Chapter 64: Chapter. 59: A Blooming Prophecy

It was both overwhelming and underwhelming at the same time. Its name was short, and its description was non-existent, but it’s rank⁠— was I seeing things right? Didn’t that represent Epic in terms of items? A, C ranked Prophecy? For me? Wasn’t this too generous? Granted, it’s not as if I understood what was going through Level 500 A ranked Monarch of Illusion’s mind, but it surely had to be costly to get one. Best I had seen was a D ranked Prophecy that well⁠—didn’t allow you to harm people? And there was the fire one too that I did not understand what it did.

“Don’t get too excited.” She said, shaking her head. “Even with my help it is unlikely you will receive a C rank Prophecy, and if you were to receive it at C rank, well⁠—let’s just say a single ability usage would be, er.” She paused, scratching her cheek. “Probably drain half of your vitality along with your mana? Though don’t get me wrong, if you managed to get the purest form of it, the Scarlet World, then it would save us a lot of trouble.”

“So… I must try my hardest?” I asked, not quite understanding.

“Yes,” she agreed. “You will receive visions, and a few feelings about Dark Plants and along with your affinity you should be able to make sense on how to put them to use.”

I drew a blank. I was supposed to learn a Prophecy just from that? She shrugged.

“Touch it when you’re ready, I’ll be sitting here.” She closed her eyes.

And that was all she said. I looked at the crimson flower, its appearance was bewildering to me, but at the same time it gave me a sense of familiarity. Dark plants, huh… I frowned before extending my hand to touch it, and as soon as my finger grazed the red petal a prompt flashed in my mind.

[Would you like to learn C ranked Prophecy: Scarlet World?]

Yes. I inwardly agreed as everything turned into darkness. There was nothing to see or feel. I felt my anxiety slowly rise as memories of the last time this had happened came back, but slowly⁠—water dropped. And there was a ripple through the ground, a small amount of moonlight shone over me, and I found myself sitting in the same chair in the middle of a puddle. The water reflected the moon and the surrounding black rock. I seemed to be in a ravine⁠—a small clearing within two rocks. Fallen red leaves littered the ground as I sat there, but nothing happened.

It wasn’t a vision? I left my seat only to feel the water beneath my feet. I thought there would be no more trials? I was unarmed and had the same clothes. I walked forward with small water splatters, and the leaves crunched under my weight as I slowly inched through the ravine and clearing. I turned a corner and saw a straight path once more, it remained constant and led me elsewhere.

I walked for what felt like a few minutes, weaving between crevices, inhaling the moist air and feeling the rocks around me. Where was I? I turned to a crevice that was dark, and decided to pass through it. There was a sharp turn, before I saw a clearing⁠—moonlight shone and a tree stood, sprawling as if it's wood had been knitted together with a myriad of patterns, and its branches loomed with nothing but crimson leaves. And beneath the tree sat⁠— an elf? A dark elf?

She was⁠—she had her eyes closed, I recognized her to be slightly smaller than me in terms of height, but her hair was a silvery color and she wore nothing but rags. I approached feeling no danger⁠— this isn’t a trial ⁠— I told myself as I encroached upon her space, a single step on the water and her eyes slowly opened regarding me, they too were a vibrant red.

“A successor?” She asked with a frown before shaking her head. “You’re not ready yet. State; what Prophecy did you take?”

I frowned, but perhaps it was the increased familiarity of her features, or the fact that I had experienced death recently. I decided to tell her.

“C ranked Prophecy, the Scarlet World.”

She nodded. “Yes now it makes sense, that is a Prophecy created by Lumina. No trials as promised. Approach young one.” She regarded me with a small smile, it was oddly calming. “Let Lumina show you things beyond your comprehension. I am Lumina, nice to meet you.”

I gulped. “Are you perchance, a… Dark Elf?”

She shook her head. “A type of elf, a type of dryad, my race no longer exists. Nor do I. Just a distant memory is what I am. Now, come here, time is short,” she ushered calmly.

I stepped forward with skepticism, but the more steps that I took and the more water that I moved it all seemed inoffensive. Soon, I reached the same spot where she was, and she gestured to me to sit next to her.

“I’ll begin with the basics of the Prophecy then,” she said calmly. “Dark plants are the enemies of light nature, they thrive from chaos, live under the darkness, and overall are just filthy⁠—well it’s what I heard. I never cared for them.” I nodded as she shrugged, continuing.

“That said, they are your friend, they are our friend. When other plants forsake us.” She extended her hand, showing me a small white seed. She injected mana and it bloomed into a beautiful white flower, but it visibly withered under my very eyes shortly thereafter.

“But the plants of the dark? They welcome us.” She showed me a different seed, this one was odd, black with small spikes. More mana filled it, and it blossomed into a darkened plant. It was purple and full of life.

“We are everything to them.” She finished, as I nodded feeling increasing familiarity with the environment. It felt similar to the Deep Dark.

“Silver Azalea,” she said briefly, giving me a seed. “Highly poisonous upon consumption. Try it, feed the plant, and it too will be your friend.”

I nodded and pushed mana onto it. It bloomed after taking a surprising amount of mana. It was a flower, its petals shone in a pale silver color that reflected the moonlight, its stems were red and they shimmered like crystals. The flower faced towards the moon that loomed past the trees.

“Well done, now try moving it.” She urged.

“Moving it?” I asked back.

“It has your mana, don’t you feel the familiarity with it? You hold it in your very being, the familiarity with the Dark plants, the ability to understand them and the ability to command them, all you need to do is try,” she explained, finalizing with a whisper. “Feel your mana within the flower, and close your eyes. It’s an extension of you.”

I listened and closed my eyes. My mana was well within me, self-contained and I had stopped supplying the seed. But⁠— I felt a nagging feeling past my hands, it was distantly warm and dormant. I reached for it in my mind, I had no idea what muscle I was flexing, or what I was doing, but eventually⁠— I tugged at the mana blob.

“Well done,” she said with a pleased voice.

I opened my eyes only to see the Silver Azalea facing me. And that’s when a notification entered my mind. For the first time since I was initiated, it had finally moved.

[Affinity Advancement: Dark Plants ⁠— Pri (I) ➟ Duo (II) ⁠— Can now sense and command plants of the dark within limits.]

I briefly stared at the notification, I did not feel any different⁠—no type of power up or something like that. Just the number itself had changed and that was all, there was nothing else waiting for me. It was excitement followed by disappointment. Though, Lumina ⁠— as she called herself ⁠— seemed to be more than pleased with me. She stared at me with her bright red irises and smiled, though any attempts at trying to know her level were met with nothing: nothing inside of this place could be inquired by The System.

She continued speaking after a brief period of silence.

“You’ve done well child,” she said. “Now it is time to move on to other plants. Unfortunately I don’t think there is enough time to show them all to you, or rather teach them. I was never a fan of revelations you see,” she mused, “I’ve always been fond of explaining things, hence this Prophecy is this way. A one to one teaching session rather than non-descript visions that try to teach you somehow.”

“I see…” I had never touched a Prophecy before aside from the introductory visions. And this⁠—well it was a first time for me. “I want to ask, what is a Prophecy?”

She raised her brow. “How did you end up here if you don’t know what one is?” She shook her head. “Forget it, you can think of them as a curated set of skills, all of them branching from a single concept. In this case Crimson World, well⁠—” she chuckled. “It’s a failed Prophecy that attempts to recreate the Ecosystem of a Dark World. But, just because it failed, it does not mean it cannot be improved upon.”

I nodded. “So, the Silver Azalea.”

“It’s a small part of it, yes. Unfortunately I cannot teach you the ins and outs before time runs out, but I can however leave visions regarding those and simply hope⁠— Well I can hope that if she gave you the Prophecy, for her to teach you a bit.”

“So what am I learning now? And who is she?”

“She is she. And, given your grade, we are just doing bare basics.” She shrugged. “Next up is the Nefarious Wisteria.” She showed another seed, this one was shaped differently⁠—almost flat. She poured in her green mana and threw it against a distant wall before continuing to speak. “Thorny, and gritty, laced with small amounts of venom amidst its thorns, corrosive too⁠—well the higher variants. This one will just make someone bleed profusely and maybe kill them eventually.”

As she said that, the seed hit the wall and embedded itself in it, before rapidly blooming into lines of vines that latched and climbed, going into the crevices before beautiful dark-purple flowers bloomed across the wall.

“Of course, you can control it too.” She spoke and pointed with her finger. The vines followed the direction rapidly before they stopped. “That said, it has its limits even if it's an enhanced seed.” She shrugged, as the vines died before my very eyes. “Dark Plants feed on vitality after all, if there is nothing to get, then there is nothing to thrive from. But remember, they are your friend.”

I slowly nodded as I tried to remember the appearance of the Silver Azalea, its seed and effects, as well as the vine⁠—Nefarious Wisteria. I had no idea how effective they were, but I made sure to memorize things.

◇ ◇ ◇

I stared at the now semi-living ecosystem before my eyes, first were the Silver Azaleas filling the place, poisonous to consume. Then were the Nefarious Wisterias⁠—venomous and corrosive, abrasive and hating of life⁠—purple and beautiful. They were growing from within new plants. Small balls of deep blue; Evergrowing Puffs, a type of mushroom. Highly flammable, highly contagious. Spreads for as long as it is fed mana. High vitality, can be used to grow other seeds within it. And finally, there was a distant small mushroom that was akin to a ball. Lyco Puff. If fed mana it would explode into thousands of spores that were highly poisonous upon inhalation, they would also form new Lyco Puffs if the conditions were right. But, I was also told that if they were to bloom with my own mana, they wouldn’t harm me.

“Well, that is enough,” she sighed and gave me a bitter smile. “I spent too much time blabbering. Come here.” She gestured for me to approach, which I did. She extended her hand towards my face and poked my forehead with her index finger⁠—and when she did, a jolt spread through my head with small pain. “That should help in the future. That is all.”

I recovered from my flinch quickly. “That is all the Prophecy?”

“Well, there is more in the visions, but from me, that is all. Good luck, Blair.” She smiled before she vanished⁠—her body disintegrating into crimson petals that fell onto the ground.

I never told her my name? I closed my eyes trying to remember the information about the plants I was taught. Though how to get their seeds seemed to⁠—not be included? Could this even be considered a Prophecy to begin with? I frowned realizing I couldn’t even do anything with the information I was just fed.

I heard a water drop along with a sizzling sound. I opened my eyes once more only to find myself in the exact same clearing, except the dazzling dark forest was missing, instead the walls were corroded away and the water beneath me was muddied. I looked ahead only to see the same tree as before but now withered away, but this time there was also someone underneath. She⁠—she was the same person, Lumina. Except she had a small scar across her cheek, and as she opened her eyes I got a different feeling from her.

“Welcome, Blair,” she said, “Do you remember the plants?”

“The ones you told me about?” I asked, feeling uncertain about the person in front of me, being the same one I spoke to a few minutes ago. She nodded before snapping her fingers.

The ground trembled next to me, and I jumped out of the way. A tree sprouted in an instant, and from its branches vines sprouted, small little pods appeared in front of me.

“All those pods contain the seeds of the plants you’re familiar with, take a look at them. You cannot, however, open the pods. You must tell them apart with nothing but your mana.” She then closed her eyes. Waiting.

I had a brief pause of hesitation sensing her change of demeanor, but still grabbed a pod. It was small and fit snugly between my palm. I rooted my mana through it trying to feel rather than to try to get it to do something. It took me a few minutes but eventually I saw the shape of a flower, its petals looked ghostly wait and it had a hint of red within its stems⁠—the vision disappeared from my mind.

“Silver Azalea,” I said, feeling some hesitation.

“Is that so? Try it, give it your mana, throw it and make it bloom.” She looked at me expectantly, giving me pause.

I gripped the pod within my hand, and injected my mana⁠ letting it linger within it. I threw it as she commanded and⁠— well it shone on the ground retaining my mana. I closed my eyes and tried to feel it within the distance, eventually finding it after a few grueling seconds. Last time I had tugged, now I had to make it bloom. I felt my mana around the pod, it was hard to move and will it, to do things, but I imagined where I had felt the seeds, and desired it to feed itself to make them sprout. It took a few more seconds, but eventually⁠— the pod broke open and five Silver Azalea bloomed. I had missed some seeds.

“Correct guess, five out of twenty plants. There is infinite mana here, do not hesitate.”

I nodded, grabbing another pod.

“Plant type, tell me.” I frowned at her command.

You are reading story Blair: A Non-Human LitRPG at novel35.com

“Are you really Lumina?”

She paused. “No, Lumina is long dead. And the previous Lumina you met is closer to the real one than I will ever be, I am just a measure to help you learn. Now, get to work.”

I nodded, it felt weird to know that this was a fake Lumina that didn’t even remember meeting me a few minutes ago, but I still had to learn this Prophecy. So I did as told, quickly combing my mana through the seeds probing to know more about it. This time the process was much faster given the familiarity and soon I saw⁠—flowers, numerous flowers dark and purple, woven between each other.

“Nefarious Wisteria,” I said as I poured mana onto the pod before throwing it. I could already predict her words.

Make it bloom. “Make it bloom,” she spoke.

I focused on twisting my mana, finding it in the distance and making it pour itself onto the seeds. It was harder, the seeds required better control, more mana⁠—I couldn’t quantify it, not when I had a seemingly infinite amount. The pod broke open and vines crawled, blooming onto beautiful flowers before rapidly dying.

“Passable, next pod.”

I grabbed it, and quickly felt it, finding a small blue ball instead. It could be grown with a seed too? I asked myself before throwing it, this time not hesitating to overfill it with mana.

“Evergrowing Puff,” I quickly said before shifting to the process of making it bloom. Not more than ten seconds later, three small balls of blue bloomed on the distant ground.

“Good, next.”

I grabbed the pod, and once more I felt it only to find a different type of mushroom. It was easy to recognize but I also felt some hesitation upon throwing.

“Lyco Puff, but should I make it bloom?”

“It’s overloaded with mana, make it blossom and you’ll see something interesting, try to keep it growing, make the spores grow.” she commanded.

I nodded and the pod broke open, the mushroom emerged still charged with mana. I shifted it⁠—intending for it to release its spores, and it did. A cloud of green emerged, and⁠—my mana still lingered on the air. I felt it slowly dissipate but I focused on the spores, some of it shone, a small group and when they touched the ground they blossomed into smaller Lyco Puffs. The small mushrooms still conserved some amount of the initial mana, enough for me to make all of them sprout their spores once more.

“Good, now, same thing, but faster.”

I nodded, not intending to go against her word. More pods formed, and I repeated the process. It was slow at first, but eventually I grew familiar with it.

Lyco Puff, Silver Azalea, Silver Azalea, Nefarious Wisteria… Lyco, Evergrowing, Silver, Evergrowing, Nefarious… I sorted through dozens of pods as fast as I could, but no matter what I did I was told to do it faster. Sense them faster. Sometimes I would feel nagging in my mind when I would get them wrong, telling me small distinct features between the seeds. I continued to throw mana charged pods into the distance until eventually my breathing grew rushed, and my heart began to beat faster and faster from the constant mana flow. It was mentally straining to tell each plant apart and then immediately focus on making it blossom.

I grabbed another pod, and paused as my mind drew a blank.

“What is the matter?” she asked with an annoyed tone.

“I… I cannot tell the seed?” I said with hesitation expecting some admonishment, but she shook her head.

“What do you think it is then?”

“I don’t… know?”

“Guess.” She met my eyes, making me feel a bit weird.

“Silver Azalea…”

“Then, you know the drill.” Once more, she waited for me to charge the pod and throw it. But I was full of hesitation while doing so.

Why couldn’t I recognize the seed? I frowned, but as I was about to throw it an intrusive thought crept on me. It was nefarious, weird and nonsensical. Why not desire to be a Silver Azalea? I almost dismissed it, but still gave my mana the intent, the wish in itself for it to become a Silver Azalea. I almost intuitively imagined all of the features I could remember as I threw it.

The pod landed on the water, shining with a green light that I quickly sensed as my mana. And, I⁠— made it bloom. The pod broke open and a single flower emerged. It was white, and had red crystal-like stems. It was… a Silver Azalea, the poisonous one I was familiar with.

“Good job, now try another pod and guess once more.”

I nodded and repeated the process.

Nefarious Wisteria. I said in my mind as I imagined all its features, its appearance and even the blooming pattern. I could feel an increasing familiarity with the pod as I threw it, and this time⁠—I sensed it before it landed on the ground, wasting no time, I made it blossom. The pod broke open as vines grasped onto anything and everything, some rock was corroded, and flowers sprouted before dying off in no more than a few seconds. The entire process took about a minute including the imagination.

“Again.”

Evergrowing Puff. Same process, same imagination and will, faster execution⁠— faster identification. I threw it, and once more⁠— I had guessed correctly?

◇ ◇ ◇

The process continued. Some were failures, but I was told to take a bit more time with guessing. Which I used to imagine better, and eventually⁠— They all blossomed. Eventually the process of taking the pod, identifying it and throwing it took no more than five seconds. It was all reduced to nothingness as I felt growing familiarity to imagining what type of plant I was using.

As I blossomed a pod into a Lyco Puff, I heard a notification.

[Prophecy Skill Learned ⁠— Seed Manipulation (Rare Passive) ⁠— You have learned to manipulate seeds to your liking simply by grabbing them with your mana. Can turn a base seed into any type of seed given enough familiarity with the plant.]

Ha… So I had⁠— a Prophecy skill? I guess those existed?

“Good job,” she said with a small insignificant smile. “You have learned Seed Manipulation, the core of this Prophecy and the necessity. It’s a knowledge based Prophecy. Now, I’ll teach you about the pods plant, the Benevolous Okra, and your seed provider from now on. ”

◇ ◇ ◇

I spent more time listening and trying to make my own pod plant⁠—it required more mana than I expected but eventually I got it to grow five or so pods with an indeterminate amount of seeds. But the plant felt familiar, and I also felt as if I could change the seeds before I even grabbed the pods⁠—simply through the Okra plant itself.

This was the Prophecy Scarlet World? I asked myself as Lumina once more spoke.

“And that is time, goodbye Blair.”

She too vanished. And I was left alone in the clearing once more. I waited for something to happen, and eventually something did. Visions popped in my mind along with a headache. A voice came with them, it was familiar and relatively happy.

Lumina regrets not teaching more, so how about some exposition of the Prophecy? It asked me, but I couldn’t answer. Then I saw visions of battle, trees of death sprouting⁠, figures of wood with ghastly and horrific appearances moved— Oops, too much. Not for your level. The battle changed and this one was much smaller, it was a person in a tunic and I couldn’t see anything.

But they first threw some seeds that sprouted onto Evergrowing Puffs, then using them as a base Nefarious Wisterias were grown along with Lyco Puffs. Eventually the battlefield became a toxic hell, where everyone but the person with a tunic had died.

It changed, and I saw a similar synergy between the plants, all of them worked in tandem⁠—together to build a small ecosystem of death. But somehow, it just⁠—it didn’t sit well with me. I wanted to keep using my bow, I wanted to use plants to bring death in combination with the bow⁠—I wanted… More.

The visions shifted, and I saw brief flashes of arrows, they were thorny and dripping with venom. They streaked and hit their target before exploding into dozens of Lyco Puffs, Wisterias would bloom amidst their corpses⁠—that is what I wanted. I wanted to bring death⁠—instant without time to react. I didn’t want to slowly overwhelm my enemies, no. I needed something fast. Something that bloomed death.

Interesting, the voice spoke talking to me, yes, I still owe her a favor, this will be it. You’re promising too, and my will grows weaker. Hm, I’ve made my decision. The voice ended.

I felt a new plant⁠—information about a new plants appear in my head. One was a type of vine, unnamed but it could be molded… Arrows? I saw perfect instructions including a way to make it do my bidding, I saw the same vision play once more in my head. This time much clearer along with the pods, but it was still the same. Everytime the arrow hit its target it would explode into a mess of crimson death, flowers and toxins alike. It was as clear as day to me this time around. It was what I wanted.

Sprouting death.

[You have acquired the power of a Prophecy.]

[You have completed ⁠— A Dream Of Stars (Rare D) ⁠—

My eyes opened, this time I was back in the office. The dryad in front of me ⁠— Elasia ⁠— had a weird expression.

“You’ve done… incredibly well.” she spoke hesitantly. “Should I say as expected?” She shook her head. “Great job Blair. Congratulations. Now, we must get you some resources.”

“That was the Prophecy?” I asked, feeling a lingering headache. My memories were somewhat muddled but I felt increased familiarity with my surroundings and I even felt a plant off in the distance.

“Well, Scarlet World was not supposed to develop into something like that, but due to interference. Yours is⁠ — based on my understanding ⁠— closer to immediate destruction rather than a bringer of slow but eternal destruction? A lot share similarities but if you think of the plants in your mind, you might notice some are different,” she said with some hesitation.

I frowned and closed my eyes. Silver Azalea— Ayas Azalea? Highly toxic, thrives from taking life⁠— Evergrowing Puff, had become All-consuming Puff. Within my memories, I found variations of the plants I had learned, but the variations were— a lot more aggressive, and cruel.

The Prophecy had changed to fit me. As I processed the information I saw the final notification.

[You have learned D ranked Prophecy: Scarlet Bloom.

“Consider this a gift from me, use it well.” ⁠— Lumina.]

 

You can find story with these keywords: Blair: A Non-Human LitRPG, Read Blair: A Non-Human LitRPG, Blair: A Non-Human LitRPG novel, Blair: A Non-Human LitRPG book, Blair: A Non-Human LitRPG story, Blair: A Non-Human LitRPG full, Blair: A Non-Human LitRPG Latest Chapter