Chapter 81: Chapter 80 – A Log and Blood

Nole places the Gloom Weed seed packet to the side. With an embarrassed cough he grabs the next packet. “Got a little away with my explanation there. I will try to keep more on topic. With that in mind this next seed would help with that. A cultivar of the common tea plant. Luckily despite this cultivar of tea plant being developed using Mental Mana it doesn’t have any special growth requirements. Named Focusing Tea the plant forms traces of Mental Mana. As you aren’t a magic user, this might not mean much to you. Let me tell you that normally only sentient magic users past the fourth bottleneck will have Mental Mana. The trace amounts found in the tea plant improves your ability to concentrate. A popular drink among students right before exams. Not only that, but the living plant releases particles of the Mana into the air. It only provides less than a percent of the effect of the tea but it creates a nice atmosphere.” He places The Focusing Tea seeds with the Gloom Weed and Nole brings forward the next packet.

“This is the one plant you want to plant now because it won’t be ready for years. It is the common ginseng. Despite being a normal plant it picks up the energy from the land. One of the few normal plants that can rank up as it grows you will want to surround it with Gloom Weeds. At least three years to mature as a normal herb and three or more after that before it ranks up. Gloom Weed is actually one of the sure ways to get it to develop it into Universal Ginseng. Though it is not as impressive as the name suggests. All the ‘Universal’ bit means is that it contains all three basic energy types in balance. Used in recovery medicine meant for when you don’t know what the user’s energy type is or they have a rare affinity. It takes breaking through the third bottleneck before someone requires such medicines. Until then any healing potion will work as your body hasn’t integrated with your energy type.”

Nole adds ginseng seeds to the growing pile and grabs the last seed packet. “The last few have covered a number of things. Energizing the soil for your other plants, calming the mind, and recovery. However we have one important thing left. This last packet contains something for the body itself. You will need a little more than just the planter to grow it. See this packet doesn’t contain seeds but rather spores. You will need a log to grow this fungus on and blood to water it with at first. A classic medicine used to improve the marrow and blood. The Bloody Lingzhi! Most of the other plants take whatever energy is around so they won’t cause any problems. However the Focusing Tea only absorbs Mana which would cause an imbalance. Bloody Lingzhi is a Qi based fungus and will allow you to keep the energy in your planter balanced. Better planters will remove unwanted energy types but this one over here is just the most basic model. For every three Focusing Tea plants you will want two Bloody Lingzhi growths. Anyway, if you buy the spores, the shop will provide a couple logs and enough blood for free. Don’t worry about needing a constant supply of blood either. The fungus only needs the log soaked in blood to start growing. Quite the interesting fungus. Some have theorized it developed on some ancient battlefield after a battle between Qi based armies. Though I don’t need to go into the history or we would be here all day. Suffice it to say a plant that grows in blood does not have the most peaceful of histories.” Nole moves this last packet over with the others.

Nole flashes a well-practiced smile, “And that is that! A perfect kit for any beginning farmer or alchemist on the go. I assure you growing these plants will rocket your related skills up to Apprentice rank so you will be able to just sail through the third bottleneck! After all while beating a dungeon with only a team of those below the bottleneck is hard it isn’t the only way. At the third bottleneck the System already knows you can survive in the world so you can progress through having a high enough rank in a production skill. This whole kit together including the discount on the planter would be about a gold and change. However to be nice let us just say it is an even gold to buy it all!” Another salesman’s smile finishes the spiel.

Jason digs out enough silver, “I have enough though it is close. Besides that you haven’t actually explained what they use my berries for. As it is Lily enjoys eating them but for something packed with Energy there must be some use.”

Nole’s cheeks blush a deeper green, “Ahem, right, yeah, the berries. Well, they actually tend to be used for just that. As it is so ‘packed’ with Energy makes them perfect feedstock for most animals. Though most people who use it like that just spread the seeds in their fields and let it grow along with the grass. Now I noted that your dry berries are special. When you keep the Energy in them as they dry it becomes worth something. The powder you can produce from the dry berries is an excellent spice to add to deserts. That stored Energy gives dishes a bit of a zing. They can also use it to produce Energy recovery medicine but that is a rare and expensive potion compared to the other energies. Too few people use Energy to make it worth it so anyone that carries the potions will charge a large markup on it. Though I don’t blame them as while potions can last awhile they do get stale. They need to include the loss from potions not being bought in time to make a profit on them. Anyway, thank you for your purchase. Give me just a second and I will retrieve a couple logs and a skin of blood.” Nole grabs the silvers off the counter and goes into the back one last time. Jason can faintly hear things banging against each other for a few minutes before Nole returns. In his arms are two smaller sized logs with a wineskin on top. Jason grabs the skin before he puts the logs into his backpack followed by everything else. The two say their goodbyes and Jason heads out into the market once again. Despite his time in Plants Unlimited having seemed to take forever he still had more daylight to burn.