The Third Step: Chapter Thirty-One

I picked up the mushroom and stuffed it into my mouth, munching down on the oddly squishy natural treasure. It reminded me a bit too much of a meaty aspic that had fallen into the dirt for me to really enjoy it, and I swallowed it down with a gag before taking a long sip of my coffee to get rid of the taste. Though eating things was the easiest way to absorb power from a natural treasure, a part of me really wished I’d taken the effort to absorb it through my hands instead. I dismissed the thought, focusing as I closed my eyes and sent the power flowing into Fungal Entwinement.

One of my biggest advantages as a plant and fungal mage was that I didn’t need to conjure everything myself and rely only on a handful of seeds and spores in order to fight. I’d had plenty of time to empower Enhance Plant Life, and I’d had the Mass Enhance meta spell for a good bit longer than Fungal Entwinement. I was hopeful that this would help bring my Fungal Entwinement’s growth more in line with the mass version, at least. 

The spell bloomed, growing larger in my spirit as the power suffused it, and it grew until it was roughly the same size as Mass Enhance. I shifted the stream of power after that, evenly spreading it between my two newest fungal spells, my armor, and Fungal Lock. Split so many ways, and with only the guttering remnants of the treasure left, I didn’t see much of an improvement in anything. That was fine. I might have been able to squeeze out a technical bit more power by focusing the dregs on one spell, but I wanted to keep my garden a bit more balanced.

I opened my eyes and let out an annoyed sigh. Meadow tilted her head, and Kene turned to me, while Dusk piped up. 

“I just realized that we’ve now got ten potions for sensory enhancement, and we can’t even really use them. I mean, I guess we could go back into the cordon, but that just seems like asking for more problems at this point.” 

“That’s not entirely true – this is an entire country. We could use the boosts to look for some useful plants and fungi for you in some of the normal forests, if you’d like,” Kene suggested. “Plus, we can always hang onto them. It’s not like you’re going to outgrow that sort of boost. You still use your second gate piece of lightening stone, after all. Utility is always helpful, regardless of power.” 

I nodded my agreement to his point about utility magic, then drummed my fingers on the table. 

“Let’s save them, or else use them in trade. If I want to do this right, I’m going to need to get my hands on some structure-ore. I know that a lot of it is mined in Nightflock, which isn’t too far from here, so it should at least be a bit cheaper than it is in Mossford, even if it’s still going to be pricey.” 

“You should use our shares of the money,” Kene said, nodding to the slip on the table containing the promissory note from Obsidian Forest for returning the spatial rings. “That and from the mana sources and natural treasures we found. You’re going to be putting in all the actual work of enchanting, while I’ll be the one using the room to treat the… sample.” 

“Sure, but make sure you leave enough to get the ingredients you need,” I said, picking up the note. “Actually, that brings up the question – do we want to split up?” 

Dusk piped up that she’d go with Kene and Siobahn to purchase everything for the cauldron, which Kene agreed to with a bit of surprise. Meadow nodded to me, smiling gently. 

“And that leaves us to acquire some materials. I might not be a spatial mage, but I can make some recommendations on materials for you to acquire. While we’re out here, getting some saplings to plant at the various locations where Dusk lives. I know that Orykson focused on ironwood trees, but you might find a bit better luck locally with a stonesloe blackthorn tree. They’re much more common here, and should have sufficient levels of .” 

Meadow finished her drink, and I did the same, while Dusk floated over to Kene, hopping onto their shoulder as we split off in different ways. The first stop we made was to an industrial enchanter’s shop, which was bustling with seven spatial mages in the back, all apprentices who were busy working on forming the spatial storage boxes used in mass industrial shipping. It was the highest concentration of spatial mages I’d seen in Obsidian Forest, and it made me wonder if the dirty looks I got from teleporting were less about spatial magic in general and more about teleportation magic specifically.

“I can’t sell you the quantity of structure-ore you’re looking for,” the man who had taken us aside to discuss business said. “First of all, imports have slowed down in the past couple of years. What exactly is this for?” 

“Constructing a demiplane,” I said, flexing my magic with Mold Aura to focus on the spatial and temporal aspects. “I’ve got someone who needs a room where time is slowed down, and I need a lot of material for it.” 

“I see,” the man said, stroking his beard thoughtfully. “Well, I can’t sell you an entire pound of the ore, but have you considered using three one-ounce nodes of structure-ore inset into a door frame of channel-aluminum, sylvan-oak or scaffold-steel?” 

“Sylvan-oak?” I asked. “Not a material I’m familiar with back in Mossford.” 

“Ah, yeah, that makes sense. They’re wood that’s got a good bit of spatial energy locked in it. Makes it excellent for taking on spells like spatial anchors. The actual effect of the locked energy only makes it so that it can serve as a teleportation anchor usable by anyone, which makes them unpopular – probably why Mossford never bothered trying to cross-breed them with their own spatial plants or oak trees.” 

While the man was only thinking in terms of processed lumber, I was actually more interested in being able to use it in conjunction with the stonesloe blackthorns and the faerie circle mushrooms to cast Stone Gate over the various spots that Dusk had claimed. Though, being able to use it as a patch material for creating the demiplane would also be quite useful, so I probably did need some of the wood. 

“Three ounces of the ore, in addition to the sylvan-oak, then,” I agreed. “That’s reasonable enough for the project.” 

We spent a good bit of time haggling over the price, but I actually had a good bit of money on hand, and for once I was able to pay for the materials without having to try and trade goods for goods. 

With the wood and stone acquired, Meadow and I headed out to a plant nursery in the area. All of the goods they sold were either at ungated levels of power, or first gate, but boosting them to peak third should be well within my abilities while I was spending time on the boat. 

It was a fascinating place to go, as the store we visited was split between retail and wholesale, selling plants to industrial farmers that could be grown and harvested to make into other resources like pills, as well as selling materials to homeowners and individuals like me. Though, I supposed that I might also be considered a homeowner. It was kind of my house, but it had also been created by Dusk, and was within her, so I didn’t know if it counted. 

While I was looking for the two types of tree that I’d already selected, another one did catch my eye – sense-screen ash trees. They were filled with abnegation, knowledge, and mental energy, and were apparently meant to be sold to processing operations that would then go on to sell the processed lumber to wardcrafters for a variety of different wards. In nature, however, they were usually found growing alongside other magical fora, as their passive effect dampened mana senses. It wasn’t a true attention diverting ward, nor was it a true sensory blocking ward, as it couldn’t stop a focused search or divination spell, but it was enough to help nearby plants go overlooked by casual observers of the same gate. 

A brief conversation with Meadow confirmed that all three of the trees would grow well together, and that their mundane counterparts could already be planted in my various spots without issue, so I wasn’t going to be throwing off the environment by planting them.

Purchasing fifteen different trees – one set of each for the three current real-world portal locations, and two additional sets to try and breed them with their mundane counterparts in Dusk’s realm and to serve as an extra set just in case – cost almost as much as the actual materials for creating Kene’s demiplane of human corpse storage, and I found myself wincing at the price. I could afford it, but together, most of my share of money from looting the Flock’s abandoned nest was gone. 

Most, but not all. There was enough left for me to get something as a gift for myself. I spent a while debating going to a specialist flower shop and seeing if I could purchase a fire lotus, but eventually decided against it. There weren’t any at this nursery, so I’d accept that there just weren’t any around right now. If there were, and this particular shop was just out, then I could accept that as fate. Probably.

Considering that I currently had my blademoss, yincap and frost succulent combination, frozen pitcher plants, and the opportunity to eventually modify the acid-drip creosote, I was actually in a decent spot for offensive plant based plant magic, so I pushed down my initial impulse to purchase a lightning-branch hazel. 

There were still a variety of non-attacking options that I could use, and the one that I was most drawn to was the null-reuncinclus. Most of the spells that could lock down space in order to prevent teleportation were fourth or fifth gate, and while fourth gate was only one away, Meadow said something that caught my attention. 

“You know, though most humans put full-gates in their second and fifth gates respectively, in the animal kingdom, it's much less common for things to be so settled. Plenty of animals have full-gates at third, fourth, fifth, even sixth or seventh.”

“Is that an oblique comment about having something in mind?” I asked curiously. 

“I’ve got plenty of ideas, both ways. I don’t want to control the way that you grow. That said, there’s a few breeds of snail, frog, and crocodile that you might be able to find interesting. As well as a cat, maybe?”

“Maybe?” 

“Maybe,” Meadow said, nodding as if that made any sense at all. I squinted at her, unsure of what to make of that comment, then looked back at the box of blue-white ranunculus flowers.

“Then it might be a good idea to pick these up. Local spatial lockdown spells are fourth gate, and if I devote that to a full-gate spell, then it’s a good idea to pick something up to make up for that weakness, and these would be the ideal pick for that.” 

“Ideal is a strong word. But these are an excellent choice, and they’re also not so rare that it will bankrupt you to purchase them.” 

I nodded and brought the ranunculus up to be purchased, then sent it into Dusk’s realm. Meadow and I met up with Kene shortly after that, and we made our way back to the boat.