Altura

I watched a hole grow on my new Grand Tree as it grew. The hole asked me a question, the last in the Grand Tree series.

‘What property of Qi, under the right conditions, leads to great change.

What a vague question. The question had to be some kind of trick, Qi had a lot of properties, and almost all of them brought about some kind of change, within the Qi itself or in the world. The ‘great change’ part was also annoyingly vague. What was a great change?

The ability to inflict a hurricane on another continent was something Spirit Tree could do, that was a great change in my opinion. A typhoon wrecked havoc on the ecosystem and caused a whole lot of mess. But the System could mean a change in the Qi’s nature, or the nature of some living being.

The experiments on the Gorge people technically brought about great change. Hmm, what brought about the most change? The property to become Spirit Qi? No, something even more general…the property to be manipulable. The reason magic, and all of it, was possible was because it could be manipulated by spirit.

‘The answer is that Qi, in its many forms, can be manipulated by way of spirit, Seed, and will. The property allows for magic and all the changes along with it, and thus brings about great change.’

I answered.

‘A satisfactory answer, Archduchess. As usual, you have made a simple question hard and still managed to solve it beautifully, any major property would have sufficed, but it is true, none have brought about as much change as this one.’

And the hole went away. The Grand Tree grew some more, growing until it came across another bottleneck. And then the second hole formed, asking me a question silently. Asking me to prove that I was worthy of crossing it.

I acquiesced. Drawing on the abundant spirit in the area, I changed the nature of my Qi. I added to it all the properties I knew, turning it as close to spirit as I could. And it worked. The Qi seemed to fade, dissolving in the spirit as it resembled it more and more.

In the end, it was hard to even distinguish Qi from spirit. I doubted if I had gotten all the properties, but it was clear that I got close.

And so the spirit space changed, but the Grand Tree, somehow did not. No, that was not an accurate statement. The very nature of the Grand Tree changed, moving from Qi to Spirit Qi, but its look did not change. The Grand Tree grew no more. The change was qualitative, not quantitative.

And just like that, I was no longer Altura, Archduchess of Alvere. I was Altura, Archduchess of Alvere and Elder of the Land of Six Jewels. And I had a bunch of irritating vines to deal with. A rather irritating task, considering the vines were basically a part of the System.

But I did have a running theory, that these vines weren’t a part of the System I had come across before, they were a completely different, likely a rogue part. The System’s actions had been completely in line with how it had acted till now. But the vines had acted contrary to expectations, which meant they were likely to be separate.

I looked around the spirit space, making sure that one ghost was not lurking around anymore. The search bore no fruit, it would seem that I was free of the ‘grandpa’.

Deciding that I had waited enough, I stepped out of the spirit space, coming to in my still injured body. Oops, I had totally forgotten that I had been bleeding to death all this time. Thankfully, I unironically had a 160 million Qi backing me up. The healing took mere seconds.

But it did inform me of the lack of vines. And the so-called ‘lake of self reflection’. The lake was there, but it wasn’t spewing images anymore. The vines were there, but they weren’t speaking anymore. I might want to burn them away, just for surety. And I did. A few innocent vines died as I made sure they weren’t secretly plotting to kill me.

I sounded paranoid, even to me. In my defense, there was literally a very powerful AI out to get me. Was it really paranoia if they are out to get me? But I was pretty sure that these vines either had nothing to do with the System ‘vines’, or just weren’t possessed by their host anymore.

But all of this did bring me to another worry. As of now, I had needed 157,286,400 Qi to break through to the Spirit Tree stage. To breakthrough further I would need to, of course, get more Qi.

A little basic math told me that to break through to Mid-Spirit Tree I would need three hundred and fourteen million, five hundred and seventy-two thousand, eight hundred Qi.

And to break through to Late-Spirit Qi would need six hundred and twenty-nine million, one hundred and forty-five thousand, six hundred Qi. I would be a fool to think that this breakthrough was going to come easy.

And that was without the Warrior Tree breakthrough. A billion Qi in total. I needed to earn a billion Qi to reach the level of a Grand Elder. I suppose I now knew why there was such a big difference between a new Elder and a Grand Elder. A billion Qi made that difference.

But now I was faced with a very important question. How did one go about getting this Qi? Just killing the other participants would not be enough. I would maybe get a few hundred million Qi.

A hard maybe at that, the Grand Trees would no longer yield as much Qi as before, I would need to hunt Spirit Trees, and there were only nine of them here.

But what I did have was a moon. A moon that had a lot of land and resources, and was to the best of my knowledge, uninhabited besides us newcomers.

How likely was it that if I colonized said moon and made sure to elevate every member I had brought with me that still survived into Spirit Tree, I would get that billion Qi?

Kerrin

Kerrin had been right. In fact, he had been too right. Just an hour after their encounter after their encounter with the King of Fish, a massive trial battle had literally split space in the sky. A battle between one Giant Eel and half a dozen human Grand Trees. The Eel won, but not before making a target of itself.

And now he got to watch as the forces engaged in the hunt of the Eel, who was likely just protecting its kids. The view was interesting.

As far as he could tell, there were three main factions converging on the Eel’s current location, a seven member squad of Late-Grand Trees, a twenty-three member squad of Grand Trees, and a single Spirit Tree.

The chances of them having not detected each other were minimal, in fact they had likely detected him too, but he hoped the fact that he was not moving would dissuade them from making any trouble. Kerrin doubted his chances of survival if they did.

But as far as he could tell, they were all focused on each other and not the two Early-Grand Trees sitting in a tree. The battle began as soon as they approached the Eel. The Eel hunkered down into its lake, the surface cackling with electricity in a beckoning manner.

The three groups arrived there at nearly the same time, and circled the lake. Taking note of the Eel and the others there. To them, the others were all just a bunch of Qi that they needed to break through to the Spirit Tree stage. Or for the sole Spirit Tree, to become more powerful.

A few minutes later, the first battle broke out. The seven Late-Grand Trees attacked the Spirit Tree, and were soon joined by the other twenty-three Grand Trees. Taking down the most powerful person there was apparently more important than the Eel.

The fight was spectacular, but also one-sided and over too soon. The Spirit Tree made quick work of the others, it wasn’t even a fight. A single blow killed a Grand tree, thirty killed them all.

The Spirit Tree was barely injured at all. A wave of his hand later, he burned away the water in the lake, leaving behind a veritable army of Eels hiding behind one giant Eel. The Eels escaped as the Giant Eel shot at the Spirit Tree, but it too fell in one blow.

The Spirit Tree looked at the dead lake and the eels fleeing around it. The eels could barely survive outside water and were already dying. Shaking his head in distaste, the Spirit Tree opened a portal away from the lake, apparently killing the eels it was beneath him.

Kerrin moved to get out of the tree, only to be stopped by Panni. “What?” he asked.

“I know what you want to do, and it is not a good idea.” she said.

“The place is empty! And just pouring water into the lake is not likely to draw much attention.” he answered, confused.

“Oh. I thought you were going to hunt down the eels for Qi. I suspect that the hounds will be here looking for them any moment now.” Panni replied. Kerrin merely shook his head and went to the lake, pouring water in. A few seconds later, the dying eels had quickly rushed in.

Kerrin was sure that people were going to be angry and hunt for him because of this, but there was already a target on his back. What was another. Besides, this was a good chance to make alliances with the wildlife.

Kerrin suddenly found himself distracted at a projectile shooting towards his face. Raising his hand, he caught it. A pearl.

Water Key gained!

The Water Key is one of the nine keys of the moon, the key grants its wielder the ability to cross zones regardless of their status.

Well, wasn’t that nice. Now he could go look for the Archduchess away from this place. Because he was pretty sure that the Spirit Tree was not going to be happy when he found out that he had gotten this.

Kerrin dismissed the notification, finding himself looking at a strange crab looking at him from the water surface. The crab waved at him and went underwater. Kerrin didn’t have to extend his senses to know that it was rescuing the eels. Do not underestimate the wildlife, indeed.

Altura

I walked slowly as I approached the encampment, keeping an eye out for the two Trees, or at least their remains. After burning the lake and its surroundings to a crisp, I had teleported around, looking for the encampment of those that had hunted me.

And I found it. But I was not going to make the same mistake as before. The main goal was to rescue the two Trees, I could take revenge later. I sent out my senses, trying to sense where they were, and I was rewarded.

The two were still alive, but not for very long. And not well, not by the long shot. A Spirit Tree had taken to stringing them up, naked, and had things that could only be there to torture them in her hands.

Did she have to make not killing her on sight so hard? I had seen a lot since coming to this world over three years ago, but this was my first time seeing this kind of sadist. The kind that liked to torture people to death. Or maybe it was just torture them?

I was going to presume that, given that she had two women strung up and was holding torture weapons in his hands. I removed my new scepter, eager to test it out.

The scepter too had a special feature, it allowed me to establish a domain of a sort in a place. Not a full control, not even close, but it increased how easy it was for me to affect things, especially at a distance.

I tilted the scepter towards the Spirit Tree, forming a typhoon right behind her, attempting to pull her back, or at least distract her. As soon as that was done, I teleported the two of them to me, dismissing the Spirit Tree’s weak lock.

The lock was either the lousiest piece of casting I had seen in a while, or I was a tad more powerful than I thought. But I was not done. I conjured a hurricane right there, adding excess lightning in for good measure.

And then I made sure to have plants fling the people in the direction of the lightning. The victims of my attack tried to resist, but there was a difference between a normal Grand Tree and a Spirit Tree, and there was a difference between a normal Spirit Tree and me. The two differences added? Well, sorry not sorry people, you are going to die.

I now turned my attention to my two companions, injured as they were. A thousand cuts marked their body, situated such that they did not lead to an immediate loss of life, but a slow, painful one.

I healed them, letting them rest. The two had suffered far too much. I could, and would take revenge, no, justice for them.

The Grand Trees died within seconds in the hurricane, only the Spirit Tree surviving the onslaught. But I was not about to let her go. So I did something smart, or maybe a tad evil. I froze the hurricane, and pushed all the heat and energy within to fire.

A fun fact, a storm might be cold, but it had a lot of energy. A hurricane had a lot more energy. The Spirit Tree stood no chance when a hurricane’s worth of Dragon Fire suddenly decided to burn her to a crisp.

The Archduchess had come. The Archduchess had ruled. And these people were guilty. The punishment was death.

I once more turned to my companions, observing them closely. Though I had been able to heal the physical scars, they had lost their seeds, and there was sure to be psychological scarring from this.

I could do little about the psychological effect, but I could mitigate the effect on seeds. I did have two seeds at hand. The Energy seed I had, and the Loyalty seed I had received two years ago.

I never did find a person to give it to. A part of me thought that giving the seeds without permission was the wrong thing to do, I would be violating both of their privacy and bodily consent. A different part of me wanted them to wake up whole.

But would they be whole when I had taken the choice away from them? In fact, could they not wish to remain mortal, not involving in the matters of cultivation anymore.

The chances of them having any Qi remaining in their spirit space was slim, and even if they had it, they were unlikely to reach high enough to be powerful enough to survive the Tourney on their own.

I teleported us to a nearby cave, making sure to collapse the entrance. Setting up a fire light, I sat down. Waiting for them to wake up. And a few hours later, they did.

The first to wake up was the blonde, super loyal one. The one who had defended me on every occasion. The next to wake up, a few seconds later, was the brunette, the one who had told me that they had already been preparing a tunnel.

“Archduchess!” the blonde exclaimed.

“Hello.” I said, my tone sad. “I would just like to say that I am sorry for all that you suffered for me. The sacrifice shall not be forgotten.” I replied.

“Archduchess, what of…them?” the brunette said, gesturing towards the outside.

“The ones that took you? I killed them” I said, letting out my aura. The aura of a Spirit Tree shocked them both, the brunette in particular.

“Now, as for your seeds. The current plan I have is to first kill those that hunt us and then level up together until we reach the Spirit Tree stage. The best way to accomplish this is, in my opinion, colonizing the moon. To that end, I have two seeds I can offer you.”

“The Seed of Loyalty and the Seed of Energy. Sadly, these are the only ones I can offer. Perhaps some of the others from my Grandmother’s faction will have more to give.”

“I will respect any choice you make, and know that you shall have my protection no matter what you choose, even if the choice is to remain mortal.” I said.

“I will take the Seed of Loyalty, your grace.” the brunette said, basically snatching the Seed from my hand. The action was a shock to me, the girl did not seem in any way loyal to me.

“Qiara! No! I know why you are doing this, and there is no need for you to sacrifice for me. I can handle myself, and we both know you can be loyal to no one but yourself. Just take the Energy Seed.” the blonde said.

Ah, the responsible and less responsible sister trope.

“Before the two of you start arguing in earnest, I would just like it to be noted that the Loyalty Seed does not demand Loyalty to any particular nation or force.”

“In fact, loyalty to oneself or even one’s family is perfectly satisfactory for the Seed. The Seed is also not weak, I researched it and found that it is held by one of the Grand Elders.”

“I assure you, the Seeds come with no strings attached.” I said, smiling. Doing research was OP. And no one can convince me otherwise.