Year 135

The demon king was late. It didn’t come this year, and so we hear more of the Eastern Continent’s struggle with the demon-drakes. More fighting, but so far, the Eastern continent has managed to hold the demons back, and keep them on their continent. It was rather admirable, really.

Stories of great sacrifice to hold back the flying demons. Of champions and adventurers. Of archmages and all, banding together to slay dragons. It was the kind of tale passed down the family, or made into song. Or great bravery from everywhere.

Where were all of these warriors before the demon king? Do they have a mind block, that they only displayed initiative, courage before lesser demons? Of course, many kingdoms naturally offered to send some nominal aid to the Eastern Continent, but due to the blockade, all aid from the Central Continent was blocked.

There’s strange rumors coming out of the other continents, that the central continent as a whole is now referred to as a ‘Cursed Continent’. It’s essentially a PsyOps attack meant to target all these merchants and regular people to reduce demand for travel between their continent and the Central Continent.

Have the 4 temples decided that it’s better to just cut out the entire central continent from their collective conscience?

“What’s the meaning of this?” Jura and Kavio asked the secret envoy of Aiva. “Is this your fake war?”

“It’s... the best possible outcome to avoid bloodshed.”

Even if we revealed this ruse, I reckoned no one would believe us. Aiva’s conduct has been consistently war-like. “Every single continent outside of the Central Continent has been amending their maps to mark the entire central continent as cursed and that a travel ban was instituted.” Kavio was exceptionally mad. “You’re essentially telling all the other kingdoms on this continent that all of them are a lost cause.”

The envoy nodded. “It... is a necessary sacrifice. A curtain falls on the central continent, a cold war is better than an actual war.”

Well, since the 4 temples have essentially gifted these other nations to me, it would be horrible of me to refuse their hospitality. It’s free real estate, after all.

As a result, I quickly commanded Kavio to send envoys to all these nations, to discuss cooperation and trade. They must feel betrayed that they have been essentially locked out of the global trade routes.

“They could have secret arrangements. Some of these kingdoms must have been warned beforehand.” Kavio suggested. “They may rebuff us. I foresee some of them will attempt to negotiate exemptions for themselves, if not publicly, then secretly.”

“Then investigate. Either way, since they are doing this rebranding, we can certainly retaliate in the same manner.” I wondered whether I should, though. What are the implications? “Get some people together and consider the implications of it.” They would need some time to do the necessary investigative research, and I created a few more additional artificial minds to assist Jasmine with the monitoring of the new territories.

A cultural shift. Traditionally each continent wasn’t significantly different from the others, the Central continent itself usually had a mix of all 4 temples and the other lesser temples, and the nobility generally communicated with each other, via [message], [teleport] and other long range travel or communication skills. It was the rudimentary framework of a globally connected elite.

But now that entirety, amplified by Sabnoc, and now this blockade, it essentially meant the culture of the central continent’s elites will no longer be in sync with the rest of the world, and that will cascade down, since the citizens have a tendency to parrot the cultural practices of the nobility.

Already, the nobility are second-guessing themselves. Throughout the central continent, the blockade caused economic problems for the merchant class, and that greatly impacted the wealth of the nobility, even if it didn’t really affect the regular citizens.

The new trade routes have brought prosperity to my 3 new trading partners. The towns along the trade route grew quite well. The truckbeetles were actually quite popular, mainly to haul heavy, bulky goods that are relatively ‘cheap’. For some inland countries, they have a relatively monotonous choice in terms of their food, so the Freshlands’ traders capitalised on the reliability and relative-consistency of the Truckbeetles and introduced new varieties of food, fruits and herbs.

The merchants were also doing some demand-side work. They collaborated with [cooks] and [chefs] to introduce new dishes and foods made with a fusion of native food and Freshland foods. It’s fascinating what these merchants do to make people buy their products. There are purist, of course, that resist these foreign foods, but among the nobility eager to sample new things, and among the poor who cannot choose, new types of food are very welcome.

Next were weapons. My woodworkers are still working on more anti-air weapons, making enchanted arrows and so on. Most of these were for the Valthorns’ and the Freshlands’ army, but a small batch of anti-demon anti-air weapons and ammo were distributed for sale. After all, now that the rest of the world has effectively cut off the rest of the kingdoms, there was a vacuum that I naturally had to fill.

I wanted to be seen as sharing my benefits with the allied kingdoms, that I am arming them for their own protection. This was essentially weapons-diplomacy.

The temples would usually place some lesser hero items in allied kingdoms, or those that have earned their ‘favor’ as a reward. It was this ‘reward’ in exchange for hero items that helped build the temple’s influence. That said, the excommunicated hero Astra did mess with that power balance by selling hero items in large quantities in exchange for territory and resources.

Some countries benefited from the Four Temple’s blockade. Those that have a developed craftsmen class suddenly benefited from having a captive market.

Still, trade tensions were rising, and despite the spectre of the demons looming over us, a few of the desperate kingdoms finally launched small attacks. Specialised hit squads made of their strongest adventurers.

We saw them coming. The moment they entered Patreeck’s psychic range, their plans were all revealed. We even prepared a nice welcoming party for them. Patreeck had used his ability to reveal their plans, and so we knew what we were getting into. The moment the adventurer group, a group of level 60s and 70s, about 10 of them approached the valley, I had the Valthorns already ready to engage, and the necessary traps.

In fact, Patreeck alone could have disabled them, with a surge of overwhelming psychic attack. But that wouldn’t allow the Valthorns to level, so we let them fight it out, and right when they were supposed to reveal their explosive artifact, I had a few vines emerge, and grabbed it. Then I sent it into my magic lab for further investigation.

After that we had our usual interrogation session, and then... death. I kept a few mememtos of these adventurers, and had a messenger deliver these remains back to the kingdom that sent them. That kingdom wanted these adventurers to be unidentified and unlinked to them, but clearly they didn’t know I could read minds. Maybe they should have mindwiped them, if they had such power.

I didn’t want to make it public, after all, it’s better to respond with nuance. I suspect the King’s desperate, that’s why he resolved to such acts. A final act, a desperate one. And now it didn’t work, the King’s plan will crumble and they know it. This would force them to bend.

Now, I wait.

-

In the meantime, the construction of the 3 schools are complete, and the trainers are actively developing the syllabus. The first generation of students, the pioneer batch of noble-children have arrived to begin their new study life in the Treetiary College.

I soon found the quality of the trainers extremely lacking. They were low-leveled, in the range of level 30s and 40s in the field they were selected to teach. Still, they were chosen because they were willing to do this sort of work.

At this point, Yvon had a very good comment. She did have experience as a [training tree] and she is the principal of the Valthorn’s Academy. “It ultimately depends on what you desire in them, Aeon. A good teacher must have the right teaching skills. He need not be a master of his craft, he merely needs to be a good guide along the student’s path. Technical competence and ability to teach are two different matters.”

“In your experience, what matters more?”

“Will these students be granted use of your learning [dreams]? Currently the effects of [training tree], and various other learning-support skills is what ultimately pushed the Valthorns to a high level. If it was just me and Jura, the Valthorns would never reach such a high level.”

Hmm...

I spoke to Faris and Edna, my two-highest leveled new-generation warriors, on what they felt were more important. Both didn’t seem particularly fond of nobles and nobility, so they were torn whether they should give their views or not.

Still. “Practical experience matters. All those battles in the Rottedlands caused me to level up a lot.” Under the influence of my [powerleveling] and other growth skills. “I think the teacher is important, but they only take you up to level 30 or so. After that, it’s all about our own real experience.”

“I agree with Edna. As a druid, I needed to use my powers, and be placed in situations where I had to use my powers creatively. Those allowed me to gain levels. Combat, experimentation, and interesting situations seem to correlate with my levelling speed.”

But how does one ‘create’ practical experience for nobles who are doing trade and governance? A business management school like... Oh wait. It’s essentially an MBA programme, isn’t it?

“Live experience is really the best. Those life-like dreams are 2nd best.” Faris repeated. “Nothing like spending time in the trenches to really grow.”

“I see.”

How do I simulate town management for these young nobles? The programme therefore needs a mix of practical experience.

“Perhaps they can play some roles in managing the newly reclaimed territories. We’re in need of capable people to manage, and their noble skills would be a boost to the new lands. They bring with them the backing of their own home-territories too.” It came from Kavio. For Kavio, on top of diplomatic issues, he has been struggling to maintain the growing administrative requirements. New lands, new towns, all needed people to run them.

It’s hard to convince any decent ruler or mayor to make a move to a new land. But not so for these noble children, who are young and untested. The very fact that it’s only a temporary assignment, as part of a ‘holistic’ education programme could convince these young nobles to go willingly. So I could use the whole noble-school to tap into their talents, and deploy them under the guise of school or college learning trips. I imagine having a blank slate would train their imagination and give them a challenge, and so they can level up.

“Alright.”

I had Trevor, Jasmine pull up the newly reclaimed lands that are still ‘unmanaged’ or ‘poorly’ managed, and decided that nobles would be sent to these lands. The students would be judged and rewarded based on their performance, and as a group.

I wanted it to be a group event, because I understood that working in groups is a terrible, terrible thing, and it was this struggle against each other that would cause them to level up. Competition, especially, direct, visible competition is important.

The first batch of Treeetiary College students, were of course rather shocked by the task.

“We’re going to manage a new spot of land?” Some of them were excited, some of them seemed afraid.

“Each group of 5 students will be accompanied by a merchant advisor, a military advisor and a people advisor. Each of you are allowed to have an entourage of 2 people, and 2 bodyguards. The advisors are only there to give you comments and observations. The local citizens are ultimately the ones carrying out your orders, and you are expected to learn to lead and command the citizens. The challenge of the new lands would be a good place for young commanders to hone your skills. For safety, you will be accompanied by a squad of beetles.”

The students have not had such a task before.

“Each group will spend 6 months at their designated locations, and it will be a competition. The best group will receive a small reward. The worst group a punishment.”

There had to be a carrot, and a stick to every plan. If they took it, great!

And off they went. Most of these lands were mostly sparse, where I’ve just ‘reclaimed’ it from the Rottedlands. Therefore, each group is responsible for a group of settlers, about 500 to 800, to set up a small village, plan defenses, and everything from head to toe. It’s a safe arrangement, in the sense that my beetles would ensure the security of these lands, their only challenge is the management of the village.

I would graduate them to harder challenges where they would have to multitask both growth, people, trade and war as they mature of the 4 to 5 year program.

-

On the research front, Horns and the labs developed a few additional upgrades for the assassin spiders and beetles. These were more stealthy forms, more anti-humanoid damage perks, more poison.

At the same time, we were also working on more anti-air upgrades. We explored strange and silly ideas, like bungee-spiders who would be shot at the flying monsters, attached with poisons and extremely durable vines and threads. The idea was to either disable the wings, or pull them to the ground with the threads.

Throughout the Freshlands, armorers, blacksmiths, bowyers and fletchers were all busy.

In a way, the entire world is a wartime economy, and the demands of war dominated the order books of the land’s craftspeople. Arrows. Ballistas. Crossbow bolts. Nets and slings. Harpoons. We were preparing for the eventual arrival of these airborne demons.

We trained rangers, and we set up more lookout posts. On the shores, where my [giant attendant trees] stood, we set up platforms where rangers and archers with farsight or similar skills could be on the lookout.

It’s likely that the demons would come from the eastern shore, but at the same time, a rift could easily open in our continent. So, we kept watch over the Rottedlands too.

The Valthorns and the beetles increased their patrol frequency. So far, so good. All quiet on the central continent.

But that’s no guarantee. Where is the demon king?

-

For now, the social unrest and unhappiness is kept under the lid. My aeonic priests have proved their worth, quickly earning a spot as a regular feature in many smaller towns, and with them, a huge amount of aid.

We’d got rid of many selfish lesser rulers too, though we tolerated corruption or lesser crimes in these lands. After all, the Freshlands’ constitution, lesser local corruption and crimes are under the jurisdiction of the Kings and nobility, though it still reserves the right for me to intervene as I see fit. If these rulers were fueling a rebellion with their conduct, then we would step in. It’s usually just having the local ruler or Lord relocated to another place in their land. Things we could still do, while being seen as respecting the local King’s power and sovereignty.

The priests would petition the King directly, with our observations and information, and that would usually be sufficient to sway them to see things our way. They too do not want a rebellion on their land.

My priests are also a key funnel for future talent, either as Valthorns or as future priests, so it was important to constantly monitor them. I had one of the artificial minds’ under Jasmine dedicated to the task of observing the priests conduct.

Even if the nobles abused their power, I wanted my priests to be seen as good. Certain things should be out of bounds for men of faith. It was important that I reminded the priests that I am watching, because priests are in a unique position of power and trust in the society.

For most part, I’d say 49 out of 50 priests were genuinely good people. But a religions’ reputation is often destroyed by that single priest. It was the same for the patreearchs. They were people in greater positions of power, so another artificial mind was dedicated to observing their conduct and actions.

I like to believe I can trust them, but everyone will be watched.

From our observations, we would have a list of pointers which is then used to shape the School of Treelogy’s education.

Already we noted there’s a lot of weakness in inter-species preaching and proselytising. Most of the priests aimed and shaped their preaching and messaging to people of the same species, and they struggle to form a connection with someone of another race.

An elven priest needs to struggle to interact with a centaur, or a dwarf, and harder still with a treefolk. There was a need to improve training and understanding of species specific nuances. It would never be as good, but at the very least, they would be taught the key mistakes to avoid when dealing with people of another species.

This was also a point that I wanted to put into the Treetiary College’s education, though their angle was more on trade-preferences and diplomatic preferences of different species.

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