Kael froze, eyes wide in disbelief.
Right in front of him stood the two tomato plants no, trees.
They had grown to his height, their thick, vibrant stems pulsing with a kind of life that didn't seem natural for tomatoes. Lush green leaves stretched out in every direction, full of energy.
But it was the fruit that truly stopped him in his tracks.
The trees weren't just bearing tomatoes they were overflowing with them.
Clusters of cherry tomatoes hung like grapes, packed tightly along the vines. Each plant had hundreds. Combined, there had to be over a thousand plump, thick, and glowing ever so faintly.
Kael stepped closer, eyes narrowing in confusion.
"Wait... why are they blue?" he muttered.
The fruits shimmered in a deep blue shade, almost indigo, softly glowing under the rift's dim light. They were small, nearly grape-sized, and nothing like any cherry tomato he'd ever seen.
They were strange.
Unnatural.
Beautiful.
But… something about them felt off.
He slowly reached out and plucked one from the vine.
"Did I mess something up? Is this a mutation? A failure?"
The thought made his stomach twist with worry.
Suddenly...
Ding!
[System Notification]
You have created a new type of Mana Fruit!
[Magic Cherry Tomatoes]
Bright blue tomatoes, rich in Mana. Carefully nurtured and grown inside a dungeon. Greatly enhances mana capacity when consumed.
Effect: Mana +0.2 per fruit
Kael blinked.
"Wait... wwwrong
Another ding followed right after.
[Title Unlocked – Great Farmer]
A title given to a farmer who successfully created a new Mana-infused plant species.
Reward: +50 Attribute Points
Kael's jaw dropped.
"This... this isn't a failure," he whispered.
"This is a breakthrough."
He stared at the blue tomato still resting in his hand.
"But why did they turn out like this?"
He glanced around the rift. The faint glow of mana shimmered in the air, and a low hum of energy pulsed from the soil beneath his feet.
Then it hit him.
"It's the mana concentration…" he realized, eyes narrowing.
"This whole place is saturated with condensed mana. Even without me noticing, the environment itself must've helped them grow like this."
He thought about it more. His Seed Sense skill accelerated growth, and Nurture was still largely a mystery even the system gave only vague details.
His heart started to race.
"So... does the Nurture skill make these tomatoes evolve to absorb mana instead of carbon dioxide? Then with the rift filled with rich mana, the plants mutated and started absorbing huge amounts of it?"
He remembered the system descdescriptioConsuming the fruit grants +0.2 to maximum mana.
His eyes widened.
"Wait if I eat these, my mana increases permanently? I can solve my mana problem with this?!"
His thoughts spiraled in excitement.
Even with an F-rank mana core, if I raise my max mana enough… I could cast high-tier spells like the elites.
He stared at the fruit.
"This is safe… right?"
Carefully, Kael brought the tomato to his mouth and took a bite.
It was fresh and sweet almost like a grape. He chewed slowly, savoring the burst of flavor.
Then he swallowed.
Ding!
[System Notification]
+0.2 Mana
Current Mana: [80.2 / 80.2]
His eyes lit up.
"It works…"
He turned to look at the two plants, completely stunned.
His chest swelled with exhilaration.
Without wasting time, he began plucking the fruits carefully, making sure not to damage the stems. One by one, he harvested them all.
By the time he was done, a small mountain of blue tomatoes sat at his feet.
"One thousand... eight hundred sixty?"
He counted again. Same result.
"If each one gives +0.2 mana…"
He did the quick math in his head.
"That's 372 mana… from just two plants."
He stared at the pile in awe.
Grabbing another tomato, he bit into it. But this time… something felt off.
He noticed it.
No seeds.
He frowned and grabbed another one, slicing it open with a small knife.
Same thing. Hollow. No seeds inside.
"So… I can't replant them?" he muttered.
"Does that mean… only I can grow these?"
He slowly knelt down and pressed his hand to the soil.
A surge of mana buzzed through his palm stronger than the day before.
"The rift's mana… it's not draining. It's getting denser."
He glanced at the now-empty plants.
"So the Nurture skill turned them into mana-absorbing crops. And the rift it naturally regenerates mana like a spring. Even the soil's changing, absorbing mana and mutating."
A grin stretched across his face.
"This skill isn't just rare… it's broken."
He stood, holding one of the glowing fruits tightly, eyes burning with excitement.
"So does it means no one else can do this. No one can grow these but me?"
Later that night, Kael sat cross-legged on his bed with a bowl full of bright blue cherry tomatoes beside him. His eyes were locked on the TV, anime flashing across the screen.
He munched on tomato after tomato, popping them into his mouth like candy.
Cold. Sweet. Juicy.
No seeds. No mess. Just pure flavor… and magic.
An hour passed. The bucket was empty.
And somehow… he still wasn't full.
Kael leaned back, staring at the ceiling.
"So… I just ate a thousand magical tomatoes."
"And I'm not even full… what are these made of? Air and mana?"
Then a realization struck him.
"Wait the system reward!"
He shot upright and pulled up his interface.
[Title Unlocked: Great Farmer]
Awarded to a farmer who created a new type of mana-infused crop.
[Reward: +50 Attribute Points]
"Fifty points?! Sweet! That's like ten level-ups in one go!"
He rubbed his hands together and began assigning his stats.
[System Status Window]
Name: Kael
Level: 4
Titles: Dimensional Rift Owner, Great Farmer
Profession: Farmer – ★1
Mana Rank: F (452.2 / 452.2)
Strength: 3
Endurance: 2
Agility: 2
DEF: 2
Attribute Points: 70
Passive Skills:
Subspace Storage
Seed Sense
Active Skills:
Nurture [F]
Kael let out a satisfied sigh and closed the window with a flick.
"Not bad. Not bad at all."
"With these mana fruits, I can keep increasing my max mana. If I plant more… hundreds even… I'll have more mana than five-star S-class hunters."
He grinned.
"Anthony. Rowel. Just wait. I'm catching up."
"With this power, starting my own guild isn't just a dream it's a plan. Imagine leading an army with unlimited mana."
"I'll build my own guild… and I'll make it the strongest one out there."
He quickly returned to the field and planted more tomatoes. He also transferred the apple sprout into the soil.
For the next month, Kael kept his routine.
Mornings, he still worked as a corpse handler.
Evenings, he headed straight to his rift, spending all his mana casting Nurture before collapsing into bed.
Day in, day out it became his new normal.
After a full month of effort, Kael had grown 97 tomato trees, which was the most he could manage with the limited space inside the rift.
Tomato trees bore fruit every three days, and the numbers soon became overwhelming.
He couldn't even eat them himself anymore.
Every day after work, he'd rush to his rift, spending hours harvesting by hand.
Each tree produced 600 to 800 tomatoes per harvest.
With 97 trees, that meant 70,000 to 80,000 tomatoes every three days far too much for one person.
Now, he had over 580,000 tomatoes stored in his subspace, which thankfully had no limit for identical items.
As for the apple sprout, it had finally started growing. Kael planted it properly in the soil, though he estimated it would take another one to two months before it bore fruit.
Even with Seed Sense boosting growth speed by 80% and Nurture multiplying it by six, apples were just much slower than tomatoes.
Still, Kael was excited.
He couldn't wait to see what kind of results these mana-hungry apple trees would bring once fully grown.
Inside the rift, while Kael was picking ripe tomatoes...
Ding!
[System Notification]
New Skill Acquired: [Harvest F]
Harvest F – Skill Learned
Description:
Permanently summons a creature to assist with harvesting crops.
Mana Cost: 100 per hour
Effect: Summons a helper that automatically collects matured produce.
Kael raised a brow and opened his system window.
"Let's try it out."
[Summoning Spirit: Spriggle]
[Mana Cost: 100 per hour]
[Only 1 Spriggle can be summoned at Level 1]
A soft glow shimmered beside him, lighting up the field.
With a quiet pop, a tiny creature appeared round, leafy, and glowing with gentle energy. It had stubby vine arms, leafy ears, and big shiny eyes filled with mischief. A little woven basket was strapped securely to its back.
"Kyuuuu~!"
Kael blinked. "...That's ridiculously cute."
Without needing any instruction, the little spirit who Kael would later name Nip bounced cheerfully toward the tomato trees.
To Kael's surprise, it started picking the ripe fruits right away. Not a single green one was touched. Every motion was clean and accurate each tomato gently plucked and dropped into its tiny basket with chirps of joy.
"That's… precise," Kael muttered. "Not even one mistake."
When the basket was full, Nip waddled over to a container nearby. With a quick spin, it tipped the basket perfectly no tomatoes crushed, none dropped.
Then, without missing a beat, it bounced back toward the trees.
"Kyuuuu~!"
Kael watched with his arms crossed, a slow smile forming on his face.
"You really enjoy this, huh?"
He shook his head in disbelief. "Alright. From now on, you're Nip."
The little spirit twirled in joy, its empty basket bouncing as it skipped back to work.
Kael let out a satisfied sigh.
His back didn't ache anymore. Harvesting tomatoes every three days had been exhausting.
And now? The job was being done better than he ever could.
Name: Nip
Type: Spriggle Nature Spirit
Appearance: A 3-foot-tall leafy creature with a round wooden body, glowing seed-like eyes, vine-like arms, and a basket-shaped back.
Personality: Cheerful, hard-working, hums while harvesting, naps in pots when idle.
Abilities:
Automatically harvests ripe crops
Skill – Mana Trim: Cuts only fully mature produce
Stores fruits in its basket-body
Slowly regenerates when exposed to sunlight
Summon Cost: 100 Mana per hour
Kael opened his system window again to check his updated stats.
[System Status]
Name: Kael
Level: 4
Titles: Dimensional Rift Owner, Great Farmer
Profession: Farmer – ★1
Mana Rank: F (98.389 / 98.389)
Attribute Points: 70
Strength: 3
Endurance: 2
Agility: 2
Defense: 2
Passive Skills:
Subspace Storage
Seed Sense
Active Skills:
Nurture [F]
Harvest [F]
Kael nodded slowly. "Hmm… this is looking good. My Mana right now it's about the same as a level 60 S-rank hunter."
But his smile faded.
"...That's the real problem, isn't it?"
He frowned, pulling up his account balance.
Zero.
After squandering most of his money last month, he had nothing left.
"All this Mana, and not a single combat skill... I can't do anything but farm."
He sighed and stared at the glowing field.
"If I want to be a hunter... I'll need to get my hands on some offensive abilities.
Later that night after eating lunch with his family he quickly head back to his room.
His mom and sister Maya is worried since it's over a month now that kael after work and eating Quickly going back to his own room immediately, and just watch anime.
Kael on his room he quickly go back to his routine watching his favorite anime,
He enjoyed eating the cherry tomatoes since it's just taste like grapes, he grown tired of it and it was inefficient.
He remember his mom, having a habit of juicing the fruits and vegetables when their father was still around.
He think why not turn this into a juice or potion?
He go to the storage room and get his moms juicer machine, he also look at the scattered used potion vials in the storage he found 11 vials for 100 ml.
(Potion vials will make, liquid not spoil or bad , just add better description)
Kael quickly fill the juicer with cherry tomatoes he put 100 PCs, and it only make around 35 ml, so he added 150 more so he was able to fill one vials.
It glowed faintly color blue, and filled with mana.
Ding
[System notifications]
You have successfully created a new type of potion]
System rewards skill Potion making.
Mana essence Potion: created by a great farmer from his own harvested Mana fruit.
Effects
add permenent 50 Mana in Mana pool.
Enhance skin quality.
System rewards.
You have received Potion making skill (F)
Potion making(f) : skill description
That night, after having lunch with his family, Kael quickly headed back to his room.
His mom and sister, Maya, were getting worried. It had been over a month now Kael would come home from work, eat, and then lock himself in his room to watch anime like clockwork.
Back in his room, Kael resumed his usual routine laying in bed, eyes glued to the screen, watching his favorite anime series.
He popped a few cherry tomatoes into his mouth. They tasted sweet, almost like grapes, but honestly… he was starting to get tired of them. Eating them raw felt inefficient.
Then a memory surfaced his mom used to juice fruits and vegetables all the time when their dad was still around.
"Why not turn this into a juice?" he thought. "Or maybe… a potion?"
Kael headed straight to the storage room. He grabbed his mom's old juicer machine and rummaged through the shelves until he found several empty potion vials 11 of them, each able to hold 100 ml. They were designed to preserve anything potion whether juice or potion, the liquid wouldn't spoil or go bad once sealed.
He loaded the juicer with about 100 cherry tomatoes and turned it on. After processing, it only produced around 35 ml of juice. "That's it?" he muttered.
He added 150 more tomatoes, and finally managed to fill one vial.
The liquid inside glowed faintly blue, pulsing softly with mana.
Ding!
[System Notification]
You have successfully created a new type of potion.
[System Reward: Skill – Potion Making (F)]
Item: Mana Essence Potion
Description: A potion made by a Great Farmer using his own harvested mana-rich fruit.
Effects:
Permanently increases mana pool by +50
Enhances skin quality
New Skill Acquired: Potion Making (F)
Allows you to extract and create basic potions using magical plants or materials.