Year 11, Day 46

Beneath a Great Canopy

It had come to his attention that the mortals under his territory were getting sick. The first of his children to notice was Lumin, they were floating above his canopy, cultivating amogst the sunlight and shining brightly when they looked down- Lumin's bright eyes gazed into the body of a fallen mortal, a seemingly healthy young man had collapsed to the ground with no apparent reaso! Lumin thought it was mortal incompetence, but they watched as many more collapsed and fell to the ground. “Father?” They said, their shining skin that had cracks where bright red light would shine out of looked very sparkly, almost as if he had been covered in glitter! In fact, Lumin was developing a Tracking technique where he would spread his Light Qi in the person's soul or body like glitter, always able to track them by the small specks of glitter-like particles of Light Qi that they would release from time to time: “It seems the mortals are dying.” Root's attention- That was focused on speaking to Bones, his son -was brought to those mortals that had collapsed. Lumin went on to cultivate again, focusing internally to suppress their murderous and destructive desires while condensing and moving their Qi internally.

Root, on the other hand (or root, cause he doesn't have hands- In tree form, at least!), focused on the mortals. He looked at their Fate and those who had caught the mysterious disease and had fallen to the ground were hurt and were completely doomed for their own death. The black Thread of Death hanged above their head as their golden Life Thread seemed to burn brighter and stronger, being consumed quickly. ‘They're dying.’ Root realized- this disease must be really strong, huh? Root focused deeper and deeper into the body of a young man, deep to the bottom of his soul, but it was in his blood that he found the answer to this conundrum! The culprit, or rather, the culprits were these tiny little parasites that were feeding, reproducing, and spreading on his blood.

These parasites were like small long worm-like strings, but they had these long tendrils or tentacles that emerged from their own worm bodies. These tendils also had these pseudo mouths at their ends that ate and drank the blood and Blood Qi from within the poor being they fed from, in turn, devouring the Life Qi within their host. “...super Qi parasites.” Root almost felt like this world was tailored and specially made to be a nightmare fuel for the evils of the world to manifest! What the fuck is even this shit? What's next!? A fucking giant worm that eats trees?

Don't answer that.

“Maybe I should research this…” He considered his options… He had no true care for these mortals, they began living around him and he allowed them because they not only could be useful as future servants, but their offspring could become great cultivators of his sect in the future too, that was why he allowed them to live in his sacred grounds. The heavenly pure Nature Qi seemed to pour into their bodies and stimulated their fertility, one mother had 7 children in 2 months, and these children were growing crazy fast too! ‘Wait.’ He could kill two flying ants with one Zylph if he really thought about it: ‘Life Qi… Nature Qi… Mortals.’ He felt an understanding peer into his tree soul as he grinned to himself.

Time to have another child, time to study these parasites, and time to make this mortal city into a proper place for his sect!

“First things first-” Root pulled a large amount of Nature Qi and condensed it, and changed it. Nature was made from Life, and Life was part of Nature. One can not exist without the other without being utterly and completely changed in a way that makes the other wrong: “-making child~” Root pulled the sphere of Nature Qi that he had condensed into a thin circle of Life Qi. It had a beautiful golden-green glow that softly drifted around. Root pulled a seed from within him and floated it towards the circle of Life Qi, making the circle hug the seed and wrap itself around it before it entered the seed.

The seed blossomed, a pink flower bloomed from the seed and took shape. Like a beautiful dancer, the bright shock pink skin and long golden-green hair dragged across the back of the beautiful androgynous spirit before him. A pair of beautiful orange, red, green, blue, and pink butterfly wings popped right out from the back of his new child, the spirit took form and hugged itself, their wings wrapping around their bodies before they spread out, growing in size to be 9 feet long (2,7 meters) and 4 feet tall (1,2 meters). The spirit opened their eyes, a gorgeous amount of colors bloomed into the flower-like iris of their eyes: “...Father?” Their voice was weirdly robotic, their mouths opened and within it you could see seven rows of teeth that gave way into two causing pincers that clicked once they spoke, making this snapping sound, like someone was snapping their fingers. “I am… alive.”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“Yes, you are, my child… Chrysalis.”

[Status]

Name: Chrysalis

Species: Life Spirit

Cultivation Root: Life, Nature, Blood, Death [Very Good]

Age: 0 Years

Qi Realm: Foundation Formation [1st Stage]

Techniques -

F Rank: [Life Cultivation]

E Rank: [Healing Touch]

B Rank: [Chrysalis]

A Rank: [Biological Metamorphosis]

“My name is Chrysalis… A transition.” Chrysalis smiled softly to their father, their weirdly insectoid appearance shifting into a more feminine appearance before it took a more masculine appearance, only to return to its neutral androgynous appearance. “Ever changing, ever growing…” Chrysalis sighed softly, their butterfly wings moving rhythmically to the beating of their heart, keeping them afloat. “I am so happy, father~” Chrysalis, in turn, hugged one of the many branches Root had, smiling as they hung from Root's branches. “Are those my siblings?” They pointed down to the conglomerate of small green floating spirits that moved around in the bottom of Root's body, their floating form taking the shape of many, many animals. “Yes, they are.” Root answered calmly as Chrysalis took flight towards the small village that lived amongst Root's forest.

The small village had transformed from what it once was- The large stone and earth building made by Ahteus when the mortals first arrived was still up, but it had turned into a prestigious home of sorts, where the “elected” leader of these mortals took residence. It was interesting that the majority of the mortals that live here have come from the outside world, with only a few exceptions being born into this sect. The “elected” leader took leadership of the mortals due to his strength and ability to take advantages of every single opportunity that they had- The rules were also rather vague and not very thought about, them only being “do not steal”, “do not kill”, and “do not offend the cultivators” as far as the mortals knew. There were other unspoken rules, like obeying the cultivators and making sure they're not angry with you, but besides that? Not many laws were given to them.

‘That needs to change.’ Root felt a small headache just thinking about it- Mortals, humans, no matter which species -they all have one thing in common: They want to live. Everything that is alive and healthy wants to live, and those who are not, might wish for death. Cruelty was not something Root wanted, and power amongst mortals was something that needed balance, or else cruelty would be born.

The mortals harvest natural resources around them for them to eat- A lot of his trees give fruit, even if they shouldn't. They are only these condensed spheres of Nature Qi with different flavors, which is why mortals don't eat much of them or else they'd explode! Thankfully for them, only a small piece is enough to sustain them by a lot! Meat and other sources of food were taken also from the forest, they did have various areas where they planted and farmed, but now with the addition of the large Cowmel beast (that weird camel and cow fusion beast) they had meat and milk too now. Their products expanded, thanks to their access to failed products of Ahteus they could forge their own tools! These failed products were the metals with barely any Metal Qi within them, they naturally would recharge by absorbing Qi from the atmosphere, but that would take decades! With their own metal tools now (They previously had tools made from bones) they were able to easily farm! Thanks to the Nature Qi in the soil and air, their crops would grow at ridiculous speeds, and they could harvest up to ten times the normal amount they otherwise would.

It was ridiculous how much food they were able to collect.

Water was easily accessible from the underground, making a stone well was very easy when you beg for help from a big stone guy with a big ass hammer.

Chrysalis landed softly against the stone path- The village had turned into a small town of its own, with stone pathways that led from various homes to a few communal buildings. They were all created by mortals with a little help from a few Lesser Spirits. The first building was this large and open, with various wooden windows that opened to the forest that surrounded the town. They touched the walls of the town's first communal building, the “Town Hall” as it was called by mortals. “Huh, sturdy… Made from good trees.” Chrysalis stepped through the door and into the building. It was a basic building, it was used more for community gatherings where mortals could discuss what they needed to do to improve their lives. As Chrysalis looked around, Root guided them to where the diseased mortals were kept, and as Chrysalis walked through the hanging cloth and into the room, they stopped.

A total of 14 mortals were lying in these thatch makeshift beds wrapped in thick cloth, the cloth was easily provided and made by taking the fiber from the grass and other plants. It was hard to make good cloth from plant fiber, but it could be easily used to make clothes! Their previous leather clothes were used to make other things now that they had a reliable source of wool to make clothes- guess what? Cowmels, the really small babies, have this thick and cotton-like fluffy fur that helps them warm at night and protects their soft skin from the sun, and as they grow, their fur falls off naturally and their skin takes the black and white coloration. The young Cowmel (also known as Spotted Desert Beast) that had come with the new herd were also shedding their thick fur, so the women of the town took this fur and started to make cloth out of it, and now people were starting to sell and buy things.

In this case, trading for them.

Because there were some people in town that were better at woodworking, some were better with cloth making, and others were better with other things- Humans are, after all, very adaptable to things.

“Oh, you poor thing…” Chrysalis softly touched the forehead of a child that was sick- In a moment, they guided the Blood Qi within the child's body and easily detected the parasites. “Oh, what nasty little buggers these are-”

Now, imagine you are a concerned mother. You come into the room to see this weird humanoid bug thin with a pair of enormous butterfly wings kneeling and touching your child with blood on its hands. What would you do? Well, Yeanna Ghozi had the normal reaction of fight or flight, perceiving her child was being attacked (after all, blood!) she picked up her only weapon in hand- this rather large broom.

Chrysalis only heard the *twach* sound as the broom snapped on his head.

…did he just get attacked?