Punishment & Soul Forge

Punishment & Soul Forge

Year 74 Month 2 Week 3

Spring begins. Beetles are out spreading seeds.

Ive finally decided on the punishment for Eriz and Yvon.

Thanks to your selfishness, Eriz, youve permanently dragged us into this conflict. This is despite our hospitality to you these past months. Your punishment is that you are to surrender your soul to me, and to serve us for the rest of your life.

My my soul?

Yes, your soul. You put us at risk, even when we helped take care of Roma. For putting our lives at risk.

She pause, and shes too stunned to respond.

Then it is Yvons turn. Your punishment is that you will now have to protect this forest for the rest of your life. And Ill enforce that by not having you leave this forest. If you do try, Ill kill your people. In exchange, Ill allow your people to share and stay in this valley with me, though, as youre probably aware, I have rules that I want followed.

She stops.

I did not think taking your soul is necessary at this point, and I am of the opinion that your combat and management abilities will be useful to manage the coming refugees. But, I will be watching you closely.

Yvon pauses, thinking. After about five minutes, she sighs, and she then nods. I can accept that. I guess she figured to have me as a protector of the refugees is worth the cost.

She dragged me into this conflict, I may as well make the most of it. If this is going to end up into a war, Id better have more bodies to throw at the enemy.

I do want to fight the Salah Kingdom, so this accelerates this entire process. But I was hoping for more clandestine, stealthy methods, by way of sneaky subsidiaries trees, but, oh well.

How.. how are you going to take my soul? Eriz looks puzzled.

A magic ring appears around her, an ability I didnt know I had until recently.

[Spiritual Contract - Judgement]. Its essentially a soul contract, but in the form of a judgement. Demons, devils and the dark gods get a lopsided version known as [Unfair Contracts], which is unfair, but, less robust as a result. It has also sneaky abilities like concealing terms and conditions, but all of these result a reduction of the ability grade to a lower-tier (relative, of course).

Accept.

She shakes. She looks at her mistress, and then back at Jura, whos watching her. I.. I..

Are you testing my patience, Eriz?

I wonder whether there is undue influence in this world.

She gulps. I...Im sorry. Is there any other way?

No. For the fact that youve dragged me into this conflict, and the kingdom knows of this forest, youve made life difficult for me. Therefore, this is an adequate punishment for you. You could have told your mistress to meet you elsewhere, but here we are.

Yvon tries to defend her subordinate. Her soul its too much isnt it? Cant she protect this forest like I do?

No. Her soul, or everyone dies. I probably would not actually kill everyone, but an ultimatum it is.

Eriz cries. And she cries for a while.

She glances at Jura, but Jura shrugs.

After she finished, she accepts the punishment, and the magic ring around her glows, expands, spins around awhile, and then enters her body.

It is done.

[Eriz Maforlass soul is now leased to you for 1,000 years. Soul lease will commence on death]

Lease? Isnt that like renting?

Uh She looks around. I think shes preparing for something more gruesome and painful.

And after a while, she looks at Yvon.

Am I still here? Eriz seems to think she will die instantly.

Yes. Yvon nods, and she too looks puzzled

Thats it? I dont feel anything different. Have you taken my soul, yet?

Oh, not now. When you die, Eriz. I wanted to say, so dont die, but then, Im sure she knows that.

Now that her sobbing stops, she looks at her mistress. Oh. OH! Thats all?

Y'know... Im starting to think on-death is not that great a term, after all it still means this person gets to act out her life, for the remainder of her days, (which is by no means shorter). Its a painless punishment, nothing's changed, unless they care about their soul.

Oh well, I guess Ill take levels next time. Though having seen Yvons combat abilities, having her around would be useful against the fighters this Salah Kingdom may deploy.

For the soul part, yes. Also, from now on, you serve me.

Year 74 Month 3 Week 1

I love spring.

Thanks to the hard work of the beetles and the regrowing bounty mojo, the normal tree count in the valley surged to 3,800. Thats a huge climb, but I am guessing the season of spring counts to that. If this continues I might hit 10,000 a bit faster than expected.

Other than that, nothing of particular concern happened. The Kingdom does not seem to be sending anyone at us, yet.

As for the refugees, Yvons group of refugees set up camp along the right side of the slopes. All the refugee camps start building more permanent structures now that winter is over.

The centaurs, now given a certain allotment of trees that they can chop down, start to construct basic houses, which resemble stables. Some of them engage in wide scale planting, of a plant known as shrub of the fours. Largely inedible to anyone but centaurs, minotaurs, satyrs and their kind, its their staple food. It seems centaurs can survive on this plant alone, and once the plants start to grow significantly, I would like to analyse them.

The treefolk are incredibly fascinating to observe. Their abilities resemble an inferior version of mine in many ways. They enjoy being in the sun, and clearly their abilities are affected by the season, their steps faster, their skin and body more vibrant. Their feet has some ability to connect to the earth, drawing energy, nutrition, and even mana. The treefolk use their innate affinity to trees to weave the branches of trees into more structures, and it seems this is their preferred way of construction, bending trees into shape. Its like large scale bonsai sculpting. I suspect they have the ability to boost tree growth as well, but I will ask them someday.

Yvons elves, being the most exposed of the bunch, start with building a mix of houses and fortification from the earth. Stone walls, stone houses, I am quite amazed at the speed which they manage to build with the rocks and dirt. They had to cut some of the trees down for the rest of the materials, but with outburst of trees in spring, the loss is acceptable.

The last group of elves, are split. A group, about three quarters, are leaving. They only want to stay through winter. The remaining quarter are going to join Yvons group.

No matter.

Year 74 Month 3 Week 3

No movement from the Salah Kingdom. We initially wonder why, but the olive oil traders came. For olives, of course.

War breaks out. Kingdom of Nung, Kingdom of Takde have declared war on the Kingdom of Salah. The civil war and slaughter is an opportunity, a weakness, so both of them are trying to take a bite out of the Salah kingdoms territory.

Well, thats a wonderful coincidence.

Some cash change hands, and olive oils, sold.

The merchants guild would be trying to sell information about me, no? Yvon pops out at the trading post.

Ah the mistress herself. The merchants grin. Well, the kingdom is occupied now, but they are offering good money to find out who is backing your rebellion.

Oh, any leads? Yvon laughs.

The merchants guild have our own theories, but if you mean to share

Yvon shakes her head. How is the guildmaster doing?

Ah, he is fine. No one would dare touch the guildmaster of the merchants guild, even if he is half-minotaur, if that's what you are asking.

Yvon nods. That is good. She then hands the merchant multiple letters. I take the merchants still offer delivery services, even to me?

The merchant smile, grab the letters, and shove it into a box of some kind. And some coin changes hands.

I take you know the terms.

No worries, its to the other kingdoms.

Ah.

Sorry Laufen butts in. Do you mind helping us buy some things?

Like?

Oh, one of my friends want exotic fruits and books about trees. Can you help us procure some, well pay you.

Ah, Ill look out for it.

Year 74 Month 4 Week 1

The young chieftain and the elves left. I am at 5,300 normal trees. The surge is down to an awesome combination, the hard work of the beetles, this wonderful season of spring, and better mastery of this bounty ability I have.

Within the inner circle of subsidiary trees, I finally felt confident enough to start growing my first [ginseng tree].

Life for the refugees are starting to stabilise. With homes built, their focus turns to defense, and preparing for winter. Potatoes, and all the other plants.

[Subsidiary tree leveled up. You can now have 180 subsidiary trees]

Mages. I know some of them are, but with the bodies flanking and blocking, I cant seem them very well.

A few of the refugees are mages, and two fireballs fly towards the army, smacks right into a magic barrier.

Its at this time, a long range projectile smashes into the refugee mage, killing him instantly.

And I quickly turn my attention to them.

Far away theres 3 men, one holding a long barrel gun, a sniper? But its a lot more crude, made of forged crystal, and it fires magic bullets. Another look like a mage, with the whole wizard gear. And the last man, is an old man in knight armor. He looks somewhat like a lord.

Did you spot any archdruid?

No.

10,000 men is overkill. Its probably those treefolk.

The old man nods. I wouldnt count Yvon out just yet. Shes probably got something in her sleeves. The fact that she so brazenly set up a physical camp here, suggests she has some kind of backing.

The sniper shakes his head. Seriously, no unusual mana signatures.

The wizard shrugs. Maybe shes just overconfident. Or just tired of running.

Maybe.

Sniper turns his barrel around. All these trees are annoyingly tough. He fires, and the projectile pierces through one of my subsidiary trees. But it slows the crystalline projectile down significantly, and softens the blow.

The wizard pauses, seemingly realising something. [Detect Presence].

He pauses, and turns to the Lord. We should leave.

The Lord looks dumbfounded. Huh, why? Dont we have good odds?

I sense an ominous presence that stretches this entire valley not something not something an archdruid can do. The trees they are looking back at us. The wizard points at the trees. I feel them watching us.

The Lord stares. How sure are you?

These trees has a faint killing intent. This is no ordinary forest.

Hmmm.. that explains why the refugees are stuck. They dare not venture through the valley. So they may as well make a stand here.

We might still be able to defeat Yvon and her band of rebels. But whatever else its here its not going to fall to us, not to what we have here. If Yvon is somehow working with or trying to control whatever lurks in this forest, we may not stand a chance. Its a trap, milord.

The Lord pauses, and looks at the sniper. What do you think?

I trust his judgement. If he says we should leave, we should. He fires another shot, this time intentionally hitting one of my subsidiary trees. It punctures a whole through the subsidiary tree, and sends a jolt of pain through me. Normal trees would explode on impact. I agree that this forest has secrets. Ill need explosive weaponry.

The wizard nods to the sniper.

It is best I report this to the wizards guild. A deployment of a much larger group of wizards may be necessary.

The Lord nods. Very well. There is no shame in retreating to fight another day. Call the army back. If this is a trap, we will not fall for it. We would be better placed if we can tap some rangers and shamans for the next fight.

And so, the army of 10,000 halts its advance, and retreats.

It is surreal for the refugees, who thought they would be goners, or lose most of their people. The casualties on both sides are relatively small, about twenty to thirty, and for Yvon and group, this was a huge victory.

[Skill : Haunted tree upgraded to haunted forests.]

Ah. Did I just scare away an army? I am pretty sure the army cannot kill me, but I probably wont be able to kill all of them too.

Still, it looks like they will be back with a vengeance. So I need additional countermeasures.

Year 74 Month 8 Week 3

10,000 normal trees reached!

Firing up [soul forge].

All of the trees in the valley, abruptly emit a faint glow, and it scares the refugees.

And I feel power surging into me, my roots, all of them overflowing with power, energy gathered.

And then a huge thunderbolt from above lands on me, like a constant electrical connection. It causes everyone to jump, and the secret hideout shakes like it is experiencing an earthquake.

The ground shakes. My entire body of tree glows in a bluish light, the thunder, like a chain linked to the sky above, shakes, and flickers.

What the hell is going on? Jura asks. Tree Spirit are you okay?

They dont know.

The treefolk seems afraid. Is the tree suffering through a magical crisis?

The centaurs wonder whether this is some kind of divine punishment.

The normal trees push more energy through the roots, and all of that energy flows into the once-inactive [soul forge].

A spark, a small blue flame pops out and dances in the middle of the soul forge. The soul forge actually looks like a massive circular jar, and now there is this blue light emitting from within.

And then, a shockwave. The outer barks of my body is shredded by the bolts of lightning, as they hop in and out of my body, like a short circuited set of electronics.

[You gained 4 levels.] [Level 121]

[Skill obtained : Magic suppression : All hostile magic abilities below tier 3 are absorbed]

[Skill upgraded : Root surge. Covers a wider area and use limit increased]

[Skill upgraded : Subsidiary tree increased to 250]

[Soul forge : Blue] is active.

[Soul forge : ForgeTree.

The physical realms link to the soul forge]

[Soul forge abilities unlocked]

[The power to repair, mend souls. To strip souls apart, and put them back together. The ability to add souls to your abilities, familiars, items, trees. The ability to push souls to their limits, and beyond. The ability to rank up a soul. The ability to fuse soul fragments whole, and create artificial sub-souls from ordinary soul fragments]

The wisp shakes, and he splits into three wisps.

Two then circle around the soul forge, orbiting it.

Youve done it. An active soul forge.

Where do I start?

I suggest, given your now expanding reach, is to have assistants.

Okay, lead the way.

Not all souls are suited to make the journey to the afterlife, the aether dimension whether all souls return.

Souls, though extremely durable, do fracture and crack, and decay from the presence of the outside world. Some souls are torn by the magic of men, between life and death. Some souls are stuck, lingering, seeking vengeance or salvation. Whatever it is, some souls cannot make the journey. And for these souls, they decay into fragments.

But it is not the end. Eventually, in the eternity of time, enough of these fragments will pool together and form a soul-body able to make the journey into the afterlife, where the administrator of souls can restore them, and send them onwards, to continue the eternal duty of souls. To reincarnate into the next life.

A soul forge assists in this repairing and renewal process. It fuses the fragments of ordinary decayed souls, into a soul body, and the soul body then makes the journey to the afterlife. But, it leaves behind a frame.

An artificial thing, not possessing the limitless, self sustaining life force of a soul, but yet, close enough.

To use an analogy, the soul comprise of a car (an outer layer) and a driver (an inner layer). The decayed souls are broken cars, unable to continue its journey to the other side. The soul forge, forges the broken parts of multiple broken cars together, such that together they can make that journey. But, once that journey is made, the inner layer disappears, but the outer layer remains.

This outer layer, is the artificial-soul. Like a person without heart, it is close, but not the same.

And with this artificial soul, we, upgraded one of my very first abilities.

[Soul-forge is fusing autopilot with an artificial soul].

[Autopilot has transformed into Forest Mind, Level 1]

[You may now name Forest Mind.]

Trevor. I wanted Treevor, but never mind.

I am Trevor, Level 1 Forest-Mind. Greetings Master TreeTree.

It speaks!

I can handle the administrative, defensive and organisation aspects of the valley on your behalf, and as I gain levels, you may select the skills and abilities I gain. Please assign me a duty.