Reborn as a Demonic Tree

Chapter 615: The First Mythical Skill

[Upgraded {Skyborne Bastion [SSS]} → {Worldborne Sanctuary [Mythical]}]

Ashlock felt an indescribable shift in reality at the unlocking of his first Mythical skill. Before needing to ask, the system provided him with an in-depth explanation of what a Mythical skill was capable of.

[{Worldborne Sanctuary [Mythical]}

The region surrounding you is forever consecrated as a Sanctuary—a self-sustaining plane over which you reign as sovereign. Within its bounds, the flow of Qi, the weather, and reality itself bend to your will. This control extends to the spatial plane. You may stretch or compress the distance within and between any areas of your Sanctuary. True to its name, the Sanctuary is readily defended. Your offspring may be used as turrets or designated as anchors for a shield array spanning the whole Sanctuary.

Establishing and expanding your Worldborne Sanctuary costs no sacrificial credits. Instead, it draws Qi and divine energy directly from you and your Inner World. Its size is limitless in principle but a burden in practice, for the larger it grows, the heavier it weighs upon its sovereignʼs resources.

Note that, unlike a Bastion, a Sanctuary cannot fly. But it can defy gravity to float freely, at no cost to you.

Furthermore, Bastions can now be raised at no cost and have received a significant increase in flight speed. While operating over or near a Sanctuary, every aspect of their performance is significantly enhanced]

Ashlock read over the skill description multiple times before drawing a satisfied conclusion. As expected, a Mythical skill was a total game-changer. Not only were Bastions now free to create and significantly improved, but he could now designate the area around him a Sanctuary, basically turning him into a god.

”Now that Iʼve moved the realm for you and brought you here,” the World Tree began, unaware of his new skill, ”what will you do now?”

If Ashlock could grin, he would be. The World Tree had definitely shown her might by lifting her leyline across the realm, and while he might never be able to wield such realm-altering strength, the system allowed him to perform reality-defying feats.

”If you perform your ascension while cowering under my canopy, you may fail to form your Inner World—”

”I already have an Inner World,” Ashlock said, making the World Tree pause. ”You felt its weight when we first interlocked roots, remember?”

”This is true,” the World Tree mused. ”How you already formed an Inner World is a mystery to me. But your growth will still be stunted if you remain under my protection, and Iʼm afraid I canʼt lift you any higher.”

”Thatʼs fine. Iʼll lift myself.”

”Lift yourself?” the World Tree sounded amused. ”How can a spirit tree lift itself?”

”I donʼt think another spirit tree could, but Iʼm full of surprises.”

As if sensing what he was intending to do, his system popped up with a question.

[Establish Worldborne Sanctuary?]

”Yes,” Ashlock mentally replied.

A divine pulse erupted from him. It cascaded down the sides of Red Vine Peak, rolled over Ashfallen City, swept across White Stone Peak, and washed over Darklight City. He could feel the burden of the Sanctuary begin to weigh upon his soul as the pulse echoed out. Still, he kept pushing it onward until it reached Desolark City, far away on the World Treeʼs risen leyline, somewhere above the southern reaches of Floridawn.

He had the pulse pause just beyond Desolark City. After confirming that going any further would ruin him, he marked that as the boundary and called it back. The moment the pulse returned, the system informed him that the process was complete.

[Worldborne Sanctuary established]

He had marked everything along the leyline between Red Vine Peak, its surrounding cities, and Desolark City. He felt the burden the system had warned him about instantly, but he had no regrets. While the area he had selected was pointlessly vast, he wanted to have enough room for the mortals to farm and for future expansions.

”What did you just do?” the World Tree asked. It was the first time Ashlock had ever heard her sound nervous. ”The amount of divine energy I just detected reminded me of when the Chairman first activated the formation that captured me. But youʼre not a god like he was, so how can you wield so much...”

”Mother, Ash does crazy stuff like this all the time,” Stella said smugly as if she were the one about to lift a continent into the sky. ”You should get used to it.”

Diana nodded at her side. ”Even when he was weaker than us, he was tearing open reality and summoning horrors from the beyond.”

”Is that so?” the World Tree said, sounding somewhat suspicious.

Ashlock didnʼt contribute to the conversation. He was busy making preparations. Before everyone grew restless, he decided it was time.

”Get ready, everyone. This might not go quite how I imagined it,” Ashlock warned them as he selected his entire Sanctuary. He wanted to free the World Tree of her burden and lift it into the sky.

”What are you about to do—” the World Tree began, but a deafening crack swallowed the rest.

Ashlock tore his entire Sanctuary free of gravityʼs pull.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

The continent-sized mass groaned upward, wrenching itself loose from the World Treeʼs leyline with a rumble that rolled to the horizon. Boulders the size of houses sheared away from its underside and plummeted—only to halt midair, caught and held just below the rising land, for they too had been claimed as part of the Sanctuary. It looked, for all the world, as though his domain were drifting skyward atop its own asteroid belt.

”You... how...” the World Tree stammered. She was the first to grasp what he had done.

Those standing on Red Vine Peak took a moment longer. They saw the distant land peeling off the leyline first—and then came the slow, dawning horror as they understood it was happening beneath their own feet as well. Shock twisted across every face.

Even Stella was baffled.

”So this is the power of a Mythical skill,” Ashlock mused. ”I can only imagine what will happen when I upgrade {Necroflora Overlord [SSS]} to Mythical next.”

”I thought I had seen it all,” Diana gasped, shaking her head. ”But this... how is this even possible?”

”How much Qi is this costing you?” the World Tree asked him directly.

”A little,” he lied, just like how the World Tree had lied about how much effort moving her root was to Stella. Since his roots were linked with hers, he knew that lifting her leyline had consumed centuries of gathered Qi and nutrients. She had likely even drained entire lakes somewhere beyond his reach to fuel the movement.

But in his case, he wasnʼt underplaying how much Qi it cost to raise the Sanctuary—he was overplaying it. For him, it was free, as specified in the skill description. He only had to spend Qi to maintain the Sanctuary, and if he wished to activate Sanctuary-wide features, such as using his offspring as turrets or a shield array.

Which reminded him. He ought to blanket the wilderness between Red Vine Peak and Desolark City with forests of offspring. They had always made an excellent Qi reserve in times of need, and now, under the Worldborne Sanctuary, they could do far more than that.

”You may lower your root whenever you wish,” he said. The World Tree gave no answer. She still seemed too stunned to speak. He mentally shrugged and moved on to the next phase of his plan. He had the entire Sanctuary continue to rise, and after an hour, the massive land mass was positioned just below the World Treeʼs canopy.

”Alright, itʼs time,” he told the growing crowd of sect members that were gathered on Red Vine Peak. At some point, Douglas had also joined and was standing beside Elaine. Hazel was sitting on his shoulders while Talon silently hugged his motherʼs leg.

”Time for what, Boss?” Douglas asked uneasily. Out of everyone, he was showing the strongest reaction, making Ashlock wonder if his continent-moving feats had reminded Douglas of why he was the boss around here.

”The great fracturing,” Ashlock said ominously.

For the past hour, heʼd been fusing his roots with Earth Law, laying the groundwork for this moment.

”What is the great—” Douglas began, but Ashlock answered with action.

Crack.

Douglas flinched, and so did everyone else, as a reality-splitting sound tore through the air. The earth shifted beneath their feet. An hour of preparation came all at once. Red Vine Peak, White Stone Peak, Ashfallen City, and Darklight City all sheared away from the Sanctuaryʼs main mass and began drifting upward, each at its own pace. Darklight City rose only a hundred meters or so before halting above the main mass. Ashfallen City and White Stone Peak climbed higher and stopped just beneath the World Treeʼs canopy. High enough that White Stone Peakʼs palace vanished entirely among the leaves.

Red Vine Peak continued up and through the canopy, eventually cresting the surface.

A wave of gasps escaped everyoneʼs lips.

It was as though theyʼd stepped onto another plane of existence. The sunlight was blinding, thrown back off a sparkling plane of the World Treeʼs golden leaves, each one the size of a mountain, stretching to the horizon and beyond. There was nothing else up here besides the gleaming tips of a few distant spires that seemed to belong to the Luminarch Conclave, the fanatics who worshiped the sun god. They were far above the cloud layer now, so high the sky thinned toward the black of space.

”Shields up,” Ashlock said to his system.

Every offspring blanketing Red Vine Peak lit at once, and a multilayered barrier, woven from every Law he knew, bloomed outward to enclose the peak. The canopy was the last place the rebel Monarchs had been seen, gathered and conspiring against him. He wasnʼt taking any chances.

A tense moment passed, but nothing came to attack them.

Keeping the shields raised for now, Ashlock made use of the Sanctuaryʼs weather control to artificially climatize Red Vine Peak, as the air was incredibly thin up here. After manifesting his own atmosphere, he drew a haze of desolation across the sky to dull the blinding sunlight.

”Okay,” Ashlock said, ”I think this is good enough—”

”Good enough?!” It was the World Treeʼs turn to interrupt him. ”This is more than simply good enough! Did you even need me?”

Ashlock was stunned by the sudden outrage directed at him. ”What are you angry about?” he asked.

”Why didnʼt you just do this from the start?!” The World Treeʼs raw emotions crackled through the air. ”I sacrificed so much, thinking you were incompetent!”

”You truly thought the decade-old spirit tree that freed you might be incompetent?” Ashlock snorted in disbelief. ”Besides, I was under the impression that moving the leyline took only ʼa littleʼ effort. Your words, not mine. I donʼt see the problem.”

”Mom. Dad.” Stella frowned. ”Thatʼs enough.”

”But—”

”Stop it,” Stella said sharply, silencing them both. ”Youʼre both realm-breaking existences to the rest of us, so at least act like ones.” She glanced his way. ”And I know for a fact Ash wouldnʼt have asked for your help, Mom, if he couldʼve managed alone. Right, Ash?”

”Obviously,” Ashlock replied. ”I can only float land masses of this size and have them rise and fall. It would have been impossible to move Red Vine Peak and all my cities under the World Treeʼs canopy by myself.”

”Exactly,” Stella said and glanced in the World Treeʼs direction. ”And Mother, you can move your roots, vast as they are, but you canʼt lift them into the sky. Without Ash floating the land, heʼd never have crested your canopy. Right?”

”...Thatʼs right,” she grumbled.

”Then this was only possible because both of you worked together!” She clapped her hands and beamed.

Ashlock glanced at the World Tree and found her visibly calmer. For as hopeless as Stella was with most social situations, she had a strange gift for defusing the World Tree.

”Will you commence your ascension now?” Diana asked, possibly to change the subject.

”No,” Ashlock replied, humoring her. ”Iʼll wait until after everyone returns from the Eternal Realm soon, as my Inner World is likely to undergo further changes.”

He wanted as many dao insights and as much stored Qi as he could gather first, to forge the greatest Domain the realm had ever seen. He still had the Crowned Oneʼs conceptual dao left to cash in, after all.

”The Ashbound Order also needs to be established as soon as possible, and those rebel Monarchs and egos need to be hunted,” he sighed. ”There are a lot of loose ends that should be swiftly tied up before I can begin my ascension with a clear mind.”

”Leave it all to us,” Diana said with a grin, and everyone nodded.

”Then I will be in your care,” Ashlock turned to the World Tree. ”And World Tree—I had a question for you.”

”What is it?” she asked, far more reserved than before.

”Iʼve been wondering for a while now, but do you have a name?”

It was growing tiresome calling her World Tree all the time. During her long years of life, surely someone had given her a human name. The World Tree grew unusually quiet, and her presence became chaotic as if he had pressed on a nerve.

Had he angered her again somehow?