[NR] Like A Glass Marble - Chapter 717

Jason kept poking the blossoms with his cultivation, feeling the lack of any form of spiritual or “divine” sense. Because while what he found wasn’t Energy, he wouldn’t blame those unfamiliar thinking it was. The power he felt within the blossoms wasn’t really a power in and of itself, but rather feeling like a collection of puzzle pieces half assembled.

Except like one of those pictures where you could see a vase or a pair of faces, the pieces were close to being either Mana or Qi. All without even a hint of Energy involved. Which was why Jason doubted anyone but an Energy user or a properly outfitted alchemist could figure it out.

Jason’s Energy probe could slip in without changing things and an alchemist would have tools to isolate things gently. With the “gently” part being very important as Jason quickly found out. All it took was his probe pushing against one bit of power for it to act like one of those science experiments with super chilled water.

The moment that pseudo-power formed even a hint of a connection, the entire mass clicked into place as Mana. Sort of. Jason kept probing and could feel a certain “jaggedness” along the edges. A visual would be like having a glass bead that is mostly yellow, but has the thinnest layer of red glass around it.

This must be what allowed the Pill/Potion divide to be crossed. That pseudo-power can easily be combined into either Mana or Qi. Proven when Jason goes and pokes the other blossom on the plant into being Qi. However, the combination isn’t perfect.

The pseudo-power mostly combines, but along the edges, the remains of what could have become the other power type remains. Not enough to form into particles of the other power, but enough that some things become possible. In particular, the reversal of the pill versus potion divide.

The more Jason considers things, the more his glass bead analogy works. You wouldn’t call the Mana “bead” red just because the thinnest layer on the outside is red. You’d call it yellow because it looks yellow. However, it is the red layer that ends up touching other marbles.

Though it is in this fuzziness where the problem of growing them in NeoRealm likely lay. Mana was Mana, Qi was Qi, and Energy was to be torn apart and perfectly become the other two. At least, that is what the System wanted.

If the System was a chef, then the results of this strange power would be sugar that someone had mixed a bit of salt into. Yes, you can compensate for it and maybe the amount mixed in this time is too little to affect the taste. But you don’t want to deal with salty sugar or sugary salt. Though even the System seems to have to deal with it and so Jason’s goal isn’t impossible. There would just be even more juggling involved.

In particular, it was the blossom specifically that was used, meaning you couldn’t both test and get seeds from any mirrored jade blossom plant with a single flower. The act of changing from a blossom to a fruit resulted in a red or yellow fruit which did not suffer the same partial transition to Mana or Qi that the flower did.

Though Jason was thankful that it seemed the change from flower to fruit required more than just pollination. He would have abandoned this whole idea, or more likely never started it, if simply being pollinated was enough to make the flowers no longer viable. Then testing showed that the extra bit needed to make the change was the night.

Not “lunar” power or some mystical night time essence. Rather, the flower needed to be pollinated and then close up for the night. Which was actually the first thing Jason tested for as he didn’t expect it to work and all it required was to cover the plant so it didn’t get any light. Sure, Jason still did a few other tests, but that was just to be thorough.

Jason smiled, it was time to once again focus on gardening.

Off to the side, Rosha and Courtney had arrived in the clearing a while ago after a quick jaunt out into the forest.

Rosha turns to Courtney, “Is he okay? He’s been staring at the plants for a while now.”

Courtney shrugs, “He’s doing something. Not sure why he put a box over some of them, but they’re his plants. If he wants to play around with them, that’s his prerogative.”

Rosha sighs, “You just know this is going to end with us hauling plants around.”

Courtney raises an eyebrow, “Where did you get that idea from?”

Rosha gestures at the mirrored jade blossoms, “They don’t grow outside of the Deep Wilds, right? Well, that sucks as far as a resource goes, so he’s probably going to want to fix that. But how do you test if they can grow outside of the Deep Wilds? Well, you haul a bunch of them far enough out that the System has full control. Say, the settlement that is surrounded by fields of normal crops instead of Deep Wild plants.”

Courtney nods, “Yep, I can see that.”

Jason turns, “You know I can hear you?”

Rosha laughs, “Tell me I’m wrong.”

Jason frowns, “Well, I wasn’t specifically going to have you both haul them. I’m going to want to make a cart and maybe start on an actual path to the settlement. Something not only to finally anchor us to it, but for said cart to travel on.”

Rosha, “And until then, you’re going to be carrying a bunch of plants with you. Except we’re in the Deep Wilds so having our front-line fighter burdened by a bunch of plants isn’t the smartest. So, of course, we’ll share the burden.

“Once again, tell me I’m wrong.”

Jason sighs, “Well, I could travel with fewer plants.”

Rosha shakes her head, “In which case, you’ll simply end up not carrying any of them so you can be ready to fight. I’m not saying I’m against it. I’m just making sure you don’t have any delusions of how this will go.”