Altura

I swept below the dragon, getting the first shot in. I sent a shot of ice at its belly, hoping that it was its weak point. The dragon moved its face towards my attack, breathing fire on it. The attack collapsed, the remainder of the fire shot towards me, swerving in the air.

I teleported under it, shooting at its belly. The attack struck, but did little to no damage. Huh, was ice not effective? I teleported again, dodging to keep the dragon from attacking me. But I found myself suddenly in fire when I emerged, staring at the face of the dragon.

I teleported again, but once more found myself in the same position. The only reason I was still alive was that I somehow had resistance to fire now. I decided to fly away instead of teleporting this time. And caught the dragon by surprise. The bastard must have been tracking my teleports!

I shot out more ice, weaving in the air as we fought. The dragon started making fire appear in my path, trying to burn me. And I froze its tail to the ground. The dragon was furious, to say the least. A wave of fire spread outward as it tried to burn me. I defended myself and froze its tail again. What irritated the dragon and caused it to act irrationally was better for me.

The dragon, growing more furious, decided to form a number of typhoons around me. Did it learn from the Typhoon sloths or something? I flew around, evading the dragon's attacks while trying to freeze its tail again.

The dragon did not like that, in fact, I was sure to have irritated it immensely. And it wasn’t hard to figure out why. The tail was important to its mobility, by freezing said tail to the ground I made sure its mobility was hampered. And it was hard for it to melt it too. The down sides of being a massive monster, you were a massive, cumbersome target.

I had no idea why people liked big monsters so much, they were so cumbersome in a fight. And I imagined hard to work with. The massive body was a crushing hazard that had wrecked the surroundings completely.

I weaved ice into the air, making it colder, but the dragon did not even react. So, our good guest had no issue with lack of heat? Hmm, something was up. I froze the dragon’s tail again, but this time tied it up with vines too. The dragon was furious enough to blow fire at it. And at its own tail underneath. I couldn’t help it, I giggled.

The dragon seemed particularly affronted by that, it roared in anger at my humiliating it. I took the chance to freeze its tail again. And bind it with even more vines, and some rock. The dragon was literally foaming magma at this point. A few bursts of magma emerged from its tail, destroying my work on it.

Growling its distaste, the dragon had a spiral appear around it, prepared to cast something. I just froze its tail again. And added more rock and vines than before. But it was destroyed in mere seconds this time as the spiral burst into hundreds of attacks.

As if the dragon had launched an array of heat seeking missiles, a huge amount of fireballs headed towards me. I dodged, flying quickly to escape them.

The balls changed direction, heading towards me. I ducked, letting the fireballs clash above, but the balls merged, turning Ninety Degrees towards me. I conjured an earth shield, flying away through the fire. But I knew that it was only a matter of time before the fire pierced through the shield and straight at me.

So I took a different direction. The ice wasn’t working. Just running away wasn’t working either. So I guess the dragon was getting what it wanted. An attack for an attack, dragon fire for dragon fire. But I would still freeze its tail.

I stopped in the air, raising my scepter, conjuring hundreds of fireballs. The sky suddenly rained fire as I retaliated. A thing I had realized was that directing these things took Qi. And that Qi reduced with how high your Aura Force stat was, how much effect it had, and of course the scepter reduced it too.

The Qi I spent was minimal, but the same could not be said for the dragon. To make things worse, I was a small target and moved around a lot. The dragon? Well, it was harder to miss than hit at this point. I had to barely move things around.

The poor thing had not anticipated me beating it at its own game. The battle continued in earnest, both of us summoned hundreds of fireballs a minute, filling the sky with dragon fire, burning the very air out of existence.

I was sure that if we kept this on, we would eventually reach a point where we were splitting atoms and nuking ourselves.I remembered that there was an investigation about it, that enough energy would cause fusion reactions in the atmosphere.

The conclusion was that a hundred million degrees were too much for humanity to conceivable make. Well, just look at me, I could totally see me doing it with enough time and Qi in this kind of enclosed space.

I probably couldn’t do it on the planet, it was too big a surface area, but on this significantly smaller moon? I totally could do it. Course, I would also burn to nothing long before it, I could withstand high temperatures, not temperatures six times the temperature of the sun's core.

But I couldn't care less about it at the moment. I intended for the battle to be over long before that. A bright, deadly battle of fire waged in the sky. The dragon was hit many times, its long body proving hard to defend.

I did not get away easily either, but my diamond shield held as I constantly reconjured it. At this point it was a battle of endurance. And the dragon with a much larger area to cover and defend was losing it.

The end was largely anti-climatic, the dragon roared as its defenses failed, a sea of fire moving to engulf it. In one final act of defiance, it exploded, but I put a stop to that. A barrier of ice appeared around it, making sure that it didn’t sear anymore. The explosion ate right through it. I made another barrier. And another after that fell. After nine failed barriers, the explosion was finally contained, the fire dying out as it ate all the oxygen there. And I still had over ten million Qi!

System, notifications please!

Qi gained!

Late-Spirit Tree Fire Dragon killed: 175 million Qi (150 million Qi+ 25 Fire Dragon bonus)

Mid-Spirit Tree (186,070,653/629,145,600)

Of 601,507,896 (over 415 million Qi spent)

No! The pain. I was less than 30 million Qi from a level up. I wanted that level up. Now, how did I get that level up. Hmm, the air wasn’t breathable here any more right? Now, if I were to make it more breathable as a ‘task’.

I had read somewhere that the reaction probably wouldn’t happen till a few thousand kelvins. I could do that…but I risked ending up with a monstrous amount of carbon mono-oxide.

So I instead I used some of my huge intelligence stat and used the most abundant element on earth. Hydrogen. Just add some hydrogen, make it methane, in other words the Sabatier’s process, and then use Aura force to split the water atom.

Or just heat it some more and have it happen. The second was probably better. The methane would auto decompose at higher temperatures and I would have my breathable atmosphere back.

I would have to remove the other atoms first, but was what a ginormous amount of Qi and magic for if not cheating science? The secret to making hypothetical scenarios work in real life was to make real life situations into the hypothetical scenarios.

In this case, an isolated place with only three compounds. And carbon-monoxide, the poisonous fourth that was only born when oxygen was limited.

And so I did it. A hundred million Qi spent, but I converted the carbon dioxide and carbon mono-oxide in the space into oxygen. The space was breathable again, and I hopefully had a notification waiting for me.

Qi gained!

An action in accordance to seed was taken. 30 million Qi gained

And I had it, now just to wait till I had enough Qi to level up.

Kerrin

Kerrin stepped into the Fire zone, followed by Panni. The second he stepped in, he knew that he was too late. The zone was on fire, literally. But even more shockingly, there were hundreds of Grand Trees fighting.

The sky was occupied by hundreds of mini battles, the biggest being the battle between Spirit Trees. Though that particular battle was going well, the rest was not. The fire beasts were just too many, they outnumbered the humans three to one, and were no doubt planning to finish the other humans off before attacking the Spirit Tree.

Kerrin’s choice was easy, he chose his own species. A streak of blood emerged from his hand, cutting an Early-Grand Tree down, and then another took an injured Mid-Grand Tree. Panni followed him, targeting injured beasts just like he was.

Kerrin could not say that they turned the battle, though they certainly made a difference. The fact that they were cutting down the numbers gave the humans a chance to fight back. Panni was kind enough to teleport them around constantly to prevent the beasts from attacking them.

A natural team, one would say. Kerrin attacked, Panni attacked, and they teleported. The beasts died. And the battle turned. The fact that he must have received hundreds of millions of Qi from this was not lost on him either. The Spirit Tree level was just around the corner now.

A few hours later, the battle ended. The Spirit Tree killed the fire one, and the rest of the Grand Tree beasts fled.

“So, may I ask who you are? I am very grateful for your help, but…” the Spirit Tree said.

“I am Speaker Panni of the Gorge, and this Kerrin of the Arch Duchy of Alvere. I here that you have something of an alliance with the Archduchess?” Pannia asked before Kerrin could say anything.

The Spirit Tree visibly relaxed, saying, “Yes, we do. In fact, we should be getting to her right now. Do you have any idea how many Spirit Trees there are among these beasts?” he asked as he moved in the direction where Kerrin could see the least vegetation.

“Yes, five.” Panni replied, following him. Kerrin followed too.

The Spirit Tree breathed a sigh of relief. “I had dared not hope, but we may have a chance then. The Archduchess already dealt with two of them, and so did I. The fifth is currently fighting with the Archduchess. A late-Spirit Tree dragon, apparently.”

Kerrin sped up as soon as he heard it, heading straight.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you, we’re all exhausted and Qi-deprived. As we are, we will only be burdens to the Archduchess.” The Spirit Tree said, “I am Retre by the way, son and heir to Grand Elder Antasia.”

Kerrin merrily nodded in acknowledgment. Panni however, took the opportunity to make small talk. Kerrin eventually joined in, he was a diplomat after all. The next few hours were spent making quiet conversation on the way to the Archduchess, but in the end they did reach there. But as usual, they were too late. The battle was already over, and the Archduchess was sitting on a chair, her face showcasing her boredom.

“Now, can you fools tell me why you had to travel so slowly? No, actually, just tell me if you want to have the debriefing before or after I break through to the Late-Spirit Tree stage.” the Archduchess asked, to their group's shock.

And here Kerrin thought that he had grown.

[The Sub-subroutine vines would like to recommend the termination of the Subject.The Subject has grown beyond acceptable parameters, containment has broken.]

[The Subroutine bug-removal accepts-Error!- The Main Routine has denied the request. The Sub-routine bug-removal requests to begin the zone-Error!- The Main routine has denied the request. The Subroutine bug removal invokes bug#0001, the operation is mandatory.]

[The Main Routine deems the Subroutine bug-removal decommissioned.]

[Error!-The Subroutine bug-removal is autonomous. The Subroutine bug-removal deems the Main routine as bug#0008. The bug#0008 is assigned main priority. The Sub-routine bug-removal shall now attempt to remove bug#0008]

[The Main routine shall now attempt to decommission Subroutine bug-removal]

Xerte

Xerte came to staring at the face of Norrin.

“Did you know that your little stunt nearly cost me the life of my brother?” Norrin said.

“But it didn’t in the end?” Xerte replied, hopefully.

“No, but I do hope that you have a decent explanation for what you did.” Norrin asked.

“The people would have hunted me if I didn’t hunt them? I got a lot of Qi? The weakening of both factions was in my benefit?” Xerte stated, not quite sure if it was what she was asking.

Norrin just stared at him for a few seconds, and then said. “I thought you would have something a bit more…philosophical. But I see that even you are just as mundane as the rest of us here, leader Xerte. I do not know what to feel about that. But as it stands, my brother is injured, and the only people that can heal him are back on the planet. The planet that my dear mother never intended for me to return to. So I will have to rely on your people to get me there and help me.”

Xerte opened his mouth to reply, but was stopped by a notification appearing before his face

The time of zones has ended. In the interest of the participants, and the prevention of certain…activities by certain participants. The final part shall be restricted to space between the zones.

What a strange notification. Xerte did not remember the System ever using ellipses. Or trying to actively prevent participants from doing things. And why did he immediately presume that said participant was the Archduchess.

Altura

In the end it had been decided that I would break through first, the moon had shown that it had a penchant for unpredictability and I might not get a chance to breakthrough later.

As usual, the hole appeared, asking me to do something interesting. The problem? I didn’t think of anything interesting yet. What the heck was I supposed to make. A crown? A few stands to decorate the space around the Spirit Tree? Wait. Why couldn’t I make stands? Just make them interesting, like say imitating the crystals from the gorge. A part spirit, part Qi, a whole lot of weirdness.

An otherworldly substance would work. And so I got to work. I made three stands before the Spirit Tree, and two to the side. In the end the entire thing looked quite nice, the best I could make it anyway. And it served to aid conversion from Qi in spirit to controllable Qi. An unintended benefit, but a welcome one. I now had quicker recovery!

Now that all of that was done, it was time to wait for the hole. The hole hesitated, feeling around it, and my heart leapt in my throat. A few minutes passed, and finally, the hole went away. A close call. I hoped I would never have one again.

The Spirit Tree did look impressive in the end.

System, please show notifications!

Level up!

Mid-Spirit Tree (631,507,896/629,145,600)→ Late-Spirit Tree (631,507,896/1,258,291,200)

The time of zones has ended. In the interest of the participants, and the prevention of certain…activities by certain participants. The final part shall be restricted to space between the zones.

Wait what? System, I was just about to celebrate having only about six-hundred million QI to go, why are you nerfing me now?

The world, on the other hand, was in utter chaos. A shocking notification appeared before its denizens, heralding what could be both the beginning and the end of the world war.

The System, in accordance to its main directives, has decided to hold a grand duel among the Warrior Trees to decide the custodianship of the world.

The duel shall be held a week from now, below the System Tree.

The notification brought with it a time of great chaos, the factions chose sides, and bet their lives on their candidate by doing so. But a strange scene was playing out in the First Warrior’s chamber.

A young looking man sat on a stool, sharpening his spear. But everyone that knew him knew that he was anything but young, and that spear would never be sharp enough for him. Not for the First Warrior.

“Are you truly assured of your victory, First Warrior?” A collection of vines said, suddenly emerging in the room.

“What do you want now, you nefarious Sub-subroutine? I thought you were busy getting that Archduchess powerful enough to kill me. Did you give up?” the First Warrior replied, his voice smug.

“Yes” The vines said, shifting, “I realized it was a fruitless endeavor, after all, the Archduchess could never compete with you. So instead, I have come to offer you something.” it said.

“Oh, and what is it that you think I will accept?” the First Warrior replied.

“Just something you have been looking for a long time. A spear that can withstand your might, the might of a Warrior Tree. Tell me, how would you like to go into that duel finally wielding the weapon you like?” the vines suggested, and the First Warrior accepted.