[Tree] Chapter 449: Cursebloom

Ashlock was staring at his sign-in system in disbelief.

Idletree Daily Sign-In System

Day: 3671

Daily Credit: 13

Sacrifice Credit: 7409

[Sign in?]

7409 sacrificial credits was an absurd amount—especially given the context. Just moments ago, he'd poured nearly all his funds, 5000 credits, into creating the Blessed Land. These 7409 weren't leftovers—they were profits from the divine stock market that had multiplied the scraps he'd had remaining.

"I would have hit my sacrificial credit limit, but if not for that, I wonder how many I could have gotten if I had been allowed to keep those 5000 credits and let them multiply... actually," he looked down at The Grove of Eternal Rebirth and changed his mind, "It likely wouldn't have been that much without the Blessed Lands creation. As they say, you gotta spend money to make money sometimes, which turned out to be an amazing investment."

Even now, he could see his sacrificial credits slowly ticking up as the mortals prayed. The Blessed Land was a sacrificial credit-generating machine. Of course, the initial surge had been from the millions of mortals seeing what happened to their souls after they died, then witnessing the Ashfallen Sect fighting with the heavens, and finally, the formation of the Blessed Land and the return of their loved ones' souls.

"Hey Ash, what should we do now?"

Ashlock tore his eyes away from watching his sacrificial credits increase and glanced down at Stella, who was still sitting on Moros alongside Diana and Elysia. They were all smiles and happily chatting away, but he could see the exhaustion in their eyes.

"Everyone deserves a rest," Ashlock said.

"What about the beast tide or the Silverspires?" Stella asked, tilting her head curiously.

"Rest first." Ashlock insisted. "The beast tide is still in the early waves, and the Silverspires can wait. We just fought with the heavens and created a new afterlife. I hardly expect any of us to be clear-headed after the events tonight. That's why I suggest we all take the night to relax and then move on to the next step tomorrow. Sound like a plan?"

Stella's shoulders drooped.

"Being told to chill got you feeling down?" Diana patted her on the back, "Just rest for now. You just punched the heavens and had your arm destroyed, right? Not that I saw it since I was busy posing as a statue. Besides, I'm sure Jasmine will need your support after tonight."

"Yeah, I get that." Stella sighed, "It's just after tonight, I feel an even greater need to progress faster than ever before. So, the thought of sitting around to recover unsettles me. It feels like a waste when I could be practicing or something."

"Rome wasn't built in a day—some things can't be rushed. Rest is an important part of progress as it gives you time to stop and reflect."

"What is Rome?" Elaine questioned, causing Ashlock to pause. Of course, they wouldn't know that famous saying as it came from his old world.

"The capital city of one of the greatest ancient civilizations," Ashlock said, "It was said that all roads led to Rome because it was once the center of the world. But it also wasn't built overnight. It took centuries for it to become what it was."

Douglas snorted, "I bet myself and the Mudcloaks could have built Rome in a day."

Ashlock was about to refute that point, but maybe he was right? That... was a scary thought. His sect really had the potential to match one of the greatest civilizations planet Earth ever had.

"I've never heard of this ancient civilization," Elaine crossed her arms, "But there have been as many empires and sects as stars in the sky since the dawn of time. It would be impossible to know them all. Though I'm curious, what caused Rome to fall?"

Ashlock wasn't exactly a historical expert, but he had a general idea. "It got too big for its own good. Communication between the cities under its rule took far too long. Civil wars were common, and its leadership was totally corrupt."

"Communication took too long, even with communication jades?" Elaine whistled in amazement, "Rome must have been truly vast."

Ashlock imagined things would have gone better for Rome if they had communication jades, but then they would have monsters and cultivators to deal with. It was a whole package.

"Well, unlike Rome, the Ashfallen Sect can never fall." Stella said with certainty, "The size of the sect doesn't matter with Ash ruling over it, and there's no chance for corrupt leadership because the leadership is us!"

Ashlock wanted to point out they could become corrupt—assuming they weren't already. Growing too big was also a problem. He was just one mind, yet his attention was stretched over such a vast area, and he had noticed his attention span becoming more tree-like. The system had warned that when he changed his soul from a human to a spirit tree, he would lose his humanity and begin seeing the world more like a tree.

It was moments like these where he became aware of those subtle changes happening in the background. Even the funeral was a good example. He had done it with the sole intention of growing his sacrificial credits rather than for the more emotional reason of giving his people closure.

Diana smacked Stella on the head, "Don't sprout nonsense. You are already corrupt."

"What?!" Stella glared at Diana while nursing her head, "How am I corrupt?"

"You turned a man inside out because he disagreed with you."

"Who?" Stella frowned, her forehead creasing in thought.

"See, you don't even remember." Diana rolled her eyes.

Stella insisted, "Who? I won't accept you tarnishing my good name."

Diana laughed, "Good name? Don't be ridiculous. Do you really not remember killing that guy during Ashlock's Inner World tournament?"

"Oh!" Stella's eyes widened with realization, "I didn't tear him inside out. I sent his flesh to the aether. Besides, he had it coming. He shit-talked Ash—"

"You're a tyrant," Diana said, cutting Stella off.

"So what if I am a tyrant? Why do you care so much about this guy?" Stella snapped.

Diana shrugged with an amused smirk, "I don't care about him. I'm just not delusional enough to say we aren't corrupt."

"Are you calling me delusional?"

"So what if I am?"

"Right," Stella stood up and loomed over Diana, "That's it, you're asking for a fight."

Diana rose to match Stella, "Why would I need to fight someone I remember winning a duel against?"

"W-Winning?!" Stella was now infuriated, "You're going down, you lying little shit."

"Little?" Diana tilted her head as her feathered wings, thrice her size, sprouted from her back in a fluid motion and spread out to surround them. She then laughed in Stella's face, "I think you will find—"

Stella tackled Diana to the ground, and the two engaged in a chaotic wrestling match. Douglas, Elaine, the Redclaws, and the Silverspires watched on from the side.

Sebastian spoke up, "Should... we stop them?"

"Nah, leave them to it," Douglas chuckled, "Shit like this happens all the time."

"Can I join in?" Ryker asked with excitement.

"Absolutely not," Sebastian said, but it was too late. The silver-haired kid was already charging into the fray. He landed a good hit on Stella's face before switching targets and shooting a silver spike at Diana.

"Hey?!" Stella yelled at the kid, "Whose side are you on?"

"Neither!" Ryker laughed as he jumped back, barely avoiding Diana's wing from smashing into him.

"This little shit," Diana cursed, and Stella seemed to agree. Now being stared down by his big sisters, Ryker was on the run.

"Sebastian!" He yelled as he ran as fast as he could, "Help me!"

"Young Master, this is an important life lesson." Sebastian said in a sage-like tone with his hands behind his back, "Nothing good ever comes from getting in the middle of a catfight—or punching Stella in the face."

"Sebastian—AH!" Ryker yelped as Stella appeared before him out of thin air and grabbed hold of him. He tried to struggle out of her vice-like grip, but she was taking none of it.

"You're coming with me," Stella said with a bloodthirsty grin.

"Sebastian! I'm being kidnapped! Help!"

"A truly tragic fate," Sebastian said overly dramatically, "Alas, there is nothing this useless servant could do to save his foolish young master."

Ashlock sighed as he watched the chaotic scene. Maybe it was because they'd all felt so helpless in the face of the overwhelming heavens and wanted to vent their frustrations, but they were all full of energy.

"Grand Elder Redclaw, can I leave this to your supervision?" He asked the one man stronger than Stella and Diana that was still present. While Elysia was also in the Nascent Soul Realm, he would not trust her to take care of anybody or anything.

The Grand Elder chuckled and waved him off, "Absolutely, I got it handled. You can get some rest, and we will see you tomorrow."

"Thank you. See you all tomorrow." Ashlock left the scene, but he did not retreat into his mind to sleep under the nine moons. While he did have some soul damage and Qi to restore, he was far too excited.

After all, he had over 7000 credits to spend.

But first, his vision blurred as he went north—to the border with the beast tide. The fight with the heavens had been incredibly intense on his Qi reserves, giving him none to allocate to holding back the beast tide. He arrived where the previous border had been and was somewhat surprised to be surrounded by a storm.

Has the beast tide really progressed this quickly? Ashlock wondered. It had only been a few hours since the funeral started, and he was not flooding this area with his desolation Qi, yet the storm shrouding the beast tide had progressed miles closer to Red Vine Peak.

The storm greatly hindered the range of his spiritual sight, but he could see hoards of monsters making their way through the forest of his offspring.

"They aren't killing my offspring?" Ashlock mused. "I suppose it makes sense to leave spirit trees alone. It's not like killing them brings many benefits to monsters as they don't have any demonic Qi running through them for the monsters to absorb or a beast core to eat—hold on, why can I feel the presence of specific monsters?"

They were standing out like fireflies in the darkness. Out of the hundreds of monsters he could see prowling through his forest, a special few seemed to be highlighted to him. Honing in on one, he saw a beetle-looking creature the size of a person clinging to one of his offspring and gnawing away at not only his offspring but also his ethereal root coiling around the tree. A viscous black liquid was dripping from the beetle's mouth—one he was all too familiar with.

It was his cursed sap.

"System, what did my cursed sap do again?"

[{Cursed Sap [B]} Those who dare to drink your sap are cursed to turn into a tree and become your offspring. With this upgrade, the potency of the curse has increased, and you can track the location of anyone cursed by your sap. Furthermore, the effect of any curse will be significantly boosted against the target. None shall escape your reach]

"So this beetle stands out because it's consumed my cursed sap."

He was about to ask his system how long it took for his cursed sap to turn a monster into his offspring, but he got the answer sooner than expected. The beetle's chewing began to slow, and its movements became stiff. Its hard black shell began to take on a wooden texture. The beetle, despite how dumb it seemed as a Soul Fire Realm level monster, noticed the changes. It stiffly uncoupled itself from the tree and spat out his Cursed Sap, but it was too late. The process had already begun.

Over the next few minutes, under the curious gazes of the surrounding monsters, the beetle slowly died in apparent agony as its body turned to wood. What remained, in the end, was a small demonic spirit tree sprouting from the corpse, which was quickly withering away into a husk as his new offspring drained its old body for nutrients.

"So it's not that the monsters aren't attacking my offspring. Some are; it's just my cursed sap kills them before they can do any real damage, and all the surrounding monsters that would have the strength to actually kill my offspring see what happens when they are messed with and are smart enough to ignore the trees."

The storm had stripped many of the leaves and smaller branches from his offspring, which was still an issue. But his biggest concern, which had been the survival of his offspring, seemed to not be an issue... for now. There was no telling if the Nascent Soul Realm or above monsters would deem his offspring worthy of wiping out.

"I came out here to check on the situation and get an idea of what things to upgrade with my sacrificial credits. As the beast tide is by far the largest incoming threat, I need to optimize for it. I didn't expect my offspring, who are now deep in enemy lines, to perhaps be the solution here."

Ashlock brought up his status screen to check on his current list.

[Demonic Demi-Divine Tree (Age: 10)]

[Nascent Soul Realm: 5th Stage]

[Soul Type: Nine Moons(Desolation)]

[Mutations…]

{Evil Eye [A]}

{Cursed Sap [B]}

[Summons...]

{Netherwood Wraith: Nox [Mythical]}

{Harbinger of the Eternal Ash: Larry [SS]}

{Celestial Ink Dragon: Kaida [A]]

[Soul Weapons…]

{The Sword of New Beginnings [?]}

[Skills…]

{Skyborne Bastion [SSS]}

{Necroflora Sovereign [SS]}

{Divine Cycle of Creation and Ruin [SS]}

{Mystic Realm [S]} [Locked until day: 3699]

{Progeny Dominion [S]}

{Dimensional Overlap [S]}

{Nocturnal Genesis [S]}

{Ethereal Roots [S]}

{Voidstorm Aegis [S]}

{Dao Fruit Production [S]}

{Eye of the Tree God [A]}

{Abyssal Whispers [A]}

{Magic Mushroom Production [A]}

{Abyssal Devourer [A]}

{Soul Fortress [A]}

{Blooming Root Flower Production [B]}

{Language of the World [B]}

{Fire Qi Protection [B]}

{Superior Poison Resistance [C]}

"From my extensive use of the sign-in system's gacha, I can estimate that a random A-grade draws cost starts from 400 to 1000 credits, and an S-grade costs up to 2000 credits. Those numbers are doubled for upgrades."

He planned to spend most of his accumulated credits as he was already nearing the divine stock market limit, and he had a good inflow from the mortals who were still praying. What he needed now wasn't sacrificial credits sitting around doing nothing but new ways to deal with the upcoming threats.

"Since my Cursed Sap is only at the B grade, upgrading won't cost too much, so I should do that one first before deciding what to do with the remaining credits."

Ashlock thought it over for a moment longer, but it was hard to argue with the results. If his Cursed Sap was already this effective of a deterrent to stop the monsters from killing his offspring and helping him gain even more offspring, it was a no-brainer to upgrade it.

"Okay, system, upgrade my Cursed Sap skill."

[Sign in successful, 971 credits consumed…]

[Upgraded {Cursed Sap [B]} -> {Cursebloom Sap [A]}]

[{Cursebloom Sap [A]} Those who dare to drink your sap are infected with a powerful curse that will eventually turn them into a tree and become your offspring. As they slowly die, you can track their whereabouts, and they are weakened against further curses. With this upgrade, your sap has evolved. When in prolonged contact with the air, it becomes a living miasma attracted to open wounds and those already affected by the curse. The curse itself has become more potent than before and now quickly corrupts the spirit roots of the infected, greatly disrupting their Qi flow]

"And it would also give them a weakness to desolation Qi," Ashlock muttered while looking at the last sentence of the system-provided explanation. The biggest reason monsters could fend off desolation Qi was because their own Qi acted as a shield. But if their spirit roots were ruined, even if the curse couldn't finish them off, they would be unable to deal with his desolation fields. The other key point was that his sap would now be airborne as a miasma if exposed to the air.

After the skill upgrade, there was a burning sensation throughout his root network as his Cursed Sap evolved. The process took a few hours. By the time it was complete, it was already halfway until morning. Yet Ashlock hadn't slept—how could he, with the excitement of seeing the hoard of monsters, react to his recent upgrade.

Looking around at the vast forest of demonic trees below, surrounded by a turbulent storm, he could only say a silent prayer for the monsters. Unknown to the advancing monsters, something terrible was about to happen.

Ashlock could only wait with bated breaths until another one of those clueless beetle monsters took an interest in one of his offspring. "Ah! Here's one now." The other monsters simply ignored the creature, letting it learn the folly of its ignorance.

Unaware of the disaster it was about to unleash, the beetle took a hearty bite out of Ashlock's root. It took a few attempts and some Qi to break through, and once it did, it was rewarded with a mouthful of his Cursebloom Sap. At first, the new upgrade wasn't totally obvious. The process still wasn't instant.

However, the first sign that something had changed was the subtle coating of Qi protecting the beetle from the storm—it was gone, leaving the beetle exposed. With its spirit roots corrupted by the curse, the rest was soon to follow. The body seized up far faster than last time. In fact, the beetle hadn't even died, yet the demonic tree had already begun sprouting from its back. Its death was far more painful looking. The surrounding monsters gave the beetle an uneasy glance, and it seemed they were noticing the changes.

This one had been far faster than the others that had died before. There was also a slightly red-tinted miasma coming off not only the corpse but also from the bite wound in Ashlock's root.

His cursed sap was now airborne and being swept up in the storm's turbulent winds.