Year 202

“I’m going to a demon world.” Alka said, his face absolutely horrified. He wasn’t the only one, of course. A battalion of his research-mages would go with him. Stella too.

“Yes.”

Thanks to my trees sprouting around the rifts, I noticed that some level of life had returned to the demonworld. Very minor, but much better than none. My giant attendant trees also made the place around the riftgates far more hospitable.

“Am I going to die, there?” Alka asked.

“No. Certainly not.” I assured him. “If anything happens I’ll send you back. There is some of my forces there.”

In truth, there is an ongoing, prolonged war on the parasite-demon world, all thanks to my poor main-tree placement. Horns, my beetle commanders, and a small platoon of artificial minds were still helping me run the multiple battles happening at the edges of my territory on the demon’s world. It’s also Hytreerion’s longest ongoing combat experience, and it proved that a large mobile forward base actually had offensive value, since it didn’t get much of a chance on our homeworld, where we are the defenders.

“How did Aeon get to the demon world?” Kei and Ken asked.

“I snuck him through the rift.” Stella said. Kei rolled her eyes at that.

“Seriously!”

“I thought those portals don’t last that long?” Ken asked, but he was not aware of my seeds, and that was fine. Snek seemed particularly interested, and wanted to know whether this meant there was a way to help retake his world.

Personally, that sounded plausible. It would help me greatly if there was a native force I can rescue, but the thought of facing airborne demon-dragons on their homeworld didn’t sound like a good idea. I was horribly outmatched on the aerial front.

Ken and Snek nodded. “It’s smart to take the battle to the demons, but...” It’s not the only demon world. We all know that. So, my presence on this demon world is unlikely to affect whether another demon king would invade my world.

Alka mumbled, and they all wore suits of armor meant to protect them from most eventualities. Some druidic and magical equipment too, just to ensure that they can still breath, if anything happens.

The void-storms have mostly subsided.

Alka immediately went to Lumoof. “Why not you?”

“You have things to study, and the skills needed. Aeon has a presence there. Naturally it’s you.” Lumoof laughed heartily. “Time to take to the field, Field Scientist.”

Alka seemed somewhat panicked. “I did not imagine I’d be going to a demon world in my job description. This is hazardous!”

“Not any more hazardous than working with bombs.” Lumoof assured him. “It’s fine. Aeon had already said this is in a safe zone.”

“How are there safe zones on a demon world?!” Alka seemed surprised. Stella shrugged, as she awaited the use of my inter-tree teleportation ability.

“Alright. Move it.” The squad was ready. This would take some mana, but not more than when I sent Hytreerion over. I felt mana drain from my network of trees-

-and they were all sent to my clone on the other side. It wasn’t far from the rift gates.

Alka, the group of mages and Stella stared at the greenery around my main tree, my own clone had already begun terraforming this segment of land into something habitable. This was far easier than the moon, actually, because there was something here a long time ago, and the world’s energy seemed to be recovering once the spires and all that collapsed.

The moon base was growing, but the speed of the terraform was significantly slower than the demon world.

The beetles soon led them to the nearest riftgate. I’ve left all of them untouched, as I wanted some of the mages to look at them before I start flooding them with my mana.

“This doesn’t look particularly alien.” Stella said. “There are trees.”

“I’ve been transforming the land for a few months.” They stopped and stared at the structures before them. “This is a riftgate, the demons use this to open gates to our world, there are many others like it throughout the world, and a super large one that’s partly destroyed.”

Stella immediately looked at the gate with far more interest.

“I’d like to know how it works, whether we can rebuild it for our own purposes, whether we can use them to amplify the portals of the void mages, and whether there is a star map contained within.”

Alka walked up and used some kind of skill on the rift gate. “Hmmm.. it’s not some unique material for sure, but there is some really complicated formation and rune work within the structure itself. Which does raise the question, how did the demons build it?”

“Or they didn’t.” Stella proposed. “This was stolen from somewhere.”

“Or they did, and the demons possess intellectual and crafting abilities higher than what we’ve ever seen.” Alka said. “Are all the others like it?”

“Huh?”

“I’m asking because I want to know whether they are all exactly identical, or just similar but not exactly identical. Because the second implies the work of a craftsman, while the first, implies the presence of a replicator.”

I suspect it’s likely to be a replicator. “So, do you want to see the second rift gate?” I asked. There was one nearby, but that site was occasionally attacked by demons, so it’s heavily defended by beetles and spiders.

Since I’ve started my invasion of this demon world, I’ve set up dedicated research labs on creating better beetles. Demon-world compatible beetles, in order to better fight battles against the demons.

The second rift gate was not identical. There were subtle variations, but Alka could tell that the inner inscriptions were almost the same. We didn’t stay long, since this location was a little more risky. Of course, the revelation that they were not identically copied suggested that the demons possessed mastery of this level of craftwork.

I thought back to the two demon cores I possessed, and tried to check them. I wondered how this knowledge was transmitted across worlds? Were they embedded inside each demon king, such that each demon king was a walking colonisation module on top of an invasion force? If so, they must come from that black blob in space, and then, be inside this core.

“It could be written in flesh, too?” Patreeck naturally challenged my view.

We previously did extensive comparative analysis, using the two demon cores to map what was damaged and try to see if we could somehow build a complete whole from the incomplete two halves, but we still did not understand what exactly was happening. Now, with the patterns collected from the rift gates, we attempted to see whether there was any relevance, mainly to see whether there were similar patterns we could then extrapolate from the rift gate’s set of patterns.

There were some relevant parts, but as a whole, it didn’t really give any significant breakthroughs.

“Is this part of the Tree of Life’s set of powers?” Alka asked Stella while she did her own analysis of the rift gates and the surrounding daemolite crystal structures. She came accompanied with a small group of her students. Other void mages who were amazed, perplexed and afraid all at the same time.

“Yes.” I answered on her behalf.

“Dayum.” Alka said.

“You all are one of the first few non-demons to ever step on this demon world. You’re all pioneer space tourists.”

There was a loud bang, and they instinctively ducked. Demonic champions at the front lines, and some of the stray magical projectiles blasted across the skies.

Stella smirked. “Very funny.”

Alka complained for a while, but he continued to conduct more tests on the structures.

“How frequently can we go back?” Alka asked.

“Once a month.” I could probably send them back every week or two, but that would leave my mana drained.

Alka looked at Stella, and Stella shrugged. “Don’t look at me. My void portals don’t reach this kind of distance.”

“That’s really comforting. So Aeon’s our only ticket out.” Alka complained a little more, and then continued to test. My field scientist seemed to be a perpetual grumbler, but I suppose that dissatisfaction with everything comes with intellectual prowess.

Of course, Prabu and Colette were very interested to go, but I wasn’t very comfortable with it. I even hesitated on telling them about it, because I knew the gods were listening, one way or another.

But I still told them, because I wasn’t the weak tree I was a few decades ago.

With Tree of Life, I felt a lot more comfortable with being more transparent and open, at least with those whose powers I use and rely on. Even if things go south, I now have my clones in three other places, even if two of those clones are in rather vulnerable locations. With the benefit of hindsight, it was clear that I needed to invest in my team, and build trust. Even if that trust could go south.

-

Since Roon and Johann both gained their domains, I gathered my four domain holders, and then brainstormed our revised combat strategies. We needed to figure out how to best exploit our domain powers, especially with future demon kings. Roon and Johann also received the full briefing on what happened with Aiva, and my own history as a former outworlder.

In their entire career, they’ve lived to serve me, and the domain is their ultimate promotion. The point where they ‘grow up’ and now, can stand for themselves. The path is still long, of course. But the forest is strong because there are many trees, and this is a journey for all of us, together.

Their domains gave them additional power and stats, so they would continue to play the role of providing cover fire. In terms of pure damage, both of them were just slightly ahead of Edna, who had a higher level, and additional domain skills. They could move quickly, detect enemies from afar, and shoot high powered projectiles.

“Ever wonder who would win if we had a test fight?” Roon looked at Johann.

Edna just shrugged. Edna would be on the receiving end of their attacks in any spar, but her defensive abilities meant she could endure their attacks almost perpetually.

Johann frowned. “Actually, even with our new abilities, we can’t even get past Aeon or Edna’s shields. I think that’s our first goal.”

“Oh come on, a casual fight will be fun!”

“It would... but...”

“Actually, if you two would like a test fight, why not compare kill counts on the demon world?” Lumoof smiled and proposed. “Make yourselves useful for a change.”

Johann and Roon looked at each other, and Edna laughed. “Oh darn, that’s a good idea.”

-

Lilies noticed, naturally. They were very attuned to the powers that thread through the world.

> Sort of. It’s been a while. <

Ah. > We’ve reached the demon worlds. <

Lilies was silent, as I shared about what I’ve seen on the demon worlds through our root connection. I shared scenes of the demon king, the portals, the spires.

After a long while.

-

“Alright, we’re ready. Turn it on.” Alka said, after two months of studies. Roon and Johann had a swell time hunting demons and keeping them away from our magical researchers and the captured structures. There were also some demon champions that appeared, and they also helped to push some forces closer to the intact spawning pools.

“I have not actually tried. I don’t know how to.” I admitted. I may have ‘captured’ the rift gate, but I certainly did not know how to operate it at all. “Did you manage to figure it out?”

Alka rolled his eyes. “I mean, we’ve been studying its structure for two months without actually turning it on. Stella, if you would do the honors.”

Stella laughed. “Certainly.” She started on a monolog. The rift gates buzzed with activity, as it drained void mana from the void crystals, and we watched it open, charge up, and then just as abruptly, close.

It’s like starting a car engine that just cranked, roared and went dead. Alka and Stella’s eyes were glued to the gate, and Stella frowned.

“Hmmm. These rift gates piggy back off that central path built by the main gate. They are just links to that same void-space tunnel. There’s only one main highway between this demon world, and ours, and these rift gates are like little feeder roads linked to this main highway.”

The main highway collapsed. That explained why the demons stopped coming after the demon king got killed.

But this does mean that if the path didn’t collapse, the demons could perpetually invade. Not just that, if I could recreate these paths, it would mean permanent paths to other worlds. It would essentially enable the worlds to travel to each other, and if I could control them, it effectively functions as an escape route for the inhabitants of the invaded world.

“But these rifts are the first to appear. How does the demon find which world to invade?” Alka wondered and then immediately asked. “No. There should be signs. How long does it take? What’s the gestation period for the demon king?”

“I don’t know whether it’s consistent. According to Snek, his world seemed to take about 20 to 25 years per demon king. But, I would suspect the time spent also depends on the type and design of the demon king, the amount of magical energies available in each world, and perhaps many other unknown factors.”

Alka frowned. “A sample of one or two tells us nothing. But let us assume that on average it takes 25 years per demon king, which would mean that there are twice to thrice as many worlds that are linked to us.”

Stella retorted. “If we use the number of worlds linked to us by those faint astral paths, and presume that all of them are currently carrying a demon king that would be sent to us once it is ready, which is at least eight to ten of them in the sky, it actually suggests that it takes about 70 to 80 years.”

“That’s a wide range.”

There were no astral paths in this world. Not after they collapsed, but there were many paths still from Treehome. Those faint paths that grow brighter with each year. If these rift gates were like feeders into existing astral paths, could these rift gates be used to open a rift to their world, by exploiting those linked to our home world?

I predict that the paths will return to this world, but I would really like to know how that was done. How did the demon worlds find their targets? Could we mess with that interplanar worldfinder, and add Treehome as some kind of ‘do-not-disturb’ world?

“What if we move these rifts back to our world, and try to use these rift gates to tap into those astral paths?”

Stella and Alka thought about it. Alka’s eyes widened, and I could almost see the gears turning in his head. “It’s worth trying. Can we move this rift gate back home?”

“Of course.” I can move objects too. Naturally, I could move these structures back to Treehome.

Stella then considered. “It does mean that Aeon may invade them, even before the demons open a rift to our world. And, it would force the demons into a defensive battle on their world, by taking over all their rift gates. We would need to figure out how to activate the astral paths, or reinforce it to some degree with the core mana...”

“But it’s possible! This... the possibilities are so interesting..” Alka laughed.

Stella smacked the madly grinning Alka on the shoulder. “You just transformed from being afraid of coming to this world, to proposing a pre-emptive invasion on a demon world.”

“Eh, Aeon’s already invading one demon world, what’s a few more?”

“Aeon would have to use a [seed] though, and Aeon doesn’t don’t have many of those. It’s still a good idea in the long run, but I think there’s a lot more to study.”

Alka laughed. “Details details! Let’s focus on the final outcome first. An offensive battle would be greatly beneficial for us, since, well, we have bombs. A lot of them.”

“Are you...”

“I’m proposing we bomb the hell out of the demon worlds before they even invade us. We don’t even need some sophisticated targeting. We need an air force, and then open a portal, and just keep sending bombs through it.”

Stella stared at the mad scientist, who once lectured me on the morality of bombs. “And I thought you said you wouldn’t go that far.”

“Aeon noticed that there’s a big tower of void mana when the demon king was about to appear.”

“And...?”

“And Aeon’s teleportation ability does not require the use of void mana, so large quantities of star mana can be transported through it without destabilisation.”

“Okay...”

“It’s also right next to the demon king.”

“Star mana and void mana goes boom?”