Madman’s Retirement

Grant walked into the forest and settled down. Earlier he had been notified by a fellow adventurer that they would be settling down and decided this would be a good opportunity to settle his cultivation. In his first life he had originally chosen the classic form of cultivation going from the establishment stage to the early divine path, before stopping due to his own issues with becoming immortal. This time around though, he had no interest in it.

 

Grant had started cultivation young, way when he was in his early 40s and merely a youngling ready to explore the world. He had dreamed of immortality as all the young ones do, and with the support of Flamel he had ample opportunity to do so. Age however had shown him a different light, and thanks to his way of life differing from his martial peers, he no longer needed the immortality part. No longer interested in immortality, especially now that he knew how easy it was to gain, he instead sought quick power.

Ironic. Many would chide him for being hasty in his choice. But Grant?

He chided them for being too quick to seek divinity, a path that many took, but few reached the end of.

Only to be greeted with eternal loneliness. The hastiness was merely a matter of scale in this case.

 

A hundred years ago, just before ww1, Grant and a group of cultivators and xian as well as many other groups of immortals got together to create a form of cultivation that would cut the amount of time for cultivation in return for essentially neutering the possibility of ascendance to godhood.

The cultivation technique, later known as the “poor man’s technique” as a joke amongst cultivators, still increased a person’s lifespan as long as mana circles could but ultimately would prevent a person from becoming a god via cultivation. But realistically, this means jack as there were dozens of ways to become immortal. Off the top of his head, Grant could think of the alchemist's stone, the fountain of eternal youth, becoming a god by election from another god, or even the seven different ways Sun wukong had once done. It was overrated.

 

The technique, actually known as the Divine Earth cultivation, branched off from the general cultivation techniques early on, around the core foundation stage. The user did not create a core, but instead build a divine domain, far earlier than they were supposed to, and then cultivate in order to strengthen themself. They would never gain a nascent soul, the main source of power and the source of godhood, but instead would build a divine realm, the focus of power.

 

Just like a core, it was important for the user to plan their divine domain ahead of time, but unlike divine cultivation, even if you had to eventually start from scratch, or find your cultivation damaged, it was easier to fix it, and there would be no permanent effect on the body, something divine cultivators constantly have to fear. And unlike mortal martial artists, who merely refined and purified their body, users of divine earth cultivation had the potential to reach the same level of power as high level cultivators, when normal martial artists could only ever hope to reach the level of mid-tier cultivators.

 

Normally, Grant would have to create a divine domain and slowly nurture it, but much to his glee, amongst the many legendary items he had preserved, his own divine realm had persisted. This was a happy side effect of Grant's own plan to release his domain and turn it into a martial realm like any old monster upon death, and then watch from Hades as people challenged his martial realm. Apparently, the core of his martial realm was sent alongside his other things. Grant was mildly worried though, wondering what happened to the rest of the martial realm.

…

“This martial realm is huge! Look at those mountains and all those environments! Who made this?” Exclaimed one disciple as he walked around. This martial realm had only appeared recently, resulting in an outburst of cultivators and players rushing in, eager to find anything useful. The disciple received a firm chop on the head by an old man walking behind him, followed by the child’s fellow disciples.

“Owww!” exclaimed the silly disciple. “Wazzat for!” The old man harrumphed. “Careful child. This place is believed to be the domain of Grant, the grand alchemist. All these environments are likely where he kept all the creatures he raised. It may look beautiful, but it’s extremely dangerous. Creatures never seen before likely run abound here, and plenty of monstrous plants. It’s widely known he loved his monster plants.” Upon hearing that, many disciples stiffened up, but many grew excited. Grant was a name that inspired fear, but if he left this realm behind, the treasures would be innumerable. The monsters alone would be worth a fortune given that man made plenty of strong monsters.

Wyvents, chimeras, and new species of spartoi are some examples. Any of them as familiars would be jackpots, and the materials, would be just as good, and great for their own personal cultivation.

And considering how rich in qi and mana this environment is, many looked forward to what cultivation materials they could find.. There was just one question everyone was asking themselves.

In the middle of the divine realm there was one extremely suspicious spot where there was nothing, with only a huge crater, devoid of anything but dirt. People would soon realize that the divine domain’s main feature often seen in battle, the tree to rival Yggdrasill, was missing.

For many years afterwards, people would wonder where the tree had gone, and who was strong enough to take such an enormous and powerful tree. Not that Grant would care. As far as he was concerned, he still left a mostly full martial realm, only lacking his special mythical and legendary items. There was still plenty to reward any hard workers with.

…

While he was mildly miffed that he didn’t have the whole realm, the realm being divided meant that it would still serve as a testing area for beginners so that was good. Besides, it's not like he could have fit the whole domain considering the new body.

Even if the tree stretched a little, it would be fine. Had anyone else attempted to use this as their core, they would find their soul heavily damaged from attempting to slot something foreign and this strong into their soul.

For Grant, it was like meeting up with an old friend, as the fragment of his divine domain slipped into the dantien nicely. And thus, the core foundation stage began.

The core foundation in the divine earth foundation was a group of levels meant to help the cultivator strengthen the domain of the user, so should they dabble in mana, or just simply use qi to accomplish the spell, they could cast domain proclamation, where the user brings the domain out into the real world, and while the ability does vary from domain to domain, no one could deny the advantage of home turf. Grant’s special ability relied on all his creations, which had been stored in his divine domain. At his prime he could create life on a whim, which he used to his advantage, leading armies made in seconds.

 

But what to do with them? When he created plant life forms, he could merely give them short life durations, and have them sink back into the area to nurture the world. But it’s hard to do the same to a creature, which will wither and die far more vividly, right before his eyes. And creatures like dragons, have minimum lifespans lasting centuries. He couldn’t just keep them alongside him, for as time went on, he created more and more life forms. So, when he began cultivating, and his domain was finally created, it served as a storage, with at first a few, and later hundreds of environments on small worlds intertwined with the tree at its core. Due to his own efforts whole civilizations had grown in his divine domain, and these life forms would stampede at his command and destroy his enemies. With his domain having lost most of its environments, the domain had lost most of what made it dangerous.

 

Grant wasn’t one to complain however, when he had been lucky to be given back the most important part of his divine domain. Sitting down he focused on the tree, no longer as grand and laid bare, with its leaves all being stripped clean from it. Around the tree, he focused on creating the first environment, something he had long thought of and mildly regretted. In his youth, he had used his first layer to create an environment to grow trees, hoping to grow a forest to surround the center of his divine domain. As time had gone on and the tree had gotten larger, he came to realize that those trees would never truly flourish under the tree’s large covering of leaves. With his second chance Grant had a different thought, and he decided to create something different. The thing that perseveres best under the shade of a tree is mushrooms. So, what better to make under one of Earth’s largest trees than a forest of mushrooms. Even in his meditation, he felt excited as perhaps his greatest hobby was this.

 

As Grant focused on creating his first layer in the divine realm, what was beginning to develop outside began seeping outside as well, with mushrooms growing outside of the cultivating adventurer, ranging in all sorts of sizes and shapes, that if someone were to see, they’d wonder what’s going on. In fact, there were two adventurers wondering that same thing themselves.

 

“I mean sure that’s pretty weird, but that doesn’t explain why you keep following him around the whole time.” Whispered one Natalie as she watched the masked mystery.

“There’s something about him that stands out to me and keeps calling to me.” Whispered Dain as he watched Grant.

“Ooh I see. “ Nodded Natalie as she looked at Dain with some newfound understanding. “So that’s how you swing. That explains everything.”

“Wait what?”

“You used to tell me none of the girls ever interested you, I guess-” “Wait that’s not what I mean-” “No, no I understand everything now, you used to always give Gregory funny looks back then-“ “That’s not it” insisted Dain as he stared at Natalie intensely. “I used to give him funny looks because he kept bothering-“ “Bothering who” asked Natalie as she dipped her face really close to Dain, causing Dain to turn away with an extremely flushed face. “Never mind” muttered Dain. “What I meant is that there’s an energy that I’ve never sensed before that’s swirling around him, and even now it’s prevalent in those mushrooms growing around him”

This interested Natalie as she eagerly asked “You think this could help you past this lurch?” Both she and Dain had noticed that he’d had problems moving past his current mana circle. If they wanted to go further in the world of adventuring then they’d have to find a way around it, and if this man held the key to solving the problem, then they’d do anything to get past it.

Dain hesitated before nodding. “Yes, I think he might” he said with self-assurance.

Natalie squealed and hugged a now struggling and blushing Dain, as she talked happily about how they had finally found a way, found a way.

 

Grant sat in the background, having finished his first layer in the core foundation was listening in amusement as he watched the two kids go on so loudly. Frankly it was hilarious how awkward the serious and stoic Dain was, blushing red enough that even autumn’s leaves struggled to be that shade. He kept quiet till he decided it was time to get up, faking a few motions so the kids would get the gist.

 

Assuming he was just getting up, the pair murmured some more before sneaking away, which was his turn to get up.

His first environment was looking great so far. Sure, it was just mushrooms, but damn he did a fine job if he did say so himself. His favored one in this scenario was the toadstool, as those worked great as tree lookalikes with over a hundred different variants serving as the trees. Though they were far more diminutive in comparison to the continent sized tree, they’d serve as the basis for the far larger mushrooms he intended to litter the new divine domain of his. They weren’t particularly dangerous yet, but they didn’t have to be. They were just a little set dressing. The wyvents would come later. God, did Grant love wyvents. Intelligent, cunning, and great at teamwork. Few of his creations could compare. The same could be set of his first set of critters, but as it stands, he quite liked them too.

In more recent times, the world has begun favoring a certain Italian and a bunch of kid friendly mushrooms which all of the kids of today loved, and even Grant had come to enjoy the idea of walking little mushrooms.

 

So of course, Grant had to do his own spin on mushroom monsters. Of course.

 

The mushrooms were very nice and cute looking, with the cartoon eyes and stubby legs and arms, with just the grubbiest little fingers. With a body that looked like a chubby mushroom stump, the head ended in a cute little cap with all shapes and sizes, some looking utterly cartoony, and others looking horrifyingly realistic. And immortality built into them. Oh, and poison beyond compare.

It would be too easy to make them cute little mushrooms. Especially since the divine realm wasn’t strong enough to support dragons or anything too strong, and the mushrooms were all about as strong as goblins, though as they evolve (Grant was never a slouch, evolutionary trees were always a need for him when creating new species, or at the very least incorporating them into another’s tree was the bare minimum.) they would evolve into different forms and bodies similar to real life mushrooms, with their very behavior being a major factor as well. Dragons were feared for their very strength and all the flavors they came in, and what could be more terrifying than mushrooms coming in all different elemental flavors and being virtually immortal.

Virtually immortal you ask? How is that possible? Easy: a soul system. Real life fungi connect all plants in an underground plant system where info and nutrients are shared.

Grant decided to take a note right out of this part of nature, and make a soul system, where all of these shroom monsters would have interconnected souls, sharing knowledge like an inborn telephone system, and acting as a refuge for the souls to escape to upon the bodies death.

Even if a soul-based magician were to try anything fun, they would find themselves face to face with a soul network, which would continue to grow stronger overtime. And like a underground plant system, they could share nutrients and create new bodies themselves. Grant cackled as he imagined his new monsters in action. Behold the shrooms! Grant was waving his hands ecstatically in a mushroom forest full of shrooms lumbering around in their newfound bodies, alongside a myriad of other things in this forest.

Another thing running around his new forest was giant worms. Just straight up giant worms. Mildly common true, and they weren’t new monsters per say, but sometimes a few generic beasts are needed. Set dressing, since they weren't really enriching the soil currently.

Grant sprinkled in some mushroom wolves as well. The giant worms may be dangerous but they’re too unorthodox to serve as good dummies for the shrooms to face, so wolves carved out of mushroom would work fine. They acted just like the shrooms and even shared the same soul plant system the shrooms did, and even shared the same style of evolution. A bit repetitive, but considering they’re essentially the same beasts but on 4 legs, it wasn’t too surprising. They were a bit more vicious though, and in the real world, they’d probably act like wolves.

The last shroom creature Grant decided on was mushroom lizards. That’s it. They were lizard sized, rather average, and didn’t have any attacks. Even their evolutions weren’t ready. Grant was fine with that too. A little extra benefit his divine domain had was that it reflected the real world to a certain extent, allowing random evolutions to occur. Grant looked forward to seeing what the result would be the next time he came here. It wouldn’t be that bad.

…

Meanwhile in another universe

 

Flamel sensed something, as if something horrible had just been born.

“What?” Asked Darwin. Flamel had just frozen, and for a second that changing face seemed to reflect worry, before it shifted back to amusement.

Flamel had decided to meet up with Grant’s old students and he’d been discussing some of Grant’s troublesome escapades. If there was one thing Flamel was known for though, is sensing when Grant did something that would be huge. It seemed that hasn’t changed at all, mused Flamel.

“Your master’s done something again.” Grumbled Flamel. “If there’s one good thing about this arrangement, it’s the fact that he’s no longer in our universe and anything he makes won’t be our trouble.”

“Indeed” agreed Darwin. “Master created so many monsters that creatures across the universe wandered right outside our planet just to speak to the genius who created those things. If it weren’t for the rules preventing any alien species from actually coming to earth for the next two thousand years we’d been invaded by a entourage of his fans”

Flamel chuckled. “yes yes, most authors and designers have signing booths in conventions to get their autographs. We had to set him up a stand on the moon just outside of the Earth so he could do a yearlong signing. Oh, all the other administrators were jealous” he crooned.

They talked a little more before Flamel decided to start guessing.

“So, I’m guessing basking dragon”

“He already made that; it’s been wandering around the Bermuda triangle for the past few centuries swallowing the local leviathan populations. Those things are the only reason the seas haven’t been overrun yet.

“Forgot about them. They’re far too quiet compared to their relatives on land.”

“Pretty cute though. Dolphins with legs. “

“He wouldn’t be that stupid. Last time we tried that it was hell for a little while. Had to get rid of all of them. Those poor dogs.” Flamel shivered.

“Ah, 1850, I heard about it, but how bad was it.?”

“Bad. We needed to wipe a few memories so the people could sleep after that. We also had to spread the message to never give dolphins appendages.”

“That bad huh?”

“Yes I’d rather move on if I could. How about triple combinations. Those produce the best results most of the time. “

“Alright, then how about…”

The two went on talking about Gant, almost sure he did something really stupid just now.

They weren't wrong either.