After taking on my Earth Elemental Affinity, I became a Creeper once again and set myself into a working rhythm for the remainder of the day. And yes, it does occur to me that there are implications if you remove context here.

Please don't remind me and make me feel even worse about it.

Creating a mana crystal for my summons came first; all three of them had a crystal capped out at 80 MP before the end of the day. Only one problem: they didn't seem able to give any MP. Whether or not it was because they were summons or not hadn't been apparent at the time so I decided I would teach them.

And that's the real crux of the issue as it stands.

So... um... you just... move your mana. Just think of it all flowing into the crystal.

Bomber and Ivy had set their weapons down and sat beside the wall of their home. Bomber turns the crystal over and lightly banks it on the ground, while Ivy sets it against her forehead and keeps her eyes closed. Ropert is coiling around it and squeezing it.

Explaining how I move mana is almost inexplicably easier when I do it for you guys.

Explaining it to them... isn't going well, to put it bluntly. After almost an hour, we've got nowhere. One idea so far has been that my INT stat is just so insanely high that it's easier for me to move and utilize mana.

Definitely no chance of it being solely due to my explanations.

Don't judge me like that; how would you explain something that literally feels like nothing else you've ever experienced in a normal world? My explanations alone of what I experience are just gleaming into what it really feels like interacting with everything around me.

People may not appreciate the comparisons I make nor my inability to explain it to them, but it really isn't as simple as I'd love to make it sound. It feels like opening or having a new part of you, interacting with things both nearby and afar.

Kinda like a cheesy version of what people call "chi" I guess. There's just an energy around me that I feel but not necessarily can draw on. Just because I can move and direct my mana, it doesn't mean that I can pull all the mana out of the air and use it to refill my MP.

Or, if I can, I just don't understand the concept well enough yet to do it.

For now, just keep trying with the instructions I gave when you guys have free time. I'll try to think of a better way to explain it.

It's not a great answer but it's good enough for all of my summons. Bomber lets the necklace fall slack and heads out first, whilst Ivy plops down beside the stairway to keep fiddling with hers. The female ranbli must be on her break still.

... Master.

Ropert?

I turn and look at the Creeper Thorn. Without a face, it is a bit hard to know where to look... but I guess it's only fair since I have no face, either.

Ropert, you can talk?

The vine raises one of its ends; many of its stemming leaves curl around it, forming a shape similar to a flower when aiming itself at me.

Yes. I did not... feel that speaking was appropriate given what happened many days ago.

Holy shit.

I finally have someone to talk to! Or, I guess, think with. The semantics really don't matter right now.

It's fine. It should be me apologizing for summoning you just to kill you. I just wish-

Master, if I may?

The interrupting plant sways over, uncoiling from the gem and hoisting it up for me to view.

Would it not be easier to fill these yourself if you require them filled? Our failures should not stymie your progress.

Ropert really is too kind. Rather than take the crystal back, I lower my staff and push it back toward his collective length.

No, it's fine. As you might guess, I'm not trying to rush filling them. I'm hoping to teach you all to fill these as your lack of magic makes it ideal for recharging them. If I only need to worry about filling one crystal instead of four, it takes a lot of stress of managing my MP.

The Creeper Thorn looks between the crystal and I but ultimately Ropert seems to agree.

At the very least he doesn't keep trying to give it to me.

Master, you have me processing these bodies... but may I offer a suggestion for the meat's use?

My summon has ideas on how to deal with our massive body problem, huh?

Okay. Run it by me.

Burn it.

Aaaaaand I have a pyromaniac plant for a summon.

Burn it? Seriously? How exactly do you or I do this safely? Even if Bomber and Ivy were to handle it, it'd still completely cover the dungeon in a horrible smell and-

Master, I mean why do you not burn it back down to its core state? As a Mage, should you not be able to process mana?

Now I get it. Ropert's idea isn't a bad one at all; in theory, using all of their bodies and bones would definitely allow me to get a ton of mana. But, unlike me, he only understands the basics of magic from likely interpreting my stray thoughts through our Master-Summon bond. Or, at least, I hope it's something like that and I'm not just an idiot.

Trying that isn't a bad approach but I don't have the Elemental Affinity for Death. That's likely the requirement to process bodies into mana, right?

... You are probably correct, Master. Then, I offer a second solution.

...

If you told me that my plant was a pyromaniac, I'd have laughed. The idea of that is pretty suicidally ridiculous but at least it has some semblance of comedy.

That would be a lot better than my plant telling me to feed these bodies to the extremely powerful Amassed Creeper Thorn that I was planning to harvest.

After he told me the idea, I figured I would at least try it out. My Codex didn't update for any of the new creatures I had killed and only had the basic entry descriptions for the Ranbli Kid and other Ranbi evolutions. Both the Creeper and Ranbli Kid might have been "acquired" through myself and the duo, but it looks like updating the Codex isn't wanting to happen off just anything.

But back to the topic at hand before I get lost in theories and tangents.

Time to toss this bundle of ranbi bits into the vines. Here goes nothing... and...

All the vines moved to catch it at once, immediately taking the vine-bound chunks deep inside its mass.

Relationship with Amassed Creeper Thorn increased by 1.

So giving it gifts of meat satisfies it? Is this the thing that the Omega originally wanted dead? Is it at war with the ranbi? If it can eat almost a pound of meat or quickly hide it without a trace, it's not rocket science to understand why it would be a threat.

More importantly, what does this thing need with meat? The only thing I can imagine is it's trying to break it down and turn it into nutrients... but if that is the case, this giant mass of blobs must have pretty significant intelligence.

[Notification] Conditions met. Granting title... New Title: Wilderness Appeaser Gift-giving is a great way to make friends. Especially when you need to make friends with monsters.

Passive Effect

+ 1 LUCK

Equipped Effect

N/A

Another point of LUCK isn't something to raise my branches at.

But I can't help wonder what exactly the Relationship thing is about. I don't know of any relationship stat for my summons, yet now this introduces a system I can't track.

Not to mention that it's insane that it knew I did this, yet I didn't offend it or make it hate me when I cut off pieces of it?

... Does it actually not care if I cut parts of it off? Maybe the huge bastard is so big that I barely even cut off any HP when I trim this part of him.

Ropert better not get this big and cause me this much trouble. If there's even a chance of that, I'll never let him evolve.

Now that I'm here though, I might as well give him another trim.

After I'm done, I'll bring him back more food and-

Master, did it go well?

Ropert's voice in my head makes me panic-swing and smack at the grass bordering the pathway back.

ROPERT DON'T DO THAT! God...s, you scared the hell out of me.

Apologies, Master. I will pay my penance with silence and-

NO!

[Notification] Ability detected. Progress surpassed the required threshold.

Granting Ability: Anger Control.

I hate this system, so so much.

Anger Control Learned Personal-type You have faced strong rage and bottled it back down enough times to earn recognition. You mad, bro?

Allows suppression of anger and rage once per day, no matter how great.

You will not contain my rage, notifications.

Ropert, your punishment is that you are not allowed to be silent. Now, bring me more of the stuff we can't compost. We're going to start piling the bodies up here so that I can dispose of them once per day.

Understood, Master. And what do you wish of me once they are all moved?

... Hm.

I've been meaning to ask something since I can actually communicate with you more clearly. I take it that you can't see where I am, correct?

Ropert doesn't immediately reply. However, he doesn't make me wait long before responding with shame.

No, I cannot.

I see. When I get back, you and I are going to experiment with pruning.

Pruning, Master? You mean to harm one of us?

At least he has some semblance of what I'm getting at.

Yes. We're going to see how cutting part of you off affects you. Depending on how well it works, I may have finally found a purpose for you to tackle whenever there aren't bodies to process and move.