“An egg?” Wen said, looking at me blankly as I demonstrated a shimmering piece of crafted energy shaped like the Voidship would become.

“A voidship!” I said for the umpteenth time.

“An egg.” Wen nodded as she finished cooking her latest experiment.

I would have continued this argument, but there was honestly no point. I couldn’t get through to the small child. It wasn’t an egg, it was a Voidship. There’s a total difference!

One is a method of traversing the multi-verse and the other is…not!

Grumbling I ate the latest experimental dish. This one had a nice flavor too it, if I were to categorize it, I would definitely lump it with the more successful ones.

A dash of orange, flavored with rich syrup, and a smattering of crunchiness!

“Good? Excellent? Divine?” Wen said with a hopeful look. So far she has only managed to produce a single Divine meal. Which is expected considering she has only been cooking for a month. My standards aren’t that high, it’s not like Time is a concern for me and mine.

“High, Good. A little too much syrup flavor though. Less syrup would have put it into Excellent territory.” I said, giving my input. It was important to provide proper input so my chef could rise up and produce Divine flavored meals!

For the taste buds!

I’ve noticed lately that there were a few unsavory individuals that had attempted to put pressure on Wen. Before I had the chance to interfere, or send Mishra or Sam to handle it, she demonstrated a side of her that I hadn’t seen.

Cooking souls as one could say, give a person a certain affinity with Soul Magic. Much like the magic Dryad and me have used to Seal a great deal of our power, it is something that acts directly on the soul.

In other words it is a perfect counter for those without any type of soul defenses. Physical strength, well unless it reaches Mishra’s level of Dao, is meaningless to a Soul Magic user. Without a strong enough use of the Dao to empower one’s defenses, most people are like balloons. A soul magic user simply opens a hole in the balloon’s wall, and out goes the ‘air’ so to say.

Of course, the best part was how I saw she didn’t waste any ingredients.

Such a thrifty chef, she’s well on her way to Guido’s level, I like it!

Word has since gone around the grapevine within the mountain.

Don’t piss off the chef.

There are enough humans though that every so often someone ignores the warnings. Not enough to cause a major disturbance, but enough to make me feel there might be a bit of instigation going on. However, since I haven’t been able to trace anything through the network of plants, I’ve let it pass.

No matter how strongly an ant resists, it is still an ant after all.

There was a major change though after I saw Wen use her skills. I immediately changed all my servant’s rings to add a Soul component rune into their Shield section of the rings.

I mean it’s fine if my people use it, yet I definitely can’t allow it to be a weakness!

Lately I’ve been thinking we should let Sam go, he’s really not useful in terms of defense, at least not with Mishra here. I’ve gotten most of the information I wanted out of the Armor, and there really isn’t much more he can do.

“Wen, go call Sam here please. After that it’s self-study time, ok?” I said, dropping out of my inner monologue.

“M’k.” Wen said, before putting away her cooking equipment into the ring provided and exiting. Her fashion choices confused me sometimes, but then again, it’s probably due to the influence of Mishra.

Mishra immediately took a liking to our newest, smallest, cutest member, and since has been advising her on clothing choices.

I’m not really sure they are good choices, though…

Sam came in after a short time, with incredible haste. He probably was thrilled to take a break from practice against Mishra. Although she had followed the rules I set, I could tell there was a serious strain on the poor man’s mentality.

“Sam.” I said, pausing.

“Sir!” Sam said, straightening up instantly.

“I think it’s time to release you from service. We are preparing to finish up on this planet, and there really isn’t a place for such a short lived species by my side. As you don’t have a talent I consider worth developing, there is no point in granting you a Ring, either.” I said, stating the issue bluntly.

A suspicious expression of relief seemed to flash across his face before Sam said, “I understand, thank you for the opportunity to learn, Sir!”

Well, I feel a bit, guilty here. It’s not the poor guy’s fault he isn’t a talented Alchemist, or able to grasp the Dao. Perhaps a small bestowal of favor? Yes, that will make me feel better I think.

It’s not like I’m taking the opportunity to experiment directly on a human.

No, no, not at all!

“Since you’ve handled things the best you could while working for me, I think a small gift is in order.” I said, my roots flashed outward removing the Armor pieces from his body. He was clad in normal everyday garb, the cut of his clothing displaying no flair. While no one would mistake him for a peasant in those cloths, due to the expensive cloth, they didn’t scream noble, either.

“I’m sure any gift given will be worth its weight in gold, Sir!” Sam said, visibly trying to control his fear.

My roots flashed knocking the man unconscious. A small act of kindness on my part. I do learn after all, besides, too much pain might cause an unsavory reaction.

Flesh rips as I use Time’s Shadow to pause the time directly around the now floating man’s body. With incredible finesse I split open his flesh moving swiftly with my roots. Ever so delicately, with inhuman precision, I begin engraving Runes directly onto the bones. In seconds I inlay quite a few such as Speed, Strength, Constitution among others. However, among the entire array, the most important for a mage is the final one of Earth. As a Tree, my understanding of earth surpasses that of the mages of this world in leaps and bounds. If we were to compare notes, I'm sure the difference would be something akin to a hedge witch vs. a certified master wizard with centuries of schooling!

When the final rune is inlayed on the complex chain that links throughout his entire skeleton, I close up the skin. Time’s Shadow flickers ensuring that the damage is repaired almost as if it never existed, while preventing the Runes from being unwoven.

Sam groans and staggers into a standing position, before retching violently.

Well, I guess there are some side effects.

I’ll have to do better next time. According to my memories, some individuals from Earth are so talented they can make critical cuts without their subject even noticing!

My roots aren’t at that level of skill yet, clearly. I’m a bit sad, but also glad, at least there are still heavens above heavens to aim for!

“W-Wha?” Sam garbles out.

“Ah, no need to thank me. I made some minor improvements to your physique. They will be passed down through your family bloodline, if everything went well. Congratulations on awakening your talent as an Earth mage, Sam!” I said, my voice cheerful.

Sam stared at me for a full minute before a silly smile slowly crept over his face. I recognized it from the first time I used mana. The thrilling realization that magic was finally part of your life, that mana was real, and that you could do things that just didn’t abide by the laws of reality as most knew it.

Watching the man skedaddle away with madcap glee, I admit to a bit of happiness. Of course, I did make sure to place a few diagnostic Runes, after all, one can’t have their test subjects completely unmonitored. That’s just asking for issues, in my honest opinion.

Seconds later a massive surge of vitality started pumping along the link between me and Dryad. Clearly the army that had retreated a month ago was once again knocking on our door.

Sadly, they didn’t have any clue that Dryad had been upgraded far above the level she was at previously. If before she was a tiger, the knowledge stolen from the past gave her wings.

A tiger, or a winged tiger, even the stupidest can clearly see which is more devastating!

I started to funnel the vitality into the Core I had constructed to assist me in handling my new body training technique. For some reason, it seemed to be the perfect complement to my technique of refining myself. Each surging wave of vitality made me feel more compact, as if my form was becoming more solid with every passing second!

How very, very, fascinating!