Reborn as a Demonic Tree-Novel

"Pretty good. Once I arrived at Ironclad town, I was lucky I didn't have to wait long for the monster to appear. Though in my haste to down the beast and reduce casualties, I might have caused trouble for you."

Stella narrowed her eyes at his trunk, "What did you do?"

"I might have accidentally started a cult of demon-worshiping mortals who believed I am a dark god who cto save them."

"What is that supposed to mean."

"I feel oddly insulted," Ashlock grumbled, "Sure, sof my techniques are a little sinister, but to calla dark god feels a little..."

Jasmine looked at Ashlock's towering truck, the wyvern still bound in black vines covered in thorns, and then finally back at Stella, "Yes."

"Don't agree with her!" Ashlock sighed. "She didn't even hesitate..."

Jasmine scampered after her Master and eyed the shifting thorn-covered vines and dead wyvern with concern.

Stella watched her Disciple with a light smile tugging at her lips.

Jasmine nodded and meticulously inspected every scale within her reach as the wyvern's corpse towered over her, casting a looming shadow.

While she did that, Ashlock had analyzed the metal flower he had taken from the fissure. It was called an Ironclad Rose, likely the reason behind the town's name. Expending sQi, he created a grove on the mountain ridge and would inform Sebastian and Ryker about it later.

Stolen story; please report.

"Stella, could you stop showing off and hurry up with the harvesting? I can't hold back my hunger forever, you know." Ashlock said, half joking. He was itching to see what absorbing the wind affinity soul would do, and this wyvern corpse was making his vines water.

Jasmine watched all of this from the floor in horror. In seconds, her face had shifted from bright red to ghostly white.

"Thanks." Ashlock didn't hold back and began to devour the corpse. Digestive fluids were secreted from his vines, dissolving the thick scales and tough flesh with a hiss. There were also the sounds of bones cracking as the vines tightened their grip.

"I'm not sure if that was the root of the problem..." Ashlock replied.

"What, no way!"

"Wait before you sleep. What did Jasmine want to speak to you about?" Ashlock asked.

"Good idea."

"Have a good sleep," Ashlock muttered to himself as he had already withdrawn his presence from her mind. The sun was setting, so he would also sleep soon under the nine moons. But first, he needed to deal with the system message that had appeared in his mind.

[Absorb Wind Star Core for Inner World? If so, you will gain no Sacrificial Credits]

"No sacrificial credits? Hmm, I suppose that makes sense since all the Qi I absorb will be going toward my Inner World."

Ashlock accepted the prompt and looked within his own soul at the cloud of untamed Qi, which the system called a Chaos Nebula. Once he fed it the required Star Cores and Sacrifical Credits, it should form into an Inner World.

He watched as wind Qi flowed through his roots and into his soul, but instead of being transformed into spatial Qi and joining his Qi reserves, the wind Qi phased through his soul unchanged and mingled with the Chaos Nebula. With the introduction of wind Qi, the previously static cloud of untamed Qi began rotating inside his soul and gaining speed until it turned into a full-on storm.

His system was then updated.

[Requirements to turn Chaos Nebula into an Inner World:

3429 / 10000 Sacrificial Credits

0 / 1 Absorbed Fire Star Cores

0 / 1 Absorbed Water Star Cores

0 / 1 Absorbed Earth Star Cores

1 / 1 Absorbed Wind Star Cores

0 / 1 Absorbed Metal Star Cores]

[Rewards upon formation of the Inner World:

You will ascend to the Nascent Soul Realm.

The System will be upgraded with new features.

{Transpiration of Heaven and Chaos [B]} will be upgraded.

Your attacks will carry the weight of your Inner World behind them, and your rate of cultivation will increase the more you develop your Inner World]

"One down, four to go. Not bad. The others shouldn't be too hard to cby. The bigger concern is the sacrificial credits," Ashlock mused. "The monster farm has been nettinga few hundred credits a day, so it's only a matter of time, but it's still far too slow."

Luckily, he had a solution. Using telekinesis, he floated up a parchment lying near his root and read the list. It was the bounties and missions that Stella had written out for him. A lot offered really crappy pay, which is likely why they had been left unclaimed by other bounty hunters. But he didn't care about that. Sof them had details regarding locations with lots of monsters, and they also gave him a good reason to break into and assassinate the elders of other families in Nightshade City.

"I will complete sof these tomorrow, but now it's tfor sleep." Ashlock activated {Nocturnal Genesis}, and he entered the dreamscape. Looking up at the moons, as usual, one was lit with a purple glow while the others were dull. "So it has nothing to do with my Inner World then. How can I get the other moons to change their affinity?"

A mystery for another time.

Glancing over to the north, he saw Nox in her field of white flowers. Under her canopy was her shadow dryad looking up at the sky in the dreamscape while a shadowy hand rested on her bark.

"Enjoying the view?"

"Yes, it's me."

"Nothing in particular, I just cto check on you. Have you got anything to tell me?" Ashlock yawned. It was so relaxing and pleasant in the dreamscape that the weight of sleep was heavy and warm. He felt ready to drift off.

"Really?" Ashlock paused, "I thought the Redclaws were handling it."

Ashlock didn't understand. He had saved these people and given them free food and shelter, and he even sent the Redclaws to police the city, so where had it gone wrong?

"So rogue cultivators have finally started moving in under my nose..."

Ashlock realized his fears had cto fruition. A freshly formed city of a hundred thousand people was bound to breed a darker side. The question was, how should he fix this issue? He had the power to turn the city into a paradise or hell. He could cin with a heavy hand or turn a blind eye. With so many options, was there a correct solution?

"Thank you for tellingthis, Nox. I haven't given the city the attention it deserves recently, and you have givena lot to think about."

"Being well taken care of," Ashlock assured her, "Duskwalker will soon rise once more under the banner of the Ashfallen Sect. In fact, Stella will be killing Albis Lunarshade tomorrow."

Ashlock hummed in agreement, "That day may csooner than you think."