Kingdom Building: Civilization Starts with Divinity-Chapter 64: Plant Manipulation!

The area given to the group to rest could hardly be called an accommodation. As spacious as it was, there was nothing but rocks. Not that the condition Alchemy lived in was too much better.

For one thing, Sapphire couldn’t care less as she dropped to the ground.

"Haah... Master Alchemy! Why didn’t you tell me we were going to be taking such a long trip?! My legs feel like they’re gonna explode!" She complained.

"There, there. You did good and can rest now." Alchemy said, caressing Sapphire.

|<105 Divine Power has been drained!>|

Using Miracle Generation, Alchemy recovered some of Sapphire’s stamina. Something this small didn’t consume enough to worry her.

"That aside, I don’t see why you made a fool of yourself, Disciple. I bet they all think you’re a complete loon!"

"Huh. So, loon is slang in this world, too? Neat." Alchemy hummed.

After Alchemy’s little... Outburst, Sevi agreed to her request. There was naturally no reason to decline such a thing.

Afterward, the group was delayed because all the young bears wanted to talk to their new resident crazy woman.

’If bears aren’t meant to be hugged and fluffed, then why are they so friend-shaped?’ Alchemy thought to herself resolutely.

"Well, I’ve said this to Nera already, but they’re probably right. I imagine I do have a few screws loose. Of course, I had an actual reason for it."

|<Notice: Nature Manipulation has reached level 2! Please select your next sub-skill at your earliest possible convenience!>|

|<Notice: Please choose your next sub-skill for Nature Manipulation!>|

|<Plant Manipulation>|

|<Force>|

|<Weather Manipulation>|

|<Elementalism>|

|<Notice: Confirmed! You have chosen Plant Manipulation>|

|<Notice: Plant Manipulation has a usable synergy with two skills. Please view skill info for more information.>|

Leveling up Nature Manipulation or hugging a bear, the true reason she did such a thing was something that only she and Nera could answer. In this group of people, at least.

"And why did you need to make a fool of yourself? As my Disciple, the way you look reflects on me."

|<Notice: Miracle Generation sub-skill Grace has been activated successfully for the first time!>|

|<Notice: 250 Divine Power has been used!>|

As her skill activated, Divine Power threatened to rush out of her body, but she quickly got it under control. After using Exaltation so much, Alchemy had become rather adept at using Divine Power. She was glad that the skill in controlling it carried over to the other sub-skills.

That being said, the feeling was completely different. While Exaltation felt like a warm, pleasant energy leaving her body, leaving her cold afterward, Grace was the opposite. It felt like warmth was gathering in her, specifically where she was creating something and then coalescing into an item.

In her hand was a singular seed which she presented to everyone.

"Grow." She said for theatrics.

|<Nature Manipulation sub-skill Plant Manipulation has been successfully activated for the first time!>|

Rapidly, the seed began to sprout into a complete grape vine, grapes fully ripe and ready to be harvested. That was, at the cost of nearly 3/4ths of her SP.

’Jeez. Accelerating the growth of a mundane plant took this much SP? Just how much am I going to need to use this practically.’

Out of combat, Plant Manipulation could be used to create an infinite amount of high-tier wood from a single sapling. Not that such a use was needed when Ghost Wood was already relatively high tier regarding magical properties.

In combat, massive plants could eat her enemies or block incoming projectiles. Even just binding someone with vines was unrealistic, especially when she had her chains.

"Woah!" Sapphire looked at the plant sprout like it was magic.

"Isn’t it only natural that the stares of life grant me, a Goddess, power?" Alchemy said, picking a grape before she fed it to Sapphire.

Gravana’s eyes widened in surprise.

"You’re saying you did that because it made you stronger? I thought only the faith of your believers could increase your strength."

Alchemy tossed a handful of grapes each to Nera and Gravana before smiling smugly.

"What is faith, specifically? What do you think it is, Teacher?"

"Oh, these are good," Gravana mumbled, eating one of the grapes before answering her question.

"It’s the belief of your followers, isn’t it?"

"Fufufu. It seems I get to be the teacher this time." Alchemy gloated.

"Faith is the imagination of children. It’s the insanity of believers. It’s power born from conscious creatures believing in something. Certainly, my children believing things like "I am God" or "I’ll solve any problem" with all their heart is the best way to obtain it, but even an adult acknowledging I exist or a child thinking I’m silly counts. Heck, you believing that I’ll become something great under your tutelage does its part."

Alchemy ripped the first half of her lecture from the A.O.As in-game description. Something Nera picked up on nearly instantly, causing her to chuckle.

At its core, all a divine being is someone who benefited from being a con artist.

"So what you’re saying is that if I believe you’re the strongest hard enough, you’ll become the strongest?" Gravana questioned.

"Hypothetically speaking, yeah. If you had the willpower to prop that belief up or created a cult around me being the strongest, I probably would become just that."

At this point, Alchemy was talking out her ass. While that was, in essence, what divinity was, she had a long way to go before belief could affect her directly. And that was already on top of assuming Divine Power worked the same way it did in A.O.A’s lore.

It was certainly a possibility, but the gameplay of the system granting her Divine Power as an expendable resource differed greatly from what she claimed.

Regardless, it wasn’t a bad thing to tell Gravana this. If it turned out to be false, then the less he knew about her abilities, and if it was true, she could potentially gain more power from his learning.

It was a win-win either way. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"Grahaha! Divine Power is quite an interesting power, isn’t it? I bet that monkey is frothing at the mouth for the chance to figure out how you work."

Alchemy felt a shiver go down her spine.

"I-I know you’re trying to cheer me up, but please don’t put such a terrifying image in my head! It’s like you’re asking him to dissect me!"