Five days passed in that manner. I would awaken from my sleep mode, expend all my magic power claiming more of the land of Lake Quillfort, and then return to sleep mode to gain it all back. At first, I would spend roughly ten hours asleep, just as the voice had told me. But after 4 cycles, I noticed the time spent in sleep mode was closer to nine and a half hours. Not a huge improvement, but it would add up.

Since I had yet to actually begin shaping the land into the academy, Temsello and Arianne spent this time camping in tents. I spoke very little with them, as I had been asleep for the majority of those days. At some point in the middle of all that, though, they had managed to tell me that once I was finished gathering territory, we should speak of the plans for recruiting teachers for the academy. That was certainly an important matter, so I told them that I understood.

At the end of the five days, I checked my total magic power. Just over 370 Hekares! That should be good for now, so we could get down to the business of actual construction. First, however, I needed to have that discussion with those two regarding our hiring methods. I left the confines of my mind and entered Viewing mode.

---

I peered around. I had had a panic attack a few days earlier when I came out of sleep mode only to discover that it was raining. I had worried that since I appeared to be a computer, I might be able to receive water damage! Luckily, this did not seem to be the case. Still, I was grateful to Temsello for setting up a small tent over my body. It helped ease my mind, even if my worries were unfounded.

It looked like it was still early enough that neither of them had come out from their tents. I hadn’t been awake often enough to have seen what time they normally woke up, so I would just have to entertain myself until they did.

Time to experiment with my control over my territory, apparently. Land Mode. I entered the gray existence easily, long since having gotten over the disorientation that I had felt on earlier visits. Now, how to best go about this… I was going to wait until those two were up to start the actual academy buildings, but what else could I get up to…?

“Hey, what can I do in Land Mode, other than just manipulate the terrain?” I mentally asked the voice.

List too large to display. Queries regarding powers must be asked specifically. Few things are outside the capabilities of properly prepared Overminds.

That… sounded pretty awesome? I guess? I’ll have to think up some individual things I want to do. I looked around the empty world. Actually… on closer inspection, it wasn’t quite as empty as it seemed. I could see the ghostly outline of the trees, and a spectral shimmering on the ground turned out to be grass. I looked over at the tents, and saw the dimly glowing figures of Arianne and Temsello through the canvas.

I floated over to the nearest tree, and tried to place my hand on it. Since I’m pretty much a ghost in this form, my hand went right through. It felt warm, inside the tree. It was a strange feeling, as I hadn’t felt temperature in this body since I received it.

A thought occurred to me, and I acted on it, focusing my magic power into the tree. It was a strange sensation, my hand heating up within the trunk to levels that would have been quite uncomfortable, if I could still feel pain. I looked at my magic power. 362/372 Hekares.

...I wonder what putting 10 Hekares worth of magic into a tree does to it? This tree, in Land Mode, at least, looks like it’s fit to burst. The magic inside is pulsating, and it’s glowing a brilliant white. I stare at the spectacle for a moment. “Viewing Mode.” I state. I’m pulled back to my body just as the tree I was experimenting on did something unexpected.

Boom! The poor tree that I had inadvertently sentenced to death splintered before detonating, sending shards of wood in every direction. “Grmf, bah! H-What?!” I hear some strangled sounds from Temsello’s tent before he fumbles his way through the tent flap. “What happened? Are we under attack?!” He said frantically.

“Apologies. Experiment 001 regarding plant life of Lake Quillfort resulted in failure.” If I could look sheepish right now, I most certainly would. He stared at me for a moment, blinking a few times. I could tell he was still tired, but I doubted he would be able to fall asleep again after that.

“...So that’s what it was, hmm?” He said in a strained voice. Sorry! I didn’t mean to blow up a tree! “Hmph, well, I can’t go back to sleep now.” He wandered over to the cart, and reached into a sack, pulling out an apple. Man, I wish I could still eat things. I miss the taste. I remain silent as he eats the apple. After he finished it, I could tell he was preparing to incinerate the core with fire magic.

Suddenly, I spoke up. “Query: Target, Temsello. May I have the remains of that apple?” He looked over to me in surprise, before staring at the core incredulously.

“...Dare I ask why? You can’t eat anything, I thought, and even if you could, this is hardly the edible part of the apple.” He asks in a strange tone.

“Experiment 002 regarding plant life of Lake Quillfort may result in reduced costs for feeding students.” I said. Maybe I can do something to plants with my magic power other than blowing them up? Hopefully.

He paused for a moment, before shrugging. “Please don’t cause any more explosions. It’s a miracle that Arianne wasn’t woken up by that first one.” Thus saying, he walked over and placed the core on the ground next to me. As he walked back over to the stool he had been sitting on, I looked at the apple core.

Land mode. I returned to the slowed world of black and grey. I focused a small amount of power into the apple core, and thought about breaking it apart to get the seeds. The core dissolved, leaving behind six seeds. Each of the seeds glows from the residual magic left behind from dissolving the core. I glanced down at my hand, and focused some power into my fingers. They heated up, and I cringe, hoping that this doesn’t cause another detonation. I stooped down, and tried to pick up a seed with my fingers.

It rose with my hand. Perfect! Now I can move things! I floated a short distance away, before stooping back down. I pushed the seed into the ground, causing a tiny pit in the soil. Then, I attempted to focus a small amount of power into the seed. Grow, I commanded it mentally. Immediately, the seed sprouted, sending roots into the ground. I continue to feed it power while coaxing it out of the dirt.

Once the tree had reached a height of at least two meters, I stopped feeding it magic. I checked my magic power. 359/372 Hekares.

...Just three Hekares is all it takes to force a seed to become a tree? No wonder that other tree blew up! I had given it more energy in a second than it had seen in the entirety of its life, and let it do what it liked with it. It was a wonder that it had only exploded.

I repeated the process with the other five seeds. None of them had any apples on them, but I didn’t want to force the issue yet. I had learned what I wanted, after all. I could control and manipulate the growth of plants in Land Mode. Maybe I could take up gardening as a hobby when managing the school gets slow? I didn’t actually spend much time in the real world when I was in Land Mode, after all.

Viewing Mode. The world returns to normal. Temsello had reached the stool at this point, and turned around while sitting on it. Then he coughed loudly. “Kuh- What? Where did- Did you grow those trees just now?!” He shouted.

“Answer: Affirmative. I have the ability to control plants on my territory.” I replied. This was a wonderful thing to learn indeed.

We heard a yawn come from Arianne’s tent. “What’s up with the shouting?” She sleepily asked, before emerging from her tent. Strange that blowing up a tree didn’t disturb her rest, but Temsello talking loudly can wake her.

“...It appears that Adam can manipulate plants into growing incredibly fast if they’re near him.” Temsello explained. Arianne’s eyes widened.

“Oh, wow! That sounds amazing! Are those… apple trees?” She asked, gazing at my neat little orchard.

“Yes, I gave him the core of an apple I had eaten. Who knew that Overminds had such beneficial capabilities… such a shame that most of them are mindless beasts.” He murmured. Suddenly he shook his head. “Regardless of how incredible this is, however, we should return to the matters at hand. Since we’re all awake, let’s talk about hiring procedures.” He stated.

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Author Note: Yeah, this feels like an odd place for me to stop, but I have to get to work soon, and I wanted to post this today. It's decently long anyways, so we'll have to get to that matter tomorrow! Thanks for reading, people!