Year 184

The heroes eventually left, well, they split up, really. Prabu, Colette and Hafiz decided to travel to the northern islands, and they wanted to do a ‘world tour’, at least before the next demon king comes along. So, a few middle-ranked Valthorns, in the level 60s were assigned to just bring them to the sights of the Central Continent.

Like Kei’s battlefield, and the Rottedlands. And some other stuff like volcanoes, some beautiful beaches and reefs. But not in Reefy's area. That was a no go. I did not want Reefy and the heroes to ever meet. Not now, not yet. Not when Reefy’s still generally murderous.

The archer hero, on the other hand, took a ship back to the Southern Continent. It seemed that he had other plans, and it involved some magical preparations.

Throughout the entire thing, it seemed they remained oblivious of my ability to see them even from this distance, these days I feel that’s truly my superpower. The ability of a massive hive-mind of trees to watch the entire continent at once, so long as there is a tree or a grass or a bush present.

The two archmages however, were not exactly just having a holiday. They were brainstorming for some kind of an idea.

“Look, from what we see in the heroes’ memories, there’s clearly merit for preparations. All the heroes that fail do not prepare all that much. We must over prepare for the next demon king, even if it’s skillsets are different. So, I propose to build a super flexible arsenal.” Prabu spoke one day while they were touring the northern shores. They would sail to the other continent soon.

“Alright, I’m interested, go for it.” Colette said. “What do you have in mind?”

“The demon kings have as many shots as they want at us, and they just need to get us one time to win. The demons bring an adapted arsenal each time, each more honed and better at killing us.”

Colette frowned. “Alright spit it out.” Hafiz clearly nodded at the other archmages’ words.

Prabu simulated some kind of global map. “We become weaker over time, especially during a battle with the demon king. We also don’t know where the demon king will appear. So, my idea is, we need to have small ‘recharging’ bases everywhere. Places where we can run to instantly restore our health, our star mana, and also equip ourselves with powerful gear. We need to build mini-mechas for ourselves, with different weapon loads.”

“And this will help us when we’re outclassed by the demon king?”

“It’ll make us more durable, and we can fight longer. Our levels are the main thing that we have that gives us a chance to survive. If we can gain more levels, we can live.”

“We’re still pretty soft.” Hafiz said. “We’ve seen how it took two shields to protect ourselves.”

“Our hero items, for example, amplify our powers and make us stronger, and yet, our [hero forge] has odd limits. Like the size of our items, and the nature of powers that we can infuse into it, and how many functions.”

“And?” Colette was impatient.

“We need to find allies who can help us make superweapons.” I was really tempted to tell them I’m trying to do that too. But I suppose this is like being one of those old farts in a really big company watching a young one join the company and try to do something they’ve tried doing a long time ago.

At some point, I’ll probably lose track of all their names too. Especially when the names start repeating, because it’s inevitable after so many generations that these hero names will start repeating. Maybe I’ll get a Tiffany, or a Kayson, or a Rei. And maybe a Mambo Number 5. This is part of aging right? As a tree everyone and everything starts repeating itself like the seasons going through its regular cycles.

Even the heroes are starting to feel same-ish. Like they start to fall into these ‘tropes’ of the friendly one, the resisting one, the crazy one... Just rehash and remixed versions of the same few underlying components, at different ratios. The schemes too feel similar, and feel like something I’m trying to do too. Like, the whole superweapons idea is essentially my own mini-nuclear crystals.

-

> How do you deal with it, for things to feel like everything's meant to repeat itself? < I didn’t know why that made me talk to Lilies, but I suppose, it’s life. Despite me, trying to hold on to life and meaning, I am cursed to watch things repeat. Because it is just how it is.

I even feel like I had this question before.

> That’s shit. < I mentally sighed. It tends to result in my branches and leaves swaying in the sighing motion. Even heroes with their unique powers eventually fall into types, and I wonder if I'm like a voracious light novel reader at the tail end of my journey, feeling like everything has been done before and nothing is fresh.

> A little bit. < I responded. I tried to remember that life has meaning, even if it’s been done before. So what if all these people try to do the same thing? If it works, it works. Must every new hero attempt to change all norms? No. If the heroes want to try something that may work, then they should. Just because those before failed doesn’t mean they can’t succeed.

I’m at a different level now, and my powers to push the arc of the world grows with each level. If the heroes want a way to sufficiently deter the demon king, I should assist them.

> Do you bother doing the right thing? <

Lilies responded.

> At our levels of power, can we not resist? <

> if you put it that way, why bother doing anything? <

> I certainly don’t see you as one of whims and fancies. <

Huh, so each of Lilies is a hivemind of different feelings.

That was a long one from Lilies.

This feeling of sameness. It’s the forces of inertia trying to exert itself on me? Wait. How did I even get to this point?

I felt like mentally slapping myself. “Patreeck, can you check whether I’m alright? Any gods trying to meddle with me.”

“No, master.”

“Strange. Why am I thinking such weird thoughts?”

-

The heroes clearly tried, and Kei volunteered to approach the local Valthorns authority for some building permissions for the heroes’ bases-all-over-the-world plan.

“So you’re essentially planning to leave some kind of hero item in these locations?” The Valthorns asked Kei.

“Yes.”

“That’s a strategic risk for us. What if they turn against us, or other heroes not aligned to us activate these hero items and destroy whatever that’s around us? What if they use these locations as waypoints for their teleportations?”

“They didn’t do that with existing hero items.”

“But these structures can be activated from afar? Lady Kei, you know very well that this is a strategic risk. The committee will not approve this, and you will have to go to Aeon to get dispensation.”

“But the heroes...”

“This is something Aeon and the high council must decide.” The Valthorn officials responded. “Matters of strategic risk cannot be decided by provincial officials.”

Bureaucracy permeated the entire central continent, overseen centrally by my council and senior leaders. My artificial minds generally oversee the bureaucracy, though they are more concerned with threats, internal corruption and dissent. “Then I will have to go to meet Aeon? But the heroes are leaving soon!”

“They can return once approval is obtained.”

-

My artificial minds helped to track the expected timeline of the next demon king. It was relatively easy to do, now that my ability to view the astral star-ways meant the timing was super clear. I could see them come, literally. They are at least seven to eight years away. That’s good. The heroes still have a lot of time for their plots.

-

Ardi, Lausanne’s human husband, passed away from old age. He lived a long life for a human, about a hundred years, and already his lifespan was extended by his levels. He was in the early Level 60s. Perhaps he would’ve lived a few more decades if he reached Level 80s.

They held a small funeral for him in Freshka, where his body was buried in accordance to a simplified version of Hawa’s death ceremony. In the recent, later years of his life, his age really showed, unlike Lausanne, who was a pure blooded elf. Lausanne even today looked only a little bit older than the day she left on her big journey around the world.

Arlisa and Lauda too returned to see their father. Laufen, as the mother-in-law, also attended the funeral. About a week after, Laufen sat down with Lausanne. “Do you regret it?”

Lausanne sipped her tea. “I don’t know yet. I remember telling you I wouldn’t, but now that it happened, I’m not so sure.”

Laufen merely held her daughter’s hand. “The thing about us elves, is that when our children marry someone not as long lived as us, we will often witness the aging and death of our great-grandchildren. Like Arlisa and Lauda, as half elves they will live much longer lives, but eventually, they will die before we do. It is a very sad thing to witness our children’s children and their children leave before we do.”

Lausanne just sat quietly, as she digested the gravity of the truth.

“But I believed in the beauty of the moment. It’s something humans and those with shorter lives like the lizard people are incredible at. Their ability to throw caution to the winds and just be at the moment. Us elves and the treefolks too, have a distorted sense of time, and we worry too much about the future.”

“...yeah.”

“So, go spend time with Arlisa and Lauda.” Laufen smiled. Lauda did not inherit her mother’s love for spear-combat. Instead, he was more of an academic, and reminded me of Roma, who’s now a senior executive at one of the central continent’s many trading companies. He hated her mom’s dungeon expeditions, and preferred more leisurely pursuits like writing, and arts. “Preferably not both together.”

The two siblings, born so many years apart, did not see quite eye to eye. They were born in different times, and with different expectations. Lausanne at one point was rather stressed that she was one of the strongest in Freshka, but now, I had Edna, Lumoof and many others who are now stronger.

Perhaps, it was the weight of duty, that as one of the strongest, she felt, even if a tiny bit, responsible to this nation that I built, and not ‘free’ to live the life she wanted. In a sense, I believe I neglected what they wanted personally. That weight lifted, Lauda was able to grow up with a more confident, less stressed mother, and that too, reflected in how relaxed Lauda’s disposition was, compared to Arlisa who was confused, easily stressed, despite her natural talents.

Training people is really a gamble. They don’t always turn out the way you want them to, and they often have plans on their own. This is something I concluded, and so the way I could maintain a steady talent pool, was to expand the talent pool, and keep looking. People like Edna, or Lumoof, young or old, so long as they had the drive and the spark, I was willing to give them a shot.

Because I’ve seen many talents fizzle out after a good early run. Lumoof, as an example, was one of those old guys who had a second wind. Now he’s the 2nd strongest. Life was strange, and a lot of it required opportunity, drive, motivation, and the right mindset, at the correct time. Some of these talents had to be given time to stabilise, to mature on their own before they are ready to be pushed further.

It’s a numbers game, and also about spotting them as they rise up.

Talent was something Freshka was dedicated to training. It was why I wanted all these different academies, to train different people for different things.

But like Arlisa, it was also important to acknowledge those who had all the talent, were spotted and quickly groomed, but then just fizzled out.

Some are like that. Perhaps something sniffed out the fire in them. Perhaps the comfy environment of the academies stifled them. That they needed to be out alone, struggling against the world to succeed. People who seem to have similar circumstances can perform wildly differently.

Despite that, I still saw the merit of having a robust talent-collection network. One Edna or Lumoof easily outweighs the cost of training 100,000 students who never get there. In truth, about 50-55% would end up as above average individuals in the level 50s to 60s. About 30-45% would drop out, usually plateauing at about level 40s, and a smaller 2-5% would rise up to about Level 80s. This is despite these individuals already pre-selected for some talent. This also took years, especially with the ‘50-55%’ bunch. They worked hard, and had some talent, and yet the journey remained tough.

Throughout the Central continent we have multiple ‘smaller’ academy towns. Feeder schools to train even younger kids in just basics, and recommend anyone with an iota of talent for further development. With the relative safety and prosperity of the central continent, especially in the past few decades, we noticed a subtle but soon noticeable decline in young children, and more young children pursuing more trade and mercantile exploits.

As quality of life improved, it seemed that families were also getting smaller. I thought this was just a modern world phenomenon, but it seemed even in a world like this, generally improvements in living standards did lead to decline in childbirth. Which is extremely strange, and I needed to investigate more.

There are clearly better facilities to support young children, and there are centrally funded nurseries and creches. And yet, families are just getting smaller.

Year 185

“I’ve got bad news, and good news. Bad news first.” Stella said, concluding her years of experimentation into the [Tainted Demon Core]. “That Tainted Demon Core you got, I’m very very sure it’s busted. It’s damaged and cannot be repaired, not with my level of ability. Not without causing a detonation. After multiple tests, I’m sure whatever caused it is due to damage from an unwanted interaction with star mana. There were few really convincing scars throughout the core.”

I mean, it’s not the first time she told me it’s busted, but I requested that she did tests to be absolutely sure. It took a lot of time, of course, and I had to assist her over the past few years with the ‘hybrid-mana’ and supplied tiny bits of ‘star mana.’.

“So, we have a dud. Confirmed. Now, the good news,, from what I saw and can reasonably conclude, your idea that the Demon Core is a portal generator is very likely to be correct. From the internal structure and the design, I’m now about 90% sure the Demon Core is a massive shielded void battery and portal key. There are some undamaged component elements of it that responded so naturally with void mana, and there were magical pathways that tried to access some records or ‘pathways’ in an inbuilt library that’s unfortunately mostly damaged.”

That explained the sensation that the Tainted Demon Core wanted to do something, like starting a computer that had some hardware failure. It was accessing the still functional parts of the Demon Core, but unable to fully complete it’s startup.

Stella, of course, knew I had earthly memories by now.

“It’s pretty much like a starship’s hyperspace reactor, stellar map and guidance module rolled into one.”

“Alright. Very sure it’s star mana damage?”

“99%.” Stella said.

“So, if I want the demon’s way of sending someone like the demon king over, I’ll need to kill a demon king without using any star mana.”

“Well... whether the demon king is alive or dead doesn’t really matter, isn’t it?”

.