Bonus given too small; Exp given has been annulled.

"...Eh?"

Even blinked at the notification, unconsciously letting the fork in his hands tumble onto the wooden floor.

That...was certainly a first. He was looking forward to see how much Exp a magical tomato would give him now that [Knife Mastery] was at its third level, but it seemed things wouldn't be so simple.

"Evel? What's wrong?"

"It..." He began, still somewhat surprised by the sudden notification. "It says that the Exp is too small."

"Ah, does it say that the 'Exp given has been annulled'?"

He blinked. His mom knew about this?

"Yep!"

"Then the magical tomatoes are no longer potent enough." She said simply as she placed her fork down. "Hmm, I guess it's like a potion. If the wound is too severe, like an amputated arm, then a weak healing potion wouldn't be able to heal that. We'd need a stronger healing potion, or something else entirely."

Oh! So that's what it meant!

Now that his mom's explained it, it made some sense. When his [Knife Mastery] was on its second level, the magical tomatoes only gave him 1% Exp, and there was no doubt that the Exp it gave for his skill's third level was even lower.

But, if that's so, then how would he obtain a more potent magical tomato? It wasn't as if he could just create one himse-

No, that's exactly it! He's learnt about this!

Cross-pollination. By having one plant pollinate another, then the created seeds could hold a combined, or even a new trait from their parents.

He'd done it several times in the past actually, mostly on the many types of berries he had. It didn't work every time, but the results showed that it very much worked.

Which meant all he needed to do was grow two magical tomato plants, wait until both flowers, and then forcefully carry the pollen from one of the plants onto the other.

It didn't sound too complicated, but one could never know. He was working with magical plants after all.

Still, this meant that not all hope was lost, not yet!

Ah, but that meant that he'd need to find a couple goblins to slay. He'd already run out of goblin corpses to use, and the tomato he'd just ate came from a stockpile his mom had been keeping.

...Wait, could he substitute the goblin corpse with magical tomatoes?

It sounded ridiculous, but it might, might work. Besides, he still had about twenty or so magical tomatoes stored up, so using up some of them would be fine, right?

However, that aside, the fruits of his recent trip to the hunting trail had begun to take shape, along with a very unfortunate result.

Boars don't have skills. He tried growing a cabbage plant over them, but the cabbage that grew was a normal, leafy green vegetable. He still ate it of course, enjoyed its crisp taste as well, but the sting of a disappointing result weighed down on him for a couple days or so.

But a single disappointing result wasn't going to ruin everything, and life moved on.

He was quite excited to see how the magical carrots would turn out though. Since he planted the magical carrot seed atop a buried wolf, then the result should increase by 50%. A carrot plant only grows one carrot though, so he was wondering how that bonus would come into play, or if it would work at all.

He dearly hoped it wasn't the latter.

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A week peacefully went by, and here Evel was now, spade in hand as he prepared to dig out his magical carrots.

He was nervous.

It wouldn't be a tragedy of course; far from it, but he would be extremely disappointed if the usual yield bonus he'd receive was negated because he chose to grow it as a carrot.

So, with a deep breath, he slowly dug into the soil, slowly tugging the magical carrot plant to reveal its produce. He gently dug through the soil, eyes searching for a tinge of red amidst the brown, and once he did, he dug away the soil and pulled his carrot out.

And it worked! Instead of one magical carrot, there were two!

They were smaller though, maybe a pinky's length shorter compared to their larger counterpart. Still, this meant that the 50% yield increase that applied to his magical plants worked even on plants that'd only yield one fruit.

Which only left trees as the only remaining untested producer.

That wasn't so easy however. He'd need to find a suitable sapling, and when he did, he'd need to tend to it for much longer until it even begins to flower.

With his worry sated, Evel dug out the other two magical carrots he'd planted, placing their produce in a small wooden basket and scraping their seeds for later use. That done, he headed back to his cabin, smiling brightly as he showed his mom the results.

Carrots received, his mom continued cooking, cleaning and chopping the magical carrots and adding them into the simple vegetable soup she'd been making for the past few minutes. She let the pot simmer for some time, reading one of the many novels they had as she waited.

Once she finished, she carried the pot over to their dinner table, pouring the soup for both of them to enjoy; though with his bowl filled with all the chopped and simmered carrots he'd just pulled out.

So they ate, and he smiled as he tasted that nostalgic tangy bitterness the magical carrot had, one that was especially refreshing against the taste of the other vegetables in the soup.

Then, the familiar notification cropped up.

[Cooking] bonus added! [Savage Strike] has gained 76% Exp!

Congratulations! Your [Savage Strike] has leveled up to level 2!

[Cooking] bonus added! [Savage Strike] has gained 16% Exp!

Evel blinked for a moment, surprised to see two similar notifications pop up. What caused the first one to be 76% and the second one to be 16%? If he added it all together, then it'd-

Ah, now that he thought about it, it made sense. The first 76% was probably a result of the first two small magical carrots he ate. Then his skill leveled up, and each carrot gave less, resulting in the 16% on the third notification. And if that's so, then that left the remaining 16% to come from the other four carrots.

That meant that each small magical carrot would normally give...2%?

Yep, that sounded about right.

With that made up, he brought up [Savage Strike]'s description, eager to see what'd been added.

[Savage Strike - Lv 2]

[17% to next level] A wolf's essence flows with you. When activated, your next strike will deal 100% more damage. Costs 10 MP.

A wolf's fang blesses you. When [Savage Strike] is used, any wounds created will cause severe bleeding.

"Hmm."

So, along with doubling his damage, [Savage Strike] causes bleeding? That's a useful, if rather dirty, addition. It wouldn't work on things like rocks and plants, but it'd be a great boon against animals and such.

Or perhaps not? What counted as bleeding anyways? Is its meaning literal, or could it extend to other things as well? If he struck a plant with [Savage Strike], would the water inside bleed out?

...Hmm, he'll test that out later.

"So? What's new?" His mom asked, and he read the description to her. His mom hummed, her lips curved to a thoughtful frown. "That sounds quite a lot like the attack of a Dire Wolf."

"Dire Wolf?"

She nodded. "It's an evolved species of wolves. They're a lot like normal wolves, but bigger, and meaner. A bite from them can bleed for several days." She said, frown growing slightly. "I hated fighting them."

Evel blinked, surprised to hear that. "You've fought them before?"

His mom winced slightly, lips setting to a thin line. She seemed awfully uncomfortable about it, and he frowned, wondering if he'd brought up something unpleasant for his mom.

Before he could apologize however, she nodded with a small smile. "...I did." She said, idly tapping her fingers on her bowl. "I used to work there, you see?"

"...Woah. Does that mean that you were born there?"

"No. I was born in this region, but I moved there for some years." She explained, and she then smiled. "I met your father there as well."

"Wow..." He never knew that! His dad did tell him that he wasn't from around here, but it still surprised him nonetheless.

Oh! If his dad was born there, then-

"Does that mean dad's really strong?"

His mom simply smiled.

"He was the strongest."