Chapter 3 - Avatar_The Skill Tree

YEAR 6 - MONTH 6

Six months. That was a long nap. Hey Lily.

Tree-sama! Hello!

How has school been?

Ah, much better. Now everyone fears me.

Sorry.

What? Oh, no, no, no! I wasn’t complaining. This is good!

It is? I don’t think leaders should be feared.

People won’t oppose someone they’re scared of.

They won’t oppose them openly, sure. Won’t they still oppose in secret?

Exactly. If they don’t oppose openly they can’t get much support from citizens. It’s much easier to kill a few nobles than settle discourse among the populace.

That’s… I guess it makes sense. It’s very situational though. I wonder which is better, being nice or being feared. How has the empire been?

That’s a loaded question. For the most part, it’s been fine, anything, in particular, you’re wondering about?

Hmm. How’s the water situation?

Lily laughed. I feel heartbroken. My concern for the water is very real. The water’s been fine. The commoners never have enough, but you’ll be fine in the castle. You’ll have water until the day the imperial family dies.

Good. Now what… Oh! Have you been bringing me more followers?

I noticed that my destiny points have been going up a bit each time I checked in.

Yep. I’ve sort of made it a tradition whenever we get new recruits.

Good, good. I wonder if I can get more points somehow… if I have an organization I should be able to tax them, right?

[Root 3.1: Divine Tax - Cost: 100,000 - Drain a small percentage of mana from your followers, turning it into one destiny point per follower per month]

Yes. Capitalism. Purchase.

[Root 3.1: Divine Tax selected!]

[Destiny Points: 28,490]

Lily, is there any drain on your mana?

Huh? Uh, lemme see… Ah. There’s a 0.2% drain from you.

Good, good. My cult shall feed my growth. Any skill requests?

Hmm… right now there’s nothing in particular, but since you made an intimidating aura, do you think it’s possible to have a calming aura?

A calming aura… I see… if merchants are relaxed they will be easier to rob. It should be possible.

[Branch 5.2: Royal Grace selected!]

[Destiny Points: 27,990]

Now I should make that branch five permanent.

[Branch 5.3: Permanent Skill selected!]

[Destiny Points: 26,990]

Now I can just force a fruit to grow…

[Skill Fruit grown. Destiny Points: 26,890]

I have grown one. It should be somewhere.

Thanks!

Of course, princess.

Now that I have a steady stream of income…

[Root 4: Human Avatar - Cost: 1,000,000 - Create a human avatar.]

How long will that take… 25,000 followers is 25,000 points each month…

Month two 50,000…

Month three 75,000…

Month five 125,000…

Month ten 250,000…

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Month forty 1,000,000.

I think I’ll take a long nap.

YEAR 9 - MONTH 10

[Divine Tax: 1,189,760 Destiny Points gained.]

[Achievement unlocked: Rich (S) - Have over one million destiny points.]

[Destiny Points: 1,216,900 (breakdown?)]

That was a nice nap. I’m rich now.

[Root 4: Human Avatar - Cost: 1,000,000 - Create a human avatar.]

I think it’s time. First, let’s see if Lily’s here… ah. She is. She’s taller now. And has larger… mounds. Humans grow so quickly. Hello Lily!

Lily lept up from her seated position leaning against my trunk. Tree-sama! It’s been so long…

Has it?

Three years! Why did you sleep so long?

Oh. I wanted some points.

Points?

I use points to get skills.

So you have points instead of experience… huh. Why do you need points?

Ah. I wanted to purchase a Human Avatar.

…WHAT!?! You can become human!? But-but you’re a tree? Or a god? I’m not really sure anymore.

I’m not too sure either.

That’s helpful.

You’re welcome. Okay then. Avatar time. Purchase.

[Root 4: Human Avatar selected!]

[Destiny Points: 216,900]

Now, to summon it.

[Innate Skill: Human Avatar activated!]

[Activation cost: 10,000 Destiny Points. Continue?]

Hmm. I hope there aren’t more costs. Activate.

[Activated. Generating body.]

[Activating senses…]

[Completed. Destiny Point drain: 300 points per day (breakdown?)]

WOW. Sensory overload much. Is this how much humans normally feel? It’s so… wow. I can feel. The breeze is blowing on my skin. Can I move? How do I move… Ah. That feels right. Wait. Eyes? How do I…

Oh! There. I have opened my eyes. Now I just move my head around. Ah… Wow. The world is… beautiful. It looks like I’m currently seated, leaning against… myself, or my tree body’s trunk. All around is greenery. So vibrant. I never realized how dull [Nature Sense] was.

The area surrounding the large square garden is all made of beautifully carved stone pillars with some squiggly line patterns going up and down. It looks like there are only two doors to the courtyard. One big one is straight ahead of me and another small one is on the side. The doors are wooden with metal lines going across them. Is that how they keep them from falling apart? Beyond the pillars is a covered stone walkway encompassing the garden, then there's just a big stone brick wall.

“TREE-SAMA?” AH! So loud. I must tone down my senses. Yes, that’s better.

Hello Lily. I wonder if Lily is considered beautiful by human standards. She seems quite skinny. I wouldn’t like a skinny tree, but humans are very different. Glancing down, my body also seems very skinny. The rest of Lily looks okay I guess. She has long black hair and violet eyes. She seems to be wearing a crimson cloak, so I can’t see much else. She’s also wearing… boots I believe?

“You can hear me normally now right?” Lily walked from the right of me, to right in front of me, staring down at me. Is this intimidation?

Yes, I can.

“Can you speak normally?” Ah. Good question. Vocal cords. Let’s try…

“Hello?” Oh. Too quiet. “Hello!”

“Hello!” Lily replied. “So how’s your body?”

“It’s very interesting. Humans have so many senses.” I wonder how taste works? Why does it even exist? Why not just absorb substances? Does my body need to eat? Probably not since I’m spending Destiny Points to maintain it. Quite a lot of Destiny Points. Almost ten thousand a month. That’s about a third of my income. I’ll need more… hmm… is there a way to–

“Tree-sama! Hello! We were talking?”

“Ah. Yes. I forgot. Sorry. What were you asking?” Humans are always so rushed.

Lily sighed and mumbled something along the lines of ‘trees.’ “I was asking if you can use your skills in this body.”

“Good question.” Okay. What skills do I have again?

[Displaying tree…]

[Branch 1: Shadow Magic]

[Branch 1.1: Blend with the Shade]

[Branch 1.1.1: Sync with the Shade]

[Branch 1.2: Shadow Leap]

[Branch 1.3: Shadow Stalk]

[Branch 1.4: Assassinate]

[Branch 2: Water Magic]

[Branch 3: Light Magic]

[Branch 3.1: Greater Heal]

[Branch 3.1.1: Greater Refresh]

[Branch 3.1.2: Greater Cure]

[Branch 3.2: Sudden Stasis]

[Branch 3.2.1: Offensive Stasis]

[Branch 3.2.2: Postpone Death]

[Branch 3.3: Permanent Skill]

[Branch 3.4: Lance of Light]

[Branch 3.4.1: Light Beam]

[Branch 3.4.2: Light Arrow]

[Branch 3.5: Dome of Light]

[Branch 3.5.1: Moving Dome]

[Branch 3.5.2: One-sided Wall]

[Branch 4: Mind Magic]

[Branch 4.1: Telepathy]

[Branch 4.1.1: Enhanced Telepathy]

[Branch 4.1.1.1: Permanent Skill]

[Branch 5: Aura]

[Branch 5.1: Regal Intimidation]

[Branch 5.2: Royal Grace]

[Branch 5.3: Permanent Skill]

[Root 1: Nature Sense]

[Root 1.1: Life Sense]

[Root 2: Telepathy]

[Root 3: Path of Divinity]

[Root 3.1: Divine Tax]

[Root 4: Human Avatar]

Let’s try… [Dome of Light]

[Specify size and strength]

Oh. uh. [Dome of Light; Size 10 meters; Strength Strong]

[Strong is not a valid strength. Strength can be any numerical value, default is ten]

I see. What unit does that use though? Oh. Lily looks like she getting annoyed again. [Dome of Light; Size 10 meters; Strength 100]

[Destiny Point drain: 2 points per second (breakdown?)]

An almost translucent circle expanded outwards from me, enclosing the entire courtyard area. It looks like the guards outside are trying to break it. Oh, the princess is signaling them to stop. Now she’s running back toward me.

“How the hell is that barrier so strong?”

Hmm. “I don’t know. I just set the strength to one hundred.”

“What do you mean? That’s not how magic works…”

“I just spend a certain amount of points to maintain it.” I should view the breakdown.

[Destiny Point drain breakdown]

[Dome of Light: ( 100 (Strength) * 1 + 10 (Size) *1 + 10) / 60 ) per second]

[Human Avatar: 300 per day]

I don’t know what that means. Oh well. Deactivate barrier.

[Dome of Light deactivated.]

“Your magic is so weird. Strong, but weird.”

“Maybe yours is weird?”

“Maybe,” Lily chuckled. “Do you know if you can leave this area?”

Hmm. “One way to find out.”

“Come, follow me.” Lily started walking towards the main doorway. Uh. How do I walk…

After around five minutes of struggling, I figured out how to stand up and slowly walk. I quickly, or slowly, walked toward Lily who was laughing at me from the doorway. So rude. Almost there. And… I hit a barrier. “It seems I can’t leave my tree’s detection range.”

“Oh. Well, I can bring you some foods and things to do now. I’ll tell all the maids and guards to listen to you too.”

“Okay.” I wonder if there are any upgrades to expand my range. There probably are. I should go find out. Let’s deactivate my… wait no. I think it’s better to keep my body. I’m going to walk back to my tree trunk.

I slightly less slowly made my way back to my tree trunk and sat against it. Lily stood by the door staring. I looked into her eyes. She spoke. “Why do you always leave in the middle of things?”

“I’m a tree."

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Tree-san’s stats:

[Destiny Points: 206,480]

[Followers: 29744]