In a matter of minutes, the minions Jin had called for assembled in the Dungeon Maker. He was patiently waiting for them at the head of the meeting table, where he was doing some finishing touches on some documents.
“What’s the special occasion that needed me to be around?” Kiyu asked while yawning as she stretched a little. The foxy maiden had arrived later than the rest as she had still been sleeping in after a series of deep reconnaissance against the Church of the Afterlife in the Dungeon World.
“Just needed your expertise on a certain topic. It should not take long.” Jin answered as he handed out the papers as well as some samples.
“Are those the seeds from Exhibit 9S-2P?” Gold asked since his nose began to start working overtime with a familiar scent in the air.
“Wow, no wonder you are called the Garden Prince.” Rei was amazed by Gold’s instant identification of the seeds that Jin was holding. To him as a layman, it appeared to be just some ordinary grey looking seeds.
“Garden Prince…?” Gold looked towards Rei and was speechless for a moment. He did not know whether to take it in as a compliment.
“Wait, don’t tell me you haven’t noticed?” Weslie turned towards Gold who now looked even more confused. “The Orcs and Goblins had been nicknaming all of us to easily identify us from the crowd.”
“Then, what are they calling you?” Gold questioned, intrigued and Weslie smiled playfully.
“You’re sitting next to the ‘Steamy Scientist’! I believed it suits me well!” Weslie answered while putting her tongue out and giving Gold a peace sign, which he literally and instantly placed his head on the table as part of his reply. It was a pun on a few levels, and he admitted that she was pretty enough to be steamy.
“I wish the System would tell me who was the one who started with all those silly nicknames. Yours is so much better than mine.” Ayse grumbled a little. “Seriously, would it be too much to ask, to come up with something more creative than “Lead Researcher’? It’s so dull and doesn’t place much of an impression on people.”
“Still sounds a million times better than ‘THAT Golem Engineer from Another World’. Just because they could not handle the fact that I could build better mechs than them.” Rei shrugged his shoulders and hoped that in due time someone might give him a better nickname.
“That seems like a ton of fun. I should mingle with the Goblins more often, so I can earn myself a nickname tooooo!” Kiyu snickered since she wanted to join in the fun and the rest chuckled along until Jin cleared his throat.
“You’re free to do as you wish in your free time, but I’ve called you guys here for a reason, remember?” Jin asked, and the rest kept quiet immediately, listening attentively to what Jin had to say.
“Thanks. Gold has correctly guessed the contents of those samples, although they’re more commonly known as ‘Blank State Seeds’ according to his notes. While the details are in the report, Gold, do you mind explaining it in your own words for now?” Jin requested, and Gold’s eyes lit up as he was more than happy to do so.
“The Blank State Seeds have been named for their ability to take on any form the one who handles them wishes for. They are usually used by mages, and the most apt comparison might be to liken them to Master’s weapons Bam and Boo. However, they are unable to shapeshift once a form has been chosen, and it is a delicate process to form exactly what a mage had in mind.”
“With Gold being the Scholar of the East, he was naturally one of the top experts in manipulating these seeds to one’s desire.” Weslie chipped in. “He and his other disciples have cultivated not just these blank state seeds but many other specialised seeds over the years to make them easier to use for the common folk. In short, they’ve been working their entire lives to create essential items for the various townsfolk.”
“But know that we regulated them so that there is no abuse! That is why we have the Royal Seeds Guild and have a Royal Seed Deposits in each and every castle. How do you think I got those Living Armour Seeds?” Gold stated, and Jin squinted his eyes.
“Hang on, didn’t you tell me they were from a merchant or something previously? Those Living Armour Seeds were from that castle’s deposit?” Jin queried, and Gold flinched as he had already forgotten about that lie from so long ago.
“Well… I did technically get those living armour seeds from a ‘merchant’. During the day he was an honest merchant, but in reality, he was a resistance member working deep undercover. He provided a lot of information being a secret info broker by occasionally giving inaccurate information to the enemy and selling us crucial information.” Gold said that there were many a time that merchant was able to save their asses because of the last minute changes in the information he received. However, there were times he had to let it happen since the Rats could get suspicious, especially when the resistance barely managed to run away for quite a number of occasions.
And when the opportunity presented himself, he broke into the castle and undid the seal of the seed deposits. Unfortunately, he got caught and had to fight his way out. He died from his injuries trying to get those seeds for me. This, I swear it’s the truth.”
“We’ve hoped to cultivate those Living Armour Seeds that you used for your System Rider and make them into part of our armour. Back then, we thought it would give us a good chance against the Demon Rats. Guess, we were quite lucky that Zeru stole them from us…” Gold sighed as he imagined what would have happened if they had never met Jin.
So what if he had created the resistance group, the Jacks? Compared to their real numbers and grand plan, the Jack’s hard earnt little victories which were meaningless on the grand scale of things. They had likely just provided some sport for the military minded Demon Rats and the traitorous Scholars that sat at the top.
But now, it would be different.
He’s in the company of Jin and other worlds combined. With their help, they had liberated many towns or as Gold dubbed it in their words, Demon Rats Internment Camps. While the people had no idea what was going on or where Gold had managed to find such help, they finally had some hope that there was a real fighting chance against the Rats. Thus, he solemnly swore that he was not going to let the Demon Rats take over the Farming World.
Therefore, whatever Jin had in mind, he would give his all to accomplish it. For that is the only sole hope that this Farming World has right now.
“Thank you, Gold. So, returning to these Blank State Seeds. The System had managed to contact the Spirits of the Land in the Farming World. Many had ignored our call previously, but for some reason, that has changed. Perhaps, they did not think it could be that dire previously, and now those Demon Rats were more than just a pain in the ass. Anyway, what matters now is that we have a clearer picture of what the Demon Rats are planning.” Jin stated.
“We thought that by taking away Weslie, they would have been severely crippled with the loss of a lead scientist. However, our thoughts were a bit too optimistic. Although they had lost one Scholar, the other two are also intelligent enough to keep that circus lot of rats running. Now that we know what we are really up against, we are going to play their game by evening out the odds with these seeds.”
“What do you mean? We only have a certain number of these seeds? There is so much we can do with … Oh wait.” Gold stopped as he remembered that Jin had something perfect for this situation. A machine that made the impossible possible. The Lost Tech Counterfeiter!
“Ahh… No wonder you asked me to see if I could improve that feisty machine.” Ayse said as she nodded her head happily, giving the sign that it had already been done. “But it will be more furious with its demands after the improvement. I don’t know how to describe it, but I feel as if it is starting to have a mind of its own.”
“Come now, don’t tell me you are not expecting that. I mean you did use a piece of the leftover broken core and an advanced black market motherboard microchip that costs tens of thousands of dungeon dollars.” Rei sighed in defeat when he remembered how Ayse dragged him to the Lost Tech Counterfeiter and forced him to fix an interface similar to Mechataur.
Ayse had been surprised by the revamp Mechataur had received through the combined effort of Niu Lang and Rei, so she immediately put their latest scientist cum engineer to good use. (Rei’s free time had been severely cut ever since Ayse’s demanded improvements on not just the Lost Tech Counterfeiter but every other machine as well.)
“It’s fine, we can just place a System Contract Inscription Charm on it, and it should more or less obey,” Jin said and the rest looked at him with a surprised look.
“Is there really such a thing?!” The minions queried and the System immediately took over.
