Endless resources (vegetal version)

Tired of going up and down these mines, mining for days and days?

Time to begin the the long process of mystical agriculture.

Obtain a 'inferium essence': 458/128

Obtain 'Inferium seeds': 0/10

Obtain 'Prosperity Essence': 201/128

Rewards: 400xp; 3 Exp. Candy L, Unlocks 'Sub-chapter: Mystical Agriculture', Unlocks Mystical Agriculture tutorial section.

Botania (beginner+)

Good, the starting point is mana generation, now time to use that mana.

Create a 'Runic Altar': 1/1

Create a 'Rune of Fire': 0/1

Create a 'Rune of Earth': 0/1

Create a 'Rune of Air': 0/1

Create a 'Rune of Water': 0/1

Create a 'Rune of Mana': 1/1

Rewards: 500xp; 5 Exp. Candy L, Unlocks 'Sub-chapter: Botanical technology'

Beyond the plane.

What, did you think you were going to stay in this boring plane all along? Time to go see what lies beyond the veil.

The name 'marble of many realities' is not just for show. You are going to need many a components from many a reality.

Obtain 'Obsidian Block': 0/14

Rewards: 500xp; 5 Exp. Candy L, Unlocks 'Sub-chapter: the Nether'

Thaumaturgy 101

Ever wondered what the weird glowy crystals all around the caves are for?

Did you wonder why they each emit a strange and somehow familiar energy?

No? Well time to ask those questions.

Obtain 'ANY Vis Crystals': 6/6

Create 'Salis Mundus': 0/1

Obtain a 'Bookshelf': 0/1

Rewards: 500xp; 5 Exp. Candy L, Unlocks Thaumcraft tutorial section, Unlocks 'Sub-chapter: Thaumcraft'

Tinker upgrades

You know your tools can be upgraded right?

What you mean "uh?"

GET UPGRADING!

Apply any modifier to any tools: 0/1

Rewards: 300xp; 3 Exp. Candy L

Five new quests. We have unlocked five new quest after a week of work.

As the dawn of the of the eighteenth day of our existence rise above us, we finally reach the quota of 64 diamonds. We actually go over, ending with 71. But it is done.

The effort it required of us was far greater than we expected. Each trials were the exact same. Eight blazes, ten skeletons, twenty zombies. We went through it seven seven times in total to finally gather the required diamonds. And each times was a close call.

The monsters that appear during these trials are imbued with strange strengths, making them faster, stronger and deadlier than the naturally appearing ones.

Each times, they did something that surprised us, something they had not done the time before. Each trials felt like a new trial, not matter how similar it was to the previous one.

From the trials we got the diamonds, yes, but also a lot of resources in ingot forms, ender pearls when we were lucky, as well as shimmering books.

We tried to read them, but they contain nothing but nonsensical runes. The system calls them enchanted books, and each has a different enchantment written beneath. The only damper comes from the fact we cannot apply these enchantments to our gears. For some reasons, any gears made in parts may only be upgraded through the system, and enchantments will only lock every additional functions from my gears.

The books have been stored in the cottage for now, maybe we will find a use for them at some point.

But now we have our new quests to take care of.

The first thing we both notice is that previously made items and structures are still validated. I no longer have the rune of mana, as it is now a band of aura, and the runic altar is still placed in the front yard of the cottage. Seeing this reassures us that, should we need to, we can rush ahead of the quests and unlock something we need at the time.

These five new quests however bring some new and interesting future development.

The 'tinker upgrades' makes me scream when I read it. NOW THEY MAKE A QUEST OUT OF IT? ARE THEY SERIOUS?? I let out my rage and then look at the rest.

The botania follow-up is the one we are the most interested in. Right now, it is the technology we have advanced the most, as weird as saying that magically making flowers is technology but still. We might continue to develop it further. We read further ahead during our resting periods, and frankly, there is a lot of potential to explore. With Princess endeavors bearing fruits as well, it motivates us to advance further in our botanical researches.

However there are two other branches that are of great interest for us as well.

The endless resources quest is absolutely appealing. I gave a quick look at what was needed for the inferium seeds and well... seeds and inferium. Of which I have both. So that could be the first path we open.

The other, the 'Thaumaturgy 101' has our curiosity. The crystals have been a great help to Mewtwo in mastering certain moves. the energy contained within have allowed him some grand breakthroughs in his learning of moves, and as such, he is quite eager to learn more about these crystals.

Finally, 'Beyond the planes'. It should not have surprised us, yet it did. Another reality. Or plane? Dimension? The Trio seems to mix the terms together so I am unsure.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

But now we need to explore how to make obsidian, or obtain it. For all our explorations of the underground, we have not stumbled upon it once. This quest is therefore relegated to a later time.

And so, as we finally exit from the cottage, we come to a decision. We will advance botania first.

So let us continue with our flowers endeavor... is what I would like to say. But the moment we look at the required components for the four missing runes, we hit a big problem. We have all the basic materials for the runes of water and earth, and can easily gain the missing components for the rune of air, but the rune of fire requires... nether wart and nether bricks. Boy do I wonder where that could be found. Further more, each require vis crystals of their analog elements. We have them, but using them might stump our attempts at thaumaturgy.

We look at each others, unsure as to what to do.

"We leave botania for now?"

Do we even have a choice?

True that, without that nether dimension, we are stuck. That makes two quests that go to the back-burner for now.

I will attempt to complete the 'thaumaturgy 101' quest.

I take out the crystals and watch as my friend start to ponder through the dozens of recipes, trying to find the one for salis mundus.

On my part, I am thinking of making the inferium seeds and getting that ball rolling.

My search is quite fast and the recipe I find appears far easier than I expected. It only requires eight inferium essences to be placed upon a runic altar, then, once they have been irradiated with enough mana, a single seed needs to be placed for the process to finish.

I move toward the altar just as Mewtwo does. We look at each other in surprise.

"You too?"

Indeed, I am in need of mana powder as well, but it is easily made. The recipe is a bit peculiar, but not too difficult. The Trio could have warned us about the need for each crystals to be different. I would have collected more. Mewtwo complains as he sends me the recipe.

Indeed, it is quite the strange one.Each crystals keep oscillating between every different types they can be. The recipe also requires mana powder, which can be made from a plethora of different dusts, and a flint, which we have... some of still. I give Mewtwo his missing components and let him go first. He only needs one, while I need ten seeds in total.

That makes me realize, I did not take said seeds. I go back in the cottage and rummage through our storage. After a few minutes, I find the barrel of seeds Princess gave us. I take the necessary ten and return outside.

Mewtwo is done, and is holding a strange ball of iridescent powder in his psychic hold. I approach and we both look as the powder flows into itself. The quest also recognizes we have made it. even though I have yet to touch it myself. Good to note.

Now I just need a bookshelf.

"Do you think it would work on the one inside?" The books on it are almost all blank or filled with attempts at writing. They might hold some meaning for Princess, but Aster is rather neutral on them. Then again... "Wait I can make you one with six planks and three books. That might be more economical."

I checked to be sure and indeed I have a recipe. We select three books that are empty, and then I assemble the bookshelf. The quest validates and one of the previously greyed out path of chapter two unlocks.

Side chapter: Thaumcraft

Well, well, well. Are you ready to reduce existence to its base components?

Obtain 'The Thaumonomicon': 0/1

Rewards: 1000xp; 5 Exp. Candy XL

We stare at the quest, then check the tutorial section for Thaumcraft. It's empty. There is nothing there. Not a single entry is present. What? How do we obtain it then?

We do a quick search and find one of the weirdest series of recipes yet. You throw salis mundus at something... and something happens... poof new thing. Whaaaat?

We decide to try it. I put down the bookshelf, and Mewtwo let the salis mundus trickle from his psychic hold.

As the powder falls upon the bookshelf, it slowly penetrates it, making it shine brighter and brighter. Until all the powder is gone, and with a poof of purple smoke, the bookshelf transmutes into a large tome. The tome floats for a second before impacting upon the ground with a loud thud.

Mewtwo physically grabs it and opens it. On the side, I see a new entry appear in the Thaumcraft tutorial section. Upon it are the raving of someone that seems to have gone through the same process as us, although slightly differently. The man speaks of a dream where the method of creating salis mundus were revealed to him, and now that he has followed the instructions of his dream, he realizes there is much he has yet to discover.

We read the entry, and look as he seems to want to try using salis mundus upon a crafting table. We nod to each other and I quickly create one. Mewtwo creates a new batch of salis mundus.

The moment I put down the crafting table, I realize this might be the first time I have ever done so. To this point I always created them and then turned them into chips. But now I have one before me.

It is a cubic construct, on its top is a three by three grid, and on the side are the tools used for its creation. The wood appears as a light brown color, with the top being redder than the rest. I take one of the tools, the pliers, and open them. They may be made of wood, but they work. I inspect the other two tools, the hammer is closer to a wood mallet, and the saw is... well one can only wonder how a wooden saw could cut through anything. And I am not going to try. I would rather have everything in unused condition right now.

I also wonder if the crafting table would serve anyone here. With wooden tools, maybe not, but maybe they could slowly expand into new upgraded tools as they progressed? Still that would only apply to humans mostly. Pokemons are their own tools, as Mewtwo has demonstrated. As much as I would like to believe he is an outlier for being linked with me, I feel like many pokemons could do things that a human would need tools for.

Mewtwo's return breaks me from my musings, and without waiting, he sprinkles the table. Once more, with a puff of dark purple smoke, the entire thing transforms. The wood turns to a dark brown hue, almost black, and a green cloth appears on top. The grid pattern is still here, but now a six branch star pentacle is superimposed upon it. At the end of each branches of the star are circles glowing with different light. The tools are moved to a new compartment just above the four legs connecting the upper part of the crafting table to its square base. Because now there is an empty space within it. Why? Why not. Why am I asking questions here?

With that done, Mewtwo takes the thaumonomicon again and inspects it. And then shoves it to me. The previous entry is gone. The entire thing rewritten into a new entry detailing our next step. Time to observe. But this will ask for more crystals to make anything else.

Indeed, using the table requires vis crystals as well as Vis. Wait... Vis crystals are crystallized aspects of Vis. Oh wow, some unlocking knowledge, it had been a long time since that happened.

Also, I am still the center of the quests.

Arcane Complexity

You need a special table to interact with Vis, or an attunement.

Craft a 'Arcane Attunement Chip': 0/1

Rewards: 1000xp; 5 Exp. Candy XL

Because creating the table was not enough to go forward. The chip is easy though. Just need to take the table and turn it into a chip. But they are thinking of Mewtwo as there is a little side quest for him.

Arcane senses

It is not easy to feel a new energy.

Try using a focus to hasten your attunement.

Obtain a 'Vis Stone': 0/1

Rewards: 1000xp; 5 Exp. Candy XL

A new quest has opened for him. However does one acquire a Vis stone? No idea. Nor do the tutorials seems to know. Even the recipe only shows a pendant with a weird purplish orb on it, but no ways of making it.

It appears that is as far as we can go for now. Mewtwo declares with a sigh.

He is right. We used all our vis crystals and so cannot advance any further. "Want to see what the endless resources path has in store?" I ask Mewtwo with a smile.

Do I now? He cheerfully agrees.

We may have reached a temporary dead end with the thaumaturge path, but there is still another one.

We return to the runic altar, and I put down the inferium essence. The essence appears as a greenish substance and each time the altar considers I have added on unit of it, it starts to float up. Once I have added all eight, the mana spreader activates, and slowly, the mana diamond embedded in the altar starts to shine. Once we reach the required amount of mana, lightning start to course between each globs of essence. I add a seed and tap the altar with my branch looking wand. The inferium essences all collapses upon the seed, and I am left with a dark green seed. The system confirms it is an inferium essence seed, and so I repeat the process.

The next six seeds are made without a problem, but as we start making the eighth, we realize a problem. Between Mewtwo's and my own usage, we have emptied the mana pool we were using to power the altar. It appears we never switched the target of the current spreader, and as such, never used the mana pool Mewtwo made. The pool is already filling once more.

We patiently wait for it to finish our current seed. It takes a good couple of minutes, but it gets there. I put the components for the next one, and let the charging begin again. With nothing else to do, I turn to the modifiers quest.

Now what do I want to modify? What would I need? Well I said before that it could be a good idea to harvest the materials as they are and then refine them above, as that would allow for greater haul to be carried, but I need an emerald for that. Of all the things the underground trial gave us, a singular emerald is not one of them. So that is still out of the question.

Actually, what sort of modifiers can I put on a pickaxe. Now would be the time to educate myself. While I start reading, Mewtwo keeps an eye on the runic altar. I give him the last seed and enough inferium to make the one remaining once the ongoing on finishes. And read.

So... The silky gem is what I would love to do, BUT! No emerald, so no silky gem.

Of all the other modifiers, only four catch my interest. Haste, Sharp, Lucky and Reinforced. They are rather self explanatory, as I already though, making a second pickaxe with maxed luck and one with a silky gem will give me the most out of little effort. The Haste modifier I had not really paid any mind, but it seems to allow ones tool to mine or swing faster, or if I were to make a bow, get drawn faster. It requires redstone to apply. Sharp makes your tool sharper, so deadlier, and Reinforced make them harder to damage, meaning less mana needed to maintain my tools durability. Sharp is obtained by applying quartz crystals to the tool, while Reinforced requires Reinforcement plates, which require a gold cast surrounded by eight obsidian. So not for right now.

Also, It appears that my armor has similar modifiers applicable. Haste becomes Speedy, still needing redstone, and Reinforced remains Reinforced, still needing reinforcement plates. However there are some other interesting ones. Resistance and then the sub-categories of specific resistances are interesting, each needs their own resistance plates, but they augment how much the armor resists certain types of damages. There are others, but they are more situational right now. Maybe I'll need them at some point.

Mewtwo taps on my shoulder and hand me the two finished inferium seeds. I take them, thanking him, and look at the new sub-chapter. And despair at the literal avalanche of new quests. Oh god, there is a seed for everything. And what the fuck are tiered crystals?