Mana Garden? There were mana plants?
His head nearly spun as he tried to wrap his mind about the revelation. Mana was one of the most severe limiters in the System. What kinds of plants could he grow that provided mana? Would they fuel runes? Store mana? Produce it?
The initial excitement—almost—pushed him to absorb the Trait of Nature. He only restrained himself when he sensed other contenders doing exactly that. It gave him pause, mostly out of curiosity as he wished to understand what it looked like from outside.
Three contenders triggered the absorption of their traits. Each of them felt slightly different. Without a spiritual sense, Keynes wouldn’t even notice the process. There was nothing outwardly that suggested anything. But when it came to spiritual energy, things got very obvious.
The spiritual aura of the three contenders acquired something akin to nature affinity but not quite. Same as with him and Esopp. Neither of them had an affinity from the traits but there was ‘something’ that skewed their energy signature toward their traits. The more Keynes thought about it the more he was convinced that the System hid another important thing from them.
“Keynes, we should go,” Kora whispered into his ear. Yes. Others were hastily leaving too. He suspected that by the end of the day, everyone would absorb the trait.
Their guardian escorted them to their accommodation where he wished them good luck. If they wanted his help, they’d need to gain favour. This was clearly going to be a pain in the neck.
Kora, on the other hand, vibrated with excitement. She, like Keynes, understood the significance of mana in the System and wanted to take the best out of it.
They stood in the front yard thinking about their first step. They had, sort of, started on the wrong foot with the guardian and Keynes’s growing paranoia about absorbing the trait didn’t do them any favour. But they had to begin now. A week was nothing and there was no telling how good their competitors were.
“I’m doing it,” Kora said suddenly.
Keynes looked at her sharply.
“Kora…”
“You said we're serious about this. You don’t back off, do you?”
“I’m serious, but I’m just worried.”
Kora didn’t say anything else and instead absorbed the trait. A wave of strong energy washed over Keynes. It had a distinctive flavour of nature.
“Ah.” Kora sighed pleasantly.
“How do you feel?”
Keynes saw a green gleam in her eyes. She inhaled the air and smiled sincerely.
“I feel… like I am at home with all these trees around. The trait attunes me with nature on a level I didn’t know was possible.”
Keynes hesitated then decided to trigger the trait as well.
You have activated the Trait of Nature
For a brief second, fear paralysed him as he remembered the damage done by the Trait of Spirituality. No volatile explosion came, nor Chaos appeared to take Keynes to another dimension. Instead, a calming feeling descended on him.
But his absorption wasn’t yet complete.
Two traits detected.
*
The Trait of Spirituality
The Trait of Nature
*
Synchronising…
The world didn’t explode but Keynes’s senses went haywire. Before his eyes the world was ‘transforming’ into something else; something he couldn’t describe; something new.
Synchronisation completed
New Trait acquired
The Trait of Shamanism
The Trait of Shamanism?
Keynes? Alice said, her voice sounded musically and vivid. Keynes frowned. It was the first time she didn’t address him as ‘master’. What’s happening? I feel strange.
He saw her through his mind's eye. Her form was colourful and vibrant.
What the hell was the Trait of Shamanism? Why did it affect Alice so profoundly?
The same mindeye swept around, finding the world substantially different. For the first time Keynes noticed Kora’s spiritual companion. The bond between Kora and it was thin and weak. Nothing like the bond between Keynes and Alice.
His mindeye expanded further, taking in the garden and the tree house. While the garden was quiet and devoid of most energy, the tree house radiated like a miniature sun.
Keynes couldn’t comprehend, on an intellectual level, what a spirit was but a tiny part of him felt kinship with this new world.
I absorbed the Trait of Nature and it together with the Trait of Spirituality, it transformed into the Trait of Shamanism. I don’t understand what’s happening.
Oh, I think I know what’s happening, she said, sounding amused. Both traits appear to be extremely compatible, and in consequence, they pushed you closer to the spiritual world, which is more than I believed. I have never seen the world like this.
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So now I am technically a shaman? Keynes asked, intrigued, amused.
That’s up to you. He noticed the change in the pattern of her speech as well. As for me, I can’t wait to explore this new world.
Her thoughts touched him and a novel impression bloomed in his mind. The spiritual world was not devoid of life as they had previously thought. At face value, the spiritual world resembled another dimension but it was nothing like rifts. It existed alongside the physical world, complementing it.
The spiritual world was inhabited by many sorts of creatures and Alice believed she could… devour some of them to grow stronger. He couldn’t ignore the conflicting feelings: anticipation, worry, hunger, restrain.
“Keynes?”Words come to him from far away.
Keynes closed his mindeye. A wave of weakness washed over Keynes and he dropped to one knee. Kora’s hands grabbed his arm.
“Keynes, are you okay?”
A grin split his face.
“More than okay.”
Even without an active mindeye, the world changed for Keynes. Some change occurred on the mental level; the way he comprehend reality, the way he thought. Just like Kora had said earlier, he felt comforted by the presence of nature around them, but his connection to the spiritual world ran far deeper than hers. Perhaps for now.
“The two traits merged into the Trait of Shamanism.” He briefly described to her the changes and she confirmed that things weren’t the same for her. She was attuned only to nature.
The difference was substantial and it wasn’t easily translated. It definitely wasn’t 1+1=2; more like 1+1=3 but at the same time their attunement affected their perception and thoughts differently. The question was; did he screw up?
The answer was he wasn’t sure. Clearly, he didn’t have the same connection with nature as Kora but it didn’t mean his connection was inferior.
“We have to start testing.”
Keynes agreed. For their experimentation, they went to the back yard, which was prepared for small projects with many independent patches of restrained vegetation.
One glance at these patches told Keynes that they were wild and required cultivation or complete revamp. Looking back, Keynes was certain that going to sleep was a mistake and he should have taken care of this place.
Wait a second. He noticed that his thoughts were being influenced. He’d have never thought like this… No, wait. The Pure Body buff would have kicked in if something manipulated him.
Of course, nothing is manipulating me. The trait has changed the way I perceive the world. I must be more sensitive to nature.
Kora’s sentiment was similar.
“Hmm, we have some work ahead of us.”
“Yeah…” Keynes inquired.
They picked one of the patches in the corner. It was overgrown with what appeared as weed.
Spiritual energy was irregular and mismatched, meaning the whole patch was a wild composition of random plants.
They were worthless. No special attributes. And now Keynes realised another issue. They could start manipulating the condition of the plants, slowly improving or even changing them but neither Kora nor Keynes knew how to create a mana plant.
“Okay, any ideas?” Kora asked.
“What about your [Nature Aura]? Did it improve it?”
“‘Improved’ is not the right word. It’s more like my understanding of nature increased and this made [Natura Aura] more efficient than before. So, you actually can say it indirectly improved the aura. But that’s not you’re asking, isn’t it? You hope that [Nature Aura] will help us create the required mana plant.”
“Yeah, I didn’t expect that we’d have to start from scratch without knowing where to start in the first place.”
“Sounds as if we are missing something.”
They glanced at the tree house. Was the answer inside? The guardian had recommended getting ‘acquainted’ with the tree in the centre of the house. The guardian didn’t strike Keynes as someone who had much use for small talk. Furthermore, the guardian had also a stake in the competition.
“Indeed,” Keynes agreed. “Stay here, I will check the tree inside.”
He entered the house. Physically, nothing changed but this time he felt the presence he couldn’t describe. It permeated the air, furniture, every object inside apart from him.
Dream tree? He asked in his mind. Are you there?
Silence answered. He remembered then what the guardian had suggested.
“For better connection with the house, I'd advise you to take off your shoes."
He only hesitated for a second then put his boots and socks inside the dimensional bag. The dimensional ring was currently with Kora.
The moment his bare feet touched the soft moss, his senses went haywire. Pleasure mixed with acceptance and calm restraint was an odd cocktail. In Keynes’s head, the moss lost a sense of physicality and it seemed to think that Keynes was its kin whatever it meant.
The moss was ‘happy’ , that was a good sign, right?
Then the dream tree cast its attention on Keynes. Weird sensations started to escalate as they were attributes of the novel spiritual sense and Keynes wasn’t accustomed to it.
“Child of Chaos, welcome,” a voice in Keynes’s head said. “I’m glad you’ve accepted the gift of the Father.”
“Dream tree?”Keynes inquired. The connection between him and the source of the voice had some similarity to the bond between him and Alice. A disturbing fact, albeit there was far more to his bond than it was to this connection.
“I am a dream tree, yes. I welcomed you, do you accept my welcome?”
“I do,” Keynes answered, trying to ignore the immature tone.
“Splendid, you’re a fascinating creature, a human ascender. Are you really a human ascender?”
“I am. What are you?”
“I am a dream tree, didn’t I already mention it?”
“You did. But I am curious what exactly is a dream tree. I have never met a talking tree before.”
“You should have seen…” the dream tree’s voice trailed off into silence and a strong sense of chastisement coming from somewhere else washed the dream tree.
Was she about to say something she was not supposed to? Keynes reckoned. It certainly felt like it. So, we are being monitored. I must be careful about things regarding Chaos.
“Are you there, dream tree?”
“I am, yes! Sorry,”the tree replied then added with a dulled excitement. “Do you need my help, contender?”
“I… do. Please, call me, Keynes. What should I call you?”
“Dream tree is fine. Hmm. Keynes. I like it. What help is required?”
“We need help with the first competition: we must create a mana garden but we don’t know any mana plants. Can you help us?”
“Mana is life,” the dream tree said after a moment. Her revelation didn’t mean much.
“I don’t understand. Do you have the seed of a mana plant maybe?”
“I… I could create them.”
“But?”
“Not for free.”
Keynes felt his physical body wince. The guardian had warned him that if they wanted answers, they’d have to earn the favour but he didn’t expect cost while dealing with the dream tree.
“What’s your price?”
“Massage.”
This time Keynes physically blinked.
“Massage? Really?”
“Yes. You will need to massage my trunk with the best aromatic mixture you can make. I want to smell nice and have my bark to feel refreshed. Is that too hard for you, Keynes?”She asked mischievously.
Keynes sighed but couldn’t complain. A massage for mana plant seeds was a good deal, though he was lost where to start. How did one make a massage concoction?
Kora will know…