Stella quickly broke the seal on Kassandra's silver spatial ring while watching a slithering mass of black vines consume the woman's corpse.
There's hardly anything in here, Stella pouted.
The seal was easy enough to break as an entire realm separated them, but the contents left much to be desired. There were naturally a few weapons, a stash of spirit stones, a single beast core, and a pile of dragon crowns. But she had been hoping for a lot more, considering how much Kassandra loved to flaunt.
Stella was broken from her inspection of the ring by a sudden wave of power from behind. Withdrawing her spiritual sense from the ring, she glanced back at the aflame tree. In fact, the entire mountain was glowing with a lilac hue.
"Did Tree just ascend a stage?" Stella asked Diana.
"I think so," Diana said flatly, "Did you find anything in the ring?"
Stella passed the ring to Diana, "Enough money to buy half of Darklight City, but I expected more for some reason."
Diana closed her eyes while holding the ring and reopened them a while later, "I see what you mean. Sure, it's a lot of money, but where are the life-saving artifacts?"
"No idea, maybe we should check the other rings—hey, wait!" Stella dashed forward as she saw a black root approaching Theron's corpse. Bending down, she fumbled for the corpse's hand as the black root went down the dead man's throat.
I need to retrieve the rings before Ash melts them. Agh, where is it? Not on this hand—It must be on the other.
Stella reached over and slid the silver ring off Theron's cold finger.
"Aha!" Stella's triumph was short-lived as a feeling of death Qi overcame her. Her body instinctively fled the inevitable death by jumping back and drawing her sword.
As the feeling of looming death faded, Stella's body relaxed. She knew that the black root meant that Ashlock was raising the corpse as an Ent, and they had even just been talking about it, but that death Qi was no joke and still sent a shiver down her spine.
Diana, Elaine, and Douglas also slowly lowered their swords.
"What was that?" Elaine asked.
"The power of an immortal," Douglas grinned as he deposited his sword in his spatial ring, "Just wait and see."
Elaine hesitantly nodded and kept her eyes on the shuddering corpse.
Stella took a few more steps back while clutching Theron's silver spatial ring as a white marble-textured tree bloomed from his stomach, pushing the other corpses aside as it rose.
The tree kept growing upwards and outwards until it reached around Titus's waist. The relatively tall but very thick tree then began to split apart as limbs appeared, and it took on a humanoid shape.
However, unlike Titus, who had a hunched back and canopy of scarlet leaves growing from branches, this new Ent was very human-like, with a head of white leaf hair that rustled in the breeze.
The new Ent's empty eye sockets began to glow a heavenly gold as a sudden pressure descended on everyone. Stella managed to pulse her Star Core to fill her muscles with Qi to stay standing, but the others were forced to one knee as the new titan glared down at them with glowing eyes.
Stella hated how the Ent looked down on her. It was as if Theron had been morphed into a ten-meter-tall marble statue of wood, and it creeped her out.
The Ent raised its right hand to the sky, and Stella felt the world darken as the sun was blocked out by a suddenly formed storm cloud that blanketed Red Vine Peak.
Lightning flashed through the swirling cloud overhead, and thunder roared in Stella's ears. The world then briefly went white as the Ent caught a giant lightning bolt like a spear and turned its body to face the wilderness.
Pulling back its arm, it hurled the lightning bolt in between two demonic trees, briefly tearing a hole through the wall of mist surrounding Red Vine Peak.
"Wow," Elaine muttered, and Stella had to agree as she saw the bolt smash into a distant hill, obliterating it.
***
Ashlock finally had artillery in the form of a lightning bolt throwing marble statue that was actually wood—but it didn't come cheap.
"You greedy bastard," Ashlock cursed at Theron as he felt his Star Core strain under the Qi demands from the lightning-throwing Ent. Part of the Qi strain was his fault, as his Star Core had been totally drained upon his ascension to the 4th stage, so maybe testing his new Ent while so low on Qi was a bad idea, but still! He hadn't expected a single lightning bolt to deplete him of all he had left.
Pulling on his vast root network, Ashlock 'borrowed' a bit of Qi from his thousands of offspring to help fill in the deficit, as being totally out of Qi was far too dangerous.
Feeling a little better as his Star Core began refilling with Qi, he focused on his latest creation—Theron the Ent.
"I suppose this proves the theory that the affinity type and general appearance of the corpse can influence the kind of Ent the skill creates," Ashlock mused, "Theron has retained his strange marble-like skin and lightning affinity. Unlike the worm corpse that had turned into Titus that didn't retain a worm-like shape nor the earth affinity."
On the topic of affinities, Ashlock found he could still charge up Theron with his Qi, but he had to convert it into untamed Qi first, which was part of why the attack had been so expensive. It reminded Ashlock of the days when he had to take in the chaotic untamed Qi from outside and forcefully convert it into spatial Qi through his small Soul Core.
"So Ents with the same affinity as me are easier to power up and maintain compared to those from other affinities," Ashlock's spiritual gaze drifted to Lilian's corpse and wondered if he could even sustain having a void affinity Ent alongside a lightning one. How much untamed Qi would be needed to create void Qi?
Ashlock's Star Core shuddered at the thought.
"Should be fine... they are both Star Core, so I can leave them in standby mode without worrying about them degrading like Titus. He can stand there all day and not move, but if I want to command him around, I need to charge him up with some spatial Qi first."
Ashlock looked back at his newest Star Core Ent, Theron. "I believe keeping the name Theron could get confusing. How about something easy like Zeus? It practically looks like a moving statue of Zeus, so it's more fitting."
It also helped remove the memory of Theron from his mind. He didn't hate the guy quite as much as Stella clearly did, but his name still brought up memories that irked him. To call such a magnificent Ent after such a disgusting human didn't sit right with him.
"Stella, I have decided that the Ent's name shall be Zeus," Ashlock spoke into Stella's mind as the clouds overhead scattered and the courtyard was once again bathed in the early morning sun.
"Zeus? I like it. Anything is better than Theron," Stella replied while shuddering. She then shared the name with the others, and they seemed to also like it.
"Does the name Zeus mean anything?" Ashlock asked Stella. In his old world, Zeus had been a Greek god well known for lightning and other questionable deeds, but it would be awkward if it meant something else in this new world he found himself in.
"Not that I know of," Stella replied with a shrug.
"Perfect, I will raise Lilian into an Ent next," Ashlock said as he pulled on as much Qi from his offspring and surroundings as he could, refilling his Star Core to what he believed to be a safe level after a while.
Feeling prepared, Ashlock activated {Necroflora Sovereign} as everyone on the mountain peak braced themselves for the inevitable pulse of death Qi. The root emerged from the ground and entered Lilian's mouth.
"I really hope Lilian turns out shorter than the others," Ashlock sighed, "Titus and Zeus are so large to the point they are impractical as they are way too easy to see. Couldn't I get one that's closer to human-sized for once?"
Ashlock suddenly felt a pull on his Star Core as Qi was dragged down the root in Lilian's throat.
"Huh, what's going on?" Ashlock began to panic and pulled harder on his root network to fight the rapid Qi drain from his Star Core. The mountain began to tremble and glow as Qi rushed through the rock into Ashlock's rapidly depleting Star Core.
"What the fuck—" Ashlock screamed in anguish as he felt his body begin to wither as Qi was sucked from his bark due to his Star Core being empty.
"Stella, I need help," Ashlock asked with urgency, "Transfer me some of your spatial Qi, the technique didn't require any before, and now it's suddenly draining me, and I am dying."
Upon his words, Stella practically threw herself to the ground and began pumping spatial Qi into the Qi-gathering formation. Her blonde hair floated above her head, as the air around her began to warp and crack.
Everyone else also followed Stella's lead despite not being told what to do and began pumping their own Qi reserves into the formation without reservation.
"Titus, you too." Ashlock commanded the towering Ent, "Empty your reserves into the formation and then go to sleep."
The mountain peak shuddered as Titus collapsed to one knee and pressed his two hands of twisted wood onto the formation.
Ashlock heard through the root network a wave of fear alongside a flood of support from his offspring. Without holding back, all his thousands of offspring diverted all the Qi they had toward him, making the entire mountain range glow with power.
"Just how much Qi is this taking from me?" Ashlock cursed at the root in Lilian's mouth that was glowing with so much Qi that it was hard to look at, "It better be creating me a monster with all this Qi!"
He still had no idea why his SS grade {Necroflora Sovereign} skill was suddenly demanding a ridiculous amount of Qi when it had previously cost him nothing and simply used the Qi that was left over in the corpse to create the Ent.
After an eternity, a thin tree sprouted from Lilian's corpse. It was void black, and its very existence seemed to defy reality as much as a black hole. Similar to light being unable to escape a black hole's gravity, no Qi was emitted by this thin void tree.
It then stopped growing at around two meters tall, and instead of branches, weird deer antlers sprouted from its head while a black animal skull formed as the face. It then split down the middle as spindly limbs formed—ending in claws.
"This is something out of a nightmare," Ashlock muttered as the drain on his Qi reserves finally ceased, and he was freed from death. Everyone in the courtyard was on their arses, breathing heavily and staring at the abomination they had helped create.
"Tree, are you alright now?" Stella gasped aloud as she collapsed on her back.
"Just about—thanks to you and everyone else," Ashlock took a moment to let his body and mind recover from the near-death experience he had somehow caused.
The apparent source of the issue had been his SS grade skill, but why? What had he done differently to cause such a situation? He pondered for a while as his body slowly recovered and his barren Star Core refilled, but he couldn't put his nonexistent finger on the cause. There were a few theories, and he felt the most likely was because he was dealing with void Qi...
"Eh, whatever. At least the Ent is shorter than Titus and Zeus... wait." Ashlock had a sudden realization that the Ent was short. Why? Because he had asked for it. When using the skill, he wished the Ent would be shorter, and that is when the Qi drain began.
So that meant he could alter features of the Ent at a significant cost. A cost so great it almost killed him.
"Although if my Star Core was filled, it would have been less disastrous," Ashlock sighed. The damage was done. He had likely wasted weeks, if not months, of his offspring and sect members' cultivation. Even now, Ashlock was still recovering, and seeing everyone else's state, he decided to wait a few hours before doing anything else.
***
As the sun reached its zenith in the blue sky, Ashlock finally felt it was time to proceed with his plans for the day.
Before him stood three Ents. Titus loomed over everything and matched Ashlock in height at twenty meters. His black wood and scarlet leaves made him look like a humanoid version of Ashlock, and he even had spatial Qi.
Beside Titus was Zeus, an Ent resembling a marble statue of the Greek God with a head of white leaves. Although he wasn't quite as towering as Titus, he still had a dominant presence with his glowing golden eyes.
But both couldn't compare to the Ent created from 4th stage Star Core Elder Lilian Voidmind's corpse that resembled a weird wendigo made from the void.
After a few hours of meditation, Stella had recovered and now stood before the lineup that dominated the mountain peak.
"What are you going to call her?" Stella asked, "Lilian works, but I feel we might as well rename them all to avoid any issues in the future."
"What issues?" Ashlock asked. He had some ideas but wanted to ensure they were on the same page.
"Well, the void element is rather rare, and if I shouted to this Ent and called it Lilian, I can see someone connecting the dots," Stella shrugged, "Or I am being overly paranoid."
"No, that's fair..." Ashlock hummed in thought. What would be a fitting name? His gaze drifted to Zeus, and then Ashlock realized he was growing on the peak of the tallest mountain in the land. Wasn't this somewhat similar to Mount Olympus?
"Well, since I have a running theme going already, I might as well commit to it," Ashlock mused as he ran through the list of legends from his previous world. There were many gods of destruction, chaos, and death to pick from.
"Oh! What about Khaos? The Primordial Deity known as the guardian of the abyss and the Goddess of the void? Seem's rather fitting." Ashlock felt rather presumptuous by giving such a legendary name to something he had created as that insinuated he was above a Primordial Deity, but maybe he would be one day?
"Stella, what do you think about Khaos?"
"It fits perfectly," Stella smiled and then glanced at the final corpse remaining, "What about Roderick? Are you going to eat him?"
"I could, but I want an Ent with earth affinity to help Douglas with all the reconstruction projects as he is overworked on his own," Ashlock said, "But it's annoying since Roderick isn't in the Star Core Realm, so the Ent made from his corpse will need constant Qi from me to not degrade."
"Oh, I see," Stella mused, "How much Qi upkeep are we talking about?"
"Not much, since he is a realm below me," Ashlock replied, "Ah, it might actually be rather high since he has a different affinity to me."
"And if you eat him? How much power will you gain?" Stella asked.
"Not a lot. I hardly gain anything from those weaker than me." Ashlock replied. Of course, some Qi and credits were never a bad thing, but if he had the option between another earth cultivator or some credits, he would pick the former.
Stella turned to Douglas, who was resting against a tree near Elaine, who was cultivating, and shouted, "Hey Douglas, do you need help on your construction projects?"
Douglas was jolted out of his rest and seemed confused, "What? Am I being replaced?"
"No, you idiot," Stella kicked the crushed corpse of Roderick that lay face down on the red-dyed stone, "Ash is thinking of turning this corpse into an Ent that can help you. Do you need it?"
Douglas heaved himself up off the tree and walked over while scratching his neck, "I don't really understand, but I could always do with some help. Thanks to the Mystic Realm, my cultivation advanced, but I am still leagues behind the rest of you, and my growth is stunted because I have to expend all my Qi on construction all the time."
Ashlock hadn't thought about that. He knew that doing anything with Qi involved expending the Qi you had saved up in your core. But he had never connected the dots that the more he demanded from Douglas, the more time the poor man spent cultivating just to have enough Qi to continue working.
"Okay, now I feel terrible," Ashlock focused on the smashed-up corpse and knew he would turn it into an Ent and let Douglas command it. That way, Douglas could use his knowledge to continue construction but utilize Ashlock's Qi rather than his own.
However, the question was, should he try and alter Roderick's appearance like he had for Khaos?
If so, he would consult Douglas on what he wanted the Ent to look like and then make darn well sure his Star Core was mostly full before he tried to play God again.
Sometimes, he wondered if the heavens were laughing at him...
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