Bloom

The port city, Mizarul’s Rest, named after the green land dragon I met in the Green Nightmare slowly falls away underneath us.

Finally, after a little over a decade the second phase of my plan is moving into action.

At the core of this phase, S’neli must learn how to manipulate Chaos to create her own stone. As a Grandmaster Alchemist, she currently possesses the technical knowledge to step forward on the path.

To this end, when remaking her ring to mithril, I imbued a small Dao Seed of Fire within it. The seed won’t activate unless the wearer gains a spark of inspiration. Without that spark to create a Flame, mortals cannot pass the barrier of Laws that bind this multi-verse.

I would have set up different rules if I created the multi-verse, but, well, that’s neither here nor there I guess. If wishes were fishes I’d never go hungry either.

In order to prepare, Mishra has been slowly spreading an underground cult using the rings sparingly to create tiers of management. I actually had no hand in this, it was all the creation of Guido after he learned I could consume ‘Order’ from priests.

A casual remark from him got me thinking what exactly this ‘Order’ was made out of…

After careful research I realized the ‘Faith’ that priests have is converted by the Laws into ‘Order’ that is used by Divinities after they ascend.

To put the process into a simple wording, it’s comparable to copper wires meeting at a transformer and then upgrading into platinum ones. The amount of energy converted by the process is a major purity upgrade.

The old energy is Faith, the new energy is ‘Order’ and voilà one of the mysteries of the enemy was discovered!

As a being of pure Chaos, being able to create my own food supply has always been on my mind. No one likes dieting, especially this Tree!

Now, with the cult slowly growing, I have a source of Faith to convert into food, I mean ‘Order’ to eat.

A pleasant side effect of this process I found a way to dodge the karma bullet when I consume this world.

Karma is binding, yet, it is also based on the choices a person makes within their life. As a result, if they are offered the chance to join a cult that promises to save them at the end of the world and do not.

I am free and clear if they die.

After all, I didn’t force them to die, I gave them a choice!

Patting myself on the back for several hours tired my branches out after that realization so I had to stop. Otherwise I probably would have been at it for days!

The first stop on the trip is the middle of that massive grasslands.

As a slightly obsessive-compulsive disordered Tree, that power source has always been on my mind.

With the recent advances Mishra has made I feel better, even with Dryad asleep.

Mishra’s path on the Dao of Fire, like all Beastkin, went down a physical route.

No matter how much I personally taught her, she just couldn’t master fire manipulation externally.

Instead, she burns the flame within her body removing impurities, and pushing herself ever closer to perfection. As a result her physical characteristics are monstrous. At a conservative estimate I feel she would be comfortable moving at just below the sonic barrier. Even more disturbing she would likely be fine lifting something in the neighborhood of twenty oil tankers without breaking a sweat.

An additional part of her training has caused her body to turn even more beautiful and enticing. However, the skin that covers her body would be comparable to a very, very, very dense metal. Even her tail, as easy as it moves, can effortlessly cripple weaker opponents.

I watched her beat Mizarul into unconsciousness with just that single tail after all. As an apology I had to give him a portion of Elixir that I personally made.

On the other hand, I feel confident that even if I’m napping, S’neli has nothing to fear with Mishra guarding her.

For some reason, Guido and Mishra can’t get along harmoniously, however both of them have no problem with S’neli. I honestly have given up trying to figure out how that works. I’ve chalked it up to the weirdness of humanoid life forms.

Finishing up my forging effort I transfer a number of new rings within the Ring World of my leaf.

Turning back to look outwards I stare at a gnome standing less than three feet away.

Mishra! I send out into the aether with lightning speed.

A fraction of a second later Mishra and me are both staring at the gnome whose eyes are bulging.

The poor gnome looks like his entire world is crumbling around him.

“T-That…S-Spatial…argh!” the gnome manages to gurgle out before his eyes roll up into his head and he collapses to the floor.

Master Plant, should I, dispose of him? Mishra asked me through the aether.

No! I said, sweating. His clothing badge denotes Master Engineer. If we got rid of him there’s no way this airship wouldn’t notice him missing! Even worse, I have no clue how to fix this airship if something breaks… I reply back through the aether.

Mishra takes immediate action, carefully moving the gnome onto one of the beds within our room. Afterwards she closes the door that I left open by accident.

I really have lost a great deal of awareness recently while forging. Even with my ability to multi-task, there just is so much to do when forging. I haven’t been properly leaving a piece of my mind to watch my surroundings.

Tsk. Sloppy, sloppy Tree! This time it’s a fixable issue, what if next time I was fighting for my life? Attitude like this could get me killed!

Let’s wait till he wakes up. Go inform the Captain we are having a chat with the Engineer and he requested not to be disturbed. I send to Mishra through the aether.

Moving myself over I touch a branch to the gnome, and leap inside his mental landscape.

Here goes nothing!