Psychiatree

Psychiatree

Year 180

Nine of them spotted. Kei spoke via long range message. All of them are around level 80s, and they are still challenging the champions. The King seemed content to let them do so, and continued its destructive acts.

Its a pattern, repeated since long ago. The King almost always waited for the heroes to level up. This was a quirk that I did not understand. Was it a rule? Or are the heroes invisible before they turn level 100? But clearly the demon champions are able to find the heroes. So why?

It really feels very game-ish. One instance suggested some observational flaw or quirk. But now after numerous demon kings, it really felt like this pattern suggested a game-like arrangement between the demons and the gods. I really hope the Aivan church agrees to send the triumvirs over. I do want to interrogate the damned Aivan God why the fuck are we playing this game.

But there was that hero that did the whole-sneak attack thing, but that was because there is an existing group of surviving heroes. If so, the demon king must have a trigger to engage in their hunt.

No luck on the missing hero? The missing hero... was still missing. But if say he is alive, and he is levelling up, he cant stay hidden for long. Not with the demon kings divine-hunting sight. I recall Harris once said that the demons can sense their presence, and the higher levels they are, the stronger they glow to the demons.

No. Kei sighed. I hope hes fine. The other heroes have attempted to contact him but he refused all communication.

Youve made contact with the heroes?

Yes. We spoke a bit. Kei said. At level 80ish they are able to spot me. There was no way I could remain hidden for long.

And what did you tell them?

Almost everything, really. But nothing about you. Kei was quick to repeat. Just about hero stuff, really. About the things weve seen... I mean, about life as a hero... and our lives after we win. And the gods.

They didnt kill you there and then?

They seemed to mumble something about Ken saying the same thing. Kens the missing hero by the way, and hes.. Uh, he pretty much went cold turkey and had no contact with the rest of them after the first week together.

Huh. Ken, eh. So... how are the heroes taking to their new roles as saviors of the world?

Quite enthusiastic. Its actually quite embarrassing to hear it. Was I so naive and innocent? Kei sighed.

Yes. Yes you were. In fact, you still are.

Ugh.

-

Roon and the others kept at their dungeon raids. The dungeon at Level 120 was large, and their foes were a mix of giants. According to their post-raid reports, the space after the dungeon gates were significantly larger than before, and the dungeon exhibited some kind of spatial distortion which magnified its size.

I too, have some spatial abilities with my [Secret hideouts] and Subsidiary Tree rooms.

Roon and another of the Matreearchs managed to hit Level 135, so they are only 15 levels away from their own domains.

The monsters were large, but ultimately they can be defeated. Still, after my earlier experience with the collapsed dungeon, I started work on another set of ley lines, and I hope to have a new dungeon active before this one collapses in the future.

These dungeons, their rewards are mostly the remains of the dungeon monsters, and they are often set aside for my blacksmiths and mages to experiment, to craft into weapons and armors. There is a gradual upward drift in the quality of the equipment among the Valthorns, as they get a wider variety of equipment over time, instead of just my own items. Things I made, or blessed by me personally are strong, but my items tend to have anti-demon effects. Equipment made from the monsters remains in the dungeon tend to be more varied.

Those who made a living outside the dungeon also soon made more mobile setups, once they were informed of the temporary nature of these high tier dungeons. These were pretty much the best craftsmen and smiths the entire continent have to offer, and its something we noticed, that the higher levelled they were, it is more likely that they have passion in what they did.

For these level 80+ craftsmen, they relished working with the unique materials that a high tier dungeon provided, and so they moved where the materials were. That said, for these craftsmen, almost 80% of their time is spent making equipment to process the materials, and only 20% on the materials themselves. Theres a whole lot of preparation work that goes on before the craftsmen lay their lands on the harvested items.

Many of these higher tier monsters are new to us, since the dungeon generated these monsters somewhat randomly, so even harvesting the monsters took a lot of experimentation. At higher tiers, the dungeon monsters resemble more like frankenstein-ish mixture of creatures, materials and skills. In fact, I would personally say most monsters look their best at around Level 80, where they conform to what I believe is usually considered a monsters normal appearance.

> Practice... battles? < I shared images and scenes through our somewhat connected roots. Of practice duels, mock battles and so on. The purpose was to practice strategy and tactics, gain familiarity on whether combat is effective or not.

> Not enemies. Friend. Just to get stronger. <

Reefy seemed to struggle to process fighting their friends for a while. It seemed to have a rather convenient categorisation of friends and foes? Or did it just classify people to their threat levels?

I did so. Reefy still seemed rather confused.

-

In the meantime, since Aria and Aispeng are ice spirits, I wondered whether they have abilities that can offset the heat. They do, but its an aura ability so they cant share it. The northern isles, despite being naturally colder, had stronger heatwaves, and this manifested in stronger blizzards and winds. In a way, this demon kings abilities isnt really a heatwave, but more of extreme weather. Did the demon king copy some climate change rulebook somewhere?

-

The heroes kept on with their battles and they had their first encounter with the demon king. It did not go well, but it seemed the demon king did not give much chase.

[Ellis Myers has died. You received a fragment]

[Jenna Kari has died. You received a fragment]

Kei had apparently attempted to help.

You idiot. Stella screamed over the message spell, she had two fragments too. Dont risk your fucking life.

Ive already died once. Whats another time?

I thought you promised us! Apparently Kei had a promise with the girls? Huh. I sure didnt see them being so close.

...I know. I feel like shit though. Kei said. I cant just stand and let them fight.

Kei, weve talked about this. There are battles that are out of our leagues. Each of us needs to do our part, do what were good at. Stella repeated. Im a [void mage], and Im good with portals. That means Im not going anywhere near a battlefield. Youre a [biocrystalline golem], and you can make crystals do all sort of stuff. But youre not a 100% combat class, and you dont have hero powers. Dont fight battles you cant do shit in. We all want this shit to end, but we need to work together dammit. Another act out of line and Ill get Aeon to [recall] you.

...sorry.

Good.

The death of two shook the group of 7 left. They were nervous and afraid. What seemed comically easy once they levelled, suddenly was hard again. The gap between the champions and the king was large, and only now they understood it.

Kei had to be their counselor. But in the south, there were other temples, and some heroes sought help from the temples instead.

Shouldve sent priests here! Right now they need the calming abilities of the priesthood! Kei complained. That was something Ill take note of. Certainly Lumoof could help to provide serenity and calmness in face of loss. These are young teens in need of emotional support, and thats certainly a neglected aspect of their journey.

-

Do we have counselor classes? I asked Lumoof and the group. Actually, if heroes get out of this with PTSD, is that why they end up indulging themselves in all their harems and all that? Its a way of coping with the shit theyve seen? Im not in their place, and Ive not seen their struggles. But on reflection, it does seem almost all of them are broken or chipped in some way.

I knew his answer before he answered thanks to our mental link, but I let him say it out anyway. We do have [Priest of Tranquility], and certain skills like [Calm Composure], [Emotional Appeasement]...

Then we must find ways to train this further. Ive been growing class seeds all this while, but I suppose I needed to experiment and create these counselors or psychiatrist classes.

I looked at my own [Tree of Prayers]. These helped in the past, just as my [tea] did. I needed to make them mobile, without using Lumoof. The people of this world are naturally resilient and seemed to endure the destruction really well without emotionally breaking down, but the heroes clearly are cracking, even if they outwardly appear fine.