Evening descended on Red Vine Peak.

While Stella and Jasmine spent most of the afternoon cultivating in the hut, Ashlock had been working with Douglas and the Redclaw Grand Elder on a plan for a transport hub after explaining to them how his new skill worked.

Because of his {Ethereal Roots}skill, his roots could now act like permanent portals so long as he hollowed them out. This was because space within them was compressed, so every step someone took would equate to hundreds of meters in the real world. So, traveling through his ethereal roots wasn't quite instant like a portal, but it was close enough. A journey that might have taken hours would now take a few steps.

Since he wanted other people, such as the Redclaws, to use his root network to hunt for corpses out in the wilderness or get around the sect, he didn't want all his ethereal root tunnels to originate from Red Vine Peak.

Of course, since the roots were attached to his body, all would eventually lead to him. But luckily, he could decide where the openings to the hollowed-out roots were. Almost like train stops.

For example, he could have a root with three openings. One near his trunk on Red Vine Peak, one in the White Stone Palace and a final one in Ashfallen City. Space between these three openings would be compressed, allowing someone to get between the three openings within seconds.

This is how Ashlock came up with the idea of a transportation hub. He wanted a location where all his hollowed-out roots converged, similar to a capital city's train station. Since the place needed to be away from Red Vine Peak and security was a concern, Ashlock settled on the transportation hub being constructed inside the White Stone Palace.

"But where should it be..." Ashlock searched the interior of the palace. The basement was already dedicated to the alchemy lab run by Elder Margret and Kane Azurecrest. The western side of the palace was heavily used as it faced the courtyard, so there were many meeting rooms. Meanwhile, the central section of the palace was dedicated to the Redclaws. "Actually, what about the servant area? There should be room there as this building was designed to house the servants of the Winterwrath and Evergreen families."

Ashlock found a wide corridor lined with unused servant rooms in the palace's eastern wing.

"Okay, this is perfect." Ashlock said to Douglas, "We will use this area. Have it cleared out."

"Yes Boss."

The rooms were all stripped of their furniture to make each room as spacious as possible so many people could wait around for their turn to use the ethereal roots in the future.

"Alright, what's next?" Douglas asked as the last of the furniture was carried away by a team of maids to be stored elsewhere.

"Give me a moment," Ashlock replied, "I need to think of where people would want to go. Any ideas, Grand Elder?"

"A root to Ashfallen City, Darklight City, and far out into the wilderness would be great," The Grand Elder rubbed his chin in thought, "Getting to Darklight City for supplies and to see their families is a real pain for the mortal maids we have employed and even for my family. Only us Elders at the Star Core Realm can fly around; everyone else has to walk up and down the mountain, which takes hours."

Hearing that made Ashlock glad he had this idea. Keeping a portal open at all times wouldn't have been possible as he slept during the night, and maintaining a portal takes constant focus.

"I suppose if I knew about this issue before, I could have had Titus maintain a portal..." Ashlock sighed and decided to keep his realization to himself. It was easy to forget that not everyone could teleport around the sect via portals like Stella did.

Activating his {Ethereal Roots} skill, he brought up a root into each room and hollowed it out to create a tunnel. Qi was drained from his Star Core but refilled as quickly as it left.

"Okay, put a sign on each door for its destination. I made them in the order you suggested." Ashlock said, "Then, for the final room at the end of the corridor, I will have a root that leads inside Red Vine Peak. I want that room to be guarded, covered in defensive runes, and fitted with a metal door. Only those in the inner circle and sect Elders can use this root. Anyone else risks death on arrival if they use it without permission. Understand? Oh, and it can never be used during the night."

"As you wish," The Grand Elder bowed, "Since the roots go both ways, this area must be closely monitored. I will have an Elder alongside some youths guarding this area at all times, and we will take turns."

"That is a really good point," Ashlock mused, "I had been so focused on how my people would use the roots to leave that I forgot people from outside could use the roots to come inside."

Thankfully, he had subordinates with centuries of experience to realize these security flaws.

"With security in mind, perhaps cover all rooms in defensive runic formations. We have the spirit stones to use after selling those artifacts and robbing the bounty hunters."

"Don't worry, boss. I will get this place secured by the morning." Douglas saluted the ceiling and turned to his small army of Mudcloaks, "Come on, let's get to work."

"Work, work, work!" They enthusiastically chanted as they rushed into the rooms. Douglas threw them some spirit stones, and they used their Qi and claws to carve out runic words into the stone walls and floor.

"Sometimes I forget how capable they are," Ashlock thought as he watched them work, "I guess it's to be expected from a race of monsters that built runic cannons capable of killing giant turtles and entire cities underground to resist the superior kobolds. Some simple runic arrays are nothing to them."

After watching for a bit longer, Ashlock decided to return to Red Vine Peak as he still had some ethereal root tunnels he wished to establish.

One out to the grove of demonic mist trees he had made in the eastern demonic forest far out in the wilderness for Diana. He also needed to make an ethereal root between Geb to the south and the citadel so the Mudcloaks could freely move between the two locations.

The one out to the demonic mist grove was simple enough, and he made the opening on the eastern side of his trunk. Basically, there was now a hole in the stone, and if someone jumped into it, they would find themselves emerging a hundred miles away in a forest of demonic mist.

Pleased with himself, Ashlock was about to go make the root between the citadel and Geb when he felt something move through his root. "What the hell?" A second later, a creature heaved itself out of the hole in the ground. It had the vague appearance of a two-meter-tall monkey with black fur and crazed red eyes. Multiple arms of various lengths sprouted from its back at odd angles, ending in claws, and the skin on its face seemed to be melting with corruption.

The monster turned to stare at him before opening its mouth to let out a shriek, but it never managed as its head was ruthlessly cleaved off. The body stood upright for a second before it toppled forward like a domino, revealing its executioner standing silently behind.

"Thank you Khaos," Ashlock said to his void Ent. His silent guardian had been so fast that he hadn't even had time to kill the weak monster standing before him. With Larry asleep and expending Qi not an issue for now, Ashlock had tasked his Ents to work around the clock on patrolling the sect for any monsters or bounty hunters. Other than Geb, since he was a bit too big to do such a thing.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Never one to turn down a free meal, black vines emerged from the ground and wrapped around the corpse. It was in the Soul Fire realm, so there wasn't much point in turning it into an Ent, so Ashlock decided to eat it for credits.

"Khaos, guard this entrance. I am going to take a look at the forest." Ashlock cast {Eye of the Tree God}, and his vision blurred over the endless meadows of the wilderness. Arriving at the vast eastern demonic forest bathed in evening sunlight, he focused on the area shrouded in a demonic mist. Numerous shadows could be seen lurking in the fog, accompanied by the constant howls of monsters.

Ashlock was in disbelief. He occasionally searched the wilderness for any monsters worthy of hunting and only ever found weaklings not even worth the Qi expenditure to eat them.

"Were they all attracted here by the demonic mist?" Ashlock wondered, "Or was it the demonic mist that birthed these monsters?"

Either way, he now had a buffet waiting for him to feast.

[+12 SC]

A system notification flashed in his mind, alerting him that the monkey had been devoured.

"Let's see, if the monkey gave me 12 credits, how many more do I need to kill?" Ashlock pulled up his status screen and navigated to the requirements for advancing to Nascent Soul Realm.

[Requirements to turn Chaos Nebula into an Inner World:

2577 / 10000 Sacrificial Credits

0 / 1 Absorbed Fire Star Cores

0 / 1 Absorbed Water Star Cores

0 / 1 Absorbed Earth Star Cores

0 / 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]

"I still need around 7500 credits, so I would need to kill something like 600 of those monkeys to reach the 10,000 credits required." Ashlock glanced back at the demonic mist. There certainly weren't 600 shadows lurking in the fog, but there were quite a few. "Wait, now that I have unlimited Qi, it's worth hunting anything that will give me credits since I don't have to worry about wasting my Qi! I can even send my Ents or Larry when he wakes up from his evolution to capture the monsters."

Suddenly, the 10,000 credit requirement to form his Inner World didn't seem so steep. Especially if he went hunting during the next Mystic Realm for some higher cultivation monsters that would net him far more than a measly 12 credits.

"That just leaves the Star Cores I need for my Inner World to worry about. Luckily, I have quite a few options to choose from to gather them. If I have the Redclaws haul back a Star Core level monster from the next Mystic Realm, that would solve the fire Star Core I need. The same could be done for the Earth one with Douglas. Diana doesn't cultivate Water Qi anymore, and I have nobody for the Wind element other than maybe Kane Azurecrest, so those might be a little trickier. That just leaves Metal... I can ask Sebastian to bring me back a monster as well."

Ashlock was starting to realize that if he focused up, he might reach Nascent Soul within a month.

"Any affinity I can't get my hands on, I can have Diana and Stella hunt a person down through the pavilion. Anyway, worrying about the Star Cores can come in the morning. For now, I want to grab as many credits as possible."

Ashlock was about to open a portal and drag monsters through but realized the demonic mist made targeting the monsters difficult. He could only see their vague shadows as they moved quickly between the trees, and the forest canopy got in the way.

"Should I get Diana to hunt them down? Or perhaps my Ents? Hmm..." Ashlock mulled over his options when he felt another monster decide to travel through his roots. Switching his view back to his trunk, a fresh, headless corpse was ready to be eaten, with Khaos casually standing there.

"Why does this remind me of those conveyor sushi restaurants," Ashlock chuckled as he devoured the fresh corpse. "I'm not sure why monsters keep trying to go down my ethereal root, but this could work nicely if they keep doing so."

Ashlock created a dozen more ethereal root tunnels leading to various points in the demonic mist forest to see if that would increase the rate at which monsters came through.

"Khaos, kill any monster that appears from these holes and leave their corpses near my trunk," Ashlock instructed and then went to find Titus to tell him to help. With two Ents on guard duty, killing some weak monsters should be a breeze. "Wake me up if any powerful people come through the roots like bounty hunters, okay"

Two more mutated monkey-like creatures appeared from the holes. Khaos tore one in half in a split second, and Titus pulverized the other into a paste with a soul flame-coated hand, making the entire mountain tremble.

"Yeah... good job. Keep doing that."

"Tree?!" Stella suddenly appeared out of the hut wreathed in spatial flames and with her sword drawn, "What in the nine realms is going on? Are we under attack?"

"Relax. Come take a look. I've found a new way to kill monsters."

Stella vanished and reappeared next to Khaos via Spatial Step.

Four more monsters emerged from the holes, and they were swiftly butchered and added to the devouring heap.

[+18 SC]

[+9 SC]

[+15 SC]

Notifications popped up now and then, but Ashlock mostly ignored them.

"What's happening here?" Stella raised a brow, "Where are they coming from?"

"The demonic forest to the east," Ashlock explained, "I made a demonic mist grove for Diana, and when I went to create an ethereal root tunnel to it, monsters started coming through. Any idea why?"

Stella tapped her chin. "I think it's because monsters are attracted to anything that is a source of Qi, especially demonic Qi. It's why they appear along the routes of leylines," Stella leaned over and looked down into the hole, "You use your roots to transport Qi around your body, right?"

"Yeah."

Stella nodded in understanding, "The monsters must think they have stumbled upon a leyline, and when they go down into the hole to feast on the Qi, they end up here."

That made a lot of sense. It also explained why so many monsters had gathered in the demonic mist. They were attracted there by the demonic Qi floating around, and the fog likely helped weaker monsters hide away and survive, so it was safer than being out in the open.

"Do you want me to go to the forest and slaughter the monsters for you?" Stella asked while two more monsters crawled out from the holes and were killed by Khaos.

"No need. This solution seems to work well at bringing the corpses to me with minimal risk. Though do you think you could watch this area overnight? There's a low chance, but too many monsters may come through at once for Khaos and Titus to deal with."

"Sure, leave it to me," Stella said with a yawn.

"Thank you."

With that sorted, Ashlock had one last thing to do before sleeping.

"I need to make a root between Geb and the citadel. Though I wonder how the citadel is doing? I haven't checked on it for a while."

Ashlock pushed his spiritual senses through his roots into the giant hole running through the mountain. The monolith in the center was covered in a thick layer of moss, and the spiral staircase now led to thousands of rooms built into the mountain. As he had previously instructed, the top section was mostly empty rooms reserved for his sect members once completed, while the Mudcloaks had the rest to themselves.

Going all the way to the monolith's base, Ashlock was surprised to see the Mudcloaks had dug even deeper. They had expanded into the old path the giant worm had taken and had a whole little city down here. There were roads, market squares, two Mudcloaks engaged in a street fight, and rows of restaurants serving moss with spices they had gotten from god knows where. He even saw a Mudcloak wearing a hat and trying to bash another on the head with a stick at an assembly line that made knives.

"Okay, so that's where they got those knives from. I'm starting to wonder if letting these menaces out of the citadel is a good idea. Do they intentionally act dumb so I turn a blind eye as they overtake the world? Surely not..." Ashlock made the ethereal root tunnel at the end of a road that led to a dead end and decided to withdraw from this wacky city thousands of meters below.

The monster farm near his trunk seemed to be going fine, so with the sun setting, he decided to have a well-earned rest under the nine moons. It was a relaxing place that felt like a spa visit, but he did it for another reason despite his lack of need for Qi.

Glancing across the dreamscape, he saw Nox gathering Qi from the moons. If he didn't use his {Nocturnal Genesis} skill at night, it wasn't only his offspring that missed out on the extra Qi, but also Nox.

"What a long day..." Ashlock yawned in his mind as he drifted off to sleep, "Maybe I should dig deeper tomorrow to find one of those leylines Stella mentioned..."

***

Sunrise came late as winter approached. The cold made waking up an absolute chore. Weirdly, over the usual sound of rustling leaves in the wind and chirping of distant birds, there was a loud munching noise and snoring.

Idletree Daily Sign-In System

Day: 3598

Daily Credit: 35

Sacrifice Credit: 2787

[Sign in?]

"Those are less credits than I had been expecting..." Ashlock cast out his spiritual senses to see what was happening beyond his bark.

First, he saw Stella sprawled out on the bench like a cat, fast asleep with her leg propped up on the backrest and her head rolling off the side. She was the source of the loud snoring, likely due to her terrible sleeping posture.

Next, he noticed the cocoon of swirling ash that had weighed on his branches was gone...

Following the munching noise, Ashlock glanced at the monster farm and found Larry in all his divine ashen glory with a half-eaten monster hanging out of his mouth.

"Oi, you big spider. What the hell do you think you're doing with my breakfast?" Ashlock asked Larry, and the divine spider dropped the corpse like a dog caught in the act.