Chapter 13
I walked towards the greenhouse room enthusiastically. With the introduction of mana, many things changed, which included greenhouses. Many greenhouses were made using special formations used to increase growth speed, size, and nourishment. For instance imagine genetic engineering used with bananas, only you could choose to drastically change a banana making it especially large and juicy. Although, the greenhouses are great now, they of coarse of limits. All except mine that is.
My greenhouse is special in that its the perfect environment for any plant. While I can't specifically decide what genetic modification I want, any plant grown in my greenhouse will have a higher chance of awakening its natural genetic pool. Many Millennium ago, plants were extremely high in mana and are often believed to be the source of gods power. The right plant, when fed to a specific animal, can help them to evolve in the best possible way.
I walked into the greenhouse and walked to the center module.
{Host Alaric has one Fire Lily; would you like to customize one plot to the optimal condition of said plant?}
"Yes"
On the side, one of the plots started to glow with a red light. The soil slowly became pitch black. I walked over to the plot and as I placed my hand over it I felt the immense heat radiating from the plot. Although, before having my hand above it, I felt no heat at all. I grabbed the pick near the plot, as I dug into the black soil, which felt like a rock. I made a hole big enough to fit the plant as I placed it inside.
Upon placing the plant in the hole, it lit up bright red as it grew visibly. It was now bigger, stronger, and was releasing a bitter scent. Once the scent changed to sweet, it would be ready for harvesting.
"Alaric! Are you in here?" Phoebe came in through the door.
"Hey you're back! How'd it go? Did you escape from the Simulacrum?" I couldn't help being slightly nervous.
"You need to come with me, I have something to show you," Phoebe responded as she turned around.
I quickly followed behind her, "Is everything okay?"
"Just follow, I need to show you," She responded, not giving any room for conversation.
As we walked to the front of the store, she came to a stop at a shelf with a blanket over it. "So before you worry, I did get the White Willow. I also got all plants I need for the potions, except the Fire Lily; which if i noticed properly you were just planting in the greenhouse?"
"Ya, I figured we wouldn't be able to find the Fire Lily in that location; given it needs a hot environment," I responded, curiously observing the shelf.
"Well, to answer your question from before, no I didn't escape from the Simulacrum… I caught it," She said with a visible smile on her face as she threw the blanket on the floor, revealing the Simulacrum in a cage.
"How?!" I couldn't help being astonished.
"Well, as you died I snuck up behind it and grabbed it from behind to hold it down while Bagheera attacked… but, as I touched it, Jericho surprised me once again, it left a notification saying I could add the animal into my inventory at the price of two inventory slots. I walked around for a while afterwards, gathering the herbs I could find, when I found a blood red Tree Ent. I ran up to it and grabbed it, as I had the Simulacrum, unfortunately this time there was no notification, I tried forcing it into my inventory to no avail. This ended up leading to my final death, bringing me back here," Phoebe summarized her actions in the portal, with a slightly bitter face at the end.
"What's your plan for it then?" I decided to ask.
"I was thinking about selling it. Why do you ask?"
"Well from what I noticed, it seems like a great companion for you. If you can even form a contract with it,"
"I honestly never thought about it but, honestly it is really strong and I would like to if possible," Phoebe responded with a gleam in her eyes.
She walked over to the Simulacrum and performed the same contract as before. I waited, anxiously hoping it would succeed.
"Success! I did it! The Simulacrum is now my partner!" Phoebe cheered while jumping up and down. "Now for a name…"
"How about Iglif?" She asked while looking at me.
"It's not my choice, what do you like,"
"Iglif it is!"
Phoebe opened the cage to let Iglef out, who in turn hopped over to her in the form of an ice bunny. Phoebe had a huge smile on her face the whole time, she couldn't be more happy to have a strong companion that would help her fight. Of coarse, I was happy as well, knowing my sister was safer now.
"Oh ya! Are you ready? We should probably plant the plants I got in the greenhouse, that way we can keep making potions," Phoebe looked at me in realization.
"I was thinking the same thing," I said with a smile. "Follow me, lets get started now… hopefully we can open the store soon," I realized, out of the whole time we had the store we still hadn't opened it to customers once. 'At least we have some stuff for sale now' I couldn't help thinking as I glanced at the shelves full of beast parts.