Buttopia
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Chapter 98: Dinner, Conversation, Plans, Futures
🕑 Added 2025-02-03 00:44:53 +0000 UTCThe meal it turned out, wasn’t all that different from a roast pig. A large buck had gotten into Cecile’s newest field he had planted this morning, and the twinoges had been forced to put it down after it tried to attack them, refusing to leave the area. John had then capitalized on it, and, with the help of Rabyn, cleaned the carcass and spent the day roasting it over a large fire outside. I was somewhat amazed I hadn’t noticed this at all, but I had been incredibly focused on the other parts of the day, and it certainly wouldn’t be the first time I had missed something else going on around me while lost in my own internal world.
The fact that John had managed to work so easily with several of the newcomers, especially Rabyn, was a good sign. We might just be able to make this whole thing work yet. Wait, was I getting used to the idea of running this faction? Dammit, Mel, somehow, this was entirely your fault. I sighed and took another bite of the roast venison. At least the food was good, and I was sharing it with my family.
“Soooo, what’s the plan for tomorrow? We can all still come, right?” Maud asked loudly, interrupting the several smaller conversations going on around the room.
“Yep, same plan as before. We take out orc groups we can and see just how bad’a shape yer planet’s in,” Mel answered, slurring his words slightly. Had he been drinking? Could he get drunk? In answer to my questions, I saw Mel pass a flask back to Timon, followed by the mantis taking his own large swig of the substance.
“Nice, um, how long will we be gone? I need to make sure the cats have enough food?” Maud asked, her voice suddenly changing to that of concern as her hand gently moved back and forth over the back of one of said cats resting on her lap.
“Plan for a week, but I’m hoping for only a few days,” Mel answered, letting off a giant hiccup halfway through. His color has turned a light shade of violet, with some darker spots starting to show up on his cheeks.
“Are the crops going to be okay without us? I mean, if we already have deer determined to destroy your fields with us here, it could be a real problem,” I said, worried more about a moose starting to sniff around. That could be a giant disaster, and not just for the field. I didn’t need any more holes in the walls.
“Shouldn’t be a problem now. Glorp and Connie helped us set up a makeshift fence around the only field with the actual crops,” Cecile answered while Elicec looked to be in bliss as he ate a mix of carrots and peas. Good to know he liked Earth vegetables that much.
“The sonic wall should hold for at least two weeks before I need to reinforce it,” Connie added, explaining how they had managed any kind of barrier without spending a ton of time harvesting lumber.
“And once you get that crop up and going, it’s possible the rest of us could start doing magic, too?” Maud asked, the excitement still clearly there at the idea of being a channeler. I couldn’t blame her either. Even with the fear and anxiety I felt initially, I still loved the idea of what I could do with the changes my body had undergone. The exhilaration of it had easily overrode much of the underlying fear.
“Maybe. Is that really a path you desire?” Elody asked pointedly.
The smile on Maud’s face amplified before she responded. “It’s basically everything I’ve ever wanted. Just it was mostly impossible before, so yeah, I would really love to be able to do magic,” she responded, her cheeks flushing slightly with the desire clear in her words.
“Once the crops are flourishing, we can begin the process of building a rudimentary mana flow here. It will take years before true core development will be possible with that path, and even then, it will only be possible within the flow. Now, depending on the strength of what Cecile is able to grow, we may be able to stimulate the growth of a core with a strong mana-infused diet,” Elody explained. That confirmed several of my own worries. I had already suspected that newly integrated worlds didn’t have much in the way for their residents to form their own cores. Why else would the twinoges have sought out the Arena if they could have just pursued a path on their home? It was going to take some time to bring Earth up to a state where it could directly compete with any faction in the Spiral.
“Actually, I’ve got some really good news there. Well, not for the mana flow. I can’t do anything with that part, at least yet. But I’ve started with the Path of the Bountiful Harvest. Since we have our own potential food shortages, it seemed the smart choice, and I think we can probably start a handful of people on some of the more mana-potent veggies in a couple of months. And once we finish off the tenth floor, I’m gonna push the class as far as I can. We aren’t going to let your planet starve, Dave,” Cecile said with a giant smile. I wasn’t sure it was actually that bad out there, but it was entirely possible. The supply chain was a fragile thing, and I had to imagine a massive disruption to a single growing season worldwide had some potentially devastating ramifications for world hunger.
“Good, make sure ya wait… Excuse me, I need…” Mel started, stopped, and started again before fleeing the room through the front door. Whatever he had been drinking seemed to have caught up with him.
“The man talks a big game, but he can just never handle his booze. You all should have seen him at my bachelor party, well maybe you shouldn’t. If he had been sober, he probably would have talked me out of the wedding. That would have saved a lot of trouble,” Timon said, taking another swig of the flask before heading after Mel. Now that I was sure about his real class it made me question just how many of Timon’s life stories were actually true.
“Going back to the previous topic, if this is something you truly wish to pursue, I believe I can help Cecile prepare the necessary diet,” Rabyn said, looking at Maud as he spoke.
“I mean, yeah!” Maud yelled, startling the cat in her lap as she did. “Hey, that was mean!” she followed up after the cat had leaped from her lap, leaving several fresh lines of blood lining her wrist. Before I could heal her myself, Elody, who was sitting next to her on the couch, reached over and handled it. By the time Maud wiped away the blood, the lines had already faded.
“Good. It is not my intention to place an undue burden on you, but we will need to begin training as many channelers as we can as quickly as we can. Those especially loyal to Dave would be the ideal starting candidates,” Rabyn followed up with. At least someone was considering empire building, I suppose, not that I had totally ignored the idea. I just wasn’t sure exactly how to decide who got to be first in line for a core when our initial supply would likely be incredibly low.
“Are we sure she’s loyal? She does have two cats, they could be the real ones in charge. Have any of you ever heard of toxoplasmosis?” I asked, trying to bring the conversation back to something a little lighter with a terrible joke.
“I doubt we’ve had the cats long enough for that,” John said, laughing.
“Is that a thing cats are capable of doing here?” Cecile asked, a note of seriousness in his voice.
“No, they’re just joking, kind of. The thing Dad said is real, but I don’t think it can actually control anyone. Plus, you all have the magical healing spells now anyway,” Alex answered, shaking her head at me as she spoke.
“Sorry, bad joke. No, the cats, other than having some sharp claws, are just friendly pets,” I said, feeling a little guilty for making Cecile worry. “Going back to the topic of classes though, Elody, what’s the difference between mana types and mana sources? One of my abilities lists them as separate things.”
“This isn’t one of my areas of expertise, and it isn’t a topic that often comes up with mana orbs, but I believe sources are generally the energy that formed the orb, whereas type is the energy the orb uses. Normally, I wouldn’t expect the difference to be much outside of an academic reason, but if your class is considering them as separate things, there is likely something important I do not know here,” she answered, not sounding overly confident in her answer.
“There is an important difference. I can remember that much, but the exact information is refusing to come out. I’m sorry, Dave,” Sanquar followed up, sounding extremely frustrated. No one else spoke after. How hard would repairing the damage to his core be? Once we were done with the Arena, it was something I would have to explore, not just because of how useful he would be if he could actively fight again.
“Not your fault. Looks like it’s just something I’ll have to play with to figure out then,” I said, yawning, between the food and the long day, sleepiness was starting to settle in.
“Yeah, sleep does sound like a good idea,” Glorp said, looking barely awake already.
“Agreed, I’m calling it a night. I’ll see you all in the morning. John, dinner was amazing,” I said, standing up and heading for my cot.
“Night, Dad,” he called back. Tomorrow I would push Timon into heading for the UN first.
Laughter mana orbs are one of the harder emotional orbs to come across. Those who have them rarely want to part with them or even demonstrate their exact skills. They generally allow those who possess them a greater degree of freedom of movement within the factions, as people love a good comedian. But what power lies beyond just the joke? There are rumors that some of the stranger magics seen in the Arena were actually from laughter orbs as the fighters hid their mana sources.
Mana Sources by Henjen Klank
