Being awake means things run so much smoother than when I’m sleeping. For instance, Garvon had a few issues with the ruling council of royalty. I solved them easily, and even made sure their bodies didn’t go to waste. With that minor issue taken care of, things have proceeded smoothly.

Currently a long line of humans is trudging in, staring at me and moving out.

Are they here to view my awesomeness? Of course. However, they are also here to allow me to look for talents.

Specifically, I need someone who can view soul energy. Ever since I broke through my shackles with the help of a human soul that seems to have Transcended, I have worried.

It’s not like I can come up with human souls willing to help me every time I need to break through another shackle. Given my power of Flame and Time, along with the passive effect of my Dao Roots, I can see the ‘shackles’ now. They are glowing golden chains that drape my spiritual form. Even with my sight, they are barely visible unless I manifest a great deal of Chaos energy to view them.

Suprisingly enough, it appears some of those ‘Cultivation’ novels from Earth have a small basis in fact. There were eleven chains before one was broken, and thus I theorize that my Dao Roots have a strong link to the chains. The runes on the two chains that lie shattered at my base correspond with Flame and Time!

Does this mean that all higher beings are restricted in some manner? Perhaps even those called Divinities are restricted by Laws that they cannot break.

Hmm…interesting.

I wonder what will happen when I shatter all the chains around my soul’s form!

Well, that is something to consider for another time.

Out of the thousands upon thousands of human mage-blood that have viewed me, a mere eight managed to see a glimpse of the chains around me. This is pathetic, are humans truly so bad at glimpsing the soul? I almost went to Vex for help, but restrained myself. After all, she has requested to part ways with us after this world is re-forged. I had no real opinion on the matter, although Dryad and the succubus have been cooped up doing ‘girl’ talk for quite a few days now.

Ah, so easily distracted, I am. Well, whatever.

Staring at my eight possible ‘cooks’ I have eliminated five of them so far.

Am I partial to females? Well, of course. Females work well with Dryad, they don’t panic as much as men, and they smell better.

Bias? Damn right I have it!

Since this is for a position of ‘cook’ I have given the three remaining young women a chance to impress me.

Each of them is given access to all the ingredients they could imagine from Vespar’s Leaf. All I ask is they cook something ‘tasty’ with their abilities!

The one that impresses me the most, will gain the greatest reward!

That’s right!

Service to this Tree!

As well as a platinum ring carved with Immortality Runes, and stuff…but the service to this Tree is what I’m sure they all really want!

Probably…humans are sometimes a tad materialistic…

Several hours pass before my three possible cooks finish their meals.

First meal!

Garbage! No, that’s being too nice, it is a substance that should be blacklisted!

The taste was so horrid it required me to use Time Reversal to avoid it!

This cook, yes, there is no need for such a person to continue existing.

A quick flicker of power and she’s sent to one of the forbidden zones in Vespar. There is no need to show mercy to bad cooks!

The second meal, hm…

This…

I think this is a good attempt!

Quite tasty!

Reading the list of ingredients a few moments later, my mind melts in agony. How could someone use such precious materials merely for a simple meal!? My non-existent heart bleeds for the loss of such rare items!

However, well, yes I didn’t put a spending limit on ingredients…

Pass I guess, in the future there will need to be strict changes to cost though!

The third meal!

Ooooooooh….very fluffy, slightly crunchy, with a nice dash of spice.

Let’s see, ah, there we go. It’s rather amazing such a small child in such grubby clothes has managed to create something like this.

I have Sam escort the second cook out, for now she’ll be a backup.

My attention fully turns to the small human in grubby clothing that created a masterpiece.

“Little one, come closer. Let’s have a nice chat about your future.”

***

“….a nice chat about your future.” said the calm voice from the Tree.

Wen edged closer, prepared to run at the slightest sign of a threat. If it hadn’t been for the mage sweeper teams managing to find her in the slums, she never would have shown up to this strange event. Life in the slums was hard, she’d seen people disappeared over a fight of coppers. When the mages had descended and nabbed her by the scruff of her neck, she’d thought the end was near. Everyone knew what mages used small children for, the sewer was filled with the results of their experiments.

What followed after capture for Wen was endless waiting, then identity confirmation, and finally staring at a strange white tree. The tree had weird blood-like veins flowing through it. Even weirder was the fact that it was located in a cavern full of glowing liquid rock. Mother had told her once before she died about stuff like this, however those had been fairy tales. This was definitely no such thing.

The fact that the tree wanted them to cook something delicious, and furthermore that it could even talk, seemed par for the course.

Wen had created a savory treat using her incredible sense of smell, taste, and the ability to see glowing lights. Sometimes things in the world just looked different when she stared at them long enough. After trial and error she had found that different food ingredients would have different levels of light. When combined into something edible, it was almost always delicious. Such a talent had made her very in demand among the gang leaders in the slums, before she was caught.

Even at the age of seven, she was street smart enough to know that mentioning seeing glowing lights was a bad idea. As such, she wasn’t sure if she should say anything about the strange golden chains with silver runes that draped the tree’s form. If it was something she wasn’t supposed to see, saying anything could mean a quick trip into the glowing lava, and a rapid meeting with her deceased parents.

“Let’s start with something simple. Do you notice anything strange when you look at me?” said the Tree.

“White?” Wen responded. It was always best to stick to single word answers when being interrogated.

“Yes, anything else?” said the Tree.

“Blood?” Wen said, adding a second word against her own advice.

“Perhaps a dip in the lava would help to speed up this question and answer session…” said the Tree, appearing to think out loud.

“Your glowing white, with blood red veins that pulse with light, and strange golden chains with silver runes on them draping your form. Strangest tree I ever seen, even including the ones in the fairy tales my mother read me!” Wen said, her voice rapid and speech hurried.

“…chains?” said the Tree, his voice seeming slightly surprised for the first time.

“Uh, yes. There are glowing golden chains, I think, ten?” Wen said, twisting the sides of her grubby dirt-stained clothing. This was moving into strange territory, how would a tree not be able to know it was bound in chains!

The sound of amused laughter sounded from all around her, rising to a crescendo.

“Congratulations, little one. We are going to get along, just fine.”