Thorne pumped his fist in front of his body.
"Yes!" He exclaimed. "The masters are coming!"
As he had hoped, the promise of their plant-type treasure had lured them in.
He calles for a servant to prepare his best robes and for a welcoming feast for the masters to be arranged. He wanted to make a great first impression.
....
Salem created a screen for Alina, seing as she couldn't use Eyes of the Machinist, and handed it to her, along with a pair of headphones.
As the three creatures were walking into the city, Alina suddenly asked a question.
"Why were you able to provide improvements for their cultivation methods?" She asked.
"A game in my homeworld called Magic, the Gathering." Salem said. "I used to be a very avid collector."
"But how did you apply the game to cultivation" Alina asked.
"On some cards there are quotes like the one I gave to the Frost family." Salem explained.
"Ah." Alina nodded.
Ruby, who had been listening silently the whole time, suddenly jumped into the conversation.
"Why is so much from your world applicable to any other?" She asked. "It seems too improbable for every world to follow the made-up laws your world created in fantasy books and games."
"Perhaps the Multiverse follows certain rules." Salem pondered. "Perhaps my world, although it wasn't able to use the energy that followed the rules, it was able to discover them."
"But how were they able to discover them?" Ruby asked. "They couldn't test their theories."
"The human mind is a fascinating thing." Salem said. "Just because they couldn't prove something, or something was seen as pure fantasy, they still wrote about it or accepted the theories as fact."
"What a strange race." Alina said. "The same race that will beat, violate, and abduct members of their own race or other races will turn around and make incredible observations about the world."
"It is quite strange, isn't it?" Salem agreed, before gesturing to the tablet he had created. "They've arrived."
....
Thorne had spent the whole morning pacing in his office in his best robe, worrying about what he was going to say to the three masters.
He stopped only when a servant notified him that they had not come in person.
Now, he felt that he needed to speak differently to their Spirit Companions.
Now, right before the scheduled banquet, he stood in front of the door, wondering how he'd look good despite having mistakenly preparing a feast.
He finally resigned himself to his fate and reached for the door handle, but before he opened the door a knock sounded.
"What is it?" He asked, freezing in place.
"The Spirit Companions say that they directly want to see our cultivation method and the ancient sapient twisted root, sect master." The servant responded respectfully.
Thorne directly opened the door and briskly walked past the servant.
"Prepare them then." He said over his shoulder. "If they do not wish to attend the banquet, I shall personally attend to them."
....
Salem, Ruby, and Alina all watched as Thorne showed them the root's apparent sapience.
It was capable of responding to true and false questions, was able to clearly show what one could only interpret as fear when a flame was placed in front of it, and, if it so desired, it could uproot itself and take root somewhere else.
"Fascinating." Salem said through Reaper. "Now, are you offering this for assistance in your cultivation method, or do you wish to try and recruit us?"
"We would love to have you in our family, but the root will be given for your guidance in the way of cultivation." Thorne responded after a momentary pause. "My Naturae family could offer you so much more than this if you were to join, though, even if it is as a guest."
"We do not desire ties to this plane." Reaper spoke according to Salem's will. "For we will leave soon, and it will be incrrdibly unlikely for us to return once we abandon this plane of existence."
After saying his part, Reaper immediately moved to the scroll that held the Naturae family's jealously guarded cultivation method.
"Your method seems to require one to tune themselves to the music of nature, correct?" Reaper questioned at Salem's urging.
"It does indeed." Thorne confirmed, holding the three masters higher in his eyes.
"Have you ever considered growing a plant to aid your cultivation?"
"I...What?" Thorne couldn't formulate a response because he was so shocked by such a nonsensical question.
"By growing a plant as you cultivate, it will grow alongside you, allowing you to further attune yourself to the melody of nature."
"This..." Thorne stood paralyzed with shock. "This is revolutionary! This is unprecidented!"
"Not only that, but there are three paths I can see this cultivation method taking you."
"Please, O master. Teach it to this ignorant one." Thorne fell to his knees and placed his forehead against the floorboards.
Salem had Reaper repurpose some of the nanobots that made his vessel for the making of a piece of black paper with red borders reading:
"To truly master the heart of nature, one must know their own heart.
Is their heart one of sharp thorns, keen as the sharpest blade?
Is their heart one of kindness and compassion, healing others with their own?
Or is their heart truly one of the wild, running with the beings of the forest?
To know one's heart is to know the heart of nature"
Reaper set the scroll upon the table next to the root, picked up the root, and then turned to leave.
"The path is yours." Salem said through Reaper. "Whether or not you follow one of these paths, multiple of them, or create your own is up to you."