《Heir of Yggdrasil》 -1 Up to date knowledge and things Ism too lazy to explain in the story @@ Warning This will (probably) contain spoilers up to the point where the story has gone so far. Name: I don''t know and you don''t know either Evolution path: Nothing - Tree Magic core - magical tree Acorn - magical acorn tree Chosen fruit - magical fruit-bearing tree Special abilities, titles, skills, and stuff: Magic perception Magic manipulation Magic Magic runes Leaf turrets Guardian of nature Power Ranks Current world: Magus/Maga ranks: (maga= female magus so all titles are female: viscount-> viscountess) Apprentice magus Magus Knight magus Baron magus Viscount magus Count magus (female: countess maga) Marquess magus Duke magus Grand duke magus King magus ??? Every rank can be divided into 3 stages: Early stage, intermediate stage and peak stage Note: being ranked as a baron magus does not give the nobility title of baron. (It can be like that though) For physical combatants, magus is exchanged with fighter Previous world: beginner mage apprentice mage mage high mage archmage (rank 1-9) Divine being Updated to current chapter - 4@@ 1 A magical tree I awoke from a long sleep I had believed would be eternal. My consciousness was still hazy, wishing to end the darkness that had accompanied me for so long, I tried to open my eyes. Yet to my great astonishment I could not do so, I didn''t even feel my eyelids. Thinking that something must be horribly wrong with my face I intended to raise my hands to touch my face, checking for any abnormalities. Yet again I was unable to move or feel any reaction from my limbs. Desperate to get the slightest reaction from my body I tried to move whatever I could, imagining myself thrashing around. As time passed my mind descended further into chaos. I needed to move! ?Host is advised to calm himself as an unstable mindset may be detrimental to further growth. Host is further advised to stop futile attempts of moving since trees cannot move until further evolution.? Hearing a voice in my head I managed to calm down somewhat. ''Wait, did I already start to hallucinate. What was it again that it said? I''m a tree, what a joke.'' ?Host is by no means hallucinating. Host is also advised to stop indulging in delusions and accept reality.? ''Fine, what should I do instead of not accepting reality?'' ?Host is suggested to start absorbing magic from surrounding to become a magical tree, completing first step in hosts path of evolution.? ''Now that I think about it, dear voice in my head, who are you?'' ?Responding to hosts question, the voice heard originates from the Yggdrasil growth system. It will assist you in your quest to become a legendary tree.? ''Yggdrasil... I see... my quest?'' Having enough of all this mind-boggling talk, I turned my mind toward this magic absorption. I had never done this before, but I felt the knowledge of the whole process in me. Following my natural instincts or whatever this is, I began trying to feel the magic flowing through me. At first, I felt nothing, zero flow and no magic whatsoever. But after dozens of days, I could vaguely feel my leaves making photosynthesis in a specific rhythm, there was a strange feeling in me. It was faint, barely traceable but it gave me the motivation to keep concentrating. The feeling that had initially been faint and distant was growing with every passing day. I could feel the magic gushing through my body reaching from every root to every leaf. Searching for that same feeling outside of my body I was quick to find it. I felt currents of magic swish passed, being what I could only consider as wind. And there a little below was a different type of magic it felt more solid and had small things atop it with magic similar to my own, probably being grass. I spent days on end refining this sense until I could ''see'' the outlines of all things within 2 meters, being able to differentiate between each blade of grass around me. ?Host has acquired [magic perception]. Host can now see surrounding through magic and grasp its concentration and type.? Next, I tried pulling some of the magic outside from the air into my body. I might have been a little overexcited for doing this, as I locked on to the magic around me and just pulled. Turns out trees are supposed to gather magic slowly, accumulating it and building a core. I, in my excitement, pulled in a vast amount. I felt like I''d explode from all the energy inside me. The bark on my trunk started breaking up and the wood below was creaking loudly. ?Host has an oversaturation of magic. Host is asked to hurry and form core from excess magic.? Following the instructions in my mind, I tried to gather all the magic in my trunk slightly below the treetop, compressing it into a condensed core. By the time I had succeeded my bark looked like a multitude of lightning strikes had ravaged all over it. ?Congratulations, host has acquired [magic manipulation], host has successfully condensed [magic core], host is now evolving to entity [magical tree].? I felt magic rush into my body from the outside, converging towards my magic core, my bark, which I had been worrying how to repair was made anew, my leafs shone with a jade luster and my density increased quite a lot. ?Host is indeed very dense.? ''How about you stop making puns no one will laugh about and explain what all this magical tree stuff means.'' ?Host has evolved into a magical tree. Host is now able to analyze magic structure of objects and replicating them.? ''Meaning?'' ?Host can absorb a fruit, analyze it and grow it himself. Once host advances in growth of core and soul, more things can possibly be reproduced. For example minerals, animals or souls.? ''Can I move now?'' ?Hosts soul is not yet strong enough to manipulate body into movement. Host is advised to stop asking useless questions and keep growing.? So I refocused on my surroundings, slowly guiding the magic from outside into my core and from there spreading it to the rest of my body to support its growth. Slow and steady, drawing magic in and distributing it evenly, again and again, and again. I became accustomed to the feeling of just growing and being. My leaves swayed in the wind, my trunk stood there in its barky splendor and my roots burrowed deep into the ground. And all was good. ?Host has successfully entered special state [Heart of tree], from now on host has a stronger connection to all plants in close proximity to him.? Great at least something good came out after all this time. ?Host can now grow subordinate trees and use magic manipulation to slightly move them.? ''Why didn''t you say so sooner!'' Barely keeping my excitement under wraps I tried beginning to grow another tree. But to my great sorrow, I found myself unable to, as I didn''t know how. 2 Tree circles ''System, how do I create subordinates, tell me now!'' ?Host Must simply form a new magic core outside the main body. This core will then act as a sapling for the tree to grow. Due to being the creator of the core, host will be already connected to newly growing tree, enabling him to directly channel magic into it.? After having learned the process I began to let the magic around me slowly converge into three spots. Unlike last time I didn''t instantly form the cores but took it slowly. But since I''m not a patient person, I made three at once, hoping to raise my efficiency. Once they were done, I commanded them in my mind to move to their respective places. There they burrowed into the soil, starting to grow, forming a triangle around me. Once I was done a very irritating thought entered my mind. ''System, how long will they take to grow into controllable trees?'' ?Host must wait for approximately 3 years to begin controlling recently planted trees.? ''3 years that''s way too long!'' ?Host should remember that growing takes time and shouldn''t be rushed.? I couldn''t deny that the system had a point. So I went back to growing and swaying my leaves in the wind. A whole year passed and I was bored. I had only passed a third of the necessary time and I already had nothing to do. I didn''t even need to concentrate on absorbing magic to grow anymore, it had become second nature, in fact, it was somewhat comparable to breathing. Yet just before I could lose my sanity to endless boredom a system prompt sounded. A new dilemma had arisen. How was I gone chose? There are so many options! ''Way to ruin the mood you useless-'' ''Hold it, system. You''re the best system in the world and I''m so sorry for having called you useless. So abandon summoning right now, I don''t wanna die!'' ''That was way too close for comfort.'' I mentally wiped the nonexistent sweat of my nonexistent face. I seemed to have escaped disaster by only the slightest margin. But the choice was still to be made nature or healing. ''System, how fast can I heal myself with healing magic?'' ''If healing magic is useless to me and there is no one else around why would you suggest it!'' ''You want to chop me again, don''t you! I''ll scream for help.'' ''Fine. I''ll train nature magic.'' ''Wait, can I speed up the growth of my subordinates with this.'' ''And why did I go through the process of making subordinate trees if I can simply grow trees that I can move now?'' ''Well, time to work then.'' Since I would probably need more subordinate trees in the future I made another three magic cores, placing them in a reverse triangle around me. The six buried cores now formed a hexagon or a simple circle with myself being the center. I could now start to take care of the outer circles. I concentrated on my roots, letting some smaller roots separate from the main roots and grow quickly towards the surface. Once they broke through the ground I made all of them grow a trunk and branches with leaves on them. I had grown 8 trees at once, forming a second, wider circle around me. And behold the trees could move! Well more like slowly shifting their branches. This was evidently not what I had in mind when I asked to be able to move. But I did find out that I could shoot around leaves, which would be useful if they weren''t soft and light. So yeah, subordinate trees check, ordinary but connected trees check, and back to growing in boredom. Wait, something over there, in the bushes moved. ''What could it be?'' And so I did. The discovery was... a squirrel with an acorn. ''System, you said I could absorb a fruit, does an acorn count too?'' Thus I set out to kill the squirrel and get the acorn. And I failed, tragically. I couldn''t even touch the little critter. The branches couldn''t reach it, the leaves couldn''t hurt it and the evil eye I gave it went unnoticed. The only good thing was that my boredom was somewhat relieved as the little runt came by every day, twice! Once in the morning, empty-handed and once in the evening with another acorn. Or at least that''s what I judged the time to be. Anyway, the daily target practice of shooting a running squirrel with leaves was interesting and even got me a skill. [leaf turrets] allowed me to fire leaves in quick succession and near instantaneously regrow them. 3 Memories and double evolution The situation with the squirrel had been going on for a few days now and zero progress was achieved. And finally, the system couldn''t take it anymore. ''Wait, what impact, what memory, and what does upload mean-Ahhhhh-it hurts-ahhh-make it stopppp-i''m gonna die!'' After 6 hours of me continuously, mentally screaming, the pain finally eased. What didn''t ease though, was my confusion. My head or more specifically my mind, as I don''t have a head, was filled with tons of memories. Okay, that''s a lie because if they were this heavy I would physically break under the pressure and so far I''m only breaking mentally. It took me two more days to order everything that had been forcefully crammed into my head. As to what it is, memories. Memories of my past life. ''I have lived in this world for so long and now you make me remember all this, why?'' ''Is that all!? You know what, fine. I don''t even care anymore, let''s get this acorn.'' In my previous life, I had been a peak high mage that was stuck at his rank due to insufficient potential. Died of old age and a long life after 1300 something years. I seemed to be in luck as the squirrel just jumped out of the bushes taking its usual way to bring home its acorn. Usually, I would start firing leaves right about now but I wasn''t the same as before. I quickly gathered some magic in a leaf, forming a peculiar looking symbol and firing the leaf. The leaf flew with terrifying aim and pierced straight through the squirrel''s head. The deed was done, the fiend dead and the acorn dropped. Next, utilizing large amounts of time and willpower I moved both squirrel and acorn to my tree body with a vine I grew with nature magic. Upon contact, both objects dissolved into shining particles and entered my body. And boy the system didn''t let me wait even a second before immediately giving a prompt. ''And now?'' The system was right, I felt the knowledge to do so in my mind. So I formed some magic power in my branches and willed that acorn to grow. Not long after an acorn was formed on one of my branches. I was prepared to spend the next few days growing more but the system would have none of that. ''Apple'' I answered without thinking. The question was suspect, no questions asked but it was a natural reflex to just answer. And with me having just regained my memories, everything was still fresh and present. The second I registered that I might have answered a bit too hastily I felt a short pang of pain in my mind. I discovered the sudden existence of a new magic structure next to the acorn, presumably from an apple. The acorn I had previously grown had also turned into a shiny red apple. ''System, explain in great detail what happened today, please.'' ''Stop! Use English for god''s sake, not half latinized nonsense and stick to important stuff.'' ''What was the condition for the second evolution?'' ''Why would there even be such an evolution if it could only last a few seconds?'' ''Nice going there system, perfect excuse complemented by a following threat.'' So I chose to go after this highly dubious happening no more and grow some apples. It took me a while to get the hang of it but I could eventually grow apples without expending too much effort. Another half year had passed and I had grown to a height of 15 meters. The lowest two meters were only bark but above that branches started to extend, decorated in lush leaves. Countless red apples were scattered over my tree crown, sparkling in the morning sun like gems. At least that''s how I imagined them to look. Magic perception might have its perks but seeing things like reflections and shines wasn''t among them. A nice evening was just coming to a close and darkness started to devour the world when a bang echoed over the forest. A storm was fast approaching it seemed. I didn''t think anything of it, it wasn''t the first storm that I had witnessed and surely wouldn''t be the last. Admittedly, I had been pretty freaked out the first time as I could only perceive the influx in thunder energy and the sonic waves. Thinking this storm would be like any other I settled down waiting to enjoy the feeling of rain and the cool winds. Yet the expected rain didn''t come. Only the amount of thunder energy in the surrounding air wouldn''t stop rising. And suddenly I felt pain, not physical pain, more like I was losing something important. <[Grand thunderstorm] detected. Immediate danger to host minimal. Danger of forest fire detected to be very likely.> ''How are you so calm. Won''t a forest fire be bad?'' 4 Trial by thunder ''If this thunderstorm is a problem shouldn''t you do something?'' The light began to fade away as the sky was covered in gray storm clouds. Not that I could truly see it, I merely noted the absence of light and the eerie feeling. ''System?'' ''What do you mean processing, is there something wrong with you?'' ''So essentially I''ll face the brunt of it to save the forest. Let''s get it over with then. Tell me what to do.'' So I gathered all the thunder energy I could get and proceeded to wait. The first lightning bolt came not too long after but couldn''t even penetrate through all my branches. Only the outer ones were scorched. ''Wait. My apples! My apples are being destroyed, the fruits of my labor!'' Now lighting bolts were coming down one after another, thunder crackled in the air and a gale force wind was blasting through the forest. I wanted to disperse the thunder energy to maybe save a few apples but noticed it was already too late. All my apples were ash now. And as though it was mocking me the system prompt could be heard at once. <40 percent of the thunderstorm has been neutralized. Gathered thunder energy can now be released.> ''Like hell, all my sweat, and tears of half a year''s effort was just reduced to ashes. I will take on every last bolt of lightning this storm has. Come at me with everything you have.'' Fueled by my anger I kept a firm hold on the thunder energy and stood my ground. Not like I could actually run away. Thus, the lightning bolts kept crashing down on me in quick succession. My branches were continuously being thinned out. Soon the first strike reached the top of my trunk. With an audible snap, a piece of wood was sent flying, deep scorch marks in it. The storm didn''t let up, as my body began shrinking from all the wood that was blasted off. I felt pain, physically this time but different from what I was used to. In my last life pain had felt sharp like a needle. Now it felt more like a dull ache. Could I not perceive the bolts of lighting ravaging my half scorched body I''d think I had fallen down and hit the ground. And so the night passed and in the morning the whole forest was as pristine as ever, with the exception of one nearly burnt down tree. And this tree, unexpectedly, was me. The storm had calmed and was now only a light drizzle coming from up above. ''Yes, yes whatever you say.'' At the time I had other more pressing issues to deal with. Like repairing my body and growing all my apples anew. The former was quickly done by just channeling magic to the damaged parts, so basically everywhere and seeing it quickly regenerated. But regrowing my apples would require time, which I without any doubt had. Since I had mastered the process of growing an apple, it took little to no concentration and I could set my mind on other things. The most pressing issue at the moment was the memory flood I had yet to digest. Because while the information was all present, it felt more like a dream that I could perfectly recall. The main point here was that I had to actively recall them which would take way to much time in a situation where I needed it. So I would have to go through each bit of memory and completely assimilate it. And that''s what I did. First and foremost I reviewed the general happenings during my life, I would go into details later. The earliest memories were rather foggy, glimpses of a ruined childhood, horrible upbringing and all that you wouldn''t want to experience. I was kind of disappointed that there was no sad music playing along while I went through this bloody tragedy. Then at the age of nine a ray of hope. It had come in the form of an old lady that had been hailed as a saint in her youth. She had taken pity on me and, due to my talent for magic, given me a place to stay and learn magic. Once I had reached adulthood I left. Making my way to the capital I began to study at an academy for magic. Dreadfully overpriced and not really worth the money it cost. I left after one year. That was when my first experiments started, the only way of advancing further in both power and knowledge. Often dangerous and filled with risks, these experiments brought great benefits and I broke through to the rank of high mage at an unprecedented age. I left to travel the world. Decades past and I reached the pinnacle of all high mages, being on the verge of stepping into the domain of archmages. And then I found out. The experiments I had made and used to gain growth in power had been burning my potential and would make it impossible to reach any higher rank. Now if any of you made some rough calculations you probably figured out that this only covers at most a hundred years. As for the rest of my 1200 years of life. All spent researching various fields of magic. Fields I would all be going through or maybe I''d just drop out halfway, sounds more like me. Thus I now began assimilating a more complex topic. Runes. The thing I had already, albeit in a very crude way, used to kill the squirrel. 5 Magic Runes A large part, 800 years to name a number, of my previous life, had been spent researching and experimenting with runes. Runes were, rudimentary speaking a symbol that, in exchange for reducing the efficiency and casting speed, allowed a mage to circumvent elemental affinity. As a nifty bonus, it also allowed imbuing objects with long-lasting magic effects. Now, these symbols made up a language of their own, including varied stages of complexity. Generally speaking, the more complex ones were, of course, superior in every way, regarding performance, but even the smallest deviations could lead to disaster. Not wishing to end my blooming existence, I decided to stick with the simplest of the simple for now. The hardening rune that had already allowed me to kill the squirrel. It was a simple rune that essentially hardened the object it was applied to. Since I had nothing better to do and needed practice anyway I inscribed every tree I could control with my nature magic. The difference between now and last time though was that I wanted the rune to be permanent or as close as I could get. So a rushed job like before wouldn''t do. I elaborately formed every single detail of every rune with my mind, letting it sink into the leaf one after another. After the completion of the first tree, there was a pleasant surprise waiting for me. And there the system went again, giving names to things and categorizing everything. I, on the other hand, continued giving each and every one of my trees an arsenal of leaf blades that I could fire at my discretion. And after that came the bark, the wood, and even the vines and roots weren''t spared. It took me a whole year to completely perfect my new line of defense. I had now gained enough practice to try a more advanced rune. One that I had my eye on for quite a while now. The spy rune used to record content and show the user. Its primary use in human society was, as the name suggested, to spy on other people without actually being there. One of its perks was that it could directly transfer image data to the mind upon contact. Now, who do I need to spy on? No one of course. I was most interested in the image data transfer. If I set this rune upon myself and had it transfer the visual feed instantaneously I could potentially see! I mean there''s nothing wrong with magic perception or anything like that but I still preferred seeing things the way I was to and not in all kinds of weird swirls and elements. The rune took me a while to complete as its complexity was clearly superior to the others but it was all worth it. I could see! The trees and grass gently swaying in the midsummer breeze, I should probably mention that I have yet to experience any sort of winter like season, the sun shining brightly in the sky above and a few other squirrels running around in the distance. I could even spot an occasional bird flying by. Yet most interesting things weren''t in my vision and since I couldn''t turn my head, I created some more spy runes to get a complete 360-degree field of vision. I could now tell that I stood at the back of a relatively big clearing if you ignored the trees I had grown. The clearing seemed unnatural, artificial even, and on the other end of it, directly opposite of me, I could vaguely make out an open path leading somewhere into the distance. Apart from me and my creations, there was also another tree in the clearing, it was a giant acorn tree, presumably the source of food for the squirrels in the area. This tree stood tall above all other trees even including myself and I''d wager even three grown men couldn''t span around the whole tree if the hugged it. Its leafs had a dark green hue that made its crown stand out from the others and I felt a slight magic presence from it. ''System, why is this tree different from the others?'' ''So it''s a magical tree?'' ''Will I be able to talk to it once it evolves?'' ''What do you mean by exponential speed of growth it''s taking me years to get anywhere.'' ''Millennia such a long time! I feel quite fortunate that I don''t have to spend so much time doing nothing.'' Having learned of the exceptionality of my existence I couldn''t help but feel uneasy, there were bound to be people in this world that would want to use me for their gains. Despite these bad premonition, I had continued living my calm life and concentrated on growing. But then one sunny day there was a great commotion going through the forest. Birds flew away in panic, rushing through the sky into all directions, the squirrels retreated into their tree holes and an unnatural stillness descended upon the forest. Then, at the entrance of the clearing they appeared, humans. 6 The humans They entered the clearing with great caution, searching for anything that could bring them harm. Finding nothing of the sort they began to spread out and check in greater detail. They were all male, young men who were full of vigor, scouts presumably. After they had turned every stone twice and made sure it was safe, one of them left through the way they had come. The others, to my great shock, were all heading straight to me. As they entered the first of my tree circles I could see why too. Through my magic perception, I could see clearly that they hadn''t eaten in a while. They were after my apples! The soon reached the place where I was rooted but from there they couldn''t reach my apples. So they started to climb up on me! The cheek! Naturally, I couldn''t permit climbing on my magnificent body. ''System, how do I get those little pests of my body?'' ''Simple and effective, I like it.'' Soon after an undulating of magic power spread from my core, catapulting the climbers a good distance away. They were terrified, trembling like leaves in the breeze they put some distance between us. ?Spirit tree, great ancestors we found a spirit tree." ''Spirit tree, what''s that?'' So they thought I was one of those incredibly highly evolved trees that had obtained consciousness after countless millennia. That explained why they were now scared to come closer. I kind of liked the feeling of being looked at with great reverence. But now that they had discovered me they didn''t stay long, they all left together in the direction the came from. My best guess was that they would now contact their leader or elder and tell him or her about me. And my guess wasn''t far from the truth. A day later a bigger group arrived. They had two wooden carts pulled by a bunch of oxen, laden with bags but mostly carried their belongings on their backs. From the leading wooden cart, an elder descended and, after having confirmed that I was, in fact, the tree the scouts had mentioned, approached me. I mean it would have been pretty embarrassing if he mistook me for another tree. And as the elder came closer, I could tell he was no ordinary human. He was a mage. Albeit a strange one, it seemed to me. His magic flow was all disoriented and if not for its vastness compared to others I might have mistaken him for an ordinary human. The mages I was familiar with in my past world would all, without exception, have a clear flow of magic in their body, yet this man just had too much to not be a mage. Stopping all this fruitless guesswork I decided to just wait and see what this elder would do. ?Greetings great spirit tree. I am Narvi, an early stage knight magus and elder of the... elder of this group of people. I apologize for some of our boys trying to climb you and wish to thank you for being lenient with them. But you must understand great tree spirit, we have all lost our homes and food is sparse out here. And you have so many wonderful apples yet you can''t eat them, couldn''t you give us some?" The crafty old fox was trying to swindle me out of my apples! I mean he was right, I didn''t need them... but that was no reason to give them away. Also, it wasn''t like I could actually answer him. But the important crux was now solved, it would seem there was a wholly different system of magic out there. This guy had said he was a knight magus? The old conundrum had been solved but a new one had arisen. How strong was this knight magus thing? I didn''t get to dwell on this matter for long though as a young woman pushed through the crowd and walked up to the elder. She too had a stronger magic power inside her albeit weaker than the old man''s. She turned to address the elder. ?Grandfather, please let me take care of this matter. I''ll be sure to get us a good deal." While the elder was still thinking about it I took a closer look at the girl. She had red hair, reminding me of the feathers of a phoenix, her slender body was hidden beneath a light blue dress that had definitely seen better days and her deep, hazel eyes gave her an air of maturity. The elder, having decided to leave things to his granddaughter, nodded and stepped back. The girl, now standing before me alone, gave an elegant bow while slightly lifting the sides of her dress and began her introduction. ?Greetings, I am Nerida, an intermediate stage maga. Since you don''t seem to have the ability to speak let''s establish a code shall we. Drop one apple for yes and two for no. Do you understand?" What a crafty little brat, she took after her grandfather. If I had hands I would have even applauded her for this genius proposal. Doing this she would receive some apples no matter the outcome and even set a deterrent against me saying no. Now not answering would make me look like I was scared so had to answer. One apple dropped to the ground and Nerida hurried to grab it. ?Good, now that we have a basic understanding we can continue. As mentioned before, we have a serious lack of food at the moment so would you be willing to give us your apples? Two apples dropped near instantaneously. As she caught the apples her previously perfect smile became slightly stiff and she started biting her lower lip. While she had expected a no she hadn''t thought it would come this quickly without even a second thought. She unconsciously pulled at her dress, exposing a slight bit of her cleavage. To bad that for this distance I relied mostly on my magic perception which made me see things in a totally different way, so my mind remained undisturbed. Mostly undisturbed. 7 Cutting a deal ?Great tree spirit, how can you be this cold and uncaring? I and my people just lost our village and had to flee to this far away place, hoping to find a new place to live. We have been traveling for so long. I don''t even remember when I last slept with a full stomach." She looked towards me hoping for some apples to fall or any sign of goodwill but alas she was disappointed. ?Fine then, how about we give you something in return." No apples fell. I wouldn''t waste apples on such a vague deal. ?Not gonna make this easy are you. How about we make you our village deity. You get prayers and we get apples, once we see better times we might even make some animal sacrifices?" ''What the hell does she mean I''ll get prayers, I can''t eat prayers, can I?'' Nerida was still watching me with anticipation and for the life of me, I couldn''t help but want to tease her. Two apples dropped, Nerida seemed close to tears until another dropped. Her consternation what three apples meant soon turned into joy as all the other apples dropped, except for a few pretty ones I kept. All in all, there were roughly two hundred apples lying on the ground now. The crowd stared from beyond the first circle with great hunger but didn''t make to grab them. Apparently, only magi were allowed to step close to a spirit tree. Soon though Narvi the elder and a dozen young men and women entered into the circle. Each and every one of them greeted me and introduced themselves. They were all apprentice magi and honestly they were so weak I could hardly tell them apart from ordinary humans. There were around 150 people so I thought everyone would get at least one apple and the 50 that were left would be split according to priority. But so wrong I was. The magi and scouts joined by the few warriors, numbering 30 altogether each took 3 apples! The remaining 110 were then given one to each of the 100 adults and a half each to the 20 or so children. My Goddesses, what hadn''t these people understood about taking care of children. Honestly, at that point, I was so close to just firing some leaf blades to thin out those warriors and magi. But seeing Nerida changed my mind, she had only taken one apple, no more. After having wolfed down all my wonderful apples they dispersed and began building a camp. Is what I want to say but that would be a lie. They had erected one shabby tent and made a few fireplaces with furs on the ground to sleep on. After those preparations were done, they came together again before me, right outside the tree circles. Narvi once again entered and came before me. They kneeled in unison and Narvi began a prayer. ?O great spirit tree, we kneel here before you. You gave us life at our darkest moment and we are thankful." At that moment I felt it. An invisible power converging towards me. A power so pure, so light it felt like entering a hot bath. Ensconced in this divine warmth I felt like I could do anything. My magic control was also increasing without me doing anything. That sounded fabulous. Found a way to speed up growth and obtained a new title. I felt like I should give those people a little something in return. A sign of sorts. I formed a simple light rune on my leaves, letting them glow with shiny resplendence. The crowd gasped in shock and prayed even harder. Sadly, they stopped after half an hour and dispersed once again. Night slowly crept up and swallowed the sun, only leaving a lingering afterglow. The humans went to sleep and again the desire for murder came up in me. Everyone gathered around the fireplaces, every adult had their own fur to sleep on and children would sleep with their parents. But more than half of them didn''t seem to have parents here. And what happened to them? They were just left to sleep in the cold! I mean yes Nerida was there and tried to keep them warm but frankly, she was just one more human freezing in the cold night. ''Children, come to the base of the tree.'' I attempted to project my mental voice to the group of children. Nothing happened and I assumed I''d failed but while I was searching for other methods of establishing contact without alarming the undeserving adults, a little girl came toddling over. She had soft golden hair, though darkened by dirt and a cute little face, filled with an innocence that could only be found in a child. Following closely after her was Nerida who had noticed the little one leave and tried to stop her. Of course, she couldn''t reach her in time to stop her from entering the outermost circle. At this point, and I really do mean it, I''d like to mention that I haven''t made any threats or promises of potentially fatal consequences upon entering the circles without being a magi. But it seemed there were some awful rumors around. The very second the little lass passed into the range of my magic perception and was thus inside the outermost tree circle, Nerida jumped forward with inhuman speed pushed the little one down and threw herself over her in a protective manner. Nothing happened. Nerida got up and looked around cautiously like she feared something might still happen. ''I mean what did you expect to happen? That I''d try to kill an innocent child just for getting close?'' ?You can speak?" 8 First communication She could hear me, couldn''t she? Nerida just reacted to what I had mentally said! ''You can understand me? Well, I guess hear would be more appropriate to say. On another note, in what language do you perceive my thoughts or are you only conveyed their meaning on a plane that surpasses words. Also, can you hear the system and why could you only hear me once you entered the circle yet the little lass could evidently hear me even outside?'' ?Stop talking so much, I can''t understand half of what you said!" Nerida, visibly bewildered by the overwhelming amount of words spoken by the tree she had thought of no more intelligent than some newborn child, which, to be fair, most spirit trees were. The system, on the other hand, answered with its usual calm attitude, caring naught about the bewildering circumstances nor the flood of words. ''Is that so, anyway, it matters not. Nerida, get all the children to my base. And if possible without waking the ones at the fires.'' Nerida, though still bewildered, did as I asked and soon all the children were assembled. ?Why did you have me bring them here? This place is as good as any other." ''Patience Nerida, patience.'' It took me a while, as I was slightly rusty but soon a couple of heat runes were giving off a comfortable warmth that permeated everything around my base. The children, awoken from their frosty slumber quickly settled down and sank back into dreamland. The only to souls not sleeping now were me and Nerida. ?Why do this? Why care? I can see nothing for you to gain in return." ''If your plan is for 1 year, plant rice. If your plan is for 10 years, plant trees. If your plan is for 100 years, educate children. It is a saying I heard a long time ago, the author was... Guan Zhong if I remember correctly. And in my opinion, letting half the children freeze in the cold night does not count as education but more as predestination for a bad character.'' Nerida seemed to be thinking about it but soon fell victim to the comfortable warmth and her own fatigue. The rest of the night passed without any uncommon occurrences and soon dawn announced itself with the first few rays of light, shining over the forest, awakening all life in its wake. So too did the camp begin to get lively and the adults began to roam around. It didn''t take them long to notice the absence of the children from the place they had been abandoned yesterday nor where they were now lying below me. Soon one of them ran to the tent of the magi and informed them. Big surprise those pricks didn''t agree with someone else entering their sacred tree''s vicinity and one of them came stomping over. At this point, Nerida had already begun walking towards him casually addressing me. ?I''ll take care of this one, no troubles." They met at the border of my second tree circle. ?Eric, please calm down. It''s not what it looks like and there''s a reason for this-" She didn''t get to say the rest as she had intended because at that moment a palm connected to her left cheek and slapped her out of the way. Now do remember that Eric, the prick that just hit Nerida, is an apprentice magus while she is a maga which is clearly above the former. Out of that, one can see how unforeseen this was. Having cleared the way in such an unsightly manner, Eric, who''s soon gonna die if he keeps this up, kept walking towards the children while snarling like an animal. ?You brats better be ready for-" A few leaf blades flew by, giving him a new haircut. He froze. All leaves around him had turned, pointing directly at him, showing a slight glint in the morning sun. ''One step further, I''ll cut you, one more word, I''ll dissect you. Leave now or face the consequences.'' He seemed to understand and quickly retreated, though resentment still lay in his eyes. Narvi, having heard the commotion outside, stepped out of the tent at last and made to diffuse the situation. ?What might all this racket be about?" Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Since he wasn''t in radius for me to speak to him I could do little more but remain silent but the offenders were, of course, quick to tell their story. ?The children slept under the tree spirit and now he is wrathful of us and won''t allow us to approach. They must be punished for approaching the tree spirit without qualification!" ?Then how is it I''m standing here without being attacked. Clearly, you pricks pissed the great tree spirit off and are now facing your punishment. Grandpa, the tree spirit talked to me, he told me that he likes children and wishes for them to be treated better. He called them to him." Nerida saved the day and my intentions were clearly conveyed. For good measures, I shot a few more leaf blades at Eric and sent him running back into the tent. ''Let''s make a new rule shall we. Nerida, please tell them that from now on only you, Narvi and the children currently with me may approach and collect the apples. Others... will be turned into fertilizer for me.'' Nerida faithfully repeated what I had told her out loud and after Narvi, himself had approached and heard me tell him personally, the rule was acknowledged. The next few days were rather uneventful. The humans spent their time building a few wooden houses, living off my apples, which I provided 200 every three days and the game that they managed to hunt. After some time I even received the new title [one who gives life] which allows me to regrow all my apples within a couple of minutes. I decided against regrowing them at that speed though, lest the humans got greedy. 9 Let the slaughter begin! The conflict had been settled, everything went well and I basked in prayers every day. The houses, I call them shacks, were coming along quite nicely and the villagers had settled down for the most part. While I still received the occasional evil eye, which I of course returned, although without effect, from the passing magi, the other villagers had quickly adapted to the rule I had put in place. Though this may have been largely due to Narvi being the one to tell them about those rules. Nerida had taken to spend most of her time with me either cultivating by taking advantage of the magic vortex I created or just telling me about this world. I was especially interested in their power system, being fuelled by magic but with an essentially different approach. Their way of cultivating reminded me of a tale I had heard from a passing archmage of a world where so-called cultivators used qi to cultivate their bodies and spirits, exerting power through martial arts and techniques. But the thing used in this world clearly wasn''t qi, it was magic. It seemed like the people in this world were using a synergy between the two, albeit a synergy that didn''t produce a stronger but a weaker result. Their grading was also different, much more primitive might I say. I mean basing everything on a feudal system isn''t very creative. Half a year passed in a flash and nothing of particular interest happened, Nerida had taught me quite a bit of common knowledge over this time but I felt like she was hiding something, or more specifically how she and the others got here. She told me that this forest was to the north of the sky kingdom and that there were no others close by. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Based on that I assumed they were originally from the sky kingdom but had to leave out of reasons unknown to me. And because this totally isn''t a predictable novel, this was, of course, the day I''d get to know about their past. Nerida came to the tree in the early morning hours, she was clearly upset. Probably courtesy to Erik, he was getting bolder over the last months and I could see him and Nerida get into fights in the distance. Today had been another such day but something felt off, it seemed different, worse. Nerida just sat there and meditated for 3 hours, then she spoke. ?You know, It''s my fault that we had to leave our home. Before all this happened we were known as the mountain bull clan, led by my father a baron magus but then a member of our clan insulted the verdant serpent clan and as an apology they wanted me to marry the son of their leader. I refused and they wiped most of our clan out, forcing the rest to flee the kingdom, expelled forever. All because I refused the marriage and my father didn''t want to force me." She was crying and though I wanted to give her a shoulder to cry on I was well aware of my ability to do so. ''You shouldn''t blame yourself, it wasn''t you who insulted the verdant serpent clan, was it? Nor did you decline against your father''s wishes. He let you chose and was ready to fight for that choice even if it cost him his life. So don''t blame yourself.'' ?Okay, thanks for trying to cheer me up-" With a loud burst, the woodwork to the north of the clearing exploded. A whole group of wolves came charging out, making a beeline for the camp. I assumed they too were here because of hunger, like the humans when they first arrived. Only that they weren''t going to be satisfied with some apples, they were here for meat, human meat quite possibly. Shame, for them, they needed to run past me. ?Tempest wolves! And there''s eight of them, we are doomed!" Nerida took up a combat stance, wanting to make some kind of last stand or something. I just locked on to these wolves with my leaves and fired. It was a gory battle to behold, though I guess slaughter would be more fitting. Thousands of leaf blades flew towards the wolves shredding the first three, leaving only an unidentifiable mass of flesh and hide. The four in the back fared better, dodging to the sides, only ending up as dismembered corpses from touching the outermost leaves. Just the Alpha, the strongest of the pack and the one who had been the furthest in the had escaped with a few minor cuts. I had stopped my barrage of leaves to allow greater visibility and to plan my next move. The Alpha interpreted this as weakness after exhaustion myself and resumed his charge straight towards me. Charging head on at a 15-meter tree with an immense density and an approximate weight of multiple tons, great idea. He too discovered this when he was in the process to sink his teeth into me only to find he couldn''t penetrate my bark. A quick leaf blade to the back of the head was all it took to make him breathe his last. ''May the earthen one see your bravery and gift you strength in your next life, may the eternal one guide you on your travels and may the lasting one bless your mind and soul.'' ?What was that about?" ''The wolves did nothing wrong, they were just at the wrong place at the wrong time. A little prayer seemed appropriate.'' ?Who did you pray to?" ''That is a story for another time.'' That evening the prayers felt more intense than usual, basking in this feeling was great. I had also absorbed the other wolves through my roots, leaving the blood that soaked the ground to my subordinate trees. With the help of the blood, acting as fertilizer, the system had theorized that in another half year my innermost circle would be fully grown and ready for duty. Wondering what tomorrow would bring I settled down for the night. 10 10 years bring changes The next morning the villagers all came together and started expanding the clearing towards the south. They cut trees, uprooted every plant they found and began to till the soil. They were creating fields for crops. The soil here had a nice, dark texture and was rich in nutrition, it would make for a perfect base to grow crops. And as I was feeling generous at the moment, I decided to extend a helping hand. ''System is it possible to store magic in a seedling and slowly disperse it over a prolonged span of time.'' ''There is no advantage in creating it. I''m just feeling generous.'' So I grew another apple and started infusing it with magic power. The system then applied a rune to, it which I, to my great chagrin, couldn''t understand in the least. The apple had turned a light green and was giving off a hue of color every minute or so, like a slow heartbeat. I gave the apple to Nerida, telling her to bury it in the center of the fields. Though confused, she did as instructed. The next day she had an understanding smile on her face when the whole village fell into disorder. They had discovered that the seeds sowed the day before had already begun to grow. Little green sprouts could be seen emerging from the ground. That was when Erik decided to announce that his field had grown the most. Based on that he was blessed by nature. What he said afterward I didn''t listen to anymore. Looking at his face after I had drained all life out of the plants in his field instantly lifted my mood. His ashen face, when he realized that his field was now barren, was too funny to behold. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. I think most of the people there knew that the ruin of the field was my doing. That didn''t stop them from shaming Erik for his now empty boasts though. It may have been to curry favor with me or just because they didn''t like Erik either but Nerida looked a lot better after this scene. ... Just like that ten years passed. I used magic-infused apples to boost the growth of crops, effectively cutting down the time they needed to grow by six to seven months. Having a full harvest of wheat every month or so was an enormous advantage for the villagers. As I kept bathing in their faith I felt my mind become clearer and less obstructed by laziness or disinterest. My absorption speed regarding magic was also on the rise. Especially so after my first and second generation of subordinate trees was fully grown and started to help me absorb more magic. The time was ripe for my next evolution. From my system, I had received the hint that before I could begin to replicate an animal or beast I would first have to start replicating ores. While the connection between replicating ores and animals wasn''t clear to me I had little reason to argue. Over the past ten years, I had expanded my roots and reached deep into the earth. Fun fact, since my roots don''t really need to collect nutrition form the ground, I can even grow in stone. I had already collected the magic structure data of copper, tin, and iron. While I would have preferred to also have a sample of silver and gold, I didn''t think it wise to delay any longer. The bunch of shacks from ten years ago had also changed quite a lot. The clearing was now filled with neat wooden houses with a couple of fields at the borders. Similar to the apple that had helped with the growth of crops there was now a subordinate tree in each field, collecting and distributing magic so the crops would grow. Narvi had sadly not lived long enough to see it. He had been pushing himself to lead his people here and had died of heart failure. Apparently, he had sustained some internal injuries that had sealed his fate. Nerida was appointed as the new clan head, bearing all responsibilities for the clan thereon. Her having a breakthrough into the knight magus realm not long after, along with my evident support, gave made her position very stable. Erik had become suppressed to the absolute maximum. He had taken to living at the edge of the village, with little social contact, managing his little garden. All in all the village was now self-sustained and I could concentrate on evolving. 11 Evolution The sun was rising and my top leaves began basking in the gentle sunlight. With a decisive snap, I let all my apples drop to the ground. All the magic I had been storing over the past eleven plus years was unleashed in one mighty burst. I could feel every part of me being nourished by this great force. My body was slowly increasing in density. My magic core kept expanding at a crazy rate increasing my control over magic and my overall mental capabilities. All this happened under the careful and precise instructions of my system. The unstoppable burst of magic was slowly subdued, refined and used to complete my physical evolution. Next, it was time for the most crucial part of evolving. The step from producing fruit like a natural tree to producing ore like a very unnatural tree mainly emphasized deduction. Or to say it in another way, an enormous mental capacity would be needed to apply plant growth features to ores. This process, albeit done by magic needed to follow a formula. This formula is ever-changing like life itself and would have to be adjusted continuously, thus the requirement of mental capacity. With the now vastly improved magic core I possessed I could run the necessary calculations. ''I think that''s the longest I''ve ever heard you talk at one time.'' After I had evolved the changes could clearly be seen. All the places where there had once been apples were now filled by dazzling lumps of pure tin. This silvery-white treasure, albeit not the most precious nor most durable of metals it holds many practical values. Tin was used for many useful alloys because of its strong properties for bonding other metals due to its low melting point. The main reason I decided on using tin as my first metal to be displayed was its silvery-white color. Tonight, there would be a full moon. And wouldn''t the shine just be wonderful and sparkly in the moonlight? I had to see this. At least as much as I could see. ''Come on... No! Stop that! No summoning circles needed here... We can talk about this right... right?'' ''Wait! You misunderstood I''m doing this to get more faith!'' ''Pfew, glad I could come up with this on the spot.'' ''Nothing!'' So anyway, I was now a certified magical ore tree that looked damn good. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Giddily waiting the whole day, evening finally arrived. And with it came the daily evening prayer from the humans. Led by Nerida, they all congregated around the outermost tree circle. They had stayed away from me the whole day. Seemed that the burst of magic during my evolution had scared them a little. Thus my completely changed look came as an even bigger surprise to them. Sparkling silver lights in the pale blue light of the moon. Their facial expressions were in awe and I felt like the faith I received had grown just a little stronger. The next day, Nerida came to find me in the morning. Not that there was any searching needed, I still couldn''t move after all. ?So... what''s with the new look?" ''A change of heart my dear my soul is now pure like silver.'' ?I liked the soul of apples more." ''...'' ''Well I''ve evolved so for the time being there won''t be any apples. But I have ores now, this is tin, a very useful metal.'' ?So it''s not silver, what a disappointment. Anyway, I''m here to get the spell you promised me for not learning the one from my clan." I was slightly sad that my great new powers weren''t appreciated but the thing she mentioned was indeed more pressing. After all, I''d have multiple years to convince her of the greatness of tin. As for the spell promise, that was quite a complicated matter. 12 Spell synergy Before his unfortunate passing, Narvi, knowing what was gonna happen to him had taught Nerida the only spell he knew. The spell was named earthen bullhead. It used powerful magic to create an earthen bullhead that would follow its victim and crash into it. The main problem being that to use the spell without being a baron magus would need the assistance of the caster''s blood. The more blood the more powerful the spell is, essentially making this a suicide spell with great power and little use. So when Nerida told me she wanted to learn it after breaking through, I told her not to. The whole affair ended in me promising to teach her another spell once she had stabilized her realm and brought the clan under her absolute control. Did I have such a spell prepared? No. Did I have a plan for getting such a spell? No. Was I just going to improvise? Definitely! ''Nerida sit here with your back touching my bark. I need to see what spell suits you.'' She sat down trying to hide her anticipation. Her hands were trembling with excitement. To people from lower clans like hers learning a suitable spell that had no drawbacks was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Through the connected surface between Nerida and me, I could now check her body condition. As my magic slowly flowed into her body Nerida slightly shivered. Feeling the intruding magic her own magic lashed out violently, only to dissipate upon contact. My magic was overwhelming in both its density and accuracy of its movement compared to hers. I kept the amount minimal as to not cause any damage to her body and began to systematically inspect everything. Soon I was met with an unexpected surprise. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. The blood in her veins was not entirely human. There was a wild aura mixed in, hard to notice because of its low potency. ''Hell no! This is perfect. If I teach her beast mode she will definitely be satisfied and not learn that suicide spell.'' ''Why are you suddenly using square brackets again?'' ''Oh really... then the fact that you just used a different form to refer to yourself surely is a malfunction too, right?'' ''You must mean affirmative, right?'' I really wanted to comment on the use of shut up instead of something like refrain from speaking but... divine lumberjack. Reeling my magic back I began teaching Nerida her new spell. On that subject, a quick explanation of how magic works in both worlds to the best of my understanding. In my old world, there were two main ways to cast a spell. Manually controlling magic to take the desired form and element, like for an example forming a ball out of fire magic would create a fireball. Depending on the spell this could be very demanding on the user''s mind because they had to control everything by themselves. The second option was essentially the same but with a solution for the high mental demand of spells. The manual conversion and formation of the spell were be substituted through magic circles. Using the same example as before you''d need a fire conversion and a ball formation circle. These circles were generally just created in the caster''s mind but could also be engraved and used similarly to runes. In this world, spells seemed to depend on a so-called spell model. This mental construct would do all the work. The only thing the caster did was to build the model and feed it with enough magic for the spell to work. Now, why did I explain all this? The spell I was going to teach Nerida was, of course, different from all the things mentioned previously. Beast mode as it was generally called was a transmutation typed spell that took advantage of the user''s bloodline. Through stimulation of this bloodline, one could temporarily receive certain attributes of the bloodline progenitor. Sadly the prerequisite for this spell was having a bloodline. And getting such a bloodline was pretty difficult. To put this into perspective, if 100 people drank the blood of a beast strong enough to give them a bloodline it would be a miracle if anyone survived. The easiest way to receive a bloodline was to have your ancestors take the risk and then just be born with it. But enough of all that for now. Teaching Nerida the way to stimulate her bloodline was a quick matter. 13 Bloodline awakening All the villagers were running around in panic. Another bestial roar came from the base of a great tree in the middle of the village. The chaos kept increasing with every furious roar that covered the village. And all this was probably caused by yours truly. I admitted that in hindsight I had made a mistake. Not telling Nerida about the pain brought by the first transformation was not my brightest moment. Though I was sure there would be worse moments in the future. But anyway, the mistake was made and I had thoroughly reviewed where I was wrong, the matter was done. ''Fine, I''ll apologize to Nerida once it''s over.'' Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Five minutes later it was over. The village was now close to a ghost town and Nerida back to normal. Mentally that is. Her physique had changed quite a bit. Two long dark horns protruded from her head. Her skin tone had changed into a grey color that resembled a rock. Nerida''s height had increased by more than 20 centimeters and her whole body was packed with muscles. Wanting to test the newfound strength in her body, Nerida rushed over to my neighbor, the acorn tree. I tried to stop her but with her increase in speed, my reaction was just a tad bit slow. She reached the tree and swung her fist at it. Accompanied by a loud bang and the sound of shattering wood a cavity appeared in the tree''s trunk. But this wasn''t enough yet for little Nerida. No, she had to swing her leg and hit the tree squarely next to the crater. This kick caused enough destruction to fell the ancient acorn tree. Ending its ascent to be a great fruit-bearing tree. Thankfully, Nerida managed to calm herself after seeing the towering tree fall. "This is the strength of a baron magus! Such a powerful spell. With this, I can-" ''Don''t overestimate yourself. You merely hold physical strength comparable to a baron magus. Your spells fall short by a huge margin. From what I can tell, the only thing that you could win against a baron mage is a comparison in defense.'' I knew exactly what Nerida was thinking. If she could exert baron level strength at the knight level, then once she became a baroness maga she might stand a chance against the leader of the verdant serpent clan''s leader. This notion of hers was utterly ludicrous in my opinion. The verdant serpent clan was just like the mountain bull clan named after a beast. It would be very strange if they didn''t possess the verdant serpent''s bloodline as well. And while a low-level clan like the mountain bull clan may not know how to use their bloodline, that didn''t necessarily mean that the more high-level ones didn''t. ''As you are now you wouldn''t be able to defeat a baron magus. If you learned some martial arts though, your chances would approve.'' "Martial arts?" ''Self-defense techniques for mages they copied and modified from other civilizations. They should be somewhat similar to how the fighter class does battle.'' "But the fighter class is weak. It''s said that a mage will never lose to a fighter of the same class." ''Be that as it may, if you use both battle styles you will emerge victoriously.'' "Maybe another day, I''m tired. Where is everybody?" ''Remember all the screaming you did during the transformation? They kind of got scared and ran away.'' And so began Nerida''s exhausting search of her fellow villagers. They hadn''t run far and when they heard the explanation they immediately returned. While Nerida was out searching for the others something strange occurred at the edge of my field of vision. A small blue dragon with feathered wings broke through space. In its mouth was an arrow, the air around it would begin to twist ever so slightly and it gave off a hard to detect spacial fluctuation. Behind this dragon, space opened up again. But this time it was a clear cut rift. The aura of the lady flying out made me tremble. She was definitely an archmage of high rank if not a deity, making her even more powerful. She was chasing after the dragon and had reached it in the blink of an eye. But the little reptile swung around his head and used the tip of the arrow to make another gash in space. The dragon had disappeared into the already closed gash, provoking an irritated glare from the lady in blue. She flicked her wrist and created another rift. After she had left the rift sealed up and nobody might guess what had just traversed through this world. 14 Of Bandits and Merchants A few days had passed since Nerida had acquired her beast form. I had been leisurely growing tin, copper and iron ingots while trying to teach Nerida martial arts. I found it to be unexpectedly difficult to teach someone how to fight without having a body myself. But soon my attempts had to be postponed. Some of the villagers had seen armed men in the forest. These men, presumably bandits, were a real danger for the village. Nerida hastily ordered all villagers to remain in the village for the following days. The few magi would take turns keeping watch with two able-bodied villagers. I was expecting the bandits to first spy on the village and then attack during the night. But... they decided to just charge in during the middle of the day without even scouting ahead. There were 20 of them. Their weapons weren''t well cared for, they looked like hoodlums to me. "Hand over all your food and maybe we''ll just leave." Nerida stepped forward, followed by the magi and a few others. "We don''t wish for any conflict between us but we won''t hand over our food. Please leave." The bandits looked at each other and the entire group resumed their charge towards the village. The one who had made the ultimatum upfront. "Beast mode!" These were the last two words the bandit leader heard before his skull was smashed by a gray fist. Nerida had transformed and attacked without hesitation. By the time the other bandits recovered from their shock Nerida had finished four more of them. They turned to flee as two more fell and took off as fast as they could. But how could they escape a superhuman like Nerida? Yes, they should split up! My thoughts exactly. Not the thoughts of those bandits though. They chose to cry and scream for help. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Only a single bandit survived. Nerida had dragged him back for interrogation after killing the others. "Why are you bandits here in the wilderness? There should be few people to rob out here." "We didn''t mean to come here. The king decided to expand into the wilderness and had a city built near the border. We were offered great rewards to pioneer into the wilderness but ultimately they just sent us out to scout without any provisions." "Are there more of you in the vicinity?" "Not anymore. Some of us went back to inform the city while we planned to raid you." In conclusion there likely would be more of them coming here. Or so we thought. The next week passed without any disturbances. All our cautious behavior was wasted. On the eighth day, a figure appeared on the outskirts of the village. A middle-aged man sitting on a horse cart. A merchant called Aldi hailing from the new city. He said he came for trading and claimed to know nothing of the scouts. His true purpose had likely been to gather information on this village. That was until he caught a glance of me. More specifically, of what was hanging on my branches. He was a seasoned merchant no doubt. It only took him a second to discern that one of the ingot types was high purity iron. "Is it a custom of yours to hang precious metals on some tree?" He made a probing joke. Just that Nerida took it the wrong way. Aldi had unknowingly insinuated that I was just some soulless tree which to Nerida was an insult to her friend. "HE grows those metals himself!" Yup, she was mad. Thankfully, Aldi was quite perceptive and noticed his mistake. "Apologies that was inconsiderate of me. But I have to ask, are you... is he willing to sell these metals?" "Why don''t you ask HIM yourself." Nerida strode off at a furious pace. Aldi was left alone staring blankly for a moment. Then he seemed to get ahold of himself and approached me. "Greetings... lord tree? May I ask for your name?" A name! I must confess I had never thought about my name. Sure, I had a name in my previous world. But using it here... seemed inappropriate. I''d have to decide on a new, fitting name. The waiting look Aldi gave me started to become uncomfortable. He probably thought I was evaluating whether he was worth telling him my name. But here I was, still thinking of that very name. Another minute passed and I had finally decided. 15 Elder? ''You may call me Eldar, little merchant.'' I said trying to make my voice sound deep and full of wisdom. It seemed to somewhat work as Aldi''s countenance changed, his body shifting into a low bow. "Then, lord Eldar, I was meaning to ask if those metals on your branches could be purchased? For a high price of course." Aldi said the second sentence as fast as he could as if it were an insult not to mention the high price. I was sure he''d pay a good deal of money but of what use would that be to me? I wasn''t a dragon so hoarding gold wasn''t one of my hobbies. Instead. ''Well, I am not overly materialistic.'' A blatant lie. ''But since you came to spy on us and wanted to make a good impression I''m sure you have some valuable goods to trade with me.'' "Yes, of course! Wait! I''m not a spy! I-I didn''t mean that. I just have valuable goods with me." ''Out of seemingly no reason taking valuable goods into a wilderness and finding an unknown village without a guide. What a coincidence! Maybe I can squeeze some of that luck out of your body and use it as fertilizer.'' "Fine, you got me. I bought the info on your location from the border city, Utgard. They want to establish a safe area around the city. They will pay a fortune for info from locals about the various danger zones. But about that trade." ''What do you have to offer?'' Wordlessly he ran back and brought over his cart. Then he began opening the various crates in the back. Inside them were various iron farming tools, seeds, and some iron weapons. ''All of this looks like good stuff. How much?'' "Well how about three silver ingots or 50 iron ingots." ''Silver? Oh, you must have confused the tin with silver. This metal is not silver it only looks similar. But since you will probably be unable to appreciate the glory of tin I''ll trade using iron ingots. Now step back, I don''t want to smash you.'' Though confused about my comment Aldi stepped back decisively. Only seconds later a rain of iron ingots dropped from my branches. The ingots left little craters where they had landed. I asked Nerida and some villagers to help carry out the trade. Not long after, Aldi left the village with his cart and a stack of iron ingots on it. ''I hope no one robs him.'' "I hope he runs into a pack of tempest wolfs." ''Where''s that coming from Nerida? He''d die.'' "That''s what he deserves for treating you like a normal tree. I hope they rip him to shreds." ''Now now, he apologized and we made a good trade. Just forgive him and go occupy yourself with distributing the traded goods.'' I could guess why Nerida was so critical about Aldi. He was from the sky kingdom. If he found out who they were and the verdant serpent clan got wind of it... Things wouldn''t end well. Aldi returned periodically every month or so. The officials in Utgard had taken a great interest in the locals that had survived more than 10 years in this area. My presence was, of course, another aspect that greatly increased the village''s worth. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. And as Nerida had feared it didn''t take long for Aldi to find out their true identity. Only the resulting occurrences astonished her greatly. On Aldi''s next visit he was joined by a messenger from Utgard''s council of nobles. This messenger, a man with short black hair, sharp eyes and the vibe of someone who felt much more important than he was, held an official decree of the council. He asked all the villagers to gather at my base. Then with an exaggerated gesture, he removed the seal while making sure everyone could see it and unfolded the scroll. I should probably mention that based on the villagers whispering the seal represented the king''s proxy. I hardly have to tell you what kind of power this seal holds. It can only be reversed or overruled by the king himself. This brought both great excitement and terror to the villagers, causing their whispering to intensify. The messenger cleared his throat. Deadly silence followed. What if they missed a single word? Their eyes were glued to the messenger''s lips. The contents of the scroll were as follows... 16 Utgards decree Members of the mountain bull clan. We, the council of nobles from Utgard, have heard of your plea. You have been falsely accused of disloyalty by the verdant serpent clan and chased from your homes. You have our condolences. But now that we, the council of nobles from Utgard, have heard of this great injustice done to you, we have decided to take actions to right the wrongs done to you. Your village shall be named the frontier town of the mountain bull. We, the council of nobles from Utgard, shall send aid in your conquest of the wilderness and expansion of your new town. This help will be in the form of workforces, tools, equipment, and counseling. Furthermore, we, the council of nobles from Utgard, shall question the verdant serpent clan. The injustice done to you shall not go unpunished. You have remained in exile for far too long. As the king''s proxy, we welcome you back to the sky kingdom! Lies! All lies. That''s what this decree was made up of. As if any noble that had the power to be the king''s proxy would care about a clan of less than a thousand members. This was solely for the benefits this village held. Workforce? A convenient way to force us to accept more people. Tools? They wouldn''t give them to us for free. Counseling? Just another word for giving orders. And this frontier town thing. They just wanted to make us part of the kingdom again so they could get ahold of this village legally. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. I wasn''t mentioned in the decree but as a town in the sky kingdom, we would have to pay taxes. The messenger had been invited to a feast by the joyous villagers. The only one who remained now was Nerida. "Are you alright?" ''What do you mean?'' "Your giving of this scary vibe. It feels like you want to kill someone." I was a little started. I had indeed begun to leak a minuscule amount of killing intent. Not enough to be noticed by the villagers and the messenger but sufficient to be sensed by Nerida. ''Sorry. It''s just that I don''t have a lot of appreciation for these political games. They say such sweet and immaculate words but behind these words hides insatiable greed. I just have a hard time listening to such pretentious words.'' "Don''t be sorry. I''m the one who should apologize. We dragged you into this and now they''ll try to control you too." ''So you realized the meaning of the decree.'' "I''m not as silly as the others. They are charmed by the idea of justice and having their own town. I know they just want to gain control of us and our knowledge of the landscape." ''You forgot about the taxes.'' "... ****!" Nerida stormed off. The messenger as expected didn''t leave right away but immediately wanted to collect taxes. Twenty percent of the whole harvest. Collected every month. And as expected, my iron ingots were included in their definition of harvest. Greedy bastards. It was a good thing that I had pretended that I''d need about a month''s time to regrow my 50 iron ingots. Finally, the messenger left and the townspeople began building various structures under my guidance. I had them build two warehouses, a town hall, four inns and dozens of houses. In my spare time, I engraved another rune in my trunk. The voice projecting rune. I was tired of being constrained to a little space where I could talk to others. A peaceful month passed and Aldi returned. Along with the messenger. And a hundred workers. They were welcomed by Nerida and received their houses. The messenger and Aldi settled down in the only inn that was running at the moment. In the evening after dinner, all the workers wanted to go to their houses and rest. They were however harshly reprimanded by Nerida. It was time for the evening prayer. A tradition that had been kept up since the clan''s first day here. "Prayer why we were promised better lives here. Prayers weren''t mentioned." The workers were unwilling. They didn''t come here to pray. They had all been poor farmers who had taken this offer to clear their debt. Who would they pray to? "Lord Eldar is the guardian deity of this town and as it''s inhabitants you are required to pray to him. Only with his protection can this town even exist. Only through his presence will the beast keep away." I did that? 17 Bloodlust passive I''d actually never thought about it. Since the tempest wolf pack had attacked the village I had never seen a living beast again. Occasionally animals but nothing that could bring any harm. ''System is it true that I''m the reason there are no beasts in the vicinity?'' ''You said border. Can I control the extent of that border? And how precise can I be?'' Meanwhile, Nerida and the workers were still locked in an argument. And since I was the main reason for this discussion I decided to intervene before Nerida could slap anyone to death. Activating the voice projecting rune my voice boomed, halting their argument. "ENOUGH! Nerida, stand down, let me handle it. As for you all, I won''t force anyone to pray to me." ''Just trust me. I wasn''t done speaking yet.'' The workers had already begun to smile at each other. If lord Eldar himself said he wouldn''t force them, there was no way Nerida could. "However, know that if you refuse the prayer, I will not extend my protection to you. You will also not be permitted to approach me." "Who cares about your protection anyway!" They began to return to their houses. Aldi and the messenger wanted to return to the inn too but I called them back. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "I believe you should witness the prayer. Then you can inform the next group of workers in advance." Once they were all gathered around me, my devious little plan began. Using the method the system had imparted me with I retracted the borders of my bloodlust. The only area that remained protected was my immediate vicinity. The reaction was quite astounding. Not even five minutes passed and the first beasts arrived. Another pack of tempest wolfs. Five of them, running in tight formation, straight at some of the workers who remained outside. The workers only realized the danger when two of them started screaming from being bitten, probably to death. The others quickly noticed the wolfs and wanted to flee. But they soon heard beast''s roars from every direction. The only place that seemed safe, serene even, was where Nerida and the others were kneeling before me. And, shameless as they were, the workers charged straight over to us. Now I had clearly stated that they weren''t allowed to approach me. Thus I saw little need for a warning. Leaf-blades rushed through the evening air, blood gushed from open wounds and corpses hit the floor. The ones further away reeled back with indignation. Safety had been so close yet the damnable tree stopped them. Boohoo, life''s unfair isn''t it? So close yet so far, a choice between death by a thousand cuts or a beast maw. "Why do you block our way? We are people of this town too. You can''t let us die here." "What does you being part of this town have to do with letting you approach me? This space is reserved for only my followers. I also have no connection with this town. I didn''t agree to become its guardian deity. I will only protect those who pray to me." The workers were enraged but what could they retort to this? They had been told that they wouldn''t receive protection if they didn''t follow along and they had acknowledged that. Even if they didn''t want to acknowledge it now they still couldn''t get close without dying. The messenger was in the safe area too. He wanted to say something to help the workers. He had already opened his mouth when the realization hit him. Fear distorted his face as he thought that he too could die here should he say something stupid. So he hastily shut his mouth covering it with his hands, like the words might escape if he didn''t keep them in with his hands. Meanwhile, the workers'' situation became more precarious with every second. The beasts from the forest were getting closer and closer. 18 Forced Unity It didn''t take long for the first worker to break under the pressure. "I want to join the prayer so please grant me your protection!" In a life or death situation like this, praying to a tree was the safer option for him. After the first worker had said those words, the others all echoed him. "Very well, you all may come here and join the prayer." They bolted over as fast as they could. Reaching the others they got on their knees and repeated after the others. Naturally, since they didn''t truly mean what they said and only did this to preserve their lives, the faith stream coming from those 80 workers left much to be desired in both quantity and quality. But I couldn''t force them to believe in me like most of the others did. Only time could make them into devout believers. Now that my temporary goal was reached I expanded the borders of my bloodlust once again. All the beast that had come here immediately retreated. They were even kind enough to drag the corpses with them, leaving little cleanup work to do. Both the messenger and Aldi soon left the town and everything resumed its peaceful state. The workers had also learned from the previous incident. They were quite terrified by it and tried not to make any complications. A few more months passed like this and the number of workers had increased to around a thousand. Another show of power wasn''t necessary either as all new workers had been informed about the requirements of living here. The one thing bothering me was the fact that the town was split into two parts. The inner part was more or less the old village. It contained people of both genders and all ages. The outer part, on the other hand, was made up of about 800 men. The problem now was that this town was dependent on new workforces from Utgard since the workers would age and there was no second generation to follow up. I had asked the messenger why there were no women being sent here. The answer was that they simply couldn''t find any willing ones. A lie. Some of the workers had told me that the was a good amount of females that had volunteered but were rejected. Honestly, I couldn''t do much about this anyway, so I just ignored it. Sadly, the reality of things wasn''t kind enough to let me enjoy this peace for long. The wealth I was generating would surely tempt greedy individuals to make their move. It didn''t take long for the first noble to visit. A visit to give salutations to me as he claimed. Strangely he didn''t exchange a single word with me during his stay here. Instead, he spent his days talking to various people and one of them was Erik. I would be a lie to say I wasn''t concerned. All the conversations had been held at the entrance of the clearing. They purposefully tried to conceal what they were talking about. At first, I tried to ignore it, for peace sake. I didn''t wish for more deaths. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Then the second and the third and the fourth noble came to visit me. The situation had repeated itself multiple times and I couldn''t take it anymore. I had been unwilling to do this, as I wished to give them some measure of privacy but they had forced my hand. My roots that had stayed underground all this time slowly moved to the surface until the whole clearing was dotted with them. The surfaced roots all had a rune of listening imprinted in them. These runes were then connected to a rune of recording on my trunk. Privacy was now officially abolished. The next secret talk of those nobles would not be so secret anymore! If they dared come here again that was. To my great chagrin, they really didn''t. Three months passed at an agonizing pace. I could listen in on every conversation held but there wasn''t anything useful! The fourth month had nearly passed and I was really hoping a noble would be there this time around. 19 First descendan ''What the heck do you mean? You can''t just tell me I can have my first descendant. Give me some explanation.'' ''Do it then plant my descendant right next to me.'' ''The edge of the tree circle it is. Do it now.'' I was totally overwhelmed by the thought of having a descendant. In my previous life, I had never had a wife or a child. My only partner in life was my research. Getting a second chance at life I wished to rectify this error. I wished to know the feeling of being a father so desperately that I threw all caution to the wind and did it. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. I had been warned. With a burst of life force a light green, glowing orb left my body. It was nearly time for the evening prayer and the townspeople had already gathered. Before there eyes, this glowing orb traveled to the western edge of the outermost tree circle and transformed into a sapling in the ground. The prayers that night were slightly more intense than usual. The following day, a noble arrived. Same procedure as always. However, this time their secret talks would be known to me. It didn''t take long for the noble and Erik to conveniently find themselves at the edge of town. "I presume you are Erik?" "Indeed my lord, are you here for the same reason as the others?" "I have already heard what you have told them. Was there any recent development?" "There was. He seemed to expend great effort to create a sapling. It must be very precious to him. My lord, you could take advantage of that." "I will see about that. You have done well." That didn''t sound good. I''d have to make sure to- ''Hum?'' A sound echoed through my mind. It sounded... Cute. ''Was that you system?'' ''Hum?'' ''So I now have a child talking in my head, what a pain. A very cute sounding pain.'' The voice didn''t respond and I could vaguely feel that its owner had fallen asleep. I should keep my mind voice down, lest I wake it. I had been planning something before this. Hadn''t I? Well since I didn''t remember, it couldn''t have been all that important. I spent the rest of the day in a daze. A fuzzy feeling in my core engulfed my mind and I felt truly happy. I hardly noticed the evening prayer and the whole night seemed to pass in but a flash. I was awoken from my daze by none other than the noble. He came early in the morning, followed by Erik and his attendant. "You there, tree." "I have a name you know." "That is of no concern to me. I know that you can produce more iron. Should this be known to Utgard you would be heavily punished. However, I am a generous man. Give me 500 iron ingots every month and I will keep my silence on the matter." "Are you done? Because I refuse." Thinking the matter was over, I fired a few leaf blades at Erik and tried to sink back into the comfortable feeling I had before being so rudely awakened. I still kept some attention on Erik, hoping to see him suffer a bit. But it didn''t happen. The leaves were burnt to ash before they could reach him. I began to concentrate again. What had just happened? "Ha! Did you really think you could harm someone in my presence with leaves! What a dumb tree you are. You can''t follow orders and act violently, I will have to punish you." 20 Dont mess with nature! I fired another volley of leaves in answer. This time though I didn''t use the rune to watch what happened. And there it was, a round object in the nobles pocket sent out a wave of fire that incinerated my leaves. "Bragging based on an artifact, are we." "What do you know! Holding an artifact is a qualification too. Now I will show you what it means to defy me." I wasn''t really scared of him. He might be able to burn my leaves but my body was far too dense to be burned by such a weak flame. These thoughts suddenly turned into pure terror. He wasn''t walking towards me. He was going for my descendant! ''Hum?'' Not now. I needed to stop him. I started to increase the barrage of leaf blades until they turned into a green current of death. This current of sharpness coursed straight at the noble and engaged the fire waves sent out by the artifact. Due to the nature of fire burning leaves, the artifact held a massive advantage. Even with these immense quantities, I couldn''t muster enough power to overload the artifact. Thus, I had to look as the noble slowly approached my sapling. Behind him, a charred pathway was left, proof of my fight with the scorching waves that defended him. My tine descendants just stood there, rooted to the ground. The little sapling barely reached the noble''s knees. Then the ax chopped down. Erik! A gash appeared nearly cutting my sapling in half. Despite the apparent futility of it, I increased the green current''s strength once again. The ax was raised once again. That dreadful ax. In my mind, the descendant''s voice had been reduced to a tiny whimper. And with a last wavering cry, the ax descended once again. A lifeless sapling hit the ground. I lost it. "BASTARDS! I''ll end you! Red mist began to spread through countless fractures from my body. Dark clouds covered the sky. The world was plunged into darkness. The only light, the red mist that was spreading furiously. The noble and his two accomplices froze up, engulfed by the tangible bloodlust. Winds picked up, gales, whirlwinds, gust, and even small cyclones ravaged the forest. The wood of the town''s houses creaked under the pressure and was hit by the first raindrops. Far away from Utgard a powerful presence approached but by the time it got close, it was met by a spinning wall of water, reminding of a hurricane. Thunder roared in the sky, purple lightning flashes flickered and lightly illuminated the eye of the storm. The first lightning bolt struck the ground, it aimed for the petrified noble but was barely blocked by a powerful burst of flames. A crack echoed the whole town. The artifact in the noble''s pocket had collapsed under the lightning strike''s power. His face twisted into a soundless cry of horror and despair as he saw the next lightning bolt. He was hit directly and the lightning slowly scorched his body. Little arcs of lightning were left dancing over his corpse as it fell to the ground devoid of all life. Time seemed to stop for a few seconds... The strong presence outside of the storm turned and headed back. Erik took a step back. He was attempting to run but he had underestimated the power of the storm my boundless wrath had summoned. The silence was broken by another lightning strike, followed by another and another. Thousands of lightning strikes fell and turned my surroundings into a charred hellscape. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. The only thing left standing completely unharmed were me and my trees. The town was also mostly fine. It had been spared by the lightning. There were only a few wrecked houses that had been met with a cyclone. ''Why? Why! WHY?!! I couldn''t even save a single sapling.'' 21 Aftermath ''What do you mean I was holding back? I fought with everything I had.'' ''Dammit.'' I knew the system was right. I could have done more... no, I should have done more. I was naive to think that if I held back and played nice, the humans would leave me my peace and quiet. Rune of recording, after the evening prayer... found it! Play it. "You wanted to see me, Erik?" "No, he didn''t, I did. Lady Nerida, head of the mountain bull clan, I am Surt, the heir of the muspel clan." "And why did you call me here? I don''t see a reason for the heir of one of the great clans to come here?" "Surely you jest! The existence of this tree, you call him Eldar, would be of great value to any clan. Especially if he didn''t keep his abilities for his own benefits." "What are you talking about? Eldar has never kept anything for his own benefits!" Erik interjected. "Did he really? He grows those ingots within seconds once a month but he did the same with the apples every three days. Are you certain he couldn''t grow more?" "I-I-" "It doesn''t matter whether you believe Erik or not. I do and I will obtain these benefits for my clan. I''m just here to ask you to stay out of this. If you do as I say, my clan will surely reward you. We might even help you deal with the verdant serpents, something you tree could never do." "Can you truly destroy the verdant serpent clan?" "If you and your clan stay out of this. You have my word." Recording end. ''No... She betrayed me?'' I could feel something in the deepest parts of my soul break. A strong trust I had always had for humanity. And, something was born to fill that empty void. Hatred, wrath, resentment, call it whatever you want. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. ''What are the conditions for me to evolve again?'' "Aldi!" I was taken aback by the sound of my own voice. It didn''t sound wise and deep like before. I had always tried to make my voice sound like that but now that I spoke without trying to do so my voice sounded strange. It was androgynous, neither high nor low and carried a monotony that made it seem somewhat ethereal. While he probably didn''t recognize my voice, Aldi still appeared before me within minutes. Based on his pale face and slightly trembling hands, I assumed he was very afraid. After all, the noble had been brought by him. Despite fearing the worst, Aldi still put on a professional smile and stood there as though he was awaiting judgment. "Fear not little merchant, I know you held no part in the tragedy that occurred. I called you for a request. I wish to acquire both gold and silver ore, as big as a man''s head. Can you find that for me?" "Lord Eldar, I surely can bring you those things... but the cost..." "How many iron ingots would that be equivalent to?" "Well, for me to turn a profit I''d need around 100 iron ingots for the silver... golds'' worth is roughly 20 times that of silver, so that would be 2000 ingots." "Then I''ll buy the silver one for now. Step back." Aldi was already accustomed to this and retreated quickly. Iron ingots began to drop and form a pile. "There, 100 ingots. How long will it take for you to bring me the silver?" "A round trip should take about five days if I make haste." "Please do that then." Aldi quickly left the village with the iron ingots. 23 My territory This was the second time Nerida came to me. She had only been gone for three hours and now she was already back. Her hand was bandaged and she looked even more furious than when she had left. "What did you do?" ''I built a magic circle, nothing more.'' "You want to tell me that people start spitting blood because you built a magic circle? You did something to them! You monster!" ''They start spitting blood because they are weak. My magic circle attracts magic in great quantity and the resulting density is harmful to them.'' "Then stop!" ''Why? It is your choice to stay here. If, by chance, you don''t like it, then leave.'' "So you''re just going to drive us away?" ''I am tired of this discussion Nerida. You are free to stay but I won''t hold back to protect you anymore. Just move the weakest away from me and they should feel better.'' "Fine." I had the feeling she was about to say something insulting again but she just left. Soon after, the townspeople commenced moving away from me. They seemed to know rather well how far the protective barrier reached and settled as close to it as possible. Having dealt with that I resumed my own plans. ''System, remind me of my affinities.'' ''So I can freely use every element?'' This was indeed fortunate for my plans. I had mastered nearly every known element to a basic degree in my previous life. This included magic for manipulating metals. Now of the three metals I currently had, iron was the strongest. However, there was something I believed could be more useful and potentially dangerous. I had copper, a metal that his highly conductive. I must admit I haven''t a clue what exactly that means but I was taught the base principle behind it at the academy back in my student days. Electricity which is apparently the same as lightning travels from its source to the ground. On its way, it passes through objects and the higher their conductivity is the more of it goes through. And most importantly, this electricity is harmful to the human body and if strong enough it can be lethal. Just like lightning. In conclusion, if I could use the copper to touch my enemy and send lightning along this copper-connection, they would die. A great plan wasn''t it! The only difficulty would be that I would need great control over the copper to establish a connection. The best way to establish a stable connection would be to form multiple strings of copper and use them to bind the opponent. This method would not only allow me to shock them but also keep them restrained if they wanted to run. I tried to see if I was capable to do such a feat in my current condition but was sorely disappointed. My control over the copper was lacking to say the least. I could at most change its shape. So I spent the next six days practice my control over copper and absorbing an abundant amount of magic. My control had improved by leaps and bounds and I could already manipulate the copper into strings to skewer things. The motion was completely one-directional though and there was still some progress to be made. However, after these six days, Aldi had returned! And with an unexpected surprise nonetheless. "You brought both silver and gold ore?" "Pleasantly surprised aren''t you. I decided to make a small investment and bring the gold along as well." A small Investment? I began to doubt the mental image I had of this man. How could some middle-aged merchant see gold as a small investment? Also, how the hell did he stay safe with that kind of cargo and no bodyguards? He must be hiding his strength. But now was not the time to ponder over such matters. I speedily absorbed the silver ore and began deduction. After ten minutes, the first silver ingot grew on one of my branches. It had taken a full minute to grow and confirmed one of my fears. I couldn''t grow things instantaneously anymore. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. It took me twenty minutes to grow the ingots required to trade for the gold ore. After obtaining it Aldi left in a hurry and I resumed my deductions for the gold ore. Gold seemed even more complicated than silver. Three hours were consumed to get its structure and I had to wait 10 minutes for an ingot to grow. Thankfully, growing was a passive process and I could grow multiple ingots simultaneously. I would only need a few more days of absorbing magic to achieve all the conditions for my next evolution. 24 Magical beast tree Evolution! It was time for me to take the next step. Utgard would not like my new attitude nor the death of that noble and if they came to make trouble, I wanted to be as strong and prepared as possible. The next evolution would allow me to grow living beings. For that, a major increase in deduction power was a necessity. The amount of magic I had gathered this time was many times more than what was needed for my last evolution and this time all the magic would be used to upgrade my core. This increase in deduction power would also bring me another advantage. According to the system deduction power was also relevant to fine-tuning one''s control over magic. I guessed that I had around one week left until Utgard''s actions would reach me. I had to hurry and become stronger! I dropped the last of my newly grown ingots into my stash and sealed it. Since I would be unable to grow more ingots, I had dug a hole at my base and stored some ingots there. My current inventory consisted of 500 iron ingots, 200 silver ones, and 50 gold ingots. Now you must ask yourself, where did the copper and tin go? Well, I re-assimilated the tin because I couldn''t find any immediate use for it and the copper was safely hidden in my tree crown. From there I could use it as a means of attack without anyone suspecting it. I was all set. I moved my full focus onto the stored magic and began to compress it into my core. Since this process was done solely through compression, it was unnoticeable from the outside. As the compression increased so did the size of my core. After all my magic was used up, my core had reached the size of a melon and I could feel an increase in deduction power. However, this wasn''t enough. I needed more. To that end, I began to once again apply compression. Not to magic though, that had been used up, but to the core itself. It wasn''t just the size of the core that mattered but also its density. As they say, quality over quantity. Thus, under my careful actions, the core began shrinking until it was only the size of a grain of rice. Its color had also changed, from a pale, light blue to a pure, crystalline white. It really did somewhat look like a grain of rice. Maybe calling it a small pearl was more favorable. I now felt like I was overflowing with deduction power. My evolution was nearly complete. The last step was to deduce the blueprint of a living being. I chose to first try with a squirrel. It was a small normal animal and shouldn''t be to complex. Boy was I wrong. Three days later I was finally done. A simple small critter had cost me three whole days! ''Oh really, what''s the average duration then?'' ''...'' Good thing I had above average deduction then. Turns out deduction wasn''t the only thing that took long. Growing the squirrel took another day. On the bright side, I was now officially a magical beast tree! Yay me. The finished squirrel was now hanging from one of my branches. Its outline and auburn fur were vaguely discernible through the semi-transparent membrane in the shape of an egg. ''Why does it look like an egg?'' No reason then. But really, it didn''t seem any less strange. Time to hatch it! I dropped the egg. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. It landed on the ground in a splash of gelatinous liquid and from it, an adult squirrel emerged. It immediately climbed me. The gelatin in the meantime seemed to just evaporate. ''Stop running around on me like crazy! It feels itchy and really pisses me off!'' The squirrel stopped. Could it understand me? That sounds like fun. Let''s deduce the tempest wolf next. Chances that I would finish in time for my possible confrontation with Utgard were slim but I could still try. Three days later Aldi arrived with the usual messenger and I wasn''t even halfway done with my deduction. 25 Dont push your luck! The messenger, arrogant as usual, first went to accept taxes from the villagers. It was less than usual due to my little confrontation with the noble but the messenger didn''t seem too concerned. My ingots had always been the major source of income generated by this town and the harvest were just some additional crumbs in comparison. Just that he found this source of income wasn''t there. "Lord Eldar, where is the monthly tax?" "I have evolved and can''t produce any ingots for the time being. Furthermore, I have no intention to pay this nonsensical tax anymore. On the contrary, I think you should pay me for providing a safe area." "Lord Eldar! This is treason to the sky kingdom. You must pay a tax for the protection you receive!" "SAY THAT AGAIN! Protection? My child was murdered by one of you humans and you even had the gall to send someone to rescue that bastard! Tell me, WHAT ARE YOU PROTECTING ME FROM?" "How dare you slander the kingdom!" "Oh, I dare to do much more ;)." The messenger was about to open his mouth to spout some more nonsense but my copper string wire arrived in a blink and penetrated his right thigh. He collapsed with a hollow whimper. I retracted my copper string, electrocution didn''t seem necessary. Aldi walked forward and picked up the messenger''s body with an ease that once again surprised me. "You realize that they aren''t going to let this slide." He stated this like a fact he knew would come true for certain. I knew he was trying to warn me but since things had progressed to this point what should I do? Should I run away? Real funny. Aldi left with the messenger. This time Utgard''s answer didn''t let me wait for long. Seven days later, I had barely finished the blueprint for the tempest wolf, they arrived. Led by a blond, two-meter colossus of a man the small group entered the town. There were just three of them but my magic perception was telling me that the two following the colossus were not to be underestimated. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Both old men felt similar in power to the noble with his stone. However, I could tell that this was not some artifact giving them power, it was their own strength. And one of them felt familiar... yes, the powerful presence that day must have been him. Better be careful. The trio directly approached me. "Greetings lord Eldar, I am V?lsung, the commander currently stationed in Utgard and these are my subordinates. I am here to address the issue of you attacking an official messenger and refusing to pay tax." "I disagree lord V?lsung. I have rectified a bastard without manners and refused to let myself be robbed by some greedy humans. I don''t see any need for discussion." "Calling us greedy robbers is a little over the top. We merely ask for the tax every citizen should pay." "And what in goddess name makes me a citizen of a human kingdom? The land we stand on is my territory as it would be overrun by beasts if I wasn''t here. The only thing you could offer in exchange for this tax is protection and judging by the fact that you let my child die horribly, I think calling you greedy robbers is quite adequate." "It was a tree, surely you can grow another one." "It was a SAPLING WITH A SOUL and it had developed a consciousness within hours. For reference, it took me three years to do that. And NO, I cannot JUST regrow it! In fact, I will need to evolve once again if I want another descendant and I already know that none of my future descendants will measure up to my first one. How would you feel if I just came into your kingdom, killed the best heirs to the throne and told you to just put a waste on the throne? Oh yeah, I should also demand money from you for protecting you from your peaceful lives." "Please calm yourself. I''m sorry for your loss but there is no reason to act like this." "You''re right! We should just proceed to fight to the death!" 26 V?lsung "Tree, do you realize that you can''t win this fight?" "I do. It''s just that I don''t really care anymore and would rather take a few of you with me." Having said that I fully released my bloodlust. A familiar red mist quickly pervaded the area and promptly reached the opposing trio. V?lsung was unaffected by my bloodlust but both of his subordinates began to groan in pain. They were old and their hearts couldn''t handle stress from being under this much pressure. Behind me, splashing could be heard and eight tempest wolves rushed over. I had managed to speed up their growth by using their corpses I had collected so long ago. "So you have reinforcement? What will a few wild beasts do? They are more likely to attack the town." One of the old men spoke. "I grew them myself so they won''t disregard my will so easily." To prove my point I let the wolves form a phalanx, they were ready to pounce at a moment''s notice. They would make very little difference against V?lsung but they could buy me a few seconds. V?lsung just stood there, not overly impressed but looking slightly concerned about his followers. Suddenly his gaze turned sharp, his black wool cloak began levitating under a phantom wind. My bloodlust was pushed back by an invincible intent that moved like a snail with the power of a dragon. "Eldar! I don''t want to fight you! Pull back your bloodlust and let us talk. I''m prepared to compromise." A concession? I couldn''t find any reason to refuse further negotiations. I reeled back my bloodlust and the surroundings became clear again. The old men could breathe freely again. "I''m listening, human." "I admit that it was partly our fault with the happenings of the noble but I swear to you that we didn''t know it would end so badly. I can also exempt you from any taxes but we are not able to pay you for granting us your territory." "I can live with that. However, I do have a condition. I want a trading permit to be able to buy beast corpses and other necessary resources from the town. After all, this is crucial for my evolution." "A trading permit... It seems we have reached an agreement." Thus, the first official agreement between myself and the sky kingdom was formed. I would keep up the barrier and in return, I would be exempted from taxes and receive permission to trade freely. "Now regarding the contract..." "Right, you humans always make a written contract for everything. I hope you aren''t expecting a signature from me." "You have a point. Asking you to sign a document would be difficult. Well, I will be stationed here for a long time so let''s just make it a promise between men." "Bold of you to assume I am male!" My bluff was easily seen through. V?lsung chuckled and headed towards the inn. The next day the two old magi returned to Utgard while V?lsung decided to stay. According to himself, he was in much need of a break. I spent the next few days getting used to my new powers and rights. To begin with, I created a thin wooden wall between two of the outer trees, creating a signboard. Thereon stood in clear, carved letters: Dear reader, have you ever wondered what to do with a beast''s corps after hunting it? Wonder no more! Eldar merchant guild will buy those beast corpses. You can trade for precious metals or the chance to tame a beast. More trading products may follow. A masterpiece of my own creation. V?lsung had been down for ten minutes after reading it. Laughter had been shaking his body so badly that standing hadn''t been possible anymore. I couldn''t decide whether I should feel insulted for being laughed at or proud for forcing a man as strong as V?lsung to the ground for ten minutes. By the way, business was bad. No one was willing to bet their lives for money if they could live a somewhat stable life here. The wage system would only be implemented once the merchants, blacksmiths, tailors, and carpenters arrived. This would probably happen in the next months, forcing me to wait for a while. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. I had also begun to grow things again. Sadly I was short on corpses so I would have to wait for the tempest wolves to grow. One month suddenly seemed like such a long time. 27 Beast mode The days were going by slowly. Growing was a gradual and very passive process and a trade wouldn''t happen any time soon. Thus, I spent most of my time trying to clear the next evolution criteria. There were only two of them... and that was two too many! The one I was working on right now was tri-wielding magic. The other one was to successfully grow a savage beast. Tri-wielding was hard enough I could even control two kinds of magic at the same time how could I do three? But the true problem was the savage beast. It roughly equals a human marquess magus, just that a beast would always win in a direct confrontation. Now my own strength was roughly at that level too, meaning that thing would probably not show me any respect and potentially try to kill me. Not even speaking of where I would get the body from and how long it would take me to deduce and grow it. Yes, I had my reasons to be a little depressed. Believe me, simultaneously using different elements is hard! I was currently trying to grow a tree and electrify it at the same time. There was charred wood spread all around from all the times the elements collided and spontaneously combusted. I needed a break so badly! But I just couldn''t bring myself to stop trying. I had taken it easy once and the consequences were disastrous. No repeats. Back to trying. Another explosion, more debris. Rinse and repeat... Explosion, repeat, explosion, again, explosion, keep going, explosion, V?lsung... V?lsung? He had appeared out of nowhere, below him a crater from the force he used to stop his charge. It was the first time I had seen V?lsung''s face show any emotion. Wait, not the point. Why did he charge over? "The spell you taught Nerida, what is it?!" He seemed excited, ecstatic even. "You mean beast mode? It''s a basic transmutation spell for stimulating a beast''s bloodline." "Can you teach me the spell?" "Sure, but I need to scan the bloodline in your body and calibrate the spell. Also, some compensation would be required." "Does the strength and purity of the bloodline matter?" "V?lsung your question scares me. Tell me the exact situation." "Well, I can''t disclose too much but if hypothetically someone were to have killed a dragon and successfully received its bloodline..." "A dragon! And he is the direct recipient! What the hell are you saying! I''d have to fine-tune the spell for hours! Do you know how volatile a newly acquired draconic bloodline is?!" Killing a dragon and assimilating its bloodline. Only fools and truly powerful people would attempt that. The only one I knew of that possessed a draconic bloodline was Lord Abel, one of the sovereigns of my former world. But he isn''t to ever be measured with normal standards. "Is it impossible to fully harness the power of such a bloodline?" Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "Define fully harness. If you mean transformation like Nerida''s it''s possible albeit bothersome. If you think of a full transformation into a dragon then you can forget about it." "The former is fully sufficient. When can we start?" "Not so fast there. Let me make this clear. I can''t guarantee success and I''ll have to take a look first. And about that payment..." "We will discuss the final payment after you can tell us the odds of success. For now, if it''s something minor I can pull some strings but don''t expect too much." "If any beasts obstruct your journey bring their corpses along." "Will do." And just like that, he had disappeared with a bang and another crater where he had been standing. And back to practice I went. Explosion after explosion I refined my control over the elements. Gradually, the elements coexisted next to each other for seconds. It was still followed by an explosion every time but those seconds were real progress. A month had passed during my training. Nothing much happened and that was just about what I expected. Finally, the fresh blood for the town arrived. A blacksmith, some merchants, carpenters, and tailors. With them came soldiers, adventurers, and some much-needed business. I only had two blueprints and only one of a beast. I had more than 50 wolves now but I wanted diversity. 28 Trade Trade was about to get going. An adventurer approached the signboard. With his light leather armor and a bow slung across his shoulder he looked like a ranger. He didn''t give me the impression of someone strong but seemed more like the careful and calculating type. Both his clothes and armor were colored with patches of green and brown, aiding with stealth. Potential to be a good hunter! "Lord Eldar, you wrote here you''ll buy beast corpses, what about animals?" "I will buy them but only once per species and at a lower price compared to a beast''s." "There are no exchange rates here. Why is that?" "There was little to no business so far. Also, it''s simple, beasts I already have, one iron ingot per body. Beast that I don''t have, one silver ingot for the first body. Savage beasts bodies would hypothetically give 20 gold. Animals are five for an iron ingot. Finally, a chance for taming is worth 2 iron ingots or two beasts I already have." "Why didn''t you just write it down?" "I just did." During my short explanation, I had engraved it on the signboard. "Then, what animals do you already have?" Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "A squirrel." "That''s it?" "I''m a tree! I can''t go after animals and hunt them." The ranger then excused himself and left for the forest. Over the next few days, he brought me one animal corpse after another. I had so far newly collected ten animals. Deer, bunny, boar, wolf, lizard, snake, spider, sparrow, fox and even a bear. The ranger, named Sven, hadn''t claimed any reward yet and I soon came to know the reason. He wanted to tame a tempest wolf! Taming was a rather peculiar process. After a tamer gained respect and trust from a beast they could sign a contract. The specifics of this contract would be decided by how the contract was formed. If it was formed through mutual respect it would be an equals contract binding both parties to help the other. If it was established through the dominance of the tamer it would be a tamer-servant contract. If it was established through the dominance of the beast it was a beast-servant contract. Also, a contract could not be forced, death was always an alternative. The contract that Sven was hoping to achieve was an equals contract. He wasn''t as strong as a tempest wolf but with my help, it might be possible to still succeed. I commanded one of the tempest wolves to come over. It approached but seemed increasingly apprehensive against the human in front of it. "Lord Eldar, what should I do now?" "How would I know? Get it to like you or something like that. My only task here is to give you a safe environment by making sure it doesn''t bite your head off." He looked a little disappointed. He must have been hoping for some miracle cheat that would result in an instant contract. Nevertheless, he had prepared something else. He grabbed a big chunk of meat from his pouch, held it up and conjured a little fire beneath it. A magus huh. He cooked the meat until it was golden brown, dripping with fat. The tempest wolf was already salivating and looking greedily at the piece of meat. Sven would probably have already lost his life to the hungry wolf if I didn''t forbid it from attacking it. "Hello, Mr. Wolf, I am Sven. Would you like to make a contract with me? I can give you more delicious food if you accept." It was a low blow. The wolf wasn''t allowed to attack but wanted the delicious food in front of it. Tempest wolves aren''t the smartest in the forest so this one didn''t even get the unfairness of the situation. Any human in its position would complain but this wolf simply agreed. A golden current manifested between them extending in both directions until it connected their hearts. Sven''s strategy had worked. He threw the meat towards the tempest wolf that jumped up, grabbed it and devoured it within seconds. The more the news of this event spread the more outraged the other adventurers became. They knew Sven, he was both a magus and a fighter but hadn''t reached the knight realm in either. For him to have a companion that could defeat a baron magus! He was now the strongest among them! Even worse the way he used wasn''t possible to imitate! He had brought most of the animals that were commonly seen in the forest. Meaning the only way to get a chance to tame a tempest wolf was to either kill two and bring their corpses to Eldar or kill a different beast. But just the idea of this was ludicrous to them. They were jealous of Sven for having a beast that they couldn''t defeat. So how should they hunt such a beast? Naturally, there were some that thought of a solution to this problem. One of them might not be able to defeat a beast but if the stronger ones formed a team they could do it. 29 Arrival The second month since V?lsung''s hasty departure was coming to an end. I was unsure where V?lsung had gone to and how long it would take him. For now, all I could do on that front was wait. I kept myself busy by training dual-wielding lightning and nature. It was a beautiful day outside, birds were singing, flowers were blooming... On days like these, trees like me... should be the only ones allowed to create explosions. However, today wasn''t meant to be like this. I was just peacefully appreciating the explosions my magic brought out. Then, out of nowhere, the mayor''s house inside town exploded and collapsed. It was no fancy explosion with fire and charred remains. It was more of an expulsion of energy that broke one of the main support pillars and collapsed the house. Nerida had broken through to the early baroness maga realm. This speed may seem astonishing but honestly, it wasn''t anything special considering her situation. By awakening her bloodline it would passively aid her in reaching the level it was formerly at. The downside of this was that once it reached its former strength it would slow down her progress instead. Thus, Nerida would face huge difficulties in reaching the viscountess maga realm. Later that day Sven approached me with an offer. He had found a beast in the forest but wasn''t confident in defeating it. His proposal was for me to lend him three more tempest wolves in return for half the reward. For every casualty, the reward would be halved. I accepted. I mean I had nothing to lose. Those three wolves were nothing to me! I could just grow more of them, in fact, I was already doing just that. Getting new blueprints was my priority right now. I commanded three wolves to follow Sven''s orders and sent him on his way. Only days after, V?lsung returned. He was riding a majestic lion and following him were two carriages. Well, it would probably be more accurate to say there was one carriage while the other one was a heavy wagon. The small group was completely made up of powerful individuals. I estimated that even the weakest of them were at the count realm. They disembarked and V?lsung came over. "Nice to see you again. How was your journey?" "Not too bad. Now, when is the earliest you can start the checkup?" "You seem overly hurried. We can begin now if you want." "I understand. I''ll bring them over." V?lsung gave me a grateful look and returned to the carriage. Meanwhile, I was completely baffled by what he said. Them? There was more than one? What were the chances for multiple individuals to survive consuming the blood and flesh of a dragon? V?lsung came back with three hooded figures, guarded by two men that I judged to both be duke magi. That must be someone important these two were guarding. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "You weren''t hypothetically talking about three!" "There are just two. Lord Eldar, I am Signy, sister to the king. Pleased to meet you." One of the hooded figures spoke with a gentle voice. "Signy, you shouldn''t say who you are out loud. There may be assassins around." "Uncle, you''re being overly worried again. I''m an early marquess maga and you are here too, who could hurt me?" So if Signy was the king''s sister... and V?lsung was Signy''s uncle... then V?lsung... is the king''s uncle? It began to look like I was quite well acquainted with the royal family. "Back to the subject at hand. Eldar, I apologize for not telling you the specifics but could we do this in a more secure location?" "I''m a tree, I can''t move!" "Oh... we''ll just have to set up a perimeter." V?lsung and the two guards formed a triangle around my outermost tree circle. Signy took over the conversation once again. She removed her hood, revealing a gorgeous face framed in a flood of golden hair. "Lord Eldar, please allow me to clear things up. These here are my nephews, they each have a dragon''s bloodline. Come on you two introduce yourselves." The two hooded figures revealed their faces. 31 Princess! "Yes, I can! Now, Siegfried, please come here and let me take a look." He hesitated but came over and sat down obediently. The elegance of those steps! That was no man! And she wasn''t! Now to guard her privacy I will omit what I saw in there but let me just say it wasn''t much better than in Sigurd. The only difference was that the force pushing me out was very soft and gentle. Still, it didn''t stop me from leaving another present ^~^. "I''m done." "Lord Eldar, can you help my two nephews?" "NO!!!" "I can''t help imaginary people. So that second nephew of yours will probably die." "Imaginary people? Lord Eldar, I don''t understa-... you know?!" "You realize that I just checked her body. Obviously, I would notice something major like a different gender!" "Wait... You are male. Are you a pervert? Did checking her body arouse you?! " "I''m a tree! I can''t get hard because I always am! My goddess, do you even realize that trees don''t have the means to reproduce sexually? In addition, I checked her body with magic, not my eyes." She looked like she wanted to say something more regarding the subject but held back. "Now about that help you want. There are two steps. The first is a simple spell that can help you deal with the voice in your head. The second step will take me a few days as I need to fine-tune the spell. In the meantime, we can talk about my compensation." "Compensation? Why would we need to compensate you? We are the royalty of this kingdom!" Sigurd clearly had some issues holding in his temper. I couldn''t blame him much, he was young and had the soul of a fire dragon in his body. That didn''t mean I would give in though. "I am not part of your kingdom so it doesn''t matter to me who you are. And before you ask me why I''m not part of the kingdom, why don''t you go ask V?lsung." "Fine we will pay you but I don''t want that other spell of yours. We don''t need that." "I''ll teach you that spell for free." "We don''t need it!" "I-I''ll learn it." Siegfried spoke against her brother? He looked positively infuriated. His pride forbade him from fully showing his temper but his face was tinted in a dark shade of red. I wouldn''t force Sigurd to learn this spell. I was only obliged to teach the willing. That was the promise I had made at that seminar. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Ah, the nostalgia! Back then I was still an ordinary student, attending the western mage academy of the grey empire. I was spent most of my time studying and visiting my friends. At that time the principal was going to hold a seminar on time magic due to an upcoming event. The moon was predicted to enter into a mysterious constellation with a few other celestial bodies, thus producing a spatial phenomenon of incredible rarity. But due to its innate spatial characteristics, the event happened sooner than predicted and the seminar was about to be canceled. In the last minute lord Abel had arrived and held his seminar instead. This seminar was, as mentioned before, on the subject of dealing with powerful bloodlines. Then, when he was done, a scroll appeared in the lap of all participants. We received the spell for free, the only condition being that we taught it to others willing to learn. Enough of these sweet memories now. I had to teach Siegfried. She was a very attentive student and by the end of the day, she was capable of using the spell. "Sanity lock!" A light blue glow appeared around her fingertips. She brought her right hand up to her temple and did a turning motion with her fingers. The blue glow solidified into something similar to a screw and drilled into her head without hurting her skin in the least. After a short while, the blue glow dissipated as if it had never been there in the first place. "Huh? I can still hear the voice in my head. Did I fail?" "No, you did great. As I said, the spell can only help you deal with the voice, it can''t eliminate it. It''s hard to explain how it works but I''m sure you''ll know what it does when the time comes." 32 Compensation Seeing as it was already evening, Signy left with Sigurd and Siegfried. Their two guards followed them while V?lsung stayed back. "So you''ve had a look at their conditions now. When will you be done calibration the spell? " "I''m already done." "You didn''t say so this morning!" Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "V?lsung, what do you think Sigurd''s reaction would be if I told him I was finished and asked him to wait? Right, he would insist on learning it that very instant. Their bodies have already experienced the first transformation so it will be easier for them. On the other hand, the uncontrolled awakening damaged their bodies. They should rest for a day or two before transforming." "Then I believe you should receive your first reward." V?lsung went to pull over the wagon. He removed the cover and revealed a bunch of frozen corpses. Those were beasts! And... the size of that one... a savage beast? "It seemed you needed beast corpses to grow them. This will be your full compensation for teaching them. I''ll give them to you once they can transform. You sure you don''t want to teach them now." "It will only do harm to them. Let''s wait until tomorrow." V?lsung nodded, grabbed one frozen beast and threw it over. I didn''t catch it, no hands and all, but immediately started to absorb it. I spent the remainder of the night on the deduction of the vampiric viper''s blueprint. To my great surprise, I felt like this was easier and faster than before. ''System, is this an easier blueprint?'' That was certainly convenient for me. With all the beasts V?lsung brought along I might be able to decrease the time needed for the savage beast. Morning came swiftly. Sigurd was already being impatient and asked if I was finished. "I worked through the whole night. I''m done now, we can start." It was a rather smooth process. For Siegfried at least. Her body was clad in shining light blue scales, leaving only her face and hands completely human. Her figure retained its rough human proportions and she didn''t have wings but her tail was much longer than usual. Her bloodline was from a water dragon, apparently not a combat-oriented species. These dragons were largely focused on healing and agility. Siegfried was still admiring her neat appearance when she felt a mental tide rushing from the depths of her consciousness. It was the dragon''s soul trying to take over! She tried to hold it off but it kept approaching. She felt like she was about to be taken over. Then, the pressure suddenly eased. A blue barrier was keeping the soul at bay. Sanity lock had finally demonstrated its terrifying effects by completely suppressing a dragon''s soul. However, she was the only one who had learned this spell. She remembered with horror how her brother had rejected this precious spell. Upon hearing a chaotic, pain-ridden roar, she spun around. Sigurd''s scales were a dark shade of red, resembling the fresh blood from a lethal wound. His tail was short but heavy and his wings were like heavy-looking, light red sails. Like Siegfried, Sigurd''s face wasn''t covered in scales. From his head, two menacing horns extended backward, their tips a glowing red. He was gripping his head, guttural roars escaped his throat. Signy had worry written all over her face. "Lord Eldar, what''s happening to him?" "He''s fighting with the dragon''s soul for dominance over his body. I''d step back if I were you. If Sigurd loses this battle, the dragon''s soul can temporarily take over his body and might attack you." "I won''t be defeated so easily! Stop blabbering you dumb tree!" Sigurd could actually still talk? I had to admit, that boy''s will was quite strong. Still, he spent the next ten minutes kneeling on the ground roaring in pain. "Please do remember, you can at most stay in this state about half an hour a day without damaging your bodies. The more you rank up the longer you can safely remain in this state and once you reach the same strength as a dragon you''ll be able to use it unrestricted." 33 New Blueprints The pair of siblings changed back to their human forms and headed to the inn with Signy. They were both mentally and physically exhausted. "What''s the danger if the dragon takes over his body?" "Hard to say what exactly he will do. He might attack indiscriminately or target specific people, he might also just act normal or even do nothing. The danger lies not in a takeover, that''s only temporary. The real danger is the voice. It poisons the mind and makes you do the dragons bidding." "Any advice on how to avoid that?" "Well, there''s many ways. Ignoring the voice does the job. Also, the connection between the soul and mind goes both ways, it''s possible to talk back." "Thanks, I''ll tell them." V?lsung gave me my compensation and also returned to the inn. I felt a little giddy seeing that I received four more beast species and even a savage beast. Now the only thing I would need to evolve was time. But for that I had a plan. ''System, can I grow infant beasts? And will it still count as growing them?'' ''How would that work out with the verdant serpent?'' That was acceptable for me. I couldn''t control an adult anyway so time was my priority. I estimated that the vampiric viper''s blueprint would need another eight days until completion. That gave me plenty of time to master tri-wielding. The royals left the next day and I spent the next month getting all the beast''s blueprints. With every blueprint my deduction speed increased, it would now take only half the time to run the deduction on a beast. In the mean time I had also fully mastered dual-wielding. It appeared that higher deduction skills helped with simultaneously completing multiple tasks. I had started to attempt tri-wielding and it wasn''t that bad. If I could further raise my deduction skill and put in a decent amount of effort I would succeed in no time. Now it was time to start my greatest deduction yet! The verdant serpent''s blueprint would allow me to achieve the next stage of evolution. Two months! That was how long it took me to crack that formula and receive the complete blueprint! Thank the goddess I had increased my deduction skill before this and not directly made the attempt. I could now grow an infant verdant serpent. But for now I wouldn''t. During my two month deduction period Sven had returned with a beast''s corpse. Well, three to be honest. The shadow horse that Sven hunted had been very powerful and managed to take down two tempest wolves before it was defeated. I had decided to get its blueprint first to increase my deduction just a little more. Sven had happily received his 50 iron ingots and left. This time the deduction of the shadow horses blueprint merely took one day. Now, I was as prepared as I could. Growing the infant verdant serpent took another day. But what was one day compared to how long I had already been here? How long had I been here? Four years?... I couldn''t remember. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Splash! The gelatinous egg hit the ground and splattered. The little noodle that wiggled out of the remains of its egg was, as expected, green. It might not look dangerous but the reason this thing was a savage beast when it matured was a combination of both physical tyranny and potent poison. This little thing might not have developed its tyrannical physique yet but the poison could still kill a beast. Now as for tri-wielding, I had mastered it. Now as to how I would evolve. Simple, I have grown three different things so far. Now I would have to grow all three things together. And since I didn''t want to blow up from three different formulas running not so simultaneously, I needed to be able to control three different currents of magic without letting them clash. 34 Mystic tree A new day was dawning. The clouds were painted in a beige-red tone that gave the impression the sky was on fire. Around me, the forest was vivaciously swaying in the breeze while the grass was filled with sparkling drops of dew. My 15-meter tall body was brimming with energy. I slowly retracted the magic current that allowed me to grow beasts. Then, I let all three green currents slowly emerge from my core. The first current had allowed me to grow fruit. The second gave me the ability to grow ore and the third was for growing beasts. They traveled up and up to the tips of my branches. A triple helix was formed by them spinning around its own axis. The helix gained spin and the gaps between the different currents began to blur. Then, with a sudden stop, there was only one light green current left. And as this light green current flowed through my body, something reacted! The energy stored in my body exploded all of a sudden. My cells began expanding rapidly. A sudden growth spurt? It was about time. My pleasant surprise quickly turned into horror when I passed 50 meters of height and was still growing. It didn''t stop! I was now more than 100 meters tall and I wasn''t stopping. The town was mostly in ruins. My roots had expanded and lifted patches of ground. The town was now split into different levels among my roots. I''d have to take care of that later. For now, I had bigger problems like my height... that was still increasing. At least I''d lost track of how big I was so I couldn''t panic too much. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. ''Why do you tell me that?! Why didn''t you warn me before I did it?'' ''Look at me! I''m flipping huge!'' ''Well... how about... fine. I admit that there isn''t much of a difference for me.'' ^. Also, congrats you became a mystic tree. You can now have your second descendant.> Yeah, that descendant wouldn''t be planted for quite a while. I felt no need to create another vulnerability that I couldn''t fully protect. I wanted to first gain the power to dominate this world! Or at least fight anyone to a standstill. ''System, what are the benefits of this time''s evolution and what are the conditions?'' So basically I would need to wait until a strong beast comes over and feed it until it liked me. Simple enough. But for now, small steps. I grew another squirrel and dropped it... Not the best idea. I reabsorbed the dead squirrel. ''System, how big am I now?'' ''How am I supposed to grow anything useful like this? Every beast will die from the fall, any fruit will be ruined and the ore will make craters.'' ''And how do you know that.'' So, the plan for a mass army of monsters temporarily failed. ''What''s the limit?'' New plan! Altering things I grow namely apples because I don''t have any other fruit. Mental note, buy other things to grow from Aldi. Back to getting that golden apple. Ah, I mean altering that apple. Who would ever want a golden apple? Health boost? The prettiest woman in the world that inevitably brings my own destruction? Who would want that? 35 Not golden but still great, also elves The alterations were mostly of a simple nature. An apple was usually filled with nutrients and all that stuff. Now, what would happen if it was filled with something different? Or what if it wasn''t just filled with how much needed to be in the but with how much could fit in there? I''d first attempt the later, it seemed easier. I first grew a normal apple. Then, making sure not to overdo it I slowly increased its nutritional value to the max. The apple looked more vibrant now. I couldn''t test its effects but maybe that new workforce could help with that. So for now, I grew some more of these vibrant apples before returning to the former plan in mind. The next apple I filled with nature magic instead of nutrients. The outcome was an emerald green apple. I tried the same with all the magic types I was proficient in. Lightning gave me a yellow apple, healing was spring green and the one wind was lime green. So the color depended on what element the fruit was filled with. Their different effects were still unknown but I assumed they would correlate with what they were made of. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. I was really curious about those effects. Wait, who said I couldn''t do some tests! I recalled the little verdant serpent and squirrel that were nested in my crown. The serpent was a little too precious to use for first trial experiments but the squirrel was just perfect. Now from the four possible effects created by the elemental apples nature seemed the best to begin with. Lightning and wind were too dangerous and healing would likely show no effect. So I let the squirrel start nibbling at the nature apple. It had barely eaten a sliver when its size increased a little. By the time it was done eating the whole apple, it was roughly half the size of a human! Naturally, I repeated the experiment a few times... On a side note, may I introduce my 3-meter squirrel to you? Yeah, that happened. So the nature apple made things grow. Next was the wind apple. The squirrel consumed it and was wrapped in a mini cyclone. A slight increase in speed followed by an attack of hyperactivity. Definitely not safe for consumption. The lightning apple nearly killed the squirrel. Good thing it had grown so big and could endure the arcs of lightning that ravaged its body. The healing apple then made the squirrel good as new. Its effect had been the only one I could predict. "Are you lord Eldar? You look quite different from Aldi''s description. He never mentioned that you were this big." Who? I searched the area with my magic perception. The one who had just spoken was hard to notice. Amidst all the nature his body blended into the surroundings near perfectly. I quickly carved a rune of sight pointing in his direction. Blond, sparkly hair that reached his waist accompanied by a pale complexion, light green eyes, and pointy ears. He wore leaf-green clothing that was hard to spot within the forest and from his back hung a long yet slender bow. He was an elf! Though not your average wood elf. Based on his magic he was at the duke magus realm. Also, the intricate carvings on his bow were lined with gold and even emeralds. My guess was that this elf should be of elven royalty. "I apologize if I have scared you with my sudden appearance, lord Eldar. I am Epli, prince of the elves and ambassador to the great tree of destiny." ''Uhm... hi? You probably already know but I''m Eldar... I hate to ask but who is that tree of destiny?'' "That would be you." ''How about no.'' "But you are the one mentioned in the prophecy. A wooden giant north the skies of mankind that possesses consciousness beyond this world. Fruit, ore, and beasts he gives them all but should he burn in hate and leave this world... All will be lost. We elves have received this prophecy from our eldest seer and that old witch has never spoken untrue. Thus, we are here to help and protect you." ''You said we. Who else is there?'' "I was accompanied by twenty others but I left them behind when I saw your majestic height. They should arrive alongside Aldi in the next few days." 36 Elves ''Well then, may I offer you an apple?'' While I said it with all politeness the apple I grew next to him was yellow. A little shock would be a fitting punishment for scaring me. "Judging by the concentrated lightning magic in that apple I fear that only lightning practitioners could safely consume this apple. Sadly I must decline your generous offer." He knew... Sad! ''Well, then how about these two?'' I offered both a nature apple as well as a vibrant apple next. Epli could hardly contain himself after seeing the nature apple. With an explosion of strength I hadn''t thought him capable of, he propelled himself towards the apple. I could hardly watch as he tore into the apple like a savage beast into a carcass. The apple was gone within seconds. "Do you have more of those?" ''Sure, but what do I get out of it?'' "Well, since we elves will aid you in all future matters, shouldn''t we be rewarded. You see, this apple is extremely beneficial to us elves, especially for the growth of our young ones. Wouldn''t bolstering your forces be good?" ''So your loyalty will be mine alone? If I tell you to kill your king, will you do it?'' "We don''t have a king. My mother, the queen has multiple... lovers but her crown will be given only to my little sister. And no, I wouldn''t kill her on your command." ''Then you aren''t part of MY forces and I have no need to bolster your power.'' He looked a little shocked. It would seem I had hit the nail on the head. They were here based on orders and a prophecy and had no intention of truly serving me. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "I... I cannot promise you my full loyalty but please believe me, we will serve you well." This was developing into a serious problem. I didn''t have people who were truly loyal to me. That was how it had been with Nerida and that was how it would be with these elves. So long as they believed following me was the best course of action they would support me. However, the second a more viable path presented itself, they would take it. I couldn''t blame them for being opportunistic. They had no reason to follow me to the bitter end. Nerida always put her clan first and the elves seemed completely loyal to their queen. They could only commit to one thing and in this case, that wasn''t me! Another thing on my to-do list. "Lord Eldar? Are you alright?" Oh, I had temporarily forgotten about Epli. My internal monologue had taken too much time and worried him. ''I''m fine. I was merely lost in thoughts.'' "About those apples then... They would be of great use to us." ''I have decided that every elf will receive one such apple for serving me. Additional apples can be received through meritorious services.'' Now it was Epli''s turn to fall into contemplation. He clearly wanted more apples but he needed to serve me for the time being whether I gave them to him or not. With a long sigh, he bade me goodbye and descended to the remains of the town. That was another mess I should clean up right away. Miraculously not a single building had been destroyed during my unexpected growth. The buildings were just displaced on different platforms of hardened soil on various levels. I had neglected the state of these affairs below me since my evolution and decided to first mess around with my new abilities. The town''s people meanwhile had managed to calm down. In the beginning, they had feared the world was ending with all clamor and shaking going on. Only after the tremors had disappeared without a trace did they realize that the world was still intact. Linking the chaos to my sudden growth was also something that they were still capable of doing. Some of them would no doubt think of me as evil, others might think I was avenging my petty grievances but the truth was they were just of low priority to me. I gained no massive benefit from these people''s presence here. Had they all died, Utgard would have sent others. Still, I should extend a helping hand now that the initial chaos had subsided. 37 Benefits are often accompanied by great risk I began to connect the different plots of land, let''s call them islands, with wooden bridges. These wooden bridges were strong roots and wouldn''t break easily. Also, I could shape them as I pleased, creating ladders to reach up to the higher islands. The elves seemed to love it. They could climb ladders at an unbelievable speed and feared no height when it came to crossing narrow bridges. The humans? Not so much. Most of the humans abandoned their houses and descended to the ground. There, a new town was built. The infrastructure on the islands was then taken over by the elves. I felt much more comfortable around the elves. Maybe it was due to them being creatures of nature or because they hadn''t betrayed me yet. Next up, recruiting some subordinates. Using the root system below the new town I called Sven over. ''Sven, you have been quite successful so far and I''ve been meaning to ask... Have you sworn loyalty to anyone yet?'' "No lord Eldar, I have yet to even receive an offer to serve someone. I mean who would want a weak adventurer like me?" ''I would! If you are willing to swear absolute loyalty to me then strength is secondary.'' "I am willing! I hereby pledge my absolute loyalty to you, lord Eldar!" ''Your pledge seems a little rushed. Is it that hard to enter someone''s services?'' "I was born in the slums of Midgard and became an adventurer to keep myself fed. I was mildly talented and got lucky a few times, allowing me to rise out of poverty to this point. Now, with my age, no connections, no fortune, and no real strength... In short, no bigger force has a need for someone like me." ''Fortunately, none of these things are of any concern to me. Now that you have made your pledge there is only one last step before you are a true subordinate of mine. Simply swallow this leaf and it will be done.'' "What is this leaf?" ''Insurance. Should you ever decide to forgo the pledge you just made, I can simply cripple you. Though rest assured, it doesn''t hold any lethality.'' I let the leaf with the potential trigger inscription fall, using wind magic to guide it to Sven. I was expecting the need for some convincing to arise but Sven just grabbed it and wolfed it down. Seeing him eat the leaf so nonchalantly made it hard to believe it was an item that could cripple someone. ''You really don''t hesitate, do you?'' "Should I? As long as I don''t betray you, nothing will happen to me. You own so many beasts and have the ability to pay with holden ingots! Being the subordinate of such an existence is worth taking a little risk." ''Well, now that you are my subordinate, what''s the element you specialize in?'' Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "I''m a wind magus. Fitting with the tempest wolf I have, isn''t it? Recently, I felt like I was close to having a breakthrough but I just can''t seem to take that last step." ''Wind! I might be able to help you with that. I just need to get you up here somehow.'' Getting the wind apple down to Sven was basically impossible so I would have to bring Sven up instead. And expecting Sven to climb up all the way was out of the question. Remembering the System''s words about platforms I began to grow a system of wooden platforms connected by stairs and ladders, eventually reaching the top. Sven took a while to ascend to the top but finally reached it. ''Here, this apple is wind attributed. Eating it should allow you to break through the bottleneck you are currently facing.'' I was once again astonished at Sven''s decisiveness. He simply plucked the lime-green apple and ate it in a slow yet steady manner. No sooner had he finished the apple that he heavily exhaled and reached the early knight magus realm. Shock was written all over Sven''s face. "Is this some type of divine medicine? Thank you, lord Eldar!" ''Just call me Eldar. This apple was by no means divine medicine, it''s just a simple apple filled with wind magic. I can make a ton of them without breaking a sweat. Assuming I could sweat. Anyway, just take some of them with you for now. You can come and get more once you''ve finished them.'' With that, I dropped a bunch of wind apples into Sven''s lap. He descended the tree with a spring in his step. 38 Rejected? Now that I had acquired my first subordinate, I wanted more. First choice... Aldi! He had brought the elves here and was currently staying in one of the peripheral inns. Calling him over was just as easy as with Sven and I asked him the same question to start. "Funny you would ask... I was once part of a major power in the east but not anymore." ''Then how about serving me? You could obtain great power and even make a fortune!'' "I am grateful for your offer lord Eldar but I cannot accept it. I have seen what humans have done to you and how it changed you. I would have to give you some kind of insurance that could ruin my life. Back when I left the kong clan I promised myself to never serve below someone again. I don''t ever wish to fulfill an order that goes against my better judgment!" ''Looks like you went through something quite terrible in the past.'' "Let''s not talk about things of the past, shall we. I''m sure there is stuff you want to purchase from me." ''In fact, I do have some things I need. Namely any fruit you can find, one or two of each kind are fine. Additionally, I''d like you to find me some rare ores and crystals, the same amount as last time.'' "Sure thing, I''ll see what I can do." With that Aldi went back to the inn he was staying, leaving me a little bit disappointed. I had believed anyone who hadn''t yet joined a force would instantly join me if I asked. Sven might have been a special case or maybe my offer was only attractive to people below a certain level of power. I had little leverage when it came to convincing someone to join my ranks. Maybe I should try converting the elves? No, that wouldn''t work. To the elves, their queen was akin to a goddess, reigning supreme above all. The humans seemed easier to convince. This was both good and bad for me as I could enlist them more easily but they would also betray me more easily. Alas, there was no perfect solution to this problem. For now, I should concentrate on what I could do. Since I had evolved I could control 10 savage beasts now but so far, I only had an infant to command. Keeping in mind to leave space for other species I began to grow another two verdant serpents. This time I would grow adult ones. Additionally, I also grew a dozen of all beast I had newly acquired. The time for their growth had been largely cut down. The beasts would be done in only one day and the savage beasts would need only two weeks. If only I could quickly find a guardian beast and evolve once again. Then, my revenge wouldn''t be too far off. Based on my compliant behavior in aiding the royals the humans seemed to think I was no longer a threat now. Oh, how wrong they thought! Through a passing conversation with Aldi, I had learned early on that the strongest human was in the grand duke magus realm. My current strength should be close to that of a peak duke magus. Currently, annihilating the muspel clan would only spell my own end but after going through another evolution things would be different. Not even mentioning the guardian beast I would have after my evolution. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. I only needed to find a mythical beast and get it to like me. Just that I couldn''t go searching for one because I was a tree and trees didn''t walk... yet! I mean maybe a mythical beast was in fact around and I just hadn''t noticed. I could ask the system, after all, asking had never killed anyone. ''System, is there a mythical beast around?'' As I thought, there was no way I would have some novel protagonist''s luck. There was no way! 39 Queen Kimbera Finding this creature proved somewhat difficult. The classification for beasts was different in my former life so my mental image of a mythical beast may have been a little off the mark. I was looking for some epic killing machine in the flesh! Turns out, this peak mythical beast is a ball of fluff that fits into a human hand. Did I mention that it has wings? And that it likes to bully my giant squirrel? So, in short, I was now trying to make friends with a fuzzy mouse that was flying around eating my vibrant apples. At least it liked me. "Kimbu? Kimbu!!!" ''What is it? You ate all the apples again?'' "Kimbu!" ''Yes yes, I''ll grow more.'' The speed at which this thing, I had taken to calling it Kimbu, could eat was abnormal. It could devour a bunch of apples that were bigger than itself and didn''t seem to have a limit on how much it could eat. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. I kept on feeding the little glutton over the next week or so before consulting with the system. ''System, how do I make this contract?'' ''Very well. Kimbu! Would you like to be my guardian beast and accept my first enlightenment fruit?'' "Kimbu! (^?.?^) Kimbu!" It was vigorously nodding and shot towards me. Only to be caught midway by an azure-colored, gloved hand. Kimbu clearly struggled and poofed up its fur but to no avail. I immediately recognized the lady who had been chasing the dragon with the strange arrow so many months ago. She was still clad wholly in blue and released a dreadful sense of power. A beauty beyond compare, no one I had ever seen could come close to her in charm or aura. Then, her gaze that had been resting on Kimbu moved over to me. I felt like she could see straight through my body all the way to my soul. An inexplicable fear assaulted my mind. She could kill me with nothing but a thought. "I''m sorry but I can''t let this queen Kimbera be your guardian beast. It doesn''t belong in this world and I have come to retrieve it. I hope you can understand." ''Of course! If my lady wishes so I will naturally abstain from taking it as my guardian beast.'' "I''m glad you understand. Still, I feel a little bad for taking such a fortunate encounter from you... Hmmm, yes, that squirrel seems suitable." She instantly reappeared next to my giant squirrel and grabbed it by the neck. My squirrel was so scared by her overwhelming presence that it simply played dead. The lady in blue didn''t seem to care and stuffed a glowing red pill down its throat. "That should do it. Your name shall be Ratatoskr. Once it wakes you can take it as your guardian beast." Before I could even convey my gratitude she flicked her wrist and disappeared along with the queen kimbera. ''System, what just happened?'' ''But you said I couldn''t use a self-grown beast!'' ''How long until it wakes up?'' ''Let''s hope it doesn''t take three years! Too much can change in three years. My revenge might have become impossible by then.'' So I could do nothing but wait for the day Ratatoskr, as the lady had named it, woke up. 40 Heavenly steel I spent my days practicing different types of magic. My short term goal was to be able to grow all basic elemental apples. Those would be fire, water, earth, wind, lightning, ice, and metal magic. I was already familiar with the basic understandings of all these elemental magic types. Remastering them to a basic level was only a matter of time. I was eventually able to grow apples filled with all these attributes. The day before, Aldi had returned and once again astonished me with his financial prowess. He hadn''t just found multiple kinds of fruit but also a heap of precious materials. Diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and many other crystals, he brought them all. I had just two questions. How could he afford all this and how did he not get robbed?! I absorbed all the things he brought me and was about to ask about payment when Aldi took a bundle of cloth from his pocket. "I came across this particular gem when I was visiting a noble in Utgard." He unraveled the bundle and revealed a crystalline shining ball. At first, I thought it was a shining gem but as I kept looking at it, I recognized it was something else. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. ''This is heavenly steel! How did you get that? This can''t be produced here, only archmages of the second rank or higher can create this!'' "What''s an archmage of the second rank?" ''Someone with unimaginable power. Based on what I know the power of an archmage should correspond to a king magus. So a second rank should be above that.'' "Above king! That would be a chosen one! They only exist in tales of the past. But that doesn''t matter now! You know what this is and how to use it?" ''It''s heavenly steel, a material created by infusing an innate understanding of light, holiness or anything similar. It''s much more durable than normal metal, in fact, it can cut through iron without any resistance. The only downside is that it is incredibly hard to shape into a weapon.'' "I conclusion you want to buy it." ''Isn''t that obvious! What do you want for it?'' "Can you make weapons out of this?" ''I''m honestly not sure. I can slightly modify the things I grow so I can try.'' I immediately absorbed it and started my deductions. I had absorbed all the other and figured out their structure within seconds. The heavenly steel took a little longer, roughly one minute. Making it proved more difficult. This thing was created using an innate understanding of light. I didn''t have such an innate understanding myself so I couldn''t recreate it even if I wanted! Good thing I didn''t need to. I could filter the relevant parts out from the sunlight since I knew what to look for. It was an arduous process to extract it and form it into heavenly steel. By the time I was done, Aldi had long returned to the inn. Since he would only return in a few hours I tried to form the heavenly steel into a different shape. I usually formed an ingot but now I tried a shield shape. It came out surprisingly well! I even used some bendable vines to create an arm hold. I also created a sword and an ax. Aldi, upon his return, accepted both pieces of equipment. He also asked for a pair of combat gauntlets. I tried to tailor to his wishes but my fine control left some things to be desired. "Eldar, I have a question." ''Ask it then.'' "How do you know all these things? I mean you know how to stimulate bloodlines, you can recognize materials that even the scholars don''t know the names of and you talk of people so powerful that they are only mentioned in legends. Who are you?" ''Who am I? That''s hard to say... I am Eldar, a tree that''s incredibly wise. With age comes wisdom.'' Should I tell him that I had been a human in another world? That I had been reborn as a tree? No! Have you ever seen a protagonist tell anyone about his former life? That would ruin all the wonderful misunderstandings that could happen! Actually, now that I think about it, maybe I should tell him... 41 The past... ''How about an equal exchange? You tell me your story and I''ll tell you mine.'' ... ... ... "I think we can both agree that we don''t want to talk about these matters. Forgive me for prying, it won''t happen again." It would seem the past would remain buried a while longer. "Now I''ll be going. If I find any more precious looking materials I''ll bring them for you to take a look. For now, I got to go make some money." And just like that Aldi left. I shifted my attention over to Rat. He had still not woken up from his evolution. My evolution was so close yet so far. Rat''s size had been increasing since the beginning of its nap and it had so far reached roughly five meters in height. Still dwarfed when compared to me but the elves all looked at him with dread in their eyes. In the evening Sven came over. He''d been gone for the last month and I had no clue where he might have been. His visit brought a great deal of good news for me. Firstly, my apples had godly effects on people of his strength. He had only taken one month to reach the very peak of the knight magus realm. He''d only need a few more apples and he would break through his bottleneck and become a baron magus. Secondly, he had found the territory of a savage beast while exploring. Based on his observations I concluded that it was a wyrm. What was it with all the dragon and serpent species in this world? There were so many of them! Anyway, I sent the two adult verdant serpents and 50 tempest wolves with Sven to hunt it. Since Sven was a hunter and didn''t do close-quarter combat I couldn''t give him a suitable weapon but decided to give him ten arrows made of heavenly steel instead. The whole troop looked quite fearsome when it marched off into the wilderness. With their speed, the journey there and back would take about 10 days. Add the time to slay the wyrm and maybe some preparations before the attack and they should return in 15 days. Since all my adult savage beast had left, I felt a little defenseless and decided to grow to more. My recruitment hadn''t made much progress so far. In an attempt to change that, I grew new boards in the town below. Renewing the old trade deals I also added a recruitment notice. The clamor from the trees growing out of nowhere drew the attention of the inhabitants. Many of them hadn''t dared to approach the boards before due to my proximity. Now that I was a giant tree in the distance, they swarmed the board filled with curiosity. My recruitment notice was short and didn''t go into much detail. It promised great reward and nurturing of potential in exchange for lifelong loyalty. Many seemed tempted but shook their heads after some contemplation and left. I would have to create a bond of trust to get them to serve me. I needed an example that showed how much I could allow someone to get stronger. Sven hadn''t reached the necessary level yet. I''d need someone who was at least a viscount magus. It would take a while before I could use him as an example. Ideally, I''d like to recruit someone at the peak baron magus level and just help them break through to viscount magus. In the end, the crowd had disappeared. There was only one figure left standing there. A heavy cloak covered their features and they had a beast''s corpse slung over their back. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. The beast looked to be a wooden panther. A beast that had high stealth and camouflage abilities. Its jaw had a great crushing force and made for a nasty surprise. The cloaked figure was dragging a leg behind them. Seems they had learned about the bite of the wooden panther the hard way. Limping heavily, the cloaked figure passed the board and slowly made their way up to me. The beast was thrown at me in an aggressive manner. A low and raspy came out from under the low drawn hood. "I want to trade for one silver ingot." 42 A second chance ''Sure thing. But are you sure you want to trade for silver? Your leg seems to be badly hurt, would you like to exchange a hundred iron ingots for a healing apple?'' "I can''t afford to waste money. My leg will heal on its own, no need for medicine." ''This injury is beyond the natural regeneration of your bloodline. The mountain bull isn''t known for its strong regeneration ability. Your leg will need months to heal without external assistance.'' "Give me my reward!" Fine, if she wanted to ruin herself! I dropped a silver ingot and let it fall down to her. It accelerated while falling and well, a silver ingot (5 kilograms) dropped from 300 meters. You could imagine what happened. With a bang, the ingot made a sizeable indent into the ground next to the cloaked figure. The sound made her jump. I was slightly disappointed by her following reaction. She just took the silver ingot and left without another comment. She''d be back. The cloaked figure reappeared after four days. Limping even more than before, forced to use a thick cane to support her weight. She stopped short a meter before me and remained silent. ''Did you really think I wouldn''t recognize you if you hid under a cloak. You are the only one around with an awakened bloodline of a mountain bull. You''re not fooling me, I know it''s you Nerida.'' "So you really knew all along... Why did I even bother hiding?" ''That''s my question!'' "I don''t even know anymore... So, I heard you''re recruiting talents. Do I qualify?" ''Why would you need to work for me? You are the mayor of this town, you don''t need money. Why did you even hunt that panther?'' "I''m no longer mayor. Without your backing and the townspeople blaming me for your reaction... Let''s just say I was replaced before I even knew it. Also, the money isn''t for me, it''s for the orphans. The new mayor decided that feeding and housing the orphans of our clan was unnecessary. The others from the clan gave up on the orphans as well and the clan is no more." ''So now that your clan is no more you come back to me and expect me to take you in? Okay, I accept you.'' "Figures. Why would you accept me after I- Wait, did you just say you accept? Why?" ''I don''t really have a reason. If U had to name something it would be the fact that you had little influence on things that happened. Had you told me about the noble''s plans in advance, I would still have underestimated him. And even if you had tried to help your power would have made little difference. I have insurance this time so accepting you is no problem. Just swallow this leaf and it will be done. A little warning, if you betray me it will cripple you.'' She swallowed the leaf without hesitation. Two healing apples and some rest later her leg was also good as new. Her leg had looked gruesome, half her calf had been missing and the wound had been heavily inflamed. ''Also, I think you should bring the orphans here too.'' "They''re just children! You can''t recruit them!" ''And why not? They will have a better future under my care and they will also have a place to stay. As for you, I''ll need you to break through for me and reach viscountess maga.'' Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "Don''t say that so casually. I have been stuck at this bottleneck for too long. I''ll get the kids." She returned soon after with the orphans and they all swallowed a leaf. Thereafter, I sent them to settle in some of the empty island houses and focused on Nerida once again. Her bloodline was the mountain bull, an earth attributed beast. Thus, I just assumed that earth apples would let her attain her breakthrough. She looked at the brown apples with some suspicion but changed her opinion after taking a bite. Not long after, Nerida sat down cross-legged and energy ripples were spreading from her. Then with a blast of magic around her, Nerida broke through and was now an early viscountess maga. 44 War I The next day Aldi arrived with V?lsung. Why did he come here? Did V?lsung find out about my plans? No, he couldn''t know of it! I hadn''t told anyone about my plan for revenge and I hadn''t even made any inquiries about them. Divination? If that was it... then they would know what I did to the royal heirs and march in here guns blazing. That is if they had guns... Anyway, the chances that they knew of my plans were slim. Maybe they just suspected something. If I played my cards well there shouldn''t be a problem. When they arrived Aldi began his ascent to my top. It wasn''t particularly arduous but still took a fair amount of time and stamina. Both of which V?lsung seemed unwilling to use. He simply fixed his gaze to my top and jumped. He jumped! That was a distance of 300 meters! Surprisingly, V?lsung shot through the sky like a missile, reached the highest point of his flight and landed. He had perfectly controlled the kinetic energy of his jump to land without any problems. "Greetings lord Eldar. I come bearing a request from Midgard." ''A request? Shouldn''t we wait for Aldi?'' "That won''t be necessary. Aldi is merely here to discuss the transport of the goods." ''What goods, did you bring me more savage beasts?'' "I fear that in the near future that won''t be feasible. We have just entered into a war with the empire and can''t spare any troops to hunt for you. That is also what I am here for. The weapons you made, those heavenly steel weapons, can you provide us with more?" ''Here you are, coming to me only when you need something. But why do you need my help and why are you suddenly at war?'' "The tensions had been there for a long time. The capital of the empire is called Asgard and is a city made completely out of gold. It isn''t inhabited by humans but by a race called godkin or Aesir as they call themselves. They look like humans but are much stronger in both physique and magical ability. They aren''t as versatile as we humans but make up for it with their sheer power. The Aesir have been locked in conflict with their neighbors the Vanir, the fire giants and the Jotun. Back then humanity was much weaker and we were ignored by all sides. However, the Aesir approached our king, asking for payment since they were apparently protecting the humans from the Jotuns. The king accepted and sent the supplies requested. Little did he know the Jotuns would see this as a provocation and attack the humans. The protection the humans had paid for didn''t come! The Aesir used the giant''s attack on the human lands as an opening to strike the enemy capital, Jotunheim. Unfortunately, their plan was foiled by the fire giants and they had heavy losses. Humanity wasn''t doing any better. They had barely held the Jotuns back long enough for news of the Aesir''s attack to arrive. The Jotun realized that they had been fooled and retreated. The Aesir then blamed the humans and promised to take vengeance. However, for the last 200 years, they were too busy fighting off the Jotuns and recovering their strength. Now the emperor''s son, Thor stepped past his bottleneck and became a king magus. With his newly gained strength, terrifying physique and a magic weapon he pushed the Jotuns back singlehandedly. Now that they''ve got some breathing space, they''re coming for us. Not in full force but even one legion of theirs can bring great devastating to us." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. ''And why is that my problem? Go ask the elves, they are your allies!'' "We''ve tried that but they answered that they were busy and could only send two hundred archers. With our current strength even if we add those elves, things will get bloody. But if we had your weapons and maybe a hundred beasts-" ''Now you want beasts too?! What do I get out of it?'' "We have coins." ''I can just grow gold.'' "After the war, we can bring you savage beasts." ''I don''t do delayed payments.'' "We can give you status, nobility, land!" ''All those things don''t really matter to me... Anything else? If not, then thi-'' "Myself!" ''Wait, what now?'' 45 V?lsung joining the team "You have been trying to recruit powerful people, haven''t you? You are trying to establish your own force. Whatever the condition to join is, I''ll accept it but you must help us win this war." ''I refuse.'' "Why? I''m a grand duke fighter!" ''I can''t help you win a war against an enemy who has a king magus in their ranks. I can help you defend the border against troops but I can''t help you win such a war.'' "That''s fine! As long as we can make them retreat we can consider that a win. Do you take the deal?" ''Swallow this leaf and the deal will be sealed.'' "This is your condition?" ''Don''t underestimate it. Unlike with the others, it isn''t strong enough to cripple you but it will do some serious damage.'' "I see. If you promise to aide us until this crisis has been averted I will take it." ''You have my word that I will send sizable forces to bolster your defenses.'' V?lsung gave the leaf one last look and stuffed it into his mouth. ''Good, now what kind of weapon do you want?'' "A broadsword and armor!" ''Woah there, do you know how much time it takes to make a full set of armor? I''ll make you a broadsword. In the meanwhile, you can go to the beast layer and tame a few beasts.'' "I already have a partner, I''ll never betray her!" ''How is taming another beast betrayal?'' "I''ve fought side by side with Storm for years and I don''t need anyone else!" ''Storm? Do you mean the lion you were riding last time?'' "Yes, that was her. I guess I should introduce you." V?lsung whistled. From the distance, a roar that made even my verdant serpent tremble could be heard. A shadow broke through the clouds and landed next to V?lsung. It was indeed the lion from back then but I had failed to spot the wings last time. A pair of strong, feathered wings that carried this lioness through the clouds like an arrow shot from a bow. "Lord Eldar, this is Storm, my partner. Storm, this is lord Eldar, we work for him from now on." ''Interesting. She''s still a beast but her roar can already scare a savage beast.'' "That''s to be expected. We have been training together for years and now she''s about to break through again. If only we had a little more time for her to gather more energy." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. ''Energy you say! What kind of energy? Would something like this do?'' I grew a couple of wind apples and showed them. V?lsung didn''t seem very interested but Storm''s gaze was fixed on those apples. To her, that was good stuff and just what she needed to speed up her breakthrough. I dropped the apples onto the platform and let them roll towards her. The apples quickly disappeared into the beast''s mouth. Of course, this amount was far from sufficient to become a savage beast and so I kept growing more. Knowing this wouldn''t be enough any time soon I began to make V?lsungs broadsword. Usually, broadswords placed great emphasis on the distribution of weight, neglecting sharpness. They would cut only with sheer force and were honestly no better than blunt weapons. This was done in consideration of armored enemies as very sharp blades tended to crack under the rebounding force. Now, heavenly steel was a material of much higher quality and could counter this weakness. The blade I grew was sharpened to the extreme on both sides and the blades'' breadth was ridiculous. Its weight was the only downside and by that I mean, 200 kilograms that would make it impossible to lift for any normal person. V?lsung commented that he hardly felt any difference concerning weight between this and other weapons. I just left him with the suggestion not to hand it to other people. Storm in the meantime had eaten her fill and was glowing from the inside out. A small tornado picked up around her, ruffling her mane... Why did she have a mane! Let''s just forget about that. The white light faded away and the breakthrough was completed. Storm''s appearance had changed much only that the color of her fur and feathers was now completely white. "With this, our odds have once again increased." 46 Off to the battlefield ''What do you reckon is the amount of time we have until the first battle?'' "If we disregard the first few skirmishes I''d guess we have a month at worst, two at best. It also depends where we set up our first line of defense. Knowing the Aesir they will march straight to our capital and we''ll have to block their way." ''That should be enough time for the wyrms to join the battle.'' "Wyrms! Since when do you have wyrms?!!" ''Sven managed to hunt one only recently. They should be done growing within a week or so.'' "This is great! If we send in the wyrms before we engage, the enemy will sustain casualties before we even meet. I need to go inform his Majesty. Could I trouble you to also provide us with some arrows made of heavenly steel?" ''Sure sure. Run along now and inform the king.'' I honestly wanted to squeeze some more out of the humans but something had come up. I could feel rat''s consciousness stir. It felt like I could wake him up with just a simple nudge. I didn''t know why but somehow I could just tell that this time my evolution would take longer than usual. Thus, I decided to make the necessary preparations for war before beginning my advancement. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. I called Sven over and told him to assist V?lsung. In one week''s time or more he should come to gather the verdant serpent and the three wyrms and take them to the battlefield. I also gave him all the heavenly arrows I made and let him have control over the normal beasts as a minor combat force. Then I used the root system to contact Nerida and told her I was preparing to evolve. She should stay here and make sure that no one insignificant bothered me. With all that out of my way, I sent a wake-up call down the mental bridge between me and Ratatoskr. He jolted awake, nearly falling off my branches. And at that second I felt it. Like before with the queen kimbera, a formless connection was established between the two of us. I didn''t even need to ask if it wanted to be my guardian beast. The minute Ratatoskr woke up it immediately claimed ownership of me, initiating the bond from his side. I could only assume that this was how beasts usually became a guardian beast. By now the bond between us had fully formed and became permanent. You could call it a shackle between our respective souls. The other connection I had, because I had grown him, was simply devoured and ceased to exist. Then a restriction hidden within my soul came undone. I hadn''t even known it existed but at that moment it was released and brought forth a magical change within me. The magic within was refined bit by bit and became incredibly pure. The process reminded me of breaking through in my former world, just that here I went from zero to a hundred. Priorly, I myself had refined my magic three times but failed to complete the fourth refinement. The thing that was accumulating in my body now felt like the result if that fourth refinement. Magic essence! The thing I had before was comparable to the weakest stage in my former world. Mana! It would seem like plants did most of the refinement in one go as opposed to the mages who split up the process. I wondered how the magi of this world did it. Now, the entirety of my body was filled with the newly refined magic essence. That was it? I felt like barely any time had passed! Well, all the batter. If I could now form a spiritual body I might be able to join the fight against the Aesir or personally go kill a certain clan! I was now equivalent to a grand duke magus and could move much more freely. Figuratively speaking. My real body still couldn''t move. So I formed my spiritual body. I chose to give myself androgynous features and a well-trained body clad in a green sage robe. Sadly this spiritual body could only interact with the physical world through magic and it could only exert a fraction of my strength. Still, I''d have to boast in front of V?lsung. Thinking that I shifted my attention back to the world around me. ''Hmm. Where did all my beasts go? Did Sven take them to the battlefield early?'' I looked around and discovered that, to my great horror, the growing wyrms were gone. There was no way I wouldn''t have noticed them be removed forcefully. The only explanation for this was that my sense of time hadn''t functioned correctly during my evolution. I quickly located Nerida. ''Nerida! How much time has passed since I began advancing and how''s the war?'' "Eldar? Oh, you''re finally back. It''s been a month since you were gone! Sven came back twice but you didn''t respond. From what I heard things are dire. The Aesir sent three legions instead of one and their commander is well known for being undefeated. Sven left with all the beast three days ago, I don''t know how the situation has changed since then." Right, the beasts! They were connected to me and I could roughly tell where they were. I sensed for those connections but I really didn''t like the results. I couldn''t feel any beast! Only the premature verdant serpent was still alive. ''It would seem I have to make a trip.'' 47 The battlefield Over at the main plains before Midgard. Two armies were standing opposite of each other. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. One army had taken a defensive position on slightly elevated ground. They numbered twenty thousand and most of the soldiers were somewhere between the fighter and baron fighter realm. Sporadically there were some magi, ranging from the baron to the count realm. Barely connected wooden walls were set up and the whole army seemed in disarray. Their leader was standing around a map with his commanders. The crown atop his head looked heavy and despite him being a peak grand duke magus it seemed to weigh down his head. He was the king and he had to bear the responsibility for the outcome of this battle. On the other side, three individual camps were neatly built. Each camp had contained roughly 800 soldiers ranging from viscount to count magus with captains that were all marquess magi. Their commander was holding a dagger in his hand, repeatedly drawing it across his bare chest and marveling at his unhurt skin below the sharp blade. The soldiers standing guard around him pointedly ignored his strange behavior. They had seen worse and grown accustomed to their general''s antics. Both sides were currently resting. Between them, a massive battlefield lay desolate, filled with corpses of those who hadn''t been fortunate enough to survive the first clash. Particularly three massive grey forms stood out from the rest. Around the dead wyrms'' corpses, the earth was scorched black. Charred bodies were all that remained of the brave souls who had vanquished these giants. Further back on the human side, more beast corpses could be found. With a dead verdant serpent in the middle, beast of all kind lay on the field. Some humans could be seen going back and forth between their camp and the dead beasts, carrying their corpses back with them. The other side could not be bothered with such things. They hadn''t even retrieved their fallen comrades, deigning them worthless for dying in the first battle. The day passed and the next morning both sides were preparing for the next battle. On the human side, their king held a long speech. He thanked the soldiers for fighting with him, praised their efforts thus far and reminded them that they were laying down their lives to protect their families. At the back of the human camp, barely in reach of the king''s speech, two humans stood next to a giant green serpent. They were having a conversation using only a soft voice. "Are you sure we shouldn''t send this one to battle? It could save countless lives!" "It has yet to mature so its combat ability is only slightly above that of a normal beast. Its size is only the byproduct of the master''s experiment. Also, if we kill it master won''t be able to send us any reinforcements should he wake up. This is the only thing that tells him about our location." "Are you confident he will send reinforcements?" "All the other beasts died. Once he notices that he will know something went wrong. I only worry if he can reach us in time." "Then let us wait and hope that time is our ally." In the opposing camp, the soldiers were not attending their leader''s speech. Formless ripples spread throughout the camp congregating around the soldiers. This was their commander''s ability, beacon of hope. As long a he stood on the battlefield his troops would never lose motivation and might even fight in disregard of their own lives. Their commander was currently talking to a man clad in darkest black. "Dearest brother, how come you haven''t won against the humans yet? Didn''t you boast about how unstoppable you were when you left Valhalla with those three legions? Father was impatiently waiting for your good news. Now he sent me to have a look at what took you so long and what do I find? Not only are you in a temporary stalemate but you also lost 600 men in the process." The black-haired visitor''s words were provocative but his blond brother didn''t get enraged and simply answered in a calm fashion. "I couldn''t have known the humans had managed to tame three wyrms. You can tell father that I will return as soon as possible. The humans are already waning and without those beasts, they stand no chance at stopping me. You should return now before father gets impatient waiting for you!" "Fine, I''ll be leaving. Talking to Thor is much more fun than talking to you. He always gets overwhelmed by his rage." The visitor jumped into the air and shifted into a falcon, flying westward. His brother followed the flying bird with his eyes before turning around, filled with determination. The battle began! The Aesir side charged, wielding both magic and weapons in their hands they were like a tidal wave rushing for the shore. The humans formed a tight line prepared to receive the brunt of the Aesir charge. With a resounding clang, the two sides collided intensely and first blood was drawn. Under the fearless charge of the Aesir, the human defenses quickly crumbled. Panic spread the human troops and their initial determination began to wane. The Aesir legions increased the pressure once again hammering the left flank until it collapsed. All seemed lost for the human side. That was when a thundering noise came from the north. Under the horrified gazes of the Aesir legion, 500 bloodrush rhinos came straight at them. 48 Joining the battle The battle didn''t seem to go in favor of the humans. I could see that their left flank had collapsed entirely and they wouldn''t hold up much longer. I had hoped to let the human forces be weakened some more before joining the battle but at this rate, they would lose the battle. Thus, I ordered the bloodrush rhinos to charge at the Aesir''s left rear. The Aesir became a little frantic but didn''t shrink back in the face of this stampede. Instead, some of them split from the main group, preparing to intercept the rhinos. Their gazes were resolute as they readied their strongest spells. Using their lives they would be able to halt and kill all rhinos and protect their rear. They intended to take advantage of the rhinos'' charging-behavior that wouldn''t let them stop even when they died. Just that the group of rhinos suddenly split up in two halves and swung out towards both sides. The burst of magic from the Aesir missed most of as the two groups continued charging to different positions. One group attacked the Aesir''s left flank and gave the humans some much-needed respite. The second group bulldozed straight through the Aesir''s rear. Astonishingly one figure survived the 200 rhino charge as he was pushed further and further away from the main army. Then panic broke out in the Aesir army. From the backs of the rhinos, countless head-sized spiders had alighted their rides and latched onto the Aesir soldiers with their giant fangs. These were horrifying widows, a beast that was feared for its potent venom. Within minutes 400 soldiers had lost their lives on the Aesir side. The others began a hectic retreat after hearing the call of a deep horn. I quickly located the source of this sound and discovered it to be the survivor pushed away by the rhinos. Those rhinos now lay lifelessly at his feet. To kill so many beasts while caught by their charge meant he was most certainly not an ordinary soldier. Probably their commander. But that didn''t matter now. I had pushed the Aesir back and bought some time for the humans to reorganize themselves. Gathering the 200 odd rhinos and 50 widows that had survived, I made my way to the human camp. V?lsung received me at the edge of the camp with a questioning look. "Thank you for your help but who are you?" ''So little time has passed and you have already forgotten about me? Do I have to question your loyalty?'' "Lord Eldar! You have a human body now! But you still speak in this creepy way." "I can speak normally. It''s just that I don''t want to. Also, I think you have bigger problems at the moment, don''t you?" "Yes indeed. You came just in time, let me introduce you to the king!" I left the beasts next to the camp and entered with V?lsung. He led me to a giant tent at the center of the camp. Inside the tent were quite a few people. I could see Sven, brooding in a corner with his eyes fixed on the map. Sigurd and Siegfried were there too but seemed more like observers. Apart from them I only knew the identity of one more person in this tent. The king stood at the end of the table bent over the map. He was the strongest person in the room and the crown was a dead giveaway. V?lsung then walked up to him and introduced us. "Your Majesty, may I introduce to you, lord Eldar. Lord Eldar, this is king Sigmund, ruler of all humans." "It is an honor to meet you, lord Eldar. Your help came just in time. As much I would like to exchange some political formalities right now, I''d suggest we leave that for later. Let''s get back to discussing our strategy." And just like that, I was set aside. "Now, how''s the situation on both sides." "In the initial clash, we lost a thousand men. 500 are wounded and won''t be able to continue fighting. That leaves us with 18500 soldiers. The Aesir gave lost around 400 men but if they have wounded is unknown. Leaving them with 2000 soldiers. As for the beasts..." ''I''m left with 200 rhinos and 50 horrifying widows. The others are still on their way.'' Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "There are others?" 49 Strategies ''Yes, 500 tempest wolves, giant mantises, and shadow horses are moving here with some supplies. The new wyrms have only just left town so they probably won''t make it.'' "There are just ordinary beasts, what can they help? We need more men. I request to be sent back to gather reinforcements." I recognized this particular commander. He had been the one commanding the left flank that collapsed. Evidently, both his men and skills at commanding them were subpar and he just wanted to leave this place. "We can''t move any other forces to this place. We would substantially weaken our defenses in other places, making us vulnerable. But since you were so willing to be the first to head out, you will be stationed on the frontlines next time." Sigmund had seen through that commander''s plan and he was having none of it. The commander turned pale and his hands started trembling. He knew that the bloodshed was thickest at the frontlines and he wouldn''t survive there. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. However, the order had come directly from his king. He couldn''t openly defy his ruler. Remaining silent, he wished to simply slip out of the tent in silence. I was debating on pointing out the commander''s actions but Sigmund was already a step ahead of me. He grabbed his sword and waved it at the now fleeing commander. The commander was cut in half at the waist without even being touched by the sword. That sword was dangerously sharp! It had literally just cut through space. I had only cut a few meters deep but that was space we were talking about! "This is the royal blade, Gramr. It is passed down from king to king, choosing the next king." ''Really, I thought the title of king was hereditary here?'' "It usually is. However, what if the royal line were to die out? Or what if there were three sons? The sword generally accepts anyone from our family, its choice is just to prevent uncertainties. Back then, it chose my youngest brother and after that, it naturally chose his son." So the sword had a will of its own and could cut through space... Fighting Sigmund would not be easy. By now the corpse had been cleared away and the talking resumed. I will spare you the details but overall it was decided that they would keep the same strategy as before, with me forming an independent strike group. I would support wherever I saw fit and maybe try separating the Aesir commander from his troops. Apparently, this would be very detrimental to the Aesir''s troop morale. The main goal here was just to defend. Especially, since there were currently 10 wyrms heading right here. Once they arrived, the Aesir would be having a bad time. Thankfully, the Aesir took the rest of the day to reorganize themselves, giving us some much needed time. My beasts arrived. With this, I felt more confident to fight on until the wyrms arrived. The supplies they brought were also a great help for the humans. The vibrant apples I had brought could feed them for a week. The troop''s morale increased with just one meal. Then I began positioning the beasts to allow me more control over the battlefield. The giant mantises were stationed in front of the human''s main force. Those mantises were instructed to create holes in the enemy formation even if it cost their lives. The wolves were placed near the left flank, while the shadow horses covered the right flank. The remaining rhinos and widows were on standby, waiting for an opportunity. Then as the sun was diving into the horizon, a horrible hunch struck me. The Aesir would no doubt attack in a way that would make our superiority in numbers be useless while giving them some advantage. The biggest advantage they had was that they could only be defeated if multiple humans or beasts worked together. Thus, ideally, they would attack in a way that made cooperative fighting more difficult. Like limiting the ability to communicate with each other or see each other in the first place. Wait a moment! If they can''t see each other... There was going to be a night attack! 50 Battle at nigh I quickly went to tell V?lsung about my rising suspicion. He didn''t look like he believed it but said he would relay my suspicion to Sigmund. I had done what I could to warn the humans. If they ignored my advice, there was nothing I could or wanted to do. A night battle was the most detrimental for the humans as beasts could see very well in the dark and I could use magic perception. The Aesir probably had their own arrangements. According to my expectations, the Aesir retired to their tents very early. Lulled by this sign of hesitation the enemy had shown, the humans rested early too, believing that the Aesir wouldn''t attack. Myself, I didn''t need sleep. The concept had even become somewhat foreign to me. Thus, I noticed right away when there was movement in the Aesir camp. Silently the soldiers creeped out of their tents and sneaked across the battlefield. The only wore leather armor, evidently, they planned on using the element of surprise to their advantage. This, however, made them much more vulnerable themselves. To get past the watchmen they even had to crawl past the lit spaces. They were now steadily approaching the giant mantises. I had ordered all the beasts to lay down and pretend to be asleep, making the Aesir drop their guard even further. Once they reached the mantises the Aesir split up, circling around the giant bugs as quiet as possible. They probably thought that the beasts were all controlled by tamers and killing the masters would be more efficient. As the two currents of sneaking troops were passing the mantises I waited until half had passed. Out of nowhere, all the mantises heads shot up, their insect eyes filled with the intent to murder. Without giving off even the slightest bit of sound those humongous scythe-like forearms cut through the air. The passing troops were caught by surprise and received heavy injuries due to their light armor. As they were slashed by my beasts, some couldn''t keep down their voices and cried out in agony. This immediately alarmed the human watchmen and by extension the human camp. Now the first half of the Aesir didn''t hide any longer, they were already past the mantises and directly in front of the human camp. The battle there was bloody. The Aesir had the element of surprise and most humans were still a little groggy from sleep. The humans, on the other hand, had an overwhelming advantage in numbers. Doing some rough calculations there were around 500 Aesir fighting more than 10000 humans. The other 500 Aesir were facing the giant mantises slashes. Most of them had been heavily wounded during the surprise attack and so they were struggling to fight the equal number of insects despite the Aesir''s strength being higher. Now all 1000 Aesir were locked in battle. Though I felt like this was all a little too easy... Wait!... 1000... That was only half of how many there should be! I spun on my heel, finding the missing 1000 at the other side of the human camp, sneakily thinning out the human armies rear. They had probably adjusted to this style of attack after the planned pincer attack failed. Covered by the commotion made by the open fight upfront they had remained undiscovered. This didn''t go as planned. Time to improvise! ''Shining lunaries first form, astral bodies suspended in the sky!'' Brought to life by my spell, around a dozen miniature moons began circling above the human camp. The nightly camp was brightened up by strong moonlight rays. The hidden Aesir troops were immediately discovered and attempts were made to stop them. Still, the Aesir had managed to advance too deep into the human camp and could not be stopped by the few soldiers who weren''t fighting at the front. V?lsung was amongst them but even he could do little more than tie down a few captains of the opposing side. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. ''V?lsung, can you hear me?'' "I''m busy. We need to stop these Aesir. Their commander is somewhere amongst them!" ''That''s exactly what I am trying to do! However, the aftereffects will keep me from communicating with you for some time. I can still roughly direct the beasts but you will be on your own.'' "What can you do? I don''t feel threatened in the slightest by this body of yours, you can''t be that strong." ''There is one important thing you don''t seem to know about mages. Give us enough time to prepare our spells and we can take down almost anyone. Shining lunaries second form, astral rain from the heavens!'' The miniature moons circling above descended right where the most Aesir were gathered. The spheres with a radius of one meter had little impact on the army as a whole but the moonlight suffused in the spheres was like poison to them. This moonlight was created, using a basic understanding of time. Touching it made the Aesir age uncontrollably, sapping away their youthful strength. ''Shining luminaries third form, starburst, a new beginning!'' 51 Balder The shining spheres that were infused with that deadly moonlight, exploded. The moonlight spread, taking down swaths of Aesir standing to close to it. Under the terrifying effects of time passing until they were only lifeless shriveled up corpses, the Aesir''s numbers were greatly reduced. My already ethereal body became completely invisible. I was now nothing but a shred of soul floating in the air. Still, half the Aesir were wiped out, greatly lessening the pressure on the humans. In the radius of my last spell, there was only one survivor. The enemy commander! He emerged from the scattering moonlight unscathed. Perfect immortality? An innate understanding of time? How did he not get affected by time? "So we meet again lord Balder. Must you insist on continuing this senseless bloodshed? We humans do not wish to fight against the Aesir." Sigmund had entered the battlefield and addressed the commander of the Aesir, Balder. He had raised Gramr in front of himself, assuming a stance that would allow him to attack at any given moment. His attempt at stopping further fighting did not seem very sincere. "Sigmund, I see you still like advocating peace with a sword in hand. You are such a hypocrite. Since you humans let the Jotuns go back then, us destroying you was inevitable." "You Aesir tricked us humans into fighting someone much stronger than us. You couldn''t have expected all of humanity to perish just so you could defeat the Jotuns? Is this what you wanted Balder." "That was how the Allfather willed it. Yet you humans refused your destiny, now you will be exterminated for defying destiny!" "We will see who will be exterminated. We outnumber you and your surprise attack failed, you won''t be victorious." With that, both had said their piece and charged at each other. Sigmund swung Gramr, creating the same spatial phenomenon as before. Balder simply received the spatial cut and the following sword using only his fist. A punch against an incredibly sharp sword that could even cut space! Only a madman would do such a thing. Balder''s punch met Gramr and stopped the blade. He wasn''t cut even by such a powerful weapon! Instead, he punched forward with his other hand, forcing Sigmund to evade and take a step back. Sigmund swung around and hit balder''s face with a horizontal slash, blasting him a few meters away. Balder stood up, climbing out of the pit he created, his face wasn''t scratched in the slightest. Sigmund followed up and arrived before Balder, letting Gramr descend with even more force. Balder sidestepped, causing Gramr to be buried deep into the ground. While Sigmund had to free his sword from the earth''s clutches, Balder rained down a torrent of punches on him. Despite the intensity of those punches, Sigmund didn''t seem to be hurt by them. They soon entered a stalemate where neither could hurt the other. Around them, the Aesir were slowly losing ground. They were severely outnumbered and had to fight both man and beast. Soon, Balder was the only Aesir left standing. "All the others are dead? Looks like I will have to get serious and do this myself." "Balder! If we fight seriously we will only bring more destruction!" Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "We are way past the point where we worry about destruction. Dazzling light of hope, spear from heaven!" On Balder''s command, light itself formed a spear and shot at Sigmund. While it flew, there was a whistling noise as it sliced the air. "Fine, let''s do this the hard way then! Firestorm, burn!" Countless embers congregated around Sigmund. Spinning and twisting the ember whirlpool clashed with the light spear. In the end, the dazzling spear triumphed and cut through the firestorm. Only to be broken by a swing of Sigmund''s sword. More and more elemental power was flying around between them as they kept hurling spells at each other. Balder held the upper hand regarding the potency of his spells but Sigmund easily blocked then using Gramr''s otherworldly sharpness. The human army had retreated, the field around the two who were fighting now little more than a wasteland. It would have probably ended in a battle of endurance but suddenly an arrow shot through the air. It barely grazed Balder''s cheek, leaving a thin red line. Blood! Balder''s blood! Slowly Balder raised a trembling hand up to his bleeding cheek, eyes filled with confusion. 52 Victory? "I am bleeding! My skin was pierced! My face! Damn you, Sigmund for wounding me! Damn you, humans, for once again escaping your fate! This will not end here! I will be back and make you suffer!" Wasn''t he overreacting? The injury he had sustained was barely a scratch. He wouldn''t bleed to death from this even if he tried. Was Balder really just a drama queen? Hoping to learn more about the situation I looked at the humans, finding them utterly shocked. V?lsung looked like his lower jaw was about to hit the floor. Was there something important I didn''t know? For now, I could only wait until my spiritual from recovered. One hour had passed since the battle, only 11 hours remained. I directed the beasts to the north of the camp and decided to take a nap. And by that I mean I counted from one to 39600 to pass the time. With my now restored spiritual body, I returned to the human camp and found Sven and V?lsung in the main tent. "Lord Eldar, you have finally returned! You wouldn''t guess what happened after you left." ''I didn''t leave Sven, I was merely unable to communicate with you. I was there during the whole battle. Which brings me to my question. What the hell was that drama Balder made over getting scratched by an arrow? The wound was barely visible but he treated it like you had slashed across his whole face.'' Sigmund had come over and heard my question. "I believe this is something you do not know Eldar but Balder''s body is invulnerable. No matter how he is attacked he won''t be wounded by anything. Even Gramr, a legendary blade, can''t cut or scratch him. Now the thing that he was freaking out over wasn''t the wound itself, it was the implication he could be wounded once again. Since his birth, Balder''s biggest fear had been his own death. Seeing him suffer from extreme paranoia and anxiety, his mother visited all the things in this world and made them promise not to hurt him. After that, Balder became a shining general for the Aesir. He feared nothing and no one, making a defeat nigh impossible." ''But this time he was wounded.'' Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "Indeed. I fear that Odin won''t like the fact that we found a way to get past Balder''s invulnerability. Even if we say that we are clueless about how we did it, Odin will not take the risk. Especially with our previous history and the battle now. You should return to your home now Eldar, I''ll send someone to fetch you when you are needed." What a condescending bastard! Now that the enemy was temporarily repelled I was sent away? They just didn''t want me to be present while they discussed how to proceed. Was I just some reinforcement that could be called when needed? ''Very well, I''ll be going then. Good luck, you''ll need!'' None of them perceived the slightly sarcastic tone hidden in my voice or maybe they just didn''t care. Either way, they''d regret it later. If they wished to drive me away, why should I stop them? Since they couldn''t even show the slightest bit of gratitude, I wouldn''t need to have any second thoughts about what I was about to do. Soon these idiots would wish that they had never let me leave. ''Sven, V?lsung, we are leaving!'' I stormed out of the tent heading north. My subordinates hurried after me and we left the battlefield with the beasts. When we had brought some distance between us and the camp, V?lsung rode his white sky lioness over to me. He seemed intent on calming the bad mood his nephew had put me in. "Sigmund might come over a bit harsh but he doesn''t mean it. He''s a good kid but the burden of being a king weighs on him." ''Don''t lie to me. He meant what he said and being a king is no excuse for such a thing. He has made his decision to treat me like a pawn and I have made mine to use his carelessness to my advantage.'' "What do you mean?" V?lsung seemed a little worried about the last part I had said. Good, he didn''t seem to know my plans. ''You''ll know soon enough'' And with that, the beast horde adjusted its course, heading northwest. 53 Lohenheim will burn "Eldar! Why are we heading to the northwestern border? Do you plan on attacking Valhalla?" ''Valhalla? Never heard of it. Tell me, what is it.'' "Valhalla is the fortress city of the empire. It guards the passage between your forest and the volcanic mountains, leading to Jotunheim. Most of the Aesir army is stationed there, defending against the frost and fire giants. The city is filled with Aesir soldiers and represents the peak of the empire''s capability. If you attack that place even if you have one hundred wyrms you will still be defeated." ''Don''t worry then, that is not my target.'' "Then what is? What is there in the northwest you would want to attack?" ''When did I ever say I was going to attack something? Maybe I''m just going to a friendly picnic.'' "With a horde of wild beasts and an aura screaming bloody murder? You are obviously planning to kill someone! Who is it? The only other thing in this direction is Lohenheim... Wait! You still haven''t forgotten about the matter with that sapling?" ''No, I haven''t!'' "You have already killed the one responsible why do you suddenly want more?" ''I killed the one responsible? What a joke! The reason why he could do what he did was a fire artifact in his possession. I made some inquiries and found out that this artifact is made from a fire giant''s bones, a material that the muspel clan holds a monopoly over. Furthermore, only clan elders can refine an artifact of this level.'' "So what, you plan on asking them who made that artifact and then you''ll kill him?" ''they''d lie without a doubt, thus, I will kill them all just to be sure. And if anyone gets in my way I''ll kill them too.'' "Why now all of a sudden? Can''t you forgive the muspel clan on account of your cooperation with humanity?" ''Before I was too weak! The muspel clan''s ancestor is still alive and a duke magus, with my strength back then he would simply kill me. I had to lie low and make some concessions to you humans to buy myself the time needed to grow. Now I''m stronger than that sack of old bones, possess multiple savage beasts and even have you as a subordinate. They won''t stand a chance.'' "I won''t help you destroy the muspel clan! They are an important part of the sky kingdom!" ''You became my subordinate in exchange for my help against the Aesir. Is this how you honor your promise?'' "..." "Will you at least keep helping the humans fight the Aesir?" ''If Sigmund asks for my help and treats me with common courtesy, I will respond in kind.'' We continued on and soon joined up with my twenty wyrms and another 2000 beasts. Adding those to the survivors from the last battle, my army now contained 2500 beasts, 20 adult savage beasts, and one young savage beast. Two days later we arrived in the vicinity of Lohenheim. This was where the far reaches of volcanic mountains were separated from the rest through the river Ifing. The river also served as the border between the empire and the sky kingdom. This little part of the volcanic mountains was part of the human kingdom and made Lohenheim prosper. They were inhabited by the fireborn and hid some fire giant remains deep within them. However, that was of no importance to me! They would burn regardless of their prosperity. The beast horde arrived before the city. The looming threat didn''t go unnoticed. Magnifying my mental coverage I sent a message through the whole city. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. ''Citizens of Lohenheim, do not be alarmed by the beasts outside your city. As long as the muspel clan comes out and faces me I will do you all no harm. As for the elders of the muspel clan, come on out or I''ll have to force my way in and find you myself!'' Then I let the wyrms roar and unleash their aura to its fullest. Twenty marquess level auras combined and pressed down on the city. This should be enough to draw them out. For the next hour, nothing happened. I had been expecting this and thus it didn''t really bother. The muspel elders were probably holding a meeting to discuss who they might have offended and how to deal with me. I had already decided to wait for three hours. If they answered before that, good. If they didn''t, they were testing me. Three hours later they didn''t respond, evidently waiting to see my reaction. I let the wyrms retract their auras and sent over another mental message. ''I take it this is your answer then.'' Only seconds later, five old men flew over, led by one middle-aged man. Except for one old man hidden in the back, they were all magi at the marquess level. "I am the head of the muspel clan. What is the meaning of this barbaric siege? We have no grievances with you so we suggest you leave." 54 Quality of spells ''You have no grievances with me? Are you not the muspel clan, the one holding a monopoly on blaze artifacts?'' "What does our identity have to do with any of your grievances?" ''Don''t you remember the brat you sent to get ahold of a certain tree. He held a blaze artifact that can only be made by one of you. On his mission, he used the artifact to do something very stupid while throwing around his weight as an heir of the muspel clan. Now I''ve come to settle the debt you owe me.'' "I''m sure we can compensate you for whatever you lost." ''Sure! Bring me a genius that surpasses all other geniuses before him by a hundred times and let me slaughter him, then the debt will be cleared.'' "You are exaggerating!" ''How long does it take for a tree to develop consciousness?'' "That depends on the tree. Some take a few hundred years others take millennia." ''Indeed. But I just needed three years and the one your brat killed a few hours. Now, compensate me for the amount of talent you wasted!'' "Dammit! Elders, ancestor let''s kill him!" ''V?lsung, stall the ancestor!'' The muspel elders advanced, gathering momentum. The ancestor unleashed his aura of an early duke magus and prepared to attack too but was mercilessly hit by V?lsung''s blade. The ancestor quickly gathered a bundle of flames to block the slash and was shot away like a cannonball by the accompanying force behind the slash. Meanwhile, I was commanding the fight against the elders and the clan head. They were all marquess magi. However, how could they be opponents for twenty wyrms? In general, a savage beast was slightly stronger than a peak marquess magus. Still, it wouldn''t stand much of a chance against a duke magus. Two elders were immediately burned by the wyrm fire. The other two dodged and were forced to keep evading. ''Point in time, freeze and flow!'' Time was distorted for just a second, barely noticeable. Yet to the magi channeling their spells it might as well have been an hour. Their spells weren''t made to withstand temporal interference and backfired. The resulting injury was negligible but the moment of hesitation brought by the shock left them wide open. They failed to evade the next breath attack of the wyrms and perished altogether. While I had been dealing with the elders and the clan head, V?lsung had been fighting the muspel ancestor. The fight should have quickly ended in a one-sided victory for the ancestor since a magus could easily beat fighters of a higher level. Yet through his initial attack, coupled with his sword that was of high quality, V?lsung had brought the ancestor into a difficult situation. The ancestor didn''t have the time to fight back but could only focus on blocking V?lsung''s attacks. When I came over the ancestor was already cutting a pretty sorry figure. Fire was an element specialized in attacking, defending was not its forte. With the addition of the wyrms, the ancestor was completely cornered. "V?lsung! Is this the will of the king? The muspel clan has done nothing to deserve this! We have faithfully guarded the northwestern border for centuries." "My actions are not tied to Sigmund anymore. I have made an oath to serve Eldar and even if it pains me, humanity needs Eldar more than you and your clan!" Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. With these words, V?lsung drove his sword into the muspel ancestor''s chest, ending his life. The ancestor gave V?lsung one last incredulous look before he slumped down, held up only by V?lsung''s weapon. Pulling back his sword, V?lsung then began to meticulously clean the blade. He didn''t stop before he had removed every last bit of blood and flesh that clung to the cold metal. ''Why did you command your mount to stay out of the battle? Having her with you would have definitely made fighting that geezer much easier.'' "I didn''t want her to get wounded. At my level, I can recover from almost any injury if given enough time." ''I respect your decision but remember, a diamond cannot be formed without pressure.'' "What does a diamond have to do with my partner?" ''Nothing. Explaining would take to much time. Let''s just return home!'' 55 Politics Back with my main body, I released my spiritual form and merged the sliver of my soul with the main part. I was now more or less a being that could see eye to eye with the leading powers of this world. The only thing I was lacking to truly enter the ranks of these figures was their recognition. Despite my power making me qualified to be one of them, I would have to pass a test of strength. This test wouldn''t be artificially created, it required some instigation on my part. I would have to challenge an already recognized nation and either defeat it or achieve a balance in power, a truce of sorts. In my case, this nation was the sky kingdom. Through my elimination of the muspel clan''s upper echelon, the whole kingdom''s stability would be affected. Of course, this was just a secondary benefit after taking my revenge. Depending on Sigmund''s reaction I, this challenge would either be settled through talking or fighting. Both ways could bring me recognition, thus the choice lay solely with Sigmund. As for why I suddenly started caring about politics. The next evolution criteria left me little choice. My next evolution was called an enlightenment tree. The name was given based on the tree''s ability to grow a fruit containing enlightenment of a certain attribute. To do this I would have to acquire what was referred to as an innate understanding in my former world. This innate understanding was formed after the comprehension of an attribute reached a certain level. The heavenly steel I could replicate was made precisely by one such innate understanding. My momentary condition made things somewhat difficult. I didn''t have a real affinity anymore and would have to completely rely on myself for any comprehension. This could take centuries or even more. However, I was a tree without affinities, thus, I had another option. I could kill someone with an innate understanding and take it for myself. The perfect victim to steal it from? I hadn''t decided yet but I already had a favorite. There was just one little problem... All possessors of an innate understanding were king magi since having an innate understanding was the breakthrough condition. Killing such an entity would certainly not be easy. The best thing I could do was to establish myself and form alliances to increase my chances. I had the sneaking suspicion that no matter how the conflict with Sigmund ended, I wouldn''t get much help from the humans. The Aesir would definitely not help me either, partially because I had helped the humans and because they would most likely be my target. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. The elves had shown great interest in protecting me but they didn''t seem very friendly. I felt like they were hiding secrets. Dark secrets. These three races had little potential to be my allies. I''d have to consider the others. I felt like the Jotuns and I had good chances to form an alliance against the Aesir. If only I had a way of contacting. As for the other four races, I didn''t see many possibilities for this to work out. Fire giants shouldn''t mix with a tree, the dark elves and dwarves were too secluded, and the Vanir would most likely side with their fellow godkins, the Aesir. Strengthening my own ranks would be crucial! If possible I really wanted to obtain some flying beasts and let Sven and Nerida achieve a few breakthroughs. Specifically, Nerida needed to start getting stronger again. Sven had reached the peak of the baron realm through the help of his bloodline and an unending supply of wind apples. I had already made him a little hut in my branches and given him enough wind apples to hopefully become a viscount magus. As for Nerida, I could only supply her with earth apples and advise her to train harder. V?lsung, on the other hand, had been sent out to hunt with his mount, the white lioness. Both had reached a level where my apples could do little to add to their strength. Only an enlightenment fruit would be able to bring a significant change for them. Not to that they weren''t binge eating vibrant apples but it just didn''t bring any significant effects. 56 An unexpected visitor I spent my days growing more elemental apples and supervising Sven''s progress. Then one day I had an unexpected visitor. He had arrived like the elven prince back then, suddenly and undetected he stood beside me. "You must be lord Eldar. Excuse my sudden appearance but I was in a hurry." ''Why do all you ants always keep appearing out of nowhere!'' "So you actually saw me! I must commend your keen perception, for you to even notice such an unassuming detail." ''What the heck are you talking about? Just get to the point before I kill you, Aesir.'' "Fine, fine. I am here today to ask a question. Are you the one producing these miraculous arrows the human army used during the last battle?" ''No... What arrows are you talking about? I only gave the humans some iron, they must have made that into arrows. But it was just normal iron!'' Was I playing dumb? Of course, I was! Who would ever admit to having produced a weapon that can wound an invulnerable enemy? Just push the blame on the humans! They are at war with the Aesir anyway. "Really? The humans said otherwise, they proclaimed they were present when you made them." The good old trick when interrogating separately, tell them the other one already talked. I wouldn''t fall for that! ''Defamation! They just want to shift the focus of the war away from them! I made no such arrows for the humans.'' Technically, this was not a lie. The humans did wish to shift the attention of the Aesir away from them and I didn''t make those arrows for them but for Sven. "Spare me your excuses. Let me be frank, I am Loki, as of now, a general of the Empire. Both of my parents were Jotuns but Odin killed them and took me in due to my talent. He doesn''t know that I found out and like you, I want my revenge. I am Odin''s spymaster and have collected a lot of knowledge about you. With your help, I can kill Balder, drive Odin and Frigg mad and destroy the empire." ''Our goals do indeed seem to align quite well but what about Thor? Is he your way of removing me after I lose my worth to you?'' "By no means! Thor will be a problem I''ll have to deal with myself. He is dangerous and his weakness is hard to exploit." ''What if I offered to help you kill Thor in exchange for his body.'' Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "So it''s true that you are a tree that specializes in using lightning. Things won''t be as easy as you think. For now, Odin is the real problem. As long as he controls the Empire they will not make any grave mistakes. And as long as Balder lives, they will not lose hope." ''Then what do you propose to remedy this troubling situation?'' "Glad you ask, I just need one of those arrows. I can smuggle it into Asgard without a problem and then I just need to wait for an opportunity. If I need anything else I''ll return. Now if you would excuse me I will have to go find a way to keep Odin out of this." And just like he had appeared out of nowhere he suddenly vanished. Well, at least he tried to make me think that. My earlier comment about him being an ant had unexpectedly been on the mark. Where Loki had been standing a small ant with an absurd amount of magic power. I could only conclude that Loki possessed a talent allowing him to shapeshift. The ant quickly scurried off, leaving me to my own thought about how to proceed from here on out. I could do little but trust Loki and hope he kept the Aesir of my back while preparing for the case where he didn''t. My strength still wasn''t sufficient to openly take on all the other powers. I needed more bloodlines and strong servants. I should give a bloodline to all those orphans I recruited with Nerida. I also couldn''t slack off when training myself. I needed to continuously try to improve my control and understanding of as many attributes as possible. Sigh, so little time yet so much to do. 57 There might be a coauthor not a chapter This is a test run for a coauthor that will probably upgrade my old chapters. In this chapter, I will post both the old version and the new one of chapter 34. I''d like to ask you to read both and comment on which one you like more. Additionally, this will not interfere with the normal chapter. Version 1 (old) A new day was dawning. The clouds were painted in a beige-red tone that gave the impression the sky was on fire. Around me, the forest was vivaciously swaying in the breeze while the grass was filled with sparkling drops of dew. My 15-meter tall body was brimming with energy. I slowly retracted the magic current that allowed me to grow beasts. Then, I let all three green currents slowly emerge from my core. The first current had allowed me to grow fruit. The second gave me the ability to grow ore and the third was for growing beasts. They traveled up and up to the tips of my branches. A triple helix was formed by them spinning around its own axis. The helix gained spin and the gaps between the different currents began to blur. Then, with a sudden stop, there was only one light green current left. And as this light green current flowed through my body, something reacted! The energy stored in my body exploded all of a sudden. My cells began expanding rapidly. A sudden growth spurt? It was about time. My pleasant surprise quickly turned into horror when I passed 50 meters of height and was still growing. It didn''t stop! I was now more than 100 meters tall and I wasn''t stopping. The town was mostly in ruins. My roots had expanded and lifted patches of ground. The town was now split into different levels among my roots. I''d have to take care of that later. For now, I had bigger problems like my height... that was still increasing. At least I''d lost track of how big I was so I couldn''t panic too much. ''Why do you tell me that?! Why didn''t you warn me before I did it?'' ''Look at me! I''m flipping huge!'' ''Well... how about... fine. I admit that there isn''t much of a difference for me.'' ^. Also, congrats you became a mystic tree. You can now have your second descendant.> Yeah, that descendant wouldn''t be planted for quite a while. I felt no need to create another vulnerability that I couldn''t fully protect. I wanted to first gain the power to dominate this world! Or at least fight anyone to a standstill. ''System, what are the benefits of this time''s evolution and what are the conditions?'' So basically I would need to wait until a strong beast comes over and feed it until it liked me. Simple enough. But for now, small steps. I grew another squirrel and dropped it... Not the best idea. I reabsorbed the dead squirrel. ''System, how big am I now?'' ''How am I supposed to grow anything useful like this? Every beast will die from the fall, any fruit will be ruined and the ore will make craters.'' ''And how do you know that.'' So, the plan for a mass army of monsters temporarily failed. ''What''s the limit?'' New plan! Altering things I grow namely apples because I don''t have any other fruit. Mental note, buy other things to grow from Aldi. Back to getting that golden apple. Ah, I mean altering that apple. Who would ever want a golden apple? Health boost? The prettiest woman in the world that inevitably brings my own destruction? Who would want that? Version two (new) A new day was dawning. The clouds were painted in a beige-red tone that gave the impression the sky was on fire. Around me, the forest was vivaciously swaying in the breeze while the grass was filled with sparkling drops of dew. My body, which was fifteen meters tall by now, was brimming with energy. Slowly, I retracted my magic current that had been passively growing and nurturing my precious beasts all this time. Then, I focused on my three green magic currents and slowly let them seep from my core. These were my magic streams that were attributed to the creation of things. The first current had allowed me to grow fruit. The second current gave me the ability to grow ore and the third was solely for growing beasts. Carefully, I guided the three streams through my body. They traveled up and up, all the way into to the smallest tips of my branches. The each of the three streams formed a triple helix by spinning around their own axis. The helixes gained in momentum and the gaps between the different currents began to blur together to one, until there was only one brilliant green current left. And as this light green current surged through my body, something reacted! The energy stored in my body exploded all of a sudden. My cells began expanding and multiplying rapidly. A sudden growth spurt? It was about time. My pleasant surprise quickly turned into horror when I realized that I kept on growing. Even after I passed 50 meters of height, I kept on growing, and growing and growing... It didn''t stop! I was now more than 100 meters tall and I wasn''t stopping. The town that had been built not far from where my trunk broke the soil was already mostly in ruins. My roots had expanded and lifted patches of ground, flipping the earth, raising platforms and uprooting houses as the grew. The town was now split into different levels amongst my roots, some houses now stood directly on wood, some still on the ground, just that now they were about fifty meters above ground! I''d have to take care of that later. I hoped the villagers were fine... For now, I had bigger problems. For example my height... that was still increasing! At least I''d lost track of how big I was so I couldn''t panic too much. But of course, the system just had to butt in again. ''Why do you tell me that?! Why didn''t you warn me before I did it?'' Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. ''Look at me! I''m flipping huge!'' ''Well... how about... fine. I admit that there isn''t much of a difference for me.'' ^. Also, congrats you became a mystic tree. You can now have your second descendant.> Yeah, that descendant wouldn''t be planted for quite a while. I felt no need to create another vulnerability that I couldn''t fully protect. I wanted to first gain the power to dominate this world! Or at least fight anyone to a standstill. ''System, what are the benefits of this time''s evolution and what are the conditions?'' So basically I would need to wait until a strong beast comes over and feed it until it liked me. Simple enough. But for now, small steps. I grew another squirrel and dropped it... Not the best idea. I reabsorbed the dead squirrel. ''System, how big am I now?'' ''How am I supposed to grow anything useful like this? Every beast will die from the fall, any fruit will be ruined and the ore will make craters.'' ''And how do you know that.'' So, the plan for a mass army of monsters temporarily failed. ''What''s the limit?'' New plan! Altering things I grow namely apples because I don''t have any other fruit. Mental note, buy other things to grow from Aldi. Back to getting that golden apple. Ah, I mean altering that apple. Who would ever want a golden apple? Health boost? The prettiest woman in the world that inevitably brings my own destruction? Who would want that? 57 Sigmund is busy A month had passed since my first encounter with Loki. There had been little progress with his plans to kill Balder or even smuggling the heavenly arrow into Asgard. We had met a few more times but last time Loki told me he''d be making a trip to Jotunheim and wouldn''t be back for a while. Sven had also had multiple breakthroughs, making him a bonafide peak viscount magus. His body was like a furnace and devoured tons of wind apples to fuel his rapid pace of growth. With his wyrm bloodline and the help of enough energy, he was quickly soaring past the bottlenecks of every level. Nerida wasn''t faring so well, having only reached the intermediate viscountess maga real she was lagging behind due to her bloodline holding her back. V?lsung too found it hard to advance any further. He had already lost his youthful vigor and breaking through to peak grand duke fighter would be nigh impossible. Instead of wasting his efforts on that insane bottleneck, I had him learn magic. Admittedly, his talent wasn''t great but with the help of countless fire apples, he successfully reached the early knight magus realm. If only I had a mythical beast''s bloodline to give him, his potential would soar. As for the orphans, they had all reached the knight magus realm and successfully received the wyrms bloodline. Sadly none of them had mutated like Sven. Additionally, all of them had made an equal''s contract with a shadow horse. I had also recruited some adventurers, ranging from the magus level to the baron magus level. They all made an equal''s contract with one of the various beasts I could grow. I had finally built a combat force that wasn''t made up of only beasts. I still had the beasts, they made up a large part of my forces but their ability to think was a critical drawback. Only alpha beasts with years of practical experience could do such a thing. The alphas I grew might be physically bigger than normal beasts but experience-wise, they were essentially newborns. The humans might be few in number but they could make autonomous decisions and think about their next moves. I had been preparing throughout the past month for an enraged Sigmund to charge over here and attempt to chop me in half. However, when I now spied a troop under the royal banner approaching, I couldn''t feel his presence amongst them. Could he have hidden? No, a man like Sigmund would never hide, he would only advance or retreat without hiding anything. The convoy didn''t attack the town but continued through and reached my base. They had not met any resistance so far, all my forces had been pulled back and secretly sent to seal off the perimeter. Sigurd was leading the convoy, followed closely by Siegfried and Signy. All three of them were now intermediate marquess magi. The last time I had seen them both royal descendants had only been count magi. For them to break through repeatedly in such a short amount of time! A mythical beast''s bloodline really was something else! "Tree! I believe you owe us an explanation for what happened to the muspel clan!" ''Well, first of all, I have a name, you know. Second of all, don''t you humans think this is getting repetitive? How many times have we had this kind of conversation? Also, where''s Sigmund?'' Sigurd''s face contorted with rage. He "Stop dodging the question! Sigmund is busy and I''m here as his representative, asking you why you backstabbed us!" ''Backstabbed? I don''t know what you are talking about. If that is all, I''ll be waiting for Sigmund to take some time to meet me personally.'' "I am the prince of the sky kingdom. There is no need for my father to come here, talk to me. Answer my question!" ''As you said, you are only a prince. You are not qualified to talk to me as an equal. Do you really think Sigmund would be throwing a tantrum like you?'' Admittedly, I was provoking Sigurd. Sigmund sending over a representative instead of coming himself was meant to send a clear message to me. A message I would be sending right back by refusing to talk to his representative. Knowing Sigurd''s temper and the fire dragon''s soul pouring sweet poison in his ear, this would no doubt end bloody. "You think I am not qualified? I will show you just how qualified I am!" With a roar of pure, unadulterated rage Sigurd''s body shifted as he used beast mode. Fully utilizing the power of his bloodline, his transformed state raised his power to the very peak of the duke magus realm, touching slightly upon the beginning of the grand duke realm. Evidently, he had lost control over his emotions and given in to the dragon within. Forgetting about his powerful magic, he charged relying on his transformed body. ''Are you aware that your actions represent all humans? If you proceed now, no one can save you!'' Sigurd didn''t seem too concerned with my words. His eyes were red as his speed increased once again. Behind him, a sole call rang out, filled with worry for her brother and the tree that had helped her once. "Don''t do it, brother!" But nothing could stop the enraged Sigurd as he was about to reach me. Then with a snap, his body stiffened and fell like a broken kite who''s string was cut. Sigurd was dead! I had detonated the little present placed in his body long ago. I wasn''t in the habit of creating hidden threats for the future. Thus, back when I took a look at the royal descendants, I had planted a seed of extremely concentrated lightning magic inside each of them. This seed would continuously absorb magic in their body and kill them with just a simple thought from my side. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Sigurd hadn''t stood a chance. 58 Peace treaty Sigurd''s sudden fall had greatly astonished the humans. Only when I absorbed Sigurd''s lifeless body did they realize what had just happened. The sky kingdom''s representative had attacked the other party and had been killed without being able to resist. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Most of them were shocked. Sigurd had not seemed much weaker than me and his attribute should have been very effective against me. Only Siegfried gasped in horror as the realization hit her. That girl was very perceptive and had even noticed the lightning seed hidden within her. Not like she could do anything about it. The people of this world hadn''t put much focus on the fine control of magic, they specialized in brute magic. Extracting this lightning seed would probably require a king magus to take action themselves. While Siegfried was sinking deeper into the horror of what was inside her, Signy had stepped forward. "Bold of you to just kill Sigmund''s heir. Do you not fear him charging over and cutting you down?" ''Well, maybe that would be enough for him to actually have time to meet me. Also, the grudge between us needed to be settled since the muspel clan. This merely serves to make things move along more quickly.'' "Do you truly attach so little importance to the life you gave just taken?" ''He did not need to attack me. He did this of his own volition and reaped the consequences. Now, please leave, I''ll be awaiting Sigmund''s arrival.'' "We can''t leave! This issue between us must end today. Sigmund can''t leave the border in fear of the Aesir attacking once again. With V?lsung gone he is the only one who can fight the enemy generals." I was about to ruthlessly reject her once again but V?lsung interjected. "Eldar, isn''t the main objective here to be recognized by other nations? Forcing the humans to sign a peace treaty after your first confrontation would definitely be impressive." ''Seems you still have some attachments to the human kingdom. However, you are correct, such an arrangement would indeed be beneficial to me. What do you say to this, Signy?'' "..." "This is acceptable for us." "Siegfried! How can you accept that?" "Aunt Signy, you said it yourself, father can''t leave the border and we can''t defeat Eldar. It would be best if we laid this grudge to rest now rather than later. With brother''s death, I''m the next in line for succession and can make such decisions." "Sigh, I guess you are all grown up now. I won''t oppose you anymore then. Act as you see fit." Now all of this peace treaty stuff may sound pretty formal but honestly, it was only a verbal agreement between nations. Either side could technically break the agreement but that would result in a loss of credibility which no one wanted. Thus, the human party left quickly. They were probably heading straight back to the border to help defend against potential retaliation from the empire. Finally, they were gone! Without any further distractions, I could fully focus on my recent gains. By absorbing Sigurd I had finally gained a mythical beast''s bloodline. A fire dragon''s no less. Sadly, my initial joy quickly began to wane. The process of deduction required to create the blueprint for such a powerful beast was way too long. Also, apparently, the bloodline was too potent for ordinary people. A strong soul and a resistant body were necessary to accommodate such a bloodline. Even Sigurd had needed the dragon''s soul to take some of the pressure. The only one I knew who could sustain this bloodline was V?lsung. I''d try to give him the bloodline as soon as I had finished the deduction. Regarding the aforementioned dragon''s soul, it was now within me as well. Despite its constant resistance, the soul was slowly eroded and devoured by me. This process brought me a vast amount of benefits. Firstly, my deduction speed increased slowly but steadily. Secondly, a faint path to the innate understanding of fire appeared within my mind. Thirdly, all the fire dragon''s memories were extracted and stored within me. Should I ever have time, I could sort through them and maybe learn a thing or two. 60 Balders demise slightly gory Among the various Aesir crowding the atrium, I recognized none beside Balder. I would have to depend on Loki to tell me who they were. Especially, Thor and Odin were figures I should keep an eye out for. After entering, Loki walked over to an old man sitting on a portable wooden throne. The aged man had only one eye and was tightly gripping a spear in his right hand while two ravens sat on his shoulders. He radiated the unyielding aura of an emperor. "Glory to the Allfather, may all the secrets of the land and sky be revealed in thy graces." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Loki fell to one knee and greeted the old man. This must be Odin, the emperor. The ravens on his shoulders were surprisingly both mythical beasts. They had probably reduced their own size to fit into this place. "I see Hugin and Munin are as resplendent as always." "Shut up fake raven." "If you talk much more we''ll have you bear another child." The ravens clearly disliked Loki. And what was that about bearing a child? Loki took the threatening words of those two birds with tremendous calm and walked over to a secluded corner of the atrium. From that spot, he could observe every move made by others while remaining mostly undisturbed. Half an hour later Hod arrived and joined the crowd. Led by a petit Aesir woman he found a free spot and took aim with the arrow in his hand. With the woman adjusting his aim he locked on to Balder and threw the arrow with all his might. As the arrow pierced through the air it gave of a whistling howl, attracting Balder''s attention. As his gaze fell on the approaching arrow a look of recognition flashed through his eyes. A despairing wail escaped his lips as the arrow arrived before him. With a sickening crunch, the arrow embedded itself in Balder''s skull. The golden glow of the arrow was tainted by blood and the drops forming on the leaves looked like berries, completing the mistletoe. For a whole minute, no one talked, moved, exhaled or did anything. Then all hell broke loose. Odin was yelling orders while most of the people present were just panicking. Taking advantage of the ensuing chaos the petit Aesir woman tried to lead Hod away. Most of the guards rushing into the atrium overlooked them but they hadn''t escaped Loki''s watchful eye. He pushed off the floor and intercepted the fleeing couple as they were about to leave. With a flip of his wrist, an obsidian knife appeared in his hand as Loki thrust it towards the woman''s neck. Entering next to her spine the knife cut diagonally through the woman''s windpipe, instantly killing her. She collapsed without being able to make a simple sound. As Hod felt the hand leading him lose all strength and he heard a body hitting the floor, he became livid. He dropped to his knees and was soaked in the female''s blood. Even without eyes, he grabbed her body, cradling her in his arms. Despite the commotion, Loki''s actions had attracted Odin''s attention. Remembering who threw the arrow a deranged look appeared on Odin''s face. "All guards, kill him! Bring me that bastard''s bloody corpse. I''ll have his and his s**t''s bodies hang above the city gate!" "How dare you!" Upon hearing Odin''s words, Hod lost it. Lashing out with his left hand he blasted half the approaching guards into a bloody mist. Loki had long retreated out of range and was quietly murmuring to himself. "Hod really lives up to being the physically strongest Aesir in all our history. If only he weren''t blind." The remaining guards all rushed at Hod''s kneeling figure. Their strength varied from viscount magus to marquis magus but before Hod they were all the same. He slung the female corpse over his left shoulder and held it tightly. After making sure he held her firmly with his left hand he began swinging his right arm around like a windmill. All guards that entered the range of his arm exploded into flying pieces of flesh. However, Hod was using his left arm to hold a body and thus couldn''t defend on that side. Some of the guards realized these openings and left many deep wounds on his body. Under the unending stream of guards, those wounds slowly accumulated until even Hod''s godly physique couldn''t keep him standing. His mighty body hit the ground with a resounding thud. Odin then truly ordered for them to be hung above the city gates but before the guards could do so a mighty voice stopped them. "Don''t do this Odin. Hod was clearly tricked into killing Balder. We should find the true culprit behind this instead of needlessly punishing one of us!" Evidently, this character held a lot of influence among the Aesir. He was clad in silver armor and exuded an unrestrained pride. Loki gave him a displeased look, he enjoyed every needless punishment Odin gave. If he wanted to maximize the chaos and cover his tracks he''d have to stop this guy. "Needless punishment? Tyr, since when can you criticize the Allfather''s orders, even going as far as calling them needless?! And how do you know that someone else was behind this? Are you a part of this insidious murder, here to distract us?" Every word Loki spoke created a deeper pit for Tyr to fall into. 61 A war between the godkin Odin''s suspicion was immediately aroused. Tyr came under great pressure. He only now realized that he was surrounded by countless guards with their weapons drawn. Odin''s unfriendly gaze seemed to stare daggers into his back. "I-I didn''t mean it like that." "Are you telling me I''m too stupid to understand what you are saying? Are your words too mysterious for me to see through them?" It would seem Tyr had hit a sore spot and fell even deeper into the pit that Loki had dug for him. "I meant no disrespect, Odin, I-" "Enough! Get out of my sight before I use your life to give Balder some company in Hel. Go to the northern front and help Thor deal with those Jotuns. You can return after destroying Jotunheim." In other words, Odin had just banned Tyr from returning to Asgard for a very long time. This once again very hard punishment let many Aesir generals and commanders look at Odin with hidden dissatisfaction. Tyr had spoken the words hidden in their hearts and Odin had rejected them. Observing as a bystander I could tell that Loki was intentionally sowing dissent. While he was supporting Odin on the surface, he was undermining the Allfather below the surface. Hod''s body was then carried away by the guards to fulfill Odin''s order. Tyr left as well, accompanied by two of Odin''s personal guards. Odin himself removed the arrow from Balder''s head. With surprising strength, his bony old hand carefully grabbed the arrow and ripped it free from the head it was confined in. Opening his hand he revealed the ornately crafted arrow. As they took a closer look at the arrow, all the Aesir present sucked in a long breath of air. "That arrow was made by the Vanir! Its designs perfectly match those that their elites use!" A random commander blurted out what they all wanted to say. They had all fallen for Loki''s ploy. All the tracks were now set for a war between the godkin. "We will destroy those arrogant bastards but first, I feel like someone is spying on us!" To my great horror, a formless wave rushed out from Odin. This was clairvoyance magic! And with Odin having an innate understanding of it, he could potentially discover me. This was disastrous! If Odin discovered me the whole plot would be exposed. I couldn''t let that happen under any circumstances. The only thing that could save this situation was a decisive but desperate move. I basically committed suicide. The sliver of my soul extinguished itself turning into nothing but thin air and a whiff of energy. Even if Odin managed to pick that up it would be untraceable. The memories gathered by this part of me turned into a flow of information that transcended time and space. They crashed into my main soul along with nearly unbearable pain from destroying a part of my soul. If I hadn''t just lost my spiritual body I would be rolling around on the ground screaming. After a few hours of mental screaming, the pain subsided. Thankfully, the amount of soul power lost was already replenished. Reforming my spiritual body was now only a question of time. My matters with Loki were also momentarily concluded and wouldn''t need further attention until the war between the godkin reached its later stages. Thus, I could once again focus on building my own forces. Because whoever won this war would probably not be too happy after noticing they were tricked into war. During my little excursion, my main body had finished the blueprint of the firedragon. As of now, I could at most control five mythical beasts at the same time. Since I doubted I would get another mythical beast''s corpse anytime soon, I decided to grow five fire dragon at the same time. Due to the powerful soul needed to support their power the time they needed to grow naturally increased. One year was an awfully long time and might not be over before the war started to impact me. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Granting V?lsung the fire dragon''s bloodline would give me one trump card but some more would still be nice. ''What could I do to get a few more trump cards?'' 62 Trump card collection I could think of a few things to quickly raise my strength. Most of these things were from my previous world and would bring great surprise to the people of this world. I''d never really thought of it before but while the heavenly steel was an exquisite material, I actually had something better. My own body was an unending source of treasures. I had used the fruit as I was accustomed to but the wood I was made of had been forgotten. My body could take attacks from grand duke level figures and since it was organic its conductivity for magic was vastly superior to heavenly steel. Using this material I could create some things that would shake the world. First, I was planning to make some golems. They were one of the essential combat units in higher-level wars. They didn''t feel pain or fear and would keep fighting until their main core or rune was destroyed. The lowest combat golem would be made of ordinary iron while the strong ones were made out of structon, a nearly indestructible metal. Using my own wood at my current level should allow me to create medial grade combat golems. Their strength would roughly equal a marquis magus although this was largely reliant on their strong defense. Making them in great numbers would sadly be impossible due to my body having only limited materials to give without leaving permanent damage. Using most of my branches I created 100 such golems, burying them beneath the surface all around me. Next, I used the leftover wood to create as many weapons as possible and engraved them with magic enchantments. Taking advantage of the high magic conductivity, the weapons I made were all equipped with small abilities. Some blades could burst into fire, others could freeze all they touched. These blades were then distributed to all my subordinates. While this would not truly raise their own strength it would allow them to fight people above their level. Then I faced a problem that had bothered me for a while. Whenever someone had a conflict with me they could simply walk here and I would have to deal with them. I had wanted to keep them out but stopping them with force would only have escalated matters. This reoccurring situation needed a firm but not a bloody solution. My approach, a barrier. With this, I could keep everyone below grand duke magus out. Setting it up would require time and work which I hadn''t been able to get ahold of until now. Right now, I was relatively sure to be left alone by all the big players around me and by the time I reentered their focus, I would already be done. Raising a barrier required a core, pillars, and a source of energy. The core would naturally be my body and the pillars could be substituted with subordinate trees connected to my roots. What followed were three weeks of agonizing concentration. I engraved countless runes, set up magic circuits and weaved each part of the barrier with a thread of pure magic. Pure magic didn''t have an element and needed to be extracted very carefully, elongating the process of completing the barrier. However, I must admit, it wasn''t all bad. Spending so much time on engraving and extract magic did wonders for my proficiency. I reckoned that if I were to fight my former self, I actually might stand a chance. Subsequently, I spent another month to install various little tricks and gimmicks. This was all in preparation for the ongoing war, though thankfully I had been left alone so far. Finally, I proceeded to work on the matter that held by far the most potential to become my absolute ace in the hole. My peculiar existence gave me a deep connection to nature. Thus, I could do things far beyond the idea of what humans believed to be the laws of nature. Just like my descendants could awaken a consciousness due to my genes, it should be possible for me to awaken consciousness within a normal tree. Admittedly, they couldn''t become magic trees but they would be able to both move and use magic. Since ancient times they were known as ents, the guardians of the forests. Through giving consciousness to the trees around me I could raise an army that would grow stronger at an incredible rate and would feel neither fear nor pain when defending me. Assured of the limitless potential these servants would posses I began the creation of my first ent. Sending my magic into a random nearby tree I quickly found its spark of life. This was the spark that gave life to this tree, the reason why creating life was so incredibly difficult for many who tried. I simply needed to touch it with my magic and awaken the spirit inlaid deep within every spark of life. Once this spirit, also called pneuma, was awakened, a consciousness would form practically by itself. All it required was a slight touch. Reaching the spark of life my magic easily penetrated the outer layer and made contact with the pneuma. Only to be frantically expelled out of the spark of life. It didn''t work? I... failed? 63 There lies value in all life Failure! How was that possible? It felt like I was rejected... I tried again and again and again, only to be met with strong rejection every time. I must not be using enough magic, crank up the output and everything will be fine. I sent a veritable flood of magic barreling past the outer layer straight into the pneuma. The resistance flared up again but was drowned by the mass of the magic I had sent. Success? An explosion. The tree was gone now. In its place were only charred remains and a hole, reminding of the tree that once stood here. Again! "If you continue trying to force the issue, you will end up destroying the whole forest and still be unsuccessful. I advise you to stop and divert your efforts to something else." What was it with all the people appearing out of nowhere? Who was it this time some god of nature who''s mad I blew up some tree? Following the voice, I discovered a young man levitating next to one of my branches. At first, I just took a quick look at him, labeling him as ordinary. His aura was barely perceptible. But wait! I know that face! I took a closer look and discovered that I knew this person! ''Lord Abel, to what do I owe the pleasure of your presence?'' "Hahaha, and why are you suddenly so polite? Last time I checked even Aurelia wasn''t treated with such respect when she came here." ''You must be joking lord Abel, how could I show someone I don''t even know more respect than you! The only person who might deserve more respect would be the principal. Sorry, you probably don''t know what I''m talking about.'' "If you mean the whole reincarnation thing you went through, I know. You were the student back at my lecture about dragon bloodlines, died as a high mage due to exhausting your potential and became a tree. But you really don''t know huh. That''s so comical." ''What do you mean by I don''t know?'' "You said you would show your principal more respect than me, right? Have you never met your principal in your former life?" ''I''ve indeed never met the principal but so what?'' "Well let me describe her to you. She wears blue has blue hair and her name is Aurelia." ''Then the one I met before...'' "Was the principal you respect so much." Well, that was unfortunate. So let''s just pretend this all never happened. "Anyway, just don''t attempt making another ent, you''ll just waste trees." ''Why?'' "Pneuma is not as simple as you might believe it to be. Touching it opens a connection between your consciousness and the pneuma, allowing it to look into your mind. Now you, are a human reborn as a tree, bringing many benefits but also some inconveniences. You do not value life as you should but instead treat it as an expendable resource. The pneuma in the tree felt that and rejected you. Simple as that." ''I don''t understand. Why would I not value life?'' "This is a problem that you should solve by yourself. I can''t help you with that. Take this, you''ll know when to use it." Dropping a small wooden plate he was suddenly gone from my sight and perception in general. The only thing that proved I hadn''t been hallucinating was a small disturbance in the space where he had been. I collected the wooden plate but couldn''t find any use for it. Not that this was of much concern to me. As of now, the most crucial point was my inability to create ents. Whatever this valuing life business was, I couldn''t figure it out. This was all too much for me. Suddenly knowing I''ve met two of the most powerful beings in all of existence. It would probably be best to just forget about all of this. I continued meditating on the issue of life for a few weeks until the war finally reached me. Loki paid me a visit and brought me up to date to the current situation. Essentially, things had played out roughly as follows. After the fiasco with Balder, the Aesir had relaxed the pressure on the northern front and launched a massive offensive against the Vanir to the west. Thor and Odin together fought Frey, the Vanir magus king, and nearly crippled him. Only when it looked like the Vanir were about to be exterminated did Odin suddenly pull back. Apparently, Freya had made a move. Though Loki was unwilling to tell me who exactly she was. After that, the Jotuns had broken through the Aesir''s weakened defenses in the north. Valhalla was halfway destroyed and Tyr had been forced to retreat. Only when Odin and Thor rushed over could they push the Jotuns back. However, due to the constant pressure, the Aesir army was in no condition to continue fighting. 64 Thors secre "Oh yeah, I almost forgot to tell you, Thor is rushing over here this minute, he''ll arrive tomorrow in the evening." ''You said what now?'' "Thor is coming over." ''A king magus is coming over and you''re telling me like this?!'' "Don''t worry, I will face him with you." ''He is a king magus, he will wipe the floor with both of us!'' "He actually isn''t. Truly speaking he can at most be considered a quasi king magus." ''And why is that?'' "Thor is essentially a muscle head, making it impossible for him to become a king magus anytime soon. Since I needed his trust, I decided to make a bet with some dwarves. The specifics are rather unpleasant and nearly cost me my head but ultimately Mjolnir was made. Naturally, I had made sure some problems occurred but with the lightning attraction abilities of his hammer and Odin''s methods we managed to seal a lightning origin. Thus, Thor is only a king magus as long as he holds Mjolnir. Without it, he can at most wield five percent of a king magus'' power." ''Five percent? I guess we can manage that. The problem though is that he has the hammer!'' "Thor has a habit of resting a day before he challenges a powerful opponent. When he sleeps I just have to steal his hammer, simple as that." ''Well, then go get that hammer.'' Finally, he left. This guy was a serious pain to deal with. I felt like I never knew what he was thinking. Once night had fallen, Loki returned. ''I take it you have been successful?'' "It went better than I had expected. He still believes I am his ally and even ate the poisonous food I gave him. Such a gullible fool!" ''Do you not feel bad for doing this to him?'' "He may be a gullible fool but don''t think he isn''t a cold-blooded killer. He would kill someone on an impulse or less. To him, humans are akin to ants. If he''s in a good mood he ignores them, if he''s in a bad mood he will annihilate every single one he crosses." ''Awfully protective of the humans, are we now?'' "It''s not like I''m hiding it. A long while back, when I was still known as Lodurr, Odin, Hoenir, and I came across two trees, lying by the shore. They were dying and looked so pitiful to us, that we, in out youthful enthusiasm, decided to save them. However, we had yet to master our powers and therefore we did too much. Hoenir awakened their consciousness, Odin connected them to the fate of this world and me, I gave them warmth and new life." ''You made all humans?'' "Saying we made them is an overstatement. Hoenir merely awakened their consciousness, he didn''t create it, it was already there. Odin connected them to fate, that made it possible for them to become a real species. I just rekindled the seed of life already within them, making it a little brighter than it was before. The amount of coincidence for all of us to have a power that could help in just the right placed." ''Still, you took part in the act of creation. No wonder you feel protective of the humans. But shouldn''t Odin feel so too?'' "Odin''s power is to read the fate of the world, changing it is not something he should have done. Up to this day, the curse of changing fate follows him and he just wants to get rid of any reminder." Just then a lightning storm appeared out of nowhere. The dark clouds had just manifested out of thin air, covering the sky wherever one would look. To the south, the epicenter of the storm was fast approaching, wreathed in descending lightning dragons, and announced by roaring thunderclaps. It would seem, Thor, was about to arrive. As the epicenter came closer and closer, I finally caught a glimpse of this legendary king magus. Long blond hair, a ripped body, chest bared, and an aura of a warrior baptized by many bloody battles. The air of a true veteran warrior lingered around him. Only that he seemed somewhat awkward, opening and closing his right hand repeatedly as if trying to grip the air between his fingers. 65 Battle against the king of lightning "Loki, I know you are itching to avenge Balder but that is no reason to rush ahead and bring my hammer so I don''t have to carry it." ''Loki, is he always this stupid?'' "Welcome to my daily struggles. And this is a good day. He once gave the hammer to a giant while he took a nap, asking the giant to keep an eye on it. Then he came crying to me when the giant stole it. I really believe that he found a way to convert his brain into muscles." "What are you talking about? Don''t spill my embarrassing secrets! Now stop talking to the enemy and give me my hammer." ''This is painful to watch. Could he be any more oblivious?'' "Look, Thor, I will make this very clear. I am not your friend and I brought upon Balder''s death. Now you too can die." ''Why did you tell him? You could have just stabbed him when he turned his back to you!'' "I can''t kill him in one blow and if he got this close to me, he could kill me with one hit. And no matter how oblivious he is, when I stab him in the back, he will kill me." "HOW DARE YOU BETRAY ME! I''LL KILL BOTH OF YOU!" Finally comprehending the situation, Thor flew into a rage. His eyes were emitting scary blue lightning and looking into them was akin to gazing into an endless poll of blue electricity. The storm around him picked up and grew even more ferocious. Every move Thor made was accompanied by streaking lightning and thunder. He shot forward and threw a punch at Loki. Lightning snakes shot out alongside his punch, spearing for Loki. Crackling electricity filled the air. Loki backstepped and waved his hand, sending a barely perceptible ripple towards the lightning snakes. As the ripple came in contact with Thor''s lightning, the lightning caught on fire and stopped heading for Loki. From the resulting cloud of flames, Thor emerged, unharmed, and continued his punch towards Loki. Due to Loki having stepped back the punch merely grazed him. Loki somersaulted multiple times and once again faced Thor. During this first exchange between them, I had fully raised my barrier and cut our battlefield off from the rest of the world. Thor was so engrossed in throwing wild punches at Loki that he failed to notice his thunderstorm being separated from him. With every punch he threw, the lightning sent out diminished a little more. Both Loki and Thor were brute-forcing their power against each other. As they fought, both sides were rapidly depleting their magic power reserves. Then, after three hours, Loki''s power began to sputter out. Thor immediately grasped this chance and summoned a giant lightning ball, preparing to throw it at Loki. My opportunity had finally come. A terrifying suction came from all the formation pillars around the barrier. The electricity gathered by Thor was dispersed and absorbed by the pillars. This sudden dispersal of his attack confounded Thor to the point where his reaction was delayed long enough for an arrow to pierce his chest. Since the beginning of the battle, V?lsung had been waiting with a bow and arrow. A bow made of my wood coupled with the strength of a grand duke fighter easily generated enough force to wound Thor. Raging profusely, Thor''s body started to exude large quantities of electricity, wanting to blast the arrow into nothingness. However, the arrow was also made of my wood and clustered full of lightning sealing runes. No matter how much electricity Thor pumped into the arrow, it would only drain his own power. In his death throws wave after wave of dazzling lightning arcs erupted from his body, charring the ground black. Then, it ended. ''A rather pathetic death for a king magus.'' "Do not think you actually defeated a king magus just now. Without his hammer, he was already weakened and since he is a muscle head, he didn''t realize you trapping him. On top of that, you seem to be extraordinarily well prepared to deal with lightning." I was preparing to brag about my meticulous preparation in regard to countering Thor''s power but a sudden spike in energy from the southwest interrupted. Stretching my perception I discovered a flash shooting straight for my location. Before I could react, my barrier was shattered in an instant. The flash revealed itself to be a spear. It had gone straight through Loki''s shoulder and pinned him to the ground. 66 Calm before the storm "Looks like that old fool finally understood what''s going on. Good thing you put up that barrier or I couldn''t have dodged this." I gave a pointed look at Loki''s pierced should. Or tried to at least. ''Is this what you consider dodging? Interesting, I call that getting stabbed.'' "Spare me your sarcasm. This is Gungnir, Odin''s legendary spear. It can pierce pretty much anything and paired with Odin''s clairvoyance, it is considered a death sentence for anyone below king magus. Thus, I consider surviving as having dodged this attack." ''A death sentence for anyone below king magus... sounds terrifying. But you mentioned Odin''s power being clairvoyance just now, wasn''t it reading fate?'' "I was. Due to the fiasco with the humans, Odin chose to abandon the path set for him and chose something slightly different from his original power to comprehend as a king magus. It is not uncommon for people like us to change our path for one reason or another." ''I take it you have chosen to change as well then?'' "Quite perceptive. My original power was warmth and life but I found that I didn''t just want to bring life. I don''t want to just add beings to the world and let them be at the whims of fate. I want to bring change!" ''You are doing all this for the humans you created?'' "I merely intend to take responsibility for the situation I''ve put them in. Odin and Hoenir may deny the sin we have committed but I will not hide behind those hollow excuses." With a majestic movement, he grabbed the spear that pinned him down and pulled. Gungnir remained where it was. "Mind giving me a hand?" ''Such glorious ambitions and you can''t even remove a spear from your body?'' It turns out that not only does Gungnir excel at piercing through things but also remaining stuck in them. The final solution was to lift part of the ground and just drive the spear through completely and receive it on the other side. ''What do you plan to do now?'' "Wait for my wounds to heal and for Odin to arrive." ''Odin is coming here?'' "Well the two of us killed both his sons and on top of that you seem to be able to hide from his visions. He will definitely come to destroy us. The only thing uncertain is how many others he will bring." ''That doesn''t sound good... Give me Thor''s hammer, I''ll try to break through before they reach here.'' "You''ll never make it. Thor needed more than a year to just scratch the surface and that was with every possible advantage!" ''Good thing I''m not Thor then.'' Loki seemed pessimistic but still went to retrieve the hammer wherever he hid it. Now, with both Thor and his hammer, I had an innate understanding of lightning just waiting to be absorbed. It took me one month two fully assimilate the thunder origin. I had assimilated an artificial innate understanding of lightning. Unfortunately, I had used a shortcut and thus my understanding was somewhat lacking and artificial. Now I would have to fuse my understanding into a fruit. The process was surprisingly simple. I willed it and a golden-yellow apple grew from one of my branches. The only downside, half my magic was drained to create that one apple. A shadow rushed over and devoured the apple. Ratatoskr had, as per contract I made with him, received my first enlightenment fruit. A lightning symbol appeared on its forehead and it curled up into a ball. Digesting the enlightenment fruit would probably take some time. In retrospect, I might have been better advised not to grow this apple and disable a peak combat force on my side. I had no idea how long Rat was going to sleep. Not that it helped much when it was awake but still... The next morning, Epli and the other elves left in a hurry. They had been around for quite a while but mostly kept to themselves. Now they left without any explanation. ''Should I stop them and ask some questions?'' ''No, Epli will just dodge the question or lie. I''ll just ask Loki to follow them.'' "No need to ask me to follow them. They are returning upon the call of the queen. She probably wants to pull out her people before this place turns into a living hell." 67 Odins move, the congregation Another two weeks passed. I had somewhat grasped my innate understanding of lightning and its possible applications. Then the day of reckoning had arrived. After today this grudge between Odin and Loki would probably be written off. As for me... Odin certainly hated me but I had no real grudges with him. Why did all of this look like my fight? Why did I even join this fight? "Bad news Eldar, Odin got the elves, the jotuns, the fire giants, and the Aesir. Now, he is marching on us from all directions." I felt like I had just thought of something important. What was it again? Never mind, it couldn''t have been that important. They were approaching from all sides. Jotuns from the north, fire giants from the west, Aesir from the south, and elves from the east. ''Barrier up. Units one to twenty, battle positions.'' My twenty savage beasts each was accompanied by a group of beasts and my subordinates. What a shame that many of them would die. ''Also, Loki, aren''t the Jotuns under your command?'' "I kind of led them by the nose and Odin revealed my little trick..." ''So you made more trouble. Let me see if I can at least dissuade the elves from taking part in this madness.'' Amplifying my voice with magic, I called out towards the east. ''Are the elves here to participate in this attack? I''ve heard of a prophecy that should make you think twice before marching troops over here.'' For a while, no response came from the elves. Then a cocky, female voice boomed in response. "Such a prophecy does indeed exist but it was made by a young and unreliable girl. Seeing as you are hungry for power and kill without mercy, we will take the initiative and unroot you before you grow further." ''I am not power-hungry! I only ever defended against enemies trying to attack me or got revenge on people who killed my own child. All these actions were just!'' This time the female voice, presumably the elven queen, didn''t respond. Instead, Odin''s aged voice reached me. "If you getting revenge for your child''s murder is just, then how can you stop us. Was it not you who killed both my sons?" Damn, that was some solid argumentation. However, it was not entirely true. ''I have done no such thing, Odin. I have killed Thor in self-defense but Balder''s death is not on me.'' "Have you not created the arrow that took his life?" ''Since when can you fault the creator of a weapon for the deaths caused by his creation. That is simply nonsense!'' "Then why did you attack the muspel clan? They were not the ones who killed your child. They merely created the weapon that made it possible." ''They sent the one who killed my child. I didn''t send the one who killed yours. Don''t try to justify your act of ganging up on me. You will regret it!'' "A feeble excuse! And an even feebler threat. We have you surrounded and even with all your beasts you can''t pose much of a threat to us." ''Are you determined to go through with this then? Hundreds of lives will be lost and you will gain nothing. All you do is waste lives! Wait, waste lives?'' I didn''t get to continue this train of thought as the leaders of every group took to the skies. I let them pass the barrier unobstructed, after all, a cage served to keep things inside not outside. Now that their leaders had charged in, the four armies followed suit and quickly approached the barrier. They seemed quite confident, outnumbering the enemy gave them courage. Two battlefields had come into existence. One in the air between grand duke and king magi and another on the ground between those below. At first, the battle below looked like it would end in a landslide victory for the attacking party. However, the barrier quickly gave them a nasty surprise. Their charge was completely halted by the lightning arcs dancing around the barrier. To make matters worse, the undergrowth behind the aesir troops burst and 80 wyrms commenced a pincer attack. They were all mutated to lightning wyrms, one of the possible applications of my innate understanding. The other three armies each found 2500 ordinary beasts of all kinds at their backs. The tides of the battle below turned in an instant and the attackers were greatly flustered as their formation began to disintegrate. The fight in the air hadn''t even begun yet when it already came to a stop. Odin seemed devastated at the sudden turn of events. "How can this be? You were clearly limited in the number of beasts you could control." ''I evolved and the limit increased. Too bad you didn''t know about that. Also, do you guys know what an allergy is?'' "Yes, but what does this have to do with anything?" ''Nothing much... just that you''ve been doing some pretty heavy breathing just now. That may not have been the best thing to do...'' 68 Odin made some miscalculations "Your hinting at pollen, aren''t you. Sorry to say but people at our level don''t have allergies and are immune to most poisons. If you are betting on us going down due to some small seeds in the air, that won''t happen." As a being closely associated with nature, the elven queen was the first to pick up on my hint. Just that she was a slight bit off on the possibility of on danger. ''I wasn''t hoping for the pollen themselves to do much damage. I have higher expectations of the lightning sealed within.'' Horror flashed in the expressions of all the leaders. Before they could do anything about it, I detonated all the pollen close to them. The lightning on the outside did them little harm but the lightning inside hit them where they were unprotected. In unison, they vomited a mouthful of blood as their internal organs were probably charred black. After vomiting, the first reflex of some was to take another deep breath. Wrong decision! As new air filled their burnt lungs, so did new pollen. After the second detonation, all the Jotuns dropped to the ground. Their internal defenses were presumably the weakest. The other groups had used various ways to avoid major damage. The fire giants had it the easiest, they couldn''t get burnt. The elves had all held their breaths and followed up with a spell to clear the air around them of any pollen. The Aesir had only sent two people here. Odin who was holding his breath and Tyr who defiantly took another breath and vomited more blood but remained flying. Fighting this group, the ones who worried me the most, were the fire giants. Not one of the four was a king magus but their fire naturally restrained my plants. ''Loki, V?lsung, take care of the fire giants.'' "Fool, they can''t fight if they are outnumbered!" ''Odin, haven''t you learned yet? I am a lot more prepared than you. And I expected you to have a lot more allies.'' V?lsung meanwhile, was walking towards the fire giants on the ground. Loki had stood back and prepared to attack after V?lsung. "We know you, V?lsung. You are just a grand duke fighter with used up potential. Die!" From the palms of the fire giants a barrage of flames descended. Deep earth flames that could melt anything born of the earth, dreadful and feared by many, turning the ground into molten magma. Where V?lsung had stood, a crater was faintly visible, releasing a pillar of black soot. Then, the dark cloud was parted by a gust of air. Another sweep of an object at an immense velocity cleared the smoke entirely. Then the object stopped midair, revealing a scaled, red tail, ending in a vicious-looking spike. The owner of that tail was naturally V?lsung in beast mode with the fire dragon bloodline I had given him. "That aura... He has broken through to king fighter, hasn''t he!" The fire giants were somewhat frightened. Despite there being more of them and their deep belief that magi were superior to fighters, they couldn''t help feeling a little intimidation when going up against a king level opponent. Of course, his level wasn''t the only reason they felt intimidated. The broadsword that hadn''t melted and the draconic features also did their part. In their momentary hesitation, the fire giants failed to notice V?lsung bending his knees. The ground below caved in completely as V?lsung launched himself into the air, flying straight towards the closest fire giant. The blade resting on his right shoulder swung down and cleaved apart the first fire giant. This action left V?lsung falling from the sky. This was seen as an opportunity by the three remaining opponents and they flew after him. Before they could fully reach him, V?lsung twisted in the air, coming face to face with them. With a sickening crunch, a pair of majestic dragon wings broke through the flesh on his back. Fully spreading his wings, V?lsung stopped falling. Then he flapped his wings once, closing the distance and slashed again. Another fire giant was directly beheaded by the vertical slash. Simultaneously, V?lsung''s tail shot out and impaled the third fire giant. Leaving only the weakest one who had been at the back. This fire giant had completely lost his composure and was retreating while wildly throwing flames and blazing clusters of magma. At some point, Loki had appeared behind him and stabbed a sinister-looking black dagger into the last giant''s neck. All this had happened in only a few seconds, making it impossible for the others to react in time. 69 A true Aesir doesnt retrea The elven queen looked troubled. Evidently, she hadn''t expected the situation to turn out like this. Four major powers had formed an alliance to take down a newly formed power but now half of their upper echelons were already wiped out. The situation on the ground was only slightly better for them. The Aesir army had fully regained their bearings and managed to beat back both sides that pincer attacked them. Since both Odin and the elven queen were still hesitating, I could afford to meddle a little. At my command, the combat golems rose from the earth and joined the fight. With their suicidal advance, the Aesir were once again forced into a flustered defense. Odin finally made a move. He had a new spear that thankfully wasn''t as strong as Gungnir. He stabbed towards me but couldn''t do much damage due to my ever-increasing density. Only those crazy weapons such as Gungnir or Gramr could really cut me at this point. Elemental attacks were probably the only effective way of fighting me. Too bad that both the Jotuns and the fire giants were already defeated. Odin retreated a few steps, realizing the futility of his attempts, he turned towards the elves. "Are the elves just going to stand back and watch this monster grow? You participated in this attack, don''t think he will spare you." With silent determination in her eyes, the elven queen stopped hesitating. Her two subordinates nodded in silent understanding and each drew a dagger and stabbed it into their hearts. As the life slowly faded from their eyes, the queen waved her hand and grasped the near intangible energy. Skillfully manipulating that energy a shimmering but translucent connection was formed between us. Suddenly, I felt a pull, my own vitality flowed out of me and to the queen. V?lsung and Loki wanted to interfere but were blocked by Tyr and Odin. Interestingly, the matchup was V?lsung against Tyr and Loki against Odin. Tyr was only at the grand duke level but had seemingly reached this level as both a magus and a fighter. While he couldn''t meet V?lsung''s attacks head-on, his decades of combat experience allowed him to dodge and counterattack. This wasn''t a strategy to win but merely to stall for time and thus very feasible. However, similar to V?lsung, Odin found that while he was clearly stronger than his opponent, he couldn''t defeat Loki in a short amount of time. Every now and then, Odin would randomly stab at empty air. I could only speculate that this was due to both Odin and Loki using their unique powers. Odin read Loki''s next move and attacked preemptively only to meet air because Loki had used his powers of change to change his next move. Safe to say, the situation wouldn''t see any major changes over the next hour or more, giving me ample time to focus on my own predicament. ''Well now, this is somewhat troublesome.'' "Serves you right for being so arrogant. Now that I''ve established this life link between us, even you as a king magus can''t sever it." ''And why would I need to sever this link? You probably aren''t aware of this but a link goes both ways.'' "What does that matter?" ''Watch and learn!'' The slow flow of vitality that left me was immediately reversed. Like gathering magic from the air, I pulled as hard as I could and began a tug of war with the elven queen. As the moments slipped by, it became more apparent that the elven queen wasn''t my match. Her supple, pinkish skin first grew pale and then got more and more wrinkles. Her luscious blonde hair quickly turned into an aged white. The queen aged at a visible pace until she turned into an old crooked hag. Now, it was her who attempted to break the link established between us. Which, as she herself mentioned before, was a futile effort. Instead of breaking the link, her losing focus made it even easier for me to drain her. Once the last bit of vitality had left her body, she was but an empty lifeless husk. A gust of wind blew past and the husk turned into dust as it scattered into the sky. Down below, as the elves witnessed their queen die, their morale hit rock bottom. Their formation broke completely and they turned to flee like a bunch of headless chicken. This in return, caused the other three factions to lose all hope. Akin to a forest fire despair spread through their rows, eroding their determination and making them too abandon their positions. ''Your troops are fleeing, Odin. It''s over!'' "A true Aesir doesn''t retreat! This war isn''t over until every last of us has fallen!" Despite his words, Odin was visibly shaken as he caught a glance of his army retreating. Enough so that the always passive Loki managed to free himself long enough to throw a dagger at Tyr''s back. This unexpected attack messed up Tyr''s rhythm and forced him to receive one of V?lsung''s slashes. V?lsung''s broadsword shattered Tyr''s blade and proceeded to dig into Tyr''s shoulder, nearly splitting him in half. Gathering the remains of his strength, Tyr threw a punch at V?lsung, hitting him square in the chest. However, V?lsung didn''t even budge. After getting an innate understanding of dragon strength, his physique had reached a scary level and he could simply disregard Tyr''s last struggle. He twisted his broadsword and let Tyr''s corpse drop to the ground. Now even Odin turned to flee but things wouldn''t be that easy for him. ''What are you doing, Odin? Is this what you call a tactical retreat? Here, accept this parting gift from me!'' Odin had only just turned around when a sharp object pierced his heart. Gungnir was successfully returned and this battle was now truly over. But Loki seemed to think otherwise. "Quick! We must pursue the fleeing armies and decimate them!" 70 Enough death and suffering ''No'' "What do you mean? Eldar, every second we waste here will give them more time to get further away! If you let them go now, they will be back for revenge once they have recovered!" ''Shut it Loki. They are defeated. Going after them now will only result in senseless slaughter, benefiting only the humans. In retrospect, you have been goading me from one fight to the next, using me to thoroughly clean the board. Your incitement has led to so much bloodshed, though I am also to blame. However, this all ends here.'' Loki seemed greatly vexed at the fact that he could no longer use me to overpower his enemies. He turned and went after the fleeing aesir troops by himself. ''V?lsung, I''ll need some time to digest all that just happened. Could I trouble you to clean up and take care of the rest?'' "Sure thing!" With that, I sank my consciousness deep down my trunk and stopped using my magic perception. Truth be told, I was running away. I couldn''t bring myself to look at the battlefield. I had never realized this before but, after every battle, so many had died. I could feel the connections to my beasts that had turned dark, indicating they had died and even without magic perception, I could feel the overwhelming air of death all around. How many had died? ... Too many! That was the simple answer. I shouldn''t have let this happen. What would lord Abel have done in my place? ... I shouldn''t dwell too much on these issues. The past was the past and now was the present. Regret wouldn''t change what had happened, I could only learn from this and try to do better from now on. I couldn''t stop advancing, the only way for me to proceed was to get stronger. The ground around me was littered with the corpses of fallen powerhouses of four different races. Wasting this opportunity would mean all the people here had died for nothing. First, I absorbed the fire giants. Bits and pieces of their comprehensions were combined with the vague innate understanding of fire I had absorbed from the fire dragon. If I continued to invest a few years, I could surely have my own innate understanding of fire. Next were the Jotuns, giants of the icy north. From them, I could gain some understanding into the domain of frost and ice. Not nearly enough to form an innate understanding but it was a good start. Finally, it was time for the main dish. Tyr had been a combat-oriented magus and fighter, his insights into these matters would be priceless. Odin was a king magus and had kindly given me the opportunity to have another artificial innate understanding. Sadly, I could find little use for clairvoyance powers. In my previous world, it was widely known that clairvoyance should only be used to see the opponents moves during battle. The more time lay between the event happening and a clairvoyant seeing it, the worse the consequences. Some saw their own death and went mad trying to prevent it yet died all the same. Others tried to take advantage of the historical events they saw in the future but ended up making these events never happen... Overall it was a scary power that shouldn''t be used further than five minutes ahead. Once again leaving the confines of my body, my magic perception stretched out far and wide. All traces of the battlefield were gone and nothing reminded of the things that happened here. Not too far away, I found Sven sitting and meditating. As I focused on him he woke up and greeted me. "Lord Eldar, it''s nice to see you have recovered from the battle." ''How did you notice I was back?'' "Your presence has grown rather heavy in recent times. I could clearly feel you looking at me." ''Well, I have grown stronger at an insane pace so it''s no wonder that my presence has become somewhat oppressive. But you have grown stronger too, haven''t you? By now you are already a count magus.'' "It''s all thanks to you, lord Eldar! The bloodline you have bestowed upon me did wonders for my progress. I can feel it assisting me whenever I meditate." ''That''s good then. How long was I gone for?'' "Close to one year now actually." 71 And straight back to isolation ''Nearly one year. It has really been a while.'' "Nothing to worry about, few things happened. Lord V?lsung took command of this place and has been managing the situation quite well." ''Do you mean to say I am not needed anymore?'' "No! Without the apples you gave him beforehand, V?lsung wouldn''t have been able to stabilize things this easily." ''I was just joking. But do tell me, how did the situation play out.'' "I shouldn''t be the one to tell you. I''ll go inform Lord V?lsung about your return." Sven hurried along the bridges and ladders until he had fully descended. Not too far away from me, a nice mansion had been built. There, Sven soon returned from with V?lsung. "Eldar, it''s good that you are back, I wasn''t certain if I could keep this up." ''Stop being humble, you evidently had little to no problems. But now I''m curious, what happened so far?'' "Since you said you wanted to end the bloodshed, I sent messengers to all the defeated parties and worked out a peace treaty. We will all pretend this war never happened and in return, our forces will have free passage through their territories. I also took the liberty of signing a non-aggression pact with the humans. After that, I''ve been trying to rebuild what was destroyed during the battle and make a few improvements." ''A non-aggression pact with the humans. You still hold some loyalty towards them, do you?'' "I do indeed, but that was not the main motivation behind this. Sigurd broke through to King magus and took Loki as his personal advisor. With this, the human''s war potential is now second only to us and the dark elves." ''The dark elves? Weren''t the Aesir the most powerful? Where do the dark elves suddenly come from?'' "That is mostly due to us having little to no information about the dark elves. We only know that their leader, Night Owl, has been a king magus for a long time. Apparently, Odin feared him so much that even after becoming a king magus himself he never showed any hostility or arrogance towards the dark elves. However, that''s all we know because they never leave the dark forest." ''So we just assume that this old dark elf is still alive and at the peak of the king level?'' "If he had died, Odin would have surely found out and mass murdered the dark elves." ''Did Odin have a murder wish for everyone alive?'' "From what I''ve heard, in Odin''s vision, the Aesir would be the rulers while the elves, dwarves, and Vanir would serve beneath them. Everyone else will be murdered." ''So I killed a genocidal psychopath in the making... I''ll just think of evolving. System-'' \u003cFor your next evolution, you will need to condense a physical body. By that I mean you will have to condense your body into a humanoid shape. So first you''ll need an innate understanding of life. Also, don''t bother me until you have that.\u003e What was that? ''System?'' \u003c...\u003e ''Hello, anybody home?'' \u003cSorry, the number you have dialed is currently unavailable, please try again later.\u003e ''???'' "Eldar, who are you talking to?" ''What? Oh, V?lsung, I was just trying to talk to the crazy voice in my head.'' "Are you okay? Maybe the last battle did more damage than you thought." ''And now you think I''m crazy... Anyway, something has come up and I''ll have to meditate for quite a while. I don''t know how long it will take until I wake up again but I''ll have to trouble you to take care of this place. I''ll make sure to grow some apples while I meditate so don''t worry about that.'' With that, I once again retracted all my focus into my body and shut out the outside world. After that last battle, I had vaguely sensed a possible path to gain an innate understanding of life. The value of life was definitely a good starting point and from there on out, I could only rely on myself. ''What is the value of life?'' I let the question reverberate through my mind. Seeking not the logical or correct answer but instead, the one that would truly come from me. Only through this way could I truly attain an innate understanding. Copying what others said was the correct answer would only bring me flaws. Other opinions could at most serve as references. 72 Life? Live? Love? ''Did I value life and how much?'' ''Can life even have a set value?'' ''Is there a difference between different lives?'' I didn''t know where or when life started, nor its purpose or endpoint, if such a thing even existed. But I remembered the feeling when I saw those fleeing armies leaving behind their fallen comrades, I felt unwilling to end their lives. To be completely honest, I had also felt unwilling to end the ones already fallen but somehow it felt different... What was it that had changed? ... ... ... Necessity! The death of those fallen was necessary for me to survive. The fleeing ones didn''t have to die because they didn''t mean to harm me anymore. Was that the right answer, was it fair? No! But, it was my answer nevertheless. The value of all life was immeasurable but if the necessity arose, I would choose my own over others. A contradiction but that is just how life is. How life is... ... I lost track of time as I tried to dig deeper and deeper into what life was to me. I only stopped when I had succeeded. I had my own innate understanding of life. It was time for me to return to the outside world, wake up so to speak. Outside I got a little shock when I saw the place where the beginnings of a city had been before. It had been replaced by a ginormous city, fit to be called a capital city. ''How long have I slept?'' \u003cRoughly 73 years, give or take a few months. Rise and shine sleeping beauty.\u003e ''I should really go take a look at what changed.'' I was about to send out my spiritual body but the system interrupted. \u003cDid all that time meditating make you dumb? Evolve and you''ll be able to go there with your real body!\u003e That was indeed a proper thought. If I had a humanoid form, I would be able to stroll around in the city and all that fun stuff. Hence, my evolution commenced. My magic spread around my whole body and slowly, gently compressed it. Every fiber of my being became denser as I shrunk bit by bit. I had been an enormous existence before and now I returned to being normal-sized. However, the biggest change happened to my magic core and magic reservoir. The core was also condensed and even purified by the pressure. I could feel both my physical and magical capabilities experience a qualitative change. Finally, I ended up with the perfect shape of a human. Only the texture left some things to be desired. My skin was still made of bark and my hair consisted of leaves. Thank the goddesses for transformation magic. My leaves became silken strands of light green hair, my bark looked like tanned skin, and from some leftover leaves, I made myself an attire. Then, I wanted to walk towards the city. I was currently in a crater where my roots had been before. Decisively, I lifted one foot and took my first step as a somewhat human. The outcome was not so good. I wasn''t accustomed to walking yet, so my step was a little stiff, especially when setting my foot down again. My foot hit the ground with a boom as the earth around me shook. I took a hurried step back to stabilize myself but found an even greater tremor following the first. \u003cStop moving so much. You only condensed your body, your weight and strength are still the exact same!\u003e Right, I should have thought of that. Maybe the long time in seclusion had really made me somewhat slow-minded. I used some gravity magic to reduce my weight by several thousand times and sealed a part of my strength with magic. The tremors subsided and I could finally exit the crater and visit the city. As I approached it, I realized it was even bigger than I had thought before. My small body was dwarfed by the enormous city wall. This was a somewhat refreshing feeling. I wasn''t looking down on things anymore and I could probably look right into the human''s eyes by now. Though I did miss the feeling of looking down on people... 73 Yggdrasil Entering the town proved somewhat difficult. No one had ever seen my new form and I didn''t exactly look like an average citizen, did I now. The gate on this side of the city didn''t have much traffic and so sneaking past undetected was out of the question as well. Now if you can''t get through a gate and need to get on the other side of a wall, what is the logical thing to do? Jump over it? Hell no! I am a tree, I go below walls! Transforming my feet into roots once again, I simply burrowed through the ground and reappeared in a secluded alleyway not too far away. Infiltration successful! Weaving through the crowded city, I headed towards the main plaza in the middle of the city. I listened in on some of the crowd''s conversation while walking and came to know that V?lsung was still acting as the city''s governor. V?lsung would probably be in the governor''s mansion right next to the main plaza. I was looking forward to meeting him. Another piece of news I gleaned from a frenzied crowd was related to myself. Apparently, I was a divine tree now. Most of the city was filled with believers of the religion known as Yggdrasil. This religion was built surrounding my existence as a deity that gave his blessings once a year in the form of various fruit and beasts. Calling me a deity was somewhat foolish of these people but they didn''t know better. The main temple was also located adjacent to the governor''s mansion. I''d have to visit that place after talking to V?lsung. Soon, I arrived at the main plaza and approached the governor''s mansion. Entering through the ground wasn''t an option so I approached the entrance openly. Understandably, the guards stopped me before I could get really close. "Halt! This is the governor''s mansion. No one can enter without an invitation. Please hand over your invitation or return to where you came from!" ''Could you inform V?lsung that Eldar has come to visit.'' "How dare you use lord V?lsung''s name so casually! If you were really here for a visit, you would have an invitation. Leave now!" This was getting me nowhere! Giving up on keeping a low profile, I blasted a mental message into the mansion. ''V?lsung I''m back! However, I''m a little held up at the door due to not having an invitation. Could I trouble you to come to invite me inside?'' Of course, the mental message could be felt by the guards. They didn''t hear its content and to them, it was just an attack. "An attacker, cease him!" Both guards thrust their spears at me in an effort to drive me back. I stepped forward and grabbed the tips of their spears, gripping the blades themselves. The guards froze as they incredulously stared at the blades that didn''t cut my skin. High-quality steel weapons had no effect whatsoever on me. "Drop your weapons! Eldar, please don''t mind them and come inside." V?lsung had arrived. Upon his command, the two guards immediately dropped the spears and saluted. I walked past them and followed V?lsung into the building. He led me into an elegant drawing room where we sat down opposite of each other and each received a cup of tea. "How did you get your spiritual body to look so real?" ''This isn''t my spiritual body, it''s the real deal. I condensed myself down to this point and can now walk around normally.'' "That explains your disappearance and the whole commotion." ''What commotion?'' "When a 300 plus meter divine tree just disappears it will naturally shock the believers. Not to mention the earthquake that followed and made some believe they had incurred Yggdrasil''s wrath. The temple has been flooded by concerned believers and is hitting its limit." ''About that... What with this whole religion surrounding me?'' "You really don''t know?" ''Frankly, I don''t.'' "Around a year after you left, we all received a message through our dreams. It told us to build up a religion for the divine tree Yggdrasil and make sure it flourishes. At first, we assumed it was you but I had my doubts. That cocky voice didn''t sound like you at all." 74 This is so troublesome ''A cocky voice that talks in people''s heads, why does that remind me of something. System, since you are smart and coincidentally have a cocky voice and talk in my head, do you perhaps know what happened here?'' \u003cThere is no need to keep guessing. I gave them an oracle and made them build you a religion. For your next evolution, you will need a large amount of faith to complete the process and gathering that now was the easiest option.\u003e ''I can evolve again?'' \u003cYou haven''t collected enough faith as of yet. Wait for another two or three years then you will be ready.\u003e "Are you alright Eldar?" ''Yes, quite alright, I just checked on that dream message you got. I wasn''t aware of the things that happened but I guess that doesn''t matter anymore.'' "Then, before anything else, could you help us resolve the issue of your disappearance. I don''t know how long the temple can hold the believers." ''Sure.'' We exited the mansion and headed over to the temple. I remarked the absence of all the believers who were apparently making a commotion. We entered the temple and proceeded along a hallway filled with wall paintings depicting me. After that, we entered an arena like open space. In the middle, of the circular area was a tree and around it, people... A mass of people. Held back by a thin line around the tree and the menacing stare of an old man. "Yggdrasil has been angered, high priest, why won''t you tell us what is happening? Did the priesthood lose the favor of the divine tree?" "No, we must have sinned and attracted Yggdrasil''s wrath. High priest, how can we calm the divine one''s anger?" "High priest, why aren''t you answering?" This was madness. Thousands of believers were swarming this place while yelling question after question. ''So, who''s the old man?'' "Your high priest. He''s a duke magus that was also called here by a dream message." ''He looks so calm.'' "He never shows any facial expressions. Based on his temperament, I''d say he''s about to murder half the people at the front. You should do something before he loses it." From my soles, I sneakily released some roots that went underground and connected me to the tree in the center. Through this connection, I transferred a part of my consciousness into the tree. Time to give those believers a part of my mind. Through my innate understanding of lightning, I conjured an outline of a giant tree around the smaller tree. This should make my presence known. ''Silence! How dare you fill this temple with your chaotic chatter! You ask if I am angered? Yes, I am! I just leave my usual spot for a few hours and this is what you do? You panic and harass the priest here! Well, until you have proven you can spend your time on useful things, I will not return!'' The crowd stirred. "But what about the harvest day, how will we receive your fruit?" ''Since I won''t be there, naturally, you won''t receive any harvest. And if you dare complain, there won''t ever be another harvest day!'' This served to successfully shut them up. ''Pray hard and I will return in due time.'' With that, I removed my presence from within the tree and left the temple followed by V?lsung. The lightning phenomenon dissolved and left only a dumbfounded crowd and a high priest praying on his knees. "You were pretty harsh to those believers. Are you really that mad?" ''No, but since I have a body that can travel now, I want to spend some time traveling. Thus, I was going to need an excuse to disappear anyway. This occurrence just saved me the time to think of something.'' "When are you leaving?" ''After I''m done catching up with all of you. Speaking of which, where is everyone?'' "Sven is somewhere deep in the wilderness trying to break through to grand duke magus. Nerida is in the volcanic mountains to increase the density of her new bloodline in hopes of loosening the bloodline shackles enough to advance again. Aldi is actually in the city and has been pressing me for a meeting with you for a while. According to him, some dwarven bigwig wants to meet you." 75 The undead Apocalypse? ''So I won''t be able to meet Sven and Nerida for now. I really wanted to do some catching up. Oh well, now that I have a humanoid body I can finally discuss things over alcohol with friends and half of them aren''t around. Let''s go get drunk!'' "But Aldi and the dwarf." ''They could wait before, they can wait now.'' So we headed to a nearby tavern. Upon entry, I noticed that most of the customers were dressed like soldiers. "Lord V?lsung, you''re early today. Did you have another emergency meeting with the others? Need to drink away your sorrows?" From the looks of it, V?lsung was a regular here and there were some troubles he was hiding from me. ''Emergency meeting?'' "Let''s not talk about that for now." Since he wasn''t willing, I wouldn''t push him for now. We got ourselves a table and a jug of ale and proceeded to sit there in awkward silence. ''So... You come here often?'' "..." "Eldar, can you please talk normally. Everyone is staring at us." ''I kinda like the telepathy mind talking, so how about no. But anyway, you grew quite a bit during these years. You are a duke magus now and a governor to boot.'' "Don''t make it sound so grand. My powers as a magus rely solely on my bloodline, I barely train them. My talent for comprehension is poor and I''ll probably never reach the level of a chosen one. I am just a muscle head who can do nothing but train. How does one even physically build a domain based on dragon strength?" ''Firstly, you underestimate yourself. Secondly, you just have to see your body as the domain where your strength reigns supreme. Of course, you''ll have to comprehend that yourself and me telling you has no point but I did so anyway. Thirdly, disregarding your talent, you kept this place running for 73 years, that''s some achievement.'' "Where do you get all that positivity from? Look, things aren''t going so well. A few years ago the plane of the dead suddenly saw a spike of activity. The undead can''t cross over the lake Gj?ll and don''t threaten us directly but if they go around they will eventually reach us. The dwarven side isn''t so much of a problem because Night Owl became a chosen one and has an alliance with the dwarves. However, the Jotun side had large losses in the war with us and couldn''t withstand the onslaught of the undead. Since the other major forces didn''t want to fight in their own territories, we sent them reinforcements and support. Over the past two years, we had countless emergency meetings to discuss how that handle the situation. Despite all our efforts, we have only reached a stalemate." ''That really doesn''t sound so good. But still, you retained control over the situation and resolved the immediate problem. Just continue doing as you have so far and it will be fine.'' "Can you at least meet that dwarf? Aldi has been pestering me for weeks now." ''Sure, sure let''s go get it over with. I think I''ve had enough drinks. Waiter, tab!'' Only now did V?lsung notice the twenty-plus pitchers laying on the table and floor around me. While he had been engrossed in the conversation, I had been continuously downing more alcohol. One of the benefits of talking in people''s heads was that others couldn''t hear you after all. I casually handed the waiter a solid bar of gold that made him drop to the ground from the unexpected weight. "You drank so much! Are you alright?" ''My body was condensed from a giant tree. My tolerance is way above yours and I only feel a little tipsy. Now lead the way.'' Sighing in resignation, V?lsung paid for his tab and brought me back to the mansion and we entered the guest wing. No sooner had we set foot in the guest wing that Aldi came running. "Lord V?lsung, have you thought about my proposal? Talking to Lord Eldar is very important to the dwarves and could play a vital role in defeating the undead." Before Aldi could go on, V?lsung raised his hand and gestured towards me. "He''s here, talk to him yourself." Having said that, V?lsung turned around and left without another word. 76 The dwarves "Did I harass V?lsung so much that he sent over some stranger just to make me shut up?" ''It''s me Aldi.'' "??????" ''Why are you so surprised?'' "You are a human!" ''Well observed but no. I am only a tree in humanoid form covered up by some transformation magic to make it look more realistic.'' To support my words, I released the transformation for a second before reapplying it. Seeing my more tree-like form somehow calmed Aldi down a great deal. "Well then, it is nice to meet you again after so many years. I''d like you to meet Sindri, the greatest dwarven smith." From behind Aldi, a stout dwarf wearing shiny blue armor stepped out and shook my hand. Common people would perhaps say that he had a strong grip but to me, it felt like he barely exerted any force. Since I wasn''t sure if I could control my strength, I opted for using as little strength as possible. Which the dwarf of course noticed immediately. "Your handshake doesn''t seem very enthusiastic. Do you dislike dwarves?" Like all dwarves, he seemed to be awfully straight forward. ''That is not the case. I''m not yet accustomed to this body and feared to use too much force.'' "Do you take us dwarves to be weak?!" He was a dwarf so talking wouldn''t solve this problem. I grew a fist-sized sphere of heavenly steel. ''I trust you are aware of the properties of heavenly steel?'' "Of course! That''s what I am here for." ''Then watch closely. This is what I meant with I can''t fully control my force.'' I wrapped my hand around the sphere and applied some force. Under the shocked gazes of Aldi and Sindri, the sphere was quickly deformed as my fingers sunk into the steel. Opening my hand, I dropped the recognizably deformed sphere. "What splendid strength! Compared to you, we dwarves can truly be called weak." And that was how one resolved a misunderstanding with dwarves. Others may feel insulted but most dwarves preferred a painfully open style of conversation where both parties just said whatever came to mind. ''Now then, you said you were here for the heavenly steel?'' "Indeed, I took a look at Aldi''s gauntlet and found it wasn''t only incredibly durable but also heat, corrosion, and magic resistant. What is it even made of?" ''Originally, using an innate understanding of light or similar attributes to create a certain pattern of magic. Through that, a kind of material is created that resembles what we call a metal, just that its properties are vastly superior to most natural metals.'' "How can you divulge such precious information so openly! King Sigmund has this innate understanding of light you are talking about, couldn''t he too make it then?" ''He doesn''t know the pattern so he can''t make it. I said nothing about the layering and pattern structure and that''s the knowledge that is precious.'' "Then how do you know it, who taught you?" ''Aldi brought me a piece of it and I analyzed it. And no, others can''t do that, it''s a tree thing. But anyway, you can''t have come here just to ask me that.'' "I have attempted to make some changes to Aldi''s gauntlets but I couldn''t bend the metal in any way. Is there a way to shape it? Also, can I have more of it?" ''Well, you can melt it down if you have a strong enough flame. Something on the level of dragon fire or preferably even stronger. If you want to trade for some, that can also be arranged but only if you have something that catches my interest.'' "Dragon flame or stronger? That''s impossible." ''No one ever said it was going to be easy. If you want I can help you look for one once I travel to the dwarven lands.'' "That would be great! Once you arrive in Nidavellir, ask for Brokk and Sindri''s forge and you''ll have no trouble finding us." Having said his piece, Sindri walked past me and left the building. ''Did he just leave?'' "That''s just how he is. The average dwarven lifespan is three hundred years. He will just wait for you to come to visit him and if you don''t show up within ten years, he will either have forgotten you or come harass you." 77 Journey to the wes Being left alone with Aldi, I found that I had nothing to say to him. Since the night he asked for my origin, a chasm had opened up between us. Without trust, a merchant couldn''t make a good deal. We exchanged some common courtesies but ultimately parted without any substantial conversation. Later I went to find V?lsung and found him sitting in his office signing documents. ''I always thought you to be more of a warrior than a bureaucrat. Can''t you let someone else handle the paperwork?'' "Usually I do just that. But these matters are too important to be handed to someone else so I have to do it myself. Enough of this boring stuff. When do you plan on leaving?" ''By tomorrow morning. I don''t like the whole development in the north and I want to visit the dwarves.'' "Then you will be heading east, towards Nidavellir?" ''No, I plan to go west first and check up on Nerida and Sven. Then I''ll head north to see the frontiers.'' "You intend to cross through the lands of the dead?" ''Do you expect me to go all the way around them?'' "Eldar! That''s the place where all races used to bury their dead! King level entities aren''t uncommon!" ''Then how did you manage to hold them back?'' "Without the suppression of the older generation and your apples that were circulated, many managed to break through in recent years. It''s just that most of them are at the frontier so you didn''t notice." ''I''ll be fine. I''ll be back in a few years.'' "Last time you said that you were gone for 70 years! Just get going and leave me a full storage of apples." After I had filled the cellar with various kinds of apples, I headed out of the mansion and left the city. This time through the gate because V?lsung had handed me a ring that held some kind of authority and let me pass the gate without trouble. Now, gotta find Sven since he is somewhere in this forest. Me being a tree coupled with the benefit of having an innate understanding of life made finding someone in a forest awfully easy. I walked up to a random tree and established a connection with the forest. Sven was to the west and right on route to the volcanic mountains where Nerida should be. ... Walking was so excruciatingly slow. Traversing the distance between myself and Sven had only taken a few moments when I had done it through the forest connection. But actually walking all that way was many times slower. Wasn''t there a faster way? Wait, if my steps were bigger, I could traverse a larger distance with every step and travel faster. Wanting to test out this idea of mine, I increased my body size to twenty meters and broke into a sprint. My speed rose exponentially as I practically flew past the trees. Naturally, the transformation magic that made me look human ceased to work and I looked like a tree giant. Since it would still take some time to reach Sven''s position, I increased my size further to around 250 meters. My speed reached a new high as I continuously advanced towards Sven''s position. Closing in on the location I had last detected him, I slowed down and returned to my human form. Witnessing a tree giant running towards himself would certainly not be part of a good reunion as I imagined it. Connecting to the forest once again, I locked in on Sven''s exact position, a mountain not too far off. There he was, sitting cross-legged on the highest point. I quietly approached him and intended to wait for him to wake from his meditation. "So, how long are you going to just stand there? Did you really think I wouldn''t notice a giant tree man running over here?" ''I just didn''t want to interrupt you in case you were still in the process of advancing.'' "Well, no need to worry, I successfully advanced a few days ago. I just stayed here to use the peace and try to get some comprehensions for my next advancement. I didn''t think you would come looking for me. Good to see that you are back" 78 Sven ''Then you successfully broke through the shackles of your bloodlines and received a dragon''s bloodline? What did you get, wind dragon, tempest dragon?'' "Storm dragon. I had sufficient ability in both wind and lightning to mutate a second time. It''s all thanks to the lightning origin fruit you grow once a year. After Ratatoskr ate it, I went through the effort of collecting all the scraps and made them into apple juice. Enriched with some lightning apples I made it a permanent component of my diet. By now, elemental apple juice is one of our major exports." ''Lightning origin fruit? Is that how you call my enlightenment fruit? Seeing that I comprehended it by consuming a lightning origin, it kind of makes sense. But enough of all that, show me your transformation!'' "Sure thing. Beast mode!" His dragon form was substantially different from before. His greenish scales were replaced by dark greyish ones that held a purple luster. Also, different from V?lsung, Sven''s transformation seemed much more complete. He was now barely humanoid anymore and had turned into a near-complete eastern dragon. A long snake-like main body with short arms and multiple pairs of wings. At the end of his tail, there was a peculiar shape that reminded me of the feathers of an arrow. All in all, I got the impression that this wasn''t a body built for close-quarter combat and large scale destruction like most dragons. This shape was more suited for hit and run or surprise tactics. Sven had been a hunter before I recruited him. It would seem that a person''s prior experiences might be able to influence their beast form. "So, what do you think, looks neat doesn''t it?" In his dragon form, Sven had a raspy deep voice that was interlaced with a low rumbling. Hearing his questions, I recounted my analysis of his newly gained form. "I never really thought about it, but you are right. I much prefer attacking from an ambush and taking the enemy by surprise. Open combat just isn''t my style. Guess I''m heading in the right direction then." ''There is no right direction. There is only the direction you chose to take. Right or wrong is just a concept to make us feel better. So head in your direction, do as you believe you must.'' "If everyone did that, wouldn''t the world sink into chaos?" ''I''m not telling this to everyone. I''m telling you! Some people need encouragement, others need to be held back. Once again this is just a choice of the one talking.'' "I never knew you liked philosophy. Did you meet some sage in the past and repeat his teachings?" ''No, I don''t think I have met someone who calls themselves a sage in this sense of the word. But once, a long time ago, I read some books about the philosophy of an ancient era. In those scriptures, I found many thoughts and ideas that I could relate to. I''d forgotten most of them but just now you made me remember them when you talked about the right direction.'' "You sound like an old man!" ''Technically, I am an old man.'' "You sure don''t look the part. What I see is a fair-skinned youth who barely reached adulthood." ''The physical body is but a vessel for the mind and soul. Do not be deceived easily, one''s appearance can be changed quite easily. Instead, judge people''s actions and words, those will often tell you more than looks ever can.'' "Sure, sure. Now, where are you headed off to next, and can I join you?" ''Next, I''m planning on finding Nerida. Apparently, she''s in the volcanic mountains doing something related to her bloodline. If you want to, your welcome to tag along.'' "I''ll gladly join you then. However, can you lower your speed a bit? Even in beast mode, I won''t be able to keep up with your strides." That was indeed a thing to be considered. I decided to only grow 50 meters tall, which would make it possible for Sven to keep up. ''Now then, we''re off to the volcanic mountains! Let''s go find Nerida.'' Despite my reduction in speed, it took us only a few days to reach the edge of the forest. There we found the river Ifing. After crossing it, we would be on the outskirts of the volcanic mountains. 79 The frontier is in shambles Getting over the fast-flowing river before us wasn''t much of a challenge. I just walked right through and Sven flew over it. On the other side, I stepped on a giant road. This thing was so broad and sturdy that it seemed somewhat out of place. ''Why is there a road all the way out here?'' "You don''t know? This is the Bifr?st, the rainbow road." ''Looks pretty grey to me... Where''s the rainbow?'' "Originally, this road began in Asgard and should end in Midgard. It was made with rainbow-colored crystals to show the Aesir''s superiority but even they couldn''t sustain the expanse. Halfway through they went to war with the Jotuns and redirected the road to Jotunheim. It''s become a border between the volcanic mountains and your forest." ''Those Aesir really did put a lot of importance on boasting about their financial prowess. They have a golden city, a giant fortress, and now a crystal rainbow road.'' "Yeah, that golden city is not so golden anymore." ''Really? I feel there is a story behind this. Do tell!'' "Magni, Thor''s son, wanted to obtain your lightning origin fruit. He was only a newly minted grand duke magus and thought he could break through to king magus early with it. He feared V?lsung''s interference and paid a huge sum of gold to bribe all of us to stay out of it." ''Did he succeed? I can hardly imagine him being unable to get new gold after becoming a king magus.'' "Well, he didn''t account for Ratatoskr''s strength. He marched up with the empire''s remaining elites and attacked Ratatoskr when he tried to get the fruit. More than 2000 spells crashed into that squirrel and it didn''t even get a scratch. They did royally piss him off though. Ratatoskr went into a frenzy and wiped out half the Aesir present, including Magni. Throughout the whole thing, that monster got hit by so many attacks but remained completely unharmed. Actually, do you know what level he is at?" ''I have no clue. Rat''s definitely on par with a king magus but if it really ate all those apples, he might be a lot stronger now.'' Just at that moment, a red flare burst in the skies to the north. "This is bad! Majorly bad!" ''Why, what''s happening?'' "That flare is the distress signal from the frontier. Red means the main defense line has been breached and the reserves don''t think they can hold on for long. We have to go there right away! You are faster than me, go ahead. We can''t let the undead get out!" That serious? I was a bit uneasy after Sven''s words. I jumped up into the sky and summoned my innate understanding of lightning. ''Electric moon! The crackling current flows past all places you shine upon. I am the current and my existence is omnipresent below the heavens. Lightning, shift!'' I could feel the fabric of the world ripple as my domain spread out around me. In the blink of an eye, the surroundings around me had changed and I was only a short distance away from where the flare had come. I was still in the air and could see the chaos below. The main defensive line was still roughly visible. Due to the mountainous terrain, the undead were driven to certain chokepoints where a valley let them pass the otherwise unpassable, natural barrier. This place was one such valley and a makeshift wall had been built to hold them back. From the air, however, I noticed a fatal flaw in the wall''s defensive capabilities. There was a gaping hole in the wall and masses of undead were charging through. Above the broken part of the wall, I spied the perpetrators of this catastrophe. Two figures in gray cloaks were giving of eerie vibes while fighting a human king magus. Evidently, the two undead king magi held the upper hand in the whole fight and one of them had probably used this opportunity to blast the wall. Behind the breached wall, the reserve forces were desperately trying to contain the mass of undead. However, the undead fought without concern for their own body and wore down those few reserve troops quickly. This was really bothersome! I was now on a higher level than in my previous life and most of the spells I knew wouldn''t be able to bring out my full strength. The only spell I knew was a fundamental domain application. The signature move of mages in the grey empire, moon domain. It couldn''t be helped. Domain application was very useful due to its variety. Before, I had used my lightning domain to move here at an incredible speed. Now I needed to turn this battle around. 80 Fake kings ''Vibrant moon! The life-giving current flows past all places you shine upon. Where I stand all life shall prosper. Domain of life, eternal growth!'' In the sky above me a pale, light green moon appeared and filled the area around with a green glow. A soothing tide washed over all the combatants on the side of the living, healed their wounds, and gave them new strength. The landslide victory that the undead had been enjoying was abruptly turned into a temporary stalemate. The undead king magi grew slightly agitated. They commenced a pincer attack that put their lives on the line to kill the human magus. If I let that happen, all my prior efforts would be wasted. Unwilling to let that happen, I condensed lightning in my fist and joined the fray. Life and lightning, two elements that were the bane of all undead. The life domain I had spread out was primarily focused on supporting the defending force and thus didn''t really affect the undead. However, the lightning in my fist was driven by an innate understanding and was meant to harm. The undead king magi hadn''t seen me as a threat because they had assumed I was busy casting my life spell. Too bad for them, a domain was a passive thing and I could give them my fullest attention. When my fist landed on one of the cloaked figures back''s, the lightning spread furiously and tore the figure apart completely. ???? This was way too easy! A king magus shouldn''t go down that easily even if they were hit by their weakness. Were they forcefully promoted? I wanted to verify my guess bit the human king magus had already drowned the second undead magus in an ocean of fire. "I''ll leave the rest to you. I''m glad you made it in time." Summoning this last attack the king magus had used up the remains of his power and plummeted out of the sky. I quickly moved to catch him and brought him down to the human encampment. Without their king level leaders, the other undead seemed to lose all hope and retreated promptly. A human grand duke magus approached me as I landed. "Greetings, lord magus! I am the deputy commander of this camp. Thank you for coming to our rescue and saving commander Ragnar. Will you assume command until commander Ragnar wakes up?" ''That won''t be necessary, I leave the commanding to you. If my guess is right there will be more flares up in the sky before night falls.'' "Why do you think so? There are many encampments along the border and there can only be so many undead king magi." ''Let me ask you, have you seen any undead on the grand duke level during this attack?'' "No, why?" ''I fear that whoever sent these creatures has used some means to forcefully promote a large number of grand duke level undead to the king level.'' "Is that even possible? Wouldn''t this make them invincible?" ''No. Firstly, the price for such a feat must be exorbitant. Secondly, this will bring numerous drawbacks and only works under the right circumstances. I hate to say it but if those had been true king magi, your commander wouldn''t have been able to hold them back by himself.'' "Are undead magi that strong?" ''It''s not the fact that they are undead. It''s a difference in the grade of understanding. Death is much more complicated than fire and thus if comprehended to the same degree, death will surely triumph. But these two undead didn''t match that level of power. Also, their defense was sorely lacking.'' While we were talking, I walked over to the breach in the wall. With a wave of my hand, a wall of trees grew and the breach was temporarily sealed. ''Anyway, I''ll stay here until the next flare appears. Can I have the undead king magi''s remains to research?'' "You want them? Take them then. What about your rewards?" ''Rewards?'' "Killing undead of the duke level and above will be specially rewarded to increase people''s motivation. You killed a king magus, naturally, you should receive your corresponding reward." ''I don''t really have the capacity to accept that right now, I''d like to keep my baggage light. But in a day or so, a grand duke magus named Sven will arrive. Hand my rewards to him and tell him that lord Eldar wants him to stay here and help defend this place.'' "With all due respect, a grand duke magus isn''t going to make much of a difference in the face of king level threats." ''Just deliver the message, you''ll see soon enough.'' With that, I walked over to where the undead remains should be. 81 Main assaul Absorbing and analyzing the remains of the undead magi confirmed my suspicions. The innate understanding they had was strange and identical. Usually, every innate understanding was unique, it was after all created by the cumulative of a person''s experiences and comprehension. Having an identical understanding would need two identical minds to go through identical experiences. Sure it could happen, but not like this. I couldn''t even fully absorb their innate understanding. It just dissolved and lost all substance halfway through the absorption. I was so engrossed in studying the undead that I nearly missed the flare going off in the distance. It was only early evening and the next attack was already mounted. Only seconds later, multiple consecutive flares light up the skies. The main offensive of the undead seemed to have been launched. "Lord magus, please head over to the biggest flare. That is the main encampment and should it fall, the troop morale will plummet." ''Fine. Make sure you are prepared too. There will likely be a second wave.'' Flying up into the sky I once again executed my lightning domain application to move towards the place the biggest flare had been launched from. What greeted me at my arrival was a vast battlefield. On one side were the allied forces, consisting of humans, godkins, and giants while the other side was swarming with undead. Since this was the main camp, the quality and quantity of both forces were many times greater than what I had witnessed before. The allied forces had gathered twenty king magi and three king fighters but were forced into a defensive situation by the two hundred odd cloaked figures that charged over recklessly. Now that I was familiar with their aura, I could easily differentiate between the ones forcefully promoted and those not. Among the charging undead, there was only one true king magus. He was running at the back of the group and seemed somewhat out of place. Different from the others he wasn''t wearing a gray cloak that hid his features. He wore a long blue robe and was holding a staff behind his back. He''d look human by all accounts, were it not for the eerie glow in his eyes. He was the greatest danger in this whole siege attack. The surprise of suddenly facing a true king level enemy after fighting the fakes would give him an edge that would cost the allied forces deeply. As I flew towards him, the undead seemed to notice my attention and stopped following the horde to confront me directly. Instead of directly attacking he bowed slightly and greeted me in a hoarse voice. "Greetings. I am Neptune, the tide of Atlantis. I have returned from my watery grave to fight for Atlantis once again." ''I''m pretty sure Atlantis doesn''t exist anymore. There is no reason for us to fight. Go back to your grave and rest in peace.'' "Young man, we both know there is only one way to resolve this..." ''Yes, sadly that seems to be the only viable path. Then, I am Eldar, the life of my forest. I''m just passing through so please go easy on me.'' Harumphing at my last sentence, Neptune swung his staff at me. I met his staff with my fist, causing him to be pushed back a little. He fought incredibly steady, advancing and retreating like the tide. From time to time a true tide surged out from his robes trying to bring me off balance. Being a tree, I simply absorbed the water and wasn''t really impacted. Though his innate understanding of tides was rare, its value in combat couldn''t be fully unleashed against me. As the battle dragged on, it quickly became apparent that he couldn''t hold on for much longer. ''You have fought hard, rest now. I''ll put your innate understanding to good use.'' "An absorber? A true warrior of Atlantis doesn''t let his opponent benefit." Neptune''s chest erupted as a glowing mist charged at me. This madman had unleashed his innate understanding! It was a peak king level strike that used the understanding as its energy source and was a pure kamikaze move. Good thing my strength had already surpassed the level of kings. 82 Heading eas As the mist arrived before me, it was about to enter my body when it recoiled and evaporated into nothingness. Neptune gaped in shock as the undead glow slowly faded from his eyes. "You have already surpassed the king level and become a chosen one?" ''My system of evolution is different from your ranking of strength but yes, by your standards I could be considered to have surpassed king level.'' "You said nothing about being a chosen one! Are you perhaps a-" Without his innate understanding, Neptune turned to dust and scattered into the wind. I couldn''t spare much time to be sad about the world losing a true warrior and me losing a useful innate understanding. While the biggest variable in this battle was eliminated, the allied forces had trouble holding their own against the unit of fake kings. Most king magi were forced to cope with at least seven cloaked figures pursuing them while attacking madly. Among the chaos, I actually spotted a familiar face. Loki was facing a total of twenty adversaries and handled himself fairly well. Somehow, all the attacks miraculously missed him. Probably due to his powers of change. I advanced on the group targeting him from behind and started lightning punching them into oblivion. They were all one hits for me and by the time they noticed me, half of them were scattered on the ground. Noticing me also didn''t do them much good because as long as my domain of life was contained within my body, they couldn''t hurt me at all. I controlled all elements that entered my domain and could reject anything unwanted, including weapons and magic. Only someone stronger than me or with an advantage in elemental effectiveness could penetrate this defense. This barred me from providing the others with a buff area like before but in return made me a grim reaper among the undead. Forgive the pun. As the pressure on Loki eased, he went on the offensive. Change was a scary thing! If Loki could get ahold of an undead, he would grab them and turn them right into dust. Unlike me pulverizing them, Loki''s method didn''t leave any remains that held magic. "I didn''t think you''d be the one rushing to our aid. Now that you''ve surpassed us all, why bother?" ''I''ve come to save lives. Not everyone who gains power sees life as insignificant. If these defenses fail, my people will die too, you know.'' "Then we''d better get to work and be done with it!" ''This isn''t even the main assault yet. What do you think will happen once the real king magi attack?'' "The real ones?" ''I''ll explain later.'' Working together, we slowly cleared out all the cloaked figures and then I proceeded to blast a few lightning arcs into the undead below to easy the situation. With all the king magi and fighters freed, the lower undead were quickly slaughtered. After ending the battle I was originally planning on collecting the fake king remains and leaving but Loki stopped me. "You said you were here to save lives and that this wasn''t the last of them and now you just want to leave?" ''Look, simply put, of all the opponents you just fought, only one was a true king magus and I disposed of that one in the beginning. The others are all forcefully promoted grand dukes and the enemy main force is probably still out there. I''ll push east and see if I can find where they come from and what the source of all this is.'' "Can''t you stay and help us defend?" ''I already came here to help you with this assault. The next one may be stronger but you have time to prepare now and I have places to be.'' "But the rewards!" ''Send them to V?lsung.'' I said as I flew out of the battlefield. Entering the plane of the dead, I was met with a desolate expanse of reddish stone and a few patches of sparse black vegetation. This place was swarming with undead that were mostly clustered in groups of ten. However, unlike the ones that had been in the assault, these guys here were regular undead, no stronger than an average person. 83 Necropolis While flying I continuously absorbed the remains of the undead I had gathered. Gradually, I started to get more insights into the principles of death. And with that, I got a very strong feeling where all this was coming from. Towards the center of the plane, a pulse of death spread like ripples from a stone dropped into a calm lake. For those who didn''t have a connection to death, it would be nothing but a slight waft of putrid air. But to the undead, every pulse contained a message. If I found the source of this pulse I would surely discover why this whole undead stampede happened in the first place. I advanced towards the source at full speed only to be stopped in my tracks by a horrifying presence. Before me lay a giant city or more accurately it was the ruin of a city. It was built with the reddish-brown stone that could be found almost everywhere in this place. And encircling this ruin was an enormous, gargantuan snake. The snake spanned around the ruin multiple times and gave off the unmistakable aura of a divine beast. Its long body was covered in dark-green scales that contrasted with the reddish surrounding. I had been hoping to leave unnoticed and reevaluate the situation but as I slowly flew back a little the slithering goliath moved. Its head rose from the ground and its pitch-black eyes locked onto me. An angry, hoarse voice boomed across the plane. "Why have you come to the Necropolis, mortal? This is the land of the dead, the living shouldn''t tread here." ''Technically, I am flying.'' "Spare me your attitude. State your purpose or I will devour you!" As if to emphasize the threat, the snake opened its mouth, displaying the razor-sharp teeth dripping with venom and the vastness of its gargantuan maw. Despite it being undead, this was still a divine beast and I was not its opponent. ''Undead have attempted to cross into the land of the living. The fights at the border are getting worse and a bunch of fake king magi appeared. I''m here to find the cause of all this.'' The snake''s maw closed and it seemed contemplative. Its voice rang out anew but distinctly female this time. It was an attractive but sinister voice that made me shudder. "I understand the reason for your visit but I cannot let you pass. I am a jade snake dowager and my kind keeps our promises. I promised not to let the living enter this city and I will see that promise through to the end." ''So you would let a lifeless being pass?'' "Heh, do you intend to let me kill you so you can turn undead and enter?" The dowager sounded like she would really enjoy killing me. Thankfully, I had a better plan that didn''t involve me getting murdered by a divine beast. I sent some magic into the ground and created a golem. Not as fancy as my combat golems but more than enough to find out what was happening inside. "A golem? I guess it isn''t alive so it can pass. But are you sure you don''t want to go in yourself? I''d be willing to end you. Quickly! Painless!" ''You seem awfully fixated on killing me. Do you dislike me for some reason?'' "There is no such thing as me disliking you. But it has just been so long since I have ended a life. Squeezed the breath out of it... Sunk my teeth into it... Drowned it in venom... And watched it die!" She was a crazy psychopath! The way she described the killing and the pleasure in her voice, the slaughter crazed undertone. It scared me. Slowly, I backed away and let the golem go forth. The jade snake dowager was still entranced in her imagination of killing and I most definitely couldn''t stay here. Once I had reached a certain distance I once again used my lightning domain application and got the hell out of there. My golem in the meantime had reached the city gates and entered. The city was by all accounts a ghost city and my golem couldn''t spy any undead. Finally, the golem reached the main plaza. It was occupied by a bunch of king magi undead that were polishing their weapons. From somewhere deeper inside a voice drifted out. "We give up on the west. Tomorrow we move east with all remaining forces." That was just about all I needed to hear. I immediately recalled the golem and prepared to depart. However, when the golem left the city it was met with a little misfortune. 84 Further eas By the time the golem exited the city, the jade snake dowager had recovered from her delusions. "He is gone? Isn''t that his golem exiting? It''s not alive but..." Before I could react, the snake''s head descended at a rapid pace and one of its long fangs impaled the poor golem. Reluctantly the snake pulled back its voice holding some disappointment. "It just isn''t the same..." Thank the goddesses I got out of there in time. Now that I knew where the undead horde was going to strike, I simply had to get there first and prepare for battle. It was a good thing that I had my lightning domain and was thus much faster than anyone else. I didn''t know exactly where I was heading but I would know once I found the dwarven defenses. Moving forward in bursts of instantaneous movement, I soon left the land of the dead and spied more mountains below. Similarly to the Jotun side, the undead were also impeded by the natural geography of this place, forcing them to converge at certain spots that were tightly guarded. Different however from the allied forces, this was a place defended by dwarves. There were no makeshift walls or obstructions in sight. Instead, all choke points in my view were blocked by high stone walls dotted with varying pieces of siege-defense equipment. Assuming that the largest wall would similarly hold the commanders with the highest authority, I slowly descended towards it. As I got closer, a domain of dark swords appeared before me. Presumably, it was a domain of darkness that was manifested with the image of a sword in mind. A crude predecessor of the domain application technique I used. Nevertheless, the one who made this had to be considered a genius. Not everyone was born with a complete inheritance of magic principles at their disposal after all. ''Night Owl I presume?'' "You know who I am then, good, then you also know what happens if you take another step forward." ''Why does everyone I meet today sound so sinister and threaten to kill me. And if you are implying that you will kill me if I take another step then you are overestimating your strength. Now, the entirety of the dead planes'' king magi are headed here, prepare to fight for your lives.'' "Is that a threat?" ''No. I intend to fight alongside you so this can be considered a warning.'' "I don''t fight alongside people who are weaker than me. Especially, if they brag about their strength but cower in fear before mine." ''You are going to remain stubborn until I walk into that domain of yours, aren''t you? Fine by me.'' Without hesitation, I stepped into Night Owl''s domain. This lack of hesitation to step into a zone of death must have shocked him so badly that he didn''t react for a few moments. Only after he regained his bearings did a sudden furry grip his heart. I had made him hesitate. Driven by the fury of his feelings of humiliation the all sword rushed towards me. Based on that, he had yet to fully grasp the meaning of a genuine domain. If he had. The swords would appear directly before me. Not having full control of his domain yet was a fatal weakness when going up against some like me who not only had full control over his domain but also more than one to choose from. ''The dark of night is feared by all mortals. But as lightning strikes, all obscurity is vanquished and even the most stubborn darkness must give way to the heavenly furry. Lightning domain, counter burst.'' From my body, the lightning domain burst forth and swept away Night Owl''s domain like it was nothing. As I retracted my domain, only a dark elf with a lost look on his handsome face was left floating in the air. "Defeated just like that? Was I so weak, or were my comprehensions insufficient?" ''That''s not quite it. My control over my domain is better than yours and you fell for my reasoning which led to your domain putting up no resistance when I dispersed it. If you spend some more time to consolidate your domain and confidence you should fare better.'' 85 Dwarven walls "Come on down then. After being defeated, I should at least treat you to a drink." Night Owl turned out to be a very nice dark elf if one disregarded the whole domain thing. He invited me into his wooden cottage at the bottom of the wall and served me a liquid he called tea. Whether it was actual tea or something else was hard for me to tell. I was in my essence still a tree and taking in hot, colored liquid had absolutely no effect on me. I couldn''t even taste it! But what matters is the intention. "You mentioned an attack by king magi. I fear you are too late, we were already attacked a few days ago." ''I can''t be sure but I assume they were mostly just forcefully promoted. How did they look like, a bunch of gray cloaked figures?'' "That''s indeed how they looked. Seems it wasn''t my power that rendered them helpless but their weakness. I still have a long way to go." ''Well, you couldn''t have known. For now, you should try your best to increase your defensive capacity to the absolute peak.'' "I''m the wrong person to talk to if you want to change anything about those defenses. I''m just here to fight the strong enemies. Come, I''ll introduce you to the dwarven king." Upon the wall, a dwarf was sitting on an iron throne surrounded by a group of dwarves in full armor. As far as I could tell, none of them were at the king level. Tentatively I inquired towards Night Owl. ''Why are there no king level generals here? Are they busy defending somewhere?'' "It''s nothing complicated like that. They simply don''t have anyone at the king level." ''How did they hold on until now?'' "The dwarves have neglected personal strength in favor of equipment. Their defenses don''t just look fortresslike, they are very progressive when it comes to the art of defense." As we approach, the circle around the king opens up and the king addressed us. Or to be exact, he addressed Night Owl. "Lord Night Owl, are you leaving already?" "It would seem I will be staying a little longer. King Durin, may I introduce my new friend to you. He came here to warn us about a second attack that will be stronger than the last." "How have you come to trust this man?" "He bested me in combat." "What?!!!" Undeniable shock was written all over the dwarves'' faces as they took in the words Night Owl had just spoken. They had probably witnessed him fight before and struggled to believe that I had bested him. Of the whole group of dwarves, it was the king who first regained his bearings. "Salutations, chosen one! I am Durin, king of the dwarves and commander of the defenses against the undead." ''Greetings, king. I am known as Eldar.'' "The divine tree, Yggdrasil?" ''Sigh. I am also known by that name, but I prefer Eldar.'' Once again, I recounted the whole situation and the assault that was about to happen. The dwarven generals around the king soon sprung into action and started asking me questions about prior assaults and my fight with a true undead king magus. Night Owl had left minutes ago and the generals were still prattling on about potential perils. Finally, the king once again took part in the conversation. "Windolf, activate the dwarven gates and bring our secret stash here! We will show these pesky undead that we are not to be trifled with!" "But your Majesty, those things are meant to defend the capital!" "If the undead get past this point, they will be hard to locate and that will, in turn, endanger the capital. We will stop them here and through that defend the capital. As for the others, evenly distribute the reserve soldiers to the other walls. I wish for no breaches!" Hurriedly, all the generals dispersed, running off to fulfill the duties given to them. I was really curious as to what that secret stash of the dwarves contained. After all, it seemed to be a trump card of the dwarven race meant to defend their capital. But until the battle began, I wouldn''t get to see any of that. Thus, I spent the next few hours in Night Owls cottage, watching as he brewed that tea of his. Apparently, doing this before a battle helped him calm down. 86 Dwarven secrets I''d been expecting to wait for a few days until the enemy arrived but when the sound of dwarven horns blasted through the air, only a couple of hours had passed. ''They seem to be rather early.'' "I had expected them to be a little tardier too but it wouldn''t make much of a difference now. We can only face them to the best of our abilities." Once again, we scaled the high wall and went to meet the dwarven king. Various generals from last time were nowhere to be seen. Probably off to the other walls to defend them personally. Only the one addressed as Windolf had returned, I took that as a sign that the secret stash had arrived too. Indeed, as I looked around on the wall, a multitude of machines was placed there along with mountains of stone boxes. "Ah, the chosen ones! Perfect timing. Our scouts have just seen the hordes approaching." As the dwarven king said that, he gestured towards a section of the wall. At first, I was a little confused as to why the scouts would be on the wall but one glance cleared up everything. ''Is that a telescope?'' "You know of it?" ''Well yes, but never for the use in combat. The one I know is used to watch the sky and see stars.'' "That is indeed the purpose it was invented for. However, over the years we noticed that it could be used to observe great distances as long as it is mounted in a high place. Admittedly, making it adjust and turn was very challenging. That gear below it can rotate into every direction. Quite impressive, isn''t it?" ''It sure is!'' The horn sounded again and Durin switched from his pleased bragging face to a serious face in an instant. "Trebuchets and catapults take aim and fire at will. Cannons and mortars take aim and hold." Immediately a horrible cracking rang through the air as hundreds of gears shifted simultaneously. The air was filled with burning projectiles ejected by the dwarven war machines. As the first undead approached, they walked straight into the burning projectiles that were raining down from the sky. Large gashes appeared in the undead horde as thousands of undead burned but looking at the whole horde, the damage was little more than a drop in the ocean. As the undead drew closer to the wall, the cannons engaged as well. The giant iron barrels were aimed down as bright red inscriptions lit up on them. With a roar, the barrels spewed a column of fire as they ejected a burning ball that exploded as it hit the ground. The horde''s progress was halted temporarily but it soon resumed its advance. The first undead were now only a hundred meters away from the wall. "Drop the golems!" Golems? The dwarves upon the wall started kicking down the piled up stone boxes. While falling, the boxes unfolded and took a rough human shape. The landed before the undead and immediately engaged. They were terribly weak individually but with their great number, their strong defense, and the dwarven fire support, they managed to stop the horde from advancing. The only ones getting through were undead at the marquis and duke level. They simply flee above the golems and avoided the projectile rain. I was about to get worried but then a duke level undead was struck by multiple small things that ripped him apart. A rifle? "Flare locks are truly a scary weapon." Night Owl seemed to know about this weapon too. I couldn''t help but compare it with the flint and mage locks of my previous world. As the undead came into range, the various dwarves with their flare locks dispatched them one by one. The situation looked to be fully under the control of the dwarves. However, the main danger had yet to arrive. If the king magi were left unchecked, they could tear this wall down within seconds. Right on cue, a plethora of strong presence appeared on the horizon and closed in quickly. Both Night owl and I started shifting our weight, ready to shoot up and engage them. "Don''t go yet. Let us have a shot at them first!" 87 Dont bring a sword to a gunfigh Durin''s words came somewhat unexpected. Fighting a king magus without being one yourself was very difficult. Usually, a lot of coincidences were needed for that to happen and that was fighting just one. Durin was talking about taking on a whole group of them. Now the king magi came into view. A full one hundred of them! And as far as I could tell, 60 were real king level magi or fighters. "Please tell me most of them are fakes." ''Night Owl, I hate to disappoint you but more than half of them are real. King Durin, do not underestimate them. The real ones are all experienced veterans that can fight incredibly well and have no fear of kamikaze attacks.'' "Not to worry. I couldn''t hope to defeat them all but if we can weaken them while you preserve your strength, that would be a favorable outcome." ''Where do you take this confidence from?'' "It may seem like we are lagging behind other races in overall power, but I assure you, we have progressed in our own way." While we were talking, the king level undead had reached the vicinity of the wall. A true king magus stepped up and was about to introduce himself as customary for them but the roar of thunder interrupted him. A blue bolt of lightning tore through the air and hit him square in the chest. When the lightning had passed, the magus was still moving but a sizable chunk of his torse was missing. Losing control of his flying, the wounded undead fell straight into the burning flames below and burned up. Admittedly, I was flustered and looked around rapidly to find the source of that attack. As everyone had frozen up from shock, another two bolts of lightning tore through the air with resounding thunder booming along. One bolt ripped through a bunch of fakes and the other approached a warrior looking guy who punched the lightning head-on and remained mostly unhurt. By now, I had found the source of these attacks. Behind the wall, hidden in the mountains stood three spider-like machines that had a spear mounted on their backs. Around the spears, a residue blue lightning was still visible as they were probably recharging. ''What are these things powered by? Their power output is insane!'' "Right! Right! They are each powered by an elemental origin. These three all have a lightning origin as their core and can fire very potent strikes." While the strikes were truly powerful, to me, a glaring weakness remained. They were still recharging and by now, the undead magi had spotted them too. ''I think it''s time to join the fight.'' "We can still further weaken them!" ''You could, but it would be far more effective if we held them back while you fire.'' Not waiting for Durin trying to talk me out of it, I flew up to block the undead. As I had feared, the real king level undead weren''t stupid like the rest. One came forward to engage me while the rest split up and went around me heading for the dwarven machines. The fakes originally wanted to fight me too but received a command from a real one and went around me too. Night Owl was similarly engaged by only one while the rest avoided him and his domain. I''d have to hurry up and go after them. The one facing me was the king fighter who had blocked the lightning. His muscle-packed upper body was bared and his long hair swayed in the wind. "I am Mars, divine strength of Sparta. I have risen from my blood-soaked grave to-" ''yes, yes, Eldar, life, now go die.'' I rushed at Mars and threw a punch straight at his chest. Accepting the challenge, Mars reciprocated with a punch of his own. His punch arrived before mine but showed no effect when it connected. Mine on the other hand connected to his chest and made him cough up blood. As my fist was still touching his chest, I grew branches out my fist, directly piercing through him. "Internal domain? Damn you!" Quickly absorbing his innate understanding into my body and sealing it, I chased after the others. This time four king magi turned to delay me. Funny wasn''t it? First I had been the one delaying them, now they were delaying me. Meanwhile, the first real king magus had reached the air space directly above one of the mechanic spiders. "Secondary cannons engage!" At Durin''s command, four smaller but longer barrels emerged from the spider''s main body and unleashed a barrage of lightning charged bullets at the incoming magus. Their lethality wasn''t comparable to the lightning strike but still managed to push back the flustered undead. Now, I would have to take care of those four idiots. Unfortunately, due to Mars they now knew of my internal domain that made me invulnerable to their attacks. 88 Durins ace Fighting four opponents would hold no danger for me but take a long time. So I decided to take a little risk. As the four floated a few meters away from me, they wanted to once again introduce themselves. This was my chance to end this quickly! ''Life domain expand! Within my domain there is only life, all death shall be eradicated!'' I let my life domain expand out of my body. Taking advantage of the antagonistic relationship between life and death, I targeted the essence of these undead and circumvented their innate understandings. Of course, this held some risk. I felt the javelin before I saw it. A wooden javelin wrapped in life magic phased right through the boundary of my domain, continued on, and buried itself in my shoulder. I really shouldn''t have formed pain neurons when I condensed this body! Four more undead down in return for a javelin through the shoulder. Not the best trade-off but an acceptable one. Retracting my life domain, I used some lightning to destroy javelin and grew over the hole in my chest to temporarily fix the damages. Night Owl had also finished off his first opponent and had now confined all the fakes in his domain and was slowly finishing them off. The mechanic spiders, however, were not doing well. Despite their suppressive fire and more lightning strikes, they were still besieged by 40 king magi. The first spider was already half broken with its lightning spear broken in two. Just then, a lightning strike shot down the king maga that had thrown that javelin. Unexpectedly, the lightning strike had come from the wall. There, Durin still sat on his throne. Just that this throne was now mounted on another mechanic spider. This spider had four additional limbs that were extended into the air. Two at the front, reminding of the claws of a scorpion and two at the back reminding of a scorpion''s stinger. One of the two limbs in the back was a lightning spear like the other spiders had. The other back limb ended in an actual stinger that was surrounded by dark tendrils. Durin was laughing like a maniac as he sat on his throne with a special looking flare lock in his grasp. "How dare you break one of my mechanic spiders! Do you know how much resources went into building them? You will feel my wrath! Now taste the power of my ace!" Realizing the danger of the new mechanic spider, the 20 king magi split off from the group assaulting the other spiders and headed over for Durin. Actually, let me take back my statement from before. While they aren''t brainless like the fakes, they are stupid to only leave 20 people behind to fight three mechanic spiders, me and Night Owl who had just finished off all fakes. Without another magus with an innate understanding of life, my domain was the bane of these undead. Together with Night Owl''s domain and the spiders'' fire support we slowly whittled down the 20 remaining magi. Meanwhile, king Durin was also facing 20 king magi. Atop his mechanical throne, he aimed the flare lock at them and shot a blinding line of light that directly pierced through the head of one of the undead. 19 left as the lightning spear roared again and reduced that number down to 18. As they drew closer, one of the spider''s extended front limbs flared up and unleashed swaths of flame. The four undead upfront caught fire and based on their reaction this was no ordinary flame. The 14 remaining ones moved back as the second front limb lit up and sent out a powerful gust of wind. Carried by the wind, the flames carried further and reached the retreating undead. Two more down, 12 left. This time the undead carefully avoided the space in front of the fire limb and advanced once again. Then the sword limb pierced forward like a stinger and cut another magus straight in two while the lightning spear simultaneously eliminated another. Ten to go and those ten started to realize that they weren''t prepared to fight this murderous machine. More so, when the whole thing started to move. Yes, you read correctly, the spider could move around like a monster spider, jumping down the wall and maintaining a constant shift of positioning. To my great surprise, Durin finished his battle before us and without sustaining any damage. Although I guess the element of surprise played a huge role. 89 Aftermath, harvest time "So, what do you think of my mecha demon spider?" ''Very interesting, a design that can fight and defeat multiple king magi is definitely a great creation. But do tell, how did you manage to make it capable of doing real harm to king magi. Ordinary elemental attacks can''t do that kind of damage.'' "So you noticed! Let me tell you, getting the elemental origins to create this was so exhausting. I even had to ask Sindri to make that hammer for Thor. But look at the result! Hiring Gandalf was definitely a worthy investment." ''Oh, I definitely have to meet him at some point. Maybe after visiting Sindri.'' "So you are just going to leave?" ''Well, I''ll first collect the king magi''s remains but after that yes. Is there a reason to stay here?'' "Don''t you want to find out where all this came from?" ''It comes from a city guarded by an undead divine beast that wants nothing more than to kill someone. Do you still want to go?'' "How strong can a divine beast be? Let''s assemble a giant army and storm that city!" "Don''t be a fool, king Durin! In our ancient text divine beasts are described to have a special domain and unlimited magic! They are unrivaled within this world." "Are they truly that bad." ''Not quite but it isn''t far off. Their domain isn''t special but a fused domain with two innate understandings within. This makes them unbeatable unless you have a stronger domain. As for unlimited magic, that''s incorrect. They just have the incredibly pure magic which someone if our level can''t hope to exhaust.'' "That didn''t sound much better..." ''And that is why I will stay the hell away from that place!'' "Indeed a good suggestion. Should you ever find yourself near my palace in Nidavellir, feel free to visit." And with that, my audience with the king came to an end. Now it was time to head to Nidavellir. But wait, wasn''t I forgetting something? I could swear there was someone else I had wanted to tell about the divine beast... Nah, it couldn''t have been that important if I forgot about it. While I had been lost in thought, Night Owl had descended next to me without making a sound. I had made it a habit to keep my magic perception up at all times. Just thinking of having a divine beast sneak up on me unnoticed gave me the creeps. "Are you heading straight to Nidavellir? I''d be happy to accommodate you in Svartalfheim. It''s only a slight detour on the way down to Nidavellir." ''Sure, I accept your invitation.'' Night Owl whistled and only minutes later a giant bird figure approached our current position. As it came closer I could make out more details. It was an enormous owl with feathers darker than the night. The only parts of it that weren''t black were its crimson-colored eyes. ''So that is where your name comes from! Night Owl seems to hit the mark quite well.'' "It''s an ancient tenebrous owl. The last of its kind." ''Can''t beasts of that level produce eggs without a mate? Resources to nurture them shouldn''t be that much of an issue for your entire race.'' "The ancient tenebrous owl is special. Once they fully mature they can immediately match a king magus but the criteria for a tenebrous owl to grow unto an ancient tenebrous owl is that it spends a thousand years in true darkness." ''True darkness... You helped the dwarves in return for the dark origin, didn''t you?'' "It''s the only way to create true darkness for a long enough time. Neither I nor Tenten can keep and area in darkness for that long." ''Tenten?'' The giant owl turned its head to me. Something about the way it had turned its head by 300 degrees to look at me made me feel uncomfortable. Couldn''t it have just turned the other way? ''Tenten is its name?'' "Yes, her name is Tenten. I was very young when we first and tried to say tenebrous. I stuttered and what came out was Tenten. The name just stuck." We got onto Tenten and started flying south. At first, Tenten''s speed seemed somewhat slow but as night fell, her speed increased explosively. I could feel the darkness around us respond and carry us like waves across the night sky. While we were flying in silence, I decided to review my gains. 90 Dark elves and the Nox Aeterna Of the 60 king magi, I had been able to get the innate understanding of about 20 of them. The rest had unfortunately been destroyed by their owners. I wouldn''t finish assimilating these understandings anytime soon but at least I would passively grow stronger. While I had been immersed in my inner world we had arrived above a clearing in the dark forest below. There were only a couple of wooden huts strewn all over the place. This couldn''t be Svartalfheim, couldn''t it? Before I could ask Night Owl what was going on, Tenten swooped down into a rapid dive. With a snap, the ground in the middle of the clearing vanished and revealed a giant hole. Tenten entered the hole and kept diving down into the darkness. We spent a few more seconds flying down the dark shaft before the walls opened up into a giant underground cavern. Tenten spread her wings to catch our fall and began to glide through the cavern. The cavern was dimly lit by glowing crystals that gave of a soft purple glow. Since the lighting wasn''t very good I couldn''t take in the full extent of the cavern. ''How do you guys see in this dimness?'' "Night vision. Dark elf stuff, you know." Right, since they had dark in their name, it would make sense for them to be able to see in the dark. Then we suddenly entered a particular cave. The cave had was protected by a thin membrane made of magic that let no light pass. Despite that, there was no darkness in the cave. Just void and a single flower in the middle of the cave. ''What is this place?'' "We call this place the Noctis chamber. The flower there is Nox Aeterna, a flower that swallows darkness to grow. It has been here, collecting darkness for millennia. Studying the darkness within the Nox Aeterna yields much greater improvements in understanding so we dark elves see it as a sacred and ancient flower." "Don''t listen to that old crook''s lies! I''m not ancient! I am a delicate little flower, the embodiment of youthful cuteness!" A young girl''s angry voice rang out through the room. Based on the content of that sentence, the one talking was the Nox Aeterna. Was she perhaps like me? "What? Who''s talking? And who are you calling an old crook?" "I am talking and you''re the old crook. How dare you make me look old and undesirable before a fellow plant!" ''So you too have attained consciousness.'' "Yes, I am Nox. Welcome my new neighbor!" ''Neighbor? I won''t be staying here.'' "What? No! You can''t leave. She will come for you, she will enslave you, she will keep you as her guardian. Stay here! I''ve blocked her out, this place is safe! Once we grow strong enough we can leave this place for good." I had only just escaped the divine snake with a killing addiction and now I was told by a probably divine flower that going outside was dangerous... ''So, who is that she you keep talking about.'' "Naturally it''s the w- Haaaargh. Nevermind, she still has enough influence over me to stop me from telling you. But that just goes to show how dangerous the outside is!" I had enough of the crazy flower and left while carrying the still stunned Night Owl out with me. Upon leaving the cave I was once again enveloped in darkness lit by dim crystals. "The flower was just talking..." ''You''re friends with a walking, talking tree. Why is a flower different?'' "But you look human and you talk through the mind." "I can talk like this too. I just don''t like doing it." "You can talk?!" ''Yes, now don''t look so astonished. Assuming people can''t do something because they aren''t doing it will get you killed. But let''s not dwell on what happened in there. You said you wanted to create an area of true darkness, can I help?'' "Your assistance would be most appreciated." Getting back onto Tenten we flew through more dimly lit caverns until we reached a giant underground tree. Halfway up the tree was a tree hole that we entered. ''So, is this tree going to start talking too?'' "I should be asking you. I didn''t even know about the Nox Aeterna." We waited for a whole minute but no voice came from the tree. Sufficient to say, it was just an ordinary tree. 91 Elven treasure After being somewhat reassured that we wouldn''t be met with another crazy plant, I took a look around. ''Seems kind of empty here.'' Tenten let out a bone-shaking caw that was answered by an assortment of weaker caws. The gently flapping of wings could be heard and a swarm of miniature Tenten''s entered the tree hole. "They are usually out guarding the caverns or spending time with their tamers. Only Tenten can get them to convene like this. All of them can potentially mature and become an ancient tenebrous owl but only under the right conditions." As he said that, Night Owl walked to the center of the tree hole and took a dark sphere out of his pocket. Tendrils of darkness emerged from the sphere and attracted the gazes of all the owls in the room. ''What will you do now?'' "I''ll use the dark origin to help support my domain. That way I should be able to keep going for a thousand years." ''You intend to spend the next one thousand years in this tree hole? You''ll go insane!'' "A small price to pay if it brings back the ancient tenebrous owls." ''There is another way. With my help and a few of your treasures, I can build a formation that keeps up an area of effect filled with the core element.'' "Why do you need treasures? Are they your payment?" ''No, they will be the pillars of the formation. Without them, such an enormous amount of power couldn''t be contained within the formation lines. As for my reward, since you will be free to move around, I will have an ally on the level of a chosen one.'' "That sounds a little too good to be true." ''But it is true.'' "I''ll bring you to our treasury. I really hope this works." Another five minutes of flying through the dim caverns and we arrived in the treasury of the dark elves. To my great surprise, all the rooms here were well lit, too bright even. ''I thought you dark elves dislike this kind of brightness?'' Looking over to Night Owl I noticed him wearing a black cloth tied over his eyes. Evidently, this was too bright for him. "It''s a defensive measure we adopted after years of experimenting. Enemies who can see in the dark will be extremely weakened in the light and stand no chance against the guards here. Enemies who can see in the light will have an easy time here but when they go back into the caverns they will be wiped out by the guards there." ''What if the enemy can do both or has two teams?'' "No strategy is foolproof or infallible but this path has helped us successfully defend our treasury until this day." After walking through a couple of chambers filled with gold, jewelry, and crystals we arrived in front of another door. It didn''t particularly stand out but gave me a sense of danger. "It''s made from the spine of a giant, ancient tenebrous owl. Should anyone without a contract with an ancient tenebrous owl attempt to open the door, he would be attacked by the owl''s remnant spirit and torn apart." A mental attack from a beast that had lived long enough to grow to the size that a part of its spine could be made into a seamless door. That was one nasty trap. After all, who would expect such a simple door to pack such a punch? Night Owl pushed open the door and I entered behind him. The whole room was ordinary, crudely hewn from the stone, albeit quite large. 81 pedestals filled the room. Each pedestal was made of bone and white as ivory. Atop them were colorful spheres that probably contained the treasures of the dark elves. ''Let me guess, every pedestal is made from another spine and can only be touched by those with a corresponding contract.'' "Indeed. However, as an additional measure of safety, the spheres contain the soul of the contractor of the owl that this bone came from. Only if they think of you as worthy enough will they allow you to take the object inside the sphere." ''What rank were they at?'' "The outer ones, king level, further in chosen ones and all the way in the middle, demigod level." ''Demigods! Are there any gods?'' "No, we aren''t even sure they exist. What reason would a god have to stay here? They are all-powerful being after all." ''They would just be worldly gods, worth nothing in the eyes of those beyond the worlds. But what happened to this world? There are so many vestiges of powerhouses around here but now they all disappeared.'' "We don''t have many documents of that time and most of them say different things happened but all agree that an enemy force invaded the world." ''That sounds rather unsettling... How about we just return to the matter at hand. I''ll need four treasures to keep the formation stable.'' "Four! Isn''t that a little much? You have to know that the ancestors'' souls are a little stingy when it comes to giving treasures away. They prefer to receive rather than give. Preservation and such." I just approached one of the outer pedestals and produced an enlightenment fruit of lightning. ''Wanna trade, four treasures for this fruit sound like a good deal.'' A hissing sound echoed through the room. Dark tendrils emerged from one of the spheres and began to wildly gesticulate in wavy but erratic movements. "They are saying that they will at most exchange for two treasures." ''What if I add in the blueprint for the formation I''m going to lay. The formation can be used for both offense and defense as well so if you built another in here the treasure you have would be much safer.'' More hissing and waving of dark tendrils followed. Multiple spheres seemed to be communicating with each other. The hissing grew louder with every second and was soon joined by guttural growls and caws from the pedestal they sat upon. Then a sharp whistle interrupted the commotion. The whistle had been accompanied by an ice-cold intent that made me shudder. All the waving tendrils vanished. 92 Setting up the formation A smoldering pillar of smoke rose from the innermost pedestal and formed a vague human or I guess elven silhouette. "That''s one of the demigod level ancestors. He accepts your offer on behalf of all dark elves." Four pedestals in front of me lost their ethereal glow and revealed the objects within. Night Owl quickly collected them and I placed the enlightenment fruit and a piece of bark with the formation details engraved on it on two now free pedestals. No sooner had I removed my hand that the spheres around the two objects flickered back into existence. The other two pedestals remained empty, devoid of the glow the others exhibited. As we were walking out of the treasury I used the time to give the objects in Night Owl''s grasp a good look over. Tucked beneath his arm were two wands. Made from ebony wood with some magic gems fitted into deeply carved sockets and ancient-looking runes engraved upon them. I could feel the darkness rippling off of them at a slow and steady pace. With the same arm that he had tucked the wands under he held a book. Calling it a tome would be more accurate because it is massive, thick, and full of magic. Darkness attributed magic I might add. As I looked at the fourth object in Night Owl''s other hand, I got the sneaking suspicion that all or most the treasures in the dark elven treasury were attributed to the element of darkness. This kind of made sense, I mean they are called dark elves and spend the majority of their time in darkness... But some variety would do them good. Not that I was complaining. Four treasures that were perfectly in sync with the darkness would make the creation of this formation much easier. The fourth was a bow. Simple, made from redwood and nourished by someone with an innate understanding of darkness. Not as fancy as the other three but its simplicity held a certain beauty. We successfully left the treasury. I had felt a few unfriendly gazes as we left but Night Owl''s angry growl had made them vanish like air. Tenten was waiting outside and flew us straight back into the nest. Upon arrival, I asked Night Owl to clear the nest until the formation was set up completely. A few bird noises later the tree hole was completely empty and I could begin my work. I began to apply my magic to the ground, setting down the baselines of the formation. Like a painting, the array of circles and connecting lines slowly came together, forming a large outline of the formation. I collected the four magic treasures from Night Owl and placed them in the crucial and somewhat unstable parts of the formation. Now the only thing missing was the core. Without it, the formation wouldn''t have a source of power and be completely useless. I had the dark origin but that wasn''t really going to cut it. For a formation to show its true potential there had to be a sentient component. For the treasury this was easy, it was filled with the souls of those ancestors but here there was no such thing. Now how to get a soul... Safe to say, I had a solution prepared. For a long time, I had been hesitant about a second offspring due to the danger it would face. Now I had found the perfect place to put it. ''System, I want to plant my second sapling right here and combine it with the dark origin.'' \u003cFine... But do it yourself.\u003e Before I could complain, a veritable flood of information was jammed into my unsuspecting mind. There was so much! How to extract my chlorophyllic line, how to compress enough nutrition and magic for the sapling to grow and on and on the flood of knowledge just kept coming. Finally, the flood ebbed and I could focus on digesting what I had received. Sorting through the mess in my mind, a clear picture of how to create a sapling took shape before my inner eye. This was a very complex blueprint that vastly surpassed anything I could create at this point. Truly a marvelous sight to behold. 93 Onwards to meet the dwarves With the blueprint in mind, I followed the steps and created a sapling in the middle of the formation. The sapling immeasurable bonded with the dark origin above it. The dark sphere was swallowed by the sapling and came to rest only a little above the sapling''s base, looking like an ominous eye embedded into the sapling. The formation seemed to come alive with a rumble as a domain-like apparition washed over us and plunged the room into darkness. This was an area filled with true darkness. Even if you lit a candle or a torch in this place the light wouldn''t leave the flame. "It-it worked! With this, we can finally produce a new generation of ancient tenebrous owls. I really owe you a lot, Eldar!" ''And don''t you forget it. If I''m ever in trouble I expect you to come running the second you hear of it.'' "What in this world could hurt you? You said the divine beast was kept stationary by a promise and apart from that there is nothing to fear." ''I don''t really know what I''m so cautious of but since I met that divine beast that guards the Necropolis I just can''t seem to shake off that feeling of impending doom. I can''t quite put my finger on it and yet it keeps hounding me. I just want to be prepared for when it comes.'' "Rest assured, once word reaches me, I will come to your aid." ''I''m glad to hear it! However, now I should really be on my way. I can''t leave the dwarves waiting for too long.'' "Right, right. I''ll ask Tenten to fly you there, she knows the way and can get you past the tedious inspection at the gates." ''Sure, that would be great.'' Not even an hour later, I was sitting on Tenten''s back, flying south. ''I think this way of traveling is starting to grow on.'' A pleased, rumbling sound came from Tenten, reverberating through my body. The only thing I could compare this to was the purring of a cat. An owl purring like a cat, an absurd notion to say the least but that was really how it felt. Despite Tenten''s speed it still took us two days to reach Nidavellir. In the afternoon of the second day, I could already see the outer part of Nidavellir. Being a dwarven city, Nidavellir was of course mainly built underground with only a small extension above ground to regulate visitors. Standing before the gates I could see a long line of people, most likely merchants, who were waiting to be granted entry. If Night Owl''s words held true I would be able to skip that line and enter due to the presence of Tenten. The outer city was built at the foot of what seemed to be a very active volcano. Wasn''t it dangerous to build right next to a mountain that was continuously releasing smoke? And how would you build a city within that menacing mountain? Contrary to my expectations Tenten did not decrease her altitude to enter the outer city but instead ascended even higher while heading straight towards that puffing volcano. I was already thinking of asking Tenten to turn around when she suddenly took a nosedive straight into the fuming volcano. I admit I was initially panicking as we were free-falling into what I presumed to be an active volcano. Tenten, on the other hand, seemed perfectly calm which calmed me down a little. I mean no bird could suicide without showing at least a little emotion. Right... Right? About twenty seconds into our fall Tenten spread her wings and stopped our increasingly rapid descent. In a practiced manner, we glided out of the smoke and I could finally see again. The inside of this mountain was completely hollowed out. The walls formed a conical cave with piping hot magma at the bottom. Above the molten rock was the dwarven city, Nidavellir. It was kept suspended by thousands of metal ropes while pillars provided support from below. The fumes I had thought to come from an active volcano had in fact been released by the plethora of dwarven forges within the city. 94 Nidavellir Circling around the pillar of smoke, Tenten slowly descended and gracefully landed on a landing platform. After I got off and said my thanks for bringing me here the giant owl flew off. Turning in a circle, I took in my surroundings. The landing platform was adjacent to a colossal tower that dwarfed the other dwarven structures. I was so immersed in admiring the size and structure of the tower that I only noticed the guards when they had already surrounded me. A unit of stout-looking and fully armored dwarves were pointing their halberds at me from every direction. "What is your business here, stranger! Only the esteemed leaders of kingdoms are allowed to enter the city through this platform. Just because you have managed to tame a large flying mount doesn''t mean you are one of them! Surrender immediately and you may get to keep your life!" Oh goddesses, what had Night Owl brought me into this time. I thought he meant that I''d be able to skip the line and enter through the civilian way. And yet he sent me straight to the entrance for top-level figures. I really didn''t want to attract much attention but it was too late now. ''The one who brought me here was Tenten, Night Owl''s personal mount. I am Eldar, my kingdom lies within the forest to the west.'' "Lies! You are clearly a human and the lord of that forest is the divine tree, Lord Yggdrasil himself. Trying to cheat your way past us by pretending to be another! We dwarves aren''t as gullible as you think and we will make you remember that. Seize him I say!" That went less than optimal... I''d rather not make a scene by knocking out all the guards but alas, what else could I do. I was about to release my domain and incapacitate the guards without letting them put up any resistance when an easier way out presented itself. Windolf, one of Durin''s generals, came running over. He had clearly recognized me and was rushing over to pacify the guards. After a few minutes of explanations and wild exclamation, my identity was proven and I was allowed to proceed. "Lord Eldar, please forgive us for the inconvenience. We didn''t expect you to enter through the platform of highest honor." ''No offense taken. Believe me, I wasn''t expecting to enter this way either. Night Owl sent me here through Tenten but failed to mention the significance of where he was sending me.'' "That does sound like something lord Night Owl would do. He seems to have a difficult time putting himself into someone else''s shoes. On another note, what do you think of Nidavellir?" ''From what I''ve seen so far it''s an architectural masterpiece. It must have taken your people great effort to build this and I can''t even begin to imagine the resources that must have been necessary!'' "It''s a good thing it was built by our forefathers. I doubt we could afford it at our current stage." ''But aren''t you currently stronger than ever before?'' "According to our records, we have indeed reached as high as never before." ''Then how could your forefathers have had the resources to build all this?'' "Now that you mention it, that''s indeed a little unusual. I''ll have to look into that." He pulled a finger thick notebook and a golden pen out of his robes and wrote something onto a page in the back of the notebook. ''What''s that?'' "My list of priorities. I''ve added it to the other things of moderate severity. I think I''ll get around to it before the year ends." ''You are telling me this whole book is filled with things you need to do? Since how many years have you been using it?'' "A few months? I usually need a new one every few years so it''s hard to keep track." A kingdom''s administrative work is scary. The number of things I''d need to keep in mind... Note to self, never become found a kingdom, it''s too much work. Wait... Damn it, I''ve already got a kingdom and a religion on top of that! Whatever... I''ll just dump the work on V?lsung. 95 Gandalf Windolf quickly led me into the throne room where I met Durin. Not that it was a real meeting or anything, the crowd of ministers in the room made everything so damn formal. I was in and out in twenty minutes. Windolf once again apologized that Durin couldn''t meet me in private but apparently, the undead invasion had made a lot of work pile up. So instead, Windolf tasked a palace attendant with guiding me through the city. He was a young dwarf with tanned skin, wearing a scholar''s robes and a pair of glasses. The first stop we made was Gandalf''s workshop. The giant warehouse-like structure was directly connected to the palace, aka the tower, and was filled with technical-looking stuff. The mechanical spider that had been damaged was lying somewhere in the back with a group of dwarves fussing over it. I could see most of the weapons that had been on the wall that day standing around in the hall. While I was taking in the sight of mechanical genius before me, an explosion rocked the whole workshop. "DAMN IT! Why is inventing a mobile suit so difficult! Give me back my blueprints!" ''I take it that this charming voice belongs to the famed Gandalf?'' "You are correct. Though he is usually not quite as vocal. His newest project seems to be a bit too ambitious and has resulted in a multitude of explosions over the past days. Since then he has been in a foul mood that makes most of us steer clear of the workshop." ''What''s he trying to build?'' "As usual it''s some crazy idea of his. He calls it a mobile suit but it''s basically just a giant moving armor." ''I''ll go take a look.'' When I said that the guide released a loud sigh of relief. Seems he had feared that I would drag him inside along with me. Heading deeper into the workshop, I rounded a few heaps of metal and found this so-called mobile suit. Describing it as a giant armor was really quite fitting. Standing at 50 meters tall, the armor had an opening in the chest area that looked like a seat for the user. "And what are you doing here? I''m trying to work here so get OUT!" ''Quite the temper you''ve got there. I assume you are the one who goes by the name Gandalf?'' "Yes, that''s me. Now that I answered your question, get out. I''m busy!" ''Maybe you should take a break and cool your brain. Technology is based on scientific facts and not emotions.'' That was the catchphrase of the mecha department from my previous life''s school. How mages could waste their powers on inventing moving pieces of metal had always eluded me but the catchphrase got stuck with me. Now that I had seen those spiders in action I finally understood their determination. The catchphrase seemed to have quite an effect on Gandalf. He deflated like a punctured balloon only to burst forth with even more energy than before to chase the other dwarves off, telling them to take a break. ''So, I take it you are not from this world.'' It was funny to watch him immediately become apprehensive at my statement. No one would be comfortable with someone else knowing such a secret. "Wait a minute! You knew about technology... Are you from earth too?" ''Earth? Is that how you call your previous world? I hate to disappoint you but chances for us being from the same world are rather low. I''m from the main realm of the grey empire.'' "Then there really is life beyond our world!" ''You are in another world right now, how can you doubt that? Isn''t the existence of other worlds common knowledge?'' "It isn''t common knowledge where I come from, neither is the existence of magic. All we have is technology and science. But how far ahead is your world if you have both magic and technology?" ''Not so far. While technology exists it''s mostly just used in space or for powerful institutions.'' "Space! You mean like spaceships and laser guns?" ''Oddly specific with the guns but yes I''ve heard of those being used. But before you ask me anything else about this, do know that my knowledge is highly limited.'' "So you can''t help me build my mobile suit?" ''I haven''t the slightest clue how that hunk of metal is supposed to work.'' "Then why are you here again?" ''I figured I''d visit a fellow reincarnator.'' "Well, I''m glad you at least got me to take a break. I can become a little out of control when I''m too focused on my work." I spent the remainder of Gandalf''s break talking to him about various reincarnation things and left after he resumed his work. Outside, I rejoined my guide and we set course for Sindri''s smithy. 96 Sindri and Brook In the eastern district, most buildings here were for smithing or the trade of the things made here. The streets were lined by shops manned by grumpy looking dwarves. Behind the shops, rows of chimneys could be seen as they churned out dark clouds of smoke. The temperature in this district was sweltering. With all those furnaces being lit day and night the eastern district didn''t have liveable conditions and forced the dwarves to build their residences in other districts. With me being a tree and all, being in an environment where they used stone plates to write because the paper could spontaneously catch on fire wasn''t a great experience. Surely my density and magic power could keep me from catching on fire and burning down but I could feel some scorch marks emerge. Not visible to the naked eye, of course, the illusion that made me look human served well to hide them. Silently bearing this wasn''t really my style but complaining wouldn''t change the situation. While most dwarves around seemed to be sweating heavily, the guide before me looked to be completely fine. He couldn''t look this unaffected without reason, could he? ''You don''t seem to be bothered by the temperature in this. Got any tips to share?'' "Hmm? Oh, I''m just using ice magic to chill the air around me. Learning it was a real bother but it really paid off." Ice magic! I was always looking down on the magi of this world and yet I was the one forgetting to use magic in such a critical moment! My density may have saved me from burning but it had also prevented me from thinking of such a simple solution. Quick to fix my initial ignorance I was soon enveloped by a cooling sensation as an invisible formation appeared around me. Coolness is indeed bliss! "We have reached Sindri''s smithy. I fear you must enter on your own, he doesn''t welcome attendants from the palace." ''Why, I had the impression that Durin was adored by all his people?'' "In regards to the common people, your impression is quite accurate but Sindri is a special dwarf. He is revered amongst the dwarves as the best blacksmith and this allows for him to show some pride. Some things happened and Durin reacted in a somewhat clumsy manner and provoked Sindri''s resentment. Since then things have been tense." ''Then I can only hope he doesn''t view me as a guest of the king. Lest I''d be kicked out too.'' Sindri''s shop was the most common type you could find and made me doubt if I was in the right place. "Who are you? Came here with a stinking palace rat and want to enter this place, not so easy pal." ''I''m Eldar, Sindri invited me.'' "My brother invited you? Must be about that damned weapon then. I''m Brook, Sindri''s brother. Follow me..." Brook led me to the backdoor of the shop and into the furnace area. The heat increased, forcing me to put more power into the cooling air around me. Sindri was dripping sweat as he stood before the furnace with a set of tongs. "Damn those gauntlets, why won''t they melt!" ''I see you are still dead set on melting that heavenly steel to improve those gauntlets. Have you followed my advice to find a stronger flame?'' "Eldar! I''ve indeed tried everything I could to strengthen the flames within my forge but to no avail." ''Then the power of the flames must still be lacking. Why don''t you ask Durin to lend you the fire origin in his possession? I''m sure that with your position he wouldn''t refuse you.'' "I''d rather drink a bucket of horse piss than exchanging another word with that puny coward!" ''Let''s not get carried away now. Durin is your king and you shouldn''t talk about him in such a manner. Don''t let Odin''s machinations drive a wedge between you.'' "So he told you about the matter concerning the hammer." ''No, he didn''t. I figured it out myself. After all, few people could afford to meddle with the dwarven kingdom in such a way and get away with it. Let me guess, Durin asked you to make the hammer, saying he would deal with any troubles that arose. When things actually happened, Odin exerted pressure on Durin to ignore everything and that made you mad at him.'' "They ruined my greatest creation and I was denied my vengeance! During should have acted!" ''And now most Aesir are dead while the dwarves are alive. You say your greatest creation was ruined, then demand Durin''s help to create something even greater!'' 97 Reasons to dislike Loki ''I cannot force you to make peace with Durin but I hope you will at least consider it.'' "I... I''ll have to think about it... But for now, allow me to show you how good of a host Sindri the dexterous can be!" I must admit, the dwarves are a merry bunch and they certainly know how to enjoy themselves but there was one minor issue for me. Imagine sitting beside a group of dwarves, intoxicated, ravenously eating dwarves. All the while you are a tree, meaning no amount of ale, mead or any drink will cloud your senses and eating is just a superfluous action of politeness that consists of you stuffing tasteless dishes down your throat. My amusement quickly waned and I excused myself from the few dwarves that were still conscious enough to comprehend what I said. I left the eastern district and toured the city on my own. Dwarven architecture had many advantages but being particularly pleasing to the eye wasn''t one of them. Getting bored of all the similar-looking, boring dwarven buildings, I left Nidavellir. Yes, I left without telling anyone. Durin was probably busy and Sindri needed some time to think about his future. I was going to head back home without bothering them. In a passing conversation, I had asked the guide where the normal entrance to Nidavellir was situated and how people were dealt with. Knowing that I could now easily leave through the normal way. Exiting the outer city, I was walking past the line of people wishing to enter when a familiar voice called out to me. "Lord Eldar! You truly are here. Could I have a moment?" ''Siegfried?'' "Yes, it''s me." ''But it''s been seventy years!'' My outburst was answered by tinkling laughter and I felt like I''d said something stupid. "Lord Eldar, I have become a queen maga and I have a dragon''s bloodline, it would be quite strange if time had as much of an effect on me as it has on those with far less power." True enough, dragons were known to age slowly and live for centuries if not millennia. Measuring her age by human standards wasn''t the greatest idea. ''What brings you to the dwarven capital? Shouldn''t you be handling the aftermath of the undead invasion?'' "That has been mostly dealt with. I''ve come here in search of you. Father and Loki have found something very important and wish for your presence." ''What did they find?'' "They wouldn''t tell me! Loki said you would definitely regret not coming." ''I will regret many things, what''s one more to the pile.'' "He said it concerned the secret of this world..." Ugh. Now I would have to meet him. The secret of this world made me worried and I couldn''t leave this alone. Too many things just didn''t make sense! The jade snake dowager guarding the necropolis, a giant group of King level undead who seem conscious and have memories, the Nox Aeterna''s warnings and the creation of Nidavellir. It all seemed like there was a piece of this world''s history that had just been erased. ''Lead the way. Let''s go meet that prick.'' "You shouldn''t talk badly about Loki. He is such a nice guy, after the war, he really helped deal with everything. Humanity took a large step forward with his help and can now look eye to eye with anyone else." ''Firstly, I''m not a human so humanity''s progress isn''t any of my concern. Secondly, Loki''s concern seems to only apply for humans so since I''m not one of you I can''t expect him to care much for my well being.'' Accompanied by Siegfried I made my way to Midgard hoping to meet Loki there. However, when we arrived only a message was waiting for us. Loki and Sigmund had already left the capital and requested for me to follow him. Our rendezvous would be a military camp at the foot of the southern mountains. ''Since when can the human king enter a military camp within the empire''s territory?'' "Loki''s influence has grown considerably over the years and the empire has been mellowed down." ''The southern mountains are rather far away and we''ll have to travel for a while. Are you prepared for a longer journey?'' "I''ve always dreamt of an adventure! Father always kept me in the capital and told me to practice more but now I''ll travel the world!" ''This journey will be many things but an adventure won''t be one of them.'' 98 Adam Turns out that the military camp mentioned in the letter is one made by humans. Surrounded by a palisade and a shallow most were a bunch of tents of varying sizes and it could be seen that it was a newer camp. Due to Siegfried accompanying me I easily passed the guards at the gate and was escorted to the main tent by some captain. Inside, Loki was furiously writing something down into a book as thick a person''s head. From the looks of it, a quarter had already been filled by with his maniacal scribbling and he didn''t look like he would stop anytime soon. Sigmund was sitting on a small chair in the corner of the tent with a pensive look on his face. ''Loki did you suddenly decide to become a scholar?'' "Not now Eldar, I''m writing down things that are crucial for this world''s survival. This knowledge will prove vital for generations to come!" ''This world''s survival? Are you sure you don''t mean the human''s survival or did you suddenly learn to feel compassion for someone besides the humans?'' "Spare me your sarcasm. I don''t care much for the others but if this event comes to pass it will be all or nothing. Thus, since humanity can''t survive this by themselves, I''ll begrudgingly include the other races." ''And what is this event that scares you so much?'' "An invasion. But don''t take it from me, feel free to inquire about it straight from the source. Sigmund, can you take them to see him?" "..." "Sigmund?" "Ah! Yes Loki, what is it?" "Could you take Eldar and Siegfried into the cave? I''d do it myself but as you see I''m still writing." "Sure... How bad can a second time be..." Upon closer inspection, Sigmund looked like he had seen something horrible. He was pale and his hand trembling as he clenched them into fists. "Follow me." Siegfried was evidently concerned about her father''s state but didn''t dare to ask what was going on. We left the camp and began to ascend the southern mountains, following a barely visible path we reached a cave. Sigmund seemed to hesitate for a moment but ultimately entered with long albeit slightly unsteady strides. We hadn''t even taken ten steps into the cave when that horrible feeling came. Like a bucket of icy water dumped over our heads. Fear, panic and unbridled despair assaulted us as it these emotions coursed through the cave like waves. Looking closely I could see black smoke flowing along the cave walls. If an emotion grew strong enough it could take physical form and if touched by others it could affect them greatly. Based on how negative these emotions were I judged they could force ordinary people to commit suicide just from being close to this smoke. "Can you take it? It gets worse as we go deeper inside." "I-I''m fine." Siegfried''s body ceased to tremble as countless little dragon roars sounded from inside her body. She had already become a queen maga and had eliminated the danger from the dragon soul within her. Now, the dragon soul helped her cope with the pressure by dividing it between the two. ''Let''s get this over with.'' Personally, I was mostly fine. Feeling uncomfortable being here but far from receiving actual harm. After receiving affirmation from both of us Sigmund guided us further in. The cave had many branches but due to the black fumes, the direction we needed to go was always clear. With every step the feelings gained more power and I could tell that we were about to meet the source of all this. We entered a cavern that was open to the sky. A giant opening was cleaved into the stone and the abundance of light allowed me to see clearly. In the middle of the cavern was a black puddle with a man sitting inside. He looked pale and from a wound at his side more of that putrid black liquid dripped down into the puddle. This was liquid despair, a fluid that held an unthinkable amount of negative emotions. And the man sitting there was the source of it all. "Who is it? Have you come to assassinate me?" He spoke quickly, his words were laced with anxiety and fear. A magical tree I awoke from a long sleep I had believed would be eternal. My consciousness was still hazy, wishing to end the darkness that had accompanied me for so long, I tried to open my eyes. Yet to my great astonishment I could not do so, I didn''t even feel my eyelids. Thinking that something must be horribly wrong with my face I intended to raise my hands to touch my face, checking for any abnormalities. Yet again I was unable to move or feel any reaction from my limbs. Desperate to get the slightest reaction from my body I tried to move whatever I could, imagining myself thrashing around. As time passed my mind descended further into chaos. I needed to move! ?Host is advised to calm himself as an unstable mindset may be detrimental to further growth. Host is further advised to stop futile attempts of moving since trees cannot move until further evolution.? Hearing a voice in my head I managed to calm down somewhat. ''Wait, did I already start to hallucinate. What was it again that it said? I''m a tree, what a joke.'' ?Host is by no means hallucinating. Host is also advised to stop indulging in delusions and accept reality.? ''Fine, what should I do instead of not accepting reality?'' ?Host is suggested to start absorbing magic from surrounding to become a magical tree, completing first step in hosts path of evolution.? ''Now that I think about it, dear voice in my head, who are you?'' ?Responding to hosts question, the voice heard originates from the Yggdrasil growth system. It will assist you in your quest to become a legendary tree.? ''Yggdrasil... I see... my quest?'' Having enough of all this mind-boggling talk, I turned my mind toward this magic absorption. I had never done this before, but I felt the knowledge of the whole process in me. Following my natural instincts or whatever this is, I began trying to feel the magic flowing through me. At first, I felt nothing, zero flow and no magic whatsoever. But after dozens of days, I could vaguely feel my leaves making photosynthesis in a specific rhythm, there was a strange feeling in me. It was faint, barely traceable but it gave me the motivation to keep concentrating. The feeling that had initially been faint and distant was growing with every passing day. I could feel the magic gushing through my body reaching from every root to every leaf. Searching for that same feeling outside of my body I was quick to find it. I felt currents of magic swish passed, being what I could only consider as wind. And there a little below was a different type of magic it felt more solid and had small things atop it with magic similar to my own, probably being grass. I spent days on end refining this sense until I could ''see'' the outlines of all things within 2 meters, being able to differentiate between each blade of grass around me. ?Host has acquired [magic perception]. Host can now see surrounding through magic and grasp its concentration and type.? Next, I tried pulling some of the magic outside from the air into my body. I might have been a little overexcited for doing this, as I locked on to the magic around me and just pulled. Turns out trees are supposed to gather magic slowly, accumulating it and building a core. I, in my excitement, pulled in a vast amount. I felt like I''d explode from all the energy inside me. The bark on my trunk started breaking up and the wood below was creaking loudly. ?Host has an oversaturation of magic. Host is asked to hurry and form core from excess magic.? Following the instructions in my mind, I tried to gather all the magic in my trunk slightly below the treetop, compressing it into a condensed core. By the time I had succeeded my bark looked like a multitude of lightning strikes had ravaged all over it. ?Congratulations, host has acquired [magic manipulation], host has successfully condensed [magic core], host is now evolving to entity [magical tree].? I felt magic rush into my body from the outside, converging towards my magic core, my bark, which I had been worrying how to repair was made anew, my leafs shone with a jade luster and my density increased quite a lot. ?Host is indeed very dense.? ''How about you stop making puns no one will laugh about and explain what all this magical tree stuff means.'' ?Host has evolved into a magical tree. Host is now able to analyze magic structure of objects and replicating them.? ''Meaning?'' ?Host can absorb a fruit, analyze it and grow it himself. Once host advances in growth of core and soul, more things can possibly be reproduced. For example minerals, animals or souls.? ''Can I move now?'' ?Hosts soul is not yet strong enough to manipulate body into movement. Host is advised to stop asking useless questions and keep growing.? So I refocused on my surroundings, slowly guiding the magic from outside into my core and from there spreading it to the rest of my body to support its growth. Slow and steady, drawing magic in and distributing it evenly, again and again, and again. I became accustomed to the feeling of just growing and being. My leaves swayed in the wind, my trunk stood there in its barky splendor and my roots burrowed deep into the ground. And all was good. ?Host has successfully entered special state [Heart of tree], from now on host has a stronger connection to all plants in close proximity to him.? Great at least something good came out after all this time. ?Host can now grow subordinate trees and use magic manipulation to slightly move them.? ''Why didn''t you say so sooner!'' Barely keeping my excitement under wraps I tried beginning to grow another tree. But to my great sorrow, I found myself unable to, as I didn''t know how. Tree circles ''System, how do I create subordinates, tell me now!'' ?Host Must simply form a new magic core outside the main body. This core will then act as a sapling for the tree to grow. Due to being the creator of the core, host will be already connected to newly growing tree, enabling him to directly channel magic into it.? After having learned the process I began to let the magic around me slowly converge into three spots. Unlike last time I didn''t instantly form the cores but took it slowly. But since I''m not a patient person, I made three at once, hoping to raise my efficiency. Once they were done, I commanded them in my mind to move to their respective places. There they burrowed into the soil, starting to grow, forming a triangle around me. Once I was done a very irritating thought entered my mind. ''System, how long will they take to grow into controllable trees?'' ?Host must wait for approximately 3 years to begin controlling recently planted trees.? ''3 years that''s way too long!'' ?Host should remember that growing takes time and shouldn''t be rushed.? I couldn''t deny that the system had a point. So I went back to growing and swaying my leaves in the wind. A whole year passed and I was bored. I had only passed a third of the necessary time and I already had nothing to do. I didn''t even need to concentrate on absorbing magic to grow anymore, it had become second nature, in fact, it was somewhat comparable to breathing. Yet just before I could lose my sanity to endless boredom a system prompt sounded. \u003cCongratulations to host for attaining 5 years of age. Your soul has reached the required strength for basic magic use. Suggested affinities are Nature, Healing. Host is requested to chose one and start training.\u003e A new dilemma had arisen. How was I gone chose? There are so many options! \u003cHost is advised to stop pretending for self-entertainment and make a choice, as there are only two options.\u003e ''Way to ruin the mood you useless-'' \u003cBeginning summoning procedures of entity [divine lumberjack]. Prepare to be cut down!\u003e ''Hold it, system. You''re the best system in the world and I''m so sorry for having called you useless. So abandon summoning right now, I don''t wanna die!'' \u003cApology accepted, abandon summoning.\u003e ''That was way too close for comfort.'' I mentally wiped the nonexistent sweat of my nonexistent face. I seemed to have escaped disaster by only the slightest margin. But the choice was still to be made nature or healing. ''System, how fast can I heal myself with healing magic?'' \u003cHost is a magical tree, healing magic has no effect. Simply guiding magic to the damaged parts will allow restoration.\u003e ''If healing magic is useless to me and there is no one else around why would you suggest it!'' \u003cSystem is made to present all viable options of development to host. Host is furthermore advised to be careful of his next choice of words.\u003e ''You want to chop me again, don''t you! I''ll scream for help.'' \u003cHost doesn''t have a mouth. System also suspects that host is having too much fun with this conversation and advises to get serious. \u003e ''Fine. I''ll train nature magic.'' \u003cSystem commends host on fabulous choice. Commencing run-down of [nature magic]. Nature magic is a subclass of life magic that is used to advance the growth of plant life and manipulate it. Host should have no trouble using it as growing is already part of host''s nature.\u003e ''Wait, can I speed up the growth of my subordinates with this.'' \u003cWhile host is not incorrect, current proficiency with nature magic is far too low. Host is suggested to grow ordinary trees with connection to host''s roots to enable easy control.\u003e ''And why did I go through the process of making subordinate trees if I can simply grow trees that I can move now?'' \u003cHost might not know this but subordinate trees can be of great help during the process of magic absorption.\u003e ''Well, time to work then.'' Since I would probably need more subordinate trees in the future I made another three magic cores, placing them in a reverse triangle around me. The six buried cores now formed a hexagon or a simple circle with myself being the center. I could now start to take care of the outer circles. I concentrated on my roots, letting some smaller roots separate from the main roots and grow quickly towards the surface. Once they broke through the ground I made all of them grow a trunk and branches with leaves on them. I had grown 8 trees at once, forming a second, wider circle around me. And behold the trees could move! Well more like slowly shifting their branches. This was evidently not what I had in mind when I asked to be able to move. But I did find out that I could shoot around leaves, which would be useful if they weren''t soft and light. So yeah, subordinate trees check, ordinary but connected trees check, and back to growing in boredom. Wait, something over there, in the bushes moved. ''What could it be?'' \u003cHost is advised to not keep himself in suspense any longer and just expand magic perception.\u003e And so I did. The discovery was... a squirrel with an acorn. ''System, you said I could absorb a fruit, does an acorn count too?'' \u003cHost is indeed correct, an acorn can be used to begin next evolution.\u003e Thus I set out to kill the squirrel and get the acorn. And I failed, tragically. I couldn''t even touch the little critter. The branches couldn''t reach it, the leaves couldn''t hurt it and the evil eye I gave it went unnoticed. The only good thing was that my boredom was somewhat relieved as the little runt came by every day, twice! Once in the morning, empty-handed and once in the evening with another acorn. Or at least that''s what I judged the time to be. Anyway, the daily target practice of shooting a running squirrel with leaves was interesting and even got me a skill. [leaf turrets] allowed me to fire leaves in quick succession and near instantaneously regrow them. Memories and double evolution The situation with the squirrel had been going on for a few days now and zero progress was achieved. And finally, the system couldn''t take it anymore. \u003cInnability of host detected, squirrel isn''t probable to be killed. Inhibition of evolution must be purged. Accessing locked data to initiate forced memory reupload to increase probability of successful kill. Commencing upload now. Host is asked to prepare for impact.\u003e ''Wait, what impact, what memory, and what does upload mean-Ahhhhh-it hurts-ahhh-make it stopppp-i''m gonna die!'' After 6 hours of me continuously, mentally screaming, the pain finally eased. What didn''t ease though, was my confusion. My head or more specifically my mind, as I don''t have a head, was filled with tons of memories. Okay, that''s a lie because if they were this heavy I would physically break under the pressure and so far I''m only breaking mentally. It took me two more days to order everything that had been forcefully crammed into my head. As to what it is, memories. Memories of my past life. ''I have lived in this world for so long and now you make me remember all this, why?'' \u003cSystem believes that by remembering his past life host''s chances of acquiring acorn will be increased dramatically.\u003e ''Is that all!? You know what, fine. I don''t even care anymore, let''s get this acorn.'' In my previous life, I had been a peak high mage that was stuck at his rank due to insufficient potential. Died of old age and a long life after 1300 something years. I seemed to be in luck as the squirrel just jumped out of the bushes taking its usual way to bring home its acorn. Usually, I would start firing leaves right about now but I wasn''t the same as before. I quickly gathered some magic in a leaf, forming a peculiar looking symbol and firing the leaf. The leaf flew with terrifying aim and pierced straight through the squirrel''s head. The deed was done, the fiend dead and the acorn dropped. Next, utilizing large amounts of time and willpower I moved both squirrel and acorn to my tree body with a vine I grew with nature magic. Upon contact, both objects dissolved into shining particles and entered my body. And boy the system didn''t let me wait even a second before immediately giving a prompt. \u003cCongratulations to host for acquisition of acorn and squirrel, evolution will now begin. Running necessary procedures, analyzing magic structure of acorn, rebuilding complete.\u003e ''And now?'' \u003cHost is now able to grow acorns.\u003e The system was right, I felt the knowledge to do so in my mind. So I formed some magic power in my branches and willed that acorn to grow. Not long after an acorn was formed on one of my branches. I was prepared to spend the next few days growing more but the system would have none of that. \u003cPromotion to [magical acorn tree] successful, condition for next evolution reached. Please name your favorite fruit.\u003e ''Apple'' I answered without thinking. The question was suspect, no questions asked but it was a natural reflex to just answer. And with me having just regained my memories, everything was still fresh and present. The second I registered that I might have answered a bit too hastily I felt a short pang of pain in my mind. I discovered the sudden existence of a new magic structure next to the acorn, presumably from an apple. The acorn I had previously grown had also turned into a shiny red apple. \u003cCongratulations to host, evolution to [magical fruit-bearing tree] successful.\u003e ''System, explain in great detail what happened today, please.'' \u003cExactly 86400 seconds ago host was using [magic respiratory system] of [main body] and [circumferential subordinate applications of natural magic attractors] to accelerate [convergent magic flow] to [main body] and-\u003e ''Stop! Use English for god''s sake, not half latinized nonsense and stick to important stuff.'' \u003cHost received past memory data, acquired squirrel and acorn, evolved, met criteria for second evolution and evolved again.\u003e ''What was the condition for the second evolution?'' \u003cEvolution condition was to evolve to [magical acorn tree]\u003e ''Why would there even be such an evolution if it could only last a few seconds?'' \u003cHost is advised not to question mother nature or he may receive divine retribution.\u003e ''Nice going there system, perfect excuse complemented by a following threat.'' So I chose to go after this highly dubious happening no more and grow some apples. It took me a while to get the hang of it but I could eventually grow apples without expending too much effort. Another half year had passed and I had grown to a height of 15 meters. The lowest two meters were only bark but above that branches started to extend, decorated in lush leaves. Countless red apples were scattered over my tree crown, sparkling in the morning sun like gems. At least that''s how I imagined them to look. Magic perception might have its perks but seeing things like reflections and shines wasn''t among them. A nice evening was just coming to a close and darkness started to devour the world when a bang echoed over the forest. A storm was fast approaching it seemed. I didn''t think anything of it, it wasn''t the first storm that I had witnessed and surely wouldn''t be the last. Admittedly, I had been pretty freaked out the first time as I could only perceive the influx in thunder energy and the sonic waves. Thinking this storm would be like any other I settled down waiting to enjoy the feeling of rain and the cool winds. Yet the expected rain didn''t come. Only the amount of thunder energy in the surrounding air wouldn''t stop rising. And suddenly I felt pain, not physical pain, more like I was losing something important. \u003c[Grand thunderstorm] detected. Immediate danger to host minimal. Danger of forest fire detected to be very likely.\u003e ''How are you so calm. Won''t a forest fire be bad?'' \u003cHost is indeed correct. Forest fire would destroy natural balance of elements, largely inhibiting host future growth.\u003e Trial by thunder ''If this thunderstorm is a problem shouldn''t you do something?'' \u003cProcessing...\u003e The light began to fade away as the sky was covered in gray storm clouds. Not that I could truly see it, I merely noted the absence of light and the eerie feeling. ''System?'' \u003cProcessing...\u003e ''What do you mean processing, is there something wrong with you?'' \u003cViable solution found. Host must divert 40 percent of all lightning strikes to himself. Damage to host should be sustainable.\u003e ''So essentially I''ll face the brunt of it to save the forest. Let''s get it over with then. Tell me what to do.'' \u003cHost must simply focus on pulling thunder energy toward him, attracting all the lighting until danger of a forest fire has passed.\u003e So I gathered all the thunder energy I could get and proceeded to wait. The first lightning bolt came not too long after but couldn''t even penetrate through all my branches. Only the outer ones were scorched. ''Wait. My apples! My apples are being destroyed, the fruits of my labor!'' Now lighting bolts were coming down one after another, thunder crackled in the air and a gale force wind was blasting through the forest. I wanted to disperse the thunder energy to maybe save a few apples but noticed it was already too late. All my apples were ash now. And as though it was mocking me the system prompt could be heard at once. \u003c40 percent of the thunderstorm has been neutralized. Gathered thunder energy can now be released.\u003e ''Like hell, all my sweat, and tears of half a year''s effort was just reduced to ashes. I will take on every last bolt of lightning this storm has. Come at me with everything you have.'' Fueled by my anger I kept a firm hold on the thunder energy and stood my ground. Not like I could actually run away. Thus, the lightning bolts kept crashing down on me in quick succession. My branches were continuously being thinned out. Soon the first strike reached the top of my trunk. With an audible snap, a piece of wood was sent flying, deep scorch marks in it. The storm didn''t let up, as my body began shrinking from all the wood that was blasted off. I felt pain, physically this time but different from what I was used to. In my last life pain had felt sharp like a needle. Now it felt more like a dull ache. Could I not perceive the bolts of lighting ravaging my half scorched body I''d think I had fallen down and hit the ground. And so the night passed and in the morning the whole forest was as pristine as ever, with the exception of one nearly burnt down tree. And this tree, unexpectedly, was me. The storm had calmed and was now only a light drizzle coming from up above. \u003cCongratulation to host for surviving self-imposed [thunder trial], host has earned title [guardian of nature] for not letting a single tree be harmed under your watch. The forest is now even more connected to you and nature will submit to your will.\u003e ''Yes, yes whatever you say.'' At the time I had other more pressing issues to deal with. Like repairing my body and growing all my apples anew. The former was quickly done by just channeling magic to the damaged parts, so basically everywhere and seeing it quickly regenerated. But regrowing my apples would require time, which I without any doubt had. Since I had mastered the process of growing an apple, it took little to no concentration and I could set my mind on other things. The most pressing issue at the moment was the memory flood I had yet to digest. Because while the information was all present, it felt more like a dream that I could perfectly recall. The main point here was that I had to actively recall them which would take way to much time in a situation where I needed it. So I would have to go through each bit of memory and completely assimilate it. And that''s what I did. First and foremost I reviewed the general happenings during my life, I would go into details later. The earliest memories were rather foggy, glimpses of a ruined childhood, horrible upbringing and all that you wouldn''t want to experience. I was kind of disappointed that there was no sad music playing along while I went through this bloody tragedy. Then at the age of nine a ray of hope. It had come in the form of an old lady that had been hailed as a saint in her youth. She had taken pity on me and, due to my talent for magic, given me a place to stay and learn magic. Once I had reached adulthood I left. Making my way to the capital I began to study at an academy for magic. Dreadfully overpriced and not really worth the money it cost. I left after one year. That was when my first experiments started, the only way of advancing further in both power and knowledge. Often dangerous and filled with risks, these experiments brought great benefits and I broke through to the rank of high mage at an unprecedented age. I left to travel the world. Decades past and I reached the pinnacle of all high mages, being on the verge of stepping into the domain of archmages. And then I found out. The experiments I had made and used to gain growth in power had been burning my potential and would make it impossible to reach any higher rank. Now if any of you made some rough calculations you probably figured out that this only covers at most a hundred years. As for the rest of my 1200 years of life. All spent researching various fields of magic. Fields I would all be going through or maybe I''d just drop out halfway, sounds more like me. Thus I now began assimilating a more complex topic. Runes. The thing I had already, albeit in a very crude way, used to kill the squirrel. Magic Runes A large part, 800 years to name a number, of my previous life, had been spent researching and experimenting with runes. Runes were, rudimentary speaking a symbol that, in exchange for reducing the efficiency and casting speed, allowed a mage to circumvent elemental affinity. As a nifty bonus, it also allowed imbuing objects with long-lasting magic effects. Now, these symbols made up a language of their own, including varied stages of complexity. Generally speaking, the more complex ones were, of course, superior in every way, regarding performance, but even the smallest deviations could lead to disaster. Not wishing to end my blooming existence, I decided to stick with the simplest of the simple for now. The hardening rune that had already allowed me to kill the squirrel. It was a simple rune that essentially hardened the object it was applied to. Since I had nothing better to do and needed practice anyway I inscribed every tree I could control with my nature magic. The difference between now and last time though was that I wanted the rune to be permanent or as close as I could get. So a rushed job like before wouldn''t do. I elaborately formed every single detail of every rune with my mind, letting it sink into the leaf one after another. After the completion of the first tree, there was a pleasant surprise waiting for me. \u003cCongratulations to host for acquiring the skill [magic runes].\u003e And there the system went again, giving names to things and categorizing everything. I, on the other hand, continued giving each and every one of my trees an arsenal of leaf blades that I could fire at my discretion. And after that came the bark, the wood, and even the vines and roots weren''t spared. It took me a whole year to completely perfect my new line of defense. I had now gained enough practice to try a more advanced rune. One that I had my eye on for quite a while now. The spy rune used to record content and show the user. Its primary use in human society was, as the name suggested, to spy on other people without actually being there. One of its perks was that it could directly transfer image data to the mind upon contact. Now, who do I need to spy on? No one of course. I was most interested in the image data transfer. If I set this rune upon myself and had it transfer the visual feed instantaneously I could potentially see! I mean there''s nothing wrong with magic perception or anything like that but I still preferred seeing things the way I was to and not in all kinds of weird swirls and elements. The rune took me a while to complete as its complexity was clearly superior to the others but it was all worth it. I could see! The trees and grass gently swaying in the midsummer breeze, I should probably mention that I have yet to experience any sort of winter like season, the sun shining brightly in the sky above and a few other squirrels running around in the distance. I could even spot an occasional bird flying by. Yet most interesting things weren''t in my vision and since I couldn''t turn my head, I created some more spy runes to get a complete 360-degree field of vision. I could now tell that I stood at the back of a relatively big clearing if you ignored the trees I had grown. The clearing seemed unnatural, artificial even, and on the other end of it, directly opposite of me, I could vaguely make out an open path leading somewhere into the distance. Apart from me and my creations, there was also another tree in the clearing, it was a giant acorn tree, presumably the source of food for the squirrels in the area. This tree stood tall above all other trees even including myself and I''d wager even three grown men couldn''t span around the whole tree if the hugged it. Its leafs had a dark green hue that made its crown stand out from the others and I felt a slight magic presence from it. ''System, why is this tree different from the others?'' \u003cTree in question is naturally absorbing surrounding magic and will soon become a magical acorn tree similar to host in the past.\u003e ''So it''s a magical tree?'' \u003cScanning... Negative. Tree in question has already grown acorn due to its inheritance and is able to skip this step of evolution.\u003e ''Will I be able to talk to it once it evolves?'' \u003cHost is mistaken usually trees only attain consciousness after reaching an incredibly high stage of evolution. Host possesses the Heir of Yggdrasil system and was reincarnated, so it was possible to have consciousness earlier. This is also the reason for the exponential growth speed that host has been experiencing.\u003e ''What do you mean by exponential speed of growth it''s taking me years to get anywhere.'' \u003cHost might not know this but the acorn tree mentioned before has been growing for multiple centuries and despite its inheritance, it still hasn''t reached as far as host has in six years. To reach host''s current stage of evolution an ordinary tree is judged to need many millennia''s.\u003e ''Millennia such a long time! I feel quite fortunate that I don''t have to spend so much time doing nothing.'' Having learned of the exceptionality of my existence I couldn''t help but feel uneasy, there were bound to be people in this world that would want to use me for their gains. Despite these bad premonition, I had continued living my calm life and concentrated on growing. But then one sunny day there was a great commotion going through the forest. Birds flew away in panic, rushing through the sky into all directions, the squirrels retreated into their tree holes and an unnatural stillness descended upon the forest. Then, at the entrance of the clearing they appeared, humans. The humans They entered the clearing with great caution, searching for anything that could bring them harm. Finding nothing of the sort they began to spread out and check in greater detail. They were all male, young men who were full of vigor, scouts presumably. After they had turned every stone twice and made sure it was safe, one of them left through the way they had come. The others, to my great shock, were all heading straight to me. As they entered the first of my tree circles I could see why too. Through my magic perception, I could see clearly that they hadn''t eaten in a while. They were after my apples! The soon reached the place where I was rooted but from there they couldn''t reach my apples. So they started to climb up on me! The cheek! Naturally, I couldn''t permit climbing on my magnificent body. ''System, how do I get those little pests of my body?'' \u003cSystem suggests sending a pulse of magic from your magic core. The effect should blow away any object not connected with the host''s magic.\u003e ''Simple and effective, I like it.'' Soon after an undulating of magic power spread from my core, catapulting the climbers a good distance away. They were terrified, trembling like leaves in the breeze they put some distance between us. ?Spirit tree, great ancestors we found a spirit tree." ''Spirit tree, what''s that?'' \u003cSystem assumes that spirit tree is another name used by the people instead of magical tree that has obtained consciousness.\u003e So they thought I was one of those incredibly highly evolved trees that had obtained consciousness after countless millennia. That explained why they were now scared to come closer. I kind of liked the feeling of being looked at with great reverence. But now that they had discovered me they didn''t stay long, they all left together in the direction the came from. My best guess was that they would now contact their leader or elder and tell him or her about me. And my guess wasn''t far from the truth. A day later a bigger group arrived. They had two wooden carts pulled by a bunch of oxen, laden with bags but mostly carried their belongings on their backs. From the leading wooden cart, an elder descended and, after having confirmed that I was, in fact, the tree the scouts had mentioned, approached me. I mean it would have been pretty embarrassing if he mistook me for another tree. And as the elder came closer, I could tell he was no ordinary human. He was a mage. Albeit a strange one, it seemed to me. His magic flow was all disoriented and if not for its vastness compared to others I might have mistaken him for an ordinary human. The mages I was familiar with in my past world would all, without exception, have a clear flow of magic in their body, yet this man just had too much to not be a mage. Stopping all this fruitless guesswork I decided to just wait and see what this elder would do. ?Greetings great spirit tree. I am Narvi, an early stage knight magus and elder of the... elder of this group of people. I apologize for some of our boys trying to climb you and wish to thank you for being lenient with them. But you must understand great tree spirit, we have all lost our homes and food is sparse out here. And you have so many wonderful apples yet you can''t eat them, couldn''t you give us some?" The crafty old fox was trying to swindle me out of my apples! I mean he was right, I didn''t need them... but that was no reason to give them away. Also, it wasn''t like I could actually answer him. But the important crux was now solved, it would seem there was a wholly different system of magic out there. This guy had said he was a knight magus? The old conundrum had been solved but a new one had arisen. How strong was this knight magus thing? I didn''t get to dwell on this matter for long though as a young woman pushed through the crowd and walked up to the elder. She too had a stronger magic power inside her albeit weaker than the old man''s. She turned to address the elder. ?Grandfather, please let me take care of this matter. I''ll be sure to get us a good deal." While the elder was still thinking about it I took a closer look at the girl. She had red hair, reminding me of the feathers of a phoenix, her slender body was hidden beneath a light blue dress that had definitely seen better days and her deep, hazel eyes gave her an air of maturity. The elder, having decided to leave things to his granddaughter, nodded and stepped back. The girl, now standing before me alone, gave an elegant bow while slightly lifting the sides of her dress and began her introduction. ?Greetings, I am Nerida, an intermediate stage maga. Since you don''t seem to have the ability to speak let''s establish a code shall we. Drop one apple for yes and two for no. Do you understand?" What a crafty little brat, she took after her grandfather. If I had hands I would have even applauded her for this genius proposal. Doing this she would receive some apples no matter the outcome and even set a deterrent against me saying no. Now not answering would make me look like I was scared so had to answer. One apple dropped to the ground and Nerida hurried to grab it. ?Good, now that we have a basic understanding we can continue. As mentioned before, we have a serious lack of food at the moment so would you be willing to give us your apples? Two apples dropped near instantaneously. As she caught the apples her previously perfect smile became slightly stiff and she started biting her lower lip. While she had expected a no she hadn''t thought it would come this quickly without even a second thought. She unconsciously pulled at her dress, exposing a slight bit of her cleavage. To bad that for this distance I relied mostly on my magic perception which made me see things in a totally different way, so my mind remained undisturbed. Mostly undisturbed. Cutting a deal ?Great tree spirit, how can you be this cold and uncaring? I and my people just lost our village and had to flee to this far away place, hoping to find a new place to live. We have been traveling for so long. I don''t even remember when I last slept with a full stomach." She looked towards me hoping for some apples to fall or any sign of goodwill but alas she was disappointed. ?Fine then, how about we give you something in return." No apples fell. I wouldn''t waste apples on such a vague deal. ?Not gonna make this easy are you. How about we make you our village deity. You get prayers and we get apples, once we see better times we might even make some animal sacrifices?" ''What the hell does she mean I''ll get prayers, I can''t eat prayers, can I?'' \u003cHost is indeed correct, prayers can''t be eaten, but they are beneficial to host''s growth and a great number will be needed for later evolution. Also, blood from sacrificed animals would also be beneficial to growth and the corps could be absorbed for magic structure. The system suggests taking the deal.\u003e Nerida was still watching me with anticipation and for the life of me, I couldn''t help but want to tease her. Two apples dropped, Nerida seemed close to tears until another dropped. Her consternation what three apples meant soon turned into joy as all the other apples dropped, except for a few pretty ones I kept. All in all, there were roughly two hundred apples lying on the ground now. The crowd stared from beyond the first circle with great hunger but didn''t make to grab them. Apparently, only magi were allowed to step close to a spirit tree. Soon though Narvi the elder and a dozen young men and women entered into the circle. Each and every one of them greeted me and introduced themselves. They were all apprentice magi and honestly they were so weak I could hardly tell them apart from ordinary humans. There were around 150 people so I thought everyone would get at least one apple and the 50 that were left would be split according to priority. But so wrong I was. The magi and scouts joined by the few warriors, numbering 30 altogether each took 3 apples! The remaining 110 were then given one to each of the 100 adults and a half each to the 20 or so children. My Goddesses, what hadn''t these people understood about taking care of children. Honestly, at that point, I was so close to just firing some leaf blades to thin out those warriors and magi. But seeing Nerida changed my mind, she had only taken one apple, no more. After having wolfed down all my wonderful apples they dispersed and began building a camp. Is what I want to say but that would be a lie. They had erected one shabby tent and made a few fireplaces with furs on the ground to sleep on. After those preparations were done, they came together again before me, right outside the tree circles. Narvi once again entered and came before me. They kneeled in unison and Narvi began a prayer. ?O great spirit tree, we kneel here before you. You gave us life at our darkest moment and we are thankful." At that moment I felt it. An invisible power converging towards me. A power so pure, so light it felt like entering a hot bath. Ensconced in this divine warmth I felt like I could do anything. My magic control was also increasing without me doing anything. \u003cTitle, [One who receives prayers] obtained. Host''s connection to his devotees increased.\u003e That sounded fabulous. Found a way to speed up growth and obtained a new title. I felt like I should give those people a little something in return. A sign of sorts. I formed a simple light rune on my leaves, letting them glow with shiny resplendence. The crowd gasped in shock and prayed even harder. Sadly, they stopped after half an hour and dispersed once again. Night slowly crept up and swallowed the sun, only leaving a lingering afterglow. The humans went to sleep and again the desire for murder came up in me. Everyone gathered around the fireplaces, every adult had their own fur to sleep on and children would sleep with their parents. But more than half of them didn''t seem to have parents here. And what happened to them? They were just left to sleep in the cold! I mean yes Nerida was there and tried to keep them warm but frankly, she was just one more human freezing in the cold night. ''Children, come to the base of the tree.'' I attempted to project my mental voice to the group of children. Nothing happened and I assumed I''d failed but while I was searching for other methods of establishing contact without alarming the undeserving adults, a little girl came toddling over. She had soft golden hair, though darkened by dirt and a cute little face, filled with an innocence that could only be found in a child. Following closely after her was Nerida who had noticed the little one leave and tried to stop her. Of course, she couldn''t reach her in time to stop her from entering the outermost circle. At this point, and I really do mean it, I''d like to mention that I haven''t made any threats or promises of potentially fatal consequences upon entering the circles without being a magi. But it seemed there were some awful rumors around. The very second the little lass passed into the range of my magic perception and was thus inside the outermost tree circle, Nerida jumped forward with inhuman speed pushed the little one down and threw herself over her in a protective manner. Nothing happened. Nerida got up and looked around cautiously like she feared something might still happen. ''I mean what did you expect to happen? That I''d try to kill an innocent child just for getting close?'' ?You can speak?" First communication She could hear me, couldn''t she? Nerida just reacted to what I had mentally said! ''You can understand me? Well, I guess hear would be more appropriate to say. On another note, in what language do you perceive my thoughts or are you only conveyed their meaning on a plane that surpasses words. Also, can you hear the system and why could you only hear me once you entered the circle yet the little lass could evidently hear me even outside?'' ?Stop talking so much, I can''t understand half of what you said!" Nerida, visibly bewildered by the overwhelming amount of words spoken by the tree she had thought of no more intelligent than some newborn child, which, to be fair, most spirit trees were. The system, on the other hand, answered with its usual calm attitude, caring naught about the bewildering circumstances nor the flood of words. \u003cThrough the title [One who receives prayers], host is indeed capable of communication with individuals in close proximity, by a means comparable to telepathy, meaning receivers perceive the thing thought by host as words. Furthermore, the system can only be heard by host and no one else. As for the human child, the system believes her to have a high affinity with nature, through which it could amplify its perception.\u003e ''Is that so, anyway, it matters not. Nerida, get all the children to my base. And if possible without waking the ones at the fires.'' Nerida, though still bewildered, did as I asked and soon all the children were assembled. ?Why did you have me bring them here? This place is as good as any other." ''Patience Nerida, patience.'' It took me a while, as I was slightly rusty but soon a couple of heat runes were giving off a comfortable warmth that permeated everything around my base. The children, awoken from their frosty slumber quickly settled down and sank back into dreamland. The only to souls not sleeping now were me and Nerida. ?Why do this? Why care? I can see nothing for you to gain in return." ''If your plan is for 1 year, plant rice. If your plan is for 10 years, plant trees. If your plan is for 100 years, educate children. It is a saying I heard a long time ago, the author was... Guan Zhong if I remember correctly. And in my opinion, letting half the children freeze in the cold night does not count as education but more as predestination for a bad character.'' Nerida seemed to be thinking about it but soon fell victim to the comfortable warmth and her own fatigue. The rest of the night passed without any uncommon occurrences and soon dawn announced itself with the first few rays of light, shining over the forest, awakening all life in its wake. So too did the camp begin to get lively and the adults began to roam around. It didn''t take them long to notice the absence of the children from the place they had been abandoned yesterday nor where they were now lying below me. Soon one of them ran to the tent of the magi and informed them. Big surprise those pricks didn''t agree with someone else entering their sacred tree''s vicinity and one of them came stomping over. At this point, Nerida had already begun walking towards him casually addressing me. ?I''ll take care of this one, no troubles." They met at the border of my second tree circle. ?Eric, please calm down. It''s not what it looks like and there''s a reason for this-" She didn''t get to say the rest as she had intended because at that moment a palm connected to her left cheek and slapped her out of the way. Now do remember that Eric, the prick that just hit Nerida, is an apprentice magus while she is a maga which is clearly above the former. Out of that, one can see how unforeseen this was. Having cleared the way in such an unsightly manner, Eric, who''s soon gonna die if he keeps this up, kept walking towards the children while snarling like an animal. ?You brats better be ready for-" A few leaf blades flew by, giving him a new haircut. He froze. All leaves around him had turned, pointing directly at him, showing a slight glint in the morning sun. ''One step further, I''ll cut you, one more word, I''ll dissect you. Leave now or face the consequences.'' He seemed to understand and quickly retreated, though resentment still lay in his eyes. Narvi, having heard the commotion outside, stepped out of the tent at last and made to diffuse the situation. ?What might all this racket be about?" Since he wasn''t in radius for me to speak to him I could do little more but remain silent but the offenders were, of course, quick to tell their story. ?The children slept under the tree spirit and now he is wrathful of us and won''t allow us to approach. They must be punished for approaching the tree spirit without qualification!" ?Then how is it I''m standing here without being attacked. Clearly, you pricks pissed the great tree spirit off and are now facing your punishment. Grandpa, the tree spirit talked to me, he told me that he likes children and wishes for them to be treated better. He called them to him." Nerida saved the day and my intentions were clearly conveyed. For good measures, I shot a few more leaf blades at Eric and sent him running back into the tent. ''Let''s make a new rule shall we. Nerida, please tell them that from now on only you, Narvi and the children currently with me may approach and collect the apples. Others... will be turned into fertilizer for me.'' Nerida faithfully repeated what I had told her out loud and after Narvi, himself had approached and heard me tell him personally, the rule was acknowledged. The next few days were rather uneventful. The humans spent their time building a few wooden houses, living off my apples, which I provided 200 every three days and the game that they managed to hunt. After some time I even received the new title [one who gives life] which allows me to regrow all my apples within a couple of minutes. I decided against regrowing them at that speed though, lest the humans got greedy. Let the slaughter begin! The conflict had been settled, everything went well and I basked in prayers every day. The houses, I call them shacks, were coming along quite nicely and the villagers had settled down for the most part. While I still received the occasional evil eye, which I of course returned, although without effect, from the passing magi, the other villagers had quickly adapted to the rule I had put in place. Though this may have been largely due to Narvi being the one to tell them about those rules. Nerida had taken to spend most of her time with me either cultivating by taking advantage of the magic vortex I created or just telling me about this world. I was especially interested in their power system, being fuelled by magic but with an essentially different approach. Their way of cultivating reminded me of a tale I had heard from a passing archmage of a world where so-called cultivators used qi to cultivate their bodies and spirits, exerting power through martial arts and techniques. But the thing used in this world clearly wasn''t qi, it was magic. It seemed like the people in this world were using a synergy between the two, albeit a synergy that didn''t produce a stronger but a weaker result. Their grading was also different, much more primitive might I say. I mean basing everything on a feudal system isn''t very creative. Half a year passed in a flash and nothing of particular interest happened, Nerida had taught me quite a bit of common knowledge over this time but I felt like she was hiding something, or more specifically how she and the others got here. She told me that this forest was to the north of the sky kingdom and that there were no others close by. Based on that I assumed they were originally from the sky kingdom but had to leave out of reasons unknown to me. And because this totally isn''t a predictable novel, this was, of course, the day I''d get to know about their past. Nerida came to the tree in the early morning hours, she was clearly upset. Probably courtesy to Erik, he was getting bolder over the last months and I could see him and Nerida get into fights in the distance. Today had been another such day but something felt off, it seemed different, worse. Nerida just sat there and meditated for 3 hours, then she spoke. ?You know, It''s my fault that we had to leave our home. Before all this happened we were known as the mountain bull clan, led by my father a baron magus but then a member of our clan insulted the verdant serpent clan and as an apology they wanted me to marry the son of their leader. I refused and they wiped most of our clan out, forcing the rest to flee the kingdom, expelled forever. All because I refused the marriage and my father didn''t want to force me." She was crying and though I wanted to give her a shoulder to cry on I was well aware of my ability to do so. ''You shouldn''t blame yourself, it wasn''t you who insulted the verdant serpent clan, was it? Nor did you decline against your father''s wishes. He let you chose and was ready to fight for that choice even if it cost him his life. So don''t blame yourself.'' ?Okay, thanks for trying to cheer me up-" With a loud burst, the woodwork to the north of the clearing exploded. A whole group of wolves came charging out, making a beeline for the camp. I assumed they too were here because of hunger, like the humans when they first arrived. Only that they weren''t going to be satisfied with some apples, they were here for meat, human meat quite possibly. Shame, for them, they needed to run past me. ?Tempest wolves! And there''s eight of them, we are doomed!" Nerida took up a combat stance, wanting to make some kind of last stand or something. I just locked on to these wolves with my leaves and fired. It was a gory battle to behold, though I guess slaughter would be more fitting. Thousands of leaf blades flew towards the wolves shredding the first three, leaving only an unidentifiable mass of flesh and hide. The four in the back fared better, dodging to the sides, only ending up as dismembered corpses from touching the outermost leaves. Just the Alpha, the strongest of the pack and the one who had been the furthest in the had escaped with a few minor cuts. I had stopped my barrage of leaves to allow greater visibility and to plan my next move. The Alpha interpreted this as weakness after exhaustion myself and resumed his charge straight towards me. Charging head on at a 15-meter tree with an immense density and an approximate weight of multiple tons, great idea. He too discovered this when he was in the process to sink his teeth into me only to find he couldn''t penetrate my bark. A quick leaf blade to the back of the head was all it took to make him breathe his last. ''May the earthen one see your bravery and gift you strength in your next life, may the eternal one guide you on your travels and may the lasting one bless your mind and soul.'' ?What was that about?" ''The wolves did nothing wrong, they were just at the wrong place at the wrong time. A little prayer seemed appropriate.'' ?Who did you pray to?" ''That is a story for another time.'' \u003cTempest wolf alpha variant successfully absorbed. Wind affinity has risen slightly, the ability [bloodlust] was learned.\u003e That evening the prayers felt more intense than usual, basking in this feeling was great. I had also absorbed the other wolves through my roots, leaving the blood that soaked the ground to my subordinate trees. With the help of the blood, acting as fertilizer, the system had theorized that in another half year my innermost circle would be fully grown and ready for duty. Wondering what tomorrow would bring I settled down for the night. 10 years bring changes The next morning the villagers all came together and started expanding the clearing towards the south. They cut trees, uprooted every plant they found and began to till the soil. They were creating fields for crops. The soil here had a nice, dark texture and was rich in nutrition, it would make for a perfect base to grow crops. And as I was feeling generous at the moment, I decided to extend a helping hand. ''System is it possible to store magic in a seedling and slowly disperse it over a prolonged span of time.'' \u003chost''s request is indeed possible, though the system fails to see any advantage for the host in doing so.\u003e ''There is no advantage in creating it. I''m just feeling generous.'' So I grew another apple and started infusing it with magic power. The system then applied a rune to, it which I, to my great chagrin, couldn''t understand in the least. The apple had turned a light green and was giving off a hue of color every minute or so, like a slow heartbeat. I gave the apple to Nerida, telling her to bury it in the center of the fields. Though confused, she did as instructed. The next day she had an understanding smile on her face when the whole village fell into disorder. They had discovered that the seeds sowed the day before had already begun to grow. Little green sprouts could be seen emerging from the ground. That was when Erik decided to announce that his field had grown the most. Based on that he was blessed by nature. What he said afterward I didn''t listen to anymore. Looking at his face after I had drained all life out of the plants in his field instantly lifted my mood. His ashen face, when he realized that his field was now barren, was too funny to behold. I think most of the people there knew that the ruin of the field was my doing. That didn''t stop them from shaming Erik for his now empty boasts though. It may have been to curry favor with me or just because they didn''t like Erik either but Nerida looked a lot better after this scene. ... Just like that ten years passed. I used magic-infused apples to boost the growth of crops, effectively cutting down the time they needed to grow by six to seven months. Having a full harvest of wheat every month or so was an enormous advantage for the villagers. As I kept bathing in their faith I felt my mind become clearer and less obstructed by laziness or disinterest. My absorption speed regarding magic was also on the rise. Especially so after my first and second generation of subordinate trees was fully grown and started to help me absorb more magic. The time was ripe for my next evolution. From my system, I had received the hint that before I could begin to replicate an animal or beast I would first have to start replicating ores. While the connection between replicating ores and animals wasn''t clear to me I had little reason to argue. Over the past ten years, I had expanded my roots and reached deep into the earth. Fun fact, since my roots don''t really need to collect nutrition form the ground, I can even grow in stone. I had already collected the magic structure data of copper, tin, and iron. While I would have preferred to also have a sample of silver and gold, I didn''t think it wise to delay any longer. The bunch of shacks from ten years ago had also changed quite a lot. The clearing was now filled with neat wooden houses with a couple of fields at the borders. Similar to the apple that had helped with the growth of crops there was now a subordinate tree in each field, collecting and distributing magic so the crops would grow. Narvi had sadly not lived long enough to see it. He had been pushing himself to lead his people here and had died of heart failure. Apparently, he had sustained some internal injuries that had sealed his fate. Nerida was appointed as the new clan head, bearing all responsibilities for the clan thereon. Her having a breakthrough into the knight magus realm not long after, along with my evident support, gave made her position very stable. Erik had become suppressed to the absolute maximum. He had taken to living at the edge of the village, with little social contact, managing his little garden. All in all the village was now self-sustained and I could concentrate on evolving. Evolution The sun was rising and my top leaves began basking in the gentle sunlight. With a decisive snap, I let all my apples drop to the ground. All the magic I had been storing over the past eleven plus years was unleashed in one mighty burst. I could feel every part of me being nourished by this great force. My body was slowly increasing in density. My magic core kept expanding at a crazy rate increasing my control over magic and my overall mental capabilities. All this happened under the careful and precise instructions of my system. The unstoppable burst of magic was slowly subdued, refined and used to complete my physical evolution. Next, it was time for the most crucial part of evolving. The step from producing fruit like a natural tree to producing ore like a very unnatural tree mainly emphasized deduction. Or to say it in another way, an enormous mental capacity would be needed to apply plant growth features to ores. This process, albeit done by magic needed to follow a formula. This formula is ever-changing like life itself and would have to be adjusted continuously, thus the requirement of mental capacity. With the now vastly improved magic core I possessed I could run the necessary calculations. \u003cCongratulations to host for successful enhancement of host''s magic core. Beginning ore growth formula deduction. ... ... ... Deduction complete. Application to tin ore beginning. Application successful. Congratulations to host for officially evolving into entity [magical ore tree]\u003e ''I think that''s the longest I''ve ever heard you talk at one time.'' \u003c...\u003e After I had evolved the changes could clearly be seen. All the places where there had once been apples were now filled by dazzling lumps of pure tin. This silvery-white treasure, albeit not the most precious nor most durable of metals it holds many practical values. Tin was used for many useful alloys because of its strong properties for bonding other metals due to its low melting point. The main reason I decided on using tin as my first metal to be displayed was its silvery-white color. Tonight, there would be a full moon. And wouldn''t the shine just be wonderful and sparkly in the moonlight? I had to see this. At least as much as I could see. \u003cHost''s obsession with his own appearance is deemed as an obstruction to growing. Recommending host to halt such actions immediately!\u003e ''Come on... No! Stop that! No summoning circles needed here... We can talk about this right... right?'' \u003cBeginning termination due to lack in growth moral\u003e ''Wait! You misunderstood I''m doing this to get more faith!'' \u003c...\u003e \u003cCanceling termination\u003e ''Pfew, glad I could come up with this on the spot.'' \u003cWhat did you say... HOST?\u003e ''Nothing!'' \u003c...\u003e So anyway, I was now a certified magical ore tree that looked damn good. Giddily waiting the whole day, evening finally arrived. And with it came the daily evening prayer from the humans. Led by Nerida, they all congregated around the outermost tree circle. They had stayed away from me the whole day. Seemed that the burst of magic during my evolution had scared them a little. Thus my completely changed look came as an even bigger surprise to them. Sparkling silver lights in the pale blue light of the moon. Their facial expressions were in awe and I felt like the faith I received had grown just a little stronger. The next day, Nerida came to find me in the morning. Not that there was any searching needed, I still couldn''t move after all. ?So... what''s with the new look?" ''A change of heart my dear my soul is now pure like silver.'' ?I liked the soul of apples more." ''...'' ''Well I''ve evolved so for the time being there won''t be any apples. But I have ores now, this is tin, a very useful metal.'' ?So it''s not silver, what a disappointment. Anyway, I''m here to get the spell you promised me for not learning the one from my clan." I was slightly sad that my great new powers weren''t appreciated but the thing she mentioned was indeed more pressing. After all, I''d have multiple years to convince her of the greatness of tin. As for the spell promise, that was quite a complicated matter. Spell synergy Before his unfortunate passing, Narvi, knowing what was gonna happen to him had taught Nerida the only spell he knew. The spell was named earthen bullhead. It used powerful magic to create an earthen bullhead that would follow its victim and crash into it. The main problem being that to use the spell without being a baron magus would need the assistance of the caster''s blood. The more blood the more powerful the spell is, essentially making this a suicide spell with great power and little use. So when Nerida told me she wanted to learn it after breaking through, I told her not to. The whole affair ended in me promising to teach her another spell once she had stabilized her realm and brought the clan under her absolute control. Did I have such a spell prepared? No. Did I have a plan for getting such a spell? No. Was I just going to improvise? Definitely! ''Nerida sit here with your back touching my bark. I need to see what spell suits you.'' She sat down trying to hide her anticipation. Her hands were trembling with excitement. To people from lower clans like hers learning a suitable spell that had no drawbacks was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Through the connected surface between Nerida and me, I could now check her body condition. As my magic slowly flowed into her body Nerida slightly shivered. Feeling the intruding magic her own magic lashed out violently, only to dissipate upon contact. My magic was overwhelming in both its density and accuracy of its movement compared to hers. I kept the amount minimal as to not cause any damage to her body and began to systematically inspect everything. Soon I was met with an unexpected surprise. The blood in her veins was not entirely human. There was a wild aura mixed in, hard to notice because of its low potency. \u003c[mountain bull bloodline] detected. Extract?\u003e ''Hell no! This is perfect. If I teach her beast mode she will definitely be satisfied and not learn that suicide spell.'' \u003c[mountain bull bloodline] is highly beneficial to the host once he evolves into a [magical beast tree]. Extraction is highly recommended!\u003e ''Why are you suddenly using square brackets again?'' \u003cThe system had a [malfunction]!\u003e ''Oh really... then the fact that you just used a different form to refer to yourself surely is a malfunction too, right?'' \u003cIndeed\u003e ''You must mean affirmative, right?'' \u003cHost is asked to shut up!\u003e I really wanted to comment on the use of shut up instead of something like refrain from speaking but... divine lumberjack. Reeling my magic back I began teaching Nerida her new spell. On that subject, a quick explanation of how magic works in both worlds to the best of my understanding. In my old world, there were two main ways to cast a spell. Manually controlling magic to take the desired form and element, like for an example forming a ball out of fire magic would create a fireball. Depending on the spell this could be very demanding on the user''s mind because they had to control everything by themselves. The second option was essentially the same but with a solution for the high mental demand of spells. The manual conversion and formation of the spell were be substituted through magic circles. Using the same example as before you''d need a fire conversion and a ball formation circle. These circles were generally just created in the caster''s mind but could also be engraved and used similarly to runes. In this world, spells seemed to depend on a so-called spell model. This mental construct would do all the work. The only thing the caster did was to build the model and feed it with enough magic for the spell to work. Now, why did I explain all this? The spell I was going to teach Nerida was, of course, different from all the things mentioned previously. Beast mode as it was generally called was a transmutation typed spell that took advantage of the user''s bloodline. Through stimulation of this bloodline, one could temporarily receive certain attributes of the bloodline progenitor. Sadly the prerequisite for this spell was having a bloodline. And getting such a bloodline was pretty difficult. To put this into perspective, if 100 people drank the blood of a beast strong enough to give them a bloodline it would be a miracle if anyone survived. The easiest way to receive a bloodline was to have your ancestors take the risk and then just be born with it. But enough of all that for now. Teaching Nerida the way to stimulate her bloodline was a quick matter. Bloodline awakening All the villagers were running around in panic. Another bestial roar came from the base of a great tree in the middle of the village. The chaos kept increasing with every furious roar that covered the village. And all this was probably caused by yours truly. I admitted that in hindsight I had made a mistake. Not telling Nerida about the pain brought by the first transformation was not my brightest moment. Though I was sure there would be worse moments in the future. But anyway, the mistake was made and I had thoroughly reviewed where I was wrong, the matter was done. \u003cHost is detected to be in a state of delusion due to trying to avoid being at fault. This behavior is deemed detrimental to the host''s image. Suggesting to correct attitude.\u003e ''Fine, I''ll apologize to Nerida once it''s over.'' Five minutes later it was over. The village was now close to a ghost town and Nerida back to normal. Mentally that is. Her physique had changed quite a bit. Two long dark horns protruded from her head. Her skin tone had changed into a grey color that resembled a rock. Nerida''s height had increased by more than 20 centimeters and her whole body was packed with muscles. Wanting to test the newfound strength in her body, Nerida rushed over to my neighbor, the acorn tree. I tried to stop her but with her increase in speed, my reaction was just a tad bit slow. She reached the tree and swung her fist at it. Accompanied by a loud bang and the sound of shattering wood a cavity appeared in the tree''s trunk. But this wasn''t enough yet for little Nerida. No, she had to swing her leg and hit the tree squarely next to the crater. This kick caused enough destruction to fell the ancient acorn tree. Ending its ascent to be a great fruit-bearing tree. Thankfully, Nerida managed to calm herself after seeing the towering tree fall. "This is the strength of a baron magus! Such a powerful spell. With this, I can-" ''Don''t overestimate yourself. You merely hold physical strength comparable to a baron magus. Your spells fall short by a huge margin. From what I can tell, the only thing that you could win against a baron mage is a comparison in defense.'' I knew exactly what Nerida was thinking. If she could exert baron level strength at the knight level, then once she became a baroness maga she might stand a chance against the leader of the verdant serpent clan''s leader. This notion of hers was utterly ludicrous in my opinion. The verdant serpent clan was just like the mountain bull clan named after a beast. It would be very strange if they didn''t possess the verdant serpent''s bloodline as well. And while a low-level clan like the mountain bull clan may not know how to use their bloodline, that didn''t necessarily mean that the more high-level ones didn''t. ''As you are now you wouldn''t be able to defeat a baron magus. If you learned some martial arts though, your chances would approve.'' "Martial arts?" ''Self-defense techniques for mages they copied and modified from other civilizations. They should be somewhat similar to how the fighter class does battle.'' "But the fighter class is weak. It''s said that a mage will never lose to a fighter of the same class." ''Be that as it may, if you use both battle styles you will emerge victoriously.'' "Maybe another day, I''m tired. Where is everybody?" ''Remember all the screaming you did during the transformation? They kind of got scared and ran away.'' And so began Nerida''s exhausting search of her fellow villagers. They hadn''t run far and when they heard the explanation they immediately returned. While Nerida was out searching for the others something strange occurred at the edge of my field of vision. A small blue dragon with feathered wings broke through space. In its mouth was an arrow, the air around it would begin to twist ever so slightly and it gave off a hard to detect spacial fluctuation. Behind this dragon, space opened up again. But this time it was a clear cut rift. The aura of the lady flying out made me tremble. She was definitely an archmage of high rank if not a deity, making her even more powerful. She was chasing after the dragon and had reached it in the blink of an eye. But the little reptile swung around his head and used the tip of the arrow to make another gash in space. The dragon had disappeared into the already closed gash, provoking an irritated glare from the lady in blue. She flicked her wrist and created another rift. After she had left the rift sealed up and nobody might guess what had just traversed through this world. Of Bandits and Merchants A few days had passed since Nerida had acquired her beast form. I had been leisurely growing tin, copper and iron ingots while trying to teach Nerida martial arts. I found it to be unexpectedly difficult to teach someone how to fight without having a body myself. But soon my attempts had to be postponed. Some of the villagers had seen armed men in the forest. These men, presumably bandits, were a real danger for the village. Nerida hastily ordered all villagers to remain in the village for the following days. The few magi would take turns keeping watch with two able-bodied villagers. I was expecting the bandits to first spy on the village and then attack during the night. But... they decided to just charge in during the middle of the day without even scouting ahead. There were 20 of them. Their weapons weren''t well cared for, they looked like hoodlums to me. "Hand over all your food and maybe we''ll just leave." Nerida stepped forward, followed by the magi and a few others. "We don''t wish for any conflict between us but we won''t hand over our food. Please leave." The bandits looked at each other and the entire group resumed their charge towards the village. The one who had made the ultimatum upfront. "Beast mode!" These were the last two words the bandit leader heard before his skull was smashed by a gray fist. Nerida had transformed and attacked without hesitation. By the time the other bandits recovered from their shock Nerida had finished four more of them. They turned to flee as two more fell and took off as fast as they could. But how could they escape a superhuman like Nerida? Yes, they should split up! My thoughts exactly. Not the thoughts of those bandits though. They chose to cry and scream for help. Only a single bandit survived. Nerida had dragged him back for interrogation after killing the others. "Why are you bandits here in the wilderness? There should be few people to rob out here." "We didn''t mean to come here. The king decided to expand into the wilderness and had a city built near the border. We were offered great rewards to pioneer into the wilderness but ultimately they just sent us out to scout without any provisions." "Are there more of you in the vicinity?" "Not anymore. Some of us went back to inform the city while we planned to raid you." In conclusion there likely would be more of them coming here. Or so we thought. The next week passed without any disturbances. All our cautious behavior was wasted. On the eighth day, a figure appeared on the outskirts of the village. A middle-aged man sitting on a horse cart. A merchant called Aldi hailing from the new city. He said he came for trading and claimed to know nothing of the scouts. His true purpose had likely been to gather information on this village. That was until he caught a glance of me. More specifically, of what was hanging on my branches. He was a seasoned merchant no doubt. It only took him a second to discern that one of the ingot types was high purity iron. "Is it a custom of yours to hang precious metals on some tree?" He made a probing joke. Just that Nerida took it the wrong way. Aldi had unknowingly insinuated that I was just some soulless tree which to Nerida was an insult to her friend. "HE grows those metals himself!" Yup, she was mad. Thankfully, Aldi was quite perceptive and noticed his mistake. "Apologies that was inconsiderate of me. But I have to ask, are you... is he willing to sell these metals?" "Why don''t you ask HIM yourself." Nerida strode off at a furious pace. Aldi was left alone staring blankly for a moment. Then he seemed to get ahold of himself and approached me. "Greetings... lord tree? May I ask for your name?" A name! I must confess I had never thought about my name. Sure, I had a name in my previous world. But using it here... seemed inappropriate. I''d have to decide on a new, fitting name. The waiting look Aldi gave me started to become uncomfortable. He probably thought I was evaluating whether he was worth telling him my name. But here I was, still thinking of that very name. Another minute passed and I had finally decided. Elder? ''You may call me Eldar, little merchant.'' I said trying to make my voice sound deep and full of wisdom. It seemed to somewhat work as Aldi''s countenance changed, his body shifting into a low bow. "Then, lord Eldar, I was meaning to ask if those metals on your branches could be purchased? For a high price of course." Aldi said the second sentence as fast as he could as if it were an insult not to mention the high price. I was sure he''d pay a good deal of money but of what use would that be to me? I wasn''t a dragon so hoarding gold wasn''t one of my hobbies. Instead. ''Well, I am not overly materialistic.'' A blatant lie. ''But since you came to spy on us and wanted to make a good impression I''m sure you have some valuable goods to trade with me.'' "Yes, of course! Wait! I''m not a spy! I-I didn''t mean that. I just have valuable goods with me." ''Out of seemingly no reason taking valuable goods into a wilderness and finding an unknown village without a guide. What a coincidence! Maybe I can squeeze some of that luck out of your body and use it as fertilizer.'' "Fine, you got me. I bought the info on your location from the border city, Utgard. They want to establish a safe area around the city. They will pay a fortune for info from locals about the various danger zones. But about that trade." ''What do you have to offer?'' Wordlessly he ran back and brought over his cart. Then he began opening the various crates in the back. Inside them were various iron farming tools, seeds, and some iron weapons. ''All of this looks like good stuff. How much?'' "Well how about three silver ingots or 50 iron ingots." ''Silver? Oh, you must have confused the tin with silver. This metal is not silver it only looks similar. But since you will probably be unable to appreciate the glory of tin I''ll trade using iron ingots. Now step back, I don''t want to smash you.'' Though confused about my comment Aldi stepped back decisively. Only seconds later a rain of iron ingots dropped from my branches. The ingots left little craters where they had landed. I asked Nerida and some villagers to help carry out the trade. Not long after, Aldi left the village with his cart and a stack of iron ingots on it. ''I hope no one robs him.'' "I hope he runs into a pack of tempest wolfs." ''Where''s that coming from Nerida? He''d die.'' "That''s what he deserves for treating you like a normal tree. I hope they rip him to shreds." ''Now now, he apologized and we made a good trade. Just forgive him and go occupy yourself with distributing the traded goods.'' I could guess why Nerida was so critical about Aldi. He was from the sky kingdom. If he found out who they were and the verdant serpent clan got wind of it... Things wouldn''t end well. Aldi returned periodically every month or so. The officials in Utgard had taken a great interest in the locals that had survived more than 10 years in this area. My presence was, of course, another aspect that greatly increased the village''s worth. And as Nerida had feared it didn''t take long for Aldi to find out their true identity. Only the resulting occurrences astonished her greatly. On Aldi''s next visit he was joined by a messenger from Utgard''s council of nobles. This messenger, a man with short black hair, sharp eyes and the vibe of someone who felt much more important than he was, held an official decree of the council. He asked all the villagers to gather at my base. Then with an exaggerated gesture, he removed the seal while making sure everyone could see it and unfolded the scroll. I should probably mention that based on the villagers whispering the seal represented the king''s proxy. I hardly have to tell you what kind of power this seal holds. It can only be reversed or overruled by the king himself. This brought both great excitement and terror to the villagers, causing their whispering to intensify. The messenger cleared his throat. Deadly silence followed. What if they missed a single word? Their eyes were glued to the messenger''s lips. The contents of the scroll were as follows... Utgards decree Members of the mountain bull clan. We, the council of nobles from Utgard, have heard of your plea. You have been falsely accused of disloyalty by the verdant serpent clan and chased from your homes. You have our condolences. But now that we, the council of nobles from Utgard, have heard of this great injustice done to you, we have decided to take actions to right the wrongs done to you. Your village shall be named the frontier town of the mountain bull. We, the council of nobles from Utgard, shall send aid in your conquest of the wilderness and expansion of your new town. This help will be in the form of workforces, tools, equipment, and counseling. Furthermore, we, the council of nobles from Utgard, shall question the verdant serpent clan. The injustice done to you shall not go unpunished. You have remained in exile for far too long. As the king''s proxy, we welcome you back to the sky kingdom! Lies! All lies. That''s what this decree was made up of. As if any noble that had the power to be the king''s proxy would care about a clan of less than a thousand members. This was solely for the benefits this village held. Workforce? A convenient way to force us to accept more people. Tools? They wouldn''t give them to us for free. Counseling? Just another word for giving orders. And this frontier town thing. They just wanted to make us part of the kingdom again so they could get ahold of this village legally. I wasn''t mentioned in the decree but as a town in the sky kingdom, we would have to pay taxes. The messenger had been invited to a feast by the joyous villagers. The only one who remained now was Nerida. "Are you alright?" ''What do you mean?'' "Your giving of this scary vibe. It feels like you want to kill someone." I was a little started. I had indeed begun to leak a minuscule amount of killing intent. Not enough to be noticed by the villagers and the messenger but sufficient to be sensed by Nerida. ''Sorry. It''s just that I don''t have a lot of appreciation for these political games. They say such sweet and immaculate words but behind these words hides insatiable greed. I just have a hard time listening to such pretentious words.'' "Don''t be sorry. I''m the one who should apologize. We dragged you into this and now they''ll try to control you too." ''So you realized the meaning of the decree.'' "I''m not as silly as the others. They are charmed by the idea of justice and having their own town. I know they just want to gain control of us and our knowledge of the landscape." ''You forgot about the taxes.'' "... ****!" Nerida stormed off. The messenger as expected didn''t leave right away but immediately wanted to collect taxes. Twenty percent of the whole harvest. Collected every month. And as expected, my iron ingots were included in their definition of harvest. Greedy bastards. It was a good thing that I had pretended that I''d need about a month''s time to regrow my 50 iron ingots. Finally, the messenger left and the townspeople began building various structures under my guidance. I had them build two warehouses, a town hall, four inns and dozens of houses. In my spare time, I engraved another rune in my trunk. The voice projecting rune. I was tired of being constrained to a little space where I could talk to others. A peaceful month passed and Aldi returned. Along with the messenger. And a hundred workers. They were welcomed by Nerida and received their houses. The messenger and Aldi settled down in the only inn that was running at the moment. In the evening after dinner, all the workers wanted to go to their houses and rest. They were however harshly reprimanded by Nerida. It was time for the evening prayer. A tradition that had been kept up since the clan''s first day here. "Prayer why we were promised better lives here. Prayers weren''t mentioned." The workers were unwilling. They didn''t come here to pray. They had all been poor farmers who had taken this offer to clear their debt. Who would they pray to? "Lord Eldar is the guardian deity of this town and as it''s inhabitants you are required to pray to him. Only with his protection can this town even exist. Only through his presence will the beast keep away." I did that? Bloodlust passive I''d actually never thought about it. Since the tempest wolf pack had attacked the village I had never seen a living beast again. Occasionally animals but nothing that could bring any harm. ''System is it true that I''m the reason there are no beasts in the vicinity?'' \u003cAffirmative. Since the acquisition of skill [Bloodlust] host has been emitting a passive pressure. Beast will recognize this pressure as another beast''s territory and not cross the border.\u003e ''You said border. Can I control the extent of that border? And how precise can I be?'' \u003cHost can freely control the border within its effective range. Imparting control method now.\u003e Meanwhile, Nerida and the workers were still locked in an argument. And since I was the main reason for this discussion I decided to intervene before Nerida could slap anyone to death. Activating the voice projecting rune my voice boomed, halting their argument. "ENOUGH! Nerida, stand down, let me handle it. As for you all, I won''t force anyone to pray to me." \u003cSystem urgently requests host to overthink this decision!!!\u003e ''Just trust me. I wasn''t done speaking yet.'' The workers had already begun to smile at each other. If lord Eldar himself said he wouldn''t force them, there was no way Nerida could. "However, know that if you refuse the prayer, I will not extend my protection to you. You will also not be permitted to approach me." "Who cares about your protection anyway!" They began to return to their houses. Aldi and the messenger wanted to return to the inn too but I called them back. "I believe you should witness the prayer. Then you can inform the next group of workers in advance." Once they were all gathered around me, my devious little plan began. Using the method the system had imparted me with I retracted the borders of my bloodlust. The only area that remained protected was my immediate vicinity. The reaction was quite astounding. Not even five minutes passed and the first beasts arrived. Another pack of tempest wolfs. Five of them, running in tight formation, straight at some of the workers who remained outside. The workers only realized the danger when two of them started screaming from being bitten, probably to death. The others quickly noticed the wolfs and wanted to flee. But they soon heard beast''s roars from every direction. The only place that seemed safe, serene even, was where Nerida and the others were kneeling before me. And, shameless as they were, the workers charged straight over to us. Now I had clearly stated that they weren''t allowed to approach me. Thus I saw little need for a warning. Leaf-blades rushed through the evening air, blood gushed from open wounds and corpses hit the floor. The ones further away reeled back with indignation. Safety had been so close yet the damnable tree stopped them. Boohoo, life''s unfair isn''t it? So close yet so far, a choice between death by a thousand cuts or a beast maw. "Why do you block our way? We are people of this town too. You can''t let us die here." "What does you being part of this town have to do with letting you approach me? This space is reserved for only my followers. I also have no connection with this town. I didn''t agree to become its guardian deity. I will only protect those who pray to me." The workers were enraged but what could they retort to this? They had been told that they wouldn''t receive protection if they didn''t follow along and they had acknowledged that. Even if they didn''t want to acknowledge it now they still couldn''t get close without dying. The messenger was in the safe area too. He wanted to say something to help the workers. He had already opened his mouth when the realization hit him. Fear distorted his face as he thought that he too could die here should he say something stupid. So he hastily shut his mouth covering it with his hands, like the words might escape if he didn''t keep them in with his hands. Meanwhile, the workers'' situation became more precarious with every second. The beasts from the forest were getting closer and closer. Forced Unity It didn''t take long for the first worker to break under the pressure. "I want to join the prayer so please grant me your protection!" In a life or death situation like this, praying to a tree was the safer option for him. After the first worker had said those words, the others all echoed him. "Very well, you all may come here and join the prayer." They bolted over as fast as they could. Reaching the others they got on their knees and repeated after the others. Naturally, since they didn''t truly mean what they said and only did this to preserve their lives, the faith stream coming from those 80 workers left much to be desired in both quantity and quality. But I couldn''t force them to believe in me like most of the others did. Only time could make them into devout believers. Now that my temporary goal was reached I expanded the borders of my bloodlust once again. All the beast that had come here immediately retreated. They were even kind enough to drag the corpses with them, leaving little cleanup work to do. Both the messenger and Aldi soon left the town and everything resumed its peaceful state. The workers had also learned from the previous incident. They were quite terrified by it and tried not to make any complications. A few more months passed like this and the number of workers had increased to around a thousand. Another show of power wasn''t necessary either as all new workers had been informed about the requirements of living here. The one thing bothering me was the fact that the town was split into two parts. The inner part was more or less the old village. It contained people of both genders and all ages. The outer part, on the other hand, was made up of about 800 men. The problem now was that this town was dependent on new workforces from Utgard since the workers would age and there was no second generation to follow up. I had asked the messenger why there were no women being sent here. The answer was that they simply couldn''t find any willing ones. A lie. Some of the workers had told me that the was a good amount of females that had volunteered but were rejected. Honestly, I couldn''t do much about this anyway, so I just ignored it. Sadly, the reality of things wasn''t kind enough to let me enjoy this peace for long. The wealth I was generating would surely tempt greedy individuals to make their move. It didn''t take long for the first noble to visit. A visit to give salutations to me as he claimed. Strangely he didn''t exchange a single word with me during his stay here. Instead, he spent his days talking to various people and one of them was Erik. I would be a lie to say I wasn''t concerned. All the conversations had been held at the entrance of the clearing. They purposefully tried to conceal what they were talking about. At first, I tried to ignore it, for peace sake. I didn''t wish for more deaths. Then the second and the third and the fourth noble came to visit me. The situation had repeated itself multiple times and I couldn''t take it anymore. I had been unwilling to do this, as I wished to give them some measure of privacy but they had forced my hand. My roots that had stayed underground all this time slowly moved to the surface until the whole clearing was dotted with them. The surfaced roots all had a rune of listening imprinted in them. These runes were then connected to a rune of recording on my trunk. Privacy was now officially abolished. The next secret talk of those nobles would not be so secret anymore! If they dared come here again that was. To my great chagrin, they really didn''t. Three months passed at an agonizing pace. I could listen in on every conversation held but there wasn''t anything useful! The fourth month had nearly passed and I was really hoping a noble would be there this time around. \u003cCongratulations to the host. You can now have your first descendant.\u003e First descendan ''What the heck do you mean? You can''t just tell me I can have my first descendant. Give me some explanation.'' \u003cCommencing the requested explanation. Descendants are trees that receive the progenitor''s chlorophyllic line. They will similar to the host develop a consciousness within three years. Descendants will have to follow the progenitor''s path of evolution but will in return experience greater growth during their period of maturing. A descendant can be planted at every important stage of life. Please note that after planting the descendant will be very weak and in need of protection.\u003e ''Do it then plant my descendant right next to me.'' \u003cThis cannot be done. Descendant will need a certain distance from the progenitor to be able to grow. Closest distance is at the edge of the outermost tree circle. Furthermore, planting a tree at this time is not suggested.\u003e ''The edge of the tree circle it is. Do it now.'' I was totally overwhelmed by the thought of having a descendant. In my previous life, I had never had a wife or a child. My only partner in life was my research. Getting a second chance at life I wished to rectify this error. I wished to know the feeling of being a father so desperately that I threw all caution to the wind and did it. I had been warned. With a burst of life force a light green, glowing orb left my body. It was nearly time for the evening prayer and the townspeople had already gathered. Before there eyes, this glowing orb traveled to the western edge of the outermost tree circle and transformed into a sapling in the ground. The prayers that night were slightly more intense than usual. The following day, a noble arrived. Same procedure as always. However, this time their secret talks would be known to me. It didn''t take long for the noble and Erik to conveniently find themselves at the edge of town. "I presume you are Erik?" "Indeed my lord, are you here for the same reason as the others?" "I have already heard what you have told them. Was there any recent development?" "There was. He seemed to expend great effort to create a sapling. It must be very precious to him. My lord, you could take advantage of that." "I will see about that. You have done well." That didn''t sound good. I''d have to make sure to- ''Hum?'' A sound echoed through my mind. It sounded... Cute. ''Was that you system?'' \u003cNegative. Due to unforeseen facts identified as story progression the descendant''s consciousness has awakened prematurely. As its progenitor, the host is mentally connected to all descendants.\u003e ''Hum?'' ''So I now have a child talking in my head, what a pain. A very cute sounding pain.'' The voice didn''t respond and I could vaguely feel that its owner had fallen asleep. I should keep my mind voice down, lest I wake it. I had been planning something before this. Hadn''t I? Well since I didn''t remember, it couldn''t have been all that important. I spent the rest of the day in a daze. A fuzzy feeling in my core engulfed my mind and I felt truly happy. I hardly noticed the evening prayer and the whole night seemed to pass in but a flash. I was awoken from my daze by none other than the noble. He came early in the morning, followed by Erik and his attendant. "You there, tree." "I have a name you know." "That is of no concern to me. I know that you can produce more iron. Should this be known to Utgard you would be heavily punished. However, I am a generous man. Give me 500 iron ingots every month and I will keep my silence on the matter." "Are you done? Because I refuse." Thinking the matter was over, I fired a few leaf blades at Erik and tried to sink back into the comfortable feeling I had before being so rudely awakened. I still kept some attention on Erik, hoping to see him suffer a bit. But it didn''t happen. The leaves were burnt to ash before they could reach him. I began to concentrate again. What had just happened? "Ha! Did you really think you could harm someone in my presence with leaves! What a dumb tree you are. You can''t follow orders and act violently, I will have to punish you." Dont mess with nature! I fired another volley of leaves in answer. This time though I didn''t use the rune to watch what happened. And there it was, a round object in the nobles pocket sent out a wave of fire that incinerated my leaves. "Bragging based on an artifact, are we." "What do you know! Holding an artifact is a qualification too. Now I will show you what it means to defy me." I wasn''t really scared of him. He might be able to burn my leaves but my body was far too dense to be burned by such a weak flame. These thoughts suddenly turned into pure terror. He wasn''t walking towards me. He was going for my descendant! ''Hum?'' Not now. I needed to stop him. I started to increase the barrage of leaf blades until they turned into a green current of death. This current of sharpness coursed straight at the noble and engaged the fire waves sent out by the artifact. Due to the nature of fire burning leaves, the artifact held a massive advantage. Even with these immense quantities, I couldn''t muster enough power to overload the artifact. Thus, I had to look as the noble slowly approached my sapling. Behind him, a charred pathway was left, proof of my fight with the scorching waves that defended him. My tiny descendants just stood there, rooted to the ground. The little sapling barely reached the noble''s knees. Then the ax chopped down. It was swung by Erik! A gash appeared nearly cutting my sapling in half. Despite the apparent futility of it, I increased the green current''s strength once again. The ax was raised once again. That dreadful ax. In my mind, the descendant''s voice had been reduced to a tiny whimper. And with a last wavering cry, the ax descended once again. A lifeless sapling hit the ground. I lost it. "BASTARDS! I''ll end you! Red mist began to spread through countless fractures from my body. \u003c Skill [Bloodlust (active)] has been triggered. The host''s emotional state is very unstable. Title [guardian of nature] has been triggered. Assessing trial method... Trial method: lightning tribulation. Hidden power [nature''s wrath] has been triggered. Commencing operation...\u003e Dark clouds covered the sky. The world was plunged into darkness. The only light, the red mist that was spreading furiously. The noble and his two accomplices froze up, engulfed by the tangible bloodlust. Winds picked up, gales, whirlwinds, gust, and even small cyclones ravaged the forest. The wood of the town''s houses creaked under the pressure and was hit by the first raindrops. Far away from Utgard a powerful presence approached but by the time it got close, it was met by a spinning wall of water, reminding of a hurricane. Thunder roared in the sky, purple lightning flashes flickered and lightly illuminated the eye of the storm. The first lightning bolt struck the ground, it aimed for the petrified noble but was barely blocked by a powerful burst of flames. A crack echoed the whole town. The artifact in the noble''s pocket had collapsed under the lightning strike''s power. His face twisted into a soundless cry of horror and despair as he saw the next lightning bolt. He was hit directly and the lightning slowly scorched his body. Little arcs of lightning were left dancing over his corpse as it fell to the ground devoid of all life. Time seemed to stop for a few seconds... The strong presence outside of the storm turned and headed back. Erik took a step back. He was attempting to run but he had underestimated the power of the storm my boundless wrath had summoned. The silence was broken by another lightning strike, followed by another and another. Thousands of lightning strikes fell and turned my surroundings into a charred hellscape. The only thing left standing completely unharmed were me and my trees. The town was also mostly fine. It had been spared by the lightning. There were only a few wrecked houses that had been met with a cyclone. \u003cYou have gained an affinity strong with lightning.\u003e ''Why? Why! WHY?!! I couldn''t even save a single sapling.'' \u003cThat is your own fault. You have been warned multiple times and, had you not been holding back, you could have saved him.\u003e Aftermath ''What do you mean I was holding back? I fought with everything I had.'' \u003cThat may be so but had you already evolved again or invented a new way to attack, things would have been different. You have been taking it easy all this time. There is no age limitation holding you back, you need only gather enough magic and fulfill a few conditions then you can instantly evolve.\u003e ''Dammit.'' I knew the system was right. I could have done more... no, I should have done more. I was naive to think that if I held back and played nice, the humans would leave me my peace and quiet. \u003cAlso, check your rune of recording right after the evening prayer. Be aware, this may be harmful to your peace of mind ;)\u003e Rune of recording, after the evening prayer... found it! Play it. "You wanted to see me, Erik?" "No, he didn''t, I did. Lady Nerida, head of the mountain bull clan, I am Surt, the heir of the muspel clan." "And why did you call me here? I don''t see a reason for the heir of one of the great clans to come here?" "Surely you jest! The existence of this tree, you call him Eldar, would be of great value to any clan. Especially if he didn''t keep his abilities for his own benefits." "What are you talking about? Eldar has never kept anything for his own benefits!" Erik interjected. "Did he really? He grows those ingots within seconds once a month but he did the same with the apples every three days. Are you certain he couldn''t grow more?" "I-I-" "It doesn''t matter whether you believe Erik or not. I do and I will obtain these benefits for my clan. I''m just here to ask you to stay out of this. If you do as I say, my clan will surely reward you. We might even help you deal with the verdant serpents, something you tree could never do." "Can you truly destroy the verdant serpent clan?" "If you and your clan stay out of this. You have my word." Recording end. ''No... She betrayed me?'' \u003cBetrayal isn''t really fitting. How about abandoned you for benefits.\u003e I could feel something in the deepest parts of my soul break. A strong trust I had always had for humanity. And, something was born to fill that empty void. Hatred, wrath, resentment, call it whatever you want. ''What are the conditions for me to evolve again?'' \u003cPosession of iron, silver, and gold.\u003e "Aldi!" I was taken aback by the sound of my own voice. It didn''t sound wise and deep like before. I had always tried to make my voice sound like that but now that I spoke without trying to do so my voice sounded strange. It was androgynous, neither high nor low and carried a monotony that made it seem somewhat ethereal. While he probably didn''t recognize my voice, Aldi still appeared before me within minutes. Based on his pale face and slightly trembling hands, I assumed he was very afraid. After all, the noble had been brought by him. Despite fearing the worst, Aldi still put on a professional smile and stood there as though he was awaiting judgment. "Fear not little merchant, I know you held no part in the tragedy that occurred. I called you for a request. I wish to acquire both gold and silver ore, as big as a man''s head. Can you find that for me?" "Lord Eldar, I surely can bring you those things... but the cost..." "How many iron ingots would that be equivalent to?" "Well, for me to turn a profit I''d need around 100 iron ingots for the silver... golds'' worth is roughly 20 times that of silver, so that would be 2000 ingots." "Then I''ll buy the silver one for now. Step back." Aldi was already accustomed to this and retreated quickly. Iron ingots began to drop and form a pile. "There, 100 ingots. How long will it take for you to bring me the silver?" "A round trip should take about five days if I make haste." "Please do that then." Aldi quickly left the village with the iron ingots. At your own risk Aldi had left for Utgard at noon. Since then a few hours had passed and it was now time for the evening prayer. It was obvious that things couldn''t continue as they had before the incident. The incident had been too well prepared and all the people had been in their houses. They must have known but chose to keep silent and hide. It wasn''t a true betrayal but clearly showed their priorities. ''Should I retract the bloodlust-barrier?'' Just at that moment, Nerida left the town hall and slowly walked towards me. She gave a smile that was so forced it made me want to throw up. Except, I had neither the ability nor anything to throw up... "Hey, I''m glad you didn''t get hurt!!!!!!" ... "Well... I never thought the noble would suddenly attack you... I''m sorry I couldn''t come immediately but I had to relieve myself." "So you were relieving yourself in the town hall for multiple hours? Nerida, you are horrible at lying. You don''t need to pretend. I know about your meeting with the noble." "But can you blame me? I just wanted to have revenge for my father and all the others who were killed!" "Have I ever rejected the idea of helping you settle your grudge? I have to say I greatly misjudged you." "Are you even still Eldar? Your voice changed and you act totally different. You changed!" "I didn''t change, your actions forced me to change, it was your distrust that made me what I am now!" "We won''t leave! You can''t take our home from us!" ''You are free to stay at your own risk.'' "So you''ll just let the beasts kill us? ... Eldar? Answer me! Don''t just ignore me! Dammit!" A loud bang resounded throughout the town. Nerida, driven by her anger, had transformed into her beast form and punched me. I didn''t take any damage. My density was far beyond what her strength could successfully make a dent in. Instead, her fist was now bleeding and looked quite gruesome. Her hand was unable to withstand the counterforce her own punch produced. She promptly retreated holding her hand and disappeared into the town hall from where she had come. \u003cWill you retract the bloodlust barrier?\u003e ''No. There is no need to bother with them. I should focus on getting stronger instead.'' \u003cGood answer.\u003e ''Any suggestions on how to get stronger?'' \u003cGather magic for the next evolution as a large amount is needed, gain proficiency in magic and find ways to attack with it, find additional ways to find, collect strong blueprints of beasts for future use, collect beast''s corpses for future use.\u003e ''Looks like I have plenty of work ahead of me.'' I heaved a mental sigh and began to seriously consider my options. Gathering magic was the easiest for me so I would first concentrate on that. When I had been placing my subordinate trees I had already positioned them in a formation used in my former world. It was used to make magic slightly gravitate towards all inside. However, its effect was rather poor and only useful in long-term plans due to its simplicity. Since I wanted to get strong as fast as possible this formation alone wasn''t going to cut it. I lay all my focus on my subordinate trees. Under my meticulous control, countless rows of tiny runes appeared on the trees, wrapping around them like snakes. The ground shook as beneath it my roots first decayed and then regrew, forming patters below ground. Even these new roots were covered in runes. The result was near-instantaneous. My subordinate trees began to glow in a pale blue light as the magic circle I just created was fully activated. Magic came rushing towards me, the epicenter of the circle. The magic density in my surroundings increased to the point where it even became somewhat visible to the naked eye. Another thing about such a high density of magic was that it was harmful to beings that couldn''t absorb it. Like for example the humans in town. The town''s proximity to me would no doubt result in adverse effects for the inhabitants. Before the incident, I hadn''t been willing to use this method to attract magic but since my conversation with Nerida, that had changed. It was their choice to leave or stay and I wouldn''t use the beasts to purposely antagonize. However, I would no longer hold back for their sake either. My territory This was the second time Nerida came to me. She had only been gone for three hours and now she was already back. Her hand was bandaged and she looked even more furious than when she had left. "What did you do?" ''I built a magic circle, nothing more.'' "You want to tell me that people start spitting blood because you built a magic circle? You did something to them! You monster!" ''They start spitting blood because they are weak. My magic circle attracts magic in great quantity and the resulting density is harmful to them.'' "Then stop!" ''Why? It is your choice to stay here. If, by chance, you don''t like it, then leave.'' "So you''re just going to drive us away?" ''I am tired of this discussion Nerida. You are free to stay but I won''t hold back to protect you anymore. Just move the weakest away from me and they should feel better.'' "Fine." I had the feeling she was about to say something insulting again but she just left. Soon after, the townspeople commenced moving away from me. They seemed to know rather well how far the protective barrier reached and settled as close to it as possible. Having dealt with that I resumed my own plans. ''System, remind me of my affinities.'' \u003cYou shouldn''t rely on these things too much. As a tree with human consciousness, you have no true affinities, the things you heard about were mere standards regarding your proficiency in an element.\u003e ''So I can freely use every element?'' \u003cIndeed.\u003e This was indeed fortunate for my plans. I had mastered nearly every known element to a basic degree in my previous life. This included magic for manipulating metals. Now of the three metals I currently had, iron was the strongest. However, there was something I believed could be more useful and potentially dangerous. I had copper, a metal that his highly conductive. I must admit I haven''t a clue what exactly that means but I was taught the base principle behind it at the academy back in my student days. Electricity which is apparently the same as lightning travels from its source to the ground. On its way, it passes through objects and the higher their conductivity is the more of it goes through. And most importantly, this electricity is harmful to the human body and if strong enough it can be lethal. Just like lightning. In conclusion, if I could use the copper to touch my enemy and send lightning along this copper-connection, they would die. A great plan wasn''t it! The only difficulty would be that I would need great control over the copper to establish a connection. The best way to establish a stable connection would be to form multiple strings of copper and use them to bind the opponent. This method would not only allow me to shock them but also keep them restrained if they wanted to run. I tried to see if I was capable to do such a feat in my current condition but was sorely disappointed. My control over the copper was lacking to say the least. I could at most change its shape. So I spent the next six days practice my control over copper and absorbing an abundant amount of magic. My control had improved by leaps and bounds and I could already manipulate the copper into strings to skewer things. The motion was completely one-directional though and there was still some progress to be made. However, after these six days, Aldi had returned! And with an unexpected surprise nonetheless. "You brought both silver and gold ore?" "Pleasantly surprised aren''t you. I decided to make a small investment and bring the gold along as well." A small Investment? I began to doubt the mental image I had of this man. How could some middle-aged merchant see gold as a small investment? Also, how the hell did he stay safe with that kind of cargo and no bodyguards? He must be hiding his strength. But now was not the time to ponder over such matters. I speedily absorbed the silver ore and began deduction. After ten minutes, the first silver ingot grew on one of my branches. It had taken a full minute to grow and confirmed one of my fears. I couldn''t grow things instantaneously anymore. It took me twenty minutes to grow the ingots required to trade for the gold ore. After obtaining it Aldi left in a hurry and I resumed my deductions for the gold ore. Gold seemed even more complicated than silver. Three hours were consumed to get its structure and I had to wait 10 minutes for an ingot to grow. Thankfully, growing was a passive process and I could grow multiple ingots simultaneously. I would only need a few more days of absorbing magic to achieve all the conditions for my next evolution. Magical beast tree Evolution! It was time for me to take the next step. Utgard would not like my new attitude nor the death of that noble and if they came to make trouble, I wanted to be as strong and prepared as possible. The next evolution would allow me to grow living beings. For that, a major increase in deduction power was a necessity. The amount of magic I had gathered this time was many times more than what was needed for my last evolution and this time all the magic would be used to upgrade my core. This increase in deduction power would also bring me another advantage. According to the system deduction power was also relevant to fine-tuning one''s control over magic. I guessed that I had around one week left until Utgard''s actions would reach me. I had to hurry and become stronger! I dropped the last of my newly grown ingots into my stash and sealed it. Since I would be unable to grow more ingots, I had dug a hole at my base and stored some ingots there. My current inventory consisted of 500 iron ingots, 200 silver ones, and 50 gold ingots. Now you must ask yourself, where did the copper and tin go? Well, I re-assimilated the tin because I couldn''t find any immediate use for it and the copper was safely hidden in my tree crown. From there I could use it as a means of attack without anyone suspecting it. I was all set. I moved my full focus onto the stored magic and began to compress it into my core. Since this process was done solely through compression, it was unnoticeable from the outside. As the compression increased so did the size of my core. After all my magic was used up, my core had reached the size of a melon and I could feel an increase in deduction power. However, this wasn''t enough. I needed more. To that end, I began to once again apply compression. Not to magic though, that had been used up, but to the core itself. It wasn''t just the size of the core that mattered but also its density. As they say, quality over quantity. Thus, under my careful actions, the core began shrinking until it was only the size of a grain of rice. Its color had also changed, from a pale, light blue to a pure, crystalline white. It really did somewhat look like a grain of rice. Maybe calling it a small pearl was more favorable. I now felt like I was overflowing with deduction power. My evolution was nearly complete. The last step was to deduce the blueprint of a living being. I chose to first try with a squirrel. It was a small normal animal and shouldn''t be to complex. Boy was I wrong. Three days later I was finally done. A simple small critter had cost me three whole days! \u003cYour deduction speed is above average.\u003e ''Oh really, what''s the average duration then?'' \u003cA week.\u003e ''...'' Good thing I had above average deduction then. Turns out deduction wasn''t the only thing that took long. Growing the squirrel took another day. On the bright side, I was now officially a magical beast tree! Yay me. The finished squirrel was now hanging from one of my branches. Its outline and auburn fur were vaguely discernible through the semi-transparent membrane in the shape of an egg. ''Why does it look like an egg?'' \u003cNo reason in particular.\u003e No reason then. But really, it didn''t seem any less strange. Time to hatch it! I dropped the egg. It landed on the ground in a splash of gelatinous liquid and from it, an adult squirrel emerged. It immediately climbed me. The gelatin in the meantime seemed to just evaporate. ''Stop running around on me like crazy! It feels itchy and really pisses me off!'' The squirrel stopped. Could it understand me? \u003cCreatures you have created will see you as a father figure and as long as you are stronger they will follow your orders.\u003e That sounds like fun. Let''s deduce the tempest wolf next. Chances that I would finish in time for my possible confrontation with Utgard were slim but I could still try. Three days later Aldi arrived with the usual messenger and I wasn''t even halfway done with my deduction. Dont push your luck! The messenger, arrogant as usual, first went to accept taxes from the villagers. It was less than usual due to my little confrontation with the noble but the messenger didn''t seem too concerned. My ingots had always been the major source of income generated by this town and the harvest were just some additional crumbs in comparison. Just that he found this source of income wasn''t there. "Lord Eldar, where is the monthly tax?" "I have evolved and can''t produce any ingots for the time being. Furthermore, I have no intention to pay this nonsensical tax anymore. On the contrary, I think you should pay me for providing a safe area." "Lord Eldar! This is treason to the sky kingdom. You must pay a tax for the protection you receive!" "SAY THAT AGAIN! Protection? My child was murdered by one of you humans and you even had the gall to send someone to rescue that bastard! Tell me, WHAT ARE YOU PROTECTING ME FROM?" "How dare you slander the kingdom!" "Oh, I dare to do much more ;)." The messenger was about to open his mouth to spout some more nonsense but my copper string wire arrived in a blink and penetrated his right thigh. He collapsed with a hollow whimper. I retracted my copper string, electrocution didn''t seem necessary. Aldi walked forward and picked up the messenger''s body with an ease that once again surprised me. "You realize that they aren''t going to let this slide." He stated this like a fact he knew would come true for certain. I knew he was trying to warn me but since things had progressed to this point what should I do? Should I run away? Real funny. Aldi left with the messenger. This time Utgard''s answer didn''t let me wait for long. Seven days later, I had barely finished the blueprint for the tempest wolf, they arrived. Led by a blond, two-meter colossus of a man the small group entered the town. There were just three of them but my magic perception was telling me that the two following the colossus were not to be underestimated. Both old men felt similar in power to the noble with his stone. However, I could tell that this was not some artifact giving them power, it was their own strength. And one of them felt familiar... yes, the powerful presence that day must have been him. Better be careful. The trio directly approached me. "Greetings lord Eldar, I am V?lsung, the commander currently stationed in Utgard and these are my subordinates. I am here to address the issue of you attacking an official messenger and refusing to pay tax." "I disagree lord V?lsung. I have rectified a bastard without manners and refused to let myself be robbed by some greedy humans. I don''t see any need for discussion." "Calling us greedy robbers is a little over the top. We merely ask for the tax every citizen should pay." "And what in goddess name makes me a citizen of a human kingdom? The land we stand on is my territory as it would be overrun by beasts if I wasn''t here. The only thing you could offer in exchange for this tax is protection and judging by the fact that you let my child die horribly, I think calling you greedy robbers is quite adequate." "It was a tree, surely you can grow another one." "It was a SAPLING WITH A SOUL and it had developed a consciousness within hours. For reference, it took me three years to do that. And NO, I cannot JUST regrow it! In fact, I will need to evolve once again if I want another descendant and I already know that none of my future descendants will measure up to my first one. How would you feel if I just came into your kingdom, killed the best heirs to the throne and told you to just put a waste on the throne? Oh yeah, I should also demand money from you for protecting you from your peaceful lives." "Please calm yourself. I''m sorry for your loss but there is no reason to act like this." "You''re right! We should just proceed to fight to the death!" V?lsung "Tree, do you realize that you can''t win this fight?" "I do. It''s just that I don''t really care anymore and would rather take a few of you with me." Having said that I fully released my bloodlust. A familiar red mist quickly pervaded the area and promptly reached the opposing trio. was unaffected by my bloodlust but both of his subordinates began to groan in pain. They were old and their hearts couldn''t handle stress from being under this much pressure. Behind me, splashing could be heard and eight tempest wolves rushed over. I had managed to speed up their growth by using their corpses I had collected so long ago. "So you have reinforcement? What will a few wild beasts do? They are more likely to attack the town." One of the old men spoke. "I grew them myself so they won''t disregard my will so easily." To prove my point I let the wolves form a phalanx, they were ready to pounce at a moment''s notice. They would make very little difference against but they could buy me a few seconds. just stood there, not overly impressed but looking slightly concerned about his followers. Suddenly his gaze turned sharp, his black wool cloak began levitating under a phantom wind. My bloodlust was pushed back by an invincible intent that moved like a snail with the power of a dragon. "Eldar! I don''t want to fight you! Pull back your bloodlust and let us talk. I''m prepared to compromise." A concession? I couldn''t find any reason to refuse further negotiations. I reeled back my bloodlust and the surroundings became clear again. The old men could breathe freely again. "I''m listening, human." "I admit that it was partly our fault with the happenings of the noble but I swear to you that we didn''t know it would end so badly. I can also exempt you from any taxes but we are not able to pay you for granting us your territory." "I can live with that. However, I do have a condition. I want a trading permit to be able to buy beast corpses and other necessary resources from the town. After all, this is crucial for my evolution." "A trading permit... It seems we have reached an agreement." Thus, the first official agreement between myself and the sky kingdom was formed. I would keep up the barrier and in return, I would be exempted from taxes and receive permission to trade freely. "Now regarding the contract..." "Right, you humans always make a written contract for everything. I hope you aren''t expecting a signature from me." "You have a point. Asking you to sign a document would be difficult. Well, I will be stationed here for a long time so let''s just make it a promise between men." "Bold of you to assume I am male!" My bluff was easily seen through. chuckled and headed towards the inn. The next day the two old magi returned to Utgard while decided to stay. According to himself, he was in much need of a break. I spent the next few days getting used to my new powers and rights. To begin with, I created a thin wooden wall between two of the outer trees, creating a signboard. Thereon stood in clear, carved letters: Dear reader, have you ever wondered what to do with a beast''s corps after hunting it? Wonder no more! Eldar merchant guild will buy those beast corpses. You can trade for precious metals or the chance to tame a beast. More trading products may follow. A masterpiece of my own creation. had been down for ten minutes after reading it. Laughter had been shaking his body so badly that standing hadn''t been possible anymore. I couldn''t decide whether I should feel insulted for being laughed at or proud for forcing a man as strong as to the ground for ten minutes. By the way, business was bad. No one was willing to bet their lives for money if they could live a somewhat stable life here. The wage system would only be implemented once the merchants, blacksmiths, tailors, and carpenters arrived. This would probably happen in the next months, forcing me to wait for a while. I had also begun to grow things again. Sadly I was short on corpses so I would have to wait for the tempest wolves to grow. One month suddenly seemed like such a long time. Beast mode The days were going by slowly. Growing was a gradual and very passive process and a trade wouldn''t happen any time soon. Thus, I spent most of my time trying to clear the next evolution criteria. There were only two of them... and that was two too many! The one I was working on right now was tri-wielding magic. The other one was to successfully grow a savage beast. Tri-wielding was hard enough I could even control two kinds of magic at the same time how could I do three? But the true problem was the savage beast. It roughly equals a human marquess magus, just that a beast would always win in a direct confrontation. Now my own strength was roughly at that level too, meaning that thing would probably not show me any respect and potentially try to kill me. Not even speaking of where I would get the body from and how long it would take me to deduce and grow it. Yes, I had my reasons to be a little depressed. Believe me, simultaneously using different elements is hard! I was currently trying to grow a tree and electrify it at the same time. There was charred wood spread all around from all the times the elements collided and spontaneously combusted. I needed a break so badly! But I just couldn''t bring myself to stop trying. I had taken it easy once and the consequences were disastrous. No repeats. Back to trying. Another explosion, more debris. Rinse and repeat... Explosion, repeat, explosion, again, explosion, keep going, explosion, V?lsung... V?lsung? He had appeared out of nowhere, below him a crater from the force he used to stop his charge. It was the first time I had seen V?lsung''s face show any emotion. Wait, not the point. Why did he charge over? "The spell you taught Nerida, what is it?!" He seemed excited, ecstatic even. "You mean beast mode? It''s a basic transmutation spell for stimulating a beast''s bloodline." "Can you teach me the spell?" "Sure, but I need to scan the bloodline in your body and calibrate the spell. Also, some compensation would be required." "Does the strength and purity of the bloodline matter?" "V?lsung your question scares me. Tell me the exact situation." "Well, I can''t disclose too much but if hypothetically someone were to have killed a dragon and successfully received its bloodline..." "A dragon! And he is the direct recipient! What the hell are you saying! I''d have to fine-tune the spell for hours! Do you know how volatile a newly acquired draconic bloodline is?!" Killing a dragon and assimilating its bloodline. Only fools and truly powerful people would attempt that. The only one I knew of that possessed a draconic bloodline was Lord Abel, one of the sovereigns of my former world. But he isn''t to ever be measured with normal standards. "Is it impossible to fully harness the power of such a bloodline?" "Define fully harness. If you mean transformation like Nerida''s it''s possible albeit bothersome. If you think of a full transformation into a dragon then you can forget about it." "The former is fully sufficient. When can we start?" "Not so fast there. Let me make this clear. I can''t guarantee success and I''ll have to take a look first. And about that payment..." "We will discuss the final payment after you can tell us the odds of success. For now, if it''s something minor I can pull some strings but don''t expect too much." "If any beasts obstruct your journey bring their corpses along." "Will do." And just like that, he had disappeared with a bang and another crater where he had been standing. And back to practice I went. Explosion after explosion I refined my control over the elements. Gradually, the elements coexisted next to each other for seconds. It was still followed by an explosion every time but those seconds were real progress. A month had passed during my training. Nothing much happened and that was just about what I expected. Finally, the fresh blood for the town arrived. A blacksmith, some merchants, carpenters, and tailors. With them came soldiers, adventurers, and some much-needed business. I only had two blueprints and only one of a beast. I had more than 50 wolves now but I wanted diversity. Trade was about to get going. An adventurer approached the signboard. With his light leather armor and a bow slung across his shoulder he looked like a ranger. He didn''t give me the impression of someone strong but seemed more like the careful and calculating type. Both his clothes and armor were colored with patches of green and brown, aiding with stealth. Potential to be a good hunter! "Lord Eldar, you wrote here you''ll buy beast corpses, what about animals?" "I will buy them but only once per species and at a lower price compared to a beast''s." "There are no exchange rates here. Why is that?" "There was little to no business so far. Also, it''s simple, beasts I already have, one iron ingot per body. Beast that I don''t have, one silver ingot for the first body. Savage beasts bodies would hypothetically give 20 gold. Animals are five for an iron ingot. Finally, a chance for taming is worth 2 iron ingots or two beasts I already have." "Why didn''t you just write it down?" "I just did." During my short explanation, I had engraved it on the signboard. "Then, what animals do you already have?" "A squirrel." "That''s it?" "I''m a tree! I can''t go after animals and hunt them." The ranger then excused himself and left for the forest. Over the next few days, he brought me one animal corpse after another. I had so far newly collected ten animals. Deer, bunny, boar, wolf, lizard, snake, spider, sparrow, fox and even a bear. The ranger, named Sven, hadn''t claimed any reward yet and I soon came to know the reason. He wanted to tame a tempest wolf! Taming was a rather peculiar process. After a tamer gained respect and trust from a beast they could sign a contract. The specifics of this contract would be decided by how the contract was formed. If it was formed through mutual respect it would be an equals contract binding both parties to help the other. If it was established through the dominance of the tamer it would be a tamer-servant contract. If it was established through the dominance of the beast it was a beast-servant contract. Also, a contract could not be forced, death was always an alternative. The contract that Sven was hoping to achieve was an equals contract. He wasn''t as strong as a tempest wolf but with my help, it might be possible to still succeed. I commanded one of the tempest wolves to come over. It approached but seemed increasingly apprehensive against the human in front of it. "Lord Eldar, what should I do now?" "How would I know? Get it to like you or something like that. My only task here is to give you a safe environment by making sure it doesn''t bite your head off." He looked a little disappointed. He must have been hoping for some miracle cheat that would result in an instant contract. Nevertheless, he had prepared something else. He grabbed a big chunk of meat from his pouch, held it up and conjured a little fire beneath it. A magus huh. He cooked the meat until it was golden brown, dripping with fat. The tempest wolf was already salivating and looking greedily at the piece of meat. Sven would probably have already lost his life to the hungry wolf if I didn''t forbid it from attacking it. "Hello, Mr. Wolf, I am Sven. Would you like to make a contract with me? I can give you more delicious food if you accept." It was a low blow. The wolf wasn''t allowed to attack but wanted the delicious food in front of it. Tempest wolves aren''t the smartest in the forest so this one didn''t even get the unfairness of the situation. Any human in its position would complain but this wolf simply agreed. A golden current manifested between them extending in both directions until it connected their hearts. Sven''s strategy had worked. He threw the meat towards the tempest wolf that jumped up, grabbed it and devoured it within seconds. The more the news of this event spread the more outraged the other adventurers became. They knew Sven, he was both a magus and a fighter but hadn''t reached the knight realm in either. For him to have a companion that could defeat a baron magus! He was now the strongest among them! Even worse the way he used wasn''t possible to imitate! He had brought most of the animals that were commonly seen in the forest. Meaning the only way to get a chance to tame a tempest wolf was to either kill two and bring their corpses to Eldar or kill a different beast. But just the idea of this was ludicrous to them. They were jealous of Sven for having a beast that they couldn''t defeat. So how should they hunt such a beast? Naturally, there were some that thought of a solution to this problem. One of them might not be able to defeat a beast but if the stronger ones formed a team they could do it. Arrival The second month since V?lsung''s hasty departure was coming to an end. I was unsure where V?lsung had gone to and how long it would take him. For now, all I could do on that front was wait. I kept myself busy by training dual-wielding lightning and nature. It was a beautiful day outside, birds were singing, flowers were blooming... On days like these, trees like me... should be the only ones allowed to create explosions. However, today wasn''t meant to be like this. I was just peacefully appreciating the explosions my magic brought out. Then, out of nowhere, the mayor''s house inside town exploded and collapsed. It was no fancy explosion with fire and charred remains. It was more of an expulsion of energy that broke one of the main support pillars and collapsed the house. Nerida had broken through to the early baroness maga realm. This speed may seem astonishing but honestly, it wasn''t anything special considering her situation. By awakening her bloodline it would passively aid her in reaching the level it was formerly at. The downside of this was that once it reached its former strength it would slow down her progress instead. Thus, Nerida would face huge difficulties in reaching the viscountess maga realm. Later that day Sven approached me with an offer. He had found a beast in the forest but wasn''t confident in defeating it. His proposal was for me to lend him three more tempest wolves in return for half the reward. For every casualty, the reward would be halved. I accepted. I mean I had nothing to lose. Those three wolves were nothing to me! I could just grow more of them, in fact, I was already doing just that. Getting new blueprints was my priority right now. I commanded three wolves to follow Sven''s orders and sent him on his way. Only days after, V?lsung returned. He was riding a majestic lion and following him were two carriages. Well, it would probably be more accurate to say there was one carriage while the other one was a heavy wagon. The small group was completely made up of powerful individuals. I estimated that even the weakest of them were at the count realm. They disembarked and V?lsung came over. "Nice to see you again. How was your journey?" "Not too bad. Now, when is the earliest you can start the checkup?" "You seem overly hurried. We can begin now if you want." "I understand. I''ll bring them over." V?lsung gave me a grateful look and returned to the carriage. Meanwhile, I was completely baffled by what he said. Them? There was more than one? What were the chances for multiple individuals to survive consuming the blood and flesh of a dragon? V?lsung came back with three hooded figures, guarded by two men that I judged to both be duke magi. That must be someone important these two were guarding. "You weren''t hypothetically talking about three!" "There are just two. Lord Eldar, I am Signy, sister to the king. Pleased to meet you." One of the hooded figures spoke with a gentle voice. "Signy, you shouldn''t say who you are out loud. There may be assassins around." "Uncle, you''re being overly worried again. I''m an early marquess maga and you are here too, who could hurt me?" So if Signy was the king''s sister... and V?lsung was Signy''s uncle... then V?lsung... is the king''s uncle? It began to look like I was quite well acquainted with the royal family. "Back to the subject at hand. Eldar, I apologize for not telling you the specifics but could we do this in a more secure location?" "I''m a tree, I can''t move!" "Oh... we''ll just have to set up a perimeter." V?lsung and the two guards formed a triangle around my outermost tree circle. Signy took over the conversation once again. She removed her hood, revealing a gorgeous face framed in a flood of golden hair. "Lord Eldar, please allow me to clear things up. These here are my nephews, they each have a dragon''s bloodline. Come on you two introduce yourselves." The two hooded figures revealed their faces. The princes s ? Their faces were nearly identical. Their long, blond hair was tied back and their blue eyes that seemed like deep ponds seemed bottomless. Though... one of them, the one on the right, seemed a little feminine. It must be my imagination. The one on the left spoke first. With a deep voice and a stern look, he used his words as sparingly as if they were made of pure gold. "Prince Sigurd." Signy was evidently displeased with his attitude but held back any comment. Then, the second one spoke. Her... sorry, his voice was so soft and smooth... I was really starting to doubt my sanity and maybe my sexuality. "Greetings lord Eldar, my name is Siegfried. It''s a great pleasure to meet you!" "It''s a pleasure to meet you too. Now I heard you acquired a rather powerful bloodline and would like to awaken it. For this, I will have to examine your bodies. Who will go first?" And as I said the word examine, Siegfried flinched. It seemed like he wanted to take a step back but was stopped by Signy. Like it was the natural thing to do Sigurd stepped forward. "Begin then." "That''s not how it works! Sit with your back against me and don''t block my magic." He did as I told him but I have to mention, he sat like he had a stick up his ass. I carefully sent my magic into his body and what I saw was not pleasant to look at. And while I was looking at that mess, a strong mental wave hit my magic and pushed me out. Not before I could leave a little present though ^_^. "Well, I''d say you have bigger problems than just awakening your bloodline. Let me guess, you didn''t just consume some parts of a dragon but ate the whole thing. However, that wasn''t enough for you, was it? You had to artificially stimulate your bloodline! Honestly, this whole situation is one big mess. Tell me exactly what happened, how you got your bloodline and how you stimulated it." "Lord Eldar, I''ve found some notes in the royal library that said after a bloodline was successfully received there would be no problems. Why is your account so different?" "That''s easy. How many people do you think survived eating a monster on the level of a dragon whole? Once a monster reaches that level it isn''t a simple monster anymore. Consuming it without adequate preparations will have consequences." "Sigh. Fine. Sigurd, please tell him." "We were separated from our escort and followed by assassins. While fleeing we hid in a cave. Further down we heard sounds of fighting. We followed the sound in hopes of finding our escort. We found two dragons fighting. They killed each other. The assassins had entered the cave. We both ate a part of the dragon. Then we blacked out. Afterward, the assassins were already dead and the dragons were gone. We left to find our escort. We met more assassins. During the fight, I blacked out again. According to Siegfried, I grew horns and claws. After killing the assassins I collapsed. Siegfried carried me back to our previous camp where we found our escort. Since then there were no abnormalities." My goddess, could this boy really not speak or act like a normal human? Nevermind, it was just as I had thought. While I was still brooding over what I just heard, Sigurd was getting impatient. "What is it. Can you help us or not?" "Well, ignoring the fact that you lied to me, yes, I can help you." "And how would you know I lied? You weren''t there!" "I might not have been there but I know the symptoms of the problem you have been describing. There were no abnormalities since? You call that voice in your head normal?" "How do you know about t-that?!" To my great astonishment, it was Siegfried that said this. Sigurd just has panic written all over his face. Seems like they both suffered from the same Symptoms. "Let me explain some things then. I assume you first ate the dragons'' hearts as it is commonly known that this provides the highest chance for successfully receiving a bloodline. By doing that, you accidentally consumed the dragon''s magic core and through that their soul. Under the immense pain of the dragon bloodline integrating into your body, the dragons'' souls could temporarily take over your bodies. They consumed the rest of their corpses, transformed and killed the assassins. Since then they are talking in your heads. They are probably trying to convince you to give them your bodies, hence the second loss of consciousness while fighting the assassins." "Can you help us or not?" Princess! "Yes, I can! Now, Siegfried, please come here and let me take a look." He hesitated but came over and sat down obediently. The elegance of those steps! That was no man! And she wasn''t! Now to guard her privacy I will omit what I saw in there but let me just say it wasn''t much better than in Sigurd. The only difference was that the force pushing me out was very soft and gentle. Still, it didn''t stop me from leaving another present ^~^. "I''m done." "Lord Eldar, can you help my two nephews?" "NO!!!" "I can''t help imaginary people. So that second nephew of yours will probably die." "Imaginary people? Lord Eldar, I don''t understa-... you know?!" "You realize that I just checked her body. Obviously, I would notice something major like a different gender!" "Wait... You are male. Are you a pervert? Did checking her body arouse you?! " "I''m a tree! I can''t get hard because I always am! My goddess, do you even realize that trees don''t have the means to reproduce sexually? In addition, I checked her body with magic, not my eyes." She looked like she wanted to say something more regarding the subject but held back. "Now about that help you want. There are two steps. The first is a simple spell that can help you deal with the voice in your head. The second step will take me a few days as I need to fine-tune the spell. In the meantime, we can talk about my compensation." "Compensation? Why would we need to compensate you? We are the royalty of this kingdom!" Sigurd clearly had some issues holding in his temper. I couldn''t blame him much, he was young and had the soul of a fire dragon in his body. That didn''t mean I would give in though. "I am not part of your kingdom so it doesn''t matter to me who you are. And before you ask me why I''m not part of the kingdom, why don''t you go ask V?lsung." "Fine we will pay you but I don''t want that other spell of yours. We don''t need that." "I''ll teach you that spell for free." "We don''t need it!" "I-I''ll learn it." Siegfried spoke against her brother? He looked positively infuriated. His pride forbade him from fully showing his temper but his face was tinted in a dark shade of red. I wouldn''t force Sigurd to learn this spell. I was only obliged to teach the willing. That was the promise I had made at that seminar. Ah, the nostalgia! Back then I was still an ordinary student, attending the western mage academy of the grey empire. I was spent most of my time studying and visiting my friends. At that time the principal was going to hold a seminar on time magic due to an upcoming event. The moon was predicted to enter into a mysterious constellation with a few other celestial bodies, thus producing a spatial phenomenon of incredible rarity. But due to its innate spatial characteristics, the event happened sooner than predicted and the seminar was about to be canceled. In the last minute lord Abel had arrived and held his seminar instead. This seminar was, as mentioned before, on the subject of dealing with powerful bloodlines. Then, when he was done, a scroll appeared in the lap of all participants. We received the spell for free, the only condition being that we taught it to others willing to learn. Enough of these sweet memories now. I had to teach Siegfried. She was a very attentive student and by the end of the day, she was capable of using the spell. "Sanity lock!" A light blue glow appeared around her fingertips. She brought her right hand up to her temple and did a turning motion with her fingers. The blue glow solidified into something similar to a screw and drilled into her head without hurting her skin in the least. After a short while, the blue glow dissipated as if it had never been there in the first place. "Huh? I can still hear the voice in my head. Did I fail?" "No, you did great. As I said, the spell can only help you deal with the voice, it can''t eliminate it. It''s hard to explain how it works but I''m sure you''ll know what it does when the time comes." Compensation Seeing as it was already evening, Signy left with Sigurd and Siegfried. Their two guards followed them while V?lsung stayed back. "So you''ve had a look at their conditions now. When will you be done calibration the spell? " "I''m already done." "You didn''t say so this morning!" "V?lsung, what do you think Sigurd''s reaction would be if I told him I was finished and asked him to wait? Right, he would insist on learning it that very instant. Their bodies have already experienced the first transformation so it will be easier for them. On the other hand, the uncontrolled awakening damaged their bodies. They should rest for a day or two before transforming." "Then I believe you should receive your first reward." V?lsung went to pull over the wagon. He removed the cover and revealed a bunch of frozen corpses. Those were beasts! And... the size of that one... a savage beast? "It seemed you needed beast corpses to grow them. This will be your full compensation for teaching them. I''ll give them to you once they can transform. You sure you don''t want to teach them now." "It will only do harm to them. Let''s wait until tomorrow." V?lsung nodded, grabbed one frozen beast and threw it over. I didn''t catch it, no hands and all, but immediately started to absorb it. I spent the remainder of the night on the deduction of the vampiric viper''s blueprint. To my great surprise, I felt like this was easier and faster than before. ''System, is this an easier blueprint?'' \u003cIt isn''t. It feels easier for you since your deduction will improve with every beast''s blueprint you make.\u003e That was certainly convenient for me. With all the beasts V?lsung brought along I might be able to decrease the time needed for the savage beast. Morning came swiftly. Sigurd was already being impatient and asked if I was finished. "I worked through the whole night. I''m done now, we can start." It was a rather smooth process. For Siegfried at least. Her body was clad in shining light blue scales, leaving only her face and hands completely human. Her figure retained its rough human proportions and she didn''t have wings but her tail was much longer than usual. Her bloodline was from a water dragon, apparently not a combat-oriented species. These dragons were largely focused on healing and agility. Siegfried was still admiring her neat appearance when she felt a mental tide rushing from the depths of her consciousness. It was the dragon''s soul trying to take over! She tried to hold it off but it kept approaching. She felt like she was about to be taken over. Then, the pressure suddenly eased. A blue barrier was keeping the soul at bay. Sanity lock had finally demonstrated its terrifying effects by completely suppressing a dragon''s soul. However, she was the only one who had learned this spell. She remembered with horror how her brother had rejected this precious spell. Upon hearing a chaotic, pain-ridden roar, she spun around. Sigurd''s scales were a dark shade of red, resembling the fresh blood from a lethal wound. His tail was short but heavy and his wings were like heavy-looking, light red sails. Like Siegfried, Sigurd''s face wasn''t covered in scales. From his head, two menacing horns extended backward, their tips a glowing red. He was gripping his head, guttural roars escaped his throat. Signy had worry written all over her face. "Lord Eldar, what''s happening to him?" "He''s fighting with the dragon''s soul for dominance over his body. I''d step back if I were you. If Sigurd loses this battle, the dragon''s soul can temporarily take over his body and might attack you." "I won''t be defeated so easily! Stop blabbering you dumb tree!" Sigurd could actually still talk? I had to admit, that boy''s will was quite strong. Still, he spent the next ten minutes kneeling on the ground roaring in pain. "Please do remember, you can at most stay in this state about half an hour a day without damaging your bodies. The more you rank up the longer you can safely remain in this state and once you reach the same strength as a dragon you''ll be able to use it unrestricted." New Blueprints The pair of siblings changed back to their human forms and headed to the inn with Signy. They were both mentally and physically exhausted. "What''s the danger if the dragon takes over his body?" "Hard to say what exactly he will do. He might attack indiscriminately or target specific people, he might also just act normal or even do nothing. The danger lies not in a takeover, that''s only temporary. The real danger is the voice. It poisons the mind and makes you do the dragons bidding." "Any advice on how to avoid that?" "Well, there''s many ways. Ignoring the voice does the job. Also, the connection between the soul and mind goes both ways, it''s possible to talk back." "Thanks, I''ll tell them." V?lsung gave me my compensation and also returned to the inn. I felt a little giddy seeing that I received four more beast species and even a savage beast. Now the only thing I would need to evolve was time. But for that I had a plan. ''System, can I grow infant beasts? And will it still count as growing them?'' \u003cYou can grow infants beasts and they count but be aware that after you release them they will grow normally. Maturing periods of most beast increase with their strength.\u003e ''How would that work out with the verdant serpent?'' \u003cIncluding the materials you could shorten down the time of growth to one day but its strength will only be that of a normal beast. It will take 30 years for it to mature. If grown completely it would take little more than a month.\u003e That was acceptable for me. I couldn''t control an adult anyway so time was my priority. I estimated that the vampiric viper''s blueprint would need another eight days until completion. That gave me plenty of time to master tri-wielding. The royals left the next day and I spent the next month getting all the beast''s blueprints. With every blueprint my deduction speed increased, it would now take only half the time to run the deduction on a beast. In the mean time I had also fully mastered dual-wielding. It appeared that higher deduction skills helped with simultaneously completing multiple tasks. I had started to attempt tri-wielding and it wasn''t that bad. If I could further raise my deduction skill and put in a decent amount of effort I would succeed in no time. Now it was time to start my greatest deduction yet! The verdant serpent''s blueprint would allow me to achieve the next stage of evolution. Two months! That was how long it took me to crack that formula and receive the complete blueprint! Thank the goddess I had increased my deduction skill before this and not directly made the attempt. I could now grow an infant verdant serpent. But for now I wouldn''t. During my two month deduction period Sven had returned with a beast''s corpse. Well, three to be honest. The shadow horse that Sven hunted had been very powerful and managed to take down two tempest wolves before it was defeated. I had decided to get its blueprint first to increase my deduction just a little more. Sven had happily received his 50 iron ingots and left. This time the deduction of the shadow horses blueprint merely took one day. Now, I was as prepared as I could. Growing the infant verdant serpent took another day. But what was one day compared to how long I had already been here? How long had I been here? Four years?... I couldn''t remember. Splash! The gelatinous egg hit the ground and splattered. The little noodle that wiggled out of the remains of its egg was, as expected, green. It might not look dangerous but the reason this thing was a savage beast when it matured was a combination of both physical tyranny and potent poison. This little thing might not have developed its tyrannical physique yet but the poison could still kill a beast. Now as for tri-wielding, I had mastered it. Now as to how I would evolve. Simple, I have grown three different things so far. Now I would have to grow all three things together. And since I didn''t want to blow up from three different formulas running not so simultaneously, I needed to be able to control three different currents of magic without letting them clash. Mystic tree A new day was dawning. The clouds were painted in a beige-red tone that gave the impression the sky was on fire. Around me, the forest was vivaciously swaying in the breeze while the grass was filled with sparkling drops of dew. My 15-meter tall body was brimming with energy. I slowly retracted the magic current that allowed me to grow beasts. Then, I let all three green currents slowly emerge from my core. The first current had allowed me to grow fruit. The second gave me the ability to grow ore and the third was for growing beasts. They traveled up and up to the tips of my branches. A triple helix was formed by them spinning around its own axis. The helix gained spin and the gaps between the different currents began to blur. Then, with a sudden stop, there was only one light green current left. And as this light green current flowed through my body, something reacted! The energy stored in my body exploded all of a sudden. My cells began expanding rapidly. A sudden growth spurt? It was about time. My pleasant surprise quickly turned into horror when I passed 50 meters of height and was still growing. It didn''t stop! I was now more than 100 meters tall and I wasn''t stopping. The town was mostly in ruins. My roots had expanded and lifted patches of ground. The town was now split into different levels among my roots. I''d have to take care of that later. For now, I had bigger problems like my height... that was still increasing. At least I''d lost track of how big I was so I couldn''t panic too much. \u003cYou are currently 218 meters and still growing.\u003e ''Why do you tell me that?! Why didn''t you warn me before I did it?'' \u003cWhat is so bad about growing? You''ll be able to grow many more things at the same time.\u003e ''Look at me! I''m flipping huge!'' \u003cAnd what is bad about that? Name an example.\u003e ''Well... how about... fine. I admit that there isn''t much of a difference for me.'' \u003cSee ^\u003c\u003e^. Also, congrats you became a mystic tree. You can now have your second descendant.\u003e Yeah, that descendant wouldn''t be planted for quite a while. I felt no need to create another vulnerability that I couldn''t fully protect. I wanted to first gain the power to dominate this world! Or at least fight anyone to a standstill. ''System, what are the benefits of this time''s evolution and what are the conditions?'' \u003cYour speed of growing things has increased tremendously. You can grow all manner of things at the same time now. You have the ability to do low-level changes to the things you grow. All your base stats have increased. To evolve you must win the trust of a mythical or divine beast and make it your guardian beast. This beast cannot be self grown!\u003e So basically I would need to wait until a strong beast comes over and feed it until it liked me. Simple enough. But for now, small steps. I grew another squirrel and dropped it... Not the best idea. I reabsorbed the dead squirrel. ''System, how big am I now?'' \u003c300 meters.\u003e ''How am I supposed to grow anything useful like this? Every beast will die from the fall, any fruit will be ruined and the ore will make craters.'' \u003cGrow platforms dummy! As for the workforce to get the harvest, they''ll arrive soon.\u003e ''And how do you know that.'' So, the plan for a mass army of monsters temporarily failed. \u003cJust make it completely failed. There''s a limit to how many beasts you can control. If you gain more they will just run away. The beasts have to make a contract with someone else or die if you need more space.\u003e ''What''s the limit?'' \u003cAt the moment you can at most control 1000 beast 10 savage beasts and one mythical beast. And no you can''t exchange the mythical for more ordinary beasts.\u003e New plan! Altering things I grow namely apples because I don''t have any other fruit. Mental note, buy other things to grow from Aldi. Back to getting that golden apple. Ah, I mean altering that apple. Who would ever want a golden apple? Health boost? The prettiest woman in the world that inevitably brings my own destruction? Who would want that? Not golden but still great, also elves The alterations were mostly of a simple nature. An apple was usually filled with nutrients and all that stuff. Now, what would happen if it was filled with something different? Or what if it wasn''t just filled with how much needed to be in the but with how much could fit in there? I''d first attempt the later, it seemed easier. I first grew a normal apple. Then, making sure not to overdo it I slowly increased its nutritional value to the max. The apple looked more vibrant now. I couldn''t test its effects but maybe that new workforce could help with that. So for now, I grew some more of these vibrant apples before returning to the former plan in mind. The next apple I filled with nature magic instead of nutrients. The outcome was an emerald green apple. I tried the same with all the magic types I was proficient in. Lightning gave me a yellow apple, healing was spring green and the one wind was lime green. So the color depended on what element the fruit was filled with. Their different effects were still unknown but I assumed they would correlate with what they were made of. I was really curious about those effects. Wait, who said I couldn''t do some tests! I recalled the little verdant serpent and squirrel that were nested in my crown. The serpent was a little too precious to use for first trial experiments but the squirrel was just perfect. Now from the four possible effects created by the elemental apples nature seemed the best to begin with. Lightning and wind were too dangerous and healing would likely show no effect. So I let the squirrel start nibbling at the nature apple. It had barely eaten a sliver when its size increased a little. By the time it was done eating the whole apple, it was roughly half the size of a human! Naturally, I repeated the experiment a few times... On a side note, may I introduce my 3-meter squirrel to you? Yeah, that happened. So the nature apple made things grow. Next was the wind apple. The squirrel consumed it and was wrapped in a mini cyclone. A slight increase in speed followed by an attack of hyperactivity. Definitely not safe for consumption. The lightning apple nearly killed the squirrel. Good thing it had grown so big and could endure the arcs of lightning that ravaged its body. The healing apple then made the squirrel good as new. Its effect had been the only one I could predict. "Are you lord Eldar? You look quite different from Aldi''s description. He never mentioned that you were this big." Who? I searched the area with my magic perception. The one who had just spoken was hard to notice. Amidst all the nature his body blended into the surroundings near perfectly. I quickly carved a rune of sight pointing in his direction. Blond, sparkly hair that reached his waist accompanied by a pale complexion, light green eyes, and pointy ears. He wore leaf-green clothing that was hard to spot within the forest and from his back hung a long yet slender bow. He was an elf! Though not your average wood elf. Based on his magic he was at the duke magus realm. Also, the intricate carvings on his bow were lined with gold and even emeralds. My guess was that this elf should be of elven royalty. "I apologize if I have scared you with my sudden appearance, lord Eldar. I am Epli, prince of the elves and ambassador to the great tree of destiny." ''Uhm... hi? You probably already know but I''m Eldar... I hate to ask but who is that tree of destiny?'' "That would be you." ''How about no.'' "But you are the one mentioned in the prophecy. A wooden giant north the skies of mankind that possesses consciousness beyond this world. Fruit, ore, and beasts he gives them all but should he burn in hate and leave this world... All will be lost. We elves have received this prophecy from our eldest seer and that old witch has never spoken untrue. Thus, we are here to help and protect you." ''You said we. Who else is there?'' "I was accompanied by twenty others but I left them behind when I saw your majestic height. They should arrive alongside Aldi in the next few days." Elves ''Well then, may I offer you an apple?'' While I said it with all politeness the apple I grew next to him was yellow. A little shock would be a fitting punishment for scaring me. "Judging by the concentrated lightning magic in that apple I fear that only lightning practitioners could safely consume this apple. Sadly I must decline your generous offer." He knew... Sad! ''Well, then how about these two?'' I offered both a nature apple as well as a vibrant apple next. Epli could hardly contain himself after seeing the nature apple. With an explosion of strength I hadn''t thought him capable of, he propelled himself towards the apple. I could hardly watch as he tore into the apple like a savage beast into a carcass. The apple was gone within seconds. "Do you have more of those?" ''Sure, but what do I get out of it?'' "Well, since we elves will aid you in all future matters, shouldn''t we be rewarded. You see, this apple is extremely beneficial to us elves, especially for the growth of our young ones. Wouldn''t bolstering your forces be good?" ''So your loyalty will be mine alone? If I tell you to kill your king, will you do it?'' "We don''t have a king. My mother, the queen has multiple... lovers but her crown will be given only to my little sister. And no, I wouldn''t kill her on your command." ''Then you aren''t part of MY forces and I have no need to bolster your power.'' He looked a little shocked. It would seem I had hit the nail on the head. They were here based on orders and a prophecy and had no intention of truly serving me. "I... I cannot promise you my full loyalty but please believe me, we will serve you well." This was developing into a serious problem. I didn''t have people who were truly loyal to me. That was how it had been with Nerida and that was how it would be with these elves. So long as they believed following me was the best course of action they would support me. However, the second a more viable path presented itself, they would take it. I couldn''t blame them for being opportunistic. They had no reason to follow me to the bitter end. Nerida always put her clan first and the elves seemed completely loyal to their queen. They could only commit to one thing and in this case, that wasn''t me! \u003cYou might not have any followers now but you can change that. There are candidates that could become your followers, like Sven or maybe Aldi. Also, you should accept the elves, they will be useful until you have your own followers.\u003e Another thing on my to-do list. "Lord Eldar? Are you alright?" Oh, I had temporarily forgotten about Epli. My internal monologue had taken too much time and worried him. ''I''m fine. I was merely lost in thoughts.'' "About those apples then... They would be of great use to us." ''I have decided that every elf will receive one such apple for serving me. Additional apples can be received through meritorious services.'' Now it was Epli''s turn to fall into contemplation. He clearly wanted more apples but he needed to serve me for the time being whether I gave them to him or not. With a long sigh, he bade me goodbye and descended to the remains of the town. That was another mess I should clean up right away. Miraculously not a single building had been destroyed during my unexpected growth. The buildings were just displaced on different platforms of hardened soil on various levels. I had neglected the state of these affairs below me since my evolution and decided to first mess around with my new abilities. The town''s people meanwhile had managed to calm down. In the beginning, they had feared the world was ending with all clamor and shaking going on. Only after the tremors had disappeared without a trace did they realize that the world was still intact. Linking the chaos to my sudden growth was also something that they were still capable of doing. Some of them would no doubt think of me as evil, others might think I was avenging my petty grievances but the truth was they were just of low priority to me. I gained no massive benefit from these people''s presence here. Had they all died, Utgard would have sent others. Still, I should extend a helping hand now that the initial chaos had subsided. Benefits are often accompanied by great risk I began to connect the different plots of land, let''s call them islands, with wooden bridges. These wooden bridges were strong roots and wouldn''t break easily. Also, I could shape them as I pleased, creating ladders to reach up to the higher islands. The elves seemed to love it. They could climb ladders at an unbelievable speed and feared no height when it came to crossing narrow bridges. The humans? Not so much. Most of the humans abandoned their houses and descended to the ground. There, a new town was built. The infrastructure on the islands was then taken over by the elves. I felt much more comfortable around the elves. Maybe it was due to them being creatures of nature or because they hadn''t betrayed me yet. Next up, recruiting some subordinates. Using the root system below the new town I called Sven over. ''Sven, you have been quite successful so far and I''ve been meaning to ask... Have you sworn loyalty to anyone yet?'' "No lord Eldar, I have yet to even receive an offer to serve someone. I mean who would want a weak adventurer like me?" ''I would! If you are willing to swear absolute loyalty to me then strength is secondary.'' "I am willing! I hereby pledge my absolute loyalty to you, lord Eldar!" ''Your pledge seems a little rushed. Is it that hard to enter someone''s services?'' "I was born in the slums of Midgard and became an adventurer to keep myself fed. I was mildly talented and got lucky a few times, allowing me to rise out of poverty to this point. Now, with my age, no connections, no fortune, and no real strength... In short, no bigger force has a need for someone like me." ''Fortunately, none of these things are of any concern to me. Now that you have made your pledge there is only one last step before you are a true subordinate of mine. Simply swallow this leaf and it will be done.'' "What is this leaf?" ''Insurance. Should you ever decide to forgo the pledge you just made, I can simply cripple you. Though rest assured, it doesn''t hold any lethality.'' I let the leaf with the potential trigger inscription fall, using wind magic to guide it to Sven. I was expecting the need for some convincing to arise but Sven just grabbed it and wolfed it down. Seeing him eat the leaf so nonchalantly made it hard to believe it was an item that could cripple someone. ''You really don''t hesitate, do you?'' "Should I? As long as I don''t betray you, nothing will happen to me. You own so many beasts and have the ability to pay with golden ingots! Being the subordinate of such an existence is worth taking a little risk." ''Well, now that you are my subordinate, what''s the element you specialize in?'' "I''m a wind magus. Fitting with the tempest wolf I have, isn''t it? Recently, I felt like I was close to having a breakthrough but I just can''t seem to take that last step." ''Wind! I might be able to help you with that. I just need to get you up here somehow.'' Getting the wind apple down to Sven was basically impossible so I would have to bring Sven up instead. And expecting Sven to climb up all the way was out of the question. Remembering the System''s words about platforms I began to grow a system of wooden platforms connected by stairs and ladders, eventually reaching the top. Sven took a while to ascend to the top but finally reached it. ''Here, this apple is wind attributed. Eating it should allow you to break through the bottleneck you are currently facing.'' I was once again astonished at Sven''s decisiveness. He simply plucked the lime-green apple and ate it in a slow yet steady manner. No sooner had he finished the apple that he heavily exhaled and reached the early knight magus realm. Shock was written all over Sven''s face. "Is this some type of divine medicine? Thank you, lord Eldar!" ''Just call me Eldar. This apple was by no means divine medicine, it''s just a simple apple filled with wind magic. I can make a ton of them without breaking a sweat. Assuming I could sweat. Anyway, just take some of them with you for now. You can come and get more once you''ve finished them.'' With that, I dropped a bunch of wind apples into Sven''s lap. He descended the tree with a spring in his step. Rejected? Now that I had acquired my first subordinate, I wanted more. First choice... Aldi! He had brought the elves here and was currently staying in one of the peripheral inns. Calling him over was just as easy as with Sven and I asked him the same question to start. "Funny you would ask... I was once part of a major power in the east but not anymore." ''Then how about serving me? You could obtain great power and even make a fortune!'' "I am grateful for your offer lord Eldar but I cannot accept it. I have seen what humans have done to you and how it changed you. I would have to give you some kind of insurance that could ruin my life. Back when I left the kong clan I promised myself to never serve below someone again. I don''t ever wish to fulfill an order that goes against my better judgment!" ''Looks like you went through something quite terrible in the past.'' "Let''s not talk about things of the past, shall we. I''m sure there is stuff you want to purchase from me." ''In fact, I do have some things I need. Namely any fruit you can find, one or two of each kind are fine. Additionally, I''d like you to find me some rare ores and crystals, the same amount as last time.'' "Sure thing, I''ll see what I can do." With that Aldi went back to the inn he was staying, leaving me a little bit disappointed. I had believed anyone who hadn''t yet joined a force would instantly join me if I asked. Sven might have been a special case or maybe my offer was only attractive to people below a certain level of power. I had little leverage when it came to convincing someone to join my ranks. Maybe I should try converting the elves? No, that wouldn''t work. To the elves, their queen was akin to a goddess, reigning supreme above all. The humans seemed easier to convince. This was both good and bad for me as I could enlist them more easily but they would also betray me more easily. Alas, there was no perfect solution to this problem. For now, I should concentrate on what I could do. Since I had evolved I could control 10 savage beasts now but so far, I only had an infant to command. Keeping in mind to leave space for other species I began to grow another two verdant serpents. This time I would grow adult ones. Additionally, I also grew a dozen of all beast I had newly acquired. The time for their growth had been largely cut down. The beasts would be done in only one day and the savage beasts would need only two weeks. If only I could quickly find a guardian beast and evolve once again. Then, my revenge wouldn''t be too far off. Based on my compliant behavior in aiding the royals the humans seemed to think I was no longer a threat now. Oh, how wrong they thought! Through a passing conversation with Aldi, I had learned early on that the strongest human was in the grand duke magus realm. My current strength should be close to that of a peak duke magus. Currently, annihilating the muspel clan would only spell my own end but after going through another evolution things would be different. Not even mentioning the guardian beast I would have after my evolution. I only needed to find a mythical beast and get it to like me. Just that I couldn''t go searching for one because I was a tree and trees didn''t walk... yet! I mean maybe a mythical beast was in fact around and I just hadn''t noticed. I could ask the system, after all, asking had never killed anyone. ''System, is there a mythical beast around?'' \u003c...\u003e As I thought, there was no way I would have some novel protagonist''s luck. \u003cThere is indeed a mythical beast in your direct surroundings. It''s currently eating some of your vibrant apples. Based on its aura it''s at the close to breaking through and becoming a divine beast. Making a contract with this creature would be very fortunate for you!\u003e There was no way! Queen Kimbera Finding this creature proved somewhat difficult. The classification for beasts was different in my former life so my mental image of a mythical beast may have been a little off the mark. I was looking for some epic killing machine in the flesh! Turns out, this peak mythical beast is a ball of fluff that fits into a human hand. Did I mention that it has wings? And that it likes to bully my giant squirrel? So, in short, I was now trying to make friends with a fuzzy mouse that was flying around eating my vibrant apples. At least it liked me. "Kimbu? Kimbu!!!" ''What is it? You ate all the apples again?'' "Kimbu!" ''Yes yes, I''ll grow more.'' The speed at which this thing, I had taken to calling it Kimbu, could eat was abnormal. It could devour a bunch of apples that were bigger than itself and didn''t seem to have a limit on how much it could eat. I kept on feeding the little glutton over the next week or so before consulting with the system. ''System, how do I make this contract?'' \u003cSimply ask the beast if it wishes to be your guardian beast and accept your first enlightenment fruit. The rest will happen by itself.\u003e ''Very well. Kimbu! Would you like to be my guardian beast and accept my first enlightenment fruit?'' "Kimbu! (^?.?^) Kimbu!" It was vigorously nodding and shot towards me. Only to be caught midway by an azure-colored, gloved hand. Kimbu clearly struggled and poofed up its fur but to no avail. I immediately recognized the lady who had been chasing the dragon with the strange arrow so many months ago. She was still clad wholly in blue and released a dreadful sense of power. A beauty beyond compare, no one I had ever seen could come close to her in charm or aura. Then, her gaze that had been resting on Kimbu moved over to me. I felt like she could see straight through my body all the way to my soul. An inexplicable fear assaulted my mind. She could kill me with nothing but a thought. "I''m sorry but I can''t let this queen Kimbera be your guardian beast. It doesn''t belong in this world and I have come to retrieve it. I hope you can understand." ''Of course! If my lady wishes so I will naturally abstain from taking it as my guardian beast.'' "I''m glad you understand. Still, I feel a little bad for taking such a fortunate encounter from you... Hmmm, yes, that squirrel seems suitable." She instantly reappeared next to my giant squirrel and grabbed it by the neck. My squirrel was so scared by her overwhelming presence that it simply played dead. The lady in blue didn''t seem to care and stuffed a glowing red pill down its throat. "That should do it. Your name shall be Ratatoskr. Once it wakes you can take it as your guardian beast." Before I could even convey my gratitude she flicked her wrist and disappeared along with the queen kimbera. ''System, what just happened?'' \u003cI''m honestly not too sure myself. The good news is that once the squirrel wakes up it should be a mythical beast with the possibility of ascending to be a divine beast.\u003e ''But you said I couldn''t use a self-grown beast!'' \u003cWhile you did grow it, the squirrel you grew was a normal animal. It is now going through a fundamental transformation and will end up a mythical beast. So technically it is not a beast you grew. It''s an animal you grew that was transformed into a beast. Thus, the rules won''t be broken.\u003e ''How long until it wakes up?'' \u003cWeeks, months, years? Such a fundamental evolution can take any amount of time. Though at the longest it would take three years.\u003e ''Let''s hope it doesn''t take three years! Too much can change in three years. My revenge might have become impossible by then.'' So I could do nothing but wait for the day Ratatoskr, as the lady had named it, woke up. Heavenly steel I spent my days practicing different types of magic. My short term goal was to be able to grow all basic elemental apples. Those would be fire, water, earth, wind, lightning, ice, and metal magic. I was already familiar with the basic understandings of all these elemental magic types. Remastering them to a basic level was only a matter of time. I was eventually able to grow apples filled with all these attributes. The day before, Aldi had returned and once again astonished me with his financial prowess. He hadn''t just found multiple kinds of fruit but also a heap of precious materials. Diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and many other crystals, he brought them all. I had just two questions. How could he afford all this and how did he not get robbed?! I absorbed all the things he brought me and was about to ask about payment when Aldi took a bundle of cloth from his pocket. "I came across this particular gem when I was visiting a noble in Utgard." He unraveled the bundle and revealed a crystalline shining ball. At first, I thought it was a shining gem but as I kept looking at it, I recognized it was something else. ''This is heavenly steel! How did you get that? This can''t be produced here, only archmages of the second rank or higher can create this!'' "What''s an archmage of the second rank?" ''Someone with unimaginable power. Based on what I know the power of an archmage should correspond to a king magus. So a second rank should be above that.'' "Above king! That would be a chosen one! They only exist in tales of the past. But that doesn''t matter now! You know what this is and how to use it?" ''It''s heavenly steel, a material created by infusing an innate understanding of light, holiness or anything similar. It''s much more durable than normal metal, in fact, it can cut through iron without any resistance. The only downside is that it is incredibly hard to shape into a weapon.'' "I conclusion you want to buy it." ''Isn''t that obvious! What do you want for it?'' "Can you make weapons out of this?" ''I''m honestly not sure. I can slightly modify the things I grow so I can try.'' I immediately absorbed it and started my deductions. I had absorbed all the other and figured out their structure within seconds. The heavenly steel took a little longer, roughly one minute. Making it proved more difficult. This thing was created using an innate understanding of light. I didn''t have such an innate understanding myself so I couldn''t recreate it even if I wanted! Good thing I didn''t need to. I could filter the relevant parts out from the sunlight since I knew what to look for. It was an arduous process to extract it and form it into heavenly steel. By the time I was done, Aldi had long returned to the inn. Since he would only return in a few hours I tried to form the heavenly steel into a different shape. I usually formed an ingot but now I tried a shield shape. It came out surprisingly well! I even used some bendable vines to create an arm hold. I also created a sword and an ax. Aldi, upon his return, accepted both pieces of equipment. He also asked for a pair of combat gauntlets. I tried to tailor to his wishes but my fine control left some things to be desired. "Eldar, I have a question." ''Ask it then.'' "How do you know all these things? I mean you know how to stimulate bloodlines, you can recognize materials that even the scholars don''t know the names of and you talk of people so powerful that they are only mentioned in legends. Who are you?" ''Who am I? That''s hard to say... I am Eldar, a tree that''s incredibly wise. With age comes wisdom.'' Should I tell him that I had been a human in another world? That I had been reborn as a tree? No! Have you ever seen a protagonist tell anyone about his former life? That would ruin all the wonderful misunderstandings that could happen! Actually, now that I think about it, maybe I should tell him... The past... ''How about an equal exchange? You tell me your story and I''ll tell you mine.'' ... ... ... "I think we can both agree that we don''t want to talk about these matters. Forgive me for prying, it won''t happen again." It would seem the past would remain buried a while longer. "Now I''ll be going. If I find any more precious looking materials I''ll bring them for you to take a look. For now, I got to go make some money." And just like that Aldi left. I shifted my attention over to Rat. He had still not woken up from his evolution. My evolution was so close yet so far. Rat''s size had been increasing since the beginning of its nap and it had so far reached roughly five meters in height. Still dwarfed when compared to me but the elves all looked at him with dread in their eyes. In the evening Sven came over. He''d been gone for the last month and I had no clue where he might have been. His visit brought a great deal of good news for me. Firstly, my apples had godly effects on people of his strength. He had only taken one month to reach the very peak of the knight magus realm. He''d only need a few more apples and he would break through his bottleneck and become a baron magus. Secondly, he had found the territory of a savage beast while exploring. Based on his observations I concluded that it was a wyrm. What was it with all the dragon and serpent species in this world? There were so many of them! Anyway, I sent the two adult verdant serpents and 50 tempest wolves with Sven to hunt it. Since Sven was a hunter and didn''t do close-quarter combat I couldn''t give him a suitable weapon but decided to give him ten arrows made of heavenly steel instead. The whole troop looked quite fearsome when it marched off into the wilderness. With their speed, the journey there and back would take about 10 days. Add the time to slay the wyrm and maybe some preparations before the attack and they should return in 15 days. Since all my adult savage beast had left, I felt a little defenseless and decided to grow to more. My recruitment hadn''t made much progress so far. In an attempt to change that, I grew new boards in the town below. Renewing the old trade deals I also added a recruitment notice. The clamor from the trees growing out of nowhere drew the attention of the inhabitants. Many of them hadn''t dared to approach the boards before due to my proximity. Now that I was a giant tree in the distance, they swarmed the board filled with curiosity. My recruitment notice was short and didn''t go into much detail. It promised great reward and nurturing of potential in exchange for lifelong loyalty. Many seemed tempted but shook their heads after some contemplation and left. I would have to create a bond of trust to get them to serve me. I needed an example that showed how much I could allow someone to get stronger. Sven hadn''t reached the necessary level yet. I''d need someone who was at least a viscount magus. It would take a while before I could use him as an example. Ideally, I''d like to recruit someone at the peak baron magus level and just help them break through to viscount magus. In the end, the crowd had disappeared. There was only one figure left standing there. A heavy cloak covered their features and they had a beast''s corpse slung over their back. The beast looked to be a wooden panther. A beast that had high stealth and camouflage abilities. Its jaw had a great crushing force and made for a nasty surprise. The cloaked figure was dragging a leg behind them. Seems they had learned about the bite of the wooden panther the hard way. Limping heavily, the cloaked figure passed the board and slowly made their way up to me. The beast was thrown at me in an aggressive manner. A low and raspy came out from under the low drawn hood. "I want to trade for one silver ingot." A second chance ''Sure thing. But are you sure you want to trade for silver? Your leg seems to be badly hurt, would you like to exchange a hundred iron ingots for a healing apple?'' "I can''t afford to waste money. My leg will heal on its own, no need for medicine." ''This injury is beyond the natural regeneration of your bloodline. The mountain bull isn''t known for its strong regeneration ability. Your leg will need months to heal without external assistance.'' "Give me my reward!" Fine, if she wanted to ruin herself! I dropped a silver ingot and let it fall down to her. It accelerated while falling and well, a silver ingot (5 kilograms) dropped from 300 meters. You could imagine what happened. With a bang, the ingot made a sizeable indent into the ground next to the cloaked figure. The sound made her jump. I was slightly disappointed by her following reaction. She just took the silver ingot and left without another comment. She''d be back. The cloaked figure reappeared after four days. Limping even more than before, forced to use a thick cane to support her weight. She stopped short a meter before me and remained silent. ''Did you really think I wouldn''t recognize you if you hid under a cloak. You are the only one around with an awakened bloodline of a mountain bull. You''re not fooling me, I know it''s you Nerida.'' "So you really knew all along... Why did I even bother hiding?" ''That''s my question!'' "I don''t even know anymore... So, I heard you''re recruiting talents. Do I qualify?" ''Why would you need to work for me? You are the mayor of this town, you don''t need money. Why did you even hunt that panther?'' "I''m no longer mayor. Without your backing and the townspeople blaming me for your reaction... Let''s just say I was replaced before I even knew it. Also, the money isn''t for me, it''s for the orphans. The new mayor decided that feeding and housing the orphans of our clan was unnecessary. The others from the clan gave up on the orphans as well and the clan is no more." ''So now that your clan is no more you come back to me and expect me to take you in? Okay, I accept you.'' "Figures. Why would you accept me after I- Wait, did you just say you accept? Why?" ''I don''t really have a reason. If U had to name something it would be the fact that you had little influence on things that happened. Had you told me about the noble''s plans in advance, I would still have underestimated him. And even if you had tried to help your power would have made little difference. I have insurance this time so accepting you is no problem. Just swallow this leaf and it will be done. A little warning, if you betray me it will cripple you.'' She swallowed the leaf without hesitation. Two healing apples and some rest later her leg was also good as new. Her leg had looked gruesome, half her calf had been missing and the wound had been heavily inflamed. ''Also, I think you should bring the orphans here too.'' "They''re just children! You can''t recruit them!" ''And why not? They will have a better future under my care and they will also have a place to stay. As for you, I''ll need you to break through for me and reach viscountess maga.'' "Don''t say that so casually. I have been stuck at this bottleneck for too long. I''ll get the kids." She returned soon after with the orphans and they all swallowed a leaf. Thereafter, I sent them to settle in some of the empty island houses and focused on Nerida once again. Her bloodline was the mountain bull, an earth attributed beast. Thus, I just assumed that earth apples would let her attain her breakthrough. She looked at the brown apples with some suspicion but changed her opinion after taking a bite. Not long after, Nerida sat down cross-legged and energy ripples were spreading from her. Then with a blast of magic around her, Nerida broke through and was now an early viscountess maga. Breaking through News Now that I had helped Nerida have her breakthrough, the news about it only had to get out and my recruitment would soar. And just like bad news, good news rarely came alone. Not much Sven returned. Using the heavenly (steel) arrows he had managed to successfully kill the wyrm. One of the two verdant serpents and a few wolves had been killed in the battle but the others emerged mostly unscathed. I absorbed the wyrm and immediately felt the qualitative difference between a savage beast with dragon blood and one without. Somehow the dragon species was special even amongst those of the same rank. Both the wyrm and the verdant serpent were descendants of mythical beasts with highly diluted bloodlines. Both of their ancestors had the potential to advance and be a divine beast. However, despite these similarities in their background, the wyrm was more powerful than the verdant serpent. This could clearly be seen during this wyrm''s death battle. Despite being ambushed by two beings of the same rank and a hunter with a weapon that could easily wound it, the wyrm had managed to kill one of his adversaries. I would even estimate that if Sven hadn''t been there with the heavenly arrows... Let''s not think about that. Anyway, I immediately began to grow three wyrms. Additionally, I proposed a little experiment to Sven. I now had the bloodline of a wyrm and if I could absorb the bloodline of a human, there was a reasonable chance I could also inject it into him. Hearing that he stood to gain the bloodline of a savage beast Sven immediately agreed. I really couldn''t comprehend the thought process of this human. I mentioned repeatedly that there was the risk of death should the experiment fail but he once again accepted without hesitation. Thus, we began the experiment. I produced a sample of the wyrm bloodline and injected it into Sven using a vine as a tube. The following reaction was violent but did not show the lethality that bloodline assimilation was known for. Safe to say the lethal part must happen while the blood is in the digestive system. Sven had received the blood directly into his bloodstream where it began to integrate immediately. Of course, Sven''s blood did not appreciate the presence of this foreign substance. The two streams interlocked in battle swirling though his Veins. Through the vine that connected us, I sent a soothing current of magic. The two interlocking bloodstreams were slowly placated and then they seamlessly integrated with each other. Sven''s aura rose rapidly, he had been on the verge of a breakthrough this whole time and now the bottleneck was simply washed away. And it didn''t stop there! The bloodline he''d received was roughly equal to someone at the marquess level. All this energy took advantage of the broken bottleneck to push him even further. By the time the energy was exhausted Sven had reached the very peak of the baron magus realm and his body seemed to have improved as well, barely reaching knight fighter. The outcome of the experiment? Success beyond believe and the possibility to lay the foundation for a force that could shake the world. Sven now had the potential to become a marquess magus without any external help within the next two decades. ''Sven, I will now teach you a spell that can greatly increase your combat prowess. Do not teach it to others, it is attuned to your specific constitution and will only harm them.'' "What spell are you going to teach me?" ''Have you ever met Nerida? When she fights she transforms and her strength increases.'' "I too can use beast mode?" ''So you know of it. Beast mode isn''t its real name but that doesn''t matter now.'' Teaching Sven was a thing of minutes and soon he transformed. His eyes turned into yellow vertical pupils and his upper body was covered in greenish grey scales. He grew a long but darker tail that could move with great agility. The only flaw in his transformation was that his limbs had remained the same as before. Not a big surprise seeing as the wyrm was a species that shared similarities with a snake. As if drawn by instinct, Sven three himself to the ground and pressed his limbs against his main body. Upon contact, his limbs were swallowed by what seemed to be pockets of scales at his sides. He began to move his body in a snake-like manner and became the mini lookalike of a wyrm. The only thing that allowed me to differentiate him from the real deal was his face that had kept most of its human appearance. Sven canceled his spell and returned to his human form. "I''ve never felt this powerful! It felt like I could easily take on a normal beast." ''You could. Right now, without the spell, you are already stronger than an average beast. After your transformation, you should have the strength of a peak viscount magus. Also, based on the greenish sheen your scales had, your bloodline might even have mutated. You should spend some time adjusting to your new strength.'' War I The next day Aldi arrived with V?lsung. Why did he come here? Did V?lsung find out about my plans? No, he couldn''t know of it! I hadn''t told anyone about my plan for revenge and I hadn''t even made any inquiries about them. Divination? If that was it... then they would know what I did to the royal heirs and march in here guns blazing. That is if they had guns... Anyway, the chances that they knew of my plans were slim. Maybe they just suspected something. If I played my cards well there shouldn''t be a problem. When they arrived Aldi began his ascent to my top. It wasn''t particularly arduous but still took a fair amount of time and stamina. Both of which V?lsung seemed unwilling to use. He simply fixed his gaze to my top and jumped. He jumped! That was a distance of 300 meters! Surprisingly, V?lsung shot through the sky like a missile, reached the highest point of his flight and landed. He had perfectly controlled the kinetic energy of his jump to land without any problems. "Greetings lord Eldar. I come bearing a request from Midgard." ''A request? Shouldn''t we wait for Aldi?'' "That won''t be necessary. Aldi is merely here to discuss the transport of the goods." ''What goods, did you bring me more savage beasts?'' "I fear that in the near future that won''t be feasible. We have just entered into a war with the empire and can''t spare any troops to hunt for you. That is also what I am here for. The weapons you made, those heavenly steel weapons, can you provide us with more?" ''Here you are, coming to me only when you need something. But why do you need my help and why are you suddenly at war?'' "The tensions had been there for a long time. The capital of the empire is called Asgard and is a city made completely out of gold. It isn''t inhabited by humans but by a race called godkin or Aesir as they call themselves. They look like humans but are much stronger in both physique and magical ability. They aren''t as versatile as we humans but make up for it with their sheer power. The Aesir have been locked in conflict with their neighbors the Vanir, the fire giants and the Jotun. Back then humanity was much weaker and we were ignored by all sides. However, the Aesir approached our king, asking for payment since they were apparently protecting the humans from the Jotuns. The king accepted and sent the supplies requested. Little did he know the Jotuns would see this as a provocation and attack the humans. The protection the humans had paid for didn''t come! The Aesir used the giant''s attack on the human lands as an opening to strike the enemy capital, Jotunheim. Unfortunately, their plan was foiled by the fire giants and they had heavy losses. Humanity wasn''t doing any better. They had barely held the Jotuns back long enough for news of the Aesir''s attack to arrive. The Jotun realized that they had been fooled and retreated. The Aesir then blamed the humans and promised to take vengeance. However, for the last 200 years, they were too busy fighting off the Jotuns and recovering their strength. Now the emperor''s son, Thor stepped past his bottleneck and became a king magus. With his newly gained strength, terrifying physique and a magic weapon he pushed the Jotuns back singlehandedly. Now that they''ve got some breathing space, they''re coming for us. Not in full force but even one legion of theirs can bring great devastating to us." ''And why is that my problem? Go ask the elves, they are your allies!'' "We''ve tried that but they answered that they were busy and could only send two hundred archers. With our current strength even if we add those elves, things will get bloody. But if we had your weapons and maybe a hundred beasts-" ''Now you want beasts too?! What do I get out of it?'' "We have coins." ''I can just grow gold.'' "After the war, we can bring you savage beasts." ''I don''t do delayed payments.'' "We can give you status, nobility, land!" ''All those things don''t really matter to me... Anything else? If not, then thi-'' "Myself!" ''Wait, what now?'' V?lsung joining the team "You have been trying to recruit powerful people, haven''t you? You are trying to establish your own force. Whatever the condition to join is, I''ll accept it but you must help us win this war." ''I refuse.'' "Why? I''m a grand duke fighter!" ''I can''t help you win a war against an enemy who has a king magus in their ranks. I can help you defend the border against troops but I can''t help you win such a war.'' "That''s fine! As long as we can make them retreat we can consider that a win. Do you take the deal?" ''Swallow this leaf and the deal will be sealed.'' "This is your condition?" ''Don''t underestimate it. Unlike with the others, it isn''t strong enough to cripple you but it will do some serious damage.'' "I see. If you promise to aide us until this crisis has been averted I will take it." ''You have my word that I will send sizable forces to bolster your defenses.'' V?lsung gave the leaf one last look and stuffed it into his mouth. ''Good, now what kind of weapon do you want?'' "A broadsword and armor!" ''Woah there, do you know how much time it takes to make a full set of armor? I''ll make you a broadsword. In the meanwhile, you can go to the beast layer and tame a few beasts.'' "I already have a partner, I''ll never betray her!" ''How is taming another beast betrayal?'' "I''ve fought side by side with Storm for years and I don''t need anyone else!" ''Storm? Do you mean the lion you were riding last time?'' "Yes, that was her. I guess I should introduce you." V?lsung whistled. From the distance, a roar that made even my verdant serpent tremble could be heard. A shadow broke through the clouds and landed next to V?lsung. It was indeed the lion from back then but I had failed to spot the wings last time. A pair of strong, feathered wings that carried this lioness through the clouds like an arrow shot from a bow. "Lord Eldar, this is Storm, my partner. Storm, this is lord Eldar, we work for him from now on." ''Interesting. She''s still a beast but her roar can already scare a savage beast.'' "That''s to be expected. We have been training together for years and now she''s about to break through again. If only we had a little more time for her to gather more energy." ''Energy you say! What kind of energy? Would something like this do?'' I grew a couple of wind apples and showed them. V?lsung didn''t seem very interested but Storm''s gaze was fixed on those apples. To her, that was good stuff and just what she needed to speed up her breakthrough. I dropped the apples onto the platform and let them roll towards her. The apples quickly disappeared into the beast''s mouth. Of course, this amount was far from sufficient to become a savage beast and so I kept growing more. Knowing this wouldn''t be enough any time soon I began to make V?lsungs broadsword. Usually, broadswords placed great emphasis on the distribution of weight, neglecting sharpness. They would cut only with sheer force and were honestly no better than blunt weapons. This was done in consideration of armored enemies as very sharp blades tended to crack under the rebounding force. Now, heavenly steel was a material of much higher quality and could counter this weakness. The blade I grew was sharpened to the extreme on both sides and the blades'' breadth was ridiculous. Its weight was the only downside and by that I mean, 200 kilograms that would make it impossible to lift for any normal person. V?lsung commented that he hardly felt any difference concerning weight between this and other weapons. I just left him with the suggestion not to hand it to other people. Storm in the meantime had eaten her fill and was glowing from the inside out. A small tornado picked up around her, ruffling her mane... Why did she have a mane! Let''s just forget about that. The white light faded away and the breakthrough was completed. Storm''s appearance had changed much only that the color of her fur and feathers was now completely white. "With this, our odds have once again increased." Off to the battlefield ''What do you reckon is the amount of time we have until the first battle?'' "If we disregard the first few skirmishes I''d guess we have a month at worst, two at best. It also depends where we set up our first line of defense. Knowing the Aesir they will march straight to our capital and we''ll have to block their way." ''That should be enough time for the wyrms to join the battle.'' "Wyrms! Since when do you have wyrms?!!" ''Sven managed to hunt one only recently. They should be done growing within a week or so.'' "This is great! If we send in the wyrms before we engage, the enemy will sustain casualties before we even meet. I need to go inform his Majesty. Could I trouble you to also provide us with some arrows made of heavenly steel?" ''Sure sure. Run along now and inform the king.'' I honestly wanted to squeeze some more out of the humans but something had come up. I could feel rat''s consciousness stir. It felt like I could wake him up with just a simple nudge. I didn''t know why but somehow I could just tell that this time my evolution would take longer than usual. Thus, I decided to make the necessary preparations for war before beginning my advancement. I called Sven over and told him to assist V?lsung. In one week''s time or more he should come to gather the verdant serpent and the three wyrms and take them to the battlefield. I also gave him all the heavenly arrows I made and let him have control over the normal beasts as a minor combat force. Then I used the root system to contact Nerida and told her I was preparing to evolve. She should stay here and make sure that no one insignificant bothered me. With all that out of my way, I sent a wake-up call down the mental bridge between me and Ratatoskr. He jolted awake, nearly falling off my branches. And at that second I felt it. Like before with the queen kimbera, a formless connection was established between the two of us. I didn''t even need to ask if it wanted to be my guardian beast. The minute Ratatoskr woke up it immediately claimed ownership of me, initiating the bond from his side. I could only assume that this was how beasts usually became a guardian beast. By now the bond between us had fully formed and became permanent. You could call it a shackle between our respective souls. The other connection I had, because I had grown him, was simply devoured and ceased to exist. Then a restriction hidden within my soul came undone. I hadn''t even known it existed but at that moment it was released and brought forth a magical change within me. The magic within was refined bit by bit and became incredibly pure. The process reminded me of breaking through in my former world, just that here I went from zero to a hundred. Priorly, I myself had refined my magic three times but failed to complete the fourth refinement. The thing that was accumulating in my body now felt like the result if that fourth refinement. Magic essence! The thing I had before was comparable to the weakest stage in my former world. Mana! It would seem like plants did most of the refinement in one go as opposed to the mages who split up the process. I wondered how the magi of this world did it. Now, the entirety of my body was filled with the newly refined magic essence. \u003cCongratulations, you have become a spiritual tree! Your capacity to control beasts has increased and you can now form a spiritual body.\u003e That was it? I felt like barely any time had passed! Well, all the batter. If I could now form a spiritual body I might be able to join the fight against the Aesir or personally go kill a certain clan! I was now equivalent to a grand duke magus and could move much more freely. Figuratively speaking. My real body still couldn''t move. So I formed my spiritual body. I chose to give myself androgynous features and a well-trained body clad in a green sage robe. Sadly this spiritual body could only interact with the physical world through magic and it could only exert a fraction of my strength. Still, I''d have to boast in front of V?lsung. Thinking that I shifted my attention back to the world around me. ''Hmm. Where did all my beasts go? Did Sven take them to the battlefield early?'' I looked around and discovered that, to my great horror, the growing wyrms were gone. There was no way I wouldn''t have noticed them be removed forcefully. The only explanation for this was that my sense of time hadn''t functioned correctly during my evolution. I quickly located Nerida. ''Nerida! How much time has passed since I began advancing and how''s the war?'' "Eldar? Oh, you''re finally back. It''s been a month since you were gone! Sven came back twice but you didn''t respond. From what I heard things are dire. The Aesir sent three legions instead of one and their commander is well known for being undefeated. Sven left with all the beast three days ago, I don''t know how the situation has changed since then." Right, the beasts! They were connected to me and I could roughly tell where they were. I sensed for those connections but I really didn''t like the results. I couldn''t feel any beast! Only the premature verdant serpent was still alive. ''It would seem I have to make a trip.'' The battlefield Over at the main plains before Midgard. Two armies were standing opposite of each other. One army had taken a defensive position on slightly elevated ground. They numbered twenty thousand and most of the soldiers were somewhere between the fighter and baron fighter realm. Sporadically there were some magi, ranging from the baron to the count realm. Barely connected wooden walls were set up and the whole army seemed in disarray. Their leader was standing around a map with his commanders. The crown atop his head looked heavy and despite him being a peak grand duke magus it seemed to weigh down his head. He was the king and he had to bear the responsibility for the outcome of this battle. On the other side, three individual camps were neatly built. Each camp had contained roughly 800 soldiers ranging from viscount to count magus with captains that were all marquess magi. Their commander was holding a dagger in his hand, repeatedly drawing it across his bare chest and marveling at his unhurt skin below the sharp blade. The soldiers standing guard around him pointedly ignored his strange behavior. They had seen worse and grown accustomed to their general''s antics. Both sides were currently resting. Between them, a massive battlefield lay desolate, filled with corpses of those who hadn''t been fortunate enough to survive the first clash. Particularly three massive grey forms stood out from the rest. Around the dead wyrms'' corpses, the earth was scorched black. Charred bodies were all that remained of the brave souls who had vanquished these giants. Further back on the human side, more beast corpses could be found. With a dead verdant serpent in the middle, beast of all kind lay on the field. Some humans could be seen going back and forth between their camp and the dead beasts, carrying their corpses back with them. The other side could not be bothered with such things. They hadn''t even retrieved their fallen comrades, deigning them worthless for dying in the first battle. The day passed and the next morning both sides were preparing for the next battle. On the human side, their king held a long speech. He thanked the soldiers for fighting with him, praised their efforts thus far and reminded them that they were laying down their lives to protect their families. At the back of the human camp, barely in reach of the king''s speech, two humans stood next to a giant green serpent. They were having a conversation using only a soft voice. "Are you sure we shouldn''t send this one to battle? It could save countless lives!" "It has yet to mature so its combat ability is only slightly above that of a normal beast. Its size is only the byproduct of the master''s experiment. Also, if we kill it master won''t be able to send us any reinforcements should he wake up. This is the only thing that tells him about our location." "Are you confident he will send reinforcements?" "All the other beasts died. Once he notices that he will know something went wrong. I only worry if he can reach us in time." "Then let us wait and hope that time is our ally." In the opposing camp, the soldiers were not attending their leader''s speech. Formless ripples spread throughout the camp congregating around the soldiers. This was their commander''s ability, beacon of hope. As long a he stood on the battlefield his troops would never lose motivation and might even fight in disregard of their own lives. Their commander was currently talking to a man clad in darkest black. "Dearest brother, how come you haven''t won against the humans yet? Didn''t you boast about how unstoppable you were when you left Valhalla with those three legions? Father was impatiently waiting for your good news. Now he sent me to have a look at what took you so long and what do I find? Not only are you in a temporary stalemate but you also lost 600 men in the process." The black-haired visitor''s words were provocative but his blond brother didn''t get enraged and simply answered in a calm fashion. "I couldn''t have known the humans had managed to tame three wyrms. You can tell father that I will return as soon as possible. The humans are already waning and without those beasts, they stand no chance at stopping me. You should return now before father gets impatient waiting for you!" "Fine, I''ll be leaving. Talking to Thor is much more fun than talking to you. He always gets overwhelmed by his rage." The visitor jumped into the air and shifted into a falcon, flying westward. His brother followed the flying bird with his eyes before turning around, filled with determination. The battle began! The Aesir side charged, wielding both magic and weapons in their hands they were like a tidal wave rushing for the shore. The humans formed a tight line prepared to receive the brunt of the Aesir charge. With a resounding clang, the two sides collided intensely and first blood was drawn. Under the fearless charge of the Aesir, the human defenses quickly crumbled. Panic spread the human troops and their initial determination began to wane. The Aesir legions increased the pressure once again hammering the left flank until it collapsed. All seemed lost for the human side. That was when a thundering noise came from the north. Under the horrified gazes of the Aesir legion, 500 bloodrush rhinos came straight at them. Joining the battle The battle didn''t seem to go in favor of the humans. I could see that their left flank had collapsed entirely and they wouldn''t hold up much longer. I had hoped to let the human forces be weakened some more before joining the battle but at this rate, they would lose the battle. Thus, I ordered the bloodrush rhinos to charge at the Aesir''s left rear. The Aesir became a little frantic but didn''t shrink back in the face of this stampede. Instead, some of them split from the main group, preparing to intercept the rhinos. Their gazes were resolute as they readied their strongest spells. Using their lives they would be able to halt and kill all rhinos and protect their rear. They intended to take advantage of the rhinos'' charging-behavior that wouldn''t let them stop even when they died. Just that the group of rhinos suddenly split up in two halves and swung out towards both sides. The burst of magic from the Aesir missed most of as the two groups continued charging to different positions. One group attacked the Aesir''s left flank and gave the humans some much-needed respite. The second group bulldozed straight through the Aesir''s rear. Astonishingly one figure survived the 200 rhino charge as he was pushed further and further away from the main army. Then panic broke out in the Aesir army. From the backs of the rhinos, countless head-sized spiders had alighted their rides and latched onto the Aesir soldiers with their giant fangs. These were horrifying widows, a beast that was feared for its potent venom. Within minutes 400 soldiers had lost their lives on the Aesir side. The others began a hectic retreat after hearing the call of a deep horn. I quickly located the source of this sound and discovered it to be the survivor pushed away by the rhinos. Those rhinos now lay lifelessly at his feet. To kill so many beasts while caught by their charge meant he was most certainly not an ordinary soldier. Probably their commander. But that didn''t matter now. I had pushed the Aesir back and bought some time for the humans to reorganize themselves. Gathering the 200 odd rhinos and 50 widows that had survived, I made my way to the human camp. V?lsung received me at the edge of the camp with a questioning look. "Thank you for your help but who are you?" ''So little time has passed and you have already forgotten about me? Do I have to question your loyalty?'' "Lord Eldar! You have a human body now! But you still speak in this creepy way." "I can speak normally. It''s just that I don''t want to. Also, I think you have bigger problems at the moment, don''t you?" "Yes indeed. You came just in time, let me introduce you to the king!" I left the beasts next to the camp and entered with V?lsung. He led me to a giant tent at the center of the camp. Inside the tent were quite a few people. I could see Sven, brooding in a corner with his eyes fixed on the map. Sigurd and Siegfried were there too but seemed more like observers. Apart from them I only knew the identity of one more person in this tent. The king stood at the end of the table bent over the map. He was the strongest person in the room and the crown was a dead giveaway. V?lsung then walked up to him and introduced us. "Your Majesty, may I introduce to you, lord Eldar. Lord Eldar, this is king Sigmund, ruler of all humans." "It is an honor to meet you, lord Eldar. Your help came just in time. As much I would like to exchange some political formalities right now, I''d suggest we leave that for later. Let''s get back to discussing our strategy." And just like that, I was set aside. "Now, how''s the situation on both sides." "In the initial clash, we lost a thousand men. 500 are wounded and won''t be able to continue fighting. That leaves us with 18500 soldiers. The Aesir gave lost around 400 men but if they have wounded is unknown. Leaving them with 2000 soldiers. As for the beasts..." ''I''m left with 200 rhinos and 50 horrifying widows. The others are still on their way.'' "There are others?" Strategies ''Yes, 500 tempest wolves, giant mantises, and shadow horses are moving here with some supplies. The new wyrms have only just left town so they probably won''t make it.'' "There are just ordinary beasts, what can they help? We need more men. I request to be sent back to gather reinforcements." I recognized this particular commander. He had been the one commanding the left flank that collapsed. Evidently, both his men and skills at commanding them were subpar and he just wanted to leave this place. "We can''t move any other forces to this place. We would substantially weaken our defenses in other places, making us vulnerable. But since you were so willing to be the first to head out, you will be stationed on the frontlines next time." Sigmund had seen through that commander''s plan and he was having none of it. The commander turned pale and his hands started trembling. He knew that the bloodshed was thickest at the frontlines and he wouldn''t survive there. However, the order had come directly from his king. He couldn''t openly defy his ruler. Remaining silent, he wished to simply slip out of the tent in silence. I was debating on pointing out the commander''s actions but Sigmund was already a step ahead of me. He grabbed his sword and waved it at the now fleeing commander. The commander was cut in half at the waist without even being touched by the sword. That sword was dangerously sharp! It had literally just cut through space. I had only cut a few meters deep but that was space we were talking about! "This is the royal blade, Gramr. It is passed down from king to king, choosing the next king." ''Really, I thought the title of king was hereditary here?'' "It usually is. However, what if the royal line were to die out? Or what if there were three sons? The sword generally accepts anyone from our family, its choice is just to prevent uncertainties. Back then, it chose my youngest brother and after that, it naturally chose his son." So the sword had a will of its own and could cut through space... Fighting Sigmund would not be easy. By now the corpse had been cleared away and the talking resumed. I will spare you the details but overall it was decided that they would keep the same strategy as before, with me forming an independent strike group. I would support wherever I saw fit and maybe try separating the Aesir commander from his troops. Apparently, this would be very detrimental to the Aesir''s troop morale. The main goal here was just to defend. Especially, since there were currently 10 wyrms heading right here. Once they arrived, the Aesir would be having a bad time. Thankfully, the Aesir took the rest of the day to reorganize themselves, giving us some much needed time. My beasts arrived. With this, I felt more confident to fight on until the wyrms arrived. The supplies they brought were also a great help for the humans. The vibrant apples I had brought could feed them for a week. The troop''s morale increased with just one meal. Then I began positioning the beasts to allow me more control over the battlefield. The giant mantises were stationed in front of the human''s main force. Those mantises were instructed to create holes in the enemy formation even if it cost their lives. The wolves were placed near the left flank, while the shadow horses covered the right flank. The remaining rhinos and widows were on standby, waiting for an opportunity. Then as the sun was diving into the horizon, a horrible hunch struck me. The Aesir would no doubt attack in a way that would make our superiority in numbers be useless while giving them some advantage. The biggest advantage they had was that they could only be defeated if multiple humans or beasts worked together. Thus, ideally, they would attack in a way that made cooperative fighting more difficult. Like limiting the ability to communicate with each other or see each other in the first place. Wait a moment! If they can''t see each other... There was going to be a night attack! Battle at nigh I quickly went to tell V?lsung about my rising suspicion. He didn''t look like he believed it but said he would relay my suspicion to Sigmund. I had done what I could to warn the humans. If they ignored my advice, there was nothing I could or wanted to do. A night battle was the most detrimental for the humans as beasts could see very well in the dark and I could use magic perception. The Aesir probably had their own arrangements. According to my expectations, the Aesir retired to their tents very early. Lulled by this sign of hesitation the enemy had shown, the humans rested early too, believing that the Aesir wouldn''t attack. Myself, I didn''t need sleep. The concept had even become somewhat foreign to me. Thus, I noticed right away when there was movement in the Aesir camp. Silently the soldiers creeped out of their tents and sneaked across the battlefield. The only wore leather armor, evidently, they planned on using the element of surprise to their advantage. This, however, made them much more vulnerable themselves. To get past the watchmen they even had to crawl past the lit spaces. They were now steadily approaching the giant mantises. I had ordered all the beasts to lay down and pretend to be asleep, making the Aesir drop their guard even further. Once they reached the mantises the Aesir split up, circling around the giant bugs as quiet as possible. They probably thought that the beasts were all controlled by tamers and killing the masters would be more efficient. As the two currents of sneaking troops were passing the mantises I waited until half had passed. Out of nowhere, all the mantises heads shot up, their insect eyes filled with the intent to murder. Without giving off even the slightest bit of sound those humongous scythe-like forearms cut through the air. The passing troops were caught by surprise and received heavy injuries due to their light armor. As they were slashed by my beasts, some couldn''t keep down their voices and cried out in agony. This immediately alarmed the human watchmen and by extension the human camp. Now the first half of the Aesir didn''t hide any longer, they were already past the mantises and directly in front of the human camp. The battle there was bloody. The Aesir had the element of surprise and most humans were still a little groggy from sleep. The humans, on the other hand, had an overwhelming advantage in numbers. Doing some rough calculations there were around 500 Aesir fighting more than 10000 humans. The other 500 Aesir were facing the giant mantises slashes. Most of them had been heavily wounded during the surprise attack and so they were struggling to fight the equal number of insects despite the Aesir''s strength being higher. Now all 1000 Aesir were locked in battle. Though I felt like this was all a little too easy... Wait!... 1000... That was only half of how many there should be! I spun on my heel, finding the missing 1000 at the other side of the human camp, sneakily thinning out the human armies rear. They had probably adjusted to this style of attack after the planned pincer attack failed. Covered by the commotion made by the open fight upfront they had remained undiscovered. This didn''t go as planned. Time to improvise! ''Shining lunaries first form, astral bodies suspended in the sky!'' Brought to life by my spell, around a dozen miniature moons began circling above the human camp. The nightly camp was brightened up by strong moonlight rays. The hidden Aesir troops were immediately discovered and attempts were made to stop them. Still, the Aesir had managed to advance too deep into the human camp and could not be stopped by the few soldiers who weren''t fighting at the front. V?lsung was amongst them but even he could do little more than tie down a few captains of the opposing side. ''V?lsung, can you hear me?'' "I''m busy. We need to stop these Aesir. Their commander is somewhere amongst them!" ''That''s exactly what I am trying to do! However, the aftereffects will keep me from communicating with you for some time. I can still roughly direct the beasts but you will be on your own.'' "What can you do? I don''t feel threatened in the slightest by this body of yours, you can''t be that strong." ''There is one important thing you don''t seem to know about mages. Give us enough time to prepare our spells and we can take down almost anyone. Shining lunaries second form, astral rain from the heavens!'' The miniature moons circling above descended right where the most Aesir were gathered. The spheres with a radius of one meter had little impact on the army as a whole but the moonlight suffused in the spheres was like poison to them. This moonlight was created, using a basic understanding of time. Touching it made the Aesir age uncontrollably, sapping away their youthful strength. ''Shining luminaries third form, starburst, a new beginning!'' Balder The shining spheres that were infused with that deadly moonlight, exploded. The moonlight spread, taking down swaths of Aesir standing to close to it. Under the terrifying effects of time passing until they were only lifeless shriveled up corpses, the Aesir''s numbers were greatly reduced. My already ethereal body became completely invisible. I was now nothing but a shred of soul floating in the air. Still, half the Aesir were wiped out, greatly lessening the pressure on the humans. In the radius of my last spell, there was only one survivor. The enemy commander! He emerged from the scattering moonlight unscathed. Perfect immortality? An innate understanding of time? How did he not get affected by time? "So we meet again lord . Must you insist on continuing this senseless bloodshed? We humans do not wish to fight against the Aesir." Sigmund had entered the battlefield and addressed the commander of the Aesir, . He had raised Gramr in front of himself, assuming a stance that would allow him to attack at any given moment. His attempt at stopping further fighting did not seem very sincere. "Sigmund, I see you still like advocating peace with a sword in hand. You are such a hypocrite. Since you humans let the Jotuns go back then, us destroying you was inevitable." "You Aesir tricked us humans into fighting someone much stronger than us. You couldn''t have expected all of humanity to perish just so you could defeat the Jotuns? Is this what you wanted ." "That was how the Allfather willed it. Yet you humans refused your destiny, now you will be exterminated for defying destiny!" "We will see who will be exterminated. We outnumber you and your surprise attack failed, you won''t be victorious." With that, both had said their piece and charged at each other. Sigmund swung Gramr, creating the same spatial phenomenon as before. simply received the spatial cut and the following sword using only his fist. A punch against an incredibly sharp sword that could even cut space! Only a madman would do such a thing. ''s punch met Gramr and stopped the blade. He wasn''t cut even by such a powerful weapon! Instead, he punched forward with his other hand, forcing Sigmund to evade and take a step back. Sigmund swung around and hit balder''s face with a horizontal slash, blasting him a few meters away. stood up, climbing out of the pit he created, his face wasn''t scratched in the slightest. Sigmund followed up and arrived before , letting Gramr descend with even more force. sidestepped, causing Gramr to be buried deep into the ground. While Sigmund had to free his sword from the earth''s clutches, rained down a torrent of punches on him. Despite the intensity of those punches, Sigmund didn''t seem to be hurt by them. They soon entered a stalemate where neither could hurt the other. Around them, the Aesir were slowly losing ground. They were severely outnumbered and had to fight both man and beast. Soon, was the only Aesir left standing. "All the others are dead? Looks like I will have to get serious and do this myself." "! If we fight seriously we will only bring more destruction!" "We are way past the point where we worry about destruction. Dazzling light of hope, spear from heaven!" On ''s command, light itself formed a spear and shot at Sigmund. While it flew, there was a whistling noise as it sliced the air. "Fine, let''s do this the hard way then! Firestorm, burn!" Countless embers congregated around Sigmund. Spinning and twisting the ember whirlpool clashed with the light spear. In the end, the dazzling spear triumphed and cut through the firestorm. Only to be broken by a swing of Sigmund''s sword. More and more elemental power was flying around between them as they kept hurling spells at each other. held the upper hand regarding the potency of his spells but Sigmund easily blocked then using Gramr''s otherworldly sharpness. The human army had retreated, the field around the two who were fighting now little more than a wasteland. It would have probably ended in a battle of endurance but suddenly an arrow shot through the air. It barely grazed ''s cheek, leaving a thin red line. Blood! ''s blood! Slowly raised a trembling hand up to his bleeding cheek, eyes filled with confusion. Victory? "I am bleeding! My skin was pierced! My face! Damn you, Sigmund for wounding me! Damn you, humans, for once again escaping your fate! This will not end here! I will be back and make you suffer!" Wasn''t he overreacting? The injury he had sustained was barely a scratch. He wouldn''t bleed to death from this even if he tried. Was Balder really just a drama queen? Hoping to learn more about the situation I looked at the humans, finding them utterly shocked. V?lsung looked like his lower jaw was about to hit the floor. Was there something important I didn''t know? For now, I could only wait until my spiritual form recovered. One hour had passed since the battle, only 11 hours remained. I directed the beasts to the north of the camp and decided to take a nap. And by that I mean I counted from one to 39600 to pass the time. With my now restored spiritual body, I returned to the human camp and found Sven and V?lsung in the main tent. "Lord Eldar, you have finally returned! You wouldn''t guess what happened after you left." ''I didn''t leave Sven, I was merely unable to communicate with you. I was there during the whole battle. Which brings me to my question. What the hell was that drama Balder made over getting scratched by an arrow? The wound was barely visible but he treated it like you had slashed across his whole face.'' Sigmund had come over and heard my question. "I believe this is something you do not know Eldar but Balder''s body is invulnerable. No matter how he is attacked he won''t be wounded by anything. Even Gramr, a legendary blade, can''t cut or scratch him. Now the thing that he was freaking out over wasn''t the wound itself, it was the implication he could be wounded once again. Since his birth, Balder''s biggest fear had been his own death. Seeing him suffer from extreme paranoia and anxiety, his mother visited all the things in this world and made them promise not to hurt him. After that, Balder became a shining general for the Aesir. He feared nothing and no one, making a defeat nigh impossible." ''But this time he was wounded.'' "Indeed. I fear that Odin won''t like the fact that we found a way to get past Balder''s invulnerability. Even if we say that we are clueless about how we did it, Odin will not take the risk. Especially with our previous history and the battle now. You should return to your home now Eldar, I''ll send someone to fetch you when you are needed." What a condescending bastard! Now that the enemy was temporarily repelled I was sent away? They just didn''t want me to be present while they discussed how to proceed. Was I just some reinforcement that could be called when needed? ''Very well, I''ll be going then. Good luck, you''ll need!'' None of them perceived the slightly sarcastic tone hidden in my voice or maybe they just didn''t care. Either way, they''d regret it later. If they wished to drive me away, why should I stop them? Since they couldn''t even show the slightest bit of gratitude, I wouldn''t need to have any second thoughts about what I was about to do. Soon these idiots would wish that they had never let me leave. ''Sven, V?lsung, we are leaving!'' I stormed out of the tent heading north. My subordinates hurried after me and we left the battlefield with the beasts. When we had brought some distance between us and the camp, V?lsung rode his white sky lioness over to me. He seemed intent on calming the bad mood his nephew had put me in. "Sigmund might come over a bit harsh but he doesn''t mean it. He''s a good kid but the burden of being a king weighs on him." ''Don''t lie to me. He meant what he said and being a king is no excuse for such a thing. He has made his decision to treat me like a pawn and I have made mine to use his carelessness to my advantage.'' "What do you mean?" V?lsung seemed a little worried about the last part I had said. Good, he didn''t seem to know my plans. ''You''ll know soon enough'' And with that, the beast horde adjusted its course, heading northwest. Lohenheim will burn "Eldar! Why are we heading to the northwestern border? Do you plan on attacking Valhalla?" ''Valhalla? Never heard of it. Tell me, what is it.'' "Valhalla is the fortress city of the empire. It guards the passage between your forest and the volcanic mountains, leading to Jotunheim. Most of the Aesir army is stationed there, defending against the frost and fire giants. The city is filled with Aesir soldiers and represents the peak of the empire''s capability. If you attack that place even if you have one hundred wyrms you will still be defeated." ''Don''t worry then, that is not my target.'' "Then what is? What is there in the northwest you would want to attack?" ''When did I ever say I was going to attack something? Maybe I''m just going to a friendly picnic.'' "With a horde of wild beasts and an aura screaming bloody murder? You are obviously planning to kill someone! Who is it? The only other thing in this direction is Lohenheim... Wait! You still haven''t forgotten about the matter with that sapling?" ''No, I haven''t!'' "You have already killed the one responsible why do you suddenly want more?" ''I killed the one responsible? What a joke! The reason why he could do what he did was a fire artifact in his possession. I made some inquiries and found out that this artifact is made from a fire giant''s bones, a material that the muspel clan holds a monopoly over. Furthermore, only clan elders can refine an artifact of this level.'' "So what, you plan on asking them who made that artifact and then you''ll kill him?" ''they''d lie without a doubt, thus, I will kill them all just to be sure. And if anyone gets in my way I''ll kill them too.'' "Why now all of a sudden? Can''t you forgive the muspel clan on account of your cooperation with humanity?" ''Before I was too weak! The muspel clan''s ancestor is still alive and a duke magus, with my strength back then he would simply kill me. I had to lie low and make some concessions to you humans to buy myself the time needed to grow. Now I''m stronger than that sack of old bones, possess multiple savage beasts and even have you as a subordinate. They won''t stand a chance.'' "I won''t help you destroy the muspel clan! They are an important part of the sky kingdom!" ''You became my subordinate in exchange for my help against the Aesir. Is this how you honor your promise?'' "..." "Will you at least keep helping the humans fight the Aesir?" ''If Sigmund asks for my help and treats me with common courtesy, I will respond in kind.'' We continued on and soon joined up with my twenty wyrms and another 2000 beasts. Adding those to the survivors from the last battle, my army now contained 2500 beasts, 20 adult savage beasts, and one young savage beast. Two days later we arrived in the vicinity of Lohenheim. This was where the far reaches of volcanic mountains were separated from the rest through the river Ifing. The river also served as the border between the empire and the sky kingdom. This little part of the volcanic mountains was part of the human kingdom and made Lohenheim prosper. They were inhabited by the fireborn and hid some fire giant remains deep within them. However, that was of no importance to me! They would burn regardless of their prosperity. The beast horde arrived before the city. The looming threat didn''t go unnoticed. Magnifying my mental coverage I sent a message through the whole city. ''Citizens of Lohenheim, do not be alarmed by the beasts outside your city. As long as the muspel clan comes out and faces me I will do you all no harm. As for the elders of the muspel clan, come on out or I''ll have to force my way in and find you myself!'' Then I let the wyrms roar and unleash their aura to its fullest. Twenty marquess level auras combined and pressed down on the city. This should be enough to draw them out. For the next hour, nothing happened. I had been expecting this and thus it didn''t really bother. The muspel elders were probably holding a meeting to discuss who they might have offended and how to deal with me. I had already decided to wait for three hours. If they answered before that, good. If they didn''t, they were testing me. Three hours later they didn''t respond, evidently waiting to see my reaction. I let the wyrms retract their auras and sent over another mental message. ''I take it this is your answer then.'' Only seconds later, five old men flew over, led by one middle-aged man. Except for one old man hidden in the back, they were all magi at the marquess level. "I am the head of the muspel clan. What is the meaning of this barbaric siege? We have no grievances with you so we suggest you leave." Politics Back with my main body, I released my spiritual form and merged the sliver of my soul with the main part. I was now more or less a being that could see eye to eye with the leading powers of this world. The only thing I was lacking to truly enter the ranks of these figures was their recognition. Despite my power making me qualified to be one of them, I would have to pass a test of strength. This test wouldn''t be artificially created, it required some instigation on my part. I would have to challenge an already recognized nation and either defeat it or achieve a balance in power, a truce of sorts. In my case, this nation was the sky kingdom. Through my elimination of the muspel clan''s upper echelon, the whole kingdom''s stability would be affected. Of course, this was just a secondary benefit after taking my revenge. Depending on Sigmund''s reaction I, this challenge would either be settled through talking or fighting. Both ways could bring me recognition, thus the choice lay solely with Sigmund. As for why I suddenly started caring about politics. The next evolution criteria left me little choice. My next evolution was called an enlightenment tree. The name was given based on the tree''s ability to grow a fruit containing enlightenment of a certain attribute. To do this I would have to acquire what was referred to as an innate understanding in my former world. This innate understanding was formed after the comprehension of an attribute reached a certain level. The heavenly steel I could replicate was made precisely by one such innate understanding. My momentary condition made things somewhat difficult. I didn''t have a real affinity anymore and would have to completely rely on myself for any comprehension. This could take centuries or even more. However, I was a tree without affinities, thus, I had another option. I could kill someone with an innate understanding and take it for myself. The perfect victim to steal it from? I hadn''t decided yet but I already had a favorite. There was just one little problem... All possessors of an innate understanding were king magi since having an innate understanding was the breakthrough condition. Killing such an entity would certainly not be easy. The best thing I could do was to establish myself and form alliances to increase my chances. I had the sneaking suspicion that no matter how the conflict with Sigmund ended, I wouldn''t get much help from the humans. The Aesir would definitely not help me either, partially because I had helped the humans and because they would most likely be my target. The elves had shown great interest in protecting me but they didn''t seem very friendly. I felt like they were hiding secrets. Dark secrets. These three races had little potential to be my allies. I''d have to consider the others. I felt like the Jotuns and I had good chances to form an alliance against the Aesir. If only I had a way of contacting. As for the other four races, I didn''t see many possibilities for this to work out. Fire giants shouldn''t mix with a tree, the dark elves and dwarves were too secluded, and the Vanir would most likely side with their fellow godkins, the Aesir. Strengthening my own ranks would be crucial! If possible I really wanted to obtain some flying beasts and let Sven and Nerida achieve a few breakthroughs. Specifically, Nerida needed to start getting stronger again. Sven had reached the peak of the baron realm through the help of his bloodline and an unending supply of wind apples. I had already made him a little hut in my branches and given him enough wind apples to hopefully become a viscount magus. As for Nerida, I could only supply her with earth apples and advise her to train harder. V?lsung, on the other hand, had been sent out to hunt with his mount, the white lioness. Both had reached a level where my apples could do little to add to their strength. Only an enlightenment fruit would be able to bring a significant change for them. Not to that they weren''t binge eating vibrant apples but it just didn''t bring any significant effects. An unexpected visitor I spent my days growing more elemental apples and supervising Sven''s progress. Then one day I had an unexpected visitor. He had arrived like the elven prince back then, suddenly and undetected he stood beside me. "You must be lord Eldar. Excuse my sudden appearance but I was in a hurry." ''Why do all you ants always keep appearing out of nowhere!'' "So you actually saw me! I must commend your keen perception, for you to even notice such an unassuming detail." ''What the heck are you talking about? Just get to the point before I kill you, Aesir.'' "Fine, fine. I am here today to ask a question. Are you the one producing these miraculous arrows the human army used during the last battle?" ''No... What arrows are you talking about? I only gave the humans some iron, they must have made that into arrows. But it was just normal iron!'' Was I playing dumb? Of course, I was! Who would ever admit to having produced a weapon that can wound an invulnerable enemy? Just push the blame on the humans! They are at war with the Aesir anyway. "Really? The humans said otherwise, they proclaimed they were present when you made them." The good old trick when interrogating separately, tell them the other one already talked. I wouldn''t fall for that! ''Defamation! They just want to shift the focus of the war away from them! I made no such arrows for the humans.'' Technically, this was not a lie. The humans did wish to shift the attention of the Aesir away from them and I didn''t make those arrows for them but for Sven. "Spare me your excuses. Let me be frank, I am Loki, as of now, a general of the Empire. Both of my parents were Jotuns but Odin killed them and took me in due to my talent. He doesn''t know that I found out and like you, I want my revenge. I am Odin''s spymaster and have collected a lot of knowledge about you. With your help, I can kill Balder, drive Odin and Frigg mad and destroy the empire." ''Our goals do indeed seem to align quite well but what about Thor? Is he your way of removing me after I lose my worth to you?'' "By no means! Thor will be a problem I''ll have to deal with myself. He is dangerous and his weakness is hard to exploit." ''What if I offered to help you kill Thor in exchange for his body.'' "So it''s true that you are a tree that specializes in using lightning. Things won''t be as easy as you think. For now, Odin is the real problem. As long as he controls the Empire they will not make any grave mistakes. And as long as Balder lives, they will not lose hope." ''Then what do you propose to remedy this troubling situation?'' "Glad you ask, I just need one of those arrows. I can smuggle it into Asgard without a problem and then I just need to wait for an opportunity. If I need anything else I''ll return. Now if you would excuse me I will have to go find a way to keep Odin out of this." And just like he had appeared out of nowhere he suddenly vanished. Well, at least he tried to make me think that. My earlier comment about him being an ant had unexpectedly been on the mark. Where Loki had been standing a small ant with an absurd amount of magic power. I could only conclude that Loki possessed a talent allowing him to shapeshift. The ant quickly scurried off, leaving me to my own thought about how to proceed from here on out. I could do little but trust Loki and hope he kept the Aesir of my back while preparing for the case where he didn''t. My strength still wasn''t sufficient to openly take on all the other powers. I needed more bloodlines and strong servants. I should give a bloodline to all those orphans I recruited with Nerida. I also couldn''t slack off when training myself. I needed to continuously try to improve my control and understanding of as many attributes as possible. Sigh, so little time yet so much to do. Sigmund is busy A month had passed since my first encounter with Loki. There had been little progress with his plans to kill Balder or even smuggling the heavenly arrow into Asgard. We had met a few more times but last time Loki told me he''d be making a trip to Jotunheim and wouldn''t be back for a while. Sven had also had multiple breakthroughs, making him a bonafide peak viscount magus. His body was like a furnace and devoured tons of wind apples to fuel his rapid pace of growth. With his wyrm bloodline and the help of enough energy, he was quickly soaring past the bottlenecks of every level. Nerida wasn''t faring so well, having only reached the intermediate viscountess maga real she was lagging behind due to her bloodline holding her back. V?lsung too found it hard to advance any further. He had already lost his youthful vigor and breaking through to peak grand duke fighter would be nigh impossible. Instead of wasting his efforts on that insane bottleneck, I had him learn magic. Admittedly, his talent wasn''t great but with the help of countless fire apples, he successfully reached the early knight magus realm. If only I had a mythical beast''s bloodline to give him, his potential would soar. As for the orphans, they had all reached the knight magus realm and successfully received the wyrms bloodline. Sadly none of them had mutated like Sven. Additionally, all of them had made an equal''s contract with a shadow horse. I had also recruited some adventurers, ranging from the magus level to the baron magus level. They all made an equal''s contract with one of the various beasts I could grow. I had finally built a combat force that wasn''t made up of only beasts. I still had the beasts, they made up a large part of my forces but their ability to think was a critical drawback. Only alpha beasts with years of practical experience could do such a thing. The alphas I grew might be physically bigger than normal beasts but experience-wise, they were essentially newborns. The humans might be few in number but they could make autonomous decisions and think about their next moves. I had been preparing throughout the past month for an enraged Sigmund to charge over here and attempt to chop me in half. However, when I now spied a troop under the royal banner approaching, I couldn''t feel his presence amongst them. Could he have hidden? No, a man like Sigmund would never hide, he would only advance or retreat without hiding anything. The convoy didn''t attack the town but continued through and reached my base. They had not met any resistance so far, all my forces had been pulled back and secretly sent to seal off the perimeter. Sigurd was leading the convoy, followed closely by Siegfried and Signy. All three of them were now intermediate marquess magi. The last time I had seen them both royal descendants had only been count magi. For them to break through repeatedly in such a short amount of time! A mythical beast''s bloodline really was something else! "Tree! I believe you owe us an explanation for what happened to the muspel clan!" ''Well, first of all, I have a name, you know. Second of all, don''t you humans think this is getting repetitive? How many times have we had this kind of conversation? Also, where''s Sigmund?'' Sigurd''s face contorted with rage. He "Stop dodging the question! and I''m here as his representative, asking you why you backstabbed us!" ''Backstabbed? I don''t know what you are talking about. If that is all, I''ll be waiting for Sigmund to take some time to meet me personally.'' "I am the prince of the sky kingdom. There is no need for my father to come here, talk to me. Answer my question!" ''As you said, you are only a prince. You are not qualified to talk to me as an equal. Do you really think Sigmund would be throwing a tantrum like you?'' Admittedly, I was provoking Sigurd. Sigmund sending over a representative instead of coming himself was meant to send a clear message to me. A message I would be sending right back by refusing to talk to his representative. Knowing Sigurd''s temper and the fire dragon''s soul pouring sweet poison in his ear, this would no doubt end bloody. "You think I am not qualified? I will show you just how qualified I am!" With a roar of pure, unadulterated rage Sigurd''s body shifted as he used beast mode. Fully utilizing the power of his bloodline, his transformed state raised his power to the very peak of the duke magus realm, touching slightly upon the beginning of the grand duke realm. Evidently, he had lost control over his emotions and given in to the dragon within. Forgetting about his powerful magic, he charged relying on his transformed body. ''Are you aware that your actions represent all humans? If you proceed now, no one can save you!'' Sigurd didn''t seem too concerned with my words. His eyes were red as his speed increased once again. Behind him, a sole call rang out, filled with worry for her brother and the tree that had helped her once. "Don''t do it, brother!" But nothing could stop the enraged Sigurd as he was about to reach me. Then with a snap, his body stiffened and fell like a broken kite who''s string was cut. Sigurd was dead! I had detonated the little present placed in his body long ago. I wasn''t in the habit of creating hidden threats for the future. Thus, back when I took a look at the royal descendants, I had planted a seed of extremely concentrated lightning magic inside each of them. This seed would continuously absorb magic in their body and kill them with just a simple thought from my side. Sigurd hadn''t stood a chance. Peace treaty Sigurd''s sudden fall had greatly astonished the humans. Only when I absorbed Sigurd''s lifeless body did they realize what had just happened. The sky kingdom''s representative had attacked the other party and had been killed without being able to resist. Most of them were shocked. Sigurd had not seemed much weaker than me and his attribute should have been very effective against me. Only Siegfried gasped in horror as the realization hit her. That girl was very perceptive and had even noticed the lightning seed hidden within her. Not like she could do anything about it. The people of this world hadn''t put much focus on the fine control of magic, they specialized in brute magic. Extracting this lightning seed would probably require a king magus to take action themselves. While Siegfried was sinking deeper into the horror of what was inside her, Signy had stepped forward. "Bold of you to just kill Sigmund''s heir. Do you not fear him charging over and cutting you down?" ''Well, maybe that would be enough for him to actually have time to meet me. Also, the grudge between us needed to be settled since the muspel clan. This merely serves to make things move along more quickly.'' "Do you truly attach so little importance to the life you gave just taken?" ''He did not need to attack me. He did this of his own volition and reaped the consequences. Now, please leave, I''ll be awaiting Sigmund''s arrival.'' "We can''t leave! This issue between us must end today. Sigmund can''t leave the border in fear of the Aesir attacking once again. With V?lsung gone he is the only one who can fight the enemy generals." I was about to ruthlessly reject her once again but V?lsung interjected. "Eldar, isn''t the main objective here to be recognized by other nations? Forcing the humans to sign a peace treaty after your first confrontation would definitely be impressive." ''Seems you still have some attachments to the human kingdom. However, you are correct, such an arrangement would indeed be beneficial to me. What do you say to this, Signy?'' "..." "This is acceptable for us." "Siegfried! How can you accept that?" "Aunt Signy, you said it yourself, father can''t leave the border and we can''t defeat Eldar. It would be best if we laid this grudge to rest now rather than later. With brother''s death, I''m the next in line for succession and can make such decisions." "Sigh, I guess you are all grown up now. I won''t oppose you anymore then. Act as you see fit." Now all of this peace treaty stuff may sound pretty formal but honestly, it was only a verbal agreement between nations. Either side could technically break the agreement but that would result in a loss of credibility which no one wanted. Thus, the human party left quickly. They were probably heading straight back to the border to help defend against potential retaliation from the empire. Finally, they were gone! Without any further distractions, I could fully focus on my recent gains. By absorbing Sigurd I had finally gained a mythical beast''s bloodline. A fire dragon''s no less. Sadly, my initial joy quickly began to wane. The process of deduction required to create the blueprint for such a powerful beast was way too long. Also, apparently, the bloodline was too potent for ordinary people. A strong soul and a resistant body were necessary to accommodate such a bloodline. Even Sigurd had needed the dragon''s soul to take some of the pressure. The only one I knew who could sustain this bloodline was V?lsung. I''d try to give him the bloodline as soon as I had finished the deduction. Regarding the aforementioned dragon''s soul, it was now within me as well. Despite its constant resistance, the soul was slowly eroded and devoured by me. This process brought me a vast amount of benefits. Firstly, my deduction speed increased slowly but steadily. Secondly, a faint path to the innate understanding of fire appeared within my mind. Thirdly, all the fire dragon''s memories were extracted and stored within me. Should I ever have time, I could sort through them and maybe learn a thing or two. Things are about to go... "Horribly wrong!" Loki had returned... After spending two months on the deduction of the fire dragon blueprint, I had been close to completing it, when I was interrupted by this fellow. Since his return, he had been lamenting about his own stupidity of taking so long to get his idea while praising himself for the greatness of said idea. ''If you are down exercising your tongue now, how about you tell me about this idea of yours.'' "What? Oh, guess I should tell you. Since Balder returned, every day he proves his invulnerability. All of us throw weapons, spells and other deadly things at him and he just doesn''t get wounded. Apparently, it makes him feel better. Now one of the ones attending is Hod, a blind peak grand duke fighter. I will simply place the arrow in his hand and escape all guilt." ''So I''ll just have to make an arrow, right?'' "No, make it look like a plant, a mistletoe. That way I can shift some of the blame on the Vanir." ''Are you looking to drag them into your little game too?'' "Sure but I''ll you''ll see the specifics later." ''See? How are going to get that to work? You can''t be thinking of taking me along!'' "That''s exactly what I''m thinking! During the last battle, you disappeared completely, just do so again. Then you can see everything yourself." ''I guess I could force that state and remain undetected. Fine, I''ll make the arrow now.'' The arrow was made, a light golden arrow decorated with intricate mistletoe leaves running along the shaft. I tried to increase the density as much as possible, infusing as much sunlight as possible. Then I formed my spiritual body only to disperse it again, bundling up the energy so I could instantly restore my full state. After that, I attached the sliver of my soul to Loki. I was now undetectable for all intents and purposes. Unless an expert with excellent perception abilities searched for me, I doubted that I would be discovered. Loki grabbed the arrow and flew off after transforming into a raven. I lost track of time as we flew through the clouds. At some point, Loki began to rapidly descend and as he broke through the clouds, a magnificent golden city appeared before us. "I am not sure if you are here caw but in case you are caw, welcome to Asgard, the city of gods." Loki''s voice sounded strange when he spoke in raven form. He sounded high-pitched and between his words an occasional caw disrupted his sentence. The closer we got to Asgard the brighter it seemed. It was truly made mostly out of gold. No wonder they were all so insufferably arrogant and called themselves gods. Landing before an unassuming house, Loki took the form of a tall long-haired, elf-like male. With a flowing movement, he knocked on the door, producing a dull, ringing sound. "Come in, the door isn''t locked." A deep, sonorous voice permeated through the door. Loki pushed open the door and entered. The inside of the house was spartan. Despite the walls being made of gold, the place seemed simple, poor even. In the main hall, a muscle packed man sat on a golden throne, staring straight ahead. He turned his head as Loki stepped closer and I could see his eyes were entirely white. He was Hod, the blind general of the Aesir. "What is your purpose in coming here, Vanir trash?" "I have long admired the great strength of the general Hod. Recently, I heard of Balder''s predicament and was hoping to help by donating an arrow I had forged myself. Please accept it." "Fine. Just leave already, I am sick of that horrendously sweet perfume all you Vanir always apply." Loki placed the arrow in Hod''s hand and turned to leave. As he closed the door behind himself, Loki transformed back into his usual self and was wearing a smile dripping with venom and mockery. "They are so easy to fool!" Then Loki made his way to the center of the city. There, he entered into a palace made entirely of polar silver, a transparent, silvery crystal that was incredibly rare. Loki entered the main atrium where Balder was standing above a frozen pool. His upper body was still bare and producing countless sparks as various weapons clashed with his skin, unable to pierce through. Balder wore the facial expression of a maniac as he kept encouraging the Aesir to try harder. The scar left on his face by my arrow was no longer visible but the mental scar from being wounded was still very fresh. Balders demise slightly gory Among the various Aesir crowding the atrium, I recognized none beside Balder. I would have to depend on Loki to tell me who they were. Especially, Thor and Odin were figures I should keep an eye out for. After entering, Loki walked over to an old man sitting on a portable wooden throne. The aged man had only one eye and was tightly gripping a spear in his right hand while two ravens sat on his shoulders. He radiated the unyielding aura of an emperor. "Glory to the Allfather, may all the secrets of the land and sky be revealed in thy graces." Loki fell to one knee and greeted the old man. This must be Odin, the emperor. The ravens on his shoulders were surprisingly both mythical beasts. They had probably reduced their own size to fit into this place. "I see Hugin and Munin are as resplendent as always." "Shut up fake raven." "If you talk much more we''ll have you bear another child." The ravens clearly disliked Loki. And what was that about bearing a child? Loki took the threatening words of those two birds with tremendous calm and walked over to a secluded corner of the atrium. From that spot, he could observe every move made by others while remaining mostly undisturbed. Half an hour later Hod arrived and joined the crowd. Led by a petit Aesir woman he found a free spot and took aim with the arrow in his hand. With the woman adjusting his aim he locked on to Balder and threw the arrow with all his might. As the arrow pierced through the air it gave of a whistling howl, attracting Balder''s attention. As his gaze fell on the approaching arrow a look of recognition flashed through his eyes. A despairing wail escaped his lips as the arrow arrived before him. With a sickening crunch, the arrow embedded itself in Balder''s skull. The golden glow of the arrow was tainted by blood and the drops forming on the leaves looked like berries, completing the mistletoe. For a whole minute, no one talked, moved, exhaled or did anything. Then all hell broke loose. Odin was yelling orders while most of the people present were just panicking. Taking advantage of the ensuing chaos the petit Aesir woman tried to lead Hod away. Most of the guards rushing into the atrium overlooked them but they hadn''t escaped Loki''s watchful eye. He pushed off the floor and intercepted the fleeing couple as they were about to leave. With a flip of his wrist, an obsidian knife appeared in his hand as Loki thrust it towards the woman''s neck. Entering next to her spine the knife cut diagonally through the woman''s windpipe, instantly killing her. She collapsed without being able to make a simple sound. As Hod felt the hand leading him lose all strength and he heard a body hitting the floor, he became livid. He dropped to his knees and was soaked in the female''s blood. Even without eyes, he grabbed her body, cradling her in his arms. Despite the commotion, Loki''s actions had attracted Odin''s attention. Remembering who threw the arrow a deranged look appeared on Odin''s face. "All guards, kill him! Bring me that bastard''s bloody corpse. I''ll have his and his s**t''s bodies hang above the city gate!" "How dare you!" Upon hearing Odin''s words, Hod lost it. Lashing out with his left hand he blasted half the approaching guards into a bloody mist. Loki had long retreated out of range and was quietly murmuring to himself. "Hod really lives up to being the physically strongest Aesir in all our history. If only he weren''t blind." The remaining guards all rushed at Hod''s kneeling figure. Their strength varied from viscount magus to marquis magus but before Hod they were all the same. He slung the female corpse over his left shoulder and held it tightly. After making sure he held her firmly with his left hand he began swinging his right arm around like a windmill. All guards that entered the range of his arm exploded into flying pieces of flesh. However, Hod was using his left arm to hold a body and thus couldn''t defend on that side. Some of the guards realized these openings and left many deep wounds on his body. Under the unending stream of guards, those wounds slowly accumulated until even Hod''s godly physique couldn''t keep him standing. His mighty body hit the ground with a resounding thud. Odin then truly ordered for them to be hung above the city gates but before the guards could do so a mighty voice stopped them. "Don''t do this Odin. Hod was clearly tricked into killing Balder. We should find the true culprit behind this instead of needlessly punishing one of us!" Evidently, this character held a lot of influence among the Aesir. He was clad in silver armor and exuded an unrestrained pride. Loki gave him a displeased look, he enjoyed every needless punishment Odin gave. If he wanted to maximize the chaos and cover his tracks he''d have to stop this guy. "Needless punishment? Tyr, since when can you criticize the Allfather''s orders, even going as far as calling them needless?! And how do you know that someone else was behind this? Are you a part of this insidious murder, here to distract us?" Every word Loki spoke created a deeper pit for Tyr to fall into. A war between the godkin Odin''s suspicion was immediately aroused. Tyr came under great pressure. He only now realized that he was surrounded by countless guards with their weapons drawn. Odin''s unfriendly gaze seemed to stare daggers into his back. "I-I didn''t mean it like that." "Are you telling me I''m too stupid to understand what you are saying? Are your words too mysterious for me to see through them?" It would seem Tyr had hit a sore spot and fell even deeper into the pit that Loki had dug for him. "I meant no disrespect, Odin, I-" "Enough! Get out of my sight before I use your life to give Balder some company in Hel. Go to the northern front and help Thor deal with those Jotuns. You can return after destroying Jotunheim." In other words, Odin had just banned Tyr from returning to Asgard for a very long time. This once again very hard punishment let many Aesir generals and commanders look at Odin with hidden dissatisfaction. Tyr had spoken the words hidden in their hearts and Odin had rejected them. Observing as a bystander I could tell that Loki was intentionally sowing dissent. While he was supporting Odin on the surface, he was undermining the Allfather below the surface. Hod''s body was then carried away by the guards to fulfill Odin''s order. Tyr left as well, accompanied by two of Odin''s personal guards. Odin himself removed the arrow from Balder''s head. With surprising strength, his bony old hand carefully grabbed the arrow and ripped it free from the head it was confined in. Opening his hand he revealed the ornately crafted arrow. As they took a closer look at the arrow, all the Aesir present sucked in a long breath of air. "That arrow was made by the Vanir! Its designs perfectly match those that their elites use!" A random commander blurted out what they all wanted to say. They had all fallen for Loki''s ploy. All the tracks were now set for a war between the godkin. "We will destroy those arrogant bastards but first, I feel like someone is spying on us!" To my great horror, a formless wave rushed out from Odin. This was clairvoyance magic! And with Odin having an innate understanding of it, he could potentially discover me. This was disastrous! If Odin discovered me the whole plot would be exposed. I couldn''t let that happen under any circumstances. The only thing that could save this situation was a decisive but desperate move. I basically committed suicide. The sliver of my soul extinguished itself turning into nothing but thin air and a whiff of energy. Even if Odin managed to pick that up it would be untraceable. The memories gathered by this part of me turned into a flow of information that transcended time and space. They crashed into my main soul along with nearly unbearable pain from destroying a part of my soul. If I hadn''t just lost my spiritual body I would be rolling around on the ground screaming. After a few hours of mental screaming, the pain subsided. Thankfully, the amount of soul power lost was already replenished. Reforming my spiritual body was now only a question of time. My matters with Loki were also momentarily concluded and wouldn''t need further attention until the war between the godkin reached its later stages. Thus, I could once again focus on building my own forces. Because whoever won this war would probably not be too happy after noticing they were tricked into war. During my little excursion, my main body had finished the blueprint of the firedragon. As of now, I could at most control five mythical beasts at the same time. Since I doubted I would get another mythical beast''s corpse anytime soon, I decided to grow five fire dragon at the same time. Due to the powerful soul needed to support their power the time they needed to grow naturally increased. One year was an awfully long time and might not be over before the war started to impact me. Granting V?lsung the fire dragon''s bloodline would give me one trump card but some more would still be nice. ''What could I do to get a few more trump cards?'' Trump card collection I could think of a few things to quickly raise my strength. Most of these things were from my previous world and would bring great surprise to the people of this world. I''d never really thought of it before but while the heavenly steel was an exquisite material, I actually had something better. My own body was an unending source of treasures. I had used the fruit as I was accustomed to but the wood I was made of had been forgotten. My body could take attacks from grand duke level figures and since it was organic its conductivity for magic was vastly superior to heavenly steel. Using this material I could create some things that would shake the world. First, I was planning to make some golems. They were one of the essential combat units in higher-level wars. They didn''t feel pain or fear and would keep fighting until their main core or rune was destroyed. The lowest combat golem would be made of ordinary iron while the strong ones were made out of structon, a nearly indestructible metal. Using my own wood at my current level should allow me to create medial grade combat golems. Their strength would roughly equal a marquis magus although this was largely reliant on their strong defense. Making them in great numbers would sadly be impossible due to my body having only limited materials to give without leaving permanent damage. Using most of my branches I created 100 such golems, burying them beneath the surface all around me. Next, I used the leftover wood to create as many weapons as possible and engraved them with magic enchantments. Taking advantage of the high magic conductivity, the weapons I made were all equipped with small abilities. Some blades could burst into fire, others could freeze all they touched. These blades were then distributed to all my subordinates. While this would not truly raise their own strength it would allow them to fight people above their level. Then I faced a problem that had bothered me for a while. Whenever someone had a conflict with me they could simply walk here and I would have to deal with them. I had wanted to keep them out but stopping them with force would only have escalated matters. This reoccurring situation needed a firm but not a bloody solution. My approach, a barrier. With this, I could keep everyone below grand duke magus out. Setting it up would require time and work which I hadn''t been able to get ahold of until now. Right now, I was relatively sure to be left alone by all the big players around me and by the time I reentered their focus, I would already be done. Raising a barrier required a core, pillars, and a source of energy. The core would naturally be my body and the pillars could be substituted with subordinate trees connected to my roots. What followed were three weeks of agonizing concentration. I engraved countless runes, set up magic circuits and weaved each part of the barrier with a thread of pure magic. Pure magic didn''t have an element and needed to be extracted very carefully, elongating the process of completing the barrier. However, I must admit, it wasn''t all bad. Spending so much time on engraving and extract magic did wonders for my proficiency. I reckoned that if I were to fight my former self, I actually might stand a chance. Subsequently, I spent another month to install various little tricks and gimmicks. This was all in preparation for the ongoing war, though thankfully I had been left alone so far. Finally, I proceeded to work on the matter that held by far the most potential to become my absolute ace in the hole. My peculiar existence gave me a deep connection to nature. Thus, I could do things far beyond the idea of what humans believed to be the laws of nature. Just like my descendants could awaken a consciousness due to my genes, it should be possible for me to awaken consciousness within a normal tree. Admittedly, they couldn''t become magic trees but they would be able to both move and use magic. Since ancient times they were known as ents, the guardians of the forests. Through giving consciousness to the trees around me I could raise an army that would grow stronger at an incredible rate and would feel neither fear nor pain when defending me. Assured of the limitless potential these servants would posses I began the creation of my first ent. Sending my magic into a random nearby tree I quickly found its spark of life. This was the spark that gave life to this tree, the reason why creating life was so incredibly difficult for many who tried. I simply needed to touch it with my magic and awaken the spirit inlaid deep within every spark of life. Once this spirit, also called pneuma, was awakened, a consciousness would form practically by itself. All it required was a slight touch. Reaching the spark of life my magic easily penetrated the outer layer and made contact with the pneuma. Only to be frantically expelled out of the spark of life. It didn''t work? I... failed? There lies value in all life Failure! How was that possible? It felt like I was rejected... I tried again and again and again, only to be met with strong rejection every time. I must not be using enough magic, crank up the output and everything will be fine. I sent a veritable flood of magic barreling past the outer layer straight into the pneuma. The resistance flared up again but was drowned by the mass of the magic I had sent. Success? An explosion. The tree was gone now. In its place were only charred remains and a hole, reminding of the tree that once stood here. Again! "If you continue trying to force the issue, you will end up destroying the whole forest and still be unsuccessful. I advise you to stop and divert your efforts to something else." What was it with all the people appearing out of nowhere? Who was it this time some god of nature who''s mad I blew up some tree? Following the voice, I discovered a young man levitating next to one of my branches. At first, I just took a quick look at him, labeling him as ordinary. His aura was barely perceptible. But wait! I know that face! I took a closer look and discovered that I knew this person! ''Lord Abel, to what do I owe the pleasure of your presence?'' "Hahaha, and why are you suddenly so polite? Last time I checked even Aurelia wasn''t treated with such respect when she came here." ''You must be joking lord Abel, how could I show someone I don''t even know more respect than you! The only person who might deserve more respect would be the principal. Sorry, you probably don''t know what I''m talking about.'' "If you mean the whole reincarnation thing you went through, I know. You were the student back at my lecture about dragon bloodlines, died as a high mage due to exhausting your potential and became a tree. But you really don''t know huh. That''s so comical." ''What do you mean by I don''t know?'' "You said you would show your principal more respect than me, right? Have you never met your principal in your former life?" ''I''ve indeed never met the principal but so what?'' "Well let me describe her to you. She wears blue has blue hair and her name is Aurelia." ''Then the one I met before...'' "Was the principal you respect so much." Well, that was unfortunate. So let''s just pretend this all never happened. "Anyway, just don''t attempt making another ent, you''ll just waste trees." ''Why?'' "Pneuma is not as simple as you might believe it to be. Touching it opens a connection between your consciousness and the pneuma, allowing it to look into your mind. Now you, are a human reborn as a tree, bringing many benefits but also some inconveniences. You do not value life as you should but instead treat it as an expendable resource. The pneuma in the tree felt that and rejected you. Simple as that." ''I don''t understand. Why would I not value life?'' "This is a problem that you should solve by yourself. I can''t help you with that. Take this, you''ll know when to use it." Dropping a small wooden plate he was suddenly gone from my sight and perception in general. The only thing that proved I hadn''t been hallucinating was a small disturbance in the space where he had been. I collected the wooden plate but couldn''t find any use for it. Not that this was of much concern to me. As of now, the most crucial point was my inability to create ents. Whatever this valuing life business was, I couldn''t figure it out. This was all too much for me. Suddenly knowing I''ve met two of the most powerful beings in all of existence. It would probably be best to just forget about all of this. I continued meditating on the issue of life for a few weeks until the war finally reached me. Loki paid me a visit and brought me up to date to the current situation. Essentially, things had played out roughly as follows. After the fiasco with Balder, the Aesir had relaxed the pressure on the northern front and launched a massive offensive against the Vanir to the west. Thor and Odin together fought Frey, the Vanir magus king, and nearly crippled him. Only when it looked like the Vanir were about to be exterminated did Odin suddenly pull back. Apparently, Freya had made a move. Though Loki was unwilling to tell me who exactly she was. After that, the Jotuns had broken through the Aesir''s weakened defenses in the north. Valhalla was halfway destroyed and Tyr had been forced to retreat. Only when Odin and Thor rushed over could they push the Jotuns back. However, due to the constant pressure, the Aesir army was in no condition to continue fighting. Thors secre "Oh yeah, I almost forgot to tell you, Thor is rushing over here this minute, he''ll arrive tomorrow in the evening." ''You said what now?'' "Thor is coming over." ''A king magus is coming over and you''re telling me like this?!'' "Don''t worry, I will face him with you." ''He is a king magus, he will wipe the floor with both of us!'' "He actually isn''t. Truly speaking he can at most be considered a quasi king magus." ''And why is that?'' "Thor is essentially a muscle head, making it impossible for him to become a king magus anytime soon. Since I needed his trust, I decided to make a bet with some dwarves. The specifics are rather unpleasant and nearly cost me my head but ultimately Mjolnir was made. Naturally, I had made sure some problems occurred but with the lightning attraction abilities of his hammer and Odin''s methods we managed to seal a lightning origin. Thus, Thor is only a king magus as long as he holds Mjolnir. Without it, he can at most wield five percent of a king magus'' power." ''Five percent? I guess we can manage that. The problem though is that he has the hammer!'' "Thor has a habit of resting a day before he challenges a powerful opponent. When he sleeps I just have to steal his hammer, simple as that." ''Well, then go get that hammer.'' Finally, he left. This guy was a serious pain to deal with. I felt like I never knew what he was thinking. Once night had fallen, Loki returned. ''I take it you have been successful?'' "It went better than I had expected. He still believes I am his ally and even ate the poisonous food I gave him. Such a gullible fool!" ''Do you not feel bad for doing this to him?'' "He may be a gullible fool but don''t think he isn''t a cold-blooded killer. He would kill someone on an impulse or less. To him, humans are akin to ants. If he''s in a good mood he ignores them, if he''s in a bad mood he will annihilate every single one he crosses." ''Awfully protective of the humans, are we now?'' "It''s not like I''m hiding it. A long while back, when I was still known as Lodurr, Odin, Hoenir, and I came across two trees, lying by the shore. They were dying and looked so pitiful to us, that we, in out youthful enthusiasm, decided to save them. However, we had yet to master our powers and therefore we did too much. Hoenir awakened their consciousness, Odin connected them to the fate of this world and me, I gave them warmth and new life." ''You made all humans?'' "Saying we made them is an overstatement. Hoenir merely awakened their consciousness, he didn''t create it, it was already there. Odin connected them to fate, that made it possible for them to become a real species. I just rekindled the seed of life already within them, making it a little brighter than it was before. The amount of coincidence for all of us to have a power that could help in just the right placed." ''Still, you took part in the act of creation. No wonder you feel protective of the humans. But shouldn''t Odin feel so too?'' "Odin''s power is to read the fate of the world, changing it is not something he should have done. Up to this day, the curse of changing fate follows him and he just wants to get rid of any reminder." Just then a lightning storm appeared out of nowhere. The dark clouds had just manifested out of thin air, covering the sky wherever one would look. To the south, the epicenter of the storm was fast approaching, wreathed in descending lightning dragons, and announced by roaring thunderclaps. It would seem, Thor, was about to arrive. As the epicenter came closer and closer, I finally caught a glimpse of this legendary king magus. Long blond hair, a ripped body, chest bared, and an aura of a warrior baptized by many bloody battles. The air of a true veteran warrior lingered around him. Only that he seemed somewhat awkward, opening and closing his right hand repeatedly as if trying to grip the air between his fingers. Battle against the king of lightning "Loki, I know you are itching to avenge Balder but that is no reason to rush ahead and bring my hammer so I don''t have to carry it." ''Loki, is he always this stupid?'' "Welcome to my daily struggles. And this is a good day. He once gave the hammer to a giant while he took a nap, asking the giant to keep an eye on it. Then he came crying to me when the giant stole it. I really believe that he found a way to convert his brain into muscles." "What are you talking about? Don''t spill my embarrassing secrets! Now stop talking to the enemy and give me my hammer." ''This is painful to watch. Could he be any more oblivious?'' "Look, Thor, I will make this very clear. I am not your friend and I brought upon Balder''s death. Now you too can die." ''Why did you tell him? You could have just stabbed him when he turned his back to you!'' "I can''t kill him in one blow and if he got this close to me, he could kill me with one hit. And no matter how oblivious he is, when I stab him in the back, he will kill me." "HOW DARE YOU BETRAY ME! I''LL KILL BOTH OF YOU!" Finally comprehending the situation, Thor flew into a rage. His eyes were emitting scary blue lightning and looking into them was akin to gazing into an endless poll of blue electricity. The storm around him picked up and grew even more ferocious. Every move Thor made was accompanied by streaking lightning and thunder. He shot forward and threw a punch at Loki. Lightning snakes shot out alongside his punch, spearing for Loki. Crackling electricity filled the air. Loki backstepped and waved his hand, sending a barely perceptible ripple towards the lightning snakes. As the ripple came in contact with Thor''s lightning, the lightning caught on fire and stopped heading for Loki. From the resulting cloud of flames, Thor emerged, unharmed, and continued his punch towards Loki. Due to Loki having stepped back the punch merely grazed him. Loki somersaulted multiple times and once again faced Thor. During this first exchange between them, I had fully raised my barrier and cut our battlefield off from the rest of the world. Thor was so engrossed in throwing wild punches at Loki that he failed to notice his thunderstorm being separated from him. With every punch he threw, the lightning sent out diminished a little more. Both Loki and Thor were brute-forcing their power against each other. As they fought, both sides were rapidly depleting their magic power reserves. Then, after three hours, Loki''s power began to sputter out. Thor immediately grasped this chance and summoned a giant lightning ball, preparing to throw it at Loki. My opportunity had finally come. A terrifying suction came from all the formation pillars around the barrier. The electricity gathered by Thor was dispersed and absorbed by the pillars. This sudden dispersal of his attack confounded Thor to the point where his reaction was delayed long enough for an arrow to pierce his chest. Since the beginning of the battle, V?lsung had been waiting with a bow and arrow. A bow made of my wood coupled with the strength of a grand duke fighter easily generated enough force to wound Thor. Raging profusely, Thor''s body started to exude large quantities of electricity, wanting to blast the arrow into nothingness. However, the arrow was also made of my wood and clustered full of lightning sealing runes. No matter how much electricity Thor pumped into the arrow, it would only drain his own power. In his death throws wave after wave of dazzling lightning arcs erupted from his body, charring the ground black. Then, it ended. ''A rather pathetic death for a king magus.'' "Do not think you actually defeated a king magus just now. Without his hammer, he was already weakened and since he is a muscle head, he didn''t realize you trapping him. On top of that, you seem to be extraordinarily well prepared to deal with lightning." I was preparing to brag about my meticulous preparation in regard to countering Thor''s power but a sudden spike in energy from the southwest interrupted. Stretching my perception I discovered a flash shooting straight for my location. Before I could react, my barrier was shattered in an instant. The flash revealed itself to be a spear. It had gone straight through Loki''s shoulder and pinned him to the ground. Calm before the storm "Looks like that old fool finally understood what''s going on. Good thing you put up that barrier or I couldn''t have dodged this." I gave a pointed look at Loki''s pierced should. Or tried to at least. ''Is this what you consider dodging? Interesting, I call that getting stabbed.'' "Spare me your sarcasm. This is Gungnir, Odin''s legendary spear. It can pierce pretty much anything and paired with Odin''s clairvoyance, it is considered a death sentence for anyone below king magus. Thus, I consider surviving as having dodged this attack." ''A death sentence for anyone below king magus... sounds terrifying. But you mentioned Odin''s power being clairvoyance just now, wasn''t it reading fate?'' "I was. Due to the fiasco with the humans, Odin chose to abandon the path set for him and chose something slightly different from his original power to comprehend as a king magus. It is not uncommon for people like us to change our path for one reason or another." ''I take it you have chosen to change as well then?'' "Quite perceptive. My original power was warmth and life but I found that I didn''t just want to bring life. I don''t want to just add beings to the world and let them be at the whims of fate. I want to bring change!" ''You are doing all this for the humans you created?'' "I merely intend to take responsibility for the situation I''ve put them in. Odin and Hoenir may deny the sin we have committed but I will not hide behind those hollow excuses." With a majestic movement, he grabbed the spear that pinned him down and pulled. Gungnir remained where it was. "Mind giving me a hand?" ''Such glorious ambitions and you can''t even remove a spear from your body?'' It turns out that not only does Gungnir excel at piercing through things but also remaining stuck in them. The final solution was to lift part of the ground and just drive the spear through completely and receive it on the other side. ''What do you plan to do now?'' "Wait for my wounds to heal and for Odin to arrive." ''Odin is coming here?'' "Well the two of us killed both his sons and on top of that you seem to be able to hide from his visions. He will definitely come to destroy us. The only thing uncertain is how many others he will bring." ''That doesn''t sound good... Give me Thor''s hammer, I''ll try to break through before they reach here.'' "You''ll never make it. Thor needed more than a year to just scratch the surface and that was with every possible advantage!" ''Good thing I''m not Thor then.'' Loki seemed pessimistic but still went to retrieve the hammer wherever he hid it. Now, with both Thor and his hammer, I had an innate understanding of lightning just waiting to be absorbed. It took me one month two fully assimilate the thunder origin. I had assimilated an artificial innate understanding of lightning. Unfortunately, I had used a shortcut and thus my understanding was somewhat lacking and artificial. Now I would have to fuse my understanding into a fruit. The process was surprisingly simple. I willed it and a golden-yellow apple grew from one of my branches. The only downside, half my magic was drained to create that one apple. A shadow rushed over and devoured the apple. Ratatoskr had, as per contract I made with him, received my first enlightenment fruit. A lightning symbol appeared on its forehead and it curled up into a ball. Digesting the enlightenment fruit would probably take some time. In retrospect, I might have been better advised not to grow this apple and disable a peak combat force on my side. I had no idea how long Rat was going to sleep. Not that it helped much when it was awake but still... The next morning, Epli and the other elves left in a hurry. They had been around for quite a while but mostly kept to themselves. Now they left without any explanation. ''Should I stop them and ask some questions?'' ''No, Epli will just dodge the question or lie. I''ll just ask Loki to follow them.'' "No need to ask me to follow them. They are returning upon the call of the queen. She probably wants to pull out her people before this place turns into a living hell." Odins move, the congregation Another two weeks passed. I had somewhat grasped my innate understanding of lightning and its possible applications. Then the day of reckoning had arrived. After today this grudge between Odin and Loki would probably be written off. As for me... Odin certainly hated me but I had no real grudges with him. Why did all of this look like my fight? Why did I even join this fight? "Bad news Eldar, Odin got the elves, the jotuns, the fire giants, and the Aesir. Now, he is marching on us from all directions." I felt like I had just thought of something important. What was it again? Never mind, it couldn''t have been that important. They were approaching from all sides. Jotuns from the north, fire giants from the west, Aesir from the south, and elves from the east. ''Barrier up. Units one to twenty, battle positions.'' My twenty savage beasts each was accompanied by a group of beasts and my subordinates. What a shame that many of them would die. ''Also, Loki, aren''t the Jotuns under your command?'' "I kind of led them by the nose and Odin revealed my little trick..." ''So you made more trouble. Let me see if I can at least dissuade the elves from taking part in this madness.'' Amplifying my voice with magic, I called out towards the east. ''Are the elves here to participate in this attack? I''ve heard of a prophecy that should make you think twice before marching troops over here.'' For a while, no response came from the elves. Then a cocky, female voice boomed in response. "Such a prophecy does indeed exist but it was made by a young and unreliable girl. Seeing as you are hungry for power and kill without mercy, we will take the initiative and unroot you before you grow further." ''I am not power-hungry! I only ever defended against enemies trying to attack me or got revenge on people who killed my own child. All these actions were just!'' This time the female voice, presumably the elven queen, didn''t respond. Instead, Odin''s aged voice reached me. "If you getting revenge for your child''s murder is just, then how can you stop us. Was it not you who killed both my sons?" Damn, that was some solid argumentation. However, it was not entirely true. ''I have done no such thing, Odin. I have killed Thor in self-defense but Balder''s death is not on me.'' "Have you not created the arrow that took his life?" ''Since when can you fault the creator of a weapon for the deaths caused by his creation. That is simply nonsense!'' "Then why did you attack the muspel clan? They were not the ones who killed your child. They merely created the weapon that made it possible." ''They sent the one who killed my child. I didn''t send the one who killed yours. Don''t try to justify your act of ganging up on me. You will regret it!'' "A feeble excuse! And an even feebler threat. We have you surrounded and even with all your beasts you can''t pose much of a threat to us." ''Are you determined to go through with this then? Hundreds of lives will be lost and you will gain nothing. All you do is waste lives! Wait, waste lives?'' I didn''t get to continue this train of thought as the leaders of every group took to the skies. I let them pass the barrier unobstructed, after all, a cage served to keep things inside not outside. Now that their leaders had charged in, the four armies followed suit and quickly approached the barrier. They seemed quite confident, outnumbering the enemy gave them courage. Two battlefields had come into existence. One in the air between grand duke and king magi and another on the ground between those below. At first, the battle below looked like it would end in a landslide victory for the attacking party. However, the barrier quickly gave them a nasty surprise. Their charge was completely halted by the lightning arcs dancing around the barrier. To make matters worse, the undergrowth behind the aesir troops burst and 80 wyrms commenced a pincer attack. They were all mutated to lightning wyrms, one of the possible applications of my innate understanding. The other three armies each found 2500 ordinary beasts of all kinds at their backs. The tides of the battle below turned in an instant and the attackers were greatly flustered as their formation began to disintegrate. The fight in the air hadn''t even begun yet when it already came to a stop. Odin seemed devastated at the sudden turn of events. "How can this be? You were clearly limited in the number of beasts you could control." ''I evolved and the limit increased. Too bad you didn''t know about that. Also, do you guys know what an allergy is?'' "Yes, but what does this have to do with anything?" ''Nothing much... just that you''ve been doing some pretty heavy breathing just now. That may not have been the best thing to do...'' Odin made some miscalculations "Your hinting at pollen, aren''t you. Sorry to say but people at our level don''t have allergies and are immune to most poisons. If you are betting on us going down due to some small seeds in the air, that won''t happen." As a being closely associated with nature, the elven queen was the first to pick up on my hint. Just that she was a slight bit off on the possibility of on danger. ''I wasn''t hoping for the pollen themselves to do much damage. I have higher expectations of the lightning sealed within.'' Horror flashed in the expressions of all the leaders. Before they could do anything about it, I detonated all the pollen close to them. The lightning on the outside did them little harm but the lightning inside hit them where they were unprotected. In unison, they vomited a mouthful of blood as their internal organs were probably charred black. After vomiting, the first reflex of some was to take another deep breath. Wrong decision! As new air filled their burnt lungs, so did new pollen. After the second detonation, all the Jotuns dropped to the ground. Their internal defenses were presumably the weakest. The other groups had used various ways to avoid major damage. The fire giants had it the easiest, they couldn''t get burnt. The elves had all held their breaths and followed up with a spell to clear the air around them of any pollen. The Aesir had only sent two people here. Odin who was holding his breath and Tyr who defiantly took another breath and vomited more blood but remained flying. Fighting this group, the ones who worried me the most, were the fire giants. Not one of the four was a king magus but their fire naturally restrained my plants. ''Loki, V?lsung, take care of the fire giants.'' "Fool, they can''t fight if they are outnumbered!" ''Odin, haven''t you learned yet? I am a lot more prepared than you. And I expected you to have a lot more allies.'' V?lsung meanwhile, was walking towards the fire giants on the ground. Loki had stood back and prepared to attack after V?lsung. "We know you, V?lsung. You are just a grand duke fighter with used up potential. Die!" From the palms of the fire giants a barrage of flames descended. Deep earth flames that could melt anything born of the earth, dreadful and feared by many, turning the ground into molten magma. Where V?lsung had stood, a crater was faintly visible, releasing a pillar of black soot. Then, the dark cloud was parted by a gust of air. Another sweep of an object at an immense velocity cleared the smoke entirely. Then the object stopped midair, revealing a scaled, red tail, ending in a vicious-looking spike. The owner of that tail was naturally V?lsung in beast mode with the fire dragon bloodline I had given him. "That aura... He has broken through to king fighter, hasn''t he!" The fire giants were somewhat frightened. Despite there being more of them and their deep belief that magi were superior to fighters, they couldn''t help feeling a little intimidation when going up against a king level opponent. Of course, his level wasn''t the only reason they felt intimidated. The broadsword that hadn''t melted and the draconic features also did their part. In their momentary hesitation, the fire giants failed to notice V?lsung bending his knees. The ground below caved in completely as V?lsung launched himself into the air, flying straight towards the closest fire giant. The blade resting on his right shoulder swung down and cleaved apart the first fire giant. This action left V?lsung falling from the sky. This was seen as an opportunity by the three remaining opponents and they flew after him. Before they could fully reach him, V?lsung twisted in the air, coming face to face with them. With a sickening crunch, a pair of majestic dragon wings broke through the flesh on his back. Fully spreading his wings, V?lsung stopped falling. Then he flapped his wings once, closing the distance and slashed again. Another fire giant was directly beheaded by the vertical slash. Simultaneously, V?lsung''s tail shot out and impaled the third fire giant. Leaving only the weakest one who had been at the back. This fire giant had completely lost his composure and was retreating while wildly throwing flames and blazing clusters of magma. At some point, Loki had appeared behind him and stabbed a sinister-looking black dagger into the last giant''s neck. All this had happened in only a few seconds, making it impossible for the others to react in time. A true Aesir doesnt retrea The elven queen looked troubled. Evidently, she hadn''t expected the situation to turn out like this. Four major powers had formed an alliance to take down a newly formed power but now half of their upper echelons were already wiped out. The situation on the ground was only slightly better for them. The Aesir army had fully regained their bearings and managed to beat back both sides that pincer attacked them. Since both Odin and the elven queen were still hesitating, I could afford to meddle a little. At my command, the combat golems rose from the earth and joined the fight. With their suicidal advance, the Aesir were once again forced into a flustered defense. Odin finally made a move. He had a new spear that thankfully wasn''t as strong as Gungnir. He stabbed towards me but couldn''t do much damage due to my ever-increasing density. Only those crazy weapons such as Gungnir or Gramr could really cut me at this point. Elemental attacks were probably the only effective way of fighting me. Too bad that both the Jotuns and the fire giants were already defeated. Odin retreated a few steps, realizing the futility of his attempts, he turned towards the elves. "Are the elves just going to stand back and watch this monster grow? You participated in this attack, don''t think he will spare you." With silent determination in her eyes, the elven queen stopped hesitating. Her two subordinates nodded in silent understanding and each drew a dagger and stabbed it into their hearts. As the life slowly faded from their eyes, the queen waved her hand and grasped the near intangible energy. Skillfully manipulating that energy a shimmering but translucent connection was formed between us. Suddenly, I felt a pull, my own vitality flowed out of me and to the queen. V?lsung and Loki wanted to interfere but were blocked by Tyr and Odin. Interestingly, the matchup was V?lsung against Tyr and Loki against Odin. Tyr was only at the grand duke level but had seemingly reached this level as both a magus and a fighter. While he couldn''t meet V?lsung''s attacks head-on, his decades of combat experience allowed him to dodge and counterattack. This wasn''t a strategy to win but merely to stall for time and thus very feasible. However, similar to V?lsung, Odin found that while he was clearly stronger than his opponent, he couldn''t defeat Loki in a short amount of time. Every now and then, Odin would randomly stab at empty air. I could only speculate that this was due to both Odin and Loki using their unique powers. Odin read Loki''s next move and attacked preemptively only to meet air because Loki had used his powers of change to change his next move. Safe to say, the situation wouldn''t see any major changes over the next hour or more, giving me ample time to focus on my own predicament. ''Well now, this is somewhat troublesome.'' "Serves you right for being so arrogant. Now that I''ve established this life link between us, even you as a king magus can''t sever it." ''And why would I need to sever this link? You probably aren''t aware of this but a link goes both ways.'' "What does that matter?" ''Watch and learn!'' The slow flow of vitality that left me was immediately reversed. Like gathering magic from the air, I pulled as hard as I could and began a tug of war with the elven queen. As the moments slipped by, it became more apparent that the elven queen wasn''t my match. Her supple, pinkish skin first grew pale and then got more and more wrinkles. Her luscious blonde hair quickly turned into an aged white. The queen aged at a visible pace until she turned into an old crooked hag. Now, it was her who attempted to break the link established between us. Which, as she herself mentioned before, was a futile effort. Instead of breaking the link, her losing focus made it even easier for me to drain her. Once the last bit of vitality had left her body, she was but an empty lifeless husk. A gust of wind blew past and the husk turned into dust as it scattered into the sky. Down below, as the elves witnessed their queen die, their morale hit rock bottom. Their formation broke completely and they turned to flee like a bunch of headless chicken. This in return, caused the other three factions to lose all hope. Akin to a forest fire despair spread through their rows, eroding their determination and making them too abandon their positions. ''Your troops are fleeing, Odin. It''s over!'' "t! This war isn''t over until every last of us has fallen!" Despite his words, Odin was visibly shaken as he caught a glance of his army retreating. Enough so that the always passive Loki managed to free himself long enough to throw a dagger at Tyr''s back. This unexpected attack messed up Tyr''s rhythm and forced him to receive one of V?lsung''s slashes. V?lsung''s broadsword shattered Tyr''s blade and proceeded to dig into Tyr''s shoulder, nearly splitting him in half. Gathering the remains of his strength, Tyr threw a punch at V?lsung, hitting him square in the chest. However, V?lsung didn''t even budge. After getting an innate understanding of dragon strength, his physique had reached a scary level and he could simply disregard Tyr''s last struggle. He twisted his broadsword and let Tyr''s corpse drop to the ground. Now even Odin turned to flee but things wouldn''t be that easy for him. ''What are you doing, Odin? Is this what you call a tactical retreat? Here, accept this parting gift from me!'' Odin had only just turned around when a sharp object pierced his heart. Gungnir was successfully returned and this battle was now truly over. But Loki seemed to think otherwise. "Quick! We must pursue the fleeing armies and decimate them!" Enough death and suffering ''No'' "What do you mean? Eldar, every second we waste here will give them more time to get further away! If you let them go now, they will be back for revenge once they have recovered!" ''Shut it Loki. They are defeated. Going after them now will only result in senseless slaughter, benefiting only the humans. In retrospect, you have been goading me from one fight to the next, using me to thoroughly clean the board. Your incitement has led to so much bloodshed, though I am also to blame. However, this all ends here.'' Loki seemed greatly vexed at the fact that he could no longer use me to overpower his enemies. He turned and went after the fleeing aesir troops by himself. ''V?lsung, I''ll need some time to digest all that just happened. Could I trouble you to clean up and take care of the rest?'' "Sure thing!" With that, I sank my consciousness deep down my trunk and stopped using my magic perception. Truth be told, I was running away. I couldn''t bring myself to look at the battlefield. I had never realized this before but, after every battle, so many had died. I could feel the connections to my beasts that had turned dark, indicating they had died and even without magic perception, I could feel the overwhelming air of death all around. How many had died? ... Too many! That was the simple answer. I shouldn''t have let this happen. What would lord Abel have done in my place? ... I shouldn''t dwell too much on these issues. The past was the past and now was the present. Regret wouldn''t change what had happened, I could only learn from this and try to do better from now on. I couldn''t stop advancing, the only way for me to proceed was to get stronger. The ground around me was littered with the corpses of fallen powerhouses of four different races. Wasting this opportunity would mean all the people here had died for nothing. First, I absorbed the fire giants. Bits and pieces of their comprehensions were combined with the vague innate understanding of fire I had absorbed from the fire dragon. If I continued to invest a few years, I could surely have my own innate understanding of fire. Next were the Jotuns, giants of the icy north. From them, I could gain some understanding into the domain of frost and ice. Not nearly enough to form an innate understanding but it was a good start. Finally, it was time for the main dish. Tyr had been a combat-oriented magus and fighter, his insights into these matters would be priceless. Odin was a king magus and had kindly given me the opportunity to have another artificial innate understanding. Sadly, I could find little use for clairvoyance powers. In my previous world, it was widely known that clairvoyance should only be used to see the opponents moves during battle. The more time lay between the event happening and a clairvoyant seeing it, the worse the consequences. Some saw their own death and went mad trying to prevent it yet died all the same. Others tried to take advantage of the historical events they saw in the future but ended up making these events never happen... Overall it was a scary power that shouldn''t be used further than five minutes ahead. Once again leaving the confines of my body, my magic perception stretched out far and wide. All traces of the battlefield were gone and nothing reminded of the things that happened here. Not too far away, I found Sven sitting and meditating. As I focused on him he woke up and greeted me. "Lord Eldar, it''s nice to see you have recovered from the battle." ''How did you notice I was back?'' "Your presence has grown rather heavy in recent times. I could clearly feel you looking at me." ''Well, I have grown stronger at an insane pace so it''s no wonder that my presence has become somewhat oppressive. But you have grown stronger too, haven''t you? By now you are already a count magus.'' "It''s all thanks to you, lord Eldar! The bloodline you have bestowed upon me did wonders for my progress. I can feel it assisting me whenever I meditate." ''That''s good then. How long was I gone for?'' "Close to one year now actually." And straight back to isolation ''Nearly one year. It has really been a while.'' "Nothing to worry about, few things happened. Lord V?lsung took command of this place and has been managing the situation quite well." ''Do you mean to say I am not needed anymore?'' "No! Without the apples you gave him beforehand, V?lsung wouldn''t have been able to stabilize things this easily." ''I was just joking. But do tell me, how did the situation play out.'' "I shouldn''t be the one to tell you. I''ll go inform Lord V?lsung about your return." Sven hurried along the bridges and ladders until he had fully descended. Not too far away from me, a nice mansion had been built. There, Sven soon returned from with V?lsung. "Eldar, it''s good that you are back, I wasn''t certain if I could keep this up." ''Stop being humble, you evidently had little to no problems. But now I''m curious, what happened so far?'' "Since you said you wanted to end the bloodshed, I sent messengers to all the defeated parties and worked out a peace treaty. We will all pretend this war never happened and in return, our forces will have free passage through their territories. I also took the liberty of signing a non-aggression pact with the humans. After that, I''ve been trying to rebuild what was destroyed during the battle and make a few improvements." ''A non-aggression pact with the humans. You still hold some loyalty towards them, do you?'' "I do indeed, but that was not the main motivation behind this. Sigurd broke through to King magus and took Loki as his personal advisor. With this, the human''s war potential is now second only to us and the dark elves." ''The dark elves? Weren''t the Aesir the most powerful? Where do the dark elves suddenly come from?'' "That is mostly due to us having little to no information about the dark elves. We only know that their leader, Night Owl, has been a king magus for a long time. Apparently, Odin feared him so much that even after becoming a king magus himself he never showed any hostility or arrogance towards the dark elves. However, that''s all we know because they never leave the dark forest." ''So we just assume that this old dark elf is still alive and at the peak of the king level?'' "If he had died, Odin would have surely found out and mass murdered the dark elves." ''Did Odin have a murder wish for everyone alive?'' "From what I''ve heard, in Odin''s vision, the Aesir would be the rulers while the elves, dwarves, and Vanir would serve beneath them. Everyone else will be murdered." ''So I killed a genocidal psychopath in the making... I''ll just think of evolving. System-'' \u003cFor your next evolution, you will need to condense a physical body. By that I mean you will have to condense your body into a humanoid shape. So first you''ll need an innate understanding of life. Also, don''t bother me until you have that.\u003e What was that? ''System?'' \u003c...\u003e ''Hello, anybody home?'' \u003cSorry, the number you have dialed is currently unavailable, please try again later.\u003e ''???'' "Eldar, who are you talking to?" ''What? Oh, V?lsung, I was just trying to talk to the crazy voice in my head.'' "Are you okay? Maybe the last battle did more damage than you thought." ''And now you think I''m crazy... Anyway, something has come up and I''ll have to meditate for quite a while. I don''t know how long it will take until I wake up again but I''ll have to trouble you to take care of this place. I''ll make sure to grow some apples while I meditate so don''t worry about that.'' With that, I once again retracted all my focus into my body and shut out the outside world. After that last battle, I had vaguely sensed a possible path to gain an innate understanding of life. The value of life was definitely a good starting point and from there on out, I could only rely on myself. ''What is the value of life?'' I let the question reverberate through my mind. Seeking not the logical or correct answer but instead, the one that would truly come from me. Only through this way could I truly attain an innate understanding. Copying what others said was the correct answer would only bring me flaws. Other opinions could at most serve as references. Life? Live? Love? ''Did I value life and how much?'' ''Can life even have a set value?'' ''Is there a difference between different lives?'' I didn''t know where or when life started, nor its purpose or endpoint, if such a thing even existed. But I remembered the feeling when I saw those fleeing armies leaving behind their fallen comrades, I felt unwilling to end their lives. To be completely honest, I had also felt unwilling to end the ones already fallen but somehow it felt different... What was it that had changed? ... ... ... Necessity! The death of those fallen was necessary for me to survive. The fleeing ones didn''t have to die because they didn''t mean to harm me anymore. Was that the right answer, was it fair? No! But, it was my answer nevertheless. The value of all life was immeasurable but if the necessity arose, I would choose my own over others. A contradiction but that is just how life is. How life is... ... I lost track of time as I tried to dig deeper and deeper into what life was to me. I only stopped when I had succeeded. I had my own innate understanding of life. It was time for me to return to the outside world, wake up so to speak. Outside I got a little shock when I saw the place where the beginnings of a city had been before. It had been replaced by a ginormous city, fit to be called a capital city. ''How long have I slept?'' \u003cRoughly 73 years, give or take a few months. Rise and shine sleeping beauty.\u003e ''I should really go take a look at what changed.'' I was about to send out my spiritual body but the system interrupted. \u003cDid all that time meditating make you dumb? Evolve and you''ll be able to go there with your real body!\u003e That was indeed a proper thought. If I had a humanoid form, I would be able to stroll around in the city and all that fun stuff. Hence, my evolution commenced. My magic spread around my whole body and slowly, gently compressed it. Every fiber of my being became denser as I shrunk bit by bit. I had been an enormous existence before and now I returned to being normal-sized. However, the biggest change happened to my magic core and magic reservoir. The core was also condensed and even purified by the pressure. I could feel both my physical and magical capabilities experience a qualitative change. Finally, I ended up with the perfect shape of a human. Only the texture left some things to be desired. My skin was still made of bark and my hair consisted of leaves. Thank the goddesses for transformation magic. My leaves became silken strands of light green hair, my bark looked like tanned skin, and from some leftover leaves, I made myself an attire. Then, I wanted to walk towards the city. I was currently in a crater where my roots had been before. Decisively, I lifted one foot and took my first step as a somewhat human. The outcome was not so good. I wasn''t accustomed to walking yet, so my step was a little stiff, especially when setting my foot down again. My foot hit the ground with a boom as the earth around me shook. I took a hurried step back to stabilize myself but found an even greater tremor following the first. \u003cStop moving so much. You only condensed your body, your weight and strength are still the exact same!\u003e Right, I should have thought of that. Maybe the long time in seclusion had really made me somewhat slow-minded. I used some gravity magic to reduce my weight by several thousand times and sealed a part of my strength with magic. The tremors subsided and I could finally exit the crater and visit the city. As I approached it, I realized it was even bigger than I had thought before. My small body was dwarfed by the enormous city wall. This was a somewhat refreshing feeling. I wasn''t looking down on things anymore and I could probably look right into the human''s eyes by now. Though I did miss the feeling of looking down on people... Yggdrasil Entering the town proved somewhat difficult. No one had ever seen my new form and I didn''t exactly look like an average citizen, did I now. The gate on this side of the city didn''t have much traffic and so sneaking past undetected was out of the question as well. Now if you can''t get through a gate and need to get on the other side of a wall, what is the logical thing to do? Jump over it? Hell no! I am a tree, I go below walls! Transforming my feet into roots once again, I simply burrowed through the ground and reappeared in a secluded alleyway not too far away. Infiltration successful! Weaving through the crowded city, I headed towards the main plaza in the middle of the city. I listened in on some of the crowd''s conversation while walking and came to know that V?lsung was still acting as the city''s governor. V?lsung would probably be in the governor''s mansion right next to the main plaza. I was looking forward to meeting him. Another piece of news I gleaned from a frenzied crowd was related to myself. Apparently, I was a divine tree now. Most of the city was filled with believers of the religion known as . This religion was built surrounding my existence as a deity that gave his blessings once a year in the form of various fruit and beasts. Calling me a deity was somewhat foolish of these people but they didn''t know better. The main temple was also located adjacent to the governor''s mansion. I''d have to visit that place after talking to V?lsung. Soon, I arrived at the main plaza and approached the governor''s mansion. Entering through the ground wasn''t an option so I approached the entrance openly. Understandably, the guards stopped me before I could get really close. "Halt! This is the governor''s mansion. No one can enter without an invitation. Please hand over your invitation or return to where you came from!" ''Could you inform V?lsung that Eldar has come to visit.'' "How dare you use lord V?lsung''s name so casually! If you were really here for a visit, you would have an invitation. Leave now!" This was getting me nowhere! Giving up on keeping a low profile, I blasted a mental message into the mansion. ''V?lsung I''m back! However, I''m a little held up at the door due to not having an invitation. Could I trouble you to come to invite me inside?'' Of course, the mental message could be felt by the guards. They didn''t hear its content and to them, it was just an attack. "An attacker, cease him!" Both guards thrust their spears at me in an effort to drive me back. I stepped forward and grabbed the tips of their spears, gripping the blades themselves. The guards froze as they incredulously stared at the blades that didn''t cut my skin. High-quality steel weapons had no effect whatsoever on me. "Drop your weapons! Eldar, please don''t mind them and come inside." V?lsung had arrived. Upon his command, the two guards immediately dropped the spears and saluted. I walked past them and followed V?lsung into the building. He led me into an elegant drawing room where we sat down opposite of each other and each received a cup of tea. "How did you get your spiritual body to look so real?" ''This isn''t my spiritual body, it''s the real deal. I condensed myself down to this point and can now walk around normally.'' "That explains your disappearance and the whole commotion." ''What commotion?'' "When a 300 plus meter divine tree just disappears it will naturally shock the believers. Not to mention the earthquake that followed and made some believe they had incurred ''s wrath. The temple has been flooded by concerned believers and is hitting its limit." ''About that... What with this whole religion surrounding me?'' "You really don''t know?" ''Frankly, I don''t.'' "Around a year after you left, we all received a message through our dreams. It told us to build up a religion for the divine tree and make sure it flourishes. At first, we assumed it was you but I had my doubts. That cocky voice didn''t sound like you at all." This is so troublesome ''A cocky voice that talks in people''s heads, why does that remind me of something. System, since you are smart and coincidentally have a cocky voice and talk in my head, do you perhaps know what happened here?'' \u003cThere is no need to keep guessing. I gave them an oracle and made them build you a religion. For your next evolution, you will need a large amount of faith to complete the process and gathering that now was the easiest option.\u003e ''I can evolve again?'' \u003cYou haven''t collected enough faith as of yet. Wait for another two or three years then you will be ready.\u003e "Are you alright Eldar?" ''Yes, quite alright, I just checked on that dream message you got. I wasn''t aware of the things that happened but I guess that doesn''t matter anymore.'' "Then, before anything else, could you help us resolve the issue of your disappearance. I don''t know how long the temple can hold the believers." ''Sure.'' We exited the mansion and headed over to the temple. I remarked the absence of all the believers who were apparently making a commotion. We entered the temple and proceeded along a hallway filled with wall paintings depicting me. After that, we entered an arena like open space. In the middle, of the circular area was a tree and around it, people... A mass of people. Held back by a thin line around the tree and the menacing stare of an old man. "Yggdrasil has been angered, high priest, why won''t you tell us what is happening? Did the priesthood lose the favor of the divine tree?" "No, we must have sinned and attracted Yggdrasil''s wrath. High priest, how can we calm the divine one''s anger?" "High priest, why aren''t you answering?" This was madness. Thousands of believers were swarming this place while yelling question after question. ''So, who''s the old man?'' "Your high priest. He''s a duke magus that was also called here by a dream message." ''He looks so calm.'' "He never shows any facial expressions. Based on his temperament, I''d say he''s about to murder half the people at the front. You should do something before he loses it." From my soles, I sneakily released some roots that went underground and connected me to the tree in the center. Through this connection, I transferred a part of my consciousness into the tree. Time to give those believers a part of my mind. Through my innate understanding of lightning, I conjured an outline of a giant tree around the smaller tree. This should make my presence known. ''Silence! How dare you fill this temple with your chaotic chatter! You ask if I am angered? Yes, I am! I just leave my usual spot for a few hours and this is what you do? You panic and harass the priest here! Well, until you have proven you can spend your time on useful things, I will not return!'' The crowd stirred. "But what about the harvest day, how will we receive your fruit?" ''Since I won''t be there, naturally, you won''t receive any harvest. And if you dare complain, there won''t ever be another harvest day!'' This served to successfully shut them up. ''Pray hard and I will return in due time.'' With that, I removed my presence from within the tree and left the temple followed by V?lsung. The lightning phenomenon dissolved and left only a dumbfounded crowd and a high priest praying on his knees. "You were pretty harsh to those believers. Are you really that mad?" ''No, but since I have a body that can travel now, I want to spend some time traveling. Thus, I was going to need an excuse to disappear anyway. This occurrence just saved me the time to think of something.'' "When are you leaving?" ''After I''m done catching up with all of you. Speaking of which, where is everyone?'' "Sven is somewhere deep in the wilderness trying to break through to grand duke magus. Nerida is in the volcanic mountains to increase the density of her new bloodline in hopes of loosening the bloodline shackles enough to advance again. Aldi is actually in the city and has been pressing me for a meeting with you for a while. According to him, some dwarven bigwig wants to meet you." The undead Apocalypse? ''So I won''t be able to meet Sven and Nerida for now. I really wanted to do some catching up. Oh well, now that I have a humanoid body I can finally discuss things over alcohol with friends and half of them aren''t around. Let''s go get drunk!'' "But Aldi and the dwarf." ''They could wait before, they can wait now.'' So we headed to a nearby tavern. Upon entry, I noticed that most of the customers were dressed like soldiers. "Lord V?lsung, you''re early today. Did you have another emergency meeting with the others? Need to drink away your sorrows?" From the looks of it, V?lsung was a regular here and there were some troubles he was hiding from me. ''Emergency meeting?'' "Let''s not talk about that for now." Since he wasn''t willing, I wouldn''t push him for now. We got ourselves a table and a jug of ale and proceeded to sit there in awkward silence. ''So... You come here often?'' "..." "Eldar, can you please talk normally. Everyone is staring at us." ''I kinda like the telepathy mind talking, so how about no. But anyway, you grew quite a bit during these years. You are a duke magus now and a governor to boot.'' "Don''t make it sound so grand. My powers as a magus rely solely on my bloodline, I barely train them. My talent for comprehension is poor and I''ll probably never reach the level of a chosen one. I am just a muscle head who can do nothing but train. How does one even physically build a domain based on dragon strength?" ''Firstly, you underestimate yourself. Secondly, you just have to see your body as the domain where your strength reigns supreme. Of course, you''ll have to comprehend that yourself and me telling you has no point but I did so anyway. Thirdly, disregarding your talent, you kept this place running for 73 years, that''s some achievement.'' "Where do you get all that positivity from? Look, things aren''t going so well. A few years ago the plane of the dead suddenly saw a spike of activity. The undead can''t cross over the lake Gj?ll and don''t threaten us directly but if they go around they will eventually reach us. The dwarven side isn''t so much of a problem because Night Owl became a chosen one and has an alliance with the dwarves. However, the Jotun side had large losses in the war with us and couldn''t withstand the onslaught of the undead. Since the other major forces didn''t want to fight in their own territories, we sent them reinforcements and support. Over the past two years, we had countless emergency meetings to discuss how that handle the situation. Despite all our efforts, we have only reached a stalemate." ''That really doesn''t sound so good. But still, you retained control over the situation and resolved the immediate problem. Just continue doing as you have so far and it will be fine.'' "Can you at least meet that dwarf? Aldi has been pestering me for weeks now." ''Sure, sure let''s go get it over with. I think I''ve had enough drinks. Waiter, tab!'' Only now did V?lsung notice the twenty-plus pitchers laying on the table and floor around me. While he had been engrossed in the conversation, I had been continuously downing more alcohol. One of the benefits of talking in people''s heads was that others couldn''t hear you after all. I casually handed the waiter a solid bar of gold that made him drop to the ground from the unexpected weight. "You drank so much! Are you alright?" ''My body was condensed from a giant tree. My tolerance is way above yours and I only feel a little tipsy. Now lead the way.'' Sighing in resignation, V?lsung paid for his tab and brought me back to the mansion and we entered the guest wing. No sooner had we set foot in the guest wing that Aldi came running. "Lord V?lsung, have you thought about my proposal? Talking to Lord Eldar is very important to the dwarves and could play a vital role in defeating the undead." Before Aldi could go on, V?lsung raised his hand and gestured towards me. "He''s here, talk to him yourself." Having said that, V?lsung turned around and left without another word. The dwarves "Did I harass V?lsung so much that he sent over some stranger just to make me shut up?" ''It''s me Aldi.'' "??????" ''Why are you so surprised?'' "You are a human!" ''Well observed but no. I am only a tree in humanoid form covered up by some transformation magic to make it look more realistic.'' To support my words, I released the transformation for a second before reapplying it. Seeing my more tree-like form somehow calmed Aldi down a great deal. "Well then, it is nice to meet you again after so many years. I''d like you to meet Sindri, the greatest dwarven smith." From behind Aldi, a stout dwarf wearing shiny blue armor stepped out and shook my hand. Common people would perhaps say that he had a strong grip but to me, it felt like he barely exerted any force. Since I wasn''t sure if I could control my strength, I opted for using as little strength as possible. Which the dwarf of course noticed immediately. "Your handshake doesn''t seem very enthusiastic. Do you dislike dwarves?" Like all dwarves, he seemed to be awfully straight forward. ''That is not the case. I''m not yet accustomed to this body and feared to use too much force.'' "Do you take us dwarves to be weak?!" He was a dwarf so talking wouldn''t solve this problem. I grew a fist-sized sphere of heavenly steel. ''I trust you are aware of the properties of heavenly steel?'' "Of course! That''s what I am here for." ''Then watch closely. This is what I meant with I can''t fully control my force.'' I wrapped my hand around the sphere and applied some force. Under the shocked gazes of Aldi and Sindri, the sphere was quickly deformed as my fingers sunk into the steel. Opening my hand, I dropped the recognizably deformed sphere. "What splendid strength! Compared to you, we dwarves can truly be called weak." And that was how one resolved a misunderstanding with dwarves. Others may feel insulted but most dwarves preferred a painfully open style of conversation where both parties just said whatever came to mind. ''Now then, you said you were here for the heavenly steel?'' "Indeed, I took a look at Aldi''s gauntlet and found it wasn''t only incredibly durable but also heat, corrosion, and magic resistant. What is it even made of?" ''Originally, using an innate understanding of light or similar attributes to create a certain pattern of magic. Through that, a kind of material is created that resembles what we call a metal, just that its properties are vastly superior to most natural metals.'' "How can you divulge such precious information so openly! King Sigmund has this innate understanding of light you are talking about, couldn''t he too make it then?" ''He doesn''t know the pattern so he can''t make it. I said nothing about the layering and pattern structure and that''s the knowledge that is precious.'' "Then how do you know it, who taught you?" ''Aldi brought me a piece of it and I analyzed it. And no, others can''t do that, it''s a tree thing. But anyway, you can''t have come here just to ask me that.'' "I have attempted to make some changes to Aldi''s gauntlets but I couldn''t bend the metal in any way. Is there a way to shape it? Also, can I have more of it?" ''Well, you can melt it down if you have a strong enough flame. Something on the level of dragon fire or preferably even stronger. If you want to trade for some, that can also be arranged but only if you have something that catches my interest.'' "Dragon flame or stronger? That''s impossible." ''No one ever said it was going to be easy. If you want I can help you look for one once I travel to the dwarven lands.'' "That would be great! Once you arrive in Nidavellir, ask for Brokk and Sindri''s forge and you''ll have no trouble finding us." Having said his piece, Sindri walked past me and left the building. ''Did he just leave?'' "That''s just how he is. The average dwarven lifespan is three hundred years. He will just wait for you to come to visit him and if you don''t show up within ten years, he will either have forgotten you or come harass you." Journey to the wes Being left alone with Aldi, I found that I had nothing to say to him. Since the night he asked for my origin, a chasm had opened up between us. Without trust, a merchant couldn''t make a good deal. We exchanged some common courtesies but ultimately parted without any substantial conversation. Later I went to find V?lsung and found him sitting in his office signing documents. ''I always thought you to be more of a warrior than a bureaucrat. Can''t you let someone else handle the paperwork?'' "Usually I do just that. But these matters are too important to be handed to someone else so I have to do it myself. Enough of this boring stuff. When do you plan on leaving?" ''By tomorrow morning. I don''t like the whole development in the north and I want to visit the dwarves.'' "Then you will be heading east, towards Nidavellir?" ''No, I plan to go west first and check up on Nerida and Sven. Then I''ll head north to see the frontiers.'' "You intend to cross through the lands of the dead?" ''Do you expect me to go all the way around them?'' "Eldar! That''s the place where all races used to bury their dead! King level entities aren''t uncommon!" ''Then how did you manage to hold them back?'' "Without the suppression of the older generation and your apples that were circulated, many managed to break through in recent years. It''s just that most of them are at the frontier so you didn''t notice." ''I''ll be fine. I''ll be back in a few years.'' "Last time you said that you were gone for 70 years! Just get going and leave me a full storage of apples." After I had filled the cellar with various kinds of apples, I headed out of the mansion and left the city. This time through the gate because V?lsung had handed me a ring that held some kind of authority and let me pass the gate without trouble. Now, gotta find Sven since he is somewhere in this forest. Me being a tree coupled with the benefit of having an innate understanding of life made finding someone in a forest awfully easy. I walked up to a random tree and established a connection with the forest. Sven was to the west and right on route to the volcanic mountains where Nerida should be. ... Walking was so excruciatingly slow. Traversing the distance between myself and Sven had only taken a few moments when I had done it through the forest connection. But actually walking all that way was many times slower. Wasn''t there a faster way? Wait, if my steps were bigger, I could traverse a larger distance with every step and travel faster. Wanting to test out this idea of mine, I increased my body size to twenty meters and broke into a sprint. My speed rose exponentially as I practically flew past the trees. Naturally, the transformation magic that made me look human ceased to work and I looked like a tree giant. Since it would still take some time to reach Sven''s position, I increased my size further to around 250 meters. My speed reached a new high as I continuously advanced towards Sven''s position. Closing in on the location I had last detected him, I slowed down and returned to my human form. Witnessing a tree giant running towards himself would certainly not be part of a good reunion as I imagined it. Connecting to the forest once again, I locked in on Sven''s exact position, a mountain not too far off. There he was, sitting cross-legged on the highest point. I quietly approached him and intended to wait for him to wake from his meditation. "So, how long are you going to just stand there? Did you really think I wouldn''t notice a giant tree man running over here?" ''I just didn''t want to interrupt you in case you were still in the process of advancing.'' "Well, no need to worry, I successfully advanced a few days ago. I just stayed here to use the peace and try to get some comprehensions for my next advancement. I didn''t think you would come looking for me. Good to see that you are back" Sven ''Then you successfully broke through the shackles of your bloodlines and received a dragon''s bloodline? What did you get, wind dragon, tempest dragon?'' "Storm dragon. I had sufficient ability in both wind and lightning to mutate a second time. It''s all thanks to the lightning origin fruit you grow once a year. After Ratatoskr ate it, I went through the effort of collecting all the scraps and made them into apple juice. Enriched with some lightning apples I made it a permanent component of my diet. By now, elemental apple juice is one of our major exports." ''Lightning origin fruit? Is that how you call my enlightenment fruit? Seeing that I comprehended it by consuming a lightning origin, it kind of makes sense. But enough of all that, show me your transformation!'' "Sure thing. Beast mode!" His dragon form was substantially different from before. His greenish scales were replaced by dark greyish ones that held a purple luster. Also, different from V?lsung, ''s transformation seemed much more complete. He was now barely humanoid anymore and had turned into a near-complete eastern dragon. A long snake-like main body with short arms and multiple pairs of wings. At the end of his tail, there was a peculiar shape that reminded me of the feathers of an arrow. All in all, I got the impression that this wasn''t a body built for close-quarter combat and large scale destruction like most dragons. This shape was more suited for hit and run or surprise tactics. had been a hunter before I recruited him. It would seem that a person''s prior experiences might be able to influence their beast form. "So, what do you think, looks neat doesn''t it?" In his dragon form, had a raspy deep voice that was interlaced with a low rumbling. Hearing his questions, I recounted my analysis of his newly gained form. "I never really thought about it, but you are right. I much prefer attacking from an ambush and taking the enemy by surprise. Open combat just isn''t my style. Guess I''m heading in the right direction then." ''There is no right direction. There is only the direction you chose to take. Right or wrong is just a concept to make us feel better. So head in your direction, do as you believe you must.'' "If everyone did that, wouldn''t the world sink into chaos?" ''I''m not telling this to everyone. I''m telling you! Some people need encouragement, others need to be held back. Once again this is just a choice of the one talking.'' "I never knew you liked philosophy. Did you meet some sage in the past and repeat his teachings?" ''No, I don''t think I have met someone who calls themselves a sage in this sense of the word. But once, a long time ago, I read some books about the philosophy of an ancient era. In those scriptures, I found many thoughts and ideas that I could relate to. I''d forgotten most of them but just now you made me remember them when you talked about the right direction.'' "You sound like an old man!" ''Technically, I am an old man.'' "You sure don''t look the part. What I see is a fair-skinned youth who barely reached adulthood." ''The physical body is but a vessel for the mind and soul. Do not be deceived easily, one''s appearance can be changed quite easily. Instead, judge people''s actions and words, those will often tell you more than looks ever can.'' "Sure, sure. Now, where are you headed off to next, and can I join you?" ''Next, I''m planning on finding Nerida. Apparently, she''s in the volcanic mountains doing something related to her bloodline. If you want to, your welcome to tag along.'' "I''ll gladly join you then. However, can you lower your speed a bit? Even in beast mode, I won''t be able to keep up with your strides." That was indeed a thing to be considered. I decided to only grow 50 meters tall, which would make it possible for to keep up. ''Now then, we''re off to the volcanic mountains! Let''s go find Nerida.'' Despite my reduction in speed, it took us only a few days to reach the edge of the forest. There we found the river Ifing. After crossing it, we would be on the outskirts of the volcanic mountains. The frontier is in shambles Getting over the fast-flowing river before us wasn''t much of a challenge. I just walked right through and Sven flew over it. On the other side, I stepped on a giant road. This thing was so broad and sturdy that it seemed somewhat out of place. ''Why is there a road all the way out here?'' "You don''t know? This is the Bifr?st, the rainbow road." ''Looks pretty grey to me... Where''s the rainbow?'' "Originally, this road began in Asgard and should end in Midgard. It was made with rainbow-colored crystals to show the Aesir''s superiority but even they couldn''t sustain the expanse. Halfway through they went to war with the Jotuns and redirected the road to Jotunheim. It''s become a border between the volcanic mountains and your forest." ''Those Aesir really did put a lot of importance on boasting about their financial prowess. They have a golden city, a giant fortress, and now a crystal rainbow road.'' "Yeah, that golden city is not so golden anymore." ''Really? I feel there is a story behind this. Do tell!'' "Magni, Thor''s son, wanted to obtain your lightning origin fruit. He was only a newly minted grand duke magus and thought he could break through to king magus early with it. He feared V?lsung''s interference and paid a huge sum of gold to bribe all of us to stay out of it." ''Did he succeed? I can hardly imagine him being unable to get new gold after becoming a king magus.'' "Well, he didn''t account for Ratatoskr''s strength. He marched up with the empire''s remaining elites and attacked Ratatoskr when he tried to get the fruit. More than 2000 spells crashed into that squirrel and it didn''t even get a scratch. They did royally piss him off though. Ratatoskr went into a frenzy and wiped out half the Aesir present, including Magni. Throughout the whole thing, that monster got hit by so many attacks but remained completely unharmed. Actually, do you know what level he is at?" ''I have no clue. Rat''s definitely on par with a king magus but if it really ate all those apples, he might be a lot stronger now.'' Just at that moment, a red flare burst in the skies to the north. "This is bad! Majorly bad!" ''Why, what''s happening?'' "That flare is the distress signal from the frontier. Red means the main defense line has been breached and the reserves don''t think they can hold on for long. We have to go there right away! You are faster than me, go ahead. We can''t let the undead get out!" That serious? I was a bit uneasy after Sven''s words. I jumped up into the sky and summoned my innate understanding of lightning. ''Electric moon! The crackling current flows past all places you shine upon. I am the current and my existence is omnipresent below the heavens. Lightning domain, shift!'' I could feel the fabric of the world ripple as my domain spread out around me. In the blink of an eye, the surroundings around me had changed and I was only a short distance away from where the flare had come. I was still in the air and could see the chaos below. The main defensive line was still roughly visible. Due to the mountainous terrain, the undead were driven to certain chokepoints where a valley let them pass the otherwise unpassable, natural barrier. This place was one such valley and a makeshift wall had been built to hold them back. From the air, however, I noticed a fatal flaw in the wall''s defensive capabilities. There was a gaping hole in the wall and masses of undead were charging through. Above the broken part of the wall, I spied the perpetrators of this catastrophe. Two figures in gray cloaks were giving of eerie vibes while fighting a human king magus. Evidently, the two undead king magi held the upper hand in the whole fight and one of them had probably used this opportunity to blast the wall. Behind the breached wall, the reserve forces were desperately trying to contain the mass of undead. However, the undead fought without concern for their own body and wore down those few reserve troops quickly. This was really bothersome! I was now on a higher level than in my previous life and most of the spells I knew wouldn''t be able to bring out my full strength. The only spell I knew was a fundamental domain application. The signature move of mages in the grey empire, moon domain. It couldn''t be helped. Domain application was very useful due to its variety. Before, I had used my lightning domain to move here at an incredible speed. Now I needed to turn this battle around. Fake kings ''Vibrant moon! The life-giving current flows past all places you shine upon. Where I stand all life shall prosper. Domain of life, eternal growth!'' In the sky above me a pale, light green moon appeared and filled the area around with a green glow. A soothing tide washed over all the combatants on the side of the living, healed their wounds, and gave them new strength. The landslide victory that the undead had been enjoying was abruptly turned into a temporary stalemate. The undead king magi grew slightly agitated. They commenced a pincer attack that put their lives on the line to kill the human magus. If I let that happen, all my prior efforts would be wasted. Unwilling to let that happen, I condensed lightning in my fist and joined the fray. Life and lightning, two elements that were the bane of all undead. The life domain I had spread out was primarily focused on supporting the defending force and thus didn''t really affect the undead. However, the lightning in my fist was driven by an innate understanding and was meant to harm. The undead king magi hadn''t seen me as a threat because they had assumed I was busy casting my life spell. Too bad for them, a domain was a passive thing and I could give them my fullest attention. When my fist landed on one of the cloaked figures back''s, the lightning spread furiously and tore the figure apart completely. ???? This was way too easy! A king magus shouldn''t go down that easily even if they were hit by their weakness. Were they forcefully promoted? I wanted to verify my guess bit the human king magus had already drowned the second undead magus in an ocean of fire. "I''ll leave the rest to you. I''m glad you made it in time." Summoning this last attack the king magus had used up the remains of his power and plummeted out of the sky. I quickly moved to catch him and brought him down to the human encampment. Without their king level leaders, the other undead seemed to lose all hope and retreated promptly. A human grand duke magus approached me as I landed. "Greetings, lord magus! I am the deputy commander of this camp. Thank you for coming to our rescue and saving commander Ragnar. Will you assume command until commander Ragnar wakes up?" ''That won''t be necessary, I leave the commanding to you. If my guess is right there will be more flares up in the sky before night falls.'' "Why do you think so? There are many encampments along the border and there can only be so many undead king magi." ''Let me ask you, have you seen any undead on the grand duke level during this attack?'' "No, why?" ''I fear that whoever sent these creatures has used some means to forcefully promote a large number of grand duke level undead to the king level.'' "Is that even possible? Wouldn''t this make them invincible?" ''No. Firstly, the price for such a feat must be exorbitant. Secondly, this will bring numerous drawbacks and only works under the right circumstances. I hate to say it but if those had been true king magi, your commander wouldn''t have been able to hold them back by himself.'' "Are undead magi that strong?" ''It''s not the fact that they are undead. It''s a difference in the grade of understanding. Death is much more complicated than fire and thus if comprehended to the same degree, death will surely triumph. But these two undead didn''t match that level of power. Also, their defense was sorely lacking.'' While we were talking, I walked over to the breach in the wall. With a wave of my hand, a wall of trees grew and the breach was temporarily sealed. ''Anyway, I''ll stay here until the next flare appears. Can I have the undead king magi''s remains to research?'' "You want them? Take them then. What about your rewards?" ''Rewards?'' "Killing undead of the duke level and above will be specially rewarded to increase people''s motivation. You killed a king magus, naturally, you should receive your corresponding reward." ''I don''t really have the capacity to accept that right now, I''d like to keep my baggage light. But in a day or so, a grand duke magus named Sven will arrive. Hand my rewards to him and tell him that lord Eldar wants him to stay here and help defend this place.'' "With all due respect, a grand duke magus isn''t going to make much of a difference in the face of king level threats." ''Just deliver the message, you''ll see soon enough.'' With that, I walked over to where the undead remains should be. Main assaul Absorbing and analyzing the remains of the undead magi confirmed my suspicions. The innate understanding they had was strange and identical. Usually, every innate understanding was unique, it was after all created by the cumulative of a person''s experiences and comprehension. Having an identical understanding would need two identical minds to go through identical experiences. Sure it could happen, but not like this. I couldn''t even fully absorb their innate understanding. It just dissolved and lost all substance halfway through the absorption. I was so engrossed in studying the undead that I nearly missed the flare going off in the distance. It was only early evening and the next attack was already mounted. Only seconds later, multiple consecutive flares light up the skies. The main offensive of the undead seemed to have been launched. "Lord magus, please head over to the biggest flare. That is the main encampment and should it fall, the troop morale will plummet." ''Fine. Make sure you are prepared too. There will likely be a second wave.'' Flying up into the sky I once again executed my lightning domain application to move towards the place the biggest flare had been launched from. What greeted me at my arrival was a vast battlefield. On one side were the allied forces, consisting of humans, godkins, and giants while the other side was swarming with undead. Since this was the main camp, the quality and quantity of both forces were many times greater than what I had witnessed before. The allied forces had gathered twenty king magi and three king fighters but were forced into a defensive situation by the two hundred odd cloaked figures that charged over recklessly. Now that I was familiar with their aura, I could easily differentiate between the ones forcefully promoted and those not. Among the charging undead, there was only one true king magus. He was running at the back of the group and seemed somewhat out of place. Different from the others he wasn''t wearing a gray cloak that hid his features. He wore a long blue robe and was holding a staff behind his back. He''d look human by all accounts, were it not for the eerie glow in his eyes. He was the greatest danger in this whole siege attack. The surprise of suddenly facing a true king level enemy after fighting the fakes would give him an edge that would cost the allied forces deeply. As I flew towards him, the undead seemed to notice my attention and stopped following the horde to confront me directly. Instead of directly attacking he bowed slightly and greeted me in a hoarse voice. "Greetings. I am Neptune, the tide of Atlantis. I have returned from my watery grave to fight for Atlantis once again." ''I''m pretty sure Atlantis doesn''t exist anymore. There is no reason for us to fight. Go back to your grave and rest in peace.'' "Young man, we both know there is only one way to resolve this..." ''Yes, sadly that seems to be the only viable path. Then, I am Eldar, the life of my forest. I''m just passing through so please go easy on me.'' Harumphing at my last sentence, Neptune swung his staff at me. I met his staff with my fist, causing him to be pushed back a little. He fought incredibly steady, advancing and retreating like the tide. From time to time a true tide surged out from his robes trying to bring me off balance. Being a tree, I simply absorbed the water and wasn''t really impacted. Though his innate understanding of tides was rare, its value in combat couldn''t be fully unleashed against me. As the battle dragged on, it quickly became apparent that he couldn''t hold on for much longer. ''You have fought hard, rest now. I''ll put your innate understanding to good use.'' "An absorber? A true warrior of Atlantis doesn''t let his opponent benefit." Neptune''s chest erupted as a glowing mist charged at me. This madman had unleashed his innate understanding! It was a peak king level strike that used the understanding as its energy source and was a pure kamikaze move. Good thing my strength had already surpassed the level of kings. Heading eas As the mist arrived before me, it was about to enter my body when it recoiled and evaporated into nothingness. Neptune gaped in shock as the undead glow slowly faded from his eyes. "You have already surpassed the king level and become a chosen one?" ''My system of evolution is different from your ranking of strength but yes, by your standards I could be considered to have surpassed king level.'' "You said nothing about being a chosen one! Are you perhaps a-" Without his innate understanding, Neptune turned to dust and scattered into the wind. I couldn''t spare much time to be sad about the world losing a true warrior and me losing a useful innate understanding. While the biggest variable in this battle was eliminated, the allied forces had trouble holding their own against the unit of fake kings. Most king magi were forced to cope with at least seven cloaked figures pursuing them while attacking madly. Among the chaos, I actually spotted a familiar face. Loki was facing a total of twenty adversaries and handled himself fairly well. Somehow, all the attacks miraculously missed him. Probably due to his powers of change. I advanced on the group targeting him from behind and started lightning punching them into oblivion. They were all one hits for me and by the time they noticed me, half of them were scattered on the ground. Noticing me also didn''t do them much good because as long as my domain of life was contained within my body, they couldn''t hurt me at all. I controlled all elements that entered my domain and could reject anything unwanted, including weapons and magic. Only someone stronger than me or with an advantage in elemental effectiveness could penetrate this defense. This barred me from providing the others with a buff area like before but in return made me a grim reaper among the undead. Forgive the pun. As the pressure on Loki eased, he went on the offensive. Change was a scary thing! If Loki could get ahold of an undead, he would grab them and turn them right into dust. Unlike me pulverizing them, Loki''s method didn''t leave any remains that held magic. "I didn''t think you''d be the one rushing to our aid. Now that you''ve surpassed us all, why bother?" ''I''ve come to save lives. Not everyone who gains power sees life as insignificant. If these defenses fail, my people will die too, you know.'' "Then we''d better get to work and be done with it!" ''This isn''t even the main assault yet. What do you think will happen once the real king magi attack?'' "The real ones?" ''I''ll explain later.'' Working together, we slowly cleared out all the cloaked figures and then I proceeded to blast a few lightning arcs into the undead below to easy the situation. With all the king magi and fighters freed, the lower undead were quickly slaughtered. After ending the battle I was originally planning on collecting the fake king remains and leaving but Loki stopped me. "You said you were here to save lives and that this wasn''t the last of them and now you just want to leave?" ''Look, simply put, of all the opponents you just fought, only one was a true king magus and I disposed of that one in the beginning. The others are all forcefully promoted grand dukes and the enemy main force is probably still out there. I''ll push east and see if I can find where they come from and what the source of all this is.'' "Can''t you stay and help us defend?" ''I already came here to help you with this assault. The next one may be stronger but you have time to prepare now and I have places to be.'' "But the rewards!" ''Send them to V?lsung.'' I said as I flew out of the battlefield. Entering the plane of the dead, I was met with a desolate expanse of reddish stone and a few patches of sparse black vegetation. This place was swarming with undead that were mostly clustered in groups of ten. However, unlike the ones that had been in the assault, these guys here were regular undead, no stronger than an average person. Necropolis While flying I continuously absorbed the remains of the undead I had gathered. Gradually, I started to get more insights into the principles of death. And with that, I got a very strong feeling where all this was coming from. Towards the center of the plane, a pulse of death spread like ripples from a stone dropped into a calm lake. For those who didn''t have a connection to death, it would be nothing but a slight waft of putrid air. But to the undead, every pulse contained a message. If I found the source of this pulse I would surely discover why this whole undead stampede happened in the first place. I advanced towards the source at full speed only to be stopped in my tracks by a horrifying presence. Before me lay a giant city or more accurately it was the ruin of a city. It was built with the reddish-brown stone that could be found almost everywhere in this place. And encircling this ruin was an enormous, gargantuan snake. The snake spanned around the ruin multiple times and gave off the unmistakable aura of a divine beast. Its long body was covered in dark-green scales that contrasted with the reddish surrounding. I had been hoping to leave unnoticed and reevaluate the situation but as I slowly flew back a little the slithering goliath moved. Its head rose from the ground and its pitch-black eyes locked onto me. An angry, hoarse voice boomed across the plane. "Why have you come to the , mortal? This is the land of the dead, the living shouldn''t tread here." ''Technically, I am flying.'' "Spare me your attitude. State your purpose or I will devour you!" As if to emphasize the threat, the snake opened its mouth, displaying the razor-sharp teeth dripping with venom and the vastness of its gargantuan maw. Despite it being undead, this was still a divine beast and I was not its opponent. ''Undead have attempted to cross into the land of the living. The fights at the border are getting worse and a bunch of fake king magi appeared. I''m here to find the cause of all this.'' The snake''s maw closed and it seemed contemplative. Its voice rang out anew but distinctly female this time. It was an attractive but sinister voice that made me shudder. "I understand the reason for your visit but I cannot let you pass. I am a jade snake dowager and my kind keeps our promises. I promised not to let the living enter this city and I will see that promise through to the end." ''So you would let a lifeless being pass?'' "Heh, do you intend to let me kill you so you can turn undead and enter?" The dowager sounded like she would really enjoy killing me. Thankfully, I had a better plan that didn''t involve me getting murdered by a divine beast. I sent some magic into the ground and created a golem. Not as fancy as my combat golems but more than enough to find out what was happening inside. "A golem? I guess it isn''t alive so it can pass. But are you sure you don''t want to go in yourself? I''d be willing to end you. Quickly! Painless!" ''You seem awfully fixated on killing me. Do you dislike me for some reason?'' "There is no such thing as me disliking you. But it has just been so long since I have ended a life. Squeezed the breath out of it... Sunk my teeth into it... Drowned it in venom... And watched it die!" She was a crazy psychopath! The way she described the killing and the pleasure in her voice, the slaughter crazed undertone. It scared me. Slowly, I backed away and let the golem go forth. The jade snake dowager was still entranced in her imagination of killing and I most definitely couldn''t stay here. Once I had reached a certain distance I once again used my lightning domain application and got the hell out of there. My golem in the meantime had reached the city gates and entered. The city was by all accounts a ghost city and my golem couldn''t spy any undead. Finally, the golem reached the main plaza. It was occupied by a bunch of king magi undead that were polishing their weapons. From somewhere deeper inside a voice drifted out. "We give up on the west. Tomorrow we move east with all remaining forces." That was just about all I needed to hear. I immediately recalled the golem and prepared to depart. However, when the golem left the city it was met with a little misfortune. Further eas By the time the golem exited the city, the jade snake dowager had recovered from her delusions. "He is gone? Isn''t that his golem exiting? It''s not alive but..." Before I could react, the snake''s head descended at a rapid pace and one of its long fangs impaled the poor golem. Reluctantly the snake pulled back its voice holding some disappointment. "It just isn''t the same..." Thank the goddesses I got out of there in time. Now that I knew where the undead horde was going to strike, I simply had to get there first and prepare for battle. It was a good thing that I had my lightning domain and was thus much faster than anyone else. I didn''t know exactly where I was heading but I would know once I found the dwarven defenses. Moving forward in bursts of instantaneous movement, I soon left the land of the dead and spied more mountains below. Similarly to the Jotun side, the undead were also impeded by the natural geography of this place, forcing them to converge at certain spots that were tightly guarded. Different however from the allied forces, this was a place defended by dwarves. There were no makeshift walls or obstructions in sight. Instead, all choke points in my view were blocked by high stone walls dotted with varying pieces of siege-defense equipment. Assuming that the largest wall would similarly hold the commanders with the highest authority, I slowly descended towards it. As I got closer, a domain of dark swords appeared before me. Presumably, it was a domain of darkness that was manifested with the image of a sword in mind. A crude predecessor of the domain application technique I used. Nevertheless, the one who made this had to be considered a genius. Not everyone was born with a complete inheritance of magic principles at their disposal after all. ''Night Owl I presume?'' "You know who I am then, good, then you also know what happens if you take another step forward." ''Why does everyone I meet today sound so sinister and threaten to kill me. And if you are implying that you will kill me if I take another step then you are overestimating your strength. Now, the entirety of the dead planes'' king magi are headed here, prepare to fight for your lives.'' "Is that a threat?" ''No. I intend to fight alongside you so this can be considered a warning.'' "I don''t fight alongside people who are weaker than me. Especially, if they brag about their strength but cower in fear before mine." ''You are going to remain stubborn until I walk into that domain of yours, aren''t you? Fine by me.'' Without hesitation, I stepped into Night Owl''s domain. This lack of hesitation to step into a zone of death must have shocked him so badly that he didn''t react for a few moments. Only after he regained his bearings did a sudden furry grip his heart. I had made him hesitate. Driven by the fury of his feelings of humiliation the all sword rushed towards me. Based on that, he had yet to fully grasp the meaning of a genuine domain. If he had. The swords would appear directly before me. Not having full control of his domain yet was a fatal weakness when going up against some like me who not only had full control over his domain but also more than one to choose from. ''The dark of night is feared by all mortals. But as lightning strikes, all obscurity is vanquished and even the most stubborn darkness must give way to the heavenly furry. Lightning domain, counter burst.'' From my body, the lightning domain burst forth and swept away Night Owl''s domain like it was nothing. As I retracted my domain, only a dark elf with a lost look on his handsome face was left floating in the air. "Defeated just like that? Was I so weak, or were my comprehensions insufficient?" ''That''s not quite it. My control over my domain is better than yours and you fell for my reasoning which led to your domain putting up no resistance when I dispersed it. If you spend some more time to consolidate your domain and confidence you should fare better.'' Dwarven walls "Come on down then. After being defeated, I should at least treat you to a drink." Night Owl turned out to be a very nice dark elf if one disregarded the whole domain thing. He invited me into his wooden cottage at the bottom of the wall and served me a liquid he called tea. Whether it was actual tea or something else was hard for me to tell. I was in my essence still a tree and taking in hot, colored liquid had absolutely no effect on me. I couldn''t even taste it! But what matters is the intention. "You mentioned an attack by king magi. I fear you are too late, we were already attacked a few days ago." ''I can''t be sure but I assume they were mostly just forcefully promoted. How did they look like, a bunch of gray cloaked figures?'' "That''s indeed how they looked. Seems it wasn''t my power that rendered them helpless but their weakness. I still have a long way to go." ''Well, you couldn''t have known. For now, you should try your best to increase your defensive capacity to the absolute peak.'' "I''m the wrong person to talk to if you want to change anything about those defenses. I''m just here to fight the strong enemies. Come, I''ll introduce you to the dwarven king." Upon the wall, a dwarf was sitting on an iron throne surrounded by a group of dwarves in full armor. As far as I could tell, none of them were at the king level. Tentatively I inquired towards Night Owl. ''Why are there no king level generals here? Are they busy defending somewhere?'' "It''s nothing complicated like that. They simply don''t have anyone at the king level." ''How did they hold on until now?'' "The dwarves have neglected personal strength in favor of equipment. Their defenses don''t just look fortresslike, they are very progressive when it comes to the art of defense." As we approach, the circle around the king opens up and the king addressed us. Or to be exact, he addressed Night Owl. "Lord Night Owl, are you leaving already?" "It would seem I will be staying a little longer. King Durin, may I introduce my new friend to you. He came here to warn us about a second attack that will be stronger than the last." "How have you come to trust this man?" "He bested me in combat." "What?!!!" Undeniable shock was written all over the dwarves'' faces as they took in the words Night Owl had just spoken. They had probably witnessed him fight before and struggled to believe that I had bested him. Of the whole group of dwarves, it was the king who first regained his bearings. "Salutations, chosen one! I am Durin, king of the dwarves and commander of the defenses against the undead." ''Greetings, king. I am known as Eldar.'' "The divine tree, Yggdrasil?" ''Sigh. I am also known by that name, but I prefer Eldar.'' Once again, I recounted the whole situation and the assault that was about to happen. The dwarven generals around the king soon sprung into action and started asking me questions about prior assaults and my fight with a true undead king magus. Night Owl had left minutes ago and the generals were still prattling on about potential perils. Finally, the king once again took part in the conversation. "Windolf, activate the dwarven gates and bring our secret stash here! We will show these pesky undead that we are not to be trifled with!" "But your Majesty, those things are meant to defend the capital!" "If the undead get past this point, they will be hard to locate and that will, in turn, endanger the capital. We will stop them here and through that defend the capital. As for the others, evenly distribute the reserve soldiers to the other walls. I wish for no breaches!" Hurriedly, all the generals dispersed, running off to fulfill the duties given to them. I was really curious as to what that secret stash of the dwarves contained. After all, it seemed to be a trump card of the dwarven race meant to defend their capital. But until the battle began, I wouldn''t get to see any of that. Thus, I spent the next few hours in Night Owls cottage, watching as he brewed that tea of his. Apparently, doing this before a battle helped him calm down. Dwarven secrets I''d been expecting to wait for a few days until the enemy arrived but when the sound of dwarven horns blasted through the air, only a couple of hours had passed. ''They seem to be rather early.'' "I had expected them to be a little tardier too but it wouldn''t make much of a difference now. We can only face them to the best of our abilities." Once again, we scaled the high wall and went to meet the dwarven king. Various generals from last time were nowhere to be seen. Probably off to the other walls to defend them personally. Only the one addressed as Windolf had returned, I took that as a sign that the secret stash had arrived too. Indeed, as I looked around on the wall, a multitude of machines was placed there along with mountains of stone boxes. "Ah, the chosen ones! Perfect timing. Our scouts have just seen the hordes approaching." As the dwarven king said that, he gestured towards a section of the wall. At first, I was a little confused as to why the scouts would be on the wall but one glance cleared up everything. ''Is that a telescope?'' "You know of it?" ''Well yes, but never for the use in combat. The one I know is used to watch the sky and see stars.'' "That is indeed the purpose it was invented for. However, over the years we noticed that it could be used to observe great distances as long as it is mounted in a high place. Admittedly, making it adjust and turn was very challenging. That gear below it can rotate into every direction. Quite impressive, isn''t it?" ''It sure is!'' The horn sounded again and Durin switched from his pleased bragging face to a serious face in an instant. "Trebuchets and catapults take aim and fire at will. Cannons and mortars take aim and hold." Immediately a horrible cracking rang through the air as hundreds of gears shifted simultaneously. The air was filled with burning projectiles ejected by the dwarven war machines. As the first undead approached, they walked straight into the burning projectiles that were raining down from the sky. Large gashes appeared in the undead horde as thousands of undead burned but looking at the whole horde, the damage was little more than a drop in the ocean. As the undead drew closer to the wall, the cannons engaged as well. The giant iron barrels were aimed down as bright red inscriptions lit up on them. With a roar, the barrels spewed a column of fire as they ejected a burning ball that exploded as it hit the ground. The horde''s progress was halted temporarily but it soon resumed its advance. The first undead were now only a hundred meters away from the wall. "Drop the golems!" Golems? The dwarves upon the wall started kicking down the piled up stone boxes. While falling, the boxes unfolded and took a rough human shape. The landed before the undead and immediately engaged. They were terribly weak individually but with their great number, their strong defense, and the dwarven fire support, they managed to stop the horde from advancing. The only ones getting through were undead at the marquis and duke level. They simply flee above the golems and avoided the projectile rain. I was about to get worried but then a duke level undead was struck by multiple small things that ripped him apart. A rifle? "Flare locks are truly a scary weapon." Night Owl seemed to know about this weapon too. I couldn''t help but compare it with the flint and mage locks of my previous world. As the undead came into range, the various dwarves with their flare locks dispatched them one by one. The situation looked to be fully under the control of the dwarves. However, the main danger had yet to arrive. If the king magi were left unchecked, they could tear this wall down within seconds. Right on cue, a plethora of strong presence appeared on the horizon and closed in quickly. Both Night owl and I started shifting our weight, ready to shoot up and engage them. "Don''t go yet. Let us have a shot at them first!" Dont bring a sword to a gunfigh Durin''s words came somewhat unexpected. Fighting a king magus without being one yourself was very difficult. Usually, a lot of coincidences were needed for that to happen and that was fighting just one. Durin was talking about taking on a whole group of them. Now the king magi came into view. A full one hundred of them! And as far as I could tell, 60 were real king level magi or fighters. "Please tell me most of them are fakes." ''Night Owl, I hate to disappoint you but more than half of them are real. King Durin, do not underestimate them. The real ones are all experienced veterans that can fight incredibly well and have no fear of kamikaze attacks.'' "Not to worry. I couldn''t hope to defeat them all but if we can weaken them while you preserve your strength, that would be a favorable outcome." ''Where do you take this confidence from?'' "It may seem like we are lagging behind other races in overall power, but I assure you, we have progressed in our own way." While we were talking, the king level undead had reached the vicinity of the wall. A true king magus stepped up and was about to introduce himself as customary for them but the roar of thunder interrupted him. A blue bolt of lightning tore through the air and hit him square in the chest. When the lightning had passed, the magus was still moving but a sizable chunk of his torse was missing. Losing control of his flying, the wounded undead fell straight into the burning flames below and burned up. Admittedly, I was flustered and looked around rapidly to find the source of that attack. As everyone had frozen up from shock, another two bolts of lightning tore through the air with resounding thunder booming along. One bolt ripped through a bunch of fakes and the other approached a warrior looking guy who punched the lightning head-on and remained mostly unhurt. By now, I had found the source of these attacks. Behind the wall, hidden in the mountains stood three spider-like machines that had a spear mounted on their backs. Around the spears, a residue blue lightning was still visible as they were probably recharging. ''What are these things powered by? Their power output is insane!'' "Right! Right! They are each powered by an elemental origin. These three all have a lightning origin as their core and can fire very potent strikes." While the strikes were truly powerful, to me, a glaring weakness remained. They were still recharging and by now, the undead magi had spotted them too. ''I think it''s time to join the fight.'' "We can still further weaken them!" ''You could, but it would be far more effective if we held them back while you fire.'' Not waiting for Durin trying to talk me out of it, I flew up to block the undead. As I had feared, the real king level undead weren''t stupid like the rest. One came forward to engage me while the rest split up and went around me heading for the dwarven machines. The fakes originally wanted to fight me too but received a command from a real one and went around me too. Night Owl was similarly engaged by only one while the rest avoided him and his domain. I''d have to hurry up and go after them. The one facing me was the king fighter who had blocked the lightning. His muscle-packed upper body was bared and his long hair swayed in the wind. "I am Mars, divine strength of Sparta. I have risen from my blood-soaked grave to-" ''yes, yes, Eldar, life, now go die.'' I rushed at Mars and threw a punch straight at his chest. Accepting the challenge, Mars reciprocated with a punch of his own. His punch arrived before mine but showed no effect when it connected. Mine on the other hand connected to his chest and made him cough up blood. As my fist was still touching his chest, I grew branches out my fist, directly piercing through him. "Internal domain? Damn you!" Quickly absorbing his innate understanding into my body and sealing it, I chased after the others. This time four king magi turned to delay me. Funny wasn''t it? First I had been the one delaying them, now they were delaying me. Meanwhile, the first real king magus had reached the air space directly above one of the mechanic spiders. "Secondary cannons engage!" At Durin''s command, four smaller but longer barrels emerged from the spider''s main body and unleashed a barrage of lightning charged bullets at the incoming magus. Their lethality wasn''t comparable to the lightning strike but still managed to push back the flustered undead. Now, I would have to take care of those four idiots. Unfortunately, due to Mars they now knew of my internal domain that made me invulnerable to their attacks. Durins ace Fighting four opponents would hold no danger for me but take a long time. So I decided to take a little risk. As the four floated a few meters away from me, they wanted to once again introduce themselves. This was my chance to end this quickly! ''Life domain expand! Within my domain there is only life, all death shall be eradicated!'' I let my life domain expand out of my body. Taking advantage of the antagonistic relationship between life and death, I targeted the essence of these undead and circumvented their innate understandings. Of course, this held some risk. I felt the javelin before I saw it. A wooden javelin wrapped in life magic phased right through the boundary of my domain, continued on, and buried itself in my shoulder. I really shouldn''t have formed pain neurons when I condensed this body! Four more undead down in return for a javelin through the shoulder. Not the best trade-off but an acceptable one. Retracting my life domain, I used some lightning to destroy javelin and grew over the hole in my chest to temporarily fix the damages. Night Owl had also finished off his first opponent and had now confined all the fakes in his domain and was slowly finishing them off. The mechanic spiders, however, were not doing well. Despite their suppressive fire and more lightning strikes, they were still besieged by 40 king magi. The first spider was already half broken with its lightning spear broken in two. Just then, a lightning strike shot down the king maga that had thrown that javelin. Unexpectedly, the lightning strike had come from the wall. There, Durin still sat on his throne. Just that this throne was now mounted on another mechanic spider. This spider had four additional limbs that were extended into the air. Two at the front, reminding of the claws of a scorpion and two at the back reminding of a scorpion''s stinger. One of the two limbs in the back was a lightning spear like the other spiders had. The other back limb ended in an actual stinger that was surrounded by dark tendrils. Durin was laughing like a maniac as he sat on his throne with a special looking flare lock in his grasp. "How dare you break one of my mechanic spiders! Do you know how much resources went into building them? You will feel my wrath! Now taste the power of my ace!" Realizing the danger of the new mechanic spider, the 20 king magi split off from the group assaulting the other spiders and headed over for Durin. Actually, let me take back my statement from before. While they aren''t brainless like the fakes, they are stupid to only leave 20 people behind to fight three mechanic spiders, me and Night Owl who had just finished off all fakes. Without another magus with an innate understanding of life, my domain was the bane of these undead. Together with Night Owl''s domain and the spiders'' fire support we slowly whittled down the 20 remaining magi. Meanwhile, king Durin was also facing 20 king magi. Atop his mechanical throne, he aimed the flare lock at them and shot a blinding line of light that directly pierced through the head of one of the undead. 19 left as the lightning spear roared again and reduced that number down to 18. As they drew closer, one of the spider''s extended front limbs flared up and unleashed swaths of flame. The four undead upfront caught fire and based on their reaction this was no ordinary flame. The 14 remaining ones moved back as the second front limb lit up and sent out a powerful gust of wind. Carried by the wind, the flames carried further and reached the retreating undead. Two more down, 12 left. This time the undead carefully avoided the space in front of the fire limb and advanced once again. Then the sword limb pierced forward like a stinger and cut another magus straight in two while the lightning spear simultaneously eliminated another. Ten to go and those ten started to realize that they weren''t prepared to fight this murderous machine. More so, when the whole thing started to move. Yes, you read correctly, the spider could move around like a monster spider, jumping down the wall and maintaining a constant shift of positioning. To my great surprise, Durin finished his battle before us and without sustaining any damage. Although I guess the element of surprise played a huge role. Dark elves and the Nox Aeterna Of the 60 king magi, I had been able to get the innate understanding of about 20 of them. The rest had unfortunately been destroyed by their owners. I wouldn''t finish assimilating these understandings anytime soon but at least I would passively grow stronger. While I had been immersed in my inner world we had arrived above a clearing in the dark forest below. There were only a couple of wooden huts strewn all over the place. This couldn''t be Svartalfheim, couldn''t it? Before I could ask Night Owl what was going on, Tenten swooped down into a rapid dive. With a snap, the ground in the middle of the clearing vanished and revealed a giant hole. Tenten entered the hole and kept diving down into the darkness. We spent a few more seconds flying down the dark shaft before the walls opened up into a giant underground cavern. Tenten spread her wings to catch our fall and began to glide through the cavern. The cavern was dimly lit by glowing crystals that gave of a soft purple glow. Since the lighting wasn''t very good I couldn''t take in the full extent of the cavern. ''How do you guys see in this dimness?'' "Night vision. Dark elf stuff, you know." Right, since they had dark in their name, it would make sense for them to be able to see in the dark. Then we suddenly entered a particular cave. The cave had was protected by a thin membrane made of magic that let no light pass. Despite that, there was no darkness in the cave. Just void and a single flower in the middle of the cave. ''What is this place?'' "We call this place the Noctis chamber. The flower there is Nox Aeterna, a flower that swallows darkness to grow. It has been here, collecting darkness for millennia. Studying the darkness within the Nox Aeterna yields much greater improvements in understanding so we dark elves see it as a sacred and ancient flower." "Don''t listen to that old crook''s lies! I''m not ancient! I am a delicate little flower, the embodiment of youthful cuteness!" A young girl''s angry voice rang out through the room. Based on the content of that sentence, the one talking was the Nox Aeterna. Was she perhaps like me? "What? Who''s talking? And who are you calling an old crook?" "I am talking and you''re the old crook. How dare you make me look old and undesirable before a fellow plant!" ''So you too have attained consciousness.'' "Yes, I am Nox. Welcome my new neighbor!" ''Neighbor? I won''t be staying here.'' "What? No! You can''t leave. She will come for you, she will enslave you, she will keep you as her guardian. Stay here! I''ve blocked her out, this place is safe! Once we grow strong enough we can leave this place for good." I had only just escaped the divine snake with a killing addiction and now I was told by a probably divine flower that going outside was dangerous... ''So, who is that she you keep talking about.'' "Naturally it''s the w- Haaaargh. Nevermind, she still has enough influence over me to stop me from telling you. But that just goes to show how dangerous the outside is!" I had enough of the crazy flower and left while carrying the still stunned Night Owl out with me. Upon leaving the cave I was once again enveloped in darkness lit by dim crystals. "The flower was just talking..." ''You''re friends with a walking, talking tree. Why is a flower different?'' "But you look human and you talk through the mind." "I can talk like this too. I just don''t like doing it." "You can talk?!" ''Yes, now don''t look so astonished. Assuming people can''t do something because they aren''t doing it will get you killed. But let''s not dwell on what happened in there. You said you wanted to create an area of true darkness, can I help?'' "Your assistance would be most appreciated." Getting back onto Tenten we flew through more dimly lit caverns until we reached a giant underground tree. Halfway up the tree was a tree hole that we entered. ''So, is this tree going to start talking too?'' "I should be asking you. I didn''t even know about the Nox Aeterna." We waited for a whole minute but no voice came from the tree. Sufficient to say, it was just an ordinary tree. Elven treasure After being somewhat reassured that we wouldn''t be met with another crazy plant, I took a look around. ''Seems kind of empty here.'' Tenten let out a bone-shaking caw that was answered by an assortment of weaker caws. The gently flapping of wings could be heard and a swarm of miniature Tenten''s entered the tree hole. "They are usually out guarding the caverns or spending time with their tamers. Only Tenten can get them to convene like this. All of them can potentially mature and become an ancient tenebrous owl but only under the right conditions." As he said that, Night Owl walked to the center of the tree hole and took a dark sphere out of his pocket. Tendrils of darkness emerged from the sphere and attracted the gazes of all the owls in the room. ''What will you do now?'' "I''ll use the dark origin to help support my domain. That way I should be able to keep going for a thousand years." ''You intend to spend the next one thousand years in this tree hole? You''ll go insane!'' "A small price to pay if it brings back the ancient tenebrous owls." ''There is another way. With my help and a few of your treasures, I can build a formation that keeps up an area of effect filled with the core element.'' "Why do you need treasures? Are they your payment?" ''No, they will be the pillars of the formation. Without them, such an enormous amount of power couldn''t be contained within the formation lines. As for my reward, since you will be free to move around, I will have an ally on the level of a chosen one.'' "That sounds a little too good to be true." ''But it is true.'' "I''ll bring you to our treasury. I really hope this works." Another five minutes of flying through the dim caverns and we arrived in the treasury of the dark elves. To my great surprise, all the rooms here were well lit, too bright even. ''I thought you dark elves dislike this kind of brightness?'' Looking over to Night Owl I noticed him wearing a black cloth tied over his eyes. Evidently, this was too bright for him. "It''s a defensive measure we adopted after years of experimenting. Enemies who can see in the dark will be extremely weakened in the light and stand no chance against the guards here. Enemies who can see in the light will have an easy time here but when they go back into the caverns they will be wiped out by the guards there." ''What if the enemy can do both or has two teams?'' "No strategy is foolproof or infallible but this path has helped us successfully defend our treasury until this day." After walking through a couple of chambers filled with gold, jewelry, and crystals we arrived in front of another door. It didn''t particularly stand out but gave me a sense of danger. "It''s made from the spine of a giant, ancient tenebrous owl. Should anyone without a contract with an ancient tenebrous owl attempt to open the door, he would be attacked by the owl''s remnant spirit and torn apart." A mental attack from a beast that had lived long enough to grow to the size that a part of its spine could be made into a seamless door. That was one nasty trap. After all, who would expect such a simple door to pack such a punch? Night Owl pushed open the door and I entered behind him. The whole room was ordinary, crudely hewn from the stone, albeit quite large. 81 pedestals filled the room. Each pedestal was made of bone and white as ivory. Atop them were colorful spheres that probably contained the treasures of the dark elves. ''Let me guess, every pedestal is made from another spine and can only be touched by those with a corresponding contract.'' "Indeed. However, as an additional measure of safety, the spheres contain the soul of the contractor of the owl that this bone came from. Only if they think of you as worthy enough will they allow you to take the object inside the sphere." ''What rank were they at?'' "The outer ones, king level, further in chosen ones and all the way in the middle, demigod level." ''Demigods! Are there any gods?'' "No, we aren''t even sure they exist. What reason would a god have to stay here? They are all-powerful being after all." ''They would just be worldly gods, worth nothing in the eyes of those beyond the worlds. But what happened to this world? There are so many vestiges of powerhouses around here but now they all disappeared.'' "We don''t have many documents of that time and most of them say different things happened but all agree that an enemy force invaded the world." ''That sounds rather unsettling... How about we just return to the matter at hand. I''ll need four treasures to keep the formation stable.'' "Four! Isn''t that a little much? You have to know that the ancestors'' souls are a little stingy when it comes to giving treasures away. They prefer to receive rather than give. Preservation and such." I just approached one of the outer pedestals and produced an enlightenment fruit of lightning. ''Wanna trade, four treasures for this fruit sound like a good deal.'' A hissing sound echoed through the room. Dark tendrils emerged from one of the spheres and began to wildly gesticulate in wavy but erratic movements. "They are saying that they will at most exchange for two treasures." ''What if I add in the blueprint for the formation I''m going to lay. The formation can be used for both offense and defense as well so if you built another in here the treasure you have would be much safer.'' More hissing and waving of dark tendrils followed. Multiple spheres seemed to be communicating with each other. The hissing grew louder with every second and was soon joined by guttural growls and caws from the pedestal they sat upon. Then a sharp whistle interrupted the commotion. The whistle had been accompanied by an ice-cold intent that made me shudder. All the waving tendrils vanished. Setting up the formation A smoldering pillar of smoke rose from the innermost pedestal and formed a vague human or I guess elven silhouette. "That''s one of the demigod level ancestors. He accepts your offer on behalf of all dark elves." Four pedestals in front of me lost their ethereal glow and revealed the objects within. Night Owl quickly collected them and I placed the enlightenment fruit and a piece of bark with the formation details engraved on it on two now free pedestals. No sooner had I removed my hand that the spheres around the two objects flickered back into existence. The other two pedestals remained empty, devoid of the glow the others exhibited. As we were walking out of the treasury I used the time to give the objects in Night Owl''s grasp a good look over. Tucked beneath his arm were two wands. Made from ebony wood with some magic gems fitted into deeply carved sockets and ancient-looking runes engraved upon them. I could feel the darkness rippling off of them at a slow and steady pace. With the same arm that he had tucked the wands under he held a book. Calling it a tome would be more accurate because it is massive, thick, and full of magic. Darkness attributed magic I might add. As I looked at the fourth object in Night Owl''s other hand, I got the sneaking suspicion that all or most the treasures in the dark elven treasury were attributed to the element of darkness. This kind of made sense, I mean they are called dark elves and spend the majority of their time in darkness... But some variety would do them good. Not that I was complaining. Four treasures that were perfectly in sync with the darkness would make the creation of this formation much easier. The fourth was a bow. Simple, made from redwood and nourished by someone with an innate understanding of darkness. Not as fancy as the other three but its simplicity held a certain beauty. We successfully left the treasury. I had felt a few unfriendly gazes as we left but Night Owl''s angry growl had made them vanish like air. Tenten was waiting outside and flew us straight back into the nest. Upon arrival, I asked Night Owl to clear the nest until the formation was set up completely. A few bird noises later the tree hole was completely empty and I could begin my work. I began to apply my magic to the ground, setting down the baselines of the formation. Like a painting, the array of circles and connecting lines slowly came together, forming a large outline of the formation. I collected the four magic treasures from Night Owl and placed them in the crucial and somewhat unstable parts of the formation. Now the only thing missing was the core. Without it, the formation wouldn''t have a source of power and be completely useless. I had the dark origin but that wasn''t really going to cut it. For a formation to show its true potential there had to be a sentient component. For the treasury this was easy, it was filled with the souls of those ancestors but here there was no such thing. Now how to get a soul... Safe to say, I had a solution prepared. For a long time, I had been hesitant about a second offspring due to the danger it would face. Now I had found the perfect place to put it. ''System, I want to plant my second sapling right here and combine it with the dark origin.'' \u003cFine... But do it yourself.\u003e Before I could complain, a veritable flood of information was jammed into my unsuspecting mind. There was so much! How to extract my chlorophyllic line, how to compress enough nutrition and magic for the sapling to grow and on and on the flood of knowledge just kept coming. Finally, the flood ebbed and I could focus on digesting what I had received. Sorting through the mess in my mind, a clear picture of how to create a sapling took shape before my inner eye. This was a very complex blueprint that vastly surpassed anything I could create at this point. Truly a marvelous sight to behold. Onwards to meet the dwarves With the blueprint in mind, I followed the steps and created a sapling in the middle of the formation. The sapling immeasurable bonded with the dark origin above it. The dark sphere was swallowed by the sapling and came to rest only a little above the sapling''s base, looking like an ominous eye embedded into the sapling. The formation seemed to come alive with a rumble as a domain-like apparition washed over us and plunged the room into darkness. This was an area filled with true darkness. Even if you lit a candle or a torch in this place the light wouldn''t leave the flame. "It-it worked! With this, we can finally produce a new generation of ancient tenebrous owls. I really owe you a lot, Eldar!" ''And don''t you forget it. If I''m ever in trouble I expect you to come running the second you hear of it.'' "What in this world could hurt you? You said the divine beast was kept stationary by a promise and apart from that there is nothing to fear." ''I don''t really know what I''m so cautious of but since I met that divine beast that guards the Necropolis I just can''t seem to shake off that feeling of impending doom. I can''t quite put my finger on it and yet it keeps hounding me. I just want to be prepared for when it comes.'' "Rest assured, once word reaches me, I will come to your aid." ''I''m glad to hear it! However, now I should really be on my way. I can''t leave the dwarves waiting for too long.'' "Right, right. I''ll ask Tenten to fly you there, she knows the way and can get you past the tedious inspection at the gates." ''Sure, that would be great.'' Not even an hour later, I was sitting on Tenten''s back, flying south. ''I think this way of traveling is starting to grow on.'' A pleased, rumbling sound came from Tenten, reverberating through my body. The only thing I could compare this to was the purring of a cat. An owl purring like a cat, an absurd notion to say the least but that was really how it felt. Despite Tenten''s speed it still took us two days to reach Nidavellir. In the afternoon of the second day, I could already see the outer part of Nidavellir. Being a dwarven city, Nidavellir was of course mainly built underground with only a small extension above ground to regulate visitors. Standing before the gates I could see a long line of people, most likely merchants, who were waiting to be granted entry. If Night Owl''s words held true I would be able to skip that line and enter due to the presence of Tenten. The outer city was built at the foot of what seemed to be a very active volcano. Wasn''t it dangerous to build right next to a mountain that was continuously releasing smoke? And how would you build a city within that menacing mountain? Contrary to my expectations Tenten did not decrease her altitude to enter the outer city but instead ascended even higher while heading straight towards that puffing volcano. I was already thinking of asking Tenten to turn around when she suddenly took a nosedive straight into the fuming volcano. I admit I was initially panicking as we were free-falling into what I presumed to be an active volcano. Tenten, on the other hand, seemed perfectly calm which calmed me down a little. I mean no bird could suicide without showing at least a little emotion. Right... Right? About twenty seconds into our fall Tenten spread her wings and stopped our increasingly rapid descent. In a practiced manner, we glided out of the smoke and I could finally see again. The inside of this mountain was completely hollowed out. The walls formed a conical cave with piping hot magma at the bottom. Above the molten rock was the dwarven city, Nidavellir. It was kept suspended by thousands of metal ropes while pillars provided support from below. The fumes I had thought to come from an active volcano had in fact been released by the plethora of dwarven forges within the city. Nidavellir Circling around the pillar of smoke, Tenten slowly descended and gracefully landed on a landing platform. After I got off and said my thanks for bringing me here the giant owl flew off. Turning in a circle, I took in my surroundings. The landing platform was adjacent to a colossal tower that dwarfed the other dwarven structures. I was so immersed in admiring the size and structure of the tower that I only noticed the guards when they had already surrounded me. A unit of stout-looking and fully armored dwarves were pointing their halberds at me from every direction. "What is your business here, stranger! Only the esteemed leaders of kingdoms are allowed to enter the city through this platform. Just because you have managed to tame a large flying mount doesn''t mean you are one of them! Surrender immediately and you may get to keep your life!" Oh goddesses, what had Night Owl brought me into this time. I thought he meant that I''d be able to skip the line and enter through the civilian way. And yet he sent me straight to the entrance for top-level figures. I really didn''t want to attract much attention but it was too late now. ''The one who brought me here was Tenten, Night Owl''s personal mount. I am Eldar, my kingdom lies within the forest to the west.'' "Lies! You are clearly a human and the lord of that forest is the divine tree, Lord Yggdrasil himself. Trying to cheat your way past us by pretending to be another! We dwarves aren''t as gullible as you think and we will make you remember that. Seize him I say!" That went less than optimal... I''d rather not make a scene by knocking out all the guards but alas, what else could I do. I was about to release my domain and incapacitate the guards without letting them put up any resistance when an easier way out presented itself. Windolf, one of Durin''s generals, came running over. He had clearly recognized me and was rushing over to pacify the guards. After a few minutes of explanations and wild exclamation, my identity was proven and I was allowed to proceed. "Lord Eldar, please forgive us for the inconvenience. We didn''t expect you to enter through the platform of highest honor." ''No offense taken. Believe me, I wasn''t expecting to enter this way either. Night Owl sent me here through Tenten but failed to mention the significance of where he was sending me.'' "That does sound like something lord Night Owl would do. He seems to have a difficult time putting himself into someone else''s shoes. On another note, what do you think of ?" ''From what I''ve seen so far it''s an architectural masterpiece. It must have taken your people great effort to build this and I can''t even begin to imagine the resources that must have been necessary!'' "It''s a good thing it was built by our forefathers. I doubt we could afford it at our current stage." ''But aren''t you currently stronger than ever before?'' "According to our records, we have indeed reached as high as never before." ''Then how could your forefathers have had the resources to build all this?'' "Now that you mention it, that''s indeed a little unusual. I''ll have to look into that." He pulled a finger thick notebook and a golden pen out of his robes and wrote something onto a page in the back of the notebook. ''What''s that?'' "My list of priorities. I''ve added it to the other things of moderate severity. I think I''ll get around to it before the year ends." ''You are telling me this whole book is filled with things you need to do? Since how many years have you been using it?'' "A few months? I usually need a new one every few years so it''s hard to keep track." A kingdom''s administrative work is scary. The number of things I''d need to keep in mind... Note to self, never become found a kingdom, it''s too much work. Wait... Damn it, I''ve already got a kingdom and a religion on top of that! Whatever... I''ll just dump the work on V?lsung. Gandalf Windolf quickly led me into the throne room where I met Durin. Not that it was a real meeting or anything, the crowd of ministers in the room made everything so damn formal. I was in and out in twenty minutes. Windolf once again apologized that Durin couldn''t meet me in private but apparently, the undead invasion had made a lot of work pile up. So instead, Windolf tasked a palace attendant with guiding me through the city. He was a young dwarf with tanned skin, wearing a scholar''s robes and a pair of glasses. The first stop we made was ''s workshop. The giant warehouse-like structure was directly connected to the palace, aka the tower, and was filled with technical-looking stuff. The mechanical spider that had been damaged was lying somewhere in the back with a group of dwarves fussing over it. I could see most of the weapons that had been on the wall that day standing around in the hall. While I was taking in the sight of mechanical genius before me, an explosion rocked the whole workshop. "DAMN IT! Why is inventing a mobile suit so difficult! Give me back my blueprints!" ''I take it that this charming voice belongs to the famed ?'' "You are correct. Though he is usually not quite as vocal. His newest project seems to be a bit too ambitious and has resulted in a multitude of explosions over the past days. Since then he has been in a foul mood that makes most of us steer clear of the workshop." ''What''s he trying to build?'' "As usual it''s some crazy idea of his. He calls it a mobile suit but it''s basically just a giant moving armor." ''I''ll go take a look.'' When I said that the guide released a loud sigh of relief. Seems he had feared that I would drag him inside along with me. Heading deeper into the workshop, I rounded a few heaps of metal and found this so-called mobile suit. Describing it as a giant armor was really quite fitting. Standing at 50 meters tall, the armor had an opening in the chest area that looked like a seat for the user. "And what are you doing here? I''m trying to work here so get OUT!" ''Quite the temper you''ve got there. I assume you are the one who goes by the name ?'' "Yes, that''s me. Now that I answered your question, get out. I''m busy!" ''Maybe you should take a break and cool your brain. Technology is based on scientific facts and not emotions.'' That was the catchphrase of the mecha department from my previous life''s school. How mages could waste their powers on inventing moving pieces of metal had always eluded me but the catchphrase got stuck with me. Now that I had seen those spiders in action I finally understood their determination. The catchphrase seemed to have quite an effect on . He deflated like a punctured balloon only to burst forth with even more energy than before to chase the other dwarves off, telling them to take a break. ''So, I take it you are not from this world.'' It was funny to watch him immediately become apprehensive at my statement. No one would be comfortable with someone else knowing such a secret. "Wait a minute! You knew about technology... Are you from earth too?" ''Earth? Is that how you call your previous world? I hate to disappoint you but chances for us being from the same world are rather low. I''m from the main realm of the grey empire.'' "Then there really is life beyond our world!" ''You are in another world right now, how can you doubt that? Isn''t the existence of other worlds common knowledge?'' "It isn''t common knowledge where I come from, neither is the existence of magic. All we have is technology and science. But how far ahead is your world if you have both magic and technology?" ''Not so far. While technology exists it''s mostly just used in space or for powerful institutions.'' "Space! You mean like spaceships and laser guns?" ''Oddly specific with the guns but yes I''ve heard of those being used. But before you ask me anything else about this, do know that my knowledge is highly limited.'' "So you can''t help me build my mobile suit?" ''I haven''t the slightest clue how that hunk of metal is supposed to work.'' "Then why are you here again?" ''I figured I''d visit a fellow reincarnator.'' "Well, I''m glad you at least got me to take a break. I can become a little out of control when I''m too focused on my work." I spent the remainder of ''s break talking to him about various reincarnation things and left after he resumed his work. Outside, I rejoined my guide and we set course for Sindri''s smithy. Sindri and Brook In the eastern district, most buildings here were for smithing or the trade of the things made here. The streets were lined by shops manned by grumpy looking dwarves. Behind the shops, rows of chimneys could be seen as they churned out dark clouds of smoke. The temperature in this district was sweltering. With all those furnaces being lit day and night the eastern district didn''t have liveable conditions and forced the dwarves to build their residences in other districts. With me being a tree and all, being in an environment where they used stone plates to write because the paper could spontaneously catch on fire wasn''t a great experience. Surely my density and magic power could keep me from catching on fire and burning down but I could feel some scorch marks emerge. Not visible to the naked eye, of course, the illusion that made me look human served well to hide them. Silently bearing this wasn''t really my style but complaining wouldn''t change the situation. While most dwarves around seemed to be sweating heavily, the guide before me looked to be completely fine. He couldn''t look this unaffected without reason, could he? ''You don''t seem to be bothered by the temperature in this. Got any tips to share?'' "Hmm? Oh, I''m just using ice magic to chill the air around me. Learning it was a real bother but it really paid off." Ice magic! I was always looking down on the magi of this world and yet I was the one forgetting to use magic in such a critical moment! My density may have saved me from burning but it had also prevented me from thinking of such a simple solution. Quick to fix my initial ignorance I was soon enveloped by a cooling sensation as an invisible formation appeared around me. Coolness is indeed bliss! "We have reached Sindri''s smithy. I fear you must enter on your own, he doesn''t welcome attendants from the palace." ''Why, I had the impression that Durin was adored by all his people?'' "In regards to the common people, your impression is quite accurate but Sindri is a special dwarf. He is revered amongst the dwarves as the best blacksmith and this allows for him to show some pride. Some things happened and Durin reacted in a somewhat clumsy manner and provoked Sindri''s resentment. Since then things have been tense." ''Then I can only hope he doesn''t view me as a guest of the king. Lest I''d be kicked out too.'' Sindri''s shop was the most common type you could find and made me doubt if I was in the right place. "Who are you? Came here with a stinking palace rat and want to enter this place, not so easy pal." ''I''m Eldar, Sindri invited me.'' "My brother invited you? Must be about that damned weapon then. I''m Brook, Sindri''s brother. Follow me..." Brook led me to the backdoor of the shop and into the furnace area. The heat increased, forcing me to put more power into the cooling air around me. Sindri was dripping sweat as he stood before the furnace with a set of tongs. "Damn those gauntlets, why won''t they melt!" ''I see you are still dead set on melting that heavenly steel to improve those gauntlets. Have you followed my advice to find a stronger flame?'' "Eldar! I''ve indeed tried everything I could to strengthen the flames within my forge but to no avail." ''Then the power of the flames must still be lacking. Why don''t you ask Durin to lend you the fire origin in his possession? I''m sure that with your position he wouldn''t refuse you.'' "I''d rather drink a bucket of horse piss than exchanging another word with that puny coward!" ''Let''s not get carried away now. Durin is your king and you shouldn''t talk about him in such a manner. Don''t let Odin''s machinations drive a wedge between you.'' "So he told you about the matter concerning the hammer." ''No, he didn''t. I figured it out myself. After all, few people could afford to meddle with the dwarven kingdom in such a way and get away with it. Let me guess, Durin asked you to make the hammer, saying he would deal with any troubles that arose. When things actually happened, Odin exerted pressure on Durin to ignore everything and that made you mad at him.'' "They ruined my greatest creation and I was denied my vengeance! During should have acted!" ''And now most Aesir are dead while the dwarves are alive. You say your greatest creation was ruined, then demand Durin''s help to create something even greater!'' Reasons to dislike Loki ''I cannot force you to make peace with Durin but I hope you will at least consider it.'' "I... I''ll have to think about it... But for now, allow me to show you how good of a host Sindri the dexterous can be!" I must admit, the dwarves are a merry bunch and they certainly know how to enjoy themselves but there was one minor issue for me. Imagine sitting beside a group of dwarves, intoxicated, ravenously eating dwarves. All the while you are a tree, meaning no amount of ale, mead or any drink will cloud your senses and eating is just a superfluous action of politeness that consists of you stuffing tasteless dishes down your throat. My amusement quickly waned and I excused myself from the few dwarves that were still conscious enough to comprehend what I said. I left the eastern district and toured the city on my own. Dwarven architecture had many advantages but being particularly pleasing to the eye wasn''t one of them. Getting bored of all the similar-looking, boring dwarven buildings, I left Nidavellir. Yes, I left without telling anyone. Durin was probably busy and Sindri needed some time to think about his future. I was going to head back home without bothering them. In a passing conversation, I had asked the guide where the normal entrance to Nidavellir was situated and how people were dealt with. Knowing that I could now easily leave through the normal way. Exiting the outer city, I was walking past the line of people wishing to enter when a familiar voice called out to me. "Lord Eldar! You truly are here. Could I have a moment?" ''Siegfried?'' "Yes, it''s me." ''But it''s been seventy years!'' My outburst was answered by tinkling laughter and I felt like I''d said something stupid. "Lord Eldar, I have become a queen maga and I have a dragon''s bloodline, it would be quite strange if time had as much of an effect on me as it has on those with far less power." True enough, dragons were known to age slowly and live for centuries if not millennia. Measuring her age by human standards wasn''t the greatest idea. ''What brings you to the dwarven capital? Shouldn''t you be handling the aftermath of the undead invasion?'' "That has been mostly dealt with. I''ve come here in search of you. Father and Loki have found something very important and wish for your presence." ''What did they find?'' "They wouldn''t tell me! Loki said you would definitely regret not coming." ''I will regret many things, what''s one more to the pile.'' "He said it concerned the secret of this world..." Ugh. Now I would have to meet him. The secret of this world made me worried and I couldn''t leave this alone. Too many things just didn''t make sense! The jade snake dowager guarding the necropolis, a giant group of King level undead who seem conscious and have memories, the Nox Aeterna''s warnings and the creation of Nidavellir. It all seemed like there was a piece of this world''s history that had just been erased. ''Lead the way. Let''s go meet that prick.'' "You shouldn''t talk badly about Loki. He is such a nice guy, after the war, he really helped deal with everything. Humanity took a large step forward with his help and can now look eye to eye with anyone else." ''Firstly, I''m not a human so humanity''s progress isn''t any of my concern. Secondly, Loki''s concern seems to only apply for humans so since I''m not one of you I can''t expect him to care much for my well being.'' Accompanied by Siegfried I made my way to Midgard hoping to meet Loki there. However, when we arrived only a message was waiting for us. Loki and Sigmund had already left the capital and requested for me to follow him. Our rendezvous would be a military camp at the foot of the southern mountains. ''Since when can the human king enter a military camp within the empire''s territory?'' "Loki''s influence has grown considerably over the years and the empire has been mellowed down." ''The southern mountains are rather far away and we''ll have to travel for a while. Are you prepared for a longer journey?'' "I''ve always dreamt of an adventure! Father always kept me in the capital and told me to practice more but now I''ll travel the world!" ''This journey will be many things but an adventure won''t be one of them.'' Adam Turns out that the military camp mentioned in the letter is one made by humans. Surrounded by a palisade and a shallow most were a bunch of tents of varying sizes and it could be seen that it was a newer camp. Due to Siegfried accompanying me I easily passed the guards at the gate and was escorted to the main tent by some captain. Inside, Loki was furiously writing something down into a book as thick a person''s head. From the looks of it, a quarter had already been filled by with his maniacal scribbling and he didn''t look like he would stop anytime soon. Sigmund was sitting on a small chair in the corner of the tent with a pensive look on his face. ''Loki did you suddenly decide to become a scholar?'' "Not now Eldar, I''m writing down things that are crucial for this world''s survival. This knowledge will prove vital for generations to come!" ''This world''s survival? Are you sure you don''t mean the human''s survival or did you suddenly learn to feel compassion for someone besides the humans?'' "Spare me your sarcasm. I don''t care much for the others but if this event comes to pass it will be all or nothing. Thus, since humanity can''t survive this by themselves, I''ll begrudgingly include the other races." ''And what is this event that scares you so much?'' "An invasion. But don''t take it from me, feel free to inquire about it straight from the source. Sigmund, can you take them to see him?" "..." "Sigmund?" "Ah! Yes Loki, what is it?" "Could you take Eldar and Siegfried into the cave? I''d do it myself but as you see I''m still writing." "Sure... How bad can a second time be..." Upon closer inspection, Sigmund looked like he had seen something horrible. He was pale and his hand trembling as he clenched them into fists. "Follow me." Siegfried was evidently concerned about her father''s state but didn''t dare to ask what was going on. We left the camp and began to ascend the southern mountains, following a barely visible path we reached a cave. Sigmund seemed to hesitate for a moment but ultimately entered with long albeit slightly unsteady strides. We hadn''t even taken ten steps into the cave when that horrible feeling came. Like a bucket of icy water dumped over our heads. Fear, panic and unbridled despair assaulted us as it these emotions coursed through the cave like waves. Looking closely I could see black smoke flowing along the cave walls. If an emotion grew strong enough it could take physical form and if touched by others it could affect them greatly. Based on how negative these emotions were I judged they could force ordinary people to commit suicide just from being close to this smoke. "Can you take it? It gets worse as we go deeper inside." "I-I''m fine." Siegfried''s body ceased to tremble as countless little dragon roars sounded from inside her body. She had already become a queen maga and had eliminated the danger from the dragon soul within her. Now, the dragon soul helped her cope with the pressure by dividing it between the two. ''Let''s get this over with.'' Personally, I was mostly fine. Feeling uncomfortable being here but far from receiving actual harm. After receiving affirmation from both of us Sigmund guided us further in. The cave had many branches but due to the black fumes, the direction we needed to go was always clear. With every step the feelings gained more power and I could tell that we were about to meet the source of all this. We entered a cavern that was open to the sky. A giant opening was cleaved into the stone and the abundance of light allowed me to see clearly. In the middle of the cavern was a black puddle with a man sitting inside. He looked pale and from a wound at his side more of that putrid black liquid dripped down into the puddle. This was liquid despair, a fluid that held an unthinkable amount of negative emotions. And the man sitting there was the source of it all. "Who is it? Have you come to assassinate me?" He spoke quickly, his words were laced with anxiety and fear. The pas "There is no need to worry Lord Adam. It''s me, Sigmund, and I have brought my daughter and an acquaintance. They too wish to hear what happened so long ago and what will happen in the future." The man, Adam, visibly relaxed. "You''ve returned, my child. Where is the mischievous saint?" "He is copying down what you have told us so that all of humanity can know of it." ''I apologize but what in goddesses'' name is going on here?'' "I see you are hungry for knowledge, young one." I was quite certain that he couldn''t be much older than me, two lives and all. "I''m Adam, the last of my kind, a human. Or to be more accurate high human as the mischievous one suggested since a new generation of humans has been created." ''So those three Aesir didn''t create humans from scratch.'' "No, I''d assume my presence within the borders of the empire had some influence on them. But still, to think humanity was brought back from the brink of extinction..." ''And what brought you to the brink of extinction?'' "The same thing that wreaked havoc upon the rest of the world, an invasion by outsiders. Beings of a higher realm opened a passage into our world and marched their armies in. We thought ourselves superior due to our leaders being demigod magi and we even had divine beasts as our backing. However, none of us could have known the horrors of the higher realms. "They called themselves mages, came with flying fortresses, deadly arrays, and divine beasts as their mounts. Even the weaker ones could combine their powers to unleash spells of horrifying dimensions. They were well organized and systematically took down the capitals where our strongest forces were located. Atlantis was sunk, Sparta burned, Olympus broken, Troy invaded and even paradise was ravaged by them. "All races united and fought but we only barely managed to hold on. Then their leader entered the fray and all hell broke loose. He wasn''t particularly stronger than the others but he never ran out of power. Even after killing multiple divine beasts, he was still capable of casting large scale spells and keeping up his domains. I tried to fight him but a single spell reduced me to this pathetic state and forced me to remain in this cave to this day. There is no way we can ever defend against the upper realm invasion!" ''How come you aren''t enslaved already then?'' "I''m not sure but not long after I landed here I felt the world itself stir and lash out. I can only presume that the world drove them out and sealed the gate connecting our worlds. But this won''t last, the seal will eventually crumble and the outsiders will return. Only that this time the world won''t have the strength to save us and we won''t have the strength to resist." ''When will the seal break? How many years do we have?'' "This isn''t about years. We have centuries of time before the seal breaks." ''Then why don''t you use the time to prepare and try to face the invaders. You could win!'' "No! We can never win. They are too strong!" As he said that the putrid fluid leaking from his wound increased considerably. ''Let''s leave, there''s nothing else for us to do here.'' I was already halfway out of the cavern when Sigmund hurried to stop me. He wore a pleading look and spoke in a low voice. "Wait for a moment. You have tremendous healing powers so please, heal lord Adam. With him, things won''t be looking so grim for this world''s survival." ''I already told you, there is nothing left for me to do here. I can''t heal someone who is already dead!'' "He''s not dead! Look at him he is still breathing but the injury is keeping him here!" ''He is a demigod magus, isn''t he? No way an injury would last this long. He has given in to despair, his fear consumes him and now he has stagnated. Someone who doesn''t even dare to fight an enemy simply because he was beaten once, I consider that a dead man. That injury could have healed a long time ago but the fear and despair wreaking havoc in his mind tear it open ceaselessly. Unless he overcomes this demon plaguing his heart he might as well be dead!'' "I couldn''t agree more! So let me take him off your hands so he may benefit another!" Jade snake dowager "If you still don''t dare to fight the invaders then you can become food for me! Adam, the first human, oh how I''ll enjoy killing and devouring you!" Oh, goddesses! I knew that voice and I certainly didn''t like it. That sinister, feminine, and crazy voice belonged to none other than the jade snake dowager. I was barely able to process what was happening when a giant snakehead crashed through the opening above the cavern and swallowed Adam whole. With a jerk the head was pulled back up and only a black puddle remained on the ground. "A little bitter after it was soaked in despair for so long but the feeling of devouring a life is sublime! Now, you three are next. Come into my maw, I promise it will be fun. For me at least." Grabbing Sigmund and Siegfried by their collars I yanked them into the cave system just as that terrifying maw descended once more onto the location we had just been standing. Thankfully, the cave was smaller than the cavern and the dowager couldn''t fit. "Are we playing hide and seek now? Lovely, let me chase you around a little before I end you." ''Didn''t you say you had to guard the necropolis and couldn''t leave due to a promise?'' "Who cares, I already died once anyway and I''ve had enough of all those boring promises. You can''t hide in that hole of yours forever. Once you leave I''ll kill you all!" Evidently, she was not going to let us leave without a fight. I chucked the two pieces of additional baggage towards the entrance and prepared to engage the jade snake dowager. \u003cTransform back into your true form first, otherwise, you won''t stand a chance at all.\u003e ''Finally done with your beauty stream?'' \u003cYou have much greater problems right now. If you don''t kill that vicious little serpent it will kill you. Now stop wasting time and release all the compression!\u003e ''And why should I do that? I fight much better in my human form and my defense is also augmented greatly.'' \u003cYou are a tree. No matter how much you may want to deny it or wish you were still human this won''t change. Your body was made in the shape of a tree and your soul has adapted to that shape. Your powers will always be strongest in that form.\u003e ''Then why did I have to take human form to reach the next evolution?'' \u003cIt was the easiest way to get you to compress your magic into a higher density and gave you the motivation to gain an innate understanding of life. Enough with the questions now, she''s about to go on a killing spree, go and fight her!\u003e ''But how am I supposed to become a tree here? There''s not enough space!'' \u003cSince when has rock and dirt ever stopped a plant? Did you forget that your roots can penetrate through solid rock like a hot knife through butter? Well, so can the rest of your body.\u003e Right, I kept forgetting that I was a tree. Time to show that pathetic worm who''s boss! I''d break through the rock and knock her straight into tomorrow. The rock parted before me as I expended from slightly less than two meters to my original three hundred meters. Not expecting the sudden emergence of a giant tree the jade snake dowager was hit squarely in the face and blasted off. Only for her to turn around midair and remain floating in the sky. Why did nothing ever go as I planned it? Of course, the damn snake can fly! Why don''t you have wings?! Is being a divine beast not enough for you to be horribly overpowered?! ''Where I stand life shall reign supreme! Domain, life!'' "How pathetic of you! You dare fight me with only a single domain and expect to win? My poison drowns the living, killing is my way, death shall follow! Triple domain, deadly poison killing!" I call cheating! Where was the damned referee when he was needed! I want to file a complaint! The jade snake dowager was supposed to only have a double domain like any ordinary divine beast. But no, it just had to be one of those even stronger ones. And with three innate understandings that perfectly countered mine... I was royally screwed, wasn''t I? The jade snake dowager didn''t give me much more time to contemplate just how bad of a situation I was in as she came barreling towards me wrapped in a cloud of poison, death and killing.