The Connection, changes in the garden

"My clan is willing to trade the Elemental Essence Stone, and we offer 2 Wood-type Elemental Essence stone with 8% comprehension each." A masculine voice sounded out, and 089 saw that it was 028. He agreed with the deal.

"I accept 028's offer." Now, all 089 was waiting for was any information concerning the first item. When he was met with silence again for more than a minute, he was about to close the bidding when he heard a whisper in his mind.

"I can tell you information about that sphere. In return, I need you to do 3 things that should be within your abilities."

When 089 heard this, his body froze, and was on alert. This was mind magic, a combination of wind, lightning and wave elements to infiltrate the thoughts of the target.

"Act normal. I'll meet you once the meeting is over, Mr. Vanderbilt." the voice resounded again in his mind, causing him to feel alert and a bit of panic. Afterall, these meetings were anonymous, and no one knew who the other was, except 000, who created the trade talks.

Mr. Vanderbilt, or 089, quickly calmed himself and seeing no offers, he returned to his seat, as if nothing just happened.

001 then stood up, and declared,

"The auction process has ended; trading may now finalize." Everyone else stood up and began to talk to one another, specifically the people they were in contact with, about the items they had bought or sold.

After 089 finalized his trades, he left the venue along with the others who had finished as well, including 043 who had bought the Garland Tree seed.

Upon reaching the exit, 043's face suddenly fell, and he began to check his bag, where the seed was placed as well as the other items he had bought. Surprise, surprise, the seed was gone, but the other items were intact. He roared furiously, causing the structure of the building to shake for a bit as it was infused with domain power.

"My seed! Where is it!?"

As others were gathering around 043's location to find out what was happening, 089 heard another voice echo in his mind.

"Don't mind that guy. Go to the Carliste Park, wait for me on the bench by the lakeside." Immediately, 089 had an idea that this mysterious being caused the situation to unfold.

089, not daring to stay any longer, left the venue. Similarly, the others didn't want to be implicated so they left as well. After a few minutes, only 001, 002, 003 and 043 were left, discussing the problem with one another.

Xander had long left the alleyway and was patiently waiting near the lakeside where the bench was in Carliste Park. After two minutes, a blurry figure appeared. It was Mr. Vanderbilt.

"Ok, you're here. Before I give you the information you seek, I need you to do 3 things for me." Xander began speaking, his voice hoarse and deeper than usual. There was no hint of playfulness at all.

"First, I need a legitimate identification card."

"Second, I need you to open me a bank account with 1,000,000 galaxy coins in it, registered to the identity written in the identification card."

"Third, I need you to sign a binding contract that whatever you learn from the red sphere, you will tell it to me, while you would not divulge my existence to anyone or anything."

Xander flicked his wrist and a binding contract scroll appeared between the two of them, floating.

Mr. Vanderbilt didn't have any qualms with the first 2 conditions that Xander had requested; it was the 3rd one that made it quite iffy for him. However, when he received the contract and began to read the contract for the finer details and restrictions, he realized there weren't any restrictions at all beyond what Xander requested, only the mention, discussion or transfer of information about Xander is blocked. He cannot tell anyone it was Xander or a mysterious person gave him the info, but he is free to do anything else with the information he has gained from him.

After thinking for a bit, Mr. Vanderbilt was still hesitant; seeing this, Xander placed one more bait for 089 to fall into the trap.

"I can assure you if you learned how to use this, not only will you easily reach Demigod-9 from Demigod-3 in 3 years, but you will also have a smoother journey in creating your Elemental Essence Stone seed." upon hearing this, Mr. Vanderbilt was quite tempted.

He was already 85 years old. If he couldn't even reach Demigod-9 before 100, can he be considered talented, even in Arder? At that age, most would be relegated as external or lower elders in one's respective clans or conglomerates. Although he seemed old, he was not without ambition. If he managed to breakthrough to Divine class before the age of 100, his status in the family would quickly rise up as well. He was not only competing with the same generation, but also next one after his, as distribution of resources would affect everyone.

After a moment of hesitation, he agreed and signed the binding contract. He also personally created the identification card for Xander, who was now registered with the name of Homer Simpson.

The creation and registration were fairly easy; Xander had to register his life essence aura into the identification card, which then created a copy of it in the virtual world, [Second Life] for verification in the future. It was quite easy to disguise his life essence aura by using his time clone's life essence. Soon afterwards, the bank account opened by Mr. Vanderbilt was also listed under Homer Simpson's name, containing 1,000,000 galaxy coins.

Mr. Vanderbilt, doing all the things Xander asked for, eagerly asked,

"I've done my part, now tell me: What is this red sphere, and how can I use it?"

"It's easier for me to show you its capabilities than explain." Xander pointed his finger at Mr. Vanderbilt's forehead, immediately showing a series of images with no sound of what Xander had experienced and saw at the exoplanet, the very same exoplanet where Mr. Vanderbilt found his third item.

After a few minutes, his eyes cleared and he looked incredulously at Xander. Of course, he didn't seem to see or realize from that short memory that Xander had control over space-time elements, or that he gained enlightenment of the Origin elements; he just saw the rapidly expanding red dome covering a portion of the planet, rapidly causing the elements to propagate and life to flourish, slowly filling up the dead planet, expanding to its corners. Even after the red dome shattered and disappeared, life had begun to extend out of the original area, with more and more animals and plants, microorganisms extending their reach.

It seems... the planet he discovered, was already discovered by the man standing in front of him, and might be involved in its creation, no less. However, he had a problem with that short memory provided.

"I could see how you used it, but how can I utilize it using my current abilities?" He asked Xander, confused.

"Just message me when you are going to use it. Message me through the server. I'll activate it for you in a barren planet outside the empire's control." Xander waved his hand, took the identification card and left, leaving Mr. Vanderbilt alone in the park, a bit feverish from the excitement.

Xander's goals had primarily been met; he decided to go back to Eteria and come back the next day. He would then plan to buy the virtual reality console and try to modify his smartwatch to be able to connect to the virtual reality server as well.

...

...

...

The next day, Xander ate his breakfast normally, and read the news concerning the phenomenon yesterday being broadcast all over the continent of Ete.

His bodyguards and maids had already woken up, their cultivation several stages higher than before, and it was stable. Joseph and Bryan had already reached Legendary-6 in just a night, while Ryan had already reached Legendary-8. The twins, Rosa and Esta, reached Legendary-4 as well, managing to break through from Master class, successfully forming their vessels.

He instructed them not to disturb him in the basement today, and that they should focus on getting used to their strength. He also told them that he will hold a sparring match tomorrow against all of them, causing the guards and the maids to whiten.

Anyhow, after Xander fixed his affairs, he headed to Arder and was on the outskirts of Veiled City. He entered his portable space garden and checked the condition of the plants, especially the Garland Tree seed that he planted near the plot of land where he set up a rule of no sprites. With a time acceleration of 1 second: 180 days, roughly 21,000 years had passed by in the garden. The sprites and magic beasts were quite united and had their places to live in; a few newly-born sprites entered the library and focused on reading the books available.

When he saw the plot of land, he could see that although the plants didn't have sentience nor a sprite being formed, something was changing morphologically and physically, as well as the sense that the elements were changing something fundamental in them.

He couldn't explain it quite clearly, but there were some results. The trees he had planted had already grown to up to 25 to 40 meters in height, and each tree had its own harvestable materials present, such as their sap, their fruits, and their branches. He picked up fruit from one of the trees and took a bite out of it.

Immediately, a powerful, overwhelming flavor covered his tongue and throat, as it headed down to his stomach, before becoming cool and mellow. It was very rich in wood and life elements. Upon nodding to the taste, Xander had an idea: He should get water-based plants and put it in the streams or the lake.

He exited the garden, headed to Eteria's supermarket where he could buy seeds that came from water-based plants. At the same time, he called his mom. In a few seconds, her face appeared in the hologram produced by the watch.

"Mom, I-"

"Hi there sweetie, how are you doing? Are you properly brushing your teeth at night? That reminds me, make sure you have adequate rest, ok? It's important given that you are still growing!"

Faris immediately responded to Xander, not even letting him finish. It was, after all, a mother's care that seemed to be present in her words. She began to list day-to-day stuff for Xander to do and remind him what not to do, and all Xander could do was nod and wait for his mother to finish.

"...Ok sweetie, what was it you wanted to say? I haven't seen you in person for quite a while now."

"...It's ok ma, and didn't we just talk yesterday via hologram call?"

"That's different from you being here in the mansion. Sigh, it feels quite empty." Faris moaned, exaggerating the situation once again. Xander, however, turned a blind eye to this and continued to ask her.

"...Anyway, I wanted to ask if you know where to buy some seeds of water-based plants? I plan to plant them in my villa's garden."

"Hmm, seeds? Water-based plants? There's a lot available online and even at home, we have a collection of these kinds of seeds in the seed shack." Faris replied, her brows furrowed trying to remember if the seeds her son wanted were in the seed shack.

At the same time, she was shocked inwardly, as she didn't know that her son had a new hobby of planting in the garden.

"Ah, at home? Do you also have some rare, or hard to grow seeds, or those exotic kinds? I also wanna try growing them." Xander further asked upon hearing the confirmation that they did have some collection of seeds.

"Ah, exotic kinds, we might not have those at home."

"Err... can I get some from your laboratory then? I wanna try growing them."

"Well, based on the protocol, as long as the seeds prepared or utilized with the lab isn't used for commercial or outside planting, it's ok to be taken."

"...Does that include the hybridized seeds as well?" Xander, the moment he asked this question, felt that the atmosphere turned a bit cold, even if it was a hologram call. He also knew he eff'd up asking this question.

"...Now young mister, how did you find about that research, hmm?" Faris fell silent for a bit, before asking this to Xander in a calm and collected tone, but Xander knew his mom. When she uses this voice, it is when she is the most rational and can easily erupt into action, good or bad.

"...I saw it from the database. It was easy to crack the security system of the building years ago." seeing her face starting to build up questions to ask him, Xander continued on speaking, covering all possible bases.

"Yes, I have read all the research that have been done, no, I do not have any moral opinions about it,

Yes, I might have opinions on how they were designed and why most of the ones that failed, failed,

Yes, I also accessed dad's workplace before and most of the research will end badly because of badly inputted parameters and calculations, as well as materials,

Yes, I know what I am doing and I do not plan to betray the country nor the clan, I was simply interested in knowledge of yours and dad's works, and also yes, this line is secured to the point it cannot be intercepted by any government, even at your end. All my calls to you and dad are like that."

Immediately, Xander decided to come clean since there wasn't much his parents could do given that he had read everything. He also gave the answers in advance that he predicted his mom would ask.

Hearing all this Faris fell silent for a couple of moments before saying,

"Well dear, all the seeds can be taken, but I can at most take 2 of each type. And I think not all of the seeds we have are working."

"Mom, that's fine, I just need unique seeds with 1-2 of each species or type. Can you have it sent to my villa?"

"Well, yes, but the package would be encrypted with..."

"...the CY-34 Cryptographic phrase sequence for 1st, 2nd, and 8th dimensions? Yeah, I know, it's the standard for your lab."

"...hmm sweetie, I hope you don't plan to do anything bad, ok? Know that mommy will be here if you need to talk to someone."

"Mom, no worries, I think you're worrying too much! I don't plan to destabilize or collapse the government. Anyway, talk to you later ma! Please have the seeds sent, thanks!" Xander gave him a flying kiss before closing the hologram, not waiting for his mom's response.

At the other end of the call, Faris looked at the empty hologram projection and then looked at 2 of her trusted assistants that she had raised, both of which were in front of her, their faces not hiding the shock within.

She looked at them calmly, and simply said, "Not a word or a peep about this matter to anyone else but the three of us." At this point, an invisible momentum of aura briefly appeared, before disappearing. However, the two loyal assistants, noticing the situation, quickly nodded.

Faris quickly finished up with her work, sighing along the way.

Why did I raise a genius child, she thought to herself.

For Xander, after ensuring that he would get the seeds within 2 days, he left Eteria once more and appeared in a dark corner downtown of the Veiled City. He casually looked around and then headed to the nearest electronics shop in the business district of Veiled City.