Is that a Wisp?

The next day, Flita carried in a large water tank that contained around fifty fish. Upon seeing the fishes swimming within, Krune was indeed disappointed, 'They span a length between 5-8 centimeters. They are indeed tiny. No wonder they provide insufficient energy.'

"Is there a spare water reservoir here?" Krune asked.

"We have four water reservoirs in total here." Flita smiled, "As there's just the three of us here now, you can use one or even two water reservoirs for your use."

"I'll need the use of two water reservoirs," Krune said.

Flita then directed him to the underground, showing him a water reservoir. It was massive, spanning a length of 30 meters, a breadth of 20 meters, and a depth of 30 meters. Upon seeing his reaction, Flita spoke, "We don't have a constant supply of water. If the octopuses decide otherwise suddenly, then we would die from thirst."

"We also have a sewage treatment plant that would recycle drinking water during such times." She said, "And to prevent the worst-case scenario, most buildings have a large reservoir of water underneath them."

"My actions won't put you in any financial losses, right?" Krune asked, intending to double-check one last time.

"This is heavy expense, but," Flita sighed, "If my grandfather isn't treated, then everything would be snatched by our enemies sooner or later. I don't have the capabilities to defend everything on my own."

"I see," Krune nodded, smiling, "then it should be fine. Please ensure there is no surveillance in these two places. Also, prevent anyone from stepping here."

"That is easy," Flita smiled, understanding that Krune didn't wish to reveal his secrets to them. However, she was fine as long as her grandfather made a full recovery.

Once he sent Flita away, Krune took out a bone tree fragment from his stash. It was the size of his thumb, spherical in shape. He inserted it into a small metal plate to act as a float on the water and then placed it on the water.

Krune stared at it, watching the bone tree sphere remain the same as it was, unchanging. He waited patiently, finally noticing a tiny protrusion after six hours had passed, lamenting, "I forgot the water here is normal, unlike that on Layer 3. So, of course, their growth would be slow, dammit."

He then headed towards the kitchen, noticing Flita loot at him in curiosity. He took a bunch of raw dead fishes stored to be cooked later, put them into a large granite bowl and began to grind them into a paste.

"Can I help with anything?" Flita asked, curious as to what he was doing.

"Yes, please grind them into a paste, as finely as possible," Krune said, watching Flita repeat the same after observing him for a while. Soon, he had a large bucket full of fish paste. Krune carried it and arrived at the water reservoir where the bone tree sphere had been placed, pouring everything into the water.

He then observed, noticing that the bone tree's growth had sped by many times as it absorbed the essence in the paste to grow. 'It's working.'

Smiling, Krune continued to do the same, intending to pour as much fish paste into the water reservoir as possible. As for the second water reservoir under his control, he released the fifty fish into it.

As they swam through the large space of water, Krune smiled, "You'll become big and strong soon enough. Just you wait."

It took around five days for the bone tree to reach a height of three meters, its normal limit. After that, he broke some branches, planting them across the reservoir until he covered the place entirely. As they began to grow, he poured fish paste into the reservoir continuously.

Flita didn't complain, though, since they had a tremendous reserve of fish to feed everyone that lived and worked in their mansion. And now that everyone had left, all the food was on the verge of wasting away.

And, as they didn't have much resale value, Flita didn't know what to do with them. Krune conveniently made use of them, so she was glad that they weren't being wasted. And hence, Krune worked her to the bone, making her grind all the fish into fish paste nonstop.

Krune finished planting around fifty bone trees in the first reservoir, smiling as he saw them grow, "Now, this place is packed to the limit with the bone trees. I can't add any more."

A couple more days later, the first bone tree bore fruits. They were a size smaller than what he observed in Layer 3. But, Krune was fine with them, feeling that they were better than the bone trees not bearing fruits at all.

He plucked them, used the knife he borrowed from the kitchen and cut them into tiny pieces. The pieces were as tiny as possible without losing their potency; Krune used his skills as a Spiritual Chef to the limit.

He then poured the bone tree fruit powder into the second reservoir, watching the fifty fishes gobble it up in a frenzy. To ensure they wouldn't reject the powder, he had starved them to the limit, only feeding them bits and pieces of food to ensure they wouldn't die before.

Having exploited fishes for two decades while on Layer 3, Krune was an expert at the task. He smiled as the fifty fishes finished the bone tree fruit powder. The next day, he saw that they were brimming with energy. There was no change in their sizes thought.

'It's just the first day.' He thought, smiling as he continued with the task, watching the bone trees in the first reservoir bear fruits one after another.

In the meantime, Flita brought in another three hundred fishes, grunting as she placed the water tank on the floor, saying as she sighed, "I can't buy any more than this. It already seems suspicious enough that I've been doing this. My liquid finances are also running tight."

"Thank you, this would prove a great help for me." Krune smiled, patting her head once as he took the fish with him in batches using a bucket. He transferred them all into the second reservoir, "Now, I have 350 fishes to start with."