I just... We just... Mewtwo is the first to break in hysterical laughter. I am just speechless. This one quest... this singular quest... has unlocked at least a hundred new quests. Most are locked behind higher tier essence, but still. The branches go and go and go, growing more and more branches. so many seeds to make, so many things to create. How does that even work? How do you make the seeds in the first place?

  Well, that might be what the next quest is for.

  I also check the tutorials to see what else is needed. And oh boy I am starting to understand why botania was the first thing they got us started upon. It seems everything will be linked in some ways to mana. Here for example, we need to first combine a seed with two piles mana powder through the runic altar, first charge the altar with the two piles and then add the seed. After a tap of a wand of the forest, we would obtain a mana-charged seed. That newly obtained seed then needs to be thrown into a flower apothecary containing two prosperity shards. Then we finally get the prosperity seeds. A similar process will be necessary for prosperity ingots and gems. And although any seeds would work for the seed recipe, the ingot and gem will both ask for an iron ingot and a diamond respectively. Yeah I can see how being able to obtain necessary resources from a single plant can be useful.

  Mewtwo, still laughting at the absurd amount of quests, asks me for the necessary materials to get started. Our store of mana is still less than would be ideal, but we might as well start the process. Especially since the next quest is one that is of great interest for me.

  As much as being in the magical forest is nice and safe, I know I am still on a time limit. In about a month and a half, we will be forced to exit the Sanctuary to face the horrors of Eziakophael next weekly raid. We could then just return into the Sanctuary and get another seventy days of reprieve, but as the quests reveal themselves, I feel like we are going to need more and more space. As much as Princess has been a -mostly- gracious host. I feel like she might disagree if we were to ask for more space and start expanding our clearing. There is also the risk of attracting the hire of Eziakophael upon the Sanctuary as we grow further technologically speaking.

  As much as I wish to trust our sponsors, I do not want to gamble the lives of all those taking shelter within the magical forest. The pieces of stories I have heard from both the man named Hans Senah and his echo still play in my mind. The stories of Marble City. If what they said can be trusted, Eziakophael decided that their level of advancement was too far to his liking, and removed them. That is not something I wish to see happen here.

  However, not having a place to establish myself will be a problem for our long term development. Which is why the quest following the prosperity seeds has me relieved in some ways. the Trio really seems to have though of everything.

  After an hour of patiently waiting for our endoflames to produce the necessary mana, we finally validate the quest and unlock the next.

  Whenever I get a chip, that means a new functionality for my inventory and system, and that one might be the most important one yet. Well... I still need to make it first. And that one asks for a lot of things. First off, a bonsai pot, which in turns ask for terracotta blocks, a flower pot, and inferium farmland. From what I can see, once created, the pot will then ask for a seed and another block of farmland to operate, as well as... water? Wait but then how do I supply it when it's in my inventory? Oh... Oh that's what the inferium watering can is for. Wait, it says tier one, does that mean that chip can be upgraded? like the Storage chip? Speaking of chips, I need to turn all my wooden chips into metal equivalent. I am thinking manasteel, in the hope they can regenerate with mana when they get damaged. But back to the current problem. How are they upgraded?

  The answer is through the tiered essence. Tier two needs a tier one chip, a prudentium farmland block and watering can. Same for the next tiers. I need a farmland block a watering can made with the next tier of essence and chip from the previous tier. It would appear each tiers quadruple the numbers of available slots for growing, as well as speeding up the growing process.

  Surprisingly, any bonsai pots chips can be upgraded into their next tiers. The need for the previous material gimmick might only apply to the backpack chips. Speaking of, I can upgrade it to diamond tier can I not?

  Then I should turn it into a chip cast and... Hold on... I just realized something here. Once I make the chip cast... can't I just... duplicate them? Could I just not have infinite chips? At the cost of material still, but... I could double my inventory space could I not?

  No, you cannot. Mewtwo answer for me, his tone almost chastising me for thinking such a though.

  I look at him in curiosity. And a bit of annoyance, It still feels weird to have someone able to read any thoughs you have. But then again, do I have anything to hide form him? As I dwell for a second I realize what annoys me in this situation. I do not really mind his ability to read my thoughs, but if he can do it, who else could?

  Apologies for the mind reading. Mewtwo snaps me from my inner thoughs. I was curious to know what you were thinking. But to answer your question, You just need to read further into the chip section on the tutorial.

  I do so and wince, the Trio really did think of everything. Each chips is unique, and only the highest tier one will be applied. There is a blurb of text about how it was attempted to double the reading capacity of the onboard system, but it ended with redundant applications and overflow of the processor memory, leading to either a full system crash in the best case scenario, or complete meltdown due to overheat in the worst scenario. The workaround that was developed consists of ad-don chips, allowing to multiply some chips capacities without risks for the operating system, and only requiring higher energy consumption from the android. I have yet to find a single recipe for ad-don chips

  Weird, but I guess they are trying to ward me from experimenting too much with my body. I still will mind you!

  Anyway. I need to make a bonsai pot to start, and I also might just upgrade the inventory chip to diamond. And start the process of turning every chips into manasteel versions.

  So many things to do, better get to it!

  As I prepare myself, Mewtwo announces something that, at first leaves me in shock.

  I am going back to the underground. Mewtwo announces. Just saying that sentence makes him almost flinch. And Astra reacts in a similar manner.

  At first, the man is speechless. He looks up to meet his companion eyes, trying to make sure what he has just heard is real. When their eyes meet, Mewtwo almost look away.

  He resist the urge to do so, and instead nods at Astra. We need more crystals, and I will try to look for obsidian as well.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  "I'm coming with you!" Astra declares.

  No, you have work to do, and I would barely help you as we are now. Instead, continue with this agriculture, see how far you can go. I will be safe, do not worry. The tall psychic mon reassures his partner. Let me try to gather what is needed for us to continue that thaumaturgical path.

  Astra looks down. And Mewtwo skims through his surface thoughs. Shame, understanding, and fear. Partly one of abandonment, but also more prominently one for his well-being. They have been together for such a short time, yet it feels so much longer. He understand his worries, for similar ones runs through his own head.

  What if that decision makes Astra decide he can continue without me? Should I really leave him? Will he be alright? Could he defend himself?

  Yet as much as these worries turn within the tall pokemon head, he knows he has to do it. The Ezian plane is a cruel place, the few days they have spent upon it has been enough for them to realize. Yet he knows he has to do it. Astra has too much to do, too much that needs to be done. He knows what he is looking for, and knows where they can be found, and if he stumble upon obsidian in the process? Then the trip becomes even more beneficial for the two of them.

  After a couple seconds, the inner conflict within Astra settles. "Be careful out there." He softly says. "Oh and take these, in case you find some unlit passages."

  He hand Mewtwo dozens of torches. Thank you, be careful as well, do not burn the forest down. Mewtwo half-joke.

  "Hey! I'm not playing with fire... much." Astra pouts, glancing at both the endoflames and then the smeltery.

  With a final shared laugh, Mewtwo leaves the cottage behind.

  He makes his way back to the central tree. And from there, through the labyrinth of roots, to the cave system underground. As he travels, he looks once more at what he has to find. Vis crystals are a priority, but he also wish to find obsidian.

  The crystals are not too complicated to find. As a matter of facts, there is a large vein of growing Aer crystals just here. As he carefully rips each crystals from the wall, he keeps looking for ways to obtain obsidian. The most obvious is answers is through essence. But for that, one needs obsidian in the first place. Then there is a recipe involving bees, then one with a machine to... wait that one needs obsidian to make something not what he is looking for.

  Then he stumble upon a couple recipes similar to each others, but requiring a different machine to execute. Add water and lava and obtain obsidian. Then another series where one uses a cold imbued item to freeze lava. This makes Mewtwo curious. As he descend further within the cave complex, he tries to remember where they had found the lava lake.

  He stops at some points to collect more vis crystals. He once more has his haul float behind him in a large halo. The more crystals he adds, the more rings are added behind him. If a human were to look upon him, he could think of some creature from Hindu mythology.

  Deeper and deeper he goes. Soon his halos glow with the colors of all six types of Vis crystals. But he has not found the lake again.

  He still wishes to verify his budding theory, and therefore he continues to explore.

  He roams through the lit tunnels, going up, going down. Finding shafts that connects to tunnels he has already passed through, stumbling upon an opening to a massive fracture where only its bottom is lit. He leaves a couple of torches on the natural balconies to make sure no monsters can appear.

  And further he goes. At some point he has to backtrack, as the tunnel he takes delivers him before the barrier of the Sanctuary. He takes his time to observe it with his eyes only, still a bit nauseous at the memory of seeing it through his aura sense. The iridescent barrier is slightly slanted inward where it intersects with the ground. This confirms that the barrier is spherical in shape. It is not something that had Mewtwo fretting, but knowing it seems alleviating in some ways.

  Still, no lava to be found. For an hour he continues to roam through the lit tunnels, trying to find the place where Astra almost melted down.

  He does not find it. Instead, he finds a new tunnel, unlit and unexplored.

  Mewtwo looks at the time, almost midday. He has been down there for at least three hours, yet he still do not feel hungry in the slightest. Resolving himself, he decides to go explore the new opening. He leaves two torches at the entrance, the sign that the tunnel is unsafe and being explored, and ventures within the darkness.

  Along the dark deepslate, he finds more crystals. He has lost count on how many he now possesses. Two hundred? Three? Maybe four hundred by this point. Still, he feels like this might barely be enough. And so deeper he goes. Along the walls he finds ores ready to be harvested, but leaves them. Astra has collected enough to fill their little storage room to capacity. Iron, aluminium, copper, even gold is ignored.

  He continues deeper. A large vein of platinum taunts him, but again, they have harvested enough for their current needs.

  A growl, and a singular zombie exits from a side tunnel. Mewtwo barely pays the monster any minds, killing it in seconds and moving on. They have killed so many, still not enough in Hunt's eyes. There are quests in Hunt's part of the Quest log that asks for at least a thousand kill of any monsters to progress to their next steps. They are slowly getting there, but it will take time before they succeed. That seems to thankfully only be for the basic monsters like spiders, skeletons and zombies. They unlocked the quest for endermen, and that one only need a hundred kills for it to complete.

  Maybe they should try to hunt down enough monsters to see what is beyond this path. They should also try her trial as well. Chaos' one may have been a horror show, but he somewhat doubt that will be the case with the other two. Or maybe he is wrong? What if they derive amusement from their suffering? That is one dangerous though. Oh Trio they offered an entire community to them.

  No, they have to be... good... right? Why would they have rescued Hound's soul? Why help them so much? They may not be good, but they do not appear inherently bad either. How could a god know how their powers affect mortals? Would it even care if the end result favors it?

  Mewtwo leaves these though for later. When they take on a trial once more. Thinking of trials, he thinks they should do Knowledge first. The description makes it the safest out of the two remaining basic ones. For Hunt... he feels like they will need to prepare more than they have already.

  As he turns a corner in the tunnel, Mewtwo's thoughts are interrupted by the strange sight he behold. Before him is a large almost rectangular chamber at the limit between the layers grey stone and dark deepslate. The chamber bisected in half by the Sanctuary barrier. Lichen grows along the walls and water flows through the barrier from an underground river. The sight is mind-boggling. From outside the barrier, the water is almost still. The waves on its surface move so slowly one would swear they are frozen. Yet once the water passes the barrier, it flows like water should. Mewtwo observe the intriguing phenomena for long minutes.

  They can do that. He wonder as he looks up. They made this work, and Eziakophael may be able to do the same. Yet they use us mortals for a bet. Why?

  He remembers Chaos answer. 'So that their victory would be much more humiliating' the member of the Trio had declared. Yet that answer feels incomplete. Why would the Trio need to hide its strength? Indeed... Why are they hiding their supposed 'true strength'? Maybe we should ask this during our next trial.

  He leaves torches along the wall above the river, and moves on. As he enters yet another tunnel, his head perks up. A distant popping sound echoes along the silent underground. He recognizes this sound. Lava!

  He accelerates, eager to finally be able to try his theory. Turns after turns, he descends deeper within the bowels of the Ezian plane, until finally, he arrives into a new, massive chamber. A large underground lava lake stands before him. Low arcs of stone makes the entire chamber looks like the interior of a cathedral, half sunken within the lava. More Vis crystals grow along the walls, and ores litter the ceiling. Mewtwo even laugh as he finds a small vein of diamonds. This he collects, for their rarity makes it worth collecting. He collect the vein itself, Astra will extract the diamonds within as he sees fit.

  But soon he returns his attention to the most important thing for him. The lava lake. Just to be safe, he digs a hole near the entrance to the chamber and dumps his hundreds of crystals within. With a quick manipulation of the rocks around it, he seals them off and turns back to the lake.

  He start focusing inward. Reaching within himself, he slowly calls upon his energy, and imbues it with the water type. With a little flash, a tiny speck of water appears between his hands. As it grows, he lift it slowly above his head and soon, he is holding a large sphere of chilled water. Satisfied with its size, he lets it fall close to the ashen shore of the lake. The ball explodes in a wave of ice-cold water and sweep across a part of the lake surface. As it does, the lava it touches hiss and hardens into a stone whose dark color is reminiscent of an enderman to Mewtwo for some reason. Black with hints of purple reflections.

  Mewtwo waits for all the water to finish spreading and evaporating. Once it is done, he psychically grabs the entire slab of newly made hardened lava, and hoist it up.

  At first, he almost fail, the weight seemingly too much for him. But he perseveres, and slowly, with a wet suction sound, the somewhat triangular slab rises from its super-heated hold. Lava runs along the obsidian, returning to the lake below, and the hole left behind is slowly filled by lava. Waves of lazy molten rock impact against the hardened rocky shore, lifting away the layer of ash from it.

  Once he is sure the lava is not about to overflow everywhere, Mewtwo settle the slab some distances away from the shore and takes a closer look at it.

  The material, as stated before, is black purplish in shade, but also reflective somewhat. Slight indentations are visible all over the entire material, giving its surface an rough and uneven texture to the touch.

  Now can I break it apart to take it back to the surface? Mewtwo asks himself.

  Making sure the slab is well embedded in the cave floor, he floats to its top. He summon his psychic blade, and slashes at the material. Or at least attempts to. His first strike bounces back from the hard material.

  Undeterred, Mewtwo pours more strength into his blade. The bright purple psychic aura surrounding his three fingers flares and extends. He slashes again, this time penetrating the material, but stopping half-way through. With a grunt of effort, Mewtwo slowly cuts through an inch at a time. After a minute of efforts, the top of the obsidian triangular slab falls to the ground. The thudding sound it makes echoes throughout the cave.

  That is some hard materials, almost as hard as Astra's body currently. He looks down at his hand, and nods to himself. Still, I am sharper now.

  Mewtwo continue to dice the slab, working slowly but surely. Soon enough, the entire slab rest in cubes and pyramids. Satisfied, Mewtwo levitates every pieces and recover his crystals and diamond ores. As he is about to leave, he wonders how he could mark the way back here. A large redstone vein gives him an idea.

  Soon enough, Mewtwo is making his way back to the surface, a trail of redstone following his path.