Terrarium Adventure - Chapter 7
People seemed to be busy cautiously choosing the fruit. As they were turning their heads, they were discussing in-depth about the shine and color of the fruit while touching them. To me, they were just the same transparent beads.
Still, I was in a dilemma about choosing one. I do want to buy all of them and open them until I get a good one — the only problem was how to handle it afterward. Just like normal card games, there may be a limit on the number I can manage or a possession limit.
First, I don’t know what Driards exactly look like so I tried to open one to start.
“Do you want to choose one?”
I asked Daisy who was paying attention to the fruits on the branch while opening her mouth. Daisy became surprised and replied, “Me?”
“Anything is fine. Choose one!”
As I hurried Daisy, she thought and pointed at one fruit.
“Hold on, there!”
A skinny man pointed at us and approached us all of sudden.
“Will you take two plants including you and the girl or just one?”
“Why?”
“This is a very important ritual for me! I’m waiting to pick my lucky number. Since 6 people have chosen so far, if someone picks one more, it will be my lucky number.”
“Weird…”
If he stopped there, I was going to respect each individual’s differences in this world.
“Also, if possible, you should choose! Today’s fortune told me red is bad for me! Do you know how many times I avoided red until now? My plan has to change because you brought a girl with red hair! That’s why I can’t participate in getting the lucky number!”
Is he nuts? What a weirdo… As I looked at him as if he was crazy, he started to yell at Daisy all of sudden.
“Do something with that damn hair! Try to cover it up or getaway until I pick the fruit!”
“I’m sorry.”
Daisy became intimidated and covered her head while she hid behind me. What is this situation?
“I can’t stand listening to you anymore! Why are you scolding the child? Why are you making the girl sad by bringing up random superstition? Damn it, choose a random thing. Sure, that superstition will bring you luck!”
I shouted while holding Daisy’s hand. The room became noisy all of sudden. The desk clerks came to us to control the situation.
“What? Do you know how much one fruit costs?”
“300 Diamonds are expensive for you, but why do we need to be part of you making a fuss? If you want to get the numbers right, you can buy it twice!”
As I spoke, people burst into laughter. Wow! It’s funny. Actually, if I was in the real world, I wouldn’t act like this. In the past, I was too embarrassed to scream in front of many people as it would bring attention to me.
However, now I’m confident since I have something to rely on. The power of having lots of wealth made me more confident.
“Daisy, you said you like the fruit over there?”
I took the fruit to make sure the man saw it. Strangely, the fruit was warm.
The fruit in my hand was amazing due to its color but I picked 5 fruits from the large branch and the small branch.
I didn’t plan on this but I asked Daisy to hold some since I couldn’t hold all of them.
“Can you afford all of it?”
“Aren’t you stretching it too much?”
Somebody whispered and the man nodded his head. Of course, I told the desk clerk that I would pay for them.
Everyone whispered in doubt but only the desk clerk seemed calm and gave a box with 1,500. The box size was the same for 300 and 1,500 while only the number differed.
I raised my phone and turned it on. The black screen immediately turned to the <Infinite Diamond> screen. I ordered the dwarfs, “Pick up the diamonds using a shovel. No, just pour all into the cart.”
Then, the hand holding the phone was inside the box and I was looking at a rude man and other people. Look, this is the difference between you guys and me.
I shook off my mobile phone just like getting a tablet from a drug box. Immediately, there was the sound of something dropping. It sounded like beans coming out of a bean bag.
People’s expressions changed immediately. Their eyes turned big with their mouth open while becoming pale. The man who was rude in front of me had a great reaction.
For a while, the room was only filled with the sound of my phone releasing the diamonds. It was very peaceful other than the diamond sound.
“Mmm… Mr. Druid. Your diamond inventory is full.”
As the desk clerk spoke, I looked at the box and the 1,500 was gone and was replaced with +158. These dwarfs were told to put the cart and they literally put the whole cart.
“Is that so? I will pick one more.”
I shook my phone once more to make 300 diamonds. As the dwarfs cheered inside the phone, the number turned to +312. Ah, it’s hard to make exactly 300 diamonds.
“The rest are tips. Thank you for your guidance.”
The desk clerk became more polite and bowed. I pushed Daisy to ask her to choose her desired fruit.
“You are my luck. The fruit you choose will bring me luck. I don’t care about the rank. Just choose anything.”
As I spoke, Daisy blushed and she looked at me and the rude man. I waved at her and she took a fruit which was around her height while putting the fruit in her pocket which she picked before. She looked lovely so I petted her head.
“I will guide you to the botanical garden.”
The desk clerk who brought the box guided me to a separate room.
“I’m sorry I took your lucky number. Huh? If you don’t like it, get 18. There is 8 in 18! 18! Hahaha!”
One hand was filled with fruits and the other hand was holding Daisy’s hand while following the desk clerk. The room was full of silence.
This feels awesome! My heart was about to explode when I had to talk back to the rude man before but now I felt refreshed and happy. Money is the best! It feels better to splurge!
A dark pathway was connected to the room. As it was a downward slope, it felt like going underground. Darkness disappeared instantly and a bright light made me dazzled.
The botanical garden was amazing. Although it was underground, there was light everywhere. The light which touched the skin was very warm.
Daisy seemed to be in a good mood. The light was coming from a large crystal from the ceiling. All sides were surrounded by the glass which seemed like a crystal and the floor had weird signs made with gold.
There was a stone construction that was filled with bright sand located above the stairs and it had carved trees around it. There was a large stone plate in front of the stone construction with green color.
“If you put the fruits on here, you are ready to open up the Driards. With a stone plate, you can check the fruit’s genetic information.”
“Genetic information?”
“Yes. Do you need more explanation or do you plan to proceed with opening up the Driards?”
It was a friendly suggestion. The extremely polite desk clerk looked at my condition and responded immediately as I looked curious. I welcomed explanations.
“Do you know that the tree has all the genetic information for all Driards?”
“…..”
Should I pretend I know about it? As I looked at Daisy, she was eagerly looking around the botanical garden.
“The tree can give birth to all Driards through the fruits. However, no one knows which Driards are born from which fruit. Perhaps, no Driards need to be born and the fruit can be a source of energy. It will become a source for Driards born in the future. Nobody knows until they open it here.”
“I see.”
“This stone plate helps you figure out the genetic information of the fruit by putting the fruit on the Driard port here. Genetic information displays the Driards’ rank so it’s objective. The environment, season, life, beauty, rareness, medicinal herb, and poisonous plant determines the rank. So, the rarer it is along with the high price increases the Driard’s rank.”
Difficult…Well… Is it special like ginseng? Daisy sat next to me as she was done looking around. I pet Daisy’s head once.
“You can find the genetic information first and choose to give up opening it if you don’t like it. It can be used as a source to nurture future Driards. Since you have lots of fruits, you can give normal ranks as a source to nurture.”
So, it’s lucky to have Rare rank just like the man who I met at first. However, Daisy’s face looked grim all of sudden.
“What’s wrong?”
“Mmm… Mr. Druid. I remember I have something urgent to do. Can I go first?”
“All of sudden?”
“It’s really urgent! I completely forgot about it! I need to go right now!”
Daisy left the botanical garden while giving all the fruits to me before I tried to stop her. How urgent is it that she left so quickly… Perhaps, was I holding her too long? If so, I feel very sorry. She was too nice and just came along without saying anything…
I felt uncomfortable and looked at where Daisy left and turned my body to hear the rest of the explanation. Somehow, the desk clerk gave a mysterious face and looked in the direction where Daisy had left.
“Strange…”
“Huh? What is?”
“Nothing. Do you wish to proceed with the opening of the fruit?”
“Yes. Fast as possible, please. I’m worried about Daisy.”
As I spoke, the desk clerk moved his head. Then he led me to the stone construction after becoming normal. As ordered, he raised one fruit.
As the fruit touched the soil, it shivered. At the same time, the stone plate’s color became stronger with a few letters written on it.
Really exciting! Driard! Will it be the fancy illustrated character on the <Terrarium Adventure> beta page? Perhaps, what if strange things like the Mandrakes from <Harry Potter> appear?
The first letter on the stone plate said ‘NO DATA.’ …What?
“You are not lucky from the first round. This fruit does not have Driard information. This should be used as a source of nurture for the next Driard.”
Thereafter, the same phrase appeared for three fruits in a row. So, out of the 6 fruits I picked, 4 were failures. Damn it, can there be so many failures for a paid drawing?
“You don’t have to be deeply concerned. You can see those fruits at the regular price. That’s because these fruits have lots of nutrition data so it’s better than fruits open for the Driards. Selling to Druids who rise to higher ranks can enable you to pick fruits.”
It doesn’t matter since I can get all the fruits and retry. Still, I got all excited and it was continuing to disappoint me. Please give me something! Normal or Rare since I can raise any of them!
At first, I always gave full love to something I acquired. First pet, weapon, mercenaries, etc.
Although I can’t use it anymore, I wouldn’t release or sell it and keep it as a treasure. It’s really meaningful to get something out of all things. I’m a sentimental person.
This time, I prayed for getting a Driard for sure and put the fruit which Daisy picked for me on the port.
