Chapter XL: Idiots Never Learn I

Demonic Wildlands Near the Great Plateau

Month of the Tortoise 2, 172 ,328 DE

As I step outside the Swords Temple, the volume of ambient Trinity hits me like a river. In the Great Tree's meadow, its volume is, at least, twenty times greater than inside the temple. I look at the temple, but I cannot see or sense anything that would explain the difference. Trinity flows into its, as with me, the grass, the brush, and the ground, but that Trinity does not appear inside its walls. No different from the ground, I cannot see or sense what happens to the Trinity once it enters the temple's walls.

Sensing a presence next to me, I turn to the Great Tree's projection. "Old Tree, that temple is strange."

The Great Tree's projection frowns. "Not old. Young and beautiful. Does the foolish wolf want punishment?"

"Do you have something new to teach me?"

"This is not teaching punishment. This is punishment to correct bad behavior." The Great Tree's projection glares at me. From the faint aura of emotions surrounding it, it is angry.

I shake my head. "Fine. A hundred thousand years young."

After staring at me with narrowed eyes for a moment, The Great Tree's projection smiles. "Better. You need to tree women better. If you are not nice, women will not like you. The swords are fated to serve you, but if you are not nice to those girls, you will not get the most out of them."

I narrow my eyes slightly. "You know what transpired inside the temple?"

"Mother Life left me as its guardian. She knew the Dragons would come, and Death sleeps beneath the roots of Yggdrasil. This Realm needs a guardian to fight those Primal worshiping scum. It needs you. The last Great Wolf."

I frown. "You do not know that my mother is dead."

"I have not felt you mother's presence since just before the old human brought you here."

"Aren't you older than that shitty old man?"

The Great Tree's projection scoffs. "That old human is old than this Great Tree. and he is only human. He is truly old, not young and beautiful."

I hold back my smirk at the Great Tree's vanity. She is clearly female. Nothing is more vain than a female of any species. For a moment, I turn my focus inward to look at the swords in my Core Realm. They are just as vain as the Great Tree, if not more so. All females are annoying handfuls to deal with.

"Pervert Master! Pervert Master is out of the temple!" Speak of annoying to deal with, and it shall appear. While shouting, Aoi races across the meadow. With only a scrap of cloth tied around her waist, her skin has been tanned to a deep golden brown by the sun. Looking at the smooth play of her muscles beneath her skin, her fitness has improved, and her Body Tempering appears to have advanced. Her Body is small and slender, and I do not expect that she will always be.

The flow of Mana in Aoi's Body stands out clearly in my sight, and as she draws closer, I follow its flow through her Mind and Soul. The pollution that once clouded it has disappeared, and it flows as clean and pure as it should.

I glance at the Great Tree's projection. "What did you teach the girl to purify her Mana that way?"

The Great Tree's projection frowns. "I taught her to use Mana instead of Yuan Qi."

A frown appears on my own face. "What do you mean? Yuan Qi is just what the idiot Cultivators call Mana."

As the Great Tree's projection stares at me, its eyes open wide, in an expression of shock. "Do you believe that?"

"Of course. Are you saying that is wrong?"

The Great Tree's projection shakes its head. "You underestimate the Celestial Court and the Daos. Yuan Qi is a creation of theirs intended to supplant Mana in Amalgamate Realms where they hold sway. Mind Force and Soul Force are the same. They are insidious, parasitic fools that seek to supplant Life and Death as the rulers of the Metaverse. This Realm is just one of countless Realms where the battle takes place."

As Aoi nears me, she springs into the air and wraps her arms around my neck. With her face only a few centimeters from my own, she stares into my eyes. "Tree-chan Master would not let Aoi into the temple. Aoi was worried about Pervert Master. Even if Tree-chan Master said Pervert Master was okay, Aoi couldn't see for herself."

"Tree-chan Master?"

Aoi gestures in the direction of the Great Tree's projection. "Tree-chan Master. Tree-chan Master has taught Aoi things that Pervert Master does not know. Tree-chan Master even took Aoi into the Dream World. Aoi leaned Earth and Water Martial techniques. Those are much easier for Aoi than Hatchet Face's Martial techniques."

I look at the Great Tree's projection. "You took Aoi into the Mind Net?"

"The Swords Temple serves as a terminal for the Mind Net. Mother Life Made it that way. I use it to monitor the Great Plateau. Using the Mind Net is much more efficient than spreading a web of my own awareness."

With a faint sense of surprise, I nod almost mechanically. Looking at Aoi, I switch to the Beast Language. "You can understand me?"

"Of course." The Great Tree's projection replies in the same language.

Cocking her head to the side, Aoi looks at me with curiosity and confusion in her eyes and scent.

"You also said Mana is different from Yuan Qi, but Cultivators look like they are using polluted Mana to me."

"Yuan Qi is very similar to Mana, but the Daos twisted it to be something particular to them. If an Amalgamate being uses Yuan Qi, they can do some things that can be done with Mana, but not all things. Coalescence is impossible with Yuan Qi. By twisting Amalgamate Realms so that sentient beings use Yuan Qi, Mind Force, and Soul Force, the Daos and the Dragons of the Celestial Court make certain that no sentients will ever Transcend from those Realms."

As I think about the Great Tree said, I frown. "But sentients can still use Mana."

The Great Tree's projection shakes its head in a very human gesture. "No. Not without help. When the Celestial Court takes over a Realm, they apply a Dragon Seal to alter the pattern of the Realm. That changes how the Amalgamate beings of the Realm interact with the Trinity. You are special. You are a Great Beast. A being neither Amalgamate nor Elemental from birth. Even with her Bloodline, the girl is entirely Amalgamate. Without my help, she could never have been able to touch on Mana and use it. The Dragon Seal is quite insidious and domineering in its effects on this Realm."

"Then how do Beasts Coalesce?"

The Great Tree's projection shrugs. "The Souls of Beasts are different from those of humans and human-like sentients. The Souls of the Dragons of the Celestial Court are much closer to those of humans than Beasts. Perhaps the difference lies therein. Perhaps there is a flaw in the Dragon Seal that leaves the Path of Transcendence open to Beasts. Perhaps it has to do with the existence of the Great Beasts. I am unsure. The knowledge left to me by my Mother Life does not contain any information that gives a clear reason for it. It could simply be because the Dragon Seal is still incomplete. There may still be humans or other human-like sentient beings that are born with the ability to Coalesce in this Realm. Our metaverse is infinitely complex. Life and Death may be the only existences that know everything about it."

Meeting Aoi's stare, I stitch back to the language of the Sengoku Empire. "I'm returning to Shizukana Gake. Are you staying here or coming with me?"

Aoi looks at the Great Tree's projection. "Tree-chan Master, Aoi wants to tell Maki where Aoi will be. Aoi will with Pervert Master. Aoi will come back as soon as Aoi can."

The Great Tree's projection reveals a smile that looks a bit sad. "I will continue your education when you return."

"Get off me." I flick Aoi's forehead with my middle finger.

"Ow!" Releasing her stranglehold on my neck, Aoi drops to the ground and rubs her forehead.

Without wasting more time, I start up the steam engine on my steamer bike. It only takes less than a minute for the engine to build up enough stem pressure to run.

As I ride out of the meadow, with Aoi clinging to my back, the Great Tree's projection appears to watch us. I have to wonder if there is more to the projection than just an image. Can the Great Tree perceive the world through the projection? Can it see through the projection's eyes? Hear through its ears? What exactly is that projection?

With our view of the meadow lost behind the brush, I adjust the control lever mounted just behind the handlebars, opening the valves on the steam engine, and my steamer bike rapidly accelerates. I could easily outrun the steamer bike in my true form, but as my human form is now, the bike moves faster than I can run. No Cultivator below the Core Formation realm could keep up with this steamer bike. If my course did not have to constantly twist and turn to avoid the trees, this steamer bike could easily break a hundred and forty kilometers per hour.

As the trees whip by at a speed of nearly a hundred kilometers an hour, Aoi clings tightly to my back. She has one ear pressed to my upper back, as though she is listening to my pulse, but I cannot sense any nervousness in her. If anything, the girl seems completely relaxed and content. With each shift of the steamer bike, as it sways in its turns around the trees, she tenses her muscles just enough to keep herself in place.

It takes less than two hours to reach the base of the Eastern Escarpment, and I halt the bike at the foot of the path leading up.

Aoi looks back into the trees. "Aoi did know so many people came down from the Great Plateau hunt in the Demonic Wildlands"

I snort, partly in surprise at Aoi's perceptiveness. "There are probably close to a thousand hunters operating our of Shizukana Gake, who hunt below the plateau. Most of the idiots in the area today are not them. I don't know who they are, but I expect they work for some idiots, who were not happy getting their asses beat the other week."

Aoi frowns. "The noble clans?"

"The idiot clans is more like it. We probably have a welcoming party waiting above."

Aoi smiles. "Aoi does not like parties, but Tree-chan Master and Pervert Master taught Aoi things she wants to try. Can Aoi hurt the idiots?"

"Abuse the weak and the strong. Show me what you've got." I laugh, and as I slide the control lever forward, the big bike practically jumps forward onto the path.

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