As I see it, I have to choose between safety and efficiency. Either I hole myself in a forgotten corner of this world and carefully cultivate my avatar until it has the power to explore and analyze this world without fear of consequences, or I can attempt to find sentient creatures capable of helping me on my quest to knowledge while gradually gathering power.

The first option sounds wise, but I am not that concerned for my safety. If this avatar is destroyed, I just have to make a new one. I would lose all of my progress, but what is a little waste of time to an immortal? Besides, the greater issue is that by hiding away I would remain woefully uninformed of any hidden threats like mind-blowingly powerful existence who have both the desire and the ability to hunt otherworlders, and maybe even to safely destroy a world rift.

The second option is much more to my liking. I would immediately be informed of the general situation of the world, and could study what methods the natives used to harness the energy of the world. I might even be able to upgrade my demon flame’s design to make it handle multiple energies. The drawback is that I would be much more exposed and I could even be embroiled in troubles between natives.

I do not find either plan vastly superior to another, but I will still pick the second option. I pride myself on being a bastion of logic, and I believe you should always gather all the information you can and craft a meticulous plan before taking action. Regrettably, having this belief does not translate into having the patience needed to act as such.

The operation world hopping is a perfect example of both of this. I was perfectly prepared for every eventuality while opening the portal, with multiple plans and backup plans. It sounds like I followed my maxim to the letter, but that is not the case. If I was willing to spend millions of years studying and understanding the cosmic forces in play, I guarantee I could have eventually wandered across the planes and into the void with no need for convoluted plans.

In short, I believe plan A to be the more sensible choice, but I am too excited to choose anything but plan B. Let's go make a friend!

...

I have to say, being so small is a lot of fun. I can zoom around and maneuver around all the obstacles instead of crushing everything in my way (which is another kind of fun). The only flaw in being so tiny is that it gives the feeling of being an insignificant and helpless insect doomed to lead a meaningless life lost into a massive unforgiving world. This of course does not apply to me (have some respect, would you?), but I wonder if somewhere in the infinite cosmos, something considers me akin to the insects I see today? If so, I should quickly strengthen myself so that I can show them the consequences of disrespecting me.

Although my attempts at finding intelligent life have been so far unsuccessful, this has already been a very rewarding trip. I can now ascertain with a certain level of confidence that I am heading away from the center of the forest, as the trees have gradually become much smaller and slimmer. I am not sure if this is the correct direction, but I might as well continue forward while studying the extraordinarily varied wild life populating this world. I found no organism powerful enough to interest me, but it allowed me to make some conjectures into the general trend of this world. Apparently creatures of this world do not sustain themselves on pure energy but rather consume meat and oxygen and use roundabout means to extract energy from it. I cannot assume this will hold true for higher level creatures, but I do not understand why the local wildlife would utilize such an inefficient way of gaining nourishment.

I tried my best to follow the surrounding animals without getting lost in my thoughts, hoping this would lead me to discovering something interesting. After getting sidetracked more than once, I eventually found that once night came, almost all animals would cease hostilities and gather around a specific tree.

It was a lone tree standing in the middle of a small clearing. It’s branches bent, broken and without foliage, it’s roots clearly unable to get nutrients from the dried up land it sat upon, this decaying plant made any onlookers feel an acute sense of loss and lit up an irresistible desire to do something, anything to save this poor tree and let it regain its majesty. It was a beautiful, terrible picture that invoked compassion from the depth of your heart. The wild animals, temporarily forgetting their beastly savagery, came forward to pay homage to this withering plant and offer some of their blood in tribute in hopes of aiding the tree's recovery.

You should take notes and admire such a magnificent usage of charm magic. This is the delicate art of manipulating the emotions and behavior of others by shaping their vision of reality. A charmer's nature is never to lie, but rather to embellish the truth and let it evoke your emotions. Charms are more restricted than illusions, but also much more insidious. You can usually discover an illusion by focusing on tiny inconsistent details, but as charm magic is fundamentally true, it is much more difficult to detect.

The most peculiar thing about this is that although the tree possesses intelligence, it is in deep slumber and the magic is instead directed by a dozen sentient creatures channeling their magic through it. I am unsure as to why they would exhaust themselves to benefit someone else, but I will wait until they have finished their ritual to ask them.

As the animals gradually departed one by one after having completed their sacrifice, I slowly moved towards the now bloody tree to attempt to examine it and it’s caretakers more precisely. I attempted to maintain a dazed state mimicking the charmed animals, but was somehow still surrounded by a score of miniature humanoid creatures waving their pointy sticks at me as soon as I approached.

They were fluttering in the wind, carried by pairs of half transparent blue wings. They were all clothed in exactly the same green leaf dress, making it extremely hard to differentiate between them, and they kept making sound waves with their mouths. As this does absolutely zero damage, I suspect it is a unique method of communication rather than an attack. Unfortunately, I do not understand such a language. Demons communicate almost exclusively telepathically, conveying intentions rather than words.

The fastest way to learn their tongue is to read their mind and steal their knowledge. Staying completely still to avoid provoking them, I chose a random target and plunge into their mind, eager to learn all of their secrets.