[Tree] Chapter 317: Nascent Soul Realm (Patreon)

Stella idly sat on a rock surrounded by sparkling wealth and unfathomable chaos. 

Strewn across the island in Ashlock's soul were piles of spirit stones, mortal currencies, and artifacts looted from the Lunarshade family. With nothing better to do while they waited, Stella and Diana had been sorting through the items. 

The currencies went into one pile, while the unverified artifacts were piled up with the intention of selling them through the Silverspire family or getting a few of the more interesting-looking ones evaluated.

"This feels nice," Diana said with a pleasant sigh.

"Mhm?" Stella glanced up from a spatial ring she had been trying to crack open at Diana sitting on a taller rock opposite her. The demoness, illuminated with silver moonlight, was casually leaning back on her arms and smiling up at the nine moons. It was quite the ethereal scene, as her black hair cascaded down her shoulders, and it was made all the more mystical by the dreamscape backdrop. 

"The moonlight, it feels like it's healing my soul." Diana tilted her head and locked eyes with Stella, "Don't you feel it, too?"

"Sure I do," Stella replied, looking away and using telekinesis to float over a pile of artifacts and set them beside Diana, "But I don't let it distract me from our work."

Diana frowned at the pile, "Why do you even care about this stuff?"

"What do you mean?" Stella raised a brow.

"Why do you think cultivators chase wealth?"

"Because wealth is power?" Stella said but was unsure. 

"No. It's because of what wealth can be exchanged for. Wealth on its own is nearly useless to cultivators, but it can be used to buy pills, create Qi-gathering formations, hire rogue cultivators, and more." Diana picked up a handful of Dragon Crowns from the pile Stella had just set beside her, "What use is this to us? Ashlock produces the best pills, his groves are superior Qi-gathering formations, and there's no need to hire rogue cultivators when we are a sect that can welcome in new cultivators."

"Artifacts are useful..." Stella retorted.

"Sure they are, but despite the sea of artifacts here, how many do you plan on wearing? You have worn the same casual clothes for months, and the only artifacts you wear are the earrings Ashlock gifted to you."

Stella touched the maple leaf earrings she had worn since childhood. Something about them made her feel safe, and she could depend on them. Meanwhile, she didn't desire to rely on these cultivator-made artifacts. 

"You don't want to wear the artifacts, right? Because they feel like borrowed power? Maybe unreliable?" Diana smirked knowingly when she saw Stella's expression, "That's because they are. A cultivator's true wealth is their own personal power—their cultivation. Defensive artifacts are great and all, but they usually don't scale alongside a cultivator's power. Eventually, they become obsolete, but if the cultivator relied on that artifact for their fighting style or survival, they would be stuck until they could find a superior artifact to replace the old."

Stella frowned, "Why are you telling me all of this."

"Because I know that you know this deep down. The Ashfallen Sect may have some uses for wealth, but you don't and never have," Diana rolled over and looked at her, "So, why the sudden interest in sorting through mountains of shiny rubbish you have no use for."

Sighing, Stella threw the spatial ring to the side, "You're right, I don't care for this stuff. I'm just doing this to take my mind off things. Happy now?"

Diana beamed, showing off the tips of her cute fangs, "Yes, I am. Now, what is worrying you? If you don't speak about or try to solve your problems, they will only fester."

Stella huffed the hair out of her face. Why couldn't Diana just leave her alone to her mindless task? 

"Fine. I'm still thinking about what the Celestial Warden told me," Stella looked down and started fidgeting with her sleeve. "Maybe it's silly, but once I heard the words of the cosmic being, a small part of me hoped there were a mother and father who loved me out there, and we were simply separated by circumstance. I know I have Ash, and nothing will detract from our relationship, but you know..."

"So what about Janus and the World Tree?" Diana asked.

Stella smiled wearily, "There's no confirmation yet if Janus is really my father, and assuming I have something to do with these experiments with the World Tree sap the Celestial Order was rumored to be conducting, I fear my birth was far more artificial than I had been hoping."

"I see," Diana's expression turned more serious as she sat up, "Even though I don't see how it could have been possible, you hoped that you were created by the union of the World Tree with some human, possibly Janus. Right?"

Stella nodded.

"But now, due to the rumors you heard from the Celestial Warden regarding the Celestial Order, you think you might be the product of some demonic ritual involving World Tree sap."

Stella nodded again and felt her lip quivering, "Which is a far colder origin story than I had been hoping, and now I have people after me who might cause problems for Tree."

"Don't be ridiculous," Diana scoffed, "Ashlock has and will go to war for you. That is why the Eternal Pursuit Pavilion gave you an esteemed status, as they know this too."

Stella grumbled, "I'm tired of causing Ash problems, though. Just because he will do something for me doesn't mean I want him to." 

"I get that, I really do. But I think Ashlock would be far more distraught if you pushed him away and tried to face these problems yourself." 

Stella bit her lip and fell into silence. 

Diana hopped off the rock and walked to the island's edge. She stood there for a while and surveyed the chaos. Eventually, she began speaking to break the silence. "Ashlock may not be a divine being yet on the level of the World Tree, but I have to say I am impressed."

"Why?" Stella asked as she got up and walked over to join Diana in appreciating the surrounding chaos. Under the nine moons, roaring winds moved giant chunks of land across a depthless ocean. As the landmasses crashed into one another, molten metal and fire fused them together, forming islands large enough to be continents if this small world was scaled up to the size of the layers of creation.

"I read about Inner Worlds as a child," Diana said, reminiscing. "Legends of cultivators having such profound knowledge regarding the heavenly daos that heaven granted them the privilege of weaving their own pocket of reality inside their own souls." Diana grinned, "You know that's where the term Monarch Realm comes from? Those who reach that level of power become the rulers of their own realm."

"A monarch of their own reality," Stella muttered as she took in the breathtaking display of power. "But Ash isn't ascending to the Monarch Realm, yet he has an Inner World? How can that work?"

Diana shrugged, "All I know is the difference between a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator who has escaped the shackles of time by creating a secondary soul and a Monarch Realm cultivator is whether or not they have an Inner World. For all we know, Ashlock has jumped to the Monarch Realm and just needs his cultivation to catch up."

"I hope that's the case," Stella smiled and felt very proud of her dad. He always did everything he could to ensure those around him were cared for and praised them when they progressed. Yet silently in the background, he had progressed the fastest, all to protect them.

Diana laughed, "To be fair, when has anything concerning Ashlock made sense? From the day he summoned Larry, I gave up on trying to understand the source of his power." Diana's voice dropped to a whisper, and she leaned in, "Do you happen to know?"

"He offered to tell me once," Stella mused and smirked as Diana's eyes widened, "But I refused." 

"What? Why?!"

Stella leaned back and looked up at the endless dreamscape, "Because if I knew the secret to his power and was captured, I might cause him problems if they found a way to torture or extract the information from me. That is why I refused. It's all to protect him."

"Huh, that's surprising."

Stella tilted her head, "Why?"

"Dunno," Diana shrugged, "I know you say you don't want to cause problems for Tree, but you have quite the track record. But if you are willing to turn down such knowledge to protect Tree, I'm starting to think you are just reckless."

Stella punched Diana in the shoulder, "I'm not reckless."

Diana burst out laughing, "Yeah, good one, and the sky isn't blue—wait, that phrase doesn't work here."

"See?" Stella sneered, "It's all about perspective, something, something..."

"Uh huh," Diana rubbed her chin, "Such profound words."

"Just shut up." 

"Fine..."

Stella couldn't help but smile as she stood beside her best friend while watching her dad's Inner World finish forming. 

Despite their joking, this was a sight few cultivators would ever witness. Such a raw display of daos weaving together a reality was helping Stella reach enlightenment. So, for the next few hours, Stella and Diana sat in silence and meditated on the world's truths.

Stella was analyzing the entire process from the spatial plane when the final landmass fused into place. The moment it did, the whole planet glowed with a blinding divine light, and Stella swore she heard a gong go off.

Confused, she opened her eyes. "You heard it too?" she asked Diana, who was also glancing around in confusion.

"Yeah... did you hear a gong?" 

"I did." Stella jumped to her feet and surveyed the island, which was now the center of multiple larger landmasses. As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but bare earth covered in patches of grass and the occasional meandering river.

Stella didn't know why, but something made her shiver.

Diana walked past Stella, "Weird..."

"You feel it, too?"

"Mhm," Diana's lips pressed into a line, "I feel something sinister."

"Yeah—ah!" Stella yelped as she felt something wet pass under her bare foot. Leaping back, she hopped around on one leg while she checked the sole of her foot. "What? Why is there blood on my foot?"

Diana backed up from where they had been standing, "Is it yours?"

Stella wiped away the blood and didn't see any evidence of a cut. "I don't think so? There's no cut or anything."

"Look, the grass is changing," Diana pointed. Following her finger, Stella saw that the grass was shifting from a dull green to a scarlet red.

Stella dropped to the ground and planted her palm on a patch of bloodied grass. Closing her eyes, she entered the spatial plane to find the source. What she saw horrified her. A giant creature of some kind originating from the center of the Inner World was surging toward the surface.

Why is such a thing inside Ash's soul? Stella thought as she stood up. Her spatial ring flashed, and she leaped onto her sword. "Diana, take to the skies. Something is coming from below."

Diana didn't need to be told twice as giant feathered wings erupted from her back, and she shot up into the air with a single flap just in time, as the ground below cracked before rupturing upwards as the creature below broke to the surface. 

It was genuinely titanic in size, as Stella felt like an annoying fly desperately buzzing out of the way. "What in the nine realms is this thing?!" Stella cried out as the ground trembled for miles, throwing up a cloud of dust as a living pillar of bloodied white flesh that pulsed like a beating heart rose to the sky.

"We should wake up, Ashlock!" Diana, who was a tiny black dot in comparison, cried out.

"How?!"

We are on a planet floating within his soul. If the appearance of this monster isn't waking him up, then us shouting at the sky isn't going to do anything either.

Helpless to do anything, Stella and Diana flew to a safe distance and watched from afar.

"Why does it look like a tree made of flesh?" Diana said.

Stella looked at the still-rising pillar of flesh and noted it was getting wider at the base. The top had also split open, and what could be described as leafless branches of ivory bone were sprawling out to form a canopy. Stella was about to agree with Diana when the pillar suddenly stopped rising, and the ground settled.

"Is it done?" Stella asked skeptically.

"I sure hope so," Diana snorted, "Any higher, and it will reach the moons."

Stella bit her lip. I wonder if this is how big the World Tree is?

Another gong sound reverberated through the Inner World, and Stella was sure it originated from the flesh tree.

Diana clicked her tongue, "That strange noise again. I wonder what it means."

"Nothing good, I suspect," Stella said, and she was proven correct as slits appeared down the entire length of the flesh tree, and in unison, they split apart. Blood exploded out of the slits, sending globs of scarlet that rained upon the land all around, and rivers of blood flowed down the length of the flesh tree. 

Once the blood spewing out the slits slowed to a trickle, thousands of red eyes peered through the slits and looked all around. The slits blinked like eyelids making the flesh tree seem more conscious than Stella had initially thought.

"Heavens, that thing is creepy." Diana shuddered.

Stella chuckled as she watched the flesh tree look around, "I think it's kinda cute, though."

Diana stared at her, "How? Are you crazy?"

"Its ridiculous size aside, and the whole river of blood thing. Look how curious it is." Stella grinned, enjoying Diana's horrified glare, "Don't you want to try and befriend it? Maybe it's friendlier than it looks."

"That," Diana pointed at the flesh tree, "is the stuff of nightmares. Understand? It's not friend-shaped."

"Hmmm...." It's vaguely tree-shaped, which means it could be a friend.

"Oh look, there's now a forest of death blooming," Diana said in disbelief.

Stella glanced down, and sure enough, the many blobs of blood were rising into tiny flesh trees covered in eyes.

More friends!

***

The next day, Ashlock awoke to silence. There were no chirping birds or roaring thunder from the wrath of the heavens overhead. All was calm except for a quiet breeze.

But Ashlock was not calm as many system messages dominated his vision.

[Formation of Inner World Complete]

[Ascension to Nascent Soul Realm Complete]

[System upgrade complete]

He had done it. He had completed his ascension. Quickly, he looked within himself at his Inner World as the dreamscape faded away. As expected, he was greeted with a world of order rather than chaos. There were continents, oceans, and even plant life appearing. 

However, one thing was impossible to miss as it dominated an entire side of his Inner World. 

"What the hell is this creepy thing?" Ashlock muttered in disbelief as he examined the towering tree of flesh and eyes wreathed in a divine glow. To his surprise, his system offered an answer in the form of a notification that floated over the tree. 

[Divine Flesh Tree - The physical manifestation of the [System]. It was crafted from the image of the many mortals and cultivators that revere you as a deity]

"That's how my worshipers see me?" Ashlock had no idea what to think, "Wait, this is a physical manifestation of the system. Is this tree... you?"

[Yes] floated above the tree.

Ashlock was amazed. Did the system just speak to him like normal?

"What about these little flesh trees all around you?"

[They are the physical manifestation of your sacrificial credits. Each tree represents one SC]

Ashlock had 674 SC left after activating the {Voidstorm Aegis} last night, and by a rough estimate, there were around that many tiny flesh trees surrounding the Divine Flesh Tree.

"Why are they here?"

[So they can grow]

"What? How does that work?"

[The divine energy gathered from your worshipers flows into the forest, and over time, they will multiply. One tree will split into three. However, if faith in you diminishes, the forest can wither away]

"So this is a divine stock market? The more divine energy I invest, the faster it compounds?" Ashlock had been worried that hitting Nascent Soul Realm would completely cripple his sacrificial credit inflow, but it looked like becoming a deity had given him a new source of credits. "This is a system upgrade, right? Was there anything else?"

[You can now upgrade any specific skill or mutation you want for 2x the cost of an equivalent level gacha pull]

Ashlock had a few skills, such as {Consuming Abyss [B]}, which he really wanted to upgrade, but blindly doing gacha pulls could have taken him until the end of time to get the upgrade he wanted.

"The cost is steep at 2x, but I suppose that's the cost of guaranteeing I get something I want." Ashlock mused but was pulled from his thoughts as he noticed Stella and Diana sitting and hanging out on one of the Divine Flesh Tree's ivory branches.

[Author Note]

Is Stella crazy, or is it friend-shaped?