I watched the alchemist walk out of her tent into the morning sunlight. Stretching for the invisible rays of light, she did various exercises. Minutes later, hands on her waist she rotated 180 degrees and stared.

After approximately five minutes of time a single delicate blonde eyebrow raised in my direction.

“Hmm…” the alchemist said, staring me down.

Thankfully, I don’t retain water in my bark, and thus, I didn’t sweat.

“Interesting…” she said, slowly backing away from me. I watched the alchemist hurry away to the main caravan leader’s tent. There was shouting, among other noises before a small group of guards, caravan leader, and the alchemist returned.

“What in the seven lower hells of the burning ice could you need me at this early in the morning!” the caravan leader shouted, while his hands waved dramatically in the air. “Wait…tell me you didn’t blow up the supply wagon again…” he said, pausing to stare at the alchemist in horror.

“That was a single time, and it wasn’t my fault either! They sold impure ingredients to me, even the investigation proved that!” replied the alchemist while she waved a pointed finger in the leader’s face.

All of the guards had impassive faces, marred only slightly by smirks. It was clear this was a well-known incident.

“Anyways, anyways! Look at this!” she declared, pointing at me triumphantly. “An entire new species!”

The caravan leader stared at me while a single eyebrow raised in my direction.

I have the strangest feeling these two might be related…

“Is it dangerous, S’neli?” the leader asked, being careful to stay behind the now alert guards.

“Hah, hah! I have absolutely no clue, Boss.” the alchemist S’neli replied with a taunting tone. “That’s not the important part, look, look! The dirt underneath it doesn’t match with the forest floor. It either moved here, was transported here, or teleported here! Think of it, a teleporting species…”

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I noticed while the Boss’s eyes lit up with greed, they quickly dimmed down. “Anything that can teleport is at least S Rank, pray very hard that it grew here overnight S’neli.” the leader said with a sharp tone.

Tsk. If I’d known that I would have chosen a better method. I guess it’s time to show my acting skills!

I uprooted myself from the ground as everyone watched and then approached the alchemist.

Rustle. Rustle. Rustle.

“Oh. My. Goddess! It’s so cute! Can I keep it? Please, pleeeeease Boss!” S’neli said, her eyes shining with stars as she stared down at me.

“This…” the Boss replied weakly. “It could be dangerous?”

A laser beam stare knifed through the air as the alchemist petted me protectively. “There is a higher likelihood of goblins overrunning us in the port town than this poor tree being dangerous.”

“Now, you can’t be sure of that S’neli, remember the last time you took in a feral goblin and it almost murdered me in my sleep?” the Boss said, making conciliatory gestures with his hands.

“Hah! The only reason it was in your tent was the meat you stole from the cook!” said S’neli, firing back a critical strike.

The guards now turned for a moment to look at their beet red leader.

“I, I have to…take inventory…yes…” the Boss said weakly, summoning the guards to follow him as he rushed off.

“Hmph, sneaky Boss…” S’neli said, as she picked me up with one hand and moved me into her tent.

Amazingly, upon entering I realized the tent had several types of enchantment on it. Concealment, Spatial Enlargement, Repair, among several others in order to allow S’neli to work without issue.

I was briefly reminded of the sterile clean labs back home on Earth all those years ago. It was apparent that technology was extremely advanced on this world, if a caravan could afford something like this. The only way would be mass production lowering the cost, or the caravan carried such value that this was an acceptable cost.

For someone who explodes things on a daily basis, I’m impressed with her financial situation.

After being deposited with my roots on a strangely glowing runic plate I watch S’neli fiddle with some nearby glyphs floating in the air.

“Mana unreadable? Composition unknown? Physical properties in flux? Spatial disturbances detected? How utterly fascinating!” she said, eyes glittering while she licked her lips hungrily.

A few moments later I’m deposited in a small metallic container before the container is sealed from the top.

I can hear humming from outside, “Time to start a more drastic testing process!” says S’neli.

Slowly the temperature in the box heats up around me, 10 degrees, 100 degrees, 1,000 degrees, 10,000 degrees and upwards.

I make a small chuckle of amusement.

Playing with the Dao of Fire in front of this Tree? Pfft.

Eventually, we reach the temperature in the Kelvins that equates to the nearby surface of the planet’s Sun. That’s when I cause a bit of mischief, reaching out I draw all the heat energy around me into my mouth. A short gulp and burp later and nothing remains, which in turn causes massive vibrational temperature shock.

As the box around me disentigrates into shards of glittery metal, the shocked eyes of S’neli appear. Her expression of amazement makes me smirk inside, before she starts whooping and dancing around.

“A new species! A new species! A new heat resistant species!” S’neli says, before racing out of her lab. “Wait till that sneaky Boss hears this, hah!” are the last words I hear as she leaves in a flash.

Meanwhile…

Left alone.

With all…

This wonderful…

Equipment, hue hue.