Home > urban > Tree of Aeonsan Isekai Story > CH 138

Tree of Aeonsan Isekai Story CH 138

Author:Spaizzer Category:urban Update time:2022-12-05 14:55:58

-

138: Bitter Treeiumph

Year 156 Continued

 

Edna stood in the ruined battlegrounds, it was now filled with deep gashes and cuts, most of it from the damage left from the demon kings numerous beams.

We couldnt even find Fariss body.

The beam had vaporised him, and whats left was a few trinkets that were not caught in the beams. 

 

“...Life remains so frail.” She knelt and touched the dirt.

She saw it first hand, when the beams burned through the air.

“So frail before the demon king.”

 

Faris was Ednas closest friend.

They were peers for over so many years. 

 

“And now...” She touched the ground.

The dirt and earth in the entire area was magically charged.

It was something I would study later on.

The demon kings magical blast also transferred some of its qualities to the remaining dirt that was not destroyed. 

 

Jura, is a spirit in my soul realm.

“So this is what its like to see things from your point of view.” Jura though, seemed really relaxed and free.

“I have always wondered what its like to be a spirit.”

 

“Do you want to stay in this world, Jura Ill find a way.” He had a few months. 

 

Jura shook his head.

“Id like to see whats beyond that, please.

The death promised to all elves who died with their spirit trees.

Let me just say goodbye to those who I cared for.”

 

This meant the original elves.

and the Valthorns that he personally trained.

Many were in a way his closest friends and family, even if not related by blood. 

 

“We died gloriously, but no big state funerals, please.” Jura said. 

 

“There will be one, for all who died in this war.” I wanted to insist.

There were many others who died, and they deserved a proper burial.

“Its the first time anyone has participated in a large-scale battle against the demon king.” 

 

It was a sombre event.

Throughout the continent there were many battles, and there were deaths there, too.

Thankfully, most rifts were relatively low-risk, with only less than 5 rifts had demon walkers or demon champions.

After the destruction of the demon king, we quickly redirected our attention to those demons. 

 

But the lag meant death. 

 

Relatively speaking, it was good for us.

The central continent lost about 100,000 people to the demons, most of them when one of those demon champions got close to one of the cities or towns.

Low, relative to the huge numbers lost on the eastern continent.

Throughout the entire war, about 200,000 was lost.

Again, good numbers, good numbers.

 

Yet the death of Jura, Faris and Lovis felt really personal to me, especially Jura.

 

“You really want to go” Im sure I can figure out something.

Perhaps a soul contract or something to keep him here. 

 

Jura just nodded.

“I think its time.

The next generation can take over my place.

The young Valthorns, many of them have great potential.”

 

“No.

Please reconsider.”

 

Jura shook his head.

“Aeon, youve done so much for me and I am grateful.

Weve fought many battles together, and achieved much.

To see Freeka grow to New Freeka, only to lose it, and then rebuild as Freshka has been wonderful.

These few decades were incredible.

But Ive died, and I would like a peaceful passing.”

 

I sighed mentally, but I think he could feel it.

“Very well.

I will dearly miss your presence by my side.”

 

“Theres still a few months.”

 

-

 

Many of those who died in the conflict actually appeared in my [soul realm].

Some would stay for days, some for months.

Often, its their own choice.

Using a combination of Patreecks mental powers and my own [soul realm], we used it to grant specialmental audiences with the dead. 

 

Its a special ritual, the priests called it the communion of the passing, for those who remained to say and say so much.

Many though, did not want to die. 

 

I felt a little selfish and hypocritical then.

I would go to great lengths if I canresurrect Jura, but for the rest of them, I wouldnt.

A [soul contract], made before death, wouldve been an easyresurrection solution, since I can redeploy them as something else.

Yet, I felt for young orphans whove grown up and lived almost their entire lives as my swords and shields, to drag them to service again through [soul contract], is exceptionally cruel even for my standards.

 

They have given me one life as my weapon, and they would return experience, skill seeds and level seeds when they die through the familiars. 

 

For the general populace, it was a sense of relief that the demon king disaster passed by so quickly, in about a day.

Perhaps, this was the fastest weve ever killed a demon king, because we could predict where the demon king appeared. 

 

If the demons intelligence is real, the next time wont be so easy.

 

-

 

Kei was not dead, but the system thinks she is dead.

It was incredibly weird. 

 

Her body was entirely a mixture of crystal and vines, like an overgrown laboratory.

“This is not what I expected.” She looked like a golem.

A crystal golem. 

 

She lost her [hero] class when the blast happened.

It stripped her of all her classes and levels, and she was...

temporarily level-less.

Then, because the healing happened simultaneously as the demon kings blast stripped her soul of all her soul-bricks, she didnt actually die even as the loss of all her levels somehow made the system think she died. 

 

“My friends think Im dead, right” Kei said.

 

“Most likely, if they get the notification.” 

 

“Then lets keep it that way.”

 

Ah.

Shit.

This meant the advantage has just shifted to the heroes again, now that Keis lost all her hero powers.

They most likely wont believe that this golem is her either.

Shit.

Am I going to face the crusades, next

 

“How do you feel” I asked the golem.

She shrugged and moved.

The first few days after the battle, I thought she was dead.

After all, thats what the notification said, and it had never been wrong before. 

 

The heart kept beating.

Pulsing.

I thought it was just residual energies that caused it to beat.

Then she moved after a few days, and talked.

Kei looked around, right now, she was in a resting area within the Valley of the Unrotten.

I wasnt comfortable letting her wander around in Freshka.

Not yet, anyway. 

 

“Surprisingly fine, even if this body needs getting used to.” Kei was incredibly nonchalant about the entire transformation.

“If anything, I suddenly have a clarity of mind that feels amazing.” Her golem body was mixed with organic elements within, and anyone who laid their eyes on her would immediately say she is an abomination. 

 

“Really.” Consider the implications that the system could bewrong.

What else is wrong, then Also, the demonic blast was able to strip a person of their soul and levels.

If so, could I replicate it to ultimately free the heroes from their traps

 

“Im now a Level 1 [Bio-crystalline Construct], with no classes.

Do you think this is just a copy of my soul, and the real me is really dead, or this is really me” 

 

“Theres no true answer for that, is there” I could see that she still has a soul, but if most of a soul has been stripped away, is it really still her It reminded me of theship of Theseus problem.

 

“Good answer.” Kei laughed mechanically.

“I should gain levels.

Can you help me”

 

“Certainly.” I secretly guided Kei to a patch of the Rottedlands, where she can fight hybrids.

 

-

 

Edna had gained levels.

She gained 14 levels from the battle, so she is now Level 139 as an [Aeonic Grand Knight].

She is stronger, and yet at the same time, she is cursed. 

 

“Aeon.

How do you do it To watch our friends perish” She was actually trying to cope with her own loss.

Faris and Lovis were her friends, and as fellow Valthorns, they were really close knit.

“Ive lived with certainty that my friends would survive.

Drunk on our own immortality...” 

 

When you are a level 100 , and its normal to feel like youd never die. 

 

“I honestly have no good answer for you, Edna.

Jura is my most loyal warrior, and he had served at my side since the days when this valley was a village called Freeka.

His loss and his presence will be something I keenly feel for decades, perhaps even centuries to come.”

 

Edna nodded and wept privately.

We all lost a friend.

“This struggle against the demon king destroyed too many friendships and relationships.

When you told us you wanted to stop the cycle, I honestly thought I understood it.

But only now do I see and feel the real cost of this struggle.”

 

“It will be a path paved with the blood and bodies of our friends.

Victories all have a price.” I said, despite my own struggles with Juras death. 

 

Edna didnt reply and continued to cry alone.

An hour or so later, she responded.

“Well...

if I stopped now, Faris and Lovis wouldve died for nothing, isnt it”

 

“Indeed.”

 

Faris, Lovis and Juras spirit watched that same conversation.

Faris just sighed.

“I felt like I died like a chump, though.

Just a bad position and the deathray just killed me.

How does one even stop such things”

 

Lovis nodded.

“I think there must be a way to strengthen our body such that we can resist it.

At least, we should be able to survive it.”

 

Jura nodded.

“That explosion at the end was extremely disgusting.

To think that a demon king almost always self-destructs when it is defeated.” Well, almost all demon kings self-destructed.

“We should have prepared with some kind of instant teleportation ability.” 

 

Faris nodded.

“Yeah.

The next generation of Valthorns must have the ability to perform instant-short range teleportations, and also super-enhanced senses.

There are skills that can grant the ability to temporarily supercharge ones senses and reaction time.”

 

Strangely the 3 dead spirits were a lot more analytical.

Perhaps, now that they are dead, the best way they can contribute is to think about how to prevent their own deaths. 

 

Edna was back to work after resting for two weeks, and then she had a session ofmental-communion with Faris and Lovis. 

 

-

 

A part of me felt numb.

Ive always known that as a tree, I would eventually outlive everyone around me.

A magical tree that does not decay nor age, but only grows larger and more powerful over time, it is inevitable.

 

< Did you ever lose those loyal to you, Lilies >

 

> Always.

One eventually turns detached.

Friends eventually become just tools.

To lose so many, so often, one learns to draw lines.

Time, and cycles.

< LIlies responded.

> Cycles, repeating lives and conversations.

It hurts too much to see those who have fallen, in those that still lived.

< I wonder which one of Lilies many minds were talking.

This one seemed a little more melancholic.

> LIke a widower who sees a woman that looked like a splitting image of their deceased wife.

 

> Always.

One eventually turns detached.

Friends eventually become just tools.

To lose so many, so often, one learns to draw lines.

Time, and cycles.

< LIlies responded.

> Cycles, repeating lives and conversations.

It hurts too much to see those who have fallen, in those that still lived.

< I wonder which one of Lilies many minds were talking.

This one seemed a little more melancholic.

> LIke a widower who sees a woman that looked like a splitting image of their deceased wife.-

List
Set up
Set up
Reading topic
font style
YaHei Song typeface regular script Cartoon
font style
Small moderate Too large Oversized
Save settings
Restore default
Phone
Mobile
Scan the code to get the link and open it with the browser
Bookshelf synchronization, anytime, anywhere, mobile phone reading
Collection
Source
Review
Feedback
Chapter error
Current chapter
Error reporting content
Submit
Add < Pre chapter Chapter list Next chapter > Error reporting