19, Waking Up

I moved away from the seed and took a better look at the crystals. They were nearly transparent and rectangular in shape, similar to a television remote but a bit stouter.

I didn't see anything written on it while flipping it around, the crystal was completely smooth. I checked the other one, but it was the same; perfectly smooth and unblemished.

Unsure of what I was supposed to do I started moving them around seeing if this had any impact on the crystals.This didn't do anything.

I tried tossing them up in the air too, but nothing happened until I messed up my throw and the crystal passed through my head and landed on the ground.

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[Void Seed]

The Void is Endless

The Void is Alive

The Void Grows

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I was able to read a small amount of information as the object passed through my head. "Woah! Is this like the jade slip things that I would always read about?"

I bent down to pick up the crystal and brought it into my ethereal head.

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'A Void Seed can only be found by great luck while exploring within the endless expanse of the Origin Void.

It is thought that every 1,000,000 years a single seed is condensed because that is the average time between sightings.

Known as a cosmic treasure, this seed has the ability to grow into a Void Tree.

It can also be used to entice ******* for a single favor at the cost of the seed.

The Void Tree is a Cosmic entity that gains sentience upon maturity.

Thought to be a descendant of the original Ygdrasill it has inherited some of its abilities though they are significantly weaker.

The capabilities of the tree are:

UPGRADING AFFINITIES: Increase all elemental affinities by a single stage on two occasions. Once upon reaching maturity, and once on initial planting.

STORAGE: Magnitudes better than any storage device ever created. The tree can contain anything in stasis, a fully matured tree can store anything indefinitely. No capacity has ever been reached.

CREATION: At the cost of Vitality from the tree, any object can be created so long as the desired object had been stored in the past. Re creating a Void Seed comes at the cost of the life of the matured tree.

*CAUTION*: Mishandling of the seed results in Void Retaliation.'

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"Holy shit! This seed is insane! I'm not too keen on finding out what this Void Retaliation is though… I'm just gonna leave it alone until it's time to plant."

I took the crystal out of my head and set it down on the pedestal and put the other one in my head to see what information it held.

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[Garden Of The Soul]

'The Soul Is The Home Of Life

Life Is The Home Of The Soul

The Paradox Of Life.'

'A Cosmic grade technique coveted by all warriors, alchemists and botanists.

A technique with stringent requirements that few meet.

This technique links the Mindscape to the Soul creating a garden nurtured by the soul power.

This link creates a second avenue connecting the Soul and body.

This second connection grants a more consistent flow of Soul Power into the body which smoothly returns back to the Soul.

The increased flow speed increases the natural strengthening process of the body and also allows the essence of plants to be brought into the body by the Soul.

This allows the body to receive benefits of the herbs without consuming them and gaining impurities, it also prolongs the benefits you receive from single use herbs.

The plants can be added and removed from the flow at will, this way toxic plants can also be grown without issue.

Alchemists desire this technique so fiercely due to the Soul nurturing that the plants undergo.

The nurturing process increases the quantity of essence contained within the plant so they are of a higher purity.

This decreases the difficulty of removing impurities during alchemy and increases pill quality.

Botanists desire this due to the conditions of the Soul Garden, they adapt to the plant and create an optimal terrain for each one.

This can create many varying areas within the garden. (fire plants grow within fiery terrain, water plants grows within watery terrain)

To start the technique you have two options, you can forcibly open the garden or naturally open it.

To force open the garden it shall open for 5 minutes before closing violently unless the requirements are met.

If it closes after being forced open then the closing will cause severe damage to the Soul and the Mindscape.

If opened naturally there is no risk of retaliation but this process requires you to slowly merge the Soul and Mindscape over a long period of time.

The technique requirements are:

Sufficient Mindscape Strength and Stability (Stage 5 Icosahedron)

Perfect Space Affinity or Higher.

No Missing Elemental Affinities.

Sufficient Soul Strength.

3 Other Affinities That Are Perfect or Higher.'

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After the description there were instructions on how to create the Icosahedron and how to create the initial stage soul garden.

"This technique is terrifying. To be able to gain the effect of herbs without using them is already enough to provoke the greed of many. On top of that, it sets me up perfectly to become an alchemist. Even if I don't have the talent I can just make money selling herbs because they will all be perfectly grown."

I looked at the pattern for the new hedron it wanted me to make and sighed. "I thought the Octahedron was bad. This new Icosahedron wants me to go to 20 faces instead of 8. And at stage 5 as well! That is 243 perfect triangles within each face. That's over 4000! This will be a pain."

Thankfully it created a layout for me so I didn't have to try and create one myself, but that didn't really reduce the amount of work that I still needed to do.

20 triangles at stage 5 were 4212 triangles I had to make, excluding the created octahedron that left me with 12 to make and the other 8 to upgrade.

"Complaining won't finish it faster." I removed the crystal from my head and placed them both on the pedestal beside the Void Seed.

With the exploration of my Mindscape complete I floated back up to the top. I enjoyed the view from up there but when my gaze fell upon the cliff I created earlier I remembered that after experimenting I didn't put their faces back in order.

I took the time to do that now, I didn't even have to move from my position. With the faces now back in order and all the oddities accounted for I could focus on creating the Icosahedron.

I called upon my mana, pulled a strand of it up and split it in two. From each of the split strands I created two equilateral triangles and made a diamond shape with them.

I repeated this process 5 more times and was left with 6 diamonds. Next I staggered them next to each other with one part extending up and the next extending down.

With all 6 stacked together in a pattern all I needed to do now was to create the holes, unravel the completed octahedron, connect it to the others and assemble the final shape.

I started creating the holes and went through the string of triangles bringing all 12 of them to stage 1. Then I repeated this and brought them all to stage 2.

It took me longer to do this time but I was doing more than before so I found that I was definitely getting used to shaping the mana. I thought about bringing them all to stage 3 but I felt tired for some reason.

It was at this point where I decided to exit the Mindscape. My sense of time was non-existent in this place so I had no idea how long I'd been here.

I imagined the reverse process of pulling mana into my mind and pushed my consciousness out back into my body. I was hit with many sensations all of a sudden.

My legs were stiff and sore from sitting in the lotus for so long. My stomach was rumbling, my bladder was sore and full, my back was tired of holding me upright and my feet were numb and cold.

My eyes also felt strange but that was buried under all the other sensations. I quickly got up and ran out of my room to get to the bathroom. Along the way I passed my parents who were sitting having a meal.

My dad tried to speak to me but I didn't hear anything, it was taking all my self control to not soil myself as I ran. I made it to the bathroom in time, relieved myself and washed my hands with a rough unscented soap and walked out.

My next order of business was food and I remembered seeing my parents eating in the kitchen. Returning to the kitchen my parents were sitting with cups of water and empty plates in front of them. It looked like they had just finished eating.

There was a third plate that still had food piled high on it and a cup too, this was obviously set out for me. I quickly joined them at the table and began inhaling my food.

We sat together in a comfortable silence until I finished my plate of meat, bread and fruit. My mother was the first to break this silence.

"How did your meditation go?" Both of my parents looked at me with a concern written on their faces.

"It was hard at first. My mana kept dissipating when I tried to mold it but as I persisted it got easier. I successfully modified the Mindscape now. I have a large cliff with a house on the edge and a great big forest below it." I told a small lie with the truth.

In stories your mind should be a place where you are comfortable and feel most at ease. A house on the edge of a cliff should be in character with me in this life.

"That is excellent Etanali! I'm so glad you didn't have any troubles with it." My dad had now relaxed and wore a happy smile. My mother was still slightly concerned. "Do you want to talk about what you experienced in the illusions?"

My fathers face grew serious at this question, this topic was not a lighthearted one. Drawing on my experience with them I can guess that no one has a good time with them.

With my Mindscape stable now I am able to think rationally about the experience so I answered honestly. "Not really, it wasn't fun but that is the point. It taught me dangerous and deadly things without a high risk of dying. To face any of them in reality would put me in at a high risk of death. Now after going through them I know what spells I need to learn to deal with them. If I were to be put in these situations in the future I wouldn't enjoy it but I would know how to react or at least how not to."

My father broke out in a big grin while laughing and slapped me on the back a little too hard for my liking. "That's my boy! That is exactly how a man should take his blows, learn from them and keep on walking."

My mother had a different reaction. "Etantos! Don't hit him, he is just a kid! Even if he made it through just fine he isn't an adult yet." "Calm down dear, he already had one of his peers die and he made it through the illusions. In all likelihood he faced maybe hundreds of deaths, many more injuries and that is just while choosing his weapon. He could have even made his first kill in an illusion. He may still be a child in age but he has gone through enough to make him a man. He knows that the world isn't sunshine and rainbows, there is malice and cruelty mixed in there too."

I interjected after his rant before my mother could rebuke him. "I did make my first kill. She was a child. A little younger than me, she was Jacqueline. I killed her in the arms of her mother so she wouldn't burn to death in a fire. Her mother was trapped under a heavy burning table that I was unable to move. She asked me to kill her daughter."

My comment defeated my mothers argument before she could speak. "This is what I mean, Etanali has learned that there is no right and wrong. There are only shades of gray. She was going to die so you helped her along in a less painful way. That is kindness not cruelty. Things like this happen all the time in the world, the sooner you realize this the better."

My mother excused herself from the table and left the room. She was clearly upset. "You should go after her dad."

"I will. She understands in her brain, but in her heart you are still her baby to be protected. She is just having trouble reconciling the difference between the two." He finished his drink and set down his cup with an audible thud.

"You should get some sleep, you've got a long day ahead of you tomorrow. Just because you missed two days of training doesn't mean they will go easy on you. Also entering your Mindscape doesn't do anything for fatigue. It strains your focus and just puts you into a sleep-like trance, it's not a replacement for sleep."

I finished my water and got up from the table with my father. "Guess I should go to sleep then."

As we walked our separate ways he called out. "I forgot to ask, what was your weapon?"

"A Staff."