Ashlock stared at the system message floating in front of Neptune's face.
[Neptune wishes to form a pact]
As he had learned with Maple, a pact involved mutual cooperation where both parties could act independently without the other's permission. For example, Maple often went off to do his own thing without Ashlock ordering him to, and he could also deny Ashlock's request for help. Whereas Larry, who was a summoned creature by the system, wasn't even allowed to evolve or pick his evolution path without Ashlock's approval.
"If I were to enter a pact with Neptune, I would gain another formidable ally that could help me against the incoming beast tide, the Blood Lotus Patriarch, and finally, the other World Tree in the heart of the Celestial Empire that wants to eat me." Ashlock paused, "But... Maple is completely unhinged and undependable. Would I really be able to coexist with another, even more powerful Maple? He goes off and does his own thing or spends the days sleeping, which I now know is because he is trying to conserve energy to grow stronger. But still! He's so useless half the time!"
Ashlock liked having some level of control over his surroundings and allies, as he lacked control over his body and could not move. Betrayals became more dangerous as he could not flee, and if Neptune signed the pact and then went off by themselves to wage war with the Blood Lotus Sect and subsequently draw enemies toward him, there was nothing he could do except fight.
It was risky... but he was still tempted. At the end of the day, if they entered a pact, Neptune would become his ally, and who wouldn't want an even more powerful void monster than Maple on their side? That small squirrel alone had trapped a 9th-stage Star Core Realm Voidmind Elder, slaughtered the Winterwrath and Evergreen Grand Elders, and even caused two families to go to war with each other over a misunderstanding caused by Maple and Stella's mischief.
Neptune tilted their head as if confused as to why he was stalling.
"They are Maple's family. It wouldn't be fair for me to deny them," Ashlock sighed as he mentally accepted the pact notification.
[Pact failed: Divinity tier too low]
Neptune frowned as she looked at her hand as if confused, "I felt for a brief moment that Ashlock had accepted the pact, but then it stopped? Why?"
"Ashlock, what happened?" Maple asked, hanging upside down from a branch by his feet and looking at him inquisitively with those adorable golden eyes, "Did you change your mind about accepting my siblings last second?"
"Although accepting a pact with such powerful beings related to a rascal like you might be a bad idea..." Ashlock said, almost laughing at Maple's scowl, "That's not what happened. I think my divinity is too low to make a pact with you, Neptune."
Neptune became lost in thought, evident by how she stared blankly at the sky.
"Let me try," Mars closed their eyes, and a similar system message appeared.
[Mars wishes to form a pact]
Ashlock accepted it without any hesitation, but once again, it bounced.
[Pact failed: Divinity tier too low]
"Mhm, I see what you mean," Mars stepped away, also confused.
"Say, Maple, you claim these two are your elder siblings... what is the age and power gap between you?" Ashlock asked the hanging Maple. He had failed to summon Maple in the past with 2600 sacrificial credits as his cultivation realm had apparently been too low, but he had managed to form a pact with Maple once he hopped through the rift in his squirrel form, so why was it now blocking his pact with Neptune and Mars?
"It's hard to compare as we operate on a different timescale and cultivation path to you and the humans. A century for us is like a year for you," Maple said, "But if I had to guess, I am like a newborn at the Nascent Soul Realm, but I was weaker than that before coming here and forming a pact with you. Meanwhile, Neptune and Mars are in their teens at like the Monarch Realm?"
Neptune and Mars exchanged looks and nodded, "About that, yeah." Mars agreed.
"So, a massive gap in power and age," Ashlock mused to himself, "But what about this divinity tier my system is talking about?" He opened his status screen and soon found the answer.
[Demonic Demi-Divine Tree (Age: 9)]
[Star Core: 5th Stage]
[Soul Type: Amethyst (Spatial)]
{??? Divine Fragment [SSS] 1/9}
He was a Demi-Divine tree that was still missing eight of the SSS-grade divine fragments. Senior Lee had mentioned that once he collected all nine, he would ascend to an actual divine being and be able to reach heaven. Would he need to collect all of them to make a pact with Mars and Neptune or only another one? If the system message was to be believed, it suggested there were tiers to divinity, and his current tier was simply too low.
"I just need to collect at least one, if not a few more fragments, before I can make a mutual pact with Mars and Neptune," Ashlock assumed as he closed his status screen. It was a bit of a revelation to learn that each divine fragment was more significant than he had first thought, and maybe more upgrades were waiting for him when he collected the next fragment.
Which brought him to his following line of thought... how and where could he get more fragments?
"Neptune and Mars, I believe the reason I can't form pacts with you is because I need more fragments of divinity. Senior Lee gave me the first one and mentioned only eight more existed. Is that true?"
"That's what I heard," Neptune replied, looking at Mars for confirmation.
"Yeah, same. The Elder Worldwalkers have spoken about it before," Mars nodded thoughtfully. "Apparently, the strongest beings in each layer of creation possess one of these fragments, and we are told not to mess with them and let them ascend if they so wish."
"Why wouldn't they ascend to the next layer?" Ashlock asked in confusion. It didn't make sense that there would be one powerful being guarding a fragment on each layer. Wouldn't they all rush toward heaven with their unlimited cultivation potential like him?
Mars blinked, "Because it would be suicide? Everyone would love to get their hands on a divine fragment, so they will be swamped by entire sects of more powerful cultivators when they appear in the next layer of creation."
Neptune hummed in agreement, but even with his language translation skill running in the background, the hum sounded otherworldly, like an eldritch tune, "I've heard of those stories. A few fools try their luck and ascend anyway, and once they inevitably die, whoever grabbed the fragment will make their way back down to the lower layer of creation so they can live in relative peace as the strongest on that layer of creation."
"I thought people couldn't go back down once they ascended?" Ashlock asked.
"The Worldwalkers are instructed by heaven to leave divine beings alone." Neptune shrugged, "It's not like they can go back down too far anyways, as the lack of Qi in the atmosphere will cause their cultivation to degrade to the point they can be killed, and someone else can steal the fragment and then ascend or stay there."
Ashlock absorbed the information and went silent momentarily as he mulled it over. These fragments were starting to sound more and more like bad news, and shouldn't people start to hunt him down on this layer of creation since he had a fragment?
"Senior Lee did mention that the World Tree would catch onto the fact I have a divine fragment and start to hunt me down. How does a Monarch Realm World Tree hunt anyway?" Ashlock sighed. He had a feeling he didn't want to find out.
Even if the World Tree lacked a mysterious system like him, it was over two entire realms above him and likely had close ties to the Celestial Empire surrounding it like a fortress. If Nox could escape him while being only a few stages higher in the same realm, what was he supposed to do against something two entire realms higher?
"I worry about the Blood Lotus Patriarch, who is barely at the Nascent Soul Realm and this incoming beast tide, whereas the Celestial Empire hasn't had to move to avoid a beast tide since their founding and they don't fear the demonic sects. Which means they must be far more formidable than any demonic sect out here in the wilderness."
Ashlock then set his sights on the future and decided to ask the Worldwalkers while he still could, "So when I reach Monarch Realm and initiate this Era of Ascension, won't I be jumped on by all the people from the higher realm who are after my fragment of divinity."
"Yep!" Maple nodded smugly, "It's going to be a feast to remember."
"Right..." Ashlock appreciated the optimism but didn't feel it would be that easy.
"But I am still too weak and small to eat them all by myself," Maple pouted, "So that's why I asked my siblings for help. We have a pact to protect one another, after all."
Ashlock was stunned and now felt like an arse for debating whether he should accept the pact with the Worldwalkers. "Okay, how powerful are people in the next layer of creation?" Ashlock asked quickly, "Because I won't be able to increase my divinity tier until I kill the strongest being on that layer, and only then can I accept a pact with you two... I think? So I need to find a way to not die instantly the moment I ascend. How strong do my allies and myself need to be?"
Mars nodded, "Needing to get the other fragment sounds about right and to answer the question regarding strength... there is one more cultivation realm above the Monarch Realm on the next layer of creation. No matter what layer of creation you are born on, you start in the Qi Realm like everyone else. But you can progress through the realms and reach a higher ceiling faster due to denser Qi. For the first layer of creation you are on now, the Monarch Realm is the ceiling, but on the next layer of creation, there is one more above called the Sovereign of Realities realm."
The void began to tremble again like it had when Neptune mentioned that Diana was part of the Ravena clan, which was apparently forbidden knowledge as it had something to do with bloodlines.
"You just can't keep your mouth shut about that stuff," Maple grumbled, and Mars frowned slightly.
"Looks like we are out of time," Neptune said as she glanced up at the collapsing void, "You can always talk to us again if Maple—"
"No, this was a one-time thing," Maple shook his head, "Almost all the energy I got from my feast was wasted on this conversation with you two."
"Well, I will see you again when Ashlock accesses the Mystic Realm using a power he supposedly doesn't understand," Neptune said in such a neutral voice and with an expressionless face that it was hard to tell if she was serious, joking, or actually angry that he was lying, "Especially you human."
"Me?" Diana, who had been quietly listening in to the conversation, seemed bewildered as she pointed to herself under the emotionless gaze of Neptune.
"Yes, come find me the next time you enter the Mystic Realm. I have something to show you," Neptune smiled slightly, which made Diana shiver.
"Okay..." Diana reluctantly replied.
And on that note, the void collapsed in an instant. Neptune and Mars were gone in the blink of an eye, and Maple briefly became a mass of wiggling tentacles as he reverted to his squirrel form.
[Dimensional Overlap Restored]
Ashlock noticed another hundred sacrificial credits get drained from his sign-in system as reality around him warped, and he felt his consciousness expand into the void beyond reality and through the celestial fog until it finally latched onto the pocket realm he had picked in the menu previously and then pulled it back with him through the tear in reality.
A bubble of spatial Qi expanded out from his trunk as the epicenter for a few meters. It felt... strange. It was like being trapped inside a fish tank with liquid Qi so dense it was swirling around him.
Diana began to cough violently. She quickly grabbed Kaida and stumbled out of the pocket realm that barely enshrouded his entire body. Since she only had to walk a few meters to reach the edge of the bubble, Diana managed to leave before Ashlock could even help. The boundary of the pocket realm was a thick layer of spatial Qi that she had to push through with a bit of effort, but other than that, she could leave freely.
"So I will definitely need to find a way to keep someone in here to stop them escaping so easily like that in actual combat," Ashlock mused, "Luckily, I have my vines and Ents that are great for that."
Ashlock then noticed his Star Core begin to fill up faster than usual as all his leaves began pulling in the surrounding spatial Qi and draining the pocket realm. "Wait, I can cultivate using {Dimensional Overlap}?"
Ashlock was perplexed as he had initially thought {Dimensional Overlap} would be a perfect attack or support skill as it would allow him to alter environments to suit his allies or counter his enemies' affinities, but he could also use it to power himself up like how his allies used the Mystic Realm?
"Guess that's an S-grade skill for you," Ashlock chuckled as he tried to gaze out of the spatial pocket realm but found everything outside was very blurry and tainted in a purple hue, "Okay, so there's some drawbacks here. My allies might struggle to shoot at enemies outside the pocket realm if they can't see through the bubble, but I can get around that."
Shifting his view through his roots, he could now look at himself from the outside. Diana was standing there with Kaida, watching the giant dome of spatial Qi that covered around a third of Red Vine Peak and the entirety of his trunk.
"Interesting, looks like I can use this as a sort of defense or camouflage skill if I pick the right pocket realm. Wouldn't a pocket realm filled with illusion Qi be good to hide myself from powerful foes? Or would I just stick out like a sore thumb?"
Ashlock stopped rambling on in his mind and decided to ask Diana with {Abyssal Whispers}, "Hey Diana, could you fetch Stella for me? I need her help testing this new pocket realm I have summoned."
"S-sure..." Diana blinked a few times before her brain kicked into gear, "I will go get her as quickly as I can." Diana said as feathered wings sprouted from her back. She then ran toward the White Stone Palace while shrouded in mist and used her wings to glide between the trees for extra speed.
"Huh, that's pretty cool," Ashlock thought as he focused back on the peak, and then he remembered Titus, his only spatial Qi Ent. The pile of black wood was slowly repairing himself with a combination of the Qi Ashlock was providing him and the Qi his own Star Core produced. But it was pretty slow due to how extensive the damage was, and there was no way in hell he was paying hundreds of credits to repair him instantly.
"Titus, crawl your way into the pocket realm," Ashlock instructed the Ent as Titus's eyes flared up with purple flames, and he began to move, "I want to see if it helps you heal faster in here."
