[Tree] Chapter 651: A Warm Welcome (Patreon)

Ashlock had liked watching financial videos while pretending to code at work. He enjoyed learning about different countries' economies, how the banking system worked, gaming the stock market, and even personal finance—all of it interested him.

He considered himself as close to an expert as you could get without dedicated study or a job in finance. He had enough knowledge to impress people at dinner or advise his parents. It was an area of interest for him—a hobby he sometimes took a little too far when he got deep into stock market forums.

But founding an entirely new banking system in a cultivator world built around a loophole in a conceptual dao, discovered by the fragment of a fallen god he had enslaved, with the whole thing running on a network of his own offspring?

Even he had to admit that might have been a step too far.

But as usual, he had gotten carried away, and he was in too deep now to turn back. The Midas Bank project had to work.

Inside the heart of Goldreach, he watched Sterling with intense scrutiny through his Evil Eye. Eighteen circles of ink scales orbited his trunk, each rotating at a different speed and flashing with power as they activated in carefully designed sequences. The rest of the hollowed-out space buzzed with activity as a team of demons molded resin coins on-site and poured them into the bright pool Sterling grew out of. One of Diana's clones directed them while Ents surrounded Goldreach in a defensive formation.

"How are the runic formations holding?" Ashlock asked Kaida.

The dragon stood before Sterling and tweaked the formations he had set up around the trunk.

"His ego is successfully being suppressed and controlled through the sin of greed," Kaida said. "But to keep the system working, we need to endlessly feed the sin of greed with deposits—ideally more than the day before."

"What happens if we don't?"

Kaida frowned. "Greed will rouse Sterling out of his dreams, my formations will shatter, and the whole system will break."

"And you can't prevent that?"

Kaida shook his head. "The system only works because we keep greed happy."

Ashlock glanced back at the golden tree.

He kept the Gilded One's ego asleep with Nocturnal Genesis, so the many rings of swirling runes could use his unconscious mind in set sequences, like a computer, to process transactions. While it seemed cruel, it was better than keeping the Gilded One awake 24/7 and forcing him to mindlessly process millions of transactions a day. Unaware of what he had become, the Gilded One slept peacefully in Ashlock's dreamscape as the glow of the nine moons continuously mended his soul, keeping the runic formations from tearing him apart.

Now under Ashlock's control, he would become richer than he had ever been, yet he could not touch any of it. So Ashlock named the bank Midas, after the Greek myth of the king who wished everything he touched would turn to gold, only to nearly starve to death.

While the concept of banking wasn't totally new to this world, with the Eternal Pursuit Pavilion having Yinxi Coins, Ashlock's Midas system was a step above any other. It allowed instantaneous transactions and currency conversions, and it would reduce crime.

Needing a mouthpiece, he inhabited one of the void Ents guarding the chamber and had it void step onto a platform overlooking the vault.

"Julius, did you hear Kaida?" Ashlock asked Jasmine's dad, who oversaw the Ashfallen Trading Company and contributed heavily to the project. "We need as many people to adopt the Midas banking system as possible to keep the deposits coming. How are sign-ups looking so far?"

Julius gulped as he turned to look at the menacing void Ent. "E-Everything is going as planned, my Lord. There are long lines for every one of the current branches in the cities, ensuring a steady stream of sign-ups."

"Good," Ashlock hummed. "If this works like I hope it does, many of our financial troubles are solved. Isn't that right?"

Julius frantically nodded. "That is right, my Lord."

"Very good. You have done a fantastic job so far. Keep it up," Ashlock said, and meant it. He had realized days ago that he was in over his head, so he'd gathered his most competent allies for help. Hearing only good news from Julius, Diana, and the others involved, he was starting to think this would really work out. "Once this is all over, you guys should take a vacation."

Julius bowed deeply. "Thank you, my Lord. It's my pleasure to serve your grand designs."

Ashlock did the spiritual equivalent of a nod and retreated into the ethereal root network to check on his offspring. When he had pitched the idea of working in the banks to his offspring, he hadn't expected much interest. But to his surprise, his offspring had been so eager that choosing became impossible. At Diana's suggestion, he made them compete in a day-long chess tournament to decide who got to work.

In the end, 400 offspring were chosen as winners and excitedly entered the workforce across all the cities in the Ashfallen Empire. Mudcloaks were deployed to build the banks, while Ashlock used the World Tree's golden sap to link the chosen offspring to Sterling and the bank.

Focusing on a branch in Darklight City, he checked on the offspring working there.

"How are things?"

His offspring shivered with delight at his attention and flooded him with emotions of excitement, happiness, and fulfillment as it worked alongside the cultivators to serve the populace.

"I'm glad to see you are enjoying the work! Remember, the bank closes at sundown, so you can relax and sleep. Payday will be the start of next week."

Yes, he was going to pay his children for their work. What they would spend the Ambers on, he frankly had no idea. He knew the spatial tree working in Diana's mist palace had been boasting about their demon gardener to other trees, so perhaps many of them would hire demons to attend to them too. Or gamble. He knew the trees, like him, loved to gamble to pass the time.

Being a tree was boring sometimes. Maybe that was why they had all fought for the right to work?

"Master, we have incoming."

Geb's deep voice cascaded through the ethereal root network like a landslide, drowning out all other noise. Ashlock rarely got contacted directly by Geb like this, so he quickly shifted his attention away from the busy bank, surrounded by a line of eager humans, and up to the skies far above.

"What is it?" Ashlock asked as his attention landed on the deck of the Radiant Dawn flagship. A deafening boom answered him as a boulder launched into the swirling Era of Ascension rift they hovered beneath.

"Intruders from the 8th Layer are inbound," Magnus answered for Geb. He floated a step above the flagship's deck, his obsidian body glowing with molten power as he held a sword made entirely of flames.

Ashlock looked up, and sure enough, a massive airship shrouded in a bubble of shifting water descended through the rift. It was a touch smaller than the Radiant Dawn. Geb's boulder slammed into the water bubble, sending a ripple across its surface and shedding much of its momentum.

Then a beam of water from someone on the airship pierced through the boulder, obliterating it.

"They have a Monarch onboard," Magnus said. "What do you suggest we do?"

"I expected greedy scavengers, but this is clearly a flagship of some kind, and unless they are from the Ninth Wave Sect, that Monarch is either an important Elder or a Patriarch of a Sect from the Isles. This... is an opportunity."

"For what?"

"Diplomacy." Ashlock chuckled. "We should capture them."

"You don't want to kill them?"

"Oh, we will kill most of them. Just keep that Monarch alive. I have some plans for them."

"Understood," Magnus said as he shot into the sky, leaving a trailing blaze.

Ashlock glanced around at the waiting fleet of airships, debating which one to control for himself. The Radiant Dawn, though the strongest, had to stay lowest as the final line of defense. He wanted to get closer to the action.

That's when he noticed Willow, his first child. Like Timmy, Ashlock avoided extracting Qi from him, which let Willow rise to the Nascent Soul Realm after devouring many monster corpses from the beast tide.

"Willow, we will be working together," he told his son.

"As you wish, Father," Willow replied nonchalantly, but Ashlock felt a wave of excitement, betraying Willow's true thoughts. It was natural for the eldest to act mature around their father, wasn't it? Ashlock dismissed his wandering thoughts and used Progeny Dominion on Willow. A fragment of his soul entered Willow's Bastion Core, instantly promoting the Bastion from a low-stage Nascent Soul airship into a Monarch one.

Now Ashlock had two Monarch Realm-level airships in his fleet against one.

"Bob," he called out to his General. "Take apart their ship."

The heavenly glowing ball of slime who had looked like a depressed puddle on Geb's deck sprang up like an eager puppy.

"But don't eat the people. Leave them for Magnus and me, but you can take their Monarch hostage."

"Yes! Bob is hungry!" Bob yelled gleefully as he flew after Magnus, though he was notably far slower.

"We will cut off their escape route," Ashlock told Willow as he tore open a massive portal, and they flew through, emerging above the diving 8th Layer airship on course to meet Magnus and Bob.

Ashlock was about to engage the enemy when he had an idea.

"I'll let you use my power, son," he said, handing over access to his Monarch Realm Soul Cosmos, but leaving the control of the Bastion Core to Willow. "Show me what you can do."

"I will not disappoint you, Father," Willow said, drawing deeply on his Qi reserves.

***

Gorran Redreef, Patriarch of the Coralspear Sect, had decided to delve into the rumored treasure realm—not by choice, but by necessity. The Red Tide was coming, and while his sect seemed strong from the outside, the truth was much darker.

He had been stagnant for a long time, and his Elders had long since caught up to him in strength, with his own brother recently surpassing him by reaching the 6th stage of the Monarch Realm. One of his brother's concubines had secretly reported that his brother not only planned to overthrow him, but to do it during the chaos of the Red Tide.

It was a plan spawned out of madness, selfishness, greed, and a disregard for the sect that had raised him to such heights. But the worst part was that Gorran had no way to stop him. The council was against him; the sect's elites didn't respect him, and all hope seemed lost.

But then a rumor spread throughout the isles. Of a treasure realm deep in the ocean. Gorran didn't take it seriously at first, but still sent some envoys to investigate. They encountered strange monsters in the ocean on the way, but they oddly avoided them. Either way, they managed to confirm the rift was real.

If there really is a treasure realm, perhaps I can find a way to break my bottleneck, or a weapon that would let me keep standing as the head of the Coralspear Sect.

Gorran didn't have anyone else he could trust with such a journey, so he had undertaken it himself. Taking one of the sect's greatest airships and a small team of elites, he dove into the ocean's abyss, hoping to find salvation.

What he found instead of a treasure realm was something far better.

The rift led to the 9th Layer of Creation. It was a realm starved of Qi, yes. But that also meant it was a place beneath him. A land he could easily rule as king!

By how my soul cramps, there can't be more than a handful of Monarchs here, and certainly no Sovereigns I have to bow to. I just need to find the largest sect before anyone else from the isles does. If I tell them I'm a powerful Patriarch from the upper Layer, they will cower at my feet and beg like the dogs they are.

Gorran grinned. Perhaps I should even thank my brother for forcing my hand. Without him, I'd have sent another Elder in my place, and they would have claimed this opportunity for themselves. The isles? I no longer care for them. They are just a bunch of backwater sects at the mercy of Uldrenneth. My brother can rule over that ghastly rock for all I care—

"We have incoming!"

His wandering thoughts were interrupted by an urgent shout from his cousin, followed by a massive boulder crashing into his airship's shield. His soul, which was feeding the shield, trembled from the hit, making him stagger a step.

"What monkey from the lower realm dares to throw a rock at my ship?" Gorran roared, pointing a finger at the boulder and shooting a lance of super-concentrated water that speared through the rock, making it crumble away. That had cost him weeks of cultivation.

He was furious.

"They should be kneeling as I arrive, not fighting back! Who was that?"

"Patriarch, look..." his cousin said, his face pale.

Gorran finally bothered to expand his spiritual senses and regretted it.

A fleet was waiting for them, commanded by a flagship larger than his and surrounded by a bubble of earth Qi so dense he wasn't sure he could pierce it with his strongest attack.

That thing was a floating fortress, not an airship!

If that had been all, he might have been able to escape back into the 8th Layer. A humiliation, but one he was willing to swallow. But that plan changed when a massive portal suddenly rippled into existence before one of the airships beside the earthen flagship, and his spiritual senses caught it reappearing above them.

"How did they do that?" Gorran asked, staring up through his water shield at the airship—only to realize it wasn't an airship at all. It was a floating island of black rock, topped with a demonic tree blazing with spiritual power.

Another Monarch Realm-level airship? Is this really the 9th Layer of Creation?

Layers of rings, crackling with spatial Qi, suddenly expanded out from the floating island and kept going until they covered the entire expanse of the rift. A dreaded spiritual pressure bore down on Gorran, and he felt a short-range teleportation artifact he wore around his neck go cold against his skin.

He fished into his pocket and pulled out a communication jade.

It was dull.

"We are being forced down into the waiting fleet by that floating island's immense gravity Qi!" a cultivator reported, sending everyone into a panic. "We can't retreat even if we wanted to!"

Gorran crushed the jade in his hand in anger.

"So what!" he roared, silencing his cultivators. "We came seeking treasure and found so much more! We hail from a realm these lower lifeforms could never reach! So what if their airships are better? We are better—"

"Not to interrupt, but I'm going to have to disagree."

Gorran glanced toward the voice and found a man made of obsidian, brandishing a sword of flame, hovering beside his airship. The air around him was so hot that it turned his ship's water bubble to steam.

Someone was boiling away his water Qi?

Is that man another Monarch?!

Something massive suddenly crashed into the bottom of his airship, sending everyone stumbling.

"What was that?" Gorran yelled. His spiritual senses returned nothing but a squirming mass of blinding heavenly energy burrowing into the hull of his airship like some kind of tentacled sea monster.

Gorran gulped.

What is wrong with the 9th Layer?!"

"Monarch from the realm above, our leader wants to meet with you. Alive," the Fire Monarch said, and pointed his blazing sword at the ship. "The rest of you are sentenced to death. Prepare to be boarded."