Year 11, Day 51

Beneath Green Canopy, Pink Petals in the Wind

Scarlet, his first granddaughter, was a menace. Lilith stayed the whole entire night awake- It's not like he needs to sleep anyway -feeding and taking care of the little ant princess. She even started demonstrating her talent on controlling the Red Swarm ants as soon as she hatched by simply controlling a large ant to bite through the bark of a tree and bring it pieces to her. Root was both curious and a little annoyed that the little ant princess was already destroying his forest! He had a whole lecture prepared to give when he realized that she was literally just a child that did not know what she was doing. He told Lilith to feed her and make sure she was well fed and would not try to eat an entire tree as soon as they turned their backs to her. Root was also able to see her Status after he concentrated on her presence for long enough-

[Status]

Name: Scarlet

Species: Red Swarm Princess

Cultivation Root: Demonic Qi, Death Qi, Yin Qi, Blood Qi [Excellent]

Age: 0 Years

Qi Realm: Qi Gathering [1st Stage]

Techniques:

A Rank: [Demonic Restless Gluttony]

A Rank: [Blood and Hunger Cultivation Technique]

Blessing: [Blessing of Blood]

There was a new section right beneath techniques. With a pale red color, the words [Blessing of Blood] were very eye-catching. Root was very curious about it, he wanted to peer into the young ant's soul and see how such blessing interacted with her soul and body. He did peer into her Qi, which was the perfect mixture between Blood Qi and Demonic Qi, while both were red in coloration, Blood Qi was more of a vibrant ruby red while Demonic Qi was more of a dull and dirty scarlet red coloration. Demonic Qi has a lot more darker tones, which reflects the darker nature of this corrupting and destructive Qi, while Blood Qi could be easily used in medicine or used to heal others.

Chrysalis was very interested in Scarlet, they wanted to study the little red ant princess, and under the watchful eyes of Lilith, they were allowed to. The very first thing Chrysalis found out about the little ant princess was that she had no core or Cultivation foundation, she was like a mortal that was just introduced to Cultivation- The difference, however, was that within one hour of eating and eating everything she could, her Cultivation soared and she easily went from the [1st Stage] of the Qi Gathering Realm straight up to the [5th Stage] of the Qi Gathering Realm. Four stages in 1 hour filled with eating and eating! Of course after she reached the [4th Stage] of the Qi Gathering Realm, the speed at which she was advancing was severely reduced, but it was way faster than any mortal could ever be. The second most interesting thing that Chrysalis found out was that Scarlet's soul, as her namesake suggests, was fully red. Her Soul was bathed in Blood Qi, her very presence felt like blood and death, which was amazing! As her Cultivation grew, her soul also seemed to blossom with a small, red flower. Chrysalis was able to discern that that small flower was some sort of soul manifestation that represented her growth, and with time, that flower would grow and something would be born out of her soul- Whatever it was, Chrysalis said it would be beautiful.

Root decided to let his children swoon over their first niece while he focused on something that he has been preparing for: Cultivation.

You see, Cultivation for him has been rather slow- The stronger he is, the larger he grows, and the more Qi he needs. The only solution that he found to this problem was to increase the quality and quantity of Nature Qi around him, which was why he expanded his forest so much! His objective was to make the entire surrounding area turn into a relentless sea of Nature Qi for him to use. His plan was most certainly working, he was able to connect himself to every single tree in the forest, making so he was able to pull Qi from them to him, and his Lesser Nature Spirit children were working tirelessly to spread their own Nature Qi- that they produced by doing Qi Photosynthesis -everywhere in the forest, which granted a lot of Nature Qi to work with. “Let's see…” Another reason his cultivation was so slow was because of his cultivation technique.

[F Rank: Tree Breathing Technique]

He has been working, thinking, and making within his own mind the perfect type of Cultivation Technique that he wanted and worked well with the techniques he had- He is a tree, sure, but he is also an entire forest. His roots connected to the trees through their own roots, making this network of roots that in one single, made him an entire forest. Root no longer was a tree, he was an entire forest. The further his trees spread, the larger he'll become, the greater the amount of Nature Qi he will be able to produce, and the larger the amount of Nature Qi he will need to grow stronger. Sure, this technique he had in mind sounds rather detrimental to him and would only slow down his progress, he knew that his main objective here was to keep his family alive- He would progress, of course, but the further his trees spread, the greater his influence on the world around him will grow. And with greater influence, he had greater power to protect his children and to keep his family alive.

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So yes, even if it meant being shackled to a world, he would do so in a heartbeat.

‘...whatever it takes.’ Root made a silent oath to himself- From the tree to the forest, from the forest to the tree. Connected in life, death, and even beyond it all. Life always finds a way, and death always finds a story to tell.

[Technique detected, would you like to make it?]

“...yes.”

[...]

[Good luck, for you no longer are a single tree.]

Suddenly, Root was assaulted with a strong headache. Memories, sensations, desires, and fears- All were jagged, stabbed into his mind. His soul sang, and alongside it, so did all the trees. In a moment, the entire forest started to glow, their roots began to be seen even if deep within the ground, as they glowed- Root screamed, and alongside his voice, so did the forest.

Do you ever dream? Do you ever dream of a life you never had?

Root had found himself dreaming. One moment he was screaming, on the other, he was… sitting down. On a bench? “What?” he looked around, the world was completely white and pale… He shook his head, the headache was strong and relentless…

“It's beautiful.” A voice whispered in his ear. Root turned to look beside him to see a woman, sitting down on the bench he just got up from: “Your soul is like a sea of stars, beautiful and connected…” She smiled up at him, and Root never felt so small… He was an entire forest, but this woman? An entire world. “Congratulations on becoming a forest, this is only the beginning, but I know you'll reach further beyond your physical limits and become an entire world… Well, that's where your journey really starts.” She sighed softly, her breath was like winter, it paled and froze the entire world around them.

“Where am I…?” Root looked again at the woman, but she didn't seem to hear his question. She looked into the endless white all around and smiled, a soft melody playing as she hummed: “Who are you?”

“I hope you don't start hearing their whispers, but knowing you, you'll be too curious… Yours is cursed, right? The Chaos Cycle Curse was meant to destroy your world, but it instead survived, adapted, and evolved… Poor you, to be reborn in a world like that.” She got up from her branch, her hand fading from sight as she pulled this shiny platinum colored ticket: “This is my gift for you, since you finally figured out what is your true path- The path we all take, the Path of the Embodiments.” That phrase, that word, that woman- It was like he was meant to know them, but for some reason, his soul did not know. A part of him did, a small, miniscule part of him did understand and knew that she was long gone and what he was seeing was but a mere fragment of what she once was, but he didn't know how. “This'll be the first and last time you'll see me, so I hope you're growing- Remember, the Gods like to play their little games, but you're not a pawn, !]&#_101*+×&$^×9+01*@&.”

The last word, that last word- It was a name. His name. Why didn't he hear it? Why did it sound like a bunch of people screaming?

What did she mean by Gods and their games?

“Ah, and one more thing-” As she had been walking away and fading away from existence, she turned around and smiled at him: “-It's good you're finally happy, brother.”

With a shock, Root tried to reach out for her fading body, but he couldn't move. He looked down, his feet had turned into thick dark green brown roots that sank into the dirt, his mind was filled with green, red, white, black, pink? Colors, colors all around. And voices too, deep and soft voices that said words that his mind couldn't comprehend but his spirit loved, he could hear his children and the voice of every single tree as they spoke to him.

“Dad, are you okay-”

“Pops-”

“Father?”

He couldn't really pay attention to them, he was sinking deep into the insight of the words they were whispering…

The forest was singing.

[New Technique Created!]

[Great Forest Breathing Technique

Rank: SS

Description: Breathing is essential to almost all living beings. To breathe is to cycle oxygen into the lungs and expel carbon dioxide out of the lungs. But you don't need air, you breathe Qi. Your entire Forest breathes Qi!

The larger your forest is, the faster you can acquire Nature Qi but the greater the amount of Qi you need.]

[Achievement Acquired: What is a tree, if not a forest?]

[What is a tree, if not a forest?: Thanks to your insight, you've found a way to connect yourself to your forest. It is a soul deep bond, you are the forest, the forest is you.

The stronger your forest is, the stronger you are. The stronger you are, the stronger your forest is.]

[+1 Platinum Ticket]

[Your Race has changed!]

[Spirit Tree > Great Spirit Forest]

[You've glimpsed the Dao!

+40% Nature

+35% Spirit

+20% Change]

[You've glimpsed a cultivation path to follow!]

[Path of the Embodiment has been added to your Cultivation]

He breathed. The trees breathed with him. He could feel Bones and Flare, his two tree children, and although they were part of him in a way, they were also their own being- He was happy to feel them and feel their emotions, their thoughts, and their wishes. Bones wanted to become the best tree surgeon that there was, while Flare wanted to become a volcano!

[Technique has been upgraded to SS Rank]

[Technique has been upgraded to S Rank]

[Technique has been upgraded to A Rank]

Root sighed softly as his awareness spread outwards in a ripple. His eyes opened, and he could see everywhere- He could see through his roots, the leaves of every single tree, and he could hear everything.

With a simple mental click, he was back to his body and all the awareness he now had was shoved into the back of his mind, still close enough for him to see everything, hear everything, and feel everything, but away enough that it wasn't overwhelming him.

“...time to cultivate.”