Altura

I sighed as I walked to the fortress. Aswelth had asked that I commemorate its building, and I was happy to do it. So I had set off towards the fortress with a few thousand members of the Ducal guard. There was one problem, however. The wind. It was icy with a tinge of frost, and not even remotely hospitable.

I would be lying if I said that the area actually troubled me, my Plantling physique had shown that it would and could completely ignore the chill. The issue, however, was that most of the people here did not have that advantage.

Especially the crops. According to the farmers, this wind was unnatural and had never come before. Aswelth had examined it and noted that it contained minute amounts of Qi, not enough to be an attack, but enough to assume that it came from a more Qi rich area.

The answer then was that the ward had been stopping it from getting in. And now that it was failing, the wind had crept back in. What else lay on the other side of this ward that I needed to worry about?

Anyway, cultivators churning out little fires that warmed the air had effectively reduced the winds’ impact on the crops. I had decided to employ the Adventurers Guild for the same because, well, I wanted the task completed notification. If the Adventurers Guild could level up, then it would count towards my eventual level up into a Plant.

But enough about that, I had a fortress to see. I walked through some more snow, using Fire to burn it away, and walk the road with a lot less snow in my shoes. Soon enough, I could see a dark gray dot come into sight, the picture enlarging as I neared.

The fortress appeared to be just a massive wall from the outside. I was sure there was something on the inside, but it was not visible. I also had to marvel at the size of the walls, I had not known you could make walls that big. Actually, I was pretty sure you couldn’t, this was likely just magic at play.

It did not take long for me to approach the fortress. Even at Seedling speed, we were quite a bit faster than everyone else.

“Greetings, your grace.” Aswelth said as I approached, “I hope you are satisfied with the fortress.”

“That I am. How long before it is ready for operation?” I asked.

“It is ready, your grace.” Aswelth said, a big smile stretched across his face, betelling exactly how happy he was with this fortress.

“Then I suppose it is time that the Ducal guard had a new home.” I answered. “I take it that it will be shifting here as its new headquarters?”

“That is correct, your grace, it will serve as the headquarters now, while the original guard mansion in the City can be given to the Administrative Wing.” Aswelth replied.

“Good then, consider it done.” I answered. It had been in the works for a while now, so this change wouldn’t even shake our systems.

I turned towards the members of the guard and said, “As all of you already know, the guard will now be based here, in this very fortress. So, I hereby deem this fortress true, and ask General Aswelth to please name it.” I said.

Aswelth grinned, his excitement visible. Guess the way to excite a General was to make him name a fortress. Why was that somehow not obvious?

“I name this fortress Verede, the word for ‘new’ in the old tongue. I hope that this fortress shall stand as a bastion against all that would destroy the new. That its forces shall feel their morale bolstered by what they seek to protect. This is my wish as General of these lands.” Aswelth said.

That triggered a memory. The ‘old tongue’ was apparently the language spoken by the first settlers of the Kingdom. The settlers had been bilingual, but had eventually chosen one language over the other, causing it to fade and become the ‘old tongue’.

I did find it curious though that the language that they had decided was English…wait, was it English? Why was it English? And why did I not question this before? Why… Wait what was I thinking about…oh yes the language… Ok, something was up. System, why did I not question this before?

The host is suffering from a condition known as spirit dysphoria. This has caused certain stimuli to be rejected by the host's brain. Additional information on the condition is not available. As recompense, the System shall state the requirement to gain further data.

Requirement: Spirit Tree Stage

Uh oh. Spirit dysphoria. That did not sound ominous at all, right? The fact that I was suffering some kind of illness that had apparently changed the way I thought. System, is there any other way to gain access to this information?

Negative.

Reaching the Spirit Tree Stage is the only way to gain access to this information. The host shall note that she has a living relative currently at the Spirit Tree Stage that can access that information.

Relative? What relative? Someone on the side of the Royal Family? The Founder? Or…on the side of Altura’s mother…uh oh. Why did I not think of the mother, either? Exactly how much information was I missing? Who was Altura’s mother? The book never mentioned it. But I had another important question. System, is the illness life-threatening?

Negative.

The host has already suffered through the worst of the condition. Due to the rapid increase in cultivation, the condition has been reduced in effect. The condition should remain dormant or in a state of constant decay for the rest of the host’s life. Any activities that increase the mental stats of the host will also decrease the condition’s effect.

The System does, however, recommend that the host not rush cultivation in pursuit of curing this condition. The effect of this activity has been found to decrease exponentially, and the System will be forced to terminate the host if it detects the host attempting to gain Qi in ways not supported by the System.

A death threat from the System. Well, at least the condition seemed to not hamper my ability. At least in any way that I could detect. So, the condition made me forget certain things? Things that had, at least till now, not harmed me. Wait, what was that theory I had before…something to do with Altura’s mother…better to just tell Aswelth so that he can remember it for me.

“Aswelth.” I called out to the old man that was sending the Ducal guards to certain rooms and just setting the fortress up.

“Yes, your grace.” Aswelth asked.

“Remind me to ask Father about my mother.” I said.

Aswelth

Aswelth looked at the Archduchess in horror. While he had known that eventually the Archduchess would ask this question. Even looked forward to the Duke having to answer the question, but he did not expect that he would have to be the one that had to deal with this.

“If it is agreeable to you, your grace, perhaps you could, uh, keep me out of this?” Aswelth asked. There were some things you just didn’t get involved in. Getting involved in this very much qualified.

“No.” the Archduchess replied. “I must ask that you remind me at least Aswelth. And may I know why you are so hesitant? Are you under threat?”

“No, your grace. I just wish to not get involved in this. And when you do ask, your grace, please be a bit…gentle. The loss of your mother still pains the Duke’s heart to this day.” Aswelth said. There was a threat. The threat came from getting involved. Matters of family were better kept in family.

“Fine. Just remind me in a few days. I’ll be looking at my notifications in the meanwhile.” The Archduchess replied as she huffed away. Aswelth feared for the Duke. What would happen when the Archduchess learned what had occurred all those years ago?

Altura

I huffed as I stood in the snow. There wasn’t even anywhere for me to huff to. Well, I could just make one, right? I followed the tree guy’s instructions and directly summoned the dome. What better place to try than now? I projected my anger outward, imagining it forming its own dome.

And boy, oh boy, was I angry. I was fed up with there always being another thing around the corner, one thing that would hurt me greatly. Why couldn’t things just go according to plan? Anyway, System, unarchive notifications.

Notifications have been unarchived.

Fortress gained!

Unnamed Fortress: 3000 Qi

Material: Stone

Maximum population: 30,000

Function: Headquarters of the Ducal guard

Level up initiated!

Mid-Plantling (16750/19200) → Late-Plantling (19750/38400)

Educational Council changed!

900 Qi gained!

New conditions for level up

Educational Council [level 0]

Requirements:

5000 students

100 graduates

3 weeks old

Reward: 7000 Qi

Unnamed Temporary Organization created

Qi gained: 300

Level up conditions not satisfied.

Late-Plantling (19750/38400) → Late-Plantling (20050/38400)

Well, at least I got a level up after this mess. That was something.