NOVEL NEXT Chapter 101: What Could Be
Aleksi briefly stayed behind with him to check up on his work, but the notion of visiting Grace early to congratulate her made the giant take his leave. That left Elijah and Dawn to move through the plant life inside the garden, finding flaws and malformations and fixing them.
‘These taste bad,’ Dawn commented, as she swallowed the third mouthful of flowers from one of the larger Fireblooms. ‘Weak.’
Checking over the areas she’d spotted again, Elijah found her words to be correct. This early variant of the plant that he had made to increase the effectiveness of its heat resistance had started to erode from within. It wasn’t something he could blame his assistants for either since the structural integrity of the main stem was starting to buckle under its own weight.
‘Can’t have that, can we?’ he replied, as he used his new knowledge to alter the pattern of the Firebloom. The sacrifices he’d made to increase the effectiveness weren’t needed anymore, now that he’d created some shortcuts to further strengthen the structure. As he’d discovered while on the road, it wasn’t too difficult to incorporate the micro-compositions of more durable plants into others. Such actions usually came with a changed appearance, but that was hardly a problem for him. ‘That should allow it to survive its own weight when it gets a little bigger.’
That is if it got the chance, as Dawn took another bite of the plant’s side and analyzed the taste once again.
‘... Acceptable.’
Elijah wasn’t too sure when Dawn had become a connoisseur of all things biological, but he couldn’t deny her ability to discern the quality of the plants.
“Oh, you’re up here already?”
Turning his head, he saw Mary stepping into the garden. She’d brought a bucket with her, which, by the smell, probably contained a fertilizer of some sort.
“Just because we arrived this morning doesn’t mean that one should skimp on their duties,” Elijah replied, giving the Firebloom one last burst of energy to grow with before moving over to a mildly malnourished Dreamshade. “Kudos to both you and Oscar for your work, by the way. You’ve done a good job keeping the variants healthy.”
“We just followed your instructions to the letter,” Mary said in an attempt to understate the achievement. The bucket was left behind by the entrance, as she moved to inspect his work. “Even with that, though, some of them refused to stay healthy. This one annoyed me a lot since it just refused to absorb nutrients for some reason.”
Upon hearing her words, Dawn’s feet grew in size as roots sprouted from them, digging into the earth and connecting to those of the Dreamshade.
‘Too thin,’ she supplied after just a second’s observation. Even with the high-quality earth that it grew in, the roots were apparently too weak to handle the upkeep.
The original variant hadn’t possessed such a weakness, but the increased height had caused the issue to steadily grow in severity.
“It wasn’t for a lack of trying on the Dreamshade’s part,” Elijah explained, focusing on altering the variables that determined the allowed proportions. “We’ll need to give it a few days to tell for sure, but it should be able to maintain itself from now on.”
“Is that so?” Mary muttered, watching on amused as Dawn dug out some of the old roots that equaled her size and ate them without a care. “This might come off as a little uneducated, but are you going to make another duck at some point?”
‘You’re not,’ Dawn declared before Elijah could even consider the question. ‘I’m all you need.’
“I wasn’t planning on it, honestly,” Elijah replied. “Why do you ask?”
“Oh, I’m just being curious,” Mary said, though it was clear that there was more to it. “And… I have to be honest and say that it’s a little surprising when one of the variants seems to spontaneously grow or move in real-time. Last week, I saw the largest Phoenix Tree twist its branches so they could catch more of the afternoon sun. Almost hit me with how fast they moved, but… Yeah, it’s just a little strange.”
Rapid movement? It wasn’t too impossible an idea, since the larger tree had more energy to work with, but Elijah would have to investigate that occurence at some point.
“It can be a little disturbing to see at first,” he assured her. “The first time that Dawn changed from merely being a duck-shaped plant to moving her head, I almost fell to the floor in shock.”
The mere concept had his assistant laughing, though that moment hadn’t been half as funny for Elijah back then.
“I’d love to have seen that,” Mary confessed. “But, still, does that intention to not make more ducks extend to other creatures?”
Elijah noticed how Dawn froze. She didn’t immediately counter his assistant's words, just looking up and listening in.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“Well, you know, it wouldn’t hurt to have another human-shaped helper around,” she explained. “Or, well, you having one around wouldn’t hurt either. A duck is nice and all, but what I wouldn’t give to have a person able to help carry buckets up those 200 steps.”
“Hmm… I suppose that wouldn’t be a bad idea,” Elijah gave in, considering the requirements to alter a plant to such a degree. “Yet even if I did decide to do such a thing, it would require that they travel with me constantly. The upkeep costs in terms of Mana for anything that size and complexity would be far beyond what the surface air can provide.”
The cost would be more than everything inside the Royal Gardens combined, though it still sat within the realm of possibility.
“What a shame,” Mary commented, rising from her spot. The small break she’d allowed for herself seemed to be over. “It was a nice thought, at least.”
“That it was,” he agreed, getting back onto his feet as he noted the time. If he wanted to get back to the house and refill his stocks before the trip into the Dungeon, now would be a good time to call it. ‘Ready to leave, Dawn?’
‘... Yes.’
He frowned at the delayed response. Delving into their connection, however, he found nothing specific amiss. There was just a sense of deep thought inside Dawn that he couldn’t decipher into understandable concepts.
‘Anything wrong?’
'... Hungry.'
Ah. That explained that.
With his stomach grumbling a little as well, Elijah didn’t see why it would hurt to have a quick stop at the royal kitchens.