The lab

Year 73, Month 1

Jura steps out of the green liquid pod in the lab. He’s been submerged in it daily, and undergoing… experimentation.

“How do you feel?”

“Fine, TreeTree. Did you do anything, my status is unchanged…”

“No.”

In truth, all I do is look, at his body, in great detail. The first time he steps in, and submerge himself, the pod floods me with data and details. And it's fascinating. It’s like looking at the body of the person with an electron microscope and some kind of radio wave imaging machine.

It’s incredible, to see every strand of fibre, the organs, the bones. In a way, this is also the first time I have an actual idea how Jura looks like, outside of my somewhat pixelated spirit vision. The details, the effects of all the parts on his body, and how it influences his fighting abilities and magic.

Another thing I spend a lot of time on, on his soul, and how it interacts with his body. It is like the source of a river, higher levels result in a bigger source, and the water from this source flows into each body part, which then gives each body part toughness, and awakens magical properties.

And, in his body, as if there is a polluted drainage pipe, releasing dirty water into that river, and so each body part is not getting clean water.

I reach out to it, and then I knew.

It can be fixed. But I will need the right materials.

…

Later that evening I ask Meela for her help. If I could see Jura’s body in such great detail, I wonder what I would find from the heroes.

This request however seems to make Alexis a little suspicious, so she insists to be around as well.

Ah, there’s no helping it, so Jura guides both of them to the new laboratory underground.

“This… this looks like...” Both of them had a stunned look, as if they did not expect to see something like this… not in this world. A lab.

I recall only the elves been to this new room, different from the medical ward-like area that Meela once rested in.

Jura nods, and points to an open pod. “Please, if you don’t mind…”

Meela glances at Alexis, but then, “Okay.”

Jura smiles, and then leaves the two heroes alone. Meela undresses and then steps into the warm green liquid, and then the pod slowly closes in.

Alexis stares on, cautious, but she looks like she is thinking.

And a torrent of data washes over me, and it stuns me for a moment.

“How long will this take?” Alexis asks.

“About two hours.” I snap out of my shock, and start my investigation into Meela’s body, wondering what makes her tick.

First, physique. Her body starts of as that of a normal human, but as she gains levels, her body changes with it. Already I could tell she is about three to four times physically stronger than Jura, before any magic spells that would further push her into crazy strong territory.

Her skeletal structure tougher than steel. It’s as if she has an adamantite frame, and her muscles all store tremendous amounts of physical energy.

Then, the soul. Her soul is like a massive spring, with a two waterfalls from the aether pouring even more water into that lake, and it flows downwards like a raging river.

Yet, it is not fully clear. Right next to that spring, a small whirlpool, sucking some water away. It is now barricaded with some kind of energy, so only a small portion water is drained away by that whirlpool.

“This is taking too long.” Alexis mumbles, and uses some kind of magic. “Is she alright?”

“Yes. She’s fine. A bit more.” I could analyse and revisit the data later.

I reach out to sense that black whirlpool… and I feel an ominous presence. Demonic. It attempts to burn me.

Ugh.

I investigate the waterfalls instead, and I sense a kind of unknown power… perhaps divine? Or is it astral?

These reincarnators… their souls must have been modified by the gods that summoned them here. Their size and capacity far exceeds that of a normal human, if compared to Jura. But I would need more samples.

Alexis looks nervous, she does not seem to like seeing Meela in the pod.

“Ah. I am done.” The pod’s doors opens, like a reverse venus flytrap, and Meela’s eyes open.

Alexis immediately grabs her. “Are you okay?”

Meela rubs her eyes a while and say, “I feel pretty nice, actually. It’s like a massage.”

[Secret hideout - Biolab upgraded]

Oh.

“Really?”

“Yeah. I do. You should try it.”

Alexis shakes her head. “Uh… never mind.”

“Why are you worried? The tree saved my life, if it wants us to just dip into a pool…”

“No.” Alexis turns. “If we are done, lets go out.”

The two reincarnators leave, and I then telepathically reach out to Laufen, for her turn to dip into the pod.

And then I task Jura with a request.

“Capture a demon hound.”

“Capture?”

“Yes. I want it.. alive.”

“Really? Its teeth can chew through any rope or net we have…”

And a net appears next to him. “Woven from my bark and fibre. Should last a bit. Use this as well.” I hand him a wooden container containing paralyzing sap.

Jura nods, and set out.

Around this time, some message spells bounced back and forth between the heroes, and both Alexis and Meela leave, together with the remaining army. It seems one of the nearby cities are under attack from a demonic army, so the rest of the heroes change their plans and head straight there instead.

And this is great, because the elves finally get to have their space again.

…

Year 73 Month 1 Week 3

Jura finally caught one. Its tough trying to find a hellhound that is in a manageable small pack, but he got it.

The hellhound lost four limbs, but is still barely alive.

“So… what do I do with it?” Jura looks at me quizzically.

“Bring in down into the lab.”

Jura pauses. “Inside?”

“Yes.”

He gulps, but carries it in. The rest of the elves look curiously, Laufen, Emile and Belle all ready for battle, just in case the hound tries something funny.

And Jura throws the hellhound into the pod.

My branches and roots, they move to wrap and attach itself to the paralysed hound, and its struggling stops. One of the roots administer a dose of sedation, knocking it out.

Then, I peer into its body. The body of a hybrid hellhound.

The first thing that I notice is the unusual nature of its body. A mix of normal flesh, but with a smattering of earth. Its made of a layer of flesh, mixed with a latticework of interconnected rocks, and this mixture is present throughout its body. Some parts, near its skull and its teeths, the rocks are much more present, and the type of rock appears to be some kind of compressed stone, that is magically augmented.

A thick layer of sap coats its major vessel, and this is how the paralysing sap disables this hound.

Then, the soul.

If the magic from Jura’s soul is that of a water tap, and Meela’s mana is a fire hose, this hellhound would be best described as a dried watering hole. Parched, dry, its body devoid of the natural mana.

Instead, there is a small red fire that hovers right above where the spring would be, and it emits a kind of heat that powers all the magical augmentation throughout its body. As I reach out to touch it…

Demon.

A pushback from that tiny fire. A… wall?

I keep pushing. The wall bends, its not strong enough to resist me.

And for a moment, I see a glimpse of a faraway place…

A red planet, a surface filled with fire and brimstone, a large glowing red stone.

And then the fire disappears. At that moment, any sign of life in the hound disappears, its like somebody pressed an off button.

Hmm..

Yet the hound is still there, as if its turned off, it’s body is floating, its four limbs still severed.

[You gained a level. You are now level 101]

[Secret hideout - biolab, upgraded. Additional pods now available.]

Two additional pods pop up next to the one with the floating hound.

It’s dead? Yet its body remain, perhaps the pod interferes with its natural decay into mana.

Jura steps in, wondering what is the sound he heard. It’s actually the two new pods that popped out.

“Its fine. The hound’s… dead.”

“Huh.”

“Anyway, good that you are here. Dip in.”

Jura pauses. “Uh… okay.”

Two days later, a horde of hellhounds appear, together with about fifty or so larger demons, their target is not me. But based on the strength of these demons shown to me so far, I can defeat this horde.

And so I did. A mix of [root surge], [super antidemon root strike] and [root strike], and Jura too participate in the battle.

A few of the demons survive, and Jura assists to capture them for my… experiments.

Year 73 Month 2 Week 1

[Rajjiv Nung has died. You gain 3 levels, you are now Level 104]

[Obtained skill : Lesser Holy Enchantment]

Huh. He died. That's strange, he is with the heroes, I would have thought he should be quite safe. Must be a rather fierce battle.

This actually also reminds me of the familiars I grant, and so I pull up a menu that shows all the granted familiars.

And it seems I have been neglecting them, so I call Jura and Laufen over, and have both of them show me their familiar forms.

A familiar allows access to the spells and abilities of that familiar, which is by and large based on their grantor. They’ve gained levels, Jura’s familiar is level 30, and Laufen’s familiar is Level 13. They manifest in many ways, usually depending on the user.

When they did, a prompt appears before me.

Jura’s tree familiar has reached the limit of Level 30. Do you wish to elevate the familiar to the next phase?

Huh.

“How long did it stay at Level 30?”

“Oh.. for quite some time already. My familiar reached level 30 during the last attack by the demon centipede.”

“Uh… why did you not tell me?”

“I thought you knew?” Jura rubs his head.

Ah dammit. Communication breakdown. I need to get these elves to tell me more about themselves.

I mentally say yes to the prompt.

And Jura pauses, his eyes wide open. “Uh.. I did not even know a familiar can rank up! Wow I get to choose its next form!”

Huh. I know too little about familiars…

One of my branches has been converted using [customisable branches] into a room, but it serves its function as a jail cell, for all the captured hellhounds. On top of the “dead” hybrid in one pod, I subject the remaining hellhounds onto more investigation, and if I do not attempt to sense the “fire”, it’ll stay “alive”.

Year 73 Month 2 Week 2

Shake. The ground buckles, and bits of rock fly.

My roots, they attempt to hold on, but the shockwave that causes this is way too strong, so throughout the plains, the ground buckles.

Shake

Jura rushes out in the direction of the shake, I ordered him to look out for what causes it and retreat immediately. A part of me feels… afraid.

Shake, shake.

The earth keeps shaking, and as the day goes on, explosions get louder. Something is coming. Or a battle is coming.

The shockwaves propagating through the earth gets even stronger, and my rootnet is flooded with pain.

The rumbling continues even at night, and Jura runs to us in the darkness of night.

“No good! Three demon champions appeared. The heroes are engaging them in battle, but they seem to be retreating this way.”

“Three?” That is far too many! Fighting one almost killed me, and knocked me out for weeks.

But can’t the heroes beat them?

“Did you see the heroes?”

“Yes yes. They are retreating here!”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. Maybe they are trying to lure them away from the cities!”

The explosions and rumblings continue. They seem to be fighting even when retreating, so whatever they are fighting can keep up with them.

“How far?”

“A day!”

Shit.

“What should we do? If three demon champions are here, can you hold them back TreeTree?”

“No. If they are anywhere like the giant golem earlier, I may not last very long. I can take a few hits… but it will be a matter of time before it kills me.”

“But you are stronger than last time.” Jura pauses. “Maybe you can take one. And.. maybe thats why they are coming this way. They need your help to even up the odds.”

“Don’t they have an army of adventurers?”

Jura shakes his head. “I think they are either dead or they have fled. I don’t think any sane adventurer would want to battle three demon champions together. It's foolish, and only the bravest of adventurers would attempt it.”

“And the world expects the heroes to?”

“Heroes have special powers! They are different!”

“This does not make sense. I thought they killed some of the demon champions already. How is there three appearing out of nowhere…”

Jura pauses. “Uh… I don’t know. I am guessing the heroes don’t either.”

The earth shakes. More rumblings. I could feel it. They are going to be here in a while. Maybe less.

“What’s our plan?” Jura paces the room.

“If I remember correctly, a few of them can take one demon champion with no problems. So… there must be more to it. How many heroes did you see?”

“I couldn’t get a good look at them. Its too chaotic.”

“Ah.”

Three demon champions, if they are of a similar strength as the golem, its going to be a real challenge. They are going to be here maybe in about two hours, so the heroes must have something in mind.

Are they wounded?

How do I defeat these demons?

I look at the hounds in the lab, strapped to the pod.

“Jura, what’s known to be effective against demons?”

I actually asked this before, I recall the answer that there are weapons created by the heroes that have special effectiveness against demons. There's also natural weapons like the usual holy magic, or star weapons like metal swords made from asteroids.

Do demons have an off switch like the hounds?

If I could extinguish the fire in their body, they would shut down. Okay, following that metaphor, if their source of power really is that fire, would water therefore destroy them?

And so I test out on a hound, pouring my mana in through the connected roots. It enters its blank soul realm, and some of the mana evaporates in the process. Is it the heat of the soul?

But after the initial evaporation, I could see the fire shrink, and eventually its extinguished.

It works, for one. But from this I realise its slow, and not as effective as a simple strike. A strike would have destroyed that hound for far less mana. And if a demon champion is larger and more powerful I would not be able to do it.

The “dead” hound’s body cracks, the rocks on its body falling off like its shedding skin. And then, it convulses, or vibrates. It twists against the vines, and it starts to suck in mana.

My mana.

It twitches.

And it… stops. And I see… its body regenerate, the wounds heal, and its limbs and fangs regrow. The rocks that once decorated its fur is replaced with a strange, woodlike texture.

A shiver runs through me.

“Jura. Lab. Now!” Jura immediately jumps, and runs for the lab, armed.

He sees one of the hound. “Which one?”

And the hound opens its eyes. And… its green.

[Hellhound forcefully adapted into your subordinate minion with your natural mana, and has transformed into woodhound]

“Wait.”

Jura eyes the hound, his arms grip his weapon. A hound should be an easy battle, but never could be sure.

The pod opens, and the healed hound crawls out. It looks at Jura.

I mentally command it to sit.

And it does.

It feeds on my mana to survive, and I could sense that mana link between me and this.. woodhound. Its a similar link to my summoned insects.

Fascinating.

[Skill obtained : Natural Mana Overwhelming]

But, no time to waste. I still don’t have an answer for the three demon champions coming my way. The earth still rumbles and shake, and the explosions can now be seen in the sky.

Think!

I have, familiars, essences, souls, soul realm, a few root attack variants, saps, leaves that can function as tea, wood magic and forming abilities, healing powers, spirit vision, a secret hideout wih a lab and healing chamber, insect warriors, rootnet, barkskins, defense, wood-shields, some other lesser defense items, and a whole list of passive stats buff.

Can souls and essences be made into a weapon?

Soul forge required to form high efficiency weapons.

Ugh. Not that. How about essences? Can I convert them into a weapon?

Currently, the essence of fire, essence of death and essence of starlight can be converted into a single use weapon.

Fine. Combine them.

Vessel required.

I would want to use it together with my [super antidemon rootstrike], so I quickly form a sharp pointy piece that will serve as the piercing edge of my root. With the piece of wood, the essences are then added to it, forming a sharp, three pointed wood.

The earth rumbles. And streaks of light can be seen in a distance.

“They are here.”

Streaks of light in the distance now become explosions, and the heroes zoom toward me from the distance. Using some kind of speed burst, they retreat and dodge the explosions.

Three demon champions appear, a large golem, a huge horned stone centipede, and some kind of stone turtle with spikes. They stand in the distance, surrounded by a horde of lesser demons, minor golems, and a few other lesser centipedes.