Chapter 5 - Preparations_The Skill Tree

YEAR 10 - MONTH 2 - DAY 3

Lily never visited me yesterday. That was strange. She has visited every day for the past month. What changed? Thankfully, she is back today. Sitting on her lawn chair. Hello, Lily!

Hello, Tree-chan! Lily looked up from the book she was reading and faced toward me, my inactive avatar that is.

Why didn’t you visit yesterday?

I was busy since I finally graduated from the Imperial Magic Academy. How many years has she been there? When did she mention it… I think it was at least five years ago. Maybe longer.

Congratulations. You should’ve visited. I could have given you a new skill as a present.

Haha. Can’t you still give me a new skill today?

No.

Aww. You know the world doesn’t revolve around you. I was stuck in a ballroom last night with people the world actually revolves around. Stuck-up nobles.

That sounds boring. Wait. Does the world revolve around me? If I never move then doesn’t that mean everything is moving around me? So it does revolve around me. I am the center of the world. Ah. I can teach this concept to Lily with a little [Seed of Thought].

I focused on controlling my avatar, spinning its head towards Lily, and… [Seed of Thought; Tree-chan is the center of the world]

[Destiny Points: 274,742]

Tree-sama. Did you just try to do something to my mind?

Ah. Mission failed. I’ll get her next time. No…

…Sure… I’ll just search for a new fruit. Lily started walking around and searching through my branches. Oh, no.

After a few minutes, she pulled out a fruit that looked just like the others, but I knew what it was. A [Seed of Thought] fruit. I wonder how she knew. She knows a lot about my fruits. She must have some skill that lets her understand objects. I would like that skill.

So, what’s this, Tree-san?

A fruit.

…

HELP!

YEAR 10 - MONTH 2 - DAY 10

Lily forced me to play chess for a week straight. My mind is hurting. She finally relieved me of my pain because she has to go on a short trip to some of the edge kingdoms. Something about power projection. Sadly, I am lonely now.

I wonder if I can expand the range of my avatar. Right now it's limited to the range of my [Nature Sense]. Or maybe it’s limited to [Life Sense]? I don’t know. But those two have the same range at the moment. Now, how do I increase that range… hey system, are there any range upgrades?

No?

Then what is it based on?

Maybe… it’s my roots? So I would need something that grows my roots quicker.

[Root 6: Rapturous Roots - Cost: Free (already an option) - The roots must grow.]

I see. Purchase.

[Root 6: Rapturous Roots selected!]

Now, it doesn’t seem passive so I guess I need to… [Rapturous Roots activated!]

[Destiny Point drain: 1,000 per second (breakdown?)]

Oh. That’s a lot. I’ll wait twenty seconds.

[Rapturous Roots deactivated.]

[Destiny Points: 252,642]

Now, what is my range? I can sense about… forty meters. So it doubled? I believe my previous range was around twenty meters. So about one thousand points per meter. I wonder if the cost increases when you go out further since there’s more space covered each meter outwards. Maybe the system is too lazy to do the math. I would be.

Well, I think I’ll take a short nap since Lily can’t wake up. I must take all the naps I can get.

YEAR 10 - MONTH 3

Lily is back. She woke me up from my relaxing nap. It is far too soon. I thought she said short trip, not… very very very short trip.

Hello, Lily. I greeted her after she woke me from my slumber.

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Have I ever told you how weird that telepathy is? It sounds like a chorale of voices coming from every single direction. So weird.

I do not know what this ‘chorale’ means.

It’s like… music. Harmonies. That stuff.

I have never heard music.

Oh. You’re a tree. Of course, you haven’t. I’ll bring an instrument sometime. Anyway, I wanted to let you know that the empire is going to war. An actual war, not with a small kingdom like our last conflict with Hargrove. Lily said while walking towards her lawn chair.

War. Does that mean I get more followers? That would be nice. Against who?

The Carabello Sultanate.

Ah. The largest southern nation on this continent. They take up about a tenth of this continent. The twilight empire takes up half. Are you sure this is a large war?

Lily sat down on her lawn chair, then sighed. It’s not a large war, and we will definitely win, but they are known for their technological development. While they aren’t skilled with magic, they are skilled with destruction.

Which means many border kingdoms may get destroyed. That is worrying, but it was bound to happen eventually. Although… Can you not evacuate people?

We could–we have–but many people are stubborn, and we aren’t going to use force to make them leave. There will still be lots of death.

Unfortunate. I’m more concerned about those who can’t move though. All the poor wildlife.

Hah. I actually agree with you there. I couldn’t care less about the people. Too bad no one else values nature. We really need to change people's mentality about war. It completely destroys ecosystems and can ruin any chance of farming for dozens of years to come.

Those poor grasses…

This is too depressing, let’s play a game.

NOT CHESS.

Fine. Lily chuckled. How about some cards?

…

I do not like these cards. Although they are better than chess.

YEAR 10 - MONTH 5

The ongoing war did in fact bring me more followers. I have gained one thousand followers over the past two months in addition to the expected fifty.

Also…

[You have reached level 9. No new unlocks]

[Followers: 30,884]

[Destiny Points: 307,710]

I think thirty thousand was the level-up milestone. Fifty thousand is probably next. With all these new followers fighting a war, I figured it was time for some upgrades. After all, I can’t have my cult dying on me.

But before that, where would the upgrades be?

[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 2.1: Summon Water]

[Branch 2.2: Water Shot]

[Branch 2.3: Water Blast]

[Branch 2.4: Drown]

[Branch 2.4.1: Drown Shield]

[Branch 2.5: Permanent Skill]

[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 4.2: Seed of Thought]

[Branch 4.3: 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]

[Root 5: Aura of Peace]

[Root 6: Rapturous Roots]

Ah. [Path of Divinity]. Maybe some more healing skills for Lily as well.

And now, brainstorm time.

First, I should find at least one or two powerful buffs since I have a lot of points to spend. [Path of Divinity] already provides small agility, strength, and vitality boosts so other stats would be best. There’s charisma, stealth, magic, regeneration… I think magic is best. The Twilight Empire specializes in magic so any boost for it might be able to change the tides of a battle.

[Root 3.2: Druidtree - Cost: 500 - Provides a small multiplicative boost to all nature-based magic skills.]

[Root 3.3: Magitree - Cost: 1000 - Provides a small additive boost to all magic skills.]

[Root 3.4: Comfort of the Trees - Cost: 100 - Improves stealth based on tree density.]

Those should do.

[Root 3.2: Druidtree selected!]

[Root 3.3: Magitree selected!]

[Root 3.4: Comfort of the Trees selected!]

[Destiny Points: 306,110]

None of those were very expensive though. Is there any bigger boost?

[Root 3.5: Divine Descent - Cost: 25,000 - Provides a huge boost to all followers when activated.]

Hmm. That would work, but I would need to be awake. Well, as long as there’s quick communication Lily can probably wake me up. I’ll get it just in case.

[Root 3.5: Divine Descent selected!]

[Destiny Points: 271,110]

Perfect. Maybe I can improve my telepathy range?

[Root 2.1: Long Range Telepathy - Cost: 500 - Extends telepathy range to five times the tree’s range.]

Tree’s range? Probably my nature sense range. Still, that’s not nearly enough if I want to communicate with a battlefield. Maybe something targeted? Infinite range with one target. That might be cheaper than expanding using [Rapturous Roots]. I’ll need to ask Lily to bring me some commander though.

[Root 2.1: Marked Telepathy - Cost: 10,000 - Infinite range telepathy with one marked individual.]

That should do.

[Root 2.1: Marked Telepathy selected!]

[Destiny Points: 261,110]

If only I could see the battlefield. Oh, well. Time to bug Lily. Hello, Lily.

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Tree-san's stats: