Here's Chapter 22! Enjoy!

Chapter 23 can be found HERE, at my wordpress site.

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— POV Mathias —

It’s obvious, isn’t it? A tree is a tree is a tree - but the blood of a beast that I’ve never seen before, that generated mana and spewed fire, it was never a question of what I would want to test first!

Before that, I should go and check on my real body first! Hmm, how do I leave?

‘Poof’

Oh, that was easy. Just willing it is enough. I wonder how long I was down there? My GP is at ~100,000. Quite a nice hoard if I do say so myself, though I can tell my efficiency is atrocious. I’m just spewing off energy willy nilly, as well as growing little potatoes everywhere underground. And those FUCKING bugs are back and biting me again, this time all over! I won’t tolerate that anymore!

Throughout my entire body I will pump my toxins out - both Milkweed and Nightshade! I don’t want them developing resistances wither - maximum concentration right from the start!

Let the bodies hit the floor! Let the bodies hit the floooooooor! I’m free! Yes! Finally, everywhere that I am is devoid of biting, stinging insects that prey upon me! Good riddance! This is my glade, it’s time I cleaned up around here! Hmmph!

I’ll keep the cyanide in my potatoes only for now - Don’t want my trump card being stolen from me, or others gaining a tolerance for it. But if a hog comes by and tries to root around for MY potatoes, he’ll surely die. I won’t forgive being eaten again, though I will feed my followers if I can. Speaking of followers… Yes, they have laid their eggs again! My experiments can continue, good work everyone! Extra sugar for everyone! Sending you all lots of love! Hopefully they didn’t notice the quick glimmer of fanaticism that I for sure felt when my experiments were shown again. I forgot I need to regulate my emotions when I’m out here if I’m in broadcast mode with my . I do think I can turn it off, but I don’t feel comfortable doing it yet. I just found a way to speak to others after so long without contact with another being - I’m not just going to casually turn it off!

‘Click’

Ha, yea right. I won’t mess up my hard work so far by scaring away my slaughter guards! Emotion link disable for now from my side - I can still tell if they are in danger, or if they need anything. Speaking of my abilities - many as they are - my is showing me something pretty cool. As I gaze upon my grassy kingdom, I  see thousands of [Shown: Bermuda Grass] . So it looks like my camouflage works, and I can set what appears to everyone else! Well, this works out just fine for me - the better my abilities and defenses, the better my ability to cheat death!!

I have such a huge store of GP, I wonder what I should buy? Well, before that, I should re-enter my and figure out what to do, maybe do some analysis before I take any action out here. I wonder —

— If I can do simulations down here? I have computers, I wonder if I can make the computers quantum computers, and run simulations on them? It took forever before, wonder if I can speed them up? We had one computer based on it in the lab, the only prototype ever made before all of the resources went to us to solve the epidemic.

Well, it seems to be working just how I imagines, along with a 3D holo display. Hmmmmmmm, I guess I should look at the mana beast’s DNA and see what makes it tick. With my new computer, I can see exactly what is hidden in their genome!

I forgot, this takes forever anyways. Damn, the whole process, even if modified and automatic, will take weeks, even with the quantum computer to determine what each gene or chromosome does. Sigh, what a fucking waste of time, back on Earth waiting for this stuff would be easy, but I can’t take all of this time just to figure this out. I need results now! Fuck, well what else, other than the seed, can I study?

Mana is an option, I guess. Let’s try creating a mana circle to cast a spell! Let’s see, bring my mana to my finger - check. Draw a circle - no check. Fuck, I can only draw about 3/10 of the circle before I run out of mana. You’ve gotta be kidding me - I can’t create mana in here? Looks like I should study it more - I just might not be able to make it because I don’t understand how it works? But I’m pretty sure it’s some type of particle that is ejected like radiation is, from the destruction of matter… maybe?

Well, to my particle accelerator we go! Since I can use mana here, it must mean that the laws of physics are affected here the same as the world outside. So I can test my hypothesis using that! Let’s see - first let’s crash neutrons in there, see if anything weird comes out…. Aha! There it is! I was right - completely destroying my known understanding of particle physics. E doesn’t equal mc^2! Ok, well that still seems to apply still, I would need a lot more data for me to be able to tell. But there also seems to be an extra energy released as well, the fabled mana! It fits into everything that I’ve seen - Mana coming from the ground, the sun, the moon, everything! Anything that emits radiation emits mana as well! This is interesting - so interesting! But how is it generated by beasts… There must be some element that they condense, or maybe it’s the mana stone’s themselves that generate the mana. But that can’t be right, since I don’t have mana but I generate it… Or am I just absorbing it? I don’t really know, but what I do know is how to generate it this way - by destroying matter. I need more data, as well as more specimens. I guess I should look at the blood itself under a microscope, and see if I see anything…

The blood seems to be emitting some mana even now, though it’s a dismal amount. There shouldn’t be any mana here - so the blood must be generating at least a little bit. Wait, this could explain everything! I have to confirm it though… Haha, there it is! A discovery worthy of the ages! Inside of their cells, there’s typical mitochondria, and mixed in with them there’s another tiny structure inside that I don’t recognize! A mana reactor, it has to be! A typical animal cell has anywhere from 1,000 to 2,000 brownish red mitochondria, but there are also some purple-red structures mixed in as well that every once in a while one will puff out a little bit of mana. I am so glad I stole some of that beast’s blood! With this, I will inherit it’s mana generation too!! Hahahaha, ‘Prick’, I wonder what my “blood” looks like?

…Disappointing is what it looks like! I have one, maybe two per cell! Fuuuuuck! That’s not even, like, what seems like a normal amount! If I say this disparity in a normal cell, I’d assume it was a cripple, or had some terrible genetic disease! I gotta fix myself quickly! Mitochondria grow and reproduce on how often they are supplied energy and the need for the production. They can also grow, why is this all making so much sense! In every book I’ve read, people who expend and actively use their mana to the maximum can always grow more, but exactly the reason why people always have upper limits is because of their genetics and their internal amount of these mana reactors! They will always be restricted by what they were born with, unless there is a method to artificially increase their potential or replace them. I’ve been using my mana quite a bit, but I haven’t seen improvements, and it must be due to my shitty mana reactors.

And I have the perfect donor haha. There is always a silver lining - even on the blackest of clouds. I will begin my mana reactor transfer, first by killing off all of my own shitty reactors, and replacing them with the beast’s! With these high quality mana reactors, my potential should be endless hahahahahaha!

Oh, wait, how will I do that? This is a separate dimension, where things I imagine can’t go out (I’ve tried to take a gun with me so I could shoot some motherfuckers). What should I do? I guess I can ask for a cheap modifier that I can prove on the outside. What’s something cheap that a lot of plants have… Hallucinogenic properties? Nah, someone might use me in the future… How about serrated edges?

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Genetic Mutation: Serrated Edges

Increases the sharpness of the edges of your leaves. Stacks with Spines.

Additional Info: The sharpness and number of teeth per leaf can be modified.

Cost: 15

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Perfect - an easily testable, cheap ! That still leaves a missing link though - can I do something in here, not related to my abilities, and affect me out there? I feel like it should work, since I’m using items from outside in here, but I should also try it as well. What can I do… I can inject myself with a lot of Cyanide in here, and see if my concentration rises while my GP falls out there. NO risk - just how I like it! Let’s get some Serrated Edges as well as injecting through intravenous means some Cyanide. Before I only had Cyanide in my potatoes, but after this I should have it throughout my body.

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‘Stab’ There goes the needle, pushing in the plunger - no effects on my body, good. Now I’ll check outside -

First, Serrated Edges. On some of my outside body parts near the edge of the clearing, let’s modify those so that anything trying to enter my domain will get sliced! It worked! So I can affect the outside while in my ! Shit, I forgot to check if My GP went down more than 25 though, to compensate for making a bunch of Cyanide in my body. But it is there, so I’ll categorize that as a success! It also seems that I need to inject a large amount to get to my whole body - my cumulative mass is huge. I can only detect a small amount of Cyanide flowing through my body and slowly dissipating. But it is reducing - showing that there was a rise. I don’t see anything dangerous in my glade, so I’m safe for now. Back inside to start my treatment!

I’m a little fuzzy on the exact details of how this works - but maybe I can just kill off my mana generators. I don’t want to use the 100% effective method I though of though - it would be more painful than anything I’ve experienced so far. If I only injected these mana generators into one cell, then assimilated myself - I would get these mana generators everywhere, but I’m not sure if I would still be me at the end. So I’ll avoid that way. I need more brain power for this - but the sun is still too much for me to handle, and I don’t have the time to deal with worrying or fear. Just keeping those two away lets me think clearly. I guess I’ll make due.

Hmmm… Since technically this is something I can visualize, and I know what needs to be modified, I should be able to get to activate. I should try it.

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Genetic Mutation: Mana Removal*

Deletes all of the mrtDNA in your body. The ability to use, generate, and manipulate mana is removed until the ability is recovered.

Additional Info: Creatures will view you as an abomination, something that does not contain life. Every being normally has at least traces of mana. May be hunted and destroyed. Grants immunity to mana influencing effects and mana searching techniques.

Cost: 1

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Genetic Mutation: Mana Rejuvenation*

Reacquires mrtDNA from your original species.

Additional Info: Reverts the ability .

Cost: 1,000,000

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Well shit. It does exactly what I want to do, but that description though. That’s terrible. Well, part of it is. The other part is okay, immunities are always welcomed. And at least the possibility exists for me to reacquire my mana if this doesn’t work, though that cost can easily be shown to be excessive! I guess I should store some of my mana reactors in a freezer just like they do sperm. I’m not a miser, but even I have my limits! I need to make this quick - First I should time the difference in here versus out there. Imagine a clock - a digital clock and an old fashioned pendulum clock. Set the time to 12:00pm - done. I’ll try to wait about an hour in my real body, then come back here and try to calculate tell the difference. Yosh, I am ready!

That was boring, it was dusk and nothing stirred in my glade. It’s kinda eerie - I thought for sure something would come out and try to eat me again! Thank goodness my domain is like my well-manicured plant specimens in my lab. Pristine, and bug-free. I even have the nice sound of the gurgling stream in this starlight this evening. It’s beautiful.

It seems about an hour passe by, Time to go back into my ! And, drumroll……… the clocks both say it’s 2:55pm, which means the time goes 3x faster here, similar to how dreams can seem faster to the dreamer. Sweet, while not like the forever dreams of a certain universe caused by an eye, it’s more than adequate for what I’ll use it for.

Now that I know I can inject myself in here with what I need to, it affects my body out there, and the time in here with a mana deficiency will be greatly reduced out there, so the danger is minimal. I’ve successfully transplanted a single mana reactor into one of my cells in a slide, when immediately my mana reactors in my cell shot out little mana darts towards it and killed it. Without a doubt, my own mana reactors must be eradicated for this transplant to work.

Now that I’m strapped into a chair, I think I’m ready. I don’t know what the actual effects, other than listed, of . This way, even if I spasm, I should be safe. I already have a gaseous infuser containing all of the mana reactors contained in the beast’s blood (except for a few for later study and procreation in the future). The gaseous diffuser is really a terrible thing I’ve built. It uses the same principle of injecting vaccines that was invented near the end of my life, where the vaccine is shot through your skin into your cells directly. Also inhaling it should help too. Now that I don’t know if it will hurt or not. It seems like it will - thousands of holes opening up all over your body at once, well I’ll find out I guess. Sigh, I know too little of this world, and the only test bed I have really is my own body. I can’t really trust things in here since they are based mostly on what I know.

I wish I had a whiskey and coke zzz. Here goes nothing! !

Oh, that’s not too bad, it feels like a warmth is spreading throughout my body, starting from my heart and going outwards. It feels exactly like a poison spreading throughout the body - damn, of course I didn’t setup a drip to collect samples of my blood. I thought this would be some sort of mana burning or something, now I feel kinda silly for the whole strapped into a chair thing. Well, the longer I wait, the longer I’m a sitting duck outside. It’s time to start infusing my very cells with replacement mana reactors.

Well, that was definitely NOT painless… Darkness, my old friend…

Shit Shit Shit Shit SHIT! Why does it burn so much! The mana is rampaging through my body and I can’t control any of it! It feels like a foreign being is inside of me, trying to free itself! I woke up from the pain, and it keeps getting worse! I usually never trust the generated abilities, but I don’t have a choice right now! I can’t tell why I can’t control the mana, whether it be from me not being experienced enough, or it’s just foreign to my body, but either way it’s tearing me apart if I don’t do anything!

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Genetic Mutation: Mana Assimilation

Gain the ability to assimilate foreign mana into your body.

Additional Info: Specifically tames foreign mrtDNA in the body. Will affect self in unknown ways. Also can absorb mana released from other beings if in free form.

Cost: 100,000

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Thank god, I mean thank goodness! I have enough Growth Points to buy it! Please help me!!! Please! I don’t want this pain!!!

All of my natural energy is sucked out of me - going into changing me, but the mana!

‘Sniff’ It doesn’t hurt anymore. I feel like I can control the mana I have - it’s much more virulent than before, more bestial. But I feel different as well, like this mana was always mine. Stupid straps, let go! I want to get out and try using my mana!

Oh, I got stronger too! Sweet! I busted right through those straps when I got frustrated enough! No fucking way! I have some cool horns! Kickass! Must have been those “Unknown ways” the ability was talking about! And my feet have scales on them! My hands are all normal though, so is the rest of me. I look pretty cool now, like some nature deity! Now I need some antlers… wait, those would get in the way. Nixing ever ingraining anything with antlers! These small horns are just right though, black and about a hand length and a half curving backwards. And they are stuuurdy - I can feel warmth through them, but swinging a metal utensil at them I couldn’t feel a thing. Since I don’t like getting hurt, I’ll avoid trying with a metal bat haha.

I’m so glad that I have much stronger mana than before! I might be able to cast spells now! Well, in here at least!

— POV Owl —

Hoot-Hoot

My goodness, what has happened to my glade! The Bunny no longer shows up, there aren’t any more slimes, and there aren’t any bug sounds! It’s just silent, except for the waving of the grass!

Hoot!

The mana in the field is disappearing - something weird is going on again! Mana is everywhere, why is it disappearing, even avoiding the glade! Something bad must be down there, it’s giving me the spooks!

HOOT!

So much wild mana started coming from the glade, I have to leave, this is dangerous! It’s pouring out like a spring, easily overwhelming the water spring that is there! Danger, danger!

Hoot-hoot!

Chapter 23 can be found: HERE