Bloom

While my Scribe works on trying to get a basic outline for the [Book] together, I get to focus on other things. I mean sometimes I have to put my foot down, you wouldn’t believe what some people want to put in as security systems.

Lasers. Doomsday Golems. Beholders. The list of stuff I have to veto gets longer every re-work.

I sent a message to Dryad informing her of what will occur, and giving a basic timeline. The rest of my servants are on their own, as I didn’t see any difference in the future between having them with me, and letting them go do their own thing. The possibility that they will cause any issue to me is extremely remote as none of them currently have the ability to move between Universes. The chance of betrayal is even smaller, since the Divines will shoot first and ask questions later of anything related to me from what I could see.

It is hard to betray someone when the opposing side would rather kill you than listen.

To this end, I have started the next part in my plan to save myself.

Resource gathering!

I created a group of formations in sealed rooms around my base that send wooden puppets to different worlds via random teleportation. The puppets are pretty basic, laser eyes of death, master of wooden martial arts, and sneaky. Never forget the sneaky when making ninja wooden puppets for theft, it saves a lot of cost in repairs in the long run! I also made sure they understood stealth over greed, while it is great to get something new and awesome, not at the price of discovery this early.

The formations themselves basically uses a set theory that searches for targets of opportunity to assist in writing my [Book]. While the puppets increase the speed I will be detected at, they are a calculated risk. I cannot simply move around collecting things myself after all, that would be the equivalent of placing a giant glowing sign ‘SUSPICIOUS TREE HERE, SEAL NOW’ up. The wooden puppets are set to self-destruct if discovered, and with that the gathering of resources proceeds perfectly!

I also may have set the puppets to calculate carefully if it is possible steal anything interesting that isn’t nailed down.

Not because I’m a Collector though.

Cause I’m not. I just like rare stuff.

Everyone likes rare stuff so I’m not strange at all.

No strange interdimensional thieving Tree here, nope!

Due to the puppets working without rest I have slowly started accumulating piles of stuffs around my workstations. Strange herbs and fluids go near the alchemy station, strange metals and crystals by the forge station, and so forth. With the increase in stuff I’ve casually made a few extra storage rooms sealed in frozen Time to handle to extra load. I figure a couple thousand rooms can hold everything, and if not, I’ll sell the extra stuff. Currently there’s enough glowing items around me to provide illumination without really needing a light source.

Every so often the puppets bring back something they shouldn’t. It happened enough times I was glad the rooms for returning were frozen with slices of time for the wall layers. The first time a puppet with glowing eldritch green eyes that screeched at a volume to wake the dead while it clawed at the walls trying to escape is one time too many for me.

I had to apply a little Chaos flame, and take that location out of the search grid, sadly. Even if it might have something useful, I’d rather not take chances. Some things just aren’t worth gambling on, and let me tell you those possessed puppets look creepy before the fire finishes rendering them to nothingness.

All the testing of new inks, collecting of knowledge to place into the [Book], and general insanity is helping me keep sane.

Knowing death is possible, and looming, is difficult for any creature to handle.

When no one is paying attention I sometimes sink down into a private room beneath my normal lair spot, to melt the hard rock walls in anger. It isn’t a healthy thing to do I’m sure, but watching molten rock turn to slag is rather calming, to me at least. After a good session of anger management I move back up and continue with my daily routines.

Process this rare alchemy stuff, create these strange new inks, in script more stuff in the [Book].

Process this rare metal, create a strange new item, and then seal the item into the [Book].

Tedious, yet required.

Lately though, I’ve been thinking of a problem that I seem to have encountered.

Motivation.

I can motivate the [Book] to rescue me, yet how can I give the same motivation to the book’s carrier?

From watching adventuring teams in the Eight Domains, I am keenly aware that self-interest is the driving force for most species.

There are rare outliers like the hive-minded insectoid types, or the honorable scaled types. However, in the end, most species do what’s best for them in the short run. The problem is, releasing me isn’t going to be a jaunt down the aisle at a meat sale grocery store.

The sheer length of time involved practically guarantees that the [Book] will have to apply Immortality at some point.

Once said wielder has immortality, what’s to say they don’t just jaunt off and do nothing to help me?

Pondering the problem I call Neferti down to chat. Out of all my servants, the vampire seems the most effective at motivation. The fact that she runs the single most profitable enterprise, beaten only by Guido’s massive multi-pronged mercantile empire is telling.

Neferti uses the shadows to appear almost instantly after I request her for a chat. She’s growing into her powers quite nicely, as if there would be any doubt of my work.

“Neferti.”

“Sir!”

I still don’t understand why people are so tense lately meeting me. It isn’t like any of them have seen me melting walls to slag in anger.

“I have a problem that needs a unique solution.”

Neferti tilts her head to the side with a questioning look.

“Motivation. I need a way to provide motivation to a servant on a long-term…contract. They will be far from my reach, and I need to ensure they stay…loyal to my goals.” I state my voice pausing here and there to provide emphasis.

Neferti straightens her head before tapping one elegant nail against her lips. The recent profitability has allowed her to deck herself out in style. For some reason, unlike most vampires I have seen, she doesn’t favor black. Rather the young woman favors a deep green that sets off her blood red eyes and tinted green hair. If there’s any real magic above the Dao, it’s how quickly a female of any species can change their looks.

“Have you considered, pleasure, Sir?” Neferti states after a thoughtful pause.

“Explain.”

“I’m sure Sir has noticed that some of our customers are powerful. Yet, they still end up begging to have just one more session with their favorite girl?” Neferti says, while smiling mysteriously.

“Indeed.”

“Sir could probably just take out the physical part, and apply the pleasure directly to the servant’s mind?” Neferti says, her voice teasing.

So, applying stimulation that creates dependency and a willingness to serve with loyalty?

I run a through scenarios through my mind trying to figure the best configuration out. It wouldn’t do to provide too much pleasure, as the mind can slowly lose other sensations if overloaded with sensory inputs. Perhaps a limiter? Or a gradual tiered system of rewards?

Well, first I need to see how effective it is, and lucky for me, a test subject is available right in front of me.

Reaching out with my power I scan Neferti’s mind, both physical and mental before I push.

The result is instantaneous, with excellent impact.

Neferti’s eyes roll up in her head as her body collapses twitching on the ground. Drool falls from her open lips, as more liquid pools between her legs to splash on the ground. I vary the amount of energy running through her system watching as different effects play out. At the highest amount she breaks bones and rips muscles spasming, while at the lower amounts she merely shudders while moaning.

After a solid hour of experimentation, I’m pleased with the result. Neferti’s loyalty is almost four times higher than before I started!

What a fantastic result, far beyond what I could have accomplished merely with the previous reward system I thought up!

With this step forward, I will be able to ensure the loyalty of my ally while Sealed.

As a reward, I give Neferti a small runestone that duplicates the effects of the experiment randomly. The greater the amount of profit generated by her ‘store’ the more times she can use the runestone.

After all, it is best to see if there are any long-term effects besides the massive increase in loyalty. It is quite possible I might discover even further benefits to this ‘pleasure payment’ system!

At the very least, watching someone twitch, shudder, moan, and drool on my grass floor is amusing to say the least.