GREED: ALL FOR WHAT?

The plant parts are sterilized and placed in the sachets, then some ghone rocks are placed in the container with them. The container is sealed and then subjected to a dissociation wave that breaks down the structure of living matter in the container. The ghone stones react to this wave too by breaking apart and freezing the contents of the container. The cost of this storage method probably accounts for a tenth of the total cost of production.

The alternative to storing them will be to convert the materials to pills but the need to preserve their purity makes items with life energy difficult to work with and can be more expensive. The advantage of pills is their quick-acting properties. As they are right now, the materials will be eaten raw. The advantage of that is the high utility per unit of the materials while the disadvantage is that they will need to be digested which takes more time.

The plant matter started to liquefy as soon as they were exposed to a source of energy such as the light and the heat of the natural world. They turned into globules of life force within each sachet. Soverick looked them over.

"They will all probably amount to a week's worth of work. Just one mouthful of life force from Hadrick." He estimated.

"They must have butchered a lot of plants to create such an amount," Hadrick said.

Soverick shrugged. "What does it matter to you? It's not like you care about them."

"I don't care that much. I can't care about every plant, but it is still sad to see. They are my kinsmen after all."

"You're right, but this is the way of the world. The strong eat the weak. Even you are not completely safe. Something can still happen between now and the time your partner becomes a world god. This is the period when you're weakest. I hear that ancient trees with unique talents like yours are incredibly important to world gods."

"Well, they can try. I am not so weak and I will not go down without a fight." Hadrick's voice was steely.

"You also have a host of strong descendants to protect you so you would have reinforcements in case of a fight." Sovericksaid before closing the container. He is currently full of life energy and wouldn't be able to utilize them efficiently. They will be difficult to digest so he plans to take them after another dose of Hadrick's life force, which will be tomorrow. He sat on his bed and continued to meditate

"So there's no way to lose," Hadrick spoke with confidence.

"You are wrong about that. There are many ways for you to lose as long as it is worth the effort. If a world god decides that you're worth the effort then you will lose."

"A world god cannot descend to the lower realms."

"Your origin god descendants are out of the picture too. It is common knowledge that origin gods don't like to stay in the lower realm. Even if they do, they prefer to stay on the ancient battlefield and not the planes. Sovereigns don't even stay in the planes either. What your attackers need to do is bring a group of origin gods to ambush this city in a blitzing attack. They will only need to destroy the secret realm and your protective barrier, your tribulation will help them finish you off. By the time your reinforcement comes, they will have made off with a large portion of your body. I doubt you can split your consciousness, so that means they will have effectively taken you away. Soverick explained slowly.

"But we have defenses put in place to face origin gods," Hadrick argued.

"Ni, you don't. Your defenses can hold an origin god at most. What about two of them or three."

"Why would three origin gods attack the city?" Hadrick asked.

Soverick laughed. "The problem is that you never considered your worth. It is because you're ignorant of your worth. If a world god determines that you are worthy of it, then a thousand origin gods can attack the city."

His words sobered Hadrick up, it lost a lot of confidence immediately. It knew that a world god can command more than a thousand origin gods. The Ghastorix ancestor isn't a world god yet but even he can command a force of hundreds of origin gods. Just imagining the force of such an attack made him so much fear that it could compare to his fear of its tribulation.

"I'm calling for an origin god immediately. Only an origin god can utilize the city's defenses to stall for reinforcements." He shouted anxiously.

Soverick regretted his words a little. He didn't want an origin god to come here. It was already rare that some sovereigns were in the city. He knew they were sent here to monitor him but he hadn't cared about them. An origin god on the other hand is a serious matter, he won't be able to use his soul's power without attracting attention.

"I am just joking. It is not that serious. You don't have to call an origin god over. What are the odds that a world god will set its eyes on you at this moment of all times." He tried to laugh it off.

"No, you're right. I have been so full of myself. I have to be sure and I'll call more origin gods." Hadrick insisted, then he went silent. Soverick shook his head in regret. 'Probably calling for origin gods right now." He thought.

He had forgotten about the fact that he was speaking with a cowardly plant with an immense influence in a big family. He was sure origin gods will be running over with a lot of clones as soon as Hadrick makes a fuss. These are origin gods we are talking about, the true immortals, one with laws, but they will come running immediately because of Hadrick. It is one of the advantages of creating a family, your influence and power will increase with time. What's worse is that he won't be able to bully or threaten Hadrick anymore. Soverick could only sigh and return to his refinement.

He was right about the danger though. The High Elves also were invaded in the past for their Life trees. Their forests were burnt down, their ancestral trees were stolen and desecrated, and their people were massacred. All of this because they were targeted by world gods. Not a single world god, but a host of them set their eyes on the high elves.

They won the war and pushed back the invasion of their plane at the end of the day after they rallied the entire force of their race. Things would have been worse if the realm of high heaven could accommodate world gods or if the home plane of the High elves could accommodate transcendents. Thankfully the highest limit of power allowed in a plane of existence is Sovereign, and that is only in special planes, most planes can only allow transcendent as the limit. This restriction was critical in achieving their victory.

After the win came the pressure, the high elves were not allowed on the ancient battlefield or allowed to ascend to the upper realm anymore. They were hunted on sight by the alliance forces of the enemies. The enemies couldn't beat them on their home plane but they could harass them till they lose their edge.

It was until the High Elves accepted defeat and made a truce with their enemies that they were allowed to prosper on the ancient battlefield. But they were still being hunted in the upper realms. So even though the high elves let go of their pride and opened the trade of their ancestral life trees to world gods, they still couldn't thrive in the upper realm. It ultimately gave them peace for a while until the realm lord came along from the high Elf race and shattered all common sense to seize the throne of realm lord. It is the tale of a hero and the salvation of a race.

Hadrick may be special but it still cannot be compared to a Life tree. Even world gods will agree that life trees are a miracle of existence. Life trees are not supposed to exist in nature. According to clear historical records, life trees came about due to a unique circumstance of a mixture of ancestral worship and unique opportunity. In ancient times before the era of transcendents, this era is also the time when races of different types warred for supremacy in their various planes. Usually, the first race to create a transcendent will win, but there was a process that influenced this certain victory. This process is ancestral worship which leads to the creation of heroic spirits. High elves also participated in this tradition, except their target of worship is the body of one of their direct ancestor. High elves descend from two transformed trees, one of which sacrificed itself to create a home for the high elves. The worship of the tree husk left behind by this ancestor created the very first life tree in the entire void universe.