"Your highness?" I ask surprised. "Why... To what do we owe the pleasure of your presence?"

Why is she here? Did we do something wrong?

We have felt the the birth of a new kind of flora, and although we had not had time to come examine it the first time, we have now. So, show us this newborn flora.

Oh she wants to see the endoflames.

But first, we shall ask again. What sort of accoutrement is this? The elder florges repeats her question, her expression a mix of exasperation, mocking and curiosity.

I look myself over, then look at Mewtwo. The alien cat simply shrugs with a playful smile upon his face.

"Well... this is a suit of armor that I have just created. It should increase my odds of survival by quite a bit. Once I find all I need, the armor will be able to repair itself with... Let's go check the flowers Princess, it will make more sense if we start at the beginning." I finish, as Princess eyebrows rise and rise with each words.

I hear Mewtwo snicker as we approach the botania space. There is no other ways to call it now this little corner of the front yard is dedicated to botanical experimentation.

I am about to start explaining when I realize I could use this occasion to make a copy of the lexica. Princess is here, she wants an explanation. I might as well do it.

"Mewtwo, why don't you explain everything to her, I am going to see if I can make a cop of the lexica." I say as I excuse myself.

Hold on what? Mewtwo sputters, but I have already turned around, and am jogging toward the bags of materials. At least leave me the book!

I take it out and feel it get ripped from my hand the moment it appears.

So while Mewtwo start explaining the process of mana generation, I quickly look over the bags.

Branches, no. Leaves, no. Bark? Do I even have use for bark? Yes, but still not what I am looking for. After a couple of bags, I stumble upon my quarry. Hidden in a large sack of branches, a branch registers as something else: a sapling. Finally. I rush inside and take one of the empty books we found on the desk there, and quickly create another Lexica Botanica. I check it over and nod. This is the same. Everything is identical, a perfect copy of the one gifted by the Trio.

I get back outside and freeze. Magical flowers litter the entire front yard of the cottage. Magical bushes have even started growing around the smeltery and alloy smeltery. What the fuck is happening here?

Quite a potent fertilize indeed. Although one far too specialized. We will have to study these further. We never assumed how much... potential these shimmering flowers possessed. Princess is in the process of criticizing the floral fertilizer. Ah, revenant. Have thou found a way to make a duplicate of this book? We absolutely must have a read!

She used a single pinch. Mewtwo's thoughs arrive like a daze. he is looking around, his mouth wide open, while Princess scrutinizes her work with a critical gaze. Only a pinch...

Only a pinch? And she covered almost the entire clearing? She even got bushes of magical flowers?? We're supposed to use bone meal on already existing flowers for that!

I cautiously approach, trying as much as I can to avoid stepping on any flowers. "Err... Here, your highness, a copy of the Lexica Botanica." I present the green book before her. She critically judges it for a second before nodding, and reverently takes it from my hands. She opens it, and read a few passages.

At some points, she looks over to the two endoflames, now lost in the sea of magical flowers, and frown. Flowers able to use fire to make energy, how revolting and intriguing. We will need to experiment further. However, how does one makes a petal apothecary? The recipe the book gives does makes any sorts of senses.

"The recipe in the book might be closer to a guideline rather than a straightforward method your highness. Mewtwo here is able to recreate some of the tools and structures with his powers, and a different cost in material." I point at the slightly deformed mana pool and the rough looking mana spreader. "You should be able to easily create the tools you will need with your strength." As I speak, she turns pages until, I assume, she reach the petal apothecary page.

Humph, rock carving. We never could make use of rock or ground type energy. This will need delegation. Still revenant, we have yet to understand what this 'mana' is. Your companion was unable to truly explain it to us.

I raise an eyebrow at that. Don't look at me like that, I don't know what it is.

I approach and take back the Lexica Botanica from Mewtwo. "First section of the mana manipulation chapter. It is a form of mystical and ethereal energy, impossible to sense or see until collected. And one of the only ways to collect it is with generating flora. It is a form of natural fuel, that can then be used to power what the book refers as functional flora. I cannot tell you much about them as I have yet to dive into that section myself."

Hum... So not type energy... Interesting. This will require much experimentation. We shall take our leave, and let some of our literate subject try to apply what is written within this book. Thou may get more visitors soon revenant.

And with that, she departs. Her aide whispers to her as they go, but I do not understand what is said, and Mewtwo does not bother to translate. I look back at the now blooming front yard, and sigh. "I am going to make shears." I state as I slowly approach my smeltery. One manasteel pair of shears coming right up.

Mewtwo, meanwhile return to his finished and technically functional mana spreader without a word. The display of grass type mastery shown by the florges has shown him how far he can still go. As for what he is now trying to do with his mana spreader? I am curious if he will manage to replicate the gravity defying function of my builder tool. I would guess no, but maybe he can. So I look at him as he struggles to get the hollow wood cube to float. His attempts continue as I begin the long process of collecting the hundreds of magical flowers.

The night slowly passes, and I realize Mewtwo has fallen asleep midway through. He is half-draped upon his mana spreader, the construct still on the floor. I am a third of the way done with my harvest, but decide to take a short break and attempt to carry Mewtwo inside, so he may rest on a more confortable space. His weight is no problem to me, not anymore, but his size is. Mewtwo is big, and tall. Just standing, he is already more two meters in height, without adding his tail that is almost as long as he is tall. I struggle to move him as gently as I can, trying to avoid waking him.

In the end, it seems I am successful. I have managed to get him up in a piggyback ride without waking him. I have to admit he is quite the heavy sleeper.. I make my way to the entrance, and thank Aster for neglecting the addition of a door handle, or simply being unable to replicate the technology? Are doorknobs and locks that hard to make? I just have to push it open to enter. I make my way to the bedroom and gently lay the tall psychic mon to rest. I quietly leave the bedroom and spend the rest of the night gathering the magical flowers. I also restock the endoflames at some point and changes the targeted mana pool once mine is full.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

The slowly night passes and morning rises. And gone are the flowers. At least I won't need to harvest any for a long while. With the new day comes a new objective. We need diamond. It is the only thing that is stopping me from going forward. And it will be something we will need for many things. I checked while harvesting the flowers, diamond is used in so many recipes it is insane. But we need to find it first!

The door to the cottage opens and a bleary eyed Mewtwo exits. He stretches and look at me with a silent question.

"We're going back to the underground. We need to find diamond." I declare. And he nods.

Breakfast first? He asks. And I happily nod.

We eat our raw fruits and berries breakfast, still subsisting on the remains of the picnic and what the ambipom left us when we arrived at the cottage. With my greatly lessened need in organic matter, I barely need a couple apples to fill myself back to full, not that I had used that much energy anyway.

Once breakfast is eaten, we make our way back to the tree and within its underground. The vine door opens as we approach, and we enter once more into the eerie and silent cave system beneath the magical forest.

Monsters come to us in a trickle, and we dispatch them. their materials will be useful at some point, but right now, not so much. The experience they give is ridiculously low compared to our levels, but 5 points per monsters add up quickly when you dispatch them by the dozens.

And so we explore. We ignore most ores, only mining coal, iron and gold when we find them. As we now have quite the surplus of coal, I am also making torches and slowly lighting up the cave. This will help us map which tunnels we have explored and which we still have to explore. For the first two hours of cave crawling, we find little more than common ores or gems, but we keep looking. If the coordinates on my mapping system are right, we are almost at almost negative 40m underground, but still no diamond to be found.

Still, down we continue to go. Further and further, deeper and deeper. We find many a dead end, along with drops to further depths, but still, not a single trace of diamonds.

"Damn it, another dead end." I groan. It is now the third hour of exploration. I have used a good third of my pickaxe, and I have yet to find a singular diamond. Still we continue onward.

After going back on our steps and returning to a previous branching tunnel, we choose one still unlit and keep exploring.

Is it me or do monster cease to appear when light is present?

"What do you mean?" I had not really paid that much attention, but it is true we met few monsters when backtracking through lit up tunnels.

We meet monsters as we go into the tunnels, but almost none when we return from them.

"Yeah... that's true... Are the monsters... Wait monsters do not appear during the day! And we have yet to see any appear within the forest."

The forest is constantly lit by the little sprites and ghost lights. There always is a source of illumination.

"Okay, we'll need to tell Princess of her aide about that. Maybe they can expand further into the caverns if they ever need to."

Mewtwo nods, and we continue on through the new unlit tunnel. Like the others, skeletons, spiders and zombies attack us at almost every turns, we dispatch them off pretty easily now. We keep going further and further in, until we find something new. The tunnel ahead changes. Gone is the raw stone, slowly replaced by stone bricks, with carved murals in between. Moss and vines have grown along some of the stone work, while others have been broken through by thin roots. The growl of large amounts of zombies can be heard within. We have found the dangerous structure the zoroark had warned us about.

We behold the unlit corridor, look at each other and without a word, nod. We're going in.

We cautiously advance, placing torches every few meters, until we meet an unexpected obstacle. Brown thorny vines intertwine with each others, forming a massive wall stopping our advance. The plant wall appears dead, yet a quick thug shows us it would withstand a lot of force.

Clearly someone wanted something to stay in.

"It looks like Princess's thorns, maybe she made them and then left?"

That would explain their state.

The growling has grown ever louder now that we stand before the blockade. "Seems there is a lot of them in there. I think that's why she condemned the place."

Maybe we should prepare a new barrier if we are to open that one.

I nod, and look at the builder tool. I can make an entire wall instantly. Hum... "Alright we'll make two walls." I start to explain my idea, and point where I plan to put them. "I will make holes in both, and should we have to run, we'll condemn either both if we can or the second one only. The inner wall will serve as a funnel to delay any wave of monsters from reaching us."

Yes, it could work. I can also delay them with barriers. This should allow you to fully close both walls.

"You got barriers now?" I ask, surprised. Although I should not be. He shares his profile with me, something he has not done in a long time, and I look in awe at all the new moves he possesses. The barriers he talks about are called reflect and light screen. One protects against physical attacks and the other from... ranged attacks? No, it states that it protects against special attacks, so maybe magical attacks as well?

We will need to try them to be sure. He says, and I nod. Yeah, we will.

With the new plan ready, we get to work. I place both walls, using a small chunk of the stone we mined along the way, and make little passages. Big enough for us to easily traverse, but still narrow enough that a crowd would get stuck on each other if they rush into them. Once it is done, Mewtwo sends psychic slashes into the desiccated wall of thorns, quickly cutting it into ribbons. And beyond is revealed a large antechamber, filled to the brim by zombies and skeletons. Every entryway into the chamber is packed beyond capacity. There has to be hundreds of monsters. And the moment we look up, I feel a shiver of fear and disgust crawl through my entire body.

The ceiling is rippling with dozens upon dozens of long pointy legs. Hundreds of spiders crawl above our heads, all walking upon each others. Their shiny red eyes twinkle between each others legs.

"That's a lot..." I whisper. Mewtwo simply nods.

The horde of monsters all turn toward us."Do you have any things that could do big area damage?" I ask

I might be able to slow them or maybe pin them down. It is not a move I have practiced much. But it might work. I will try to make you avoid the effects, but I give you no guarantees.

He extends his hand forward, and the horde before us freezes. The air distort slightly at the display of power. Every zombie and skeleton look at us, and then the spiders start to fall from the ceiling. The already packed chamber becomes a mass and mess of limbs flailing everywhere. I take one step into the energy field, and feel my weight quintuple. It changes... little, I only end up consuming slightly more energy to move around, but other than that, no sign of stress or any other problems for my body. I give Mewtwo a thumb up and start punching away into the horde.

The process is long, and arduous. Mewtwo has to fully concentrate to maintain the field of amplified gravity, and I let him. It is also during this that I realize... I forgot to repair, or even just make a new sword. This could have sped up the process. I'll see to it once we return, or maybe I will make another weapon? We'll see.

It take the better part of an hour, but we are finally thinning the monsters out. Although more enter into the room every so often. We do not know from where they come, only that they seem to appear in high numbers from somewhere.

However, now that we have cleaned the room, we are noticing a few things. The ground once had a carpet, now rotted and stained by the ichor of monsters. I might have been red once. It seems to lead into each of the three passages as well as toward the entrance. Second, the symbol of Eziakophael is present all around us. The diamond eye with an eye within has been carved upon the ceiling. And as we look around, dispatching monsters as they come, we find more murals with the symbol of Eziakophael. This might have once been a temple dedicated to him.

Most show figures kneeling before him. But one in particular gets our attention. above the passageway from which most monsters are coming from, the eye stands above a cage, and spirit can be seen either escaping, or being drawn into the cage. It might be a clue, or a trap, or simply a red herring, but we should check it out. However, one final part of the room gets our attention. A single corpse among the dozens others. The only difference is, compared to the monsters corpses, that there is no loot buttons upon it.

The corpses is desiccated beyond recognition, and even then, the missing parts and fractured skull would not have helped in its identification. No one could say what, or as it stands, who it was, no one that was not me. Upon the corpse, a single window shines. And I gulp as I read it. And the system confirms it.

Achievement got: Traces of your past.

(Found the corpse of one of your previous lives)

Reward: 1 candy XL, 5000xp.

One of Aster Stradivii corpse stands before me. A trace of the past indeed.