The history of our world is generally categorized into five (or six) ages. While history is not so simple as this would imply, they are a useful frame of reference. In order, the ages are the Primordial Age, when only the raw elements existed; the Divine Age, when the gods were born; the Mortal Age, when the sapient species first arose on Esiliur; the Dungeon Age, when the dungeon cores first appeared, bringing prosperity to the world. Brakshur argues to insert another age next, the Fading Age, when the dungeons began to dwindle, but the distinction is considered trivial by many other scholars. Finally, the Deathless Age is our present era, which as the name implies is the age where death ceased. - Epochs by Hadrien the Taller.
<hr>
While I waited for the first of my plants to grow, I delved into my menus more. My main currency, or method of improvement, seemed to be Soul Power, or SP. I could spend it both on levels and to buy stat increases. Reaching level two right now would cost me 250 SP, while increasing one of my stats would cost 43 SP. I had no real reference for how quickly I could gain SP, but a vague tooltip informed me I would gain it from adventurers. However, it did mean I would have to juggle saving up for levels with prioritizing stat increases.
The three stats available to me were Arcana, Fortitude and Luck. Arcana seemed to be the most widely used, contributing to both my mana pool and mana growth, while Fortitude seemed to determine resistances, and so far I hadn’t found out what Luck did. I guessed it probably effected chance based abilities. I once again wished I had someone to teach me about these things.
Examining my minion’s descriptions taught me something else. Each minion could have tiers. Right now, I didn’t have access to any improved tiers of my existing plants, but I could purchase them with Soul Power. The plants I had right now were tierless, and the tiers started at Tin, followed by Copper, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum and Orichalcum. I had the feeling Soul Power was going to be precious.
At least an hour had passed while I explored my menus, and when I checked on my Bleeding Bloom, it had finally grown. I pushed my vision over towards it with a thrum of excitement.
The core of the plant was a teardrop shaped flower on the end of a long stalk, with gossamer violet petals that glowed very slightly. Just enough that it would be unmissable up close, but not enough to illuminate the surrounding ground. That, I supposed, was the point. Low, flat vines grew out of the base of the stalk, spreading out from the center of the plant to a radius of four feet. If someone was focussed on the beautiful bloom, they might never see them.
Experimentally, I formed a small rock in mid air above the vines and let it drop. When it bumped one of the vines, it rapidly tangled around the rock while bright red thorns extended from hidden pockets and tried their best to stab its prey. Each thorn had a small notch on the end. If it had been a flesh and blood target, the thorns would sink deep into flesh, and when the prey tried to pull itself free, the notch would act like a hook and tear as it pulled out, inflicting even more damage.
I was even happier with it than I thought possible. I’d grown this. Sure, I’d only made some soil and planted it, but it was mine. I’d made it. The mana cost was low, so I suspected that it wasn’t particularly strong, but it would provide a good nuisance to anyone who tried to reach my core. I needed more of these. I was hampered by my shortage of mana for now, but since converting stone to earth seemed to be free, I set to work laying out more growing spots for future Bleeding Blooms.
***
By the time my Mana Blooms grew the next day, I’d cleared all the debris from my area of influence and laid out two more garden beds. Unfortunately, I hadn’t gained any new plants from it, but I was ready for future growth when I had the mana for it. Then I’d spent a few hours just watching the stars from the door of the temple. It was foolish and self-torturing but also somehow reassuring to see my kin still twinkling in the heavens.
When the sun had risen again, and I could no longer watch them, I’d rested back in my core. I couldn’t sleep, not like mortals did, but I could hibernate like I had when I was a star. Only half-aware of the passing of time, which made it disappear in a blink.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!
Finally, though, the Mana Blooms grew. My original guess for the space they needed was roughly right. Each plant was a compact bush, roughly dome shaped, with foliage that started dark green and faded to pale, almost translucent green on the tips of the youngest leaves. It was covered in small, star shaped flowers with dark blue petals and pale white centers. Tiny motes of mana were slowly drawn towards the flowers, and occasionally, one would attach itself to the center of a bloom and start to be absorbed.
I checked my System menu. Mana Growth was now at 16 a day. It was only a tiny improvement, but it would add up over time. The twenty four hours of rest had also given me thirteen more mana to work with. The mana seemed to appear each hour, rather than at the end of the day, which was useful.
With my new mana, I planted a second Bleeding Bloom by the temple doors, opposite the first one. Then, I turned my attention to the two new plants I’d gained yesterday.
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
Plant Name
</td>
<td>
Climate
</td>
<td>
Properties
</td>
<td>
Growing Time
</td>
<td>
Mana Cost
</td>
<td>
Damage Type
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Queen’s Robes (Molluscus regina)
</td>
<td>
Subtropical
</td>
<td>
Not discovered
</td>
<td>
48 hrs
</td>
<td>
2
</td>
<td>
N/A
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Goldfruit (Aureus edulis)
</td>
<td>
Temperate
</td>
<td>
Not discovered
</td>
<td>
24 hrs
</td>
<td>
1
</td>
<td>
N/A
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
The natural plants I’d gained from Uncreate didn’t seem to innately tell me what they did. I’d have to grow them and figure it out. They also seemed to come with alternate names in a language I didn’t speak. However, these two had a much greater mana cost than the Ancient Ebony Tree, which I hoped meant they were useful. The tree had mostly seemed ornamental so far. The climate difference on the Queen’s Robes concerned me a little. I didn’t have any way to replicate a climate right now, so hopefully it would still grow.
I moved over to one of the new garden beds I’d laid out during the night on the opposite side of my crater from the Mana Bloom. I kept up the squares, divided into a grid, like I’d used for the Mana Blooms. My area of influence had grown noticeably, and it seemed that the free, slow growth wasn’t as slow as I’d feared. It had nearly reached the edges of the temple chamber, which meant that I didn’t need to spend any more mana on expanding it to make room for plantings.
I started with the Goldfruit. The seed was a tiny pointed oval, by far the smallest seed I’d made so far. It made me question whether I’d set aside too much space. Such a tiny seed might only make a tiny plant. Still, it seemed better to overestimate than underestimate. I gently pressed it into the freshly turned soil. I hope you grow up to be a big and strong little fellow.
After the Goldfruit, I summoned a seed for the Queen’s Robes. This was a large, perfectly spherical seed, with a shiny outer surface. I planted it in its own five foot square, next to the Goldfruit. Finally, I spent the two mana to apply Overgrowth. With a bit of testing, I figured it seemed to cover a cube one hundred feet by one hundred feet, which was almost my entire area of influence right now. That seemed more powerful than I first thought. I’d still need to wait twelve hours for the Goldfruit, and twenty four for the Queen’s Robes, though.
Gardening seemed to involve a lot of waiting.
Satisfied with my plantings, I turned my attention to my core and the crater.
It was quick work to smooth out the bottom of the crater, and then erect a hollow stone cube ten feet by ten feet around my core. When I tried to seal the top, however, I found I was unable to. The stone simply refused to meld together. I tried to trick it by very slowly growing stone across the gap, but it wouldn’t budge. No sealing my core away entirely then. That was frustrating. I relented by leaving a hole at the top, so that anyone wanting to reach my core would have to make a ten foot drop. Maybe later, I’d make that bigger, and fill the path with traps and poisonous plants. As long as that was allowed.
Then I finished by filling in the rest of the crater and converting it to more growing space. I had six mana left by the time I finished my earthen works, so I spent it on one more Mana Bloom and planted it alongside the original three. With Overgrowth, it’d hopefully be fully grown in just twelve hours.