It was already quite a few hours past sunset, when Mira, Marcella and Daz all sat before Twig inside the pavillion. It was raining outside again, not yet pouring but it would not take too long. Twig’s water spirit enjoyed the weather change and would probably turn the whole garden into a sea of potion later on. Twig sat down as well, stretching his four arms briefly and unfolding his wings to get rid of the stiffness that had gathered up.

It seemed to remember his minions that he was not so normal after all. They stared at him with frowning faces. Well, at least he did not any doubt or fear. For now. Hopefully it would stay that way. “Alright. I will teach you another way of cultivating. It is a much quicker process, but the drawbacks can be dangerous.” Twig did not actually know if something like that would actually work, but hey. Why not try?

Interest spiked in their eyes as he continued to talk. “But, I want you to swear loyalty to me. To me, protector of Teiming, second in line to the throne of the kingdom of Antalia.” Twig cringed internally while he spoke, but binding them to him would require a great deal of time and a logically reason, otherwise their oath would not mean anything. “And don’t take that oath lightly. I will hold you to it, should you not take it seriously.”

A brief moment of silence hovered over his group, then the swore. First Daz then Marcella followed by Mira. Not a surprise, after all she had only just learned from him how to cultivate and not yet seen the power she could draw from that method. Twig clapped his four hands once. “Good. Now let’s start with this. As you have experienced before, the art of cultivating is pretty simple in its core function. You gather energy from surrounding sources, slowly weaving it into your own energy flow.”

Mira looked confused. “But… I was not drawing energy from anything. I am just letting the energy flow in a cycle?” Twig nodded. “Yes, on the earlier stages, you do this subconsciously and just by maintaining your own flow. But after a breakthrough, the process becomes more clear and you are able to maintain it even while you focus on other things.” Daz’s face lit up. “Like being able to walk while doing it? I’ve been trying, but it’s hard to actually do it for long.”

Twig shook his head. “No, you are a special case. You are able to move while cultivating, that is something even I was not able to achieve. But we will see where this will lead. You should also focus on the energy surrounding you.” Marcella interrupted him excitedly. “I’ve felt that it worked better when wind was blowing.” - “Yes. Something like wind, rain, or an open fire. But they don’t hold more energy or less, they are just more clearly felt. Today we will work with something that is felt even more clearly.”

Twig called for two of his skeleton servants, which held a large bag of fire crystals. The elemental spirits would be absorbed while his disciples cultivated. The description also said that they could catch fire, but Twig was too curious to care what happened to them. A little fire would not hurt them much. “Here. These are felt, much, much more clearly. When you cultivate try to absorb their power. It will be difficult, that’s almost certain. But after you have absorbed a whole crystal, go train your bodies. If they are weak, you will catch fire and burn from the inside.”

Twig did not actually know if his theory that a strong body would be able to control the higher cultivation stages more easily, but it seemed like a logical approach to the whole process. “Take your time, you don’t need to rush this. Especially Mira. You are inexperienced. Maybe start with this later.” - “Thank you, master.” Twig loved to be called master. Daz was the first to do it, and hopefully the girls would join that process too. His first human minions would be the strongest! He would win this tournament.

Letting them train Twig secluded himself a little further off. Just in case a fire broke out. Then he checked in on his spies. The ravens had confirmed his suspicion that his master was in mortal danger. While their boss was smart enough not to talk about anything anymore, a lot of rumors were going about in the ranks of his soldiers. All had one thing in common: their target. Teiming, second in line to the throne of Antalia. Some rumours said capture and using him as leverage, some thought they would use him to start the rebellion anew, others hoped that they wouldn’t and peace negotiations in the city were running smoothly.

Twig had not yet detected any reason to believe that the dialogue his master led had spiraled out of control. But he would need to prepare for that fact. Sadly he had no reason to just call Teiming out of the city into safety. And even then, there was no guarantee he could save him from that army. Well, army was a little far fetched, his scouts estimated their numbers between four and six thousand men. Mostly common folk, but many had an aura of skill about them.

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It would be difficult to get out of this pinch. Best thing would be for peace discussion to proceed nicely. Or a urgent message to pull him away for now and delay the negotiations with a hope for better talks next time. Either way, without a secret royal order or message, Twigs hands were tied. All he could do was prepare his pupils and summon more monsters. As it was already close to midnight, his mana pool once again would reach 100.000. He had been very impatient this time, ever since he had inspected that one entry of his monster book.

Having confirmed the plans of the army outside the city gates, he dispatched his invisible raven to locate and spy on Teiming himself. The more information Twig had, the better he would be able to react. His soul binding also really made Twig long for a long discussion with his master. He wanted to be free and maybe his master would free him after he finished a certain task for him?

Putting the thought aside, Twig once again called upon his skills. As before he read through the [Tree of Darkness] once more.

[Tree of Darkness: The Tree of Darkness, or also called The Devil's Tree, is said to be the portal to hell. Growing only from strong energies like blood rituals or deceased magical entities, the tree is ruthless to all life. Absorbing those weaker than itself, it grows the fruits of desire. This holy tree is unique and can only exist once on the face of this world. Warm to the touch in every season the gates of hell can be felt through it.]

[Manacost: 100.000 Mana]

[Monster Core: not yet available]

Current Mastery Benefits: none.

Twig could not wait to summon it at all. His mana pool was nearly there and the regeneration felt just so much slower now. Hopefully his plan to grow the tree would bare fruit. Literally. He hoped the fruits of desire to be of huge benefit and maybe they would help. As the name indicated they hopefully would fulfill one's desire. In his case: break the damned soul binding. 100.000 mana was not the most expensive thing in the world, for Twig it was actually quite affordable. It regenerated quickly enough anyway. The weather was getting worse, but what was a little rain and thunder to the portal of hell anyway?

Twig would just summon it right in this garden. Protected by a barrier spell and a royal mansion it was as safe as any place. Waiting, not very patiently, but without making a move he sat there. His humans struggled with the cultivation, apparently they had trouble accessing the crystals power. Well, it was not like that was guaranteed to succeed. Twig would know soon enough.

Finally the mana bar had filled up and Twig marched straight out into the now pouring rain. Had a giant thrown barrels of water, it would hardly have made any difference. Ignoring it he immediately summoned the tree. This time the feeling was different from forming mana to a golem or calling upon skeletons to do is bidding. The energy felt… darker. More vile. And aggressive at that. It basically ripped a hole into the world and placed itself into the ground. Roots reaching deep and darkness was felt in the air.

Twig immediately doubted his decision. Until he saw the actual size of his summoned devil tree. Barely larger than a meter in height and only as thick as a forearm. Yet the power it emitted was so dark, it even scared him a bit. When the soaked grass around it turned grey and black over time, and basically all plants lost their green vigor Twig finally knew. This would be troublesome, even to him. A dark and rasping voice, reminding him of a tree called out to him.

Feeed mee. I want your... blood!

A small root thrusted out of the ground towards him, with a threatening killing motion. Tiny, but with all the intent to kill. Great. Hopefully this would not turn bad. He tried to form a telepathic bond with the creature. It was no longer in his actual skill set, so it felt like he was talking to himself inside his own head, but it seemed to work.

“I summoned you. You will obey me. In return I shall protect and feed you.” The tree understood him. Yeees! Yes. Feed me. Feeeeeed ME. Give me blood. Your blood, any blood. FEED ME. The rasping voice turned up in volume. Twig was not a fan of where this was going. “Obey. Or I will cut you down right now myself.” - Noo! No. No. Feed me. Feed meeeee. - “I will feed you.” - Hurrry up! Staaarving. Feeed me.

The tree had no indication of surrendering in its position. Most likely it would not yield to his influence and would rather die than to serve under him. But it was alright to Twig. As long as the fruits of desire would prove useful it was a worthy bargain. It was a tree after all, what could it possibly do? Twig would just move away and be safe. Chuckling about his grand plan, he ordered the golems to cut a path into the ground that would connect his water spirit pond and the soil around the tree.

In Twigs mind the enriched water would give way to a spurt of growth to the tree, making it grow. At least that's what he hoped. Another way would be to use his summoned goblins to shed blood on a regular basis around it. Either way the growth would take place sooner or later. It took a while for the potion to reach the tree, but when it finally did, the tree absorbed it greedily. The bark took a dark black color and small vines covered with dark green and violet leaves sprouted here and there.

Twig would have to take care not to overfeed it too much. The energy levels increased a lot. He was pretty sure a goblin would be no match for the tree now. It felt very old. Devious and cunning. Far more than what he ever expected. How was this possible for such a small plant? Curious about his own conclusions he asked her: “What is your name, tree?”

Matha Naht. Is my name. And now leave me alone. I need to sleeeeep…

And sleep she did. Clearly a female tree. Behaving more like a master than a summoned creature. Maybe it would be wiser to cut it down and burn it. But what was the worst that could possibly- A vine suddenly reached out to a skeleton servant of his. It pulled it down and tied it up right next to the tree roots. Twig could feel the energy of the monster fading slowly. Not so sleepy after all, huh?

What a frightening tree…