244. Outgrowth

244. Outgrowth

Year 246 (continued)

Well? What are we waiting for? Alka said. We need to gain levels.

Are there better ways to do this? Lumoof looked at the demon mother. Surely there are alternatives to luring it, just to gain levels.

The demon mother isnt as strong as the demon king. In the scheme of things, we should be capable of taking it on without much assistance. Alka repeated. We either go hunt for demon kings to fight, or we go for these things.

In truth, they were venting. They knew this was one of the best ways. The dungeons no longer gave enough experience for domain holders to gain levels. Still, we didnt have that much ordnance placed on the surface. Edna and Lumoof shared a glance, before both headed for the core of the planet of the Demonic Houndworld

Lumoof activated his avatar mode, and through it, my vines spread through the core.

I hated how this was becoming a familiar experience. The first time I did this was the anti-magic world. Then during the battle to reclaim the Parasiteworld. Stellas void mages was on the surface, ready with the void weapons. If the black sun reappeared, we were going to shatter that droplet.

Repetition.

It still felt fresh and different to my domain holders. For Alka, this was his first battle, even if his role was just to nuke himself.

For Lumoof, I could sense he shared my exhaustion. We were just so tired of all this shit, but we had to soldier on.

I was tired.

Exhaustion.

I need a thousand years of no-demon kings to really properly rest, but the demons wouldnt let that. And its unfair to the thousands of worlds out there that faced the demon kings. Like the Ularans. Like all the other habited worlds.

My vines rushed into all the various holes throughout the planetary core and flooded them. The demon mothers energies met my own, and it turned back. It reoiled from contact, and at that moment, I knew quite surely I was stronger than the demon mother.

I would like to capture a demon mother. I imagine the demon mother to just be a supersized version of the demon rod. Its ability to tap into magical leylines should therefore be superior to most magic, since a demon mother was able to capture a planets core. Could it even capture a sun?

My vines chased after the demon mothers body, as it darted within. Its tentacles battled my vines, and it lost every exchange. I was just stronger, even through Lumoofs avatar.

I felt it emit some kind of magical energy.

Uh- something weird is happening.

Its calling for help. Stella said and immediately barked instructions to the team on the surface. Surface team, prepare for possible black droplet!

The team on the surface was armed, but with my vines everywhere, the demonic mother soon found itself with nowhere to go but outside. It tried to escape, but though it still had the tremendous ability of corrupting a planetary core, combat clearly wasnt its strongest set of skills.

My vines, guided by Lumoof, smashed into the demons own tentacles, and forced it out of the core.

You know, if Aeon could do this to the demon mother, we should be able to start freeing worlds fairly easily. Stella said, but quickly regretted it. But I spoke too soon.

Edna cursed as one of her spears slammed into the demon mothers tentacles, and she tried to pull the demon mother back. The demon mother was still exceptionally fast and it shrunk dramatically as it realized it was under attack.

It released another warning, something within its body vibrated in a certain way, one that my surface level team also recorded with their array of magical sensors. My surface team was ready for the arrival of the Black Sun, the teardrop.

Alka separated from us, and took position along the shaft to the surface. The idea was to detonate once the demon approached. Weaken it significantly, and then kill it.

Alright. Lumoof announced as my vines kept pushing the demon mother towards the shaft. Alka, get in position?

Already am. Alka said, as he floated alone somewhere in the middle of the long pit into the core. We didnt want to detonate in the core. The risk of destroying the planet and the negative impacts from the planetary curse was something I didnt want to risk.

There were magical bombs along the way.

Stella, teleport us out.

Cant. Core interference. Stella cursed. The turbulent energies within the planets core was common with all the worlds we've been through. It made stable portals impossible. It was like trying to build something next to a swirling whirlpool with sand. Well need to chase after it, once we get a bit out of range of the Core, Ill teleport you guys out to the surface.

***

In a war against the demons, Id be retaking worlds from the demons, and I would need help.

Stella, so no news from your [void explorer]?

Did you know a space probe took about 12 years to get from Earth to Neptune. Stella quipped as she rested on the surface of the houseworld. I suppose she meant to say that space was exceedingly large. So yes, the void sea is this massive, massive ocean. Its like were in this small paper boat, and were paddling very slowly through it. Were moving, for sure, but there are also fluctuations in this sea.

Can you see anything, at least?

I could. Other worlds. But Im not near enough. Stella waved her hand and a magical three dimensional projection of the void sea appeared. This isnt accurate, by the way. The void sea clearly exists in more than these dimensional forms, but this is the one Im most comfortable with. Using the other types bends my mind and its hard for me to demonstrate it in a projection.

She pointed to a glowing red arrow flying, at the tip of a long spear-like part of the projection.

This is my explorer. As you can see. Im going super-super far. Ulara was far, but Im now even further.

I paused.

How far do you think the gods are?

Im pretty sure they are not clumped together. If they were- that does seem to suggest some kind of network effect, or perhaps a creation-event. Stella mused. But I did recall you explaining what Aiva said. That the gods are far away from each other too.

If the gods were separated, the demons essentially could pick off one god at a time. I wonder, momentarily, if the demons have slain gods, and if so, how many have they slain? They have one in the demon sun. So- each sun contained one god?

In any case, we can only try our luck. Stella said. I hope to reach something. Somewhere.

Rather than keep searching with the void explorer, would it be better to stop on one of these worlds, and try hoping using conventional astral paths? After all, their paths may be linked to some other worlds? It was the equivalent of stopping the use of wormholes or warp space, and using space-lanes to visit their astral neighbors.

I thought of that. Stella said. Im going to stop then. Maybe theres something Im not seeing.

Year 247

This was a relatively quiet year, as everyone moved to do their part. Quiet, for me, of course, because there were wars raging on every world. On Threeworlds, Zhaanpu and the Sandpeople waged a terrible war against the Crystal Kings golems.

I had inadvertently caused an escalation in the type of weapons used in the war, as both sides unleashed stronger units against the others. Even the Centaurs of Hoofhall felt this war was the most horrific in recent memories, as the magical golems of the Crystal King fought against the sandstone constructs.

On Treehome, the vassal wars continued. The guilds did not stop invading and trying to claim land, and the defenders didnt relent or give up. The Emperors were strong, and with their enhanced abilities they were able to somewhat offset the technological advantages in areas where the Emperors claim was strong.

The royal classes, as strange as it was, were somewhat linked to loyalty. The greater the loyalty of its ruled populace, the stronger the effects of the Emperors power. A soldiers benefit from its king's blessing was very much linked to the faith, trust and loyalty that soldier had to its royal institution. Not the King, even if its often seen interchangeably, but the actual mechanics of it was actually linked to the royalty as an institution. Each member of royaltys actions and abilities fed into a royal institution modifier in the System, and also the distance of a person to its king and royalty.

This was unlike a General, where the benefit of a Generals power was linked to a soldiers position in the army controlled by the General. A member of an army benefited from every skill a general had that affected his army.

Royaltys power is more subtle, wider, more pervasive but also, can be resisted.

These findings emerged from decades of observation of the royal families in Treehome, because we noticed there wasnt much change even when a King passes on. A Kings blessings and powers lingers on after his death.

A kingdom doesnt collapse immediately, but a timer starts ticking in the system, and with each passing day, the dead kings blessings weaken, replaced by the powers of the new king, or, if there are no new kings, nothing. Ceremonies affect this sort of timer. A powerful ceremony attended by many members of society affects how quickly a new kings powers and classes ripple through the nation.

Nations that did not have kingdoms, instead, contributed to a body of rulers regardless. The high council, or parliament, or members of the city-states, membership in that body then gained the powers similar to a king, but one that is collective and shared. The constitution, if there is one, gains quasi-king-like powers, but it does so very slowly.

In a world where justice and rule of law is strictly obeyed, I speculate that their constitution, through decades and centuries of political investment, grows into a demigod of law. That opportunity was curtailed on Treehome, because gods and religion exist. The way faith is so intertwined with the political structure meant a constitution was tied to faith.

It was for this reason that most non-royal institutions dont last that long, and this whole damned world is stuck in the feudal fantasy era.

All this, tied into the powers of the vassal wars. Ultimately, with me and the Valthorns cleanly out of the picture, it is a contest between the financial, sociodemographic and technological of the trading-guild-nations, against the faith-empowered theocratic empires of defending nations. I designated areas where the forces of the four continents are allowed free landing zones on the Central continent, so that the forces of the theocratic nations could attack the guild-nations at their home.

It was much to the silent annoyance of the guilds and their backing nobility, but the guilds quickly reinforced those locations.

Internally, the Valthorns understood our ambitions were beginning to outgrow the Central Continent. We were becoming a multi-world organization, and we needed to exist above and beyond. We had duty to our home worlds, but we had to shed the shackles that tied us.

Trees are often repotted once they outgrow their pots.