Year 208 (continued)

[Vine and root related abilities are all significantly upgraded. Your root distance has been significantly increased and the depth and range expanded.]

[Demonic Mana Resistance significantly enhanced.]

[New Domain Skill - Guardian Treants]

[You are able to spawn guardian treants near your clones or your main body. Guardian treants can act independently and fight, but may not move too far from your main body or clones]

“Eh.” I found that ability quite weak. It just added more of the ‘same’ type of ability to my skill set. I already had strong support skills, and guardians... well, that didn’t add much.

I needed more offensive ability, or failing that, more ‘movement’ and ‘mana’ related abilities. Adding more flesh to the battlefield generally, well, didn’t do much.

Yet, I also wondered whether that’s a wise choice. I’m a tree. Even with clones and more trees, I am still a tree, and was I trying to fit a round peg into a square hole?

It’s tempting to believe, as one gains levels, that I would become more ‘all-rounded’, more ‘able’ to do what I was not able to do before. But I’m increasingly noticing that the system also forces a ‘type’ on me, and doing something outside what the system considers ‘normal’ for me generally requires extensive preparation. Even then, I would still be outcompeted by those who had the right classes and optimal builds for those things.

The domain choices were really one of the rare times when the system actually allowed us to actively ‘steer’ the direction of our powers.

This is not so for humanoids, who, through their actions, can choose what class they acquire.

Monsters, on the other hand, are what they were designed to be, and evolutionary choices still had to remain linked to their core form. Therefore, now that I could somewhat ‘modify’ living beings to some degree, could I therefore ‘guide’ this path elsewhere? Just as I attempted to steer the development of my treefolks and my lizardpeople, I’m starting to realise perhaps I missed monsters.

The creation of true anti-demon monsters would be a great start. Just as nature is often an arms race between different species, why couldn’t nature have their own counter for demons? The demons evolved indirectly, adapting the qualities of their captured world into their own, each time, expanding the variety of demons, one world at a time.

I would also speculate that each demon king was also slightly different, thus, adding another form of evolution to their force. My evidence was that Sabnoc was slightly different compared to the demon king of the Mountainworlds, perhaps the ratio of ‘demon’ and ‘core’ was mixed slightly differently with each new spawn.

So, nature had to evolve. The natural world most likely had two main ways of evolution. The first one, unique to this magical world, was the subtle evolution through the ‘spawning’ process, in which the system creates life out of thin air, perhaps using a blend of the existing creations. This was most apparent in the Rottedland’s edges, where we had hybrid creatures and plants. Second was of course the supposed earth-way of accumulated surviving adaptations.

I am inclined to believe the first was the ‘main’ evolutionary tool in this world, simply because magic and demon kings just killed everyone so quickly, that the system repopulates the world with slightly better-adapted individuals.

But why let the system be the only one doing it? If I could make Treechis, why not make demon-eating hounds and beetles? Giant demon-eating worms?

Training, equipping Valthorns with the right skills is fine and all, but evolution must consider all choices. A point I had clearly neglected, even when it was what I started with. I had trained beetles, and my artificial minds continued to make incremental improvements to better adapt them to our ongoing war on the Parasiteworld. Things that artificial minds were good at.

Faster. Stronger. Bigger.

But I could do more. Especially more ‘radical’ recreations. Different. Reconstruction from the ground up to make them more focused demon-killing machines.

Artificial minds could take one or two steps back, but they were not designed for ground up remakes.

I could redesign them from bottom up, create stronger versions of their original form. Not just that, I could attempt to fuse the anti-mana glass, or any other kinds of material into their structure to create something alien.

Weaker, but different. And then incrementally improve that ‘weaker’ type to make it more powerful.

Not just that, looking at it, could I also recreate artificial minds and improve them? I had responded to the growing need for oversight and for routine automation by adding more and more artificial minds to the problem. Patreeck assigned and allocated tasks to them.

Could we make ‘better’ artificial minds, and improve their ‘hardware’ such that each level they gain did more?

***

The heroes celebrated the death of the demon king. Kelly recovered after two days of intense care.

“So... now we need to help you with your demon king.” Adrian said. “But how do you already know what’s coming?”

“Complicated story, one I’ll let you have more details once you visit our world. But the gist of it is that Aeon can see the demon king coming. Sort of.”

“Whoah.” The two heroes were impressed. “You guys have counters for most demon kings, then?”

Prabu shook his head. “Not for the one that’s coming. Aeon said the next demon king will be a massive, heavily physical, super-magic resistance, anti-magic type. Something we have no counter for. Not directly. We don’t have a physical hero in our lineup, and sadly, the two of you are not pure-physical types either. So, we’ll have to make do with larger numbers, and hopefully, better equipment.”

The heroes gained some levels, but strangely, it wasn’t very high. The four heroes and many of those who joined the battle also gained the same Title as I did. A useless trinket. Even those who assisted indirectly obtained the title. The four heroes from our world gained four to five levels each, though Adrian and Kelly, being lower levelled, gained about ten.

A big party was held throughout the kingdoms, though the atmosphere was somewhat tense among the elites. My presence partly dampened the euphoria. The kings were fearful, and the worries had many aspects.

Would we leave? What do the heroes want now? Who would do the cleanup of the demonic corruption that covered so much of the world? How do they maintain their power above the temples, or would the Kings’ power and influence be usurped by the Temples again?

The heroes were mostly oblivious. They were just happy to have the weight off their shoulders. The commoners partied like it truly was the end of the world.

“Have you guys attended parties like this?” Adrian asked. “Like, back home.”

“Yes. Smaller ones, nothing like this. This truly is something else.” Decades of constant warfare finally brought to an end, and the Kings spared no expense to commemorate this momentous victory. Every kingdom contributed a small sum to the party, but combined, it was a truly lavish thing.

A moment of bliss for the common folk. A moment for the heroes to forget the sacrifices and losses along the way.

A moment to drown in the seemingly endless barrels of alcohol. A revenge party for a decade long war. Because these moments may be all they have, until the next demon king comes along.

The nobles made the effort to approach the heroes, and their questions were meant to get a sense of how we were back home. An attempt to understand where the kingdoms stood in my world. Of course, I didn’t expect Prabu to know what to answer.

“The Central Continent’s ruled by Aeon. Directly.” Prabu said to a noble of the mountainworld. It was a party, and some heroes

“What about the temples?”

“They rule the other continents, well, indirectly via their influence on the actual rulers, but the Central Continent is pretty much de-facto controlled by Aeon and his organisation.”

The nobles all naturally poked, and attempted to drive a wedge between myself and the heroes. “Why do heroes accept such an arrangement?”

Prabu stared at the noble curiously. “Why not? Not all heroes seek to rule, and Aeon established a competent military dictatorship to support his realm. His realm is not perfect, but largely decently managed.”

“Don’t heroes want to create their own vision of the world?”

Prabu laughed at that. “I think that only applies if the locals don’t even know what we want, then we have no choice but to create it.”

“How is life in the Central continent, what do kings and nobles do?”

Prabu frowned. “Honestly I don’t know. I don’t see them much. All of my dealings with the world are handled by the Valthorns.”

“Why do you let them treat you like that?” A noble said. “Surely a hero can handle his own affairs.”

It amused me that they goaded the wrong person. They would’ve had better success with the other heroes, who mostly remained with Adrian and Kelly. Maybe they would try it with them later. Prabu just laughed at that. “Eh, I’m quite happy to have a small army of assistants.”

“Do you not feel like you’re some menagerie animal?”

“Why would I? My needs are met, and Aeon may be my best chance to find a way home.”

“Maybe Aeon already has a way and has been withholding it from you, in order to use you to fight his wars.”

“The only wars I’m fighting are against demons and my hunger. But maybe you guys should pay Aeon’s clone body a visit and book a tour to our world.” It wasn’t exactly a secret by now that I sent heroes to their world. “After all, now that Aeon’s clone body is here, he won’t be going anywhere.”

The nobles winced.

“Eh. It’s quite a pleasant trip!” Prabu went on a promotional spree. “It’s safe, and as long as any of the Valtrian Order’s guys accompany you, you can be assured of your safety. Food’s good and the accommodations are great! There is some really interesting scenery to see too. I was told the valleys and the Freshkan Colleges are super popular with the younger nobility.”

I somewhat cringed, so I focused on the other group of heroes. Some of the nobles approached them, but they were adept at dodging, and eventually, they left the actual party.

“I’ve got a word of advice.” Chung immediately said to Adrian. “If you’re gonna start your own kingdom, don’t stick your thing in too many places, and don’t have too many kids.”

“You have kids?” Adrian looked at Chung like he said something funny, and asked.

“No. But I’ve seen what my predecessors went through, and dealing with the mess isn’t fun. They’ll fight, and it broke my predecessor’s heart when his wives and children fought with each other.”

Adrian shrugged and nodded.

Chung held his hand. “I’m serious. One of the things we heroes lack, surprisingly, is self control. With all this power in our hands, we can get our way easily. But there are consequences, especially with people, and with organisations. If you build a kingdom, remember that the kingdom exists because you exist. Once you die, your kingdom collapses with you.”

“Is that why you guys have not made your own kingdoms?” Kelly asked. “When we came to this world, that’s what they promised us. We’d be kings and queens, heroes, we’d have the man of our dreams...”

Chung nodded. “It’s a lie. The beautiful cake they sold us is filled with worms. Mostly. You gotta realise which parts are not filled with worms.”

“Then...” Kelly looked sad. “Why are we here? What should we do?”

“Survive. Until we all meet our eventual doom at the hand of some future demon king.”

“That’s sad. It makes me feel like what we’ve struggled so far is pointless.”

“It’s not. Even in our world, we eventually die. We are doomed, either disease or old age, or many other reasons. Yet, our life back home didn’t feel meaningless.”

“I thought going to class all the time was pretty meaningless.” Adrian quipped.

“Meaning is something you can create. Our predecessors tried different things. One went on a hunt for good wines, another dabbled in fashion and arts. They took what they liked, and dived deeper into it. For me, I quite like killing demons, so I’m trying to be even better at it.” Chung answered frankly. “Or you can be a snack-addict like Prabu.”

The two other heroes heard him but did not respond.

***

Around the same time, I also sent my trees to explore the area underneath the demon king. My trees spawned in where that demon king once ‘camped’, and I detected strands of daemolite that went really deep into the ground. The leylines were tainted by demonic energy, though they would fade in time.

I sensed the taint weakening each day, and eventually the ley lines would flush out all the demonic energy.

The demon king had somehow pulled the ley lines of the entire region to this single spot, and now that the demon king was gone, these ley lines were slowly drifting apart. This would be a good time to pin the leyline together to form a dungeon, but then, I wanted to see how a world ‘recovered’.

Defeating the demon king did not answer the question I had.

What was the demon’s win condition? How did they win, and what determined ‘how long’ the world held up?

From what Lillies said, I knew that a demon king could remain undefeated for decades, almost centuries, but still the world did not ‘fall’. Yet, from Snek’s world, their world clearly collapsed quickly.

This was comparable to a doctor trying to diagnose a novel disease, and now we are trying to figure out the mechanics of the disease. A mutating virus.

Concurrently, I started to clean up the corruption in the areas designated to be under my rule.

It didn’t take more than a week to clear my marked lands of the demonic corruption, my energies easily overwhelming the demon’s presence.

“What’s the plan with this location?” My domainholders didn’t stay long, Edna, Roon and Johann returned home. There was also the topic of names for this new nation, and I decided to call it Branchhold.

I would like to first increase the tree population, and increase my total mana output. Later on, I would relocate some of the void archmages to this world, and begin surveying the skies for other worlds.

My astral sight was enhanced now that my clone body was here, and already I could see that this world could access Threeworlds and also Treehome, and also some other further worlds. It was the interstellar equivalent of expansion.

I decided to open my land to refugees, and got some of my experienced Valtrian Order administrators and mid-level Valthorns to come over to Mountainworld to set up the new nation of Branchhold.

In time, I would like to introduce the Canari to this world, and also implement offshoots of existing institutions.

As for the lands outside, I also cleared a few ‘safe’ paths to the rest of the inhabited worlds in order to kickstart the migration and resettlement, but for now, the rest of the demonic corruption remained.

The locals of the Moountainworld called it the Demontouched lands, and they spawned hybrids and demons quite similar to the Rottedlands, but still different in their own way. This was useful research and I wanted to take another opportunity to examine them. It would be good to study them and compare them to the specimens we had back home.

***

Alka actually gained his domain while bunkered somewhere far from the battlefield, though he was actively supporting the battle by giving the bombs some extra ‘power-ups’. As a field scientist, he could amplify the strength of certain equipment, and that included the bombs, and I figured through those contributions, he gained the experience needed to get through to the domain.

He naturally joined my pantheon for ‘life insurance’.

He got the domain of [Explosions], and the first, extremely unusual ability of his domain, [Always a Bomb], was his ability to be a Living Bomb. Essentially, he could detonate a bomb around himself, without actually needing a bomb, of varying strength and up to the strongest bomb he has ever made. The number of bombs he could release was pretty much scaled to the strength of the bomb.

At the same time, the [Field Scientist] class returned to me, since, once he had his domain, his ‘class’ no longer existed. It was merged into the [Explosions] domain, along with all the skills.

In a way, that sort of made Alka very dangerous. He could theoretically nuke himself next to me if he wanted to, and I was really thankful that I had other bodies as my own personal insurance.

Then again, that’s the same class any offensive-geared domain holder will reach. A hero, or a mage-with-a-domain would probably be similarly dangerous, so, there really was no need for excessive paranoia.

I would need Stella to get her domain, and we should largely have the pieces needed to really ‘jam’ up the demons’ process.

“Too bad we missed a chance to send some roots through that rift.” Stella said to me privately. “I would love to see what kind of world that demon king came from.”

In the heat of battle, that was not an easy thing to do. The rifts were not common either. Since this set of demons spawned their own demons by manipulating existing leylines, they did not require much reinforcements from their homeworld, except during that final battle with the demon king.

With the festivities mostly over, we had a demon king to prepare for, and this time, I wanted to attempt to jam the demon king’s teleportation process.