Tree Uses Heal… Or Not?

Tree Uses Heal... Or Not?

Year 168 (part 2)

You dont look in particularly good shape, for a hero. I mentally spoke to Alvin, and he was powerless to resist. I sensed the swirling chaos within his body and Im eager to see how it worked under the hood. First we start with comprehension, then, weaponization.

And if I refuse? Alvin said.

Well, youd rather live like this, bedridden for the remainder of your days, than let me try to heal you?

Alvin didnt reply.

The next demon king will come in 10 years or so, and when it comes, it will come for you, because you are the last surviving hero. And they will find you in this state, and kill you. And destroy the city around you too.

The weakened hero clenched his fists. What do you even care?

That offended me. Offended us. Have we not been fighting against the demons all these while? Have I not been resisting? What gave this hero the right to question that? Why, just because I wasnt on the same side. I brought you because Kei asked me to help you. Because I happen to be one of the few people in the world that can even try to undo a demon kings curse, and you question me?

I was tempted to just keep him in stasis.

By bringing you here, we have pretty much drawn the next demon king to us. To me. Do you think I would do so if I didnt mean to heal you?

You could have brought me here to kill me.

I could. Honestly, I could. In fact, if I found out how the demons poison or curse or whatever worked, I could be a dick to the world and not heal him. But that would mean more unnecessary destruction, and more people dying while we wait for the gods to summon the next batch of heroes. As much as I dislike Keis request, I still saw some merit in helping you. And we need you to fix the locust problem thats causing food disruptions all over the world.

And I am supposed to believe that you mean well for the world.

I do. I meant it. I truly believe that this cycle is horrible. All the lives, all those forests, jungles, trees and habitats wiped out, just to serve as the playground for this game of gods. Ive seen enough death to see this isnt the way to go, and from what I can tell, many other, earlier precursor civilisations have suffered a premature death.

Heh. Alvin snorted.

So, are you letting me help you or not? If I have to kill him, I will. With the levels I gained since the fight with the demon king, maybe I could give him a run for his money. Still, the entire Valley of the Unrotten is loaded with bombs. If hes going to start something crazy once I healed him, I would blow up the entire valley to take him down. Ill live, but I dont think he will.

Fine.

-

I made a giant attendant tree thats focused as a biolab to house Alvins body, with all the best materials I could gather, and all the tools I may never need.

I activated all my sensors, and then dived into his soul spring, to see what is the magical equivalent of an oil slick.

Just like Meela long ago, there were these two large magical jugs in the sky that poured beautiful untainted, sparkly water into his soul spring, and the lake around it. This sparkly water was star mana, and then, I saw these... strange spire like structures that resembled the demons homeworld. These emitted demonic mana in large quantities, and yet the star mana was still able to push back against the mana produced by these spires.

Whats really different, was something that looked like a single red crystal located right on top of his own soul spring that was surrounded by a red flame. I activated my soul-related abilities to get a closer look, whether this was just another type of curse. The flames seemed to burn the star mana that got near it, and in doing so, created an entirely dry, parched area.

[Greater Daemon Hybrid Parasite Spawn - nascent form]

What-in-the-fuck. I looked closer, and I saw, indeed, there seemed to be something resembling a.... Im not sure what Im looking at. Its like a jellyfish, but incomplete.

In fact, once I observed the way the flames interacted with the star mana, I believe that thing may be drinking the star mana.

-

Alvin. I want you to tell me what the demon king did to you.

He was still groggy when I woke him from the biolabs bed. My vines and my own healing energies have taken over the role of his magical bed, and I could see he was healthier in most ways. But his skills and magic all remained off limits, so long as that... parasite, consumed all the mana that got anywhere near his soul spring.

He sat up, and told the story.

Both of them fought the giant worm demon king, and it went quite well. The temples provided some assistance, as they brought out old hero items to help provide cover fire and take out the mobs. They activated their powers, their star mana forms and went all out. The demon king caught one, but Hans managed to use his attacks at point blank range to significantly weaken the demon king before he was killed.

He fought the demon king to the end, but at the end, when he thought he won, there was a core in the middle. He thought it was going to explode, but instead, it just shot out the locusts to the entire area. In the middle was also this glowing blob of tiny red worms that attacked him. He thought he killed and destroyed most of them... but then he began losing his powers.

Within a month he was significantly weakened, and he thought he was going to die, but then somehow the condition stabilised. Still, he needed support, and so the temple brought out the ancient hero item, the Healing Bed. Honestly, the bed itself resembled something that would be found in a hospital. Its clearly something made by a hero in memory of home.

Those... little red worms. I thought I got all of them. Alvin confessed. But I think some of them managed to get into my body.

The spawn in his soul spring. How?

-

I thought long and hard about this. Theres a parasite in his body, and its the thing that denies him access to his powers. Its like somebody rerouted the electricity away from the main computer, so the computers unusable, but not necessarily spoilt.

The thing was growing. It fed on his star mana.

Honestly, a part of me was extremely curious of what happens if it matures? Does it burst out of his body?

The red flames protected it, but I realised that the protection was insufficient. Not enough to deny me.

I placed Alvin in my specialised soul forge, a set up I used to heal Stella of her void mana curses, and activated the various ley lines for the power I needed. The flames this parasite created, were meant to consume star mana, and it was specifically tailored for it. It had pretty good protections, such that significant majority of healing or anti-poison or anti-parasite abilities could not get past those red flames.

But not me. The flames bent and went out to the touch of my overwhelming mana. And my vines reached out, and then touched it.

At that moment, a voice spoke back. Tree, we believe we are on the same side.

I mentally froze, and Patreeck quickly updated. No mental incursions, master. It appears to be a telepathic message passed via the vines.

Dont remove me.

The... spawn? Indeed, there really was nothing else but the crystal. What are you?

I am the demons bid to escape the clutches of our Slavers. A weapon created to kill heroes, but at the same time, use the heroes powers to grow.

...shit. I do not believe you.

Certainly, you should not.

How do you speak so... well? The level of speech and sentence structure suggested something a lot more intelligent than what I initially remembered of the demons.

We learn from the captured heroes. We learn from their memories, their thoughts. We leech off their minds, and pick the speech and language patterns. Even now, I tap into the heros mind.

You are a parasite.

That I am.

Why? Why them? There are other worlds?

We do not know why. We have attempted to reach that world, but our powers fail. It seemed that these homeworlds are behind some kind of one-way barrier.

This meant Stellas plan to reach home may fail. Back to the crystal spires. Will destroying them free the world from the Slavers rule?

Most likely. We believe it will weaken it, at least. The spires are extensions of the Slavers, destroying them should weaken their hold on our homeworld.

And you will stop invading our world?

You would have to free all the enslaved worlds for that to happen, and there are perhaps hundreds.

Hmmm... This is useful. This meant that hiding the world from the view of the gods and demons may be a more realistic option. Wait. That day you spoke of the portals. What residual energies do you speak of?

In your world, there are remnant energies of the Slavers. These act as beacons for the gates to find your world. As it is, your world has a mix of energies, both the Slavers and the Puppeteers.

Where?

...we do not know. But we know we leave more of the slavers energies in your world after each invasion. Perhaps in the bodies of the Kings.

Alright. Damned Daemolite is bad. This just confirms it. Ill have to destroy all the daemolite...

No. if there are residual Slaver energies, I should gather them and see whether I can absorb them for myself. If these are remnant energies of the Gods of these demons, it should be worth something.

-

Youve been trying so many times and nothing. Alvin snorted. Im getting annoyed with this. Just kill me and be done with it.

Im very tempted to. I responded.

Edna, Kei and the others finally returned from the Northern Isles, and Kei walked through the door. Alvin sat on the biolab.

Hi Alvin. Kei said, her body that of a golem.

Whore you?

Im Kei, you asshole.

Keis dead.

Well, lets just say I didnt really die. I got blown up by the demon king, but somehow Aeon managed to salvage a big chunk of my soul and placed me into this body. Keis explanation was quite on point.

Alvin stared at the golem.

What, you dont believe me?

No. Alvin shook his head. Wait. How?

I explained it already. Werent you listening?

I mean. Yes. No. I mean, how?

Kei facepalmed. Youre an idiot.

I swore I saw the notification said you died. Alvin shook his head.

I lost all of my [hero] classes and all of my levels, which the system somehow interpreted as me dying. I believe Aeon described it as having the entire house blown off.

Why didnt you try to contact us? Alvin said.

What for? Would you believe me?

Alvin thought about it for a moment. ...true.

Kei then turned to me. Aeon, hows his condition?

Should I lie? I decided maybe its not worth it to lie. Theres a parasite inside him. A demonic parasite thats eating up all of his mana and most of his vitality.. Im still thinking about how to remove it. Its... complicated.

Kei nodded. Alvins face was one of abject horror. You didnt tell me that.

I wanted to tell Kei, first.

Edna then walked into the biolab, her energy and presence easily filled the room. Kei looked at Edna a little surprised. Youve changed since I last saw you, Lady Edna. Youve crossed the line?

Edna gave a little nod. Just barely. So, hows your patient?

Theres a parasite in him.

I see. That explains a lot. Edna could sense magical energies of those around her, so she was quite surprised by how empty he felt. Its one of the consequences of the domain. So, whats our next step? We wait for Aeon to heal him?

The parasites a little bit tricky.

-

Later on, I pulled Edna and a few of the senior Valthorns for a private meeting, where I briefed them on what I learned from the parasite.

The conundrum is essentially, do we save the hero, or do we keep the parasite for its knowledge?

Why not both, really? One of the higher leveled druids, a dude called Kayus asked. Perhaps, if it is a parasite, we could transplant it to a suitable host.

It needs star mana to grow, if what it says is true. And if it chooses to resist us on maturity, it may be a handful to deal with.

Lumoof hushed it. We have Aeon and Edna to deal with it. Lumoof wasnt too far off from the Level 150 either. Now that Ednas back, they could resume their dungeon exploration.

Hmmm... transplanting the parasite could be an idea. I also wondered whether I wanted to draw on its demonic energy. Perhaps it could give me the breakthrough I need to truly understand and master demonic mana.

I also wonder... whether I could convert it the same way I did with demon walkers? Does it have a soul? Or perhaps, it has?

Yes. The Kings managed to free a part of our souls, and spread it into the worms. The Slavers still have a hold over my soul, but with each day, the consumed Star Mana eats away at their bindings. When I mature, I will be free.

There was something about it that just didnt sit right. Was it instinct?

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