Chapter X: Burgeoning Alchemist III

Demonic Wildlands Near the Great Plateau

Month of the Pangolin 4, 172 ,328 DE

*You do not hate the girl. Why are you so cold to her?* The Great Tree's thoughts resonate against my Mind.

After Aoi asked me if I would push her away, I ignored her question and left her cabin. While helping me acclimate myself to using Telepathy , The Great Tree did not say anything about Aoi, until now.

*I am a Great Wolf. No matter how strong she becomes, she will always be in danger if she is close to me. Once the Dragons learn what I am, until they are all dead or cast of this Realm, my life will be nothing but fighting or running That would be too hard on her. She will outgrow her fixation me. It would be better for her, if she forgot me.*

It feels like a sigh accompanies the Great Tree's thoughts. *What about the son of the Great Bear and you Oath-bound follower?*

I shrug out of habit. I am not sure if the Great Tree can see me where I stand inside the Swords Temple. *Vorn has the Blood of the Great Bear. He was born to fight for this Realm. Brigitte served a Chaos-serving bitch. The only reason I did not kill her, after Old Man Jones left, is because of her Oath. I don't even know why that shitty old man put the idea in her head. She'll just have to live with the danger. With her Oath, if I die, she dies.*

The Great Tree's Telepathy is not the same as the Telepathy system I learned inside the Mind Net, but we have problems communicating. According to her, as long as two parties each know a form of Mind to Mind communication, it is possible to communicate. Different forms of Telepathy are not like different languages, but depending on the differences in the systems, communication can prove irritating. Until both parties adjust to each other's Telepathy , it can feel like their Minds are scraping against rough stone. Our Telepathy systems are not so dissonant as to be painful, but it feels odd communicating with the Great Tree. It is completely different form the direct Mind to Mind transfer of thought that I have with my swords.

*The girl will become a Triune. She carries the Blood the Dryads, creature of Elemental Plan within herself. There will come a day when can fight Dragons.*

I snort. *If that day comes and she still cannot leave me alone, I will deal with then.*

*The girl and your companions aside, you should focus on turning Trinity into force. You can use it in ways to mimic the Martial techniques of Body Cultivators. They are rare on the Great Plateau and few understand them very well.*

*You should also practice weaving threads. Threads and a strong enough understanding of patterns will allow you weave spells. That will improve your arsenal. Look at the section of the Scripture of Origin on the southeast wall.*

While waiting for Hoshi to wake up, I pass the reading the section the Great Tree suggested. It has been years since I last looked through this part of the scripture. In the past I never understood it in the least, but now that I have grasped Trinity, some of it makes a little more sense. I think I need to take another look at a few of the combat techniques the Arena Shop.

*Your friend is awake. He is not happy to be in the Qi Condensation realm.* When the Great Tree interrupts my studies, I am not sure how much time has passed.

I find Vorn and Brigitte in the side room with the Scripture of Soul. Vorn is so intently focused on the scripture that he does not seem to notice my arrival. Leaning against the opposite wall, Brigitte stares at the ground with a frustrated expression.

"It's time to leave."

Vorn turns to look at me, revealing a startled expression. "What? How long has it been? Is Hoshi okay?"

I shrug. "No clue. Old Tree just told me he's awake."

*Obnoxious wolf.*

*How many thousands of years old are you? Two hundred?*

*I am a young tree.*

My sniping with the Great Tree takes less than a second. Telepathic communication takes place at the speed that the Mind operates, which far outpaces the speed of verbal communication.

Vorn walks toward me. "Okay. Let's get moving."

"Brigitte?"

"Brigitte!"

"Huh? What?" With a confused ejaculation, Brigitte looks around.

"We're leaving. You should forget about the Scripture of Origin. It will only hurt your ability to Cultivate."

Following behind me, Brigitte frowns and stares at the floor. "I can't read the words, but looking at the writing, put images in my head. I don't understand most of them, but … I feel like there is something wrong with Cultivation."

As I step out of the Swords Temple, another pulse of Elemental Soul distracts me from my conversation. Elemental Soul is a true Elemental Power; it is not something that a common Cultivator can manipulate. Depending on who has placed the Beast lures, I could die today. Brigitte will die if I die. Since she is bound by her Oath, I have no reason to hide the truth form her.

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I scoff. "There is. Yuan Qi, Mind Force, Soul Force, and Sheng Qi were created by the Dragon Gods and the Daos to overturn the rule of Life and Death. Cultivation is a tool to control the Mortals who follow the path of Cultivation. The idea of Cultivators defying the heavens is bullshit."

The Great Tree's projection appears floating in front of us. "You should not have tired to read the Scripture of Origin. You were better off having never seen it. As you Cultivators are fond of saying, you are a frog in a well. Belief is a source of Power. It solidifies reality and reinforces beings. Through their lies and manipulation, the Daos and Dragon Gods use you and countless other Cultivator in countless other Realms. Their belief in the lies of defying the heavens to become Immortal feeds the Daos and the Dragon Gods. The belief one being has little effect. But the belief of quintillions upon quintillions of beings gives those on the Path of Divinity the power to change the structures of Realm. The Daos and the Dragon Gods walk the Path of Divinity, and Cultivators are like steam engines feeding them Power."

Even though I have heard this from Old Man Jones, with the way the Great Tree says it, the heavy meanings bordering on the use of Names hammer into my Soul like hostile blows. Having a far weaker Soul, Bridgette collapses, trembling, to her knees. As her eyes open so wide, you can see the whites all around the irises, she stares at the projection with an expression caught somewhere between disbelief and horror.

After examining Brigette for a moment, the Great Tree's projection continues to speak. "To the Daos and the Dragon Gods, C ultivators are no more than tools. In return for your belief, they steal your futures and condemn you to lives that will never allow you to Transcend. Mother Life and Lord Death built a path to Immortality into the very nature of the Metaverse. In countless Realms, it is commonly called the Path of Transcendence. Cultivators can never achieve Transcendence; they can only acquire the extended lifespan and lesser Powers given them by the Daos. Transcendence is the greatest gift Mother Life has given to Mortals, and so many of you willing follow an easier, false path. You could still attempt to walk the Path of Transcendence, but you have give up the Cultivation you have spent you life chasing."

Not turning her back on the Great Tree's projection, Brigette crawls backward, putting me between the projection and herself.

Sensing movement, I looking toward the Great Tree itself, rather than at its projection. Aoi walks out of her hut. Carrying a huge leather bag in her arms, she fixer her stare on me and stalks across the meadow. For just a moment, a smug smile flashes across the face of the Great Tree's projection.

Focusing on the Pneuma, I form a thread of Empathy and shoot it into the Great Tree, and as with Telepathy , the world around me seems to slow down. As a very faint sense of satisfaction trickles through the thread, I feel an urge to gape in shock. Because the size the Great Tree and heaviness of its Trinity, I had subconsciously braced myself for an encounter with deep, overwhelming emotions. The calm placidity of the Great Tree's Soul puts me in mind of a deep, still lake, but after a moment, I change my Min;. The near emotionless state Great Tree's Soul feels more like an old stump sitting in the middle of the Pneuma.

Not bound by the strictures of a physical Body, the Great Tree's projection frown. *You are thinking bad thing about me.*

With the Great Tree's thoughts resonating against my Mind, I expand my focus to include both the Pneuma and the Eidos. My awareness trembles. For several moments my awareness of both blurs and flashes. The effect on your vision from something in your eyes and blinking rapidly to clear them. It seems to take minutes to stabilize my awareness, but barely a second passes.

*Good. You are improving. Even if for just a moment, this is better. You have no concept of how tiring it is to pretend to have the rapid, flickering emotions of an animal. As a plant at my core, I am much calmer than you fleshy beasts. Your little mate can be trying to deal with.*

As the Great Tree's thoughts, once more, resonate against my Mind, I form a thread of Telepathy . While maintaining threads of both Empathy and Telepathy , I wrap the tip of my Telepathy thread around the thread the Great Tree is using to project its thoughts.

*Why pretend?*

*Despite having moderately developed Minds , you fleshy creatures are driven and controlled by your emotions. The Soul affects the Body fare more than the Mind. Your semi-rational thoughts are influenced by the chemical changes caused driven by your emotions. If you perceive me to be similar to yourselves, with strong emotions, you react better to my guidance.*

The Great Tree's thoughts leave me feeling irritated, but I bury the emotion. *You are saying you pretend to be more than you really are to manipulate us?*

Like a sump, the Great Tree's Soul show no change. *You could describe it that way. It would not be inaccurate *

*Then why tell me, now? You only make it harder on yourself to manipulate me.*

*It is less troublesome than pretending further or shielding my Soul. Even though you have much fiercer and more volatile emotions than most fleshy creatures, you also think more rationally at he same time. I will appeal to your rationality in the future.*

The expression on the Great Tree's projection no longer changes in time with its thoughts. For the moment, it appears as wooden as its Soul. *King rank Demonic Beasts have begun to drive the common Ferocious Beasts toward the Great Plateau, and once they come close enough, the Beast lures will draw them to the city where you live. If you want to save that city or the humans in it, you need to deal with the Beast lures.*

I could not care less about most humans. Humans do not feel like a natural part of this Realm; human feel like invaders. Other than Mika-chan, Hoshi, and Aoi, I would not so much as blink at the sight of the rest dying. I suppose I would have to save their families, or they would be devastated, possibly broken by the loss.

I look toward the Great Plateau. In the end, the Beast lures piss me off. I would destroy them no matter what.

While maintaining my thread of Empathy and Telepathy , I focus my awareness back into the Soma. The others seem to lurch into motion. The Great Tree's projection appears to have human-like emotions once more.

Hoshi sticks his head out from the Silver Princess' hatch. "Beat! You said you were going to heal my leg, not advance my Cultivation!"

Ignoring Hoshi, I walk toward Aoi. We meet midway between the Swords Temple and the Great Tree. As my Empathy thread wraps around her Soul, I test the air, matching scents to emotions. Except a strange mix of anger and lust, her emotions feel muted compared with the humans I have read while experimenting with Empathy .

Aoi holds out the leather bag. "Aoi's best potions. Take them!"

As I take the bag, Aoi glances at the Swords Temple. After a moment, she looks up at me. "Aoi will follow the Scripture of Origin. Aoi will become stronger than Beast. Beat won't be able to chase Aoi away, if Aoi is strong."

I shrug. "Do what you want. Everyone is free to walk the Path of Transcendence."

As I pat Aoi's head, and her old crooked smile twists her lips. "Pervert Beast can slake his lusts on Aoi's body before leaving."