Treeal by fire

Treeal by fire

Year 220 (continued)

We need to talk about our strategy. Roon and Johann gathered the team before the invasion, and brought up the issue. Were currently limited, bottlenecked by Aeons low supply of clone seeds.

Everyone listened intently.

Aeon intends that we eventually find our way to strike at the Black Suns, as Stella described it. From the sheer size of those things, the amount of mana required to have an even battle is huge, and yet, Aeon currently only has what... 4 clones?

Stella nodded. Yes, we need a lot of firepower for that.

But, we have a force projection issue on a multiverse scale. We are dependent on Aeon to deliver our main damage dealers, the heroes. Void portals dont work, because of the magical instability caused by star mana-void mana interactions.

Go on.

Aeon needs to level up quickly, and find a way to scale up that number of clones. The battle with the demons, and the black sun, feels like essentially a numbers game. Aeon needs to control a large number of high-mana generation worlds, in order to even compete with the amount of demonic energy those black suns seem to possess.

Edna nodded. Alright, so Lumoof needs to participate in every battle. Roon then raised the main point.

My opinion is, we should not be investing so much in recovering demon-worlds, which have very long gestation periods. The parasite world, as per Aeons own models, claim at least 50-100 years before its mana output could even hope to match our homeworld. This is because the demons world had eaten away at those worlds, and those worlds are less, diminished, weak. Instead, Aeon should be focused on spreading his clones on regular worlds that are facing their own demonic invasions.

Ken and Snek didnt quite like that angle.

We can still free Sneks world, but we need not plant a seed there. Thats essentially my point. Travel to Sneks world will then rely on Stellas riftgates.

But we need the clones to send the heroes over. Ken responded.

Which Aeon can withdraw after the deed is done.

Fair. Ken nodded, but Snek looked quite upset by the idea.

I reiterate. Aeons focus should be reaching the mana-levels needed to effectively drown a demon king, and to do so, it needs multiple regular worlds. At least 10. Aeon should abandon non-productive worlds and replace them with Stellas riftgates.

Thats reliance on the whims of the void. Stella quickly clarified. Aeons clones are an output of the system, its connection secure. Riftgates can be hijacked, and the pathways can be destroyed. It is not a worthwhile comparison, especially if its a world key to the plan.

Roon agreed. Indeed, which is back to our bottleneck. Aeon needs to take a much more aggressive stance, and level, because Aeons foundation is what supports the plan.

Could someone else play that same role? Ken asked. Im just saying that.. Could there be a clone-focused domain holder who could lock or leave a clone in those worlds? Train another spiritual tree into another Aeon? It doesnt even have to be a tree, we just need someone at the [domain] level to play Aeons linkage role.

The room was silent, and I myself was rather taken aback by the suggestion. It... could work, but it needed a cooperative partner. My mind immediately thought about the first two non-mobile friends I had. Lillies? Or... Reefy?

I could imagine a Reefy or Lilies clone across worlds. Lillies especially, with their natural multi-minded structure seemed easily able to gain some kind of clone-like ability. Or maybe Aria and Aispeng.

Reefy... I wasnt sure I wanted to unleash Reefy out to the multiverse. I fear Reefy, badly controlled, could easily warp into another demonic swarm.

I would have to check with Lilies and Aria. At that point, Edna suggested someone else. There are two former-heroes, Alexis and Meela. Meelas Hotels has branches. Do you think she can be trained to have hotels across multiverses?

My priest had an aha moment then. Thats a good point, I totally forgot about the two.

Roon then elaborated. Ideally, Aeon gets more clones, because they are all locked to the same teleportation network. At the rate we are going, we will discover new worlds quickly, and with the amount of demonic worlds out there, we pretty much need to add clones at an exponential rate.

But gaining levels gets harder the higher we go.

Which then leads to Kens very good point. If we cant have Aeon gain many levels, could we train multiple Aeons?

Lumoof nodded. In theory, thats a solution, but I would like to immediately add that Aeons unique mindset is due to his current mix of knowledge from before he was a tree. Training a native tree into an Aeon-tier domain holder frankly sounds horrifying, and could go really, really bad. Ive seen Aeons thoughts, and their perception of things can be very different from our own. With humanoids and other mortals, we can get aligned quite easily. Its not so easy with trees. Druids can tell you of strange behaviors from their spirit trees from centuries ago.

The archer-ranger looked pensive, as he contemplated the issue. Ken, eventually, also nodded. I realise I did not give enough thought to my suggestion, and thus Id like to retract my suggestion. Raising a potential lovecraftian deity is not a good idea.

That idea with Meela is worth considering. Meelas hotel, at the [domain] level could be a reasonable alternative. Edna added. Not ideal, as her hotel lacks the defensive abilities of Aeons clones, but... doable. Her past-life as a hero would also mean she would be more amenable to our objectives.

What if she never develops those abilities?

Then too bad. Its a risk we take with these developments.

***

The riftgates opened, and Lumoof led the way.

It was humid, and hot, and glowing spawning pools littered the landscape. The demons spotted Lumoof appearing, and roared.

We knew that this was one of the stereotypical hellworlds. There were fountains of flaming lava, and jets of fire around us. Demonic spires and structures similar to the dreams I once had.

If some of the worlds were sandy and dry, this one was hot and lava.

Edna looked and asked. A portal in the core chambers?

Close. Theres a magical eddy of some kind preventing my portal from getting too near, but this is about 3/4th the way to the core.

The lava jet was constant, but nothing changed. After a while, Stella shrugged. Doesnt work. The entire core and the surroundings of this world is magma.

Look. How the fuck did the demon king even conquer such a world?

Magic. Stella smirked. Roons idea has merit. With sufficient bombs, and Ill add my own void ones, it may be possible to send the demon king off course entirely. What Id like to achieve, this time, is to knock the demon king out of its teleportation path, so Alka needs to invent some kind of snare-bomb.

What the fuck is that?

We dont want the bomb to detonate immediately. We want bombs that will latch itself onto the demon king, blow up while its floating through the void space, and knock it out.

Anyone tell you thats insane? Roon said. I mean, I like it, but its insane.

We know that the demon king doesnt get summoned if theres a surviving demon king. I want to test whether that is location-dependent, and requires the demon king to actually be there. If the demon king is in another world, what happens?

...alright, go on. Roon admitted.

On a super-large scale, I want to know whether WE can teleport a demon king elsewhere.

You want to build a rift gate here? Edna asked.

Were not ready for that. But someday, Id like to try it. For now though, lets just start with snare bombs.

Snare bombs. Alka nodded. No issue. We can easily repurpose Aeons beetles to be suicide-bomb-beetles and latch onto the demon king. I think we can try giant harpoons too, whether we can anchor the demon king to this world. Force it off its teleportation process.

Roon whistled.

The Valthorns quickly cleared out an area around the pit, and started constructing fortifications based on the volcanic materials available. An army of druids were deployed to support the installation.

Most of the domainholders returned to Treehome to start construction of their planned materials. Multiple giant nets, harpoons with magical chains, and bombs with hooks.

It would take some time to accumulate the necessary equipment and ordinances, but based on the magical sensors we had on this hell-world, the demon king wasnt ready yet. In fact, none of the rift gates had opened.

The Valthorns regularly swept through this lava-world, clearing the land of demons, and captured any rift gates that we found. Stella then sent them back to Treehome, where she would study it with the other riftgates.

It also helped that we now had three other void archmages, they took the role of maintaining the interplanar riftgates, and transporting the materials to the demonworld

We sent specialised builders and craftsmen to the demon world, to study the rift structures, and also build the traps.

Honestly, it may not work, but if it did, we were sure as hell going to replicate it every single time.

***

Ken, you alright? Chung asked, as Ken sat in a corner of a city cafe in Freshka. He looked tired, and sipped a big mug of herbal tea. Ken, who was so young so many decades ago, now looked like a man in his late 40s, unlike Chung who looked to be in his mid 30s.

Age, friend. Age. Reality meant Ken, who is no longer a hero, did not benefit from the aging reduction effects of the [hero] class. He did have fragments, of course, from his friends who perished during the war, but outside of the fragments, he has high levels in [Thinker] and [Beast Tamer].

Those levels slowed down aging, but not as much. Even my own domain holders experienced a burst of deaging once they gained the [domain]. Stella, for example, felt younger, stronger once she gained her domain.

Theoretically, I could keep anyone alive forever. With my incredible healing powers, and evolutionary powers, Im able to modify a persons body such that the effects of aging are almost entirely eliminated, but, they would become not-exactly the same.

A human that was made immortal, becomes... different, and because this is an imposed process, unlike an earned process through gaining levels or unlocking their domain, the body becomes in conflict with the soul, and it creates issues. I should be able to get past this, in time, after all, calming or unifying the soul and the body is part of my repertoire.

But for now, its something I rarely experiment on. And, so, back to Ken.

Im aging. Ken laughed, and the herbal tea removed the pain.

I can tell. Chung said.

A price for freedom of mind. The freedom for me to think un-heroic things.

Chung smirked. You can fix it if you gain levels, like them.

I dont need to. Ken said. Theres a point where one lives too long. I think this, a lifespan of 200-250 years, I think this is ideal. Too much, and we become unable to care for anything, because everything fades away, and well just be burdened with endless ennui.

Id still rather live forever.

You only feel that way, because the Gods impose a purpose in your life. Ken insisted. Which, as I sometimes think, its not a bad thing. Many of us require purpose. Purpose gives us direction, gives us... focus. It allows us to forget, to forgive, to let go of things that do not matter when viewed against our central purpose.

Youve lost me. Chung laughed.