Skillsets

Skillsets

Year 80 Month 7

We need to talk about defenses. The council gathered in the large meeting room, some of the councillors sigh. First up, we need walls, and more soldiers.

We already have walls.

Not enough. The news coming from those near the rifts are quite concerning. The meeting is led by Yvons replacement, a guy called Arza. Hes been in the job for some time now, but really, he's just a very clever coordinator and spokesperson for his faction of councillors.

The other councillors look at him quizzically. Is there something thats on your mind, council leader Arza? Council-leaders an informal title, since all in the council is theoretically equal, but theres always one taking a chairing role.

Yes. Demons. Our defenses are inadequate for demons, with their numbers and their strength. We need to urgently improve our defense.

Walls dont work against demons. Theyve got crazy numbers, and theyve got those large monsters.

Not this time. The news coming out from the nations facing the demons is that they are like... Arza pauses, and then he takes a deep breath. They are like us. Theyre using our tactics and strategies.

Thats absolutely crazy. Are we talking about demons? One of the councillors. In recorded history, demons have never adopted our tactics.

Arza nods. I think its crazy too, but, but... its our chance to bolster our military. We needed this excuse.

You mean...

Arza pauses, and whispers. Weve lost the druids. Weve got to find something else, and this is it.

Ah. Then we must!

Well take this excuse to raise taxes, and train more soldiers and mages. We need the Orders money, and this is a good excuse to force them to collaborate. If they dont, well shame them publicly for being selfish!

I see!

But doesnt... wait. Why would that work, Council Leader Azra? The Orders strength is the Tree Spirit, no? The tiny militia and force they maintain is just nothing compared to the amount of warbeetles they can deploy.

Indeed, so we have more to gain! We need to use this excuse to adjust the revenue rate that the Order gets, so heres the message I want everyone to spread. The Orders not spending enough on defense! We need the money to defend the city!.

AH! So the idea is to make the Order seem like they are spending money on frivolous things like collecting plants and animals, gifts for babies and doing unnecessary rituals!

One of the councillors object, I wouldnt talk about the rituals. Theyre quite popular among my electorate, and many find them meaningful. Stick to the collection of plants.

Agree, wouldn't this move backfire?

Maybe, but we must be subtle about it then. First, we need to expose how the Order spends their tax money, and then tie it to our defense needs. Show the people that they are not doing what they can to defend the city."

"Uh... they have beetles, Councillor Azra."

"I know, then we must explain to the people that beetles are not trustworthy! We need our own strength! The strength of our people! Inspire them not to rely on a secretive power, like a tree spirit. We don't even know whether it will protect us when it really matters, or will it only choose those it cares about!"

"Ahhhh!"

"Think about it. We embed a belief innour people that we must rely on our own mortal strength, with powers within our control, ideally, with us, the councillors in charge. We represent them, whereas the Tree Spirit is unelected, and it is a magical being, not mortal, not one of us! Now we suffer the whims of a magical creature! Where is our dignity?"

A murmur around the councillors, mostly in agreement.

"So, we must have more walls, more soldiers, more mages. We may not be stronger than the army of beetles, but I'll be damned if we are beggars, begging for mercy and protection from a magical creature!"

"Our founding documents say they would protect us..."

"Myths! Tell the tale of when the great cities who suffered the wrath of dragons who no longer wanted to protect them, tell the tale of the city who fell when the sacred beast turned on the royal family!"

"Isn't the message of that story about doing good because the royal family was evil?"

"Doesn't matter! It's about self-reliance, strength! We were refugees, and if we fled Salah to be subservient to a magical beast, what good is there?"

"Councillor Azra, is this something your faction thought up?" One centaur councillor speaks, an independent in the sense that he is unaffiliated to either the Order or the 'independence' faction. That's partly because his voting district also comprises the slopes of the valley, where the 'rural' centaurs live rather happily.

Azra pause, "Well, yes."

"I agree on the need to bolster the city's own strength, with more soldiers. I also agree on the need for more defensive walls. Yet, among the centaurs, treefolk, and even the lizardmen, Aeon's presence a reassuring force. So, tone down the rhetoric, it will backfire on your faction's election chances."

"Hmph. We'll see about that. But more importantly, glad to see you agree with our need to improve our own military prowess."

The centaur shrugs.

---

Meanwhile, the druids...

The [Druidic Aspect] familiar is clearly a double-edged sword for the druids. On one hand, they get to store about 3-5% of my power, depending on their own level, for their own use, but, because of the link and how its magically entangled with me, I can see them clearly, wherever they go in New Freeka, kind of like how Lausanne glows like a lightbulb in my overview of the valley. In other words, I can observe them through the Aspect.

The Aspect steals their experience and mana too. I did recall that the familiars take a portion of the experience too, which is why I level up when the contracted warriors die, but in the Aspect's case, the ratio is even more skewed. I can also see their skills, and also mark 2 skills of my choice as "targeted" for collection on death. Oddly, there's a time counter on those marked skills. I think it means it takes some time to 'mark' the skills?

So much for 'blessing'. Are the other tree spirits also secretly taking skills from their believers? After all, how would they know that their blessing is actually not free? But if so, why do the tree spirits not give it freely?

[Aspect contracts are limited to Level divided by 10. You are allowed up to 13 Aspects]

Ah. Limited again. Just like familiars, which I can give out about 132, since I am level 132, or the [Possession of the devoted], which I can give 5. I suppose there is an mana-maintenance cost to it, which is why these are limited.

These 4 druids just used up 4 valuable slots. But they are called druidic aspects, so only druids can use them?Findd new stories at novelhall.com

[Druidic Aspects can be awarded to druids, herbalists, farmers and gardeners (and variants). Can also be awarded to Treefolks, with no job class requirements.]

Confusing! System, you need a massive cleanup!

Anyway, I did somewhat regret letting the druids go, and I do realise I am not very good at making high quality decisions when I am in a spot. The druids could read my interest in meeting the other spirits and managed to therefore save themselves.

Beetle - anti-magma armors stage 4 - 10 monthsMaterial labs - stage 1 - completedMagical sensors - completedNormal Tree - Root filters stage 1 - completedMetal hyperaccumulator trees - Stage 1 - 12 monthsPhytoremediation process - basic - 12 monthsDedicated Filtering Blackwater-Plant - stage 1 - 6 months

So, we had to set a very high threshold, to remove all the lesser spells from detection. My assumption is they probably won't be much of a threat.

"TreeTree, can we help the next generation of summoned heroes?" Meela asks, "Alexis has some ideas, and she thought, well, we need your help."

"Hmm, honestly, I'm not sure why I should help the next group of heroes... From what I hear, heroes are pretty dangerous. They have a whole.lot of magical power and are extremely idealistic."

"But isn't protecting the world from demons aligned with yours? Protecting the valley means also protecting it from demons?"

"They certainly overlap, but what are the benefits of helping the heroes?"

"Uh... Protecting the valley?"

"Honestly, if it's just demons, I don't need heroes."

Alexis pauses, "True... But would you permit me and Meela to aide them?"

"Hmmm..." I can't control Meela, since she is her own independent soul, so... Frankly if she did, and its not against me, I won't stop her. "Fine."

"Great!"

Year 80 Month 9

An uneventful month in the valley.

Training, practice, observing the druids and citizens. Eavesdropping on conversations about battles from far away, against the demons.

The humanoid demons are appearing everywhere, and the battles are getting more and more intense.

Unlike all recorded history of demons, this time, the demons have brought a special item that spawns demons, and it takes the form of a camp. Larger variants have been spotted in places where towns and villages used to be.

And so, it could be said that overnight, all mortal wars ended, as the focus turns to face this new era of demons.

Demons used to be a 'continental' affair. Only a few rifts would open, and when they did, it's usually not far from each other, at least, until the demon king comes.

Not anymore.

And for me, the big question is, why?

Why did the demons, after what seems to be years of taking the same strategies, finally trying this sort of carpet-bombing technique?

Year 80 Month 10

I chose another 5 children, this time, 2 boys. Overall, due to the relative peace in New Freeka, the number of new orphans is trending downwards. Still, accidents, fights, and death is inevitable, and there's also migrant orphans.

In certain communities where there is no capacity to support another orphan, it is better to send them off to a place where they will be cared for.

Anyway, the first four girls are around level 12, the highest level is level 15, with 8 levels in [soldier]. This job class thing is fascinating, and more for me to learn.

As for Jura, hes still at level 80, and stuck.

Well, which is why today, I harvested a 3 year old [ginseng plant], leaving 2 others to continue maturing.

[3-year old magical ginseng root]

[Permanently improves lifeforce (faster mana, stamina and health regeneration]

So... how do we use this? Jura holds the ginseng root, even though its 3 year old, it actually looks like its a 100 year old ginseng root from my old world. I think its a mana, and probably my influence and bounty.

Do you want me to cook it? Meela offers, theres a cookhouse in her lodge.

No. Im trying something more direct. Please step into the soul forge.

Uh, okay. Jura looks at the lightning-burnt tree, and then steps in.

I thought about it for some time, and essentially, what I want to do, is try to inject the ginseng into his soulspring. It sounds like some kind of cultivation novel when I describe it like that.

And so, I attempt to start up the soul forge, and start the merging process...

I got an error message when I put the ginseng roots in.

Ginseng roots needs to be further refined before can be used in the soul forge. Refining requires access to an essence concentrator.

Essence concentrator?

At the same time, the soul forge is still active, Juras still inside, his body sleeping in a special altar within the forge-tree. And a prompt appears.

Do you want to remove some of Juras skills or job-classes? Doing so will free up lifeforce to learn other skills, or gain levels. Removed skills have a chance to be converted into skill seeds. Skill seeds made this way cannot be re-used on donor.

Eh.

I suddenly recalled the day, some 6 years ago, when the Wisp told me about surrendering of levels and skills.

Why didnt it work when I captured the ranger?

Its called surrendering. If Juras willing, you will be able to remove skills he dont want. And as I recall, you partially succeeded since you received a few skill seeds and class seeds. The conversion odds are higher if its a voluntary surrender of the skills.

Huh, so surrendering skills isnt exactly all bad either. Is this like pocket monster game again, where you unlearn a move, and somehow theres a chance the move you unlearned gets transformed into a TM? In a way, the souls ability to support the persons level and skills is limited, and this ability technically... technically allows minmaxing. Can a hero surrender his hero class or blessing?

What comes from the gods, can only be removed by the gods.

Announcement

Travelling. Family. Really tired. Unable to write as much as I want. T_____T

Also, I'm trying to build a spreadsheet to keep track of what I want to happen in the next phase of the demonic wars, means, things like names, places, kingdoms etc, and crunch some numbers etc. I'd like to have that ready before I start the next few chapters, so Im foreseeing some delays, since I can't work on this as much as I like.

Thanks for reading!