Chapter 224 - Tanya, Queen of the Dryads (1/2)
After a good meal, everyone decided to turn in early. Hua Tuo and Ruth were exhausted. Needless to say, the teen was still bouncing with energy. He tossed and turned for a good hour or so but couldn't sleep. Ruth usually didn't sleep at night but after taking care of baby Seff for a while, the vampire needed time to recover. Hua Tuo was too used to his noisy apprentice and zoned out on the ruckus.
This made Zero unhappy. They finally returned to Endow Hill but he wasn't able to do anything. Zero was brimming with energy. He wanted to do more, learn more and prepare to absorb everything his teachers would throw at him. The young doctor couldn't wait to learn about acupuncture and surgery that Hua Tuo promised he would teach. Also, learning magic-combat from Ruth sounded a lot more fun than doing qi gong daily.
Speaking of qi gong, Zero wondered if he should include Amon's special lessons into his practice sessions. If such simple movements were able to take down strong warriors like Sekkin, Zero had no doubt that it would work on bad people like Count Carrabas. However, he didn't want to disturb his teachers so Zero took advantage of his new vessel and taller height.
Bob and Mii weren't expecting to see Zero so soon in the mindscape. The dragon also didn't expect to see his master in the magic lamp either.
”Zero, do you know what time it is?” the Eternal Dragon asked. Bob wasn't very pleased that the teenager was becoming more and more rebellious. He doesn't listen to adults or did as he was told anymore. Now, Zero was beginning to ignore curfew for bedtime too! It was inexcusable.
The young doctor didn't look apologetic in the slightest. If anything, he had the nerve to reason with Bob.
”But I am resting! I'm just in the magic lamp physically and in the mindscape mentally. I'm just not on a straw mattress but this is still a bed.”
Mii didn't look like she had the energy left to argue with Zero so Bob took it upon himself to correct the cheeky creator. The dragon continued to nag at the teenager who snuggled up on the comfortable bed and patted the spot beside him.
”Join me?” he asked coyly and Bob sighed through his nose. The boy had the nerve to completely ignore his lecture and even try to entice him into slacking. Did he understand how much work Mii needs to complete thanks to his whimsical requests? Bob pitied the strawcherry fairy who looked no better than Hades, Mammon or King Yama. Truen and Coux didn't give Mii any breaks either so the strawcherry fairy continued to slog in the never-ending work looking like a zombie.
Bob rolled his eyes and refused the invitation. ”You can stay but do not disturb us. We have a lot of work to complete.”
Zero nodded cheerfully, happy to have gotten his way. Truth be told, he was actually glad that Bob and Mii would be occupied. He couldn't carry out his plan back at the hut because there were two very wary people who would wake up once they felt foreign mana fluctuating around him. What better way to kill time than to talk to somebody instead?
Hence, Zero decided to bring the meditation session to his magic lamp instead. It was also a safe space to practice secretly. Even if something went wrong, Zero was confident that Mii and Bob would stop him or find the help he needed.
With his mind at ease, Zero snuggled into the pillow and closed his eyes. His breathing slowed as he returned to a familiar scene in his mind.
”Tanya?” he called out. ”Tanya, are you here?”
The dark and cold void transformed into one full of lush greenery at the name. The soil beneath his feet was cooling and the forest smelled strongly of earth. There was some river in the background and the image gave a very tranquil feeling to whoever was looking at it.
Zero knew what he was looking at. It isn't very difficult to guess why the person called Tanya had brought him here using their mental connection. Although Zero didn't talk to her as often as he spoke with Baal, Tanya was a close friend he made from one of the listening sessions in the void.