Aloe caressed her neck as she juggled the waterskin with the other hand. “Ugh, I got used to the bed in the palace... My body is killing me after sleeping in that wooden slate Karaim had for a bed.”
The scribe’s breathing was slow, almost painful. She exhaled with exhaustion. With her free hand, she rubbed her eyes.
“I slept like utter garbage.” And she groaned. “I shouldn’t have planted all those beans and potatoes first thing in the morning.”
As she had grown used to being woken up by Lulu, Aloe had forgotten to wake up by herself, meaning that she ended up waking up way later than she wanted and throwing away a lot of her previous hours. To compensate for the loss, she decided to plant all the newly infused vegetables, but now her body screamed in suffering.
“I guess I have been rough with my body.” Aloe grabbed a spoon and churned the liquid. “No matter how tough ‘toughness’ may make me, Fikali is just that fast, I still won’t come unscathed from a ride. Ugh, now I don’t even want to go back. I feel I will turn into dust.”
Aloe yawned but continued circling the spoon, mixing the contents of the bowl together.
“I think the smell is making me dizzy...” She stopped her hand and thought for a moment, moving her eyes from sight to sight. “Only dizzy and not... horny.” She bit her lip and continued mixing.
Her current experiment was none other than the nectar of the Grace’s Exaltation. Unlike other produce of the plants, this could be sold easily. And whilst she may not need to sell any of her plants thanks to her new job, it felt like a misuse to not try it first. What if she had a gold mine in her hands and never exploited it?
“Talking about gold...” Aloe removed the spoon and left it on top of a towel, carefully not letting the liquid drop anywhere she may touch. “After diluting the nectar with water, it loses its glow, which makes it actually feasible to commercialize without raising questions. Right now, it only looks like... yeah... There aren’t many golden liquids out there.”
Aloe examined her urine concoction. The density was barely higher than water, which made sense because the grace’s nectar was similar to syrup in consistency and she hadn’t used much.
“Now...” She exhaled, dread in her breathing. “How much lesser the effect is?”
Instead of using the previous spoon, Aloe grabbed a suspiciously small silver spoon that was on the kitchenette and scooped a drop of the concoction with it.
“Why there can’t be an infusion against this?” Aloe protested before downing the small quantity of golden liquid.
The day was well past its midpoint by now, she had waited until lunch to try this as she thought a full stomach would be less affected by the aphrodisiac. In the previous hours, mainly when she was planting, she tried to find new internal infusions to counteract the effects. Alas, no ‘anti-horny’ or ‘celibacy’ infusions existed as much as she tried. ‘Toughness’ was the best weapon against any form of damage, even if it was caused by the consumption of the wrong foods.
A few seconds later, the effects of the Grace’s Exaltation nectar kicked in.
“It’s slower than the first time... but what matters is the strength.” Aloe didn’t consider herself a sexually active person, and if the nectar could bring her to that depraved state, it meant it was powerful. And that was with ‘toughness’ already active. She feared it may be too powerful for common people with more normal sex drives.
Whilst she had found no way to counteract the nectar’s influence, the less she thought about her body, the better she managed it without falling into temptation.
Throwing herself into the oasis was always an option.
A bath of cold water was way better than a bucket after all.
“This concentration feels... good?” Aloe blinked thrice. “Nope, not good. Not good. We are already going wrong if that’s the first word that comes out of my mouth.” The scribe crossed her legs, not trusting herself.
Her palate was bursting with flavor, like always. Part of her was scared, that maybe this substance was addictive, but all things were up to some degree. The urge she felt wasn’t to intake more nectar, but rather to intake herself. If that was even a thing.
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“But I guess it’s not strong, maybe I should try without ‘toughness’...” She exhaled slowly, vapor coming out of her mouth. “...” She slammed her head against the desk, the bang echoing through the whole house. “This needs more water. Not diluted enough.”
Thanks to her current internal infusion, she didn’t even feel the headbutt, though she was already stunned, so to speak.
“What if I added ter’nar tea?” Aloe mused whilst slowly adding water, unfazed by her concussion. “Hmm, that may not be good... When someone takes an aphrodisiac... I guess they want to have straight and focused thoughts. Not that I knew. I’m not a person who takes aphrodisiacs.” The woman said as she took the aphrodisiac.
The moment she unconsciously started scratching her neck, Aloe knew she had too much nectar on her body. With a sigh, she slammed the desk with her open hands and stood up, deciding to do something else with her time.
Truth be told, there wasn’t much more to do. She had underestimated her speed and the self-sufficiency of the oasis by a lot. Plants didn’t need that much human handling when they were in their perfect growing environment.
“Is there something else to do?” She checked her notes and then noticed she hadn’t made a checklist. “Let’s see... I have checked the bananas, pistachios, and medicinal plants; harvested and replanted the crops; and the greenhouse is fine as it is. Hmm...”
Aloe went to the oasis with her notes in hand and looked at the parterre with the least number of evolved plants. Namely, a Flourishing Spring and the Nature’s Bounty.
“Yeah, the sobriquet mentions a stump, and considering it’s only a sapling, I guess it’s fair to say that it’s a tree.” The scribe added with disappointment. “You wouldn’t manifest your abilities whilst growing, won’t you?” She asked the sapling.
The greenhouse remained silent.
The novice cultivator sighed.
“How long will you take?” She pouted; her eyes fixated on her notes.
Species: Nature’s Bounty
Sobriquet: Thick Stump
Description: An evolved member of the Malvaceae family, a species known for its ability to spread its roots in a wide area and boost the growth rate of nearby flora.
Alignment: Life, Time
“It’s a shame if not... I really, really want to see how the speed from ‘accelerated growth’ and the Nature’s Bounty stack. Is it additive? Multiplicatively? Or do they negate each other in some way and only the greater one takes effect? I hope not, but if that’s the case, I could infuse plants with other traits...”
Her next stop was to check the Chlorotrophy to see if the plant had checked in any shape or form, but upon arriving at the spot, she was met with a Flourishing Spring.
“No change, huh? I’m slowly decanting to the ‘permanent transformation’ theory, but to be fair, I’ve only given you a day. Let’s see if a month from now you are a grown tree or something.”
Aloe sat down on a random spot of the oasis, her eyes lazily locked on the slightly shining water.
“I think nostalgia hit me hard.” She commented with a coconut in hand. “There’s nothing to do. And no commodities to be had... Or it’s just that I’ve grown used to being spoiled. Could be that too...” The cold coconut water traveled down her throat. “But I can’t deny it’s good to have no responsibilities whatsoever... Just sloth around doing nothing...”
Aloe jumped out of her spot, throwing the coconut to the ground. Truth was, Aloe could not remain still for long. She was too used to working, whether it was actual work or labor to do nothing. Her body felt fidgety if she wasn’t doing anything. Though she couldn’t deny that may also be for another reason.
“Hey, Fikali!” The human saluted the lying dweller. “What’cha doin’? Lazing around?” The farmer's voice came out of her unconsciously, it was almost as if it was necessary.
“Hro.” The monster responded unenthusiastically, loafing sleepily.
“You feeling up for a ride?” Aloe offered.
“Wroooo!” Fikali jumped out of her position as if she weren’t half-sleep barely five seconds ago and bellyflopped excitedly.
“Alright, let’s get you the saddle.”
Practice made the master, but that only meant Aloe was slightly faster at getting the saddle tied up on a rather unruly dweller.
“I don’t understand you, Fikali.” Aloe patted the monster on the head. “Why are you always so good but then so stubborn when it comes to the saddle?”
“Huoo.” Fikali grunted in response.
“Surely that has a meaning, but I can’t get it.” The human led the dweller outside of the oasis from the lead, and once they were on the sand, she jumped on the saddle. “Anyways, let’s get going.”
“Wroooo!” In a blink, the shot at breakneck speeds.
Literally.
Bless ‘toughness’. Aloe preferred to thank the internal infusion rather than think about what would have happened if she hadn’t been using it yesterday. Dunes, she’s so fast, the ride is bumpy even on flat terrain. She shifted up and down on the saddle, trying to find a comfortable position. Hmm~ It’s so itchy... Aloe moved her hips trying to appease the itch, but soon her body grew hotter despite the fast winds.
“Stooop!” The woman shouted as she put strength on her legs to notify the dweller.
Fikali slowly decreased her speed, a process that took almost a minute because she had already reached maximum speed in the small window they had traveled. The moment movement stopped, Aloe threw herself off Fikali, tumbling on the ground.
“Hroo?” The dweller grunted curiously.
“Oh~” Aloe panted, holding her body on all fours, as she led her hands to her crotch. “E-everything is f-fine, Fikali. I... I just need a breather.”
Aloe bit her underlip and rolled in the sand a bit more, trying to turn her lower body back into control. Note, never ride under the influence.