After waking up, I had a brief moment of déjà vu, considering the fact that around me appeared a wasteland.

No animals.

No plants.

As far as the senses could see.

Perhaps I ate a bit too much?

Tap.

Staring down at dryad from my lofty height of half a meter while she slept I noted her twitching was causing slight noises against my bark. It took me a few moments to clean up her drool, dispose of the half-eaten ox carcass, and finally prepare to wake her.

On second thought, that doesn’t sound like a good idea.

Imagine if it became a standard to wake me up later, with the excuse, “Ah, Tree, you thought it was ok to randomly wake me, ha ha…hah!”

Even the thought of such a possibility causes a shudder.

Of course if I can’t wake Dryad up, the next best thing is…

Crafting the dirt around us for a few hundred meters in every direction with Chaos magic until it is harder than steel. A few Runes of Flight, Shield, Temperature, and Air Refreshment later and everything is ready!

Flying Artifact # 817, go!

I made sure to ensure while flying that Dryad wouldn’t wake up due to something minor like wind preassure, air movement, or sound. Runes are great stuff, especially if you set a portion of your mind to deciphering better ones.

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Potentially in the future I could find a Rune that works for everything…

Dirt, sand, more dirt, more sand, less dirt, less sand, aha!

A mountain appears!

The wasteland created by Dryad, since I clearly had nothing to do with it, is giving way to lusher grassland. Behind the grassland is a towering forest, and behind that is a mountain that climbs above the clouds.

Turning around I climb to a greater height to try and see the end of the wasteland Dryad made with her hunger.

This increase in height allows me to discover a strange fact about the grasslands, namely, they are shaped in the manner of a bowl.

A gradual slope downwards appears if you pay attention.

My branches raise in curiosity, this pattern, it appears almost like an explosion of enormous power.

I recognize it because, during many of my experiments this familiar ‘crater’ shape appears as a result of people interrupting me.

Why people think it is funny to interrupt a tree during experiments with high explosive materials is another story entirely.

I move away from the forest, turning the flying artifact inwards to the center of the massive crater. Going deeper into the wasteland, eventually it gives way to clean grasslands again, with herds of various animals roving around. Water holes visible to be at least several hours apart denote how the ecosystem around here functions effectively.

I notice goblins in small bands moving about the closer I get towards the center of the grasslands. Goblin tribes give way to hobgoblin ones, which in turn give way into small kingdoms. Each kingdom is a day or two away from each other, which is strange.

Kingdoms give way to select ogre huts, which in turn give way to…

Wait, isn’t this like the evolution path for goblins the closer I get to the center?

That would probably be explained by the sharp increase in mana the closer to the center of the grasslands I go. Something from the explosion seems to have increased the level of mana in the world the deeper one goes into the grasslands.

So far as I have observed the pattern is Goblins to Hobgoblins to Goblin Kings then Ogres, and finally something I can’t make out. The creature after the Ogre’s land moves too fast to see at this height.

Stretching my senses I realize it is a half-vampire Ogre which is puzzling.

Further in the half-vampire Ogres give way to full ones, and finally what must be True Blood Vampire Ogres.

They look tasty.

There are only a handful of them though, so eating them all at once would be a bad idea. As a careful cultivator of incredible Gardens filled with a variety of dangerous and lethal flora or fauna, I am well aware of the dangers of overeating.

Unlike my dear Dryad who caused such a tragic wasteland that we passed a few weeks back, I can restrain myself.

I hover overhead waiting patiently like a predatory vine-trap tree, without the vines.

The moment I see any sign of dissent, war, mayhem, or shenanigans I’ll swoop in.

I’m not doing this because I want to taste a True Blood Vampire Ogre, no.

I’m doing this for gathering information.

Few people can manage to withhold information under questioning by me.

I dare say, using fire to elicit information from an enemy is practically secondhand nature to me. Granted I haven’t done something like this in quite some time, but it’s like riding a bike.

I’m sure I can get the hang of it before half my food source, I mean, half my information source is gone.

To ensure there are no sudden problems from Dyrad’s end I wrap her in a chemical solution. It’s the equivalent of sleep gas for wooded creatures, not that I don’t want to share the food.

I refuse to share the food.

I’m sure Dryad would understand if she ever found out.

Good thing I won’t have to test that out though.

Hurray, sleeping gas!