Tree Uses Heal, Round 3

Tree Uses Heal, Round 3

Year 82 Month 8

The fact that the rod worked made me ask more questions about the nature of these mana sources. Why were my normal [subsidiary trees] able to tap into the magical leyline, yet it didnt work on the volcano?

What made the rod special?

I made a few theories, but I must admit these are shaped by my experiences with my own games.

The first possibility is that there are compatible and incompatible 'colors' for mana, and so, if my base color is blue, then red is therefore an 'opposing' color. So, I would have to go through a lot more steps and upgrades to assimilate an 'opposing' color mana, hence the [Forest Rod].

That, of course, is just a theory. I had asked the Wisp, but the Wisp is surprisingly clueless about such things, and I suspect only other Tree Spirits may be able to answer me.

The second but not mutually exclusive theory, was that there are 'tiers' to the mana. In this theory, the dungeon core and leyline beneath constituted directly accessible' mana, and the volcano's natural mana constituted 'mana that required processing'.

The mental model I had for this theory, similar to the oil & gas industry, which has different types of rigs and mines, like regular pumps, deep sea rigs, oil sands, or shale oil, each with different rates of recovery, at different kinds of technological difficulty. I built this theory on the knowledge that heroes and myself have 'star mana', and the sick princess was exposed to 'void mana', so it may not be too hard to then theorise 'star mana' is like nuclear fuel. So, if we were to lay down the types of mana on a scale, there would be an increasing difficulty?

Of course, the fact that I have the ability to produce star mana challenges this theory, like... if I can make star mana, why is the volcanic mana a challenge?

Anyway... whether these are 'types' of mana or 'tiers' of mana, or even both, I frankly have no proof. Or maybe Im just imagining things.

The rod is able to circumvent the tiers, or whether it is the colors, but other than it worked, I have little insights into the underlying mechanics of how it took the volcanic mana and made it usable to me. So, what I can do, is to keep expanding and growing, use the rods in different circumstances and then observe the outcomes.

-

Meanwhile, somebody important came. We knew its important, because that person came in a rare airship. Apparently, after some sniffing, daemolite-powered airships are quite sensitive to the magical interference by the demon king, and so many, many fleets has been grounded. This airship, is powered by Quantium, an expensive and rare crystal. The fact that it is deployed, meant a lot.

The Kingdom of Takde summons all high level individuals to assault a demonic fortress. Its located in the ruins of a once-large city. All individuals above level 50 are invited to participate, and Takde will bear all lodging and costs.

The demons have managed to take down a large city, and a rod has been planted. In the ruins of a place that witnessed intense death, the rods magical harvesting ability mixed with the residual death energy, and as a result, they started producing special kinds of demonoids.

The envoy described it as an upgraded version of demon knights. Bound to the ground, without wings, but they are twice as large as any regular demonoid. The size of a troll or a large ogre, these demons are equal in strength to a regular demon knight, the equivalent of a level 30 to 35 captain. Not a problem per say, but the issue is really about numbers. This rod produced these demon ogres by the hundreds every week.

Fascinating. Alexis mused. Its like these rods have some kind of natural-adaptation ability to produce special kinds of units. Like an... adaptive breeder.

Its expected. The volcanos conversion created special giant beasts. Looking at this sort of trend, the former snake-dungeon might be spitting out snake-demons very soon. I should look into that.

But why didnt these sort of special units appear earlier? I wondered. Perhaps its a condition for unlocking the next tier units, that requires the presence of the demon king. Or like Queens in a hive, it is the demon king who introduces genetic diversity into their population?

A few adventurers in New Freeka agreed to join. I had the impression adventurers avoid participating in such high profile demon-related matters unless the heroes were involved, but I suppose some people are going to bite, if the rewards are good.

So... that snake-dungeon, are you just going to leave it? Alexis asked. Well, no.

I looked at Stratreegys overlay, showing a large map, split into numerous hexagons. Its an overlay and presentation resembling Age of Wonders, with my main body, at the center. Theres five straight lines of trees, one to the volcano, one to the south-forest, one that goes all the way to Ransalah, one that leads close to the former snake dungeon, and another one thats headed south, towards where the other demon-walker was once spotted.

Im thinking. It takes one beetle pod, one month to regrow one beetle. So theoretically, I can lose about 5,000 beetles per month with no real loss to my force. I could consistently assault that location with 5,000 beetles, but its probably better to hammer it with a larger force.

Unlike the humans, or the elves, or any other nation who man their force with non-renewable lives, my beetles essentially allow me to fight the demons with their own strategy, a war of attrition.

Outside of my own extremely overpowered abilities against demons, this is my second advantage against demons.

How about your spiders? Theyve not been seeing use. Outside making webs here.

Theyre anti-air... and are campers. Theyre not suitable as an invasion force. Beetles, being a mobile unit, are kind of like... cavalry.

Your other beetle-variants? The dungbeetles, or the spear-beetles?

I looked at the map again. Visibility is still crap. A comparison to age of wonders would be being able to see only one or two 'hex' away.

So... TreeTree, would you want to send anyone to join the Takdes force? Jura interrupted my thoughts, the envoy met a whole load of other adventurers and fighters.

No. Ill deal with them separately. Get me a map of where that location is. Im still very happy that I can actually see now, instead of just spirit vision. I can read maps! Apparently Takdes airship is already filled with other adventurers the envoy picked up. Its going to be a rather massive force, and the Takde High-King intends to use a large collected group of high leveled adventurers as a sledgehammer. What about the coalition army that Salahs leading? Or was it Nagra?

Its participating, of course. But to minimise casualties, they need this high leveled force. Every week delay increases the demon-ogre force by a few hundred. Jura explained.

Alexis magically created a floating, holograph-like map. So, either strike early with a smaller force, or strike later and face a bigger standing army. Sounds like fun.

From Ransalah, a chain of trees up to the Takde Demon Fort wouldnt be too far. I want to see the demon-ogres for myself, whether they really are the threat that the envoys say it is.

So... youre going to sweep in to save the day? Alexis asked.

The beetles wont get there in time. Not with that kind of distance.

Even with your new ability?

Its a pulley system based on vines, its better for goods, and it's not fast. Pulley systems exist in this world. Many ports have engineers who design large contraptions to help with moving goods. It seemed one of the heroes, a long time ago, did manage to introduce some rudimentary container system, though the practice is competing with magical holding bags.

So whats your plan? Just create a chain of trees and watch the battle? Alexis didnt seem too impressed.

Honestly, yes. I like seeing new types of demons. I think its fascinating, and it gives us insights into how intelligent this demon king is.

I did it slowly, making sure the recovery of the hand didn't cause any cuts or gaps that would leak blood. Trevor and Ivy helped monitor his vital stats.

And after another two hours of slow reconstruction, Jura woke up to find that he had... both his arms.

Jura was speechless when he saw his returned hand.

He touched it, and he felt it. And he just stared at his new hand for a good 15 minutes, just moving his fingers, his wrist, his muscles.

I decided to just let him have his moment. He sat, and he cried for a while.

TreeTree... you... fixed my hand. Only gods and their miracles can do such things. Maybe... maybe heroes too.

Great, I took so long to do something a hero probably could do in his sleep.

I didnt know I could too. So... uh... be gentle with your new hand? I wasnt sure whether everythings fine yet, even though all the stats from [biolab] are positive.

Yeah. He stretched it. It... It still feels kind of strange to be having my own hand, and not Bamboos wood hand. Ill be careful.

When he stepped out of the biopod room, everyone gasped. Jura smiled, Hey. TreeTree made a hand.

-

So... that tree makes you smarter? Alexis asked. Is it like your brain, but... bigger?

No. Its just a special-tree type I have, increases research, and improves my mental resistances.

Huh. For something that takes up so much resources, and almost two years to grow, I expected it to be more... impressive. Like, warp space-time or something.

I believe there are abilities that I have yet to discover.

But I guess you needed it to fix Juras hand. Thats pretty good. Alexis mused, and looked at the magical labs. Too bad you cant fix this magical interference. Could it create like a psychic bubble to push back the demon kings interference? You know, like erm... Professor Xs

Why? Howd that link

Well, you can fix this newsless world for a change.

Hah. Im a bit torn. Should I care about the outside world? I like just caring about growing more trees, spreading trees from place to place. I like just looking after whats mine, my forests, and my valley, the trees that I have.

Wait. Was that me?

But then, the worlds never going to just let me be. A part of me, echoes the words of Gewa, that I have great power, and I should use it to fight the demons. The lives that could have been saved if I did something.

Yet, that earlier part of me resists that notion. I wonder whether this is the 'tree' part of me that just wants to mind my own business, and focus on just growing trees. Helping trees. Trees are my friends, my family, and they are mine, in a way these elves and humans can never be. Maybe a part of me feels that they, these trees are... me. I sometimes think about where all these come from, a yearning for self preservation?

A collective instinct for self-preservation, drawn from the thoughts of all the trees?

Is this world, and all these artificial minds and grand mind tree, unknowingly influencing my thought processes? Is it deliberate? Or is there something like how the gods can subtly guide one' thoughts in a particular direction without one knowing?

Again, why do my mind wander like that? I was having a discussion on the demons, was I not?

"TreeTree, you... okay?" Alexis seemed puzzled. You just stopped... talking.

"I... have a lot on my mind."

"Ah, because you actually have a mind, now." Alexis pointed to the mind tree. She laughed. "I was wondering where you did your thinking, like... is there a brain in your tree? Or are you like jellyfish and the roots in the ground function like some neural network?"

"Uh." Well, Im beginning to suspect it is some kind of neural network. Or is it overstimulation from all the data coming in from all those other trees?

"Never mind. I often make jokes that only I find funny." Alexis shrugged.

"Yes. Back to subject. Demons." There's a big fight with the demon ogres.

The Takde's force of 1,500 high leveled adventurers and fighters was super impressive, and it managed to crush the force at the demon city. The battle lasted for about half a day, and they were successful.

Of course, I had some trees nearby to watch the action. The demon ogres are just giant versions of their own demonoid soldiers, nothing much to be afraid of, and their combat ability is less than a captain. The kingdom of Takde exaggerated the threat, but I suppose that helps to ensure a smooth defeat of the demons.

The adventurers and generals did have to work a bit harder against the few demon-generals, but they still vastly outleveled most of the demons.

And, as a bystander, I witnessed many high level skills used by some of the higher leveled adventurers.

Yet, even the best of them are just about level 80 to 90.

I suppose its a bit of a letdown, on both the adventurer and demon fronts, but hey, guess the variants the demon-rods make aren't that overpowered, unless the source itself is powerful. Or maybe... there are more powerful variants?

Maybe the demons capture a dragon cave or cemetery and start to spawn dragon-demons?

That, would be a hell of a sight.

Announcement sorry for the delay, life happened.

Update for 28/11/2019. I've started advance chapters on Patreon. For $3, read one chapter/one week ahead. Regular chapters will be released on 4 Dec 2019.

Why? Because I'm temporarily jobless (between jobs) XD