Psychiatree
Year 180
Nine of them spotted. Kei spoke via long range ssage. All of them are around level 80s, and they are still challenging the champions. The King seed content to let them do so, and continued its destructive acts.
Its a pattern, repeated since long ago. The King almost always waited for the heroes to level up. This was a quirk that I did not understand. Was it a rule? Or are the heroes invisible before they turn level 100? But clearly the demon champions are able to find the heroes. So why?
It really feels very ga-ish. One instance suggested so observational flaw or quirk. But now after nurous demon kings, it really felt like this pattern suggested a ga-like arrangent between the demons and the gods. I really hope the Aivan church agrees to send the triumvirs over. I do want to interrogate the damned Aivan God why the fuck are we playing this ga.
But there was that hero that did the whole-sneak attack thing, but that was because there is an existing group of surviving heroes. If so, the demon king must have a trigger to engage in their hunt.
No luck on the missing hero? The missing hero... was still missing. But if say he is alive, and he is levelling up, he cant stay hidden for long. Not with the demon kings divine-hunting sight. I recall Harris once said that the demons can sense their presence, and the higher levels they are, the stronger they glow to the demons.
No. Kei sighed. I hope hes fine. The other heroes have attempted to contact him but he refused all communication.
Youve made contact with the heroes?
Yes. We spoke a bit. Kei said. At level 80ish they are able to spot . There was no way I could remain hidden for long.
And what did you tell them?
Almost everything, really. But nothing about you. Kei was quick to repeat. Just about hero stuff, really. About the things weve seen... I an, about life as a hero... and our lives after we win. And the gods.
They didnt kill you there and then?
They seed to mumble sothing about Ken saying the sa thing. Kens the missing hero by the way, and hes.. Uh, he pretty much went cold turkey and had no contact with the rest of them after the first week together.
Huh. Ken, eh. So... how are the heroes taking to their new roles as saviors of the world?
Quite enthusiastic. Its actually quite embarrassing to hear it. Was I so naive and innocent? Kei sighed.
Yes. Yes you were. In fact, you still are.
Ugh.
-
Roon and the others kept at their dungeon raids. The dungeon at Level 120 was large, and their foes were a mix of giants. According to their post-raid reports, the space after the dungeon gates were significantly larger than before, and the dungeon exhibited so kind of spatial distortion which magnified its size.
I too, have so spatial abilities with my [Secret hideouts] and Subsidiary Tree rooms.
Roon and another of the Matreearchs managed to hit Level 135, so they are only 15 levels away from their own domains.
The monsters were large, but ultimately they can be defeated. Still, after my earlier experience with the collapsed dungeon, I started work on another set of ley lines, and I hope to have a new dungeon active before this one collapses in the future.
These dungeons, their rewards are mostly the remains of the dungeon monsters, and they are often set aside for my blacksmiths and mages to experint, to craft into weapons and armors. There is a gradual upward drift in the quality of the equipnt among the Valthorns, as they get a wider variety of equipnt over ti, instead of just my own items. Things I made, or blessed by personally are strong, but my items tend to have anti-demon effects. Equipnt made from the monsters remains in the dungeon tend to be more varied.
Those who made a living outside the dungeon also soon made more mobile setups, once they were inford of the temporary nature of these high tier dungeons. These were pretty much the best craftsn and smiths the entire continent have to offer, and its sothing we noticed, that the higher levelled they were, it is more likely that they have passion in what they did.
For these level 80 craftsn, they relished working with the unique materials that a high tier dungeon provided, and so they moved where the materials were. That said, for these craftsn, almost 80% of their ti is spent making equipnt to process the materials, and only 20% on the materials themselves. Theres a whole lot of preparation work that goes on before the craftsn lay their lands on the harvested items.
Many of these higher tier monsters are new to us, since the dungeon generated these monsters sowhat randomly, so even harvesting the monsters took a lot of experintation. At higher tiers, the dungeon monsters resemble more like frankenstein-ish mixture of creatures, materials and skills. In fact, I would personally say most monsters look their best at around Level 80, where they conform to what I believe is usually considered a monsters normal appearance.
At level 120, take a cerberus, would have strange laser-eyes, teeths or claws made of so rainbow tal, and sotis, even heads that regrow when chopped off, as if its so lovechild of a cerberus and a hydra. Its like the dungeon system has an archive of what items or effects it considers as a high level effect, and just mashed them together to form whatever random miniboss. They usually had a few gimmicks too, like a cerberus where one eye used lasers, and one of the heads caused explosions.
I wondered whether a level 150 or 200 dungeon will look more proper, once every part of the monster is upgraded with higher tier materials. Its just a theory of course. According to Edna theres no great difference in their appearance between level 120 and 130, just more skills, more gimmicks, tougher, and stronger.
The whole moving ley lines thing also made think of that volcano I acquired early on. If there are natural sources of energy, I suppose using my own world knowledge, the greatest power source right now would be the sun. The stars and the sun would generate the most power, so I wonder what level would a sun-powered dungeon be?
Could I even create gods outright? I an, if a dungeon had level 150 monsters, wouldnt that an these monsters are mini-gods in their own right? If so, how can a dungeon contain them?
This suggested a few likely outcos.
One, is that it is impossible to create dungeons beyond level 149, unless the dungeon itself is so godly being.
Two, it is possible to create level 150 monsters, but controlling them is impossible, so a dungeon break must happen.
Three, it is possible to create level 150 dungeons, and it is possible for the dungeon to still control level 150 creations despite their domain, or perhaps, these creatures do not have a domain. It is possible if the monsters are soulless despite having that kind of power level, that they are just super strong automatons with strength at that level.
Which made wonder...
Any of the druids attempted to enslave or ta the dungeon monsters before? I an, the dungeons generate high tier monsters, but druids and beastmasters naturally have abilities to acquire companions
I also rember that old story of the elven hero with the ability to enslave spirits, including spirit trees. It was sothing that I am still afraid of, even if I have the domain as a shield. I wondered when a heros skills and a domain clashed, how does the system resolve the conflict? Like, a hero with a special spirit-capture ability, against , a spirit tree with a domain?
Anyway, the druids soon explained that they have attempted to capture the dungeon beasts, but have only managed to ta those in the lower tier dungeons, around Level 80 or so. They have not had any success with the monsters from the higher levelled dungeons. They suspected that its due to their diversified focus, and so their success relied on their huge level differentials.
A pure monster-tar. That sounds like sothing from an isekai story. If I am able to convert a demon, could a very powerful monster tar or beast master control the demons, and at even higher levels, take control of the demon champions and kings? Its essentially the sa issue with heroes and , isnt it? If a powerful beast master can control the demon king, a hero must be able to control .
That train of thought implies the demon king to be a [domain] holder, which, from our data thus far, nothing seems to suggest it is a [domain] holder. In fact, we dont even know if the demon king has levels. Because the King doesnt talk.
-
The heatwave ant druids and mages were in huge demand, as they had to help use their weather abilities and skills to help reduce the impact of the heat. Our master builders had to rush to the shores, and areas that suffered huge floods and rainfalls to help redirect the water, on top of my trees. My trees soaked up the water easily, after all, my roots naturally transported water and I used this to great effect, to help direct water from areas that faced torrential rain and floods, to areas that faced exceptionally dry weather.
The response to the weather changes were mixed. So just moved to places where the effects were milder. Like Freshka itself, it is quite insulated from the effects of the heatwave due to the presence of many druids skills that helped soften the effects of the demon kings energies, on top of my own heat-channelling abilities.
The farmlands within the sa region as pretty much survived the heatwave unaffected, at this distance my abilities easily overwheld the global effects of the heatwave. Further out, theres been so fires and destruction of farms. Small damage, generally, as my influence wanes sowhat at a distance.
That said, the nobles and royalty were generally pretty pissy about the weather, and theyve hired mages and druids to keep the weather pleasant. Strange that they get so pissy. I observed less of such behavior from the older kind.
One group that I needed to assist a little more were the treefolk. They seed rather sensitive to the weather, and needed to consu more water to offset the increased evaporation and heat. Trees generally help to cool their surroundings through evaporation, but that does an that they lose more water and treefolks needed to constantly replenish water, a problem when the rivers themselves are drying up.
So far, no area has faced terrible droughts yet, thanks to my roots performing their role of distributing both heat and water to where they are needed. Funny that all my fire resistance and training from previous demon kings ant I could resist this effect relatively easily. Truly, what doesnt kill you, makes you stronger.
The elves, humans and dwarves were uncomfortable, but they generally did well. The lizardpeople enjoyed the heat, but they preferred the humid heat, not the dry heat, so those close to the coast actually found the heatwave pleasant. The lesser races like those winged garudas and harpies didnt enjoy the more turbulent winds from the heat.
Fishing was down significantly, as the heat made the waves more dangerous throughout the world. That said, if a fisher and sailor were to set out now, they would generally level... if they survived.
Trade was wobbly, and so was fishing. But the oceans were generally calr out in the open oceans. A master captain with a great ship could still make the journey.
Our pirates and privateers are stranded on the islands. Well, one of the drawbacks of a land-based continental force is my naval forces arent amazing. Even with all the training and special centers, they just dont have the opportunity to really challenge themselves for sea battles. Unless I do mock battles with Reefy?
Mock battles sounded like a good idea.
> Yes? <
> Practice... battles? < I shared images and scenes through our sowhat connected roots. Of practice duels, mock battles and so on. The purpose was to practice strategy and tactics, gain familiarity on whether combat is effective or not.
> Not enemies. Friend. Just to get stronger. <
Reefy seed to struggle to process fighting their friends for a while. It seed to have a rather convenient categorisation of friends and foes? Or did it just classify people to their threat levels?
I did so. Reefy still seed rather confused.
-
In the anti, since Aria and Aispeng are ice spirits, I wondered whether they have abilities that can offset the heat. They do, but its an aura ability so they cant share it. The northern isles, despite being naturally colder, had stronger heatwaves, and this manifested in stronger blizzards and winds. In a way, this demon kings abilities isnt really a heatwave, but more of extre weather. Did the demon king copy so climate change rulebook sowhere?
-
The heroes kept on with their battles and they had their first encounter with the demon king. It did not go well, but it seed the demon king did not give much chase.
[Ellis Myers has died. You received a fragnt]
[Jenna Kari has died. You received a fragnt]
Kei had apparently attempted to help.
You idiot. Stella scread over the ssage spell, she had two fragnts too. Dont risk your fucking life.
Ive already died once. Whats another ti?
I thought you promised us! Apparently Kei had a promise with the girls? Huh. I sure didnt see them being so close.
...I know. I feel like shit though. Kei said. I cant just stand and let them fight.
Kei, weve talked about this. There are battles that are out of our leagues. Each of us needs to do our part, do what were good at. Stella repeated. Im a [void mage], and Im good with portals. That ans Im not going anywhere near a battlefield. Youre a [biocrystalline golem], and you can make crystals do all sort of stuff. But youre not a 100% combat class, and you dont have hero powers. Dont fight battles you cant do shit in. We all want this shit to end, but we need to work together dammit. Another act out of line and Ill get Aeon to [recall] you.
...sorry.
Good.
The death of two shook the group of 7 left. They were nervous and afraid. What seed comically easy once they levelled, suddenly was hard again. The gap between the champions and the king was large, and only now they understood it.
Kei had to be their counselor. But in the south, there were other temples, and so heroes sought help from the temples instead.
Shouldve sent priests here! Right now they need the calming abilities of the priesthood! Kei complained. That was sothing Ill take note of. Certainly Lumoof could help to provide serenity and calmness in face of loss. These are young teens in need of emotional support, and thats certainly a neglected aspect of their journey.
-
Do we have counselor classes? I asked Lumoof and the group. Actually, if heroes get out of this with PTSD, is that why they end up indulging themselves in all their harems and all that? Its a way of coping with the shit theyve seen? Im not in their place, and Ive not seen their struggles. But on reflection, it does seem almost all of them are broken or chipped in so way.
I knew his answer before he answered thanks to our ntal link, but I let him say it out anyway. We do have [Priest of Tranquility], and certain skills like [Calm Composure], [Emotional Appeasent]...
Then we must find ways to train this further. Ive been growing class seeds all this while, but I suppose I needed to experint and create these counselors or psychiatrist classes.
I looked at my own [Tree of Prayers]. These helped in the past, just as my [tea] did. I needed to make them mobile, without using Lumoof. The people of this world are naturally resilient and seed to endure the destruction really well without emotionally breaking down, but the heroes clearly are cracking, even if they outwardly appear fine.
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