Chapter 163: Timeless Trees

Year 181

The heroes tried again, if anything, out of a desire for revenge. The demon king killed 2 of them, and they were going to live, this time. They hunted champions and gained more levels, and all of them were now in their level 100s, if only in the early level 100s. The 2 fragments each of them had made them level faster, and made them stronger. 

“They know I’m talking to you guys.” Kei said. 

“So? You’re free to have friends, right?”

“I think they’re alright, but some of them are suspicious why I’m reporting everything to you. And rightly so. The way I’m behaving is very much a spy. In a way, I am a spy.” Kei laughed awkwardly.

“I thought you told them everything?”

“Yes, but still, they continue to maintain some distance.” Kei paused. “If I were in their shoes, I’d be suspicious of a girl or golem who claims to be a former hero and somehow reports on their activities back to someone they don’t know.”

“Then stop staying there. I think they no longer need your help. Not anymore. The longer they stay, the more suspicious they get.”

“...you’re right.”

Kei had one last conversation with the heroes before their fight with the demon king. They’ve reached level 100, and just as before they’ve unlocked their star-mana forms. There’s 7 of them at level 100+, against one demon king, honestly, the odds are pretty good that they’ll win. She spoke of hero-made items from previous generations, and whether the heroes wanted a trip to the Central Continent before their 2nd encounter with the demon king. 

They refused. Well, some of them wanted it, but they already unlocked their own [Hero’s Forge] and could make their own hero items. 

“You think they’ll live?” Stella asked through [message], as Kei made her way to the shore. I could recall her at any time, but she wanted to wait for the heroes to actually fight the demon king before she left. “What did you think of the demon king?”

“I saw it briefly, I was really far away but I think... I think they have a good chance of winning. But I think half of them will die. It’s still a bit too early”

“Huh. Are they prepared for a self-destruction gimmick at the end?”

“I don’t know whether they remembered. When I reminded them they just brushed it off.”

“Huh?” Stella asked. 

“I’m not sure whether what I told them got through to their heads. Lately they just seem... I don’t know how to put it...”

“Stubborn?”

“No.”

“Confident?”

“Not that either...”

“Middle-grade syndrome?” 

“...that might be it.”

“But they are late teens, right?”

“Yes. One of them reincarnated as a half-dark elf so age is a little bit more flexible but yes. Late teens, mentally.”

“You were there, once. You should know why they don’t listen.”

“Fuck that.” 

---

We felt the effects of the battle from a distance. The heroes pulled out all the stops, and my magical sensors felt the churn of magic in the air, even so far away. The weather seemed to sense this, and the world waited for the outcome of the battle of heroes. The instability of magic lasted for a day, and this time, I felt sensations that were very familiar.

It felt like those old, healed wounds had been torn open. But I was still physically fine. Why did I feel it then? 

[Demon King Ethrezen has been slain]

[Kenny Hills has been slain. You received a fragment]

[Elly Pato has been slain. You received a fragment]

[Nancy Pelos has been slain. You received a fragment]

Only three deaths. That meant four of the heroes survived. The four survivors were Prabu and Colette, both archmages, Hafiz the Knight and Chung the Archer. There was an explosion at the end, but somehow they still managed to survive it.  

Kei, of course, felt the explosion. The explosion’s shockwave could be felt a world away, and she ran at full speed towards the center of the explosion once it was clear the explosion was done. The entire area had been turned into a volcanic wasteland, but the four were alive, but weak. All of them suffered heavy burns and their skins charred. They lived. Both archmages were unconscious, but they somehow managed to sustain a multi-layered magical shield that collapsed once Kei approached them. The burns were so bad that they could not speak, not yet. 

She quickly stabilised them with her familiar’s healing abilities. Despite how horrific the burns were, they were heroes, and the healing quickly restored them. Exhausted and weak, even though somewhat healed, Kei escorted them out and brought them to the nearest town where they got food and shelter. 

-

“Well that’s over.” I gathered the Valthorns. “As usual we’ll have to face the issue that the heroes may be hostile, or may be friendly. We will initiate our hero-preparations procedure again.” We had this preparation since the crusades, mainly to consider how to fight heroes on our home ground, should the temples order another round of Crusades. 

There’s four of them. Five if we count the missing hero. We know that two of them are mages, and they have good shields, shields strong enough to stop the demon king’s last bomb. They also survived the demon king, so that should put them in the Level 120s. In a straight combat, we’re in trouble. Even with both Lumoof and Edna, I think it’ll be a long shot if we even win. So, avoiding combat should be the first priority. 

At least the propaganda from the temples are not outright hostile these days, so hopefully the heroes don’t turn out that bad. 

They would have to mop up the rest of the demons too. There are still demon champions and large hordes of demons left unchecked. The heroes will get to them soon, perhaps in a month. 

“We should start aid.” Lausanne proposed. “It’s a good way to win friends through the reconstruction process.”

“This is usually the period when they start maneuvering for territory and start their own kingdoms. We’ll need to be careful not to get tangled in a case where the kingdoms use our support as a weapon or shield against the heroes.” One of the Lords presented some diplomatic implications. 

“Agreed, but we can just decline or pull out should that happen?” Lausanne proposed.

“Then we as a faith will look weak, because we can’t resist the heroes. It’s a signal to the temples that we are afraid of the heroes.”

“No no. Let’s step back here. We’re not going as a missionary force, and we’re not going to be some ‘pillar’ to stand up against the heroes or the other temples. We’re sending workers, craftspeople, farmers, druids to help fix the damaged lands, and if we encounter any hostility we will pack up and move.” Lausanne repeated. “We can do this without having a need to appear as a political entity.”

“Then what you are suggesting is a clandestine aid operation? Any action we do will be viewed through national, geostrategic or geopolitical views. How strong, how weak we go.”

Lumoof paused. “I believe it may not be a problem if we go weak.”

“Then we won’t be winning over allies in the South, so why go?”

Lausanne took a step back. “I think we need to draw a line here, on whether we’re going for political reasons, or going for the purpose of assistance. I’m voting to go, and provide assistance and help the nations rebuild their lives a bit faster.”

The debate went on for a while. I was alright either way, whether the council decided to go or otherwise. In the end, Lausanne volunteered for a small assistance group, supported by the priests. 

---

I also needed more [Domain] level servants, and Johann, Roon and a few of the druids kept on grinding the level 120 dungeon. They were at the edges and stagnating, around the early Level 140s, and yet it’s not moving much. 

“Level 120 isn’t enough, Aeon.” Roon vented. “We’ve done this for months and we’re not levelling. Something’s not right.”

Patreeck and my artificial minds quickly made comparisons between their experience and that of Edna and Lumoof. The analysis revealed that there wasn’t much difference, except they didn’t participate significantly in the conflict with the demon king. Does the system actually require some kind of ‘significant-event’ record in order to move past certain levels? 

But... What about me? The fragments help override the system or give it a boost?

I needed more power to feed the ley lines. I wondered, just wondered, whether heroes could supply the power needed to summon super-tier dungeons. No... back about the idea of the sun. Could I create a portal to the sun and then use that as a magic source?

Of course, I asked Stella about the possibility of creating permanent portals. In theory, yes, but the further it is, the more difficult it is to be permanent, simply because the void and space is subject to so much interference and fluctuations that the mage or portal-maker has to constantly adjust their skill or spell in order to account for those changes. A super strong solar-flare or a magical supernova could rip your portal to shreds, if at the wrong place and at the wrong time. 

The way between worlds is a forest, and perhaps also a sea that’s constantly moving. The path is a bit like trying to create a bridge made of floating ships through a volatile sea. It’s easier if it’s nearer, since the distance travelled isn’t too far. I wondered whether it’s better to just, well, be the ship and float on the sea, but anyway, it’s certainly possible to establish a ‘permanent’ portal, given enough mana, time and having the right skill sets. Distance increases this complexity by introducing disruptions and fluctuations. Both source and destination also play a part in the complexity of the process. 

I thought about it, and then Stella went back to research.

---

I thought of other ways of cracking the problem with the creation of high level dungeon. I decided I would experiment using my roots as electrical cables, and move the mana from the various ley lines to a single location.

The thing is, a dungeon’s power source cannot be a living thing, and so, if the mana came from me, it would reject that source and only consider the non-living thing. It also has to be at a certain level of stability and quantity, which caused the dungeons to reject mana batteries as a source of augmentation.

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So, I needed a magical root that absorbed the mana from various leylines, and then dumped that at a particular location where the dungeon could then use.

I tested it out with a few dungeons, and creating the roots that were independent of me weren’t that difficult. Essentially, make the root, but then cut it off once ready. 

It didn’t work, even though the mana was still moving through the roots. I tested it out too. What other ways could I trick the system into accepting the mana as a valid source of power? Could the solution be something extremely simple that I have never considered so far? 

---

The heroes recovered quickly, the wounds and physical damage were gone. But Kei was worried.

“We need to get them checked for parasites. They could have parasites like Alvin. Alvin’s parasite was initially dormant too.”

“Why do they have any symptoms?” I asked, curious why Kei suddenly asked.

“No... No they don’t. But it’s just... what if they did. We have to check.”

“With your familiar’s healing skills, did you detect anything unusual?”

“No.”

“Then why are you worried?”

“Because it just feels uneasy. They look alright, I think. Physically they are back to tip-top shape. But you never know. They could have some accumulated, hidden damage that only something as strong as your magical biolab can pick up.”

Stella rolled her eyes. “That’s like taking a kid to an MRI because he hurt his knee. If there’s no symptoms, leave it?”

“Aeon’s testing doesn’t have side effects like MRI, so it’s really a risk free test.”

“Get them to a priest or a healer and have them checked for any soul damage?”

“I’ve done that, but the priests are so low level I’m not sure they are even able to see through the heroes’ natural protective defenses.”

“Then there’s nothing to be worried about.” Stella said.

“That’s a death flag.”

“Being a hero is a death flag. No. It’s a death sentence.”

“Fuck.”

---

The mop up operation of the remaining demons lasted just a month or two after the heroes’ recovery. Still, they didn’t expect to see Kei back then, so they thanked her for coming to their aid. 

-

I kept digging underground, and by now I explored about 30 to 40% of the underground areas of the continent. During this time, we also dug up the area near the where the elven capital once stood. It was supposedly destroyed during the Rottedlands era. 

“Something doesn’t seem quite right.” I mused to the Valthorns, summarising the underground explorations.

Alka, my chief researcher nodded. “Indeed. The amount of remnants we dug up seems rather small for what was a large capital.”

“Could everything be destroyed?” A senior druid proposed. “So many other kingdoms were destroyed that day.”

“Indeed, but most of them left behind a lot of noticeable debris or damaged structures.” Alka soon ordered a far bigger archaeological study of the area. Within a month, we mapped out the debris and places where the damage was found. Indeed, there was a large circular area where there was very little debris or ruins. It was strange.

“What are we theorising here?” Edna asked. 

“Is it possible for the destruction to be so uneven?”

“It could be something that exploded and then destroyed the city before the demon king’s sludge reached this place.” We soon created a lot more magical sensors in that area in hope of cracking the clue, but we didn’t detect anything at all. Perhaps whatever magic that caused this has faded after the decades. 

“If something happened, we were too late.” Alka wondered. 

-

The death of the demon king meant the seas and oceans returned to normal. Gradually. The storms closer to the southern continent were the first to recover from the turbulence. It will still take some time for the traders to resume, usually those merchants that were forced to change their jobs or businesses in order to adapt to the turbulent weathers would still need some time to research which trades are worthwhile, while some of the more ‘confident’ or ‘foolhardy’ merchants would immediately jump back. These are usually the first to move anyway.

-

During this time, Patreeck picked up some interesting individuals through his mind-reading abilities. These guys had magical camouflage abilities that hide their presence, but they could not mask their very clear ‘thought-bubbles’.

“The artifact is acting funny. That missing hero is not here.” 

On closer look, I felt like I’ve seen that thing before. A hero-locator. No, more importantly, there was something pressing against my presence, and I pressed back. The little mental or magical tug of war happened only shortly, then it disappeared.

“False positive. Again.” The two talked. I remembered how I felt like they seemed really high level all the way back then, but now, not anymore. Based on my much more refined magical sensors and my [inspection], I suspect they are in their level 60s, but had special equipment to support their tasks.

They paused.

“Someone just used [Inspect] on me.” Ah. They have a counter-detection ability. That’s interesting. It functioned just as how my [domain] protected me?

“Me too. Stop talking. This meant whoever did that could hear us.”

“Oh. What do we do?”

“Retreat.”

At that point, Patreeck asked. “Should we pursue and follow? Once they are out of my mind-reading range it’ll be hard to find them.” Patreeck’s mind-reading powers essentially revealed all ‘hidden’ characters, a bit like a detector.

“Yes. But don’t kill them. I want to know what they are plotting.” I quickly called on my high leveled Valthorn Rangers and Scouts. They had counter-espionage skills, though they are a little underdeveloped due to my extensive tree network.

My rangers gave chase, and they seemed to know it.

They fled. In fact, they actually disappeared out of my sight for a while and managed to throw fake trails that led my Rangers and Scouts on the wrong path. 

Their skill or ability had a time limit, because about two towns away, deep in the woods, my trees could see them appear out of their illusions. 

“The hell was that.” 

“We’re too careless.” Well, they still are. “We should’ve known a supposed deity could see through our invisibility charms.”

“Okay. Okay. Let’s calm down and review what we have. We didn’t detect any sign of the hero.”

“Aeon has a depository of hero-items. So our artefact is probably detecting that.”

“So he’s not here.”

“He might still be in the south, then.” They took out their bag, and I saw something that looked pretty broken. A circular disc that was cracked. 

“When did that break?” One of the spies asked the other.

“I.. I don’t know. I was too busy running away.”

“We need to report this.”

At this point, I decided to let them believe they managed to lose my scouts. I kept my eye and watched them make the entire journey to the Eastern seaboard, and then got on some ships. Throughout the entire time, I learned a few things.

They are part of an organisation called the Laenza, and they’re trying to find heroes. I wasn’t sure they were helping them, or trying to kill them, because it seemed they were prepared for both. 

“Find more info on this... Laenza.”

What we soon found was that there were actually multiple members of the Laenza even on our central continent, but most of them were only mid-tier individuals, around level 30s to 50s. They had attempted at various times to recruit individuals of higher levels but with mixed success. There’s very little they could offer the nobility that they could not already obtain in some way or form from the existing structure. 

Those we interrogated revealed nothing unique, other than the Laenza is a group dedicated to assisting heroes in their tasks. Or kill them, if they were detrimental. 

They also had a magical ring that was hidden by magic, but soon revealed itself when brought close to me. It seemed that my [domain] had an anti-illusion effect. I wasn’t sure what it did, but for now, it went into the magical labs for research. 

More importantly, what did they want with the missing hero?

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