Jessica’s home, it turned out, wasn’t anything too special. She hadn’t stayed there for years, so it was mostly empty and bare.

What was interesting, however, was its location.

According to her explanation, the tree they entered served as a portal to the trunk of the Eldratre, which was itself a pocket space that contained the valley they had entered. The living areas were simply in different sections of the tree.

The fact that an entire population lived inside a tree that was also a High Cultivator felt strange, but it was supposedly something the tremanns had been doing for generations.

After Bornie had, much to everyone else’s chagrin, spent fifteen minutes checking out the place and obsessing over the mechanics of a High Tree’s internals, they were finally ready to go.

He was getting twitchy, if he was being honest. He couldn’t do anything apart from passive cycling until his foundation was steady, and resisting the temptation was getting harder. The qi might have felt strange, but it was very potent.

He tried to occupy his mid by checking his neural processor for more information on the tremanns and their groves.

“Alright, let’s go, my mother is waiting for us.”

Jessica’s bubbly attitude had mellowed down over the past few minutes. He wasn’t sure why, but it felt strange hearing her sound grim.

Not that it was his business.

When they stepped out of the portal this time, an open clearing greeted them.

Behind them, he could see the thick forest of trees they were initially passing through.

In front of them was a copse of trees that were even taller than the trees behind them. They were uniform and arranged in a circle so perfect that it was clearly artificially created.

Insignificant details, they were.

For in the middle of the circle stood what was, without a doubt, the largest tree he had ever seen by a long shot. Even the lightning peak, a mountain whose height he had always appreciated, felt small compared to the absolute monstrosity that called itself a tree.

He now doubted if the valley the saw was really a pocket space. He would absolutely believe it someone told him the whole place was actually its hollowed-out trunk.

He looked at his companions and was disappointed to see that none of them seemed impressed.

“What,” Bornie asked when she saw him staring. “I’ve seen the world tree before. This is much smaller.”

Of course it was.

He felt an overwhelming urge to look for people at the bottom of society and befriend them. If only so he could have someone to share his amazement.

“My reaction was similar to yours when I saw the world tree,” Lisa admitted suddenly.

That was unexpected, he thought.

Apparently, his companions agreed too, because they were staring at her like she was crazy.

“I get shocked too,” she said when she saw them staring.

She almost sounded defensive about it.

Almost.

She immediately went back to ignoring them and the rest of them wisely dropped the topic.

“The Eldratre doesn’t allow portals from this point,” Jessica said. “We’re going to walk.”

And so, they walked.

They got to the tree in a few minutes, walking leisurely as they were, then waited for Jessica’s directions.

She touched her hand to the tree, and like the last time, a hole opened up for them.

This time though, they walked into what was clearly a meeting room, with chairs made of vines and a soft carpet of grass covering the ground.

On a fairly modest seat that was only slightly bigger than the other rest, sat someone who he could now identify as High Druid Elysse Eldratre, the highest-ranking person in the Grove.

From what he had discovered, druids were essentially people who bonded to intelligent trees, all of whom were spawn of the world tree.

Though the articles had called her Druid, she was obviously a High Cultivator now, considering druids advanced with their trees.

“A Walkins, a Saurabh, a Feltham, and the youngest Ascendant in history,” the woman spoke, and he knew the only reason he wasn’t grovelling at her feet was because of her fine control. “That’s political power to make most things happen in this country.”

He looked at Lisa, and sure enough, her eyes narrowed the moment the woman mentioned her family name. He couldn’t even blame her. The way the woman spoke made him think she simply wanted to use them as political pawns.

“Mum!” Jessica shouted angrily. “I told you not to say that.”

“But it’s the truth,” the Druid said simply. “You have something you need to achieve. They can solve it easily. Are they not your friends.”

“You’re the one that wants it!” the younger woman cried. “I’ve never asked for a stupid tree.”

“Enough,” the High Druid commanded. ”You will not speak of the great trees that way.”

She unleashed her spirit, and Xiao Lee found himself closer to death than he had been for a long time. The last thing he saw was the others struggling on the floor.

And then the world turned black.

* * *

Bornie Saurabh, brightest mind of her generation, had anger issues.

She had learnt to control it through therapy and specialised meditation techniques.

Her episodes almost never happened anymore. In fact, on any other day, it would be difficult to believe that good old Bornie had issues not getting mad.

Today was not one of such days.

Bornie was a smart person, and she had strong opinions about many things, as smart people are wont to do.

At the very top of her list of opinions was a disgust her parents had made sure she inherited.

Abuse of power.

So, when she saw the High Druid unleash her spirit in the presence of Students, one of whom was a Neophyte, she was understandably furious.

She did not worry for herself or her companions, they all grew up with High Cultivators and had experience in resisting suppression.

But when Xiao Lee, the Ascendant who was still trying to find his footing and be a better person, hit the ground, his heart barely beating; she simply lost it.

Most young people from High Cultivator families had a very powerful failsafe. One that often made them impossible to assassinate.

If she released a small switch buried deep in her soul, she could channel the power of High Senator Saurabh, her mother and one of the most powerful cultivators in existence.

Perhaps if Bornie was thinking straight, she would have realised she was overreacting, or that the High Druid’s subsequent scream was a plea, not an order.

Perhaps, then, the outcome would have been much better for everyone involved.

Alas, it was not to be.

* * *

When Xiao Lee came to ten minutes after he passed out, a worryingly long time at his level, it was to a scene much different from what he left.

For one, he was sure the meeting room did not have a massive hole that opened up to the outside world. The tree’s bark was even thicker than he expected, and the hole was a long tunnel that stretched on for tens of metres.

More worrying, however, was whoever had the power to hurl the High Druid of Eldratre through her own tree.

He knew that was what happened because apart from the fact that the hole was shaped like her, he could clearly see her body pasted to one of the trees that surrounded Eldratre.

Looking around showed him more signs of damage to the room, though there were all minor compared to the hole. He also noticed that only Louisa was still in the room and everyone else was nowhere to be seen.

“Please do you know where everyone went?” he asked.

“You’re awake,” she deadpanned. “Thought you were dead.”

“You could hear my heartbeat,” he pointed out with a frown.

“I guess I could. The others are outside. Which is exactly where you shouldn’t be.”

“What? Why?” he asked in confusion.

“Cause Bornie’s gone all super Saurabh on the Druid,” she revealed. “Didn’t know she had a thing for cultivation freak from the edge of the universe but that’s Bornie for you.”

Lee narrowed his eyes slightly at her description of him. He though it quite rude, but there was little he could do.

“No. Don’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“You thought the way I described you was rude, which is true, but decided not to call me out on it.”

He stared at her in confusion. He still wasn’t sure what her point was. Of course, he wouldn’t call out someone so much more powerful than him for something so trivial. Not when he didn’t know the person.

“You’re too polite, Xiao Lee.”

“It is prudent to keep your head down when you’re weak.”

It was something his master always told him in the early days. When he was still weak in the grand scheme of things. He thought it was wise. Being confrontational only brought enemies you couldn’t afford to anger.

“Maybe it was on your world, but you don’t need to worry about undue retaliation here. Letting yourself get stepped on is even worse.”

Yet he nearly died a few minutes ago because a High Cultivator lost their cool. Even if she was punished for it, he’d still be dead.

Still, it was pointless to argue, so he simply nodded his agreement.

He acknowledged the irony of that decision with amusement.

He was thankfully, saved from dealing with a reply by the return of the others.

Lisa and Jessica entered the room looking grim. Bornie looked unharmed but was slumped in Lisa arms and showed no signs of waking up. Elysse, on the other hands, was still awake but looked like she’d been rolled over by a boulder.

He stared at them in shock for a moment before finally finding his voice.

“What happened?”

He still felt shocked when he thought about how the day turned out.

It was supposed to be a simple outing.

There was nothing simple about what had happened. Bornie had apparently channelled her mother’s power through herself, effectively putting herself out of commission for a few days.

The whole situation was a political mess. The Enclave was furious that someone had injured a High Tree and where out for blood.

Unfortunately for them, they had bigger worries than revenge. Lasvania had always allowed the Enclave to remain relatively autonomous, even to the point of having their own constitution and handling they’re legal matters internally.

The recent episode, however, where a High Druid unleashed her spirit on children of very high-ranking people had Cliver out for serious blood. The High Senate was already holding an emergency session on the future of Enclave independence.

He had also underestimated the effect his brush with death would have. Most of the Lone Powers and a lot of people in power were already calling for an end to the autonomy of the Tremanns.

The World Tree’s Druid was a Lone Power herself and had been largely responsible for ensuring the autonomy of her people, but she seemed outnumbered by her peers.

* * *

The trip to the Fifth Republic was moved to the next week. By the end of the week, new laws were drafted. The Grand Enclave was turned into just another political party. The various enclaves around the country were eased into the Lasvanian legal system. The High Druid Elysse was being charged with attempted murder and suppression of Students with her superior cultivation.

A simple outing had led to the full mobilisation of legal powers of the state, the end of the thousands of years of autonomy enjoyed by a millennia old institution and a general level of activity in Cliver unseen in years.

But eventually, like all things, the storm died. Bloodlust was sated.

And the monster lay dormant once again, waiting for its next unlucky victim.