Three names too many

Three names too many

Year 78 Month 3

"This volcano thing is going to take a lot longer if you don't find some other kind of powerup."

"Huh."

Alexis's modified drone-beetle made the journey to the volcano. Her research tree has a root that transformed into some kind of garage like structure where the beetles are stored and modified. So, that's the first of many bombshells.

"Although your large beetles can take a few punches, the magma golems are way way stronger than your large beetles. I estimate you need at least 10 upgrades before you get anywhere near defeating then with 3 large golems. The gap is just too large. If I estimate the golems as level 60 threats, your large beetles right now are about level 35, and if each research upgrade gives 2 levels worth of strength, you would need easily 10-15 upgrades, just to be at equal rank, not considering elemental and type weaknesses."

I'm sad. A tree conquering a volcano. Say it again. A tree conquers a volcano. Man, that just sounds absurd.

"I recommend finding alternatives. Something to breach the weaknesses. Find an elemental type that allows a good counter. Water or cold type? Or even wind."

I totally didn't hear that. I am just too wrapped up in sadness. Maybe my approach is wrong.

What if I am not looking to conquer the volcano, but absorb it?

Can I terraform the volcano? Alter the surroundings?

"So, as I was saying, magic would help. Think about it, a magic-casting beetles."

"Huh." Oh wait, Alexis was talking. "Sorry could you repeat, I did not pay attention."

She sighs. "I mean, you need magic. Or water. Acid's not going to work on the magma golems. Its its just uh you know, science? Water. Spells."

Okaaaaay. But damn, there must be other ways about it. Or would it be better to just focus on one area of the volcano, like a safe zone? "Ah. Any other observations from your probe?" The information I have is from what I can see via my subsidiary trees and maybe she sees something else.

"Uh The mana density is quite high but I can't seem to figure out what's wrong with it. Its not a pleasant kind of mana" Ah yes, mana, the weird thing that everyone's soul produces and also produced by things like leylines and certain objects. From the bodies I have examined, there are certain 'colors' to each mana, and it seems mine is primarily blue, which is why its the first color I unlocked.

The colors, type of mana, and the quality of it have tremendous influence on the way it feels and behaves. In a way, the description by most common mages is that mana is like air. There is stale air, good air, bad air, smelly air, dry air, wet air.

I wonder in this world, does mana take the form of some kind of special atom? Don't you ever wonder what is mana at its smallest unit? And why does the soul produce it? Does the soul maintain some kind of law of energy conservation?

"Hey, hey, if you want to have theoretical discussions you can do it with me." Alexis vents. "I like those kind of topics too. And seriously, do you have a problem staying focused on any particular topic? Stop hopping to other trains of thought all the time."

But they all deserve to grow? These thoughts, they are worth exploring. So I do.

"Focus. Back to the volcano. You need magic, and the right elements. Do you have anything? The spiders and the beetles are not ideal, obviously since they are weak to fire."

Well, other than myself, I can't think of any.

"So, magic! Doesn't have to be pure magic, but imagine beetles with a magical cannon that shoots water. Or spiders that create a freezing field. Flying beetles that releases water like the fire rescue planes. Oh wait. You might not know what that is. But you get the picture?"

"Hmmm"

"Oh come on, you want this volcano or not. You do it your way it's gonna take a lot longer."

Ah. Alexis is pushing her magic agenda again. "Let me think about it."

Year 78 Month 4

The treefolk-specific saps and nutrient foods are super popular, indeed it augments some of the key challenges treefolk face during pregnancy. The main thing is, treefolks, as the pregnancy gets more mature, ideally should stay put, their feet firmly rooted to the earth. This allows them to draw nutrients, mana from the earth to feed the growing fetus within their wooden bodies.

But, being stationary for months is not feasible in an environment where non-humans, like treefolk, are consistently hunted by others, so to be safe, they had to constantly migrate and move around to evade their hunters. This leads to nutrient shortage, their bodies compensate through consuming the parent's nutrients to feed the fetud, and so, weakens the parent.

Their children are generally weaker, though the most recent few children are in much better shape. No longer having to run, and have a relatively stable valley to stay in helps a lot in the quality and overall health of the treefolk children. Perhaps more than any other race, they need stability, and a familiar environment to mature properly.

"The treefolk's loyalty is probably the highest amongst all the nonhuman races, followed by the Centaurs. If we are to admit members into the Valtrian order, we can create a special group for them."

"Isn't that species-ism? That is the root of future discord though, the other races will dislike their special privileges."

"Is it not a waste to make the most of their abilities?"

"If we go down the path of making the races compete with each other, that will not go well. Right now New Freeka is dominated by elves, followed by the centaurs, if they start competing, that will further entrench the existing rifts among the races."

"Why do you care, master? They are disposable, are they not?" Ivy retorts, and I wonder where she gets that angry persona from. Is it from observing people for too long? "All of them are slimy, at least, the treefolks no so slimy because their material demands are different." Ivy hit level 10 a few days ago, and amusingly, her skill at level 10 is [Citizen File], using her constant monitoring of the citizens to build a "dossier" on the people. It takes effort, and a few months to do it, but Ivy's got time.

I gulp, if I could. Ivy's right, they are disposable. In the larger scheme of things, loyal servants are more valuable anyway. I should get more loyal servants. Better a loyal servant than 100 fighters who would stab me in the back.

The Valtrian order is stabilising, as the processes around the birth and death, and the quasi-military force regains some semblance of structure after my earlier retrenchment exercise. l

..

The new leadership team meet in Jura's new office in the center courtyard of Valtrian Order HQ. All rooms are covered with vines and trees, such that I can always monitor them, even the toilets.

Jura, Laufen, Madeus, three captains, two herbalists, two administrators and a master of ceremonies.

Three captains of the Order, the military arm shrunk to only 900 strong, each captain a leader of a group of 300. Two herbalists, they lead about 100 workers to cultivate and maintain the various herbal gardens and farms around the Valtrian order, and produce herbal medicines and ointments. Two administrators, responsible for treasury and purchases, funds, and payment of salaries, managing an administrative staff of 50.

The master of ceremonies, a position I wanted to give Wesley, but he declined, claiming he isn't interested in paperwork, so instead another priest was roped in to take the role. Somebody had to sort out the planning of the deaths, and all the paperwork around them. Almost all of them, except one administrator, are elves. I had hoped for a bit more variety in the Valtrian leadership.

It's a weekly meeting, for everyone to get updates on the plans, and matters, this is where everyone speaks to me.

"The councillors are not too happy with the retrenchment exercise, Tree Spirit. Many of them complained to the councillors and demand their positions be reinstated."

"Tell them that they are free to let Jura know that they can challenge a beetle to a fight. If they prove they will be more useful in battle than any of my beetles, I will give them their position back, and a small reward."

[Special skill obtained - Possession of the devoted]

[A special familiar contract with a chosen devoted believer. Limited to 5 at any time]

Year 78 Month 5

Things are rather quiet in New Freeka and the valley, and I think that is a good thing.

Alexis is right. I need a different approach if I need to hold the volcano. The inner volcano is filled with giant golems, who are clearly still leagues ahead of the large beetles. If the location is bad, the golems could easily hold off my beetle horde like a wall made of lava. So, while the various research continue, Im thinking of other methods. She's right that beetles are a bad matchup, even if this will annoy Horns.

Anyway, lets talk about New Freeka. This month I received a magical cactus, some kind of coconut variant, and a gourd shaped fruit which is often used to store foods due to its magical preservation qualities, so that goes into the biolab.

[Skills acquired]

[Cactus defense system]

[New crop type acquired]

[Milk coconut and brownwood gourds]

[Subsidiary tree limit increased]

Other than that, for the Valtrian order, things are pretty much the same. Training, scouting, purchasing and trading, and the birth & death rituals continue. The populace of New Freeka adapts to the new routine, and a new set of uniformed group in the town. Jura and the team decided on a dark brown color, like the tree barks, as the Valtrian Order's "color", New Freeka uses blue.

The druids came. They didn't seem too interested in the valley, it seems the druids got some kind of messiah complex that drives them to seek out sick trees and damaged environments, so their stop in New Freeka is a really brief one, just to resupply.

It's peaceful. I even manage to successfully protect my ginseng tree and make it last past their first year. And that's nice for a change.

Year 78 Month 7

"Practice." Lausanne grumbles. As Jura now has responsibilities in Valtrian Order, the time he has for Lausanne is significantly reduced, and she often seeks him out for practice sessions, even in the quarters itself.

In his place, the captains and men of the Valtrian order often become Lausanne's sparring partners, and in a way, its good for her.

Lausanne, now level 25, is actually better at the sword than a regular soldier, who's usually only about level 20-30, but having their levels dispersed over various skills.

"For a 9 year old she's pretty much a genius." The captains lavish their praise on Lausanne, though Lausanne just shrugs. Of course, the captains don't know is I've easily used 400 to 500 essences collected throughout the years, to build up her combat sense through [dream tutor], [powerlevelling], [learning aura], and most recently [training room].

"Perhaps that's the other thing you should be doing." Alexis's really bored these days, when she's not using her 2 probe-beetles, she tries to make conversation with me, or everyone else. "Maybe you can train an army of super-warriors."

"Heh. It's too early to tell how far Lausanne will go. She's currently my test subject, to see how effective the abilities are. But if it works, Ill consider it."

You should train more than just Lausanne. You can then compare the differences, perhaps each of the different individuals as your test subjects. Vary them a bit, then you can see what influences their growth and whether there is an actual limit.

Youve been thinking about this kind of thing, havent you?

Im a research spirit floating around, stuck to my tree. Whats there to do other than tinker with my lab equipment, and think about such things? Is it wrong?

Ah not, thats not what I meant

Then what do you mean?

You know what, I think you have a point. I agree that I should have a few test subjects, to see how the training thing works, and fully explore the limits of these people.

Of course, that means Ill need to find ways to consolidate and upgrade all my training related skills, such that I can distribute the resources to more people, other than Lausanne alone. Part of the reason why I focused only on Lausanne, is because I have no idea how effective my abilities are, and how it actually affects Lausannes growth, so I just went all in. The problem with [dream tutor], and [learning aura], is that the effects are really small, but they do accumulate over a long period of time. It isnt as if Lausanne becomes super amazing the next day, and Ive been using [dream tutor] on her since shes 5? Maybe 4. I forgot.

Since shes got that special skill, well, use your seeds as well. Im really eager to know what they do.

Huh, Im confused now. Should I focus on Lausanne, or train more people?

Both! You can focus on Lausanne since shes got that unique skill, but you do need other people as a base case. Its really basic, you cant draw conclusions on a sample of one. More samples, more robust conclusions! So diversify! Expand your sample size!"

You know, the validity of your methods are distorted by skills and abilities.

Those are outliers and variables that we can adjust for. Thats normal! I think Alexis is talking a lot like a scientist, and I think its part of the job.

Meela, do you think shes talking like a scientist?

She talks like that all the time. Its normal.

Hey!

But Im not disputing the essence of your argument, and I agree with the idea of having more test subjects. Well, its time for me to get Laufen to work on the orphanage.

Wait. Youre experimenting with orphans? Alexis didn't like that though.

Who else do I experiment on? Do you see any other young children I can run some tests on? You think the rest of the New Freekans willing to give me young children to test on?

Id like to say that its ethically wrong to use your abilities on young children who are unable to decide and give consent. You know what, testing on young children now feels eerily similar to trying to train orphans into war machines, so I take back my earlier statement. Please don't test on young children.

This is a magical world, and frankly, I am not doing them any harm. When you feed a child a supplement, you want them to grow strong, but did the child give consent? When you force him to eat his bitter medicine, did he give consent? As long as your intent is to help them, I think its fine. And with orphans, as the Valtrian order is the caretaker and guardian, we are empowered to make decisions on their behalf.

Meela tries to break up the argument by butting in. Alex think positively! Maybe TreeTree can make Batman! Thatll be cool. I think a lot of superheroes are orphans or lost their parents. Superman too! So I think its a good idea. You wont abuse them, right? Right?

Alexis pretty much facepalms, I dont think TreeTree knows what Batman is.

Uh, I do, but I keep my mouth shut. Well, no permanent pain, I suppose Frankly I dont know, theres no progress without pain.

Hmm