Fighting to be Kind in a Cultivation World

“Yes, and I really appreciate you taking the time to help me with this.”

In response, she gives a wry smile.

“I wish I could spend more time with you, especially since you’ve already done so much for me. Though, there are so many things happening right now, that I need to handle… Groups looking to invade the caves, testing our defenses covertly, and even having to manage our own ‘allies.’”

For the last part of her sentence, she uses ‘air’ quotes. Another thing our cultures share.

Her eyes close, and she heaves an enormous sigh.

“That’s not even including coordinating the spiders… Unfortunately, Ai and Lin don’t have the connections or knowledge to navigate those political spheres, yet. My every moment is filled with managing that aspect.

“However, I really value you and what you’ve done for me. For all of us. I’ll see if there is anything I can do on that front, to change it as we go forward, though.”

I can see a slight blush and a less wry smile cross her face, “It will be nice to just relax, once things calm down. It really is nice to be around someone who I can just relax with.”

I can’t help but smile at her at this.

She hesitates before continuing. “Honestly, I was a worried at first that all of this was a plan to control me. That healing me and taking away the curse, was all part of a way to use me. Even if I was the one to approach you, I didn’t know enough about you, to know if you could use that taming ability on me…”

I can barely hear a soft laugh come from her, “What I’m pretty sure of now, is that even if you could use that ability, you would practically fall over yourself to protect us from it. You’re a bit of a strange one for thinking that way.

“But… I’m truly happy that it was you that Lin had brought back. With or without the abilities.”

That’s…. quite nice to hear, honestly. She didn’t have to say that, but that makes me feel like I am more than my abilities to her. I think she mainly views me as someone she can relax around more than anything.

A comfortable silence floats between us before she coughs.

“Well, let’s start tomorrow with your training. Until then, if you can help with the farm and fix the seeds, that would help a ton.”

With a nod, we head our separate ways.

I head down to the first layer of ‘farms’. The ones that are meant to be found, if someone gets deep enough.

As I go through the snaking hallways, using my intuitive search, I find Gong wasn’t lying when she said she was busy with a bunch of different things.

There are now subtle signs, almost at every branch. She must have had the spider’s web this up for us, so we could know where to go. Listing directions and general room types, it is quite useful in knowing where to go. The farm section branches away from the path to the underground river.

My low tier scan reveals that on the way to the path to the underground river is a connection to the deeper and hidden portions of the larger and important farms. I focus my thoughts on the first layer before going any deeper into it.

As I walk through to the cave entrance, an interesting site is open to me. This room is practically covered in the lighting stones, making the area uncharacteristically bright compared to the other areas.

In fantasy stories, I’ve always heard about how underground stones or fungus lighting can make it look like stars in a night sky, subtly lighting up a dark and oppressive night.

This was not that.

Literally, fifty percent of the walls and ceiling, are covered in these lighting stones. Even part of the ground has then stuck in. It’s basically daytime down.

It even feels a slight bit warm.

A shiver goes down my back, as think to check for radiation.

Looks normal. Phew.

Moving on.

Lined along some parts of the floor are rows of ‘tilled’ ground being worked by teams of spiders of various sizes.

It looks like most of the effort from the spiders, was and is oriented to making this area okay for seeds. In contrast to other open areas I’ve seen, the ground here does seem softer… for some reason.

This must be why she chose this spot for the farm. The part I’m standing in hasn’t been touched by the spiders, but is still this soft. I wonder why it is like this.

My curiosity gets the better of me, as I analyze the area around me, picking up some of the dirt. Since I already had a constant low tier scan on, I was aware of my surroundings. However, the in-depth intuitive analysis really helped me to understand the situation.

“It’s giant worm dung.” I say out loud.

Of course. How could it be anything, but poop? At least, it seems that this area hasn’t been visited by a creature that large in a long time.

Interestingly enough, I was able to figure out that this was the product of a bunch of dog-sized, baby giant worms, as they slowly moved their way through the ground. It looks like the other parts of their exit from this area have long been crumbled and then self-reinforced by rock formations.

Moving my mind away from the worm poop, I focus on the spiders, still tilling the soil and placing seeds. Walking my way through the rows, I use my scan and healing to begin removing the replanting restrictions from the seeds. Surprisingly, these seeds adapt quickly from my healing abilities special quirk, that allows improvement on the healing. While they won’t need sun, per say, they will need even more resources to survive.

So, in the interim, they will need plenty of healing to stay alive. At least until a certain point, when we can regularly get them what they need to live. After that, for replanting and etc., they should be good!

I’m actually surprised by how excited I am that this worked. It looks like the seeds we used for this area were mostly meant for shady areas and it wouldn’t be a stretch to assume that there could be a variant. Seeing the success of the healing, is an amazing sign that things could go well for the other farming layer.

That one will definitely have items that are NOT meant to be grown without sun. I’m not worried, though. If these were able to change over, I believe with time, the others can be converted as well.

… what is a bit frightening to think about, is how this could be applied to a person. If a person was constantly drowned, but healed of it… would they gain the ability to breath underwater? Or not breath at all?

What frightens me, as I query it, is the answer.

It depends.

I immediately turn my mind away from that train of thought. It scares me to have the potential for that much power. What is comforting is that it feels like the general answer is no, though.

Almost unbidden, I can feel the hints of answer.

The gifts that were given to me by the omniscient being have some soft restrictions to them. Specific things were removed from the abilities to make sure they don’t cause issues. Or abuses. Even as I grow into the abilities, there will be things that I just can’t do. And I should just accept that.

I try to probe deeper, but even the vestiges of an intense scan don’t pull anymore answers regarding this.

I’m definitely not going to push it any farther. That’s for damn sure. I’m not the type of guy who looks a gift horse in the mouth. I get the feeling that going further than this will cause more issues than anything else.

Going with the flow, I move on from this and begin thinking about next steps.

I’ll need to go down to the next level after finishing this area up. I’ll see if those seeds can change, make sure the whole batch is set, and then head aboveground to take care of that section.