Bloom

“Mishra.” the middle aged catlady said, while bowing with both hands crossed to her chest.

I have the strangest feeling she is much more than a mere slave, that bow was almost picture perfect.

Mah, whatever.

Welcome to my service, Mishra. I send mentally, testing the ring out.

Thank you for freeing me, Plant. Mishra sent back, with images of deep respect accompanying them.

Oh, this is totally much better than normal communication with Dryad. I definitely need to place this on the list of upgrades to make sure she has available. Gah! The work never ends, even in another world!

Do you recognize where we are at the moment? I ask.

Master Plant, would you like to know the name of the city, province, country, or empire we are located in? Mishra counters with a kind tint to her mental voice.

All of the above please. I reply, goodness this place is already so complicated? What happened to just having empires lying around like plucked chickens…

Master Plant, we are in Zelos Port City, the province of Camb, the country of Talev, all of this within the First Empire of Sun Elves. Mishra responds, her voice smooth and calm.

Isn’t my eye for picking servants like, almost at a divine level? I think so, indeed it is!

Is the caravan of half-elves a normal occurrence in this area, Mishra?

Yes, before I became too old to…satisfy…my previous Master, I worked in one of the top merchant firms in this city. The caravan comes ones every five years to gather resources from the Green Nightmare. Master Plant, do you come from the Forest?

Yes! I woke up after a long time, so I decided to leave after a nice chat with Mizarul.

I could see dropping the name of the green land dragon here was super effective. Mishra froze up for only a brief second, before returning to impassiveness.

Well, it would be obvious why, anyone who can casually meet a green land dragon and return alive isn’t a pushover.

The ring you are wearing has a few perks. Let’s go over them now.

Mishra places herself down on the same chair S’neli uses to stare at me. Her entire body expresses a desire to listen.

First, Reverse Aging. This ring goes against the Laws by forcefully altering reality at a basic level to return you to your present appearance. I had to provide a little force to push the change through, and as a result removing the ring will kill you. Never fear though! As long as you wear the ring, the second property, Agelessness takes effect. In essence, you no longer age, at any level. You will retain this appearance, quite literally, till the universe ends.

I pause for a moment because it appears my new servant is frozen like a software glitch. Minutes pass and then Mishra takes a deep breath before bowing deeply from her sitting position. I nod my branches back, before moving onwards!

The third property is shielding. In a moment of life and death, a shield will deploy. I haven’t tested it fully yet, however from my own power it should probably stop anything but a direct Divine strike. Oh, that’s a strike from a god, a full power one. The fourth property is space, if you push your mind into the ring, you will find a large area of space separated for your use. I went through extra effort to allow you to place living things inside. As a result of that however, the objects inside age, although at a much slower rate than outside. In theory you could create a miniature garden inside, since there is also a light source inside to help you see what’s in there. The fifth property, is, of course mind, allowing us to communicate like this.

I pause the explanation for a moment. It takes a moment to think how to introduce the last part, the Rune of Fire. The way a teacher demonstrates the Dao can have a profound impact on their student, for all eternity.

The final property, is a small portion of the Dao of Fire. It is a seed that can grow within you to be a blazing forest fire, a tiny candle, or anything in between. Only you can nurture the Seed to a final form. I call it, a Dao Seed of Fire.

I take a deep mental breath before saying my final advice.

Fire burns, it consumes, yet it can also give life, renewing the world around it for other things to grow. If you do not master the Flame, it will consume you, because to true Fire, all things are fuel, even the user.

That’s the best advice I can give without impacting her more than I’m comfortable with. A dao is something personal, and to me, rather close to sacred. I would feel rather bad if I led her down a path that ended in nothing but smoke and ashes. The advice I gave should hopefully keep that to a minor possibility.

A moment later the glazed eyes of Mishra return to reality. I watch her take her first step on the Dao of Fire by conjuring a small flickering candle flame above her cupped right hand. She stares at the flame for a long time before banishging it, and then standing to give me a deep bow, before sitting down again.

Well, that went well I guess?

Is there anything you need to do before morning comes? I ask politely. The fact that Mishra is taking the changes well isn’t lost on me.

I would appreciate a bit of time to take care of some minor matters, Master Plant. Mishra replies with a somber tone.

As long as they do not affect my ‘owner’ S’neli, you can have until noon to take care of any issues. I reply before preparing myself for a nap.

Thank you, Master Plant. Mishra replies, before rising from the chair, giving a short bow, and exiting the lab. I’m not concerned about anyone stopping her becaue, F’neli has many ‘night visitors’ who look worse than her. That happens to be one of the things I was counting on.

Besides, if someone really does stop her, I’ll be much less impressed with catkin. Silent steps, ghost like speed, if a random caravan guard could discover that easily, then why the hell are they working for F’neli? They could make ten times more guarding a random noble house.

Now that Mishra is gone, it’s time to focus on the vampire noble.

I’ve been considering things from a few angles, and I really can’t see any benefit to leaving him alive. I guess I’ll take action in the morning, since there’s really no reason to delay my nap further.