GREED: ALL FOR WHAT?

Ghoto snorted. "The origin of the tree isn't a mystery. I heard it was planted here by the first Origin ancestor himself." Ghoto said and he didn't think that it was special. The fact that it was planted here by the ancestor is a given since the ancestor built this city. Even if the tree was planted by someone else, what could be special about that? The tree couldn't have found its way into the city without someone in power placing it there.

The supervisor continued to speak. "That is true in a sense but not complete. The tree has a much bigger impact on the Ghastorix family than its ability to create origin energy. It all started when the ancestor was a young man. The ancestor had just come of age at five years old and left his family to leave on his own. Things were backward back then where battle sage monkeys still relied on trees. The ancestor needed to find a tree to live in and for support. Things were unfortunate because the ancestor was weak and couldn't hold on to a tall and big tree. He had to settle for a short tree that was uncontested. The ancestor didn't know the name of the tree back then, he had chosen to live atop the tree because no one wanted it. This tree was always in the shade of other trees, it was short and stumpy. Its weird stature didn't discourage the ancestor who was content with it. This decision turned into a boon for him."

"Wow, are you saying that that tree is the same creeping dwarf that has formed the forest in the inner city?" Ghoto asked. Everyone stared at him for interrupting the story. "Cough cough, please continue."

"As many know, the ancestor is talkative." Everyone nodded in agreement. One of the inheritable traits of the ancestor is the inability to hold back from speaking.

The supervisor was encouraged when they nodded and continued speaking. He didn't need encouragement from them because he had also inherited this particular trait but it was welcomed.

"So the ancestor was always speaking to himself and anyone who would listen. What he didn't know was that the tree was actually sentient and was always listening. The tree grew to enjoy the ancestor's company. The ancestor's usual complaining and grumbling which made him an outcast among his peers made the tree attached to him instead. And it paid off when the tree saved his life from danger. It was then that he found out that not only was the tree sentient, but it was also strong. It was so strong that it had reached the limit of the plane, the transcendent level. At that time, that was the strongest power in the plane. The ancestor used its uniqueness to gain many advantages and grew stronger quickly, but good things don't always last."

The supervisor's voice took on a sad tone. "The tree had lived for a long time, it had reached its maximum potential and any more growth led to the incitement of lightning tribulation."

Soverick nodded in understanding. He knows a lot of things about trees and their paths as a former high Elf. Trees are different from animals in their way of life and growth pattern. Theoretically, trees don't have any limit on their growth, they can gain sentience, they can move and they can transform themselves into a humanoid form and be free from their current form. It is just that any growth beyond their usual pattern will call for lightning tribulation. The tribulation isn't trying to kill them, it is trying to give them extra life energy to complete the transformation, but they had to be strong enough or special enough to survive. Lightning contains life energy, the amount of life energy that a tree requires to transform is dependent on the amount of growth ring they have. That's why the lightning tribulation is greater the older the tree. The earlier a tree attains enlightenment and invokes the need for transformation, the weaker the tribulation will be.

The transcendent continued his story as he led them to the transition stall. The transition stall is a special room that is used to reach any floor in a matter of seconds. It works by creating warp points between different locations which people can use to reach a destination of choice. It is a very important device used to traverse large buildings such as this.

"The tree was very old even at that time and it had experienced lightning tribulation before. The experience traumatized the tree and it grew to become afraid of lightning. It reduced its height and lived in the shadows of other trees to protect itself. It also channeled its growth to create stores of vitality in its roots instead. It couldn't hide from lightning because the process wasn't complete, it would either complete the transformation into the free form or die. Because of its cowardice, the lightning tribulation became terrifying after delaying it year after year. The tree informed the ancestor of its plight when the ancestor became transcendent. The ancestor could finally engage with his long-time companion. He was the one that was usually talking but the first thing he heard was the impending doom of his friend. The ancestor left for the ancient battlefield for his friend in hopes to find a solution. He participated in the trial of heaven to acquire things that can help his tree friend, he was hoping to get objects with healing properties or life energy. The ancestor succeeded but he was too late. He returned to find the tree damaged to an inch of its life. Only the incredible vitality of the tree allowed even that much to survive. The healing properties of the things he brought back didn't work after using up all of them, his tree friend was too damaged to be saved by them. In the ancestor's desperation, he used the Origin essence he had won for his excellent performance in the trial of heaven. The origin essence worked but it incited more lightning tribulation so the ancestor had to protect his friend from dying completely. This stalemate continued for years in which the ancestor used everything to defend against the relentless lightning strikes."

"That is just impossible," Litori exclaimed.

"Let the man complete his story before making any statement," Mihila said. Soverick agreed, he was also intrigued by the whole affair. 'What a likable guy.' Soverick thought. The ancestor of the Ghastorix seemed like a tree lover, just like elves. In his book, that was a likable personality trait.

"I understand your confusion. The lightning came down in small amounts at first. A little here and there every day. The tree possessed a small amount of vitality and as such, attracted few weak lightning strikes. The lightning strikes became more frequent and stronger as the tree healed. The ancestor took the place of the tree and received the lightning for it. This led to the ancestor becoming stronger and he also mastered the law of lightning. He later became immune to it but then the destructive ability changed because of the complete transformation of the tree. The lightning that initially wanted to provide life energy to nurture the tree changed its objective when the tree broke the balance of the plane. The normal path should have been the transformation of the tree into a free lifeform which would then leave the plane but the use of origin essence changed the tree into an immobile object capable of causing immense destruction to the plane. It became a target that the plane had to destroy. The relentless lightning strikes finally stopped when the ancestor was able to separate the tree from the plane. He put the tree into a secret realm which later became this city, and that's how the Ghastorix family of lightning punishment was born."

"So the city was built for the tree instead of the other way around," Kayla said in amazement.

"Correct. Ancestor Ghastorix later had offsprings so that they can keep his tree friend company while he went to explore the higher realms." The supervisor answered. They all marveled at the reveal. Unlike lowly mortal races that produce offspring because they don't have a better goal in life or because they don't have a choice. Higher lifeforms produce offspring for many other reasons. The reasons could be lowly or worthy, it could be because of boredom or for a greater purpose. Achieving more power is the ultimate aim of powerful people, if having children can help to achieve that, then so be it. If not, then you can decide for yourself if you want to have children or not. The reason is totally up to an individual. Having offspring becomes more difficult the more powerful a lifeform is so it might not be up to the individual if they can have children or not.

But to find out that your entire family and lineage were created so that a tree won't be bored is enough to astound a person.