23: R&D

[Year 21 Month 1: 2 Months have passed]

[Blessed: 5505 – 51 + 74]

Salfi had yet to come back, but I hadn’t received a notification about one of my marked having died, so I still had confidence. If anything, she was probably enjoying her little outing more than staying confined in either the village or the city.

While at first I had twiddled my non-existent thumbs for several days, I decided to do a quick check-up on Codex’s progress. I had been leaving him alone for long stretches of time, and there had been many changes to the Burrow facility.

Amusingly, there were still people who decided to live down in the Burrow. They had been relocated about a year into my evolution slumber to a ‘residential’ district of the facility, which Codex and Metis had renovated pretty heavily. It was a bit surprising, but it looked quite nice, with small underground parks, which were filled with unique flora that propagated underground quite easily.

When I asked about the plants, I had been directed to a rat beastkin. His name was Yezin, and he was an older beast-kin whose back certainly showed his age. He had been one of the first to permanently move down here. He had found the tunnels and underground structures to be rather cozy, rather than claustrophobic like many of the surface-dwelling creatures felt.

At first, he was surprised that “The Guardian Spirit” was interested in him and his “Useless plant skills,” but didn’t hesitate to share more when prompted, showing an energetic enthusiasm for his craft that I didn’t expect from a man his age.

While he spoke, Yezin tended to the gardens, lifting various leaves and checking the stems of whatever seemed to draw his attention. In one such case, he walked over to a curious mushroom that seemed to draw in the air around it. “See here? This species is able to grow based on temperature. Instead of drawing off light, it ‘eats’ the heat, producing a nice chilly breeze.” Pointing at a type of vine that glowed in the dark with a luminescent purple, the old beast-kin continued his walk through the plants.

Maybe I need to explore more into biotechnology. Those mushrooms could be used to cool the forges more quickly; maybe I could even cultivate them myself? I do have the growth pillars that boost plants.

The issue I was running across right now was that the forges would require several hours to cool after they had been used to produce a golem or when parts were needed. If water were used, it would evaporate too quickly for me to use as a coolant, with the temperatures of the forge area reaching far beyond water’s boiling point. We had actually run into an issue where it vaporized so quick that the steam kept the fresh water from reaching the forges.

Right now, we were quenching weapons and tools with a specially made liquid ordered from an alchemist, which quickly grew expensive.

While the heat radiated from the forges was not preferable, they did have some benefits. Codex had worked with Metis to create a heating system for both the residential section of the Burrow, while also venting whatever was left into the streets of Runehold, so maybe I wouldn’t do anything about it for now, despite my interest in the cooling fungus and plants. Who knows, though, any bit of knowledge helps.

It took some time for Yezin to actually tell me the skills that let him grow these plants, but he had claimed his ability would let him detect plant seeds that had been dormant or fossilized, and bring them back from death. When he had first brought one of these ancient seeds back to life, Codex was forced to implement a quarantine on it and Yezin, as neither of them knew what it was going to do.

This is also the reason why Codex had a test chamber for plants that was completely sealed off from the rest of the facility.

Biologists and Archaeologists would kill to have this guy.

I did find it funny how Codex had traps built into the chamber, and while I thought the fire traps, the burning oil traps, the crushing boulder, and the several golems stationed right outside of the sealed room were a bit excessive, who was I to restrict the researcher from putting in precautions? It sounds like the plot of a movie.

I kept Yezin company for the rest of the evening, as the old man seemed to love having someone to talk to, and honestly? I found it a bit nice to hear someone so passionate.

It was only when he turned in for the night that I turned my attention back to other things.

I checked with Codex’s corrupted mana levels, and it seemed that they had steadied a little. He theorized that the mana was busy ‘filling in the gaps’ everywhere else in the world. Interestingly enough, the further we went into the wildlands, the less corruption mana there was. The easiest way to explain it is that the ambient mana is so dense that it’s like trying to pour water in a already full glass, it just spills right out and goes elsewhere. Adding any corrupted mana did the exact same thing, which meant that the wildlands were the safest place from the Vexus, but the most dangerous place due to the natural inhabitants.

This book’s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Maybe I could make a literal wall of mana? Just completely stop the corrupted mana from spreading. I doubt that Vexus could create more of themselves if there is no corrupted energies.

Something to definitely keep in mind. Although I wouldn’t be sure that it would be safe until tested, as the high mana density that such a barrier would use would almost certainly attract strong monsters and beasts. Also, I was nowhere near strong enough to actually create something like that. I mean, I could create a region with high density, but the consequences would be worse than the benefits at the moment.