Farmer or Cultivator? Why not both?-Chapter 45: As close to magic as it could possibly get

"Shop," Ren called out, and his system interface switched from his information to a list of items with descriptions and prices attached to them. The only time he had used this feature was when he got the Tome of Mahābodhivān, and that had been incredibly integral to his cultivation journey. The shop always hoarded the best of items, but what could ten universal coins get him?

The Tome of Mahābodhivān had cost exactly ten universal coins, and although Ren was in no need of anything, he could find some items worthy of purchasing.

"Lightning whip, 8 coins."

’This whip packs the power and lethality of lightning. Equipping it boosts Dexterity by 3 percent when in use. Sounds like a weapon of a warlord. Maybe some other time.’

[Stone of true sight: This rock grants its owner the ability to sense others emotions and read their thoughts. The world appears more honest to whoever wields this artifact.]

Ren cupped his chin as he read this, this was clearly an artifact that interested him.

"The world appears more honest to whoever wields this artifact." He read aloud, that certainly wasn’t a catchy line.

[Price: 17 universal coins]

"Arrghh, I cannot afford this. Should I even get it if I could afford it? It would not necessarily improve my battle prowess, or would it now? There’s probably something more fitting of my situation lying around here."

He swiped the blue screen, and scrolled some more. The shop seemed to have an endless amount of items, but there was nothing of particular great interest, nothing that was as interesting or insightful as the Tome of Mahābodhivān, those that were close were more expensive, and with what he had, he could not get them.

The scorching hot suns soon appeared above, telling Ren that it was properly morning. Most of Tunish would be up by now. He had some produce to sell, and he wanted to experiment selling his bluish milk. He knew just what he needed to do. However first, he had to get on with training, the villagers would still be occupied with their daily chores at this time, and nobody would be all that keen about walking underneath the suns, hot as they were in the moment.

It was time to start with his training. Cultivation had revealed so much to him, its very potential allured him, and he craved to know of its deepest possibilities.

Learning convergence was a milestone, and now, he would not need to worry too much about exhausting his mana in the middle of a fight, the atmospheric mana heeded to his call, and with a level of mastery, he could even manipulate the abundant energy about, although he was far from that level.

Mana imbuement had come fairly easily, his mastery was far from perfect but the progress he had made was astounding, even if he did not know it. Living matter held mana for much longer than non-living, that much was established.

This time, he figured to work with something that existed between those two states: living and non-living. He had with him a few seeds of his berries.

The night had fully recharged him, he had slept well and his mana and stamina were at their highest. He had more than enough mana to spare. He closed his eyes, and mana streamed from his core, flowing into his mana vessels and then enveloping itself around him in a vibrant blue energy. Ren focused his thoughts on the seeds in his hands, driving mana into them. The seeds brightened as the life energy of the world streamed into them.

When Ren opened his eyes, he was astonished. Although his mana took a bright blue hue about him, as it flooded into the seeds, the mana turned green—a bright green that told of nature, of plants, and seeing this excited Ren.

Soon enough, vines jutted out from these seeds, and massive roots. They all sprouted out like overreaching arms, and with the speed at which they came, forced Ren backwards, and he reflexively threw the seeds on the ground. Had he had them on his palms a little longer, he feared that they would wrap themselves around him, and suffocate him.

The seeds however craved the soil more than they craved for Ren to be a part of them. As they fell to the ground, the seeds took roots, the vines sinking into the soil, trying to make itself a fortress of a body. Its growth was incredibly fast, and animated, it was like there was a person inside of the vines eager to break free, to grow and metamorphosize into something that was much more.

Vines jutted upwards and coiled about themselves, branches grew from the sides, and as such, leaves came into place. His berry bushes were normal-sized when he and his land were forced into Tunish, and although the water of Elaxis boosted the produce of crops, it had not increased the sizes of the trees, nor bushes nor vines, and Ren reckoned that this was so because the crops had matured, and reached their largest sizes, the water of Elaxis could not have them grow larger in this case.

But, what would happen were a seed planted in the soil, and made to grow? What would happen then?

Ren was not sure, one thing however was that he was incredibly astonished by this. The berry bush grew tall, it became as large as a short tree, as large as the trees in his apple orchard.

"Wow," he exclaimed.

Eventually, the glowing stopped, and things seemed to have stabilized, no sprawling vines or jutting leaves. No fruits yet, but although growth could be sped, fruits took their darn time.

"Marvelous, this is really something!" His eyes were opened wide-eyed. He truly was impressed by this. He looked to his hands, and then back at the huge berry bush.

"This has to be magic." Ren was no magician, but he was certain that this was as close to magic as it could get. Although loosely, he had created life.