Today’s mission was watching over a group of ten inner-circle disciples and a handful of outer-circle disciples who were well on their way to becoming members of the inner-circle. So-called meritocracies were generally flawed because the creators often refused to adjust based on the RNG that came with everyday life. That being said, the TPV did a pretty good job with its own merit system because there were few arbitrary hurdles and plenty of meta-systems in play to help those who were lagging behind catch up, if they were willing to put in the extra effort. It wasn’t a perfect system, but considering the state of our shattered world, the TPV’s merit system was downright utopian compared to what it could have been.

Anyway, the juniors we were watching over today, were tasked with finding and collecting the fruits of a certain tree that grew in a nearby wood. Fun fact, that wood was pretty much an offshoot of the Bellgrave, even if it was far enough away from the main Bellgrave to be considered its area of wilderness. As could be predicted for a sect that had named themselves the “Tree” of anything, there were lots of forests in the region of Lima where the sect had elected to put down roots. Thus Jack and I got to do lots of work in wooded areas that made us feel like we were back home in the Bellgrave again.

I won’t bother going into the details of exactly what fruit the disciples were looking for, and how they were supposed to find it. That was the disciples' business. We, elders, were only concerned with making sure that the juniors survived and avoided running into too much mischief. We weren’t here to coddle them. On the contrary, we were instructed to give the juniors enough leeway for the purposes of learning through trial and error, and running into happy accidents and bits of unexpected fortune. In other words, we were glorified chaperons with the instruction to only act if a life was in danger, or a vital line was about to be crossed.

*************************************************************************************************************

On that note, while I was waiting for yet another batch of brats to finish their little adventure in the woods, it occurred to me that I should take an accounting of my strength. My Idle-Clicker system was always tick, tick, ticking away. Steadily increasing my stats and my comprehension of my ever-growing library of stories.

Speaking of my stories. Their number was climbing at an almost alarming rate. Between the knowledge gained from prior [Tales], the knowledge that was now constantly being drip-fed into my mind thanks to my growing connection with the akashic realm, and the collective unconscious, and the knowledge I was seeking out on my own in the Sect’s archives and libraries, I had plenty of fodder for new stories. Enough so, that these days, the passage of a week would be marked with the birth of a story.

As to why I haven’t been mentioning them, the answer is that a lot of these stories were either so eccentric that I’m not sure what I’m getting from them, or they were small stories, of the sort that Jack had natural access to, without the need of my curation and simplification. Thus recently, I might get the life story of an individual, or the stories of multiple individuals in an exceedingly narrow situation. Like the [Tale of Ned Duvall of Universe-XXXX] and [Tale of the Royal Escapees].

There “were” stories that were much more significant, but they sort of got lost in the crush of other stories. Such as the [Tale of Growth], the [Tale of Rot], the tales of seasons, as the [Tale of Winter], the [Tale of Spring], the [Tale of Summer]...etcetera. A lot of those tales were trippy, but gave off powerful impressions that caused my understanding of reality to shift and twist in odd ways. The fact that more and more of them were joining the list, and being unlocked with the system, made me feel like something was going to change soon. I got the feeling that something big was going to happen and I wasn’t entirely sure I’d love, or hate, whatever it was.

*************************************************************************************************************

“Uh-oh,” said Jack. Frowning as she stepped forward.

“What?” I said. Closing my system and paying more attention to what was happening around us.

“The kids have run into something sticky and there’s trouble on the way,” said Jack.

“Eh?!” I said. Extending my spiritual senses in the direction that Jack was extending hers.

“Oh, fuck...This seriously had to happen while I was on the job!?” grumbled Elder Trefor. Apparently having picked up the coming trouble as well.

I saw what Jack and Elder Trefore were freaking out about. There was suddenly a great deal of smoke on the horizon and there was a whole stampede of Kapok-octopi heading our way. Kapok-octopi were another species of paranoia-inducing, tree-imitators. They were massive, 2 to 3 hundred-foot-tall, octopi, with hundreds of tentacles, some of which would play the part of leaves. Other tentacles would play the part of branches. The creatures were quite ferocious. The creatures were vicious, mean-spirited, and dangerously clever, which made seeing a whole bunch of them running scared all the more concerning.

The kids came running out of the forest’s depths, which should have been our cue to retreat, but then I realized that the count was short. Three of the juniors under our care were missing. Another of the elders seemed to pick this up as well. Elder Hong seemed to be on the verge of a melt-down as she counted and recounted the youths.

“Where is Hong Soomin?” said Elder.

The youth she was questioning, and not quite shaking, just seemed to gape at her, as if unsure of what to say, or what to dare say.

“Um...I...We...I…”

I patted Jack on the shoulder as I swept the area with my senses and located the missing youths.

“You prepare our exit while I snag our stragglers?” I said.

Jack nodded.

“Alright, but be quick about it. If you’re not back before the rest leave, just know I’ll come tumbling in right after you,” said Jack.

“Fair enough,” I said. Smiling faintly.