[Hibernation Mode Deactivated]
"Tree! Hey Tree, wake up!"
Ashlock was roused by a system chime and the sensation of a hand patting his trunk, accompanied by Stella's persistent voice.
His mind felt even more sluggish than when waking from an ordinary slumber. He felt so slow and just wanted to go back to sleep.
"Treeeee!" Stella cheered, "You woke up! I can sense it."
"Huh?" Ashlock mumbled as his thoughts accelerated, "Woke up? When did I fall asleep..."
It was then that Ashlock realized something truly astonishing. Unlike the previous occasion when he had utilized {Hibernation} and endured every passing second, this time, he had simply activated the skill, set a timer, and drifted off. Two days had elapsed without his awareness...
Why couldn't he have had this skill back when he was a human?!
"System?" Ashlock inquired aloud. "Are you operational?"
Idletree Daily Sign-In System
Day: 3508
Daily Credit: 7
Sacrifice Credit: 0
[Sign in?]
It was present... it was genuinely there! A tiny part of him had worried that by becoming a full-fledged tree, he would lose his system. However, there it was in all its glory.
He had managed to employ system skills like {Hibernate} and {Eye of the Tree God}, so the likelihood of it having completely abandoned him was slim. Still, Ashlock needed to witness its return to feel reassured.
Letting out a sigh of relief, Ashlock felt much more awake now. But, to ensure his system was fully working, he summoned his status screen to check if his skills had changed.
[Demonic Demi-Divine Tree (Age: 9)]
[Star Core: 2nd Stage]
[Soul Type: Amethyst (Spatial)]
[Mutations…]
{Demonic Eye [B]}
{Blood Sap [C]}
[Summons...]
{Ashen King: Larry [A]}
{Infant Grass Snake: Kaida [F]}
[Skills…]
{Mystic Realm [S]} [Locked until day: 3515]
{Eye of the Tree God [A]}
{Deep Roots [A]}
{Magic Mushroom Production [A]}
{Lightning Qi Barrier[A]}
{Qi Fruit Production [A]}
{Blooming Root Flower Production[B]}
{Language of the World [B]}
{Root Puppet [B]}
{Fire Qi Protection[B]}
{Transpiration of Heaven and Chaos [B]}
{Devour [C]}
{Hibernate [C]}
{Basic Poison Resistance [F]}
Everything appeared precisely the same as before his rebirth. His race hadn't changed, nor had any of his skills. "Does this mean the system was linked to my tree body rather than my human soul all along? Or did merging my human ego with the demonic tree body carry over the system?"
The more Ashlock tried to unravel the mysteries surrounding the system and its origin, the more he felt a headache coming on. It was easy to just turn a blind eye to it and accept its presence, but why did he have a system if one really thought about it? Why didn't anyone else in this world have systems? Were they unique to spirit trees? Or just him? What made him so special?
"Ugh..." Ashlock groaned. These weren't questions to be contemplated immediately after waking from a pleasant two-day slumber. If his system was accurate, a week had passed since the Dao Storm, meaning Darklight City had been dealing with his new offspring for some time, and there might be news about the alchemy tournament scheduled to begin soon.
"Treeee, stop ignoring meeee." Stella stood beneath his canopy with her hands on her hips.
Ashlock went to flash his leaf with spatial Qi to show he was listening when he realized something. His level of control over the Qi on his trunk was perfect now, as the entire trunk was his Star Core. "There's no way, right..."
Filled with immense anticipation, Ashlock effortlessly wrote the words 'Good Morning' in lilac flame across his trunk like a whiteboard. Stella stumbled back in surprise, gawking at the words.
Ashlock was equally astonished. Although his previous method of communication—writing on the ground with telekinesis—wasn't vastly different from this, it felt significantly more convenient.
'Is everything alright, Stella?' Ashlock inscribed on his bark with the flames of his soul, and Stella nodded vigorously.
"Sorry for waking you. Did you sleep well?" Stella asked with a radiant smile, "I finally completed the Qi gathering formation a few hours ago and wanted to check on you."
Ashlock looked around him, and sure enough, the sheer volume of Qi amassing around him was extraordinary. A single breath during his meditation technique brought in an incredible amount of Qi, but compared to the size of his new Star Core—thousands of times larger than his old one—it was still a mere drop in the ocean.
Nonetheless, a drop was better than an atom. The runic formation, combined with the Qi he received through his roots from all the other demonic trees, made his cultivation rate faster despite his new colossal Star Core.
Essentially, he was cultivating more rapidly than ever before and should reach the 3rd stage in the Star Core realm soon.
'I had an amazing sleep,' Ashlock wrote, and after Stella finished reading it aloud, he added, 'This runic formation is incredible, thank you.'
Ashlock tried his best to ignore Douglas, who stood off to the side, making amusing facial expressions that alternated between disbelief and amazement as he glanced between Stella and Ashlock's trunk. It seemed he still found the idea of a talking tree absurd.
"I need to learn to read that," Douglas finally spoke up from the side. "How long did it take you to learn the language to this level, Stella?"
"Mhm?" Stella shrugged, "Only about a year of studying day and night with endless love and devotion."
"Oh." Douglas seemed taken aback.
Stella giggled, "Diana gave up after just a week. It's really not easy to learn such a complex language. I can see why they created a far more streamlined version that you learned for runic formations."
"Yeah... the streamlined version is so different it might as well be another language," Douglas replied with a chuckle.
While they chatted, Ashlock inspected the runic formation more closely and noticed that the large holes Stella had used to engrave the transfer runes had been filled with a mixture of rock and spirit stones.
'Do we have any spirit stones left?' Ashlock wrote, and Stella shook her head.
"We used every last one. I either underestimated the spirit stone requirements for creating runic formations or overestimated our spirit stone reserves," Stella said, tapping her chin. "We may need to start cracking down on the mine and demand more from it... I can see why it was so sought after now. These runic formations are essential for cultivation, and I haven't even started on runic formations with other uses, like defensive ones that can create Qi barriers."
Douglas nodded from the side. "Why do you think runic formation masters are paid on par with beginner alchemists? It's a seriously lucrative business."
Douglas's statement made Ashlock realize he didn't know much about alchemists. He knew they existed since someone had to be making the pills they were consuming, and when his {Qi Fruit Production} skill upgraded to A grade, he was able to produce a cauldron fruit that facilitated alchemy which suggested the practice's existence.
'How rare are alchemists?' Ashlock wrote, and Douglas answered his question after Stella read the words aloud.
"Very rare; there are just so many hurdles to overcome," Douglas said, counting off his fingers. "First, you need a near-perfect spirit root, as the ingredients have to be combined within your Soul Fire, and you don't want any impurities; otherwise, you'll always be fated to create mediocre pills. Next, you need to reach the Soul Fire realm with an intense focus on Soul Fire manipulation and control. If those two hurdles weren't enough, you must spend countless years studying—time that could have been spent pursuing cultivation and vast resources to practice with."
Diana walked over, stretching her back with her arms behind her head, and added, "Don't forget the brutal exams. They are questioned about thousands of herbs and need to memorize every combination. My cousin tried to become an alchemist, but the examiner chewed out the poor boy."
Ashlock was glad to see Diana seemed in a better mood, but he found that hard to believe. Why make the exam so hard? Couldn't the alchemists just memorize a few basic recipes and then work from there? Ashlock spelled out his question in flames, and Diana soon answered with Stella translating.
"Simple answer: those alchemists are way too prideful. But it's a bit more complicated than that," Diana said, lowering her arms and putting them in the pockets of her modern-style hoodie. "Alchemists only get paid so much because they are rare. If everyone could become a low-tier alchemist, then the prestige those bastards enjoy would soon vanish."
Ashlock now understood the situation perfectly. Those old alchemists wanted to gatekeep the industry to keep it exclusive and maintain their high wages due to the lack of supply. It was smart, but Diana's words also gave Ashlock hope for his tournament's success.
Many aspiring alchemists were likely to be in attendance that couldn't get approved as official alchemists. He only needed one semi-competent person to show him and his three sect members how to perform alchemy.
Also, hearing how valuable they were made Ashlock want to pursue the idea of turning the Ashfallen sect into a well-known alchemy sect. That way, they could get enough money to buy spirit stones and build more formations by trading with the merchants.
Ashlock's wandering thoughts were interrupted when a sudden wave of pain and fear shot through his roots. It was coming through the mycelium network near Darklight City.
His vision blurred as he switched views to the location of the pain, where he found someone trying to chop down a demonic tree that had his roots wrapped around it. This tree was located on the city wall, somewhere his roots could reach. It seemed that while he slept, his roots had naturally linked up and wrapped around this and many other demonic trees.
"The system mentioned something about automatically connecting with nearby demonic trees before my rebirth," Ashlock mused as another wave of pain washed over him, reminding him of the situation at hand.
The mortal's iron axe cleaved into his root that wrapped around the helpless tree, barely making progress. Cutting through the root of a Star Core demonic tree as a mortal was a futile endeavor.
Ashlock debated opening a portal and devouring the fool but realized that wouldn't solve the issue. He needed to come up with a realistic solution.
Taking a figurative step back, he tried to identify why they were trying to chop down this particular tree. It was growing sideways out of the city wall, causing the wall to crumble around its roots. Upon closer inspection, he noticed damp cracks caused by water damage.
"Ah, the digestive fluids," Ashlock realized. "That is indeed a problem."
The wall appeared sturdy enough to survive an attack from demonic beasts, so a tree growing from it shouldn't be such a significant issue. However, even the strongest walls weren't immune to water or corrosive fluids designed to dissolve the hardest demonic beast corpses.
Ashlock confirmed his roots were intertwined with the demonic tree and surrounding its trunk. With his full focus, he tried to project a message to the tree: "Calm down and relax. Stop trying to hunt—let me take care of you."
He accompanied the intent-filled message with a wave of Qi and all the nutrients the tree could ever need via the mycelium network. To his surprise, the tree responded with a wave of happiness.
"Stop producing berries and corrosive fluid. I will provide for you..."
As far as he could tell, his connection to the tree wasn't much different from before he became a fully-fledged tree, but it seemed to understand him—could he speak tree now?
Through his roots, he felt the tree's roots gradually dry up over an hour. He could do things quickly for a tree, and if one thought about it, the fact this tree could stop producing corrosive fluid in just an hour was impressive.
"Good kid," Ashlock sent over more Qi and nutrients, attempting to train the tree like a puppy. Always rewarding it for a job well done.
Ashlock confirmed he could communicate and train his children. If he repeated this process for all the trees in Darklight City, they should all be spared.
He could always have Douglas work to relocate those blocking roads or crushing buildings via his portals. All his children deserved to live, and the more that survived, the more trees he had to siphon Qi from.
Since his roots grew around the trunks of the trees, he could also grow mushrooms or flowers to decorate them and make them more appealing to the locals.
Ashlock set to work, making his roots tunnel under Darklight City and creep up through pavement cracks to meet all the demonic trees in the city. He was baffled at how fast his roots grew. His new Star Core was like its own nuclear power station, surging an obscene amount of Qi down his roots.
With a plan in place, Ashlock had to leave the helpless demonic tree on the wall for now. He shifted his view back to Red Vine Peak and wrote a message on his trunk for Stella.
'It hurts.'
Stella practically tripped over her feet as she dashed up to him. "What hurts, Tree? Are you okay?"
'They are slaughtering my children. It hurts,' he wrote in lilac flames, and he had never seen Stella look so furious. The air around her crackled with golden lightning, and reality was distorted by the spatial Qi leaking from her core.
"Tell me where to go. Who should I kill?"
Ashlock quickly outlined his plan, explaining that the demonic trees would stop producing corrosive fluid and emphasizing that the trees provided him with more Qi, helping him grow faster.
He had never seen Stella so motivated in his life.
"Portal me over to the Redclaws, Tree!" Stella said as she fastened the white mask to her face.
Ashlock sighed in relief as Stella calmed down and no longer looked like she was about to commit genocide on the mortals of Darklight City.
Creating the most stable and impressive portal to date, Ashlock connected Stella to the White Stone Palace. As she stepped through, everyone in the palace courtyard wearing crimson robes instantly bowed to the arrival of the Ashfallen sect's mistress.
The Grand Elder rushed out of the palace within moments and gave a deep bow. "Mistress, how may we serve?"
He raised his head and added. "Preparations for the tournament have hit a few hurdles, so I sent out news of the tournament's delay to all the attending families. But the elusive Silverspire family refused and said they were coming today—"
"Silence," Stella said, raising her hand. "I care not for some pathetic noble family. Why are you all standing around here when the immortal's children are suffering?"
The Grand Elder blinked in confusion. "Pardon?"
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