Research Trees

Name：Tree of Aeons Author：
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Research Trees

Year 76 Month 10 Continued

So.

Now that things are returning back to normal for me, somewhat, is to focus on the volcano. The volcano clearly is a point of great interest to me, as it generates so much heat and energy, something I would need for my valley.

But, the next phase involves defeating the magma monsters that spawn near the volcano, and protecting my trees. And from the initial skirmishes between the beetles and the magma monsters, they didnt do well at all. It takes about 5 beetles to beat 1 magma monster, because the magma monsters are able to burn the beetles when they get near, and the beetles attack by ramming the magma monsters with their horns.

So, bad matchup, really. And thats one problem I need to fix. I cant manually go in and use root strike on the magma monsters. Okay, actually I can, but its just that, if I do that personally then I dont have time to do other stuff, so I need the beetles or whatever solution I come up with, to be able to act somewhat autonomously.

Horns, any ideas?

Research fire resistant protective shells, and magical horns, for more power!

Thatll take 3 and 6 months, master. Trevor giving the numbers, But thatll delay our other research on further enhancements to the trees resistances.

Ugh. I want all the research. This feels like playing those games with huge tech trees and you just want to choose all of them available options, because in some ways, you do need them all. Recommendations?

We could spread out our time on both of them. Trevor and Dimitree said in unison. But itll be a 2 month delay for the other 2 projects.

No. I want them too.

So, the next step is more forest minds, but clearly I am limited in this aspect.

Are you willing to consider my help, now? Alexis speaks up.

... Ill think about it.

Year 76 Month 11

Winter! Well, its rather comfortable this winter, thanks to the hot water piped from the lake, and my new winter resistance aura.

The New Freekans are doing well, fortifying themselves and they did manage to build up a large stockpile of food. It seems their indecision led to Salah denouncing the truce, and now they even accuse the New Freekas of collaborating with the enemies. So, the truce is off!

But, even though the truce is off, it did not descend into war directly. After all, Salah is still tied up in their conflict with Nung and Takde, and the winter also severely impairs their ability to wage any assault on New Freeka. Its actually a norm in the world, that war is declared but actual fighting does not happen until some time later, and for certain human nations, there are even rules of engagements that the rulers follow, or they find themselves having awarded cursed titles, for falling out of favor of the human war gods.

Gaya, apparently, is one such god that demand certain rules of engagement. That battles are fought on open fields, each battle starts with a commander leading the charge, there is clear publicly declared casus belli behind the conflict, and that a large prayer is held before each large war.

Strangely enough, despite how restrictive it sounds, Gaya as a god, participates rather directly in terms of larger conflicts, often granting commanders tremendous gifts. It is said that if heroes, the singular most powerful humans in the world failed, they would turn to the commanders of Gaya to defend the world, though, in reality, there is still a huge gap in their power. Gods in the world interact with it in a few ways, one through gifts, and there are rules around such gifts, that all gods follow, even the dark gods native to the world.

Well, I partly learned this from Alexis, because Alexiss first acts when coming to this world, is actually to figure out how to go back, so she went on head on diving into books on gods, magic and all that. But of course, there are restrictions on going back, and one of those restrictions, placed by the million-headed hydra that watches over earth, is that the souls return clean. In short, they return without their powers or memories, though they may still experience dreams which reminds them of their past lives.

So back to war. The New Freekas are of course annoyed by the development, but knowing that Salahs engagement wont happen so soon, they decide to fortify themselves, to prepare for the coming conflict. Despite the cold winters, New Freekas population is a respectable 35,000, and so, they have the ability to field close to 13,000 fighters to the battle, which is a decent fighting force.

Salah may easily sent 50,000, or perhaps 100,000, but they are a far larger state with more competing priorities, and an ongoing war with the Nung and Takde. So unless Salah really provokes them, they may just let this little conflict carry on for a bit more.

Yvon though, is still trying to avoid war, so her negotiators now are instead focusing on whos the real culprit of the Blood Blizzard, which, increasingly, is pointing towards the acts of a terrorist group that infiltrated the senior army leadership of all three nations, in order to carry out such a large sacrifice.

In short, even if they did find who was behind this, the emerging fact still points to all three nations contributing to the blood blizzard, and none of the three nations will want to implicate themselves in the spell, so the wars just going to go on.

So too bad. Finnd new chapters at novelhall.com

This week, I converted one of the large [subsidiary trees] into a training room at Lausannes requests. The weather outside is now far too cold for combat practice, so their swordfighting practice goes indoors.

Shes going to turn 8 soon, and despite her earlier lack of talents, she somehow managed to pick it up. Perhaps through a combination of [dream tutor] and [powerlevelling], she did acquire sufficient swordfighting skills to have simple spars with Jura.

And she has also started to gain levels. There seems to be some kind of barrier from gaining levels for very young children, but this level barrier is inconsistent, and varies across races. Out of curiosity I had her dip into one of the biolabs, just to check on her. I had a theory previously that young children, where their spring that connects their body to the soul, and vice versa, is not yet fully mature, then that person is unable to gain levels. I mean, prior to this I could not even have an assessment of Lausannes estimated soul rank, but now I could.

And my intuition is right. Indeed, her spring, the fountain which produces mana now has a consistent shape. This raises a big set of questions, as in, what exactly influences the size and shape of the fountain? I also have a few thoughts about this, one is whether all souls are the same, but there is some other thing which acts as the link between the soul and the body, and that then influences a persons full potential, or, if the souls are different, then there should be a way to manipulate and change the qualities a soul have.

Master, your using my root-brain to augment your theories again Trevor grumbles. Ah yes, it seems I sometimes unknowingly tap into the processing power of the trees to think. But this has the effect of taking away processing power from Trevor, which then impairs his performance. Think of the root-brain complex as a computer processor, and if Im using it, Trevor cant.

I should have more root-brains. Its logical, no? I come from a world of quad cores and more. It would be fascinating if I somehow stitch all these root brains together into some kind of collective super-brain, no?

[Special project unlocked]

[The Grand Mind Tree - significantly boosts tree-related research output, and grants wider understanding of soul magics. Gains additional psychic-type magical abilities]

[Requires 10 x root brain complexes, and 1 ton of gold and 1 ton of quartz crystals. Once all prerequisites are complete, construction will take 1.5 years]

Ah. My own supercomputer. Well, kind of.

Alexis, youre redundant if I get this.

Noooooooooooooooooooo. Alexis sighs, but then she pauses, But youre not going to get it so quickly. Itll still take time. So, assign me to a biolab, please? Youre going to have to wait probably 2 to 3 years before you achieve it. Maybe more.

Shes right though. Its going to take a while. Construction of the root-brain complex itself requires 10 x Blood Crystals, and 50 x fresh animal heads, and so 10 root brains means a whole lot of blood crystals, and that means money, which we probably do not have.

Youre right, Alexis. But I still dont really trust you, so, Ive decided that I will merge you with a biolab someday, but you will be watched and observed.

Thats okay. I rather tinker in the biological structure of trees and beetles than being stuck in this dark and dreary place. Cant you do something about how gloomy your soul realm is? A biolab it is then.

Its a transit lounge for souls to reincarnate. Not helpful for it to be a pleasant place to be. I cant have too many souls not wanting to move on. Well, to be fair, the souls only linger around for 6 months to a year, and after that they will move on. The soul realm, whether pleasant or not has no influence on this.

I got side tracked again. I mumble to myself and resume watching Lausanne. Her bodys really young, after all shes only 7 turning 8. All the dream tutor has given her a rather varied set of skills, and so shes actually pretty versatile as a person.

She still wants to be a hero, but lately shes starting to understand that theres a gap between herself and the true heroes that could change the world with their power, though somedays, she still believes she can stand up there. Shell have to gain a lot more levels if she wants to. Only with levels, can she even think of standing up to a hero, whos blessed by the heavens.

TreeTree, do you have powers to you know make me stronger?

I do. The ginseng tree, and it grants a permanent boost. But the problem is that they just keep dying, usually after their first unlock. If I grow a ginseng tree inside me, maybe thatll work. And it doesnt help that they die within two to three months in this cold weather, so Ill have to wait till the wizards actually manage to weaken or dispel this cold weather, before resuming my replanting of my 3 ginseng trees.

I do, but youll have to wait.

Okay! Ill need all the help I can get! Lausanne raises her hand, like hurrah. Uncle Jura says heroes are super super strong, and Ill need all the blessings the world can give me to be as strong as them.

Hmmm

Thats actually possible. Perhaps throughout the world there are various permanent blessings, similar to ginseng trees. If a person could gather enough of them, they could be as strong as heroes.

I think I should go on a journey someday, with Uncle Jura and mom. To get those blessings.

Thats a good idea Lausanne

Juras healed, but his bones still need to fully recover. So hes just doing simple exercises, and relying on Bamboo to provide training to Lausanne. Bamboo and Jura actually manage to achieve some kind of bond, and Bamboo now manifests itself as a flexible wooden arm for Jura, so Juras back to being two-handed.

Kinda like a prosthetic, but with a summon. Quite a cool outcome actually, I frankly didnt think of that. Its not as good as a real arm, of course, but as workarounds go, its pretty good since Bamboo and Jura as a familiar has a mental link.

Blue - Baron Beetle - 5 x blue crystals, 30 x almost-complete skeleton of a large animal

Gains commander effects, which grants nearby beetle increased abilities Black - Beetle Dark Knight - 10 x obsidian rocks, 20 x large claws

Gains combat skillsBlue - Armor path - 50 small copper ingots & 5 medium red rubies needed

Gains defensive abilitiesBlack - Claw path - 50 small iron ingots & 5 medium onyx needed.Black - Skull Shell - 10 x Bone of a wyvern, 1 x heart of a lion and 50 x Bones of a lizard

I suppose if I want to work around the tree, I need to think like the system. If I was designing a system for a tree, what would I think about?

My suspicions is that a system in which a soul tree is at the center of, focuses on a few core principles. Again, this is just a theory that I have, based on what I experience so far.

Grow, nurture and endure

This is the first, core principle with any tree. The logical driver behind any tree is to grow, to expand, and so, I should get a wide range of abilities that promote growth, and allow me to endure wide variety of damage, and still recover. And with it, the ability to support young things, and also build an ecosystem with the tree as the foundation.

Enhance and adapt

A tree that expands would need to adapt to various environments, and react to the challenges that are unique to this world. This is the evolutionary, research side of what I suspect is a natural inclination. If trees are unable to react in a world where magic is native, then trees would quickly go extinct. So, I believe the trees in this magical world have natural adaptation abilities superior to that of our world, and the system supports them.

Then, theres the Soul abilities which arise as a soul tree. These are not natural tree abilities, but exist because I am a soul-related kind of entity, and so the system has to grant me abilities that are natural for a soul-tree to have.

Thinking along these lines, if I intend to get more offensive abilities, it would grow as a result of working towards more enhancement and adaptation, as a result of a tree being forced to defend itself.

In other words, to game the system to give me offensive abilities, I must put myself into a situation where self-defense is a required adaptation.

Now how do I go about doing that

Never mind, I quickly upgrade that empty training room into this training treehouse, so that Lausanne can benefit from it.

Oh, and I begin to test out those carnivorous plants that I got.

They function more like traps, really, and they spring out to eat anything about the size of wolves. Which is pretty good. But, the drawback is the digestive period is quite long, so essentially, if a huge swarm of demon hounds come along, theyll be full very quickly.

So, useful under certain circumstances, but its use in a large scale combat is probably limited.

If anything, what I would need is a firebreathing tree. I mean, imagine it, if a tree can breath fire, or even poison, that would be pretty useful. And such options are indeed available on my research options.

Being frustrated at how slow my research it, I eventually decide to take a chance on Alexis.

If you try anything funny, I will kill you.

Understood, but I am soul-contracted to you, so dont worry about it. Were aligned, trust me.

I cant. But Ill give you the opportunity to prove me wrong.

I initially would have preferred Meela, but the soul-contract is an additional layer of protection I have, so after some thinking, its actually better to use Alexis first. If Meela gone rogue, I may find that I have less means of retaliating.

[Initiating soul forge]

[Combining Alexis with an external biolab]

[Combining]

A bolt of thunder strikes the forge tree, and from it, emerges a glowing blue seed, its as large as a dog, and it floats over to the external biolab that Ive chosen, and that blue seed embeds itself in it.

[Alexis has successfully merged with an external biolab!]

[Alexis is now a laboratory spirit, level 1]

Huh.

Oh wow. She mumbles, she manifests herself as a glowing blue ghost inside the laboratory. Theres so much data so much data.

Uh.

Im fine. Im fine! This is amazing. She seems to be looking at some kind of interface, tapping into my stored records of all the biolab scans I have done in the past, including herself. Even my own records are here. Ive never realised what youve been looking at!

At this point, I decide to just observe her for a while.

This is amazing.

The external biolab which she now possesses, and is part of her, is actually a tree with a hollow interior, filled with pods, and various equipments for testing. It has a transportation system, in which a beetle delivers any of its required materials, for research.

Your visual way of representing the soul and the body-mind connection is incredible. Ive read books on the theoretical basis of magic, and how the souls interact with the body, but this this is mindblowing. Its amazing how intuitive it is, representing it as a spring and a field which that spring nourishes. All those magical theory books make life difficult by overcomplicating the terminology and using difficult to understand words. This. This is concise!

Oh. Okay. Shes really dived into the deep end. I honestly didnt think of it as that unique, but I suppose humans with no access to the [biolab] would find it that way.

Alexis, are you okay? Meela asks, sounding a bit concerned.

Oh more than okay. This is amazing. This is exactly what Ive been trying to find when I was trying to research magic! You should see this.

You know I dont like that kind of stuff. Meela shrugs.

Ah yes, but Im fine. Im really fine.

Meela sighs, I sometimes forget how much of a nerd you can be.

Hey! Alexis floats and looks at other stuff. The representation of the demons presence as a parched fire with a dried field is also fascinating. It seems to imply the demonic energies is antithesis to our own, and opens up so many options on how we can counteract their presence. Whats this, a data set on our star mana and those floating vases pouring out star mana? Holy cow, this is like mindblowing too! What else do you have!!! Alexis is constantly floating about the biolab, looking at more and more interfaces.

Meela turns to me. When she reads a great book, she cant stop talking about it. I think shes in that phase again.

Meela! Seriously! This information can advance magic research by decades!

At this point, I decide to cut in. Alexis, your task is to research the beetles, and the countermeasures necessary to conquer the volcano. Dont get side tracked.

Ah yes, yes. But can you give me a week, let me just have a look at this huge pile of data you have. Im sure theres some other amazing stuff in here.

No. I will not tolerate disobedience on your first day of as a biolab spirit. Get to work.

She sighs, and then she nods. Okay okay. Ill do it, but give me daily free time alright. I work 8 hours a day, alright. The remaining hours are mine for rest and my own activities. I really want to look at all these data!

12 hours. And you will be monitored.

Ah fine. I know. And she gained a level. Although her gods blessing is lost when she died, she still retains quite a fair bit of perks, one of which, is the experience perks.

Beetle winter adaptation stage II - 4 Months remainingVolcanic adaptation stage II - 6 months remaining. Tree winter adaptation stage II - 6 months remainingBeetle volcanic battleform - 3 months remaining (may complete earlier)Beetle volcanic defensive armors- 2 months remaining (may complete earlier)

On the New Freeka front, they had an envoy from Nung and Takde. It seems that Nung and Takde now wants to aid New Freeka in their resistance against Salah, but the person sent by Nung is slimy beyond belief, so Yvon and the advisors found it hard to agree with them.

There are no good guys in this war between the 3 nations. All of them have their own goals, and all three wants a piece of each other, though Nung and Takde are now allies as a result of their mutual enemies.

Under other circumstances, they would probably attack each other.

So, once again, New Freekas council cannot decide. They dont really want to turn down their aid, but at the same time, these 2 nations arent the most upstanding and honest of nations. Well, one of the key skills a leader needs to have, is to decide. Sometimes picking a choice is more important than evaluating which one is right. But Yvons style seems to be more concerned on whats right. She has a need to be morally correct, at least from her perspective, and that clouds her ability to sometimes make tough, probably cruel decisions.

Ah well.