Stella was over her fear of heights, thanks to the flight tattoo Joseph had given her, but appearing near the world tree still caused them to have a bit of a start. This realm's world tree was smaller than their own, but it was still too big to comprehend once they were too close to see the edges curve away. The wrinkles on its bark, were thick enough, that they could have walked on them without a problem.

Landing on the ground, they looked to the horizon and still couldn't see the end of its great branches.

(UM. THE WORLD TREE WISHES TO THANK YOU FOR YOUR EFFORTS IN FIXING THE WORLD TREE IN OUR REALM.)

'Um. Ok. You can talk to it?'

(OH YES. UH. YES MA'AM. SORRY MA'AM. YES, IT IS COMPLETELY MY FAULT.)

'Getting in trouble for your beta version?'

(I CAN'T HELP IT. SHE DOESN'T KNOW I HAVE IMPROVED.)

'Can I talk to it?'

(YOU WOULD NEED PLANT TELEPATHY.)

'Ok, so how many points is that?'

(UHM….50. SAME AS NORMAL TELEPATHY. YOU WOULD NORMALLY TELL ME YOU COULD DO IT WITH MAGIC THOUGH, INSTEAD OF SPENDING POINTS.)

'I'm pressed for time.'

Turning to look at Stella, he saw that she had a slightly vacant look in her eyes.

"Stella, can you talk to the world tree?"

"Of course, Joseph. Though only the elders spoke to the world tree, all of us are capable of it in theory."

"Ok."

TELEPATHY.

This would be like a conference call…

(THAT…NEVER MIND.)

'Cool idea, huh? Joe thought of it.'

(JOE DID? AH. I KEEP FORGETTING ABOUT HIM. I AM NOT MEANT TO BE USED ON A SHARED ACCOUNT.)

'Joe is fine with that."

(NO, I NEED TO MAKE SURE I'M INSTALLED ON JOE, TOO.)

'Joe refuses. You just want to do that so you can split the life points he earned between us.'

(I HADN'T THOUGHT OF THAT.)

'The answer is still no, says Joe. It's creepy. I don't want to be watched all the time. Or so he says, system.'

(WE'LL SEE ABOUT THAT.)

'He says he knows about your beta; bring it on.'

(YOU KNOW WHAT? JOE IS JUST FINE THE WAY HE IS. WHEN WE GET BACK, LET'S NEVER MENTION THIS TRAVESTY AGAIN, RIGHT?)

'Joe finds that acceptable.'

The voice that popped up in his head was feminine. It was odd, though. It sounded kind of like a choir speaking, of hundreds of the same voice recorded and played on top of each other.

Stella said, "That is just how trees sound, Joseph."

"It is very nice to meet you," he responded through Stella.

"You're welcome. Do you have any ideas on how I could do this more easily?"

"Your use of p.r.o.nouns is a bit hard to follow."

"No, you don't need to apologize; that makes sense. Plus, I'm really just reading Stella's mind and not talking to you directly, so some issues are bound to happen.

"If I take a branch from you, to replant in my realm, could I just burn down the world tree there?"

"Figures. Hey, I'm planning on taking all of the demi-humans and demons back to my realm. Do you want me to take the elves?"

"Ok. I wanted to ask."

"Stella?"

He met her eyes and she looked confused, and a little horrified.

"How long and for what?"

Stella's face went blank and her mind almost dropped the connection.

"No, we would prefer not. We won't allow each other to fall in love, or do that, with anyone else."

He could feel the relief from her, at his answer.

"I'm pretty sure that if she fell in love with someone else, I would kill them, and vice versa."

"I would be happy, and can probably handle, an unrequited love if Stella never wanted to be intimate with me. But we have no way to sever our mind connection, and being forced to experience one of us making love to another person, isn't something either of us are willing to experience."

"I can use magic to make some of your elves pregnant with children similar to Stella, if you want?"

"Are they willing?"

"WHAT!?" Stella yelled.

Joseph glanced at her, to see that she was livid.

"Uh, Stella? Have you had a child before, or something?"

"No, it wasn't me, it was my sister. She swore she hadn't been with any of the hunters, but n.o.body believed her. When the child was born and looked so different, the elders said it was a blessing from the world tree."

"Oh, so they do that sort of thing often."

"Okay, then which bloodline do you want?"

"Yes. Stella's people were three related clans: a magical mage clan, a magical warrior clan, and a clan whose magic was devoted almost entirely to physical enhancement, and thus ridiculously strong."

"In my first life, I was a part of the clan that had superior bodies. This life I am still not very good with magic, like Joseph, so I chose the clan with magical abilities to be closer to him," explained Stella.

"How about I give a girl of each, and a boy with the potential for all three blood lines? That way you will have a lot more pure-bloods to mix in with your elves."

"He will be removing himself, when we leave."

"Yes, well, the humans that are level 300 or more now, and capable of fighting dragons, will return to normal human, with whatever skills they have actually developed, instead of depending on the level difference. Please let the elves know as well, so they can be prepared."

Joseph chose four of the youngest elves within his mana zone, and impregnated them with his magic.

HEALTHY PREGNANCY.

EASE LABOR.

"Stella," he said, when he was done, and removed himself from the conversation with the world tree, "I believe we should go see the dwarves next.

"Alright, Joseph."