Unlike the last time I burned a forest down, this time I pre-emptively hid myself after the insect massacre that followed.

From this action I was able to trail the investigation team made of what appeared to be dwarves, elves, and humans back to a nearby camp.

Since I am currently a miniature glowing white bonsai-like tree, I activated a Chaos spell to keep myself from being seen.

Chaos attribute magic is quite literally, a massive cheat.

I’m still honestly in debate between Inherent Mana Manipulation and Chaos magic.

On the one hand, sometimes the effects of Chaos magic are rather…

Baffling?

For instance the first time I attempted the hiding spell without a clear image of what I wanted, everything around me vanished.

I realized it had indeed hidden things.

By hiding everything I could see.

Another time, I attempted the Chaos flame spell I’d previously used to great success, however this time, nothing happened.

Chaos magic is indeed powerful, yet it requires absolute concentration to properly manage.

On the other hand, Inherent Mana Manipulation was far, far, far easier to use precisely.

I’m still up in the air about which one was better.

The group of investigators seems equally split at a 5:5:5 ratio between the races, although the gender ratio is not. Elves have more females, dwarves more men, and humans trend to the male side as well.

I can’t understand a word of the gobbledegook they are speaking though.

Several attempts later I manage a Chaos spell of language translation, to no great effect.

Apparently it translates the language, badly.

“Burned forest hotly gone.” from Elf A.

“Evil, crazy, crazy, madness.” from Human B.

“Beer. Beer. Beer. Life gone?” from Dwarf C.

It took me five days before I could get a language spell that not only translated the language, it added grammar, syntax, and host of other things.

Did I mention Chaos magic is hard? Scratch that, it’s abysmal!

It only got better when I managed to craft a spell that allows me to duplicate successful spells by ‘tagging’ them with a Name.

Having so much time to myself without any experiments, kiddos, or Garden has made me reflect a bit too.

I’ve changed.

I mean, yes I’ve changed into another species.

The really important issue is, I haven’t ever had to eat before.

It’s a small thing, in the great scheme of things.

However, after several days without any bugs to eat, I realize…

I really didn’t miss subsisting on pure mana at all.

I thought about making a Chaos spell to feed myself, and Dryad shut that down.

Admittedly, I might not have been thinking about possible consequences due to hunger pains.

Ah! Finally, everyone is packing up to leave.

Two weeks of investigating with me subsisting on thieving from their group, and finally they are heading out.

I make a snap decision and follow the humans.

Worst case scenario, I go from burning forests, to burning cities.

How bad could it get?