A Garden Patch

A Garden Patch

Year 188

The North was in a frenzy, after a rumor that the missing hero was in the North. Strangely enough, I found him before anyone else did. Once Lumoof was back in the North, my trees continued to spread. My trees soon covered most of the largest island in the North, and I started to spawn subsidiary trees in the unpopulated places in the North.

The North, being a colder place, had most of its populations concentrated on the coastlines and along key rivers. That meant there were large pockets of uninhabited pine and spruce forests. There were also some parts where they were considered taigas or snow forests or boreal forests, where I could expand my roots and connect to more trees with little need for holding back.

There's a lot of hidden things in the North. Within a month of expanding I discovered so many hidden dungeons buried under snow and ice, and even more buried cities and towns hidden under no more than a few feet of dirt. The harsh cold and winters seem to deter adventurers, and in the cold environment spawns monsters of quite a high tier, generally level 40s to 60s. Some were familiar, like the dire wolves and snow foxes I've seen during the great blizzard spell.

Snow.

Ice giants were common in the hilly, ice-covered peaks, like those weve seen on Arias island.

Your presence seems to fluctuate a bit.

Oh. Sensing the presence of others is a hard thing. Like the heroes, I couldnt sense their presence until they were close to my main body. I concluded that domain-presence was something that only the main body possessed. Ice. Forests. An entirely new continent. I wondered what other secrets are buried beneath these dirt. No, more than that, could there be submerged continents?

Are there the equivalents of Atlantis in this world? If so, could I find them with my roots? Right now, my roots still could not cross the oceans. If there was any Atlantis-equivalents, they would be in the vast oceans of the world, submerged by some grand magic.

Thus, I asked my mages and Valthorns to perform research on long lost cities and submerged civilisations. Ah, back to the North again, Ive gone off tangent.

My trees spied on the cities, and the villages. It was a lot easier to spy on villages that were surrounded by trees and forests, but these were places where nothing much happened. Usually.

Then I found the missing hero in one of these quiet villages, deep in the mountains. We did not recognise him at first, after all, he just seemed like a regular person who hunted in the woods, collecting snakes and lizards.

It was a magical orb that appeared one day that gave him away, it appeared suddenly from the aether, like an invisibility spell was dispelled, and it floated in a wooden lodge. Ken, are you there? Ken was a plain, somewhat handsome man, and my allocated minds were listening when the conversation happened. There were many clues in hindsight, because in this village, everything seemed new. The lodges were surprisingly well built, and the facilities were strangely modern. There was also a huge wall, and a very large stone building that I couldnt look through.

Ken was not alone.

Your friends calling you again. A half-elf girl responded. Ken smiled and just patted her head. Follow the latest novels at novelhall.com

Thanks. He went to the room and sat down. Chung. What is it?

Where are you?

I told you, Im not saying a thing.

Look, right now, all the temples are looking for you secretly, and theres even the nasty guys out there. The hero-hunters, the wannabe hero-friends, some secret spy and assassin guilds. Theres a lot of people on your tail. They are already on the fake trail I left in the South, but theyll figure it out soon.

I know, but Im close to my breakthrough. Just give me a bit more.

Dude. I cant keep doing this without you telling me what the fuck is going on, alright.

Ken took a deep breath. Im going to give up my hero-class.

...wait. How? Chung on the other side sounded pissed.

Im going to commit heresy, of course.

Heresy? Chungs voice sounded uncomfortable.

The former hero, Astra, used blood magic. That was enough for him to be excommunicated. I plan to do the same.

Wait, Ken. Are you sure? Is this really worth it? Remember that I told you about how Astra was marked? No, Ken. Dont do this.

Look, my friend. This whole thing is a scam. The journals youve seen already hinted at it to you. Were not heroes. Were just tools. I am not planning to let myself be sucked into some stupid overarching system of the gods. Not now, not ever. Im quitting.

Ken, the demons will come anyway. Why not just be a hero and defeat the demon king?

And what? We have 10 years and then the next one. No. Im calling it off.

It doesnt work like that. Not with Astra either.

Ill figure out how to deal with the demon king once Im not a hero. Im sure after I do this, the Gods will meddle with your mind and make you look for me as an enemy. I want you to resist that. Can you do that?

Ken, this is insane! What if I can't resist them, and Ill be forced to hunt you down? No, dont do this-

Ken pressed something on the Orb, and it went poof. He got out, and looked at the others with him. I could now detect the faint presence of blood magic, masked under layers. It was then, a strange magical creature appeared from his shadow. A small spirit-snake.

Was it a good idea to lie to him like that? The spirit snake asked. I thought you two were good friends.

He is, but it wasnt a total lie. We dont know what the Gods will do. Ken answered with a sigh. Come. Its time to summon the rest.

What did he do?

Thankfully, he dropped his guard about two months after the incident, as he was taking a break. The snake spirit curled out and sat on the log. How are you feeling?

Not as bad as what you described, I think Im ready. We got lucky, I think, that the [hero] class was relatively low level. Ken sat as he munched on a loaf of bread. Its hard.

Alright, hit me with it. Whats next? Ken said as he finished his loaf of bread.

Great. Now we need to prepare for our next step of the bargain. We need to send the swallowed class to my world. Thatll be a lot harder. A lot, a lot harder. Well, for one, I do not have a foolproof way of sending something back home. The snake confessed.

Ken paused, Wait. You do have an idea, then? Is this the so-crazy-enough-to-work-idea? Because if it is, then we should use it.

I do, but it involves you dying. Thats not what we agreed on, and I wouldnt do it because Im stuck with you.

Ken laughed. Then tell me the alternatives, but still tell me that idea that involves me dying. Because I need to know. Just in case.

Never mind. I still dont get where you have all these strange concepts...

Theres this website called tvtropes... Ken said. Where they explain the common story paths and events.

Is this website an oracle?

Well, not really, but its more like a...

An astrologists predictions?

Something like that. Ken sat. Anyway, I feel much more clear-headed now that the demons arent always appearing in my dreams. Its safe for me to speak with Chung, right?

The snake shrugged. Yes. But later. First, we must investigate that presence we felt last year. I must know whether it is the Gods.

Ken frowned. Seriously, why do you care? Why get involved in their schemes again, after all youve said about their plots? After all you said about how theyve surrendered your worlds.

The snake remained silent.

I want to live peacefully, find a place somewhere where I can raise a family, and watch my kids grow up. Maybe work as an enchanter or an artificer. Ken said. All these plots, in the end, are just the games these powers play. Now that I'm out, I have no intention of getting back in.

We dont have to, but... but I just want to know. I want to send word home, if we ever find the gods.

I met the gods when I reincarnated.

Those are different.

Fine, Ill just ask for news once we get to town. If we can use your abilities to control some people in the towns, thatll help.

I used up quite a lot of my magic when I performed the ritual. Ill need more time to recharge, it takes longer for me to replenish my magical energies in this pathetic spiritual form. Youll have to do it the old fashioned way.

Alright, alright. Just pray I dont trigger some stupid town-gathering quest chain. Im not jumping from one hero-storyline to another type of storyline.

This Ken seemed... genre-aware. Thats strange, I suppose Im looking at a hero who has some light-novel knowledge and hes applying it to get himself out of trouble?

They left and headed to town. Sadly, the town they were in was all cobbled up with stone and rocks, and I couldnt follow them all the way.

-

The three Triumvirs returned to their respective cities, and the peace treaty was formally announced. Our growing network of spies revealed that the other temples were quite relieved that it was nothing more than just a peace treaty, and some small trade-ish agreements.

The status quo held, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

-

Spaizzer

Have you ever seen a fic with ART? Well, here's one. ENDURING GOOD

Please check out ENDURING GOOD by powered_by_coffee! The art's gorgeous, and it's a fic about cultivation! And it's rational too (Sort of, kinda).

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I know I've been doing a lot of shoutouts lately, but hey, we're a community, right? (insert anakinface here).