Months passed in the trial while Synexus continued to work on his mana senses and level up his skills. Each morning, he was getting glimpses into his personal history with his parents being the focal point although there were some other memories mixed in to show how devolved the imminent war had made Zaxillian society. He was only having one issue with all these memories and that was context. When he would destroy locked memories and a new memory would be made available to him, he often had no idea where it fell in the timeline. After dozens, he found himself trying to piece them together.

  Inside their temporary home, which was the bottom floor of the Aether Forge, Synexus was creating a timeline on the wall to try and get organized. It was clear to him that his original memory that he had since birth was the most recent and that was his end point. As for his first point, that memory had come a week earlier.

  Gene and himself had found themselves inside a beautiful botanical garden that held a lot of new entries for Synexus to level up his skills and get some interesting genomes to play with. The owl had informed him that their creator was responsible for most of the plants and Synexus was expecting a memory from the great Zunzutoxsian when nearly 500 locked memories appeared. The hordes were starting to get impossible to overcome, but Synexus had been improving in every aspect of his class.

  Gene had him practicing every day and he had created potent new seeds as well as impossibly strong materials. One that he was particularly proud of was perfect for large crowds such as the one in the garden and he went to work. It only took one seed to make it work. He had taken the destructive power of the razor grass, the extreme propagation of the hybamboodra, the leeching ability of his favorite moss, the magic sensing ability of the thief plant, and the snapping of his dangerous vine to create a monstrous plant. He would throw one seed into a group and use Extreme Growth. Its roots would implant themselves into the first enemy it made contact with and start leeching mana and health to grow itself which would result in several new plants spreading through the ranks in seconds due to the hyper propagation. Each plant had a long body from the snapping vine and would snap out with its tip of razor grass to destroy enemies they sensed with their magic senses. Two minutes passed and the entire horde was reduced to a garden of dangerous plants which Synexus would then store in his dimension bag to build up his own army over time.

  After the horde had been dealt with the silver liquid became ghostly and revealed one of his favorite memories to him.

  Two forms came into existence, and they were walking through the botanical gardens looking at the fascinating plants while having a conversation. Of course, Synexus knew these two were his parents, but they were so young.

  “This place was recommended to me by my father. He said a lot of these plants were created by Zunzutoxsian himself.” Synillic boasted.

  “I’ve heard the same. I actually came here as a little girl with my grandmother, and she told me stories about her encounters with him as we walked through. It’s one of my favorite memories.” Anexi smiled as they walked along.

  “Your grandmother actually met him? That’s impressive. Of course, your family has always been held in high regard by all who call this planet their home.”

  “Oh yeah? You hold me in high regard?”

  “Of course! I’ve heard stories from my father about how skilled your family is with the healing arts. A path so selfless and beneficial to the community as a whole.”

  “Well to me they are just my family, so I guess I see it differently. Weaving Healing magic just came easier to us than most and because of that luck we are held in higher regard than others? It’s never felt right to me.”

  “Ah, but see, modesty is part of a healer’s nature. Even if it is luck as you call it, your family still could have done any number of things with it. Instead, they opened up the first medical centers and shared their knowledge to help those in need. Most people would have simply kept it to themselves to have an upper hand.”

  “I suppose you’re right. Although we don’t do it simply for the greater good. My family is wealthy beyond measure due to our healing prowess. Wouldn’t we perform our services for free if it was truly the right thing?”

  “One could argue that but look at it this way. We, meaning the society as a whole, value good health. We want to be taken care of and to most that is an incalculable value. People wanted their healers to be healthy and taken care of, so they in turn could take care of the society. Even if you tried to practice for free, the people simply wouldn’t allow it.”

  Anexi nodded in thought. “That makes a lot of sense. Even when I was a little girl, I struggled with that. Our silver blood makes us extremely resistant to most diseases and helps the healing process immensely, so most of the people who come to us are those that have been injured badly whether from a monster or from a Mana Weaving accident. Because of that we do save lives more often than not and that fact has been what kept me on the path. I suppose you can’t put a value on your own life. It stills feels a little wrong.”

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  “That can’t be helped. Your heart is pure. That’s just who you are and it’s why I’ve always been interested in getting to know you. When I found you sitting next to me in our learning session, I nearly fell out of my seat! The great Anexi of the First Healers. It still seems unbelievable.”

  “Oh stop!” Her smile and a slight giggle made it hard for her to continue. “I’ve never liked being put on a pedestal due to the achievements of my family. I want to make my own achievements and be known for those.” She paused as if thinking of what to say next before continuing. “You know, I know who you are too.”

  “Well, I’d hope so. We are out on a date after all.”

  She laughed again. “No, I mean in a deeper sense. I know who you were that first day of our instruction. It’s why I chose to sit next to you. The man who went against his own family. I loved that you found something you loved outside of your family’s path and went for it.”

  “I’ve never thought about it like that, and I didn’t necessarily go against my family. They encouraged this path for me. We are the Fifth Information, so it’s not like I went against a family of firsts. The Research Sect just called to me more. I was fine with collecting information and knowing fact, but my passion was forging theories into fact. Sadly, nothing will necessarily come from it since I’m not a member of any research family. Still, I can be happy every day.”

  “I’m not sure that’s true. You’re brilliant even amongst our people. You have a way of thinking that is outside the normal thought process. I think you will make your name known.”

  “Hearing that from you means a lot.”

  Their hands brushed before they connected. Sensors met sensors and information flooded in. Feelings, thoughts, intents. Nothing was hidden and both of them realized how much they complimented each other. Smiles lit up their faces before she took a step closer and they continued to walk under the branches of various trees and bioluminescent flowers lit their path.

  The memory faded and Synexus was filled with joy. He had just watched his parents’ first date. It was the night they connected and from later memories he knew it was the night they both decided to dedicate their lives to one another. He knew that three years from that night they would say their vows at a ceremony of union. Six years and about four months from that night, he would be born.

  This would be the first memory on his personal timeline. On his people’s timeline he had that first Mana weaving memory as the first point since that was the youngest, he had seen Zunzutoxsian so far. Of course, the last point of that timeline was still yet to be seen. Since the war council memory, he had seen various scenes of fighting between his own people in the streets of the city. Riots started by people who wanted the prisoner killed because their loved ones were among those of the missing. A mix of different scenes playing out before him to show the true turmoil this threat of the coalition had created within an advanced society.

  At the end of each day, he would add the memories he saw to both timelines to try and piece together where everything was headed. What was the final lever that had been pulled? What led to the destruction of his home? Did his parents survive?

  He added his most recent memory to his timeline while running those questions through his head like every night and then he looked at all the materials and genomes he had collected over the past few weeks to start work on more creations. The botanical gardens had provided him much more than his favorite memory.

  Metalgrowth Willow (Mythical): A tree developed to grow Living Metal. Cultivation takes centuries. Living Metal can be shaped into whatever is needed and will grow with the user. After being grown, Living Metal can develop a consciousness of its own.

  Network Mushrooms (Rare): An entire living network of fungus. This fungus has roots that connect like wires and is often found in communication with other fungus half a planet away. Can be used to send long-distance communications by sending mana into the fungus.

  Database Seed (Legendary): This seed can be encoded with vast amounts of information through thought. Once grown, the humanoid plant will be able to access this information and deliver it upon request.

  Synapse Lillies (uncommon): A field of these lilies look like an active brain since they send information to one another through electrical pulses. Small lights can be seen being passed between these flowers like mini lightning storms.

  Wire Fibers (rare): Fibers from technologically enhanced plants that pass information much like wires. Can be used like normal fibers but have the ability for information to be passed through them like wires.

  Circuit Mites (rare): Small, intelligent insects that have the ability to carve circuit shaped patterns into any substance.

  Battery Stone (uncommon): A stone that has been developed to hold power indefinitely like an advanced battery. Each stone can hold an immense amount of power. Connect conductive material to the stone to extract the power. Use lightning mana to recharge.

  Silver Root (uncommon): This root seeks out rare metal veins and has been used by miners for centuries.

  Synexus smiled at all the different ideas he had for these new plants. When he emerged from his trial, he knew he would have a completely new arsenal to work with. Gene wants him ready to defend the legacy of Zax’xian and he will be.