Chapter 192: Divinity Tier

Ashlock stared at the system message floating in front of Neptune's face.

[Neptune wishes to form a pact]

As he had learned with Maple, a pact involved mutual cooperation where both parties could act independently without the other's permission. For example, Maple often went off to do his own thing without Ashlock ordering him to, and he could also deny Ashlock's request for help. Whereas Larry, who was a summoned creature by the system, wasn't even allowed to evolve or pick his evolution path without Ashlock's approval.

"If I were to enter a pact with Neptune, I would gain another formidable ally that could help me against the incoming beast tide, the Blood Lotus Patriarch, and finally, the other World Tree in the heart of the Celestial Empire that wants to eat me." Ashlock paused, "But... Maple is completely unhinged and undependable. Would I really be able to coexist with another, even more powerful Maple? He goes off and does his own thing or spends the days sleeping, which I now know is because he is trying to conserve energy to grow stronger. But still! He's so useless half the time!"

Ashlock liked having some level of control over his surroundings and allies, as he lacked control over his body and could not move. Betrayals became more dangerous as he could not flee, and if Neptune signed the pact and then went off by themselves to wage war with the Blood Lotus Sect and subsequently draw enemies toward him, there was nothing he could do except fight.

It was risky... but he was still tempted. At the end of the day, if they entered a pact, Neptune would become his ally, and who wouldn't want an even more powerful void monster than Maple on their side? That small squirrel alone had trapped a 9th-stage Star Core Realm Voidmind Elder, slaughtered the Winterwrath and Evergreen Grand Elders, and even caused two families to go to war with each other over a misunderstanding caused by Maple and Stella's mischief.

Neptune tilted their head as if confused as to why he was stalling.

"They are Maple's family. It wouldn't be fair for me to deny them," Ashlock sighed as he mentally accepted the pact notification.

[Pact failed: Divinity tier too low]

Neptune frowned as she looked at her hand as if confused, "I felt for a brief moment that Ashlock had accepted the pact, but then it stopped? Why?"

"Ashlock, what happened?" Maple asked, hanging upside down from a branch by his feet and looking at him inquisitively with those adorable golden eyes, "Did you change your mind about accepting my siblings last second?"

"Although accepting a pact with such powerful beings related to a rascal like you might be a bad idea..." Ashlock said, almost laughing at Maple's scowl, "That's not what happened. I think my divinity is too low to make a pact with you, Neptune."

Neptune became lost in thought, evident by how she stared blankly at the sky.

"Let me try," Mars closed their eyes, and a similar system message appeared.

[Mars wishes to form a pact]

Ashlock accepted it without any hesitation, but once again, it bounced.

[Pact failed: Divinity tier too low]

"Mhm, I see what you mean," Mars stepped away, also confused.

"Say, Maple, you claim these two are your elder siblings... what is the age and power gap between you?" Ashlock asked the hanging Maple. He had failed to summon Maple in the past with 2600 sacrificial credits as his cultivation realm had apparently been too low, but he had managed to form a pact with Maple once he hopped through the rift in his squirrel form, so why was it now blocking his pact with Neptune and Mars?

"It's hard to compare as we operate on a different timescale and cultivation path to you and the humans. A century for us is like a year for you," Maple said, "But if I had to guess, I am like a newborn at the Nascent Soul Realm, but I was weaker than that before coming here and forming a pact with you. Meanwhile, Neptune and Mars are in their teens at like the Monarch Realm?"

Neptune and Mars exchanged looks and nodded, "About that, yeah." Mars agreed.

"So, a massive gap in power and age," Ashlock mused to himself, "But what about this divinity tier my system is talking about?" He opened his status screen and soon found the answer.

[Demonic Demi-Divine Tree (Age: 9)]

The void began to tremble again like it had when Neptune mentioned that Diana was part of the Ravena clan, which was apparently forbidden knowledge as it had something to do with bloodlines.

"You just can't keep your mouth shut about that stuff," Maple grumbled, and Mars frowned slightly.

"Looks like we are out of time," Neptune said as she glanced up at the collapsing void, "You can always talk to us again if Maple—"

"No, this was a one-time thing," Maple shook his head, "Almost all the energy I got from my feast was wasted on this conversation with you two."

"Well, I will see you again when Ashlock accesses the Mystic Realm using a power he supposedly doesn't understand," Neptune said in such a neutral voice and with an expressionless face that it was hard to tell if she was serious, joking, or actually angry that he was lying, "Especially you human."

"Me?" Diana, who had been quietly listening in to the conversation, seemed bewildered as she pointed to herself under the emotionless gaze of Neptune.

"Yes, come find me the next time you enter the Mystic Realm. I have something to show you," Neptune smiled slightly, which made Diana shiver.

"Okay..." Diana reluctantly replied.

And on that note, the void collapsed in an instant. Neptune and Mars were gone in the blink of an eye, and Maple briefly became a mass of wiggling tentacles as he reverted to his squirrel form.

[Dimensional Overlap Restored]

Ashlock noticed another hundred sacrificial credits get drained from his sign-in system as reality around him warped, and he felt his consciousness expand into the void beyond reality and through the celestial fog until it finally latched onto the pocket realm he had picked in the menu previously and then pulled it back with him through the tear in reality.

A bubble of spatial Qi expanded out from his trunk as the epicenter for a few meters. It felt... strange. It was like being trapped inside a fish tank with liquid Qi so dense it was swirling around him.

Diana began to cough violently. She quickly grabbed Kaida and stumbled out of the pocket realm that barely enshrouded his entire body. Since she only had to walk a few meters to reach the edge of the bubble, Diana managed to leave before Ashlock could even help. The boundary of the pocket realm was a thick layer of spatial Qi that she had to push through with a bit of effort, but other than that, she could leave freely.

"So I will definitely need to find a way to keep someone in here to stop them escaping so easily like that in actual combat," Ashlock mused, "Luckily, I have my vines and Ents that are great for that."

Ashlock then noticed his Star Core begin to fill up faster than usual as all his leaves began pulling in the surrounding spatial Qi and draining the pocket realm. "Wait, I can cultivate using {Dimensional Overlap}?"

Ashlock was perplexed as he had initially thought {Dimensional Overlap} would be a perfect attack or support skill as it would allow him to alter environments to suit his allies or counter his enemies' affinities, but he could also use it to power himself up like how his allies used the Mystic Realm?

"Guess that's an S-grade skill for you," Ashlock chuckled as he tried to gaze out of the spatial pocket realm but found everything outside was very blurry and tainted in a purple hue, "Okay, so there's some drawbacks here. My allies might struggle to shoot at enemies outside the pocket realm if they can't see through the bubble, but I can get around that."

Shifting his view through his roots, he could now look at himself from the outside. Diana was standing there with Kaida, watching the giant dome of spatial Qi that covered around a third of Red Vine Peak and the entirety of his trunk.

"Interesting, looks like I can use this as a sort of defense or camouflage skill if I pick the right pocket realm. Wouldn't a pocket realm filled with illusion Qi be good to hide myself from powerful foes? Or would I just stick out like a sore thumb?"

Ashlock stopped rambling on in his mind and decided to ask Diana with {Abyssal Whispers}, "Hey Diana, could you fetch Stella for me? I need her help testing this new pocket realm I have summoned."

"S-sure..." Diana blinked a few times before her brain kicked into gear, "I will go get her as quickly as I can." Diana said as feathered wings sprouted from her back. She then ran toward the White Stone Palace while shrouded in mist and used her wings to glide between the trees for extra speed.

"Huh, that's pretty cool," Ashlock thought as he focused back on the peak, and then he remembered Titus, his only spatial Qi Ent. The pile of black wood was slowly repairing himself with a combination of the Qi Ashlock was providing him and the Qi his own Star Core produced. But it was pretty slow due to how extensive the damage was, and there was no way in hell he was paying hundreds of credits to repair him instantly.

"Titus, crawl your way into the pocket realm," Ashlock instructed the Ent as Titus's eyes flared up with purple flames, and he began to move, "I want to see if it helps you heal faster in here."