Chapter 006

2023 April

Control Center

There are large crates and small crates of different kinds of loot sorted around the Control Center.

Canis looked at the crates of crystals, perfectly stored on the side of the room.

He picked up a yellow crystal in one of those crates.

"Who would have thought that I would use it this way?"

He picks up one of the crates puts it on the jack lifter, and drives it towards the Cradle.

The Cradle looks simple, it is made of a big leaf shaped like a cradle, and it looks like a piece of native furniture.

He dumped all the crystals in front of the Cradle.

"Sometimes I imagine how many levels I will gain if I consume all of them."

He notices that there are red, orange, and yellow crystals in the dumped area.

The cradle with the 'seed' sitting around it is now surrounded by a mountain of low-grade crystals.

"Low-Rank crystals are easy to steal compared to Green Crystal which attracts a lot of attention, I think I have a few around here but I didn't take a lot of them."

Canis glances at the mountain of crystal surrounding 'seed' and glances at the number of crates emptied out to make it happen.

"I bet an average Champion will easily reach level 10 with this amount of crystal."

A wishful thinking but it put a smile on his face.

Ting!

After several cycles of transferring of crystal into the cradle, a transparent panel appeared in front of him.

"Proceed in hatching?"

'Yes'

He didn't think about it any further.

Then he glanced at the Control Center and noticed that a couple of crates were used for this 'hatching'.

(I use at least 20 crates of low-rank crystal for this.)

"Hmmm… now that I think about it… isn't this an impossible task?"

Crack!

A loud cracking sound echoed in the garden.

Then a sprout came out from the 'seed', and it began to grow.

The seed on the center became its core and branches started popping up on the side.

A trunk appeared, then the branches, then some of it twisted and turned.

And after some time a 1-meter tall humanoid monster is in front of Canis.

It has an average stature, and a bark covering its body looks like armor.

It has huge hands similar to a gorilla and huge feet that look like a root flare.

Canis can see golden eyes shining between the gap that looks like a helmet. 

The helmet, shoulder, and back have protruding branches with red leaves, this part looks like a small tree.

There are 3 colored flowers blooming on the branches.

Several mushrooms also pop up from his lower body part, from his hips down to his legs.

Canis was amazed at the immediate transformation.

If a human looks at this creature they might even think that a little kid was wearing a cosplay of a knight and plant theme combined.

The creature looks up, looks at Canis's face, and moves his head sideways.

The branches and the leaves move with it and rustle at the same time.

At the same time, this knowledge suddenly appeared in his mind.

[A generous amount of crystal is used to hatch the child.]

[Born ln A Day, achievement.]

[Overall initial attributes and abilities of the child will increase by 20%.]

[You have successfully birthed a Grandiflorians Successor.]

[You gain.]

[Unique Ability: Grandiflorians Absorption]

Dum! Dum!

His heartbeat increases.

Dum! Dum!

He looked at his hands.

Top!

A drop of water fell down on his hands.

"Fuuu…"

He exhaled deeply because he could feel that his heart was about to burst.

His vision began to blur.

"Fuuu…"

He is having a hard time breathing.

Then he wiped the tears falling down on his face.

"Ahhhh…"

Because it's getting harder to breathe he exhales the air with a different sound.

Dum! Dum!

"Ahhhh…"

He looked up at the blue sky.

"It's… it's been… 12 years… 12 long… very long years."

…

…

He calms himself down and looks at the monster in front of him.

No.

(This is not just a monster, he is my child.)

That's what he truly felt when he first saw him.

He looked at him once more.

His feet are similar to a root flare, the end portion of the trunk that is connected to the roots.

His body has layers and layers of bark that might be comparable to armor.

A gigantic human-looking hand that can easily grab an average-sized leg.

The small tree on its back with red leaves on it.

Finally, he noticed golden eyes he saw earlier, that looked honest and calm.

(As a father I should give him a name.)

Canis noticed the leaves' design, they look like stars and have that vibrant red color.

That red vibrant color reminded him of a very famous tree.

"From now on, I will name you Maple."

Rustle! Rustle!

Maple tree shook in excitement.

"Thank you, Father," 

Maple speaks with a low, muffled voice. 

The tone of his speech is not compatible with the side of his body.

[The birth of the first successor.]

[First Born, achievement.]

[All attributes of the first successor will always be doubled.]

Canis looked at Maple and grinned.

He stop for a bit and think of the scenario that happened so far.

"So basically, my ability is similar to a summoner… hmmm… maybe more like a tamer because, from what I've seen, there is a Mongolian Champion that tames a Yellow Rank monster… but in my case, this is not just any monster but my own flesh and blood…"

Canis looks at Maple once again and focuses his sight on the waving red leaves.

…

…

"Yeah, my flesh and blood…"

Now this event is slowly sinking in on him.

"My… my… kid."

That is the creature in front of him.

Not just a monster that you trained.

Or a creature that you summoned.

The one in front of him is his kid.

His very own CHILD.

Gulp.

Dum! Dum!

"Right… right… Maple is my kid, he is not just a monster."

Dum! Dum!

"Why didn't I feel this way towards the kids that I take care of."

Dum! Dum!

Canis shook his head, he still could not believe that this monster was his kid.

"I don't want him to get hurt…"

Something in him began to stir, the protective instinct of a father.

"I don't want him to fight those other monsters… but…"

He glanced at the white door that could be seen from his angle.

The only entrance and exit to this whole area.

"Soon my skill will end and we also need to deal with our situation. Fighting those monsters is inevitable."

He remembered how the tree monster played him.

The pain of being hit by those roots.

The feeling of being squashed.

Then he thought that he didn't want his 'kid' to be subjected to that kind of pain.

Canis shook his head.

"No… I don't want Maple to experience that."

He looked at Maple.

Maple is looking around the 'garden' he gently touches the leaves and then the trunk of the nearest tree.

The cool fresh air gently caresses their faces.

Canis looks at his hands and closes it.

"But what can I do? I only have one ability aside from My Home and the fact that I am twig that those monsters could snap in half with ease is also a problem."

…

…

"What… What should I do then? I don't want to die and I cannot let you get hurt…"

Maple looks intimidating just by standing there.

"But… that sturdy-looking body is more reliable than mine."

Canis still understood that this creature, his kid, was a monster, a child of the creature who easily played him.

Canis shook his head.

"There is nothing we could do for now… we have to move forward."

Canis is not living his life under the illusion of absolutely protecting his son, his various experiences in life taught him that. 

The orphanage already taught him that.

…

"The only thing I could do is help you grow."

Canis's face twists, the inability to protect those precious to him still haunts him to this day.

And right now, the same scenario is in front of him.

He looks at Maple who is still playing around.

"You need to grow up fast for both our sake."

…

Canis turns around and moves towards the pile of crystals resting on the crates.

"First, let's use them all up."

*****

Canis held a green crystal in his hand.

(This is one of those hard-to-get crystals.)

Then he closes his eyes and 'forces' the crystal to be absorbed.

Normally, the crystal will slowly disappear and will melt away.

Like a solid sugar slowly being blown by the wind bit by bit.

Yet.

This didn't happen.

The green crystal is still in his hand.

"Sighed… nothing… I still didn't level up and I still cannot absorb new crystals."

Canis then glanced at Maple.

Maple scooped up a good amount of crystals in his hand and began absorbing it.

They slowly disappear leaving the light of the crystal in the air.

"This is my first time seeing this."

"Father, is this alright?"

A heavy voice speaks up.

Maple looks at Canis.

"Yes, Just continue what you're doing and absorb as much as you can."

Just like a father who is generous to his son, he doesn't want to limit Maple's growth.

(I was wondering, Maple right now has the movement and speech patterns of a fully functioning child… Is this normal for those Grandiflorians?)

Canis could not understand this kind of behavior or growth and he only accepted that these are different types of creatures.

(I've been living with numerous kids for a long time, I see them grow. I knew that those behaviors came from experience or their previous background. The way they talk, they communicate, the way they socialize, everything is based on their own experience.)

Maple scoops up another group of crystals.

(But what about Maple… is it because he's a monster? Where do his characteristics come from?)

Canis cannot comprehend how Maple had these kinds of characteristics when he was just born.

Some kids are hot-headed, some kids are calm and some are just plain devilish in nature.

But those attitudes came from somewhere.

Maple right now is a very calm child, someone who follows adults very diligently.

(This might come from his 'mother' side… maybe that sacrifice has some effect?)

Canis shook his head.

(No… according to the knowledge that I got, the 'sacrifice' will give Maple the knowledge his parents have, though this does not include memories like names and experiences, but knowledge formed into events also was included in the 'ability' category.)

(Born In A Day might also help out… however, this achievement included improving his literal ability by a bit.)

He looks around and notices the white door on the other side of the room.

"I have a larger problem than the mystery of his characteristics."

He picked up his phone from his pants.

The screen is broken.

And he cannot even operate the touchscreen function.

The only function of the phone is the clock, and due to the damaged screen, Canis can only see the hourly number, and the minute number doesn't appear anymore.

"Last night, I went in at around 10 pm coming from the bar… Now…"

Canis looks at the phone.

"It's already 7 pm, I only have 3 hours more to stay here… and I have to wait for another 12 hours for the cooldown."

Canis glances at a certain place in the Control Center.

There are several weapons and armor on the side of the wall.

Canis moves towards it, when he arrives near the equipment rack he picks up a sword.

"Tsk… this equipment is only good for the Red Pillar… this place is much more dangerous than the Red Pillar, I bet this place might be Yellow or Higher…"

Canis picks up leather armor.

"This armor is not enough for this type of pillar…"

Canis touches the side of his ribcage.

"Those kinds of attacks will just pass through, wearing armor will not change anything. The powerful attack will just negate my armor's defensive ability."

…

"But it's better than nothing…"

Canis looks at Maple who continues to absorb the crystal.

"For now… even if I don't like it I have to rely on Maple…"

Canis began thinking of a plan.

"In our current situation, there is a high probability that I got involved in a Conquering Pillar by a guild. To survive, we need to spend all the 'Attempt Counter' by killing all Raiders every time they challenge the Pillar. However, I don't know the number of counters of this Pillar left, and I didn't know the situation for at least 20 hours now. So…"

He glanced at the clock once more.

"The next best strategy is to buy time… And wait for the 'Time Limit' to deplete. This will break the pillar and let us escape… but that will be escape from their world."

…

Bam!

"Alright! My plan is basically to stay out of the enemy's sight until the Time Limit Counter is depleted. 'My Home' has a 24-hour maximum operation which means I could hide for 24 hours, and I only need to hide for 12 hours while the skill is on cooldown. There's no need to engage in fights."

Canis began to pick up the armor, a leather one, and a simple sword.

Then he looked at Maple who was still absorbing some crystals. 

"We can do this!"

Canis eyes burn with determination.