Labyrinth of Roots

Labyrinth of Roots

Year 164

We kept digging into the depths, and I soon discovered a second limit. There was a limit of how far the chain of roots and trees can go underground. That range, as of now, was about 500 miles. I can go a max of 500 miles deep, or wide, or underground, or whichever, then I need to go back to the surface.

That said, this also meant it may be possible to tunnel all the way to the other continents, as long as I make a little surface trip every 500 miles. Perhaps, a super tall tree from deep underwater, or a long vine that breaks through the earth and extends all the way to the surface, kinda like a super long kelp forest?

If there are island chains along the way, Its still possible to make hops. Else, itll be like a whale surfacing to get a breath.

Strange that the trees need such a thing. Perhaps its just some magical mambo-jumbo just to deal with such a loophole. Or maybe the system just decided that I shouldnt be allowed to dig so deep. Hah!

In the depths, we soon found more long-forgotten cities. The Margmarian Dwarves were not the first, and those Dragon Bones were not that rare either. There seemed like there was a time when dragons were extremely common, though most of these bones were a lot smaller. Their magic had decayed over the eons.

Sad.

-

I theorised that ancient civilisations would also choose to use ley lines as a form of natural power source, thus following the ley lines underground did lead to a few other interesting locations.

We discovered a large tomb-like structure in the depths, filled with long-dead corpses, their bodies fully decayed. In fact, the bones pretty much disintegrated on contact, and they left behind some magical books and items, their magic also fading.

This was when I felt torn. I either could call on the wider crowd of mages with the right preservation and ice skills to preserve or freeze these objects, and doing so would reveal these ancient sites to the wider world, or use the Valthorns own mages who are more combat focused.

There were also strategic issues that would reveal how deep I could dig... in the end, I decided to use Valthorns, but equipped with magical artefacts that slow decay. As we kept digging, and followed the ley lines, eventually we discovered most of them had some old tombs, and ancient smaller cities.

Most had some degree of magical protection, and some looked like the muck had flooded the entire city. It was a lot of work, trying to excavate such massive cities, and so much time had passed that the structures that made up the walls, and the muck itself is almost indistinguishable.

-

These ancient places are amazing, and they speak of gods that have long been forgotten. A few of the Valthorn analysts came to the subterranean city. Alka, too, as my Chief Researcher. It was one of the inspiration trips. They had to be equipped with a whole set of artifacts just to tolerate the pressure, natural heat and the lack of breathable air.

Even among the various races that call the Central Continent home, few are adapted to subterranean living. Treefolks suffered from walking in the depths a lot more than the others, their bodies seemed to despise going underground for long periods. Some groups of lizardpeople were much more fond of the underground, but only up to a certain level. Beyond that the heat is unbearable. Dwarves, true to their heritage as miners and diggers, performed the best, but even they needed artefacts.

The lense remained on its pedestal. I took it out temporarily to study it, and since then returned it. I still could not understand how its made.

One of the thoughts shared with the Valthorns, was the use of this location as a hideout. True, they were functionally buried alive, but this ancient city is the perfect apocalypse bunker. The fact that it stood despite the eons was sufficient proof of its success as a bunker.

This is a rehash of Aeons old sewer bunker idea isnt it? One of the older Valthorns laughed. The history of New Freeka was not totally lost.

Indeed, but this space is significantly larger and uses a power source independent of Aeon.

There were kinks to work out, and the druids that made the trip down soon wanted to plant a wide range of fungi that generated light, and also some plants that could survive with the indirect light from fungi. I think the ultimate problem is one of comfort. The idea of living underground is appalling, that only dwarves and certain lizard-people subspecies would consider it for any decently long period of time.

Centaurs and treefolks hate it with a passion, and I think maybe thats why they will be the first to go extinct. Or maybe the gods will just repopulate the world with them based on some kind of cookie cutter racial template.

-

Also on the line of ley lines and underground, I made a dungeon underground in an area with a few ley lines and somehow, this was my first Level 120 dungeon. It was a simple premise. Ley lines are more powerful underground, partly because the energies are concentrated.

Because its so far hidden underground, I decided that this was a Valthorn-exclusive dungeon. Not that anyone else could even challenge it.

In fact, right now, only Lumoof and Edna have any chance of surviving a battle with the monsters of this dungeon. Thankfully the dungeon wasnt going to go wild, else Id be dealing with Level 120 monsters.

Their first reaction to seeing a Level 120 dungeon was pretty much, some variant of what-the-fuck.

But, this was the best way to level up, so, out of the sheer value of farming a Level 120 dungeon, began the first recreation of the underground pre-dungeon savepoint. A large continent of Valthorns with all types of skills, including support and crafting skills, were chosen to set up this mini city.

I even created a few additional artificial minds just to oversee this citys administration.

The thing is, when high level individuals are not spotted for long periods of time, it tends to fuel rumors of death. Thus began the first vanishing of Edna and Lumoof and a lot of other higher level Valthorns. They would camp down there, right outside the dungeons and make battle with the dungeons monsters.

Eavesdropping on the conversations of foreign intelligence agents were part of my entertainment.

They were still slow, of course, they didnt have the benefit of a single unifying tree with continental overview, so deaths are aplenty, but at least the temples and heroes are seen trying.

Our agents told us that the Northern Isles were quite lucky, their forces managed to activate on time, and the people were well armed. They also had groups of adventurers and warriors that could take on those worms.

The demons kinda fucked up, too. They chose to invade the cold northern islands, where their worms performance is impaired somewhat.

Still, I wonder how a worm-like Demon King will be? Is it going to be like some massive Dune-ish Sandworm? A snowworm? Or maybe a hydra? Thatd be quite boring.

-

Year 165

Another year without the demon king. The war in the Northern Isles continued, and more rifts. I knew this because my magical sensors were pretty busy, the presence of the rifts were a constant thing.

The heroes and the defenders remain on top of things, though the intensity and quantity of the rifts increased. More worms, and larger worm-variants. The champions and walkers of this episode of the demonic incursions had masses of giant multiple-building-sized worms that exploded into smaller worms when destroyed. It was horrible, and even so the heroes persisted in their battle.

Soldiers that never had any emotion for such wriggly, wiggly creatures all emerged from battles hating worms to their core. They kept splitting, into smaller and smaller parts, but thankfully the smallest of these demon worms are still the size of dogs.

Worms. I wondered howd Id fight them. No. I would just nuke them to death with all my magical bombs. Why use root strikes when a bomb would work?

Turned out, these demons were incredibly magic resistant, and physical damage was their general weakness. They survived fires, drowning, and most magical attacks. .

The adaptability of these demons was honestly amazing. Whered they find such anti-magic worms?

-

Whats our strategy if the demonic incursion comes to our shores? As with any decently competent military force, there is always a lot of simulation going on in the heads of the generals.

Wed make a massive wall of spears.

Thatll work for smaller demons. What about the building-sized demons?

Bigger spears?

The druids apparently had an easier suggestion. Squash them with rocks. I wonder if that'll work, since worms could tunnel through earth. In fact, would my own root networks hold up if they attack the ground? Those were... good questions. I was reminded by my earlier days when we faced that giant centipede demon, are these demons a similar variant? Yet, back then, the giant centipede demon was actually incredibly resistant to physical damage.

Perhaps... shrapnel weapons? Bombs that shoot up tiny spear-like projectiles? Or would my rooting fields be sufficient to deter these demons?

-

Edna gained a few levels, and she reached level 145. Lumoof too, as a [patreearch] was now about level 138, and the sort of healing powers he possessed was quite impressive. He too, received a [Court of the Deitree], but not one with any inherited skills. Perhaps, should he falls, this position in the Court would absorb his skills.

They were... doing well, and fighting the monsters of the Level 120 dungeon was a lot more challenging than anyone gave them credit for.

The underground city outside the level 120 dungeon grew to about 1,000 people, all Valthorns. A secret base accessed via my network of root tunnels.

Lumoof would often perform sermons in a small underground temple, his blessings were incredibly powerful at his level. I still dont get how [priests]s blessings can stack with my own. I mean, logically, if a priest derives power from a god, a gods blessings should automatically be superior to that of the priest. But the fact that they stack implies it is a system mechanic.

Anyway, well abuse it since it works that way.

After a while, they recommended a few individuals for the uplifting, to unlock their level limit. 5 more individuals, a mix of rangers, druids and knights.

The surface world remains oblivious to the existence of the dungeon, and rumors of the deaths of my senior leadership continued to swirl. Good point was, it seemed that my trust in my nobility to keep the secret was not entirely unfounded. Most of them kept their mouth shut about my dungeon-creation ability, and the fact that I had a super dungeon hidden underground was also a confidential matter known only to the senior Valthorns.

But there are suspicions.

There are classes out there, such as [earth mages] and other similar types that are particularly sensitive to underground tunnels, and there were suspicions. Many kingdoms have some individuals that had earth-detection skills, simply because my few-decade old tunnel raid on the Six Ports was still a strategy discussed even till today.

Heck, even the temples had to design plans on the possibility of surprise raids, and that meant they could never fully commit an army to an invasion. Any force needs to be split to protect their rear, or they leave themselves open for a repeat of the tunnel disaster. Maybe thats why they didnt think another crusade was worthwhile? At least, not without the heroes.

Edna, as she approached the first tier of divinity, Level 150, had many questions about what would happen, and honestly, I wasnt sure either. Was her experience going to be similar? Surely, as a humanoid with classes, there should be some subtle differences?