Year 77 Month 7
"I got to level 20 yesterday."
Jura pauses, and looks at Lausanne. Laufen's next to him, and the little girl then says.
"I got a passive ability, its called [Blessed by a Soul Tree]."
The two adults glance at each other. In a way, they are now like her father and mother, and there's a mix of pride, worry, and confusion when Lausanne says she hit level 20.
Most children never level so fast, at most around level 5 to 10 at age 8, and it is most likely due to the presence of my continuing involvement, the constant essence infused [dream tutors], [powerlevelling], and most recently the upgraded [training tree].
"Well, what does it do?"
"Erm… it doesn't say much, it just says I'll get certain… blessings?"
"TreeTree, any idea?"
Well, the first thing that is clear when she gained that ability, now I can see her much more obviously than everyone else. It's as if she glows in my vision, she's got a constant tooltip hovering on her, that just screams, 'look at me'.
"Well, rather than conjecture, would you mind going into the biolab and we can all find out?"
"Yeah. Good idea."
As Lausanne walks to the biolab inside the secret hideout, Laufen and Jura both look at each other.
"She's growing very quickly." Jura said with a sigh. "I fear for her."
"Me too. But I feel I should be proud. It is what Ricola would have wanted for his daughter, to be strong."
Jura pauses and then he nods. "I suppose so. Ricola would want his daughter to be competent, even though he himself wasn't much."
Laufen ribs Jura. "Hey."
"I mean, his talents were in being a village chieftain. Combat was never his strong point."
"I suppose it's TreeTree's influence then."
Well, I have been giving Lausanne every single combat related essence I generated through [dream tutor], so, it did, over a long period of time, give the necessary improvements in her understanding of combat tactics.
Lausanne walks into the pod and the vines wrap around her body, she goes in, and I take a look.
"May I?" Alexis asks, and I shake my head.
"Sorry, let me have a look at it first."
Alexis sulks. "Okay…"
And well, frankly Lausanne's body is normal. She is a regular elf after all, though I could see right next to her usual soul spring, there's a small flower.
[Blessed by a Soul Tree]
[Due to long term exposure to Soul Tree's abilities the body is naturally accepting of its influence. Grants additional compatibility with various Soul Tree abilities, spells, and skills, and so they last longer, and has stronger effects]
"Oh. Sounds okay." At this point I think this isn't much, and I can't see anything else being different, so I let Alexis in on the view.
"Hmm." She too, looks at Lausanne's young body. Her soul spring is normal, and the water coming out of it is clear, and smooth, her body is well, normal, the shores covered in a thin layer of grass nourished by the mana from her soul spring. It looks like there is still some ways to go.
"It's generally normal." I say, "The skill isn't much."
"I think its not a bad skill."
"How so?"
"I think her growth rate will be even faster, since it means your training room, dream tutor and powerleveling will be more effective on her."
"Oh. That's a good point."
"You have plans for her, don't you?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, you have been investing a lot of your essences into her, more than any other elf. It feels like you want her to be something. Or are you preparing her for something?"
"Huh…" Well, frankly, I didn't know why either. Somehow I got sucked into the narrative that Lausanne wanted to be a hero that I just went along with it. But thinking about it, I think… I think its worth trying.
"Maybe a hero will be too hard, to stand at our level she would need access to a lot of star mana, gain the various divine blessings and unlock a cheat ability."
Well, yeah, duh, that's way too high a wall. Its like trying to climb Mount K2 after a successful hike up a gentle hill. I am not a fool to send Lausanne up such unreasonable… walls.
"But… I think creating a champion is a good idea. Reach the level of the demon champions, I think that's a realistic target. Perhaps she can get there when she's… 30? I think she needs to learn magic next, a magic lab will do so."
Ah, Alexis trying to sell the magic lab idea again. To be fair I do appreciate the need for one, once we make progress with the volcano. But I'll keep that to myself for now. "You want to be her tutor?"
"I don't mind. I think I'll gain different skills, compared to all these research linked abilities I have now. It will help that I regain my magical abilities somewhat."
And I feel a little threatened by the idea of giving Alexis magic… again. She did, though it is not her, burn down slightly less than half of the valley.
Oh.
Volcano occupation is at a stalemate. I will attempt again, once we unlock the large beetles, twice the size of rhinos, hopefully then the odds are better. At present, it takes about 200 beetles to kill one single magma golem, and I only have 2,000 in that area. 200! And there are a lot more than 10 golems. I am hoping the odds change to about 10 or so large beetles versus 1 golem, then the chances of a successful occupation of the volcano increases.
Also, back to New Freeka.
They asked for a demonstration in exchange for the jewels. And well, lets just say they have never seen 3,000 beetles march out of the forest before.
Year 77 Month 8
"Salah is coming. With a force of 50,000 men!"
"Huh."
"That is quick." Jura mused, but to be honest, I think I know why that happened, and it id also why I held my cards back.
I suspect there is a mole within Yvon's council. Or maybe close to them, there is a Salah informant.
I don't know who exactly, but among the 25 of the senior leaders, all of them are talking about the beetles. Apparently none of them could keep their mouth shut after seeing 3,000 beetles, and somehow this news got to Salah, who obviously feel highly threatened by 3,000 beetles. Maybe they now saw me as a threat they needed to crush, and crush me before I got even stronger.
"Well, it could be there is just some kind of surveillance magic happening." Alexis though posits a different theory. "As far as I can tell there are no scrying countermeasures or spell barriers in New Freeka, except the forest itself which gets some scrying protection your massive [camouflage] and [mist] ability."
Jura on the other hand thinks that, "I think they just wanted to fight New Freeka and this is a convenient time, since they are still in the stalemate with Nung and Takde. I doubt they know about the beetles. The traders and merchants I speak to, seem to says Salah has been itching for a fight for some time, since the blood blizzard is significantly weakened. They just want find aomeone to suffer for the punishment and misery of the blood blizzard."
"50,000 men. What are our odds?"
"I think we can win." Jura shrugged. "But it will be a hard fight. And it also depends on who is the general."
Well, during this time Trevor pings me personally. He is my surveillance officer anyway.
"I see the enemy army in the outermost tree rings. I don't think they are suspicious, as they left the outer trees untouched. Also they have siege weapons, master."
"Are you sure no suspicions? Or are they just playing the part?"
"Any mages?"
"Yes, sire. I counted a mage corps of at least 1,000. There are multiple individuals exhibiting a rather strong presence as well."
"Okay, bring me there."
"Certainly."
With that, my vision zooms to the incoming army. Thanks to my wider coverage of subsidiary trees, I have trees really far away now, and Trevor even went through the process of decorating each tree such that they look like natural growths in the area.
And indeed, a large army is marching, comprising mostly foot soldiers of about 40,000, some cavalry, about 2,000, and the rest being a mix of the mages, healers, siege weapon operators, and their elite forces.
"New Freeka has spotted us." One commander rides up to the man that looks like the chief of this army, thanks to his elaborate armor and uniform, and a long flowing magical cape.
"Good. It seems we can go with our initial plans for now. Bombard the town with our siege machines, mages, and force them out of the town, into the open where we can slaughter them." Another man rides up to the general, and the general just smiles.
Heh. I have the countermeasure for that.
"We spotted the beetles that Waysorious fought during the last battle."
"How many?"
"500, perhaps? They are really well hidden within the trees and only our rangers can spot them with any accuracy."
"I recall Waysorious suspects the presence of an elvish archdruid."
"You agree with that assessment, General?"
Ah, the chief is a general.
"Lord Rosul's earlier expedition claims the presence of a living forest. His wizard, says there is a presence that stretches the entire valley."
"I… I never heard of that." The men around the general seem surprised.
"Its something Lord Rosul shared only with our senior leaders, and it is why we have been treating Salah with such caution. And why there are 1,000 mages."
A realisation appears on all the senior leaders around the general. Perhaps they suspected 50,000 is overkill.
"Yes, now that the battle is near, it is time I tell you the actual strategy of this army."
"The King and the high council suspects the presence of a magical beast, something like a great earth tiger, or a king grandbeetle, that Yvon has somehow managed to convince into an alliance. It is likely to be a defensive pact, else Yvon would be more… offensive in her dealings with us. The recently observed magical phenomena in New Freeka from our spies support this. A firestorm, then countless black lightning, all points to magical beasts, of a very high tier, that likely to have experienced a high level evolution recently."
A gulp.
"Now now, we're going to try to talk to it. First."
It is then a ranger appears, he looks really old.
"This is Master Ranger, Falklay. He's very good with magical beasts, he has the ability [commune with magical beasts], [locate magical creatures], [beast talk-no-jutsu] and [charm magical beasts]. He'll sneak into the forest first, and find the magical beast. Our invasion of New Freeka is only after he gives us the signal, if he can convince the magical beasts to withheld or ignore their defensive pact. Else, one of the alternatives is that we will have to bomb the shit out of the forest as well, then fight the beast. But we will weigh our chances when that happens."
"Siege weapons against magical beasts?" A captain asks.
"Not ideal, but if we have to fight it, we best weaken it first. High tier magical beasts are powerful, but siege weapons and magic will still hurt."
"Now that we are near, what do you think, master Falklay? Confident that you will succeed?"
"I think our chances are good. There are magical creatures, I sense a few in the forests, my senses tell me of a fairy of some kind or a forest sprite. Charming fairies will be a huge challenge, but I think I can succeed in convincing it to break the pact."
Ooh. Ranger. Interesting…
"How will we know?"
"Falklay will fire a flare. Green flare for go, red flare for bomb, blue flare for run."
"Run?"
"If the magical beast is a lot more powerful than we currently suspect, we better retreat than attempt an invasion. No point wasting our lives, right?"
"What if there's no flare?"
"Then we wait. We wait for a week if we have to. Communion with magical beasts is going to take time, and we will give master Falklay the time to talk. But after 10 days, and Master Falklay is alive, we will expect a flare. If Master Falklay is dead, we will run. But that's unlikely, right?"
Master Falklay grins. His face is really wrinkly.
"Run?" One of the younger captain asks.
"Of course. We must know exactly what we are facing. I will take calculated risks, but magical beasts are a category of monsters that is best dealt with… by powerful adventurers." The rest of the men nod, the general is a highly conservative man.
-
Falklay made his way towards to valley, under the cover of various stealthing abilities, such as [hidden amongst trees], and other such effects, which makes him close to invisible to other men trying to spot him… except the tree itself.
So, yeah, I see him sprinting, alone, into the valley, despite his age, he is still clearly a high level ranger and has the stats and abilities to back it up. And as he got closer, I noticed he would stop every now and then to use some of his abilities.
“Strange… the reading is confused.” He touches the trees, some of which are subsidiary trees.
As he makes his way into the valley, he comes across a few beetles. The beetles, though they spot him and attempt to attack him, he has a skill, where when he just lightly touches them, they fall into a kind of ‘sleep’. I think that’s a kind of ‘disabling’ ability he has.
“He has an ability to make us ‘docile’.” Horns is shouting in my mind. “We must kill him! Kill him! He is a threat! Threat!!!”
On the other hand, I’m very curious about this Falklay, and I want to see exactly what he’s got.
“Horns, go hibernate. Beetles, retreat as well.”
With that, the beetles quickly hide and stay out of his way… which the ranger noticed.
“Huh. The beetles are gone. It’s watching me, eh? A Kingbeetle with some kind of ‘domain’ abilities? Or a fairy with 'gladewatch'?" He says loudly. I think he wants us to know.
He walks closer, his senses are sharp, and as he follows, it leads him right up to the main tree.
"Huh." He looks around, wondering what he is seeing. "The beast is asleep?"
And he then turns his eyes on Alexis's biolab. He glances up and down, and then he uses an ability, [Identify]
"A forest spirit… of the academic kind?" His face pales somewhat. "Something's not right…"
[Eye of the Ranger]
He looks around, and looks puzzled.
Then he looks at my main tree.
"It's not a magical beast…" He withdraws his arrows. "Now, this is a lot more complicated."
At that moment, I too use [inspect] on him, and it gets… repelled. It seems he has some kind of skill protection.
He lifts his bow and arrow, and aims it at the sky. It's going to be a flare. I wonder whether he is going to bomb the forest, but then again, I have countermeasures so I wait and see.
"I won't fire that yet if I were you." Jura steps out of the main tree, ready for combat.
"Oh." The ranger looks like he is about to shoot, but then decides not to.
"So, who are you, and why are you here?"
"Hmm." The ranger pauses. "May we settle this over a cup of tea, instead?"
"Oh, tea?"
A set of 4 chairs and table magically appear before the ranger, and he sits down. Then he starts to brew a pot of tea. "Yes, tea. Clearly the proper way to speak to magical beasts is invite them to tea, no?"
"Magical beasts?" Jura's turn to be confused, but somehow, he sits down on the chair.
"Worry not, elf. The tea is laced with a fragrance that magical beasts will enjoy, but does nothing to us. I mean you no harm, so here, I'll drink it. You can use [identify] and [detect poison] too, I won't feel offended." He swaps teacups with Jura, and takes a sip.
Jura laughs, "So, ranger. What magical beasts are you speaking of?"
"The forest spirit there, and the beetle lord hiding somewhere in that tree." The ranger points. "And these trees right around me." He then points to the [root brain complex], and then my main tree.
He then pauses and he shouts.
"I know you are watching. You can join me for tea if you want! They're good stuff, made with the tender young tea leaves collected from the Sifar mountains."
"He's dangerous, sire. We should kill him." Horns shout in my mind. "We should!"
"I agree. But I have my curiosity piqued, so I will humor him and watch what happens."
"I feel a bit of a headache." Alexis complains. "I think he used some kind of skill on me. Sucks when I lose some of my magic resistance…"
Hey, you retained your overpowered ability to level, that counts right?
Anyway, we focus back on the little tea party between Jura and the old ranger.
Jura, actually decides to take a drink.
"So, old man, what do you want?"
"I work for Salah. And I am here to help with General Akbar's destruction of New Freeka."
Jura, strangely, didn't react to the news. I think his diplomat levels has been rising and such news just doesn't faze him anymore. "Oh. Why?"
"Well, Salah and New Freeka is at war. I, am a servant of the King, a soldier of Salah, so I am here to help Salah win."
"I see. And so how does that lead you to this little forest?"
"Well, can you not interfere if we attack New Freeka?"
"Unfortunately, no. We have an agreement with them, and they are under our protection."
"Why? Perhaps there is something we, Salah, can offer you."
Jura grins, "Ah… well, do you know the tale of the original village of Freeka? I still remember the day, almost 7 years ago."
"Hmm, has Salah transgressed Freeka in some way?"
"Well, yes. Salah's army burnt this village, killed a whole lot of elves living here, and if I remember correctly, the soldiers skewered the bodies of the dead onto this tree behind me. Those who survived fled far and wide."
He pauses. "...ah. I see that's how it is. Surely it is time for bygones to be bygones…"
Jura's face contorts. "I still remember the faces of those burnt the death. The screams, the shouts. The loss of the village scarred me, haunted me for years, and it is only with great blessing that I stepped out of that shadow."
He sips a bit of the tea.
"So I believe I am not wrong to say my grudge, rightly, runs deep."
The old ranger sighs. "The acts of a vast nation like Salah cannot all be attributed to the nation. There are many actors in any country, and not all are aligned in terms of our values and principles."
"You're an old man, I'm sure you have seen many battles, and know very well, such statements does nothing to my grudge. A grudge, anger, and hatred is not something a talk can relieve. And now you, and that large army of yours are here to destroy New Freeka, does that not sound like Salah intends to repeat of that incident?"
The old man pauses, and nods. "Well you are right. But, in war, there are no good sides, only victory matters."
"It is as you say, only victory matters. This is not the first time Salah has tried this, and we won the previous 2 battles. Do you think you can win this one?"
The old ranger nods. "Indeed, that is why 50,000 warriors are here."
"Well, you've made your intentions clear, so, you may leave now."
The old ranger grins. "Well, I am deep within enemy territory, do you think I will leave without taking out all of you?"
[Root strike]
That's the moment a few root strikes surge from the ground. He dodges, and shoots a few explosive arrows, but a few wood shields block them.
I follow up with a few more, as Jura, transforming into his Bamboo-armor form, gives chase. Trevor releases a poison field that covers the entire forest, and frankly, there's no chance of him running.
Unlike the assassin from before, I know exactly where he is, because his [hidden by trees] ability don't protect him from… a tree.
He runs, and simultaneously fire numerous magical arrows at Jura.
"General. This is Falklay. Please arrange bombing of the forest. Bomb the forest. I repeat, bomb the forest now, I am engaging with the inhabitants."
He runs into some spiderwebs.
"Ah dammit…" It seems the spiders' [hidden presence] natural ability is a bit harder for him to detect.
He cuts through the webs, but it slows him down enough for a root strike to hit him, which is parried by a small buckler shield. I suppose its magical since it actually manages to absorb the impact.
"Ah, roots." He ducks from the arrows Jura shoots at him, but that gap allows Jura to catch up.
"So, why not stand and fight?"
"I reckon we are about the same level, but given my skill mix, I will lose." The old ranger shrugs, "So no."
He smashes a potion of some kind on the floor, and it releases a bright light and then a thick smoke. A flashbang, essentially, and it stuns Jura briefly.
A few arrows hit Jura's wood armor, and the old ranger resumes fleeing. "General, where are the bombs?" He messages. "No. You do not have to worry about me. I'll find a way out."
And so the siege machines and the mages get in position, and they start to hurl rocks and spells at the forest.
"They started the bombardment..." Yvon looks from the new walls they built, but as they brace for it, they notice the curvature of the projectiles drive the boulders and fireballs toward the forest.
"Uh…"
"The forest…"
Right before the projectiles are about to make impact with the forests, my [subsidiary trees], of the hundred or so designated as [shield generators], kick in to action.
Massive wood shields surround the trees, so the boulders and ordinary fireballs just collide against the shields, and leave some scratches and burns on the shields. I mean, compared the demonfire powered fireballs of Alexis, these fireballs and boulders are really basic, so, some damage is taken, but well within our limits.
The army tries again, and the second, third volley of attacks similarly left only some damage on the shields.
"What do you mean the bombardment is not working?" The ranger shouts through his message, as he flees. He seems to be getting caught in more spiderwebs as his concentration strays, but he is much faster than Jura, so Jura struggles to catch up.
The old ranger is halfway out of the forest now, and frankly, I don't plan to let him live. So, the moment he slows down, as a bit of spiderweb catches him, I would unleash a few root strikes at him.
And it would be blocked by that small buckler, or some other leg guards that he has, or the magical chainmail he has under his shirt.
Nothing fatal, but its wearing him down. Each of my root strikes are filled with paralysis and poison, and the entire forest is releasing a kind of poison, a mix of Trevor's abilities and my [poison field]. Its nothing lethal, especially over such short periods, but every little bit of the poison and paralysis is slowing the ranger down.
And he takes in some antidotes, which rejuvenates him momentarily
Another volley from the siege and mages. No effect, thanks to shield generators.
"General, its not working. Strong wooden barriers are blocking our attacks around the forests and those shields can take hell of a beating.."
"Ahhhhh!" A slight panic in the camp, as a group of beetles, about 300, emerge behind, attacking the siege machines and mages. They manage to destroy a few siege machines, but it is a trained army, some soldiers are already onsite to protect them and so they quickly reorganise. The mages redirect their attacks on the beetles instead. Each beetle, with their thick armor and the recent volcanic adaptation (which grants tiny amounts of fire resistance) can endure 1 fireball, so the mages need 2 shots to kill them.
Additional fighters rush to protect the mages and siege machines, and the numbers are sufficient to overwhelm the 300 beetles. However it is enough, as that delayed and distracted those ranged attacks, and gives Trevor and me some breathing room to regenerate some of the weaker [shield generators]. There are some variation in the enemy, siege machines operated by higher levels men, and some stronger mages, who accordingly deal more damage.
Back to the old ranger, Falklay, I send more spiders after him, and he demonstrates his competence as a forest ranger, cutting through the spiders as if they were nothing. But he is increasingly exhausted, and he realises it, knows what the plan is.
Every time he slows down, a root strike would appear somewhere, and I know I am gradually wearing him down.
"Going somewhere so soon, old man?" Jura finally catches up again.
"Tell me, those root strikes, from you?"
"Ah. No." Jura attempts to slash his head off. He ducks.
"That's a shame." He somehow dodges and put some distance between himself and Jura, and throws some small knives. It hits the wooden barriers around Jura, and then explodes. "They're not going to stop, are they?"
It knocks Jura back a little. "I really hate explosive attacks. Keep getting them." He jumps and tries to close the gap with the old ranger, but the old man is still too fast. "And no, you'd be a fool to assume those root strikes will run out."
He shoots a few arrows, but Jura gave me the opening I needed, two root strikes fly towards him as he tries to aim midair. He manages to react in time, but the root strikes breaks his shield buckler and armlets.
"...oh dear." The old man flinches from the impact of the root strikes, and he smashes into a tree. Before he manages to recover from the impact, I quickly activate [constrict].
Vines emerge from tree he's on and entangles his legs, and then injects a poison through his skin.
"Oh no." He then realises he is done for, as the vines quickly wrap around his entire body.
Jura lands right in front of him. "Well, looks like the bombardment stopped. I think they are busy now."
"Kill me." The old man said, "As a soldier, this day will come eventually."
"Oh? That's not for me to decide."
He stares at Jura. "You… deny me this right?"
"Oh come on. Your country burnt my village and you want to play honorable? Please, did you somehow think I am in charge?"
"Then who is?"
Jura thinks for a while. "I almost answered you there, but, that... is a secret."
A root appears, with the strongest paralysis and sleep poisons I have, and stabs him right above his heart, through the damaged chainmail. With that, the poisons spread quickly, and he loses consciousness within a few seconds.
-
The mages and soldiers, after a long 2 hour battle, defeat the group of 300 beetles but with quite a few casualties.
"General Akbar, Falklay lost consciousness." An adjutant reviews the magical artifact linked to Falklay's arm.
"What." The general is deep in thought.
"Should we resume bombing?" Another of the general's assistants ask.
"My gut feels tell me it is no point. You saw those shields, they take just a little damage from regular attacks and ordinary fireballs. We'll just wear ourselves down doing the same thing. Get the mages to group together for a [grand fireball], and fling some oil barrels into the forest."
Well, that's no good.
So before that happens, I activate my attack. Multiple tunnels appear throughout their camp. It's a function of my [root tunnel] ability, and from them, thousands of beetles stream out, horns blazing, charging into the soldiers.
From above, they appear like a horde of ants that just got triggered, and a black tide sweeps out of those holes.
Then, [root field], [poison field] and then [root surge]. The field of roots slow down the soldiers, the field of poison weakens them, and the sudden surge of a wide area skewering of sharp roots from beneath the ground kills hundreds of unprepared regular soldiers, while harming some of the elites.
"General, we are under attack! By a massive beetle force!"
"How many?"
"Maybe three thousand? It's throughout our position and I have not gotten a good count, even our lookouts are under attack and they've not responded-"
Before he finished the sentence a root strike emerges from underneath the camp the pierces the man through the chest, splashing some of his blood onto the general's face.
The general is armored with enchanted gear and probably has numerous abilities to protect himself, so I decide to first pick off the rest of his men. It's probably too much effort to kill the general now.
He draws his sword and lifts it up, and it glows with lightning. And he then pierces the ground with it, and I feel some electrical zaps. It stings a little, maybe like a small numbness. But no matter, I have plenty more to go.
Another adjutant runs over, "General, the siege machines are under heavy attack from the roots emerging from the ground, and almost all of them has been destroyed."
Together with Trevor and Dimitree, we unleash multiple root strikes on various positions of the enemy army, picking on the mid-tier 'elite' forces, who are stronger than regular soldiers, but has limited defensive abilities against multiple root strikes.
"Retreat and stay away from trees!" The general shouts, with some kind of skill, carries his message to his entire army.
"General, our elites are falling-" Another root strikes pierce this assistant's legs, but fail to deliver a lethal blow.
"I know, the enemy's targeting those stronger than the beetles. This is a trap, and the longer we stay the more we are going to lose." He shouts, and activates some kind of skill.
The skill spreads out to the entire army, all the soldiers, those lightly wounded and even the heavily wounded, experience a sudden rejuvenation in their energy, their bleeding stopped temporarily although the wound remains, and their steps turn into large, quick strides, unhindered by the [rooting field] or the [poison field].
They retreat.
Our kills, mine, and those of the beetles combined, is probably about 3 to 4 thousand, though many, many more are injured. The beetles got most of the kills, and also suffered the most casualties, as I focused on the mid tier forces, and I think I got about 400 or so kills.
Frankly if the battle went on, it'll probably result in heavy casualties on both sides. The beetles are less effective than I expected, and that's due to the general's passive buffs for his entire army.
They flee for as long as the general's ability lasted, and that brought them quite far from New Freeka.
And for now, the battle is over. I think the general will return with more firepower, but that is a worry for another day.
[2 levels gained! You are now level 132!]
[You gained a new skill : Serpentine Rootstrike]
[Poison field and rooting field upgraded]
[Shield generators upgraded]
Oh. Best part of any battle.
| Layers | description | additional notes |
| soul core | the true immortal entity that gets reincarnated and lives life. | artificial souls do not have this core |
| core shell | ||
| inner soul | memories and very few skills are stored here, and depending on the condition of the soul, this means some ppl get reincarnated with them. most inner souls do not survive the reincarnation process, so in the case of heroes, special protective measures by the gods are necessary | soul contracts are at this level. memories of spells and rituals are here. |
| inner soul & outer soul barrier. reprsented by the soul "shell" | ||
| outer soul | where experience, levels gained are stored. produces life force and mana. Some rare skills are stored here. Titles are stored here as well. Also contains a blueprint of the soul spring | demonic soul contracts exist at this level. heavenly blessings also exist here. level caps also eexost at this level due to restrictions in the size of the outer soul of artifical souls |
| soul-inner body barrier. Represented by the "soul spring" | takes life force and mana, and releases it into the inner body. may have certain filters or amplifiers which alter lifeforce and mana released into the inner body. Most learned abilities exist here, as something (either a brick, a runic alphabet etc etc) on the soul spring. | destroying the soulspring is like sealing one's abilities, as it means the body's production of mana and life force slows to a trickle, and the skills learned are "disabled". |
| inner body (mental and spiritual realm) | a personal 'space'. this is the "mana pool" and the "life force" pool. its usually a mix of both, and the size of this grows together with levels, amd also the experienced gain. Some passives, curses, abilities exist in this space. | gods may create special "wellsprings" that grant extra mana. certain personal tragedies and burdens, nightmares will also manifest here. familiars, summons, eidolons make a connection at this level to borrow, or share the mana and lifeforce with the host |
| inner body and physical body barrier, represented by the "shore" | absorption challenges manifest on the shore. it may suggest why certain organs are more adept than others, as it takes in more lifeforce naturally | Certain skills, such as disabling abilities exist in this level. Such as disable-hands, or "chakra sealing" abilities here. Mana drain from enemies creates leaks at this level. |
| physical body, represented by the land which borders the shore. | the part which actually interacts with the outside world. experience, foods and what the person experiences in life is then absorbed here, and it is then carried by the inner body to then be absorbed by the outer soul | physical damage taken here |
| skin (physical body - external) | ||
| external environment |
Year 77 Month 7
"I got to level 20 yesterday."
Jura pauses, and looks at Lausanne. Laufen's next to him, and the little girl then says.
"I got a passive ability, its called [Blessed by a Soul Tree]."
The two adults glance at each other. In a way, they are now like her father and mother, and there's a mix of pride, worry, and confusion when Lausanne says she hit level 20.
Most children never level so fast, at most around level 5 to 10 at age 8, and it is most likely due to the presence of my continuing involvement, the constant essence infused [dream tutors], [powerlevelling], and most recently the upgraded [training tree].
"Well, what does it do?"
"Erm… it doesn't say much, it just says I'll get certain… blessings?"
"TreeTree, any idea?"
Well, the first thing that is clear when she gained that ability, now I can see her much more obviously than everyone else. It's as if she glows in my vision, she's got a constant tooltip hovering on her, that just screams, 'look at me'.
"Well, rather than conjecture, would you mind going into the biolab and we can all find out?"
"Yeah. Good idea."
As Lausanne walks to the biolab inside the secret hideout, Laufen and Jura both look at each other.
"She's growing very quickly." Jura said with a sigh. "I fear for her."
"Me too. But I feel I should be proud. It is what Ricola would have wanted for his daughter, to be strong."
Jura pauses and then he nods. "I suppose so. Ricola would want his daughter to be competent, even though he himself wasn't much."
Laufen ribs Jura. "Hey."
"I mean, his talents were in being a village chieftain. Combat was never his strong point."
"I suppose it's TreeTree's influence then."
Well, I have been giving Lausanne every single combat related essence I generated through [dream tutor], so, it did, over a long period of time, give the necessary improvements in her understanding of combat tactics.
Lausanne walks into the pod and the vines wrap around her body, she goes in, and I take a look.
"May I?" Alexis asks, and I shake my head.
"Sorry, let me have a look at it first."
Alexis sulks. "Okay…"
And well, frankly Lausanne's body is normal. She is a regular elf after all, though I could see right next to her usual soul spring, there's a small flower.
[Blessed by a Soul Tree]
[Due to long term exposure to Soul Tree's abilities the body is naturally accepting of its influence. Grants additional compatibility with various Soul Tree abilities, spells, and skills, and so they last longer, and has stronger effects]
"Oh. Sounds okay." At this point I think this isn't much, and I can't see anything else being different, so I let Alexis in on the view.
"Hmm." She too, looks at Lausanne's young body. Her soul spring is normal, and the water coming out of it is clear, and smooth, her body is well, normal, the shores covered in a thin layer of grass nourished by the mana from her soul spring. It looks like there is still some ways to go.
"It's generally normal." I say, "The skill isn't much."
"I think its not a bad skill."
"How so?"
"I think her growth rate will be even faster, since it means your training room, dream tutor and powerleveling will be more effective on her."
"Oh. That's a good point."
"You have plans for her, don't you?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, you have been investing a lot of your essences into her, more than any other elf. It feels like you want her to be something. Or are you preparing her for something?"
"Huh…" Well, frankly, I didn't know why either. Somehow I got sucked into the narrative that Lausanne wanted to be a hero that I just went along with it. But thinking about it, I think… I think its worth trying.
"Maybe a hero will be too hard, to stand at our level she would need access to a lot of star mana, gain the various divine blessings and unlock a cheat ability."
Well, yeah, duh, that's way too high a wall. Its like trying to climb Mount K2 after a successful hike up a gentle hill. I am not a fool to send Lausanne up such unreasonable… walls.
"But… I think creating a champion is a good idea. Reach the level of the demon champions, I think that's a realistic target. Perhaps she can get there when she's… 30? I think she needs to learn magic next, a magic lab will do so."
Ah, Alexis trying to sell the magic lab idea again. To be fair I do appreciate the need for one, once we make progress with the volcano. But I'll keep that to myself for now. "You want to be her tutor?"
"I don't mind. I think I'll gain different skills, compared to all these research linked abilities I have now. It will help that I regain my magical abilities somewhat."
And I feel a little threatened by the idea of giving Alexis magic… again. She did, though it is not her, burn down slightly less than half of the valley.
Oh.
Volcano occupation is at a stalemate. I will attempt again, once we unlock the large beetles, twice the size of rhinos, hopefully then the odds are better. At present, it takes about 200 beetles to kill one single magma golem, and I only have 2,000 in that area. 200! And there are a lot more than 10 golems. I am hoping the odds change to about 10 or so large beetles versus 1 golem, then the chances of a successful occupation of the volcano increases.
Also, back to New Freeka.
They asked for a demonstration in exchange for the jewels. And well, lets just say they have never seen 3,000 beetles march out of the forest before.
Year 77 Month 8
"Salah is coming. With a force of 50,000 men!"
"Huh."
"That is quick." Jura mused, but to be honest, I think I know why that happened, and it id also why I held my cards back.
I suspect there is a mole within Yvon's council. Or maybe close to them, there is a Salah informant.
I don't know who exactly, but among the 25 of the senior leaders, all of them are talking about the beetles. Apparently none of them could keep their mouth shut after seeing 3,000 beetles, and somehow this news got to Salah, who obviously feel highly threatened by 3,000 beetles. Maybe they now saw me as a threat they needed to crush, and crush me before I got even stronger.
"Well, it could be there is just some kind of surveillance magic happening." Alexis though posits a different theory. "As far as I can tell there are no scrying countermeasures or spell barriers in New Freeka, except the forest itself which gets some scrying protection your massive [camouflage] and [mist] ability."
Jura on the other hand thinks that, "I think they just wanted to fight New Freeka and this is a convenient time, since they are still in the stalemate with Nung and Takde. I doubt they know about the beetles. The traders and merchants I speak to, seem to says Salah has been itching for a fight for some time, since the blood blizzard is significantly weakened. They just want find aomeone to suffer for the punishment and misery of the blood blizzard."
"50,000 men. What are our odds?"
"I think we can win." Jura shrugged. "But it will be a hard fight. And it also depends on who is the general."
Well, during this time Trevor pings me personally. He is my surveillance officer anyway.
"I see the enemy army in the outermost tree rings. I don't think they are suspicious, as they left the outer trees untouched. Also they have siege weapons, master."
"Are you sure no suspicions? Or are they just playing the part?"
"Any mages?"
"Yes, sire. I counted a mage corps of at least 1,000. There are multiple individuals exhibiting a rather strong presence as well."
"Okay, bring me there."
"Certainly."
With that, my vision zooms to the incoming army. Thanks to my wider coverage of subsidiary trees, I have trees really far away now, and Trevor even went through the process of decorating each tree such that they look like natural growths in the area.
And indeed, a large army is marching, comprising mostly foot soldiers of about 40,000, some cavalry, about 2,000, and the rest being a mix of the mages, healers, siege weapon operators, and their elite forces.
"New Freeka has spotted us." One commander rides up to the man that looks like the chief of this army, thanks to his elaborate armor and uniform, and a long flowing magical cape.
"Good. It seems we can go with our initial plans for now. Bombard the town with our siege machines, mages, and force them out of the town, into the open where we can slaughter them." Another man rides up to the general, and the general just smiles.
Heh. I have the countermeasure for that.
"We spotted the beetles that Waysorious fought during the last battle."
"How many?"
"500, perhaps? They are really well hidden within the trees and only our rangers can spot them with any accuracy."
"I recall Waysorious suspects the presence of an elvish archdruid."
"You agree with that assessment, General?"
Ah, the chief is a general.
"Lord Rosul's earlier expedition claims the presence of a living forest. His wizard, says there is a presence that stretches the entire valley."
"I… I never heard of that." The men around the general seem surprised.
"Its something Lord Rosul shared only with our senior leaders, and it is why we have been treating Salah with such caution. And why there are 1,000 mages."
A realisation appears on all the senior leaders around the general. Perhaps they suspected 50,000 is overkill.
"Yes, now that the battle is near, it is time I tell you the actual strategy of this army."
"The King and the high council suspects the presence of a magical beast, something like a great earth tiger, or a king grandbeetle, that Yvon has somehow managed to convince into an alliance. It is likely to be a defensive pact, else Yvon would be more… offensive in her dealings with us. The recently observed magical phenomena in New Freeka from our spies support this. A firestorm, then countless black lightning, all points to magical beasts, of a very high tier, that likely to have experienced a high level evolution recently."
A gulp.
"Now now, we're going to try to talk to it. First."
It is then a ranger appears, he looks really old.
"This is Master Ranger, Falklay. He's very good with magical beasts, he has the ability [commune with magical beasts], [locate magical creatures], [beast talk-no-jutsu] and [charm magical beasts]. He'll sneak into the forest first, and find the magical beast. Our invasion of New Freeka is only after he gives us the signal, if he can convince the magical beasts to withheld or ignore their defensive pact. Else, one of the alternatives is that we will have to bomb the shit out of the forest as well, then fight the beast. But we will weigh our chances when that happens."
"Siege weapons against magical beasts?" A captain asks.
"Not ideal, but if we have to fight it, we best weaken it first. High tier magical beasts are powerful, but siege weapons and magic will still hurt."
"Now that we are near, what do you think, master Falklay? Confident that you will succeed?"
"I think our chances are good. There are magical creatures, I sense a few in the forests, my senses tell me of a fairy of some kind or a forest sprite. Charming fairies will be a huge challenge, but I think I can succeed in convincing it to break the pact."
Ooh. Ranger. Interesting…
"How will we know?"
"Falklay will fire a flare. Green flare for go, red flare for bomb, blue flare for run."
"Run?"
"If the magical beast is a lot more powerful than we currently suspect, we better retreat than attempt an invasion. No point wasting our lives, right?"
"What if there's no flare?"
"Then we wait. We wait for a week if we have to. Communion with magical beasts is going to take time, and we will give master Falklay the time to talk. But after 10 days, and Master Falklay is alive, we will expect a flare. If Master Falklay is dead, we will run. But that's unlikely, right?"
Master Falklay grins. His face is really wrinkly.
"Run?" One of the younger captain asks.
"Of course. We must know exactly what we are facing. I will take calculated risks, but magical beasts are a category of monsters that is best dealt with… by powerful adventurers." The rest of the men nod, the general is a highly conservative man.
-
Falklay made his way towards to valley, under the cover of various stealthing abilities, such as [hidden amongst trees], and other such effects, which makes him close to invisible to other men trying to spot him… except the tree itself.
So, yeah, I see him sprinting, alone, into the valley, despite his age, he is still clearly a high level ranger and has the stats and abilities to back it up. And as he got closer, I noticed he would stop every now and then to use some of his abilities.
“Strange… the reading is confused.” He touches the trees, some of which are subsidiary trees.
As he makes his way into the valley, he comes across a few beetles. The beetles, though they spot him and attempt to attack him, he has a skill, where when he just lightly touches them, they fall into a kind of ‘sleep’. I think that’s a kind of ‘disabling’ ability he has.
“He has an ability to make us ‘docile’.” Horns is shouting in my mind. “We must kill him! Kill him! He is a threat! Threat!!!”
On the other hand, I’m very curious about this Falklay, and I want to see exactly what he’s got.
“Horns, go hibernate. Beetles, retreat as well.”
With that, the beetles quickly hide and stay out of his way… which the ranger noticed.
“Huh. The beetles are gone. It’s watching me, eh? A Kingbeetle with some kind of ‘domain’ abilities? Or a fairy with 'gladewatch'?" He says loudly. I think he wants us to know.
He walks closer, his senses are sharp, and as he follows, it leads him right up to the main tree.
"Huh." He looks around, wondering what he is seeing. "The beast is asleep?"
And he then turns his eyes on Alexis's biolab. He glances up and down, and then he uses an ability, [Identify]
"A forest spirit… of the academic kind?" His face pales somewhat. "Something's not right…"
[Eye of the Ranger]
He looks around, and looks puzzled.
Then he looks at my main tree.
"It's not a magical beast…" He withdraws his arrows. "Now, this is a lot more complicated."
At that moment, I too use [inspect] on him, and it gets… repelled. It seems he has some kind of skill protection.
He lifts his bow and arrow, and aims it at the sky. It's going to be a flare. I wonder whether he is going to bomb the forest, but then again, I have countermeasures so I wait and see.
"I won't fire that yet if I were you." Jura steps out of the main tree, ready for combat.
"Oh." The ranger looks like he is about to shoot, but then decides not to.
"So, who are you, and why are you here?"
"Hmm." The ranger pauses. "May we settle this over a cup of tea, instead?"
"Oh, tea?"
A set of 4 chairs and table magically appear before the ranger, and he sits down. Then he starts to brew a pot of tea. "Yes, tea. Clearly the proper way to speak to magical beasts is invite them to tea, no?"
"Magical beasts?" Jura's turn to be confused, but somehow, he sits down on the chair.
"Worry not, elf. The tea is laced with a fragrance that magical beasts will enjoy, but does nothing to us. I mean you no harm, so here, I'll drink it. You can use [identify] and [detect poison] too, I won't feel offended." He swaps teacups with Jura, and takes a sip.
Jura laughs, "So, ranger. What magical beasts are you speaking of?"
"The forest spirit there, and the beetle lord hiding somewhere in that tree." The ranger points. "And these trees right around me." He then points to the [root brain complex], and then my main tree.
He then pauses and he shouts.
"I know you are watching. You can join me for tea if you want! They're good stuff, made with the tender young tea leaves collected from the Sifar mountains."
"He's dangerous, sire. We should kill him." Horns shout in my mind. "We should!"
"I agree. But I have my curiosity piqued, so I will humor him and watch what happens."
"I feel a bit of a headache." Alexis complains. "I think he used some kind of skill on me. Sucks when I lose some of my magic resistance…"
Hey, you retained your overpowered ability to level, that counts right?
Anyway, we focus back on the little tea party between Jura and the old ranger.
Jura, actually decides to take a drink.
"So, old man, what do you want?"
"I work for Salah. And I am here to help with General Akbar's destruction of New Freeka."
Jura, strangely, didn't react to the news. I think his diplomat levels has been rising and such news just doesn't faze him anymore. "Oh. Why?"
"Well, Salah and New Freeka is at war. I, am a servant of the King, a soldier of Salah, so I am here to help Salah win."
"I see. And so how does that lead you to this little forest?"
"Well, can you not interfere if we attack New Freeka?"
"Unfortunately, no. We have an agreement with them, and they are under our protection."
"Why? Perhaps there is something we, Salah, can offer you."
Jura grins, "Ah… well, do you know the tale of the original village of Freeka? I still remember the day, almost 7 years ago."
"Hmm, has Salah transgressed Freeka in some way?"
"Well, yes. Salah's army burnt this village, killed a whole lot of elves living here, and if I remember correctly, the soldiers skewered the bodies of the dead onto this tree behind me. Those who survived fled far and wide."
He pauses. "...ah. I see that's how it is. Surely it is time for bygones to be bygones…"
Jura's face contorts. "I still remember the faces of those burnt the death. The screams, the shouts. The loss of the village scarred me, haunted me for years, and it is only with great blessing that I stepped out of that shadow."
He sips a bit of the tea.
"So I believe I am not wrong to say my grudge, rightly, runs deep."
The old ranger sighs. "The acts of a vast nation like Salah cannot all be attributed to the nation. There are many actors in any country, and not all are aligned in terms of our values and principles."
"You're an old man, I'm sure you have seen many battles, and know very well, such statements does nothing to my grudge. A grudge, anger, and hatred is not something a talk can relieve. And now you, and that large army of yours are here to destroy New Freeka, does that not sound like Salah intends to repeat of that incident?"
The old man pauses, and nods. "Well you are right. But, in war, there are no good sides, only victory matters."
"It is as you say, only victory matters. This is not the first time Salah has tried this, and we won the previous 2 battles. Do you think you can win this one?"
The old ranger nods. "Indeed, that is why 50,000 warriors are here."
"Well, you've made your intentions clear, so, you may leave now."
The old ranger grins. "Well, I am deep within enemy territory, do you think I will leave without taking out all of you?"
[Root strike]
That's the moment a few root strikes surge from the ground. He dodges, and shoots a few explosive arrows, but a few wood shields block them.
I follow up with a few more, as Jura, transforming into his Bamboo-armor form, gives chase. Trevor releases a poison field that covers the entire forest, and frankly, there's no chance of him running.
Unlike the assassin from before, I know exactly where he is, because his [hidden by trees] ability don't protect him from… a tree.
He runs, and simultaneously fire numerous magical arrows at Jura.
"General. This is Falklay. Please arrange bombing of the forest. Bomb the forest. I repeat, bomb the forest now, I am engaging with the inhabitants."
He runs into some spiderwebs.
"Ah dammit…" It seems the spiders' [hidden presence] natural ability is a bit harder for him to detect.
He cuts through the webs, but it slows him down enough for a root strike to hit him, which is parried by a small buckler shield. I suppose its magical since it actually manages to absorb the impact.
"Ah, roots." He ducks from the arrows Jura shoots at him, but that gap allows Jura to catch up.
"So, why not stand and fight?"
"I reckon we are about the same level, but given my skill mix, I will lose." The old ranger shrugs, "So no."
He smashes a potion of some kind on the floor, and it releases a bright light and then a thick smoke. A flashbang, essentially, and it stuns Jura briefly.
A few arrows hit Jura's wood armor, and the old ranger resumes fleeing. "General, where are the bombs?" He messages. "No. You do not have to worry about me. I'll find a way out."
And so the siege machines and the mages get in position, and they start to hurl rocks and spells at the forest.
"They started the bombardment..." Yvon looks from the new walls they built, but as they brace for it, they notice the curvature of the projectiles drive the boulders and fireballs toward the forest.
"Uh…"
"The forest…"
Right before the projectiles are about to make impact with the forests, my [subsidiary trees], of the hundred or so designated as [shield generators], kick in to action.
Massive wood shields surround the trees, so the boulders and ordinary fireballs just collide against the shields, and leave some scratches and burns on the shields. I mean, compared the demonfire powered fireballs of Alexis, these fireballs and boulders are really basic, so, some damage is taken, but well within our limits.
The army tries again, and the second, third volley of attacks similarly left only some damage on the shields.
"What do you mean the bombardment is not working?" The ranger shouts through his message, as he flees. He seems to be getting caught in more spiderwebs as his concentration strays, but he is much faster than Jura, so Jura struggles to catch up.
The old ranger is halfway out of the forest now, and frankly, I don't plan to let him live. So, the moment he slows down, as a bit of spiderweb catches him, I would unleash a few root strikes at him.
And it would be blocked by that small buckler, or some other leg guards that he has, or the magical chainmail he has under his shirt.
Nothing fatal, but its wearing him down. Each of my root strikes are filled with paralysis and poison, and the entire forest is releasing a kind of poison, a mix of Trevor's abilities and my [poison field]. Its nothing lethal, especially over such short periods, but every little bit of the poison and paralysis is slowing the ranger down.
And he takes in some antidotes, which rejuvenates him momentarily
Another volley from the siege and mages. No effect, thanks to shield generators.
"General, its not working. Strong wooden barriers are blocking our attacks around the forests and those shields can take hell of a beating.."
"Ahhhhh!" A slight panic in the camp, as a group of beetles, about 300, emerge behind, attacking the siege machines and mages. They manage to destroy a few siege machines, but it is a trained army, some soldiers are already onsite to protect them and so they quickly reorganise. The mages redirect their attacks on the beetles instead. Each beetle, with their thick armor and the recent volcanic adaptation (which grants tiny amounts of fire resistance) can endure 1 fireball, so the mages need 2 shots to kill them.
Additional fighters rush to protect the mages and siege machines, and the numbers are sufficient to overwhelm the 300 beetles. However it is enough, as that delayed and distracted those ranged attacks, and gives Trevor and me some breathing room to regenerate some of the weaker [shield generators]. There are some variation in the enemy, siege machines operated by higher levels men, and some stronger mages, who accordingly deal more damage.
Back to the old ranger, Falklay, I send more spiders after him, and he demonstrates his competence as a forest ranger, cutting through the spiders as if they were nothing. But he is increasingly exhausted, and he realises it, knows what the plan is.
Every time he slows down, a root strike would appear somewhere, and I know I am gradually wearing him down.
"Going somewhere so soon, old man?" Jura finally catches up again.
"Tell me, those root strikes, from you?"
"Ah. No." Jura attempts to slash his head off. He ducks.
"That's a shame." He somehow dodges and put some distance between himself and Jura, and throws some small knives. It hits the wooden barriers around Jura, and then explodes. "They're not going to stop, are they?"
It knocks Jura back a little. "I really hate explosive attacks. Keep getting them." He jumps and tries to close the gap with the old ranger, but the old man is still too fast. "And no, you'd be a fool to assume those root strikes will run out."
He shoots a few arrows, but Jura gave me the opening I needed, two root strikes fly towards him as he tries to aim midair. He manages to react in time, but the root strikes breaks his shield buckler and armlets.
"...oh dear." The old man flinches from the impact of the root strikes, and he smashes into a tree. Before he manages to recover from the impact, I quickly activate [constrict].
Vines emerge from tree he's on and entangles his legs, and then injects a poison through his skin.
"Oh no." He then realises he is done for, as the vines quickly wrap around his entire body.
Jura lands right in front of him. "Well, looks like the bombardment stopped. I think they are busy now."
"Kill me." The old man said, "As a soldier, this day will come eventually."
"Oh? That's not for me to decide."
He stares at Jura. "You… deny me this right?"
"Oh come on. Your country burnt my village and you want to play honorable? Please, did you somehow think I am in charge?"
"Then who is?"
Jura thinks for a while. "I almost answered you there, but, that... is a secret."
A root appears, with the strongest paralysis and sleep poisons I have, and stabs him right above his heart, through the damaged chainmail. With that, the poisons spread quickly, and he loses consciousness within a few seconds.
-
The mages and soldiers, after a long 2 hour battle, defeat the group of 300 beetles but with quite a few casualties.
"General Akbar, Falklay lost consciousness." An adjutant reviews the magical artifact linked to Falklay's arm.
"What." The general is deep in thought.
"Should we resume bombing?" Another of the general's assistants ask.
"My gut feels tell me it is no point. You saw those shields, they take just a little damage from regular attacks and ordinary fireballs. We'll just wear ourselves down doing the same thing. Get the mages to group together for a [grand fireball], and fling some oil barrels into the forest."
Well, that's no good.
So before that happens, I activate my attack. Multiple tunnels appear throughout their camp. It's a function of my [root tunnel] ability, and from them, thousands of beetles stream out, horns blazing, charging into the soldiers.
From above, they appear like a horde of ants that just got triggered, and a black tide sweeps out of those holes.
Then, [root field], [poison field] and then [root surge]. The field of roots slow down the soldiers, the field of poison weakens them, and the sudden surge of a wide area skewering of sharp roots from beneath the ground kills hundreds of unprepared regular soldiers, while harming some of the elites.
"General, we are under attack! By a massive beetle force!"
"How many?"
"Maybe three thousand? It's throughout our position and I have not gotten a good count, even our lookouts are under attack and they've not responded-"
Before he finished the sentence a root strike emerges from underneath the camp the pierces the man through the chest, splashing some of his blood onto the general's face.
The general is armored with enchanted gear and probably has numerous abilities to protect himself, so I decide to first pick off the rest of his men. It's probably too much effort to kill the general now.
He draws his sword and lifts it up, and it glows with lightning. And he then pierces the ground with it, and I feel some electrical zaps. It stings a little, maybe like a small numbness. But no matter, I have plenty more to go.
Another adjutant runs over, "General, the siege machines are under heavy attack from the roots emerging from the ground, and almost all of them has been destroyed."
Together with Trevor and Dimitree, we unleash multiple root strikes on various positions of the enemy army, picking on the mid-tier 'elite' forces, who are stronger than regular soldiers, but has limited defensive abilities against multiple root strikes.
"Retreat and stay away from trees!" The general shouts, with some kind of skill, carries his message to his entire army.
"General, our elites are falling-" Another root strikes pierce this assistant's legs, but fail to deliver a lethal blow.
"I know, the enemy's targeting those stronger than the beetles. This is a trap, and the longer we stay the more we are going to lose." He shouts, and activates some kind of skill.
The skill spreads out to the entire army, all the soldiers, those lightly wounded and even the heavily wounded, experience a sudden rejuvenation in their energy, their bleeding stopped temporarily although the wound remains, and their steps turn into large, quick strides, unhindered by the [rooting field] or the [poison field].
They retreat.
Our kills, mine, and those of the beetles combined, is probably about 3 to 4 thousand, though many, many more are injured. The beetles got most of the kills, and also suffered the most casualties, as I focused on the mid tier forces, and I think I got about 400 or so kills.
Frankly if the battle went on, it'll probably result in heavy casualties on both sides. The beetles are less effective than I expected, and that's due to the general's passive buffs for his entire army.
They flee for as long as the general's ability lasted, and that brought them quite far from New Freeka.
And for now, the battle is over. I think the general will return with more firepower, but that is a worry for another day.
[2 levels gained! You are now level 132!]
[You gained a new skill : Serpentine Rootstrike]
[Poison field and rooting field upgraded]
[Shield generators upgraded]
Oh. Best part of any battle.
| Layers | description | additional notes |
| soul core | the true immortal entity that gets reincarnated and lives life. | artificial souls do not have this core |
| core shell | ||
| inner soul | memories and very few skills are stored here, and depending on the condition of the soul, this means some ppl get reincarnated with them. most inner souls do not survive the reincarnation process, so in the case of heroes, special protective measures by the gods are necessary | soul contracts are at this level. memories of spells and rituals are here. |
| inner soul & outer soul barrier. reprsented by the soul "shell" | ||
| outer soul | where experience, levels gained are stored. produces life force and mana. Some rare skills are stored here. Titles are stored here as well. Also contains a blueprint of the soul spring | demonic soul contracts exist at this level. heavenly blessings also exist here. level caps also eexost at this level due to restrictions in the size of the outer soul of artifical souls |
| soul-inner body barrier. Represented by the "soul spring" | takes life force and mana, and releases it into the inner body. may have certain filters or amplifiers which alter lifeforce and mana released into the inner body. Most learned abilities exist here, as something (either a brick, a runic alphabet etc etc) on the soul spring. | destroying the soulspring is like sealing one's abilities, as it means the body's production of mana and life force slows to a trickle, and the skills learned are "disabled". |
| inner body (mental and spiritual realm) | a personal 'space'. this is the "mana pool" and the "life force" pool. its usually a mix of both, and the size of this grows together with levels, amd also the experienced gain. Some passives, curses, abilities exist in this space. | gods may create special "wellsprings" that grant extra mana. certain personal tragedies and burdens, nightmares will also manifest here. familiars, summons, eidolons make a connection at this level to borrow, or share the mana and lifeforce with the host |
| inner body and physical body barrier, represented by the "shore" | absorption challenges manifest on the shore. it may suggest why certain organs are more adept than others, as it takes in more lifeforce naturally | Certain skills, such as disabling abilities exist in this level. Such as disable-hands, or "chakra sealing" abilities here. Mana drain from enemies creates leaks at this level. |
| physical body, represented by the land which borders the shore. | the part which actually interacts with the outside world. experience, foods and what the person experiences in life is then absorbed here, and it is then carried by the inner body to then be absorbed by the outer soul | physical damage taken here |
| skin (physical body - external) | ||
| external environment |
