Learning to Plant

Since I had a little over an hour left before I had to prepare to either fight or figure out my next move, I decided to try planting Bubba's feather. my system said that I could grow this and gain something but even knowing that it was qualified as something plantable, and then actually planting said item... were two completely different things. Like if I came up to you and said "Hey, I can grow Kwehs just by Planting one of their feathers in my own personal dimension." Wouldn't you think that person was more than a little off their rocker? Like their deck was missing more than just a few cards? Exactly and that is the issue I'm dealing with.... Because that is my reality at this moment!

I looked at Bubba with a raised eyebrow but all she did nudge my arm before she lifted one of her legs and dug a hole for me to plant the feather. It was shallow so the whole feather wouldn't fit so I just laid it down vertically like I was transplating an already grown plant, as soon as I did that a pop up saying that it was successful showed up and even that within 30 minutes it would be ready for harvest.

being a little confused I examined the feather and saw as at ground level I saw what looked like roots growing from the feather and burrowing down into the soil.... There's just no way this is real. Like I've heard some crazy stuff, but seeing a feather grow roots? What the hell is this?

"Kweh?" Bubba nudged me as she felt my stress through our bond. "Haaa, I'm sorry girl, it's just that this? All this, it's all a little much for someone just starting out as an adventurer. I expected to tame some monsters and grow stronger through surviving harrowing adventures and near death battles. But to find out I have my own personal dimension that I could grow... Well everything!? That is just so outside of what I imagined. Hell Nobody could've imagined this."

I sighed again as I sat down a bit away from the 'Feather' and tried to relax my mind and just accept it. I closed my eyes since I could feel a headache coming and thankfully Bubba had laid down behind me as an amazing spot to lay against.

"Ya girl, you may be a little on the stinky side, but damn are you comforta... Hey! Don't poke me! I'm sorry hahaha." She gave me a tap on the head with her beak as she seemed to huff at me calling her stinky. After I gave her a quick pat down and apologized she seemed to forgive me.

"What are we going to do if this portal thing just spits us right back out where Jack and them were? I mean I am worried about Alex and Kelly but.... Ah it just makes me sound selfish.... But I'm worried about what I could even be able to do in that situation?" I just started rambling about what could happen and before I knew it 30 minutes had gone and passed.

"Ugh, all those thoughts aren't going to help us Bubba.... I should really rename you, Bubba doesn't sound like much of a girls name does it? Would you like a new name?"

"Kweh!" She squawked happily as she jumped up and seemed to prance a little around me. "Hahaha, alright, alright. Hmmmmmmm what do you call a giant bird that can kick your head off your shoulders with ease but also a girl? Oh I know! How about Rhonda? That's the name of a female fighter back before earth turned to shit and I enjoyed watching her on tv back then."

"Kweh?" She turned her head to the side in confusion but after a few moments of mulling it over she nodded her head and a wave of happiness flooded our connection.

"Alright, Rhonda it is! Now that that is settled, let's go see how the crop turned out." I walked over and saw as the Feather had lost a lot of color and seemed to be wilting but when I looked at the ground around it I saw something bulging up from underneath. With some light brushing and a solid tug I pulled it out and underneath was..... More feathers? I mean from each end of a 'root' was an upside down brown feather, but not just the kind that I had planted. But other types like some longer tail feathers and some that looked like pieces of fluff, and even a few that looked just like straight spines and nothing else. Taking a look at the way they were grown reminded me of how potatoes grew..... So these were technically Tuber feathers? Ugh this is going to give me even more headaches.

But after snapping one of the tail feathers off and held it up to the ones on Rhonda, they matched damn near perfectly! Except the small part at the end where the connection to the root was. But that was where the feather would be attached to Rhonda so besides that it looked just the same. I pulled up my system to see if it had any information and I smiled when it showed that it did.

[Kweh Feather(Tail)]

[Plantability: Yes]

[Potential Grown Items: Kweh feather-90%, Kweh Egg-.05%, Kweh stat increase(Con,Dex,Str)-9.95%]

Ah, so nothing changed except just what type of feather it was, That's not bad, not what I was expecting but still not bad. And from that one feather I got 3 Tail feathers and a couple down feathers and the barbs so I wasn't complaining much. Hahaha, what if one of the feathers was glowing red wouldn't that be hilarious? Anyways, I took the feathers and with holes dug but Rhonda I planted them again. Each of the Tail feathers said harvesting was available after 30 minutes aswell as on of the downs but one of them showed that it could only be harvested after an hour? Was this like a double harvest kind of deal? Like I got 10 feathers instead of the 5? Meh, only way to find out is to stick it out in here for a bit longer than I expected and find out. What's just an extra 30 minutes?

Quick answer? Boring, That's what an extra 30 minutes is. I got only feathers from the other 4 that I planted and ended with more tail feathers and downs and some more of the barb looking ones, I didn't know what to do with the barbs since it looked more like something to be launched out of a crossbow than an actual feather but after taking a look more closely at Rhonda, I found similar ones that were sticking out around her feet and legs, only they were pointed downwards so they didn't show and unless you got a face full of her foot you wouldn't even notice them... So these things are like thorns? Just something extra for offense? Welp why wait and guess when I've got the handy dandy Note... I mean system! SYSTEM-SAN GO!!!

[Kweh Feather(Bristle)]

[Plantability: Yes]

[Potential Grown Items: Kweh Bristle-100%]

Oh, so these only made more Bristles? Not barbs? Well whatever, whatever they are called, it looks like they maybe have only one usage so I'll just plant a couple and then pocket the rest. If need be I could always hold a few inbetween my knuckles and punch someone. They feel pretty durable for that atleast.

After the hour was up I noticed that underneath the feather, it looked different than what I thought, instead of double the amount of feathers, it looked more like.... A core? A dull brown marble like object that once in my hand seemed to glow a little before crumbling to dust. But as it crumbled I felt the dust settle and then be absorbed into my skin followed by a small burst of energy spreading before settling down in the area where my heart is.

[Users Con has been increased by 2]

Huh? my Con increased? but how? I looked down at my hand as the realization that the thing crumbled and was absorbed was the thing that increased it. That was why it took an hour to grow! It was growing a stat increase, I saw the percentage chance it could grow but to actually see it appear was crazy!

I went ahead and planted some more of the feathers since besides the bristles, they would all give me more feathers and maybe some more cores if I'm lucky. I was still kinda skeptical about getting an egg but who knows. After I finished planting the feathers I realized something.... I wasn't watering them, was this soil so great that it didn't need water or was this just something special to the feathers?

Meh I'll figure it out and once I'm back out I'll go ahead and pick up something that can produce water... I heard about items that could produce some water, but those are a bit more on the uncommon to rare side of drops and I don't even know what could drop them. I just shrugged that problem away and mentally prepared as I held up the cube forward and after way shorter startup compared to the first time, The same purple mist doorway appeared and me and Rhonda jumped through with my eyes closed ofcourse.

I felt the solid ground underneath me but what immediately made me more tense was the familiar scent of Alexs farm. Opening up my eyes wide I saw as I landed back too where I left but instead of Jack, Claire and Hannah..... I saw Kelly, over a lifeless Alex with blood covering them both.

"Kelly.... I-I'm sorry." I muttered as I walked up to her and I was worried that she was going to hate me. But within seconds she was up and grabbed me into a bear hug as she sniffled and I felt tears soak my shoulder.

It took a few minutes of her crying before she stepped back and wiped her eyes. "Honey, we knew what was going to happen. Alex knew something was going on the moment Jack showed up."

"Jack? But he was sent by the HQ right? Why was that suspicious? Why didn't you let me know, instead of letting me get closer to them?"

"Jimmy.... We wanted too, but haven't you noticed that everytime me and Alex tried to get you alone even if it was for a single second. Either Hannah or Claire would come up with some excuse to come with you? We couldn't tell you anything that would be thought of as insulting to HQ."

"But, But why? Why were they following me like that? It makes no sense, plus I'm just a lowly D rank that's it."

"Exactly Your a D rank. But were you always a D rank?"

That's when it hit me what she was insinuating. I raised my eyebrows as I understood and she nodded. "That's right, you raised a Rank from surviving something that nobody I know of had done before. The amount of energy that was forced through you should have ripped you apart to a fine paste, but here you stand, alive and even stronger. HQ had probably kept an eye on you from the moment you woke up till now. Alex and Hector knew something was different about you and made plans for when the time came.... But nobody could've anticipated that you would've gained a Relic! That put you on a list that very few people stay alive on, and for an extended period of time at that.

"Thankfully the HQ only has power on this side of the portal where as the government is still in power on Earth, they can't just follow you over without causing a huge incident. I already called Hector and Jasmine. They should be here within the next day to come pick you up."

I looked at her for a moment as what she said finally settled and my brain was able to catch up. I looked over to Alex as he laid there with a smile on his face even though I could see multiple slashes across his body and the tatters that his clothes were in.

"So.... So I'm the reason that Alex died?"