The mutation of Baiyi’s plants may have been an odd incident, but it was still a small matter… ultimately. Baiyi moved them from their pots to the ground in the yard. They did not look like they would bring many problems to Baiyi’s daily life. In fact, their presence made the yard look even livelier than before. 1
The plants, however, did not share the Fifth Walker’s sentiments. The plants had shown that they were lacking in the IQ and the EQ department and that they had trouble understanding if someone was friend or foe. They would only consider someone friendly if the person was nice to them. Baiyi, Mia, Tisdale, and the few others could do anything to the plants without fear, but the new students, Zakum and the others, had to be careful around the plants; they were safe as long as they did not try to prod the plants. Vidomina’s legion of maids, who usually came over to provide food and clean up the place, were not allowed to come in all at once anymore; this was so that the mutated plants could get used to them, for they kept getting attacked by plant needles and flying cabbages. However, these attacks soon ceased as the plants became familiar with them.
Others, however, were not welcome. Vidomina’s butler had just come over for a visit when he found his butt riddled plant spikes, and that may have just been the mutated cactus throwing a tantrum — an issue it seemed to have. When Undine visited, as was customary during festivals, she had to evade attacks from a mutated watermelon. It was fortunate that she still possessed her battle agility, for she was not hurt; however, during one of her evasive maneuvers, a short skirt was grabbed and promptly ripped off by the very sneaky flower that had a big maw. This exposed her underwear — which was the latest in style — to everyone. The little Miss of the Dole family could only put on Tisdale’s skirt, and her face was crimson in shame; after a while, she hurriedly excused herself.
The real problem started when the mailman was struck by a flying watermelon and fainted. The city guards caught wind of it, and things almost escalated out of hand; but, Baiyi came out and explained the entire situation clearly. Despite that, rumors soon began to spread, stating that the Aegis Mansion played host to several mythical plants that had been tasked with guarding the beautiful, young maidens who lived within. However, the rumors also stated that the young maidens were prevented from leaving the Aegis mansion by the plants, who also did not allow other humans to come close to the young maidens.
“This is getting serious. You gotta be stricter in your parenting, man. When they see a guest, they should be wagging their tails and singing a little tune, you know? Only when they see an enemy would they call for help and try to defend our place. Can they be like that?”
Baiyi was sitting in the yard, and the sunflower was beside him; they were the only ones home today. The other students had gone out to shop, have fun and frolic, trying their best to salvage the last few festive moments of Grace Day.
“With the intelligence they currently possess, they can only be trained to perform the most basic of actions,” the Sunflower replied. “The standards you’re going for, mentor… is kinda difficult.”
“Can anything to speed up the growth of their intelligence?” Baiyi asked nervously as he watched Jawflower 2 snap its jaws menacingly.
That fella had to be the worst of them all. It was fond of hiding in the shadows, and whenever its target had been pushed to a corner by the attacks of other mutated plants, this evil fella would then suddenly burst out of hiding and sink its teeth into the target’s butt — an action befitting of the little bastard that it was!
Furthermore, for some reason, its bite does not inflict any bodily harm, probably because it was not skilled at biting or its maw was not as scary as it looked. Undine and the legion of maids had long since been protesting about Jawflower, giving Baiyi a strong urge to kick the horny little flora.
Baiyi believed that Jawflower needed to have its intelligence swiftly improved, and even if it could not manage that… at least, its ethics should improve!
The sunflower straightened its stem and replied, “Other than waiting patiently for them to improve themselves, I can’t do much. Only the great druids in the legends, who had realized the Gnosis of Nature, could possibly bestow higher intelligence to the plants, I believe…”
‘Druid? Isn’t there just one in the Void? And it’s a really badass one, too! ‘
Excited, Baiyi poked the Eighth Walker.
“????”
“…..”
“!!!!”
“…..” 3
‘I am crazy. I am actually trying to chat with a bloody tree!’
However, Baiyi was not being silly. The Eighth Walker was sentient, more sentient than Sunny the sunflower and Zakum the fox. Its problem was that, despite its intelligence, it still possessed the thought process of a tree. The sunflower, however, was capable of interacting with humans because it had gone out of its way to learn and adopt human knowledge and thought processes. The Eight Walker never did this, and the resulting problem often complicated communication.
In fact, when Baiyi wanted to exchange memories with it, it took him a really long time to get the message across. This made the Eighth just as difficult to befriend as the ice queen, the Warrior Walker, had been.
‘Tsk! As expected, a druid that can’t perform feats like ‘Jadegolem’ or ‘Ultimate Infestation’ 4 is just a sorry disappointment of a druid…’ Baiyi thought to himself.
As he was muttering to himself about the Eighth Walker, there was a sudden stir and a poke from the tree!
“You… Don’t… Talk Bad… Behind… Someone’s Back…”
‘Er, is the Tree… mad at me?’ Baiyi pondered, feeling embarrassed at the timing of the improvement of communication ability. He coughed, wishing that it could help dissipate the awkward atmosphere, and said, “I was hoping if you could tell me how to bestow intelligence to plants.”
“….”
The Eighth Walker was silent; it was as though it had not heard Baiyi. Good; now the situation was even more awkward.
However, just as Baiyi was about to give up and talk bad behind someone’s back, the Eighth Walker issued a reply so fast, it seemed as lightning fast as the Flash Slothmore from Zootopia. “Do not ask me…. Ask your own Heart… of Nature…”
“What Heart of Nature? Since when have I ever gotten one of those?” Baiyi asked in befuddlement.
This time, however, there was no reply, as was expected. Not a single sound escaped the tree; the embarrassing silence instantly reached an icy peak.
‘Why is talking to this fella so damn hard?! Good thing I’ve already mentally prepared myself for this.’
Baiyi waited for the Eighth Walker’s response as he patiently tidied up the leaves of the plant with a cat head; it looked as if he was brushing its fur. The cat-plant actually squinted its eyes, clearly enjoying its grooming.
Some more time passed before the Eighth Walker finally replied: “It is difficult… to imitate… the way you… humans….t—th—thi… think.”
The ensuing storm of emotions that hit Baiyi after the reply almost propelled him to run his head through a wall. ‘If talking is labor to you, then don’t f*cking spend it on some useless lambasting! Just answer my question goddamnit!’
When the kids returned home after happily rampaging through the shopping districts, they found Baiyi kneeling and knocking his own head into the ground repeatedly.
Little Mia instantly turned pale; she dropped her bags and raced to the soul armature’s side. “Mr. Hope? Mr.Hope! Are you okay?!”
“No-Nothing,” Baiyi said as he stood up, and then he placed his scarf back on his mask before shaking the dirt off his head.
He turned to Mia, and in a grave tone of voice, he said, “You should never, ever come into contact with a druid. Do you understand?”
“Huh?” Little Mia tilted her head to a side in confusion. Although she did not understand him, she still nodded.
That evening, Baiyi was given some fan service by the girls; they had bought many new clothes, and they were eager to try them on and show them to him, awaiting his comment and opinion on the new clothes. The girls’ aesthetics were all very different, so the “mini pageantry” looked like a contest in which suitors vied for the attention of a ‘princess’. The girls ended up spreading a blossoming countenance of bustling youth and beauty within the mansion.
It was supposed to be a fun, if not enjoyable, experience, but Baiyi seemed to lack enthusiasm. He indifferently watched the girls change into different short skirts and silky socks, twirl around in excitement, and catwalk in front of him; and after all that, he only made half-hearted comments.
All he could think about were his potted plants, and the enigmatic concept of “the Heart of Nature”.
Enigmatic concepts like these were why he chose to be a sorcerer.
He failed to gain any enlightenment on the concept. However, the reality was just as the Eighth Walker had told Baiyi before: it had long since taught him the Gnosis of Nature. This was when Baiyi realized that it was right.
This explained why Baiyi found the Gnosis of Nature unintelligible. In a way, it was the epiphany of a tree. Baiyi was human; he would never understand how a tree felt.
According to the Eighth Walker, Baiyi could actually try to think like a tree in order to appreciate the Gnosis it had discovered. With that, Baiyi, too, would come to his own epiphany 5 …
‘But who the heck knows how a tree thinks? This is really just a tree’s way of throwing shit at the wall to see what lands, man!’
This made Baiyi accept that may never find a way to increase the intelligence of the plants. He would just have to let the Sunflower do its thing and teach them step-by-step… Starting from teaching the flower with a maw not to snap at butts. It was to be a slow and steady learning experience, as there was a long way to go.
The girls, upon seeing the lackadaisical responses from Baiyi, left early. When the girls returned to their rooms on the second floor, a slightly displeased and worried Little Mia pulled Tisdale aside, and whispered, “What’s with Mr. Hope today? Did something happen? Why wasn’t he paying any attention to us?”
“Yeah, I know. I thought he loved seeing our bare legs! 6 ” Tisdale replied in confusion. “Could it be… Miss Aya?”
Aya and Mordred had only joined them for the shopping trip today, and the duo returned to their own residence after the trip; they had not taken part in the girls’ fashion show that evening.
At the mention of Aya, Little Mia became a bit defensive. She puffed her cheeks and muttered, “No way! Mr. Hope is not… like that…”
That was what she said, but Mia did not sound too sure. She actually sounded hesitant.
“You’re right! Miss Aya may be very friendly and even welcoming, but have you not noticed that Sir had always kept a kind of distance from her? Hence, I don’t think we have to worry about that, at all. I’m sure Sir was just occupied with flashbacks from his past battles… I mean, he was not clear about the details, but for you to get worn out that much, then those battles must have been very tough.”
Tisdale paused, and then with an expression of concern, she pulled Mia into her embrace. Then, she rested her cheek on Mia’s head, rubbed Mia’s back softly, and continued, “Sometimes, I really envy you, Mia. At least you could do something to help him. I wish….”
“Mm, no!” Mia wrapped her arms around Tisdale, hugging her right back. “Big Sister Dale has always taken care of me. So much…”
The sisters cuddled like this and talked softly until they both fell asleep on the bed.
The next morning, when Baiyi came to wake them up, he saw them still snuggling together underneath a blanket, his heart went weak for a moment.
He quietly crept away from them, as he had decided to just let them be, and let their moment last a little while longer.