This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/MrIzuarel on 2024-09-07 14:12:06+00:00.
Chapter 17
Bonemeal was an item few civilizations were ready to use. In a game where the use had limited consequences, it was a fun way to keep the players engaged, but in the real world, like here...
I didn't allow any of them to touch it, not even Morrigan. Of course, everyone was intrigued by the white powder but at the same time didn't dare to simply take it by force.
I was lucky that Morrigan was more curious about my actions than infuriated.
Once I was certain everyone had seen it, I put it back in my inventory. Most of them were confused about my actions. That was, of course, because I never refused anything to them. However, in this particular case, I had no choice. The dangers from this item were too great.
Morrigan didn't move, but I knew he was interested in it, too. The longing in his eyes was visible to me, but I had to make sure it wasn't misused.
I thought for a long time about this issue, then had an idea how to convey what these powders were good for. But I would wait until the night to do it. Now was the time to fight.
The next monster was a humanoid monster, a demon.
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Small Imp Worker level 2
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Unlike the deer, the small demon wasn't tied up as such a rope would be too big for such a small monster. It looked a bit like a fairy, but the bat wings and the ugly appearance didn't match the typical fairies from children's tales.
It had a humpback, a strange cap on its head, the rags of some overused pants, and a small bag that was attached to him through a small rope. Well, a rope for his size.
It was armed with a small pickaxe. He swung it against the metal bars of the cage he was locked in, but his attempts weren't fruitful. I say he because it looked to me like it was male.
Once I opened the cage to fight him, he jumped out of it and started picking on me with his weapon. He didn't manage to hit my eyes, although he went for them as soon as he escaped.
He had almost no fighting power, but he didn't go down without a fight.
The rewards were typical of such monsters. 2 copper coins, a piece of fabric, and some trash items meant to be sold. The fabric was not enough to do anything with it, but the coins were very precious to me.
While I could not do much with them, in my position, every little bit was important.
I opened my inventory. Proudly displayed were 2 coins on the bottom of my inventory.
I already knew what to do with it.
Initially, the inventory below level 10 was limited to ten spaces where you could stack up to ten similar items. With the goblin knife and the bonemeal already taking 2 of these spaces, I had only space for a maximum of 80 items left. But now, it was a bit different.
With an Inventory +1, I had access to a 11 by 11 Inventory, and I would only lose it after a "Next Generation" or a "Mutation" in my case.
Losing one copper coin to buy it was worth it, but the next improvement would cost me ten copper coins, then one silver coin, ten silver, one gold, ten gold, one hundred gold coins and so on. A tenfold increase in cost with each improvement.
I was unable to scavenge more materials from that monster as my system didn't allow scavenging of demons. I dragged the corpse away before showing what I had collected, including the second coin. Then I went on with the next monster.
I faced a number of monsters that day. Each time, I emptied my inventory but kept the bonemeal and some coins for myself. I already had 32 copper coins and could easily buy an inventory +2, but I decided against it as I would soon have to go through another mutation. As previously explained, I would lose during that opportunity my extentions to my inventory. Unnecessary expenses weren't my thing.
But I also noticed something else. My loot was still getting stolen, and it always targeted the most expensive item from my loot. Sometimes, it was trash, but whenever claws were involved, I didn't get to see them.
As for scavenging the corpses for other materials, in those cases, the theft didn't work, but at the same time, I would not get any claws at all under those circumstances.
I was still trapped by whoever or whatever was stealing my claws.
Once my work was done and the last monster was defeated, the mages rolled the stolen goods in, including my claws.
I had no doubt they were convinced that I could not rebel as they had my "food."
But I wanted to show them why I didn't want them to get the bonemeal. I drew the picture of a plant and coins next to it, and they didn't understand what I wanted. It was clear to me that such a picture would not work, but I still had to do it.
The only thing that changed was the fact the mages put some paper and a small inc bottle on one of the tables in my room, giving me the possibility to not harm myself to show them what I wanted. The picture on the fur I had done yesterday was already useless since my blood had disappeared from it after some time, similar to how my body parts had disappeared before. As for why it took so long for it to happen, probably because I kept those pictures in my inventory.
They were perplexed by my picture, so I showed them another. In this, I drew a seed, then six powders, then a tree. But even then, they didn't understand what I wanted.
At some point, they simply put regular chains on me and took me out of the room. I was led to the garden of this mage building.
While i found it a bit disrespectful, it was also perfect for this. I looked around and searched for the most expensive plant in the garden, but I could not properly discern which one it was.
Then my attention fell on the cristal tree in the garden. It looked like the most expensive plant of the garden, and after carefully touching it, I confirmed it was a genuine plant. I could not fathom about how a plant could achieve such a crystalline look, but I decided to use the powder on it.
I took one portion of the powder and showed it to Morrigan. He saw me with great interest but stayed silent while noting down what he saw.
In the next moment, I tossed it on the tree.
The reaction was almost immediately. Branches of the tree grew thicker within seconds, leaves became more numerous, and even a few small pinkish flowers showed themselves to us.
This caused a lot of uproar. At first, there was a shock how a powder of unkown origin and characteristics had been tossed at it. Then came the stupor of the immediate changes to the plant.
Young mages were drawn to the tree while I showed the second picture to Morrigan, the one with the six poders transforming a seed into a tree.
He simply stayed silent, though a bit, then pointed out to a plant not too far away.
The plant looked a bit like an orchid, but the size was far bigger. I simply took another handful of bonemeal and tossed on the plant.
The plant reacted violently with the powder, and a small cristal grew of the plant. It was slightly green and Morrigan seemed very pleased seeing that strange gem.