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Relishing in the storm for a second, Ashlock looked at the clouds above in a daze. His body felt all kinds of wrong, it was like he had been stretched in his sleep and his blood replaced with a gas.

How long had he been asleep? What was happening?

Before he could summon the system to find his answer, a blue bolt of lightning descended from the heavens with wrathful fury and blasted into one of his thicker branches. A flash of light blinded Ashlock\'s spiritual sight, followed by a burning sensation.

[WARNING: Wrath of the heaven\'s envoked]

Ashlock felt ungodly pain, as if someone was pressing his finger onto a burning stove. "Fuck sake, not again. Is this a tribulation for reaching the next realm? What happened to my B grade {Lightning Qi Protection}?" Checking his body, the distraught tree came to a terrible realization.

"It\'s already active... and it still hurt this much? Why is this lightning so much stronger than last time?" In a panic, Ashlock felt for his inner Qi lake, but it was gone.

In its place deep inside his trunk was a light purple crystal that looked just like an amethyst. It was around the size of a human head, but the amount of Qi stored within it was terrifying. "So this is what the Grand Elder detonated to produce that terrifying supernova? It does feel like I have a bomb inside me ready to blow at any time."

Feeling the Qi in the air getting fierce, Ashlock decided to coat his trunk and branches with as much Qi as possible for preemptive protection. "Bring it on, you cosmic bastards! Nothing will stop me from eating all these cultivator fuckers!"

Much to Ashlock\'s dismay, his taunting would appear rather effective as another lightning bolt came from an odd angle and struck his trunk directly, just below his branches. But this time, Ashlock was prepared.

Lilac-colored flames flickered to life across Ashlock\'s trunk and absorbed most of the lightning\'s power, and his {Lightning Qi Protection} handled the rest. "Hahahaha! I have my own flames!" Ashlock couldn\'t contain his excitement seeing nothing but a burn mark on his black bark instead of a gaping hole filled with fire like last time. This was evidence of his new power.

Sadly it seemed he had lost a branch to the first attack, but with his new Soul Core, perhaps he could make it through this ordeal?

And then the hopeful tree saw the entire sky light up as golden bolts of lightning descended upon him all at once. His Soul Core trembled as lilac flames roared to life across his body, and he became a column of flame that reached for the skies. Then, as a lightning bolt came near, the fire flicked out as if slapping the god\'s wrath away.

At first, it was easy, but as this continued for hours, it became harder and harder to resist after each strike—Ashlock was just about ready to give up. He felt lethargic, and his flames had died down to just a whisper of their previous vigor. But then the thunder ceased, the clouds parted, and the sun\'s golden rays gave the young tree a new lease on life.

[Heavenly Tribulation Survived]

[Damage calculated at 7%]

"Heh, only 7% what a piece of cake." Ashlock shrugged off the memories of him screaming in fear after the tenth round of lightning strikes came and decided he would never think of them again.

[Repair body with credits? Yes/No]

"Hell no!" Ashlock mentally smashed the no option. "You scammed me enough last time. I will sleep the damage off."

And with that, Ashlock drifted off to sleep.

***

Diana leaned on her sword implanted into the ground and frowned at the mysterious tree. She had just witnessed the tree fight off the most rounds of heavenly lightning she had ever seen, and it somehow survived the tribulation, mostly unharmed. A few charred branches lay at its base but compared to the hundreds it had now—it was a small sacrifice.

Diana dislodged her sword from the wet mud and felt its weight in her hand. Could she have survived such an event? Diana\'s grip around the sword tightened as she bit her lip. No matter how Diana imagined it, her chance of survival was nil.

Hell, the tree couldn\'t even dodge the strikes like she could or pop lightning-resistance pills—it had just taken them on the chin, defending with nothing but its newly awakened 1st stage soul fire.

Which Diana noted was lilac, the flames of space. A rare and heavily sought-after soul fire type.

With a sigh, Diana decided to inspect the tree. As she walked, the wet grass squelched underfoot as she circled the perimeter. Remnants of golden lightning arced between the tree\'s branches. She reached out a curious hand, and like a coiled viper, the streak of heavenly lightning lashed out at her.

Diana easily thwacked it away, but it still made her palm numb. Looking at her tingling hand and then back at the tree that lorded over the courtyard, Diana couldn\'t help but think of the first week she arrived here.

After they had double-teamed that Winterwrath vermin almost a year ago, the tree had entered some type of hyper-growth—which was simply impossible. The tree had grown taller daily, with its branches spreading in all directions. By now, the entire central courtyard was under its canopy.

But trees grow all the time, and the ambient Qi had been rather dense, so that might have been explainable...

What didn\'t have any explanation is how the tree formed a Soul Core and invoked the wrath of the heavens—an event that was usually reserved for Star Core cultivators.

What could the tree possibly be doing that could cause heaven to defy its existence? Was it tapping into a forbidden power left over from before the gods?

Shaking her head, Diana turned on her heel and headed back to the training courtyard with determination. She refused to be outdone by a tree of all things.

***

A week later, on a quiet afternoon, a slothful tree awoke feeling much better. Ashlock looked up and was grateful for the clear blue skies that didn\'t want to kill him.

"Well, this is new," Ashlock remarked as he looked around the empty courtyard. The runic formations were still there, but the ambient Qi that had been so dense when he fell asleep was all but gone.

More importantly, Ashlock hadn\'t noticed it last time due to the immediate situation, but he had grown while he slept. A lot.

If he had been around ten meters tall before, he was now triple that—and his point of view had followed. Now without using his {Eye of the Tree God} skill, he could see into the pavilion\'s smaller courtyards as the walls no longer inhibited his sight.

As he surveyed the vast pavilion, Ashlock spotted a familiar girl who was hard at work practicing in the training courtyard. Her sword danced between the training dummies with unrestrained fury. Her short black hair was drenched with sweat and clung to her face, but she seemed unperturbed as her dark blue flames coated her blade.

Ashlock noticed the wall of the training courtyard was still destroyed from the Grand Elder\'s explosion, but the red vines had grown across. Now they may grow fast, but that was disturbing evidence that a lot of time had passed since he had fallen asleep to create his Soul Core.

Usually, Ashlock would open his sign-in system first, but this time he decided to check on his personal information. The system had said the upgrade was complete... so he wanted to see if that was true.

[Demonic Spirit Tree (Age: 8)]

[Soul Fire: 1st Stage]

[Amethyst (Spatial)]

[Skills…]

"Finally!" Ashlock wanted to cry tears of joy. The system no longer regarded him as a mere sapling but now as a full fledge tree! Also, he was eight years old... that was a terrifying thought. Time sure did blink by as a tree compared to when he was human.

However, there was something even more impressive. Ashlock gleefully looked at his upgraded realm. He was now in the same realm as Stella and Diana—the Soul Fire realm.

"But my Soul Core element is a bit... unusual." Ashlock frowned—he was hoping for something a little easier to use, like nature or earth, but if there was one thing he had on his side, it was time to learn.

Spatial definitely had a lot of applications, and for someone who couldn\'t move, the prospect of teleportation or crossing great distances through portals was thrilling. "I have never heard of a teleporting tree before..."

Ashlock calmed down. He knew he was getting ahead of himself. "Baby steps... figure out how to use your new Soul Core first. Then teleporting tree. Maybe."

Discarding the thoughts of his future world domination, Ashlock focused on his new powers. "Can I use Qi outside of my body now?" He had manifested the lilac flames to fend off the tribulation, but that had been on his own trunk.

So the question was, what could he do with his new flames? "All the cultivators I\'ve seen so far have used their soul flames to empower swords. Unfortunately, I don\'t have a sword..."

Ashlock looked around his enormous body and naturally found himself at his leaves. They were blood red and about the size of a human hand. If someone looked closer, under the sunlight, they would see the thin black veins that went throughout the leaf.

Now to the unimaginative, they were just simple leaves—but to a tree with a dream of slaughtering pesky birds that overstayed their welcome on his branches, they became potential ninja shurikens.

Ashlock concentrated and singled out a leaf, Qi rushed through his vast network of branches, and a second later, the leaf became ablaze. "Okay, so far, so good..." But now was the troublesome part. How can he detach the leaf?

The leaves were like fingers to him, connected firmly by a stalk. Just because others could pluck them didn\'t mean he had a way to instantly sever the connection himself.

"In autumn, most tree\'s leaves would turn brown and fall off, but mine have never fallen off... Am I cursed as an evergreen tree?"

Ashlock pondered for a while but couldn\'t find another way. It felt like he was trying to make his fingernail fall off with nothing but his mind.

Deciding there was no other choice and not willing to let his dreams of leaf projectiles die, Ashlock summoned his sign-in system.

Idletree Daily Sign-In System

Day: 3148

Daily Credit: 302

Sacrifice Credit: 0

[Sign in?]

"302 credits should be enough to get me a B grade draw." Ashlock couldn\'t see how being able to throw his leaves at people could be higher than a B grade, so while praying to the gacha god\'s for their blessing, Ashlock signed in.

[Sign in successful, 302 credits consumed…]

[Unlocked a B-grade skill: Root Puppet]

"Root Puppet?" Ashlock could tell it was far from what he had initially wanted, just from the simple name. But as the information entered his mind for its uses... Ashlock felt a whole new world of potential open up to him.

The skill allowed him to control corpses temporarily.

"Could I use this for communication?"