Supreme Magus

Chapter 4489: A Small Miracle (Part 1)

”Yes, I know that is a flower in full bloom.” Solus said. ”Yet as Lith said, there’s nothing amazing about that. What’s amazing is what Val did! That was just a rose like the thousand others in the Garden.

”At least until Val altered its life force and shared a bit of his own with it.” Then she noticed the confused expression on Lith’s and Kamila’s faces and rushed to add. ”Don’t you get it? The change is permanent.”

”You mean that Val used something akin to Body Sculpting to alter the flower’s colors permanently?” Kamila asked.

”No, I’m saying that Val created a new species of flowers!” Solus replied. ”According to the tower, that flower is perfectly stable, and if we plant it in the Greenhouse or even at the farm, it will produce more that will look exactly like the one you hold in your hands, Kami!”

”Good gods!” Lith rubbed his chin, narrowing his eyes in amazement.

”I see that you two are really impressed, but I still don’t get it. What am I missing?” Kamila turned from Lith to Solus in confusion.

”This is huge, Kami.” Lith pondered for a second, racking his brain for the most fitting example. ”Let’s say that you want to give wings to a cat. It’s a massive task that involves countless nerve endings and just as many potential issues.

”The body needs to recognize the wings, and the brain needs to have a direct connection with them to exert fine control over the wings, but this is just the beginning. To keep things simple, let’s say that you’ve done a perfect job.

”After countless hours of trial-and-error, Body Sculpting worked exactly as you intended. The cat can fly, and you’ve taken every precaution to avoid side effects to its metabolism or quality of life.

”Even if you accomplished such an unimaginably difficult procedure, it wouldn’t guarantee that the cat’s offspring will be so lucky.

”When you perform a change of that magnitude on someone’s life force, the only thing you can be sure of is that the mutation will be stable and functional only for the first subject, and only because you fine-tuned every single aspect of its life force.

”Once the cat mates, however, the wings could make the pregnancy impossible to come to term or kill the mother altogether. Even if the kittens are born, they might be subject to severe mutations

”The kittens might be born with atrophied wings or have no wings at all because the life force they inherited from the other parent perceives the alterations you made as unnatural and rejects them as the kittens develop in the womb.

”What Valeron did wasn’t just graft wings onto a cat. He created a winged cat that can fly and whose descendants will inherit its wings and stable life force. In other words, Val just created a new form of life.

”He didn’t do it in the safety of a lab or with any preparations, but in a few seconds and in front of our eyes.”

”Are you serious?” Kamila stared at the flower in her hands, her eyes widening in awe.

”He is.” Solus nodded. ”If until a minute ago there were a million species of flowers, now there is a million plus one. The ramifications of what Val could do on more complex creatures are enormous.

”And don’t get me started on what might happen if that flower evolves into a Dryad or another plant folk!”

”Good gods!” Kamila stared at the nameless flower, almost expecting it could open a hidden mouth and bite her face off. ”What do we do?”

”The only thing we can.” Lith took the flower from Kamila and handed it to Solus. ”Solus, please move the flower to the Greenhouse. I’m not letting Val’s gift to Kami die.”

”You don’t have to worry about that.” Solus Blinked away, and when she returned, the flower was gone. ”The tower recorded everything about the flower’s development process and studied its properties.

”According to the preliminary analysis, Val’s flower is just a flower. It requires no special conditions to grow. Just fertile soil, water, and plenty of sunlight. By the way, am I the only one who noticed?”

”Noticed what?” Lith asked.

”The flower is emerald like Val’s Emerald Dragon side, silver like his Griffon side, and red like... well, his human life force or Indech side, assuming he’ll develop it as he grows up. Isn’t it a weird coincidence?”

”The only coincidence is the flower being red in its natural state.” Lith shook his head. ”The emerald comes from the life force Val shared with the flower, and the silver from the Life Maelstrom. Nothing more.”

”Yeah, right.” Solus snorted. ”And instead of mixing together, those energies were so nice they split themselves and occupied different parts of the flower without producing a single smudge of color? It’s all too perfect to be a coincidence.”

She conjured a hologram displaying how the silver petals showed no sign of red, just like the red petals showed no trace of silver or emerald.

”She’s right.” Kamila nodded. ”But what Lith says also makes sense. Val is just a baby and has no Indech side. That’s for sure.”

”Fine. We’ll settle this on another date. On a more pressing matter, do you have any ideas how to call it?” Solus asked.

”It’s not up to us.” Kamila shook her head. ”Val should be the one to name his own creation. Speak of the little imp...”

The young boy stirred with a big yawn. The tower and the ocean of world energy swirling across Mogar’s Garden had restored his strength after a short nap.

”Mom?” Valeron stared at Kamila in confusion until he remembered what had happened. ”Where is the flower?”

He looked around, noticing his siblings snuggled up to him but finding no trace of his gift.

”In the Greenhouse.” Kamila activated the Warp Mirror and moved everyone inside the tower. ”There it is. See?”

”Yay!” Valeron screamed with joy as he noticed Solus had made plenty of space around his flower so that more could grow.

He knelt and touched its stem, checking that the flower was okay and that he had made no mistake in fixing its life force.

”Thank you for the beautiful gift, Val.” Kamila sat next to him. ”I have only one question. How do we want to call it? Something so special can’t just be ’a flower’, no?”

”No!” Elysia nodded.

”Mama!” Raldarak joined her.

Valeron thought long and hard about the issue, treating it like the most important decision of his two-year-long life.

”Dad?” Valeron asked.

’I would love to joke around and say that ”Dad” sounds like a magnificent name for the flower, but Val might think I’m serious and name it after me. At that point, all the women in my family would be out for my blood.’ Lith inwardly sighed.

”Yes, son?” He actually said.

”Is that real?” Valeron pointed at the enchanted Camellia Kamila carried on her breast pocket. ”Does it exist?”

”No. I made that up.” Lith replied. ”No such flower exists on Mogar.”

”Can I call it camellia, then? Mom’s flower?” Valeron asked.

Kamila hiccupped, needing sheer willpower to keep herself together. She was one whimper away from a loud cry of joy.