Chapter 245: Rounding up the gang
Ashlock wrestled off the sluggishness far faster than usual as he woke up. "Huh, weird, the shorter I sleep, the easier it is to wake up?" That was almost the opposite experience of when he was a human.
Staying up until 3 A.M to wake up the next day for work as a software developer had felt like a momentous task on par with climbing Mount Olympus when, in reality, all he did was roll out of bed and sleepily make a coffee. He had never been a morning person...
Idletree Daily Sign-In System
Day: 3589
Daily Credit: 26
Sacrifice Credit: 1095
[Sign in?]
Ashlock noted that another day had passed and brought up his skill menu.
{Mystic Realm [S]} [Unlocked]
Sure enough, the Mystic Realm was unlocked, meaning he could activate it anytime. "I suppose I could delay it a few days if everyone is too busy doing things, but that feels like a waste. Better I check on everyone to see the situation before making decisions."
Ashlock decided to seek out Willow and Diana first, as he hadn't checked on them ever since they left to deal with the monsters in the eastern forest. Using {Eye of the Tree God}, he briefly glanced over at White Stone Peak, and after confirming nothing was on fire and the world hadn't ended, Ashlock's vision blurred as he rapidly traveled to the east over his root range. "I feel so free!"
In the past, Ashlock had to use {Progeny Dominion} on Willow during the battle with Nox, as his roots didn't extend this far before. But now, after weeks of enhanced growth under the nine vertical moons and using {Deep Roots} at its maximum capacity, his roots sprawled out hundreds of miles in all directions.
Within minutes, Ashlock saw the still-growing scarlet forest in the distance, shadowed by a giant floating rock wreathed in spatial flames that looked like a magical asteroid. It was the Bastion, with Willow perched on top. On its surface were piles of corpses from monsters that Diana had likely slaughtered over the last few days.
Sitting on the bow of the Bastion was Diana. Her legs dangled over the sides, and her raven wings rested on her back. She seemed to be taking a moment to enjoy the sunrise as she snacked on one of his fruits rather than slaughtering or cultivating.
"Morning, Diana," Ashlock spoke in her mind. Diana yelped in shock and dropped the fruit in her hand at the sudden voice in her head. "Sorry for startling you... I can grow you another one."
Diana looked down with a frown at the forest far below where her half-eaten breakfast had fallen. "No, it's fine. I have a few more stored away."
"Oh, that's good then," Ashlock sighed with relief. "How did the hunt go? Did you manage to rid the land of monsters and cultivate the demonic mist Qi you wanted?"
Diana gestured to the pile of dulled stones to her side, "I'd say I got quite the haul. None were particularly strong, but I now feel closer to ascending to the 2nd stage of the Star Core Realm, and I stabilized my cultivation base. Oh! I also got you some snacks."
"You're far too kind. Though I'm sure Willow ate a few when I wasn't looking."
Ashlock felt a wave of shame from the tree through their connected roots. "I'm joking, Willow. You can eat as many as you want... Wait, are you happy now? How quickly did that shame vanish and hunger take over?"
Willow refused to answer about his fast switch-up, but that wasn't important right now. "Diana, you ready to go? The Mystic Realm opens today, and I am trying to gather all the sect members."
"Oh, that was today? Then let's go. Nothing out here can compare to what lies in the Mystic Realm." Diana stretched her back with an audible pop and retracted her wings before standing up, "Maybe I can go back to that temple of my ancestors and uncover more secrets to my bloodline while absorbing that succulent demonic mist Qi."
"That would be ideal. Though, are you sure you have killed all the monsters here? I don't want my offspring to suffer in your absence."
"Yeah, they should be fine." Diana nodded, "I even sprinkled some monster blood on your offspring to help them grow big and strong like Willow here."
"That's good." Ashlock double-checked and couldn't see any monsters trampling and eating his offspring, so he summoned a portal to bring Willow and Diana back to Red Vine Peak.
"Who should I check on next," Ashlock mused as the portal snapped closed, leaving him alone above a field of scarlet leaves sprouting from stalks, "Ah, I know. That rascal who's been hiding away from responsibilities."
Returning to Red Vine Peak, Ashlock hunted for Stella in the cavern. Finding her was easy as she was hunched over a work table near the cauldron fruits with a frown on her face. Maple was also here, lazily sleeping on the table beside her.
"Having fun hiding down here and ignoring the mess over on White Stone Peak?" Ashlock asked, and unlike Diana, Stella didn't even react to him as if she had seen him coming.
"Yes, I am actually. Thank you for asking." Stella smirked as she glanced up at the cavern ceiling, "How about you? Are you enjoying dealing with all those mortals you so gallantly saved?"
"I got Douglas and the Redclaw Grand Elder to deal with most of it, though I was up late last night wasting my spatial Qi on floating trees around," Ashlock sighed. It was regrettable, but the place would turn into a dump within days without those trees.
"What?!" Stella had a look of shock, "You? Up late? I don't believe it."
"Hey! I don't sleep all the time..."
"Uh huh?" Stella crossed her arms, "You're like an old man. The moment the sun goes down, you are off to dreamland. Don't even pretend otherwise. I can feel your presence on the mountain lessen greatly during the night as if you go elsewhere."
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Maybe he really did go to another dimension when he slept. There certainly weren't nine moons floating in the sky right now, and considering all his offspring also joined him in that dreamscape, it would be a bit of a stretch to say it was all happening within his consciousness.
"Perhaps I really do go somewhere else when I sleep? I usually sleep under nine moons in a dreamscape alongside my offspring."
"Nine moons?" Stella tilted her head, "Why nine?"
"No idea, but one of the moons glows with a purple hue and bathes me in spatial Qi while the others remain dull."
"Do you know why the others are dull?"
"I have some ideas, but nothing for sure yet."
"Mhm," Stella tapped her chin, "How did you acquire the spatial affinity originally? Could these moons have something to do with it?"
"I doubt the moons had anything to do with it. I unlocked the spatial affinity when I reached the Soul Fire Realm after I ate someone from the Winterwrath family and converted their Soul Core into a spatial one..."
Stella raised a brow, "You know you say some ridiculous things sometimes? How does that even make any sense? Even if you could eat someone else's Star Core, why would you take on the spatial affinity if they had ice affinity?"
Ashlock had to admit it did sound bizarre without the context of his system.
He had no reservations about telling Stella about his system and how it worked. She was basically his daughter. So it felt wrong to keep secrets from her. He also trusted she wouldn't tell others if he asked.
"Stella, I could tell you why, but I would need you to keep it a secret from everyone because"
"Wait." Stella cut him off, "Suppose someone captured me and could read my mind. If they learned of the secrets you are about to tell me, would it put your life in danger? Could a slip-up from me cause you to die and leave me?"
Ashlock wondered for a moment. Due to the system, he could do many impossible things that would be sought after by powerful people in this realm, such as the truffles or the Mystic Realm. But he didn't fear those people; no, he feared catching the attention of those above, like Senior Lee. If someone on Senior Lee's level wanted to extract the system for themselves, he would be powerless to fight back.
"Yes, it would put me at risk." Ashlock replied, "I don't keep secrets from you because I don't trust you, but rather to protect you."
"I know, Tree." Stella smiled, "And let's keep it that way. You have already dropped a few hints, and I have seen enough to make assumptions about what is happening, which is enough for me. Just keep things vague, and it should be fine."
"That's a surprisingly mature response," Ashlock laughed, "Since when did you grow up?"
Stella puffed out her chest and looked smug, "I've been practicing that answer for months. I have been curious since you told me you knew exactly how many days since you gained consciousness."
"Oh..." Ashlock didn't know whether to laugh or cry, so he switched topics, "What have you been making down here all this time anyway? I thought you put alchemy on hold to pursue swordsmanship."
Stella looked back at the workbench and shrugged, "I just needed some alone time after yesterday's chaos, so I didn't really come down here with a plan." She ran her finger along a parchment where she had jotted down a list of ingredients with lots of random squiggles and crossed-out words, "I thought that I might as well continue trying to develop a cure to your curse in case we ever curse someone we actually want to live..."
"Oh yeah, that sounds like a good idea." Ashlock had forgotten about that whole plan to create the antidote for his cursed sap as it had gone up in flames when the merchants stole Stella's earring, almost stamped Diana to death, and blew up half the White Stone Palace. Oh, and Geb, the poor turtle, perished trying to hold Lucius down. Suffice to say, creating an antidote for Nox if she ever reared her ugly head again had gone to the bottom of the priority list. "So, how is it going?"
Stella laughed as she shook her head, "Is the mess on this parchment, not a testament to my frustrations? Curses act completely differently to poisons, so I have given up at this point."
"Fair enough. I suppose we can only hope Nox doesn't come demanding for one."
Stella's expression turned dark, "Forget the antidote. I would rather shove a blade through her heart and kick her off the side of the mountain."
"Not if I kill her first as payback for all the Qi she made me waste and for stealing from my daughter," Ashlock laughed, but he was deadly serious. There were many things he could tolerate, but almost killing Diana and making Stella sad was a quick way to be put on his kill-on-sight list. "Actually, talking of killing, the Mystic Realm is available again today. Are you free to enter with the others? Or should I delay it?"
"Is that even a question?" Stella perked up, "How could hiding away down here compare to robbing those Azure Clan bastards?"
"Counter idea: How about we try not to antagonize the clan from an upper layer of creation that treats Nascent Soul Realm cultivators as disciples this time?" Ashlock kindly suggested, "Just a thought."
Stella rolled her eyes, "Fine. You make a good point. But you have been engrossed by those books I looted, so you can't complain."
"Hey, I never complained about the books. Anyway, see you on the peak in a bit. I need to go check on Ashfallen City now." Ashlock realized he had wasted too much time having a fun chat with Stella, so he whizzed over to the construction site.
"Things had looked good when I went to sleep late last night. Around half of the homes had been built, and I had worked alongside Douglas to move over a few hundred trees." Ashlock mumbled to himself. "Hopefully, the Mudcloaks didn't start a revolt or something while I was asleep."
To his relief, everything seemed fine. From his vantage point in the sky above the White Stone Peak, he could see the steep slope that even a cultivator would struggle to climb slowly flatten into the area above the mine. To speed up construction last night, Ashlock had suggested that instead of moving all of the demonic trees that grew on this part of the mountain down to the flatland, it would be better to leave some up there and simply build houses around those that remained.
What resulted was the city being split into four areas. A few thousand homes were built upon the mountain's slope, nestled among the trees with narrow roads leading down to the flatland and mine entrance, where a few more thousand had been built underground.
The rest were made on either side of the newly widened road connecting them to Darklight City to the west and the villages and farms in the east. This is where the majority would live and likely want to live as it is closest to the main road and doesn't involve living underground or on a mountain.
"Looks like there are around twenty houses surrounding each demonic tree," Ashlock noted some inconsistencies and some houses that seemed too far from a tree to get any plumbing. Which was to be expected. The city's planning had been slapdash from the start, so despite Douglas's best efforts to organize them, the Mudcloaks were barely civilized monsters with a loose concept of a home above ground.
Getting closer, he found Douglas surrounded by a group of Mudcloaks watching the distant sunrise. They mostly seemed to have survived the grueling ordeal, though some of the Mudcloaks were lying down and sleeping with their faces pressed against the dirt.
"Seems you made it in time," Ashlock spoke in Douglas's mind, and the man with bags under his eyes took a slightly irate puff of his pipe.
Breathing out the glowing blue cloud, he muttered, "So it seems. Ultimately, we built around 20,000 houses that should be stable enough to survive the winter. In the spring, the mortals can build their own houses or upgrade these ones themselves."
"Thank you for all the hard work," Ashlock said and genuinely meant it. Douglas had proved himself to be an invaluable member of the Ashfallen Sect within months of joining. In fact, he might be the hardest working out of all of them. "Do you believe these are all ready to be moved into later today?"
"Aye, they should be," Douglas replied while puffing on his pipe, "So, is the Mystic Realm open yet?"
"It's ready when you are," Ashlock replied.
"Fucking lovely, finally a chance to catch up to the others," Douglas put the pipe in his suit pocket after tipping out the spirit stone debris and gave the sunrise one last look, "Say... Patriarch, I have a request, and I hope you will honor it."
Ashlock wondered what Douglas could ask of him, "What is your request?"
"Could the Mudcloaks follow me into the Mystic Realm?"
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