Ren bowed deeply to his parents, tears falling to the floor.
"Forgive me for not thanking you properly. For all your sacrifices, for everything you've done for me. I... I will triumph at school and make you proud. I promise."
The mushrooms in his hair glowed softly, as if nodding to his words.
"We already are," his mother whispered, lifting him up and embracing him. "We always have been."
His father joined the embrace, and for a moment, under the light of the now nine moons filtering through the window, the small family remained united, stronger than ever.
Ren smiled through his tears. He had much to tell them, much to explain. But for now, this was enough.
He was home.
♢♢♢♢
In the bathtub, while hot water washed away the mud and spores from his skin, Ren reflected on his new knowledge.
The mushrooms in his hair glowed softly, reflecting in the water like tiny stars.
His parents' plants cultivation path... Now he could clearly see what had happened. The knowledge felt like a perfectly detailed manual:
Basic Plant Development:
Iron Rank maturation phase 1.
1 - Provide 100 correct development points to rise in rank
2 - If 1000 points accumulate without specific direction: faulty development, premature maturation.
3 - Incorrect process result: Weak Seedling Intermediate Maturation (only path available in Iron Rank)
They hadn't had a choice.
Without knowledge of evolution routes, without resources to buy proper cultivation techniques in their youth, without access to proper guidance, Ren's parents had spent their youth cultivating in the dark.
Their plants accumulated development points without direction, advancing blindly until reaching the threshold.
Once they hit 1,000 points, premature maturation became inevitable, flawed, irreversible, and far from optimal.
Unrealized Optimal Path:
Bronze Rank.
Bronze 1: Common Seedling
Bronze 2: Strong Seedling
Silver Rank.
Silver 1: Weak Plant
Silver 2: Common Plant
Silver 3: Strong Plant
The water cooled while Ren reviewed this information.
It was fascinating and tragic at once. His parents had worked so hard...
Ren straightened in the bathtub.
There were no evolutionary paths left for them, but...
There was an option.
The knowledge unfolded in his mind, clear and precise:
Thousand Days Method - True Plant Maturation
The "mature plants" everyone knew were actually an intermediate state, a cocoon waiting to bloom.
The true final result required:
1 - 1000 specific development points
2 - One point per day, without exception
3 - A three-part ritual that must be performed with absolute precision
The method was deceptively simple:
1 - At dawn, the plant must absorb the energy of a common mana crystal drop (can find some on the surface after rains) until it completely dissolves. But it must be processed. This energy must be mixed with a drop of 'vital essence'.
2 - During midday, the crystal needs exactly 24 minutes of direct sunlight to synthesize the essence energy, not a minute more not a minute less.
3 - At sunset, finally, the essence must be "sealed" within the crystal with golden pollen from Night Flowers, common plants that bloom in ten-day cycles at the beginning of the Iron Ring.
'It's like daily medicine,' Ren thought enthusiastically. 'And the components are common enough to never run out. They just need to stock'
Getting the components wasn't the challenge, precision and consistency were. One failed day and the process had to start over.
Most people would give up after trying a new method after a few months, convinced it wasn't working.
Additionally, they'd still need a quite expensive rune to seal all the accumulated power from the process.
In this case his parents would need a Vitality Rune for the last day.
"Now I understand why nobody discovers this," murmured Ren. "Everyone knows effective cultivation methods last 150 days... 180 maximum. But..."
The five-month perception was also a misinterpretation. In reality, all methods were only 100 days long, but people wasted time at the beginning trying to find the correct rhythm and misjudged the mana crystals' energy levels.
Not that he didn't get why they used less mana every day than the most efficient amount… Mana poisoning was scary.
The mushrooms in his hair pulsed softly while he processed this information.
It was strange to know so much, every beast…
Yet even if he could clearly see the evolution paths and cultivation methods up to Silver rank, beyond that... nothing.
Everything related to Gold-rank beasts or higher was an absolute mystery.
'Perhaps,' he thought, 'when my own spore evolves…'
But that could wait.
Now he had to convince his parents to try something that everyone "knew" was impossible.
1000 days. A daily mission. Three elements.
No margin for error.
And the result... A "truly mature" Iron plant could reach the strength of a Silver 1 plant. It wouldn't be as versatile as a plant that had naturally evolved to that rank, but its base power would be the same.
Their extra vitality would rise from 60% to 120% and they would live longer too.
He just needed to convince them to try it.
For a thousand days.
"It's like cooking," he murmured, finding an analogy his parents would understand. "You can have the best ingredients, but without the correct recipe..."
He sank deeper into the water, watching how the mushrooms in his reflection subtly changed color. There had to be a way to show them he wasn't making up stories.
To show them he really understood things no ten-year-old should know.
But first, he needed to better understand his own powers. Information about other beasts flowed naturally in his mind, but there were limits. Nebulous frontiers where knowledge faded into uncertainty.
"One step at a time," he whispered, remembering how his father always said that same thing when preparing a particularly complex dish.
Water dripped from the mushrooms in his hair when he finally left the bath. In the foggy old mirror, his reflection stared back: a small, lean boy with red hair and green eyes, luminescent mushrooms in his hair.
Nobody would believe that this child could be special.
He would have to prove it.
♢♢♢♢
Ren awoke with the first light.
In six days, he would depart for the long eight-year school term, but before leaving, he needed to make sure his parents began the ritual.
He found them in the kitchen, preparing for another day of work. Their faces still bore marks from the previous night's crying.
"Mom, Dad," he called their attention, holding dozens of mana crystals he had collected over the years in the garden. "Before I go to school, could you promise me something?"