Gamer Reborn

The small lake looked completely different from how Ajax remembered it. All around the bank of the river the forest was cleared out to make room for what looked to be the start of a small village but Ajax knew it was housing for the people the crown sent to watch over the natural treasure.

The edges of the lake are also a little shallower than they had been years ago. Ajax could see water level dropped by about half a foot from the way the grass built around the shore. The biggest difference however was the large tree that was missing from the center island.

“You’re draining the lake?” Ajax asked Xavier, surprised considering what they were going to be using the spot for.

“We’ve been using the lake.” One of the retainers that looked to be the man in charge of the area said as he approached the group. “Even before it was dedicated as an experimentation spot for formidable elven fortress trees.”

“Then how come it’s only dropped this low?” Lexi asked. “You have to have used a lot more than this judging by the number of buildings here.”

“It took us a while to figure out how much water can be returned.” The man explained. “We were using it at a slightly faster rate than we could put it back, at least without affecting the Mana concentration.”

“You’ve figured out what caused this lake to form?” Ajax was very surprised, not because they might have figured that out, it wouldn’t be that surprising considering the expertise people who worked for the royal family had. What surprised Ajax was that they would be willing to share that.

“We haven’t figured out what caused the high Mana density, we suspect whatever it is to be underneath the lake, and it is much deeper than it looks.” The man pointed out. “It’s not worth trying to dig it up either on the small chance we can replicate it. Even if we could, it could take millenia to replicate or worse we could destroy whatever it is by accident as we try to find it.”

Ajax was impressed by the self control the crown showed. This was not something that would have been found on Earth. He wasn’t sure if this change in attitude was caused by simply not being the apex predator on the planet but even scientists weren’t as focused on progress without regard for their discoveries here. He was also glad he hadn’t been given the right to rule over the land as he wasn’t sure if he could have made the same decision and would have instead eventually risked ruining the lake just to see if he could figure out how it worked.

“What happened to the tree that was in the center?” Ajax asked.

“It was recently cut down and removed.” Xavier answered. “We just received the fertilizer infused earth we needed to fill up the passages caused by removing the roots. They went quite deep and even broke through into the lake at certain points so it was a bit tricky to remove them without flooding the small island.”

Xavier’s answer explained where a good portion of the Mana dense fertilizer they had traded the elves for went , Ajax’s own gains had been spread between his land near the capital and some for his newer field near Lessis.

“What about the branch I asked for?” Ajax questioned. He knew the tree was way too big for it to fit in any of the houses so it had to have been cut apart and sent away for processing.

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“I wasn’t sure how big of a branch you wanted so I have a few stored for you.” Xavier said as he led Ajax towards one of the houses.

“Why not just take a seed, or more than one?” The man running the operation asked.

“Because I’m pretty sure there has to have been something pretty special about that tree for it to grow there.” Ajax explained. “It was the only tree around the lake to have almost the same Mana density as the water, even the ones around the edges had at best half that Mana density.”

“Which is why a seed would have worked just as well, it would have had the same Mana density.” The man said. “Not to mention it would have been much easier to preserve.”

Ajax could see why the man was complaining. As he entered the building Ajax pointed them to he found ten different branches of various sizes all floating in water, water that came from the lake.

“That would have been fine if it wasn’t a lone tree.” Ajax explained. “Do you know how seeds work?”

“I might not be a gardener or farmer but I am an alchemist Duke Hearthbound.” The man took Ajax’s question as an insult. “I know that seeds need to be fertilized by pollen, your discovery of using monsters to deliver the pollen so that it keeps its Mana density in transit was quite a breakthrough for us higher end alchemists in preparing our ingredients, even if you didn’t realise it.”

Ajax was shocked into silence at that for a moment. Not by the way the man had seemed offended, he had seen more than one noble react to him that way, though most tended to curb their reactions around Xavier. What shocked Ajax was that he hadn’t made the realization himself that fertilized and unfertilized seeds might affect certain alchemical solutions. That wasn’t to mention that Mana dense pollen might affect a seed differently in terms of its alchemical use from regular pollen.

Such variations weren’t seen at the level of potions he worked with as most needs could usually be met by different ingredients or higher Mana density in the ingredient.When it came to the peak alchemists in the kingdom however the scarcity of reagents meant they had to rely on everything they could do to push their ingredients just that little bit more.

“There he goes again.” Lexi huffed with fake annoyance as she nudged Ajax’s shoulder with her own. “Ajax, dear, you were saying. Come now you can ponder this realization later.” freёnovelkiss.com

That nudge was enough to bring Ajax’s focus back to the topic at hand. “That wasn’t something I had even considered.” Ajax said as he looked towards the man with renewed interest, clearly this man surpassed his skill as an alchemist even if he had a short temper. “It also isn’t what I was referring to.”

“Oh?” Ajax was glad to see the man adopt a more humble attitude as he asked his following question. “Then what did you mean?”

“Plants almost always reproduce through seeds. This means that the new plant is a combination of the plant that provided the seed and the plant that provided the polen.” Ajax explained. “Unlike humans the input from each parent isn’t half, the plant that provided the seed determines a lot more of what the new plant is. This is how certain aspects can be bred into certain plants. Skills help this process along which is how high level farmers can produce seedless grapes, even though that particular plant can no longer produce other vines.”

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“That would explain why certain properties were so hard for our gardeners to force on certain plants.” The man alchemist said with wide eyes. “Hard to get the traits you want when neither parent plant has the required trait.”

The alchemist coughed slightly as he looked at Ajax with renewed respect. “I’ll have to ask that you excuse my previous behavior, Duke Hearthbound. I didn’t even introduce myself, I am grandmaster alchemist Janus Deepbreath, I come from a long line of royal alchemists.”

Ajax took up the offered hand and fought hard to suppress a laugh as he was sure the family name Deepbreath had to have come from an ancestor who had probably not taken much care in the fact that his work lead to a strong smell surrounding him causing everyone who saw him to take a deep breath when they saw him approach.

“It’s my pleasure grandmaster.” Ajax responded. “But as I was saying, what I am interested in is the tree. Without any other tree even remotely similar the seed could be rather different. But by cutting and replanting roots I can have a miniature copy of the same tree.”

“That works!” Janus exclaimed.

“Janus, explain.” Xavier yelled before the man had a chance to dash away as he was clearly preparing to do. As a grandmaster alchemist he was a decently high enough level that he could move rather quickly.

“I need to write a message to the king, Your Highness.” Janus spoke so fast the words were hard to separate. “If our people happen upon floors where trees are extractable from the dungeons they must be preserved and regrown.”

“A quick chat with your gardener will tell you that won’t work.” Lexi cut down the man’s excitement. “It would take a lot of carefully prepared soil and water of at least similar Mana density for the tree to even have a chance to take root.”

Lexi was aware of the process since Ajax had explained it to her as he prepared an area for them to plant the branch they were getting.