Choose Your Tree Titans

Choose Your Tree Titans

Year 125 (continued)

All three heroes died in their fight. Theyve managed to kill the demon king, but they fell with it. Harriss broken empire immediately devolved into war. War was declared the day the news arrived in their cities. He must be sad if he knew that the truce he brokered didnt even last a day after his death.

Its a common thing, and has happened throughout history. After the heroes die, whatever they built tends to fall apart.

If I die, the Freshlands will collapse too. I realised in a way, this empire I have right now is almost the same.

Certainly. Jura said. As it is, the safety of the entire valley is backed by your prowess. Without you, nothing much else holds the valley together, other than a shared area. And weve seen them, happy to slay each other.

Conflict is eternal. Yvon said as she trained a new bunch of children. But so is progress. Train, and we get better.

Progress in level terms, or progress in a society?

Speaking of which... I can create Titans now. That meant I can choose to power up that dormant walker I have. But those were not the only choices I had. For the titan souls, the system gave a few options.

[Giant Tree Serpent, Nydus - A massive serpent. Able to use earth and wood magic. Starts at level 70. Gains powers to summon all sorts of serpents and poisons. Master of poisons and has the ability to brew multiple types of potent poisons and cures. Able to grant poison immunity.]

[Giant Storm Bird - A massive bird with powers of wind, water and thunder. Gains power to summon eagles and hawks. Eagles and hawks can carry goods and people. Has power to grant [Wind Mage] and [Flight] ability to those worthy. Can control the local weather and improve irrigation. Starts at level 70.]

[Fusion with Juras Bamboo to form a Titan-class summon. Starts at level 80. Takes the form of a massive wall of thorns. As a summon, it has high burst type output. Transferable, and also significantly improves its hosts strength and base stats. Host of the Titan Summon will not age]

[Fusion with Horns. Starts at level 80. Transforms Horns into a Goliath Kingbeetle thats able to use earth magic and various other protective and offensive abilities. Goliath Kingbeetle can create Royal Warbeetles. Also produces very high quality beetle-silk. Royal Warbeetles can improve crop output in the area]

[Fusion with a Giant attendant tree - Creates a Warmaster Treant. Starts at level 70. High toughness and use of wood magic. Warmaster Treant is able to create lesser treants to assist in combat and other duties. Also produces high quality teas and fruits.]

[Fusion with Grand Mind-Tree - Creates the Tree-Over-Mind. Starts at level 75. Massive psychic magical abilities. Expands secured telepathic communication to the entire continent. Unlocks Mind Reading Ability for anyone within the local valley, which allows limited mind-reading of any targeted person in the local area. Also unlocks psychic/mental attacks and the power to send nightmares and dreams to anyone in the local valley. Psychic attacks do not work on demons.]

And lastly, activate the walker.

[Fusion with Walker Corpse. Creates the Walking-Tree-City. Starts at level 75. Has the ability to produce wood-warriors and also simultaneously control them. Limited to 5,000 wood-warriors at any point, and wood-warriors cannot travel far from Walking-Tree-City. Has ability to use long range projectile attacks. Also carries a mobile healing spring and accommodation on its body able to accommodate and feed up to 1,000 people. Produces fruits and vegetables on its back too.]

I was quite struck by analysis paralysis, and I had no real urgency to select one, since, well, I have 3 of them and I can keep them until I noticed what I really, really wanted. I mean, I have 3 titan souls, and I can support 2 of them!

In truth, I wanted all of them. And from my experience with this system, its likely that I unlock even more choices as I go along, or just become aware of them. So, there may be merit to choose the next option later, when I have more choices.

I mean, all of the titan choices were good, one way or another!

> What do you think, Lilies? <

I shared the news of the Titan Souls to Lilies. I wasnt sure why I did it, but I wanted to tell someone, so I told Lilies and Jura. Jura was too stunned and didnt quite know what to advise me. To him, this was the realm of gods, and he wouldnt be able to choose. Which was strange, but maybe he just couldnt bear with the weight of the choice.

> No preferences? <

Hah! No! Im not going to do that. Or maybe I should? I didnt know. I wonder what kind of choices Lilies would have gotten, if they were in my place? Maybe something over death, or something like a city? Since thats what they have power over?

> Lilies, if you made an item for the heroes, what would you make? <

It didnt reply to me. I mean, I asked that question because the heroes were making items for the few next generations, and I wondered whats a good item I would give?

I mean, could we cheat this system in some way? A sword that accumulates power as it passes through the hands of each and every hero, eventually reaching the point that it can kill the demon king outright? I mean, thats like an anime-plot, but magically and system wise, thats possible, right?

A weapon that kept gaining levels. A weapon to slay all the demons. I had that idea a while ago to fuse an artificial soul into a sword or spear, but that doesnt really make a weapon that much stronger. A weapon made by the hero, formed from star mana is still stronger. Partly because artificial souls on their own arent that strong.

But if I could make a Titan-Soul version of a living, growing weapon, wouldnt it eventually reach a point where it can slay the demon king?

-

The heroes are dead. Yvon said, as she announced to the group a few days after it happened. The Valthorns were mostly quiet. For them, these young ones, theyve lived their entire lives with Harris, Mirei and Gerrard as the surviving heroes.

To some extent, this was Pax Harrisan. A period of relative peace thanks to the quick destruction of the demon king by the heroes. This era has finally ended.

What now, Principal? They asked.

Nothing. It was just an announcement, that all of you should know. For us, we go on as usual. We prepare for the next demon king, and the next.

Edna looked at Faris. Well. Our worries were for nothing.

What, you wanted to face the demon king? Did power get to your head? Faris rolled his eyes. Since their last battle with the demon champions theyve been constantly gaining levels, and now Edna and Faris are both in the early Level 70s.

Ah, no.

Another 10 years of relative peace.

8. Data collected suggests that the 2 years before the demon king arrives is filled with demonic attacks.

Minor attacks. Nothing we cant handle. Especially now that theres 3 of us [Grand Knights]. Edna said. I hear from Master Jura that he may be considering a second [Great Druid] too. With all this strength, I think we can handle a demon champion or two.

Really? Faris seemed worried. Who?

Who do you think? Edna smiled back.

Not that bad at all. 10% is small. Perhaps the issue of faith means little when their safety is constantly threatened.

Among the nobles and leaders though, its about 30%.

I had to do something. I cant fight a war without leaders. So I turned to Jura and the representatives.

After the fall of the demons, my power has grown. My most recent powers involved the introduction of Aeonic-variant classes into the world.

A silence among those present.

Even among some of you, I can sense the presence of an Aeonic class. One of the present representatives was an [Aeonic Warrior]. And so, this provoked the temples in retaliation.

They fear your rise, Aeon. One of the representatives said. This is a mark of a jealous god.

Not uncommon. The crusades of the Northern Frost was one such war. The representatives discussed the matter among themselves.

A trees roots will break through rock and stone, if it must. If they dare to step foot in my valley, I shall break them. I declared. I am high level, surely I can hold my lands against some templars.

The representatives nodded, and they all went out. The Freshlands Federal Authority will prepare for war. I had things to think about.

From the declaration, and the consistent timing, I concluded that this must be a divine message. Else, why did 4 temples act in unison to denounce me? The gods, or whatever they are, are in limited contact with the temples, and at the same time, their ability to see or perceive the world is probably limited. Somehow, when my [domain] ability added new classes to the world, that made them aware of my presence.

So, would the temples summon heroes to counter me? That would be a very interesting data point, or are the gods tied in that they are unable to summon heroes?

I think they cant. If they could summon heroes to destroy me directly, they would have done so. There was no need for the temples to publicly declare war on me. So, the declaration of war must mean the gods have limited tools when dealing with non-demonic matters. At best, they would request the heroes to attack me, when the next demon king arrives in the future, but thats still some time away.

In short, I can expect the forces these temples will muster will be conventional in nature. Nothing extraordinary.

-

About a month after the declaration, Ive heard of various crusading forces preparing for an invasion. It takes time for them to form a coalition, after all, the temples own standing armies are generally small, and they call on a network of believer states to donate forces for their cause.

Per our network, were looking at about 1-2million soldiers in total across the 4 temples armies, but in actual fact itll be less, simply because not all kingdoms will give the full amount requested by the temples. At this point, its a good thing to ask, So, where was this same army when the demon king was rampaging throughout the world?

Defending their home cities.

Stupid. Politics is stupid. At this point a part of me wants to smack some sense into them, like, hey, Ive been protecting the world from demons, and this is what I get?

Aeon, we detected a spy approaching. Hes moving quickly. One of my [Aeonic Rangers] commented. He must have believed that he would not be found.

Intercept him.

My Aeonic rangers attacked, and he dodged. Wait! He shouted. I want to speak to Aeon. I bring an important message from the church of Aiva.

If it is war, you have war.

The spy shook his head. Its more complicated than that.

-

The spy was led to an area with a large [tree of prayer]. Speak. I telepathically said. Edna, and a few knights were there. Just in case.

May I have some privacy? The spy said. The things I say must be only for Aeon.

No. I said.

The spy sighed, but then he took out a small pendant. Instantly I felt a kind of holy energy, and Ednas sword moved in. What are you doing?

This is the Aivas Pendant of Truth. One of the 5 sacred treasures of the Church of Aiva, and proof, that I speak for Aiva.

Ednas sword closed in. The spys finger gently touched the tip, pushing it aside slightly.

Aiva has no intention of going to war with Aeon. But the other 3 temples have received divine messages to some degree. Aiva, our patron god, has decreed that a war is declared as a formality, but no hostilities will break out.

Breaking of trade routes do not count for hostilities? One of the rangers shouted.

Some concessions must be made to keep up to charade. The spy said. But we will not send anyone of significant skill or power for this endeavour. This war is a silly thing, with demons at the border.

What do the temples want? I asked.

I do not know. But Aiva was clear. This is a fake war. An act. Well, an act of war, then.

But there will be real wars with the other 3. I felt sad. Especially with the temple of Gaya. I recall being housed in a temple of Gaya. It mustve been destroyed by the Rottedlands. It didnt have to be a war, no?

Is this the part of my life where Im going to play tower defense against a wave of attackers from across the sea?

-

Spaizzer

Thanks for reading!