"Is this all?"
"Yeah, we can probably just leave the rest to the village."
The so-called miracle seeds—or rather, Motoyasu's failed Bio Plants—we had slain, and we were gathering their seeds and the like.
We collected fist-sized glowing seeds, and while we were at it, tried having the Shield absorb the dried-out plants.
The Bio Plant Shield's conditions have been unlocked! The Plant Riwei Shield's conditions have been unlocked! The Mandragora Shield's conditions have been unlocked!
Bio Plant Shield Ability not yet released… Equipment Bonus, Plant Modification
Exclusive Effect — Hook
Plant Riwei Shield Ability not yet released… Equipment Bonus, Intermediate Synthesis Recipe 2
Mandragora Shield Ability not yet released… Equipment Bonus, Plant Analysis
They came from the tree connected to the plant-type shields. Others could be unlocked too, but I didn't have enough tree points yet.
"Plant Modification?"
I switched to the Bio Plant Shield and experimented to find out what Plant Modification actually was.
An icon appeared in my vision: "Please use on the seeds of the plant you wish to enchant with magic power."
For starters, I tried infusing magic power into a Bio Plant seed I'd picked up earlier.
The seed gently floated into the air.
Reproduction: 9 Productivity: 9 Vitality: 9 Immunity: 4 Intelligence: 1 Growth: 9 Mutability: 9 Special Ability
What was this supposed to mean?
I lowered a few stats to see what happened.
Beep beep beep—the numbers decreased with each press.
I tried lowering every other stat and maxing out just one.
Reproduction: 1 Productivity: 1 Vitality: 1 Immunity: 1 Intelligence: 1 Growth: 43 Mutability: 1 Special Ability
Hmm… no idea.
Oh well, I just need to max out Growth, right?
Ah, using this skill drained a huge chunk of MP.
"Lord Naofumi?"
I dropped the Bio Plant seed—one with Growth maxed out—onto a barren patch of ground.
"Whoa!"
Greenery burst forth and spread across the soil in an instant.
But then…
"Huh?"
It grew about three meters tall, and then withered and died in the blink of an eye.
"What are you doing?"
"Oh, a Plant Modification skill popped up, so I figured I'd experiment with this seed."
"Please don't do anything dangerous!"
Raphtalia scolded me.
Well, I'd probably yell at someone else for doing the same thing.
Still, this skill looked promising. With the right approach, it could become a whole new money-maker.
"Lord Naofumi, you've got a really nasty grin on your face."
Whoops—showing on my face, was it?
"Anyway, let's head back to the village."
"Sure."
We left the silent, brown wasteland of dead plants and returned to camp.
"Thank you, Hero!"
Humans sure are practical creatures.
Once I saved the village, they welcomed me with open arms.
Well, they'd have to clean the place up before anyone could live there, so I imagined things had been rough. That first day ended with clearing away the dried-out plants.
Apparently even though the main plants had withered, their fruit and root tubers survived, so there wouldn't be any food shortages for a while.
Still… I was a little worried about whether the soil itself might die for good.
"Could this lead back to famine?"
"Well… I suppose it could."
In the near future, this village might have to relocate somewhere else.
Thinking about that, I continued working on the Plant Modification.
The problem was I still didn't know what the special ability did.
Every time I checked, an icon popped up saying Plant Analysis was required.
The Mandragora Shield had that ability, so I waited for it to unlock.
…If anything, the Mandragora Shield would unlock sooner, so I left it transformed into that and went to sleep.
By the next morning it had unlocked, so I switched back to the Bio Plant Shield and continued the modifications.
Reproduction: 9 Productivity: 9 Vitality: 9 Immunity: 4 Intelligence: 1 Growth: 9 Mutability: 9 Special Ability —Withers Upon: Seed Production —Mutation Range Expansion
I see… so this was the Bio Plant's original ability.
It had been designed for food production, but the high mutability caused it to turn into monsters. That must have been the problem.
If that was the case, those ancient alchemists or whoever made them weren't entirely bad people from the roots up.
Low immunity was why the herbicide worked on them.
I checked the Special Ability icon. Various options appeared.
Similarly, Special Instructions had a whole list of selectable items.
It seemed you could sacrifice stat points to choose abilities and instructions.
The folks in this village would be in real trouble if another famine struck with things as they were.
So I decided to experiment with the modifications.
Reproduction… 4. This was straight-up growth rate. It was a bit too high, so I'd lower it.
Productivity… 15. This was the ability to bear fruit and such. I wanted it high enough to end the famine.
Vitality… 6. The power to sprout from any soil. I'd drop this a little.
Immunity… 4. Resistance to disease. I'd leave this alone since it needed to stay vulnerable to herbicide.
Intelligence… 1. What even was this? Monster intelligence? I saw no reason to raise it.
Growth… 15. How fast the plant grew after being planted. I'd pump this one up.
Mutability… 1. This was probably what caused monsterization.
Special Abilities — I released Mutation Range Expansion and used the freed-up points to add Crop Quality Improvement.
Withers Upon: Seed Production, Quality Improvement
"Done."
"What did you do?"
Raphtalia appeared half-asleep, looking over at me and asking.
The previous day, the villagers had insisted we stay, calling us "Saint" and "Divine Bird," so we'd spent the night in the village.
The food was reasonably tasty—or rather, it was the tubers and fruits of the Bio Plants.
Annoying plants, sure, but they tasted good.
If the improvements worked out, they might even become the village's specialty product.
"Oh, just continuing from yesterday."
"You were still at it…"
"You know we can't just leave things as they are, right?"
A famine would eventually hit this place. We had to find a way to stop it.
Sure, some might suggest buying supplies from other regions, but the population was too large for that to work.
And long-time residents wouldn't easily uproot and move somewhere new, I figured.
"Right then."
I climbed down from the wagon and dropped seeds onto the barren earth.
Whoosh—plants grew from the seeds, spreading across a corner of the village ruins that had been stained brown.
"Wh-what's happening?!"
The others resting in camp rushed over in alarm.
"Sorry—just running a little experiment."
"What are you doing?"
Whether out of fear of plants or something else, the villagers asked timidly.
"An experiment to turn them into safe plants… sort of."
Because reproduction was low, the plants would spread to a certain range and then stop growing any further.
And then—
Pop, pop—little red, tomato-like fruits appeared, glistening with freshness. The base plant seemed to be tomato-related.
"I think it was a success."
"Whoa…"
"The problem is it's just one type. Whether to use it is up to you guys, but if things go sideways, act before it gets as bad as last time."
So the Mutation Range Expansion and Mutability had produced a wide variety of fruits at the cost of a risk of monsterization.
I spread herbicide to wither the plants and turn them back into seeds. Then I handed those seeds to the man who seemed to be the local lord.
"And with that, we'll be heading out. Take care."
Filo, who'd woken up, was still stuffing her cheeks with the remaining tomato-like fruits as she pulled the wagon out.
"Please wait!"
"Hmm? What is it?"
"I haven't been able to properly thank you yet. Please, at least—"
"Were they just offloading surplus stock on me because they couldn't sell it all?"
"Wh-what gave you that impression?"
Currently, my convoy had grown to four wagons.
Behind the lead wagon were three more carts, loaded with crops harvested from the Bio Plants.
They'd been gifted to me along with the carts.
They'd handed them over with smiles, so I had no choice but to accept—but I was starting to suspect it was awfully convenient for them.
Despite the massive load, Filo cheerfully pulled the whole thing along.
"Heavy means fun!"
Filolials really were strange monsters.
Rattle, rattle—the wagons shook as the journey continued.
Incidentally, I discovered that the herbicide could be used as a weapon, so when Trents spawned and I tried to spray them, it bounced right off.
…It apparently only worked on plant-type monsters with parasitic abilities.
I couldn't figure out the criteria.
Or maybe Bio Plants weren't monsters at all—just ordinary plants.
Oh well. Now that I had Raphtalia and Filo with me, I didn't really need to fight personally anymore.
For now, let me just focus on figuring out what to do with all this food I couldn't finish.
Come to think of it… I'd heard a rumor about a famine up north. Maybe I'd head there and sell.
"Alright, let's head north!"
"Okay~!"