004 Status

Nico waited until the 29th day to harvest the radish. Since the radish wasn't properly sowed, he was concerned that if it wasn't mature enough for the system. Nico pulled the ones with darker green leaves first. After pulling 85% of the radishes he had initially grown, the system congratulated him.

Congratulation, Plant and Harvest 5 Bushels of Vegetables Task Complete.

Select Reward:

1. Lifeless Water

2. The Mineral

3. The Sun

60 seconds until random selection.

Judging from the reward names, they seemed more useful this time around, but it also made it difficult to decide. He was leaning toward the third option due to the importance of it. However, Lifeless Water seems more useful to him now. Although there was a lake by the village, water and irrigation were still lacking in the area. Drought was always a constant threat to farmers. If this was a true farming system, the sun and earth would be available everywhere, but water was scarce.

Nico selected the first option.

Receive Lifeless Water.

A clear 1 oz bottle with a dropper appeared in front of him. It looked nothing out of the ordinary and there was nothing in the bottle. Like the bracelet, there was no description of the item.

Congratulations, Tutorial Tasks Completed.

A new icon appeared on the lower screen. It was a simple Status box.

Status:

Manaroot: None

Mananode: None

Manaspirit: Midnight Koi 5

Strength: 16

FP: 3/3

Defense: 11

Speed: 12

Magic: 5

MP: 10/10

Resistance: 13

Casting: 7

Nico had no frame of reference for any of these numbers.

There were also three new tasks that appeared on his task box.

Tasks:

*new* Catch 5 Manafish. 0/5. Reward: Roulette Coupon.

*new* Plant and harvest 5 Bushels of Manaherb. 0/5. Reward: Roulette Coupon.

*new* Tame 1 Manabeast. 0/1. Reward: System Reward.

There was no time limit, so he didn't have to rush to finish any of the tasks. His main concern at the moment was building a house and creating a place to store materials.

The following week, Nico headed back to see Mister Kenley.

"Congratulation Nico, here is the lease from the empire," said Mister Kenley.

Nico skimmed through the lease with a seal stamped by the Kelseran Empire. After completing the remaining paperwork, he thanked Mister Kenley and ran back home to finish his house.

While waiting for the lease, Nico had been making adobe blocks according to Chamber's book. The foundation and layout of the house was set. The back side of the house was against the cliff to allow for natural insulation. The front of the house naturally faced the river. Once the exterior walls and two dividing walls were built, he added two chimneys on the south and north wall. He capped off the building with lumber and slate roofing materials.

After weeks of labor, Nico finally had a roof over his head and a place to sleep. The building looked unfinished, but it was stable and roomy on the inside. The main living space had a large fireplace and it was where he intended to sleep. The middle room was the storage room and the third room was the kitchen, which had its own fire hearth and doorway to the outside.

The farm area was plowed in an orderly fashion. There were various plants and sign posts on each row, mainly ginger, sage, lavender, pennywort, chamomile, and garlic. There were also many different plants he had uprooted from Lindan Peak and replanted in his field.

Kanna had let him copy a basic herbal book from the Pinaton family, so he was familiar with most of the basic herbs around the region. By process of elimination, he collected plants that had high potential to be manaherb. He wasn't a hundred percent sure, but it was worth a try.

With the bracelet in hand, he wasn't afraid to enter the Lindan Peak and explore the area, but he could never explore deeper into the peak before he had to return home. Without the bracelet to protect the farm, there were chances of manabeasts destroying the farm.

It took Nico awhile to figure out how to use the lifeless water. At sunrise, a clear liquid filled the little vial, only to disappear 10 minutes later. Nico fed a drop of lifeless water on the regular herbs. Although it wasn't immediate at first, it had sped up the maturation time.

Using the lifeless water and a scale to measure, the ointment improved to grade D. Nico supplied the jars regularly to the traveling merchants for 2 silvers.

Nico caught a simple rabbit and tested the lifeless water on it. It knocked the rabbit out for a day, but there didn't seem to be any side effects, so far.

Nico dripped the lifeless water on the 6 species of manaherbs he had gathered from Lindan Peak. Although the lifeless water could speed the rate of maturity, it was difficult to tell when it matures. There were no books written about the manaherbs, and Nico could only rely on common sense. There were four flowering species, and Nico would harvest the herbs as soon as it was in full bloom. He kept a few for seeds. The two other species were non-flowering type, and Nico harvested them when they were dark green.

He continued the experiment until the task was completed. Using the roulette, he acquired the Accessory Enhancement Inscription recipe.

As soon as he opened the recipe, he realized that the inscription wasn't simple. The recipe had pages and pages of texts and images. As he scrolled down the text box, there doesn't seem to be an end. There were many concepts he did not understand.

Nico visited the Pinaton's shop where Kanna was currently assisting a customer. There were four younger clerks in the shop. One named Juo Pinaton was around 15-16 years old and sitting down in another corner. The other young clerks were busy cleaning or assisting customers.

Nico sat down in his usual corner location and continued copying a book called Amburgh's Herbal Guide, written by a famed apothecarist Amburgh from Launtel City. All the clerks were familiar with Nico, so they didn't disturb him.

Nico transcribed the book, and he was almost done. He didn't need to copy the book, but it helped him to read and memorize the content. His copying skill was also improving. He wasn't an artist, but he could replicate the drawing of the herbs and plants. Compared to the beginning pages, the last few pages closely resembled the original.

"Little Nico sure is hard-working," praised Kanna. "You can learn a thing of two from the boy."

Kanna was in charge of the training Juo, who was known as the laziest of the Pinaton children.

"Blah, what's the point?" asked Juo. "I could hire people to manage the shop, why would I need to learn about any of these herbs?"

"You're talking as though you will inherit the shop," said Kanna. "Just remember, you have 4 other siblings and many cousins that are more than capable to taking over this shop."

"Grandpa has plenty of shops, it's not likely for him to leave me with nothing," responded Juo. "Besides, I would rather focus on cultivating."

"If you're as capable as your sister, you wouldn't be stuck here with me," said Kanna. "Not only does she know basic apothecary, she's accepted into the Windel Academy. And you can't even tell a mint from a lavender."

"Don't compare me with that freak!" Juo noticed Nico closing the book. "Hey Nico, if you have a choice between being the strongest cultivator versus the smartest scholar, what would you choose?"

"Why are you asking me?" Nico deflected. "I don't even know what a cultivator does."

"Simple, a cultivator is someone who fights manabeasts."

"Isn't that dangerous? Why would you want to do that?"

"Pah, unbelievable!" cried Juo dramatically. "Manabeasts have manacores! Manacores enhance the spiritual roots."

"So it helps a person get stronger?"

"Of course!"

"You're likely to get eaten before than happens," interjected Kanna.

Another customer walked in, and Kanna forced Juo to assist. Nico just happened to know the customer. It was Sasha coming in to request refill prescriptions for her husband. Chamber suffered from fatigue and constant back pain. The medicine prescribed to her from the apothecary was a form of pain killer.

Juo scanned through the prescription and grabbed all the required herbs. Although Kanna scolded him constantly for his lack of herbal knowledge, he was actually quite capable of finding the herbs. It also helped that the cabinets were labeled. Juo measured the recommended amount and wrapped everything neatly in a bag. Afterward, Juo returned to his corner. Kanna decided to leave Juo alone for the day since he did well with Sasha's prescription.

"Hey Juo, do you know what a manalink is?" asked Nico.

"A manalink? Never heard of it," he responded.

Nico had asked everyone from Rooster to Lorne about the manalink, but no one knew what it was. It was one of the terms used in the Accessory Enhancement Inscription recipe, but he wasn't sure of the correct Kerlseran translation. The recipe provided no explanation of how the manalink worked.

In the afternoon, Nico returned to his farm and created more jars of ointment.

Congratulation, First-Aid Ointment Grade C Created.

Unlock Healing Balm variation.

Nico was surprised a recipe could have variation. Unfortunately, the healing balm required several herbs he had never seen before. The Blue Gerabells resembled one of the manaherbs he had collected, but the other two manaherbs were different.

Once the usual chores were completed, Nico spent the afternoon fishing. Although netting and fish traps were easier, he wasn't able to catch any manafish. Rooster gave him an old fishing pole, so he spent his leisurely hours fishing and reading the inscription recipe.

After running out of bait, Nico thought about using the manaherb. If he wanted to catch manafish, shouldn't he bait it with mana?

He waited for a long time, but something caught onto the bait. It it yanked the pole away. Nico launched forward to catch the pole before it was completely taken away from him. This fish wasn't easy!

After building his house, Nico grew stronger and toned. He yanked back, hoping that the fishing line wouldn't snap. When he had a good grasp of its strength, he guided the fish back closer to shore. With a net in his other hand, he scooped up the fish.

Nico carefully examined the manafish still moving around in the net. The carp wasn't bigger than a catfish, but its scales were shinier and healthier. Nico was considering eating it for dinner. However, he noticed the usual beggar appearing from the north. Ollie was the wolf that regularly visited the farm to collect a free meal. There were other manabeasts, but they were afraid of Ollie, and avoided the farm entirely.

Thinking about the task, Nico decided to give the fish to Ollie. Ollie clamped the fish and stormed away.

"Darn, I thought I would be able to tame it after feeding it for so long," thought Nico.

Nico caught another manafish the following afternoon. This time, he was going to keep the manafish himself.

He gutted the interior of the fish, and found a small pea sized jewel that people called the manacore. From what he had learned, most manabeasts flesh required special preparation to ingest, but manacore could be ingested directly. Nico examined the manacore briefly and then swallowed it.

Status:

Manaroot: None

Mananode: None

Manaspirit: Midnight Koi 5>6

Strength: 16

FP: 3/3

Defense: 11

Speed: 12

Magic: 5>6

MP: 10/12

Resistance: 13

Casting: 7

He felt the Midnight Koi slowly ingesting the manacore. The manaspirit and magic stat went up to 6. His MP also went up.

The next day, Nico caught two manafish. He kept them for an experiment. He wanted to see what would happen if he added Lifeless Water to the manacore. To his amazement, the mana core actually expanded a bit. He was hesitant to eat it, but since he had been eating some of the manaherbs and were fine, he was sure eating the lifeless water infused manacore should be fine as well.

After two days of fishing, Nico completed the manafish task. From the roulette, he received the Flame Talisman recipe. The talisman recipe was complex, but it was simpler than the inscription recipe.

Tasks:

*new* Catch 25 Manafish. 0/25. Reward: Roulette Coupon.

Plant and harvest 25 Bushels of Manaherb. 4/25. Reward: Roulette Coupon.

Tame 1 Manabeast. 0/1. Reward: System Reward.

Talisman required special ink and manabeasts' innards were one of the ingredients. Nico used the manafish's innards as a substitute.

Nico tried to copy down the pattern of the talisman on paper, but no matter how closely it matched the pattern, he was never successful.

"Connect to the Flame Persona using the manalink. With the manalink, embed 3 Ro, 2 Pa, 1 Zu and 1 Li within its Shadow. After the characters are embedded within the Persona, seal it with the Min character."

Nico continued to think about the step, but he didn't know how to form a manalink with the "Persona" and "Shadow." He didn't know what they were. Nico leaned on his desk in deep thought.

The Midnight Koi swam happily inside of him. After ingesting more mana core, Nico could see the Midnight Koi clearer than before. It was hard to describe where it was in his body, but he felt that it was hidden inside his soul.

Nico inspected around the space for the first time. It wasn't clear before, but the inside of his soul was like an endless black ocean. Since the Koi was completely black, it blended effortlessly with the darkness of the ocean. Only its vibration indicated where it was. But no matter where it traveled, it was always inside of him and Nico could always sense its presence.

Feeling a bit self conscious from being stared at, the Koi jumped out of him and onto the piece of scrap talisman paper.

"Ah!" Nico was shocked for a moment, but quickly calmed down.

He instinctively opened the talisman recipe to the five symbols.

"Can you put these characters on the talisman?" asked Nico.

The Midnight Koi stared at him like an idiot. Nico slowly instructed the Koi to move around like the characters in the recipe. It took them all night. As the Koi danced around, its vibration created lines that formed the characters.

Congratulation, Red Flame Talisman Grade F created.

"Woo hoo! We did it!" Nico was excited by his first magical creation.

Nico wanted to use it immediately. He jumped out of the house and aimed the talisman toward the lake. According to the recipe, he could activate the talisman either by removing the Min character with the manalink, or by infusing the flame character with manaforce.

He had no idea what a manaforce was, so he summoned the Midnight Koi. The Midnight Koi slithered its body and waved its tail at the talisman. The wave erased the min character. Once the character was removed, the ink disappeared from the paper and a fist sized fireball shot out into the lake. The fireball didn't shoot out too far out before it dissipated. It was still a really amazing sight to see for Nico.

Nico sat on the ground and stared at the sky. For the first time, he thought about how amazing this world was. Initially, he wanted to figure out a way to head back to Earth, but living like this wasn't too bad. He had befriended a lot of the villagers and even built a house for himself.

The koi stared into the starry night, wondering what interesting sight his host was looking at.

"Hello Minko, my name is Nico," Nico introduced himself for the first time to the koi while naming it.

Minko wrinkled about, it didn't seem to mind the name.

Nico closed his eyes and breathed in the cool air. Something unusual happened. It was like an out of body experience, he could see the lake and little glowing particles floating in the air. The glowing particles revealed distinct shapes and lines like complex symbols as it floated closer to him. The symbols passed through him and then floated away. He moved around in a slithering motion, swimming from one place to the next. He felt restricted, but free at the same time.

Nico realized that he was viewing the world from Minko's perspective.