TREE OF AEONS 3

- Or we can focus on Freshka and the nearby countries? - Trevor suggested. - Based on the potential damage that these unfavorable people can cause in faraway places, itÆs rather limited. -

Ah, a distance weightage. That was a good point. - Then letÆs do that. Only flag those who operate within the near - valley zone. For those further out, only flag those as high risk, are a large movement, or have high magical power. -

With that, the list was shortened considerably.

Trent, my artificial soul in charge of my intercontinental trade route, gave his weekly summary of the trades. It took a year, but the basic infrastructure for trade was finally ready and traders started taking the trade.

They still had to deal with the issue of supplies and resources to make the month - long journey across the central area of the continent. For now, only merchants with the right set of skills or teams made the journey. This was similar to the past, when New Freeka was newly set up. The terrain then was unfavorable; many cities were destroyed by the demons, too. So the merchants that travelled from one city to another usually had some skills that allowed them to stretch their supplies a bit longer or make their journey a little faster on less favorable terrain, or merchants that could boost or enhance their horses and carriages such that they could make it to the next town.

Once more rest stops were built along the route, the trade volumes would naturally increase, as the route itself became easier. A natural evolution of trade.

In fact, a train service from one end to another would also work, and I could naturally instruct beetles to act like long - haul trailers to move goods from one end to another.

I mean, they were already a means of transport back in the days of New Freeka, and it was time that I resumed their service. I decided to have Horns start research on dedicated Truckbeetles and Trailerbeetles. It just made sense. Giant Truckbeetles could haul goods across the continent. I just hoped they didnÆt accidentally bang into someone and reverse - isekai them to another world.

Still, an intercontinental, state - sponsored beetle - hauling service. Of course, there was a fee! I mean, the Valtorn Order must be financed. Alternatively, the beetles could also act as supply trucks, to provide food supplies for the merchants on the route.

- We should price the beetles services at a high point. We do not want to outcompete the pioneer batch of merchants, - Kavio quickly suggested. - IÆll summon the merchants guild and we can develop some kind of pricing schedule. As time goes on and the route matures, we can bring down the prices. We must still let the pioneer batch make some profits. -

I pondered this for a moment and decided to agree. I wondered whether I should feed the capitalist elements of this world and let them gain power. But then, in this world, merchants did take very real risks with their lives. The protection of beetles like my own was very much an aberration.

- Master, have you thought of using our network of trees across the continent for trade arbitrage? We could easily make a profit using the price differences between the Freshlands and those faraway kingdoms. -

I thought of that for a moment and decided I did not want to compete with merchants. At least, not at the moment. I was a tree, and at the same time, I was also a singular point in growing government. I saw my role as a facilitator and provider of infrastructure that couldnÆt be replicated by individuals. I also was rather skeptical of a government playing the role of businesses, even though the Valtorn Order did run different types of businesses to earn money and support its expenditure.

- No. In the end, we are a governing entity, not a business. WeÆll just charge fees and taxes. -

The first thing I needed to do was to set up three beetlestops, each one at the borders of the three chosen allied nations. These future truckbeetles would not be able to communicate at all, so I would need the Valtorn Order representatives to record orders and instructions, have them processed. Wait.

How would they get orders? The merchants couldnÆt communicate with the beetles.

- Maybe we can have trees that receive messages? -

I pondered this question for a moment. All the while IÆd been relying on my artificial minds to run my operations, and essentially the beetles could only be ordered by them, or by Horns and the other beetle - generals. They reacted by spying and observing, or in the days of New Freeka, the beetles moved at regular routes and made scheduled stops, essentially like a bus service.

I could repeat that, of course. If so, I could set up the beetles to depart on regular schedules and have the merchants work with a timetable. The Valtorn and Freshlands representatives merely acted as booking coordinators and allocated or matched empty beetles to the merchants.

While Kavio handled the discussions with the merchants, I zoomed in on the new planned border towns. Each of the three nations had begun setting up a small expeditionary force, builders, farmers, and merchants being the first to make the journey, along with a small military entourage.

There were beetles, but so far, theyÆd been hidden in the subsidiary trees. After all, there was really no reason for them to appear unless the hybrid demons attacked.

At these designated town zones, the area IÆd reclaimed from the demonic corruption was larger, much larger to allow for some farming activity and buildings and fortifications, if these nations deemed them necessary.

IÆd essentially cut the Rottedlands into multiple slices with this long route through the Rottedlands, and it was only possible because of the weakened demonic energies.

- ThereÆs potential of using Root Tunnels to create a secret smuggling route, - Patreeck suggested.

- WeÆll hold that off until necessary, - I responded. - IÆm sure some of them have skills to detect tunnels and such. -

On the Freshlands side, weÆre also rapidly building up a new settlement on the edges of the existing segment. It was meant to be the launchpad for trade through these new routes, and there were some who would take up this challenge and opportunity.

For now, the first batch of traders mostly brought high - value, high - margin goods. That meant jewelry, works of art, and artifacts. There was always an audience for this sort of goods, and for the traders who had to travel light and fast, these were the best choices. These batches of traders had a lot on their hands, and part of their journey was sponsored by the merchant guilds of their home cities. It was an exploratory run; these traders would return with feedback on the difficulty of the journey, the kinds of prices and the demand for various goods, and what else they could buy.

The Freshlands had a lot of food, so that was something that we could sell in bulk. WeÆre like. Fresh Foods.

- A/ , - a patriarch of the A/ ic Faith spoke privately. It was close to the end of the year. - A question? -

- Yes? -

- Some of us have been debating whether we should expand some missions to the new lands as a result of the new trade routes. We asked Kavio about it, but he was not able to give a firm conclusion on whether the trade agreement included missions of faith. We believe that it is only right that we spread our faith to these new allies, but at the same time, weÆre not too sure whether our attempts will be viewed positively. -

Uh. Maybe? - Speak to the merchants? -

- Ah. ThatÆs a good point. - The patriarch nodded, and he arranged a meeting with the visiting merchants from the faraway kingdoms.

I thought back to the older days of my studies. Should I use marriage and royal conversions into the faith as a way of expanding my power? I recalled some kingdoms used to marry their nobility and convert other kingdoms to their religions.

Was that too manipulative as a religion? Should I go there?

I paused. It wasnÆt the first of the many tough decisions I had to make. All these decisions were tradeoffs, one way or another. I didnÆt care for royals, but I could not deny the influence of inherited abilities or their powers to sway vast numbers. Having royal assent would make our priests and preachers have an easy job of winning this cultural war.

But at the same time, was I not a hypocrite? I did not care for royals, and yet, should I agree to this whole royal - marriage schtick, it was essentially giving them a lever of power.

Hypocrite.

In some places, maybe IÆd be referred to as pragmatic, to make decisions based on what benefits I could derive. If I was human at this time, IÆd go for a long run or do some stretches. I instinctively stretched, and it felt like my senses stretched to encompass the entirety of the Freshlands, as overwhelming and confusing as it sounded. It was like. zooming out of a buzzing city and viewing it from high up, like an airplane.

IÆd thought long and hard for some time. The issue of meddling with hereditary abilities and skills reeked of genetic engineering, and was I not robbing the young child of choice? Similarly, by pairing up royals for a skill advantage and also to proselytize these royals to my faith felt like an offense against that choice.

But I had not been consistent, either. Certainly IÆd changed my mind. Had I given the Valthorns a choice? Not really; I was aware of the huge ethical quandaries of child weapons. Was I prepared to sin all the way to hell and back for that chance to find a path to heaven? Was there a middle ground I could take that still led me to that end?

- Master? - Trevor asked. - We detected a lot of magical activity. from you. -

Ah. It seemed that as I zoomed out, I also drew on the magical energies of the Freshlands. It was a strange feeling, but from this far away, I felt like. maybe I should go ahead with it. Sure, it was hypocritical.

- No. - That was wrong. I must have a line I could not cross. I must have. If not, IÆd eventually descend into viewing all the lives I sacrificed as nothing more than statistics. I forced myself to correct my earlier train of thought.

It was a struggle, but I quickly called on my memories of pain. Of destruction. Of death. My memories of those who died around me.

Then memories that I did not recognize started flooding my mind. They were memories of those who lived here, the pain of losing a spouse, a child, a leg, a friend. So many strange new memories.

It was like that moment when I processed the hex, but more real, more vivid, and yet also more nuanced. I could sense strong emotions, fear, anger, helplessness, bitterness, disappointment. It was strong, and from the valley. from Freshka.

- Master, youÆve activated my abilities, - Patreeck said, and I realized that those were the memories of those in Freshka. Their history and past. I saw them flash, and yet it didnÆt overwhelm me. It was just at the right pace, the right amount that I could still take in those feelings.

It took a while; there were so many memories to go through. The first generation of settlers of the Freshlands had hard lives. Starvation, hunted by monsters, was very normal. It was a pain that still felt raw for many. Even if it was just decades ago.

- Master, - Trevor too intervened. - The populace of Freshka is behaving strangely. - They were in a state of daze, all of them. The sudden mind - draw was like a psychic attack.

- Ah. My bad. - I relaxed and let my psychic hold go. I felt my connection to them disappear. In a way, it wasnÆt unusual.

As a tree in the center of a huge forest of trees that sprawled across the continent, each normal tree was like its own brain. It had its own senses and, very rarely, its own thoughts. They were often filtered out by my mental firewall, since it was mostly inane. This felt rather similar, like adding more trees into the network, only these trees had a far more developed thought process and more memories.

I paused again. I had to walk a middle path, between a tree and man. The treeÆs aspect could get too macro, and the aspect of man tended to be emotional and micro.

But I did wonder. was this pragmatism? Or a form of enlightened dictatorship enabled by always - on surveillance and an ability to read minds? Maybe to the temples across the ocean, to them, I may well be a hivemind that had the entire Freshlands in thrall.

52

YEAR 133

The rifts opened. I sensed it, vaguely, my magic sensors detecting fluctuations. But. nothing, at first. I wondered whether they were a group of invisible or stealthed demons, like the one that attacked the previous set of heroes.

Quiet. Very, very quiet. Maybe they were not on our continent? If so, that would be a welcome relief. But then, which continent?

No matter, local matters first.

Kavio struck a deal with the merchantÆs guild for the establishment of a scheduled hauling arrangement between the new trading outposts, and goods began to flow. We charged very steep fees, so that those who made the trip themselves could still earn good margins. That worked, of course, since the beetles were free labor. They were sustained by the subsidiary trees that hosted them.

That meant new goods! Which was always fun. I spent time going through the new kinds of produce and output they made. Especially plants that were not native to this area of the Freshlands.

I had yet to find any non - hybrid plants in the Rottedlands, but these new trading partners were an entire continent away. Surely there were types of plants that were different, so we were also potential customers. Yura helped to request for a catalogue of plants native to those three new trading kingdoms, and from that, I increased my crop and herb varieties.

Crop varieties increased. Unlocked Cucumbers, Capsicums, Red Barley, and Native Blacktatoes.

Herbal variants increased. Herbal patches will now spawn more types of herbs.

New types of trees and plants, too, some of which were not commonly found in the existing Freshlands.

As a magical tree, I naturally had a boost to the growth of trees around me. The way this ability presented itself was by amplifying the growth speed of existing trees, amplifying and magically assisting the trees seeds to spread, by mechanisms that I had yet to truly understand, to outright creating the trees. That said, I didnÆt think it was really me that was creating these regular trees and more of me somehow telling the system or the god that spawned creatures, monsters, and vegetation to create something at a certain location. Or at least, that was how I suspected it worked.

That said, the limitation of this ability was that I could only boost existing trees, or for the creation of trees, trees that I had already seen or were naturally native to this environment. So, now that there were these new varieties, I could potentially improve the biodiversity of the valley and the Freshlands with these new plants if they didnÆt prove to be overcompetitive and wouldnÆt crowd out the native. That said, Trevor and the artificial minds had assured me that they would actively monitor the population of all types of plants and would act accordingly.

These new trees were not that suited for the Freshlands, and perhaps that was why they were not native. In some ways, they were more. tropical than our temperate forests. So we had to introduce them into areas where the weather was warmer and more humid. There were some such patches in the reclaimed Freshlands.

I was quite willing to introduce new species to the Freshlands because it was essentially a blank slate that was once wiped clean by the demonic corruption. The existing species and types of trees that appeared in the Freshlands were honestly rather uniform, and the temperate - adapted trees only survived with some of my passives. Perhaps some time ago these plants were also present in these environments, but I didnÆt know.

In either case, the present level of diversity in the environment could be increased.

There were also new types of insects and bugs that came from these faraway places. I wondered whether some of them would turn out to be pests. No. Correction. Pretty sure some of them would be pests, but for now I was willing to tolerate them. I recalled that there were all sorts of parasites, bugs, and stuff that would sometimes cause infestations and massively hammer the productivity of plantations and fields. It was not a problem, between my own abilities, the druids, and the farmers skills.

Still, trade - related pests. Unwanted, but they happened.

I thought about the issue of noble skills and whether that was something I wanted to meddle with. There was something about meddling with the lives, essentially stacking the deck, that made me feel a little repulsed. I believed in meritocracy. At least, in some form I still did. But this honestly was unfair, wasnÆt it? But the world never was fair. EveryoneÆs dice was loaded in some way, differently.

- Master, a choice must be made. Consider that if we grant this right of marriage to the nobles, it will empower the nobility in the long run. -

Was it bad to further empower the nobility? Were they not already strong, relative to the regular folk? As it was, the common man with no special skills and levels would find it very hard to oppose a noble with better skills and higher levels. The inequality was already entrenched in the system. This whole hereditary issue was merely an outcome of that entrenched inequality.

I decided that choice was important. My memories of all the pain and death were clear that, yes, power was important, but so was the ability to choose. I could assist and do some matchmaking, but anything would be voluntary. Parents and the child must both have the option to change their mind.

Or was I being too lenient? In a world where monsters and people of a high level didnÆt hesitate to flaunt their power. was this a foolish, naive thought process? It felt foolish.

- Master. Perhaps they should only be allowed a limited set of choices. Total freedom is unacceptable. Not when they could choose to attack us, - Patreeck said. - It is apt to consider these allies of ours in a symbiotic relationship. If that relationship were to turn hostile or one - sided, it is very much in our interest to eliminate them. -

- Unless the master were to implement some kind of shackle. - Jasmine suggested. - Or make their class powers conditional? -

- Which thus leads to our next question, Master. Do you have the ability to retract the powers of the A/ ic classes, should they ever turn hostile? - TrevorÆs turn to ask a question. - MasterÆs abilities are very much that of a support class. An incredibly powerful support class with a niche offensive power. -

There were some powers I was clearly able to withdraw. Familiars, for one. But classes. I couldnÆt take them back once IÆd given them to the people. It only made sense, because a class was essentially a part of their soul spring; it didnÆt make sense that I could have them back so easily. Or familiars like Yura Æs Bamboo, which was essentially a spiritual companion.

I briefly attempted to withdraw the A/ ic classes, but it seemed it didnÆt work like that. Strangely, it was Lilies who provided insight into how my A/ ic variant classes worked.

A covenant is the heart of any divine - specific class. The covenant broken, the class and skill, impaired.

Essentially, I could not take back the class, but each of these classes had a set of inbuilt rules that, should they be broken, would cause the class itself to be lost. It was like if a hero of justice suddenly committed an act of evil, they would lose their hero of justice class.

- But what are the rules of my A/ ic classes? -

I couldnÆt answer that.

But my A/ ic priests seemed to have a theory.

Faith. Belief. Intent. In a way, classes behaved quite like soul contracts. They gave the individual power and abilities and at the same time, imposed conditions on them and shaped their thinking. I would have to accept that this was a risk I had to take with any supersoldier and could only have a second layer of oversight from Jasmine.

In a way, it was quite like Lozanna . I invested in her, and now she was somewhere out there, living her life as an adventurer. I needed a talent - management program and succession planning. Indeed, I could not guarantee every individualÆs loyalty, but I could, as a whole, improve my chances. In short, I should do what trees did. Go forth and multiply.

No. Spread my eggs into many baskets.

Ugh.

Still sounded strange.

I wondered why I still came back to this topic even though IÆd already set up the Valthorns and the Valtorn Order, and now an additional priesthood and Treeology School. Was it because I expanded the Freshlands too quickly, such that I did not have enough talent to manage a sprawling federation of somewhat loosely associated states?

The envoys were not in a good position. The agreement meant that some of the princesses and princes were due to be marriage partners, but the envoys, until now, had not had any news. Their kings pressured them for updates.

- Are the planned engagements on? Who are the candidates? Our princes and princesses arenÆt getting any younger! - Again, choice. These poor children didnÆt have it. The norm for arranged marriage was when they turned sixteen or eighteen for humans, depending on the society, but for elves and other races, they had different ages of maturity. But generally, their women only got married later, when they were at least thirty to forty, since their children were considered extremely young, even though they were already thirty years old.

It was tense. And insulting. Why wasnÆt the wedding happening immediately? These kingdoms were wondering whether we were looking down on them. The task of managing the politics with these three neighboring kingdoms fell on Kavio, and he struggled. Even though he said what I meant to say.

I decided to then summon the three envoys to meet me. All three meetings happened in a similar manner. They were brought to a location in the Valley of the Unrotten, before the Tree of Prayer.

- Hi, Envoy. -

They all cowered before me. Typical. Intentional.

- I heard that thereÆs been a fuss about weddings and the candidates. - I mentally spoke as authoritatively as I could. I could sense their legs shaking. - Let your kings know that I have yet to decide on who deserves the hand of their children. -

People were weird. I had Kavio tell them the same thing, but they refused to believe it. But when I told them, they believed it. It was really about who said what, rather than what was said in politics. So absolutely annoying.

I mean, I was trying to delegate, but it was annoying when all these other people wanted the source or the truth. Dammit.

News of the rifts being detected came in. Mostly in the Eastern Continent, apparently, but theyÆd yet to see any actual demons. The rifts were spotted opening and then. closing soon after.

The templeÆs blockade and embargo were still in force, so it was really hard to get news, but we had our own informants. As long as message was still operational, weÆd still have news. So far, they hadnÆt seen any demons. which was strange.

Or the news just wasnÆt getting in?

Invisible demons? The Valtorn Order requested for more information.

As the year went on, we had the first batch of accelerated graduates from my school. They were quickly sent to the front lines. There were a lot of social issues to be solved, and well, the graduates would have to pick things up as they go. Strangely it reminded me of my time when I first started work.

It was a difficult job, but they had the entire administrative machinery behind them. For many of the smaller villages, they mostly appreciated the help and quickly warmed up to the presence of these new priests. But cities with existing temples and nobles who were already believers of other religions were a harder nut to crack. For smaller villages, where temples and priests visited sporadically, there always was a vacuum that could be filled. It was only because the priests of the other temples rarely devoted themselves to smaller villages and generally set up in the larger towns.

So this was the strategy the decarches adopted. The bulk of the population in the Freshlands and its neighboring kingdoms were in the rural areas anyway. This strategy, however, depended mainly on having a large number of priests. Even so, there were population centers unserved by the four temples.

One of the clear weaknesses of this world was lack of objective data. Most nations had a vague number of their total population, but that was an estimate that was affected by the quality of data collection.

Since I had the power of ever - present surveillance, it was a lot easier to then build a database. I could very accurately do a live count of how many people lived in any particular city, how many refugees moved from place to place, their overall economic condition, and all such datapoints.

Powers any economist would probably kill for. Instead, we were using it to maximize A/ ic missionaries and entrench the Freshlands social, cultural, and religious influence in neighboring states. But I supposed that would be later, after I had stronger control.

Earlier, I won the first crusade because the crusaders were a coalition army, but now I was essentially the head of a coalition, and I was trying to fuse the coalition together into some coherent, stable form.

After thinking for a long time, I decided to award the marriage, in principle, to the senior clergy, exceptional Valtorn Order, and Valthorns retiring from active service, and selected nobles, at a thirty - twenty - fifty ratio. In short, the existing nobles would be rewarded for their loyalty with the marriage - partners from these faraway kingdoms. As a coalition, I needed some carrots. At the same time, these marriages would be conditional and require both partners to be converts of my faith. I would, accordingly, grant some blessings and gifts as their patron.

The other half of the candidates would be granted for well - performing clergymen. The clergy were part of a social aspect, and they would require the official and unofficial status of the royals more than my Valthorns. Being married to royalty would allow them to tap into the unofficial networks that these royals had.

For Valthorns, I decided it wasnÆt necessary to have them be part of this entire matchmaking process, but I acknowledged that some of the Valthorns would eventually retire from service and intend to settle down. This would be a potential reward for their long service, at their choice. It was unlikely that I would use the quota IÆd set aside for the Valthorns, so I would use them for my priests instead. I summoned the senior representatives of the Freshlands, the decarches, and the Valtorn Order to announce my decision to the envoys. This meant eight of the princesses and princes would be wed to the priests and another seven princes and princesses to the nobles.

Trevor and my fellow artificial minds had already compiled a list of nobles and priests that they saw performed acts that expanded the Freshlands, and after a quick review of their achievements, I went ahead with it. The nobles, if they themselves were unmarried, could take the award or assign it to their children.

A day after the award, the decarches came to highlight some concerns.

- How would the princesses live with our priests? The gap in lifestyle would be too much and too large. - They saw the marriage between the royals and the priests as essentially setting them up for failure since they wouldnÆt get along and the gap would mean these princesses would generally view their marriage as nothing more than a punishment. For these A/ ic priests, would these marriages be a distraction from their real task of expanding the faith?

Some nobles, too, had concerns and worries. One of the nobles I awarded the right to marry was rather poor, simply because his land was still developing and it would take a while for him to amass any kind of wealth. Building wealth as a noble was a long process, unless one had exceptional skills and abilities. The right to marry a princess was stressful.

It did not feel good how quickly the complaints and concerns emerged. I had the impression they wanted this!

I summoned the decarches and priests again, and most of the decarches, being the first generation of high priests, proposed that the weddings could be sweeteners for our allied kingdoms. There were some kingdoms that had shifted allegiances to the Freshlands before I captured the six ports.

A reward for changing allegiances early.

I thought about it long and hard and spoke to the priests whom I awarded the rights to. They were all overwhelmed by the idea of marrying a princess. These were hardworking, driven people who spent most of their time in villages giving out aid and converting more and more people to my faith. It was stressful.

Ah.

I had made a mistake. I should backtrack.

So I rescinded the awards and gave them to those kingdoms that changed sides. These marriages enhanced the links between the kingdoms. I just hoped they didnÆt eventually transform into a net that trapped me instead.

The temples expanded the blockage to cover the entirety of the continent. They were essentially forcing the kingdoms on the central continent to choose. The temples were essentially saying, - Attack the Freshlands, or this blockade will last forever. -

Some of the kingdoms and nations from across the Central Continent were amassing their army, and yet they were fearful of attacking because the demons had appeared, and they had certainty over where the demon king would spawn.

It was really the fear of the unknown; the leaders of this generation had lived forty years under the implied protection of Harris and gang. For four successive demon kings, the kingdoms and nations could live without much worry because the heroes were already here. For some of the kings and rulers, theyÆd never lived through this period where there was no hero.

Fear and panic abounded, and the kinds of messages Kavio and the diplomatic corps received were also mixed.

- Hilarious, isnÆt it? - Yvon said at a meeting of the Valtorn Order, comprising the senior Valthorns and various other individuals. Every month, there was a summary of all diplomatic communications circulated to the Valtorn Order, the Valthorns, the senior A/ ic Priests, and also the Council of Representatives.

- Why are these kings asking such things? -

- ItÆs fear, - Yura said. He remembered the days of New Freeka. - ItÆs a strange feeling to feel powerless before a demon king. ItÆs like hiding in a house when a storm hits, and this time, the storm hits when oneÆs outside. -

For the other group of rulers, they had utmost confidence in their own abilities and believed that they didnÆt need heroes. Of course, their own priests and wizards had attempted to counsel them otherwise, but these rulers were probably the spoiled brats who now had power. Or maybe they were just idiots. These groups were taunting me, and theyÆd sent nastily worded missives. TheyÆd also talked about raising an army but didnÆt actually deploy their army anywhere out of their borders. Probably posturing.

This was the mad rush before the demon winter, the time for the grasshopper to build a stockpile before the snow fell. The time for preparation.

By now the living societies must have adapted to the presence of these almost regular ten - year cycles. They only deviated by a small amount, and yet society was no better prepared for it.

I wondered whether they felt like it was an economic recession that always inevitably arrived. PatreeckÆs insight into the minds of the regular folk suggested that they didnÆt even think about it. Most of the citizens planned at most a month ahead. Nobles and merchants would plan a year ahead. But the idea of ten - year plans would seem really silly for these mortals who felt that so much could change in a few years, that ten - year plans were moot from the day they were made.

53

YEAR 134

Mini - dragons. More accurately, demon-drakes. The demons had opted for a strategy I speculated a few decades ago that I thought would be effective against heroes. No fodder units, just high - tier demons.

They made it into drakes. Fire - breathing and lightning - breathing drakes. At first, news was hard to come by. The Central Continent was on lockdown after all. But the drakes spawned and spread quickly, and somehow, they multiplied rather quickly, too. Just ten drakes could lay waste to an entire town, and the defenses would be hard pressed to even counter them. The drakes would fly up in the air and just use their breath attacks until the defenders were dead.

It reminded me of Alexis. Alexis easily torched the forest, too, when she was possessed by the demonÆs will. Decades later, I was still likely to be rather defenseless against a similar tactic. I mean, I had spiders who could fire ensnaring webbings, but I was highly skeptical of their effectiveness against mini champion - class drakes.

As a result, IÆd been using my class - fusion ability to train specialist anti - air Sharpshooters and Bowmasters . These were regular rangers and archers, upgraded a little more. But still, I thought they would be insufficient if there were champion - class demon-drakes. I suspected they would be more like. dragons?

The blockade had faltered in parts, because there was chaos in the Eastern Continent. We received news of the citizens fleeing underground, as these flying demons were mostly unchallenged. What good were walls when these demons just flew over them?

In fact, what good were my walls? My walls wouldnÆt do shit, either.

- Yura , we need to restart our underground bunker project. -

In the days of New Freeka, we built a massive sewer that was also an underground bunker. But it proved ineffective when the ground itself liquified into demonic goop. - Will it work this time? -

- Against flying demons. what else? -

This was essentially air superiority. The demons had it, and unless I could field dragons or garudas and whatnot, the best defense was some kind of anti - air defensive array or magical cannons to counter them.

We started work on massive anti - demon ballistas and a special beetle - spider collaboration, a beetle - cannon that would fire spiders at the demons. These spiders would hold onto large vines and ensnare these flying demons. It would pull them to the ground where the rest of my forces and my root strikes could easily disable them.

Ballistas, nets, and shields. Harpoons and arrows, too.

This was the time for my upgraded classes to contribute. The upgraded master woodworkers and weapon - makers assisted to make stronger anti - demon weapons. Their skill allowed them to make these ballista bolts lighter, go a bit further, and deal more damage. They could even weave a few extra enchantments than usual.

More weapons, with a focus on anti - air. There was also a side effort on improving my mages, but the thing was mages were hard to scale and reproduce in large numbers. Mages were ultimately dependent on their personal talent, and I couldnÆt give them much anti - demonic effects, unlike these ballistas and arrows, where I could easily improve their damage output against these demons by using special wooden materials made from my body.

The demons remained mostly on the Eastern Continent. News was sporadic, and it seemed like these demons didnÆt attack everywhere. But they hit really, really hard, with large groups of flying demon-drakes.

So the War of the Eviltree entered a quiet phase. Other than the blockade, no one actually did any large - scale fighting. It was time to hunker down and prepare for the eventual demonic conflict. Every general worth their salt would make plans. How to deal with these demon-drakes. Archers. Ballistas. Huge army of mages.

Every king would be watching the skies for when these demons would cross the oceans and assail their lands. In an odd twist of events, the blockade essentially became a ring of watchers that helped the Central Continent act as a chain of lookout points for these flying demons.

- WhatÆs the last record of flying demons? -

- Uh. according to surviving records, five hundred or so years ago? - one of KavioÆs assistants answered. - It was reported then that they were horned demons with massive wings that threw fireballs. -

Ah. - Do we have records of the heroes? -

- Not much, other than their names and the kingdoms theyÆve founded. -

Hmm. It was annoying that the history of the world was in such a great mess. No one actually knew what happened. Even Lilies had only a slice of the world, and only from their perspective. The idea of an objective history rarely existed because of how frequently the demons reset every attempt to collect information in a single place.

So, I decided, maybe I should throw my hat into this game as well. - Have there been great libraries in the past? -

It seemed like a thing for Trees to be collectors of the worldÆs knowledge. It was almost tropey that heroes would inevitably consult an ancient tree for some historical context. So, well, I should play my part in the trope.

- But you canÆt read. -

- Correct. - And that was a problem. I had people read to me in the past, like when I was studying the runes. I already had a program to collect books, but that was in the days of New Freeka. Many of the collected books were destroyed when the corruption and flames torched the valley, but some were still safe, stored inside my secret hideout .

If I could create a library and make it into a skill like what I did with MeelaÆs hotel, I could fuse an artificial mind into the new library - skill and create a living tree - librarian.

And I attempted this on a few subsidiary trees . I made shelves after shelves and stocked them up with books.

In this world, books were expensive. They were handwritten or magically written, so the cost of producing books had not gone down at all. They were also made of paper. But at the same time, this was not true everywhere. There were cities where books were common, because some of the mages had set up book - making enterprises, but in a world where global trade was still in its infancy, this sort of practice had not spread.

But I didnÆt get it. Even after two months, there was no special library tree that I could make.

I could use my special demon-slayer class now. I mean, I could assign it to one of my master archers or Yura .

- IÆm not a good matchup against flying demons. - Yura shrugged. - IÆd think Lozanna would be a better fit, but sheÆs not here. Or Lovis, spearmaster . Or the new sharpshooters or marksmen ? -

He wasnÆt keen on fighting more demons. - Oh, and Lozanna sent a note. She encountered some of these demons, and thereÆs a birther demon that spawns more demons. These birthers are wingless. -

Oh, that was a good thing. That meant that these demons couldnÆt fly across the ocean and then start a new nest. Unless a rift appeared here and these wingless demons appeared through it. But that was an assumption that these wingless demons stayed wingless or there was no transformation process for large demon-drakes to become these wingless demons.

In short, well, we still didnÆt know whether weÆre really safe.

Consolidation. Jasmine and my team of artificial minds focused on ensuring that the new territories were integrated into the land.

It was a case of fighting fire, really. We could sense areas where there was growing discontent, and we would deploy A/ ic Priests and the Valthorns to help calm the place down and reduce the possibility of an unrest.

It was a very civ - like problem, dealing with growing unrest across the territories, and therefore demanded a social response. It was relatively effective as my artificial mindÆs observational abilities gave me insight into the problem. I would then inform the priests of the problem, and they would then solve it.

In a sense, I helped to cut out the discovery aspect of their social work. In any social unhappiness, it was very tempting to solve the symptoms instead of the root cause. In fact, this was normally the cause back home, because the governments had no ability to read minds, and also, they were unable to communicate with themselves. Various departments were each like blind men touching an elephant, unable to form a complete coherent picture as they did not communicate.

The artificial minds were overpowered in this sense. Their ability to operate as a unified AI essentially meant they could seamlessly gather multiple data points on a single person and stitch them together, bypassing all the departmental silos common in government institutions and corporate structures.

Using my artificial minds observational skills, it was also a lot easier to find out who wasnÆt playing their part in society. Like a noble whoÆs hoarding too much gold. Or somebody collecting more taxes than what the law mandated.

Still, unhappiness was something that not only needed to be managed, the people must also be directed into productive activities that felt satisfying. That usually involved getting to do work and finding enjoyment in that work. A difficult task, but priests of this world were well equipped with skills that helped them to do just that.

My artificial minds also spied extensively on the nobles and the ruling class, and I would then use that information to also help the priests in navigating the nobility.

It was a tense relationship between the nobles and these priests. To them, they viewed our priests as invaders, and my priests, though they had training, still needed help. They had to be sensitive and be seen as working with the nobles, not against them. The intention was to convert these nobles to my faith and have them work with us. That, to some extent, involved mild re - education of the nobles.

So it was one of the Decarches who gave an extremely brilliant idea.

- A/ , as it is, we have a school for priests. -

- Yes. -

- I believe it is also appropriate to have a school for the nobles children and the royal children. -

I paused and considered the idea. Indeed, if I did want to culturally indoctrinate the entire continent, I should go beyond that. I needed schools in every single country on this continent such that they all got history and views from the Freshlands perspective. I would need it to work hand in hand with the A/ ic priests, too, such that they also got exposed to my faith.

But a first step would be to gather all the noble children and give them an education with a Freshlands bias. That way, these nobles would take these ideas and principles that we inculcated and they would later act as our ambassadors. One day when they took over their respective regions, they would naturally seek to be closer to the Freshlands.

It was a first step for a continent - wide compulsory education system. Right now, most children did some kind of labor or apprenticeship. The wealthier ones employed tutors to train them in particular fields.

I could capitalize on the present Valthorns reputation as a group of strong warriors to entice the nobles. I would make warriors out of their children. I would make leaders out of them, too. I could even dangle special classes or upgraded classes as rewards for the best performing noble children, thereby granting these nobles a chance to get ahead in life.

A noble - children academy. If I did this, I would be the founder of an isekai academy center. What if the heroes ended up isekai - ing into my noble academy? Or some otherworlder reincarnated as a lowly noble?

No matter. If I wanted cultural strength, a noble academy would work very well in the current framework. I could set up the noble academy, the priest academy, and the Valthorn military academy as competing institutions and essentially acting as each otherÆs checks and balances. It would work, and IÆd get to avoid the whole marriage debacle, too. It was a great idea, and if I set it up within PatreeckÆs mind - reading range, IÆd be able to get greater insight into the thoughts and personalities of these young nobles.

Even if I hated the whole idea of a noble class, this would allow me to collect data on the nobles powers across a vast sample of young nobles. I could then compare this data against the Valthorns and have a good understanding of how nobles compared against regular children. I would then use this to shape my education for the common folk and eventually set up a school for commoners. I would then lift that class up and build another group of elite from that group.

- I agree, Patreearch, - I said a few days later. - The idea of a school for nobles and royals is one with great potential. - Indeed, it was even natural that the idea came from the clergy. The idea of the modern university or college had roots in various missionary schools and cathedral schools.

I summoned Yura , Kavio, and the entire Council of Representatives. The representatives were pretty much entirely nobles from the various segments of the Freshlands, so the pioneer batch of students would most likely be their offspring. I explained the idea to them.

It wasnÆt entirely a foreign concept. Some royal families had such similar academies, but they were all small. The various other temples operated a distributed education system where the education was conducted by the clergy.

There was a mixed reaction at first.

Then I dangled the reward for the children. - I would grant the top ten students a select choice of upgraded classes, skills, and equipment. - Then each of these nobles saw the potential. It would be a four - year program from the nobles, and quickly some of the nobles volunteered the children. It would be between ages sixteen to twenty - five for humans; for elves, during their teen years, any time between eighteen to forty; and for the treefolk and so on, during their formative pre - adulthood years.

- Yura and Yvon. Both of you will continue to lead the Valtorn and Valthorn Academies. - Their priorities should remain with the Valthorns. They were my de facto military arm, and I saw the Valthorns essentially as the military academy.

I would have to hire new people to lead this entire practice, so I set out to gather generals, retired administrators, merchants, and people who were old and had a reasonably high level.

I also started checking around the surroundings of Freshka for a location. It would be a massive mini - city of its own, in the same breadth as the School of Treeology.

In my mind, I would call it the Ivy League College, but that sounded too much like copyright infringement, so I decided I was going to call it the Universitree. But then, the Universitree would be a better fit for the university of the commoners. I even had a slogan already: Unitree is strength!

Eventually I settled on a name for the school for these nobility: the Freshlands Treetiary College of Governance, or the FTC. I wanted to avoid any specific mention of nobles in the name, such that I could eventually convert it into a regular college that could also accept non - nobles, so I had to plan this out.

Also, there was no immediately suitable place for this college, so I decided to call our master builders and grand druids to terraform and shape a land into a place suitable to build the FTC. It would take a full six months for a place to be built, even with the resources, but at the same time, I also quickly auctioned up smaller, subdivided plots of land in the FTC zone to all our allied kingdoms so that they could build a mini - palace for their offspring in the future.

From what I understood of the nobles, they had a strong need to maintain face, so allowing the nobles and royalties to invest in a plot of land to show off to other young children would be popular.

For the first batch, I had to start off with a bang. So I looked at my skill and class seeds and experimented on the Lord classes from the dead nobles, and eventually, I made two classes from a mashup of Rangers and Traders with the Lord classes.

Ranger Lord and Trade Lord . In addition to Marksmen , General , and various other classes.

We announced it to our allies that the best two students would be given these class seeds, which they may consume for themselves or gift to anyone they pleased. Then real interest started to come in. Kings from across our allied nations all volunteered to send a small group of their children to vie for the spot.

Of course, now that we had students, we then had to build a syllabus. We already had one from the Valthorns, but the Valthorns were essentially a martial school. They were exceptionally combat focused.

This program would have to be a little bit balanced, across combat, magic, trade and governance, culture and history, and equally important, an education in the A/ ic faith.

The goal was cultural dominance on the continent, securing the Freshlands place in the world and establishing myself as a legitimate faith and religion, with my own followers to push back against these four enemy faiths. So the combat focus would have to be watered down and the other aspects expanded.

I had to gather a few Decarches and some of the Freshlands best traders and makers to give their input, together with those level thirty to forty tutors. I would also have to train the tutors such that they became respectable in their own right, else this school wasnÆt going to work. Level thirty to forty was. average.

Freshka would transform into the home of three large competing schools. The Valthorn Academy was located in Freshka itself, along with the associated military fields and locations. The School of Treeology was in another outskirt area of Freshka, as a school for my clergy. Then lastly the Treetiary College was the school for future nobility. Secretly, I also earmarked a large spot for the future fourth school, the Universitree of the Masses. As it was, I could only gather sufficient talent for one school, and I didnÆt need to increase the tension from managing noble - commoner dynamics.

It was a plan that would take centuries to play out, but if I did this right, this generation of young leaders would eventually propagate my faith. This was an investment that would only pay off at least twenty to thirty years into the future.

- IÆm impressed, but at the same time, itÆs hypocritical, - Yvon said one evening. - A/ once said he hated the royalty, and here he is, amplifying their power. -

Yura nodded. - I agree. ItÆs pragmatic, though. But IÆm sure he is aware of the hypocrisy. Lately, A/ is rather. calculative. -

- ItÆs those trees. I mean, youÆve seen them, right? The weird flashing ones. -

- Nope. - Yura shrugged as he watched a bunch of archers practice another volley. The ValthornÆs focus had been anti - air Archers and Rangers working with our master woodworker to make anti - demonic wooden arrows further enchanted with magic. In a mildly interesting development, the senior A/ ic Priests and Patreearches gained a skill that allowed them to bless weapons and people with A/ ic - style anti - demonic effects on top of their regular holy - element enchantments. So the Treeology School was also assisting to produce enchanted weapons.

I wondered how the holy - element could coexist when I was the patron deity and I had only one holy - enchantment magic that I inherited from long, long ago.

IÆd also observed that the priests powers were mostly independent from mine, even if derived from me in the sense that the priests could use as much power as they had, and I would not be affected. It wasnÆt as if their use of A/ ic - abilities were a drain on me. Quite unlike Lozanna Æs Warden, which had a defined monthly star mana maintenance cost.

How did that work?

Was it like the system created a specific pool of energy from which all these A/ ic priests then called on for power? Or were all powers derived from the system, and I was just the lawmaker but not the source of the power?

This was certainly a rather weird system.

54

INTERLUDE II

End of Year 133/Beginning of Year 134 City of Perhimpunan, of the Sultanate of Timurtengah, Eastern Continent

Lozanna stared at the Aivan templar. ItÆd been six years since theyÆd released her from their home imprisonment, but somehow, the sight of templars still triggered her a little bit. Even if her stay was pleasant, a prison was still a prison.

- Greetings, Lady Lozanna . - The templar of Aiva handed her a magical letter. - A message from Grandmaster Engka. -

She frowned, but this wasnÆt the first time sheÆd received a letter from Engka. Engka had convinced her, as part of her release terms many years ago, to assist with demon-related matters. No matter, the letter magically unlocked itself the moment she touched it.

- Investigate the village of Dimusnah. Demon sightings suspected. Local Temple did not respond back. More info at City Temple. - She frowned. At first, this didnÆt seem like something that needed her assistance. But then she pondered it, and a gut feeling told her it wasnÆt so simple.

Her husband and the rest of the Playing Swords were there, too. A few members changed. Two died. Her husband frowned. - Engka has some task for you again? -

- Yeah. But investigate this village of Dimusnah. Any idea where that is? - Lozanna repeated the contents in private to the rest of her adventurer team.

One of the team members unfurled a map, and they soon found it. It was a few days from the city, a small village that bordered the central canyons.

Lozanna nodded. - All right, thanks. IÆll be going. - She walked with her husband to somewhere quiet and gave him a hug. - I have to go do this. -

Ardi just smiled. - Take care, all right? ItÆs very close to the start of demon-season. DonÆt bite off more than you can chew. - He said that every time Lozanna went out on her own, but he knew she wasnÆt reckless. Clueless occasionally, but not reckless. - WeÆll be taking on missions around here. -

It wasnÆt right for her to ask her team to go with her for her personal bargain with the Temple.

As Lozanna walked up the steps into the Aivan temple, two templars stopped her. - State your business. -

Lozanna nodded and flashed a special Aivan Ring. They nodded and let her in. It was her first time in this cityÆs temple, but they all had a similar layout. The High Templar was at the top.

The High Templar was already waiting. The High Templar was the lead military officer of the temple in this city. Every large Aivan Temple had one. - Greetings, Lozanna . - There were two other templars in the room. - We believe demons from the rift have been spotted near Dimusnah, and Engka believes youÆre the best person to investigate. We would have sent templars, but weÆre shorthanded at the moment. -

Lozanna shrugged. All the High Templars always sounded like they were a bit irritated at her. They, of course, didnÆt know her A/ ic origins, or else theyÆd all attempt to kill her. Instead, Engka had constructed an elaborate plan to drown out news about her origins so they only knew that she was an elf from the Highland Cities of the North. It was easy to fake her origins when she left the Central Continent so many years ago.

- WeÆll arrange a carriage to get you to a nearby town. And hereÆs a document for you, - the High Templar said, and that was the end of the conversation. The document was magically sealed, but it was more elaborate. There was a small guest meeting room where she sat and opened it. It seemed that Dimusnah was already destroyed, but they didnÆt know by what, so essentially, they needed someone who had a scout or rangerÆs abilities to track the demons. There were no known markings or footprints.

Lozanna made the journey that night, and in two days she reached the nearest town. From there, she would have to walk. The mood in the town was strange, and she noticed how sparsely populated it was.

She was the only one in the inn that day. Had they disappeared?

- No. Most of them have fled the town, - the innkeeper said. - The sudden destruction of Dimusnah was scary. -

Huh. It wasnÆt a secret.

- And no one dared venture near. -

Lozanna just glanced at the map again. This was a sparsely populated part of the continent, anyway. If demons wanted to hide away and bide their time, this was the perfect place. But that implied they could think, and Lozanna was relatively sure not all demons could think. Could this generation think? At least to a limited degree? The very few hints she got seemed to imply it.

She continued her journey the next day. The area was dry, almost - desert like. There was some vegetation, but most of it was small. There were cactuses, too. Still, a village existed here simply because of the mines and the minerals that washed up on the shores of the canyonÆs rivers. It would take her a day and some to finally arrive at her speed.

It was early morning when she arrived at the destroyed village. There was visible charring on the floor, as if some intense flame burned through the entire area. She touched the charred dirt, sniffed it a little. Demons. Unmistakably so.

But there were no footsteps of creatures or demons. Well, there were fleeing villages, but the ground burned wherever they fled. She looked at the shape and angle of the charring. Whatever it was, it attacked from a higher altitude. It was possibly the height of a walker.

- Could be some kind of ranged attacker, or a flying one, - Lozanna said to herself as she examined the ruins. She looked at the direction of the flame. and went the other way. If it was a tall demon like a walker, there should be some footsteps or imprints on the ground.

Nothing. There were more flames and charring, but no footsteps.

- Most likely a flyer. - She paused. She briefly remembered one of her many dream - spars, where she fought flying creatures. This seemed to match it. Had the rift opened? It was about time. A generation of flying demons would be frightening.

She mentally informed Warden to prepare some extra throwing spears and adjusted the three wooden spears on her back. If they really were flyers, sheÆd need them soon enough.

The trail of flames eventually ended at the edges of a canyon.

- Where did they go? - Lozanna looked at the river and at the edges of the canyons as far as she could see. It was dry. There were no monsters, either. - Upriver, then. ThatÆs the typical answer. -

She began walking along the canyon. If they were hiding, they must have found a cave or something. She looked at a map, and there were parts where the riverÆs hidden underground. Or perhaps on the other side of the tributaries. Vines extended from both her hands, and she used them like long feelers.

At her level, she could stretch it from one side to the other side, and sheÆd be able to use her vines and swing along the river using the canyon walls as her anchors. That would be a faster way to travel along the canyons.

She steeled herself and began moving. There was nothing. The canyons were vast, and as she moved upriver, she noticed little shiny things in the river. Gems. The reason why the village of Dimusnah even existed.

- NowÆs not the time for that, - she said to herself. Maybe on the trip back, once she located the demons. It took about an hour, then she thought she heard something. A soft growl. Almost imperceptible. She reeled in her vine, and it pulled her to the canyon walls. A few vines popped out of her body and allowed her to latch onto the wall like a spider.

Then she saw it, a hole in the wall right at the river waterÆs edge. This was almost three hours away from the village

There were easily five of them; three of them were massive, winged, and different colors. Black. Dark brown. Reddish - black. Horned. But they also had glowing red eyes.

Dragons?

Lozanna paused and stared a little longer.

No. Demons that resembled dragons. But why were they hiding?

It was then she saw smaller dragons. The smaller dragon stepped out of the hole and dove into the river. A while later, it emerged.

What was it doing? Using her vine - legs, she crawled closer, then she saw it half hidden inside the hole. A larger, wingless dragon. The smaller dragon walked next to it, and it spat out some gems. This larger demon-dragon ate it, and it glowed.

Then it laid an egg.

Lozanna felt chills. This was a breeding demon, like Sabnoc! Sabnoc latched on magical locations to grow massive armies. She looked at them and sensed their magical power. They were not weak. Not as strong as a walker or a champion, but certainly more of the demon-elite or demon-general tier.

It made sense why the village was destroyed so easily. There were only a few of these demons, but they needed someone at least level fifty or sixty to fight them. The demons did not spot her. She used a bit of her druidic powers to move the rock around her, like a natural camouflage.

She waited and watched them a little more. They were eating the gems in the river, and they would also feed the gems to the wingless demon in the cave. What made them suddenly attack the village? Were they spotted? Were they instructed by the demon king to hide and multiply until the time was right?

She waited till night. The demons still didnÆt spot her, and she noticed they were constantly eating.

Then two of the large demon-dragons flew away. Only the wingless, larger demon-dragon and two smaller ones were left.

If she wanted a chance, this was it. She waited for the two large demon-dragons to fly further away. She took a deep breath and reached for two wooden anti - demon spears.

She leaped out of her hideout and quickly activated her Anti - demon suppression aura .

The demons turned, and her wooden spear glowed in a bright - green light, Spear of Destruction . She landed right on one of the smaller demons. It was unprepared, and the spear went through the head. It collapsed there and then. The wingless demon roared, and it breathed a jet of fire. The other larger one quickly took flight and opened its mouth.

She threw her other spear at it, accelerated by her power. Flying Spear . The demonÆs firebreath clashed with the flying anti - demon spear. But she had no time; she quickly leaped away to avoid the wingless demonÆs fireblast.

She cursed. She should have attacked the wingless demon first. She thought she could take that one later. The wingless demonÆs firebreath continued to streak across the canyon walls as it attempted to chase her down. She called on Warden to produce more throwing spears, and she flung it at the wingless demon. It wasnÆt moving; only its head was.

But the other, larger flying demon was already flying into another position. She turned and quickly used her vines to change directions. There was another jet of fire.

She landed on another side of the canyon walls. The demon was still flying, and it breathed fire into the canyon. It intended to coat the entire canyon with fire. - Ugh, - she grunted, and the flames started to coat her surroundings. The wingless dragon was still there. She couldnÆt get it. She made a mistake!

The demon-dragon kept breathing fire. If she wanted to fight it, she needed to get it down, lower to the ground. Or. she had to fly up there.

That area of the canyon would be entirely blanketed with fire soon; she needed to do it now. She used her vines and attached itself to the canyon walls and, with some magic, transformed herself into an arrow and shot herself into the sky at the demon. Then she flung another spear with a vine attached to it into its body.

This time, the demon aimed its jet of flame at Lozanna instead of the spear, so the spear managed to pierce the flying demon.

Steelwood Barrier . The jet of flame burned the wooden barrier, but she was fine. She landed on the ground and then activated Constrict . The vine exploded into a massive tangle of vines around the demon, and she planted her feet on the ground.

Entrench . The vines linked up with the roots Lozanna created in the ground, and with the roots supporting her, she pulled the constricted demon out of the sky. It crashed into the ground with a loud bang, but it wasnÆt over. It breathed fire again.

Steelwood Barrier .

A barrier blocked the flames, opening a space for Lozanna to quickly move ahead. She had to do it now when it was on the ground. Super - antidemon rootstrike . Three massive roots emerged from the ground and skewered the large demon-dragon. It then disintegrated and left behind. gems and some other things.

A roar, followed by another. The two large demon-dragons were coming back. She had to get the wingless dragon first! She suspected the wingless dragon to be something like a birther, so she needed to get rid of it, else the demons would continue to multiply. She used her vines and her abilities to speed up. She needed to get back to where the wingless dragon was.

But it was gone. Only the smaller one was there, and it roared.

- Ugh. - Lozanna decided a demon was still a demon, even if it was small. She flung a spear with a vine attached at the smaller demon. It died instantly from the attack, even though it did try to fight it off.

She heard the roars again. If the two large demons were back, itÆd be another hard fight. The mature demon-dragons were just below a demon walker in offensive ability, but thankfully their defenses were rather weak. But where was the wingless one? If it was wingless, there should be footsteps.

She looked around and activated a common druidic ability, which was to borrow animal - like abilities. She used Scent of the Prey and followed it. It went even further upstream, but it didnÆt manage to go very far. It was large, but not very fast. Lozanna used her vines to slingshot herself at the wingless demon. It was a grounded demon, so she should be able to use super anti - demon root strike once she got in range.

The demonÆs head turned, and it spat a huge amount of fire. It charred the wooden barrier around her, but not good enough. She was almost there. It had a massive tail and moved to strike. It smashed into the charred barrier, but the barrier was still intact. There was another tail that came at her from the right. Did it always have two tails? The tails smashed right into the wooden shield and knocked her into the canyon wall.

- Ugh. - She didnÆt see that coming and mentally thanked Warden for a protective shield that helped absorb the impact. Still, the shockwave hurt. At least it wasnÆt a walker - class enemy, and at this distance, she could counterattack.

Five anti - demon roots emerged from the floor and pierced the wingless demon-dragon, and it roared. Almost like it was in pain, but it turned and breathed fire. She sensed its energy dissipating, and yet it kept breathing fire into the narrow canyon. Lozanna leaped and then used two vines to latch on to the top of the canyon walls and launched herself up. The wingless demon wasnÆt moving. The five roots were still firmly planted in its body. She retrieved another wooden spear from Warden and flung it at the wingless demon.

This time, it smashed into its body, and the body cracked. Then the cracks lit up, and the wingless demon exploded. It left gems and other things splattered all over the canyon floor.

Yet it wasnÆt over. Not yet. There were two more larger demons that should be on the way. She heard their roar. They were. fleeing?

She didnÆt expect that. Or did something else call them?

- Ugh. - Lozanna found a place to stop and do a short self - check. Parts of her skin were bleeding, and some parts were burned. SheÆd need a day or two to heal them. One of her prized wooden spears was broken, too. Still, now she had time to think.

Strategically, they would need a whole lot of archers and mages. Way, way more. Anti - demon arrows would need to be the default equipment.

She was in no condition to chase after the two large demon-drakes. The battle used up quite a bit of her energy, so she decided to head back instead.

A templar was already waiting for her at the nearest village. - Lady Lozanna , youÆve located the enemy? -

- Yes. Identified as winged demons that can breathe fire and perhaps other elemental attacks. - She gave a long list of observations of what sheÆd seen, things like size, attack patterns, types of attacks, and so on. The templar nodded and quickly started to compile it into a document that would go straight to the grandmaster.

Once completed the templar left, and Lozanna rested in the village. She wondered whether the two large demon-drakes would return, but she was too tired to care.

Summon Spirit Bird . Lozanna looked at the small, ethereal bird. - Keep watch, little one. - The bird nodded and flew off.

55

YEAR 135

The demon king was late. It didnÆt come this year, so we heard more of the Eastern ContinentÆs struggle with the demon-drakes. More fighting, but so far, the Eastern Continent had managed to hold the demons back and keep them on their continent. It was rather admirable, really.

There were stories of great sacrifice to hold back the flying demons. Of champions and adventurers. Of archmages and all, banding together to slay dragons. It was the kind of tales passed down the family or made into song. Or great bravery from everywhere.

Where were all of these warriors before the demon king? Did they have a mind block that they only displayed initiative, courage before lesser demons? Of course, many kingdoms naturally offered to send some nominal aid to the Eastern Continent, but due to the blockade, all aid from the Central Continent was blocked.

There were strange rumors coming out of the other continents that the Central Continent as a whole was now referred to as a Cursed Continent. It was essentially a PsyOps attack meant to target all these merchants and regular people to reduce demand for travel between their continent and the Central Continent.

Had the four temples decided that it was better to just cut out the entire Central Continent from their collective conscience?

- WhatÆs the meaning of this? - Yura and Kavio asked the secret envoy of Aiva. - Is this your fake war? -

- ItÆs. the best possible outcome to avoid bloodshed. -

Even if we revealed this ruse, I reckoned no one would believe us. AivaÆs conduct had been consistently war - like. - Every single continent outside of the Central Continent has been amending their maps to mark the entire Central Continent as cursed and that a travel ban was instituted. - Kavio was exceptionally mad. - YouÆre essentially telling all the other kingdoms on this continent that all of them are a lost cause. -

The envoy nodded. - It. is a necessary sacrifice. A curtain falls on the Central Continent. A cold war is better than an actual war. -

Well, since the four temples had essentially gifted these other nations to me, it would be horrible of me to refuse their hospitality. It was free real estate, after all.

As a result, I quickly commanded Kavio to send envoys to all these nations, to discuss cooperation and trade. They must have felt betrayed that they had been essentially locked out of the global trade routes.

- They could have secret arrangements. Some of these kingdoms must have been warned beforehand, - Kavio suggested. - They may rebuff us. I foresee some of them will attempt to negotiate exemptions for themselves, if not publicly, then secretly. -

- Then investigate. Either way, since they are doing this rebranding, we can certainly retaliate in the same manner. - I wondered whether I should, though. What were the implications? - Get some people together and consider the implications of it. - They would need some time to do the necessary investigative research, and I created a few more additional artificial minds to assist Jasmine with the monitoring of the new territories.

A cultural shift. Traditionally each continent wasnÆt significantly different from the others - the Central Continent itself usually had a mix of all four temples and the other lesser temples - and the nobility generally communicated with each other via message , teleport , and other long - range travel or communication skills. It was the rudimentary framework of a globally connected elite.

But now that entirety, amplified by Sabnoc, and this blockade essentially meant the culture of the Central ContinentÆs elites would no longer be in sync with the rest of the world, and that would cascade down, since the citizens had a tendency to parrot the cultural practices of the nobility.

Already, the nobility were second - guessing themselves. Throughout the Central Continent, the blockade caused economic problems for the merchant class, and that greatly impacted the wealth of the nobility, even if it didnÆt really affect the regular citizens.

The new trade routes had brought prosperity to my three new trading partners. The towns along the trade route grew quite well. The truckbeetles were actually quite popular, mainly to haul heavy, bulky goods that were relatively cheap. For some inland countries, they had a relatively monotonous choice in terms of their food, so the Freshlands traders capitalized on the reliability and relative consistency of the Truckbeetles and introduced new varieties of food, fruits, and herbs.

The merchants were also doing some demand - side work. They collaborated with cooks and chefs to introduce new dishes and foods made with a fusion of native food and Freshlands foods. It was fascinating what these merchants did to make people buy their products. There were purists, of course, that resisted these foreign foods, but among the nobility eager to sample new things, and among the poor who could not choose, new types of food were very welcome.

Next were weapons. My woodworkers were still working on more anti - air weapons, making enchanted arrows and so on. Most of these were for the Valthorns and the Freshlands army, but a small batch of anti - demon anti - air weapons and ammo was distributed for sale. After all, now that the rest of the world had effectively cut off the rest of the kingdoms, there was a vacuum that I naturally had to fill.

I wanted to be seen as sharing my benefits with the allied kingdoms, that I was arming them for their own protection. This was essentially weapons diplomacy.

The temples would usually place some lesser hero items in allied kingdoms or those that had earned their favor as a reward. It was this reward in exchange for hero items that helped build the temples influence. That said, the excommunicated hero Astra did mess with that power balance by selling hero items in large quantities in exchange for territory and resources.

Some countries benefited from the Four Temples blockade. Those that had a developed craftsmen class suddenly benefited from having a captive market.

Still, trade tensions were rising, and despite the specter of the demons looming over us, a few of the desperate kingdoms finally launched small attacks. Specialized hit squads were made of their strongest adventurers.

We saw them coming. The moment they entered PatreeckÆs psychic range, their plans were all revealed. We even prepared a nice welcoming party for them. Patreeck had used his ability to reveal their plans, so we knew what we were getting into. The moment the adventurer group, a group of level sixties and seventies, about ten of them approached the valley, I had the Valthorns already ready to engage and the necessary traps.

In fact, Patreeck alone could have disabled them with a surge of overwhelming psychic attack. But that wouldnÆt allow the Valthorns to level, so we let them fight it out, and right when they were supposed to reveal their explosive artifact, I had a few vines emerge and grab it. Then I sent it into my magic lab for further investigation.

After that, we had our usual interrogation session and then. death. I kept a few mementos of these adventurers and had a messenger deliver these remains back to the kingdom that sent them. That kingdom wanted these adventurers to be unidentified and unlinked to them, but clearly they didnÆt know I could read minds. Maybe they should have mindwiped them, if they had such power.

I didnÆt want to make it public; after all, it was better to respond with nuance. I suspected the king was desperate, and that was why heÆd decided on such acts. A final act, a desperate one. And now it didnÆt work, the kingÆs plan would crumble, and they knew it. This would force them to bend.

Now, I waited.

In the meantime, the construction of the three schools was complete, and the trainers were actively developing the syllabus. The first generation of students, the pioneer batch of noble - children, had arrived to begin their new study life in the Treetiary College.

I soon found the quality of the trainers extremely lacking. They were low - leveled, in the range of level thirties and forties in the field they were selected to teach. Still, they were chosen because they were willing to do this sort of work.

At this point, Yvon had a very good comment. She did have experience as a training tree , and she was the principal of the Valthorns academy. - It ultimately depends on what you desire in them, A/ . A good teacher must have the right teaching skills. He need not be a master of his craft. He merely needs to be a good guide along the studentÆs path. Technical competence and ability to teach are two different matters. -

- In your experience, what matters more? -

- Will these students be granted use of your learning dreams ? Currently the effects of training tree and various other learning - support skills are what ultimately pushed the Valthorns to a high level. If it was just me and Yura , the Valthorns would never reach such a high level. -

Hmm.

I spoke to Faris and Edna, my two highest - leveled new - generation warriors, on what they felt were more important. Both didnÆt seem particularly fond of nobles and nobility, so they were torn whether they should give their views or not.

Still. - Practical experience matters. All those battles in the Rottedlands caused me to level up a lot. - Under the influence of my powerleveling and other growth skills. - I think the teacher is important, but they only take you up to level thirty or so. After that, itÆs all about our own real experience. -

- I agree with Edna. As a druid, I needed to use my powers and be placed in situations where I had to use my powers creatively. Those allowed me to gain levels. Combat, experimentation, and interesting situations seem to correlate with my levelling speed. -

But how did one create practical experience for nobles who were doing trade and governance? A business management school like. Oh wait. It was essentially an MBA program, wasnÆt it?

- Life experience is really the best. Those lifelike dreams are second best, - Faris repeated. - Nothing like spending time in the trenches to really grow. -

- I see. -

How did I simulate town management for these young nobles? The program therefore needed a mix of practical experience.

- Perhaps they can play some roles in managing the newly reclaimed territories. WeÆre in need of capable people to manage, and their noble skills would be a boost to the new lands. They bring with them the backing of their own home territories, too. - It came from Kavio. For Kavio, on top of diplomatic issues, he had been struggling to maintain the growing administrative requirements. New lands, new towns, all needed people to run them.

It was hard to convince any decent ruler or mayor to make a move to a new land. But not so for these noble children, who were young and untested. The very fact that it was only a temporary assignment, as part of a holistic education program, could convince these young nobles to go willingly. So I could use the whole noble school to tap into their talents and deploy them under the guise of school or college learning trips. I imagined having a blank slate would train their imagination and give them a challenge so they could level up.

- All right. -

I had Trevor and Jasmine pull up the newly reclaimed lands that were still unmanaged or poorly managed and decided that nobles would be sent to these lands. The students would be judged and rewarded based on their performance and as a group.

I wanted it to be a group event, because I understood that working in groups was a terrible, terrible thing, and it was this struggle against each other that would cause them to level up. Competition, especially direct, visible competition, was important.

The first batch of Treetiary College students were, of course, rather shocked by the task.

- WeÆre going to manage a new spot of land? - Some of them were excited, but some of them seemed afraid.

- Each group of five students will be accompanied by a merchant advisor, a military advisor, and a people advisor. Each of you are allowed to have an entourage of two people and two bodyguards. The advisors are only there to give you comments and observations. The local citizens are ultimately the ones carrying out your orders, and you are expected to learn to lead and command the citizens. The challenge of the new lands would be a good place for young commanders to hone your skills. For safety, you will be accompanied by a squad of beetles. -

The students had not had such a task before.

- Each group will spend six months at their designated locations, and it will be a competition. The best group will receive a small reward, the worst group a punishment. -

There had to be a carrot and a stick to every plan. If they took it, great!

And off they went. Most of these lands were sparse where IÆd just reclaimed it from the Rottedlands. Therefore, each group was responsible for a group of settlers, about five hundred to eight hundred, to set up a small village, plan defenses, and everything from head to toe. It was a safe arrangement, in the sense that my beetles would ensure the security of these lands; their only challenge was the management of the village.

I would graduate them to harder challenges where they would have to multitask both growth, people, trade, and war as they matured of the four - to five - year program.

On the research front, Horns and the labs developed a few additional upgrades for the assassin spiders and beetles. These were more stealthy forms, more anti - humanoid damage perks, more poison.

At the same time, we were also working on more anti - air upgrades. We explored strange and silly ideas, like bungee - spiders who would be shot at the flying monsters, attached with poisons and extremely durable vines and threads. The idea was to either disable the wings or pull them to the ground with the threads.

Throughout the Freshlands, armorers, blacksmiths, bowyers, and fletchers were all busy.

In a way, the entire world was a wartime economy, and the demands of war dominated the order books of the landÆs craftspeople. Arrows. Ballistas. Crossbow bolts. Nets and slings. Harpoons. We were preparing for the eventual arrival of these airborne demons.

We trained rangers, and we set up more lookout posts. On the shores, where my Giant Attendant Trees stood, we set up platforms where rangers and archers with farsight or similar skills could be on the lookout.

It was likely that the demons would come from the eastern shore, but at the same time, a rift could easily open in our continent. So we kept watch over the Rottedlands, too.

The Valthorns and the beetles increased their patrol frequency. So far, so good. All quiet on the Central Continent.

But that was no guarantee. Where was the demon king?

For now, the social unrest and unhappiness were kept under the lid. My A/ ic priests had proven their worth, quickly earning a spot as a regular feature in many smaller towns, and with them, a huge amount of aid.

WeÆd gotten rid of many selfish lesser rulers, too, though we tolerated corruption or lesser crimes in these lands. After all, in the Freshlands constitution, lesser local corruption and crimes were under the jurisdiction of the kings and nobility, though it still reserved the right for me to intervene as I saw fit. If these rulers were fueling a rebellion with their conduct, then we would step in. It was usually just having the local ruler or lord relocated to another place in their land, things we could still do while being seen as respecting the local kingÆs power and sovereignty.

The priests would petition the king directly, with our observations and information, and that would usually be sufficient to sway them to see things our way. They, too, did not want a rebellion on their land.

My priests were also a key funnel for future talent, either as Valthorns or as future priests, so it was important to constantly monitor them. I had one of the artificial minds under Jasmine dedicated to the task of observing the priests conduct.

Even if the nobles abused their power, I wanted my priests to be seen as good. Certain things should be out of bounds for men of faith. It was important that I reminded the priests that I was watching, because priests were in a unique position of power and trust in the society.

For most part, IÆd say forty - nine out of fifty priests were genuinely good people. But a religionÆs reputation was often destroyed by that single priest. It was the same for the patreearchs. They were people in greater positions of power, so another artificial mind was dedicated to observing their conduct and actions.

I liked to believe I could trust them, but everyone would be watched.

From our observations, we would have a list of pointers which was then used to shape the School of TreeologyÆs education.

Already we noted there was a lot of weakness in inter - species preaching and proselytizing. Most of the priests aimed and shaped their preaching and messaging to people of the same species, and they struggled to form a connection with someone of another race.

An elven priest needed to struggle to interact with a centaur, or a dwarf, and harder still with a treefolk. There was a need to improve training and understanding of species - specific nuances. It would never be as good, but at the very least, they would be taught the key mistakes to avoid when dealing with people of another species.

This was also a point that I wanted to put into the Treetiary CollegeÆs education, though their angle was more on trade preferences and diplomatic preferences of different species.

56

YEAR 136

The demon king was still late. This was unusual, and we heard of great battles in the Eastern Continent - even though there was supposedly an information embargo, there were still leaks. There were tales of great, incredible battles of archers and demon-drakes. Of battles in cliff - areas where warriors could reduce some of the demon-drakes airborne superiority.

There was a class of Drakeslayer - Archers and Drakehunters that emerged from these battles. I would like to get my hands on some of those classes, but I suspected itÆd be a matter of time.

The world thanked their lucky stars that the demons were still confined in the Eastern Continent, despite being able to fly, and the rifts remained only in that continent. I wondered what was keeping them there. From the news, it certainly did not seem like the defenders were able to stop them from reaching the sea. Perhaps there were other factors.

So we focused on consolidating power, strengthening the A/ ic priesthood across the Freshlands, and deploying the young nobles on little adventures.

They were pretty average as a whole, but the little outdoor adventure contributed a few levels to their Lord class. It was good progress for a few months outdoors, and they helped to stabilize these new territories. IÆd also get a good sense of the type of rulers and managers these nobles would become, whether they were kind, ruthless, rational, or emotional.

In the same vein, although practical experience was indeed important, I wasnÆt about to tolerate the low levels of the Treetiary CollegeÆs teachers and lecturers. I had ensured all of them had training of their own, in the form of monthly doses of dream academy . I hoped to improve their levels by a bit, putting them in the level forty to fifty range for at least a single class. They would be teaching young ones who were around level ten or so when they started off, but because these were noble - classes, the power of a level ten was actually more like a level fifteen to twenty. This was especially pronounced with those of noble - blood. Prince and Princesses usually already had some secret hereditary skills, and their class itself was strong as its base.

In a contest of wills, it was usually a matchup of the strongest levels and classes, not the cumulative total levels and classes.

If the trainers and tutors were too low - leveled in any one class, they wouldnÆt be able to suppress or control the students. Ideally, I would want someone like Yura as the headmaster. His warlord class was a noble - equivalent, and as such, nobles didnÆt get an advantage against him.

So I focused on training the tutors. I had taken a liking to one of them: Thordrock, a bearded dwarven man whoÆs in his late middle age, a little plump and prosperous. He seemed every bit the old headmaster and had the cranky, steely disposition to boot. He used to be a merchant , then he got too weary for all the travelling his class required, so he found this task of educating the next generation interesting. As a merchant, he had been to a lot of places and fought a lot of bandits and thieves.

Thordrock was a level thirty - eight mining merchant , level eighteen blacksmith , and level twenty axe warrior . In every sense of the word, the scattered levels meant he was close to capping out as a person, since level eighty to level eighty - five seemed to be the usual cap for normal mortals.

For now, there was no single headmaster of the entire Treetiary College, and it was run as if the entire teaching staff was a council.Æ

Still, the problem was, once an individual hit a level cap, I couldnÆt really push his level higher with dream academy . Still, not entirely useless. If I could somehow trigger or force a class merger, then only the combined class would be able to stand toe to toe with the nobility - classes.

- What do you think of taking the lead? - I asked Thordrock one day. At that point, they just returned from the students expedition from the new territories.

- Of? -

- The entire Treetiary College? -

- Well, yes. Finally! Someone needs to be in charge of this messed - up school! - he said. - First, we need some booze in the school. -

- Some of them are underage. -

- Well, those underage ones have to just suck it. - Thordrock laughed. - Any good, self - respecting noble who canÆt handle a drinkÆs gonna be in trouble anyway. I lost count of the number of times nobles got their drinks spiked. -

Oh. That. was too much info.

- All of these youngÆuns need to learn how to drink, how to handle a drink, and how to handle stuff in their drink. Like me, I have spiked drink - resistance . At the very least, they need to have poison - detection ! -

- Ah. -

Thordrock laughed, then he asked again, - Are you serious, A/ ? -

- What do you think this school should be? -

- Other than exporting your politics? - he asked.

- Yes. Tell me what do you think this school should be? - I didnÆt want to share my ideals, of course. I had a certain vision for it, but the locals mostly saw it as a way I was going to strengthen the Freshlands.

- Ultimately. unity, - Thordrock said as he rubbed his beard. - Unity of the noble - class, however limited and fickle thatÆs worth. I saw this as a step to truly build a continental trade system, but in the past year IÆve served as a tutor of these nobles, it is also a place for social bonds to be built among the noble class, which would foster more trade and industry. -

- Where do you see me in this picture? -

Thordrock paused, and he couldnÆt answer it. But I could read his mind. What am I supposed to say? Do I praise A/ ? Or do I state the truth that heÆs seen as a benevolent tyrant? Or.

- I would appreciate the truth, Thordrock. I have no need for fickle praises. They do little for me. -

- I. donÆt know. A school founded by an immortal semi - divine being thatÆs earmarked as a heretical existence? Just thinking about it makes me need a mug, so I rarely do think about it. But if this school wants to exist, it better damn well train some good, capable, competent nobles. -

- Define a competent noble. What is a good graduate student? What do you think a student who graduates from this school should be able to do? - In a way, this was an interview whether he was suited for it.

Thordrock paused again. - One that can hold his beer, makes a good deal, can set up a working, functioning town, and is able to defend himself from his enemies. -

I paused. That certainly fit the defensive noble. - No part of values or principles? -

- The hell with that. - Thordrock laughed. - The things IÆve done to get a deal. -

Ah. He had loose morals. I wondered whether I wanted to create little Machiavellis.

Thordrock continued. - We all want to live, ayte? Lookit me. I paid bribes to not get killed. I paid bribes to run away from hot zones. I paid adventurers to die so that I may live. YÆknow. Principles ainÆt gonna cut it, not when thereÆs a monster in front of me. I bit, I begged, I knelt where I needed to. -

There was a part he didnÆt say. And right now, youÆre the biggest powerhouse on the continent. If not you, then who?

I paused. Hmm. He clearly had swaying loyalties. Should I still use him, then? Or someone else?

There were the entire Freshlands, home to so many people, surely I could find someone who had the experience to lead a school. Or did I have to make one myself?

So I had to look a little harder. Maybe someone who wasnÆt high profile but was loyal. Quiet and unassuming, but got the job done. Ah, damn, thinking about it, IÆd fallen for the old trick of looking at the most visible candidates instead of looking at it objectively. There must be someone who was quiet but I didnÆt notice because he was quiet.

It was such a rookie talent management mistake! So what if they talked and were more visibleÆ? Talent and competence were not always visible! If youÆd done everything right, and everything worked, it often seemed like youÆd done nothing at all! The ability to troubleshoot and solve problems was only one aspect; it was even better if one was able to prevent problems in the first place!

So. how did I spot people who were able to resolve problems before they even festered or became bad?

Observation. I had to observe them and see how they resolved problems, how many steps ahead they did things, and how much thought went into doing what they did. People who could balance thoughtful consideration and yet take decisive action when the timing was right.

This demanded a huge amount of processing power and observation, and it was made possible thanks to PatreeckÆs special powers and my artificial mindÆs ongoing observation throughout my immediate valley. It required me to constantly monitor my candidates and rate them on a scale of various factors, like forward thinking, problem - resolution ability, ability to work with multiple parties, communication, and even manipulativeness.

All these needed multiple hundreds of datapoints. Personality. These traits were especially true when looking for a person whoÆs suited for trade and governance. To some extent, all traders planned. The very nature of a trader meant he had to be aware of market prices and changes, production data, and the ability to locate an opportunity, a gap.

At least, that was what I thought. But it was not so. The present world rewarded merchants who took risks, who just made a journey from one end of the continent to the other, with little information to work with. The presence of a system for traders, and the effect of various traders skills, meant some traders could make decisions based on hunch. Their skills would tell them where and what to do.

I needed someone who wouldnÆt rely on their skills, at least not much. Or perhaps a skill that switched their disposition toward long - term thinking, despite the systemÆs tendency of giving skills as mental shortcuts.

Patreeck and Jasmine took a few months to monitor how certain people behaved in context.

Then, one day. - Master, would you consider a young candidate whoÆs currently an apprentice at a blacksmith? -

Huh. He was way too young to be a master of an academy of young little pain - in - the - asses. But I could start training him really young, then in a few decades he would be ready. So I decided to have a look.

The young apprentice was a half - elf boy named Kastua. Despite his youth, he had demonstrated a quiet focus on preventing and solving problems, so he was likeable but didnÆt stand out. It would be decades before he would ever be a master of the colleges. He seemed to like his work as a blacksmith apprentice, but I got Yura to speak to him.

- Hello, Kastua. -

Kastua quickly bowed politely. - Greetings, Counsel Yura . - Yura Æs no longer the counsel, but it seemed many still referred to him as such; it was one of those guarded politeness. Never know when a person of such power would take offense.

- It seemed A/ saw some potential in you and would like to include you in training. Would you be keen? - Yura wasnÆt exactly sugarcoating. - What he plans for you, I do not know. -

The young boyÆs mind instantly had a lot to think about. - Yes. -

Yura paused. - I. will give you some time to think it through. -

- Yes, - he repeated. - No need for the time. My answer is yes. -

- Ah. - Yura nodded. - Very well, A/ will speak to you when the time is right. -

Kastua was not the only one. It was against our nature to put all eggs in one basket. A tree made many, many seeds. I needed multiple candidates across all age bands, so that I had a solid talent pool for proper succession planning.

I wanted someone who had that kind of personality and also faith. The levels and technical ability were something I could work on.

So, on top of Kastua, we soon located four to five more people of various ages whom we thought had potential. They were mostly young and were under level forty to fifty in totality. That was a good thing, since IÆd have more room to work on their levels.

Still, I wanted an adult of sufficient stature to lead the school. Else it was just a council of teachers that didnÆt seem able to make any big decisions. Was doing something better than doing nothing?

- Should we still tolerate Thordrock as a caretaker principal? - I asked the artificial minds at first. - He is of the right age and has generally good skill, even if his loyalty is a pragmatic one. -

Jasmine agreed. - We will monitor him. The role of a caretaker principal does not require absolute loyalty. A pragmatic, cost - benefit type of personality may be appropriate. -

- Disagree. This is about molding the minds of the next generation of mid - tier managers. - Trevor used some terminology from my memories. - They should be expected to have absolute loyalty. It is expected. -

I paused and considered it. In some ways, the risk was rather nuanced; having a principal with nuanced and pragmatic loyalty may result in students picking up a similar view of loyalty. That was a risk in the long run. But then again, even if I picked a loyal principal, that may not result in loyal future leaders. Would a principalÆs influence be that pervasive?

Was this a false choice? After all, loyalty was a mutable thing. I could, by my own actions, transform someone who was pragmatically loyal into entirely loyal and vice versa. The concept that loyalty was for life surely an impossible thing, unless their minds were constructed in such a way.

Were there any other candidates?

Those capable and with the right skill sets would not want a task to corral these noble children in the first place. So in a way, this wasnÆt exactly a coveted job. It was new. If anything, it was more important that this newly set - up institution did not fail.

I went back to Thordrock again. - Do you have any ideas on how to improve the Treetiary College? -

Thordrock paused and then answered. - In truth, most nobles do not run their lands alone, and often as merchants, we deal a lot with their adjutants and secretaries. So I believe each noble student should be allowed to sponsor a few of their adjutants. A nobleÆs success, I dare say, is also quite dependent on capable subordinates. -

That sounded like an officer school? But that was already what the Valthorns academy focused on. Combat, tactics, and all. But I supposed ThordrockÆs point was toward the bureaucracy. Currently, in this magical world, paperwork and administration were inconsistent.

There were no consistent laws, processes, or papers, and merchants had to navigate all of them, often paying little bribes and incentives along the way. Even now the entirety of the Freshlands was a complicated mess of laws and regulations, because in part of laziness and my distaste for this sort of work, and also I didnÆt want to force the entire country to obey one single set of laws.

Each of these segments brought with them different cultural norms, and I had expected to let them run their own kingdom, in the way a federation delegated certain areas to the states. In that, every noble was a minor master of his own land, and so each of them developed their own versions of the law, so all in, it was a hodgepodge of different rules and regulations.

But a lot of these could be smoothed over if the officers and staff of the nobles all communicated, essentially forming a de facto organized, unified bureaucracy. Like trade could be more efficient when there was less paperwork to be filled.

There were a lot of low - lying fruits to be made as a whole. Why was the merchantÆs warehouse located in some inaccessible area instead of somewhere convenient for the convoys? Why were goods not sorted properly? So many mundane areas that needed someone to just spend them time to clean up and organize.

Essentially, what Thordrock wanted was to make the merchants lives easier, supplement the nobles with capable subordinates. It was also a good way to transition from a feudal society to a more modern society, since it maintained the nobles position as a ruling elite, and yet delegates left decision making and administration to commoners. It was also a less controversial way of opening up a wide range of education to common folk without unnecessary noble resistance, since these common folk would be tagged to their noble employers.

But then, would ThordrockÆs influence result in administrators that were pro - merchants instead? I decided to look at all the nobles subordinates, whether there were any good teachers. This would take a while, too, on top of all the other searches that IÆd been doing. The artificial minds needed time to process and assess the nobles, and also the various departmental offices.

At the same time, by allowing these administrators to come in, would that not create the noble - commoner dynamic that I wanted to avoid? Unless I separated them.

But pragmatically, a segregated school was worse. In fact, my initial idea of a school for commoners was essentially elitist because that also implied there was a separate school for elites.

The relationship between commoners and nobles could go either way, but in any case, IÆd like to see these commoner administrators graduating and eventually run my future commonerÆs school.

It was a rare time where it was good that I was a magical tree. I was seen as outside the whole noble - commoner class system. If I was human, I would most likely face greater resistance.

- LetÆs do it. -

So the Treetiary College opened up spots for the noble - vassals to join. The pitch to the nobles was simple: they needed competent subordinates to carry out the details and the grunt work. Studying together gave commoners insight into the noble mindset and thought processes.

I understood this felt like a caste system, but if I wanted to slowly supplant and dismantle the noble structures, IÆd have to have a bureaucracy capable of operating with noble oversight and direction.

The initial weeks were rocky, there were some incidences of harassment, so I had insisted that no bullying was allowed and used my artificial minds to keep watch. Students were only allowed to fight and attack each other during combat practice. If necessary, I would use my own abilities to break up any fights.

The commoners came in many ages. Some were the old servants and butlers of the nobles, strangely chosen to accompany their young masters to school. At first, I thought about whether I should restrict the school by age, but I decided since it was the first year, IÆd let it go. I would introduce age limits in the later years.

Not everyone liked change. Some needed to have it in little pieces, ease them into it. Some preferred a big bang change. But from what IÆd observed, change needed to be slow. A big bang change tended to create a larger and more immediate resistance. Slow, gradual change was akin to boiling the frog.

By the end of the year, the nobles had mostly accepted the presence of commoners as fellow students, even though most of them still felt themselves as a superior class. It was fine.

Boil the frog. Slowly.

57

YEAR 137

The demon king finally descended.

Demon King Raja - Naga has arrived!

As the rifts predicted, he arrived in the Eastern Continent, and he quickly made his presence felt. The entire Eastern Continent was in a state of war, as giant, fire - breathing lizards and flying drakes ravaged the entire continent.

A time of war.

- Lozanna is in the Eastern Continent. - At Yura Æs message to her, Laufen instantly broke down and cried. - SheÆs not dead, but. she canÆt get out. -

Laufen wept, and I could see her feelings through Patreeck. Worry, helplessness, anger, sadness. She wondered whether she was going to lose her daughter. She was far away now, and I couldnÆt reach her from here. Not when she was on another continent. There was no way Yura could get there, either. There was no boat or ship fast enough, and unless we had the heroes teleportation array, I couldnÆt get anyone there.

She went back to her home and cried for a while. Some of the other ladies of a similar age from Freshka came to comfort her.

Yura , on the other hand, was just sad.

- She wouldnÆt do anything stupid, right? - Yura asked.

- I donÆt think so. - Lozanna certainly didnÆt seem like the type to do anything stupid, but I didnÆt know how much had changed in the past thirty years sheÆd been away. She may have changed.

- Yeah. She wonÆt, - Yura said, but I could tell from PatreeckÆs data that he was worried, too. But there was nothing much we could do. Not when sheÆs on another continent. I could only hope she was wise enough to stay away from actually confronting the demon king. Very few had done that and survived.

The demon kingÆs presence sent the Rottedlands into a frenzy. More demonic hybrids spawned, and the trade routes experienced more frequent attacks. But for now, the Valthorns and beetles had managed to hold them back, so the trade routes held. A great relief, for our allies who feared for the worst.

The expansion and training of Valthorns, priests, and young nobles continued. Just because the demon king had arrived didnÆt mean we had to change anything.

- All right. Demon king spawned. As nobles, what should you do? - a lecturer, a former retired mayor, asked the crowd of young noble students. There were some commoners mixed in, too, the attendants.Æ

- Prepare for war? -

- Well, yes. But how and what? What should you prepare? - the lecturer asked. - Food supplies are a common one. During demonic attacks, trade routes are frequently disrupted. -

Some of this was basic common sense, but no one had actually sat down and put together a manual for dealing with demon kings. In some ways, this was a first step to that manual. I also had the instructors write down key teaching points for storage. Bit by bit, my library was growing, even if I didnÆt get skills for it.

- Next up is actually village defense. Demonic forces tend to attack places of large populations first. It is said they have an ability to sense living individuals, particularly large numbers. Of course, no one knows whether this is true or they detect large cities by other means. -

The crowd of nobles went, - ooh. -

- So, theoretically, itÆs better to focus defense forces in larger cities, since villages tend to be skipped or only attacked by smaller forces. Unless they are so unlucky that they happen to be in their path. -

The commoners winced at those words, wondering whether those villages would be left to die. The nobles just nodded in agreement. This sounded familiar.

I didnÆt pay much attention to the classes, since no untoward incident occurred.

As the borders saw more fighting, IÆd awarded more upgraded classes to the Valthorns. For anti - air, I was really quite dependent on my beetles and spiders and also my higher - levelled Valthorns.

The Valthorns had many practice rounds against flying foes, and I used my dream academy to give them more practice and dream - battle experience against aerial foes. Many of them woke up sweating and needed a separate dream for them to rest.

Dream academy allowed me more control over the contents of the dream, though it was still just a set of parameters I could control. I didnÆt even know what exactly they saw in those dreams, until recently.

Because Tree - Over - Mind allowed me to gain an insight to the effects of dream academy , the two abilities essentially allowed me to view the dreams in almost real time. There was still a small time lag, but I could see how each and every Valthorn had a slightly different variation of the dream. The dreams itself tapped into their minds to bring up the desired effect.

Now, could I essentially stitch their dreams together into a mini - matrix?

- Patreeck? -

- Possible, but I believe that will take up a lot of processing power. But it can be done. I think I can put about thirty people together. -

- Great! - Dreams had always been personalized. It was time to go full mini - matrix and inception on my Valthorns. - Now, is it possible to create a time dilation effect, such that the dreams feel longer than the actual elapsed time? -

- That would require some kind of super stimulant into their brains, Master. - Patreeck was frank. - Not my area of specialty, but I believe it should be possible to create a sap or chemical that increases brain activity and thus allow them to process more within the same period of time. -

So, when I called Yura , some of the Valthorns herbalists and druids, and the senior Valthorns for a meeting, they were rather strange.

- That sounds like something quite dangerous, A/ , - a senior herbalist responded. - There are some herbs and spices that supercharge the mind, but they tend to leave one feeling exhausted subsequently and can be addictive. -

Wait. This sounded like dealing in drugs.

- I thought Kavio had some of those. uh. relaxants, - a druid casually said, and the other druids glared at him. - Oh, never mind. -

- Procure them for me, - I declared. Maybe I could use them differently or administer their effects differently. I already had psychedelic dreams . What could go wrong with another different kind of drug - like ability?

It was really the dream, I believed, to invent that medical superdrug that significantly heightened oneÆs senses and mind. Nootropics, or smart drugs.

- Perhaps the easier method is to suppress all the other forces that prevent learning and levelling, Master, - Patreeck suggested. - Maybe we can try with just. experimenting with a dying man and just maintain their mind. -

- Oh. - To do my own brain - in - the - jar experiment. Would a brain - in - the - jar gain levels? Was it still living? Could it hold a soul if its entire body was artificially supported?

And what point, if we removed a body, would the body and soul part ways? Like, if I just kept the head and the body, would the soul still stay around? Which organ was necessary, and which wasnÆt?

- A/ , may I enquire what this is for? - Faris asked. - Obtaining these herbs can be a rather troublesome thing. -

- I donÆt see why. Am I not above the law of the land? -

- Ah, that is true, but as it is, the planting and cultivation of such herbs are outlawed and most nobles forcibly destroy them due to their damaging effects on societal productivity. -

- Then can you just send it to me instead of destroying them? -

- Indeed, but most nobles would want to know what is being done to them. -

- Have the nobles deliver it to me personally, then. I need no more than a few samples to complete my analysis. -

- I will say it is for analysis, then? -

- Yes. That is fine. - I noticed FarisÆs mind was still turning. Certain herbs were dangerous, especially for nobles. Some herbs had been used to incapacitate, poison, or weaken nobles, and many nobles viewed such herbs as a threat, so they had been firmly destroyed. It was due to its effects on the mind, bordering on mind control that scared the nobles. So throughout the world there had been numerous movements pushing for the destruction of such herbs, and even till today, there were noble - groups dedicated to eradicating these mind - drugs.

It was said the origins of the movement started after the emperor or a large empire was drugged and mind - controlled by his concubines. It was only when the children and princes rebelled, confronted, and the emperor was finally on his knees that they realized the extent of the concubines mind control.

Since then, nobles everywhere had been extremely wary of new types of herbal substances. Of course, there was an opposing movement, those who used these drugs to supplement their own abilities. But they did so quietly.

- Jasmine, can you help me locate these substances? Since itÆs hidden, I would need your eyes and ears. -

- Certainly, Master. -

More kingdoms capitulated and changed sides. TheyÆd realized that the four temples were not backing down from their blockade and that the divine edict meant the priests and templars would enforce the blockade with much greater attention.

By now, more than two - thirds of the kingdoms on the continent had formally switched sides, including many of the Harrisan splinter - kingdoms. They were still squabbling and fighting smaller wars with each other, but they were now all formally FFA - aligned nations. It was kind of like IÆd become this massive umbrella for all of these little countries, since there were no benefits from staying loyal to the temples.

This merely strained the load on the School of Treeology further. Already, it was difficult to coordinate my artificial minds and the priests; I couldnÆt train priests fast enough. The ten patriarchs and matriarchs were overloaded with administering the School of Treeology, and with thousands of young priests and priestesses undergoing training, it was really tough.

I tried to assist by appointing more A/ ic Senior Priests to help with the management of the Treeology school.

- Actually, A/ , maybe we should be given some time to, uh, use our skills in a non - school setting, - a patriarch actually prayed one day and said.

- Oh? You have not been doing that? -

- All ten of us have been working on the Treeology school ever since it started. -

I paused and considered the issue. Indeed, itÆd been some time since then.

- Many of us have abilities and powers, and though we labor hard at work in the school and Freshka, we do dream of visiting our new allies. -

I agreed. So first, I pulled together the senior priests and those that had performed well. I defined performing well as those that were able to train new priests to a high level and guide them, or priests who were able to perform their social tasks and convert large groups to my cause, without relying too much on material rewards and lies. Even doing this assessment took a month, but eventually I appointed five more Patriarchs and Matriarchs.

This time, three of them were treefolk, one was a centaur, and one was a human.

With the appointment of five more, I then implemented a rotational shift. Five of fifteen Patriarchs would be travelling to spread the faith on two - year shifts. That meant, over the course of six years, all fifteen Patriarchs and Matriarchs would have had their stint in the field. Like my young nobles, these experienced priests also needed to stretch their legs and see how things were in the lands outside. Things may have changed.

On the side of the FTC, weÆd increased the admittance to the college. With more new allied kingdoms, it was important that they showed some proof of their alliance. So, essentially, sending their young children to the FTC, so far away from their home kingdoms, was meant to be this act of trust. It was also leverage.

At the same time, weÆd expanded recruitment of instructors from all these new allied nations, too, to cater to a growing student population. Freshka, the capital of the Freshlands, was a large university town home to three large educational and training institutions.

Once this whole setup stabilized, I intended to set up satellite campuses and branch campuses for the School of Treeology and FTC, like how Valthorns had mini bases throughout the Freshlands and my allied kingdoms.

The Valthorns, being a military wing, always had multiple forward bases for attacks into the Rottedlands or various peacekeeping and social order assignments. These were centered around a main Giant Attendant Tree , a relic of my earlier New Freeka days. The Valthorns always had Giant Trees as forward bases. They also acted as recruitment centers and training centers, for orphanages that were previously under the Valthorns and Valtorn OrderÆs jurisdiction.

It was ironic. Not long ago, in the days of New Freeka, I told kings and royalty no special privileges and no special area.

Now, I even set up an entire school to brainwash - sorry, re - educate - their children. Maybe some hero from my world would notice that this entire college setup was nothing more than a glorified luxury - grade reeducation and rehabilitation center.

I supposed life, even in a world of magic, had a way of playing tricks.

Still, the presence of so many young nobles and their entourage brought incredible economic vibrancy to Freshka. Various shops and merchants set up branches and offices to cater to their every whim; luxury restaurants, luxury goods, tutors and trainers, blacksmiths and craftsmen, all made good money serving young nobles looking to impress and show off to each other.

It was also a good way to stimulate the flow of money and trade from these faraway nations to the Freshlands, as these faraway kings and queens would have to send stipends, pay for sustenance, and pay for their servants.

Sending money through such long distances in the age of magic still required a network of merchants, people who were willing to trade goods, and so on. Often, merchants would make arrangements to sell goods to kingdoms, and the merchants also acted as their means to remittance agents.

At times, it was amusing to read the thoughts of these young nobles. At other times, it was just grating.

Still, a school life for the rich and powerful emerged, along with their attendants. Along with it came clubs and little fraternities. Some were on racial lines, like a club for human nobles, a club for elven nobles, a club for treefolks. Most of the smaller, less common races formed a combined club of their own.

Also, I made Thordrock as vice chancellor of the FTC, despite his rather shaky loyalties. I needed someone now, while I still trained my pipeline of future chancellors, and gave him a set of guidelines to follow. I rather liked his pitch about unity of the Central Continent.

IÆd also put him through a few trips to dream academy . I had hoped to merge his classes together, but instead he just unlocked an additional Tutor class. ItÆd take a while, I supposed.

Still, he really did start on the whole booze - and - wine appreciation and tolerance classes. There were even booze, wine, and whiskey clubs, and it seemed battle lines were drawn. The wine - club members had nobles from more conservative old families and would view the other two as uncultured; the whiskey club seemed to be more urban - wealth, comprising the children of many lords and kings from major trading hubs; while the booze club was more of the rest.

I supposed I added to the fire when we challenged all three clubs to make the best herbal - infused alcoholic liquor: herbal beer, herbal wines, and herbal whiskeys.

As the year drew to the end, the demon kingÆs destruction of the Eastern Continent continued. The demon king resembled a large, twin - headed demon-dragon with two massive wings, and it had a wide range of elemental attacks.

LaufenÆs still asking for more news on Lozanna , but we didnÆt have many informants, and Lozanna Æs not contacting us.

But I still sensed my connection to the Possession of the Devoted and the drain on my star mana . So she was alive. The key was really avoiding the demon king. As long as she continued to stay away from the demon king, sheÆd be fine.

I told Laufen that much, that I still sensed her presence and that my familiar was still connected to her.

For now, the demon kingÆs mostly wrecking the Eastern Continent. Where the hell were the heroes? Maybe the heroes would be summoned in the Eastern Continent, too?

Or would that be a bad thing, for them to be summoned there and face a full - powered demon king, when they were under - leveled?

But if they spawned outside of the Eastern Continent, would the demon king follow them? Or maybe it couldnÆt see them when they were still low - leveled, like how the earlier heroes managed to dodge the demon king.

- IÆm betting next year, - Yura said. - Maybe the gods havenÆt got ready yet. -

I didnÆt see why they needed to wait so long. They didnÆt have to summon new heroes for forty years; surely some of their power recharged. That was speculation on my part, of course, that gods needed to have their powers recharged. It was entirely possible that their powers worked in weird ways.

58

YEAR 138

Ten heroes were summoned. Immediately, I told my artificial minds to look for them. If they spawned anywhere on the Central Continent, I wanted to be the first to know. This time, the ten heroes were new, and I wanted to play a bigger role in molding them as my spear and as my shield. If they survived, they would be my future allies and would supply me with more Titan Souls .

It took a few days, but it was Trent who spotted a strange - looking young lady fleeing from the Rottedlands. She appeared as hybrids chased her. After she ran past the line of trees, beetles emerged to fight off the hybrids. These beetles were assigned to protect the trade routes from the hybrids incursions.

- This is the suspect, Master. - Trent quickly highlighted the presence of the young lady in recognizable Earth - like clothing. She wore a dress and had a watch. She was panting. This was nostalgic, somewhat.

I quickly asked Yura , Edna, and Faris to go meet her and bring her back here.

- Who are you people? - she asked when she saw elves and centaurs approach her.

- WeÆre from the Valtorn Order, a military organization of the Freshlands. - Yura smiled, putting up his best diplomatic face. - WeÆve been asked to escort you back to Freshka, our capitol. ItÆs a much safer place than this outpost on the Rottedlands Highway. -

- What if I say no? -

- We canÆt stop you, and we wonÆt take you by force. But I can promise you that we wonÆt harm you. IÆm sure you are confused and lost, and this is too much to take in. -

Those words suddenly made her cry. She was hungry, tired, and all that.

- WeÆll feed you and help you. A bath, some new clothes and equipment, too, if you need it, - Yura said. Both Edna and Faris stared at him. They were not stupid, and they quickly realized this lady was a hero.

She soon agreed. During the trip back to the capital, Yura stayed next to her and ensured she was properly fed and cared for. She had a lot of questions, and Yura answered some, but for quite a few of them, Yura answered, - I understand you have a lot of questions, but IÆm afraid I donÆt know enough to answer them. Our master and spiritual leader, A/ , will take your questions. -

It made her slightly suspicious, but the express beetle - ride brought her back from the Rottedlands Highway to Freshka in under a week. During the trip, she was amazed at how the scenery changed once they got out of the Rottedlands. Vast lands of green, cities, and people of all races and species.

Then Freshka itself. We housed her in a special building deep in the Valthorns fortress in Freshka. It was a standalone building, purpose built to accommodate future heroes. I envisioned that I would require such places a while back, so with HarrisÆs help from back then, we built a place tailor - made for reincarnated or isekai - ed heroes. That meant magical items that resembled familiar, Earth - like equipment, like microwave ovens that operated on magical heating stones, hot showers, spring mattresses, and a decor that resembled Earth.

She cried for a moment and quickly jumped on the mattress. She slept for half a day.

- So. where are you taking me? -

- Our spiritual leader. -

She frowned. They brought her to a temple within the Valthorns fortress itself, surrounded by multiple Tree of Prayers . In it thereÆs a Giant Attendant Tree .

- You will hear a voice in your head once you step inside. - Yura nodded. The tree had a meeting room, but essentially, it was me and her.

- Hello, - I said to the girl. Her leg immediately buckled, and she quickly sat on one of the chairs in the room. I could read her thoughts; they were a mess. - Are you one of the reincarnated heroes? -

She paused. - No. - She said her name was Astia, but PatreeckÆs mind reading soon revealed her real name was Stella.

Huh. She didnÆt trust me, I supposed. - ItÆs not good to lie. Your foreign attire and that watch on your wrist gave your otherworldly origins away. -

She panicked. - Okay, yes. -

- Are you alone? -

- Yes. I think those that came with me. they are far away. - Wait. I just noticed she looked a bit older than the previous generation of heroes. She was in her early twenties, though she did look really young for some reason. She seemed to be working in a school, saving money for college.

- Did you get a divine blessing? -

- . sort of. -

- Sort of? -

- See. uhm. when I died, I wasnÆt meant to be in the bus. - At those words, I suddenly felt a sense of dread wash over me. Was Astia like me? An accident? - He said that I was collateral damage, but somehow I had enough merit to be reincarnated in this world with some benefits. -

So where were the heroes? And great - the gods were biased. Was I really such a piece of shit that they made me a tree?

- He said that things will be hard at first, but IÆll be okay if I survive. - Stella sat on the chair. - But he gave me a blessing. Late Bloomer . -

Really funny, admins, really funny.

- I still donÆt know what it does. - She sipped on the tea. I always had tea for guests. It was a thing, and it helped to calm my guests down, make them talk a bit more. - But I was told by Yura , that you can answer my questions? So, uh, what the hell is happening? Can I go home? -

- To the best of my knowledge, you have to die to go home. Not guaranteed, - I answered plainly.

She instantly frowned and almost cried. - Where am I? -

- Well, youÆre in a world with demons and heroes. A demon king appeared recently, and so the heroes, those kids you saw on the vehicle, they are the heroes. -

- No. Go back a step. Is this a game? -

- No. As far as I know, this is real, and youÆve died and now you have been brought here. - She was starting to annoy me.

- Then why am I still in this same human - ish body? CanÆt I get reincarnated as something else? Also, is it better to just die and go back? - she said, but I thought her last question was meant for herself.

- Do you have a class, young lady? -

- I got one while running away. Scout Level 1. - She wasnÆt lying. She didnÆt get the Hero class, either. Scout was an average class, though it did lead to pretty good upgrades.

- Do you get to choose your class, Astia? -

- No. I just. got it. I can say no, though. - Hmm, the fact that she didnÆt get to choose her class, like most of the other mortals, indicated that she really wasnÆt a hero. In fact, it was because the lack of direct choice in classes that class seeds were valuable. Most mortals and locals had to keep doing a particular ability and pray the system somehow granted their desired class to them. The ability to get a particular class just by eating a fruit was really awesome.

That said, for the common classes, the system was very generous and had been seen to grant them out frequently. - Do you want your class? -

- Uh. yeah. -

- YouÆre not a hero, and as far as I know, there are no ways of going back unless you die. So the question is what do you want to do in this world? -

Astia sat and couldnÆt answer. - I donÆt know, really. ItÆs not like I had the time to figure out what I want to do with my life when IÆm running from weird monsters. Now IÆm talking to a big magical tree that speaks to me in my head. I know nothing at this point, so how can I even decide? -

Ah, the lost soul. How quaint. It was certainly annoying that those who did not have the godÆs blessings were lost and clueless. Those who were heroes were driven by divine compulsion.

- Well, ask away. IÆll try to answer what I can, then perhaps you can think of where you want to go? -

- Can I be a god? - Astia asked immediately. - Then I can open a portal home? -

- Possible. - The Domain - type skills seemed to suggest that was very possible.

- Do you know what kind of magic brought me here? -

- No. But if I were to guess, divine - magic. As far as I know, only the gods can send someone so far. -

- As far as you know. - Astia sat. - How long will I live? -

- Without magic, your mortality is unchanged. With magic, maybe up to three hundred to five hundred years. -

- Can I get classes based on what I know back home? -

- Possible. In fact, you should certainly try it. The heroes generally get classes from the gods, with little choice of their own. - I was honestly giving a tip.

- Then I want to be a master chef , - she said. - I want to eat good food and make good food, and I want a restaurant. IÆm gonna be more famous than Gordon f - ing Ramsay. -

Uh.

- Then IÆm gonna have a restaurant that travels the world, and then, IÆm gonna have a magical door that leads me back home. -

Uh. - I certainly applaud your imagination. -

- IÆm joking. - She sagged, her boost to high energy vanishing abruptly. - I donÆt know what I want, actually. How many classes can I get? -

- Humans generally can have up to six active classes, but IÆm not sure whether that applies for otherworlders like yourself. Perhaps you can get more. -

- Since IÆm not a hero, will you still feed me and let me stay here? -

Good question. I did intend for the housing to be designed for heroes, but here was an Earther who wasnÆt a hero. Kind of like me. Possible, of course.

- IÆm really stuck here, arenÆt I? And I was just looking forward to college. -

Hmm. YÆknow what? - We have three schools here. The Valthorn Military Academy, the School of Treeology, and the Freshlands Treetiary College. -

- Seriously? - The girl frowned and then laughed. - Sorry. Those are quite stupid names. CouldnÆt help myself. -

. never mind. - If you are interested, IÆll ask one of the Valthorns to give you a tour. I mean, would you rather be outside? -

- Okay. - She perked up. - But I think IÆll just go to the academy and the Treetiary College. Being a priestess is so. ugh. -

I would later discover that my teaÆs effects on her behavior was a lot more pronounced than I had expected.

- I heard from A/ that youÆre not a hero, - Edna said quite plainly, and Astia just paused. - I didnÆt know that was possible. To think the gods could err, some of the templars would kill you the moment they know about you. -

AstiaÆs face paled.

- But worry not, as of this moment, everyone thinks you are a hero, and IÆve been designated as your bodyguard and guide. - Edna shrugged.

- Oh. IÆm. IÆm sorry for causing you such trouble. - AstiaÆs emotions suddenly crashed.

Edna paused. She wasnÆt expecting that response. - Ah. - There was a period of silence, both of them didnÆt say a word, but eventually Edna had to do her job. - HereÆs some protective charms and items. This is a defensive shield ring, and this is an anti - poison weapon. This is a small druid summoning charm that calls for animals nearby to come to your aid. -

Astia still looked apologetic. - ItÆs all right if you donÆt want to help me. -

Edna ignored it. - These charms are not powerful, but they will keep you alive if something happens. -

- Really. ItÆs all right. - Was she emotionally all right?

- LetÆs go on the tour. -

- I donÆt want to go now. -

Edna paused. - . sorry? -

- I want to just stay here. -

Edna was told not to push her too hard, so she shrugged and just let her sit there. I told her to send her back to me for a little trip into the biolab .

Astia, or Stella, had a normal physique, at least from what little I could see, but it was clear within a few weeks of her stay in Freshka that she was, at random triggers, suddenly turned emotionally unstable and had episodes of depressive behavior. The tea helped to make her calm and seemingly normal for a while, but then it would later cause an emotional crash.

I had thought I could send her to one of the colleges, but then. I thought she needed something else.

I didnÆt quite know how to help her.

The locals generally had rather positive mental outlook; they were quite hardy and seem to be able to take some degree of abuse and suffering. So it was possible to use my powers to make them stronger. Those who were young had been constantly guided by the influence of my trees and my energies, so the degree of correction I needed to do for those exposed to me usually were minor.

For Astia, my issue was that. I feared that directly interfering with her mind or lacing her with all kinds of drugs and saps or using dreams to change her would possibly be counterproductive or trigger other kinds of issues. She seemed rather far off base that I wasnÆt sure whether my usual means of alteration would work.

It was like trying to mentally correct a bloodmage.

Still, I placed a Tree of Prayer near where she lived and ensured that the effects of the calming trees drained away the erratic elements of her behavior, and even then, they seemed to flare up unpredictably.

With the locals, it was like steering a ship and charting a course from the day it set sail from the harbor. With Astia, I discovered a ship stranded at sea and all of its navigational equipment confused and probably broken.

I summoned my council for a discussion.

- To be fair, A/ , someone with such an attitude or emotional weakness would have died. This is not a nice world, and if the otherworlders hesitate, dillydally, or are weak, I believe itÆs quite clear that the monsters, the demons, or just those less pleasant will get to them first. They either become strong or die. - Yvon had the most dire of assessments.

I wondered how sheÆd made it out of the Rottedlands. Adrenaline?

- This sounds like a city - disease, the malaise of the large capital cities, - one of the Patriarchs explained. - She needs faith, more than anything else. Perhaps she also needs to spend more time in the company of the faithful, and some time alone with nature. Through faith, and through being one with nature, one can heal oneÆs soul. - It was a soul - disease, in a way. But was I trivializing depression and emotional disorder to say it was a soul - disease? The priest may have a point; there were multiple ways one could achieve a step out, or at least, make an improvement.

I needed a psychologist and a psychiatrist. Or at least someone I could consult who had a more modern perception and understanding of this issue. They may sound sensible, but who knew whether their suggestions may be counterproductive?

I was essentially trying to deal with modern problems, but with magic and skills. I may get it very, very wrong.

- Are you. trying to make me better? - Astia asked randomly.

I paused, and it was then I could read her jumbled mess of thoughts. - No. Not really. Just trying to understand whatÆs happening. -

- Good. Everyone thinks they can make me better. -

Astia fidgeted and moved about.

- But maybe I donÆt want to get better. -

She was stuck in a hole, and she thought she didnÆt want to get out.

Meanwhile, the devastation in the Eastern Continent continued. Though the heroes had been summoned, our weakening contacts seemed to suggest that they spawned on the other continents instead. If the demon king started moving, it may pass by the Central Continent, and that would be bad for me.

The demon king, the twin - headed dragon - demon, seemed content to dominate the Eastern Continent. Lozanna , thankfully, still lived. I could still sense her, however distant she was.

We didnÆt know what was happening with the heroes, with our intelligence network crumbling. It was hard to feed and pay for informants when all trade was blocked behind a blockade.

The navies of the four temples were still relentless, though quite a bit of Gawa and Aivan ships had returned to the Eastern Continent.

My next project should be to build a naval force able to break out of this encirclement. In a way, this was the four temples, the existing global powers, attempting to curtail my rise to power. On the Central Continent itself there were a few large naval or maritime kingdoms, and they suffered greatly from the reduction of trans - ocean trade.

So it wasnÆt difficult to sway them on my side. They were weak, and now, weÆre going to commission them to build a new fleet of ships. The Valthorns had to quickly move there to set up a mini - naval academy.

Fighting at sea, running a ship. All these things were very new to the Valthorns, who never had any experience fighting at sea. It seemed I, too, had very little experience of my own, though, from the process of harvesting the souls of the dead, there was a decently sized repository of knowledge.

That was all conventional warfare, fighting the wars the same way the temples did.

At the same time, I was thinking, how can I do this navy thing differently?

Would it be possible to build walker - class battleships, with long - range bombardment abilities or large living ships that hosted a swarm of flying beetles or animals, like a mini - aircraft carrier?

Essentially, the navy must act as a limb, a means of force projection, to bring the battle back to the four temples homelands. In the same way, they could be used to push and suppress demonic forces in distant lands.

Or could I have floating trees? Living, floating islands like a massive zaratan?

I would like to find turtles massive enough to carry my trees. Turtle - trees would be like amphibious carriers, wouldnÆt they?

Was I contributing to the escalation? The locals escalated this war with the hexbombs. The demons retaliated with long - range bombardment cannons. Now we had flying demon-drakes. The next step should therefore be more long - range weaponry and space - based weapons. Or mobile sea - fortresses able to punch through the blockade and keep it open?

But even if I broke the blockade, the countries outside, on those other continents, they would refuse to trade with me.

What could I offer them, with me being so far away, that could sway their views? A big gun?

Once I did have a large naval fleet, would I be able to force them to open up, gunboat - diplomacy style?

In this game of magical geopolitics, was peace ever an option? A big gun was necessary, even if just to force them to the discussion table.

59

YEAR 139

The heroes made the journey to the Eastern Continent. This was propaganda, at least.

- Miss Stella, oh great, youÆre there! Where are you? Are you all right? - one of the heroes asked via a long - range spell, some kind of secured messaging spell service.

Astia, or Stella, was surprised, but she somehow quickly put on a face. - Oh, nice to see you again, Tom. How are you? - At this point, PatreeckÆs mind reading revealed more information. She knew most of the kids that died with her! She was an administrative assistant at the teenagers school! She was acting the role of the nice, supporting administrative teaching assistant.

- IÆm. uh, IÆm good. I think. -

- Are all of you together? - I could sense her forcing herself to make this conversation.

- Oh, uh. some of us are in the Southern Continent, and some of us are here in the North. But weÆre all planning to meet in the Eastern Continent. WeÆre heroes, after all, so weÆve got to do what we came here to do. -

- ThatÆs good. -

- Miss Stella, Miss Stella, actually we just wanted to check whether youÆre okay. I mean, uh. after that time with the gods, we, uh, parted ways. Where are you, Miss Stella? -

- IÆm actually in the Central Continent, in the city of Freshka. -

- The Cursed Continent? Are you sure itÆs safe? Are they doing something dangerous or harmful? I hear they eat children there! - the heroes quickly said.

Ah shit. What kind of propaganda had the temples been feeding the heroes?

Stella smiled. I could sense she was forcing herself to do it, but she was also quite good at acting.

- Really? -

- Yeah! You should get out of there! - the heroes said. - ItÆs not safe for you. -

- Oh. - Stella pretended she didnÆt understand the problem. - I feel maybe IÆm in a safe part of town. I should be fine. Where are all of you going? Are you safe? -

- WeÆre fine. WeÆre going to fight the demon king, and we have all these powers. WeÆve been fighting some regular monsters for a while, and weÆre strong! -

- Ah. Is that so? Good luck. -

- Okay! Take care, Miss Stella. WeÆll come and get you once this is all over. -

- All right. Goodbye. -

Astia breathed a sigh of relief once the magical videocall faded. She quickly curled up back in her bed. That act of hers consumed quite a bit of her mental energy, and she needed a nap. How she even managed to hold a job at a school was still a strange thing to me.

The quality of news we received from the other continents steadily declined. WeÆre just getting generic news snippets, propaganda, and such. Things that we could gather from a typical inn or tavern.

The heroes arrived in the Eastern Continent after a month - long magically assisted journey and began fighting the flying demons.

By now, rumor said the Eastern Continent had lost 50 percent of its population to the demonic attacks, and another 20 percent had been driven into hiding, living in underground networks. Again, really? Was this propaganda?

- ItÆs not really our problem, is it? - the nobles of the Central Continent said in a meeting. We formed another council of sorts. Personally, IÆd like to call them the Nation of Tree - Friends, but they were not actually friends, just temporary allies due to targeted abandonment and neglect by the four temples.

- If the demon king stays on the Eastern Continent, thatÆs good for us. We have our own problems to deal with, and now with the blockade, thereÆs even less reason for us to care. TheyÆve targeted us, so why should we volunteer any assistance? -

A fair sentiment, one which I felt for. Some of the nobles delighted in the fact that the demon king kept its domination on the Eastern Continent. They felt like this was punishment for their actions.

- When the Central Continent faced demon kings, did the other continents extended their aid? The nations that did, I can count them, less than my branches! - a treefolk noble complained. Treefolk nobles were strange existences; they resembled mini - treants, and they were quick to switch allegiances to me once it was clear that the temples no longer wanted to help them. A strange moment of speciesist behavior, even if itÆs in my favor. - So, let the Eastern Continent burn. I feel for the period, but the decisions of the rulers have consequences. -

Was this what it felt like to watch a terrible war unfolding across the sea? It was a bit like me watching an attack on foreign soil on television. It wasnÆt my problem. Too bad for them and served them right.

ItÆd been a few years since the FTC started, and we finally had the first batch of graduates. It took a little longer than expected, but the star student was a young noble from the northern part of the Central Continent. A young mixed dwarven man, he started the program as a level three Lordling and ended the course with level nineteen Lord , level six Knight , and level ten Merchant . A good start, and the growth was pretty good for four to five years worth of work. Especially the Lord class, which had conditions of the student doing ruling things, like making decisions about the land and development.

Still, I wondered how the experience seed worked when one had multiple classes? Did the level go to the class that they wanted? The experience seed clearly was overpowered in the sense that it gave a guaranteed level up, regardless of levels. Which was why IÆd been hoarding it forever.

The drawback, of course, was that levels didnÆt always cover the weaknesses of real battlefield experience.

Anyway, back to the young dwarven lord. As promised, I granted him a special class seed, a Trade Lord class, a merger for Lord and Merchant class. If he took it, it would almost guarantee the merger of the two classes. He could, of course, give it to someone else in the family, and that person would start with level one Trade Lord .

The dwarf ate it immediately, despite his familyÆs objections. There was some complicated family tussle for power in the background, something I didnÆt care for. It was a typical useless - son - suddenly - excelling - in - life - and - now - family - wants - to - claim - his - success. He was, in other words, the fourth son who the parents thought was going to be a spare - of - spares and was now doing well.

After his graduation, he approached Kavio and the Freshkan councils.

- IÆd like to work for the council and manage land on Freshlands behalf, instead of attending to my familyÆs holdings. -

They couldnÆt decide, since matters of land assignment, especially new lands, were usually my prerogative. I approved a small parcel. It was a rough, recently reclaimed piece of land, with hardly any population. This young lord would have to lead and build it from scratch, but he seemed to take it positively.

This very act, though, seemed to have stimulated the appeal for the Freshlands Treetiary College amongst the younger sons and daughters outside the regular line of succession. A chance, by merit, to earn their own lands on top of other existing ways of being a knight, achieving merit in combat, and have the king award some new piece of land.

I supposed I made the family drama worse, but some internal competition was always necessary.

- ItÆs a shit job, - Edna said to Faris. The group of upgraded classers had some sort of a monthly drinking session. It was quite a big group.

Faris just shrugged. - She clearly isnÆt normal, though. The things she knows are very strange. -

- Thank goodness I can rotate with the other Grand Knights . IÆll go nuts if I stay with her too long. -

- Is A/ giving her some. uh. herbs? I heard the Patriarch tried using some skills on her, but that didnÆt seem to really work. -

Edna said, - SheÆs. like a child. Sometimes. -

- YouÆre not older than her, though. She looks about the same age as you, - Faris teased. - But yes, I get what you mean. -

- SheÆs. like someone whoÆs afflicted with a curse or magical trauma. The kind youÆve seen when something really bad happened. But itÆs different, - Edna complained over a mug of beer. They were both approaching their early thirties now, and were good friends, because both of them were first - generation upgraded classers.

- What does A/ want to do with her? - Faris asked. - Did A/ tell you? Or is it just babysitting because sheÆs from the same world as the heroes? -

Edna shrugged. Lovis, the spearmaster , just nodded. - IÆd never imagine that the gods could summon someone who wasnÆt a hero. -

Luckily, this was the Valthorns private bar, deep within the Valthorns keep. Everyone here was a Valthorn. - Indeed. More so if itÆs an accident. - Edna sighed. - She herself said her presence in this world was an accident of the gods. -

- Gods can make mistakes, too. - Faris shrugged.

- I wonder whether thatÆll get included into the Tome of A/ ic Commandments that the Pentadecarches are compiling. -

The group of upgraded classers collectively groaned. - If you donÆt mind me being absolutely honest, thatÆs honestly the biggest piece of ass - kissing IÆve ever seen attempted, - one of the Grand Knights present said.

- What else do priests do, other than sing praises of the deity? - Lovis retorted. - Just smile and nod and we laugh at the way they venerate A/ ? -

- Is that what the outer circle nations are saying? - Edna asked. The Valthorns internally categorized the neighbors into circles, in the same way trees had rings. The Freshlands itself was the Heart, the immediate neighbors the inner - circle nations, and those further out, the outer - circle nations. Again, it was an academic exercise; there were many, many ways to slice and dice the classifications of nations and their relationship with us. One could use race to quickly make classifications, too. For example, the treefolk nations, however small they were, had a far higher natural loyalty to the Freshlands than the rest of the nations. This was simply because the treefolks, whenever they were in the presence of the Tree of Prayer , or any of my trees, could quickly sense my power flowing through the ground, and so they did not doubt the extent of my powers. On the other hand, the human nations were a lot more wary, since they had a longer history of believing in the four temples.

A familiar visitor came. She even had the scythe. The Druidhunter .

- We meet again, A/ . - Leithia was an old lady, now in her nineties, but to me, she looked like she had not changed much in the past forty years; most likely because of the influence of her class, her aging was slower. She was the executioner of the Hutan Council. The Hutan Council was now a far smaller entity than they once were. Many of them died during that long period of the Rottedlands, and the growth of the Freshlands and Valthorns also gradually whittled down their influence to a much, much weaker self.

After all, with Faris, my Great Druid , and my group of upgraded druids, the Hutan Council no longer had a strong claim as the best place to learn the druidÆs craft.

She visited the Valthorns keep and was granted an audience with the Valthorns. They quickly sent her to a special area where I had a few Tree of Prayers . - I suppose itÆs strange, but. would you consider employing me? -

I thought about it briefly. - Yes. But not as a hunter, you shall be one of the Valthorns military trainers. -

She accepted.

Funny that our paths crossed again after decades.

- Glad to see you are still alive, executioner. - Yura smiled. - And the ages have been kind. You certainly donÆt seem like youÆve aged, unlike myself. -

- IÆm pleased that you still remember me, Counsel Yura . - Leithia bowed slightly. They sat in a small cafe in Freshka itself. - But thatÆs rich coming from an elf with a naturally long life. I believe I saw Councilor Yvon, as well? -

- SheÆs a principal now. - Yura sipped on tea. - And certainly. One must remember the person who waltzed into our town and killed four druids publicly. -

Leithia gave a gentle, grandmotherly smile.

- So, tell me of the Hutan Council. How have they fallen so far? To lose even their most feared executioner? -

- It followed the typical path, really. Greed, incompetence, arrogance, and overconfidence. - Leithia shrugged. - How could druids compete with a few great druids anyway? Even our most senior arch druid is but one person, and certainly the way of the druids in the Hutan is haphazard, messy, very much unlike the structure of the Valthorn. -

- Some would say such is the proper way of nature. I have heard that the Hutan says the way we train our druids is artificial. Quite like a farm, rather than the wilderness. -

- So they say. - Leithia nodded. - But in the face of the demon kings, a farmÆs speed is superior. The large number of competent druids they can churn out every year means the Valthorns can lose ten for every one we train. The archdruid may be a damned good druid, and I respect him for that, but he has failed to lead us through the constant, regular monsoon of the demons. -

- Then what brings you to join us? I heard from A/ that he agreed. -

- I may be old, but I, too, wanted to see for myself this blend of faith, institution, and might. They are times in legends of yore that individuals must recognize the men and the creatures that change the world. -

- I would never picture you as the kind that could be inspired by legends, executioner. - They both chuckled.

- Well. -

- Do you like what you see? -

- Too early to tell. -

Back at the Treetiary College, the commoners presence was now undisputed. However, there clearly was a large social gap between the noble - born children and the commoners that joined them.

This was because the Treetiary College was in function a tertiary college. There was a certain level of understanding that was implied, and for commoners, they lacked this baseline knowledge. Unlike the Valthorns, who were educated from young, and unlike the priesthood, where the priests themselves did the task of educating them on the ways of faith, the FTC went right into management, military affairs, and economics.

Quite a large bunch of the commoners who enrolled didnÆt even know how to write, so they couldnÆt even self - study if they wanted to. Most of them, as they were sponsored by the nobles, also had to run errands for the nobles, so the amount of studying time they had was actually very limited. Some didnÆt know things like mathematics and had limited knowledge of the world outside of their tasks.

When I opened up the slots for commoners as well, it seemed most of the nobles just nominated and sponsored their minders to help them. In some cases, some nobles appointed minders who knew how to read and write so that they could take notes. In most cases, though, the nobles generally just appointed either bodyguards who knew how to fight or just regular maids.

This wasnÆt the intention, of course. I wanted an administrative class. A bureaucracy.

These commoners struggled really hard. In a way, they reminded me of my friends who had to work full - time jobs and study part - time. Sure, there was some learning, but somehow it was just not as effective or immersive as a full - time education.

It didnÆt help that the trainers themselves were so used to educating nobles that some didnÆt even bother helping their fellow commoners.

So this gap in output also created and amplified the sense of superiority that the nobles had.

I had to intervene, so I quickly demanded that Thordrock added commoner - specific remedial classes meant to teach them the basics of reading, writing, language, and math, which he did.

As the year approached its end, I wondered whether the heroes were making progress. I hoped they were.

We honestly didnÆt have much information. The blockade was a pain, and the navy still needed more time. Building warships and training sea - capable soldiers was taking far longer than expected.

So what if we broke through the blockade?

If none of the other countries wanted to trade with us, what was the use of breaking through the blockade?

We needed a strategy that looked past that, so the first thing we needed was a way to communicate with the other kingdoms on all those continents. Some may be open to trade and communicating with us discreetly and ways to make trade happen.

Alternatively, if we did break through the blockade, we must have a naval force able to transport a sizable army to capture and hold a port on one of the other continents. Only from there we could then restore communications and our intelligence network.

On a fine day, near the end of the year.

Evans Lake has died. You received a fragment.

Agnes Ang has died. You received a fragment.

Soraya Mahmud has died. You received a fragment.

Uh. the heroes were not doing well, were they?

60

YEAR 140

My news about the heroes came mostly through eavesdropping on Stella. After the death of three heroes, they called her frequently, hoping to rely on her for mental support. Which was strange, because I could see Stella struggling, and she turned to alcohol and herbal remedies to cope.

Was I supporting a junkie?

Was I enabling her behavior by giving her things?

- Look, Astia. - I used her name; I didnÆt want her to know I was eavesdropping or reading her mind. - IÆll need you to earn some money. I canÆt keep supporting you like this, especially if youÆre not doing much other than mope around all day. -

I felt like a dad giving a talk. She nodded. - All right. what can I do? I, uh. I can teach, I suppose? Will that work? -

- No. Did you do any work in your past life? - I had to pretend I had no idea what her background was.

- I was, uh. an admin assistant. -

- All right, then you can do paperwork. The Freshlands Treetiary College needs someone to tabulate results, handle time schedules, and manage logistics. IÆll have you work on that. -

- Then my. uh. bodyguard? -

Good point. What sort of paperwork could be done by someone where they didnÆt need to interact with others?

- Research, - Trevor suggested. - She may assist with documentation of research results. -

I proposed this to Astia, and she made a trip to one of the biolabs . She quickly moped out of there.

- IÆm not doing this job. That lab is waay too scary. WhatÆs with all the beetle - limbs floating around in various green vats?! Even if IÆm not afraid, IÆll be too nervous to even work. -

I mentally sighed. - HowÆs your maths? -

- Average? -

- What are you good at? -

- Computers? They donÆt exist in this world, do they? -

- Can you do art? -

She paused. - I. could? -

- Then you will do paintings and design. The Valthorns will pass you the materials and requirements, and you can do posters and picture design. -

- Oh. Okay. -

Finally. She was average at the whole painting thing, but it was good enough for the Valthorns posters. She made a we want you poster as part of the regular Valthorn recruitment flyers. At the very least, she would be paid.

- Miss Stella. - Tom was on the magical call again.

- Oh, hi. - Stella was working in a painting studio on the next recruitment poster. She quickly put on a smile instead of her usual resting - bitch face.

- This demon king thing. itÆs really hard. - Tom sounded really depressed and sad. - But I keep hearing these voices to tell me to go on. I feel like my bodyÆs not listening to my mind. -

- Oh, dear, that sounds really bad. - If that was her attempt at empathy, I thought a certain car - show host could do better.

- I sometimes keep thinking of them, but somehow, I couldnÆt remember. ItÆs so weird. - Tom cried and wept. Then he looked like he had one of those mind - attacks again.

Stella didnÆt know how to react. She wasnÆt good at this kind of thing. So she said nothing.

Tom suddenly woke up as if it never happened, and the conversation went elsewhere. - WeÆre all about level seventy to eighty now, but weÆre still not good enough for the demon king. We kept fighting its larger demonic dragons, but so many people are dying. -

Stella was silent, almost like a statue.

- WeÆre going to try, though. So many people depend on us to slay the demon king. - That sounded so familiar. At some point, all these heroes really, really sounded the same. I wondered whether IÆd ever meet a hero that could resist the influence of the gods. That would be something, I thought. The powers of a hero, yet without their influence.

- Good luck. - Stella forced it out of her mouth, and somehow she managed to smile.

- Thanks, Miss Stella. Hang in there already. WeÆll come and get you once we slay the demon king. - They somehow turned positive again, as if they were entirely different persons. Stella noticed it, of course, but she didnÆt say a word. In her mind, the first thing wasnÆt godÆs influence, but instead, did Tom have bipolar disorder?

There were about ten seagoing kingdoms building new warships, ships that we hoped to use someday, to break the blockade. The Valthorns Naval Academy was new, and though I had the ability to bestow Captain , Admiral , Pirate , or Privateer classes, there was a huge body of knowledge about navigation, about logistics of a navy, which we took and adapted from the existing maritime kingdoms.

With intercontinental trade absolutely dried up, some of the merchants had turned to piracy. This was especially true in the nations further away, where my eyes were limited. This created a negative feedback loop, since piracy increased the cost of business and made the business of merchants even more unviable, which drove even more sailors and captains into piracy.

I met many pirates. More like IÆd spied on many pirates; many of them were just plain criminals. They wanted money. Some were driven down a path of desperation and couldnÆt get out of piracy.

The Valthorns were stretched thin, especially the upgraded classers. I had about one hundred upgraded classers, but the Central Continent had many more kingdoms. So the Valthorns had to travel from place to place, and I could not focus all of my classers to take out the pirates. It also didnÆt help that some of the pirates were quite high level, in their level fifties, so they could easily be a match for the younger upgraded classers who got their classes not so long ago.

I needed to strengthen the elite much more.

Still, IÆd reclaimed close to 40 percent of the Rottedlands, except for that magically combustive space where the last demon king perished. The swirling vortex was difficult to tame, and it kept destroying all the trees that I placed. The magical energies were something else. I thought my forest rod could be useful, but it had a small area of effect, so it must be placed in the heart of the vortex to work.

So, over the past few years, I made small steps toward the core. I tried to tunnel beneath the ground and discovered that the magical vortex extended even underground. In short, whatever that was left in the middle created a spherical spinning vortex.

That didnÆt stop me. Spinning vortexes, that was just like my soul forge. Not exactly a stranger.

So I set up multiple Giant Attendant Trees around it and gradually drained out the mana from the vortex and, at the same time, injected my own mana into the spinning vortex to neutralize the spin.

It was a slow process, since I couldnÆt slow it down immediately; that tended to cause a whiplash and a really strong mana - explosion that generally destroyed even my Giant Attendant Trees .

Still, this was a process that just took time. Eventually, I managed to diffuse and pacify the vortex. It just took a lot of mana.

Then we discovered the vortex had spawned a massive demon hybrid, from all the concentrated demonic and magical energy. It was not a pure demon, as it seemed like a Frankenstein - ish creature with limbs made from a hodgepodge of animals and seemed only lightly affected by my resistances. It was asleep, or at least inactive, up until the vortex was broken.

It woke up.

It was more powerful than a walker but less than a demon king. It had daemolite crystals all over its body and living flesh in other parts. It roared with its worm - like head that was a mix of organic teeth and daemolite.

If the gods that spawned monsters were experimenting, this seemed like it.

I immediately called on my Valthorns and my elites to intercept while I used my abilities to slow it down. I could tell it was working. a bit. It wasnÆt a pure demon, so it suffered less from my extensive anti - demon perks.

- A/ didnÆt say there was a monster inside?! -

There were already a small crew of Valthorn Elites when we cleared the vortex. But they were insufficient. It had three long tails made of a mix of tree roots and demonic spikes, each capable of independently attacking any nearby enemies.

I unleashed my root strikes, and it weakened it slightly. Then I used constrict . Constrict worked a lot better, since it had various mana - draining qualities. Still, it struggled and struggled. It broke free once.

Then I had to use my abilities again to bring it down. It struggled. It fought. I added more giant trees to the area to strengthen my abilities.

It weakened. Then it pulsed. It felt nostalgic.

It was going to explode.

I used more constrict and more steelwood barriers . I needed to drain away the core from exploding.

My vines and roots pierced its body, like tentacles attempting to reach a reactor core that was about to go off. I drained it of its mana, as much as I could take, and vented it out in the surroundings.

Patreeck and the artificial minds helped. More vines covered the body of the hybrid demon. It was still going to blow. I quickly told the Valthorns to retreat.

It blew up, but only a small explosion. The power behind the explosion was mostly drained away by my vines. The explosion didnÆt destroy everything.

What was left was a massive reddish crystal mixed with streaks of other colors.

Tainted Demon Crystal Core - A curious mix of demonic and native energies.

The center of where the Demon King fell reclaimed, there was daemolite in smaller quantities. Thankfully it didnÆt all ignite in a chain reaction when it blew up.

The crystal sat unused in my materials lab and magic. I had to run more experiments on it. It was an unstable magic core. It had a lot of potential, though. I just needed to figure out a way to use both of its energies simultaneously, since the crystal only released the blended version.

Could it be a color for my soul forge once IÆd managed to control it?

I placed it deep within my labs in the Valley of the Unrotten for further experiments.

The heroes fought the demons many times, and they were gaining levels. But it seemed that the demon king was still too strong for them.

Naveen Fraug has died. You received a fragment.

Ellen Ascas has died. You received a fragment.

Another two more died in the fight against the demon king.

- That was our fifth encounter with the demon king. Naveen and Ellen stayed back to delay the demon king so we could escape, - Tom said to Stella. - We wonÆt let their sacrifice be in vain. -

- It must be hard losing your friend. - Stella nodded.

- Yes. But weÆve come this far. WeÆre almost level one hundred now. I can feel that our victory is not far away. Some of us have unlocked our full star - mana powers. Once all of us do, weÆll take the fight back to the demon king. -

- I see. -

- Then weÆll come and find you and free you. -

- That wonÆt be necessary, Tom, - Stella said. - Enjoy yourself after the fight. I mean it. -

Stella didnÆt want to deal with them at all.

IÆd begun to see some slight benefits to the various schools, as I noticed some kingdoms setting up mini academies to train their noble children, a prep school before they were sent over to the FTC.

The commoner students also had some improvement, as I started to give them classes more liberally. Merchant , Knight , or Administrator basic classes, I gave them out to any commoner who wanted them, since these were common classes anyway. These generic classes helped them to cope with the various topics of administration, trade, and warfare.

Also, among the first generation of graduates, they created new trade routes and formed cooperation agreements, spearheaded by the Dwarven Trade Lord. It was, in many ways, what I wanted to see.

An FTC alumni created a network that would only grow with time. This was a necessary step to bypass the old ways of networking and introduction that relied on royal events and also religious gatherings.

Most graduates left the college with a favorable view of the Freshlands and me. That was important, because the initial goal was to strengthen the culture of the Freshlands. I needed the nobles to act as advocates of the Freshlands culture, and I believed they would come into conflict with the incumbent culture of the nobles, carried forward from the days when the temples ruled.

Still, this was the new wave, and the many of the savvy nobles were quick to get on my side. Really, culture was this strange thing; sometimes it could change quickly, sometimes really slowly. I wanted a cultural change that would stick in the continent as a whole.

The ones who felt the cultural change the most were the priests and the Valthorns. They ventured everywhere in the Central Continent to spread my cause, to carry out social work, to provide protection for soldiers and traders. They were unknown, then they were scorned, and now they got treated with respect.

As a whole, though, the Central Continent still had their conflicts. In a way, the Freshlands had become the Vatican, and I was both the pope and the god. The countries fought wars with each other, and IÆd ignored them so long they continued to profess loyalty and faith to the Freshlands. Of course, the Valthorns and our assets were pulled out from the participating countries.

There was no point getting caught in stupid friendly fire.

Countries would have disagreements, and after some discussion with my artificial minds, it was fine to let them fight each other, as long as the source of their unhappiness was not me. In fact, it was also the opportunity for the priests to strengthen their cultural hold, as they stepped in to provide relief to those affected by wars and battles.

If anything, these wars only weakened themselves and strengthened the Freshlands. Cultural victory in my opinion involved watching others make mistakes and then resisting the urge to interrupt them.

- WeÆve fought the demon king eight times now, - Tom said in a call with Stella. - I honestly donÆt know what weÆre doing wrong. WeÆre using our star - mana powers, we are all level one hundred - plus, all five of us. We attacked the demon king, and somehow it managed to either run away or find a way to hurt us so bad that we retreated. -

- Keep trying. YouÆll get there. -

- The people of the Eastern Continent are starting to complain and grumble, - Tom said. - They didnÆt say it in our faces directly, but many cities donÆt even want to host us. Often, they would send us a messenger with whatever supplies we needed and told us to camp outdoors, preferably far away from town. They said itÆs for the safety of the cities. ItÆs not our fault that the demon king attacked us when we are in the cities! -

- ThatÆs tough. -

- Any ideas how we should fight it? Sometimes it refused to even attack us, instead fleeing. I totally donÆt understand this demon king. The gods told us the demon kings are simple - minded creatures! - Tom sighed, and at the same time, I felt bad. They were clearly being lied to. The demon kings so far had displayed some intelligence, especially in battlefield intelligence and strategy. It wouldnÆt be a surprise if they actually were sentient, if they were a step above the demons IÆd met.

Stella shrugged. - IÆm not one for violence. -

- Maybe we should lure it. We need something. -

- Wave a big stick at it and say come here? -

- Yeah. Maybe we need a way to lure it, - Tom answered his own question. - Maybe with a lot of star mana. -

Another hero jumped in. - How do we do that? Make a big beacon in the sky to tell the demon king weÆre here? -

- I thought it could already see us. Why would it even respond to our lure? -

Stella just sat there and waited. The remaining heroes started to talk among themselves. The surviving five were Tom, Jason, Ryder, Adam, and Rick. Strangely common names, compared to those that died, but I wasnÆt going to challenge it. Maybe they used a nickname instead of their real names.

They talked about various strategies with Stella sitting there. They clearly had a poor sense of information security risk.

Stella got bored at one point, so she intervened. - Guys, IÆve got something to do. Can you kick me out of this conversation? - She didnÆt. She just wanted to have a nap.

- Ah, sorry, Miss Stella. We got carried away in our anti demon-king plan. -

The year was coming to an end. Did it normally take so long for the heroes to kill the demon king? DidnÆt they take a year or two?

Then.

Thomas Ragash died.

Jason Stateches died.

Ryder Flynnish died.

Adam Eastwest died.

Ricky Roller died.

You received 5 fragments.

Wait.

Did the demon king die?

I waited for two days. Nothing.

But, but.

That was a total of ten heroes dead! The demon king lived even though the heroes died? And this was a new batch of heroes!

Did this mean the gods would summon a new set?

What would happen now? The demon king no longer had any heroes to fear!

61

YEAR 141

It was classified information; clearly no one knew it, but I did. I first informed the Valthorns, the Valtorn Order, my Patriarchs and Matriarchs. It was met with a resounding silence. Patreeck told me they were making plans.

What did this mean? Had the demons won?

I wouldnÆt be able to get anything from the regular people. At least, I didnÆt think I would. The only person who I thought could even attempt to answer what was next was Lilies.

Lilies. The Heroes died.

We know. We sensed their presence fade away in the fabric of the world.

So what now?

Hunker down. A true winter comes.

That sounded awfully ominous.

Tips?

Hide and spread far. Demons cannot reach everywhere.

If weÆre doomed, weÆre doomed, wasnÆt it? But I didnÆt believe so, since. well, I just didnÆt believe it. I refused to believe it.

Then I announced it to the representatives of the various cities and the nobles of many kingdoms. The heroes had died; all ten of them had fallen in battle.

The entire hall was in uproar. It was a panic IÆd never seen the nobles exhibit.

One of the noble lords went a little nuts and shouted, - WeÆre doomed! -

Some said rather strange things. - Why is this happening? ItÆs the first time in documented history! -

- Is it? - some nobles challenged, clearly trying to be the level - headed one. - Our historical records only go back so far. What if this wasnÆt the first time? -

I recalled when I first arrived, the gods always summoned heroes if the previous generation died to the new demon king. But would the gods summon heroes again if the new batch of heroes died?

- If it isnÆt, then we have chosen correctly to break away from the four temples! TheyÆve lied to us all this time! -

But why? Why were the gods restricted from summoning newer heroes if the new heroes died? Certainly they could try again, right?

- Is that something worth arguing over at this time? We need to deal with the reality before us, that the heroes have all fallen, and yet the demon king still lived. We must focus our efforts on surviving this! -

- Survive? How? I for one am going to be rushing out there and spend all my money and live a life. -

PatreeckÆs ability told me all of them were seeing their lives flash before their eyes. This was one of those, - If you died tomorrow, what would you do? - moments.

A noble said, - We must try something. If we must call on the blood mages to perform a ritual of massive proportions, then we must. It is either they die, or everyone dies! -

I was certain some of the kings and the temples out there would be considering this option right now. But based on PatreeckÆs calculation and my own historical data, it wouldnÆt be enough. From my observations of the hex to date and my experiments, the existing hexbomb would not have enough power to destroy a demon king. Unless I sacrificed close to twenty million people, maybe more. I recalled sensing the huge surge in magical energies with that hex - like thing, and now that IÆd got access to the hex on my own, I was able to put the two data points together to calculate the energy needed to replicate a similar power level.

Twenty million. Did he sacrifice so many? I didnÆt think so.

Yet how did Astra do it? Was it because of the amplification power of star mana? Could star mana and hex fuse together, or did the star mana apply its anti - demon king qualities to the entire hexbomb?

- What are our options? - I asked the artificial minds.

- The hexbomb is a good direction, Master. We should focus on amplifying the power of the soul in order to create a superbomb. To borrow your memories, Master, the hexbomb is essentially a massive bundle of ten million TNTs. If we could use the soul fragments in a significantly more efficient way, it may be possible to achieve the same effect with far lower sacrifice. -

It still required sacrifice. Just less.

- What level of efficiency can we achieve at the moment? -

The artificial minds paused and started calculating. It took them two days.

- Based on our current knowhow and converting the entire valley of the Unrotten, we can amplify the hexbombÆs efficiency and power by four times, - Trevor said. - Still, that means at least five million sacrifices. -

Was I willing to do this to get just a single shot at the demon king with the hexbomb?

It bothered me. I didnÆt think it was the right thing to do at all. It felt like I was cutting off my limbs just to live another day.

- From a utilitarian point of view, Master, sacrifices are necessary. Five million is a number the Freshlands can afford. -

It took a few days, but I then decided, - It must be a last resort. But we must make preparations. -

The preparations required were massive. First, we needed to make sure that there were at least five to ten million people within a five - day walk of Freshka. Next was preparing the structures, formations, and runes needed to properly concentrate the energies released from five to ten million souls.

We didnÆt know how much time we had, but preparing the formations and runes needed to perform a blood ritual of this size was going to take years.

In a way, this option was dead from the start. There was no way we could have done the preparations needed in time; if the demon king attacked this year, we would have failed. Even sacrificing twenty million people wasnÆt so simple, since the souls of all twenty million needed to be stitched together into a single shot. This endeavor alone required the construction of a massive containment array to control the energies.

How did Astra do it? Was my magical measurement and sensors so far off?

There must be some star mana or hero - level shenanigans at work.

- The heroes died. - The Valthorns upgraded classers spoke among themselves. - This meant the demon king may very well be on the way to kill the rest of us. -

- Does A/ have a plan? -

- I say we hide, construct massive installations deep within mountains and wait it out. The demon king may rule the world outside, but with our skills, weÆd live. Faris and the druids, the mages together could generate all the things we needed to live. -

- Ah, A/ Æs underground bunkers taken to the extreme, huh? -

- Well, yes. But weÆre talking extremely, extremely deep. Far deeper than before. -

- ItÆs a good possibility. - Some of the Valthorns considered the idea. It had a good merit. - The demons certainly canÆt sense us if we hide that deep. -

- Then letÆs do it. We can expand it if we can create enough space. -

- We better not tell the nobles. TheyÆll demand we protect them if they know. - All the Valthorns nodded.

The Valthorns started what they called the trench - hideout project. They, using their powers together, started to dig really, really, really deep underground. Their project would take a few months, but if they did it right, theyÆd probably survive.

At the same time, Lozanna Æs still alive. That was a good sign, in the sense that the entire Eastern Continent had not fallen under the demons. There must be pockets or nations that survived.

As the year went by, captains and sailors began noticing that the temples blockade now had holes. Some navies still maintained the blockade, but there were pockets where the ships left. The temples, after all, were a hodgepodge of contributed forces, so some of the kingdoms may have given up.

Then we began capturing some ships that strangely sailed into the harbors of our allied kingdoms.

- WhatÆs happening out there? - we interrogated the crew.

- We donÆt know, but our supply ships stopped coming, and we were starving. So all of us had to come here! We either starve or sail to the nearest harbor. - They didnÆt know much. Even the captains were not very well informed of what was happening back in their home country.

Yura sat and asked me one day.

- TreeTree, remember that time when you unlocked my limit? -

- Yes? -

- How far can you go with it? -

- Hmm? - I didnÆt get his point. Were there multiple roadblocks on their levels that I had to keep unlocking? Did the native souls have a gacha - style level cap where they needed multiple upgrades before they achieved max capacity?

- How high can you push it? -

I didnÆt know, really.

Yura paused. - Actually, maybe I should cut to the point. TreeTree, are you able to make something like a hero? I know you tried with Lozanna , and it didnÆt go far, but that was then, before all of the Rottedlands. We all know youÆve gained strength as the forests and the lands expanded. Now, would you be able to do it? -

Hmm.

I probably could not create the Hero class. There was something divine about it, or at least the godÆs version certainly was divine. But was the Hero class truly the pinnacle class out there, or was it essentially possible for any class to achieve a similar power, even if they needed to be a far higher level?

It was worth trying.

- Astia. Did you get fragments? - She did.

She paused, her mind racing. - Sorry? - She wondered how I knew.

- Fragments of heroes. ItÆs a thing that reincarnations of other worlds receive. I wonder if you received it. -

- Yes. - She decided to be honest. - TheyÆre dead, arenÆt they? How did you know, A/ ? -

I lied. - As a being thatÆs close to the divine, we can sense it. Their fading presence in the fabric of the world. -

- Close to the divine, - she repeated. SheÆd been gaining levels in scribe and artist , aided by the boost provided by the fragments. Her work was a lot of painting and paperwork, after all. I wondered whether she had the potential to achieve what I did; maybe she could even do more. - But thatÆs not enough to take on the demon king? -

- Heroes are specialist demon-king exterminators. We are not. - It was a statement of fact, as far as I was concerned.

I wondered what the demon king would do or what the gods would do. I got my answer as the year almost approached its end.

The gods have summoned three new heroes.

It was almost as if the gods themselves panicked. Why did they do this?

62

YEAR 142

So, new heroes. The nobles and the Valthorns all relaxed considerably once I told them of the new heroes. I wondered where they would appear.

Has this happened before?

Our memories are hazy from the times long ago, but yes, Lilies responded a day later.

I wondered how long Lilies must have lived. But then, most of the time, they didnÆt?

Again, not exactly new under the sun, was it? Life went on. WeÆd deal with the demons when they arrived on our shores.

In the meantime, we continued our preparations. The school was doing well, and this year, I had a few exceptional students from both the Valtorn Order Academy and also the Freshlands Treetiary College. Talent was a strange thing. It almost seemed like they came in waves, with some years just having a lot more good people than others.

The college had one exceptional centaur Chiefling , and over the period of the four - to five - year course, he transformed into Warlord at just level twenty - five. Right next to him was a master Ranger Lord ; again, he started just as a Noble , and as the course developed his administrative and archery skills, it fused together at level thirty.

On the Valtorn side, a young archer hit level forty - three at sixteen years old, mostly from hunting hybrids and participating in all sorts of archery competitions. There was also a knight who managed to hit level thirty - five as he graduated from the academy, and his class evolved into Guardian Knight without needing any prompt or special class seed from me.

It made me wonder what was really the evolution threshold of classes. Yura Æs Warlord class happened very late, when he was almost level sixty in his warrior - type classes.

The nature of class was a perplexing thing, almost as if the rules didnÆt apply uniformly. EveryoneÆs class system had different thresholds and triggers.

On the blood magic front, we continued to make preparations for the grand ritual, should we ever need one. Again, it was a last resort, and I wondered whether I should shelve the project since the heroes arrived.

- We should prepare the formations regardless. It can be repurposed for other uses, - my artificial minds suggested, and so I agreed with it.

Indeed, a massive formation used for containing souls seemed useful, even if just for my soul forge .

The other preparation was partly Yura Æs idea, to create a mini - hero by fusing classes together. This was also where I spent quite a bit of time.

It was a process of knocking class seeds together to see what worked and what didnÆt. It was a lot of tracking and math, so I created an artificial mind to help keep track of all the ratios and numbers.

There were some successes. I could not upgrade, or maybe I had not found the way to upgrade some classes, but in the process of tweaking the Knight , Druid , Spearman , and Soldier classes, IÆd somehow merged them with my own essence and created the Tree Knight class, and I could then further upgrade it to Knight of the Woods and even further to Knightmaster of the Woods . There were some classes that I thought could be further evolved, like Sharpshooter , or Grand Knight , or Weaponmaster , but so far, I didnÆt make much progress on those.

If there was a class that made life difficult for me, it would be the mage classes.

It was easy enough to fuse mage with druid or mage with knight . Mage classes also could be fused together at the first layer into Great Mage . But things got wacky from there. The higher mage classes repelled each other when I attempted to create archmages or wizards .

It was not as if these classes were rare. I had archmage classes, collected from dead archmages. I even had existing Valthorn mages who managed to evolve their mage classes into archmages .

Yet the class fusion resisted my attempts to create archmages out of mages or great mages . I wondered whether this was a deliberate system restriction for high - tier magic, or there was some quirk to it that I didnÆt know.

I needed time, and I was partly throttled by the number of class seeds.

Experimenting with class seeds required and consumed huge amounts of class seeds. Even if it took just ten seeds of the same type to fuse it to the next level, by the third level, it needed one thousand seeds.

It was just lucky that I had trees that could grow the normal class seeds by the bucketload so I could do so. I could also create a tree that grew the upgraded class seeds, but then theft remained a huge concern. As my reach extended throughout the continent, all my trees aided me in the process of collecting more class seeds via various death rituals and my soul harvesters .

All in, the entire continent, now under my direct or indirect control, produced between five thousand to fifty thousand class seeds per year. A rise in the class seeds usually arose from a massive war or battle where many died. Or a slaughter or something.

Per the statistics provided by my artificial minds, roughly one in every fifty deaths would result in a class seed. That ratio was about one in ten if the dead were buried via the A/ ic burial ceremonies. The ratio was better if the ceremony was performed in Freshka, where almost one in two burials resulted in some kind of class seed or skill seed.

There was clearly a problem of proximity. I couldnÆt be everywhere at once, not at full strength. As it was, many abilities were just better when they were done near to me.

I supposed if I could split a tree into multiple copies of myself, such that I could be 100 percent there, everywhere. As it was, the Giant Attendant Trees could only push up to 50 percent.

Decent, but not great, and that ratioÆs wonky for certain kinds of abilities.

As the year went on, we didnÆt see demons crossing the oceans. Maybe they went to the Northern Isles or the Southern Continent instead of directly west to the Central Continent.

Why?

If the demons had a head start, they should push hard and expand. After all, if the demons could fly, what was stopping them?

Also, none of the heroes were on my continent. I tried looking for them, but nothing. No stragglers, either, unless they died. Or took a form different from the normal humans.

I wondered whether there were others like me out there, taking their time to hide away. Or had they all died?

63

AROUND YEAR 141 TO 142

Lozanna paused as she cradled the young toddler girl in her arms. It was a strange time to have a child, but strangely, it was not uncommon. The people sheÆd met and many others had made babies when a war came. It was almost as if war and crisis triggered the reproductive desires in the living.

- She really looks like you. - Ardi smiled, and somehow Lozanna felt and remembered her motherÆs words. Ardi had aged. TheyÆd been married for twenty - three years, and though Lozanna wasnÆt rushing things, her husbandÆs hair had whitened, and two years ago, Ardi proposed having a child.

The chaos and mess got to him, and to some extent, being human, even if he aged slower than a regular human. Or maybe it was being confined inside a city while demons roamed outside. What else was there to do but to copulate?

She agreed. Twenty years without a child was quite far away from the human norms, and so Arlisa came into the world slightly over a year ago. At times, she wondered whether this was a mistake. The Eastern Continent, for lack of a better word, was not the best place to raise a young baby girl. Not at all. Even if the city she lived in was doing well.

She had hoped things would improve when the heroes supposedly arrived and that she, and her new baby, Arlisa, and Ardi, would be able to leave the Eastern Continent and head back to the Central Continent.

It didnÆt.

The flying drakes continued to destroy huge amounts of land, and Lozanna Æs survival depended mostly on underground hideouts and cities. The dwarves, in particular, adapted well to this demon king, their cities often extended into the mountains, and they had ways to prepare their fortified cities for a long siege without exposure to the outside world.

Honestly, it felt very much like being trapped in the valley again. Except the city was far larger, and all they had to deal with was flying drakes that roamed outside.

- Lozanna , the lord summoned you. - A messenger came over.

She shrugged and calmed Arlisa down. - Let him know IÆll be there soon. - Lozanna passed the baby to her.

Lozanna changed into her combat attire and walked to the lordÆs subterranean chambers. There was an Aiva priest there and a Gawa priest, and also a group of other warriors. Lozanna had met them before; they were part of the defense force.