Year 74

Month 1, Week 1

Cold. Compared to last year’s warmth, it is much more cold this year. Perhaps it is the demon king’s influence that led to last year’s warmth, but whatever it is, this year is cold.

And so, the rain gives way to snow.

Only three normal trees are added to the valley in this snowy weather. Three. And I could sense everything is less active in this snowing weather. The energy I receive from my subsidiary trees is half a PU, the energy generated by normal trees drop to a fraction of what they were. I suppose myself and the subsidiary trees are considered evergreen trees, therefore we can maintain a portion of our energy output. In this cold weather, it jusy doesn’t seem like a nice time to test out my new [ginseng tree].

Of the three camps, the treefolk are best suited for the snow. They seem to have a kind of quasi-hibernation state where their bodies slow down tremendously and in exchange they gain a wide range of defensive buffs. In fact, I would really, really like to look under the bark of those treefolks.

The elves and centaurs group and gather together at their biggest camps, and burn branches for warmth. The centaur elder seems to have some kind of ability that allows him to fully extract energy out of the branches, such that their fires burn longer. The one of the elven men uses some kind of ability to keep warm air circulating within their temporary building. Among the refugees, some possess other cold resistance abilities, and this allow the elves and centaur to tide through the difficult weather, especially the biting cold at night.

“I am sure some of them will trade their goods to stay in this warm, cosy rooms.” Eriz said, while reminiscing her time in the city. In palaces and cities, there are dedicated butlers and maids who possess the ability manage room conditions, to the comfort of their lords. Some mayors and lords too have a kind of [soften weather] effects which reduces their city’s heating and ventilation requirements.

“Well, they had to piss treetree off, so that’s not happening.” Jura said. “It’s already very generous of TreeTree to send gifts and let the elves stay.”

“Are we chasing them away?” Lausanne asks.

I pause. Well, I think they should go. The elves, at least. The elven chief is probably not happy that I attacked him, and I have no clue whether the rest of the elves harbor the same sort of aggression, still, I have to be wary.

“They tried to threaten us, Lausanne. If they are bad people, they should go.”

“To prison?”

“No. Go away.”

The cold brings about new creatures, from further away. White wolves, and horned deers, perhaps antlers. The white wolves, seeking food in the cold and snow, a pack of them, about ten of them. They are large, slightly smaller or about the same size as my already rhino-sized warbeetles, and equipped with similarly huge fangs and claws.

I try to command my beetles to intercept, and a warning pops up.

Beetles suffer significant movement and attributes penalty in snowy weather. Insects are not adept at winter combat. Half of your beetles are in a dormant state and cannot be woken up.

Oh man. Previously it was just rain, but if it snows, this happens? Oh well, at least I learn about this now.

At least I’m producing essences of winter and snow.

Back to the white wolves, it seems they spawn in the wild, beyond the valley.

And they spot the centaurs. Food.

Watching through my various subsidiary trees placed throughout the valley, I feel like I’m witnessing a documentary, of a pack of wolves fighting with centaurs. The centaurs, their leaders fight their best, but these wolves are huge, and some of the centaurs fall from their ferocious swipes.

It occurs to me that maybe I should help. And I think I want the experience. And a specimen for the biolab.

[Root strike]

[Root strike]

Two root strikes fly out of the ground, through the snow, and into the belly of the largest of the wolves. The pack leader.

It growls in pain, the root strike clearly hit, and shatters a few bones and punctures a few of it’s organs. The second root strike hits a part, and this second hit actually penetrates the wolf’s rib cage and instantly kills it.

The sudden death of the wolf leader sends the pack into a panic, and they flee.

As the remaining white wolves flee, I notice one particular wolf falling behind, suffering from injuries. Great. For the [biolab]!

[Constrict]

My roots successfully capture the injured wolf, and a paralysing jab knocks it out. And I send a few of my active beetles to collect that paralysed wolf.

Experience gains come from killing, but also from learning. Although less, I would not be surprised if there are bookworms out there that are reasonably high leveled. One way nobles have an edge over the poor, I suppose, as their means of gaining levels is wider, through literacy, and learning through books.

Other than that, each of the camps keep to themselves.

Week 2

It’s still snowing heavily, so I turn my focus onto more… academic matters.

The white wolf in my biolab.

This white wolf does have “mana spring” in its soul, but it is smaller than any of the humans or elves, though still larger than the smaller foxes or other animals captured.

Relatively, Meela is like the Niagara Falls, a regular human is like a small waterfall, a normal animal is like a pipe of water. This white wolf, is like a water from a fire hydrant.

Next is the body. The soul and the body is a symbiotic relationship, a feedback loop. So, a strong soul usually leads to a strong body, and vice versa. But, in the case of the wolves, their bodies are strong, robust, and full of natural energy, yet a small, almost non-existent soul lives in it. It’s a common theme, I think, perhaps a feature of non-intelligence, or their designated status as “animals” or “monsters”?

Strong. A lattice of magic protects its bones, and claws. And then, some little sparks of energy in its muscles and joints. A kind of… residual mana? I recall seeing something similar in Jura’s hands, and also Meela’s hands, but theirs is almost negligible.

I zoom in on it.

Nothing. Maybe I don’t have the right tools or ability to identify it, because I feel magic of some kind. As I look at the jaws and their teeth, I get a similar feeling. There is something here that I have not yet figured out.

Ah well. After going through every part of the wolf, I decide to leave it inside the biolab under sedation.

And put Jura under the lab.

Jura’s body now no longer has the lingering effects of his trauma, but he says he hit a limit. A plateau, and all the monsters he is fighting etc is no longer giving him any new levels, so to speak. Under the soul grading, Jura is rank 6, and he is currently level 65, his familiar level 35, after the familiar’s upgrade.

His body is strong, and his soul too. At first, nothing seems wrong. The body, the muscles and bones all look strong, healthy. Well, except the left hand.

But as I continue to watch how the energy from the soul spring instantly gets drained by the body, I believe Jura’s intuition is right.

The soul, is capped out. The amount of soul energy it produces is just enough for it to be at the current level, but no further. Like a country with an electrical power shortage, the country needs to find ways to have more efficient use of energy, or produce more power.

“How do we change this?”

The wisp twirls around. “The elf can have an awakening, and find his soul ranked up.”

“That, can happen?”

“Of course. He can consider going to a quest out of his league, struggle and emerge triumphant. Such acts of heroism and pushing against limits are rewarded. The ranking system you possess is just an estimate, after all, but reality is an exponential curve, and it is possible to climb up that curve.”

Huh. Still, that implies nothing much I can do at this time.

“With his strength, it will be quite a long time before you can do anything to his soul.”

Meela butts in. “Upgrade. Body?”

Hmm.. That means I get ahead of the soul - body feedback loop, and try to first upgrade the body, hoping that somehow drags the soul along.

Hmmm.. How do I upgrade the body? Stimulants? Surgery? Or maybe I should try fixing his left hand first. I wonder whether the natives of this world have techniques to upgrade to body, and actually, how does the ginseng interact with the soul & body?

Week 3

Less snow. Yay!

Some of my beetles wake up from their dormant state, so only a quarter is still dormant.

More trees! From a low of 3, I am now back to about 10 additional normal trees per week. I should make preparations for spring, and so I ask the elves to help by collecting any seeds they see, and use the beetles to help spread the seeds around.

The elves, with not much to do in the cold, spend most of their time working on some of the cotton.

Jura, spends his time tinkering with the damaged airship from the Salah kingdom adventurers, and by some fluke, accidentally dismantle what appears to be the power source of the airship. A basketball-sized crystal, the demon-residue… daemolite.

It’s the first time I see it, so, naturally, into the [biolab].

Magical barrier exists. Analysis unable to proceed.

Eh.

The rest of the small airship is made with mostly simple metals and wood. It’s really this magical crystal, and a network of enchantments and runes throughout the structure that gives it flight.

Perhaps by damaging its enchantments, it therefore loses the ability to fly?

The runes and enchantments are incomprehensible to me, sadly.

Enchantment familiarity missing. Language not understood. Understanding of runic markings required.

Ah man. The biolab’s ability to analyse non-biological items is rather crap. Maybe I can develop a material lab someday.

The three camps still keep to themselves. Some of the hunters from both the elves and centaur do continue looking for food, foraging and hunting the rabbits, or small rat-like creatures that now also live here.

This creation of animals is interesting, and I’ve been trying to catch it happening, bt so far I failed. Every time I try to take in the granular view of the entire valley, so that I can watch how these animals appear throughout the forests, through the “vision” from all subsidiary trees, I get a massive headache. If I keep it up, I’ll accidentally lose consciousness, and wake up a day later.

The closest I got is a rabbit that somehow crawl out of the snow. So, even if I could see, perhaps the system that spawns these animals have ways to avoid “notice”.

Week 4

A freak snowstorm on day one, and after that, sunny! Snow is melting.

“My mistress is still alive!” Eriz shouts and jumps happily. “Your mommy is alive!” She hugs Roma and jumps. The baby cries.

“Oh?”

“She’s managed to escape with the rest of them and are headed here. They slipped past the last of the human settlements and the Kingdom’s hunters! So maybe a week or so!”

Laufen smiles. “That’s good.”

“So… where would you go after this?”

Eriz pauses. “What do you mean?”

“I mean… since once your mistress comes here, you all should have some plans, right?”

“Uh… I think we plan on staying here.” Eriz rubs her head. “Can we? I’ll let the mistress know that we have to obey your rules, and you are in charge. Maybe.. maybe a spot somewhere in the valley?”

Jura rubs his head. “No no. TreeTree is in charge.”

Emile and Belle nod. “Maybe this is like… rebuilding Freeka?”

“How many of them?”

“Uh… she did not say…”

Ah. More.. refugees to deal with. Okay, fine, I’ll have to handle this better than the earlier elves.

Y74 M2 W1

The tail end of winter. Tree growth is recovering, and this is the focus from now on. I want to hit 10,000 trees by the end of the year. I mean, it sounds like a big number, but if there are one tree for every 5 meters, an area the size of one square kilometer would have 40,000 trees. And the world of Earth have somewhere around 3 trillion trees.

So. 10,000 trees. The beetles are busy spreading seeds or spare branches they can find, and then I channel all my mojo to boost the growth rate.

It’s actually an urge, and I get better at it. It even feels easier as the winter lets up.

“What are you doing, TreeTree?” Lausanne is the one who asks, all dolled and wrapped up in thick clothing. Laufen’s not letting her go out without winter protection.

“Growing trees. A lot of them.”

“Oh. I like trees.”

“Why?”

“I like fruits. They are yummy. And I like leaves. They give shade.”

“Ah.”

I don’t recall telling the elves about the [soul forge] but oh well. I suppose they suspect something.

The refugees and the mistress should be on their way, soon.

[Your Subsidiary Tree skill have leveled up. Subsidiary tree limit increased to 120]

[Secret hideout - biolab upgraded. Autopsy table and precision tools obtained. Pods increased to 10]