TREE OF AEONS 1

Further out, my traveling soul harvesters continued to bring back more souls, more essences of death , and more skill type essences . Throughout the entirety of this continent, death remained a constant thing. Many small battles, many little monster attacks, little rebellions here and there. More death, more essences. And that was good for me.

One good thing about this peace was now I got more knowledge about our neighbors. And as more and more such little snippets filtered through the grapevine, I learned interesting things, like there was a vast sacred forest on the edge of SalahÆs capital where the kings hunted. Or near one of the large cities of Nung, there was a large mountain where people claimed ancient giants wandered.

Well, personally, I thought it was time to take the war to Salah. They may be at peace, but I still had a small score to settle.

The Salah kingdomÆs capital was really far away, so I had to undo my subsidiary trees that stretched to the abyss. It was the furthest I was going; if I measured the distance in beetle, it was about two and a half weeks away, so I was going to need a lot of subsidiary trees to create a line that connected the entire distance.

It was a process that took about fifteen hundred subsidiary trees to create a line to bend with the terrain and, eventually, the capital. I made it a point to hide the presence of the trees from plain slight, such that they appeared natural, and this endeavor took me the whole month, every day, putting a tree, altering its appearance, and then moving on.

And there it was, the capital.

Skill upgraded: Local rootnet access upgraded. Longer distance between subsidiary trees unlocked.

Special trees type obtained: Root Relay Trees

Max Quantity of Relay was Level x 5

Root Relay were special trees with the dedicated purpose of expanding your root network. A single root Relay can create a simple root network that extends 10x the diameter of a regular subsidiary tree. Does not have other functions. Looks like any other tree. Appearance is customizable.

YEAR 79 MONTH 8

SalahÆs capital. ItÆd gone by many names throughout its history; many kings had changed its name. The most recent name of the capital was Ransalah, after the kingÆs beloved but deceased wife, Queen Rani.

Next to the capital was a forest, SalahÆs Royal Grove. In fact, most large kingdoms maintained a grove or a forest for the purpose of having some supply of highly valuable herbs or plants for the manufacture of unique potions or medicines. Some temples, such as the temple of GayaÆs headquarters, also had a large forest that it cultivated for its own use.

Now that my chain of subsidiary tree had finally made the long connection needed to arrive here, I paused for a moment to take in the view.

It was a large capital, not as populous as it used to be after the non - human exodus, but still, there was a lot of humans in this city, perhaps four hundred to five hundred thousand, maybe more, and the city sprawled to accommodate its large population. There were two rivers that ran through the river, and it merged further down, which split the capital into three parts.

The central southern chunk was where the palace, priesthood, mages, and wealthy mostly lived. Infrastructure was good, the roads were paved, security was top notch, and patrols were regular, staffed with the best - behaved men. It was a place where, to be frank, people behaved nicely because of the overwhelming presence of the royal guards and the Archmagus. It was home to the official traderÆs market, though in reality, it was more of a hipster market catering to the needs of the wealthy and elite.

Then there was the east side, where the armyÆs main quarters, the river ports, and the warehouses were. This was also where the Royal Grove was. There was not that many dwellings there, as space was few and far between, the Royal Grove off - limits.

Then there was the west side, a large flatland where most of the citizens resided. Sprawling, messy, and infrastructure spotty, it was the definition of a large city where the plans failed to keep up with the population growth. As a result, it was a space where citizens often took things into their own hands, so there were multiple enclaves where there was some form of local rule. Vibrant, energetic, and a space of constant change, the supervision from local authorities minimal, so long as the tax monies continued to flow into the right pockets. Half of the merchant corps existed here, and the true traderÆs market, where the trade volumes were high and the shouting constant.

How did I know this? Well, it was not hard for Yura to ask a Salah merchant to speak of their capital at length. Apparently, the merchants were incredibly proud of the peonÆs market, one of the largest markets found in the region.

It was a nice city.

A shame, really.

SIDE STORY - Lozanna 2

Sometime after the orphanage started.

- WhereÆs the captain? We want the captain, - the boys shouted.

- TheyÆre busy today. IÆm here to be your practice partner. -

- YouÆre not a soldier. YouÆre just a little girl. No, worse, youÆre a noble, - the young boy accused. - YouÆre one of the nobles, and we donÆt want to practice with you. -

- IÆm not. And whatÆs wrong with practicing with me? - She didnÆt understand it; sheÆd never been a noble. Her father may have been the village chief, but he passed away, and the village was destroyed. Growing up relatively sheltered from kingdoms and their societies, she wasnÆt too aware about the negative emotions associated with nobility, even though Yura and Laufen did tell her about what nobles usually did in other nations.

- I know you! YouÆre a noble, and we donÆt want to practice with you! - the young boys shouted, some of them really unhappy. The rest of the boys didnÆt like her, either; they all looked at her with disgust, which made her feel a little sad.

She didnÆt expect this. Laufen and Yura asked her to help out at the orphanage, to help teach the other children, those about her age, to be their sparring partner for a while. The captains were out on a mission. Why were they so nasty to me? IÆm just trying to help, she wondered, but she didnÆt understand their hostility. - Uh. -

- DonÆt come here acting all high and mighty because of your mother! -

What? Where did that come from? Why? She just couldnÆt answer. IsnÆt Mom the one who set up this orphanage? The boys started going out of the hall. Lozanna felt that her presence was unwanted by these boys.

All she wanted to do was practice some sword fighting, since Uncle Yura was busy. He said to help out at the orphanage, practice some basic moves with the kids in the orphanage; good heroes did that sort of work all the time. And she agreed. She wanted to be a good hero.

But why did these fellow children, who were just around her age, treat her with such hostility? She didnÆt even say much; all she did was walk in, say she was helping out with the sword practice, and then this huge tirade of insults resulted.

One of the caretakers at the orphanage noticed the insults and rushed into the training room. The caretaker, an elderly lady, walked to Lozanna and pulled her to one side of the room before it escalated into a fistfight. - Forgive them, Miss Lozanna . A lot of them have a lot of animosity, a lot of anger, so when they see a young girl their age coming in to teach them, they. they canÆt deal with it. Please, come this way with me. -

- TheyÆre really angry at me. - Lozanna nodded, looking at the wrinkled face of the elderly lady. She held Lozanna Æs arms and leaned in to speak to her with a warm, grandmotherly voice.

- ItÆs a complicated feeling. These boys, theyÆve got things to deal with inside them, and so these boys want - no, they have a need for respect and recognition, a yearning to learn real skills. So when adult soldiers come and practice with them, they feel they. they are respected. -

- Hmm. so they donÆt want to practice with me because IÆm a young girl? Even if I have real skills? - Lozanna sighed. There was nothing much she could do with those kids who were bigger if they didnÆt like her. IÆll have to tell Uncle Yura and Mom about it later.

She looked at the caretakers, most of them elderly women that her mother hired to help run the orphanage. There were about two hundred kids in this place, of various ages, and many of them were there because theyÆd lost both their parents, mostly during their earlier escape from the slaughter of Salah. The group was around aged nine to twelve.

She was sad, but she did promise Yura to help, so she asked for something else to do. Maybe if there were other girls? - Uhm. well, Uncle Yura did ask me to help out. Maybe I can play with the younger children? Any girls I can play with? -

- Ah. yes, okay. Girls. girls. - The lady smiled and led Lozanna to another room, where there were about ten to fifteen young girls, probably four to six years old, playing catch. It was a relatively empty room, and they didnÆt have many toys, so they mostly played with each other. - Maybe you can join this group? -

- Hi. - Lozanna smiled. They were all younger than her, and a part of her felt happy. It was nice that she wasnÆt the youngest for a change.

They smiled back at her and welcomed her into the game. Ah, this groupÆs a lot more pleasant, she thought. Maybe they were too young to feel much animosity, or perhaps this group was a little sheltered. It was a simple room with a few chairs, but it was well lit by natural lighting, thanks to multiple large windows; thin streaks of sunlight filtered through the leaves outside. There were a few wooden blocks here and there, but that was about all the toys they had.

A small girl with a short bob cut walked up to Lozanna . - Hello, elder sister. IÆm Jien. - She was shorter than her. Lozanna smiled and gave her a hug.

- IÆm Lozanna . Can I play? -

- Okay. What do you want to play? We usually play catch. Or we throw the blocks back and forth. -

- Okay, letÆs do that. -

They played together for the rest of that afternoon, until it was about evening, and she learned their names. The biggest girl there was Sammy; she was about six. She didnÆt know when her birthday was because her parents both passed away when she was still a baby, and that was actually fairly common among those who lived there. Because the girls didnÆt know who was the eldest, they went with the biggest.

Jien was a year younger, and like the rest of the girls, her parents had died. Or maybe theyÆd somehow gotten separated. Most of them werenÆt very sure whether their parents died or got lost, but this detail didnÆt bother them much.

Lozanna felt happy after an afternoon of playtime and felt maybe she should help them out. I should ask TreeTree for some more wooden toys. I remember we have a lot in the playroom.

- Did you practice with the other kids? -

- No, Mom. They didnÆt want to fight with a girl. They wanted the captains. -

- Oh. - Laufen nodded and put down the reports that the other employees had prepared. She had a lot of assistants these days as the head of the public services. She honestly didnÆt like paperwork all that much, but there still needed to be reports to tabulate spending and income, and these were still made by actual administrators or the priests. - Why? - Laufen squatted to look at Lozanna eye - to - eye.

- One of the ladies said itÆs because they want to fight with an adult. - Lozanna sulked. - Maybe itÆs because IÆm not good enough. -

Laufen gave Lozanna a hug and then started to pat her daughter on her head. - No, no. IÆm sure itÆs not like that. -

- The ladies told me so. The boys said they want the captains. -

- Lozanna , my dear, they donÆt mean it. I am sure they like you. -

Lozanna shook her head. - Mom. they donÆt. -

- Really? -

- Really. - Lozanna Æs face was serious and a bit sad.

- Well, they will like you someday. -

Lozanna shook her head. - Hmph. - She leaned in and gave her mom a kiss on the cheek. - Good night, Mom. -

- Sleep well. DonÆt let it bother you. -

Lozanna shook her head again. Maybe it would bother her that night.

Sometime later.

- Thank you for practicing with me, Lady Yvon. -

- YouÆre welcome. I always look forward to sparring with such a talented young girl. -

They both gave each other a quick bow, and they started their practice spars, simple swings and strokes, moves meant to warm the body and get ready for the real thing. Yvon was still leagues ahead of Lozanna in terms of skill, but Lozanna Æs growth was outstanding as she was almost level thirty.

- HowÆs things? - Yvon asked casually, ducking a horizontal slash and then parrying a follow - up horizontal slash.

- TreeTreeÆs starting a small class of students. He calls them his chosen warriors. -

- Huh? -

- Yeah. he says he plans to train them and maybe give them special powers like mine someday, but before that, he needs to prepare them. -

Yvon blocked a flurry of slashes and retaliated with a body slam. Lozanna activated Evasive steps and managed to avoid it.

- He says maybe heÆll have to fix them if theyÆre not compatible later on. Like how he uses his powers to cure Uncle Yura Æs curse. -

- Really, why does TreeTree want to do something like that? -

- Hmm. he didnÆt tell me a lot, but maybe, maybe he just likes us to grow? He says he wants to watch our growth closely, as heÆll be using some kind of essence on us, though. -

- Essence? IsnÆt that like condensed energies? -

- I donÆt know, Lady Yvon. But TreeTree says he has a lot of essences and some other things like his minerals and mana that he wants to use. -

- On the girls? -

- Yeah. He told me itÆll be good for them. -

- Did you get those as well? -

- Uh. I think so? I frequently have dreams where I am training or where there is someone teaching me things. And TreeTree tells me to dip into the pod every week, too. -

- And your mom was fine with it? -

- Mom thinks TreeTree knows what heÆs doing. She says itÆs how I get so good at fighting. -

- Wait. You were not naturally talented at fighting? -

Lozanna smiled. - If you ask Uncle Yura , heÆll tell you I was absolutely horrible at it when I started. But TreeTreeÆs been helping me by giving me these. dreams. -

Lozanna blocked a few more slashes from Yvon and tried to land a kick.

- Dreams? -

- Yeah. ItÆs like IÆll take a nap at home, and TreeTreeÆs feelers will somehow touch my forehead, and I get the dreams. -

- Tell me. more. - Yvon charged and unleashed a flurry of slashes. Lozanna tried to parry them but failed to parry a few, so she took a hit from the wooden blade.

Lozanna staggered back from the impact. It hurt, but she had pain resistance. - Oh. itÆs different every time. Sometimes, itÆs like there is a voice in my head, and we will talk. About things, about a topic. Sometimes itÆs language, like IÆll get a lesson on it. Sometimes itÆll tell me about people, about places. -

Yvon listened intently, and they took a break.

- Some dreams were really, really fun. ItÆs like all these colors and all these images of really strange things, weird monster - like things and shapes, but they donÆt attack me. ItÆs like IÆm on top of a mountain and fall down. -

- ThatÆs like a vision. A. hmm. A hallucination. -

- A what? -

- Never mind, continue. -

- Oh, then like last week, I had a dream where I was fighting a giant demon. I had really strong powers, and I had to use those powers to fight the giant demon. -

- Fighting demons doesnÆt sound like a fun dream. - Yvon shook her head and took a drink from her bag of water. - Anyway, continue? -

Lozanna nodded, and they both stepped back into the ring. - Well, I think TreeTreeÆs trying to teach me something. -

- Sounds like heÆs making elite warriors. -

Lozanna smiled. - Well, heÆs just helping me be a hero. -

Yvon frowned, and Lozanna ducked, then jumped sideways to avoid a bunch of slashes. - Is it? IÆm not aware he did so much to you. -

- Oh, heÆs been fixing my body, too, like repairing a bone here, a bone there. And heÆs got this thing that can help strengthen the bones and muscles, too. ItÆs all in the green pod. -

- I am starting to think the green pod isnÆt all that it seems. -

- That pod was amazing, Lady Yvon. It sustained a hero suffering from a demonic curse. -

- It did? -

- Did Uncle Yura not tell you? One of the previous generations of heroes was afflicted with some kind of curse, and TreeTree kept her alive until a cure was found. -

- Before we came. -

- Yeah, yeah! I was still a tiny toddler then. But I do vaguely remember a lady constantly being in the pod. -

- All right, letÆs stop. - They had some more basic exercises just to cool their bodies down. - How were the girls receiving this news? -

- TheyÆre excited. ItÆs the first time theyÆve been chosen for anything, so they were thrilled when they got the familiar contract. TheyÆll need to sleep in a special tree and have regular dips in the pod. ItÆs like theyÆre going to be transformed into something amazing, so all of them really, really want it. -

- They should be careful. Tree Spirit probably has his own plans for them and may not be what they think it is. -

Lozanna smiled. - We believe in TreeTree. HeÆll help us. -

Yvon sighed. - I - IÆll need to speak to TreeTree. -

Dreams, physical alterations. Hallucinations. A need to consume strange liquids. It all sounded a bit like what tribal shamans gave to their warriors to whip them into a war frenzy or the work of some alchemist testing out strange potions. She had heard rumors of creatures that gave strange, mind - altering substances to enslave minions, and though it didnÆt seem like TreeTree was doing it, she needed to be sure.

Yvon was one of the modernist elves who had a rather defensive, cautious view of Tree Spirits, that Tree Spirits werenÆt exactly domestic animals that could be tamed, unless one happened to be a hero who focused on spirit control.

The modernist elves believed the benign, friendly myth of the tree spirit was actually a unique characteristic of the Great Tree Spirits of the Elf cities, and one should not assume all wild tree spirits to be similarly benevolent. Like the dryads, faeries, and other forest spirits, these avatars of nature share a common trait, that they were occasionally ephemeral, flighty, fickle, and manipulative. Though often their goals were aligned to what most elves desired, they should also be treated with caution, for the fury of a tree spirit was often subtle.

Lozanna , though, didnÆt think that way. To her, TreeTree was friendly and all he was trying to do was help.

In their own ways, both of them were right.

YEAR 79 MONTH 9

- Did you hear? One of the mage guildÆs private gardens near the Royal Grove was robbed last night! A lot of valuable herbs and plants were lost. - I eavesdropped on some of the locals of Ransalah.

- Oh? Any idea who the culprits were? -

- The mages suspect a mage, so the royal guard has been deployed. But there were no traces. ItÆs as if the plants all just. vanished into the ground. -

- CanÆt it be just some thief with a magical bag? Or some kind of plant - manipulation artifact? - The locals had all sorts of speculation.

- I think itÆs just an unhappy mage taking revenge. There was a lot of politics going on in the mage guilds. This was just a reaction to the mageÆs council votes! -

Ransalah.

It was a large city, and there were a lot of high - leveled people around, strong adventurers, powerful generals, and mages. Their very presence permeated the air, and I occasionally picked up the effects of their skills, despite me being mostly magically insensitive.

A direct confrontation was not ideal, not with the distance penalty I suffered at long distances.

This might be the first time I had seen a city. Moton and New Freeka couldnÆt compare to the scale and sprawl of a capitol city.

It was also the first time I encountered enchanted roads. Around the capitol, these roads had some kind of anti - vegetation effect, and as a result, I couldnÆt spawn my subsidiary trees near them. Even underground, the capital had a sprawling network of sewers and tunnels, and they were strangely also enchanted. I suspected it was the effect of some masonry skill or builderÆs skill, which prevented decay and damage to these structures because logically, using magic on sewers just didnÆt seem to make much sense. These enchanted sewers prevented my roots from spreading that deeply, and so that greatly limited the extent of my spread.

In the city, multiple structures, such as the armyÆs fort on the riverbank, were enchanted with strong defensive magic, which I was yet able to identify but I presumed to be a kind of warding magic. The magic on the fort walls created a forcefield that repelled my presence and prevented me from placing subsidiary trees and also stopped my roots from approaching.

I frankly didnÆt know all of these, whether it was skill or magic, either. Or whether it was the powers of a local lord or king that granted such passive benefits to the city that he or she ruled.

These protections, whether from magic or skills, were clustered mostly around the old castle, the palaces, the eight forts around the city, the mageÆs main towers, the old cathedrals, and temples to the gods. The usual places of interest.

All of these, together with the layout of the river, meant I had very little access to the inner city, where all the royals were.

Still, there must be something I could do.

First was the Royal Grove, which, despite its royal status, lacked magical protection. I guessed that unlike the places where the royals lived, the Royal Grove wasnÆt worth much protection. So I extended a few subsidiary trees into the forests and soon discovered that its earth did have some magic. There was also a lot of new herbs and plants that I had not seen.

The royal guards and rangers were always on the lookout for monsters or for thieves, but when they spotted a new tree, they just went, - Eh. - All I needed to do was disguise my tree to look like a small shrub and I could slip through the patrols like nothing.

The best reaction I got from a ranger was, - Oh, when did this tree pop up? - And then he promptly proceeded to ignore that tree. Like, not even an investigation?

In fact, the most legit confrontation IÆd gotten was from a woodcutter. I had attempted to expand into the new part of the city where all the regular citizens lived. But the presence of a tree just stuck out like a sore thumb in the messy, dense mess that was the west side of Ransalah. So a woodcutter came up to my tree that popped up at the edge of town and, without any hesitation, chopped me down.

Chop. Chop. Chop. And timberr.

My subsidiary tree fell just like that. I bet that woodcutter had special woodcutting abilities that made my treeÆs defenses absolutely useless. Those poor subsidiary trees didnÆt stand a chance.

Maybe that axe was enchanted to be super effective against trees. But honestly, other than the woodcutters, no one really noticed an unusual tree in a forest. I mean, I was discounting the fact that anything green just stuck out in a place filled with houses, roads, and shops.

Did this world not have tree - monsters? Did nobody disguise themselves as a tree trunk? Did this world not have ninjas?

Anyway, as my subsidiary tree connected to the other trees and the earth, I got a notification.

Gained a passive buff. Connected to an enchanted forest. Herb effectiveness increased by fifty percent.

Oh. Funky. Enchanted it is.

- WhatÆs your plan? - Alexis asked. She was obviously a huge fan of seeing new places. - IÆve been there, that city. But weÆve only stayed a few days. ItÆs nice, looking at the city from your point of view. -

- Hmm. I plan to first gradually infiltrate the capital, have trees and vines throughout the city. then I need to find the culprits. I want to know whether the commanders that ordered the burning of the village are still alive. -

- ThatÆs it? If they are alive, do you plan to kill them? -

- Hmm. I guess so. I should kill them. -

- Is this for revenge? I mean, they burned down the village, so itÆs revenge, right? -

- Revenge, yeah, I think so. -

Actually, that was a good question.

Why was I doing this? Was I just carrying the fury of the burning of the village of Freeka in my heart? Kind of silly that I was asking myself that now that I had made the entire journey there. I even invested all these subsidiary trees to establish a connection, a chain of trees that spanned a country.

So that question prompted me to think about what exactly I wanted to achieve, and because I could not answer the question myself, I turned to the elves, my fellow survivors, the seven elves that had suffered the consequences of the armyÆs brutality.

- Lozanna , what would you do if you found the one responsible for killing your father? -

- Slap him. A few times. -

- ThatÆs it? -

- That bad person, he made me grow up without a father. It was a bad thing. Bad people do such bad things to me. But it was so long ago. I was still just a small baby, and I do not know what happened. So. somehow, IÆm not really, really angry. Maybe angry, but itÆs not burn - me - up kind of angry, you know? I should be angry at these bad guys because they did a bad thing, but itÆs not in here, you know? - Lozanna pointed to her heart, or was it her gut?

She had a point. She was a baby, and she hadnÆt seen it happen, though she suffered the consequences of it. But thatÆd been her life since.

- So, were you angry? -

- I think I am. But not much, really. Maybe Mom will be really angry. Wait. I should be angry. I am angry. -

- You. donÆt sound that angry. -

- I am angry because a group of bad people did bad things to us. But thatÆs it, I guess. I am angry because I should be, but not angry because I feel it like a fire in my heart. -

Okay, confusing.

Laufen.

- Laufen, what would you do if you found the man that ordered the burning of the village? -

Laufen sat and kept quiet for a while.

- Laufen? -

- I heard you, TreeTree. I - I need to think. I just did not expect such a question from you, suddenly. -

Oh. Laufen kept quiet for a good fifty minutes, maybe an hour? Just alone, thinking. I honestly didnÆt notice the time.

- Honestly, TreeTree? I donÆt know what I would do. Maybe I will kill him. Or maybe not. But me. I - I think I probably wonÆt be able to do anything. ItÆs been so long, TreeTree. I. I donÆt know. -

Laufen looked really uncomfortable, and she sat down on the large chair in her office.

- They took my friends, my husband, my home from me. -

- So you will retaliate? -

- Yes. Maybe yes. But I tell Lozanna not to let it cloud and consume us, that this was a cycle of how the world renews itself. The world is full of this, you know, killing. People always kill each other. They always find excuses to. If itÆs not humans, itÆll be royalty, or money, or territory. We have always been killing or getting killed. I sometimes wonder whether maybe it would have been demons that got us instead, if it wasnÆt the army. -

- IÆm confused, Laufen. Why were you talking about that? -

- Me too. I donÆt really know what I will do, what I should do. I like to think we have all moved on, succeeded in rebuilding our lives. A part of me takes the stand that living a good life is the best revenge. That not to be consumed by vengeance is the way to move forward with life. -

Laufen paused and took a deep breath.

- But the loss, somewhere, it still hurts. When I look at Lozanna sparring, I wonder what Ricola would have said. When we celebrate her birthdays, I wish Ricola and all others were here. -

She looked really sad then.

- But does my sorrow, my sadness, allow me to seek vengeance? I know Casshern once told me that when youÆve lived through so many years of death, you learn to accept it. But I canÆt. So what should I do, TreeTree? WhatÆs the right thing to do? -

She stretched.

- Like I said, a part of me thinks the right thing to do is to forgive and forget. But I donÆt want them to get away scot - free, either. I feel like a statement needs to be made. IÆm so torn between those two feelings! TreeTree? I want both. I want to let go. Only with letting go I will have inner peace. But I also want to have vengeance, a statement, some way of slapping these idiots for fighting us when their attention should be on demons. -

Well, I could actually share that emotion. I too thought I knew, but now that I was at the point where I was able to retaliate, I actually didnÆt really know what I wanted to do with Salah.

Should I slaughter the Salah kingdom, many of whom were similarly unaware of the evil their military committed? Or should I just focus my goal on the true culprits? But letÆs say I did find the true culprits; was death the right punishment for them?

- Yura , what would you do if you find the culprits behind the burning and slaughter of Freeka? -

Yura leaned back on his chair. - I would have the true culprit stripped naked, hung upside down in a public market, and starved, whipped, and burned for a few days, but without dying, without sleep. -

- Huh, why? -

- Because he deserves shame and pain. For someone who crossed me personally, I feel to just let the person die was too lenient, too light. He should experience my terrible days, when I was hiding, running, my skin still scorched by the flames that engulfed the village, my feet bruised, my skin bleeding, but I had to keep running. All of us ran like crazy for days. So, yeah, he should have a taste of that. -

- Okay. -

- But you know, now that IÆm the Counsel of the Valtorn Order, I can understand how it got to that point, why the military did what it did. The burning. Even if I disagree with it. -

- Yura ? -

- I mean, look, a king exercises his authority through his institutions and his subjects. What good is a king if there are no subjects that obey his command? So when a king gives an order, there must be a weight to it so that citizens learn to obey them. We clearly disobeyed the order, so we were punished. Sure, the punishment on us was really extreme, but then, I sometimes wonder, if the punishment was light, who would put their lives on the line and fight for the king? I have heard of death for traitors, death for those who desert the battlefield. What we did was similar, no? We refused to fight when we were clearly asked to. -

I thought there was more to it, so I let Yura continue.

- Eh, itÆs just some things I think about, sometimes to rationalize why such a tragedy happened. ItÆs. itÆs a way of coping, to try and understand why it happened. A part of me learns to come to terms with that reality, by accepting that we deserved it. -

Well, dissecting and rationalizing was a way of coping?

- Sometimes, maybe thatÆs just fate, the way the gods of this world continue to play their games, and we were just puppets. -

Yura stretched on his nice, comfy seat. It was custom made; after all, he was the Counsel of the Order. He kicked his legs a bit and then swung his two arms around. There was no one else in the room. Yura didnÆt actually like having other people in the room when he was working. Besides, he was a level eighty Warlord . If somebody could kill him, the guards probably wouldnÆt stand a chance anyway.

- But you know, despite all of that, I saw my friends die, so I think I really would skewer the guy. Cut him up and hang him for all to see. But then IÆll probably look like a vengeful person, and public vengeance isnÆt something other elves appreciate. -

- So. will you kill him or not? -

- Oh, yes, I will kill him, throw him in the gutter, let no one remember him, and be done with it. -

Heh. I somewhat liked that, but then again, I felt death was too cheap. - DidnÆt death feel too cheap? -

- Life was cheap, so death should be cheap. Always has been. But I just want to settle those loose ends and be done with it. WeÆve got the living to worry about, future enemies to think of, rather than enemies of our past. -

- You. sure? -

- No. I think I will only know what I will do when I hold the executionerÆs blade and the culpritÆs head is on the chopping block. Maybe those deep emotions will come back. -

Hmm. somehow those answers didnÆt satisfy me all that much, so I ended up speaking to Belle and Emile. I, too, asked both the girls the same question, about what they would do if they found the person who asked for the burning of New Freeka.

- Honestly, I kind of got over it and accepted that the gods let it happen. Been what, nine years? - Belle scratched her head.

Emile similarly looked confused. - I think those humans were evil, but theyÆre mostly dead, right? Have you been thinking about it, TreeTree? -

- Eh. come on. None of you care about it anymore? -

- Uhm. SalahÆs so far away, and weÆre just regular elves, looking to lead regular elven lives. For me, IÆve not thought of vengeance at all. The only thing on my mind was to return to normalcy, which we have! - Belle smiled and sat on her bed. - And now we have you to protect us, so that wonÆt happen ever again. So I wonÆt do a thing. -

Ah.

- I agree with Belle. I think after the first three years or so I stopped thinking about the slaughter. Having a job and a new town like New Freeka, we feel normal again. Well, our actions will not bring back the dead. -

Seriously, these two girls could be a little too happy - go - lucky, even with the destruction. Well, there was Brislah and Walen .

Walen sat. - Erm. I would kick the guy in the groin. And publicly cane him. -

Brislah scratched her cheeks for a while. - IÆd have him apologize for ordering such a hateful, horrible thing. I want a sincere, heartfelt apology. And then I will slap all of them. And yes, I like Walen Æs idea. Cane them. Cane them! Use the biggest whip and cane their butts until they bleed. -

Ah, an apology, that was a good point. An apology, a remorseful one would be good. But if I found the guy, how did I even get an apology out of him?

- What would you do, TreeTree? - Brislah turned the question around. - You were there when it happened, too. You watched the village burn, and you saw the rest of them die to the swords and fires while we hid inside you. -

- I, I actually donÆt really know. IÆm still thinking what I should do. - I was confused now. It seemed these elves lived actual nine years while the past few years didnÆt feel all that long to me. They seemed to have mostly moved on, which I supposed made me happy. But then.

The two girls laughed. - Even the wise tree spirits can feel anger and know not what to do, eh? TreeTree, what do you feel they deserve? -

- I. -

I thought I must have vengeance. But what kind of vengeance?

What would satisfy this itch? This little scar in my heart?

I looked at Ransalah. My vision was incomplete, as my subsidiary trees could only see so far. The location of my trees wasnÆt very strategic, unlike how New Freeka was a town built around and with trees, so what I could see and hear was limited.

ItÆd been so many years. If I wanted to be specific about my vengeance, could I even find the person responsible?

What if the guy was dead?

What if something already killed him?

Where should my vengeance go, then?

Feeling stumped, I focused on my usual activities. Which was finding more types of trees to investigate. It really wasnÆt hard for some beetles to sneak in using the root tunnels , especially in poorly defended places like the mageÆs garden. It wasnÆt even the garden with the most valuable herbs.

The real prize, I thought, were those within the usual suspects, the multiple large gardens within the palace compounds, a few other gardens in the three large temple complexes, and those gardens that were actually in the mageÆs guild.

It wasnÆt easy to infiltrate a city as a tree, what more with its generally enchanted paved or tiled roads, and there was really very little vegetation in the town area, except for little spots, little gardens here and there. DidnÆt help that because it was a city, demand for wood was high, so there was frequently a lot of workers going around the city to harvest trees.

That meant I had to frequently regenerate my subsidiary trees , else IÆd lose a connection to the trees I had inside the Royal Grove.

- Strategies, anyone? For both the vengeance, and for the maintenance of trees? - I asked my artificial minds.

- Obtain military records. Commands to burn a village should be recorded somewhere. Unless their recordkeeping was horrible. - Ivy was the first to suggest the obvious.

- How do we do that? None of us can read, so if we do, itÆll be with the help of the elves. And I predict the records will be kept in the main military installations, which were magically protected. Sending beetles there was unfeasible as well. The beetles wonÆt be able to beat the high - level individuals in these installations. -

- Ask? - DimitreeÆs views were more. direct.

- How, and who? We have no allies in Salah. -

- The New Freekans were formerly from Salah. They must have allies. They were all migrants, after all. Perhaps they even know the structure of the army and bureaucracy inside out, - Ivy responded; she did know their background quite well.

- If so, would they not be able to know who would have ordered such an action? -

- The fact that they donÆt means itÆs not common knowledge. -

Feeling like I was getting stonewalled, I spoke to Yura again. Perhaps he had some ideas about the ways to proceed.

Yura mused, - I have an idea. LetÆs just ask Salah to surrender the officer responsible for the burning. We are an independent nation now, and if they see why weÆre not exactly favorable to them, they will appreciate that this is something they can do to repair that relationship. -

Did his diplomat levels make him think of such an idea?

- DonÆt worry about it. Let me handle it. We will send out the request, TreeTree. IÆve been wanting to give the New Freeka High Council a jolt for some time. -

YEAR 79 MONTH 10

The request came from the Valtorn Order, directly from the Counsel. The letter, with the Valtorn OrderÆs official seal, went out to SalahÆs envoys and then to their king.

The letter, which was written with unnecessary legalese and noblesse verbose, could be roughly summarized to:

Dear King of Salah,

On year so - and - so, one rogue platoon of the SalahÆs army murdered the villagers of Freeka and set the entire village on fire. We humbly request for the assistance of the Salah Kingdom to investigate this gruesome slaughter and turn those responsible over to New Freeka, such that these criminals may face justice for the murder.

Yura , Counsel

Laufen, Vice Counsel

Signed and marked with their personal seal, along with the Valtorn OrderÆs.

The informal networks were abuzz with chatter, trying to figure out what this letter really meant.

How many people knew of the burning and slaughter of Freeka? Certainly not many, evidenced by the sheer cluelessness displayed by so many.

With so many deaths in the world, such things were just a footnote, not worth a mention. Why should a village be any different?

Why did the Order bring this up? Was this request really something to remediate an offense of the past? Was the Order testing SalahÆs resolve and sincerity for peace? Or would SalahÆs refusal to assist be the precursor of future war?

It was the task of various envoys and diplomats to sieve out the true intent behind a request, to separate fact from propaganda.

Even among the councilors of New Freeka, there was a whole lot of guessing and subtle questions, trying to figure out what Yura and Laufen wanted. Laufen just shook her head, smiled, and said, - Oh, please redirect any of your questions to Yura . -

Yura himself just smiled as he responded to the questions from the other councilors. - ItÆs something close to our hearts. We lost so many friends and family then. With justice served, we can then face the dead with peace of mind. -

Anyway, I left that aside for now. Justice should be precise, after all.

I turned to my five new recruits, the five girls, a coincidence, I swear. I gave them a special title, the Valthorn Initiates because they would be the thorns. It was kind of inspired by the old saying, - rose among the thorns, - only these roses were going to be the thorns. A part of me felt like I had unintentionally made this into an equivalent to those game of training little shipgirls.

Anyway, I was digressing. Their training was. slow. Firstly, these girls had a lot on their minds, as they had to get used to me speaking to them every now and then.

The dreams via Dream Tutor that I had been giving them also made them a bit unsettled, even though it was just dreams made from essences of sword or essences of spear , regular common essences that I frequently collected from my essence generators , or from soul harvesters and memory collection of the dead. It seemed these five, they saw different things despite getting the same kind of essences, and their trainers were somebody they didnÆt know. The dreams lengths were also different; one girl said it felt like sheÆd been practicing for hours. Another said hers felt like just minutes of talking.

That was the routine. They were all excited, and eager, wholeheartedly embracing the change, but it still took some time to get used to it, and their young bodies couldnÆt take the sudden change, even with my biopods feeding them nutrients. The extent of the workouts and education pretty much overwhelmed them.

Even stepping into the biopods was scary, their first time dipping usually accompanied with struggling against the vines and feelers.

So, slow progress it was. Maybe it took a while, like a small sapling. I couldnÆt rush their growth. Strength came from true understanding and a strong foundation. It was like planting. The amount of nutrients, sunlight, and water must be just right, else you would kill the plant.

So maybe I needed to adjust my expectations.

YEAR 79 MONTH 11

A group of druids recently applied to New Freeka, and they wanted to open a DruidÆs House in the town. From what I understood, they were invited by the councilors, perhaps in an attempt to use the druids to counter my presence.

Indeed, using the druids power over nature was a good strategy. If I were faced with a Tree Monster, I would find ways to weaken the opponent or find a hard weakness.

But itÆd been a long time since I faced a druid, and my levels were much higher now. So I really looked forward to my future interaction with druids. I too wanted to know where I stood.

The elves once spoke of a reincarnated hero, Roana, who controlled tree spirits and nature. I wondered whether I would bend to her will, if a hero like that came around. These druids, they would be a fascinating entry - level test case.

- WouldnÆt that mean druids were using some kind of mind control on trees? - Alexis wondered aloud. - I didnÆt think of it before, but it is a kind of mind control, isnÆt it? The taming of beasts by a beastmaster is similarly a kind of mind control if beasts are sentient, intelligent creatures. -

- Well, I wouldnÆt know, but they can try using it on you, since your physical body is that of biolab, which is a tree. Then you can be a test subject, and we can find out exactly how it works. -

- Eek. You were right, they might! They totally could. - Alexis gasped, putting her hands to her spiritual face. - I need to gain more levels! -

I suspected I would have some resistance to such mind control or tree control, perhaps as a function of my levels. I would think mind control had a level modifier.

Ah well, still, I let the druids settle in and ordered both Ivy and Trevor to keep watch and to watch each other. My fear was that they may notice Ivy or TrevorÆs presence and then attempt to control them instead. These two were of a lower level than me, so I would think the chances of druid skills working would be higher.

Other than that, MeelaÆs hotel seemed to be doing okay. SheÆd gotten customers, and she was spending money on decorations and materials. A few of her hired treefolks acted as her runners, doing all the buying and collecting for her. I thought she mentioned she planned to add an extra wing to her lodge.

Then there was the Salah issue.

Salah Kingdom responded with a holding letter, saying they would look into the matter and provide an update when they had more info. Essentially, it was the diplomatic equivalent of I have no idea what you are talking about so I need time to find out.Æ

Which was fine. I doubted people remembered things like that, especially so far away, so I focused on gathering more intelligence on the Salah Kingdom. I too needed to know a bit more about Salah, its people, its structure, and its defenses should I choose to attack them.

Inspection , as a skill, didnÆt seem to reveal much of the enchanted tiles and roads, other than they had been enchanted. It seemed it was more tailored to monsters, so perhaps I would need either a higher tier of inspection or a more specialized inspection skill to discern the true nature of these roads.

Stumped, I turned to experimentation. I found one of these enchanted roads in a quiet, less - traveled part of the capitol, far from the city itself, where I could place a few subsidiary trees near the road.

And I did my experiments on the road. No matter how I tried to make something grow on these tiles or rocks, the plants just wouldnÆt grow.

I then attacked it with my roots, and it was much, much tougher than any regular rock. It took a few hits, then it started to crack and break.

So, conclusion one: it was resistant to most kinds of attack, but not indestructible. Either that or these roads had some kind of plant - source damage reduction.

I would like to meet the person who built all these roads and structures.

- Perhaps we could talk to the locals in New Freeka. I believe one of YvonÆs confidantes was a builder, of the magical kind. - Ah yes, the group that used magic to build houses, perhaps they might know a bit more about these kinds of enchanted roads. Maybe all these builders knew one another, like some kind of builderÆs guild? Or, perhaps, contractorÆs association?

- Must be my luck, Counsel Yura , - one of YvonÆs followers said, now also one of the councilors of New Freeka. - So to what do I owe the honor of being before the few true natives of the valley? -

Yura grinned and tapped on the chair. - Ah, nothing too serious. I asked for you to borrow some of your. knowledge. IÆve got some questions. Tell me about. construction - related skills and abilities. -

The room was empty save for the two of them, both seated on a chair. Yura had a pot of tea made from my younger, tender leaves. It was still steaming; there was a small firestone under it, used to keep food warm. The councilor moved, adjusted his body slightly. He was a man of average height, but his build was bulky, stoic. Since his election to the council, heÆd changed a builderÆs attire for something more formal.

- How strange. May I know why? - The councilor leaned forward; he didnÆt touch the tea.

- IÆm thinking of building a new building, so I thought IÆd ask an expert on what kind of crazy skills would a builder have. It would help me in assessing what I can build and how long it takes. So tell me about the great builders of our world. -

The councilor paused, smiled a little to himself, then shook his head. - Surely there was more to it, Counsel. Well, there were no builder - heroes. -

Yura sipped his tea. - Oh, thatÆs something I didnÆt realize. I thought there were heroes from almost all the classes. But thatÆs another conversation. I want to know about builder type job classes today. -

- Firstly, there were all kinds of builder - related job classes. There were the entry - level versions of the jobs, such as the draftspersons and the regular workman, and there were the stronger variants, the architects, the foreman, the master - builders. Their passives run the gamut from weak to incredible. A true master - builder can build a house out of hay that can withstand a typhoon, a house out of wood that will never rot or spoil, a wall that can withstand a dragonÆs flame, and roads that can speed up the domains trade. -

- Am I right to assume the materials were the same, or do these master - builders use their skills to change the materials? -

- Yes, and no. A builder, a farmer, a blacksmith, they all have skills, and these skills influence the materials they work with, and it persists until the materials are unmade. A plank of wood processed by a master - builder can be many times stronger than one made by a regular builder, just like a blacksmith can work with metal to make a sword multiple times stronger than the work of a regular apprentice. -

- But then what happens when the maker dies? Do these skills disappear? -

- You really were a warrior, Counsel Yura . It was basic knowledge that non - combat skills have longevity. The effect of a non - combat skill persists longer than the burst - one - off nature of active, combat skills. The great castles of yore, made by the master artisans, the effects of their skills on the shine of their walls, the foundations and strength of their ramparts, they remain till this day, with little decay, even after the deaths of their makers. -

Yura rubbed his chin and hair, looking a little embarrassed that the councilor called him out on his cluelessness on such things. - True, else they wouldnÆt be handing down enchanted artifacts and heirlooms. Ah, but letÆs say I want to know about roads and walls. What kind of skills have you seen that work on walls and roads? -

- Thinking about building walls around the Order, Counsel Yura ? Where do I start? Think about it: there are kings with powers to create nigh - impervious, indestructible fortresses and walls; kings who amplify the effect of roads on travel in their domain; or mages who can enchant walls with defensive buffs. Highway markers that speed up travel on those who travel along them. -

- Ah, fine. IÆm asking about builders? -

- We would have many kinds. Most builders worthy of building anything more than a wooden house would gain some variant of the skills Enduring construct or Low - maintenance structures so that they last longer and need less upkeep and repairs. I would think walls and roads would gain the effects of such skills. -

- Are there dedicated roadbuilders in the world? What kind of skills would they have? -

- Yes, of course there are. The worldÆs skills were as vast as the stars in the sky, but. I donÆt know their skills. IÆm a magic - augmented builder, I construct things using earth magic, and sadly I have not met a true roadbuilder. -

And, well, that was all the councilor was willing to share and Alexis had a postmortem.

- A metaphor I would use was that these passive skills are like. paint. They stay on the object until they are removed. - Well, Alexis was willing to share her views on such things. - Usually, the benefits of such skills are that they are close to perpetual, they usually can interact and stack with other such passive skills, and the drawbacks are that theyÆre not that strong. -

- So, whatÆs your take on whatÆs happening? Why do the roads resist me? -

- YouÆre a pest, I suppose. I doubt the road knows how to differentiate between a tree and a weed, so it just repels all of them. Have you seen roads destroyed by roots that grow underneath them? Roots destroy buildings and roads, so I would expect any good builder would want to prevent his things from getting destroyed. -

- Fine, letÆs say what youÆre saying was true. Then how about New Freeka? Why donÆt the roads that were built now, in this area, reject me, if such passives are so common? -

- Maybe because youÆre part of the native ecology, so the buildings built here are used to your overarching influence and do not regard you as an invader. Or maybe your main body is so overwhelmingly powerful in this area that such skills donÆt work in close vicinity to you. Or maybe you have some kind of ability invalidating all these skills. Frankly, it could be a million things. -

- I learned nothing from that conversation. -

Alexis chuckled. - I am glad to have wasted your time. -

Ah, well. I turned my attention to the herbal varieties found in Salah. There were little spots of greenery throughout the city. The issue was clearly getting there because of all the roads and buildings that impeded my progress.

The Royal Grove was actually rather boring, other than being enchanted. The herb varieties were mostly common, but they were more effective. There was some herbalists and druids that regularly tended to the grove, mostly just healing sick trees and stuff like that.

So, back to New Freeka.

YEAR 79 MONTH 12

New FreekaÆs population was close to sixty thousand. There had been a wave of new migrants, apparently coming from the north.

There was another conflict emerging there, between two countries, and it was a plain old war, apparently over a lady. Turned out princes from both countries fell in love with the same lady, and now they were fighting some kind of war over her. I mean, seriously. CouldnÆt they just have a duel or something?

And it was winter! WhyÆd they pick winter to fight a war anyway?

- ItÆs warmer in their part of the world, a strong warm current and breeze keeps their two shore countries warm, so their winters. pretty much feel like fall. So they can still fight, - one of my advisors explained.

Well, food supplies were doing well. The OrderÆs rituals for births and deaths were becoming something of a tradition, which made me happy because more deaths mean more essence for me to feed the six young girls that were now in my training regimen. According to data provided by Laufen, about two in every five deaths were now taking the OrderÆs melt - in - a - pod method of disposing the corpse. Of course, the actual name that went out to public was more. pleasant. Euphemisms, euphemisms.

The population boom came with its own challenges.

Clean water. Sewage. Public health.

Previously, the CouncilÆs workers dug wells and with some magical help and blacksmith tools made pulleys and pumps that brought out water from the ground. At sixty thousand, even with close to one hundred wells throughout the entire city, there were still long lines, and the water levels in the wells were running low, so newer wells had to be deeper.

And that exposed one huge flaw in choosing this valley as a spot for a town: water. Unlike a place with a large river, or a large lake, there were a few small streams through the valley, and unless the council was willing to dig really deep, providing clean water to sixty thousand was going to be a challenge.

The local builders constructed deeper and deeper wells and also larger, deeper latrine pits. Apparently, one of the ways poop and sewage was processed in this world was via magic, and strangely, the temples of the world usually played a big part in water and sewage.

One of the abilities the priesthoods and nuns learned was an ability called Purify and Cleanse , which worked on people and also worked on sewage and water. So the city actually paid priests and nuns, or those with the relevant cleanse skills, to regularly process the latrine pits.

The poop got converted, via magic, into regular dirt. Magic was amazing.

The process of cleansing the latrine needed to be done quite regularly, else the poop would start to contaminate the groundwater. Again, the priests then used cleanse on the wells to sanitize the water.

So there really was a thing like purified and cleansed holy water. I wondered whether they felt like a quack when they sold such things to regular citizens.

In larger cities, there were high - level cleaners or mages who could do similar functions or in some cases, meaning the wealthy, powerful cities, use artifacts that processed or decomposed sewers. In certain elven cities, their poop was usually processed by a kind of poop - eating worm, which, apparently, enjoyed poop and pee as its main food source. Centaurs and lizardmen tribes tended to spray a kind of yeast or powder that converted the poop and pee into fertilizer, which led to an odd behavior of them having multiple outhouses in their farms, but strangely, these centaurs here didnÆt have such habits.

Treefolk didnÆt have the issue of poop or peeing; it seemed their bodily wastes just. evaporated from their body or got discharged via their legs into the earth.

The fact that magic and magical monsters existed gave a wide range of options on how to process such issues. I wondered how large dragons dealt with their poop. And did they poop midair like birds did?

Anyway, enough of my constant off - tangent ponderings. Population consumed resources and also produced waste, and both needed to be managed. Assimilating this growth and managing it as part of the valleyÆs overall population while balancing and caring for the health of the valleyÆs florae was my personal duty as the Tree Guardian of the valley.

With TrevorÆs constant replenishment of the valleyÆs resources and my powers of growth, the valleyÆs treecount was growing steadily. Lately, though, the growth rate was slowing again, partly because of consumption from a larger population.

I had Timber farms , which the Valtorn Order sold to the local businesses, who then made furniture and built houses and other products. Increasingly, demand was starting to catch up to supply. The speed in which the timber grew was easily ten times, maybe more, than that of a regular tree, as a regular seedling reached maturity within two months, yet there was a size limit to the farm.

The idea of stone beds or stone furniture was unappealing to the citizens; even centaurs preferred wooden furniture to stone. Perhaps there was something unappealing about purely stone homes. Centaurs, for example, cultivated small patches of a certain grass, which, when dried, were woven into rugs and paddings, for them to lie on, and these woven rugs and carpets were a must - have for any centaur dwelling.

At first, I was unaware of this, but it seemed as New FreekaÆs economy and safety stabilized, the centaurs started yearning for little luxuries, and mixed cotton rugs and carpets started to proliferate. Which meant a market for the Cotton . Sadly, Laufen said it was a break - even business, as the selling price barely covered the cost of processing and paying workers to work on the cotton, and then making the carpets. I thought this cotton business needed industrialization.

There was probably a better way to process the cotton, and I vaguely recalled studies and visits to the textile museum. So even though a machine like that must exist, and should exist, I was no master of mechanical objects.

So I couldnÆt recreate it. Maybe there was some magical solution someday.

Oh, yes, where was I?

Poop. And water.

The reason I was also rambling about poop was some of the ordinary, normal trees felt sick. My main tree, roots, and subsidiary trees were almost immune, due to the effects of my skill, rhizofiltration , so it didnÆt absorb all the other shit, literally, that got dumped into the ground that contaminated the groundwater.

But my fellow normal trees, normal as they may be, were sick! And sick trees grew slower. And some may eventually die. That was bad.