A New World, An Immersive Game Experience

While waiting for Vivian to reply, Eldrian sorted out his thoughts. He considered for a moment his own auras and how they were part of his lifeforce, or rather his soul which was made up of his lifeforce. How his auras were based on emotions and trying to figure out how this could be linked to belief.

'The clearest link is that belief is often strongest in extreme situations, when emotions are high. Is it then belief that might have altered the flowers, or perhaps these extreme emotions where people might pray for it to work? But how would the latter affect all plants? Am I simply overthinking things?'

"The mortem was surrounded with this light gray light, the vita instead with a vibrant green and even a little bit of gold," Vivian replied after carefully recalling how hard it had been to see the little golden hue. These lights surrounding the flowers were basically still part of the flower. The space it covered was far less than a millimeter.

'Gold... That might present divinity. Why did the mortem then lack it? Or perhaps-' Eldrian paused midstep, "Did the mortem have a darker layer closer to it. Where did you see the gold on the vita?"

"It isn't that simple. The glows were right against the flowers, the only reason I managed to see the gold was because it was so different from the green. It's not like they expanded from the flower into the air..." Vivian paused as she realized a crucial fact.

"It's actually very much how I see people's souls. It was like it phased over where the flowers were." Sadly she had found that she could no longer see the lights upon cutting the flowers.  Whether this was because the flowers simply lost their connection to the rest of the plant or because they were slowly dying she wasn't certain.

"Perhaps the gold represented the flower's life?" Vivian mumbled but quickly thought that couldn't be since the mortem had no such color. At least she had failed to find it. "What is it then?"

"Was the light glows next to the mortem flower dark gray or black?" Eldrian asked, the difference was an important one.

"There's no way to tell. Why?"

"I remember that death mana itself represented as a gray mist or smoke. Hazy and unclear, almost like a gray filter covered the area. However, any undead aura itself had been black. I'm not sure what it signifies, but be it the aura of revenants or the bonds of skeletons, they are all pitch black."

'But perhaps if I can see them it means they are simply denser collections of death-mana?' Eldrian thought, but he wasn't sure. His unique ability, Scourge of Undeath, which he gained from his title curse breaker was possibly the reason he could see this specific darkness—allowing him a glimpse into what Vivian saw daily.

"Are you saying that this black darkness is a miasma that creates undead?" Myropsis questioned, it sounded extremely dangerous to her if that was the case.

"The miasma that appears when many undead gathers certainly appears black but I can't be certain it isn't just a darker gray. But if it is black and not a darker gray then perhaps it is the color of all things that have a direct connection with death?"

"What would that mean?" Myropsis asked though Vivian appeared enlightened.

"Perhaps we are only overanalyzing. But I am thinking that perhaps the gold represents the belief that the flower is connected with life directly, and conversely, the black around the mortem flower -if it is black- is its connection with death or the afterlife. Though I have no idea what this connection would actually mean for us."

'Perhaps it might be a bridge to the realm of souls?' Eldrian pondered but quickly dropped the idea. It would be far to convenient if that was the case.

"If that is true, does that mean the mortem flowers are undead flowers?" Vivian asked but as soon as the words left her mouth she denied them. The flower was growing, it was most certainly living.

"Maybe it simply is encapsulated in death? Or maybe we are making completely false assumptions due to lacking some fundamental knowledge? We need to discuss this with Erik." Eldrian had learned his lesson in jumping to conclusions or into the deep end, he would keep an open mind until things became clearer.

"Why him?" Myropsis asked, irked for some unknown reason.

"Because I just learned I tend to jump to what interests me without tending to the basics. Erik already has a proper understanding of alchemy and botany. He would be much better at this than me. I already have too much on my plate."

"I also have some experience in alchemy." Myropsis voiced, this wasn't the first time Eldrian ignored her and it was aggravating.

"Sure, but he is a dryad and was able to tell what plants were feeling upon touching them when he first arrived in this world. That is another really important part of this. Akarui will also be a massive help if she has some strange insights."

Hearing this, Myropsis nodded. Indeed with this information added he sounded like the better candidate, but it still didn't make her feel much better. While she was, at least on paper, the strongest person here—she often felt like the most useless. Largely because she was relearning magic from the start instead of just modifying her base of spells, but that of course she didn't allow into the equation. Completely forgetting that she was busy mastering a new way of using magic.

Seeing that the conversation was dying down Eldrian wanted to return to the library to read some more. But they had finally made it outside and he might as well enjoy lunch with them before rushing back to work.

...

Back in the library after a very enjoyable lunch discussing some topics and even teasing one another about this and that, Eldrian felt completely refreshed.

On the way back to the library he had messaged Erik to ask for his help which had been the best choice Eldrian could have made. What they had thought was something extremely rare and strange, Erik confirmed was actually quite common. There were plenty of non-magical plants that had magical effects. Or at least, they seemed to present magical effects.

While Eldrian had made himself at home in the duke's castle, Myropsis's home, Erik had decided to stay in the lower parts of the city. There he continued to hone his craft, making a great deal of money by selling his uniquely effective potions at lower prices than normal.

In his spare time, he experimented with farming on a plot of land he had bought in the outer parts of the city. While he was experimenting he also gained plenty of all sorts of plants, this cheap source allowed him to beat most of the competitive prices.

In his experiments, Erik was testing various farming arrays and their differing effects on a variety of plants. With Akarui's help, he had almost immediately found that certain arrays favored certain types of plants. Either doubling their rate of growth or halving the required mana costs.

This knowledge was certainly worth a great deal of money, but Erik wasn't so heartless to keep to himself when it could save so many lives. He had shared his findings with Pelaros, having jumped to Kynigo to help them optimize their farms.

However, his knowledge of which arrays worked best with magical plants he kept to himself.