Wasteland

Wasteland

Year 79 Month 11

A group of druids recently applied to New Freeka, they would like to open a Druid's House in the town. From what I understand, they were invited by the councillors, perhaps in an attempt to use the druids to counter my presence.

Indeed, using the druids' power over nature is a good strategy. If I were faced with a Tree Monster, I would find ways to weaken the opponent or find a hard weakness.

But it's been a long time since I faced a druid, and my levels are much higher now. So, I really look forward to my future interaction with druids, I too want to know where I stand.

The elves once spoke of a reincarnated hero, Roana, who controlled tree spirits and nature like the back of her hands. I wonder whether I would bend to her will, if a hero like that comes around. These druids, they would be a fascinating entry level test case.

"Wouldn't that mean druids are using some kind of mind control on trees?" Alexis wonders aloud. "I didn't think of it before, but it is a kind of mind control, isn't it? The taming of beasts by a beastmaster is similarly a kind of mind control if beasts are sentient, intelligent creatures."

"Well, I wouldn't know, but they can try using it on you, since your physical body is that of biolab, which is a tree. Then you can be a test subject, and we can find out exactly how it works."

"Eek. You are right, they might! They totally could." Alexis gasps, her hands to her spiritual face. I need to gain more levels!

I suspect I would have some resistance to such mind control or tree control, perhaps as a function of my levels. I would think mind control has a level modifier.

Ah well, still, I let the druids settle in, order both Ivy and Trevor to keep watch, and watch each other. My fear is that they may notice Ivy or Trevor's presence, and then attempt to control them instead. These 2 are of a lower level than me, so I would think the chances of druid skills working would be higher.

Other than that, Meela's hotel seems to be doing okay. She's gotten customers and she's spending money on decorations and materials. A few of her hired treefolks act as her runners, they do all the buying and collecting for her. I think she mentioned she plans to add an extra wing to her lodge.

Then, the Salah issue.

Salah Kingdom responded with a 'holding' letter, saying they will look into the matter, and provide an update when they have more info. Essentially, the diplomatic equivalent of 'I have no idea what you are talking about so I need time to find out.'

Which is fine, I doubt people remember things like that, especially so far away, so I focus on gathering more intelligence on the Salah Kingdom. I too need to know a bit more about Salah, its people, its structure and its defenses, should I choose to attack them.

[Inspection], as a skill, doesn't seem to reveal much of the enchanted tiles and roads, other than they have been enchanted. It seems its more tailored to monsters, so perhaps I would need either higher tier of inspection, or a more specialised inspection skill to discern the true nature of these roads.

Stumped, I turn to experimentation, I found one of these enchanted roads in a quiet, less travelled part of the capitol, far from the city itself, where I could place a few subsidiary trees near the road.

And I did my experiments on the road. No matter how I tried to make something grow on these tiles or rocks, the plants just wouldnt grow.

I then attacked it with my roots, and, its much, much tougher than any regular rock. It took a few hits, then it starts to crack and break.

So, conclusion one, its resistant to most kinds of attack, but not indestructible. Either that or these roads have some kind of plant-source damage reduction.

I would like to meet the person who build all these roads and structures.

Perhaps we could talk to the locals in New Freeka. I believe one of Yvons confidantes is a builder, of the magical kind. Ah yes, the group that uses magic to build houses, perhaps they might know a bit more about these kind of enchanted roads. Maybe all these builders know one another, like some kind of builders guild? Or perhaps, contractors association?

Must be my luck, Counsel Jura. One of Yvons followers, now also one of the councillors of New Freeka. So, what do I owe the honor of being before the few true natives of the valley?

Jura grins and taps on the chair, Ah, nothing too serious, I asked for you to borrow some of your... knowledge. Ive got some questions, tell me about... construction-related skills and abilities.

The rooms empty save for the 2 of them, both seated on a chair. Jura has a pot of tea, made from my younger, tender leaves. Its still steaming, theres a small firestone under it, used to keep food warm. The councillor moves, adjusts his body slightly. Hes a man of average height, but his build is bulky, stoic, but since his election to the council, he changed a builders attire for something more formal.

How strange, may I know why? The councillor leans forward, he didnt touch the tea.

Im thinking of building a new building, so I thought I ask an expert on what kind of crazy skills would a builder have. It would help me in assessing what I can build, and how long it takes. So, tell me about the great builders of our world."

The councillor pauses, smiles a little to himself then shakes his head. Surely there's more to it, Counsel. Well, there were no builder-heroes.

Jura sips on his tea. Oh, that's something I didn't realise, I thought there were heroes from almost all the classes. But then that's another conversation, I want to know about builder type job classes today."

Firstly, there are all kinds of builder-related job classes. There are the entry level versions of the job such as the draftspersons, the regular workman, and there are the stronger variants, the architects, the foreman, the master-builders. Their passives run the gamut from weak, to incredible. A true master-builder could turn build a house out of hay that can withstand a typhoon, a house out of wood that would never rot or spoil, a wall that can withstand a dragons flame, and roads that could speed up the domains trade.

Am I right to assume the materials are the same, or do these master-builders use their skills to change the materials?

Yes, and no. A builder, a farmer, a blacksmith, they all have skills, and these skills influences the materials they work with, and it persists until the materials are unmade. A plank of wood processed by a master-builder, can be many times stronger than one made by a regular builder, just like a blacksmith can work with metal to make a sword multiple times stronger than the work of a regular apprentice.

But then what happens when the maker dies? Do these skills disappear?

You really are a warrior, Counsel Jura. It is basic knowledge that non-combat skills have longevity. The effect of a non-combat skill persists longer, than the burst-one off nature of active, combat skills. The great castles of yore, made by the master artisans, the effects of their skills on the shine of their walls, the foundations and strength of their ramparts, they remain till this day, with little decay, even after the death of their makers.

Jura rubs his chin and hair, looking a little embarrassed that the councillor called him out on his cluelessness on such things. True, else they wouldnt be handing down enchanted artifacts and heirlooms. Ah, but let's say I want to know about roads and walls. What kind of skills youve seen that work on walls and roads?

Thinking about building walls around the Order, Counsel Jura? Where do I start? Think about it, there are Kings with powers to create temporarily nigh-impervious, indestructible fortresses and walls. Kings who amplify the effect of roads on travel in their domain. Or mages who can enchant walls with defensive buffs. Highway markers that speed up travel on those who travel along them...

Ah fine, Im asking about builders?

We would have many kinds, most builders worthy of building anything more than a wooden house would gain some variant of the skills [Enduring construct] or [Low-maintenance structures], so that they last longer, and need less upkeep and repairs. I would think walls and roads would gain the effects of such skills.

Are there dedicated road-builders in the world? What kind of skills would they have?

Yes, of course there are, the world's skills are as vast as the stars in the sky, but... I dont know their skills? Im a magic-augmented builder, I construct things using earth magic, and sadly I have not met a true road-builder."

And well, that was all the councillor was willing to share and Alexis had a post mortem.

A metaphor I would use, is that these passive skills are like... paint. They stay on the object until they are removed. Well, Alexis is willing to share her views on such things. Usually, the benefits of such skills is that they are close to perpetual, they usually can interact and stack with other such passive skills, and the drawbacks is that, theyre not that strong.

So, whats your take on whats happening. Why the roads resist me?"

Youre a pest, I suppose. I doubt the road knows how to differentiate between a tree and a weed, so it just repels all of them. Have you seen roads destroyed by roots that grow underneath them? Roots destroy buildings and roads, so, I would expect any good builder would want to prevent his things from getting destroyed..

Fine, lets say what youre saying is true, then how about New Freeka? Why dont the roads that are built now, in this area, reject me, if such passives are so common?

Maybe because you're part of the native ecology, so the buildings built here are used to your overarching influence and do not regard you as an invader. Or maybe your main body is so overwhelmingly powerful in this area that such skills dont work in close vicinity to you. Or maybe you have some kind of ability invalidating all these skills. Frankly, could be a million things."

"I learnt nothing from that conversation."

Alexis chuckles, "I am glad to have wasted your time."

Ah well, I turn my attention to the herbal varieties found in Salah, theres little spots of greenery throughout the city, the issue is clearly, getting there, because of all the roads and buildings that impede my progress.

The Royal Groves actually rather boring, other than being enchanted. The herb varieties are mostly common, but they are more effective. Theres some herbalists and druids that regularly tend to the grove, mostly just healing sick trees and stuff like that.

So, back to New Freeka.

Year 79 Month 12

New Freekas population is close to 60,000. A wave of new migrants, apparently coming from the north.

Theres another conflict emerging there, between two countries, and its a plain old war, apparently over a lady. Turns out, princes from both countries fell in love with the same lady, and now theyre fighting some kind of war over her. I mean, seriously. Cant they just have a duel or something?Findd new stories at novelhall.com

And its winter! Whyd they pick winter to fight a war anyway?

Its warmer in their part of the world, a strong warm current and breeze keeps their two shore countries warm, so their winters are... pretty much feels like fall. So they can still fight.

Ngeh. Well, food supplies are doing well. The Orders rituals for births and deaths are becoming something of a tradition, which makes me happy, because more deaths means more essence for me to feed the 6 young girls that are now in my training regine. According to data provided by Laufen, about 2 in every 5 deaths are now taking the Orders melt-in-a-pod method of disposing the corpse. Of course, the actual name that goes out to public is more... pleasant. Euphemisms, euphemisms.

The population boom comes with its own challenges.

Clean water. Sewage. Public health.

Previously, the Councils workers dug wells, and with some magical help and blacksmith tools, made pulleys and pumps that brings out water from the ground. At 60,000, even with close to 100 wells throughout the entire city, there are still long lines, and the water levels in the wells are running low, so newer wells have to be deeper.

And that exposes one huge flaw in choosing this valley as a spot for a town. Water. Unlike a place with a large river, or a large lake, there are a few small streams through the valley, and unless the council is willing to dig really deep, providing clean water to 60,000 is going to be a challenge.

The local builders constructed deeper and deeper wells, and also larger, deeper latrine pits. Apparently, one of the ways poop and sewage is processed in this world is via magic, and strangely, the temples of the world usually play a big part in water and sewage.

One of the abilities the priesthoods and nuns learn, is an ability called [Purify] and [Cleanse], which works on people, and also works on sewage and water. So, the city actually pays priests and nuns, or those with the relevant [cleanse] skills to regularly process the latrine pits.

The poop gets converted, via magic, into regular dirt. Magic is amazing.

The process of cleansing the latrine needs to be done quite regularly, else the poop will start to contaminate the groundwater. Again, the priests then use [cleanse] on the wells to sanitise the water.

So, there really is a thing like [purified] and [cleansed] holy water. I wonder whether they feel like a quack when they sell such things to regular citizens.

In larger city, there are high level [cleaners] or [mages] who can do similar functions, or in some cases, meaning the wealthy, powerful cities, use artifacts that process or decompose sewers. In certain elven cities, their poop is usually processed by a kind of poop-eating worm, which, apparently, enjoys poop and pee as its main food source. Centaurs and lizardmen tribes tend to spray a kind of yeast or powder, that converts these poop and pee into fertiliser, which leads to an odd behavior of them having multiple outhouses in their farms, but strangely, these centaurs here don't have such habits.

Treefolk dont have the issue of poop or peeing, it seems their bodily wastes just... evaporates from their body, or gets discharged via their legs into the earth.

The fact that magic and magical monsters exists gives a wide range of options on how to process such issues. I wonder how do large dragons deal with their poop? And do they poop midair like birds do?

Anyway, enough of my constant off tangent ponderings. Population consumes resources, and also produces waste, both needs to be managed. Assimilating this growth, and managing it as part of the valley's overall population while balancing and caring for the health of the valley's florae is my personal duty as the Tree Guardian of the valley.

If I can do it, maybe there is some way to filter the poop, and ring-fence the latrine pits such that their contamination is contained, and perhaps in the future I would find some ways to convert these waste into something more usable, like fertiliser.

As of now, the contamination is spreading, ongoing, as people continue to poop and pee every day, so the first step is of course, containment. The source of these pollutants need to be restricted.

Research status :

Roots - Volcanic mineral processing - stage 1 - completed

Tree-lab varieties - stage 1 - completed

Magically attuned materials Stage 1 - completed

Beetle - anti-magma armors stage 4 - 17 months

Material labs - stage 1 - 6 months

Magical sensors - 6 months

Normal Tree - Root filters stage 1 - 6 months

Year 80 Month 2

Did somebody plant all these trees around all the outhouses? It makes it feel like Im doing my business out in the jungle or something.

Must be the druids.

I think its the tree spirit. Hes a bit fond of meddling after all.

Its kinda creepy if you say it that way, is the tree spirit watching us take a shit?

Uh... I doubt tree spirits are interested in us taking our shits, though. I mean, only perverts like that kind of stuff, and we arent exactly the most attractive old men around.

Its a fetish for some people? A fetish for trees?

Ewww.

Ewww.

Anyway, I had to implement a stopgap measure. I couldnt get the priests to do their jobs, and Im not inclined to threaten them, because it reveals a weakness about me.

So, I decide to surround the most of the larger latrine pits and outhouses in New Freeka with [subsidiary trees], and use my roots to then form a subterranean wall, to block the fecal matter from leaking into the wider valleys groundwater.

I cant process the shit, but I have to deal with the shit. So, blocking the shit is my temporary measure. The findings from my first round of analysis of the collected samples reveal that theres no particular culprit.

The problem is, well, theres just a whole damn load of shit. Theres a lot of minerals that are generally not-well accepted by trees, theres also a whole mix of fungi, bacteria, and other stuff, all of which the normal trees normally can tolerate in small quantities.

Small quantities. Normally.

Its not a result I wanted.

Well, I suppose you could have some kind of waste-treatment plant, before its discharged? Like, you know, split the sewage into components and treat them separately? I cant seem to recall the water treatment process though... Alexis rubs her head.

Never mind, focus on researching the roots. Thats probably going to help minimise the damage.

Im guessing its going to be something like filtering, sedimentation, adding chemicals to kill bacteria or take out certain types of metals. I also cant remember the details, its been so many years since school, and honestly, I wish I could google wastewater treatment, and find the answer. But then, even if I did, Id have to find ways to develop actual skills or tools, suitable for the growing city.

For now, the poop is contained by the roots of my subsidiary trees, and because there is just a whole load of poop, even my subsidiary tree's root filters occasionally fail and it absorbs some of the poop, and it makes the subsidiary tree weak and sickly, which Trevor or myself have to step in and use some of our tree-healing powers.

Important lesson. Skills can fail.

And because the roots kind of stop the poop from escaping the pits, the pits get filled up faster, so the city has to build more of these pits.

Ugh.

Not. Sustainable. They can't constantly be digging new pits all the time.

I need to figure out a way to decompose the poop.

"You could maybe erm... separate their components? Then store them separately? I think some plants can consume or extract certain kinds of elements in the wastewater sludge."

Thus, I ordered some beetles to bring back some of the trees near the sewers of on the outskirts o Salah. Salah's got a vast network of underground sewers, some of which pipes their waste for disposal somewhere further, far from the city.

There, the beetles bring back different types of plant samples, collected from near the sewer outlets, and the sewers itself.

For my biolab's analysis.

I wonder whether I can make a plant able to eat poop.

-

Meanwhile...

"I... I want to drop out." One of the girls say, she's tired and frustrated, even if she is making progress. "It's too hard. So much fighting and some much studying. I... I can't. I can't do this."

"But what will you do, then?" Another of the girls ask. "We don't get chances like this, we're just orphans..."

"Er..." The young girl doesn't know. She only knows she didn't actually want it as much as she did.

Lausanne nods, "It's intense. If you really want to drop out, please let Tree Spirit know. It's fairer for everyone, so that someone else who wants it can try it out. Let's not force yourself, I think now you know what you truly want."

The young girl cries and covers her face with her palms. She doesn't know what to do, actually. Yvon sits next to her. "I spoke with the Tree Spirit, if you drop out, you will return to being a regular orphan, so you can still stay. But you will lose the benefits you have, like the stipends you get."

The girls, get some pocket money for their participation. I thought its fairer that way, since this is like an apprenticeship or internship. I thought of it as being a reward for their hard work, since their routine is literally a whole lot of combat and studies, some eat, sleep, poop and repeat. Rest days are few and far between, perhaps a day in a month.

Honestly, my expectations were not very high, but I wanted dedication, and a display of effort from the girls. They need to at least, try.

"Are you sure?" Yvon's sort of their counselor. I think she's probably suspicious of my activities, and doesn't trust my intentions, but because of that, she's taken a personal interest in the girls and is now quite close to the girls, acting like their mother.

Or maybe Yvon's just bored.

"I... I don't know. This is so hard. My body hurts everywhere, and I feel overwhelmed. I'm tired. I thought being a warrior, a fighter would be nice, and I'll be those super cool adventurers who defeat monsters and all. I just didn't expect the work to be so... so... much. I don't even have much time to play anymore."

Yvon taps her on her shoulder. "I understand, this programme is rough. I told Tree Spirit as well, that its extremely intense, but he insists on it being this way."

The young girl sobs. Her friends give her a hug.

"If you are sure you want to drop out, we'll go and see the Tree Spirit."

She nods.

The next day, I cancel her familiar contract, and she loses her status as one of the Valthorn Initiates. I am down to 4 girls.

Though she cries, I think she'll be happier just as a regular person.

Ah well. Not everyone makes the cut.

This is a good thing, the future batches, the girls will now do some self-selection and only those who truly want it will participate.

Year 80 Month 3

Salah has yet to provide an update on our request, though from the intel sources Jura has, it seems they are discussing it in great detail.

According to the grapevine, it seems that they want to find a scapegoat for the incident, someone related but junior they can throw under the bus. If that really happens, I would be very disappointed, but for now, more intel gathering.

After that string of conversations with the elves, I feel a bit magnanimous. I wonder whether I should look past this incident, and maybe, what I do next should not be out of vengeance.

But I should still send a message that such actions have consequences. Even if the consequence is 10 years later.

Please. Take care of my children and my wife. Protect them from the demons and these monsters too.

I recall feeling angry, these humans, killing the elves, when there are demons out there. Something as scary and overwhelmingly powerful like a demon king, and yet the Freeka villagers all, slaughtered and burnt alive.

If I descend into a war with the Salah again, would I be doing what they did to me? Fighting amongst ourselves while a demon threat awaits?

It's not going to be long. This month, I begin to feel strange fluctuations in the star manas, and they make my leaves tingle. It's a familiar feeling, like that strange dream I had before the previous demon king. I feel it, the looming presence of the demons.

The first of the many demonic rifts will soon open.

Spaizzer

its chapter 50, so lets have a chapter full of shit.