Altura

I sighed as I entered a cave in the cliff face. How had I not thought of hiding out in a cliff? A vantage point, easier access, and…actually there was nothing else. The safety was less, too, someone could see the cave while flying through. After all, we weren’t the only ones with magic senses.

“Are you sure this is safe? I can sense the hollowness in the cliff from miles away.” I asked.

“What hollowness? The cave? Oh, I set up anti-sensing wards in place. The wards stop anyone from sensing anything.” Quarnessa answered.

“…But it still feels hollow. The best way to camouflage would be to make it seem like there was rock here.” I answered.

“But that is not possible. Not with the people detecting being Grand Trees.” Quanrnessa answered.

“Yes, which is why we hide in a place less likely to have someone sensing it. A person flying would be most likely to be sensing. The best policy is to keep it at ground level.” I answered.

“Well, not every one of us expected to be hunted when they came here. I, for one, thought that I would be participating in a Tourney, not this ‘hunt’.” Quarnessa said.

Ah, resentment. Well, it made sense. I did start a hunt for people, and Quarnessa as the second most valuable person would also be among the most hunted.

The two of us entered, finding the place a mess. An array of things were in the air, barring our way.

“Ok, all of you, stop whatever you have going on!” Quarnessa said.

The items slowly descended as a number of people emerged from the cave walls. The walls were, apparently, fake. At least someone was better at camouflage than Quarnessa.

“And how do we know that you are who you say you are, Quarnessa? And who is that girl beside you?” a man said.

I interjected before this encounter went any further off track. “I am Archduchess Altura Selrin. A pleasure to meet you all. As for proof-” I released my aura- “I could have killed you all long ago if I wanted to.” I said.

The man, however, was not convinced. “The Archduchess was an Early-Grand Tree when she came here. I doubt even she could have crossed an entire Great realm in just a day. I will need more proof than that, miss.” he said.

Well, that was a convincing argument. But what could I use to convince them? Wait. The weapon that I had been given by Elder Norvane. I removed it from my space ring, and held it aloft.

“The weapon that Elder Norvane gave me. Does that convince you?” I asked.

“No. But it does tell me that you either killed the Archduchess or are the Archduchess. The only reason someone would try to befriend us is to get to the Archduchess. And if you killed her, you would no longer need to do that. I suppose I must trust your word for now.” he answered. Quarnessa huffed behind me.

“So, how may we help you, Archduchess?” he asked.

“Well, I was thinking that we should colonize this moon. So if you can tell me where every group is, then I can just hunt our hunters into extinction.” I answered, smiling. I had a hunch that this man knew more than I thought. Just killing the hunters would allow my plan to move my forwards by a mile.

“I fear for the hunters, your grace.” he said. And I knew that I had what I wanted.

Duke Reinar

Reinar sighed as he looked at the papers in his office. A thing he had found about being duke of the Kingdom, was that it was a frustrating job. The King had killed most of the nobility, leaving huge swaths of land undefended and without law. The only good thing was that he was now a Tree.

Just reaffirming the law and arresting the many opportunistic lords had taken a year. But things did not take a good turn. The lands still needed governance, but there were no nobles to govern. Now, that would usually mean that some commoners needed to be elevated to nobility to allow it.

The problem was that there were too many options. The Kingdom had changed. A growing part of the population was a cultivator, and most of them wanted a say in how things happened.

The populace did not share the same blind trust they had in his daughter with him. No, they wanted some accountability, assurances that they would get the leaders they wanted.

But they could not agree on whom those leaders were. A number of ‘candidates’ had popped up in each area, and all of them wanted to be made the leader. As the situation stood, Reianr would cause a riot no matter what he chose.

The mortals were not quiet either, they wanted their own representation, and a written assurance that all of them would get the chance to be a cultivator. But Altura had already expressed that the only way to become a cultivator would remain the Adventurer’s Guild and its multi step verification process.

Reinar had to admit that the decision was wise, it had allowed the government to have a semblance of control over how cultivation grew, and had eased the investigation of any crime.

But things were not looking good no matter what. Reinar needed a solution. And he required it now. Reinar could practically feel the headache growing.

A knock sounded on the door as Aswelth announced his presence.

“Hello, Aswelth.” Reinar said, greeting his old competitor. A long time ago, he had been very jealous of him, jealous enough to do several things that he later regretted. But that was in the past.

“So, how goes the reformation of the Kingdom?” he asked.

“Not well. How goes the destruction of the Confederacy? I hear that you are planning to invade?” Reinar asked back.

“Yes, the battle at the Sect demolished the upper echelons of the Confederacy. The Shadow Prince has inherited it, but the Confederacy has already begun its civil war. Just a little nudge here and there, and it will collapse on itself. After that, we are going to pick it up.” Aswelth replied.

“I wish things were so simple here. The Kingdom is a mess, Aswelth. The King killed over ninety-percent of the leadership, and I don’t have people to replace them with.” he answered.

“Just choose someone, the Arch duchy does not differentiate between noble and commoner. In fact the Archduchess had considered removing nobility altogether, as far as I know it's still in consideration.” Aswelth answered.

“Oh, if only it were as simple. The regions have more than one faction of cultivators, Aswelth. A few of them have one popular one that stands apart, but so many have more than one. The County of Larfe has seven candidates! I cannot choose one without offending the other and everyone that supports them.” Reinar vented.

“I did consider getting some kind of poll done and chose the most popular ones, but that would still anger the others.” Reinar continued.

“But would they really be angry if it was public that the decision was based on polls?” Aswelth countered. Ha! What a General thing to say. An administrator knew that people would get angry no matter what, let alone when decisions were controversial.

“Yes. I expect riots, Aswelth.” Reinar replied.

“Well, control them, then. Just because they are cultivators does not mean they can do whatever they want. The Ducal Guard is at your disposal, and don’t you have your own army?” Aswelth replied.

“Tell you what, if you can do this successfully, I will implement it in the Confederacy too. I expect to kill their entire leadership. So a way to replace them will be needed.” Aswelth continued.

“Well, what if the people change their minds? Or the ruler becomes corrupt? Do I depose him and ask for another to be polled? Will they still trust in a polled candidate?” Reinar asked. Not quite sold on the entire ‘leave it to the commoners’ thing.

“Well yes. Do I need to remind you that you are the equivalent of the King? Do you remember the stuff we had to put up with, Kings? I am sure things will be better than before, if nothing else.” Aswelth said.

The topic drifted around after that, but the conversation never left Reinar. And so, a few weeks later, the Duchy of Renere, previously the Kingdom of Renere, announced that it would be selecting regional administrators by the way of the polls.

The System even congratulated them, sending a notification.

System of governance founded:

Democracy

10 million Qi to regional head

1 million Qi to national head

1 Qi to all citizens

And so, the Arch duchy of Alvere became the first cultivator-only nation in the entire world. Reinar was proud that he was the one that brought about the change. But he was even happier that he would be leveling into the Grand Tree stage from this boost.

Altura

“The Grand Elder Betaca will never forgive you Archduchess! No, she will make sure that you regret the day you were born! Just you wait and see your dogs!” he said.

“Oh sure, but will she save you now? No?” I said as I burned the last of the ‘hunters’ that were assigned to me to kill. The ‘man’ from Quarnessa’s group, named Rotolier, was an anomalous seed of the Waves element. The man had located every cultivator in the vicinity, and it hadn’t taken long to ‘hunt’ them.

The vast majority of groups weren’t in fact, hunting them. Or so they claimed. The truthfulness of their words before her was in doubt, anyone would say no if a Spirit Tree asked if they were hunting them. Well, anyone except Grand Elder Itacia and Grand Elder Betaca’s groups.

Thankfully, the two were in short supply in this zone. I had to only kill two groups of three and two to be done. The others had faced even less opposition. The regions had been divided among them to make sure that everyone got at least some Qi.

But there wasn’t much Qi to be had in the first place. Just a whole lot of ‘allies’. Thankfully for everyone, I had some plans. The thing about the Tourney was that every participant had a ‘special’ seed. Not something simple like Soldier, on the seeds were special. And that meant there were tasks other than killing they could do to get Qi.

A requirement for higher cultivators, for how would a Grand or Spirit Tree hunt when the only ones at their levels were powers on a continental or world level. A Spirit Tree sure wasn’t getting any Qi normally, attacking one was banned by the First Warrior. Though that did not stop the Xombei, it did stop attacks for Qi.

The zones as far as I could tell had been choosy, a large part of the population was composed of Grand Elder Antasia’s group. The Grand Elder had a hundred and four Tourney candidates under her, and ninety-eight of said candidates had arrived here.

The next biggest group had been Grand Elder Itacia’s, the group which I had destroyed for taking Qiaria and her sister.

I teleported to our base, the same cliff facing ave as before.

“So, how did it go?” I asked.

“Well. The groups are all dealt with. The members of the other five Grand Elders are missing from this zone, but that does leave us with a rather large among of allies” Quarnessa answered.

“In addition to the eighty-seven surviving members of Grand Elder Antasia’s party, we have eleven people among us. And thirteen people from Grand Elder Betaca’s group surrendered. “

“Sadly, we have not run into any of Grand Elder Itacia’s own separatists. As far as I can tell, the most powerful members were teleported along with their leaders. In this case, the Spirit Trees. And on that level, the Antasia group’s Spirit Tree would like to speak with you.” Quarnessa said.

“I thought there weren’t any other Spirit Trees in this zone?” I asked. The fact was news to me.

“So did I, but apparently the guy is an expert at hiding himself. Oh, and the sisters you asked we contact have been found and brought here. Do I want to know what two Saplings are doing in the Tourney, your grace?” she asked.

“The two of them were crippled trying to save me.” I replied. “Now, where can I find this Spirit Tree?” I asked.

“Retre is over there, Archduchess.” Quarnessa answered, pointing in a direction.

“I headed in the direction, finding a green haired man standing on what seemed to be an artificial balcony.

“Archduchess Altura Selrin. A pleasure to meet you” Retre said. And of course he knew who I was.

“A pleasure to meet you too, Spirit Tree Retre. I hear that you wished to speak to me?” I asked.

“Yes. I hear that you have plans to increase the cultivation of everyone here. As the representative of the majority, I wanted to know what your plans were.” he asked.

“The plan is simple, though it will require a tremendous amount of planning to pull off, all we need to do is co-operate and build a civilization here while doing things that would bring us Qi.” I answered. The question was pretty simple and expected.

“The most common Seed among our number is Naturesinger. The Seed grants a special Nature element that is native to a particular tribe in the Land of Tribes. Now, how would you use that?” Retre asked. A good question. But I had an answer.

“I have a landmark in the Arch duchy, it's a bunch of tree houses. The Naturesingers, as you call them, can make those houses. The Qi from extending the houses across the zone should grant plenty of Qi.” I answered. An easy one, but if Retre’s face was any indication, I had a few more coming up.

“The Lightrisers are a group of seven Light elemented individuals that specialize in destroying enemies quickly.” Retre said, the challenge in his tone apparent.

“The houses will need lighting, in fact, this can be used to provide Qi to others that have related Seeds. And if their Seeds are purely offensive, then they can just sear some boulders out of the way.” I answered, grinning.

“The Earthen Masons are defense focused-” Retre began, but I interrupted him.

“The roads need to be built, the houses require fortifications…” The list is long, Retre.

“And all of these actions are useless. The houses will never be occupied, and the fortifications are unnecessary. Why would we do this if it wouldn't give us Qi?” he asked.

“Well, we wouldn’t. But Qi is exactly why we are doing it. The moon is a blank slate Retre, a place where we can just do whatever we want without having others interfere or be in the way. Here we can just colonize an entire zone and burn it to cinders, so we get the Qi from the System. A cheat zone. So shall you cheat with me?” I asked.

Retre looked at me for a few seconds, contemplating. “The pyromaniac is a powerful Late-Grand-” he began.

“The vines need burning.” I said, interrupting him as I raised my eyebrow. Retre sighed in reply.

“I suppose I have no option but to hand over control to you. But you do know that we are going to cause a massive wave when we come with a literal army of Spirit Trees? Grand Elder Betaca has the most amount of spirit Trees, but you could easily match that if we did what you could propose.”

“The First Warrior truly had no idea what he was doing when he called a hunt on you. The things that happen on this moon, Archduchess, may change the shape of the world for millennia to come.” he said. “And I have no doubt you are going to extend your ‘plan’ to the entire moon.”

I could not really say no to that. After all, that was exactly my plan.

Grand Elder Artica

Artica grunted as she teleported all the innocents from the area. A few weeks ago, she wouldn’t have bothered, but her breakthrough had told her that the System actually cared for these people. And that meant that she must care for them too. A nuisance, but one she must partake in.

But it was back to business, she was here to do one thing only, kill the three Grand Elders and remove some obstacles from her path.

“I know you are there. I suggest you get out, a bit more place to run that way.” she said as locked space around the palace.

As she watched, three shadows emerged, escaping at a rapid pace, trying to avoid her sight. But she wasn’t having it. A phantom wind emerged from her palm, dragging them back.

“Mother, we had a deal.” Adreia said from beside her.

“Yes, I know, you can have one.” Artica replied as she threw one at her daughter.

“Uhum.” Norvane coughed on the other side. Artica almost didn’t want to throw on his way, for one she wasn’t so sure that Norvane was at the Grand Elder level, on the other she just hated her new son-in-law. The constant puppying after her daughter had been barely bearable before, but now it had crossed a line. The man was constantly trying to cater to her every wish. The madness of love.

Artica just worried that it would spoil her daughter and make her dependent on others. But whatever, she had a Grand Elder of her own to deal with. Artica tossed one to Norvane, using the phantom wind to clench off the one she had.

“So, how does it feel when the points are reversed? Do you like being at my mercy as much as you enjoyed hunting my family?” she asked.

“Yes, yes, honored Warrior Tree. I enjoy whatever you do, just let me live!” he answered, nodding rapidly. Artica couldn’t figure out if he was a masochist or just trying to flatter her.

“And hat if what I want to do is to painfully torture you to death?” she asked, now curious, he would go.

The man looked at her, gulping, his fear apparent. “I will enjoy whatever you do, honored Warrior Tree.” he said, as if signing his death warrant. And Arica had her answer, too far. The man had no spine.

Sighing, Artica ended his life, shaking her head at her newfound power. A Warrior Tree had so much power that a Spirit Tree’s prowess was completely useless before her. The Spirit Tree stage could more accurately be called a transition phase, a phase between Grand Tree and Warrior Tree. The Spirit Qi was lost at the Warrior Tree stage, transformed into something she called the Warrior Qi. Not a very creative name, but it worked.

Artica turned her attention to her companions, curious as to how their progress had been. Adreia was handling herself with great poise like always. The Grand Elder before her was already losing, her attacks no longer able to even get close to Adreia.

But Norvane was struggling. Or so it seemed. The young lover was under constant attack by his Grand Tree, but there was a noticeable lack of injuries on him. Now, as Elder of Healing he could have always healed them, but Artica doubted it.

Norvane had another name: champion of endurance. The man had bested his enemies by simply outlasting them, by making it so hard for them to cast that they were slow and costly, and then just dodging until they were weak.

Artica was most interested in how these battles turned out. Adreia continued her barrage on her opponent, switching elements each attack. A blizzard changed to a hurricane, which then changed to a typhoon of fire. The Grand Elder had to constantly adjust herself to try to block Adreia’s attacks.

But it was easier said than done. After all, her daughter had been trained by her, there was no way she was going to let up or let her go. The attacks continued until Adreia suddenly changed her strategy, switching to direct attacks.

Artica was puzzled by her decision for a second, but then noticed the reason. The Grand Elder was panting. A movement extremely abnormal at their level, but Artica could see why. The woman had used forbidden arts. And a variety of other forbidden methods to get to her stage.

In the end, she was just a Grand Elder in name, she could show the power in semi-long bursts, but endurance was not something she had. And it hurt her. A second’s belatedness in her reaction, a life lost to a bolt of fire. Adreia had just killed her first Grand Elder.

Artica turned her attention to Norvane, smiling at her daughter’s success. Norvane too was doing much better. The other Grand Elder was suffering from the same condition, just worse. Norvane was an expert at exhausting others.

A few seconds later, a well-placed shot relieved him of his life, and the world of a Grand Elder. The mission was over, and her faction had two new Grand Elders. After all, what did you call people that could kill Grand Elders, if not Grand Elders?

Aswelth

Aswelth sighed in frustration. The entire course of events had been one complication after another. The first thing to go wrong had been the democracy thing, making everyone a cultivator. And then, as if to make things worse, the Archduchess’s grandmother had killed a Grand Elder.

And so had her step-father and her mother. The last time a Grand Elder died was…never. A Grand Elder had never died in living memory. And yet three had died now. And it had brought the great issue. A flurry of diplomats. An army of diplomats.

The Archduchess had caused the Arch duchy to be a prospering economic powerhouse with much to trade. But that did not mean that he could find enough things to satisfy the hundred ambassadors that had arrived and wanted goods at cost. A part of him just wanted to tell them to buy things themselves, but he knew it would not go well.

A person could not compete with a country, and these people were arrogant enough to compete with citizens of the Arch duchy. But Aswelth had a solution. A reserved fund of fifty percent of production for the citizens, about thrice as much as they consumed. The rest? To be traded at the discretion of merchants.

The move had calmed the diplomatic apocalypse for now, but he knew it was just a problem in the making. A hundred diplomats did not cost little, either. And the demands. The demands for certain goods so that their honors could ‘test their validity’ were outrageous.

Aswelth did not have enough samples to give them. Not even close. The diplomats could buy things or just approach shopkeepers, but no. Why bother when they could just impose on him?

Well, he wasn’t doing anything of the sort. But the difficulty did not end there. Or rather, a different issue had propped up, this time with his daughters. The triplets were the cutest girls in the world, but the naughtiest too. And things had culminated into a disaster when a single fact had come to light: the girls had three elements each.