Khenal
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Peek: A Flower in the Garden
🕑 Added 2024-08-12 00:16:41 +0000 UTCExistence blooms in cool soil and warm rays of sunshine. The soil still carries the chill of winter, but the light is warming it wonderfully, and the new living vine scion takes a few seconds to appreciate the newness of reality.
A warm presence, even more invigorating than the sunlight, examines her with a sense of happiness. She knows its her dungeon. She wants to show her happiness, and so tries to craft a gift for it. She can feel it prefers daffodils, the first flowers of spring, but it shames her to admit such a complex flower is beyond her ability to recreate just yet.
Instead, she creates a small orange poppy bloom, and hopes it won't be too disappointed. Instead of disappointment, however, she feels happiness and pride in her from the Gardener. There is no wish she had made a daffodil instead, but rather an appreciation of her earnest gift, and a name bestowed upon her for it: Poppy.
She undulates in happiness at the Gardener's approval of her and her effort, her tendrils tilling the soil and extracting nutrients and water to help her grow quickly. She settles in around her spawner, somewhat observing the denizens as she examines the bonds with the Gardener and his other flowers.
Such a bountiful garden she's been planted in. So many other scions, more strong blooms than all but the most ambitious of bouquets. And so many herbalism nodes! The prospect of so much to tend has her tilling the soil with excitement. There were other scions who would tend the nodes, but their duties have drifted away from those duties, and she is all too happy to fill that niche. She can sense a strong scion, not too far away, who has tended to more mundane plants in the course of his duties as well. It's closer to a hobby than a calling for him, but she gets the feeling she will get along very well with the Groundsreaper.
She thinks both of their duties will allow for plenty of time to exchange ideas. His duties are quiet and simple, while the plans she can feel from the Gardener for herself will take quite some time. She can only catch glimpses of the idea, as the Gardener doesn't wish to crush his latest bloom under the weight of expectations so soon, but the idea is intriguing.
A tree the size of a mountain, boughs laden heavy with delvers and the fruits of challenge. It's a task daunting in scale, but simple in scope... in theory. If the Gardener had a seed with such potential, Poppy feels she should be able to sense it. Instead, she detects a plethora of interesting seeds, of all sorts of plants.
The Gardener directs the other denizens to open the stores of seeds to be planted, leaving the specific locations to her and her sister Titania. The pixie is quick to act and to move, and skilled in choosing the places to plant. Poppy contents herself directing the vines to ensure the nodes can grow properly in their locations, and even takes the time to schedule waterings from the rainbats. She also gathers the tree seeds the Gardener has.
She can feel ideas through the bond with him, even as she can feel him resisting the urge to give her more direction. He seems to like both yew and willow for the tree, and wonders if they could be combined. His combination idea is not one she immediately understands. She could graft or entwine the trees, but she can feel an idea for combination on a much more fundamental level. Something involving boxes separated into grids to track traits, and of some infinitesimal part of all life that could be merged more completely.
The details make her mind ache, but there is a simple method to start the process, one that she understands readily. First, she needs to grow the trees. They don't need to be very large, they just need to bloom. Some she will try twining together, some she will attempt to graft, but the blooming ones she will try to cross pollinate. Ordinarily, such an attempt would be literally fruitless, but she is not ordinary, nor is her Gardener. It will take a delicate touch, and she may need Titania's help, but a careful blend of life and fate should allow her to blend the two trees on a more fundamental level.
She ponders the boxes as she tends the tree seeds, slowly coming to comprehend how they are used to organize which traits are desired and which are not, and how to eliminate them. It will take her some time, but she will grow a tree to match the Gardener's dreams, a tree able to stand tall in all four seasons at once.
Comments
BrokenLord321
Well if we're teaching punnett square we might as well start with flowers or pea plants like the original.
Herakilla
Thanks for the peek!
Ben Bass
TYFTP! Punnett squares! Yay HighSchool biology! I love how Thediem is able to take the idea of DNA and bust out Punnett squares to allow the baby scion to not be completely crushed by his ideas and thoughts. I really love seeing things from the perspective of the scions, it really helps in world building!
Gregs_Crow
my question is, how fast will the tree be grown to get an appropriate size for delvers to play around in?
mly85lc
All this talking about grafting and blending thighs together. Leaves me thinking. Wouldn’t it be nice if MC dungeon acpect and godhood acpect blended tougher? Enter angel/Valkyrie rat's. Since Temons is alredy his voice and therefore closes to "his" godhood. How about forcefully raising rat spawner higher lvls giving them ablity form MC "god sides" to touch and deliver them to his kingdom/heaven (or back form there do "change of state" for monument in living world) -giving this new rats ability to touch souls. -Boht living and deaht- By forming transparent limps form theyry bobys that while unable hurt living directly theyry still able distribute theyry construction and bobys moments. -maybe even give them some form of slow working paralysis claws. -and since theyry rise sprit/angel hood becoming Temons [the voice] give them ability to shot small ranges "condensed voice bullets" whit "changed elements" on them. And as nood theyry dungeons contention -yes Temons again- give them ablity to make [displacements jumps trought space] Not "teleporting" just a quick conetion of one places to ohter. -That can be blocked by butting something "dense" on theyry way.- ablity that requires theyry seeing they target whit the snouts giving the angles of moments. -and lastly give them ablity to [air step/air grap/reality pushing] a repeatedly by using too pair of legs to push or pull.. 3-5 time in round before cool down set in. -as final touch give them bit more intelligence and personality and let Temons being telepathic conetion to group of them that mirrors and mixs his and MC conetion alongside one that queen ants and bees have theyry helpers -and lastly have Ratkins form a custom of makeing them personal armors. Sure theyry can come of bit OP. So make theyry coming back more time consuming and using higher ammout of resources -thous gods point included- and lower theyry numbers while leaving chances for "normal rats" Rises theyry "level" in time.
87894354
Indeed. I figure that Thediem was probably *trying* to shield the newborn plant from such big concepts, knowing how painful they can be (especially for newborns).
KebabowyKrol
Absolutely love these peeks from the scions perspectives
Timo Immig
I mean natural sciences maybe but there are a still a lot of things left with Engineering.
LinaBoeckwurm
This is such a sweet peak! Poppy might become my favourite scion! Though then again, that is what I always think after reading a chapter focused on one... You are just too dang good at making all the scions likeable and fleshed out and interesting!
Orion Belt
“the light is warming it wonderful” sounds a bit weird and “the size of a mountain, bhough laden heavy” should be “the size of a mountain, though laden heavy” This peek was nice and sweet
Demonlord
Thanks for the nice peek 😊 Poppy is really cute and smart. She'll figure out genetics in no time and that's kinda cool and scary 🙃
C
Short but good. Hopefully caravan arrives next.
Ethan Barrow
TFTP!! I think Poppy is gonna make a great new edition to the team.
Pete Magnuson
Shout-out to each scion having a different name for thedeim, absolutely cute touch for an absolutely wonderful story
Tyler Morrissette
TYFTP
Aerowarrier
Can’t wait to see her work with Grim, Honey, and Queen to create some beautiful works of art with those trees. Maybe even Rocky and Tiny can help with figuring out how to leverage her affinities properly to make it work. These two new scions are really cool already, can’t wait to watch them grow
Austin Miller
Yeah, didn't think about that, but life + fate with someone who understands genetics is kinda concerning. We're reaching possible levels of eugenics that would make Germany circa 1938 blush.
AssumedPseudonym
That just gives us something to look forward to. ^.~
m1872
Plant geneticists?? Thanks for the chapter!!
Hello!
Fantastic peek! I wonder if Khenal knows he gave a minor spoiler for the next chapter for the 5$ patreon people? The rainbats aren’t in the chapters listed for the 5$ people.
blaze87b
Just came to the realization that Thediem has created a scion for nearly every avenue of science. Don't know if I'm right or not, but well done
Staples01
Yay! Poppy and her punnet squares!
Sonata Fauns
We have the preppy but volatile, cheerleader Titania. And the quiet bookworm younger sister that loves biology.
Durphymcbob
Thanks for the Chapter! Punnett Squares! Magical plant crossbreeding, is little poppy going to be doing some selective breeding?
Presten
Did not expect her to latch on to punnett squares so quickly. She is a very smart little lady, that's for sure.
