Reborn as a Demonic Tree-Novel

Ashlock had seen Stella distraught, scared, and angry in recent years, but she had almost only ever cried when she feared his demise. She was usually quite a strong girl when it came to her own problems, so something drastic must have occurred for her to go from battle maniac to crying within seconds.

"I wonder what happened?" Ashlock used the tip of his ethereal root to wipe away the tears streaking down Stella's sleeping face. She had passed out and fallen into a deep sleep within a second, so it was likely backlash for whatever she had done at the end of the duel.

"For a moment, I felt the pressure of a being on the same level as Senior Lee coming from Stella," Ashlock mused as he continued patting her head as she peacefully slept, "She then looked to the sky and collapsed, coughing blood a moment later."

It was all bizarre, and all he could hope was that Stella would fully recover and fill him in on the details. He may have dulled emotions as a tree, but he knew when to put his curiosity aside and give her some space to recover before firing off questions.

"See, I can be a caring Dad sometimes," Ashlock chuckled as he enjoyed this unintended feature of his new {Ethereal Roots} skill. It effectively turned his roots into limbs he could move freely so he could finally give a sort of hug. "Even if you are a rascal. I told you so many times to stop the duel because Diana was out of control, but you stubbornly pressed forward, so I can only hope whatever you saw in the sky was worth it."

Ashlock looked down with his demonic eye at Elaine, who was still sitting on the bench with a deep look of concern on her face.

"With your illusions?" Ashlock asked.

Ashlock glanced back at Stella. Her hands that had been gripping the root patting her head had fallen to her sides, and she had a look of unease on her sleeping face. Maple was curled up in her lap and looking up at her.

"If you are sure it will work, that would be nice."

Elaine gently tapped her finger on Stella's head, and within seconds, Stella's face transitioned from one of unsettled terror to a light smile. Her breathing also became less erratic and more relaxed.

"Thank you," Ashlock said.

Ashlock still vividly remembered the debate where Stella ordered Elaine's death; now, here Elaine was, wishing her sweet dreams.

"She has been getting better," Ashlock said, "As she gains more life experience and interacts with a wide variety of people, her dark view of the world has slowly shifted. Or at least I like to think so."

"Yeah... it's been complicated, to say the least."

Diana appeared in a blur next to Elaine, making her almost lose her balance on the branch.

"We don't know," Ashlock admitted, "But Elaine used her illusion Qi to help her sleep peacefully, so I suppose we will see when she wakes up. What about you?"

If not for Stella constantly telling him to stay out of it, Ashlock would have stopped the duel then and there.

"No need to be sorry. I take responsibility for whatever happens next," Ashlock reassured her, "Stella told me to stay out of it, so I did. I trust her, but in hindsight, maybe listening to her was a bad idea. We will have to see if I made the wrong decision when she wakes up."

"Go for it, I need to rest too." Ashlock sighed. What a fucking insane morning it had been. The sun had hardly risen, but he already wanted not just today to be over but this entire week. He had reached the bottleneck for Nascent Soul, upgraded one of his abilities with void Qi, turned Nox into a tree, and watched Diana and Stella almost kill each other in a duel that went way too far. All the while, he was still heavily injured with a large cut in his trunk that was leaking Qi.

"Oh? A present?"

"Diana, you are like family to me," Ashlock picked up the flowers with telekinesis and brought them before his eye for inspection, "Forget just a grove. I will give you a bastion of demonic mist Qi someday. Just give me some time, though. I must divert my resources to reach the Nascent Soul Realm for now."

"Sure thing, see you both soon," Ashlock told them.

Diana glided into the distance while Elaine walked through the mist wall and vanished from sight as she headed toward the mountain ridge of groves.

Now, it was just him and a sleeping Stella. Making sure she was secured in place with his root so she wouldn't fall during her sleep, he focused on the new flower Diana had just given him. He twirled it around for a while with telekinesis before his eye until a system prompt appeared.

[Sinister Fog Bellflower analyzed]

Opening his {Blooming Root Flower Production} skill menu, sure enough, this flower had joined his list of possible flowers he could grow.

"Might as well get a grove for Diana going before I sleep," Ashlock said, searching for a nice area with {Eye of the Tree God}. Since he also wanted some of his offspring to take on the demonic mist affinity, he decided to head to the east to the demonic tree forest.

He selected a large area among the newly growing trees and spawned hundreds of Sinister Fog Bellflowers. Qi flowed from his Star Core through his roots, and a field of black and blue flowers bloomed into existence, and a demonic mist soon started forming.

Ashlock let out a long yawn as he returned to Red Vine Peak. He was beyond exhausted.

Since it was still daytime, he retreated into his mind and fell into a state similar to daydreaming, focusing all his nutrients and Qi into repairing himself. He had earned a long rest...

***

Idletree Daily Sign-In System

Day: 3598

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Daily Credit: 35

Sacrifice Credit: 2565

[Sign in?]

"Huh?" Ashlock stirred awake and wondered if he was miscounting. "I swear I had 33 daily credits last time I checked..."

Had two days really passed? Swiftly leaving his mind with more energy than usual, he glanced around. The sun was once again peeking over the mountains in the distance as if he had gone back in time by an hour. Stella was still peacefully asleep in his roots, and there was no sign of the others.

"Did I really sleep for two days?" Ashlock wondered if there was a quick way to check. Looking around, he eventually looked down at himself and saw that the large cut in his side made by Nox was half healed, and the cracks that had spread throughout his body were gone.

[Damage calculated at 17%]

[Repair body with credits? Yes/No]

"No way," Ashlock dismissed the prompt. With how high his cultivation was now, the cost of such an instant repair would be steep, and he needed to save every credit he could to form his Inner World and reach Nascent Soul Realm.

That aside, this amount of healing should be impossible in a single day, so maybe two days really had passed. Which made the fact Stella was still asleep so concerning. Had using her bloodline or whatever she saw in the sky inflicted such a backlash?

Larry was also still in his cocoon of silver ash, so it was quiet...

"I wonder how Nox is readjusting to her life as a tree?" Ashlock would grin if he could. He hadn't heard anything from the Redclaws regarding her yet, so it should be going well.

"You can thank Elaine for that," Ashlock said as softly as he could as he loosened his hold on her waist now that she was awake, "She used illusions to help you sleep because you seemed deeply troubled."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Ashlock eventually said. Talk about what, he wasn't exactly sure. Stella had mentioned something about being told terrible things?Follow current novelenglish.net . s on novelenglish.net . Firᴇ(.)nᴇt

"Diana asked me to get her when you woke up. Should I? Maybe she can help you work through it."

Ashlock went and got Diana, who had been resting under the water Qi trees at the edge of the mountain peak.

"Ultimate state? You learned more about bloodlines?" Ashlock asked, unable to hold back his curiosity anymore.

"Ancient bloodline?" Ashlock was growing more confused.

"Larry did say there was something ancient smelling about you and Diana," Ashlock chimed in, "I suppose it was this ancient bloodline he smelled."

Ashlock found that made a lot of sense, "You always were quick on the uptake. So, it was your bloodline that helped you progress so quickly in so many different areas?"

"Calling in a talent sounds about right then," Ashlock agreed, "You are one of the hardest-working people I know, so I didn't say that to diminish your achievements. But it does help explain how you reached such mastery in many fields."

Once again, Stella became hesitant. She tried and failed to speak for a long time, with only the rustling leaves, chirps of birds, and streaks of sunlight accompanying the awkwardness.

Ashlock's demonic eye swiveled to gaze up at the vast blue sky. It looked the same as always, with clouds lazily floating by. Streams of various Qi types went by, as always. Nothing seemed amiss.

At the mention of a golden tree, Ashlock's thoughts instantly drifted to his many dreams and visions of the past World Trees that he sometimes saw after unlocking S-grade skills. This felt like too much of a coincidence. He dreamed of world trees, while Stella had access to a library made within one?

Ashlock wanted to pause on the whole library made from a world tree, but clearly, there were even more things Stella had to share, considering she passed over it so quickly.

Ashlock found it interesting that Stella had a concept of past lives. Was the cycle of reincarnation known in this world?

"So what happened next?" Ashlock asked.

"So your bloodline's ultimate state is to peel back the veil of reality to expose a library that has always been there and to be shouted at by a cosmos?" Ashlock asked.

Ashlock actually agreed with those words, but now wasn't the time to voice those thoughts. "So what did you say in response?"

Stella trailed off at the end; the edges of her eyes started getting red, and her bottom lip quivered.

"What did it tell you, Stella?" Ashlock asked, "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, of course, but I can see you are hurting."

Stella curled up into a ball, and while sniffling, she said something unbelievable.