Star stood a small room surrounded by shelves upon shelves, most were empty. Before her sat a messy desk covered in writing utensils, random scrap parts, and a single book. As she observed the room she reflected on the progress she and Salem had managed to make in the past month. They had managed to fix up the farm house completely a full two weeks into their stay with the help of a little alchemy. The place had been completely renovated with the best resources on hand.
The three rooms of the farm house were completely transformed. One into a bedroom, complete with two straw mattress, fur blankets, and cloths racks. The kitchen held a small dinning table and two surprisingly well built chairs, several cabinets, and a sink, though no running water at the moment. The final room, Star’s alchemy room, had been outfitted with all the latest alchemy tech and resources, namely, shelves, a work bench, and a bunch of glass jars. Star had nearly fainted in excitement when she figured out have to make jars.
Star picked up the book off the bench looking it over. It is her first and only B rank draw, and she did not regret it in the slightest. The leather bound book, while unassuming at first glance, held every last bit of information she had on alchemy, from recipes, to theories, to ingredients and what they did. It was all in there. Though the most helpful feature of the book was its organize skill, allowing her to search for any page without having to flip though them or a section, such as recipes. Smiling to herself, she went to leave the room, grabbing a jar of fertilizer on her way out. She headed outside to the garden with the book and jar in hand.
“Finally out of your study?” Salem asked, surrounded by her own experimentation.
Star raised an eyebrow, “Are you any better?”
Salem didn’t reply. Star turned back to her garden looking down at the sprouts that pocked out of the ground. Once she had figured out containers Star began propagating her plants. Her hard work was finally beginning to show the little front garden. Star inspected the sprouts closely, looking for deformities and weeds. She swore weeds grew far faster here then they had any right to, which made sense considering the change the garden displayed when using scan.
What had once been an over run farm land had been transformed into, what the scan said was, a sprouting garden. The difference was immense. From poor soil and tons of weeds to rich soil all her plants in neat little rows. Star hummed to herself popping the jar’s top off and began pouring the fertilizer of a slushie like consistency near her plants. Once each plant had been feed she place the cork back into the bottle, sealing it once more.
Star took a step back, looking to her garden once more.
Fertile sprouting garden
A well taken care of garden filled with sprouts.
Soil health: excellent
Plants health: good
15% growth speed increase
7% plant quality increase
20% soil quality increase
Star froze for a moment, the stats had changed again. She quickly flipped open her book to her previous stats, comparing them.
Sprouting garden
A well taken care of garden fill with sprouts.
Soil health: Good
Plant health: Good
10% growth speed increase
5% plant quality increase
10% soil quality increase.
Well that had been quite an improvement then. Star closed her book placing her hand on the cover. Looking to her stat screen she relayed the information to the book. The book glowed for a few moments before dimming down again, signaling a new entry had been formed. Star quickly flipped to the new page looking at it, with a quick comparison the entry in the book aligned perfectly with what was displayed on her screen. The new entry lay directly below the first completing the page.
Star closed the book looking back to her garden. It is filled to the brim with plants, she’d need to cultivate a new plot, or get Salem to somehow magically expand this one. That likely would happen anytime soon though, so new garden it was. Star walked to the other side of the house, surveying the land.
Old overgrown farm land
Land once used to grow crops, now completely overtaken by weed and shrubbery.
Soil health: Bad
Plant health: Ok
2% Weed growth speed increase
15% Plant growth decrease
10% soil health decrease
Star winced, its even worse than the other farmland had been. “Well, no use staring at it.” Star grabbed a small hand shovel from off the ground. “Might as well get to work.” She bent down, beginig to work on uprooting the plants from mid day to sundown, getting rid of every last weed and over grown shrubbery bush. By the time she finished she had a sizable pile of weeds.
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Star smiled as she surveyed her work, hand on her hips and dirt covering her face. There was just once last thing she needed to do before she could bother Salem about getting dinner. Star walked back into the house headed to her alchemy room. Once she arrive she bent down, pulling out a basket filled with a few jars of green powered. She grabbed one, then moved over pulling out the next basket, this one filled with empty glass bottles. From this basket she grabbed two placing all three jars into an empty basket.
Star grabbed the basket whistling as she excited the house once more, going to her new, half made garden. She walked to the pile of weeds, placing her basket beside them. She grabbed the jar of green powder first, uncapping it and placing it next to the pile. Then she opened the two empty jars before placing them off to the side.
Once all her supplies were ready, she swung her arms one, twice, huffed and activated synthesis. The sizable pile of weeds and shrubs glowed raising into the air. The powder in the jar rose as well mangling with the rest of the plants. The swirls, swished, combined, and compressed into the same substance she’d used to fertilize her other plants. She began directing the new fertilizer into the jars, moving quickly before the floating effect wore off.
Each jar filled to the brim, with some left over. Wasting no time Star flung the rest of the fertilizer substance over her new farm land, lacing it just as the floating effect wore off. Star smile, stretched her arms and back, and capped the new fertilizer giving it a quick scan.
Basic bio based fertilizer
Fertilizer made primary of plants and a catalyst
+5 growth speed
+2 plant quality
+10 soil quality
A resounding success. Star placed the jars into her basket, turning and walking away. She rounded the house to see Salem prepping for dinner, a few knives by her side and a fire going. Star gave her a nod of acknowledgment before disappearing into the house. She made her way to her room placing the jars back in their respective places as well as putting her basket away.
Humming to herself she left the house again, heading to Salem. “What’s for dinner?”
“I was just going to do fish again, I really don’t feel like skinning a squirrel or bird right now.”
Star nodded, “Same here, you want any help?”
Salem nodded, “You dispatch the fish when I summon them, then we can get to descaling and gutting them. Your doing your own fish.”
Star sighed, slightly disappointed, “Alright.”
“Get ready.”
A small summoning circle, a deep blue color, appeared first. Next a dim light blue light in the shape of a fish appear within it. The light quickly dissipated, revealing a flopping fish. Star quickly dispatched it, the fish dying nearly instantly once she got her hands on it. She picked it up placing it on the cutting board, off to the side, for a moment.
The next summoning happened the same with the only difference being the fish summoned. Again Star dispatch it and place it off to the side. The third and forth fish’s fate ended in the same fashion. As the duo gutted and descaled the four fish Star couldn’t help but complain just a tad.
“I really wish you had the ability to choose exactly the type of fish you wanted, instead of just getting a random edible one.”
Salem chuckled, “At least we’re getting edible ones every time now, remember when we’d just get a little bait fish or poisonous one.”
Star stuck her tongue out in disgust at that, “That was the worst.”
Salem’s summoning ability had ended up as a huge boon to the duo. While at first she could only summon a random animal at a set strength, she now had the ability to choose the animal type and a single specification. This manifested itself as something like: edible bird or edible fish. Mostly just food for them to eat at the moment.
While Star’s mind wondered to Salem's improved capabilities, Salem, being the only currently productive out of the two, began cooking the fish over their little campfire. The smell of cooking fish hit Star’s nose and she couldn’t help but yearn for better seasonings, the best she’d managed to get was some chili pepper and salt, the rest of her spices and herbs she’d been forced to propagate.
Star shock those thoughts out of her head, turning her attention to her skill screen, looking them over.
Current skills:
* Deconstruct [8]
* Gacha gathering system [8] - Gacha gathering system [9]
* Lucky [17]
* Scan [20]
* Synthesis [15]
Oh? Her gacha leveled up again. She pulled up her gacha menu.
Current points: 0
Points generated per day: 9
[Exchange]
Yeah that checked out. She dismissed the screen without another glance, turning her focus back to the fish. They look to be done. She reach out and pick one of the roosting stick with a fish. A small bite informed her it was, indeed, done. She chopped down, tearing into the fish. Salem grabbed a fish not long after, eating it in a slightly more dignified manner than Star.
“You don’t have manners do you?”
Star blew a raspberry, “Beh, we’re alone on a floating island, who needs table manners.” She pointed out picking up an apple to eat.
Salem shock her head, but didn’t make another comment.
“Anyway, have you made more progress with summoning at all? I’d really like to be able to pick what kind of fish I want~” She said the last part in a sing song tone, leaning closer.
Salem rolled her eyes, pushing Star’s face away. “Why don’t you see for yourself.”
Star watched with eager eyes as Salem pulled up her skill screen.
Current Skill:
* Mana manipulation [17]
* Mana: 0/305
* Mana regeneration [9]
* Mana regeneration: 10.45% per hour.
* Affinities [3]
* Chrono [8]
* Spacial [13]
* Summoning [16]
Star deflated not seeing any change in summoning. “Dang.”
Salem nodded solemnly, “Dang.”