Kai was quizzically inspecting the five fields with Anna and Tiffany in tow. Her daughters had finished the adjustments to the fields an hour or so ago and the only reason for her to postpone this was the baleful drizzle of rain that still persisted. She had hoped it would stop, but sadly it didn’t and now her shirt and fur was either damp or already drenched. At least the rain wasn’t the torrent that always washed away the fog anymore.
Kai shuddered and looked over the expanse in front of her. Each of the fields was a good 300 to 400 meters long and equally wide, giving her a good view of the river behind them too.
She looked down again, examining one of the white lines that was crisscrossing the area. Her daughters had dug small trenches that could be flooded with river water before the rain that had properly washed them out. Now, after the trenches got repaired, they were filled with silken blocks, stopping the water from entering. They were meant to make watering easier in between the periods of rain, so she figured the things weren’t a bad idea.
Kai nodded approvingly, not really knowing what she was looking at or if it was good work. She appreciated it nonetheless.
Looking at Tiffany, there was only one thing that was bothering Kai. “Aren’t these going to be orchards and not fields?” They had planted a variety of bushes here to harvest their fruits, something that they would be able to do every 2 to 3 months.
Her daughter simply shrugged. “Is there even a difference? The system still approves, doesn’t it?”
Kai nodded and Tiffany smiled. “Then I don’t care. I’m not a farmer afterall!”
She turned back to the river with a sigh. No matter if orchard or field, the area in front of her would allow them to comfortably feed a lot more mouths, something that was becoming somewhat of an issue, at least as long as she didn’t want to destroy the environment around her.
Hopefully the quest reward would help them with accelerating the growth of the bushes or they would have to wait for quite some time until the plants bore fruit.
Crossing all of her twenty fingers, Kai opened the quest and accepted the full reward.
[Settlement quest completed!]
Then everything around her became black and she lost all awareness of her body. What the heck?!
Before Kai could question what was happening three visions appeared in her mind's eye, all of them overlapping each other. Yet, despite this, she could still grasp what was going on with no problem whatsoever.
Each vision showed a close up picture of some plant seed that was firmly embedded in the soil, shielded from the harsh environment. Then a colorful cloud of something started to encroach on the seed, each of the three clouds distinctly different from each other.
Kai wondered what this was and somehow something, probably the system, told her that the cloud was mana and the colors were intent?
In fact, if she concentrated on the color cloud long enough she could feel said intent herself. How the intent got there in the first place though, she didn’t know. Her own mana wasn’t that colorful and neither was that of her daughters so maybe they were doing something wrong?
And thinking about it, didn’t the weird human, Sveck, emphasize the word intent like it had a deeper meaning when he had spoken to ember?
It was truly weird and Kai wondered what she was missing, all the while the vision continued on. Noticing this she instead focused on the matter at hand.
The mana clouds had already reached their seed, each trying to achieve the same in different ways. One cloud of mana wanted to force the seed to grow, making it clear that there was no room for negotiations. The seed however, didn’t seem all that pleased with that and fought back. In the end, it lost, but not before it drained most of the mana and a single pitiful leaf sprung forth.
In the second vision, the cloud of mana offered a trade. It would provide the energy needed for growth, but demanded that the plant grew in a certain way. Here the seed seemed reluctant and once it accepted, absorbing the mana, it began to actively fight against the demands of the mana. It grew a little more than the first seed, but certainly not in the intended way.
The third vision was interesting though. The mana didn’t demand anything. Instead it spoke of grandeur, of the truly glorious heights and ways this plant could grow and how the seed would produce many more of its kind. It just so happened of course, that all those things were in line with what a farmer would want.
The seed quite visibly shook in excitement as it gobbled up the mana and grew, the stalk shooting into the air where leaves and branches formed. The plant used up the energy to grow to the grandeur the mana had spoken off and began to bloom in brilliant colors before the vision ended.
Kai watched the whole thing and was a bit irritated. Wasn’t this like telling a little kid it could become a hero if it did something and then give it the means to do exactly that thing?
Wouldn’t that mean that every single magical farmer was a slimy salesman trying to extort the most out of their client?
She snorted at the thought. There was quite possibly a lot more to magical farming than what she had been looking at though, since the system labeled this as a hint.
Kai’s vision returned abruptly and she managed to catch her falling body. It seemed that less than a second had actually gone past outside of the vision, though she didn’t think too much about it. Magic was a thing, so why not?
Ignoring the curious gazes of her daughters, Kai stepped onto the field and knelt down to the earth. She really wanted to try out what she had just seen, even if it was a bit distasteful in her opinion.
Kai dug around the soil a bit, searching for the seed there and then put her finger against it. Without the control over her mana in the air she would need a direct contact to the seed afterall, however arduous that may be.
Putting her distaste aside for now, she started channeling her mana towards the seed, trying to envision the grandeur the bush could have once it was fully grown. Much to her disappointment though, the mana didn’t bring with it the color thingy and the seed wasn’t reacting either, even after she had thrown half of her mana at it.
Was she doing something wrong or did those clouds in the vision contain enormous amounts of mana?
Kai didn’t know.
Anna interrupted her disappointment. “So, what did you get besides the quests?”
Besides the quests she said! Those alone boosted the possible stat gain per day of the hive to a wonderful 18. That was six times more than before!
Kai sighed and shrugged. “I don’t really understand it and I don’t like it either. I think it would be better if you saw for yourself.” Afterall, the visions were now part of the hive's knowledge and there weren’t any meaningful restrictions in place yet. She had only tampered around with that to give everyone a good amount of privacy and they could still share that if they wanted.
Anna nodded and Kai grumbled a bit to herself. “Bunch of wobbly woo.” It was becoming more and more apparent that magic wasn’t her thing and that was frustrating. Besides getting hundreds of daughters, creating an enormous family, why else except for magic would one go to a fantasy world?!
To distract herself she started chatting with Tiffany while they returned to the hive, dragging a distracted Anna with them, who became more and more excited with every minute.
When they were just about back the girl clapped her hands together loudly. “Intent, that’s it! That is what we were missing the whole time!”
The girl took Kai’s hand and began to drag her along. “Come on mum, we have to tell Artemis! Everything makes sense now!”
Kai followed her bewildered. How does intent change anything?
“What do you mean Anna?”
“Intent mother! We have always looked at mana as only some kind of energy source that reacted to our will for some reason, but that isn’t true! The energy reacts to our intent and we just need to open our eyes to that side of the coin.”
Kai blinked, thinking about it. What Anna was saying was true, but what was astounding was what she implied. They had thought of mana as some kind of energy, but they never questioned why it reacted to their will and just accepted that. It was such a simple thing to overlook, but it would make it easier to experiment with the energy and improve what they already had.
“Huh, you are right, but why can’t we see the intent then?”
Her daughter turned to her with a raised brow. “Have you been able to see mana from the moment you woke up, mother?”
“No?”
Anna nodded satisfied. “So why should you be able to see the intent if you haven’t even been looking for it?”
Kai had to forfeit that point to her daughter. “You are right. I would have to be lucky to find out.”
Anna smiled and continued to drag her along. “Yep! That tip the system just gave you will alleviate our magical prowess and help secure your position, mother!”
Kai sighed. Her daughters wellbeing was much more important than her position in her opinion. Anna was right however, this would help, even if Kai wasn’t going to be the one who would do the magic, but that was what her daughters were for anyway. Knowing why mana acted the way it did was a big step and might even help with her other quest.
She would let her daughters do the magic science though and focus more on organization and planning. With the field done there were many things to do and prepare for now, the biggest being securing the dungeon. Once that was done they would hopefully have the time to consolidate their gains.
Kai was quizzically inspecting the five fields with Anna and Tiffany in tow. Her daughters had finished the adjustments to the fields an hour or so ago and the only reason for her to postpone this was the baleful drizzle of rain that still persisted. She had hoped it would stop, but sadly it didn’t and now her shirt and fur was either damp or already drenched. At least the rain wasn’t the torrent that always washed away the fog anymore.
Kai shuddered and looked over the expanse in front of her. Each of the fields was a good 300 to 400 meters long and equally wide, giving her a good view of the river behind them too.
She looked down again, examining one of the white lines that was crisscrossing the area. Her daughters had dug small trenches that could be flooded with river water before the rain that had properly washed them out. Now, after the trenches got repaired, they were filled with silken blocks, stopping the water from entering. They were meant to make watering easier in between the periods of rain, so she figured the things weren’t a bad idea.
Kai nodded approvingly, not really knowing what she was looking at or if it was good work. She appreciated it nonetheless.
Looking at Tiffany, there was only one thing that was bothering Kai. “Aren’t these going to be orchards and not fields?” They had planted a variety of bushes here to harvest their fruits, something that they would be able to do every 2 to 3 months.
Her daughter simply shrugged. “Is there even a difference? The system still approves, doesn’t it?”
Kai nodded and Tiffany smiled. “Then I don’t care. I’m not a farmer afterall!”
She turned back to the river with a sigh. No matter if orchard or field, the area in front of her would allow them to comfortably feed a lot more mouths, something that was becoming somewhat of an issue, at least as long as she didn’t want to destroy the environment around her.
Hopefully the quest reward would help them with accelerating the growth of the bushes or they would have to wait for quite some time until the plants bore fruit.
Crossing all of her twenty fingers, Kai opened the quest and accepted the full reward.
[Settlement quest completed!]
Then everything around her became black and she lost all awareness of her body. What the heck?!
Before Kai could question what was happening three visions appeared in her mind's eye, all of them overlapping each other. Yet, despite this, she could still grasp what was going on with no problem whatsoever.
Each vision showed a close up picture of some plant seed that was firmly embedded in the soil, shielded from the harsh environment. Then a colorful cloud of something started to encroach on the seed, each of the three clouds distinctly different from each other.
Kai wondered what this was and somehow something, probably the system, told her that the cloud was mana and the colors were intent?
In fact, if she concentrated on the color cloud long enough she could feel said intent herself. How the intent got there in the first place though, she didn’t know. Her own mana wasn’t that colorful and neither was that of her daughters so maybe they were doing something wrong?
And thinking about it, didn’t the weird human, Sveck, emphasize the word intent like it had a deeper meaning when he had spoken to ember?
It was truly weird and Kai wondered what she was missing, all the while the vision continued on. Noticing this she instead focused on the matter at hand.
The mana clouds had already reached their seed, each trying to achieve the same in different ways. One cloud of mana wanted to force the seed to grow, making it clear that there was no room for negotiations. The seed however, didn’t seem all that pleased with that and fought back. In the end, it lost, but not before it drained most of the mana and a single pitiful leaf sprung forth.
In the second vision, the cloud of mana offered a trade. It would provide the energy needed for growth, but demanded that the plant grew in a certain way. Here the seed seemed reluctant and once it accepted, absorbing the mana, it began to actively fight against the demands of the mana. It grew a little more than the first seed, but certainly not in the intended way.
The third vision was interesting though. The mana didn’t demand anything. Instead it spoke of grandeur, of the truly glorious heights and ways this plant could grow and how the seed would produce many more of its kind. It just so happened of course, that all those things were in line with what a farmer would want.
The seed quite visibly shook in excitement as it gobbled up the mana and grew, the stalk shooting into the air where leaves and branches formed. The plant used up the energy to grow to the grandeur the mana had spoken off and began to bloom in brilliant colors before the vision ended.
Kai watched the whole thing and was a bit irritated. Wasn’t this like telling a little kid it could become a hero if it did something and then give it the means to do exactly that thing?
Wouldn’t that mean that every single magical farmer was a slimy salesman trying to extort the most out of their client?
She snorted at the thought. There was quite possibly a lot more to magical farming than what she had been looking at though, since the system labeled this as a hint.
Kai’s vision returned abruptly and she managed to catch her falling body. It seemed that less than a second had actually gone past outside of the vision, though she didn’t think too much about it. Magic was a thing, so why not?
Ignoring the curious gazes of her daughters, Kai stepped onto the field and knelt down to the earth. She really wanted to try out what she had just seen, even if it was a bit distasteful in her opinion.
Kai dug around the soil a bit, searching for the seed there and then put her finger against it. Without the control over her mana in the air she would need a direct contact to the seed afterall, however arduous that may be.
Putting her distaste aside for now, she started channeling her mana towards the seed, trying to envision the grandeur the bush could have once it was fully grown. Much to her disappointment though, the mana didn’t bring with it the color thingy and the seed wasn’t reacting either, even after she had thrown half of her mana at it.
Was she doing something wrong or did those clouds in the vision contain enormous amounts of mana?
Kai didn’t know.
Anna interrupted her disappointment. “So, what did you get besides the quests?”
Besides the quests she said! Those alone boosted the possible stat gain per day of the hive to a wonderful 18. That was six times more than before!
Kai sighed and shrugged. “I don’t really understand it and I don’t like it either. I think it would be better if you saw for yourself.” Afterall, the visions were now part of the hive's knowledge and there weren’t any meaningful restrictions in place yet. She had only tampered around with that to give everyone a good amount of privacy and they could still share that if they wanted.
Anna nodded and Kai grumbled a bit to herself. “Bunch of wobbly woo.” It was becoming more and more apparent that magic wasn’t her thing and that was frustrating. Besides getting hundreds of daughters, creating an enormous family, why else except for magic would one go to a fantasy world?!
To distract herself she started chatting with Tiffany while they returned to the hive, dragging a distracted Anna with them, who became more and more excited with every minute.
When they were just about back the girl clapped her hands together loudly. “Intent, that’s it! That is what we were missing the whole time!”
The girl took Kai’s hand and began to drag her along. “Come on mum, we have to tell Artemis! Everything makes sense now!”
Kai followed her bewildered. How does intent change anything?
“What do you mean Anna?”
“Intent mother! We have always looked at mana as only some kind of energy source that reacted to our will for some reason, but that isn’t true! The energy reacts to our intent and we just need to open our eyes to that side of the coin.”
Kai blinked, thinking about it. What Anna was saying was true, but what was astounding was what she implied. They had thought of mana as some kind of energy, but they never questioned why it reacted to their will and just accepted that. It was such a simple thing to overlook, but it would make it easier to experiment with the energy and improve what they already had.
“Huh, you are right, but why can’t we see the intent then?”
Her daughter turned to her with a raised brow. “Have you been able to see mana from the moment you woke up, mother?”
“No?”
Anna nodded satisfied. “So why should you be able to see the intent if you haven’t even been looking for it?”
Kai had to forfeit that point to her daughter. “You are right. I would have to be lucky to find out.”
Anna smiled and continued to drag her along. “Yep! That tip the system just gave you will alleviate our magical prowess and help secure your position, mother!”
Kai sighed. Her daughters wellbeing was much more important than her position in her opinion. Anna was right however, this would help, even if Kai wasn’t going to be the one who would do the magic, but that was what her daughters were for anyway. Knowing why mana acted the way it did was a big step and might even help with her other quest.
She would let her daughters do the magic science though and focus more on organization and planning. With the field done there were many things to do and prepare for now, the biggest being securing the dungeon. Once that was done they would hopefully have the time to consolidate their gains.
