Cyril Sarnath
patreon
Chapter 188
🕑 Added 2023-10-06 18:05:27 +0000 UTCIt turned out Kora didn't know—how could she? Massage oil for trees? What an absurd idea. Her [Nature Aura] not only proved ineffective but the dream tree seemed to actively resist it.
"Sto…p it…" the tree murmured in his mind.
"Kora, wait. The tree doesn't like the aura."
Neither [Nature Aura] nor the Trait of Nature allowed Kora to verbally communicate with the dream tree. Instead, upon touching the moss with her bare feet inside the house, she received impressions and feelings.
Most of Keynes's hopes flew out the window, forcing them to search for another way to determine which ingredients to source. Kora suggested deceiving the dream tree, given its child-like psyche, but Keynes didn't think it was the right approach. He believed that trickery wouldn't get them far in the long run.
So they went back to the basics.
Returning to the backyard, they counted seventeen patches of mixed weeds. Kora sensed general energies emanating from each patch, but nothing detailed enough to be useful. This time, [Nature Aura] proved somewhat useful, enabling Kora to manipulate the growth of the plants directly. However, the core issue remained: they still didn't know which plants were needed for the oil mixture.
Then it struck him.
"We're going to use all seventeen plants."
Kora sharply looked at Keynes, then her face lit up; she understood.
"Any particular method of harvesting?" Kora asked as they got down to business.
"No idea… Wait." He recalled his time with Hugo, Wagner, and Pucci. For some plants, the harvesting method was as important as cultivation. Unfortunately, without spiritual labels, Keynes couldn't identify the plants or discern their specific features.
Having no spiritual label meant that these plants weren't fully 'acknowledged' by the System. There was more to it, but for now, this specific situation worked in their favour; they had more room for error at this stage.
Seeing no harm in trying, they simply cut the leaves and stalks, then used a mortar and pestle to grind the ingredients together. Next, Keynes used [Create Water], resulting in a kind of mixture.
The moment they crossed the threshold, they felt a strong sense of anticipation.
"Is this to your liking?" Keynes asked the dream tree as his bare feet touched the moss-covered floor.
The tree's attention focused on him, and a terrifying sense of glee flooded his mind. It was so intense that his Pure Body buff activated, warding off the foreign influence.
"Yes!"
"What should we do now?"
"Apply it to my bark."
Keynes dipped his hand into the bowl; the mixture had already turned oily. He then followed the tree's instructions. Both he and Kora sensed a 'sigh of relief' as Keynes applied the mixture to the dream tree's rough bark. With each application, the bark lost a touch of its roughness.
"Don't forget about the rest of my bark!" the tree complained when Keynes ran out of the oily mixture.
They had to harvest more weeds to finish the job. Once complete, the bark became smooth and pearly in colour, showing no sign of the oil on its surface. The house seemed to brighten up, the air becoming fresher and slightly richer. However, none of this mattered when two roots sprouted from the floor. At their ends, two buds appeared and then opened. Inside each was a seed.
Mana plants? Seeds.
- The Tree of Life
- -
- [Seed]
- Level 5
“Mana is life.”
It didn't make sense, or did it? Everything seemed to be composed of spiritual energy, and life itself was spiritual energy. So, where did mana fit into all of this?
Again, there was more to the situation than Keynes understood. It shouldn't surprise him, especially after encountering the Greater System and the shop. Nonetheless, it irked him that the System kept him—and everyone else—in the dark, instead of assisting humankind.
"What's the best way to grow it?" Keynes wondered silently. From his time with other gardeners, he knew there were three fundamental methods, but he had no idea which would be ideal for a plant bearing such an imposing name: the Tree of Life.
"Hmm, that wasn't part of the deal. If you wish to learn more, take care of the house, of me, and of my garden." The tree's presence receded from Keynes's mind. When he reached out to reconnect, he found an invisible barrier blocking him.
"I guess we're on our own for now," he muttered to Kora, closing his fist around the seed.
"What, why?"
"More information requires more favour."
"As the guardian said," Kora acknowledged.
They left the house, returned to the backyard with the seeds, and selected a patch they wanted to use for planting.
"Wait," Keynes interjected as Kora planted the first seed. "Didn't the guardian mention we need our own individual projects?"
Indeed, the guardian had—and there was more to it than they had initially thought. The System had warned them: they couldn't physically interact with each other's gardens. All help was to be limited to verbal exchange of ideas, but not actionable suggestions.
This restriction forced them to focus on their own projects. While Keynes wasn't worried about himself—given his level of competency—Kora's experience was limited to [Nature Aura] and her trait. She assured him she'd manage.
Despite some reservations, Keynes chose to trust her. Kora was capable and powerful. Even without the Rapid Learning buff, she was a quick learner. Dwelling on the issue would only hinder their chances.
With that mindset, Keynes turned his focus to the task at hand: assessing the conditions for the seed's growth. Each patch of soil contained various weeds, and magical plants could be particular about sharing space.
Some plants didn't like having other flora nearby, some were indifferent, and some required very specific partners in a sort of symbiotic relationship. According to Wagner, the number of combinations was infinite.
Keynes chose a patch with only three other weeds—the fewest among all the patches. His plan was to start from there and figure out the next steps. As he sat watching the seed emanate spiritual energy into the soil, a new compulsion drew his attention elsewhere.
Between the patches, some weeds seemed visually and spiritually out of place. Although he initially resisted, Kora gave in and began clearing the weeds. It felt strange, but then Keynes surrendered to the guiding hand of his trait. He even exhaled in relief when they finished, pleased by the healthier and more pleasing appearance of the backyard.
"That was strange," Kora admitted. "I now have this weird compulsion to garden."
"That's the trait for you," Keynes agreed. "But I have to admit, it feels good to fix the garden."
When he returned to his seed, he found a tiny stalk with a single leaf. It was no larger than a thumb but upon inspection with [Inspect Plant], it showed a generation of 1 mana per hour. It worked.
Checking on Kora, he found she had similar results. Opting not to interfere and breach the competition's rules, he returned to his own garden. Despite a moment of hesitation, Keynes knew he had no choice but to proceed. They were short on time, and without knowing how well their competition was doing, he had to assume they were ahead.
Initially, he replanted the weeds surrounding the seedling, all of the same type, to better understand their impact. They didn't seem to affect the plant much. Clearly, he was missing something. When only the Tree of Life remained, a feeling of wrongness settled over him. The patch looked barren and lifeless, completely at odds with the ideal of the Tree of Life.
Kora took a different approach, adding more plants to her patch, but neither seemed to thrive.
"What's your mana per hour?" Keynes asked at the end of the day.
"My plant doesn't have a spiritual label."
"Oh—okay." Upon checking with [Inspect Plant], Keynes found that Kora's plant had the exact same mana rate as his own. While they looked slightly different physically, spiritually they were nearly identical.
He had to verify if sharing this information with Kora was in line with the competition rules; it was, but only once per day. Although the rules seemed strange, he lacked the energy to argue. The whole day of gardening and staring at the damned plant had exhausted him.
***
The next day was more fruitful, but not for Keynes. Kora used [Nature Aura] to stimulate the growth of her plant, and it grew over thirty centimetres tall. Then, to her consternation, it stopped. From what Keynes sensed, it appeared to be actively refusing to grow further. On his end, Keynes tried different combinations of plants, following the instinct that came with the trait. The Tree of Life’s response to these changes was what Keynes could only describe as annoyed; it seemed like the plant didn’t like the change.
He returned to the house and followed his compulsion by taking care of moss, polishing roots and branches, and planting and replanting various plants. In exchange for his efforts, the dream tree connected to his mind.
“I like these changes. They're not ideal, but they are refreshing, somehow,” it communicated.
“I need help with the Tree of Life. It is stubborn,” Keynes said.
“Of course it is. Trees of Life are fiercely territorial. Even with the Father’s provision, your trees are too close,” the dream tree advised.
“Tree…” The connection between the dream tree and Keynes snapped. He felt a short surge of spiritual energy, and a moment later, Kora burst into the scene.
“The backyard expanded!” she exclaimed.
“We must—”
The System Warning!
Rule 7: Fairness.
Okay, so he couldn't tell her what he had learned from the dream tree, but he advised her to do some work around the house, so she too could gain some insight. As they parted ways, Keynes checked on her plant and found it showed 7 mana per hour while his own was only at 2.
It didn’t matter; he knew what to do now. The backyard had expanded by a few metres in most directions. At the westward edge was a vent, and near it was an empty patch of soil that looked darker. Although he was not an expert, his trait told him this soil was of better quality. He replanted his Tree of Life, which at this point radiated serious annoyance. The moment its roots touched the new soil, its annoyance seemed to morph into a ‘sigh’ of relief.
Keynes felt through his spiritual sense that the tree was undergoing some delicate changes that were invisible to the naked eye. The Tree of Life liked warmth and space. As for the soil, Keynes couldn’t tell what made this soil better than the others. Eventually, he decided not to replant any other plants near his tree, wanting to see what would happen by the end of the day.
The mana rate of his Tree of Life skyrocketed then stabilised at around 60 mana per hour, dwarfing any mana glyph known to him. He checked on Kora’s tree—she hadn’t appeared for the remainder of that day, which he took as a good sign—and found that her tree was at around 18 mana per hour. A significant improvement but nothing close to his own. He couldn’t sleep that night, not only because he was excited but also because he was overwhelmed by the existence of Trees of Life and their prodigious mana production. Suddenly, Pucci’s kidnapping made a lot more sense. Elixirs were one thing, but if the Council had access to Trees of Life, Pucci would be the perfect person to cultivate them.
Comments
vdv9
Tyftc
