Year 84 Month 10

Battles. It was inevitable that a battle would break out now that the demon king is on this continent. The demon king generated lesser demons like a zerg hive, it’s minions gushed out in all directions. The nearby kingdoms attempted to defend and delay the inevitable, creating large armies to fight.

Yet, the demon king itself also has the ability to fire projectiles like the supercannon, so that curtailed any attempt to form up into a larger force. Thankfully, it didn’t seem trigger happy.

So, this month, my beetles and gang faced multiple medium scale battles, at about 5,000 to 10,000 demons. Since it was going to be a battle of attrition, we mostly fought a defensive battle, concentrating my forces around my larger [giant attendant trees]. This made the most of the aura effects, and helped minimise casualties.

My beetles need a few months to replenish itself, so it’s entirely possible for the demons to overwhelm my surroundings if I lose too many beetles.

Still, we have communication channels, so Jura has been really busy, coordinating with other nearby kingdoms to fight defensive battles together.

Lausanne, was unhappy, though.

“Why’d the demon king have to spoil my adventurer fun!”

“It’s too dangerous with the demon king on our continent!”

“But it was fine just a month ago!”

Well, it’s hard to explain the erratic behavior of the demon king. Or maybe it just ‘seems’ erratic from our point of view. We, after all, do not understand or appreciate it’s thought processes.

Still, more defensive battles, and despite racking up kills, I don’t seem to be gaining levels. Which is really quite sad.

The demon king, of course, is headed for the site of the previous demon king, and will probably attempt to summon something similar to the previous demon king, if the news of the Astaroth copy is to be believed.

So, we’re going to have a mini-rerun of the previous demon king on our hands. Something that perhaps I have to deal with. Since I can handle a demon walker, I suppose in some ways, this is a good test of my own strength. Will I stand up to a ‘mini-demon king’?

There’s time to prepare. And so I intensify all my anti-demon preparations by stockpiling my anti-demon bolts and weapons.

Yet, there’s quite a bit of apathy amongst the general populace. To them, all this news is just like regular citizens watching a news channel on the television, talking about some virus or war in some faraway place. There’s no personal relationship, so most of these regular folks don’t feel a thing and they don’t react to it. If I’m not a tree who regularly have to move my beetles to face these forces, perhaps I’d be like that too.

Not my problem.

Someone else will handle it.

How do I get proactive people? Is there a way to let these people imagine they have control over things?

It’s clear by now that a part of it comes from the influence of the ‘classes’ and ‘levels’, that people of a certain class have their mindsets influenced by the constraints and scope of those classes. So, if I want ‘proactive’, I need to give these people the right kinds of classes, which then shapes how they think.

And so, I get the feeling like... I need to ‘shape’ my minions more actively, on top of helping them with levelling. So, I decided to grant some of my lesser grade classes more freely, and also even grant some of the Valthorns the [Knight] classes.

The intention is quite simple, that is, if I have a larger population, I could then make a general assessment of the mindsets of those possessing different classes, and see whether there’s any differences.

I could run them through ‘standardised’ tests in [dream tutor], and evaluate their performance. If the class really influences thoughts, then it should be something exhibited throughout the population, and not just individuals.

So, on top of expanding the Valthorns previously to some 500 kids, I’ve segregated the newer pool of 300 kids into 3 groups. One with [Knight] class, about 100 of them, one with [Ranger] class, about 150 of them, and another 50 kids with [Druid] classes. If there is some kind of ‘uniformity’ of thought processes, I think this is large enough to tell.

Then, the issue that emerged was... we didn’t have enough knights to properly ‘train’ the knights.

“Get me some.” I told Jura that, and so he had to put up a banner and notification hiring ‘Knight Trainers’. Strangely, knights tend to be a ‘human’ kind of role, so it made some of the New Freeka council peeps look and ask questions.

But they don’t dare to touch us.

Some of the royals though, saw this is an opportune to curry favor with us, so a few royal families quickly offered their Knights.

Strange how even if I tried to avoid these royal politics, they always happen.

“So... which royal family do you want to pick? Quite a few volunteered their best knights. I even heard about some of them.”

As a Tree, I just want to grow. Why does everything have to do with people jostling for power? Sigh.

“How many can we afford?”

“Probably 5.”

“Then pick one from the 5 nearest kingdoms. Use the proximity as a basis. Publish and let the kingdoms know about how we chose the 5 too, just so that we don’t seem like we’re intentionally sidelining the others.”

“Sure. They will ask for favors from us for this.”

“Let it be clear to them that I will not owe them favors.”

“They will make me owe them favors.” Jura frowned.

“Maybe we should’ve made it anonymous.”

“That won’t work. Everyone knows we’re the only institution with Knights in New Freeka. The council has some knights, but not to the point where they need... knight-trainers. They’ll be able to trace it from us.”

“Ah well.” I sighed. I spent a day or two mulling over it, and decided it’s still better to get the knight-trainers. It’s good to get insights from other nations’ military, there should be good points we can learn.

-

> The demons come for you. Their king is here. < I attempted, out of goodwill, to warn Lilies. Perhaps I hoped to learn something from the interaction, I speculated that it, with it’s long age, must have encountered many demon kings in the past, and yet it survived, just like I did.

Does it care, or does it not care? That’s like a statement of fact.

> Do you not fear it? <

> What if the rain doesn’t? <

Uh...

What should I say?

> The demons would rule the world then? <

Oh.

Oh shit.

Did Lilies just said that the demons actually won before? Wait, that doesn’t make sense. These demons are clearly out to destroy the world. If they did, and the world we live in managed to recover, that meant they didn’t totally destroy it.

So... What do they want?

> What do they want? <

> How did the world recover? <

Uh. Meddling gods? If they have powers beyond summoning gods, then why don’t they use it?

Well, we had a short break, and what followed the break was a bit more fighting. A large demonic army actually headed for Lake Lilypod and the Giant Lilypod City, and fighting of course, broke out. But the army mostly retreated back into the city itself, and then the lilies that connected the shore to the rest of the floating city just... submerged, forming a moat. There was a walker too!

Where did the walker even come from? Did the demon king just make it?

Then massive lily bulbs appeared on the shoreline, and it fired.... Seeds?

The bulbs are like... turrets! Cool!

> Interesting defensive system. <

> Why do you bother defending them, if you say they are fire that burns? >

So be it indeed. It’s like a quasi-religious view of the world, like, ‘believe in God, but tie your camel.’

The walker fired a shot at the city now floating on the lake. The city is drifting away, further and further.

One of the lily pads flip up, together with all the buildings in it, and the shot destroyed the entire lilypad. I think all the people on it died as well. But one lilypad for the safety of the other 26,000, I suppose that’s a trade.

The walker fired again.

And again, Lilies sacrificed another lily pad to act as a shield.

And this dance continued for a good hour, Lilies sacrificing about 30 lilypads and probably a few thousand lives, but by then, the rest of the lilypad was now far away in the middle of the massive lake.

At this distance, some of the shots were starting to miss, and just splash in the water. Yet the demon walker did not step into the waters. They aren’t afraid of water, are they?

The demon king crossed the seas, after all, and so did one of the walkers. So why isn’t this demon walker entering the water? Is there something in the water? I decided to use a bit more of my spiritual vision, and well, the dark, murky waters are filled with... floating roots. A lot of them, so much so that they pretty much block out everything.

It’s like using an x-ray, trying to locate a small fishbone when there’s a whole bunch of other larger bones. It’s possible, but hard.

The demon walker, realising that the Giant Lilypod is now pretty much a massive island floating in the middle of the lake, far enough that it’s attacks are missing, stopped.

And then it moved away.

> May I offer some... assistance? <

They are clearly eavesdropping on the mortals too. Otherwise it would not have known how to speak like them.

There’s a walker after all. Experience! I like experience.

A distant proxy battle, by way of [Giant Attendant Trees], and so, I spawned 3 of them on the shores. They emerged from the ground with a massive rumble and shake, the ground cracked, and then three giant trees emerged.

> An interesting power, similar to our giant lilies <

And root strikes!

The walker, realising that it’s foe is now the three trees, turned and started to shoot. At this distance, the Giant Attendant Trees only have 30% of my strength, but I believe that’s good enough.

It attacked. My beetles emerged from the giant trees, fresh, newly spawned beetles. Only 1,500 beetles, but enough to distract and delay the regular demons, such that the walker’s attention is focused on the three giant trees. It attacks. I use my wood shields. But at this distance, so far away, the 6 wooden shields I created crumbled easily, and then the blast itself made a big hole in one of the giant trees. But the giant tree didn’t fall. I can still sense it, alive.

The walker’s hammered by root strikes. At this distance, it’s not as effective as before. Darn. It scratched, and there are small wounds here and there.

I move on to use my [super anti-demon root strikes]. Even at this distance, they work a bit better, but not enough. The demon walker’s still really quite tough. It fired another shot, and I activated 15 wooden shields this time, and well, it went through almost all of them.

But it still blocked the shot.

Ngeh.

It shot again. And this time, I couldn’t stop it in time, and it broke one of the giant trees. I felt the pain. We felt the pain.

I unleashed all the attacks I have in my reservoir, using up all my root strikes. It thrusted into the bottom of the walker like a constant barrage, its demonic shell cracked, and then in it’s dying breath, it shot out another attack. That second strike destroyed another giant tree.

I felt that again. And somehow I felt really... mad.

It’s like a part of me was cut off.

And I didn’t like that at all.

But by now I was out of root strikes, and it would take a day or two for it to recover. Still, I was pissed, and I wasn’t going to let the demon walker go. So, my vines and roots appeared, entangling it.

It wasn’t dead yet.

But I wasn’t going to let it run away from me.

No.

It killed two of my giant trees. Two of... me.

I used my other skills. Everything else that I have. [Fruit attacks], [Poison field], [Corrosive fruits], [Tree saps], [Constrict], and [Natural Mana overwhelming].

And I pulled the demon walker down to the ground. It was weak. Our attacks made it weak. I spawned two more giant trees in place of where the two others fell, and they added strength to the roots that pulled the demon walker down.

It collapsed. Alive, but grounded, it’s mouth and other orifices tied up, tangled by roots. Like a parasite we feasted on the demonic walker.

We drained, and we pushed our mana in.

It struggled. By now, the battlefield’s remaining demonoids crushed in the onslaught of root strikes. There was a few demon knights. They hacked at the trees and the roots. They did a bit of damage, but the regeneration of the giant trees were faster.

As long as the demon walker fell, we could take a few hits.

It struggled on the ground, it’s wounds not recovering thanks to the interference of natural mana.

At times, it seemed like it’s strength recovered slightly, or the effects of our constrict skill faded. But [constrict] was a skill that was meant to last long, and if I wanted, I could keep using it perpetually.

For days.

It attempted to struggle. THe demon knights attempted to hack away the vines. Then my skills returned. And I cleared the battlefield of the lesser demons, whatever balance on the demon walker.

If this was next to me, it’d already be dead. But such are the perils of fighting at 30% strength.

I drew on the mana from wherever I could, and channeled it there, the giant attendant tree acting like my regional power station. Mana weakens it. The demon walker attempts to resist, and I could sense it functions on demonic mana, or whatever that dried up husk of a lake is. Perhaps I could call it ‘desert mana’, to our natural ‘water mana’? The mana inside fought against the mana we intentionally poured in.

Whatever. I wanted it dead. We wanted it dead.

We pummelled it again, and it turned weak. A day. Two days. It never really died. It still lived. Cursed distances, my roots not working as well.

A few more days, and my arsenal of skills refreshed itself.

And we repeated that. Each time, the demon walker edged weaker, it’s cracked skin starting to give way to our natural mana. The vines started to make ‘roots’ into the skin of the walker. Everytime it struggled, we unleashed our root strikes, and then finally, after two weeks, we broke through the head, and cracked the demon walker’s inner structure.

It was almost there, dying.

Our vines reached into it. So did our mana. We ran out of root strikes again. So the vines, the branches, they extended like feelers, like a parasite finding the innards of the creature.

Like a hollowed log, infested by algae and mushrooms.

[Natural mana overwhelming is capturing... assimilating a demon walker].

[Assimilating...]

Oh.

[Assimilation successful].

[Obtained Massive Woodwalker Shell]

[Massive Woodwalker Shell is inactive, as it requires a titan soul, or 5 artificial soul, a powerful mobile energy supply, a mobile root-mind complex and a mobile high density energy storage]. [Low quality energy supply and storage will limit power and performance of the MWS.]

[Titan Frame Type : Wood-Walker unlocked. Future titan souls may select walker variants]

[Creation of WoodWalker Titan Frames require construction of Titan’s Chambers, a special construction project]

[You gained two level. You are now level 142]

[Natural mana overwhelming upgraded]

Only two levels?

What’s left, is now a verdant monstrosity, once a demonic giant that’s now covered in vines, leaves, moss and all other sorts of vegetation. As if an ancient machine was left to the effects of nature for a long period of time, and now the trees have ‘reclaimed’ them, ‘assimilated’ them, like those ancient temples where the roots are in every part of the structure.

But... there’s no mind to it.

I have this... thing, but I can’t use it.Unless I get those ‘mobile energy supply’ and energy storage. So, it is time to turn to my trusty lab!

Commence research!

Additional Research added :

Super-Storage Potatoes (“SSP”) - stage 1 - 12 months. Massive leaf-power generation array - stage 1 - 16 months.

I think it’ll probably look like an oversized Venusaur if there’s a big bunch of trees on it’s back, with some potatoes.

Or would it look more like bulbasaur?