Aster drifts in the pond as I use [Grow Plant] with a [Multicast] around the Pup Leisure Pond. He showed up a few minutes ago and decided he just wants to play in the water by himself as an otter with a ball he pulled out. The pup really finds it easy to entertain himself when no one else is around to play. The azulvitts left only a few moments before he arrived and he seemed disappointed by that, but excited by the increased pond size.

While I worked here, I managed to raise [Grow Plant] and [Multicast] by a Level each, which has sped up my work by a decent amount. A single [Grow Plant] now takes 24 seconds to cast instead of 27, and [Multicast] only increases casting time by 80% rather than 90%. Casting two [Grow Plant]s at once now takes me only roughly 43.2 seconds instead of the 51.3 it did before or the 60 it would if I had to cast them individually at Level 1 in the Skill. Casting three of them at once takes me roughly 76.76 seconds rather than the 90 it would if I had to cast them individually at Level 1 or… wait. It would only be 72 seconds if I cast them individually.

I should probably try to bring [Multicast] up again so that the cost to cast more at once goes down once more. Doing that math on earlier probably would have made this go a lot faster.

This looks like enough plant patches for today, so I use two [Boost Plant Growth]s on the area and watch as grasses and flowers and herbs grow and spread and bushes and tree saplings grow. If the casting time remains consistent, doing three of them at once will probably make it take longer than casting them individually.

Once it finishes, I cast the spell in a pair again, watching as everything within its range grows further. With 3,118 Magic, the spell stretches approximately 1,039 feet and 4 inches in diameter. That's nearly the entire zone from this one spot, though I didn't use [Grow Plant] on all of it.

Just the parts with buried earth magic crystals and the soil which Mrow popped up and spread around after the pups finished playing "bury the crystals". The lifeseed worm must have been watching things and waiting.

At least he took back all of the crystals I couldn't fit into my storage, making me realize how the last dump of them he made must have disappeared. It seems he can take the crystals back and is just holding onto them for me.

Even though I really don't need that many nor can I hold that many.

I appraise the area with its new plant life, then cast [Boost Plant Growth] with [Multicast] again. From start to end, I only used [Grow Plant] once per spot and spaced them out pretty decently since I knew that [Boost Plant Growth] would make things grow and spread rather fast with how high my Magic is.

Each pair of casts spread the plant patches out by around three feet. None of the patches touch yet but most will after just one or two more casts so I do that. A few spots didn't have grass, flowers, or herbs grown when I used [Grow Plant] so those ones didn't spread, but the bushes and trees within them grew quite well.

In fact, most of the zone is now filled with young trees, a few of which have fruit on them. Ordinary apples and peaches, since they haven't taken in enough mana from the soil and whatever else yet to morph into something magical. While I did use mana to make them grow, that was mana converted into magic to supply them with nutrients and accelerate their growth.

They'll need to actually intake mana itself to begin mutating, I believe.

"What do you think, Aster?" I ask and the otter transforms into his wolf pup formbefore giving me a woof. "How long do you think it'll take before it starts giving me reagents for mana potions?"

Aster thinks for a few moments, then answers with what amounts to "a lot of sleeps".

"I should've known that'd be your answer," I chuckle. "Would you mind doing something for me, buddy?"

The pup swims out of the pond and shakes himself off, then gives me a curious tilt of his head.

"Would you be willing to go watch the butterflies at Happy Butterfly Hill?" I ask. "There shouldn't be any monsters, but I just want to make sure. Don't touch them, though, or you might hurt them. I'll come get you when I'm sure they're safe, alright?"

"Woof!" Aster's tail wags, then he vanishes.

That was easy, and I doubt he'll realize that I can't know it's safe without actually going there in-person. He seems to be mentally around five or so and while he can do some complex reasoning, his mind is pretty simple.

"It's safe to come out," I say. "I don't have any meat in my storage, though. It's not designed for storing stuff like that."

There's no reaction, so I start picking some apples, peaches, berries, and herbs. As I do, I occasionally notice a grey-furred wolf peeking out from behind bushes and trees. Cloud's a little bit bigger than he was last night but not quite to a full-grown size. This might be his real size and if so, then he's probably a little bit older than Aster in terms of mental and physical age. The small pup size from last night was probably to make it harder for people to notice him.

As I observe Cloud, I realize that his pelt doesn't just look like it has a cloud pattern to it, it actually seems as if made of clouds, sort of like how Aster's looks like it's made from the night sky and Aurora's looks like it was woven from an actual aurora. Three out of three Celestials I've personally met recently have rather realistic pelts so I'm going to guess that's common for all of them.

"You can eat some berries if you want," I say after a little bit. "I don't think you'd get into trouble for that."

"No, thanks. I'm not Aster."

"Alright," I chuckle at his response.

A few minutes later, I notice a grey ceramic plate with a cloud-like pattern to it with lightning bolts decorating it sitting on the ground in front of the pup, who's eating chunks of meat off of it. At least he brought his own food, unlike a certain other pup who just takes whatever he finds unless he's stopped.

"I'm going to let Aster know I'm heading home," I say after I finish my harvests. "It was nice talking to you, Cloud. Have a good time."

"Bye, Rethe," he responds.

I head to the Happy Butterfly Hill instead of spending time thinking about why he called me by my last name as it's probably not important. Upon arriving at my destination, I find Aster chasing after a butterfly with blue and black wings with silver eye-like markings on them. The pup is barking and yipping happily as he chases after the butterfly, which seems to be able to stay just outside of the pup's reach.

Probably by the choice of the Celestial, whose tail is wagging enthusiastically and whose face looks like it's broken out in a big, happy smile. It's like when he was playing with Ryan earlier, so I'm going to guess the two are friends and this isn't just Aster harassing another creature.

Or it could be exactly that… either way, I decide to inspect the mythical beast before stepping in.

[Dreamdust Butterfly] Category: Mythical A butterfly whose mystical dust can easily put to sleep nigh any being or used to calm and make pleasant nigh any dream.

"Rethe is here," a voice speaks directly into my head and Aster lets out a happy bark before looking at me. "Hello, Rethe. Thank you for restoring the hill a little. It was still barren when I checked a few weeks ago."

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

"I take it I'm speaking with the butterfly?" I ask. "Whose name is… Gniw?"

The butterfly does a sort of happy flutter as Aster runs to me and rubs his head against my legs, tail wagging happily.

"It is," the butterfly says. "Though Aster says your memories are kaput due to you reincarnating. I'm speaking via telepathy. It is good to see you again. The last time we spoke was nearly seven centuries ago in Earth time. That's where Aster says your current reincarnation is from."

My familiarity with the mythical beasts comes from my past lives, I'm sure of it. Me knowing their names upon seeing them isn't them informing me in some way, it's me remembering it.

"It is," I say. "Did you bring the other butterflies? I didn't see you around when I was here earlier."

"I did not," he answers. "The Mythic Forest is special as decided by the Lazy Celestial. As life returns to it and develops, so too shall new life appear."

While he's not saying it in fully clear terms, I know what he means. Animals and other creatures will simply appear here as conditions become suitable for them to do so again. That was one of the things I'd suspected in the past, this is just confirmation of it.

"It was nice to meet you again," Gniw tells me. "As for me, I must leave. Aster, please remember that butterflies are not for eating."

"Woof!" Aster wags his tail.

"Not for eating?" I ask. "Aster was trying to eat a butterfly?"

"He sometimes forgets," Gniw tells me. "So I like to remind him when I see him. I'll be off now. Goodbye, Rethe."

The butterfly flutters off and vanishes, then Aster looks up at me with a hopeful look on his face. He's asking me to go do more work in the Starry Pleasure Waters. I do still have a couple of hours before I should really be returning home, but there's something else which is a little bit more important.

"I should really be returning to the river," I tell him, and he switches to giving me a pitiful and pleading look. "You do know that normal wolves don't have that much expression, right?"

"Arf!" His tail wags.

"I'll make you a deal," I say. "You get me your favorite food in the entire universe without stealing, and I'll do some more work in your play area, okay? But that means either taking it from where no one owns it or receiving permission to take it. Understand?"

"Arf!" Aster woofs and vanishes.

That should give me a few minutes where I can relax, so I sit and watch the butterflies until Aster returns. When he does, the pup runs over to me and lets out a short bark. I hold out a hand and he barks again, a grape-like fruit a little larger than my fist plopping into my hand. Its skin is a swirl of soft purples, oranges, and pinks reminiscent of the big boy's pelt. Also my real coat, I suppose, seeing as the big boy and I are the same species.

[Large Aetherberry] Tier: 73,971,832 Despite the name, this berry contains no actual aether within it. A rare delicacy with a flavor unlike any other and just the right amount of sweetness, many young yet powerful beings with a sweet tooth love the berry. This is a special cultivar grown to be especially large without affecting its flavor.

"And did you get permission for this?" I ask.

"Woof!" Aster's tail wags as he sends me a message.

He has an entire garden growing these just for himself. That message comes with his memory of trying to pick the best one from the vines for me before settling on what is currently the largest of them.

"Did your king make the garden for you?" I ask.

"Woof!" Aster nods enthusiastically.

I should have expected that. The logical way to reduce the occurrences of a sweets-loving child of extraordinary power stealing sweets from others is to give him his own garden of ones he likes the best. It's probably more efficient when the king himself is around to stop Aster on the occasions which still happen after and I'm sure Aurora's had her paws full trying to stop him while caring for the others.

"Where's this garden?" I ask. "Can you take me there?"

Aster shakes his head. The garden's located in his personal realm, which is only allowed to have Celestials in it via an absolute rule created by the big boy. It probably wouldn't restrict me since I'm the big boy's younger brother, but it also might since I'm in a reincarnation right now.

"Here's another question," I say as I examine the large berry again. "Did we know each other before I reincarnated? You seem pretty familiar with me, and it's clear I know some of the mythical beasts."

Aster gives me a nod before looking at the berry, then back to me.

The message there is clear: he doesn't want to talk about my past. Either he was told not to by Aurora or he personally wants to wait until I remember things on my own.

"Fair enough," I chuckle, then examine the berry again.

While that Tier might make it seem like I can't do anything to it, that's not actually true. Many items without magic effects can be used and eaten without issue once harvested. A minotaur might require a certain level of might to harm, but once it's dead, its meat can be butchered and eaten by pretty much anyone. This berry isn't one I could damage while it was still on the vine but now that it's off the vine, it should theoretically be fine for me to eat. The same principle applies to consuming potions as well.

I take a cautious bite of it and find my teeth sinking into the berry as easily as it would a grape. The interior of the berry matches that of a grape and the flavor of it really is quite good. The aetherberry is fairly filling and once I finish eating it and clean off what juices dripped down, I give the pup a light ruffle of his head fur.

"Let's go to your zone," I pick him up and stand, then take us to the Starry Pleasure Waters.

The plant growth hasn't spread out too far in distance, but the entire section that I'd both grown plants in and had earth magic crystals buried in has filled out nicely. Things will probably go faster if I deal with the Monster Eggs so I'll focus on those first.

It seems to take around an hour for me to recover a tenth of my aether capacity and I only cleared up three Monster Eggs earlier. I have enough aether to clear up three more now and this zone should have four. Before working on any, I walk around the zone and determine where each of the Monster Eggs are located.

The first two I clear up are ones floating above the soil, but I want to deal with the one in the pond as well. This would have been a little bit easier if I had remembered things before opening up the springs, but I can make do.

I strip and store my things in one of my bracelets, then swim out to where the Monster Egg in the pond is. This one is just-above the bed of the immense pond, which looks like it's grown to around five hundred feet at its widest. Another expansion of a water source my brother decided to do, I suppose.

The point at which the Monster Egg is at is roughly one hundred and thirty feet from the nearest shore, and the bed of the pond – or small lake, I suppose – is about ten feet in depth here. I swim down to the bottom and sit on it, the water as clear as anything, though touched with the grey of the light.

Extending a hand forward, I shift some of my power into the energy flows and begin cleansing them. A few jiggles, and the Monster Egg comes undone, the tangled streams releasing from each other and returning to how they should be once more.

Just after that happens, something crashes into the water beside me and a starry-furred bear cub sinks down to the lake bed before turning to look at me. I roll my eyes before swimming up, treading water once my head is above the surface. An otter with a starry coat shoots up and looks at me as it turns onto its back.

"Do you want to play with me or let me grow some more plants in first?" I ask. "The latter shouldn't take me too long, and you can play in the water as I do."

Aster lets out some happy barks and swims off, then I swim over to the shore with grass and lie down for a few minutes. Every now and then, Aster disappears from view but I can hear him barking at times. It seems he's running around enjoying himself, playing in the tunnels in some of the other sections of the zone and splashing around in the water from time to time.

I'm not allowed to rest for too long, however. Aster eventually comes over and starts nudging me, sending me messages to inquire when I'm going to grow more plants.

"Alright, alright," I push him away. "I'll get to work now. You owe me another large aetherberry when I'm done though, alright?"

"Woof!" Aster jumps as his tail wags.

It looks like I'm not going to be working on the river anymore today, which is a little bit of a relief. Growing plants is a much easier task and I'll be able to relax more during it. I really wasn't looking forward to pushing myself for more monster hunting in the river.

What I am looking forward to, however, is getting to crash in my bed once I'm done.