Chapter 315: Attacking The First Mechanical Tree

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We spent the rest of yesterday learning about soul manipulation with Song and Fang Shuan; we even did the same on living martial beasts afterwards. It became much more difficult, so we’ll have to train more. The resistance that a living body puts in is tremendous; to pull a soul without breaking it seemed like a big task.

Song seemed to be still learning, so he wasn’t able to easily do the same with a soul within a living body, even though the Martial Beasts seemed to be growing closer to him by him just petting them.

Perhaps his powers as a Son of Providence allow him to tame things? Even souls and beasts bend before their will, but even when tamed, a soul within a living being is unyielding.

It’ll take some time indeed.

As the morning arrived and I took a bath and then went to have breakfast with everyone, I noticed Sara was already done with her meal, constantly cultivating in the garden outside.

She had been enjoying her stay here more than I expected! She still is confused and asks me many questions all the time and is always close to me.

But even then, after a week, she had mellowed down a bit with everyone and has grown a bit more confident in speaking directly with others.

The kindness of the Heavenly Empress helped a lot too, and well, my presence here made her feel more welcome.

That she ended up being isekai’d here is all my damn fault, so I’ve been doing my best to take care of her, but… she’s fine; she’s adapting really well.

And this might end up being a really good opportunity for her to grow stronger past her limits while also adapting to her new undead body.

The Heavenly Demon also began teaching her a few things, finding she had the potential for many Demonic Techniques as an Undead.

As I saw her training, I remembered a couple of things too, regarding the Summon Familiar Privilege.

I remember quite well that at the beginning I activated it and was able to summon my Familiars here, except for her.

It always worked on them except her, but somehow, in that moment inside the trial, it brought her along as well.

Does that mean that before that trial, she wasn’t recognized as a Familiar yet?

What could have changed?

Or maybe… was she allowed to be summoned by whoever is in charge of the System?

Hmm…

“Ah, Anna! Good morning!”

She greeted me after I had breakfast and had a chat with the entire family about what we were doing today.

“Hello Sara. It looks like you’ve been getting pretty comfortable here! I’m glad.”

“Oh, right… Haha, well… Yes, I’ve been enjoying my stay here,” she nodded. “Despite everyone being so… different, it somehow still feels very welcoming. And this beautiful scenery, the fresh air… Ki and everything; it has healed me a bit. I was very tired, exhausted, of the big city, of people… of paparazzi and social media, everything. Something like this… It’s really nice and relaxing.”

“Is that so…” I smiled, nodding, as we admired the beautiful view. “Yeah, I agree; it’s nice here. I’m glad you’ve gotten a bit more used. It’s a hard trial, and I don’t think we’ll be able to return once we’re truly done here, but… I hope you can continue helping, Sara.”

“Yeah, I’m just shocked Constellations would send you to a trial like this, to a whole other world…” sighed Sara. “Has this happened before, Anna?”

“Twice before this,” I nodded. “This would be the third time. Each time, I gain new strength once I complete them. And each time, it becomes harder and longer… The first time it was a ruined world, one where angels once lived. I had to slay a wicked king that turned all his people into statues, aiming to protect them, though they ended up dying and becoming undead statues. My task was to free them.”

“I-I see…” she muttered. “Wait, is that where…?”

“Yes, I was gifted Celestial Powers from that trial,” I nodded. “Before that, though, I had already forged a physique. I started cultivating much earlier than even getting here.”

“Woah…” she muttered. “You sure have done a lot, Anna. What was the second one though?”

“Another ruined world, a Demon World,” I said.

“A Demon World? Did you have to slay them?” wondered Sara.

“Of course not…” I giggled. “I had to save them, the last demons that were kept alive from an invasion of Celestials, angels. They were a small village, starving and everything. There was a brave girl named Inferna, and a boy who had not given up hope yet named Isaac. I taught them everything I could, made them all stronger, and helped them defend against the Vampires, who were oppressing them and using them as food. I had to stop a mad vampire woman named Blednica too. She was trying to… summon a Void Ruler to eat that world. It was intense. That’s where I gained my demon powers.”

I decided to tell Sara all of these things. I decided to open up to her as I ended bringing her here; she was now my Familiar, so she had to know.

“So many words I don’t understand, but… that sounds intense, very intense,” said Sara, looking a bit sad. “You could have definitely died…”

“Yeah, but I’m glad I triumphed! Those demons… I’m so happy I could save them. I did everything I could to guarantee their lives once I was gone. Now… Well, it all depends on them what happens next,” I said. “I laid the groundwork; now the future is in their hands.”

“So as trials, you’re being sent to ruined worlds…” Sara nodded. “And given ridiculous, impossible, difficult tasks, you… actually get done? Nobody else would be able to do what you’ve done, Anna. You’re… you’re incredible.”

“Ah… Well, a bit,” I said. “Anyways, yeah… I mean, I guess its strange now that I think about it? Would most people just not care about other worlds?”

“Yeah! Like, why would I even care about all those worlds? Mine is already crumbling down…” Sara said. “But you… you really go beyond with everything you do. It’s almost as if you were much different than… than what you actually are. I mean, older too, and… like, you know everything?”

“It’s because of… well, the Constellations help me,” I said. “I’m just a very popular girl, that’s all~”

I can’t tell her more than that; she already has her ideas, but… Nobody in their right mind would ever believe their entire world is actually a fictional story someone else read in another dimension, right?

So it’s just useless to talk more or even talk about the "truth." I’m sure my words are going to get censored by the system somehow anyway.

“Anyway, I wanted to ask you if you could come help us,” I said. “We just discussed while having breakfast that we’ll go raid the Mechanical Tree in the Island of the Heavenly Empress. It’ll be the first of the three. We want to get it done as quickly as possible. Zero One will try to recruit the machines that join her, and then we’ll have to swiftly take down the rest that are hostile then… She’ll hack the Mechanical Tree; we won’t destroy it. We’ve talked this already.”

“So at the end you’re not getting rid of them all?” wondered Sara. “I remember hearing that that was the original plan… The Heavenly Demon must have protested, right?”

“He did, but after his son convinced him and after Zero One asked for his forgiveness… at the end, he ended agreeing,” I giggled. “I never thought anybody could ever convince that unruly crow, haha!”

“So that’s how it is…” Sara nodded. “Alright then, let me go help as well. I’ll gladly help, actually. I mean, it’s my duty if I was brought here to help you, right?”

“Thank you, Sara,” I said, patting her shoulder. “We’ll be leaving in an hour from now, so get ready.”

“Alright.”

After that, I quickly regrouped with the rest of my party.

Aside from the Venerables and Song, my entire party was going out for this moment.

Some were a bit nervous, but, well, this was just going to be the beginning.

The beginning of the end, I suppose.

An hour went by flying, as I was checking my status and skills, getting ready for everything.

Sheathed was Gram and also Qin Xiuying, the beautiful golden sword that master gifted to me.

And also there was [Divine Celestial Sword: Oblivion] sheathed too, all three of them ready to be used at any moment.

Yes, even Oblivion, the unruly sword that Solomon possessed, I’ve tried using it now, and it surprisingly finally accepted me.

It seems that my cosmic energy reserves, combined with my celestial power, made me "worthy.”.

Despite how hard it was to wield before, this sword is only S Rank compared to Gram, which is SSS Rank and Qin Xiuying, which is SS Rank.

Well, it's still fairly stronger than other weapons I could use, and even more, it possesses a lot of celestial and angelic power, so it's fairly different than the rest.

Maybe once I’m back home, I could ask Hilda to upgrade it using the soul fragments of Solomon I’ve held within my inventory.

“Are we ready then?” wondered Zero One, glancing at our party.

“Yep, all ready,” I nodded. “How about everyone else?”

They seemed ready as well; after having breakfast and warming up, they were prepared to smash some machines into pieces.

…Or befriend them!

“Alright, so the mission is simple,” said Zero One; she had devised the strategy. “I’ll go in the front and send a special signal to all the machines within the island. This’ll make them gather close to me. And once we’re in front of the tree and with all machines within range. I’ll quickly try to appeal to them. I’ll ask them if they want to live with the inhabitants of this world and become our allies, or if they prefer to remain working below the old rules and commands and become our enemies. In which case, we’ll have to slay them.”

“Good,” I nodded. “And then while we take care of the ones that don’t want to cooperate, you hack the tree? Do you think you can do it? It’s a gigantic thing, isn’t it?”

“Before I had grown this strong, I would have certainly not been confident…” she sighed. “But after everything that has happened, and after I’ve grown past beyond the limits of my own creation… I think I’ve improved greatly. I’ve practiced my Hacking abilities with all the machines we had here, and I think as long as I have enough energies, I can give it a shot. But… if in the off chance it doesn’t work… Well…”

“We’ll destroy the tree?” asked Wai Tian.

“Yes…” nodded Zero One, looking rather sad about that. “If that’s what is needed, the tree must be destroyed, or more hostile machines will continue coming from it.”

“Sounds reasonable,” said Yin Sheng. “But when will we know if it worked or not? Is there a time limit?”

“Give me ten minutes…” Zero One said. “If I can’t hack the tree in ten minutes, destroy it.”

“Alright,” I nodded. “Seems like you’re decided, are you sure?”

Zero One clenched her fists tightly, nodding.

“Yes, thank you for worrying, Anna,” she smiled. “I’m ready.”

“Alright then.”

I stepped forward, holding a sword in each of my hands and another using my demon tail. My aura surged as well; as I activated every equipment ability and effect, several colors made from their buffs and auras emerged, and then, through my Myriad Self Arts, I compressed them and fused them into one.

FLUOSH!

All these colors converged into many bodies, arms, hands, heads, eyes, and more, quickly taking the form of several “me” within my Aura. The more I used this power, the more I got used to its strange effects and powers.

“Let’s go.”

The golden portal opened in front of us, which the master created for us to walk outside of her Inner Realm.

She was glancing at us from above, with her ex-husband and her son.

“Good luck! I trust in you, Zero One! Make the difference and the change you said you would bring to this world,” said the heavenly empress. “I believe in you, my disciple.”

“Yes! Thank you, master!”

And then we stepped forward; time itself twisted for a moment as the accelerated time within the Inner Realm made us feel slightly dizzy. I had experienced the same thing when I went out to bring the crow inside.

And what greeted us were the beautiful jungles of the island and the boundless azure sea of the rest of the world…

“We’re here! Alright everyone, follow me and Zero One!”

Like that, we quickly rushed towards the ground, running across the jungles.

“Beep, beep, beebeep!”

At the same time, Zero One was making weird mechanical noises, her eyes constantly releasing shockwaves of neon blue light.

FLAAASH!

She sent the signal, calling all machines to gather below her command, which seemed superior and above the rest of the machines.

As we moved across the jungles…

RUMBLE!

The entire island started trembling, almost a thousand machines rushing towards us, their giant insect-like metallic legs constantly clanking, making a loud noise.

“They’re here; let’s hurry!”

In less than a minute, we reached the Mechanical Tree majestically standing in the middle of the island, on its highest point.

Zero One slowly made her way forward as we followed her. All the machines arrived, their eyes glowing red after noticing our presences.

“Everyone! I’m glad you’re all here.”

Zero One smiled a bit, glancing at her family.

“After I’ve befriended these people, we’ve managed to come to a conclusion. Machines and the inhabitants of this world can live together in harmony.”

After she said that, the machines started making loud, incomprehensible noises.

“The only condition they have is for you to never harm a person of this world and to become allies, equals,” she said. “As long as they don’t harm us, you will not harm them back. simple, right?  I will also supervise this. Therefore…”

She glanced towards the tree.

“I want you to take a decision!” she said. “Would you join us and work towards a future where we can co-exist… Or would you oppose us and become our enemies?”

The machines clanked their legs into the ground; some seemed angered… others calmer. Their eyes are constantly shifting from red to blue colors.

And then, a separation was made; they moved around, roughly thirty percent of the machines glowed blue, walking towards us and surrounding us without any hostility.

The other seventy percent, however, glowed red, gathering around the tree, protecting it.

“I see… So this is your decision!” Zero One said, smiling at both factions.

“Thank you for joining us; you’re all welcome!” She smiled at our many new machine friends and then glared at the rest with calm anger. “And… we shall dispose of those that do not want to co-exist.”

And then the battle began, as both armies of machines clashed against one another.

CLAAASH!

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