Bloom

Aug. 23, 2022, 2:23 a.m.

Sproutling 131
Sproutling 133

Sproutling 132

My routine is pretty routine lately.

Wake up.

Fine tune a few of the Thousand Minor Window Worlds.

Watch my favorite soap opera, Adventuring Insanity ™ through the holo-screens Number One made for me.

Every so often when I see something impressive, I hand out a reward or two.

For instance there was this one time a family of four adventurers brought some small children along. Probably because the concept of daycare is either unknown here, or extremely expensive, actually I have no clue.

The point is, I like kids!

Kids have potential!

Potential is a fascinating thing.

I mean, it takes guts to watch your family slaughtered in front of you and swear vengeance when you are nothing but a bush high midget.

At that point, the normal thing would be to die with the rest of your family, if say, a glorious Tree didn’t intervene.

A blessing here, a weapon there, a secret manual here, a defective artifact there.

A few good deeds and next thing I know, my Garden is the number one hotspot for adventuring treasure hunters the world over. It got so big, so fast, I really didn’t see it coming.

By the time I realized it would take actual effort to obliterate the small city on the border, or the towns that cropped up it was too late. I guess its fine, at least this way I don’t have to spend effort to create safe zones anymore.

Nope, I’ve decided, anywhere outside the towns is a free for all. I might throw a hand here and there to help if I’m entertained enough, though. Other than that, the law of the jungle prevails.

After watching my favorite show for a few hours, or a few days depending on how much fun it is, I concentrate.

The Chaos System pumps information to me like a high speed information highway. I let the backlog load up, then take it all at once to help break bottlenecks!

Air, has become clearer and clearer to me.

Behind air is the looming shadow of another power, something I can sense now with my understanding.

Space.

Somehow, Air and Space are linked.

Vague, yes.

However, considering before this I had about as much knowledge of space as barbarians have of electricity, I’d say I’m doing alright.

Spawning pools, cloning facility, Forge, and Rune research aside I don’t think I ever would have made the connection between the two.

I’m certain that within the next century I’ll connect to Air.

With that in mind of course.

I’ve been throwing names around.

I mean the whole point was to research a Dao that complimented Flame.

Air and Flame.

Airflame. No, that’s, no.

Flameair! Ah, I think not.

I thought about throwing Time in as well, and decided, it was best not to juggle too much.

With that in mind, Burning Wind!

Recently, another favorite project is hiring teachers for martial arts.

Some of those people were shocked that a talking Tree wanted to learn the concept of Martial Arts. More shocked than suddenly being teleported before me, again, people can be weird.

For those that didn’t take too much offense I paid them off after learning what I wanted. Spirit stones are pretty easy to forge when I realized they are just gemstones with tiny sliver of neutral Chaos inside them. Such stones are apparently used to assist almost every race in training their powers.

Well, there were a few people I requested training from that called me things like Demon, Demonic Plant, and other offensive names, though.

They only did it once.

There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t religiously practice my body hardening technique. I simplified the name to Burning Wood.

Some might say that my naming sense is bland.

If I ever met such people, I would be sure to entertain them.

Combining the Martial Arts into a form that I can use effectively has increased the value of my daily body hardening immensely.

Even with all this, I still have time to discover new things!

For instance, Formation Arrays and Seals!

Soul Seals are something I’ve been using for ages, however this planet is far more advanced in the manipulation of worldly energy than others we’ve been to. The ability to simply lay down a few rocks in a fancy pattern and trap beasts, create illusions, or even murder enemies is amazing!

Formation Arrays are based on symbols and understanding, a great deal like a programming language.

Since I have zero skill at programming, I outsourced to Number One!

After learning every variable possible and creating a separate form of math she calls “Array Multiple Use Symbol EX” or A.M.U.S.E., things got amusing.

The spawning pools, reward system, punishment system, horde mode system, heck even the sewage system are all due for upgrades soon.

Eventually when I figure out how non-soul Seals work, I think I’ll be able to Seal the Deep Sands so the Worms are no longer anything annoying.

I mean, as tasty as they are, the constant invasions are annoying.

With enough practice using Seals I theorize I could even create something similar to what my Leaf does.

Perhaps evolving Seals far enough will allow me to create World Seals!

Yeah, that’s probably super far in the future, still, this planet is giving me lots of inspiration.

On the other hand, the lack of technology around here is maddening.

While cultivators may have it easy, the common people are treated like garbage.

It sucks to be a normal person, I’d say. Lucky for me, I’m a Tree.

While pondering if I should do anything to aid the common masses I received a message from within the Vespar Leaf.

The Cult of Wood from so many years ago has flourished into a massive church type organization that spans the world.

I don’t get involved much, except to provide examples of why corruption is not something I desire.

Surprising how many humanoid torches can reduce the corruption and graft in the upper ranks of a religious organization.

“Crafting time?” Number One said, floating around my upper branches.

Breaking out of my thoughts, I moved to the nearby forging area. Several multi-level tables, a host of self-created tools, a slice of burning Chaos, and other odds and ends peppered my work area.

“What should we work on today, Number One?” I asked rhetorically as I started working on my latest invention.

Rewards were handled by the Formation Array true, but I always valued a personal touch.

Chaos Gold would be beyond price on this planet, so I created a derivative.

Chaos Copper, is much cheaper, lasts far less longer, and is easier to work with. The downside is it can contain far less power.

However, these little trinkets I created to amuse myself seemed to cause the locals to go nuts!

I enjoy distributing these creations all over the Thousand Minor Window Worlds.

I take care to leave them in nigh impossible deathtraps so only the truly lucky, insane, or blessed can get them.

After all, I have to make sure my favorite soap opera, I mean, my favorite show continues!

Sproutling 131
Sproutling 133