Putreed

Putreed

Year 106 later half.

Rebuilding. There is much to do.

I have a mission, and I want to return the forest to the continent. This devastation is foreign, alien, and it is my task to restore it.

Or at least, that's what the trees are telling me. A tree spirit's role, along with many other similar creatures, are the world's fixers and balancers, the guys that clean up the court after a game, the cleaners and repairmen. I can feel the call of duty. A duty to the world, to fix it. To restore it to nature.

I wonder whether that is an effect of the Domain. I mean, just as I gain power over a domain, does it mean I also inherit some responsibilities to that Domain? Its strange, but I believe that the power imposes this sense of duty. I reckon the heroes and the other tree spirits of this level feel it too, that they have a calling. Why else would they go about their ways so single-mindedly?

I wonder what kind of duty I would have, had I chosen Spirit or Astral? A duty to ensure the proper transmission of the dead? A duty to the stars? Or does Astral imply a more anti-demonic role, that I would have to play a bigger role in fighting demons?

Questions, of course. Stupid world. There needs to be a guidebook somewhere.

And the wisp is gone. Wisp? I couldnt find him anywhere. No answer from him either. I wanted to start using Eriz and Yvon too, but thats stuck because the Soul Forge is out of commission.

[Soul Forge requires a power source. Due to the effects of the weakened curse, and reduced sunlight, the minimum normal tree required to power the soul forge is calculated to be 100,000]

So... whats going to happen? Lausanne asked a few days after my awakening. I was still coming to terms with my new power, and the realisation that, well, theres this duty thing nagging me at the back of my head. With power, comes responsibility. Just as the energy of the earth nourishes me, and breaks me free of this, it also imposes its desires on me?

I wondered if I went down the Spirit Path, maybe I dont even need other trees to power a soul forge. Oh well.

I dont know, Lausanne. Ive been asleep. I need to rebuild my knowledge of the world. 20 years may mean a lot has changed, at least, thats how it was in my world. In 20 years we went from clunky landlines to smartphones, I wonder what the surviving heroes brought to this world?

Thats... true. But were trapped in this place for 20 years too. So were not much help.

Well, I suppose first things first, we need to get ourselves out of this hole. This isnt a good place to be, and we need contact with the outside world.

Howd you plan to do that?

I dont know. I mean, I really dont. I need to see what works, and what doesnt. I have some idea of what already worked, in the sense that my roots did manage to block out demonic corruption, so I wonder whether its possible to push back at the corruption with more roots. Kind of like using my roots as the blade of the bulldozer, and pushing the corruption back.

Ive also needed to examine my own state, like, my [curse] is suppressed by my roots of life, but what does suppressed actually mean, like, I am going to experience some kind of degradation, or will the curse flare up?

But the survivors, they felt a sense of calmness thats been away for a long time. It seemed the entire beetle army had vanished after Horns was in stasis, so they didnt have help from the beetles either. Now, the horde of beetles returned, no longer in hibernation.

Horns still needed a lot of healing. Itll take a few months to rebuild his damaged body, but it wouldnt be a problem.

The demons came again. More of them.

The demons now felt the full brunt of my stronger [demonic suppression aura], no longer hindered by the curse. And they crumbled quickly. These strange, hybrid things. Some are less susceptible to the auras effects, but with the beetles back in large numbers, it wasnt much. We only had to focus on the larger creatures that had the strength of a demon general or so.

I could now house the survivors in [secret hideout] and the various subsidiary trees [external rooms] and [tree lodges]. A much welcome change from their basic homes, and also, I have beds! Beds that are stored in my [secret hideout], and various other supplies previously stockpiled in there are now available again.

Still, among the survivors, some of them resisted. We can take care of ourselves. We did so for 20 years!Vissit novelbin(.)c.om for updates

Its understandable. For me, these 20 years feel like a dream, it passed by so quickly, maybe it feels just like 2, 3 weeks, a month of solitude and confinement for me. But for these guys, they lived 20 years out here, fighting the demons all the time. Life has been miserable for the past 20 years, but theyve made it through without me.

Why do they need me?

Most were more than happy to return to the comfort of proper beds and a safe environment.

Tell me all you know about the monsters youve been fighting over the past 20 years. What abilities do they have, what they are like, when they appear, any weaknesses?

Those who frequently led the fights, Lausanne, Jura, the captains and many others all gathered around, and all talked about what they experienced. Like the demonic creatures are like half-demon, half-monster, and so the larger monsters have two hearts, one demonic, one monster, and they have to take both of them down to kill it, else they would regenerate. These demons also retained the ability to agglomerate themselves and form a larger creature, something less powerful than a walker, but its probably due to size limitations within the valley itself.

They have mini-projectile energy blasts, also similar to walkers, and the more humanoid forms tend to have crude weapons.

They have no tactics, other than a strange ability to sense and track them. Stealth abilities are not effective. They have heads, but their heads are actually just decorations. Chopping their heads off does nothing, because the heart is the engine of the monster. The parts that resemble a head are nothing more than an arm. The eyes on the monster are also similarly useless, and blinding those eyes merely disables the beam abilities.

In short, the parts that resemble a regular monster are there because the template requires those sorts of appendages and parts, but they are not critical to the monsters life. If it has one.

Other than that, theyve mostly taken life day by day. Living in the moment.

Monsters.

Unlike demons, their corpses linger around a bit longer, but entirely inedible because it's innards are contaminated with demonic juices. Demonic bodies decay significantly faster than monsters, so it's quite difficult to harvest any of its body parts for materials or equipment.

The monsters have large spikes, horns, and also tentacle-like features. Had it not decay and could be preserved, maybe they could be made into strong weapons. But like wood, these 'organic' materials need treatment to last, or they decay quickly, and no one had enough time or survived demons to even research it.

Well, except these guys. One of the surviving warleaders, out of sheer boredom trapped in a valley, soaked the small remains of a demon in olive oil. And noticed it didn't decay. Preserved demonic appendages in olive oil.

Fascinating thing. I observed the specimens shown by that 70-year old elf. They do have a surplus of olive oil, since some of the olive shrubs survived. They cook with it, season their vegetables with it, preserve chunks of fruits with it, and this one elf had the inspiration to preserve demonic remains.

My inner biolab got to work quickly.

[Preserved Demonic Parts - olive oil used to significantly slow and stop the decay of demonic matter]

If there are hybrid animals and monsters, surely there are hybrid plants!

This fact was extremely interesting to me, and I had a million and one questions.

Like, why did they exist? Magic? Divine powers? If divine creation was the answer, why were they created as hybrids and not pure monsters or trees? Or did it mean the influence of the terrain was able to interfere with the process of divine creation?

Or are these creatures products of the demonic corruption, that the demonic corruption borrows from the land and thus created these hybrids?

Then, theres the question of whether they are trees, in the sense that, can I, with my powers as a Tree Spirit, hold any influence, communicate and control them? Are these tree-like demonic things, actually trees? I thought they might be part-tree, just like how the demonic creatures that attacked the valley were part-monster.

And how did they exist? How are they powered? Do they produce seeds or fruits? Any chance those are edible, or poisonous thus can be weaponised? Do they have abilities or powers, like certain species of trees? Can they be made into items like how certain trees are harvested for timber. Is this their ideal environment? Do they respond well to different environments? What do they consume?

Do they need sunlight? Do they need water? Is that why theres puddles and pools of water underground? Do they have roots? I dont recall encountering any, but is that because their roots are shallow?

Master. Trevors voice broke through my deep contemplation. A decision. The survivors have been waiting.

I didnt realise it, but I spent a month just studying the few demonic samples brought back by the scouts. It was just that fascinating to me. Waiting for what?

They are asking whether you can start creating trees on the surface.

Why?

Oh, they wanted somewhere to stay outside the valley. Somewhere... safe.

When did I agree to this?

No, you didnt. I recall Master ignored them the first time when you were studying the demonic specimens.

I did? I didnt even realise that they were talking to me. When did it happen? Thats strange. Did I somehow ignore everything when I focused on the demonic tree samples?

Yes. Trevor said quite matter-of-factly.

The hybrid tree samples were too fascinating. Or did I somehow tune them out? I dont recall even having the conversation.... Never mind.

The terrain and the demonic corruption takes the form of a sludge. The demonic energy that passes through the sludge, kind of like a current of electricity travelling through a conductive liquid. It passed through it, and also radiated it like a radioactive material. According to the elves, some of them with the gift of darksight can see a faint glow in the sludge.

So, the process of clearing the land means either removing and pushing away the sludge, or neutralising the sludge. What I have been doing so far is well, a mix. By pushing it away with my roots like a natural bulldozer, and at the same time, my main body acts as a filter and cleaner, using my roots to absorb the demonic sludge, and the volatile, combustible mana that comes with it.

Its slow. Because Im the bottleneck. Back to the oil pollution analogy, theres a limit of how much oil I can process per day, and against the constantly expanding oil, I feel like Im in a game of candy crush fighting against a field of ever expanding chocolate. Or like Alpha Centauri where the native vegetation is encroaching on my forests. Come to think of it, this is very much like Alpha Centauri. Alien creatures attacking what it perceives as enemies? The only difference is well, were the natives, and they are the aliens.

Are the demons colonists?

Ive gotten sidetracked again. Oil analogy. I have a processing rate, and the terrain itself imposes a minimum on me to process, else the root walls wont hold. Every time the strength of the root walls increase, I need to process less, because the walls can hold back more of the corrupting demon mana and sludge. The walls are like an oil silo, then, and it has a capacity.

So, can I increase my processing capacity now that Im back to consciousness?

Can my [Giant Attendant Trees] play that role to a lesser capacity? I would have to design the Giant Attendant Trees available [customisable rooms] specifically for the function, to have much higher self-healing ability, and demonic absorbent abilities.

-

The two heroes are still there.

Hi.

Oh. Youre back. You must be bored to come and find us again.

Well, yes. Im free now. After I said that, I instantly regretted it.

Oh, nice. Can you help us?

Not sure. I dont even know where you are?

I think I do. Simone said. Theres a red crystal like thing somewhere near the demon king site. I think were there. Or at least, our souls are imprisoned there. Free us.

Huh. Fuck. Did I just get myself into a quest? No.

I felt a massive headache (ahem, I dont have a head, but yeah) then, like something trying to force me to say yes. I resisted. Fuck this. Its probably divine in nature, because the calling of duty generally radiates from my roots.

Why not? They asked.

That pain was getting stronger, but I pulled the energy from within me to resist it. I even pulled the energy from the nearby trees and the earth.

[Domain has resisted divine influence.]

Im no hero. And fuck, did the gods just tried to mind-control me? Since when did the gods directly attempt to influence things? I thought theyre not supposed to do that.

Spaizzer

I'm feeling tired and lazy. :S