3rd skirmish of New Freeka (1/2)
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…”