Tree of Aeons

Explore-a-tree

Year 84 Month 3

With the demonic supercannon down, the royals and nobles quickly made their way home. Truth be told, I think thats a bit premature. The supercannon is but one of many demon walkers that are on the continent, and the demon king seems to be summoning more and more of them.

There are 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 90 [towers]. At this point, I honestly dont see anything other that the demon king himself making a dent at the heroes progress, so I feel the demon kings stay in the world would last no longer than 1 year. 

The restoration of the [messaging] network also brought a return of intercontinental news and trade, something we really sorely, sorely needed. The first thing I did, of course, is order all my upgrade materials I needed. Lausannes Living Weapon, Thorny, reached level 20 and is level capped until I get the materials needed to upgrade him.

Then, theres also the issue of Lausannes new bright idea. 

She wanted to visit other tree spirits and well, things like it. Perhaps, its 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. 

Travelling in this environment is quite difficult, and... we would need you here for defense. Jura explained his views. He was fine with it, but he preferred if Lausanne waited till after the demon king was slain. Elves live for many many years, and Lausanne could always compare herself to future heroes.

Lausanne, of course, agreed. Shes smart, and shes patient. Theres also much about the outside world she didnt know about, so she agreed, on the condition that Jura, and everyone else included her on trips to nearby kingdoms, if they ever go on those visits. She had to learn how to conduct herself in foreign lands, after all.

In principle, I agree with Lausannes idea, and I would even like to tag along such that I can also communicate with the other spirits. In short, Lausannes going to be my envoy to the spirits. I too, have much to learn about the spirits of this world, my experience has solely been through my own lenses, and what little I learnt 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] are, trees are starting to regrow, and that makes me happy. Its nice to see little trees starting to pop up next to my bigger trees, or a little field of flowers or grass. 

I get significant enjoyment from having new grasses or trees join my network of trees. Increasingly, its the tree part of me that finds joy in this. Or perhaps its just Trevor and gangs enjoyment? 

The refugee situation temporarily subsided now that [message] and the demon supercannons death spreads. Theres something about uncertainty that adds to that fear, so with open communications restored, those living in different places no longer live in darkness. Its just a thing about knowledge, that allows people to make better decisions.

All in all, with the royals and nobles making their way out.

Year 84 Month 4

The heroes are out hunting for the other demon bases. There are many throughout the continent, but at least, they know where to look for them. Benefits of real time communication. 

For me, I turn my focus to further studies of the telco tower. Im not getting much insights into how it stays synchronised with the other towers, but with the help of more lab equipment around the tower and attempting to intercept magical [messages], over time Im starting to figure out whats happening. 

The [Telco Tower] has multiple components to it. The other parts is a form of demonic barrier which creates a safe zone for messages going to the sender, and from the sender. These repels the effects of the Demon Kings global ability. Secondly, is a kind of repeater, where the Telco Tower receives a message, and sends it to someone else but within the same tower-range. For longer range and continental messages, that goes through the somewhat quantum-entangled communications that exist between the towers. 

Of all of those, I decided to focus on the aura repelling the demon king. Its the easiest for me to study, and in many ways, similar to my [lesser demonic suppression aura]. I reckon the similarities would help me in understanding what exactly is 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 have 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 its just caution on their part. 

The hex has been a significant stumbling block in my research, mainly because the [hex] is the byproduct of some kind of magical ritual, and its like I am trying to guesstimate what exactly happened in the ritual to know what created a nasty side effect like hex. Its as if someone gave me a piece of plastic, asked me how was that plastic made, and which process gave the plastic the qualities it possessed. 

So, I do want to observe a [blood ritual] for myself.

If the nuclear fusion theory has any relevance, the blood ritual should be some kind of incomplete process that created this... monstrosity. 

In my mind, I have a clear, obvious reason for researching the hex. In my mind, I cannot help but suspect that one day, some country is going to think I am no better than the demon king and use this same hexbomb against me. This horrid poison that corrupts the land just offends the trees and vegetation in every way possible, even more that the magically tainted poop. So much so that I get feelings of anger through the [rootnet]. 

If a forest could react in anger to a factory spewing poison into its lands, I guess thats how it feels. 

Even though it repulses 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. Its not all bad, but its all kinds of emotions, both positive and negative, warped in some way or form, or joined together. 

At the same time, I witnessed by [subsidiary tree] rot from the root upwards, its bark and trunk turning brittle before breaking up by bits and pieces. It took a while, and after that 2 hours, and Ive 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 seen it, shrunk a little bit.

Ah. Typical of blood rituals. Its essentially an emotion-memory conversion into power, and so fixing the hex meant facing those emotions head on and unwinding them. But that still doesnt answer the underlying force. Is it still some kind of soul mechanism? Or does emotions and memories have their own power?

I suppose the true way to fix the hex is 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 is indeed an army of loyalist. Even now, theres 2 guards tasked to watch after Roma.

Roma sighed. Fine, Ill ask her to teach you something.

Yay! I cant 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... Its got nothing to do with books or magic. Yvon probably looks puzzled, because its 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 hes already in his teens, and Yvon nodded. 

I wont 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 come in, and the Demon King is on the move. It seems the heroes are quite successful in defeating the demon walkers and the demon supercannons, if they have an ability similar to Meela and Alexiss Star Mana-form. I reckon thats probably a standard loadout for a hero. 

The heroes are now trying to gather up somewhere, and take down the rest of the demonic walkers. There are many, after all, this demon king was really fond of walkers, and so far, the heroes are successful, so much so that almost every 3-4 days we have news that another walker or supercanno has been destroyed. The heroes by now have moved out of my trees observational range, and so any news about their movement is via [message].

A part of me thinks, well, this is too easy. There must be something. 

Is this it? Really? Is 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 dont think so. There must a trick. The demon king has been wandering continents to continents doing something. There must be a trap waiting for the heroes, theres no reason for demon king to just hang around and idle when the heroes are still gaining strength.

The heroes must be expecting it too, things have been going a bit too easy for them now that theyve unlocked star mana.

Oh well, lets 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?

Juras getting better at guessing what Im trying to do, and he vaguely sounded like he sensed my concern. Ill send out a request to the merchants and mages guilds.

Still, once I acquired the [demon ability reduction aura], that had an instant benefit, because that aura pushes back against the demons interference, doing so expands the field of the beetles range. After all, the beetles, being a form of summoned creature, have little resistance against demonic interference. 

In fact, I wonder whether theres an [insect tamer] or [insect master] that will 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 10 ability literally distorts his training room into a larger one. I wonder what his higher tier abilities will be, a practice dungeon would be quite cool.

Thatd make him his own little dungeon core, isnt it? 

A dungeon of our own for practice would be fantastic, since the Valthorn kids have expanded, and were short of nannies to look after them, and it didnt 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 9, are now all above level 20, Lausanne being the exceptional one crossing level 60, but her leveling is stagnating. She complains about it sometimes, and its also partly why she wants to find other ways of growing. Her living weapon is also level capped at level 20, and the cool thing about Thorny is that well, it literally gives her a barb armor. Still, it's nothing compared to the kind of star-mana weapons the hero wields.

Lausanne was super proud of Thorny before this, but after the supercannon battle shes been working really hard. Apparently their star-mana weapons literally slice through high tier demons like a hot knife through butter. Things that she needed a full powered strike to kill can be easily cut through.

I think its the level difference, they are after all in the level 80s to 90s, Lausannes just 60, and the gap of 10 levels is extremely big. Like how 30 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, hed cut through the demons like water too!

Anyway, Lausannes daily affairs consist of training, helping and guiding all the younger initiates who look up to her. Weve had to build a dedicated compound for the Valthorns, on top of the existing orphanage. With my new [Giant Attendant Trees], it really opened up the possibility of subsidiary cities or suburbs. 

Maybe thats 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 can 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 Freekas expansion is forced towards the open plains, where all the enemy armies like to march. New segments of town, new walls are built, as the city expands to accommodate more and more refugees and new citizens.

According to Ivys census data, she counted about 72,000 people living in New Freekas borders. Clearly a bit too cramped for some of them. 

Yet, the demons continued presence meant the lack of space in New Freeka is a small bother. Out in other cities, there are constant issues of food shortages, so much so New Freeka have been sending food aid to the nearby kingdoms. Its a move by the Council, of course, since the Councils 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 like allies, and well, I dont blame them. I want my own allies too.

I need to visit the giant lilypod. So, I undid all the trees that I no longer needed, and continued my long chain of trees towards 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 Lausanne wants to talk to another Tree Spirit, maybe I should do the introductions.

-