The mushrooms in his hair pulsed gently while Ren worked through the information welling up in his mind.
It was a strange sensation, knowing this much about every Beast.
The trajectories of evolution and the training methods up to the Silver grade were clearly visible, but beyond that...... there was nothing.
Everything to do with Beasts at the Gold grade and above was a complete mystery.
'Maybe, if my Spore evolves.......'
He let himself consider it.
But that was a problem for later.
For now he had to find a way to persuade his parents to attempt something everyone considered impossible.
A thousand days.
Training like a daily rite.
Three magical ingredients.
Not a single error allowed.
The result: an Iron-grade Plant that became a 'true adult' could reach the power of a Bronze stage 2 Plant.
It would not be as versatile as a Plant that had evolved naturally, but its basic stats would be the same.
If that happened, his parents' additional vitality would rise from 40% to 100%, and their lifespans would grow longer as well.
All he had to do was persuade them to try.
For a thousand days.
'It's just like cooking. Even with the best ingredients, without the right recipe.......'
he murmured, searching for a comparison his parents would understand.
Ren sank deeper into the water and watched his mushrooms, reflected on the surface, change color in subtle ways.
He needed a way to show them that he was not making up a story, that he truly understood things no ten-year-old could possibly know.
But first, he had to understand his own power better.
"One step at a time." he whispered, remembering what his father always said when preparing a complicated dish.
When he finally finished his bath and stepped out, a small, thin boy with red hair and green eyes stood in the old, fogged mirror.
Glowing mushrooms had grown in his hair.
No one would believe this child could be anything special.
And he had to prove something no one believed.
Ren opened his eyes with the morning sunlight.
In six days he would have to leave for the academy for eight long years.
But before that, he had to get his parents to begin the rite.
He had dreamed all night of the trajectories of evolution, and out of that vast knowledge one simple idea had hardened like crystal.
His parents were cooks.
He dressed quickly and went down to the kitchen.
As he had expected, the two of them were already there, preparing the day's bread.
"Dad? Can I ask you something about cooking?"
Ren asked softly.
His father turned in surprise.
Ren had never shown much interest in the technical details of cooking.
"When you make bread, why do you let the dough rest for exactly twelve hours?"
"Well, that's the time natural yeast needs to do its work......."
His father smiled.
He was always glad to share knowledge with his son.
"What if someone told you two hours was enough?"
His father thought it over and shook his head.
"It wouldn't come out the same. Fermentation is......."
"How do you know?"
"Because I've tried it. Every baker has. At first you look for shortcuts, but in time you learn that some processes simply need time."
Ren smiled.
"What if someone told you that you were wasting time? That twelve hours is too long, and nobody waits that long......."
"In that case," his father answered, folding his arms,
"I'd show them two loaves. One rested two hours, the other twelve. The proof is in the result."
"What if everyone told you that waiting that long was madness?"
A spark of understanding lit his father's eyes.
"This isn't about bread, is it?"
"Mom, Dad."
Ren drew their attention by holding out the hundreds of small mana crystals he had gathered over the years.
Mana crystals this small were not worth much.
It took five or six of them to buy a decent loaf of bread.
But what Ren held out came to nearly five hundred, a considerable amount for a child.
His parents exchanged a look.
The kind of look adults share when a child is about to say something that will break their hearts.
"I found a way to make your Plants stronger."
Ren went on, trying to sound confident in spite of the lump in his throat.
"It's a rite that takes a thousand days, but...... if you trust me and follow exactly what I tell you for a thousand days, your Plants can grow as strong as Bronze stage 2 Beasts."
"Son......." his father began, his voice skeptical.
"Like the bread, Dad. The proof will be in the result."
"Oh, baby."
His mother knelt in front of him.
Her eyes were wet again.
"I know it sounds impossible."
Ren said quickly.
"But all you have to do is absorb this every day. With these mana crystals, and......."
He could tell what his parents were thinking.
That their little son was desperately trying to convince them, and himself, that his weak Spore and their Plants did not mean a miserable future.
"Please." he whispered.
"Just...... promise me you'll try. Only for a thousand days."
His father wiped his tears away with the back of his hand.
"Son......."
"It's all right if you don't believe me. Or if you think it's foolish. Just...... just do it. Please."
His parents looked at each other again.
This time with an expression of pain and love mixed so deeply that it tore at Ren's heart.
"Of course we will." his mother said in a trembling voice as she held him.
"Every day, without missing one."
"All right...... a thousand days."
His father nodded with a deep sigh.
"I promise."
His father joined the embrace as well.
He looked down into one of the mana crystals, and then at his own Plant.
"What is it we need to do?"
Ren knew the two of them were only playing along.
They thought it was a child's way of coping with the shock of receiving the weakest Beast in the world and with having to leave for an academy where he would be mocked for years.
But they had promised to try.
The two of them had never once broken a promise made to their son.
For now, that alone was enough.
***
And so the last six days rushed past in a strange fever of hope and disbelief.
His parents learned and practiced the handling of the mana crystals and followed every step without omission.
Not because they believed it would work, but because they could not bear to watch the hope disappear from their son's eyes.
Knowing that made Ren's heart ache all the more.
Now Ren had to obtain two Runes of Vitality within two years.
He would have to pay about twenty thousand crystals, or find another way.
Somehow he had to find a way to manage it.
If the rumors Ren had heard were true, the academy might give him that chance.
Or make it far harder.
As he packed the last of his things, Ren reviewed in his mind the conditions his own Spore's evolution required.
Those materials were far more demanding than the mana crystals or pollen his parents needed.
Fortunately, the Imperial Academy was no ordinary school.
It was one of the three most prestigious educational institutions in the city, and perhaps the foremost of them.
It was equipped with extensive laboratories and thousands of specialized training courses, and there were even rumors of an ancient ruin on its grounds.
"Have you got everything?" his mother asked at the door, holding the parcel of food she had prepared for his journey.
Ren nodded, his hand drifting without thinking to the mantis core in his bag beside the carapace and the golden mycelium.
The two of them did not believe how their son had come by such things, but they pretended to.
How could anyone believe such a thing?
When Ren embraced his parents for the last time, the mushrooms in his hair glowed softly.
A year from now, by the time he came back, his parents' Plants would have completed nearly a third of the rite.
And in less than three years, though they did not believe it yet, they would reach a power that would change their lives.
He looked forward to the day of his second visit, when he would give his parents the runes as a gift.
"Remember, you mustn't miss even a single day."
Those were Ren's last words before he climbed into the carriage that would carry the new students away.
As the wheels began to roll, Ren drew a deep breath.
The coming years would be hard.
Being the child with the weakest Beast at the most prestigious academy would never be easy.
But he had a plan.
He had knowledge no one else possessed.
And most important of all, he had something to prove.
The carriage drew away from the outskirts and headed for the heart of the city.
There the spires of the Imperial Academy rose toward the morning sky like spears.
It was time for the boy who had contracted the Spore everyone called useless to begin walking the trajectory of true power.
***
As the carriage carried him farther away, Ren could not shake his worry for his parents.
They had done their best not to show it, but Ren's new knowledge showed him clearly that signs of mana poisoning had begun to appear in their bodies and in their Beasts.
That was the cause of his father's illness.
The long years spent on the outskirts had piled up in him like poison.
That shabby house was poorly placed, but the land attached to it was by no means small.
His parents had sold that land for about five hundred thousand crystals.
Having sold the house for their son's education, the two of them now had to live in it paying rent.
With a mature Iron-grade Plant they could only earn barely enough to put food in their mouths working in a kitchen.
Sixty was already near the ordinary life expectancy, and only the slight vitality their Plants granted guaranteed them some thirty additional years.
It was a precious gift, but in Ren's eyes it fell far short.
'If they finish the rite, their Plants will reach the power of Bronze stage 2.......'
he murmured.
That meant more than simply greater strength and a better job.
The increased vitality would give them decades of additional life.
That was the only way to cure his father.
Ren would be able to see his parents only once a year.
If he could save up the travel fare, that was.
About a hundred crystals he could manage easily enough, he thought.
What would be difficult was obtaining the runes and materials his own evolution required.
But it did not matter.
Ren wanted to distinguish himself at the academy and make his parents proud.
Perhaps he could even grow rich and buy them a house in the city.
He knew that they deserved it more than anyone.
Everything had its proper time.
He had two years for the first goal, and eight for the second.
Eight visits in all before he graduated, eight chances to check on the progress of the rite.
At best, by the third visit he would already be able to see the results.