Bloom

Air is very mysterious.

It is a substance that contains components that allow life.

Yet it is also a whimsy creation that can take life without care.

As such, the simple fact that Air can be used to boost Flame has caused it to be my next choice for a Dao Root.

I am playing to my strengths, there is no reason to take something like water, or earth, or even more complex choices at the moment.

A simple choice, with clear benefits is what I’ll go with for now.

With that in mind I have been observing Mishra as she toys, er, practices against Sam.

This technique, her own creation, Inner Flame is quite marvelous. The use of Flame to forge the body, much the way I forge metals.

Hm…

Hmm…

Hmmm…

I really haven’t bothered refining my body!

Let’s try it out!

Air, Fire, Time combine!

With our powers combined…eh…I don’t think my branches are supposed to bend that direction…

Or that one…

This appears…challenging…

Alright!

Attempt two!

…

…

…

Attempt three hundred and fifteen!

After a solid month of practice which has redecorated the lava into various places around me!

Hurray!

Success!

After a few minor adjustments to my form…

Things like making myself more porous, creating a circulatory system, a few wooden organs here and there. Nothing major, just enough to get the technique working, mind you.

I still haven’t mastered the ‘breathing’ perfectly yet, as such the grass around me pulses in time with my heart.

Literally.

There were a few weird looks from my three servants, but I solved it by ignoring all questions directed to me.

Life is simple when you’re the Tree.

Ignore questions! Make demands! Eat experimental soul foods!

This is the life!

The best!

Now, after all this hard work, I have managed to create a unique method to temper the Chaos that forms my body!

I shall call this technique….

Time-Refining Flame Twist!

My naming sense, ah!

As good as it ever was, indeed.

Within the last month, Wen has been feeding me a delicious assortment of tasty treats.

The number of human royalty has also taken a tragic drop, for some reason only those that support Dryad have managed to stay alive.

What an amazing coincidence!

Wen, shockingly enough, decided not to take one of my platinum rings. Instead, she requested to wait until after she’s gotten older to use it. I shrugged my branches and handed her two. One for now, and one with Immortality on it.

It’s not like making these is hard or anything, now.

Lately there has been movement outside from the monster armies arrayed against humanity.

I don’t feel as if I’m betraying my ‘race’ here either.

I’m in it for the money.

The luxuries.

The soul food.

The books.

Yes, books!

A tree that likes to read? Shocking I’m sure.

A few nobles and royals have tried to meet me. I’m not really interested in listening to their pleas, or rants, or anything really. So I take dips in the lava when they drop by.

Someone complains to me? Relaxing lava dip. Someone complains about my servants to me? Relaxing lava dip. Or they quietly feed the small garden around me, either option works in my opinion.

Dryad is having fun practicing her newfound Dao of Blood. The vitality that passes along the soul link is filled with deliciousness. I’m working on figuring out how to incorporate it into my body refining.

There has to be a way.

I mean, I technically don’t really have blood per say.

I might need to conduct some messy experiments, now.

Ah well, isn’t that why servants exist? To clean up messes?

I can totally understand why humans enjoy high grade monster meat though. High grade human souls are absolutely fantastic when prepared just right.

A month and two weeks is all it took to get used to my patented safe for Trees everywhere body refining down.

Why do I want to refine my body?

Well, I did some calculations with my branches. Accordingly, it would be best if my body, mind, and soul were all at or around equal levels. Right now, my soul is so far ahead that it can’t be accurately measured. My mind is amplified by my unique method of thinking using my branches in tandem. My body on the other hand, well, it’s underutilized to say the least.

A great deal of the difficulty I had using pure Chaos has been traced using Time’s Shadow to the fact that my body simply wasn’t strong enough.

Granted, having a body made out of Chaos is strong, don’t get me wrong. However, the difference between a refined body, and an unrefined one is like the difference between crystallized plate steel and iron ore.

Just too great, by far.

Now, with my energy senses I can literally feel my body aligning pathways, like a giant circuit slowly shifting into perfect balance.

Within a decade I expect I will be able to leverage thousands of times more power, effective power, than before. The efficiency of power expenditure will rise almost exponentially, and as a result, my combat power will reach a new level.

Where before I would struggle against low-tier Divinities, I should be easily able to take at least fifty of them without breaking a sweat. As long as Dryad takes the other fifty we should be golden!

Now that I can see a pathway in front of my future that isn’t covered in confusion I’ve started tailoring my plans.

Phase one is almost complete. Although I’m not sure exactly how I did it, I’ve managed to make the inside of the mountain bigger than the outside. Basically I just duplicated the way my leaves work to hold Vespar without understanding. To this end, the population problems of cramming a number of nations into a single mountain have been solved. Dryad of course had a thrilling adventure decorating all the new space with greenery.

More and more of the primal forestry outside has been moved into the mountain.

With this action, I have realized our last few trips through the Void are….

Badly done.

I mean, I am a smart, well-mannered, intelligent, debonair, and decent Tree.

I do not need the life of danger, traveling the Void in my birthday suit as it were.

That’s right!

I need…..

A ship.

If I calculate the value of this planet’s Worldheart based off Vespar, it should be about thirty percent more.

Thirty percent isn’t a huge number most of the time.

It will, in this case, be enough to transform this mountain into a proper Voidship.

Voidship. A snappy name if I do say so myself.

Yes, well. With a Voidship the problem of traveling in the non-life between planets, solar systems, galaxies, or even universes should be better.

I’ll collect a decent amount of data too.

Eventually the goal is to be able to turn myself into something that can travel between universes!

The better to….

Eat them, of course!