Gardener of Eden

Chapter 36: Chapter 36: Treasury

Finishing the last of his meal, Rowan bade Clara and her group farewell as they hurried off to adjust their crop layouts. He cleared his tray and stepped out of the dining hall, making his way across the grand stone courtyard toward the high-arched doors of the Sol-Aethel Academy Treasury.

The treasury was quiet and cool, smelling faintly of old parchment, polished mahogany, and refined mana crystals. Behind a heavy marble counter sat an elderly clerk wearing gold-rimmed spectacles, who glanced up over his ledger as Rowan approached.

Rowan produced his student pass and tapped it against the counter’s reader chime.

[ SOL-AETHEL ACADEMY TREASURY CATALOG ]

ACCOUNT BALANCE: 100 Honor Points

AVAILABLE CATEGORIES:

├── 1. RARE SEEDS & PRECURSOR SPORES

│ ├── [D-GRADE] Frost-Melon Seeds (5x) ─────────────── 30 Honor Points

│ ├── [D-GRADE] Ember-Pepper Seeds (5x) ────────────── 30 Honor Points

│ └── [C-GRADE] Iron-Oak Precursor Sapling ─────────── 75 Honor Points

│

├── 2. SOIL MINERALS & MATRIX CATALYSTS

│ ├── Elemental Volcanic Clay (10 kg) ──────────────── 25 Honor Points

│ ├── Refined Ether-Dust Concentrate (5 kg) ────────── 35 Honor Points

│ └── High-Density Mana Core Fragment (Grade-C) ────── 80 Honor Points

│

└── 3. SPECIALIZED EQUIPMENT & SCHOLARLY PERMITS

├── Advanced Soil Analyzer (Grade-B) ─────────────── 50 Honor Points

└── Restricted Archives Access Pass (3-Day) ──────── 20 Honor Points

The old clerk adjusted his spectacles, inspecting the digital display on the counter. ”One hundred points, fresh from Senior Lecturer Vane’s allocation,” the clerk noted, nodding approvingly. ”You have enough to purchase specialized C-Grade foundational materials or stock up on high-yield D-Grade precursors for the upcoming practical. What would you like to inspect?”

Rowan studied the shimmering catalog layout carefully, weighing his options between expanding his crop variety in Eden or gathering high-grade soil matrices for the practical exam on Plot 36.

***

Rowan tapped his student pass on the marble counter, confirming the selection.

”I’ll take the five D-Grade Frost-Melon Seeds,” Rowan said to the clerk.

The elderly clerk nodded, pressing a brass seal onto the ledger interface to authorize the transaction.

[ SOL-AETHEL ACADEMY TREASURY TRANSACTION ]

ITEM PURCHASED:

* [D-GRADE] Frost-Melon Seeds (5x)

COST:

* Honor Points Deducted: -30 Points

REMAINING BALANCE: 70 Honor Points

STATUS: Transaction Complete / Item Dispensed

A small brass drawer beneath the counter unlocked with a heavy click. Inside lay a padded velvet box housing five pale, crystal-blue seeds that emitted a faint, icy frost vapor into the ambient air.

Rowan picked up the box, feeling the crisp, refreshing pulse of cold mana through the wood. Frost-Melons were an elite commodity—renowned among high-tier adventurers and noble households for their ability to soothe internal mana friction, lower high fever statuses, and provide an unrivaled refreshing flavor. With their high demand and premium price tag in the city plaza, they would make a stellar high-end addition to Eden International’s catalog.

He carefully closed the box and stored it inside his satchel. Rowan knew that with his domain’s Grade-E+ soil matrix and 12× time dilation, these five seeds could be planted, nurtured, and harvested in record time, ready to hit the marketplace storefront ahead of schedule.

Rowan left the Treasury, crossed the quiet academy courtyard, and headed straight back to the dormitories. He unlocked his door, closed it firmly, and drew the heavy blackout curtains across the window to ensure complete privacy.

After locking the deadbolt, he focused his mind and stepped through the warm, golden rift into his domain.

Inside Eden, the dense, mana-saturated air greeted him as always beneath the massive canopy of the primordial tree. Taking out the padded velvet box from his satchel, Rowan opened it and picked up the five pale, crystal-blue seeds. A gentle chill radiated against his fingertips.

He walked over to a fresh, open plot of Grade-E+ soil matrix. Using his pruner, he prepared five distinct planting spots, ensuring a full sixty centimeters of spacing between each hole to prevent mana overlap and allow optimal ambient absorption.

Rowan placed one Frost-Melon seed into each hole, covered them with the rich, dark soil, and lightly sprinkled water from the underground basin over the freshly tilled earth.

[ DOMAIN CULTIVATION NOTICE ]

CROPS PLANTED:

* [D-GRADE] Frost-Melon Seeds (5x)

SOIL STATUS:

* Matrix Grade: Grade-E+

* Spacing Buffer: 60 cm (Optimal Growth Array)

* Irrigation Source: High-Purity Primordial Tree Fluid

ESTIMATED MATURATION TIME (12× DILATION):

* Physical Time: ~14 Hours (Ready by Tuesday Morning Market)

The moment the high-purity water touched the soil, the ground around the five planting spots faintly frosted over with a delicate layer of blue ice-mana. The seeds had taken root cleanly.

Rowan stood up, dusting off his hands with a satisfied smile. Thanks to the 12× time scaling inside Eden, the Frost-Melons would reach peak maturity in about fourteen hours of real-world time—perfectly aligned for Tuesday morning’s supply transfer with Dad at the academy gates.

***

Leaving his dorm room, Rowan made his way through the quiet corridors toward the Grand Library of Sol-Aethel Academy. The massive building rose multi-stories high, its vaulted ceilings lined with glowing mana-lamps and towering bookshelves holding centuries of documented records.

Rowan navigated through the silent aisles, heading straight for the Historical Archives section. He pulled a heavy, leather-bound volume on pre-collapse world history from the shelf and carried it to a secluded study desk in the corner.

Opening the thick parchment pages, Rowan immersed himself in the forgotten era of humanity.

The historical records revealed a startling truth: long before the arrival of mana, the planet was dominated by massive concrete jungles—sprawling metal and stone metropolises that stretched as far as the eye could see. During this era, humanity relied on crude, destructive methods to power their global civilization, burning massive quantities of fossil fuels like coal and oil. The heavy industrial output caused widespread environmental degradation, choking the sky with smog and damaging the land.

Everything changed when the World Tower descended upon the earth, piercing the atmosphere and tearing open spatial gates that unleashed an endless flow of pure mana into the atmosphere.

While the sudden influx of mana brought immense chaos and monsters, it also triggered a revolutionary leap in human innovation. Humanity’s top researchers, engineers, and scientists banded together to analyze the new energy source. They successfully developed advanced magitech products and power grids capable of harnessing mana stones directly, completely replacing dirty combustion engines and traditional power plants.

By replacing fossil fuels with clean, self-sustaining mana stone energy networks across global infrastructure, worldwide pollution levels dropped by over 99% in a matter of decades, ushering in the modern era of mana-based technology and cultivation.

Rowan closed the book gently, resting his chin on his hand as he absorbed the historical progression. Seeing how humanity transitioned from a concrete jungle powered by oil to a thriving world built on mana energy reinforced the sheer magnitude of what was possible with proper resource cultivation.