Epsilon Twilight
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48. Sprout
🕑 Added 2023-08-18 18:34:42 +0000 UTCDescription: An evolved member of the Nigella Sativa species, a species known for its ability to survive with mana alone and sprout streams of water.
Many questions bloomed in Aloeâs mind, namely âWait, how do the streams of water work? Are they pressurized or more river-like streams?â or âDoes the water come from this âmanaâ?â Unfortunately, she had no way of checking such questions. She had to wait for the Flourishing Spring to grow for her to find any closure.
As she had decided beforehand, Aloe planted the evolved plant inside of the oasis. There were three parterres free, so the single plant had a lot of space to grow. Because she didnât know if the Flourishing Spring was a tree or not â the Aloe Veritas description didnât specify it â Aloe played it safe and planted it in the middle of the parterre, so it had enough space to grow.
She waited impatiently for the evolved plant to grow, but not before infusing it. Unlike when she evolved the black seed, Aloe was very conscious of the danger. She kneeled on the dirt, one hand on the patch where she had planted the seed and another holding a Cure Grass pill.
If it took more than enough vitality than she could handle, she would instantly down the pill. She had also not eaten anything for a few hours, so her stomach was entirely empty and free to digest the grass as soon as it came in contact with her stomach.
Aloe inhaled and exhaled heavily, she made herself aware wordlessly in harmony with the pregnant aura drowning the greenhouse. Evolved plants took double the vitality to infuse. If the Flourishing Spring was a tree, she would face a severe drain in her vitality. Lethally so.
Gripping hard on the Cure Grass pill, at the point that the aloe covering was beginning to crack, Aloe infused the Flourishing Spring.
Like the wild streams of a river, the vitality flowed potently out of her body. The small seed was able to take amounts of vitality big enough to infuse a patch of crops. But it was doable. Her fingers werenât locked in the seed like when she had evolved it. It was manageable. Whilst strong, the drainage didnât put a strain on her body. Evolving the Flourishing Spring had been painful, the original black seed had drunk copious amounts of vitality at a rate that it impeded Aloe to cancel it.
The infusion, on the other hand, was something she could work around. It took more than any other plants she had infused before, even more than the banana seeds. But it was still far less than her entire deposit.
After a complete minute of silence, Aloe managed to infuse the Flourishing Spring with the default accelerated growth typing. The vitalityâs total consumption?
Half of her deposit.
With some quick and coarse mathematics, she discarded the possibility of the Flourishing Spring being a tree. A single banana seed had consumed a third of her entire deposit, and taking into account that evolved plants needed twice as much vitality as they should, the base value of the Flourishing Spring was at a fourth of her entire deposit. Or zero point seventy-five times the cost of infusing a banana seed. It wouldnât be a tree, but if her calculations were to be trusted, it wasnât going to be a small plant.
After having used more than enough vitality for a week, Aloe took the next days slowly. All the plants were infused, so even if Karaim highly recommended Aloe to keep using her vitality, there was nothing else left to be infused.
Except herself.
The concept was terrifying. Changing oneâs body.
If infusion with plants almost led to mortal consequences, how bad could infusion on the same body where the vitality came from be?
Aloe didnât know the answers, but her prediction was: a lot.
âHow do I even do this?â Aloe waited, lying in bed. âWhere do I begin?â
She had just woken up and it had only been two days since she infused the Flourishing Spring. The idea to infuse, boost her own body was intoxicating but mostly terrifying. What if something went wrong?
âKaraim didnât linger much on it, but he almost made it sound inconsequential, so it canât be that difficult...â Aloe extended her arm to reach the nightstand, where it rested the cultivation technique.
The idea to infuse herself wasnât something she had just decided to do after waking up, but she had been already entertaining the concept since yesterday night. The lack of elaboration on the subject and Karaimâs carefree attitude on it made Aloe think that it wasnât an endeavor as difficult or dangerous as she made it sound.
âOh, and before I forget. Yes, you can infuse yourself. But the sheer amount of vitality needed makes it worthless.â Aloe read aloud. âHeâs so nonchalant about it. It canât be dangerous if itâs as useless as he says...â
She didnât believe her own words.
âAnyways, how do I infuse myself and what are the infusion types? With plants, it was somewhat straightforward, so maybe itâs the same with people? Can I just infuse myself to be taller? But even if I can select the types I want, whatâs the default one? With plants it was accelerated growth, is it the same with people? If thatâs the case, what does accelerated growth in humans entail? Faster development? Then itâs useless to me, Iâm almost an adult. And if that were the case, how it would affect the development of a child? Would it learn faster?â Or...â Aloe groaned. âItâs too early for this, I need a cup of tea.â
As she waited for the water to boil, Aloe had some dates and watered the plants. In these few days, all the seeds Aloe had planted had germinated. Even the bananas. Most were tiny sprouts, far away from their grown size, only a prick that had dug the earth to see the heavens.
To Aloeâs surprise, even the Flourishing Spring had germinated.
âWell, not much of a surprise there. Itâs infused and itâs an evolved plant. Did Karaim mention how much was the growth factor compared to normal plants? Was it also double? That means that an evolved plant with accelerated growth infusion should grow four times as fast as its normal counterpart. Woah, thatâs fast. Some plants take a full year to grow, with this, they will only take a season! What a shame pistachios or potatoes didnât have an evolution. Otherwise, I could have a harvest of potatoes every other week!â
Coming back to the house, Aloe found herself with yet another surprise as she checked on the windowsill. Two jars lay there.
On one pot, a single grown Cure Grass blade. In a few days, it had grown to its full size, more than twice the length of Aloeâs middle finger.
On the other pot, a wild growth of short weeds, barely the length of Aloeâs rather uncared-for fingernails.
âOh, wow.â Aloe blinked multiple times as she assimilated the image before her. âWell, the âbountiful harvestâ typing has worked. Definitely. What a shame I donât have any kind of feedback when I infuse plants. That way I wouldnât need to wait until it grows to check if it worked. Why do I feel empty upon seeing this though?â
Before her, Aloe had a pure display of magic. She had manipulated the structure of a plant and made it grow in the way she wanted, but the sheer rusticity of the accomplishment rendered all its glamour null.
âBah,â Aloe groaned and deflated, âhowever amazing this is, I wonât be able to infuse plants with different types until they finally grow. I guess I could check today on an already-grown potato the âbetter tasteâ typing. Also, mental note, I should standardize the names or something. Or should I? Iâm the only one using them after all...â
The whistling of the kettle reached her ears, so she stopped pondering in the middle of the sun, rushed back home, and poured herself a terânar tea.
âAh, yes. This hits the spot.â Aloe relaxed on her chair after taking a sip. âDefinitely addictive. I should stop, but it doesn't seem to have any bad properties. Just mild lightheadedness. Or thatâs just me being me. Bah!â
As she had her tea, Aloe infused the biggest potato she had on the sack with the âbetter tasteâ typing. Or so she hoped. The lack of feedback was horrendous, but at least she had gotten proficient enough dealing with vitality that she almost didnât notice the drain. Potatoes already had a low infusion cost but compared to the monstrosities she had tolerated to evolve and infuse the Flourishing Spring, it was but a tickle.
âPractice makes the master, or so they say.â She said between sips, satisfied with her progress in such a short span of time.
Her mind jumped from subject to subject thanks to the clearly-addictive, possibly-psychedelic properties of the terânar tree. Her wandering thoughts only lowered her self-consciousness and self-preservation instinct.
Exactly what she needed to apply dubious magic to her body.
Once she downed the first cup and refilled the second one, Aloe braced herself.
âI canât believe Iâm saying this, but letâs modify my body.â She added with a lethargic sigh, hiding her fear, but above else, her expectation.
****
Sorry for the delay! You can check the new chapter on RR and SH as I'm going to publish an art piece.
Comments
Karma Baris
ooooh I always love body mood type stuff
