Year 74 Month 2 Week 3

Spring begins. Beetles are out spreading seeds.

I’ve finally decided on the punishment for Eriz and Yvon.

“Thanks to your selfishness, Eriz, you’ve permanently dragged us into this conflict. This is despite our hospitality to you these past months. Your punishment is that you are to surrender your soul to me, and to serve us for the rest of your life.”

“My… my soul?”

“Yes, your soul. You put us at risk, even when we helped take care of Roma. For putting our lives at risk.”

She pause, and she’s too stunned to respond.

Then it is Yvon’s turn. “Your punishment is that you will now have to protect this forest for the rest of your life. And I’ll enforce that by not having you leave this forest. If you do try, I’ll kill your people. In exchange, I’ll allow your people to share and stay in this valley with me, though, as you’re probably aware, I have rules that I want followed.”

She stops.

“I did not think taking your soul is necessary at this point, and I am of the opinion that your combat and management abilities will be useful to manage the coming refugees. But, I will be watching you closely.”

Yvon pauses, thinking. After about five minutes, she sighs, and she then nods. “I can accept that.” I guess she figured to have me as a protector of the refugees is worth the cost.

She dragged me into this conflict, I may as well make the most of it. If this is going to end up into a war, I’d better have more bodies to throw at the enemy.

I do want to fight the Salah Kingdom, so this accelerates this entire process. But I was hoping for more clandestine, stealthy methods, by way of sneaky subsidiaries trees, but, oh well.

“How.. how are you going to take my soul?” Eriz looks puzzled.

A magic ring appears around her, an ability I didn’t know I had until recently.

[Spiritual Contract - Judgement]. It’s essentially a soul contract, but in the form of a judgement. Demons, devils and the dark gods get a lopsided version known as [Unfair Contracts], which is… unfair, but, less robust as a result. It has also sneaky abilities like concealing terms and conditions, but all of these result a reduction of the ability grade to a lower-tier (relative, of course).

“Accept.”

She shakes. She looks at her mistress, and then back at Jura, who’s watching her. “I.. I..”

“Are you testing my patience, Eriz?”

I wonder whether there is undue influence in this world.

She gulps. “I...I’m sorry. Is there any other way?”

“No. For the fact that you’ve dragged me into this conflict, and the kingdom knows of this forest, you’ve made life difficult for me. Therefore, this is an adequate punishment for you. You could have told your mistress to meet you elsewhere, but here we are.”

Yvon tries to defend her subordinate. “Her soul… it’s too much isn’t it? Can’t she protect this forest like I do?”

“No. Her soul, or everyone dies.” I probably would not actually kill everyone, but an ultimatum it is.

Eriz cries. And she cries for a while.

She glances at Jura, but Jura shrugs.

After she finished, she accepts the punishment, and the magic ring around her glows, expands, spins around awhile, and then enters her body.

It is done.

[Eriz Maforlas’s soul is now leased to you for 1,000 years. Soul lease will commence on death]

Lease? Isn’t that like renting?

“Uh…” She looks around. I think she’s preparing for something more gruesome and painful.

And after a while, she looks at Yvon.

“Am I still here?” Eriz seems to think she will die instantly. “

“Yes.” Yvon nods, and she too looks puzzled

“That’s it? I don’t feel anything different. Have you taken my soul, yet?”

“Oh, not now. When you die, Eriz.” I wanted to say, so don’t die, but then, I’m sure she knows that.

Now that her sobbing stops, she looks at her mistress. “Oh. OH! That’s all?”

Y'know... I’m starting to think “on-death” is not that great a term, after all it still means this person gets to act out her life, for the remainder of her days, (which is by no means shorter). It’s a painless punishment, nothing's changed, unless they care about their soul.

Oh well, I guess I’ll take levels next time. Though having seen Yvon’s combat abilities, having her around would be useful against the fighters this Salah Kingdom may deploy.

“For the soul part, yes. Also, from now on, you serve me.”

Year 74 Month 3 Week 1

I love spring.

Thanks to the hard work of the beetles and the regrowing bounty mojo, the normal tree count in the valley surged to 3,800. That’s a huge climb, but I am guessing the season of spring counts to that. If this continues I might hit 10,000 a bit faster than expected.

Other than that, nothing of particular concern happened. The Kingdom does not seem to be sending anyone at us, yet.

As for the refugees, Yvon’s group of refugees set up camp along the right side of the slopes. All the refugee camps start building more permanent structures now that winter is over.

The centaurs, now given a certain allotment of trees that they can chop down, start to construct basic houses, which resemble stables. Some of them engage in wide scale planting, of a plant known as “shrub of the fours”. Largely inedible to anyone but centaurs, minotaurs, satyrs and their kind, its their staple food. It seems centaurs can survive on this plant alone, and once the plants start to grow significantly, I would like to analyse them.

The treefolk are incredibly fascinating to observe. Their abilities resemble an inferior version of mine in many ways. They enjoy being in the sun, and clearly their abilities are affected by the season, their steps faster, their skin and body more… vibrant. Their feet has some ability to connect to the earth, drawing energy, nutrition, and even mana. The treefolk use their innate affinity to trees to weave the branches of trees into more structures, and it seems this is their preferred way of construction, bending trees into shape. It’s like large scale bonsai sculpting. I suspect they have the ability to boost tree growth as well, but I will ask them someday.

Yvon’s elves, being the most exposed of the bunch, start with building a mix of houses and fortification from the earth. Stone walls, stone houses, I am quite amazed at the speed which they manage to build with the rocks and dirt. They had to cut some of the trees down for the rest of the materials, but with outburst of trees in spring, the loss is acceptable.

The last group of elves, are split. A group, about three quarters, are leaving. They only want to stay through winter. The remaining quarter are going to join Yvon’s group.

No matter.

Year 74 Month 3 Week 3

No movement from the Salah Kingdom. We initially wonder why, but the olive oil traders came. For olives, of course.

“War breaks out. Kingdom of Nung, Kingdom of Takde have declared war on the Kingdom of Salah. The civil war and slaughter is an opportunity, a weakness, so both of them are trying to take a bite out of the Salah kingdom’s territory.”

Well, that’s a wonderful coincidence.

Some cash change hands, and olive oils, sold.

“The merchants guild would be trying to sell information about me, no?” Yvon pops out at the trading post.

“Ah… the mistress herself.” The merchants grin. “Well, the kingdom is occupied now, but they are offering good money to find out who is backing your rebellion.”

“Oh, any leads?” Yvon laughs.

“The merchants guild have our own theories, but if you mean to share…”

Yvon shakes her head. “How is the guildmaster doing?”

“Ah, he is fine. No one would dare touch the guildmaster of the merchants guild, even if he is half-minotaur, if that's what you are asking.”

Yvon nods. “That is good.” She then hands the merchant multiple letters. “I take the merchants still offer delivery services, even to me?”

The merchant smile, grab the letters, and shove it into a box of some kind. And some coin changes hands.

“I take you know the terms.”

“No worries, its to the other kingdoms.”

“Ah.”

“Sorry…” Laufen butts in. “Do you mind… helping us buy some things?”

“Like?”

“Oh, one of my friends want exotic fruits and books about trees. Can you help us procure some, we’ll pay you.”

“Ah, I’ll look out for it.”

Year 74 Month 4 Week 1

The young chieftain and the elves left. I am at 5,300 normal trees. The surge is down to an awesome combination, the hard work of the beetles, this wonderful season of spring, and better mastery of this “bounty” ability I have.

Within the inner circle of subsidiary trees, I finally felt confident enough to start growing my first [ginseng tree].

Life for the refugees are starting to stabilise. With homes built, their focus turns to defense, and preparing for winter. Potatoes, and all the other plants.

[Subsidiary tree leveled up. You can now have 180 subsidiary trees]

Year 74 Month 4 Week 3

I spread more subsidiary trees, further out, as a form of surveillance. And this is when I notice my increasing inability to manage such a vast area of [subsidiary trees]. It’s too far.

So, although the [subsidiary trees] are giving me vision, it’s not functioning as an early warning system, and I can’t camp there to watch over it personally. There’s a hill a distance away, and I would like to somehow get my hands more unique minerals and materials.

The essence production at this point is still slow, because most of my energy is focused on growing trees, which now touches 6,000 trees.

Other than that, there are more refugees, more non-humans, and they all join Yvon’s camp. I think about 200 of them. It seems Yvon knew they were coming, and have prepared extra houses and buildings to house them, so Yvon’s side is becoming quite lively. There were some centaurs among the new batch, which went on to join the existing centaur group instead, but it’s a small bunch, only about 20-30.

Year 74 Month 5 Week 1

Spring is almost ending, and it seems the growth of new trees start to slow down again. It is now about 500, per two weeks, so I stand at 6,500 now.

To support the elves, centaurs and treefolk, I’ve created subsidiary trees that produce cotton. The deal is that they shall pay me 20% of the proceeds, should they be sold to traders. But if they make it for personal consumption, no tax.

Yes.

I am taxing the refugees. I call it, the cotton tax.

In addition, treefolk, centaur camps commit to provide 30 warriors each to the valley’s defense. Yvon’s group naturally commit the most, being the largest. They put 200 of their people for the valley’s defense. They mostly focus on the small monsters and creatures that spawn naturally in the region.

And Jura, being the chief coordinator and communicator of the valley, gains a new class.

[Envoy] (working title)

Year 74 Month 5 Week 2

More refugees. Seriously. The invasion by the two kingdoms seems to have displaced even more people, and more death. I know of the death, because with my wider reach, I’m collecting more souls. My soul realm is filled with little sparks of light, of humans, of non-humans, all these souls making the journey to the other world. They will stay, for about 6 months to a year, before moving on, so the constant death is currently adding a lot of little lights to the soul realm.

“It is good that you are approaching an active [soul forge] soon.” The wisp bobs around.

“Tell me about.. Other soul-manipulating creatures.” I get to the point, I have questions, I ask.

“When you get a soul forge.”

“Ah…” I’d like to sigh in frustration, but I can’t. “So, do I have a limit on how many souls I can store?”

“Nope. Soul realm can store as many souls as you can possibly have.”

“How’s that even possible, doesn’t that break some rules or something?”

“It… it just does.” The wisp can’t answer, but oh well. Magic. Like how the [secret hideout] is far bigger than my actual tree.

Year 74 Month 5 Week 3

More refugees. After 2 weeks of more refugees, Yvon’s group is touching almost 800, and they are accepting some humans as well. At first, my initial response is to reject, but then their location, at the edge of the valley, and the assurance of Yvon and her group, I’ve relented. More bodies to throw back at the Kingdom is good.

So, Yvon, and a lot of the earlier elves and humans now take the role of enforcer, and they seem to have come up with some kind of norms.

They also have an unofficial name for their growing part of town, which is located a bit further from where Freeka is.

New Freeka.

At first, they wanted to name it after their benefactor, Prince Galan, so the name floated about was Galansburg, but I rejected that idea, as it steps on the history of this place, of Freeka.

So it’s fine then. That new settlement they are working on can be the new town, and the area my main tree is will be the old-town of Freeka.

And I gain a random level, after almost 6 months of not gaining a level.

[Level 117]

[Timber-farm]

[Produce average quality timber, at a much faster speed]

“Ah.”

Year 74 Month 6

A small scouting party from the Salah kingdom spotted. Their enmity with Yvon has not ended after all. The skirmishes with the Nung and the Takde are just minor distractions, Salah is one of the larger states in the region, and they have sufficient resources to hold both fronts, and still pursue their… vengeance.

For Yvon, this came as a disappointment. Their earlier hopes of making peace in this land, is not going to be as easy as they initially hoped.

Anyway, I decide to let Yvon deal with it. If they are to make a life in this valley, they gotta show they are up for the challenges, so they captured the scouts, interrogated them, and then killed them.

I suppose they’ll be suspecting when the scouts don’t return anyway.

Later in the month, the traders came along, trade some oil, and brought us some exotic fruits. It seems the olive oil prices went up slightly during the wars, so we were paid a little more, though the merchant’s share is obviously higher.

It seems the Salah’s claim over our valley and a few other territories, is disputed by the Nung, that abandonment during the demonic wars renders the Salah’s claim moot. The past few months consists of a mix of skirmishes, and high level diplomatic meetings, and so the dispute areas has been declared a temporary no-go zone.

But that’s ending, as neither is budging from their claim, so Salah is coming. And so is the Nung.

Ah, peace is but a temporary lie, the outcome of two nations bickering with words.

[Harvestable products upgraded. Papaya and grapes obtained].

Normal tree count : 7,800

Year 74 Month 6 Week 4

More refugees. Yvon’s group is expanding their walls, a second layer of walls is being built to protect the additional houses now. With the help of timber, some of their earlier buildings are being rebuilt taller, more… dense.

Yvon’s group is actually fairly talented. One of them, was actually a [Mayor], has taken the role of mayor of New Freeka, and he is in charge of construction and absorbing the refugee influx. With him are few [Councillors], and [Paperworkers], experts at setting up and managing paperwork. It seems they even got started on making some paper from all the branches and leaves.

Another of Yvon’s men is a [Military Trainer], and she’s in charge of managing the defensive aspects.

I suspect the whole conflict stems from prince Galan’s skilled retinue, and this somehow threatened the elder prince.

[Skill obtained : Growth surge]

[Creates patches of normal trees, shrubs and grasses. Affected by weather and seasons]

Year 74 Month 7 Week 2

There’s a fair bit of movement at Yvon’s side. People moving in and out. Other than that, everyone’s getting ready for another round of winter.

The elves, Laufen and all do drop by each of the camps, though I keep watch whenever they do. Last thing I want is a kidnapping.

Though they are “new” and are strangers, it makes them happy. They are in a society after all, and elves who stay alone for too long lose that social connection.

Especially the kids. There are more kids to play with, kids, their age. Lausanne in particular found another girl her age, and they play catch in the small town of New Freeka. In New Freeka, multiple [subsidiary trees] keep watch. These are so that I am can look and keep myself aware what's happening.

But, I am struggling to keep track of so many things happening at once. Especially now that it grows to almost 1,200 people, not counting the treefolk and centaurs.

Year 74 Month 7 Week 4

Army spotted, 10,000 strong. They bear the flags of Salah. A proper army, swords, armors, knights. And mages.

They march towards New Freeka, and as they approach, one man on horseback yells. “We demand you surrender!”

“No!”

I have insufficient root strikes to kill that many people. At best, I can take out about… 1,000? And that leaves 9,000 men.

The refugees are worried, of course. Its a large force. They talk about running, but Yvon somehow convinces them to stay. The past months they have built a wall to act as a defensive fortification, preparing for this day.

10,000 is a lot, but not all need to die. If I can get a hit on the leaders, and deliver a visible smacking to their morale, perhaps they can be convinced into fleeing.

“I think the core group of about 400 are professionals. The rest look like conscripts.”

“Mages?”

I had in mind, similar strategy, to the earlier fight. Take out the mages first, but they did see how we fought the first time, so they might know that we would go for that.

And indeed, there’s no obviously visible mages, all of them wear armor,so, the suspected mages are those wielding staffs or sticks. They will probably show themselves once the battle gets into close range.

The army closes in. There’s not many horses this time.

The refugees field about 800 fighters in total, 700 from the camp itself, and 100 from centaurs and treefolk.

Arrows start to fly, and the enemy leader activates a shield barrier, deflecting the arrows. Some of the arrows though, are from actual archers, with shield-penetrating abilities, so some still go through. The treefolk use their ability to throw rocks and boulders at the army, and their size and energy us able to pierce the shield.

10,000, mostly soldiers? Something is not right.

They enter into some kind of turtle-ish formation to reduce the impact of the projectiles.

And they get nearer.

Around the walls are my [subsidiary trees], and they are walking past them now. I take this chance to take a closer look.

Mages. I know some of them are, but with the bodies flanking and blocking, I can’t seem them very well.

A few of the refugees are mages, and two fireballs fly towards the army, smacks right into a magic barrier.

Its at this time, a long range projectile smashes into the refugee mage, killing him instantly.

And I quickly turn my attention to them.

Far away there’s 3 men, one holding a long barrel gun, a sniper? But its a lot more crude, made of forged crystal, and it fires magic bullets. Another look like a mage, with the whole wizard gear. And the last man, is an old man in knight armor. He looks somewhat like a lord.

“Did you spot any archdruid?”

“No.”

“10,000 men is overkill. Its probably those treefolk.”

The old man nods. “I wouldn’t count Yvon out just yet. She’s probably got something in her sleeves. The fact that she so brazenly set up a physical camp here, suggests she has some kind of backing.”

The sniper shakes his head. “Seriously, no unusual mana signatures.”

The wizard shrugs. “Maybe she’s just overconfident. Or just tired of running.”

“Maybe.”

Sniper turns his barrel around. “All these trees are… annoyingly tough.” He fires, and the projectile pierces through one of my subsidiary trees. But it slows the crystalline projectile down significantly, and softens the blow.

The wizard pauses, seemingly realising something. “[Detect Presence]”.

He pauses, and turns to the Lord. “We should… leave.”

The Lord looks dumbfounded. “Huh, why? Don’t we have good odds?”

“I sense an ominous presence that stretches this entire valley… not something… not something an archdruid can do. The trees… they are looking back at us.” The wizard points at the trees. “I feel them watching us.”

The Lord stares. “How sure are you?”

“These trees… has a faint killing intent. This is no ordinary forest.”

“Hmmm.. that explains why the refugees are stuck. They dare not venture through the valley. So they may as well make a stand here.”

“We might still be able to defeat Yvon and her band of rebels. But whatever else its here… its not going to fall to us, not to what we have here. If Yvon is somehow working with or trying to control whatever lurks in this forest, we may not stand a chance. Its a trap, milord.”

The Lord pauses, and looks at the sniper. “What do you think?”

“I trust his judgement. If he says we should leave, we should.” He fires another shot, this time intentionally hitting one of my subsidiary trees. It punctures a whole through the subsidiary tree, and sends a jolt of pain through me. “Normal trees would explode on impact. I agree that this forest… has secrets. I’ll need explosive weaponry.”

The wizard nods to the sniper.

“It is best I report this to the wizard’s guild. A deployment of a much larger group of wizards may be necessary.”

The Lord nods. “Very well. There is no shame in retreating to fight another day. Call the army back. If this is a trap, we will not fall for it. We would be better placed if we can tap some rangers and shamans for the next fight.”

And so, the army of 10,000 halts its advance, and retreats.

It is surreal for the refugees, who thought they would be goners, or lose most of their people. The casualties on both sides are relatively small, about twenty to thirty, and for Yvon and group, this was a huge victory.

[Skill : Haunted tree upgraded to haunted forests.]

Ah. Did I just scare away an army? I am pretty sure the army cannot kill me, but I probably won’t be able to kill all of them too.

Still, it looks like they will be back with a vengeance. So I need additional countermeasures.

Year 74 Month 8 Week 3

10,000 normal trees reached!

Firing up [soul forge].

All of the trees in the valley, abruptly emit a faint glow, and it scares the refugees.

And I feel power surging into me, my roots, all of them overflowing with power, energy gathered.

And then a huge thunderbolt from above lands on me, like a constant electrical connection. It causes everyone to jump, and the secret hideout shakes like it is experiencing an earthquake.

The ground shakes. My entire body of tree glows in a bluish light, the thunder, like a chain linked to the sky above, shakes, and flickers.

“What the hell is going on?” Jura asks. “Tree Spirit are you okay?”

They don’t know.

The treefolk seems afraid. “Is the tree suffering through a magical crisis?”

The centaurs wonder whether this is some kind of divine punishment.

The normal trees push more energy through the roots, and all of that energy flows into the once-inactive [soul forge].

A spark, a small blue flame pops out and dances in the middle of the soul forge. The soul forge actually looks like a massive circular jar, and now there is this blue light emitting from within.

And then, a shockwave. The outer barks of my body is shredded by the bolts of lightning, as they hop in and out of my body, like a short circuited set of electronics.

[You gained 4 levels.] [Level 121]

[Skill obtained : Magic suppression : All hostile magic abilities below tier 3 are absorbed]

[Skill upgraded : Root surge. Covers a wider area and use limit increased]

[Skill upgraded : Subsidiary tree increased to 250]

[Soul forge : Blue] is active.

[Soul forge : ForgeTree.

The physical realm’s link to the soul forge]

[Soul forge abilities unlocked]

[The power to repair, mend souls. To strip souls apart, and put them back together. The ability to add souls to your abilities, familiars, items, trees. The ability to push souls to their limits, and beyond. The ability to rank up a soul. The ability to fuse soul fragments whole, and create artificial sub-souls from ordinary soul fragments]

The wisp shakes, and he splits into three wisps.

Two then circle around the soul forge, orbiting it.

“You’ve done it. An active soul forge.”

“Where do I start?”

“I suggest, given your now expanding reach, is to have… assistants.”

“Okay, lead the way.”

Not all souls are suited to make the journey to the afterlife, the aether dimension whether all souls return.

Souls, though extremely durable, do fracture and crack, and decay from the presence of the outside world. Some souls are torn by the magic of men, between life and death. Some souls are stuck, lingering, seeking vengeance or salvation. Whatever it is, some souls cannot make the journey. And for these souls, they decay into fragments.

But it is not the end. Eventually, in the eternity of time, enough of these fragments will pool together and form a soul-body able to make the journey into the afterlife, where the administrator of souls can restore them, and send them onwards, to continue the eternal duty of souls. To reincarnate into the next life.

A soul forge assists in this repairing and renewal process. It fuses the fragments of ordinary decayed souls, into a soul body, and the soul body then makes the journey to the afterlife. But, it leaves behind a “frame”.

An artificial thing, not possessing the limitless, self sustaining life force of a soul, but yet, close enough.

To use an analogy, the soul comprise of a car (an outer layer) and a driver (an inner layer). The decayed souls are broken cars, unable to continue its journey to the other side. The soul forge, forges the broken parts of multiple broken cars together, such that together they can make that journey. But, once that journey is made, the inner layer disappears, but the outer layer remains.

This outer layer, is the “artificial-soul”. Like a person without heart, it is close, but not the same.

And with this artificial soul, we, upgraded one of my very first abilities.

[Soul-forge is fusing autopilot with an artificial soul].

[Autopilot has transformed into Forest Mind, Level 1]

[You may now name Forest Mind.]

“Trevor.” I wanted Treevor, but never mind.

“I am Trevor, Level 1 Forest-Mind. Greetings Master TreeTree.”

It speaks!

“I can handle the administrative, defensive and organisation aspects of the valley on your behalf, and as I gain levels, you may select the skills and abilities I gain. Please assign me a duty.”