~Inside the Mindspace~
[Gaia is interfering with Abyss Fragment]
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[Gaia is interfering with Abyss Fragment]
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[Gaia is interfering with Abyss Fragment]
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[An unknown entity has emerged from the Abyss Fragment]
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[The new entity has been attached to User as his Gift]
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[User's exp limit for a level up has been increased]
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[User's level has decreased from 1 to 0]
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[The left-over Abyss Fragment is being absorbed into User's soul]
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[User's soul has undergone considerable change]
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[User's soul has gained a new trait]
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[User has gained a new skill]
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[User has been granted a new title]
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With each notification, Zeno knew something had changed within himself beyond his control. Thankfully the visions and thoughts tormenting Zeno also recede with each passing notification.
Once again sight returns to him and he is able to see the vast outer space like appearance of his Mindspace.
"It's finally over. The nightmare is finally over. I thought it would never end.
I even felt like I was going to disappear in there. But somehow I survived.
My mind seems to have changed in the process somehow too. Why do I feel that?"
Zeno talks to himself as he felt himself different from usual.
"I should be jumping with joy that the long hours of agony are finally over. I should be celebrating now.
But somehow, I feel like a limiter has been attached to my emotions. What happened to me?"
Once again, Zeno asks in his head, noticing the oddity. He was awfully calm and collected unlike himself. His thoughts didn't wander anymore. He felt his mind unrestricted and uninfluenced anymore.
[User's new passive psychological trait
Profile's timely notification once again provides an answer for it.
"You! You are a terrible piece of junk, Profile. Do you know that?"
Zeno shouts at the blue white virtual brain structure of Profile. He is supposed to feel angry at Profile for ditching him at the last moment, but he doesn't, mostly due to the trait's effect.
[There was nothing Profile could have done. Profile is just a sentient AI Gift nothing more than that.]
Zeno expected such an answer. Maybe that is why he wasn't feeling angry at Profile as he is supposed to be.
[User on the other hand, is someone who once escaped it. Only User had a chance to escape]
Even though Profile's answer sounded absurd, Zeno felt it was somehow reasonable. But doesn't mean he is going to forgive him, that fast.
"Just shut up, okay? Tell me. What's different now?" Zeno asks Profile after a mild scolding as he turns to face the new changes that have underwent in the Mindspace.
Usually when he enters his own Mindspace, he would see Profile as a blue white coloured Virtual Brain structure on his right, the Shortsword Gift on his left and the Abyss fragment lying underneath. He himself would like an incorporeal form of 8 year old Zeno Lockhart in there.
But this time, things are a bit different. His own incorporeal form even though still looks like the 8 year old Zeno Lockhart, his whole form is giving off black fog all over by himself. Just like how the Abyss Fragment used to do.
The Shortsword Gift is now replaced with a smooth shiny black gem like material cut in double pyramid shape, revolving around its axis. Zeno realises that this must be the new entity that emerged from the Abyss Fragment.
But his level just went down because of it and he can't use any of his skills anymore unless he reaches level 1 again. All the 100 units of World Energy he had was converted to exp. He also notices that he now needs double the amount of World Energy than a normal person with each level up.
[This is what Profile assumes to be the case]
[Taking reference of the visions that flashed through User's mind, this new entity must be one of the beings that had been trapped in the Abyss for long before it got fragmented and became dormant.]
[How User's soul first ended up in the Fragment before the transmigration and how User managed to escape, the first time is still a mystery to Profile and cannot provide an explanation for it.]
[Due to some unforeseen circumstances, the dormant fragment was awakened]
[After it awakened, imitating the devouring nature of Abyss, it tried to consume User in the same manner as it did the Shortsword Gift]
[But due to Gaia's interference, the entity was freed from the control of the leftover Abyss which then attached onto User]
[The entity tries to escape into the outer world after being freed]
[However, being a foreign entity, it was deemed a threat by Gaia and was reduced to this state before before being forced to take the position of the vacant Gift trapping itself within User's Mindspace]
Profile finishes its analysis based on the information it has. Even Zeno felt this might be the case, since he couldn't come up with another possibility.
[User, being a level 0 can no longer control World Energy. Hence can no longer access Profile's skill or the entity's skill]
[User needs to reach level 1 again in order to regain access to your skills]
"It seems I am at a disadvantage here. Without the Energy points, I can't use the View skill. Hence I can't find info on this new entity. Nor can I even view my own status."
Zeno says as a matter of fact. Being on the blind side of a matter really frustrated him.
"Another way I have any chance of obtaining any info on this entity would be by trying to connect with it similarly how I am connected to Profile."
"But who knows what sort of Gift it is. It looks like a black gem, but that might be unrelated to it."
"It might be one of those terrifying monsters I just saw. If that's the case, will my new Gift be something like a Bloodline Gift that will allow me to transform physically?"
Zeno monologues to himself trying to think about possibilities. From the memories that flashed through, all the beings in it looked like a monster one way or another. So there is a high chance of it to be a Bloodline Gift.
{~Even if I were one of those things, I don't think you would be able to transform into that, Noir Rivera~}
A voice echoes from within the Mindscape drawing both Profile's and Zeno's attention. The origin of the voice was from the smooth and shiny black gem spinning in the Mindspace.
The voice wasn't that of any beast or monster like Zeno expected. On the contrary, it sounded that of a real person, a person with a mind and the ability to speak.
[It seems User's new Gift is sentient too.]
"You.. you know my name?" Zeno asks, slightly surprised.
{~ Ofcourse! Truth be told, most of the things I remember is about you ~}
The voice answers feigning a sense of familiarity. It was as if it was talking to someone it knew.
"I do not understand. What are you, really? How do you know me? Why were you in that Abyss Fragment? Tell me everything you know."
Zeno asks, both confused and concerned. Somehow, he could tell this wasn't the end of it.
After Zeno asked those questions, a brief period of silence ensues within the Mindspace. Knowing it can't remain silent for long, the black gem finally decides to talk.
{~ The farthest memory I can recall is, being trapped at the most bottom of a realm of blackness. Alone I didn't know what I was supposed to do nor did I care ~}
{~ I didn't have a form. Or should I say, the whole of the blackness was my form. I could control the whole realm of blackness to my will but it came at a cost and a duty, which I didn't remember at that time ~}
{~ Over time, I was surrounded by different entities from above, One time, I even thought they were the ones holding me in there as their prisoner~}
{~ But the truth was, everyone of them were prisoners except for me. I was actually supposed to be the mind of the Abyss or should I say the Will of the Abyss ~}
{~ Then I remembered my duty. I do not recall who gave it to me But it was mine to do. I was supposed to make them disappear. ~}
{~ All of them were Abnormalities or Aberrations. Entities that came to possess the power to crack the whole system they live in. And I was supposed to be the cure. I was supposed to to make them a part of Abyss. To have them join me as a collective Will of the Abyss~}
{~ And that's what I did. Using the powers of the Abyss itself, I made them a part of the Abyss. Their wills were joined with mine acting as the collective Will of the Abyss ~}
{~ Ofcourse, they resisted. But their fates were sealed the moment they were trapped in there. But as time went on, they lost their own identity and became a chaotic mess of thoughts. All they were left with was the intent to draw more Abnormalities into the Abyss~}
{~ And they did come. New Abnormal entities kept on coming as if they were flies flying into the flame thanks to the new collective chaotic wills. I don't know how, but somehow I ended up being the control center of all that power ~}
{~ It didn't matter what species they belonged to or what power they possessed. Whether they were humans or monsters, animate or inanimate, demons or even gods, all their powers were rendered ineffective ~}
{~ To me personally, none of them were that different. They were nothing more than source of information regarding the outside infinite cosmos. Though I were interested in some of them~}
{~ Azathoth, Abaddon, Leviathan and some more. Azathoth was always sleeping, still took my all to keep him in the Abyss. Abaddon was awfully calm and collected and was still able to maintain his identity in there. Leviathan was split and was serving double life sentence. One in Hell and the other, there in Abyss ~}
{~ I saw the outside world through each of their eyes. Through their memories. I didn't really long for the outside. Just curious. After all, I never had a life outside, unlike any of them ~}
{~ One day, two new Abnormalities came to the Abyss. But what was special about it was that two of them were of human orgin. They were two human souls, which were a rarity in the Abyss.~}
{~ Both of them were dormant, unaware of their states, but special. One of them was resisting the collective wills of the Abyss and the other assimilated into the Abyss with no problem but somehow managed to keep its identity within that chaos ~}
{~ Not long after that, the Abyss started to fragment from outside. The cause for it was unknown. Either the whole divine realm and the nether realm decided to get rid of the Abyss or the one who created the Abyss itself decided it was time. Somehow,it just happened and the Abyss started to crumble. ~}
{~ Each fragment, still containing raw power and chaotic thoughts of the Abys were scattered into the outer infinitude of the universe ~}
{~ I, somehow was trapped in one of those fragment with the still resisting Human soul. Out of my control and guided by fate, the fragment landed in this planet of Gaia ~}
{~ With no suitable power at my behest, the soul couldn't be assimilated into that Abyss fragment and I couldn't complete my duty anymore ~}
{~ Even though the Abyss was no more, I was still bound by my duty given to me. I tried to take over that soul mentally accessing its memories and that's how I came to know more about you, Noir Rivera~}
"Wait? What? You were trying to take over My soul? That's how you know me?"
Zeno asks horrified.
{~ Yes, I even studied a lot about you from your memories. Noir Rivera, son of Rivera Rockholt, a well known genetic engineer and Leah Evergreen, a lesser known cyber specialist.
Born and brought up in an orphanage due to the death of mother and untimely missing of the father, you were exceptionally weak in mentality during your childhood, but a genius academically. ~}
"Yeah, sure" Zeno comments in between.
{~ Not opting to follow in his father's or mother's field of expertise due to lack of interest, you aspired to become an Applied Nuclear Physicist. Becoming a trainee at a nuclear research centre where you first met your senior and your rival for life. Together, both of you created an anti weapon which made you two become fugitives for life-... ~}
"I am gonna stop you right there. You have proved your point about how you know me. But you still haven't told me what happened after. What happened after that?"
Zeno asks, butting in between and trying to stay on the matter.
{~ I don't know much after that. I fell into a dormant state after that, waking up only periodically. Just before I went to sleep, I remember the Abyss Fragment buried underground. ~}
{~ When I woke up, the Abyss Fragment had bonded with a boy named Zeno Lockhart and your soul was missing some portion within the Abyss Fragment, which also managed to escape before I just woke up now ~}
{~ I assume, the normal part of your soul seperated from yourself and escaped the Abyss first resulting in becoming Zeno Lockhart. Then your abnormal part of the soul managed to escape and bond with it, even ending up as the dominant personality resulting in yourself.~}
"Wait! What now? What are you saying now? What is this talk about normal part and abnormal part of my soul? Are you saying that the kid Zeno and me are same?" Zeno asks confused.
{~ It is just an assumption from my part. But I believe it to be the true case ~}
"We will talk about that, later. Where did that Shortsword Gift go, then? What happened to it?"
Zeno asks.
{~ The Abyss has an instinct to devour everything in its surroundings which ofcourse, was inherited by every Fragment of it. When I woke up, by instinct I went after it. Unlike your soul, it was pretty easy to assimilate into the Abyss Fragment and got almost an idea of what it was and about Soul Gifts. ~}
{~ When the white lightning struck the Abyss Fragment, I managed to adopt its property while taking the power of Abyss itself before getting free from it. But since I now possess the property of Soul Gifts, I am still bound to the User it belonged to. And here we are ~}
As the black gem finished its talk, Zeno doesn't know how to respond or what to say. Everything this thing has said was beyond anything he could comprehend. Beings like demons and gods trapped in a powerful jail and this thing acting as the warden for it.
Moreover the names this thing, mentioned in its stories were similar to beings in the mythologies and stories he had from his old world. Leviathan, the monster in the Bible, Abaddon, known as both an angel and a demon & Azaloth, the god of gods in Cthulhu mythos.
Those were the things he never believed existed and somehow the fact that they exist here makes him fearful for his new life here.
"You know what? Let's just not talk about it. The more I hear about it, the less sense it sounds.
I should wake up now. It's been too long in here."
Saying so, Zeno exits from the Mindspace and regains back the control of his body. He wants to examine his body to see whether any change occurred while he was out cold.
As he opens his eyes, he once again, finds himself in an unfamiliar place. A moss covered stone roofing appears before him as he opens his eyes. Looking around, he finds himself lying on a stone slab table within a cave, surrounded by vines all over the floor. Looking out at the cave entrance, he could see it was morning.
"Where the hell am I, now? And why am I constantly waking up somewhere I don't know?"
Zeno asks out exasperated. His back was sore lying in the cold slab. He tried to get up from the slab but his whole body was paining. It felt like needles were poking him from everywhere on his skin in addition to his stab wound. He also notices the new life like purple black tattoo of Infinity that has appeared on the back of his left hand.
"Don't try to get up that fast. Take it slow. Your whole skin is covered in lightning attribute."
A raspy male voice echoes from within the cave. Zeno turns his face to see a short old man sitting down on the floor tending to a meat above fire, closely.
"Who are you, old man? And where am I?"
Zeno asks, seeing the old man. Even for an old man, he was too short, less than 4 feet. Dressed in brown rags torn here and there, the man looked like a beggar but there was a glow around him that made him look unique from the normal. Moreover he seemed too fit that you could make out an outline of abs around his stomach.
The old man doesn't answer immediately, instead tends to the meat that is being cooked above the fire. Anybody would when it was dripping with meaty juice. Even Zeno felt hungry from the aroma that was wafting through the air.
"Don't you dare go for it, boy. This is mine. Your food's there in that pot" Says the old man, pointing at a metal pot with steam coming out of it.
Zeno feeling hungry, doesn't bother asking more questions and goes straight for the pot, the moment he manages to get up from the slab. It is still paining but he can manage it now.
Opening the pot, he finds steaming vegetable soup within it, which was healthy but less appealing than the meat that was being cooked near him. Gulping down his saliva, he gobbles up the soup while taking in the aroma of the fried meat.
After preparing the meat for a long time, the old man finally eats his fried meat. Seeing the delighted expression on his face, Zeno felt a tinge of envy.
'Why does it smell so good, dear lord? What kind of meat gives off this kind of heavenly aroma?' Zeno monologues to himself in his head.
"Your body will be tingling like that for a few days. And your stab wound will also take some time to heal.
It will be a while, before you should even think about eating meat, boy."
The old man says as if he read Zeno's mind.
*zap*
Just as Zeno turns to face him, the now empty pot in his hand disappears from his hand and appears suddenly in the old man's hand.
Normally Zeno would have been amazed at the phenomenon, but now he had adapted to this world so much that he considers everything normal.
"Thanks for the food and everything, old man. But I still don't know your name."
Zeno asks after seeing the old man magically disappears the stuff one by one.
"It's Mink. Call me old man Mink like the others."
The old man answers with a stern expression on his face.
It took some time to open up but Mink tells Zeno what happened in the real world when the latter was unconscious.
After the continuous torrents of lightning strike, the cottage burning down and the rescue of Zeno, the priest Peter along with his family approached the old man Mink who was living a hermit's life out in the mountains.
After hearing the events, it was old man Mink who told them to leave Zeno there with him lest the lightning may strike them too. After all, they have no idea what brought forth this phenomenon.
They obeyed his advice and left him there since they knew he would be safe here.
Getting out of the cave, Zeno notices the place where they are to be up on a mountain top. Looking out, he could see an ocean on its south with a mangrove acting as the beach. Except for at the top, the rest of the part of the mountains is covered in such dense forest that even the sunlight can't penetrate through.
"Don't even think about going into those forests. If you die in there, I won't be responsible for your death."
Old Mink warns as he sees Zeno staring closely at the forest.
"There are beasts in there, right? Would they not bother you?"
Zeno asks, amused.
"The beasts doesn't really bother me. It's the humans that does."
Old Mink replies in a casual manner.
Old Mink further enquires the manner of events that occurred last night from Zeno, but the latter feigns ignorance not wanting to attract unnecessary trouble.
'I can't just reveal my secrets to random strangers, can I?'
Zeno muses in his head.
Strangely, Mink doesn't question further but accepts Zeno's answer. It was as if has his own idea of why it happened. Old Mink finally gives an idea about the current scenario he is in.
He fears that since such an incident occured, it would not be wise to keep him in the village since there is a chance the lightning may strike again. He offers Zeno to stay in the cave during the meantime for a week to make sure there will be no more onset of lightnings.
Even though it sounded stupid, Zeno agrees to it. After all, to them it appeared suddenly out of nowhere and without reason. If this occurred in his previous world, the religious fanatics there would label him as a cursed human or something.
"I will be staying there up above that tree. If you need anything, just call for me out aloud."
Says Old Mink as he points at the largest tree atop the mountain top. It has a whopping height of a 5 story building and a trunk thicker than 5 banyan trees huddled together. Looking closely one could notice a house made of twigs constructed at the top of it.
Shortly after saying those words, old Mink disappears to his home above, jumping from branch to branch. To Zeno's eyes it looked just like the movement technique Adam did, but more discreet.
'Either the old man's Gift must be some Monkey based Bloodline one or he also knows the Fleeting Cloud Steps technique.'
Zeno ponders, seeing him able to climb the tall tree that fast.
'But in my case, I still don't know what my Gift is. In this state, the only thing I can do is practice those Advancement techniques to once again reach level 1.'
Zeno reaches a conclusion on what he should do after assessing the possibilities on what he can do . Now that he won't be going to the Academy for a while, now's the time to Advance as much as he can.
He goes back into the cave and makes himself more comfortable there. He finds the magic pen and the melted alloy of gold and copper within the belongings the priests left with him there.
'Too bad, the gold melted. I amybe able to salvage it if I can melt it and mold it. But I think I should just give it to Madam Mary since I burned down her house.
And how is this pen not damaged at all? Either way, I have to busy myself during the time here.
I just hope my back won't get sore from sleeping on that cold stone slab.'
Zeno ponders before starting to practice the Advancement techniques he knows.
His current objective is to reach Cosmic Grade of 1 and become stronger than before anyway so that he won't have to end up injured on the streets ever again. Whether he would get to do that in the meantime is something he can only hope for.
~6 days later~
Almost a week has passed and Zeno still hasn't managed to reach level 1 but he could feel it approaching closer. The conversion of the World Energy to exp was a longer and arduous procedure than Zeno thought.
Last time it happened so fast, he expected it would be over within a day or two. But only later did he realise how wrong he was.
No matter how much he practiced, he could only manage to absorb 1 to 4 exp per hour. The silver lining in all of this was that he was now adept at practicing each one of the techniques.
{~ You only have worthless techniques in your possession. What did you expect? I really don't understand how you became an Abnormal existence ~}
The emotionless voice of the black gem entity resounds in his ears which irks Zeno.
'Shut up, Blacky. No one asked your opinion.'
Zeno shouts back at it.
Spending most of his time in his own Mindspace practicing, he had come to accept the black gem alien. He even nicknamed it 'Blacky' owing to its appearance.
{~ It isn't just my opinion. It's also the truth. ~}
Zeno turns a deaf ear to Blacky's remark as he is absorbed in his practice. He knows he has almost reached the level limit. Just a bit more and he would finally manage to accumulate enough exp to reach level 1.
[User has managed to accumulate 200 exp]
[User has attained Cosmic Grade of 1]
[User can once again regained access to all of Profile's skills]
[User has unlocked 3 new inbuilt skills from User's new Gift]
[User can now access the new inbuilt skills from User's new Gift]
Profile's notification screen comes up one by one as Zeno levelled up.
'Blacky, are you in there? What is it? What sort of ability did you get?'
Zeno asks Blacky in his head.
Even though Blacky had become Zeno's Gift, Blacky doesn't have an idea on what ability it had gained from the Abyss Fragment.
That was when Profile suggested that Blacky might be able to access its powers when Zeno can reach level 1.
{~ It seems I have gained one of the core ability of the Abyss itself. Noir, check it up yourself. ~}
"Ofcourse! But it better be one heck of a power after making me suffer through all of that.
It's been too long since I used this skill. I wonder what else has changed."
Zeno comments as he uses his most used skill on himself.
'
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Name: Zeno Lockhart / Noir Rivera
Title: Transmigrator, Heir to the Abyss
Age: 8 (32)
Cosmic Grade: 1 {0/600}
Energy Points: 200/200 (Recovery: 2EP/min)
∆Gifts:
Super Gift: Synergy (Sentient)
Unique Gift: Profile (Sentient)
∆Traits:
Energy Sense Lv2 (94%)
Muscle Strength (+10) (Passive)
State of Absolute Sound Mind (Passive)
Abyss Soul (Passive)
∆Techniques:
Taoist Energy Breathing Technique Lv4 (12%)
Yogic Energy Breathing Technique Lv2 (24%)
Purifying Energy Advancement Technique Lv1 (77%)
Flexible Energy Advancement Technique Lv1 (72%)
Stable Energy Advancement Technique Lv1 (69%)
Formless Energy Advancement Technique Lv1 (69%)
Marmashastra Lv0 (3%)
∆Inbuilt skills:
{Profile}
Scanner Vision Lv1 (89%)
Scan Lv1 (89%) View Lv1 (99%)
Virtual Processor Lv0 (80%)
Hidden Codex Lv0 (80%)
{Synergy}
Fusion Edition Lv0 (0%)
Selective Isolation Lv0 (0%)
Control Interference Lv0 (0%)
∆Soul skills:
Abnormal Devourance Lv0 (0%)
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'Synergy? What kind of lame sounding superpower is that? Is this really even a good ability at all?'
Zeno ponders skeptically as he clicks on all the new words on the status to make a sense of it.
[Super Gift: Synergy (Sentient)
Description: A sentient Will endowed with the ability to bring together components to form a system that gives a result higher than the sum of the results of the individual components.]
"I kinda get it but kinda don't. What does it mean by components? Blacky, give me some context."
Zeno asks, confused.
{~ It is something for you to figure it out, Noir~}
Black refuses to divulge more information considering it isn't his place.
'Since Blacky doesn't want to help, Profile, what do you think this power is about?'
Zeno seeks Profile's opinion.
[Taking account of the inbuilt skills, it must be some sort of evolved form of Fusion ability]
[Other than that, Profile has no idea.]
"I see. Let's check the other ones."
Zeno wipes away the previous notification screen to look at the next one.
[⬛Fusion Edition Lv0⬛
Source: Synergy Super Gift
Expense: 10 EP/extra component/use
Allows User to fuse two or more component with or without editing each of the it to create a new component or a system]
"So, it really is some kind of fancy fusion ability, huh?"
Zeno goes on to check the next one.
[⬛Selective Isolation Lv0⬛
Source: Synergy Super Gift
Expense: 10 EP/ use
Allows User to extract a component from a system]
"This one's about removing components. What determines whether a thing is component or not?"
Zeno monologues to himself.
[⬛Control Interference Lv0⬛
Source: Synergy Super Gift
Expense: 10EP/ component/ use
Interfere the skills of others for self use while activation or after activation]
"This one says skills instead of components. Sounds more OP than the other two."
Zeno continues to monologue.
"Who are you talking to now, boy?"
The voice of old Mink suddenly comes from outside the cave. "It's time for dinner. Come outside when you have finished your daily practice."
Hearing old Mink's voice suddenly, Zeno once again become aware of the fact that he was talking aloud out of habit. This is the third time this has occurred in his time here.
'I really shouldn't talk to them while outside. People will think I have gone cuckoo or something.' Zeno ponders as he shouts back to old Mink from within the cave. "I will be coming, shortly."
During the time Zeno had stayed here, old Mink had made food for him all the time even though he rarely gets to see the man cooking. It's like he conjures it out of thin air.
Normally, old Mink leads a hermit's life in here and only visit the village once in a while. During that time, people would go to him for advice since everyone considers him a Sage, a hermit who can perform wonders and miracles.
The constructed seeds, Jeff sold the other day was also result of some sort of skill from the old Mink, because of which everyone continues to greet him in respect.
They even call him the 'Sage Hidden in the Mountains' because of the magic tricks in his possession. He never mentions how he is able to do those things he does. But he is the only person Zeno has met in this world with any relation to the word 'Magic'.
'I got distracted. Let's check the other things too before going out.' Zeno decides as he sorts the rest of the screens.