The last fold took him deep into the night. The 8,000 2SE went in as 4,000 3SE, came out as 2,000 4SE, and finally settled as 1,000 5SE, dense and heavy in his Blood Heart like a coin made of sunset. Kali fed it to the world, and the world, at long last, paid up.
[World Level Up! World Level: 5. Item Slot unlocked: 5.]
[3 choices generated, user choose 1!
Option 1 (Plant Growth): Plants in the planet grow and mature about (current level)x1 faster than normal.
Option 2 (Time Acceleration): Time on the planet accelerates about (current level)x1 faster than normal.
Option 3 (Holy Land): The user can designate 1 place in the planet that can experience SE 10 levels denser than other parts of the world.]
It was really a no-brainer. Option 1 was ruled out because Option 2 was a much more encompassing and better option for his planet: it accelerated everything on the planet, not just plants. Option 3 was also ruled out because it was mostly for the use of the planet's inhabitants, of which he currently had zero.
"Option 2!"
[Choice registered. Time Acceleration: (World Level)x1. Current World Level: 5. Current effect: 5x.]
And this time, the world answered immediately.
Kali felt it happen. Five days flowing across his planet for every single one of his. The Water Stone anthill visibly generated more water and multiplied faster, the excess SE circulating through the planet's veins hastened his senses, and the whole world simply moved at a brisk, godly jog. His ocean mortgage, he realized with a start, had just gotten itself a 5x repayment plan.
And the system promised more: at World Level 10, every upgrade he owned would double, and Time Acceleration would become (World Level)x2. Ten days for every one of his. At World Level 20, twenty... no, wait, forty. He got dizzy doing the math and decided to stop doing math forever.
"HAHAHA! There it is! There's my godly time power!" Kali cackled, alone, in the dark, to a planet full of rocks and water. "Someday I'm going to nap through a hundred years of my own world, and it will be a HUNDRED YEARS of napping!"
Level 5 Awakener. Five Item Slots. Two of them used. Time itself on the payroll. He was, by every measurable standard, doing amazing.
Which was exactly why the question that had been quietly nagging him for days finally demanded an answer: his world had water and it had rocks. What it did not have was anything that produced SE. The planet's energy was still just the savings he poured in, slowly circulating, never growing. If his world was ever going to be anything more than a very wet bank account, it needed a producer.
So the next day, Kali went right back to his routine, with a new spring in his step. With his upgraded Level, he drained about 5x the amount of water he had drained last time, and the water level was obviously lowered by so much. Thankfully no one visited this part of the beach, so he wasn't that worried about anyone finding out what he did. He also collected about 800 Water Stones, and unfortunately, due to his limitations, he could only bring back 5 sacks of fish.
While collecting, he thought about what item his world needed, and that was, without question, a producer of SE. So to know for sure whether such a thing even existed, he would visit Old Man Kane and ask.
After a minute of walking, he finally reached the familiar door into Old Man Kane's abode. He knocked 2 times, then waited a second, then knocked 5 more times, then knocked 1 more time. Finally, this time, there was a response at the door.
"What's the password?" said the shady whispering voice on the other side.
"Old Man, I got a ton of fish, and if you won't let me in, I won't give you even a piece," Kali said, also in a whispering, shady voice, while vigilantly looking around, as if someone were after him.
The door opened a tiny bit, and the Old Man's eyes could be seen through the gap. "Are you sure the goods are up to standard?" Old Man Kane, seeing the situation, changed his persona from a shady information broker to a shady black market buyer.
"I assure you, all the goods I sell are high quality. Let me in already and you'll see!" Kali acted like a shady seller, very impatient to get rid of the stuff in his hands.
"Come in fast!" Kali hurriedly entered the moment the door was opened.
The auntie living next door, seeing the shenanigans of the two, just shook her head disappointedly at their childishness, seemingly already used to their antics.
"Here's the goods, check it!" Kali handed over one of the sacks, which the Old Man gladly inspected. "This is a good quality of fish. How much?"
"I need infos on items that can produce SE. Give me that, and this whole sack is yours."
"Quite a good deal, young man! Cook the fish and you got the deal."
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
The two finally couldn't hold it in and laughed at their own foolishness. "Okay, old man, wait for me. I'll serve you some fish for dinner."
On the dinner table, once again, he got what he wanted. Actually, all the info he was currently getting could easily be known if you attended school. Unfortunately, being a slum kid, Kali didn't have that privilege. Luckily, he had Old Man Kane to fill up the gaps in his knowledge.
He found two items that fit the specifications he was looking for. One, for when he decided to have some land, was the Spirit Grass. As long as there were enough nutrients in the soil, it would continuously emit very small amounts of SE into its surroundings, and it also strengthened the soil's stability when its network of roots spread out. He could also easily get some; he just had to sneak into the parks where nobles hung out. Spirit Grass was mostly a decorative plant for them, due to the beautiful emerald green color it had.
The other one, and the item that fit what he needed the most right now, was the Mangrove Tree. A tree that required a whole lot of water for its growth, and one of the top tier Trash tier trees that could survive in and revive almost any environment, as long as there was enough water. (Sorry, I forgot, HAHA: Items also have tiers, same as the Talent Rarity tier. Normal items like water are mundane items, while the Water Stone and Spirit Grass are Trash tier.) It was perfect for strengthening the stability of the land on his planet due to the abundant root system it would grow, while also being a perfect ecosystem to provide homes for tiny beings that could hide in them. And the best part was that, once it was fully grown, any excess nutrients it absorbed would be converted into SE and emitted into its surroundings.
A tree that ate water and breathed out SE. Kali wanted to propose to it.
What stumped him, however, was what he found out next: he couldn't grow either kind of plant on his planet, because he had no Sun! Old Man Kane told him that to grow the two kinds of plants, sunlight was very important. When Kali asked him how to grow them, despair had already started settling in.
"Old Man, what if there's no sunlight? Is there a substitute to help plants grow?"
"Ohoho! You're quite a curious young child! There is what we call a Glowberry Vine in some caves that provides enough light to grow cave plants. However, it wouldn't be enough to grow a whole Mangrove Tree. To grow it, you only need enough moisture, darkness, and small amounts of SE." Old Man Kane answered while stroking his beard like a wise man tutoring his disciple. Kali, in reciprocation, cupped his hands just like a disciple who had just received a significant boon from his Master.
And then Kali froze, mid-bow.
Moisture. Darkness. Small amounts of SE.
His planet was a professional at all three. It was pitch black, soaking wet, and so full of circulating SE that the excess literally rode the winds. The Mangrove Tree didn't just survive on his world. His world was, accidentally, the single most perfect Mangrove resort in two planes of existence. And with Time Acceleration at 5x, the trees would grow five times faster than anything on Encantadia could dream of.
Even though he was quite disappointed by what he'd first found out, Kali was now quite happy to have spent the night with the Old Man, plus he got some solid clues on how to generate his own SE on his Planet. He had thought his Planet was already perfect and only needed enough water for its development; now he found out it had been quietly missing a very important component for accommodating plants, and that the missing piece had been sitting inside his world the whole time.
He was very pleased with himself, and there were really only two words that encapsulated how he felt about the whole journey.
"Damn Sun! hehehe." Get it? A pun for "damn son"? Okay, maybe he needs to stop with the cringy puns. He's not getting any younger.
It was all Old Man Kane's fault. Yeah, right. Just blame it all on him.