The Things We Nurture

When he reopened his eyes, the first thing that greeted him was a white expanse.

‘Is this heaven?’

He blinked twice and realized that it was just his mom’s cleavage.

“Mother?”

“Hello there, sleepyhead. Are you feeling alright?”

She gave him a motherly smile as she held him in her arms.

Ashen focused on his own body at her words and felt incomparably light, as if the past two days had been nothing more than a lie.

“I’m feeling great. Thank you, Mom… your healing is the best, hehe…”

“Don’t hehe me, you punk. Me being able to heal you doesn’t mean you can abuse your body like that…”

She gave him a playful knock on the back of his head.

“Are you planning to kill yourself forging?”

“Uh… an unexpected situation arose—”

“What kind of situation would make you hammer nonstop for two days? If I hadn’t broken in and brought you out, you would have died of dehydration!”

Ashen wanted to say that he had a really strong body, and going without drinking for two days wouldn’t be an issue, but then he remembered the temperature in that room and shut his mouth.

Anastasia’s glare melted away when she saw him looking at her with guilt, leaving behind only a worried expression.

“My dear… please take better care of your body. It is not only yours in the end. Remember that your sisters will depend on you to become a great warrior and protect them once you grow up. Including myself.”

“Yes… yes! I’m sorry, Mom…”

Ashen took the chance to sneak in an apology, hoping it would be enough, but considering his stunt, the nagging was destined to continue for a little longer.

“I hope you understand… at least think of Misty and Lapis. How would they feel if they found out you had died, huh?”

“Yes… sorry…”

“Okay. I won’t nag you anymore. I know my son is actually quite the mature fellow, hm.”

“Really? Thanks, Mom.”

“Yeah. Also, the katana you were forging is there.”

Anastasia pointed toward the corner of the room, where the unfinished blade rested on top of a table.

“It was surprisingly heavy to carry. Did you make it for Lapis? How sweet…”

“Mom… can I go now? I need to finish it, and I haven’t seen the manaweaves on the farm in two days. I’m worried.”

Ashen looked at his mother with a pleading smile, and she pouted at him in return.

“These days, it’s either playing with metal or those plants of yours in your free time. There’s no time for your mom at all, hmph…”

“Errr…”

He let out an awkward sound.

He couldn’t exactly say that he was making space for the little ones, right?

He knew his mother had a soft spot for him for some reason, so he simply kept silent and looked at her apologetically.

“Fine~ fine~ go ahead… I won’t keep you…”

She waved him off with a small smile.

“But you’re coming back tonight for a game of that strange game of yours, okay? Your dad won’t come back for another few days, so it will be your duty to ward off your mom’s boredom, son.”

“Oh, you mean chess? Sure. Let’s play a couple of games later. See you, Mom. Love ya.”

With that, he did not waste any more time. He grabbed the katana and bolted toward the farm.

◉

When he reached the spot where the manaweaves were planted, he found an unexpected person there.

“Lapis? You’re here.”

She usually did not come to the farm unless he was there, so he was curious about her presence.

…well, not for long.

When he stopped beside her, she finally looked up at him, her eyes filled with barely held-back tears.

“Brozher… sorry… I couldn’t save them… hic…”

Ashen’s eyes traveled down to her hands, where she was futilely feeding mana to a round plant.

Futilely… because said plant seemed to be already dead under his Patient Eye’s scrutiny.

The plant with closed petals seemed to be in the same boat. He could feel that the mana which used to circulate through it had been completely absorbed into its petals, hardening them and reducing it to an ordinary plant.

“Sorry… sorry… brother…”

Lapis knew how much he cared for the manaweaves and how many years he had spent nurturing them, so she could only hang her head in sadness.

Ashen looked between them, and when he saw the little tree’s state, a sigh finally escaped his lips.

◉◉◉

[ PATIENT EYE ]

Target: Manaweave Sapling

Age… Ten Years

Caretaker… Ashen Hunt

Mana Reserve… Abnormally High

State… Critical

Observed Conditions:

A manaweave cultivated under the prolonged care of Ashen Hunt.

Years of repeated mana infusion have granted it a considerably

larger mana reserve than manaweaves of comparable development.

The mana infused into its structure carries traces of care,

passion, and nurturing intent.

These influences have taken root within the manaweave.

Should its growth continue under suitable conditions, it may

eventually bloom with a unique Concept of its own.

Current Condition:

The manaweave is on the verge of losing its hold over its own mana reserve.

Its current state requires immediate intervention.

Mana infused with a calming intent is strongly recommended.

◉◉◉

He honestly felt like shit.

If he had it his way, he would scream at the top of his lungs, destroy a couple of walls until he reached the surface, and slaughter a thousand Narkals just to quench his rage.

But he couldn’t lose himself to anger, because that would only make him lose the remaining manaweave.

Patient Eye had clearly stated that it needed mana infused with calmness…

So what he needed to do now was be calm.

“…Lapis…”

“Hic… yes…?”

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“Thank you. You did well.”

“…b-but?”

“This one isn’t dead yet. So what you did wasn’t in vain. Good job, sister. I love you.”

“Hic… hum… okay… I’m glad.”

Ashen slowly walked toward the sapling.

“Hold onto this for me for a second.”

Lapis took the blade into her arms, but her pink eyes never left him as he crouched down, took several deep breaths…

…and dug his fingers into the soil around the sapling.

“…”

‘C’mon, do it.’

‘Now…’

But he did not dare to.

He knew best what was currently in his mind, and if he infused his intent right now, he would probably kill it instead of saving it.

What was more depressing was that if he waited any longer, the plant was going to die right before his eyes.

‘Control it… control your own emotions, damn it!’

‘My own father is able to control himself even when his own sons die before him, and what? I can’t even control some useless anger?!’

‘I’m not that weak…’

But no matter how much he tried, it was fruitless. Ashen forgot one fundamental truth in his agitation.

Emotions were never meant to be controlled in the first place.

What Adam meant was controlling the actions born from those emotions.

It was not that the patriarch was able to quiet his rage. It was that despite his rage urging him to go back and kill every Narkal in sight, he was able to control that urge.

Ashen, on the other hand, needed the emotion itself to disappear so that he could channel the intention of calming the sapling through his mana.

Realizing that he wasn’t calming down at all, he turned his head.

That was when his eyes fell on his worried-looking sister.

“Oh.”

She tilted her head, her eyes melting with curiosity at his strange behavior.

“Lapis.”

“Y-Yes?”

“Come here.”

When she did, he spoke again.

“Give me a hug.”

“Hah?”

Despite the incomprehensibility of the order, she obliged him nonetheless, taking care not to poke him with the weapon as she threw herself into his arms.

“Hug me a little harder.”

“Hnnn…”

“Good job… stay like that.”

Ashen put his fingers back into the soil, and this time, there was no hesitation.

His mana seeped into the roots, made its way to the trunk, and then to the branches and finally the leaves.

And when it permeated every part of the tree, the plant finally settled, ceasing its constant vibrations.

“Phew…”

Only then did he let go, hugging the real heroine of the situation before falling back onto his butt.

“Lapis dear… you don’t know how grateful I am to you right now…”

“Hmm… then let me hug you some more.”

“Alright… but what’s with your obsession with hugs? We are twelve already, you know.”

“But it feels relaxing~ and I’m tired from standing here and feeding the plants my mana for hours…”

“Okay, okay… do as you like… you’re the boss here…”

Ashen relented with a resigned smile.

“…”

“…”

“By the way, is that for me…?”

“This?”

Ashen picked up the katana.

“No, it’s mine for now.”

“Do you use a katana now?”

Lapis looked at him strangely.

“I can use it. But I’ll be using this weapon a bit differently, though.”

“What use is it besides cutting things anyway? Are you going to harvest wheat using it?”

“No… what kind of strange ideas are you getting into that little head of yours? Just wait, and you’ll see.”

He rolled his eyes.

“Humhum… okay~ By the way, brother…”

“What?”

He asked, but from the sweet tone of her voice, he already had an inkling of what she was about to ask for.

“I’m hungry~”

‘I knew it…’

Ashen finally disengaged from his sister’s octopus hug.

“You brat, you’re really using the moment to extort me to your heart’s content, huh?”

“Hehe… pretty please…?”

“Sigh… alright… who made me such an understanding brother?”

Rubbing the space between his eyes with one hand, he waved the other resignedly.

“Just do your stuff…”

“Yay~”

With that, she jumped back into his embrace. But this time, it was a bit different. Because she activated a Path Skill from her Sixth Step.

Nothing changed on the surface, but Ashen was actually feeling a bit lethargic and nauseous, and the cause was the effect of the Skill.

Ashen recalled its description as he resisted the urge to retch.

==============================

Feast Upon His Love

Feed upon the love your husband bears for you.

Affection, devotion, tenderness, admiration, trust, and every other expression of his love may be consumed as nourishment and stored within you.

The love you have fed upon shall accumulate within your body as a supernatural reserve, growing according to the depth and sincerity of his feelings.

This accumulated love may be expended to enhance a Skill, an action, or even a concept. The greater the reserve, the greater the enhancement that may be achieved.

Depending on the amount of love invested, the enhancement may turn permanent.

The more you feast, the greater the bounty you may keep.

==============================

‘The theme of feasting upon her so-called king seems to be continuing even into the Sixth Step, sadly… and I’m even turned into a husband now…’

Now she was even feeding upon his love, and it wasn’t even because of the power.

Lapis simply said that it tasted like the best food in the world.

She described it as being like chocolate, except with the dopamine rush multiplied by a hundred.

From Ashen’s perspective, however, it just made his head spin and gave him nausea, so he imposed a strict limit of one meal of his “love” per week, much to his sisters’ disappointment.

But as the years passed and the Skill evolved, she became able to use it on the other members of the family as well.

That was when she discovered its true horror… and how unique her brother was.

When the Skill reached Masterful, she became able to see the amount of love everyone held toward her.

And when she looked at her brother, she was almost blinded.

It was like a great fire, one that pierced the underground ceiling and reached toward unknown heights.

Lapis took a long time to recover from that sight.

Thankfully, Ashen was the only anomaly around.

Her parents, who held second and third place, only had fires that reached the ceiling.

Misty was next on the list of those who loved her the most. Her fire was a little smaller than her parents’, so Lapis decided to eat a bit of it.

With the girl’s permission, of course.

And she regretted it the moment she did.

Not to mention how sour the taste was, but from that day on, and for the next three months, Misty treated her like a complete stranger.

Her attitude toward Lapis only recovered completely after the dimming fire regained its sparkle.

And that took a year.

Lapis, who was used to eating Ashen’s love like a glutton, finally understood just how absurd her brother’s feelings were for her.

He didn't even ignore her. He merely complained about a headache, and that was it.

As for his dimming fire, it recovered within a couple of hours at most, and its intensity increased after each time, as if daring her to eat more.

This time was no different.

As she absorbed that illusory fire, Lapis swore once again that she would only feed on her brother’s love from now on.

Not only because of her experience with Misty… But because it was the most delicious.

Bworb~!

Lapis let out a cute burp and finally let go of him.

“Thank you for the meeeaal~”

“Ugh… no problem, you glutton.”

Lapis’s eyes crinkled in delight. ‘No matter how much I eat, he doesn’t change… euuu… my brother is the best, haah…’

It made her want to earn his love and bask in it even more, and surprisingly, she was granted just the right Skill for that, alongside “Feast Upon His Love.”

…to eat food, one had to cook it first, right?

Either way, the System’s concepts seemed to align with that thought, and this was its answer.

==============================

Tend to My Husband

You possess a supernatural sensitivity to the emotional state of your husband.

His moods, distress, contentment, desires, and subtle changes in disposition may be perceived almost instinctively.

When his mood turns sour, your instincts shall guide you toward the words, actions, and gestures most likely to ease his heart.

When his affection is already strong, those same instincts shall guide you toward the actions most likely to deepen his love.

The greater the amount of his love accumulated within you, the sharper, deeper, and more accurate this instinct shall become, allowing you to understand your husband with an ever greater degree of intimacy.

A husband well cared for has more love to give.

==============================

The Skill’s title was a bit strange since the target was her brother, but since she was just using it to take care of him and make him like her more, there was no problem.

‘Yes. Absolutely no problem. If I just rename it to tend to your brother, it will change nothing. The System is just being weird again.’

So went the thoughts of the hopeless bro-con…

“Alright, sister. I still have a blade to finish; I’ll see you later.”

“Okay, take care, brother!”

She waved him goodbye, but her eyes lingered on the plant in his hand.

“What is he going to do with that?”

It was the dead plant with hard petals.

◉◉◉

A week passed, and during it, Ashen finally completed the finishing touches on the katana blade, turning it into the deadliest weapon he had forged to date.

He admired its beauty as he fastened the petals of the manaweave around its handle with mana.

A black spine courtesy of the mithril used in its forging, with a pink edge to symbolize his love for his sister and the Concept itself. The blade was long and slightly curved, while its handle was now covered in red, fashioned from the petals of the dead manaweave.

They were soft, yet incredibly hard, and surprisingly easy to grip.

“Now… let’s add the secret ingredient… hehe…”

[Path Skill Activated: Late Bloomer.]

With that, a special manaweave settled deep into the katana, swimming alongside the blade like a curious fish.

“Now I’ll take care of it for a couple of years, and when I give it to her, it’s going to be a katana that will reach even the throats of Outer Gods.”

“And I have just the right Skills for it…”

He looked at the newly gained Skills of his Sixth Step.

==============================

Living Temper

Imbues a piece of metal with nurturing mana, allowing it to gradually repair imperfections and reinforce its own structure while left undisturbed. The longer it remains at rest, the more stable, resilient, and mana-conductive it becomes.

==============================

Resting Forge

Places a crafted object into a dormant state where outside disturbances are greatly reduced. While dormant, the object slowly develops according to its nature, refining its properties without further intervention. The process is considerably more effective when the user also remains at rest.

==============================

[Path Skill Activated: Living Temper.]

[Path Skill Activated: Resting Forge.]

One would temper the blade, further refining its already absurd traits, while the other would allow the newly birthed Concept to bloom further.

And when Late Bloomer reached its turning point, the katana would simply be reborn.

‘Now this is what I call a trump card…’

What had started as an impulse had absurdly turned into a weapon with the potential to reach even the Outer Gods.