Lord, Seed Mark

Lincon stared blankly at the two careers on the panel for a moment.

Was this his cheat ability?

All this time, he had thought his cheat ability was merely the Seed Mark in his palm.

Because over the past three years, no matter how he studied it, he had found no second ability beyond the Seed Mark's power to absorb the souls of Dark Creatures he killed.

Yet the Seed Mark had turned out to be his secondary career talent.

His primary career talent was actually—Lord.

"No wonder I needed to kill a hundred Dark Creatures to unlock the Career Panel. That was probably influenced by my primary career too."

Though his cheat ability had appeared, Lincon's expression barely changed.

Living alone for three years and constantly dealing with Dark Creatures had left certain gaps in his emotions.

Light and shadow intertwined in the room as Lincon sat in the chair before the workbench and began studying the panel.

His primary career talent could establish his own sphere of influence and perform Higher-Dimensional Manipulation...

His main area of activity was currently within Longwind Fortress. If he set up a territory, it should probably be within that range, right?

As Lincon pondered this, the panel before him suddenly changed.

A model outlining Longwind Fortress appeared on the translucent panel, represented by one large yellow point of light.

Yet beyond Longwind Fortress were quite a few smaller yellow points.

Those points were scattered around Longwind Fortress like little candles—faint, yet bright.

"This is..."

Lincon's heart skipped a beat. He had not expected the panel to count the Shrines he had placed during this time as well.

He extended a finger and tried manipulating the panel.

He could not manipulate the areas where the Shrines stood, but he could manipulate those within Longwind Fortress.

As he shifted an abandoned house within the fortress, a rumbling sound immediately reached his ears.

Lincon opened the door and looked into the darkness outside. It was as though he saw something forcibly uprooted and moved elsewhere.

"So this is Higher-Dimensional Manipulation? It's practically like playing a sandbox game!"

Lincon frowned, swiftly withdrew the left foot he had been about to step outside with, then slammed the door shut.

"Even though I successfully set Longwind Fortress as my territory, the Dark Creatures inside it won't be cleared out?"

Just then, he had keenly sensed something approaching him through the darkness. If he had lingered any longer, it would probably have latched onto him again.

Dark Creatures were extremely bizarre, divided into tangible and intangible kinds.

Tangible Dark Creatures, like the Head Ghost Lincon had encountered before, were called "Anomaly Calamities," while intangible Dark Creatures were called "Weird Calamities."

Both Weird Calamities and Anomaly Calamities were divided, from highest to lowest, into six ranks: S-Rank, A-Rank, B-Rank, C+-Rank, D-Rank, and E-Rank... The highest-ranked calamities could easily destroy an entire city.

When Lincon had first crossed into this world, he had heard his comrades in the fortress speak of an S-Rank Weird Calamity that had once erupted in the Sakura Island Nation. It eventually spread across the whole country, causing Sakura Island to fall permanently into darkness, with no news ever coming out again.

There was no need to spell out the outcome. Most likely, everyone on Sakura Island had perished in that S-Rank Weird Calamity.

And what Lincon had faced just now was an E-Rank Anomaly Calamity.

Anomaly Calamities were relatively easier to deal with than Weird Calamities. As long as one was in the light, they could be seen and touched, providing many more ways to resolve them.

But Weird Calamities would not reveal themselves even beneath the sun. That was the most troublesome part.

Lincon had stayed in Longwind Fortress for three years and usually dealt with E-Rank Anomaly Calamities. The only time he had encountered a Weird Calamity, he had nearly died outside.

"At this stage, my primary career doesn't seem to offer much help against Dark Creatures, so I'll still have to rely on the Seed Mark to stay alive."

Lincon lowered his head and examined his palm, where a seed-shaped mark flickered in and out of sight.

Recalling the Seed Mark's talent ability, Lincon rummaged through the corners of the room for a long while before finally finding several bags of seeds tucked away in a nook.

A female comrade had given them to him when she left. Inside were some plant seeds preserved from before the Dark Age.

Lincon picked up one seed, and a phantom image of a pepper immediately appeared before him. Three arrows appeared beside it.

[Pepper Seed]

[Advancement Path 1: Flame Pepper Seed]

[Advancement Path 2: Explosive Pepper Seed]

[Hidden Advancement Path 3: Shadow Demon Pepper Seed (unlock condition required)]

Lincon stared at the three advancement paths for the pepper seeds before him and could not help falling into thought.

Then he picked up another bag of seeds beside it.

[Sunflower Seed]

[Advancement Path 1: Sunshine Sunflower Seed]

[Advancement Path 2: Sunshine Mawflower Seed]

[Hidden Advancement Path 3: Darkness-Destroying Sunflower Seed (unlock condition required)]

After checking the other seeds, Lincon ultimately decided to use the sunflower seeds for his experiment.

There was no other reason. Sunflowers represented sunlight, light... and for humanity living in the Dark Age, sunlight represented hope.

[Advancement Path 1: Sunshine Sunflower Seed]

[Required Sunlight: 1 point]

[After growing into a Sunlight Sunflower, it becomes a magical plant capable of absorbing and storing daylight, then releasing it at night. It has no strict requirements for growing soil.]

[Advancement Path 2: Sunshine Mawflower Seed]

[Required Sunlight: 10 points]

[After growing into a Sunlight Man-Eater, it can use absorbed sunlight as energy and transform into a Man-Eater Flower that devours Dark Creatures. However, after devouring a Dark Creature, the Sunlight Man-Eater will enter a lengthy dormant period.]

"Advanced plants only need this little sunlight?" Lincon considered it for a moment before immediately rejecting the idea. "No, it's because they're only seeds. Growing from seeds takes a great deal of time, which is why their sunlight requirements are so low."

Having figured that out, Lincon took out eleven seeds and placed them on the workbench. He laid his hand over them and silently willed them to advance.

Under the dim candlelight, a warm, sunlight-like glow burst from Lincon's palm. Within that radiance, the seeds changed at a visible rate.

The once ordinary seeds swelled by a full size, while golden patterns emerged across their black seed coats.

[Remaining Sunlight: 80]

A notification flashed before Lincon's eyes.

After consuming 20 points of Sunlight, he had obtained ten Sunshine Sunflower Seeds and one Sunshine Mawflower Seed.

He rummaged through the corner of the room again and found a bag of soil and several plastic pots he normally used to store things.

He intended to test the effects of the advanced sunflowers immediately.

After planting the seeds one by one, Lincon directly used the Accelerated Growth ability of his secondary career, Plant Cultivator.

Accompanied by a wave of mental energy, Lincon felt as though something had drained his brain dry, leaving his whole body dizzy and muddled.

Forcing the growth of eleven advanced plant seeds at once had nearly depleted his mental energy in an instant.

Before Lincon could even see what the accelerated advanced plants looked like, his vision went dark, and he collapsed onto the workbench in a deep sleep.

A string of notifications popped up on the panel beside him.

[Successfully cultivated the Spirit Plant Sunlight Sunflower. Plant Cultivator experience +10.]

[Successfully cultivated the Spirit Plant Sunlight Sunflower. Plant Cultivator experience +10.]

...

[Successfully cultivated the Spirit Plant Sunlight Man-Eater. Plant Cultivator experience +20.]

[Your Plant Cultivator level has risen to Level 1.]

[Strength +1]

[Agility +1]

[Mental Energy +5]

...