 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, didnÆt suffer that badly. The news from couriers relayed that TakdeÆs 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 BarsoomÆs 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 wouldnÆt 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 RansalahÆs citizens were running because if even the king with all his protections couldnÆt 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 donÆt think so? It looked quite different. - Ah, my intendent camouflage of tailoring the types and species of my subsidiary trees paid off!

- DidnÆt 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! - AstraÆs voice boomed. - IÆve got a task for all of you! -

- Huh. -

- IÆve gotten my level ninety perk! And itÆs a telecommunications tower ! -

- Oh, wow. ThatÆs fast. We havenÆt reached level ninety yet, although we fought a demon walker! - Harris frowned. - Anyway, so whatÆs 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, itÆs just messaging , isnÆt it? WhatÆs 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 donÆt see the awesomeness, but sure. If it helps us against the demons. -

- So, the task is IÆm 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. canÆt the tower just stay with us permanently? I could protect it. - Harris didnÆt seem keen.

- Well, how about the rest of the world, then? The range of each of these towers isnÆt 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 Æs range. -

- ThatÆs not good. The demons want those kinds of spots, too, - Becky responded.

Astra just chuckled. - Well, if you guys get your level ninety perks, youÆll get some kind of structure, too. I think HelenÆs level ninety perk was a healing tower that also has a garrisoned army of magical knights. -

- So, youÆre saying we need to get our level ninety perks, then use our towers to protect your telco tower ? -

- Yup. ThatÆs part of the strategy we were going for. Like GerrardÆs 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, itÆs 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.

- ItÆs just a few levels. WeÆre already in our level eighties! - Mirei shrugged. - DonÆt 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 canÆt 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 itÆs 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. ItÆs 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. -

- IÆm 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/ Æs sovereignty over this valley. The royals acknowledge they are here as guests. itÆs 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, whatÆs 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 didnÆt 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 didnÆt seem dangerous to warrant any action.

- Indeed. No unusual behavior detected, other than complaining about everything to the merchant. But it seemed the princeÆs 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. ItÆs quite a big list, apparently. -

Okay. I wasnÆt 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 didnÆt believe in stopping them. I just wouldnÆt 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 IÆm 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 OrderÆs 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 FreekaÆs 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 thatÆs 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, itÆs 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 whatÆs a must have, - Yura said and then took out a notebook. - I am certain discussion about alliances would come up, and IÆd 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. -

- WeÆll 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 didnÆt sound right. I did think making connections and alliances were a good thing, but I thought my issue essentially was that. these nations. I didnÆt think IÆd 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, itÆd 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 didnÆt 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. LetÆs see how he likes. ghosts. -

The heroes finally arrived.

- What? HowÆd 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 FreekaÆs 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! ItÆs 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 didnÆt 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. ItÆs 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.Æ

- 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. LetÆs check with the adventurerÆs 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 donÆt know. She didnÆt say. But she did leave some instructions. - The three heroes walked to one of the treefolkÆs 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 MeelaÆs former employees. She let them into her house, a small place in one quiet corner of New FreekaÆs bustling town.

- Sorry for bothering you. -

- ItÆs fine, Lady Mika left a bit of money for all the trouble. And hereÆs 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 couldnÆt 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 wasnÆt 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 wasnÆt 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 wasnÆt like they publicly declared they were heroes.

The three didnÆt reply.

- Yeah. Those loud booms are scary, but itÆs happened a few times already. - The pedestrian shrugged. - Anyway, donÆt 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 OrderÆs 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. WeÆd 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 Æs main office.

- Oh. Lady Mika. -

And they were in Yura Æs room.

- Pleased to meet you, Counsel Yura . - The three bowed. - WeÆre the summoned heroes. from the other world. WeÆd like the Order and A/ Æs 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 wasnÆt very useful, since my magic lab didnÆt 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 didnÆt 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/ Æs agreeable, but only until the death of the demon king. After that, he may decide to destroy the tower. -

- ThatÆs acceptable to us. Can A/ shield it from the demonÆs 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. howÆd they think itÆd 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 couldnÆt 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 weÆve been meeting, telling us we should kill the demon beast as soon as possible. -

- WhyÆd 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 itÆd take more than one hit of the demonÆs 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.Æ

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 IÆd 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 . IÆve got to go. -

- TreeTree says no. -

- I know he said that. but. but I want to go. I believe itÆs good for my own growth, to see how I fare. I want to know where I am. -

- You know where you are, youÆre 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 wonÆt 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.

- YouÆre not a hero, Lozanna . - Laufen held her daughter. - DonÆt do this. -

- But. - Lozanna sulked. - I want to go, Mom. Please. -

- No. -

- IÆm fourteen and almost level sixty. I can help. -

- Men higher level than you have tried fighting demon champions and died. -

- They. they donÆt have TreeTreeÆs 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 Æs 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 Æs 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? -

- ItÆs training. If she can take on a few more demon generals, then she earned her right to participate. If she canÆt handle the generals, she shouldnÆt bother trying. -

- Yes! So. IÆll go hunt some demons! -

Laufen shook her head. - I - I wasnÆt expecting that. -

Yura shrugged. - I like that, though. Want me to go with her? -

- She can go with the initiates. -

- SomeoneÆs 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 wasnÆt that big. A path that was honestly going to fail. Even Yura couldnÆt 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 wasnÆt much she could do. She couldnÆt 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 couldnÆt 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 FreekaÆs 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 didnÆt 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/ Æs servants, and they execute his will. Please donÆt 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.Æ

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 wouldnÆt 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 didnÆt seem like theyÆd 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 couldnÆt 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 didnÆt have much star mana left to actually take on the main body of the demon supercannon.

- I heard that you might be king. -

- WhereÆd you hear that? - Roma asked. He was a quiet, studious young boy. Despite YvonÆs attempts to train him in fighting, his interests were more into magic and reading. Although he was healthy and fit, physical combat wasnÆt his thing. He didnÆt inherit Yvon or Prince GalanÆs 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 canÆt 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 youÆd make a good king, - the baker boy said. - Then I can be your kingÆs guard. -

- You canÆt even fight. - Roma laughed.

- Well, youÆve never ruled, - the baker boy ribbed Roma. - Besides, all I need is your mom to teach me some tricks. I heard sheÆs really good. -

- We might die. -

- Or youÆll just be working as one of the employees of the Valtorn Order, and IÆll just be an ordinary baker. Why live, if not for honor and glory? -

- YouÆve been reading too much of your uncleÆs writings. -

- YouÆve 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 YvonÆs 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 IÆd look after her. With my assurance, Laufen agreed.

If it went well, IÆd 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 Æs 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 supercannonÆs explosions incinerate people up close that just. uh. felt brutal. It wasnÆt the first time sheÆd 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. - ItÆs okay. YouÆre blessed by TreeTree, heÆs just one tree spirit, but the heroes, they were blessed by all the gods. -

Lozanna , of course, instantly perked up. - Mom! YouÆre a genius! -

- Huh? -

- A/ Æs 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 didnÆt see anything other than the demon king himself making a dent at the heroes progress, so I felt the demon kingÆs 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 Æs 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 Æs 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 didnÆt 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 Æs 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 gangÆs enjoyment?

The refugee situation temporarily subsided now that message and the demon supercannonÆs 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 wasnÆt 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 kingÆs 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 couldnÆt 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 IÆd 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 didnÆt 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, IÆll ask her to teach you something. -

- Yay! I canÆt 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. ItÆs 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 wonÆt 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 AlexisÆs 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 treeÆs 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 didnÆt 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 theyÆd unlocked star mana.

Oh well, letÆs 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. - IÆll send out a request to the merchantÆs and mageÆs guilds. -

Still, once I acquired the demon ability reduction aura , that had an instant benefit because that aura pushed back against the demonÆs interference; doing so expanded the field of the beetleÆs 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.

ThatÆd make him his own little dungeon core, wouldnÆt 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 didnÆt 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, sheÆd 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, heÆd cut through the demons like water, too!

Anyway, Lozanna Æs daily affairs consisted of training, helping, and guiding all the younger initiates who looked up to her. WeÆd 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.Æ

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 FreekaÆs 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 IvyÆs census data, she counted about seventy - two thousand people living in New FreekaÆs 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 CouncilÆs 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 didnÆt 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 werenÆt 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, BeckyÆs 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. - MireiÆs 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. - ItÆs 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 weÆre not hungry. - Harris nodded. They didnÆt 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. - WeÆre 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 arenÆt great, the terrain around the demon walker has been absolutely wrecked by all the blood rituals that were used against it, so approaching it isnÆt that straightforward. - HarrisÆs 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. WeÆre 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 doesnÆt 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 HelenÆs background wasnÆt. outdoors. - Are you guys in an inn? -

Helen laughed at the question. - Hell yeah! Check out my lovely bed! I canÆt freaking stand camping outside. Thankfully we found a small town with an inn thatÆs still standing! You cannot believe how few and rare independent inns are in this world, since all these travelerÆs 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 godÆs blessing did constantly spur them on.

- All right, all right. WeÆve got fifty minutes left. LetÆs start the recap. IÆve recently hit level sixty, too, and IÆve 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 . -

- WeÆre all multi - unit heroes, arenÆt 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 itÆs a level fifty threat. -

Harris frowned. They hadnÆt 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 itÆs in the Southern Continent, - Astra responded. - But I think it hasnÆt moved at all since it came to this world. I think itÆs. 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. thatÆs a future thing. LetÆs 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? -

- WeÆre hoping youÆd 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. YouÆre facing one along, and thatÆs 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 wasnÆt that interested, but he wondered whether that was how A/ looked after his own domain, but that didnÆt seem to be the case. - Astra, whatÆs the range of your avatars ? -

- Huh? -

- BeckyÆs squadrons canÆt stray more than ten miles from her. WhatÆs yours? -

- I - I havenÆt tested. - Astra flushed, and he wrote it down somewhere. - IÆll 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? IÆm starting to suspect that source of yours. is a former hero. -

- SheÆs not human. She canÆt be. -

- Is that a rule? -

- WeÆre 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 donÆt think itÆs 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? WhatÆs 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. WeÆre 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 didnÆt feel like they had a good time fighting through demons.

The Hero call ended shortly after.

- YÆknow, this hero thing isnÆt as nice as the gods put it. - Becky sighed and ate some of the barbequed meat from the lightning elemental. It wasnÆt 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 IÆm a demon hunter. Not the fairy tale I was hoping for, - Becky ranted. - But someoneÆs 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 wasnÆt 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. - IÆm Commander Akbar, and IÆm here on behalf of the coalition force. ItÆs a small army, but even this took a whole load of persuasion. -

Akbar shook both Becky and MireiÆs hands.

- I was told the three of you plan to attack the walker and relieve the pressure on Gila. -

- Indeed, but. weÆre 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.

AkbarÆs 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.

- ItÆs worth a try, donÆt 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 Æs 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, letÆs 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, IÆd not been massively disturbed.

Perhaps a fellow tree spirit of that level could overpower and brute force through my rootnet Æs 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. weÆll need to ask the various guilds, but sure. - Yura nodded. - Is something happening? Last month was about demon kingÆs movement, and this month ancient spirits. -

- I just have some. thoughts. -

Yura nodded. - ItÆs 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, wasnÆt 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. IÆd call them. treeminals. Wait. Sounded too much like criminals. Intreeface? No, sounded too much like In TreeÆs 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 didnÆt get the idea of why I wanted to search for potentially habitable locations, but it was quite obvious to the cleverer ones.

- A/ Æs 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 didnÆt 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 - manÆs land thanks to the fall of some cities to the demons. After all, if demons happened every ten years, your continent wasnÆt 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 wouldnÆt reverse that kind of damage. ItÆd 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 ValthornÆs 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 treefolkÆs 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 MeelaÆs tree - form was a lot more interesting, in that MeelaÆs treeform resembled a quasi - liquid thing with a wooden layer, whereas the treefolks had more distinct muscles.Æ

What IÆd 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 LilypodÆs 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 didnÆt believe a world like this didnÆt 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 wasnÆt good at it.

Lozanna didnÆt 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 Æs 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. TimeÆs up, - Lozanna said and then walked away to spar with the next person. There were many more to train.

Then Yura walked in. - Everyone, weÆve got new instructions from A/ . WeÆre forming a squad. Lozanna , pick fifty. WeÆre going on a trip. Everyone pack up enough supplies for two weeks. -

- Where were we going? -

- A/ Æs 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. -

- ThatÆs. -

- IÆll 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 werenÆt selected. A young girl about the baker boyÆs age came up.

- Hi, I saw you just now. LetÆs practice! -

The baker boy nodded. - Okay. - He wasnÆt that good, but he was improving.

Roma walked in a bit later with Yvon. - Oh, whereÆd everyone go? - Yvon asked, and one of the older caretakers explained Yura Æs instructions.

- Oh, Mom, this was the friend IÆm 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 thatÆs been making my son gain all that weight. -

- Uh. -

- IÆm kidding. All right. Come, letÆs practice. LetÆs 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 wouldnÆt 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 worldÆs 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 didnÆt 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 mindÆs mind, and clearly, I failed to understand it.

Perhaps it is like us, Master. Only that they all get to speak.Æ

A Medicine That May Kill, A Choice of Desperation.

I was starting to suspect IÆd struggle to get along with this fellow. tree spirit. Or tree spirits?

How should I refer to you?

We are Lilies. We are many.

ThatÆs. 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 didnÆt make us uncomfortable. In fact, it was quite. relaxing.

You sought us out, why?

My. disciple needs your blessing. I wasnÆt 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 didnÆt 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.

NatureÆs 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 didnÆt answer me. Maybe it was sensitive. We didnÆt 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 itÆd 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 couldnÆt 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 wasnÆt 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 couldnÆt 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 druidÆs lies. They couldnÆt 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. LetÆs see whether there were other spirits we can communicate with. -

The next one would be the elven capitalÆs 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 wonÆt mind waiting, right? -

Lozanna nodded. - ItÆs fine. I want to learn more about traveling before making the journey. I feel like all my life IÆve been here. Mom says I need more. uh. life experience. IÆm 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 Æs network was trying to gather information about the demon kingÆs 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 kingÆs destruction in almost every location at some point of this worldÆs life. So. perhaps the residual magics got fully decayed and the demon king couldnÆt 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 AstarothÆs appearance remained, so it could well be a corrupted version of the story.

The new monster, at least, didnÆt 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 kingÆs 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 didnÆt seem that profitable now that the demon kingÆs 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.Æ

It was a stupid decision by the demon king. If I was in charge, I wouldÆve 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 manÆs 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, IÆd been thinking about what IÆd 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 hexÆs 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 IÆd 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 didnÆt 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 didnÆt seem to be generating good information. Seriously, I wondered whether I was giving Yura Æs 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?

- WeÆd 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/ Æs 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 IÆd like to lead the first squad. IÆve already gotten five others that are at least level twenty - five to join. - Lozanna Æs 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 Æs 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 sheÆd 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, wonÆt 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 wonÆt share high - tier resources and knowledge to politically connected adventurers. -

- They never shared anything to anyone from outside their hometown anyway, - one captain opined.

- WeÆd have to open up access to our dungeons to the foreign adventurers as well, then? - Madeus asked.

- We donÆt have any but yes. ItÆs something IÆll have to handle through the Council, - Yura said. - There will be some opposition, but given that A/ was also supporting this, they probably wonÆt 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 OrderÆs 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 youÆre 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 IÆll think about it. -

- The answer has to be a yes, you know. - Yura offered another glass.

- And IÆll lose my job if I donÆt. - Garrosh took a second glass. - Well, in terms of pure combat competence, Lozanna Æs 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. IÆve always wanted to meet A/ . So thatÆs my price. Bring me into the deep woods, past the strange magics that swirl around it. -

Yura finished his own glass. - I see youÆve 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.

- IÆm still an adventurer at heart, and you know IÆve 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 . ItÆd 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 GarroshÆs 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 didnÆt 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.Æ

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 wasnÆt 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, wasnÆt 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 kingÆs place, and so. that was not good news.

And apparently one group of heroes attempted to fight the demon animated from AstarothÆs residual energies.

They won. But a heavy price was paid.

Pooja Pooran died. You received one hero fragment. You now have 68 fragments. .

IÆd been observing the Giant Lilypod City from the shore; after all, my trees couldnÆt grow underwater, or at least, not yet. Perhaps someday IÆd 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 lakeÆs 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 hadnÆt 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 didnÆt 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 didnÆt get along.

If I were to put the world into factions, IÆd probably make it into a three - kingdoms kind of situation. The demons, the living mortals, and the monsters, all with their own gods.Æ

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 generationÆs heroes were weak? -

- But many of them died before! -

I mean, many didnÆt really know how many heroes there were. They didnÆt get fragments to track, and the past heroes didnÆt 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 didnÆt 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.

- WhyÆd the demon king have to spoil my adventurer fun! -

- ItÆs 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 didnÆt 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 kingÆ?

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 didnÆt feel a thing and they didnÆt react to it. If I wasnÆt a tree who regularly had to move my beetles to face these forces, perhaps IÆd 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, IÆd 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 didnÆt 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 didnÆt 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 donÆt seem like weÆre 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 shouldÆve made it anonymous. -

- That wonÆt work. Everyone knows weÆre the only institution with Knights in New Freeka. The council has some knights, but not to the point where they need. knight trainers. TheyÆll 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 didnÆt?

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 didnÆt 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 didnÆt 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 didnÆt 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 werenÆt afraid of water, were they?

The demon king crossed the seas, after all, and so did one of the walkers. So why wasnÆt 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 walkerÆs 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 didnÆt fall. I could still sense it, alive.

The walker was hammered by root strikes. At this distance, it wasnÆt 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 couldnÆt 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 didnÆt 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 wasnÆt going to let the demon walker go. So my vines and roots appeared, entangling it.

It wasnÆt dead yet.

But I wasnÆt 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 battlefieldÆs 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, itÆd 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 manaÆ? 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 walkerÆs 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 TitanÆs 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 couldnÆt 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 itÆd 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 kingÆs 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 couldnÆt 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. ItÆd 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. - IÆm so sick of demons. -

- I lost count how many times youÆve said it. - One of the other Valthorns sighed. To them, it was one of Lozanna Æs 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 theyÆd 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, letÆs spar! - Nero was one of them who regularly sparred with the Valthorns, thanks to YvonÆs meddling. He wasnÆt at Lozanna Æs 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 didnÆt 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!