Re: Evolution Online

"Hmmm?" Liam closed his eyes and opened them once again, only to see the scenery still the same as before. He was sitting in the middle of a garden? 

He stared dazedly at everything around him. He did not even know at what point he had closed his eyes. 

A few hours in, he suddenly felt as if he grasped something, but when he tried to think about it, unknowingly, he had closed his eyes and spent a lot of time in that state.

Not that he remembered what he was thinking about. It was like a dream that he did not remember now that he was awake.

Liam hurriedly looked at the stone tablet again,  only to see the same old stone slab with words inscribed on it. However, now there was an additional faint glow surrounding it.

It was just like when he had seen the stone tablet for the first time. He had not gained anything from it yet, but it felt as if the tablet had acknowledged him?

Liam sighed and stood up to take a look around. Just like at the ogre demon's place, this room as well magically became a garden.

There were several trees, plants, a vast blue sky, chirping birds, and a gentle breeze. It was a pleasant evening atmosphere.

Amazed once again at how these things could pop out of a stone world, Liam walked around and took a look.

Soon he found a familiar face.

The white fox that usually roamed around him was now diving in and out of the small pond near the center, having a great time by herself.

Liam shook his head helplessly and left her to play. He then continued his walk, taking a look at everything around him.

All of this was indeed amazing, but the thing was… he had still not made any progress towards that recipe that he needed so desperately.

Just how long was it going to take before he made any headway in it…? He did not even have a single clue which was very frustrating.

Liam let out a long sigh and then turned around to return back to the spot where the stone tablet was placed.

All of this was like a world that had popped out around the stone tablet, but the tablet was still at the center of this small world.

Liam walked back to the stone tablet and sat down in front of it. The atmosphere this time was a lot more relaxing, but he couldn't care less about it.

It mattered very little if he was attempting this monstrous recipe in a desert or a cave or a pleasant environment like this.

The problem was never the ambiance. The problem was the recipe. 

Something was missing, or rather maybe he failed to see something or understand something crucial, which was why every single time it was blowing up in his face.

And now there was another problem also. It was not as if he had an endless supply of herbs to train this recipe, he only had a few more sets which gave him about twenty more tries.

From this point onward, every single attempt must be done carefully. Liam tried to go over the recipe again mentally and thought about where he could possibly go wrong.

However, he suddenly noticed something strange from the corner of his eyes.

Adjacent to him, on a small patch of land… there was something familiar growing…

Hmmm… Liam was now truly speechless. Perhaps because he had been cooped up here for so long… he really lost it this time?

He blinked his eyes several times, rubbed his hurriedly, and then looked again. No, he had not gone crazy. It was still there!

He slowly stood up in complete and utter shock and went over to that small patch of land. He took a deep breath, squatted in front of the land, and looked at it, his eyes wide like boiled eggs.

"How is this possible…"

Liam still couldn't believe it. He slowly stretched his hand out and touched the small plants growing on this patch of land.

These were not ordinary plants… rather… they were the same herbs that he was thinking about seconds ago and worrying that he was about to run out of them!

How could they possibly be growing in this place!

This couldn't be a simple coincidence!

He sucked in a big breath of air again and directly plucked one of the herbs. He took it closer to his face and examined it carefully.

The same smell, the same coarse, grainy texture. More importantly, it wasn't a sapling or an aged plant. It was ripe.

The plant was grown to perfection!

Liam ran his fingers over the leaves and looked up to see the rest of the patch when once again, his jaw dropped to the ground.

He still hadn't gotten over the previous shock, but now there was another one!

On the spot that he had just now plucked a herb, he saw another herb. It was the same as before, in ideal condition, ripe and grown to perfection.

"What is this place… what is this tablet?" Liam stared at the whole thing, falling back in shock. He crumpled the herb in his hand and threw it in front of him.

Yup, it was very real.

This means that… this stone tablet was truly a treasure… a treasure he couldn't even begin to understand.

So what if this single recipe did not work! In his hand, there was a gold mine! With his, he no longer needed to scavenge for herbs and waste his time!

Liam hurriedly tried to see if this also worked for other herbs. 

"How do I activate this?" He closed his eyes and thought about another recipe, the high grade health potion recipe that he did not have the herbs for.

He gulped and gave it another two good minutes just in case.

Did it work?

He flashed his eyes open to see… there was now a second patch of land with a bunch of herbs growing on it.