Marigold - A LitRPG

After the sudden attack by the [Valley Nymphs], it became clear to me that we needed to further reinforce our defenses. This time, we were lucky to only be attacked by small creatures with inferior strength. But if even these "Weak" creatures managed to infiltrate our defenses and make their way to the gardens, then what can we do against larger creatures?

At least they gave a lot of XP. They made a mess of the gardens, or rather, Trouble made a mess of them. Speaking of Trouble, we had to call in Jon and Zuki to neutralize him. Despite his extensive wounds, Trouble was still in a state of rage induced by his skill, which left him in a berserker state.

It took until the skill's effects wore off to heal Trouble's wounds. Speaking of wounds, they were intense and extensive, serious enough that I personally needed to step in and bathe Trouble in my strongest healing abilities. It's a little disturbing to see muscles, tendons, veins, and blood regenerating before your eyes, but I also can't lie and say it's not kind cool.

The pain Trouble felt spread through the link like a stone hitting a lake, but unlike what I expected, what came wasn't a "shared pain." but rather a discomfort so great it made me want to rip off my skin just to scratch underneath.

Some members of the hive felt the pain Trouble felt, so much so that they fell to the ground, immobilized by the pain. But this only happened to lower-level members of the hive. Members of the inner circle felt a throbbing, irritating pain, like the pain of a rotten tooth pulsing through their entire body, while stronger members like Hans and Ken felt only discomfort.

As queen of the hive, I felt everything and nothing at the same time. It's strange to describe exactly; it's as if my body was feeling everything the members of the hive linked to me were feeling, but at the same time, everything linked to me was "diluted" in a way that became something new and strange.

I don't know if it's a good thing. I used to feel real pain when someone in the hive got hurt, so much so that I needed Steve to numb the link between me and the hive members so I could stop feeling it. But after that event, I realized something had changed.

And I don't know why.

When we were attacked by that disgusting human, the pain still rippled through the link like a radio signal. I could feel everything to the point of having to grit my teeth, but since... The boys and I fought together? The link seems to have... "evolved"? - If that's even possible.

Honestly, I know nothing about the link. It's not a skill, a talent, or something built into the system. It's just a racial trait of my species that comes without an instruction manual or guide. I don't know its potential, limits, or full uses. The link is a huge unknown that's an essential part of my life, but at the same time, I have no idea how to use it accurately, or even "correctly."

If I'm going to debate the link, I think I'll be here all day. I definitely need to invest some staff—no. I think I need to create a club dedicated to researching and testing the link. Some things about the link need to be tested and questions need to be answered, for example, why do some members of the hive have a natural talent for using the link, while others don't?

A clear example of this is a clear distinction between me and Hans. Hans has always had a deeper understanding of how to use and feel the link since the moment of his birth. He could send memories, messages, and even converse telepathically, while I needed to become a monk to sense Hans's general direction.

Then came the first generation of workers. Steve ended up being a slap in the face to Hans regarding his talent with the link, while the others had some unique or more abstract understanding of how to use the link. Levi was the first member of the hive to use the link to "Create Images." meaning he used the link to create something new using existing memories, while other members discovered things like "Replaying Memories." "Infiltrating Minds." "Entering Dreams." and various things like that.

It seemed a bit unfair to me that I have a negative talent for using the link when I'm the root of everything, but I must admit that I never bothered to try either, not until recently.

These days I can get by with the link, jumping from consciousness to consciousness through my hive members, seeing through their eyes and hearing through their ears, but it took a lot of real effort, and I'm nowhere near doing things like Steve who can link to multiple hive members and see through their eyes like a security guard looking at dozens of screens at once.

Once we resolved the invaders, I ran to Morthak to ask what the hell these [Valley Nymphs] were, and the answer I got was worthy of a connoisseur of varied experiences. From what Morthak told me, these nymphs are creatures that burrow into the ground during the winter and emerge in early spring when they sense changes in soil temperature. They are creatures born of the "elements of nature."

In other words, the reason we didn't notice them until the last second was because they didn't force their way in, they dug in.

Morthak also said that the younger versions of these creatures are very abundant in this region, and that the versions we attacked were the adult versions. Apparently, these things multiply very easily, but their young are very weak, and few survive long enough to make it through the winter.

For some reason, these things remind me of cicadas. They have this burrowing and hibernation thing, and are they sort of like some kind of insect/plant? The only difference is that these things apparently have elemental affinities, which is a bit worrying.

The orchid-like being could manipulate the wind with a single glance, a very strange ability, to be honest. The thing could literally create bursts of lightning speed wind bursts with just a glance. Of course, this turned out to be its weak point, since we only needed to attack a blind spot to deliver a fatal blow.

The other creature looked like a violet and had poisonous abilities on par with or even superior to Aldy's. It also had the ability to spread this poison through a dangerous purple smoke. We don't know if it had any other special abilities besides these, because well, Trevis wasted no time in slitting this thing's throat.

And the last and most dangerous was the sunflower version: beams of light, light missiles, speed, and distraction abilities. The creature had basically a complete arsenal. I didn't even know that something like [Light] was a real affinity, but to be fair, if something like [Mud] and [Earthquakes] can be an affinity, then [Light] isn't that great. This creature's mistake was letting itself get distracted, because perhaps if it had focused on surviving, it could have escaped us with its abilities.

It's a shitty world. I feel bad about killing these things, but not bad enough to dwell on it, just bad enough to ensure they're buried with dignity rather than dismantled and consumed by the hive.

Again, it's a shitty world. If I hadn't done anything, these things probably would have taken over the gardens, attacked us, and in the worst case scenario, killed us. Of course, there's the possibility of a scenario where we could have been friendly; perhaps our similar natures would have made coexistence possible, but I'm not taking any chances, not with the hive.

"Damn it, are you some kind of Fay? This is getting ridiculous." Morthak said indignantly as a small cloud of bees poured iced tea from a teapot made of wood and wax into a carved wooden cup.

Sitting at a wooden table that seemed to have grown straight out of the ground, surrounded by flowers and shrubs, clouds of tireless bees worked tirelessly on the landscape around us, protected by a beautiful sunshade made of silk and roots, Morthak and I relaxed sociably while the hive worked at full steam, building walls, paving the floor, and erecting wax walls.

"Hmhp—What are you talking about?" I asked with my mouth full, confused by Morthak's indignation.

"Damn it, girl, look at this!" Morthak said, picking up the plate from the table containing some sweets made of crystallized honey and wild berry jam. "What kind of being living in the middle of the forest has access to such privileges? And what the hell have you done on the earth? Why is there magical energy flowing beneath our feet? And what the hell are those strange things emanating that disconcerting energy?" Morthak asked, visibly irritated.

After swallowing the sweets, I thought about the situation for a bit. Using the magical energy poles with Morthak here was indeed very risky. Using poles that emanate magical life energy directly on the earth is like shouting to the world, "Hey! I'm here and I can use magical life energy!! Will someone please notice me!?" But again, I didn't have many real options in my nonexistent deck of options.

And honestly, I swore Morthak was playing Egyptian and pretending he didn't know anything about my "unique" affinity. I thought he already knew the nature of my mana—because, well, it's Morthak, the same guy who can summon a specter that forces me to tell the truth, so I didn't think I, of all people, would be able to hide anything from him.

But apparently, he just doesn't know. He definitely has some idea about my affinity, but apparently he doesn't know it's [Life]. On second thought, if according to Morthak, things like [Life], [Death], and [Time] aren't affinities, then it doesn't make sense for him to suspect I have one. Logically, he should be thinking about something else.

"Um, I can't tell you exactly what they are... But just stay away from them, okay? They're not perfect and could explode at any moment." I said, swallowing another tasty treat.

'Oh god—I've missed that divine flavor so much~'

My species seems to have a distinct taste for sugar and its byproducts. We can live on other things, but oh god, how I love sugar. I was never a sweet tooth when I was human, but now I don't think I can live without it.

"And about the earth..." I began, still chewing. "It's just a root system to feed our facilities with magical energy. It's not ideal, but it's what we can do for now. And about my sweets, know that this is just the tip of the iceberg! Ugh—I miss my nectar shakes so much, oh my~ I would give an arm right now for a caramel pie with Bulgarian nectar." I said, remembering the taste of the caramelized pie.

The saying "You only appreciate something when you lose it" is very true. I never thought I'd miss some insignificant sweets in the grand scheme of things, but damn, I'm craving sugar! I think this might just be the effect of eating nutrient blocks that taste like tallow and earth for too long.

"Are you going to take me to the land of the Fay if I eat this stuff?" Morthak asked, picking up one of the sweets with his fingertips as if it were a bag of shit.

"What are you talking about, old man? I'm not even a fay. I once had the option to evolve into one, but that was a long time ago. Speaking of which, what are they? Even you look scared of some fairy tale fairies." I said.

"Girl, shut your mouth." Morthak said, visibly uncomfortable. "You really must not be one of them if you can spout such nonsense without fearing today might be your last day on earth." Morthak said.

"Uh—Are they dangerous? The fairies? Seriously? I thought Fays in general were cute, delicate little creatures—"

"Don't use that name, girl!" Morthak said, putting his finger to his mouth as a sign of silence.

"What name?" I asked doubtfully.

"The F-word. The Fay as a whole hate being called that; it's offensive to them. You have to be very careful around these beings. They may be part of stories, but their actions are very real." Morthak said.

"The fairi—Fay? What's so great about Tinker Bell's friends?" I asked curiously.

"Who is Tinker Bell?" Morthak asked confused.

'Oops, I used otherworldly knowledge with a native.'

"Uhm—...A character from a story? In short, she's a very friendly character with a very cute story. Although in the original story where she first appeared, she had a somewhat... Possessive personality? But overall, she's a cute and friendly "Fay."

"Ugh—What kind of tasteless story is this? Fays are treacherous creatures. Don't be fooled by their innocent appearance and soft-spokenness. They are very ancient and opportunistic creatures, with opportunistic and morbid personalities. They enjoy reveling in the misfortune of others and gambling with the lives of those who catch their eye. Listen, I lived a long, long time. And since before I was born, the Fay were already a story of the ancients, stories about the "Traded." about "Debts." and "Promises." Morthak said, visibly disturbed.

"Hmm—So they're something even you fear?" I asked, a little perturbed. If even Morthak, the most powerful man I know, is afraid of some fairies, then what the hell are these guys?!

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

"Hmm—I wouldn't use the word "Fear." but rather dread. There was a time when I wanted to explore the faerie realm and see everything it had to offer, only to find myself faced with a world hidden behind cheerful laughter and inviting vibrant colors, something much, much scarier than demons and monsters." Morthak said, looking down.

"R-Really? These Fa... Are they more powerful than the demon king himself, then?" I asked, afraid of the answer.

"Oh? No, of course not. The Fay aren't known for their brute strength, but they do have a high talent for magic. However, their magic is highly linked to nature and the world itself, making them very vulnerable to the demon kings, who are capable of corrupting the world's magical energy and literally eroding what is "Natural." What makes the Fay so unique is... Their long history. No matter what you are, in the end, if your kind has managed to live for so many centuries in such a cruel and desolate world, then clearly your kind shouldn't be underestimated." Morthak said.

"Ugh—Great, another mortal danger waiting for me in my backyard." I said with a sigh.

"Ah, the Fay aren't all bad... Not entirely. A few people manage to get on their good side. In my case, I managed to anger the master of the walls, Veythar, the Shattered Mirror. He's someone you shouldn't anger, so I'm basically marked for death if I ever enter the faerie realm again. But they tend to be quite accommodating to strangers, as long as they're not humans, demon-types, monsters, or anything that irritates them for any reason." Morthak said as if it were simple.

"Oh, be patient, just tell me straight out that they're fucking assholes and that's it!" I said irritably.

Morthak seemed visibly annoyed by my words, but he continued speaking nonetheless: "Well, I think you'd get along with them, but be careful! If you ever encounter one, no matter how friendly they seem, remember to follow a few simple rules: Don't accept food from the Fae, Never thank them for anything, Never steal from a Fae, Avoid speaking ill of Fae, Don't enter mushroom circles , Don't look directly into a faerie's eyes, Don't—"

"How many rules are there!? Damn— What kind of madness is this?! Are these guys a bunch of fairies or some fucking nature gods?!" He complains to Morthak.

"Hmm— You need to learn to listen better. The real problem isn't whether or not they're what you imagined them to be. The reality is that they're dangerous creatures, quite interesting as a whole. Most of them are so ancient that they're part of the world itself. They're masters of spiritualism and elemental magic, and they can speak the language of the fauns. The only "bad" thing about them I can think of is their culture, which is quite... unconventional, and their low numbers, which have been declining significantly over the years." Morthak said.

"Hmm, I'm sorry if I seemed dismissive of that, it's just... This world seems to have 10 ways to kill you for every 1 method to keep you alive." I complained to Morthak.

"Meh, that's just how it is. The world has always been like this, a place where the strong survive and the weak perish. The only thing that's changed is the form of power, and how it's used. Everything else would remain the same, just in a different form." Morthak joked.

"Hey, wouldn't that make those "Forest Lords." or whatever they are, from the fallen forestm some kind of "cursed Fae"?" I asked.

"No, they're two different things with different roots but similar appearances. The fae have mysterious and abstract powers that are very reminiscent of BhatBhat's powers, but their origins are different. The Fae originate from the earth and the magic of the world, while the Forest Lords are wretched creatures cursed by gods." Morthak said.

"Hmm, at least these guys seem to know how to have fun. Wait, are the fae related to the elves?" I asked, since the two species seemed quite similar in my head.

"Hmm... It's relative... Long, long ago, they were strong allies, then sworn enemies, then brothers, then counterparts, lovers, They're known, and currently no one knows for sure how the two species treat each other. It's a troubled relationship that has its ups and downs over the centuries. I think this is what happens when two species as longivite as theirs get involved. Normally, social relationships are born and die like living beings, but the bonds between the pureblood elves and the Fae have been severed, intertwined, entangled, and reunited so many times that it's difficult to say exactly where it stopped." Morthak said.

"Especially in my case, the pureblood elves banished me from their domain a few centuries ago for something... Silly. And I'm sworn to death in the Fae kingdom, so I'm kind of a common enemy between the two of them. So I can't really say what goes on between them because it's hard for me to know anything about them in recent years." Morthak concluded.

"Meh, it seems you have your own enemies out there. Thank you for sharing this with me. It would be fun to hear some stories from your past sometime." I said, sipping some tea.

"Hmm, maybe someday, remembering my past doesn't bring me joy or comfort, if you know what I mean. There are things I did and didn't do that cause me greater pain than any wound I could suffer. But time continues to tick by grain in the finite hourglass that is life. If you find yourself staring too long into that hourglass and regretting the lost grains of sand, you end up wasting valuable time." Morthak said, taking one of the sweets and smelling it, before putting it in his mouth and taking a bite. Light.

"Blergh—This stuff is too sugary for my taste." Morthak complained, placing the sweet on his plate.

A few days passed, and in the meantime, we managed to build a lot of things, nothing as grand as Aurum, but enough to be called a "strategic operational base" by the Information Club. We had a large common room where everyone could sleep on shelves along the walls, a large honey tank that must hold at least 50 liters of honey without breaking, and a separate room with a large barrel for the disposal of pure nectar, which will be used by the Culinary Club to work more efficiently.

We also had an aesthetically horrifying wall made of clay, wood, stones, and honey, with a trench filled with wooden stakes and bones soaked in Aldy poisons. There were also secret tunnels that served as emergency exits, a small water tank made of wax, and a courtyard paved entirely with hard wax bricks.

The most important addition, in my opinion, is the power generation room, which is basically our old home (inside the cave), after some heavy adjustments. We had to dig a bit to widen the cave (which was quite tiring), and we also had to smooth the entire surface with wax. Then we built some walls, a magical power terminal with a circuit breaker, some trenches for root system maintenance, and voila!

All we need to do is have daily maintenance on site to ensure nothing explodes and that our energy converter is working. By the way, I don't know how reliable this earth flame is; after all, all this magical energy isn't coming from nowhere. Is there some natural or unnatural phenomenon occurring here that generates this earth flame?

It's not exactly something that i can deal with, and I think I should add this to the list of things to ask Morthak, but the real question is: How long will this flame last? This thing is basically the heart of the hive right now, so if it goes out, we'll face a mana shortage, which is why I've been so focused on stabilizing it as quickly as possible. If we can reach Aurum's level in a few months, then we won't need to worry about relying on this earth flame. But in our current situation, this thing is basically our crutch. Without it, we'll have to crawl, slog, and slog through hard, unknown ground full of mysterious dangers.

So we need to run, run faster. I don't know if this thing will last two months, five years, a century, or ten seconds, so I can't risk losing it without a backup plan. In Aurum, we could use more... manual energy generation methods. Like the act of several [Mages] discharging their magical reserves into large magical energy batteries daily, or we could use the Wappo farms to generate a small, more constant flow of magical energy by using the Wappos as juice.

But right now we can't do either of those things yet, so we either rely on the earth's flame or hope for some miracle to fall from the sky. This is the big problem with starting a base from scratch with no resources and a large number of personnel. There simply aren't enough resources to maintain that personnel and build a viable base. The only thing that kept us alive was literally eating everything we found and conserving energy by sleeping through most of the dead of winter.

My children lost an average of 40% of their body weight during this short period of time. The efficiency of the troops as soldiers, gatherers, and builders dropped by 63%. Worse still, members of the hive who once needed only a quick visit to the infirmary to heal now have to spend days or even weeks resting, waiting for their wounds to heal, simply because we can't justify spending valuable magical energy on troops without the risk of imminent death.

This helplessness, this damn new perspective, it's horrible to be accustomed to one type of life and then suddenly jump to another. Yes, I started out as a "vagrant pauper." but back then, it was me and the world. I could eat abundantly, drink, and sleep relatively comfortably, simply because I only had to worry about myself. But now our numbers exceed a thousand, and there simply aren't enough natural resources for all of us.

The solution? Relying on [Create Food] and similar abilities throughout the hive requires mana, valuable and scarce mana, the same mana I use to create spells and heal my children, the same mana mages use to study magic, the same mana Healers need to heal the wounded, the same mana Weavers need to create silk, the same mana Gatherers need to activate their tracking abilities.

It all comes down to mana, mana we don't have to waste.

Of course, the situation has improved greatly since then, now we're in a situation where we can even have the luxury of making some sweets and snacks, mana is still scarce, but not as scarce as before, but it can be again in a magic pass, since in the same way that we get this flame from the earth easily, it can disappear just as easily at any moment.

Well, getting back to the matters I have control over, we've also started an initial exploratory excavation project. Our strength isn't excavation, but we're not entirely unfamiliar with what to do in this situation either. We started out quite simply: Dig a hole vertically downward.

Since we have wings, we don't need to worry about access to the hole, and because it's a vertical hole, it's much easier to build support beams as we dig. So far, nothing has turned up other than rocks and gravel, but if we dig long enough, I'm sure we'll find something eventually.

Another change was regarding Wvern's heart that Morthak gave me, that thing... "It changed" in a sense very open to interpretation. The description of it remains the same, but now instead of a pulsing black heart with putrid purple blood, the heart is taking on a more bluish hue and the blood is becoming less opaque. I can't say exactly why, as it can be a good or bad sign depending on the context.

I don't know if this thing is nearing the end of its useful life and that's why it's changing color, or if it's some side effect of submerging it in a dilution of [Life Drops]. In either case, I don't think it's wise to ask Morthak, especially since if I talked to him about it and he discovered something I don't know about the dilution of [Life Drops], the situation could end with him locking me in a cage and making me spend the rest of my life producing [Life Drops] for him.

The other scenario is where he'd be fine with it, but I'm not the risk-taking type; I'm the precautionary type.

Speaking of that heart, we discovered that Wvern's blood powder is an excellent magical reagent. Jasper is working on some items for the hive, and among them is the special request from the magic club to create a strong magical reagent. Why do you ask?

Security.

The root systems that transmit magical energy throughout the camp are good, but they have a major flaw: there's no way to identify them. Well, at least not if you don't have a high level to detect magical energy, which isn't a reality for, lets say about ~70% of my children.

In other words, only a fraction of the hive can actually sense the cables, and only a much smaller fraction can predict if something bad is going to happen to them in advance, which isn't good news in an emergency. So the Magic Club is working on adding sensors made with a sensitive magical reagent that reacts to the slightest fluctuations in magical energy—a somewhat archaic but functional method.

Wvern's blood is a great candidate, but we need to make it react only to fluctuations in magical life energy, not to any ordinary magical energy fluctuations. So it's still a project on paper, and the best safety tip we can give someone regarding the magical root system is: Keep your distance.

Despite this, Wvern's blood still has some more immediate uses, the main one being: adding mana to potions or artifacts. When Wvern's blood reacts with mana, they literally mix, creating an ingredient Jasper named "Awakened Blood." This ingredient then becomes an easy way to add mana to a potion or something similar. We currently don't know the exact extent of this, but it seems to have its uses, one of the main ones being the creation of an item called "Catastrophic Elixir"—a truly suspicious name.

The thing is basically pure Wvern's blood mixed with my life mana, forming a viscous black, oil-like liquid with small fluctuations of golden and prismatic glints within. The elixir itself didn't seem very friendly and had a suspicious description... Let me remember, I'm sure I can pull the description from memory.

Oh! Perfect, as I was saying, a very suspicious description. First, I liked how specific it is. It doesn't leave me open to many interpretations or questions. I don't know why the things I create aren't that specific. Usually, everything just has a vague description and a personal insult to me. But this item created by Jasper explains how it was created, by whom, how to use it, and what the effect is.

We've already tested it on some low-level creatures. The effect itself is... Creepy? It's not just "Having your flesh consumed by a catastrophic substance." It goes deeper than that. This thing creates a kind of bizarre deformity on the body of anyone who comes into contact with it. The wounds created are so bizarre they're worthy of something from Junji Ito's head, from extra eyes appearing amid rotting, blistered flesh to scales and hair growing together amid skinless muscles.

Honestly, this will most likely go into the "Too Heavy for My Consciousness" pile, along with the others. From what I understand, the reason this item is so... Diabolical is due to Morthak's influence.

The blood used to create the item was made with the blood obtained from the heart of the Wvern who was killed by Morthak's magic, so I assume this crazy reaction is a reaction between the vestiges of Morthak's magic and the natural magic of the dead Wvern, with the addition of my own magical energy.

This is also very... Scary when you stop to think about it. Is Morthak's magic so strong that a vestige left on a part of a corpse is latent enough to easily override my own magic? Because clearly this [Catastrophic Elixir] leans more toward Morthak's side than mine (not that I have a history of creating only good things). I say this because whatever crazy thing I create always has an effect more related to "Healing" or "Modifications." but what seems to have happened is that my magic amplified the effects of Morthak's residual magic, which suggests that this small trace of magic was dense enough to push my magic into the background.

The saving grace is that the elixir seems to only work on very low-level creatures, which makes the elixir itself "A very expensive way to deal with a simple problem". Very scary, to be honest, yet another reason not to anger that mummy-faced old man. He's clearly not a do-gooder, but he's someone who lives more in the gray area than the conventional extremes.

Maybe he just didn't do anything out of curiosity, or maybe he's planning to capture us and put us in some kind of zoo. The truth is, I don't know anything about him, and I don't even know if I want to. Whenever I try to push him a little too far, he looks at me with those dead-fish eyes that make my spine shiver with fear.

Whatever his reasons, for now, he's a friend, and I hope he stays a friend, because damn, if I have to fight that monster, I'm screwed.