Year 10, Day 32

  Time passed on- Every single day Root would receive one [Copper Ticket], which he would not use but instead keep. He wanted a [Gold Ticket] to see what prize would come of it! In ten days the mortals started to settle down easily enough, with their own hands they started to work to make a living out of things- Root prohibited them of destroying or cutting down trees as the forest was still recovering, instead he used his [Wood Make] skill and gave them wood as the benevolent tree that he was, earning a little more of their loyalty. They used the wood given to make homes, or at least one house, which was put together slowly. Root had Ahteus watching the process discreetly, because he wanted his son to know how the mortals did it, so he could know how to build in an efficient way.

  And he did!

  He went back to his experimentation on forging later that day, right beneath Root's roots, where a fire burned by Qi- Ah, right! On day 26, Root had another child.

  Say hello to the Fire Qi spirit, Fiero. With hair of flames and a bright orange skin, this fiery boy spends most of his day basking in the glory of natural sunlight with his bright yellow eyes staring right into the sky. Yan Zhun, the human child with the Fire Cultivation Root of Trash Quality met Fiero and was fascinated, not only by the majestic Fiero and his fiery body, but also by his lesser siblings that took the forms of ox, snakes, birds, and salamanders. In fact, that was how Root found out that Spirits can make contracts with Cultivators to share their Qi with said Cultivator.

  Flashback - Year 10, Day 28

  It was a particularly hot day. The sun blazed down with its Fire Qi bright and full, mixed so thoroughly to Light and Yin Qi that it was basically a single Qi. Of course to Root this is not true, seeing as he can turn Fire, Yin, and Light Qi into Nature Qi, he can naturally separate them into their basic components! He gathered the Sun Qi and focused, separating from the Light and Yin Qi the blazing Fire Qi, he purified it for a moment and added it to a seed using his skill [Seed Make]- He called out to his children: "Come, come witness the birth of a new sibling." Ahteus rose from the ground, Lily and Zylph flew from the north where they spent some time away from mortals, training their conjoined Qi techniques with their respective equipment. Leaf got down from Root's canopy, where he had been, cultivating for a while.

  "Father."

  "Dad."

  "Pops!"

  Greeting their father, the four spirits bowed in respect- they had seen the mortals do it, and with a little bit of research, they learned that this was a way to show respect to your superior. "Children." Root greeted them back, he told them many times it was not necessary for them to bow, and yet they still did do it. "Come, watch the birth of your fiery brother… Fiero." As he finished speaking, the seed which contained Fiero bursted out in an explosive flame! With a shrill, a bird-like flame condensed into a humanoid with yellow-orange skin, fiery hair, and pointy elven ears that all spirits shared! "Hey! Hi, hi dad! Hi!" Excited, the fiery boy flew around in a circle before he hugged Root's bark, with his fiery hot body it was a little bit painful for Root to keep prolonged contact, but he ignored the pain very easily and "hugged" Fiero back.

  "Fiero, these are your siblings." Root said, although invisible to the naked eye, every spirit could see the Nature Qi emanating from Root's tree body and form an invisible hand that pointed towards each kid: "From the oldest to the youngest, Leaf, Lily, Ahteus, and Zylph. You are the youngest one now, but won't be in the future." Root retracted the qi back into his body before releasing it in a wave, to not only feed his children, but also to nourish the forest. "HI~!" Basically screaming, Fiero went and tried to hug Leaf, only for the spirit to hesitate before hugging him too, much to his pain- He groaned as the Fire Qi naturally destroyed his body, making his father sigh in a fond exasperating way. A rush of Nature Qi entered his burnt body, his blackened skin turned lush green once more as he was healed by his father. "Leaf, do not be foolish and try to copy what I do, or it'll lead to your demise… I'd hate to lose my oldest child."

  Leaf bowed, saying: "I apologize father, it won't happen again."

  "Make sure it doesn't." Root said sternly- He doesn't want his children to act foolish after all, just because he did something it doesn't mean they also can!

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  "I'm sorry." Fiero looked guiltily at his brother, but Leaf only shook his head and smiled back at him: "It's not your fault Little Fiero, it's mine." Lily also rejected hugging Fiero in fear it would hurt her, however, Zylph and Ahteus both hugged Fiero with a fiery passion- They weren't hurt by his Fire Qi after all! In fact, Fire Qi and Wind Qi amplified each other in harmony, while Fire and Earth Qi stabilized each other easily enough to not cause any disturbance in the Qi. In fact, Earth Qi is an excellent method of qi stabilization. 'Should I make pills with Earth Qi…? When I learn how to, maybe.' That's an idea archived for later.

  Flashback - Year 10, Day 29

  Yan Zhun.

  He wasn't stupid like many children, but he wasn't smart like an adult. He was conscious, he had an idea about where he was and what he was doing- He was in a forest with what was left of his family, he was tested by a tree, and he had the potential to cultivate. Fire Qi he said, Qi made for the destruction and consumption of everything… It sounded amazing and powerful, and his little heart dreamed of the day he could set things ablaze with awesome and powerful techniques he has only heard of in stories.

  He dreamed of his family, of the time they were in their village and he remembers when they came- howls and screams followed by smoke and blood. They were hungry, relentlessly hunting down anyone that tried to escape. He and the others only survived because of his father, the bravest man he has ever known to exist- he gave up his own life so his children could have the possibility of living theirs.

  Tragic as it is, little Yan Zhun watched his father get torn to shreds by black vines as a walking monstrosity of vine, blood, and thorns poured from the ground destroying almost everything around it. He, his mother, and his sister managed to escape but were unable to find help- His sister went out and found help, died on the way back, successfully getting help and saving his and his mother's life but ultimately sacrificing herself.

  He still holds her jade pendant.

  "...woah." As he focused on what Immortal Tree had told him to do - Which was trying to clear his mind first so he may learn how to cultivate later - he saw a small ball of fire floating. It was small, maybe the size of a small bird, floating towards him. He reached, thinking he was dreaming, and touched the ball- Immediately his hand burned, and he hissed in pain as he pulled his hand back. "Ouch." The sphere of fire seemed interested in him somehow, and even though he tried to not touch it, the sphere did touch him again- This time, not physically. He felt a warmth in his stomach, and suddenly he was connected to the thing, and he didn't know how. "Sister." He called it 'Sister', mostly because his sister would always tell him that she was a fire never to be extinguished, and although his young mind didn't know yet what "extinguished" meant, he knew she was a fire.

  And fire she was, and she burned alright.

  Oh how she burned…

  Root POV:

  "What?" His voice echoes around him, his Nature Qi lashing out at the air- One of his children has made a contract with someone? He peered deeply into his connection to every single one of his children and in an instant he was in the familiar endless void of his mind. Here, however, he saw the many dots of light that were each a star, each his children. The brightest green star was Leaf, the brightest red star was Fiero, the brightest pale silver star was Zylph, the brightest black star (yes, it still produced light) was Lily, and the brightest brown star was Ahteus. "There." He saw a small red star, one the new additions to his mind, and that small star had a white thread connecting it to something far away from his mind. He focused and with a tiny nudge, he was immediately connected to the spirit.

  He used a lot of Qi for that

  "Child." He called out to Fiero, since one of his was the one to do such a thing, he should deal with it. The contract itself is not exactly a bad thing, but it isn't a good thing either- it just is. "One of your lesser siblings has entered in a… Contract to one of the human cultivators of our sect, Yan Zhun. It is your responsibility to learn everything you can from this contract between them." Fiero just nodded softly, his fiery form floated in a fluttering flow as he flew as fast as feasible to reach the child. The child was located in the communal home for the village, the very first home made by the spirit Ahteus for the mortals to stay and protect themselves from the elements.