Chương 19: Skill Growth (2)

The next day I woke up bright and early. Unlike my usual groggy self, I felt full of energy and motivation. Getting my dailies done faster than usual, I headed to the plant room. Though I had created a new skill—[Mana Voice]—that wasn't my goal. My goal was to modify my [Plant Growth] skill to work on multiple plants at a time. Taking a comfortable sitting position, I closed my eyes. Activating my [Mana Voice] skill, I focused on and followed the way the mana moved and wrapped around my throat.

In theory, I just need to follow these same movements with my [Plant Growth] skill. Whether or not that would actually work remains to be found out.

"Haah…" Taking a deep breath, I activated my [Plant Growth] skill. The mana in my core stirred and started to move. I grabbed hold onto the string of mana. Carefully, I followed along the path. Anticipation filled my heart and mind as the string of mana got closer and closer to my throat. But a hint of anxiety buried its way in. What if it doesn't work? What if everything I'm doing is pointless? I've spent over 40 hours in these past 5 days working for this.

What if it was all meaningless and I can't change my skill? Biting my tongue, I just smiled and rid myself of those useless thoughts. Since when do I ever let pessimistic thoughts stop me? If I believe it will work, I'll move forward. If it doesn't, then I'll go until it does. Just like always. The string of mana reached my throat and I slowly enveloped my vocal cords. The mana integrated and wrapped around my vocal cords. … Now what? I didn't think what to do after this point. Would the skill just work now?

Opening my eyes, I hesitantly started to sing.

"…Grow~ Grow~ Grow up big and strong…?" I felt an exorbitant amount of mana leave my core, following the same mana path I just made. It went past my vocal cords and seemed to dissipate as it followed my voice. Shortly after that, the skill deactivated and I was left there, blinking dumbly.

"…Did it work?" I didn't receive a notification or anything, all I knew was that mana was consumed.

"Hm…" I felt as if it did, but I couldn't confirm it.

"I guess there's only one way to find out." I needed to keep trying until a notification popped up. Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and activated the skill again. And again. And again. And again. Only after a few uses, did I have to stop. I felt way too lightheaded to continue.

"…Mana exhaustion?" I realized.

"Ugh…" I groaned, getting up. Just why is it using so much mana anyways? I should have enough mana to use my skill on every plant more than a dozen times. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. Looking inward, I could see my core completely drained of mana. The once vibrant purple orb now looked gray and empty. Does adding an AOE property cause it to use more mana? I pondered in thought for a few moments before drinking a mana potion I purchased from the exchange.

I could have made these myself, but I was focusing on modifying my skill rather than alchemy at the moment. My core slowly started to regain it's beautiful purple glimmer. Without the mana potion, this would have taken hours. While waiting for my mana to regen, I had a thought.

"Could I limit the amount of mana used?" Currently, whenever I used the skill, it'd freely draw from my core until it was satisfied. I believe it's because I don't have a direct connection with the plants I'm using my skill on. So, I need to use mana to form a connection with the plants, and then more to activate my skill on them. So, there's currently a bunch of mana being wasted and dispersing into nothingness. Which made the solution simple: Limit the amount of mana used when forming a connection. But how?

That's where I was stumped. I can't control sound waves. Manipulating mana outside of the body is already hard enough as is. Touching the plants beforehand would allow me to form a connection, but that negates the entire point of modifying the skill.

"Ugh…I don't know." I mumbled and sighed. Then I remembered my other skill, [Mana Voice] That one doesn't use an exorbitant amount of mana. Yet, it achieves a similar result? I activated the skill.

"Test, test." I repeated this a few times.

"Hm…" A small amount of mana shoots from my core every time I speak. How does it work…?

"Wait a moment…" Something clicked in my mind. Did I really need to deconstruct and manipulate every aspect of my skill? No. That isn't modifying but recreating. The solution was really simple. Why don't I just use what I have available? Standing up, I activated my [Plant Growth] skill. I let the mana fester in my vocal cords and activated my [Mana Voice] skill as well. Two strings of mana connected from my core to my vocal cords. I grabbed hold of both and started to intertwine them, wrapping one over another.

They twisted together, entangling one another into the size of a single strand of mana. I inhaled deeply. Was there any more I could do? I don't know. But, for now, I've done as much as I could to raise my chance of success. There was no room for anxiety in my mind. Slowly, I parted my lips and began to sing.

"Grow~ Grow~ Grow up big and strong~" Mana shot from my core in bursts. But, it was significantly less than before. As the first bit of mana left my body, a new wave of mana flowed from my core, this time, filled with 'Growth'. Soon, the mana stopped flowing and the skill deactivated. [You have modified a skill!] [Plant Growth] - Rank D (Bronze) When using the skill, accelerates the growth rate of plants that hear your voice. Or, accelerates the growth rate of plants that you touch.

* Applies a small quality buff to plants.

"Grow~ Grow~ Grow up big and strong~" As I stared at the screen with wide eyes, a single noise escaped from me.

"Hah…" The dam broke and laughter and joy filled the room,"Hahahaha! I did it!"

"Yes!"

"Finally!"

"Four days of effort! Hours of work! All for this!" I hopped around the room like a bunny. After a few moments, I stopped in my tracks and stared at a plant.

"… Could I do more?" That brief thought started to plague my mind. I already achieved my goal and modified the skill the way I wanted. But… Could I do more? Was it greed? Arrogance? Perhaps, but… It felt doable. I've already confirmed that using the skill multiple times on a single plant boosts its growth rate way more than using it only once. That could also mean, using more mana on a single plant boosts its effectiveness by that much. So, if I used less mana, would that make the skill weaker?

Riding the momentum, I didn't think for another second before activating the skill. I was surprised to notice that I didn't have to activate [Mana Voice] separately. It seemed to be embedded into [Plant Growth] itself.

"Grow~ Grow~ Grow up big and strong~" As the mana left my core once more, I waited until the 'Growth' mana started to flow. Once it did, I pushed even more mana out of my core into the same strand of mana. And more. And more. I stopped once about 25% of my mana remained. Once the skill deactivated, I didn't hesitate before using it once more.

"Grow~ Grow~ Grow up big and strong~" This time, instead of pushing out more mana, I pulled most of the mana back into my core. If I wanted more, I could use more. If I wanted less, I could use less. As the mana left my throat and faded into the air, I waited. If I modified it once, couldn't I do it again? I hoped for another system notification to confirm the results of my effort. But, even if it didn't come, I felt that my skill worked how I thought it did. But thankfully, I didn't have to wait long.

[Your 'Plant Growth' skill has ranked up!] [Plant Growth] - Rank C (Bronze) When using the skill, accelerates the growth rate of plants that hear your voice. Or, accelerates the growth rate of plants that you touch. Applies a small quality buff to plants. Allows the user to control the growth rate gained by each plant depending on the amount of mana used.

"Grow~ Grow~ Grow up big and strong~""Waaaah!" I shouted, running in circles.

"Upgrade!!!"

"Yes!!!!" I stopped and stared at a plant. But…Could I do—Just kidding.

"Hehe!" I giggled, happily dancing. There was nothing to stop my joy. And so, I celebrated. … Only after half an hour did I somewhat calm down. At least I wasn't acting like a kid on sugar anymore. Though, the smile wouldn't leave my face.

"Hehe!" I hugged my mouse plushy tightly. A C-rank skill. Instead of just modifying the skill as originally planned, I went a step further and modified AND ranked it up! I thought the only ways to upgrade a skill was via proficiency or the tower. I didn't know modifying one could do so too. Or, maybe there's more to it? I have been using the skill a lot. So, maybe it was just waiting for a chance to be upgraded. Whatever the case, this calls for cake! Double chocolate chocolate chip cake to be exact!

And I just so happen to have some saved in the fridge for special occasions. Bringing a slice of cake to the dining table, I happily munched away.

"Yum!!!"

"Hehe! So delicious!"

"Mmm!" After I finished that slice, I thought I deserved a bit more, so I went and got a second slice of cake!

"Hehe…" … [Me: I'm the best!] [Me: I'm the bestest!] [Me: Best!!!] [Me: (Happy raccoon icon)] [Luna:???] [Luna: Context??] [Me: The best!!!! Me!!] … It took about two hours before I finally calmed down. With everything out of my system, I sat in my room of plants.

"Hehe, you'll all grow even more from now on."

"…"

"Wait." I froze as a realization came to mind. Slowly, I turned my head towards a corner of the room. In that corner sat six planter boxers.

"Ah…My research project." I had completely ruined the project. My skill worked on any plant that 'heard' my voice, which definitely included them. Originally, the plan was to see how much more effective my skill was comparatively to not using it. I even separated them based on the type of soil used.

"Ah…" Weeks turned useless. …Though, I wasn't particularly dedicated to the project. It still felt a little sad.

"Haah, whatever." I eventually shrugged. Today was a happy day. Who cares about that project? It was a useless research topic anyway. All I needed to know was that my skill helped grow things faster. Did I really need to know the specifics? I shook my head. Perhaps this was for the better. Now, I can just focus on making all my plants grow faster. That meant, more money and more strawberries to eat!

"Hehe." Speaking of, I should dedicate a day to remaking my garden. I'll sell all the plants I don't need and only keep the strawberries. The other planter boxes can be used for alchemy materials. With the idea in mind, I set a reminder on my phone and left the room.

"Mm~" I hummed and headed towards my bed. I felt like relaxing for the remainder of the day. Tomorrow, I had a lot of work ahead of me after all. It'd be the day I'd challenge the 3rd floor.