Palpitations
"Could this actually work...?" Aileen, a large, somewhat pear-shaped Black Dragon with a slightly paler underbelly, webbed wings separated by three digits, and a notably thick tail periodically covered in spines, asked herself while staring at Vahn's Panacea. Her pale blue eyes, set in a head flanked by curved, lightning-bolt-shaped horns that flowed away from her slightly tapered snout, exuded intelligence, but that made her even more cautious of the mysterious, unidentifiable liquid.
"He and Grayfia have always been really nice to me..." Aileen reminded herself, recalling the many chats and extraordinary dishes she had shared with Vahn and Grayfia. They answered virtually every question she asked them, provided her with all kinds of treats, and the latter even frequently gave her advice. Aileen wanted to believe she could trust them, but if she consumed the Panacea and it turned out to be poison...that was it. If she didn't die, the odds of her recovering decreased considerably...
With such thoughts plaguing her mind, Aileen peeked into her crystal ball to find Vahn and Grayfia sharing a tame but protracted kiss. Aileen's face immediately warmed at the sight, her cheeks gaining a slightly dark rather than pink hue, but as she frequently witnessed the couple doing far more intimate things, she didn't panic or get flustered like she used to. Instead, she spent several minutes watching them, her large and curious blue eyes glued to the crystal ball before eventually shifting to the Panacea.
"I want to believe in them..." muttered Aileen, swallowing audibly before using two of her four flexible claws, one of which functioned as a thumb, to very carefully remove the Panacea's crystal stopper. With her superior senses, she immediately became aware of a sweet smell emanating from the bottle, compelling her to draw her nose closer and sniff it.
'It doesn't smell bad...let's hope the taste is just as pleasant...' thought Aileen, feeling anxious but carefully biting the thin neck of the bottle with her somewhat hooked snout and tilting her head back. A faint taste of iron filled her mouth, but it was overshadowed by a pleasant sweetness and a warm sensation permeating her gums, throat, and chest as it flowed down her esophagus.
ba-dump
"Huh...?"
Feeling a prominent pulsation in her chest, Aileen placed her left hand over where her heart was located. It had been decades since she last felt her heart palpitate, and never on its own.
"I definitely didn't imagine it..." muttered Aileen, her expression serious as she focused on the warmth spreading throughout her body.
ba-dump
Feeling her heart produce another powerful pulse, confirming she hadn't been imagining things, Ailen's pale blue eyes shimmered with intrigue and excitement.
ba-dump...ba-dump...ba-dump....ba-dump...
"Hmmm...?"
As the warmth of the Panacea gradually permeated her body to the tips of her wings and tail, filling her with a pleasant tingling sensation, Aileen was surprised to feel herself becoming drowsy. She shouldn't feel tired at all with how excited she was, but when she rubbed her eye and shook her head to clear it away, she fell over, unable to maintain her balance.
'Is this an effect of the Panacea...?' Aileen asked herself, doing her best not to panic or give in to suspicion. The fact the medicine had gotten her Dragon Heart to beat suggested Vahn that had been telling the truth, so as the warmth suffusing her body spread to her brain, enveloping it like a warm blanket, she closed her eyes and resolved herself to sleep through whatever was happening to her...
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"Haaa...is it too much to ask for normal evolved plants...?" sighed Vahn, shaking his head as he harvested a dark purple cucumber that resembled something a girl might purchase from an adult toy store.
[You have harvested a Ribbed Cucumber imbued with the energy of the Blue Moon.]
[Your Occupational Proficiency increases significantly.]
[Your proficiency with the Harvest Skill increases significantly.]
[Due to the effects of your Harvest Sill, the Grade of the picked fruit increases slightly.]
[You have gained 70 Experience Points.]
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[Ribbed Cucumber of the Blue Moon]
Description: A cucumber grown within the Black Tower, making it delicious and full of nutrients. Its taste and effects have been greatly enhanced after absorbing the energy of the Blue Moon.
Effect(s): Permanently increased Health by 0.05 upon consumption. When consumed by males, it increases virility and sexual stamina by a moderate amount for four hours. When consumed by females, it improves sensitivity for a similar period.
Restriction(s): Health gains capped at 500.
Producer: Tower Farmer Vahn Mason
Expiration: 45 Days
Grade: E+
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Reading the Ribbed Cucumber's description, Vahn couldn't help shaking his head in mild exasperation. Fortunately, there were only three among all the cucumbers they had grown, approximating 750 cucumbers based on each of their fifty stalks yielding an average of fifteen.
[You have harvested a well-ripened Hydro Cucumber.]
[Your Occupational Proficiency increases by a marginal amount.]
[Your proficiency with the Harvest Skill increases marginally.]
[You have gained 15 Experience Points.]
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[Hydro Cucumber]
Description: A cucumber grown within the Black Tower, making it delicious and full of nutrients. Due to its increased water content, it can supplement water consumption.
Effect(s): Temporarily increased Health by 0.2 upon consumption and helps to combat dehydration and overheating for one hour. This effect stacks up to ten times.
Restriction(s): Consuming more than ten within an hour can result in the Status Effect: Hyponatremia(Water Intoxication).
Producer: Tower Farmer Vahn Mason
Expiration: 45 Days
Grade: E
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"Oh? These would be amazing in arid environments..." hummed Vahn, regaining a smile as he continued carefully harvesting the cucumbers before moving on to other crops. With a hundred cherry tomato plants, thirty banana pepper plants, and, at Grayfia's request, twenty rhubarb plants, Vahn's Level increased to twenty within the blink of an eye. The cherry tomatoes alone had netted a startling 105,430 Experience, so he couldn't help feeling something was off when he recalled how long it took Sejun to increase his Level in the original story.
Ding!
[A Quest has been generated.]
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[Job Promotion II]
Rank: E
Objective(s): Produce and successfully harvest twenty varieties of fruit or vegetables(11/20).
Reward(s): Level Cap Unlocked, 50 Tower Coins, One Unowned Job Trait.
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"Job Promotion II? What happened to the first one...?" Vahn wondered, his gaze sweeping the crops awaiting harvest. He didn't care too much about min-maxing, as Issei called it, but since Experience at the Level cap didn't flow over once it was removed, the only benefit to completing the harvest was improving his Harvest and Sowing Skills.
"Don't run too quickly...!" shouted Moonguku, drawing Vahn's attention to the bunny couple's burrow as their six children came pouring out, rushing toward but ultimately passing him as they made a beeline toward Grayfia and leaped into her awaiting breasts and arms.
"Those little rascals..." sighed Moonguk, approaching Vahn with a pair of gardening shears resting on his shoulder and his straw hat atop his head.
"Look on the bright side..." hummed Vahn, offering a smile and handing Moonguk a carrot-flavored energy drink as he added, "Once they mature, we'll have six extra sets of hands to tend the farm. I just need to reach an agreement with the Crimson Giant Grizzly Bear who patrols this area, and we should be able to expand to the surface."
"Just make sure to take Grayfia-noonim with you," said Moonguk, taking a sip from his energy drink using a bent straw before adding, "Vahn-ssi isn't weak, but a mature Crimson Giant Grizzly is among the top five strongest monsters in the Tower."
"Thanks for the warning, but I'll be fine," assured Vahn. It was a fact that he was weaker than the Crimson Giant Grizzly that patrolled the area, but since it was an intelligent creature, he was convinced they could reach an agreement. He just needed to give her baby a treat when/if it came to spy on them.
With such thoughts in mind, Vahn bid Moonguk farewell and headed to the surface to check his flowers and fruit-bearing trees. The varieties he had planted were similarly sourced from the Record of Rune Factory, so rather than taking years to grow and bear fruit, they only required a few months based on the information provided by the Magnifying Glass.
"Oh...?"
Spotting a kitten-sized honey bee happily collecting nectar from his flower garden, Vahn approached with a relaxed smile. Unlike a normal honey bee, which had six legs, compound eyes, sharp mandibles, and an elongated proboscis to extract nectar, the one before him had large, doe-like purple eyes, a thorax covered in fluffy white fur, a vaguely feline head and mouth, four flexible fore and hind limbs, and a nearly spherical black-and-yellow bottom with a large purple stinger.
Noticing Vahn's approach, the adorable insect, known colloquially as a Poisonous Honey Bee, began buzzing loudly, producing a menacing aura and a loud "Beeee..." sound from its mouth, translating to "Don't make me sting you..." to the former.
"I don't mean you any harm," stated Vahn, causing the Poisonous Honey Bee's eyes to widen to their limits as he revealed, "I actually want to ask for your help. These flowers I planted are only a small portion of the total amount. There are many more flowering plants in the hole over there, and you would be doing me a tremendous favor by helping pollinate them."
"You planted these...?" asked the honey bee, tapping one of the Pink Cats Vahn had planted with her right forelimb.
"That's right," confirmed Vahn. "And as long as you don't sting any of us, you and your sisters are welcome to come and gather as much nectar as you like."
Seeing Vahn produce a bright yellow daisy from thin air, extending it to her with his right hand, the Poisonous Honey Bee stared at him curiously for several seconds. The flower was a subspecies of Ragwort commonly cultivated by Beekeepers due to its high nectar production, outputting up to 5000µg(micrograms) each day, so after a long, deliberative pause, the cat-like bee couldn't resist the fragrant aroma wafting from it, compelling it to land and give the brightly colored flower a taste test...
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dink dink dink
With nearly a full day passing since Aileen broke contact, Vahn couldn't help smiling when he sensed her presence, preempting her notification window appearing to his left as he ceased his mining to ask, "How is your friend's heart? I trust the medicine was effective?"
[It was too effective...] stated Aileen, quickly adding [It caused them to lose consciousness, and when they awoke, they were several times larger than before.]
"Is that a bad thing...?" asked Vahn, contending, "The important thing is that their heart is functioning properly."
[You're not wrong...] conceded Aileen, followed by a protracted pause before she revealed [I'm sorry I lied to you before. The truth is that the person who needed the medicine was me. I am forever in your debt for helping to heal my heart.]
"Eh, don't worry about it," said Vahn, shaking his head and smiling as he contended, "You've more than paid your dues by having to endure such a condition. If you want to repay me, focus on getting healthy and being the best Administrator you can be."
[...]
Feeling the air tense around him, Vahn shouldered his pickaxe, gazed at the notification window, and adopted his best smile as he remarked, "If your size increased as much as you contend it did, I imagine you're pretty hungry, right? Let's have Grayfia prepare you something special and filling to commemorate the start of your recovery."
[The Tower Administrator is grateful for what you've done but sulking due to your indifference.]
"Indifference...?" questioned Vahn, tilting his head confusedly.
[The Tower Administrator points out that you just saved the life of a Great Black Dragon. It isn't a small matter.]
"I didn't mean to make it seem like it was..." responded Vahn, exhaling faintly from his nose as he calmly reasoned, "But you're already doing us a tremendous favor by allowing us to take advantage of this land and its properties. If you insist on rewarding me, I wouldn't be opposed to a new Occupational Skill or Talent."
[A new Quest is being generated.]
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[Aileen Pritani's Gratitude]
Rank: F
Objective(s): Tribute one Magical Cherry Tomato to the Tower Administrator.
Reward(s): All available Occupational Skills for your Class.
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"Holy...that's one heck of a reward..." remarked Vahn, his eyes nearly as round as saucers before he adopted a smile, produced an entire basket of cherry tomatoes from his Inventory, and asked, "I take it you're the Aileen Pritani it's referring to? If so, it's nice to be acquainted officially."
Accepting the basket of cherry tomatoes, Aileen offered a standoffish [I'm going back to sleep...] before promptly terminating the connection, leaving Vahn to collect his rewards, specifically the [Seed Shop], [Seed Harvesting], [Farmer's Touch], and [Soil Enrichment] Occupational Skills...
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