12Baobab retrieved Botan's fund, a total of 500 silver coins. Botan examined them as Alder explained the currency of this world.
"The denominations are thus; Copper is the lowest currency we use. It takes 100 copper to match the value of 1 silver. It takes 100 silver to match the value of 1 gold. One copper piece could buy something like half a loaf of bread or two ounces of common spices." Alder explained.
"How much does the average person spend a day?" Botan wanted to understand the baseline.
"Between 10 to 15 copper for the common citizen in Mosden. Larger countries have higher standards and can spend 20-30 copper daily, even as commoners." Alder answered.
"So, if I spend as is common, a week's worth of basic living expenses would cost me about one silver. What about adventuring supplies?" Botan figured those prices were less forgiving.
"Those are much more expensive. Armor usually costs between 20-25 silver for it to be fit for a level 1." Alder said.
"How does that escalate with level? If I was level 10, it wouldn't cost 10 times as much, would it?" Botan was getting worried.
"Not so. Such armor may be around 32-35 silver. However, upgrading a good set of armor will usually be cheaper than buying a new set of armor. Hmm, the example I'd use is upgrading to a set of armor that costs 100 silver new versus upgrading a set of armor worth 50 silver to be just as good. In the case of upgrading, it'd be about 75 silver." Alder told him.
Botan put a hand to his chin. "That makes sense. Buying it outright is cheaper, but if I already possessed good armor, it'd ultimately be cheaper to improve it. Hmm. So should I pick a good set of armor from the beginning? Would that be the best idea?" Botan wanted to live in the moment, but still liked thinking ahead.
"Not so. Armor worth keeping and upgrading are usually made of great and rare materials. You can't afford such things right now, and even if you could, the armor would be too high of a level for you now." Alder dashed his idea.
"So I should buy something practical now, then collect rare materials to make a great set later, then upgrade that as needed." Botan wanted confirmation.
"Quite so. Things other than weapons and armor should have listed prices in the shops. It's only with custom service like with armor that you'd see someone try to get more out of you than reasonable. Mosden is not a greedy place. So you otherwise should be fine." Alder advised.
"I'm sure the king wishes he could grant you ten times as much funds, but Mosden is on the poorer side…" Baobab apologized.
"No, no. This is plenty. I mean, I can buy starting equipment and still have over half of it left. This is more than enough." Botan was thankful.
Botan began to leave. "I'll see all the shops after I visit the dragon hourglass. I'll come find one of you two if I need anything." Botan told them.
After he left, the two turned to one another. "I hope he's worth all this. Even if he is excellent we'll need luck to survive what the other nations will do when they learn that their weak ally has the Evergreen." Alder worried.
"When the delegation returns, we'll need to begin the arguments of succession again…" Baobab brought an even worse subject up
"Our work is never done." Alder said with a sigh.
…
Botan's first day as a hero
…
Botan exited the castle and wanted to go directly to that 'Whirlpool Temple he was told about…, but-'
"Oh, she's still there!" Botan saw a pretty girl and wanted to try his luck in this new world. He walked up to the flower girl's stand with a smile. "Hello there, my name is Botan Nakaya."
"...That's a very strange name. Are you from Eld?" She asked, her eyes narrowed slightly.
"No, I'm from much further away than that. I'm the flower hero, I was just summoned earlier today." He answered.
"...Uh huh… Listen, you need to try a better lie than that, buddy. You ain't getting any free flowers." She said with her arms crossed.
"She thinks I want some flowers more than a date? What the hell makes these flowers so special?" He thought internally.
"Um, I am the flower hero, see?" He showed her his 'weapon'.
She looked at it for a moment. "Hmm, you put a lot of effort into a flower shaped wand, huh? Guess it's not the worst lie I heard. Anyways, buy something or leave. I'm not interested." She responded.
"Okay, if the weapon doesn't prove I'm a hero then I guess I should keep that to myself… noted." He sighed heavily. "It seems I've wasted both of our time. I'll be seeing you." Botan waved.
As he left, she seemed confused. A guard from the castle gate came over. "Miss, please tell me you didn't refuse him service." He asked.
"Huh? No. He was just wasting both of our time. He even admitted as much." She said, mad that people would assume that of her.
The guard looked relieved. "That's good to hear… I'm not supposed to tell anyone, but that kid is the Evergreen himself. The dancers brought him into the castle to speak to King Erich himself just a bit ago. Keep that to yourself." He told her.
"...What!? I turned down the fucking Evergreen!?" She yelled while mentally kicking herself.
Botan continued on a bit discouraged, but not without some remaining motivation. He was given a small boat to travel round easier via the waterways. He was told that normally it came with a fee, but they'd lend him a boat whenever he liked. His boat also possessed a red ornament at the head of it. This let people know he had direct ties to the castle. He passed by a number of shops he'd need to visit to reach the hourglass as requested. He found the supposed 'whirlpool temple' and found it quite out of place.
The building was made of the same smooth stone as every other building, but it looked similar to a Mayan pyramid. With all those block-like layers, not one of the roofs had any of the rooftop gardens that every other building had. The building seemed to only touch the land enough to give people an entrance on foot, it otherwise sat in the large lake adjacent to the town.
He entered the large building and quickly came to understand the name. The pyramid could most accurately be described as hollow. The external walls were nearly the only walls it had, the inside was very open and a series of stairs leading upward, and downward. Downward was a whirlpool as wide as the inside of the building. There was no ground floor, instead there was water that'd have matched the same elevation as what was outside, if not for it swirling violently. Upward, were some people and a huge golden hourglass.
After a moment of marveling, Botan walked up the stairs. The sound of the whirlpool below echoed a bit more. People could talk just 5 feet away from Botan and he couldn't hear a thing.
As he approached the hourglass, Tia greeted him. "Coming here right away? I like that."
"Oh, were you waiting for me here?" Botan asked.
"No, this is where we dancers normally work. We help maintain the whirlpool that supports the capital." She answered.
"...You know I want an explanation for that. You tease too much." Botan's curiosity was being weaponized against him.
"Remember the waterfall at the throne room, and how all the water around the town was running water, not still?" Botan nodded his head to her question. "We don't have a river here. We use the whirlpool to send lake water through large man-made tunnels to the castle and a few other places, then it drains back into the lake." She informed him.
That did sound pretty impressive to Botan. He assumed they had better plumbing than other places with their level of technology should. A marvel of magic doing the job science had in his own world.
Tia saw his reaction and continued. "Right? The whirlpool would gradually slow to a stop in a week's time, but by using our combined effort, we dancers can speed the whirlpool back up. Doing so keeps the whole town moving." She sounded proud of her job.
"That's actually pretty cool. So you can move water with magic, huh? Once I get a bit more used to my role, I will definitely come to you for magic advice." Botan told her.
"I'd be honored. Well, I don't mean to keep you. We have to work longer today because the ritual summoning you cut into our normal maintenance time… Seriously though, ask if anything happens." She offered.
"You act like you know something is gonna happen?" He accused.
"Oh, it's just that you aren't from this world. I can only imagine how confusing our world is when you come from one without magic. When you get struck, come on back." She offered again.
Botan noticed she said 'When you get struck', not 'if you get struck'. He nodded and walked up to the hourglass. He nearly reached it when a beam of light shot out of the hourglass and struck his flower. "What the-?"
19:05:34:44
19:05:34:43
"Nineteen days? …Yeah." Botan confirmed the info and saw a message that simply said 'registration complete'. Everyone else that could see the light hit Botan's weapon began speaking frantically to one another. "Maybe by tomorrow people won't call me a liar when I tell them I'm the flower hero."
He saw the concern and reaction of the others in the temple to the beam registering him to the waves. He decided to leave quickly, a little concerned with the 19 day timer he had counting down. Many people in the temple wanted to approach him, but between the busy look he had and the dancers telling them to leave him alone for now, he left without interruption.
"Onward to an armor shop. I saw two of them. Might visit that other weapon's shop too." Botan thought as he got back in his small boat.
Botan backtracked to an armor shop he'd seen. He saw that it only sold armor and not weapons, but it was best to check all options first. He tied the front of the boat to a post and climbed the stairs to enter the shop. He wasn't expecting much. The shop was much smaller than the other shop and that one had smoke billowing out of it from them hard at work. By contrast, this one had no smoke at all.
He opened the door and didn't hear a bell. He could see why. An old woman sat at the front fiddling with something behind the counter. She only peeked at Botan for a moment before looking back down,seemingly out of disinterest. However, she did a double take and leapt over the counter gracefully, getting into Botan's face. She was very spry for her age.
"I was disappointed when I saw ya, but ye got sum pretty eyes, dear. I can work with that. Ye here about a uniform?" She spoke.
"Um…" Botan felt she was weird. "I'm looking for armor. I saw that icon on your sign. I can't read the language here so I thought you sold armor."
"Bahh!" She literally barked at him. "You want 'armor'. That ugly metal hide'n yer body away, hide'n dem eyes. A waste. Ye buy clothes from me." She bossed him around.
"But I'm level one and have never been in a fight before. I'm gonna get hit a lot, right?"
"An amateur? Bahh! A waste of me time! Out wit ye!" The lady chased Botan out of the shop with a stick.
He ran out of the shop after her first whack felt about half as hard as the truck running him over. "Waah!"
"Come back when ye ain't a waste of me time!" She yelled as she shut the door behind her.
"Who the fuck would buy from you if you're going to attack them!?" Botan yelled back.
He heard the door click and open again. He turned and ran to the boat. He was running for his life. "I'm a hero in an isekai! I'm supposed to be cool! Getting beat up by grannies!? For fuck's sake!"
Botan took the boat to the big shop now. The one that looked busy and sold both weapons and armor. He tied his boat to a post as he did before and climbed the steps. The doors were wide open with some heat escaping it. As soon as Botan was within the sight of the younger man at the counter, he was greeted eagerly.
"Welcome to Willow's Whetstone. I'm Walnut. What can I do for you…" Walnut trailed off as he saw the front of the boat Botan exited, showing him as someone important.
Walnut had green eyes and dark messy hair. He also had a slightly darker complexion than others around town did.
"Heya, Walnut." Botan would call the kid by his name if he was offering it. "I'm new in town and need some armor fit for a starting adventurer."
"Starting? What level? 5? 10?" The kid was confused as to why someone from the castle needed beginning equipment, but did his part managing the front.
"Eh… Level 1. Starting-starting…" Botan felt embarrassed. He was new to this world, but for everyone else, being level 1 at his age was probably a sign of cowardice or laziness.
"Oh… What type of weapon would you prefer? If you have no experience I can make a recommendation." Walnut responded.
"Hmm. This holy flower is supposedly the best of the best, but it looks more like a wand. I should get something more practical, at least in the short term." Botan thought. He also noticed that despite Walnut appearing to be no older than 14, he was doing well with running the store front. "Likely this Willow guy's kid." He concluded.
"Let me see…" Botan grabbed a short sword that was on display. He didn't want a weapon that'd take both hands. He held it a moment, then attempted to swing it.
Zap! "Fu-dang it." Botan dropped the knife and tried not to curse in front of the kid.
"Are you okay?" Walnut asked.
[Attention Warning]
[Legendary Heroes cannot equip any weapon other than their legendary weapon]
"...Welp, looks like I can't have any weapon but this." Botan answered while showing off the holy flower.
Walnut's face lit up and he ran to the back of the store. "Dad! Brother! It's the Evergreen! The Evergreen is here! In the shop!" He shouted.
While Botan heard several people walking towards the front, he readied himself for more disbelief. A large burly man stepped out from the back room, covered in sweat. Botan had to admit, the man looked intimidating. He had amber eyes, but the same messy black hair as Walnut, though, he was several shades darker than his son.
"What nonsense is this about you being the flower hero, boy?" The man asked, though, it sounded more like an accusation.
Botan simply held up the weapon to the man. "Listen, I get it's hard to believe, but I am. I registered to the hourglass less than an hour ago. Alder, Baobab, Erich, and Tia can back that up." He told him.
The man approached Botan and looked at the weapon for a moment. He ran his hand down it a bit. Botan felt something weird happen, then the man turned his gaze outside to the boat, seeing the official castle symbol.
"I can see rather deeply into a weapon, and yet, it's like staring at an ocean with this one. What is your name?" The man commented, then asked.
"Botan Nakaya." Botan answered immediately.
"How much of a discount were you looking for?" He asked, eyeing Botan.
"To be honest, while a discount is welcome, I should have the money for some starting equipment." He answered with some assurance.
The man's focus shifted to the shortsword on the ground. He picked it up and placed it back on the rack. "Was this not to your liking?" He gestured to the shortsword.
"Not to this thing's liking. It zapped me. Apparently, I'm not allowed to use any other weapon. So I guess it's just armor for me." He answered again.
"Hmm…" The man placed a hand on his chin, thinking.
Botan tried to get ahead of the upcoming argument. "You don't have to believe me, I can just buy armor and-"
"Oh, I believe you." The man corrected Botan's misconception.
"Huh? Why?" That threw Botan off.
"Hehe, just as they say. Those who become heroes can speak any language. Just now, each time I spoke, I asked you things in different languages." He revealed.
"Huh? That does explain how I can understand everyone." "But can it translate phrases and such? Or just the literal word? What about sentence structure or linguistic properties that don't have a way to translate?" Botan was being distracted again.
"Well, my name is Willow. This is my shop. I can't really lower my prices. Got a lot of mouths to feed. I also don't upcharge for no good reason either. Hmm, we just finished three this morning. Oi, Weld, bring up one of the new shirts." He called to the back.
Soon another kid emerged from the back. He looked only a year or two younger than Botan, and also had his father's messy black hair. Unlike his brother, he had the same amber eyes as his father. He walked out of the back holding three sets of chainmail. Willow took one from him and motioned for him to place the other two on display.
"Hmm, this one will be a similar fit. Try this on and tell me if you like it." Willow handed Botan the chainmail and pointed to a changing room.
Botan changed and exited as fast as he could. "Seems like a good fit." He told him.
Willow took a look. The chainmail was not metal from top to bottom. It was leather at the joints and other critical points of movement. That took from the protectiveness, but Botan welcomed the fact that it wasn't too difficult to move in it.
"Hmm. Walnut, help him select some boots and gloves. Weld, remove this much here and here." He told his sons, motioning for Botan to change back.
Within 30 minutes he was wearing form fitted chainmail with good quality gloves and boots. He decided against getting a helmet yet, partially due to not wanting to hide his face in a world that didn't know him yet.
"This seems to be everything then, what will be the total?" Botan asked.
"In the future, you should negotiate price before doing all this back and forth boy… I'd say 24 silver and 30 copper would do it." Willow gave some advice along with his price.
"Ah, you're not wrong. Sorry if I seem a bit scatterbrained. I died yesterday and was summoned today, so life's just been a wild ride." Botan said with a laugh, pulling the coin from his pouch.
"Died, huh? You've been pretty honest so far, so I guess I believe you… Once you start dealing with things around level 10, come on back. I'll see about the armor, and might even have a helpful favor to ask." Willow offered while accepting the coin.
"Side quest unlocked?" Botan jokingly told himself.
"Will do. One last thing, is there a place with health potions around here? Or is that not a concept in this world?" Botan asked.
"I heard the dark genius of Ventus made something he called a health potion, but they're expensive and rare. You'd do better with healing salves. There's an apothecary's shop as soon as you leave the capital heading north." Willow told him.
"Thanks Will, I'll be off then." He waved goodbye to the three of them, completely not hearing Willow telling him not to call him 'Will'.
Botan bought food, a large bag, basic traveling supplies and then visited the apothecary as he was told and bought some salves. It was the type of store where you selected the items and presented them to the owner for purchase.. He had to explain to the woman twice that he can't select the items himself, because he couldn't read.
As Botan finally walked out of town to begin his life as a cool RPG character fighting monsters, he was thinking he might want to at least learn a tiny bit of the language here. It'd make his life easier.
…
Hero versus monsters
…
Botan walked out of town, but became less confident when he realized that monsters aren't just hopping around just outside of town like a video game. Luckily, Mosden was covered in greenery, being 50% forest and 30% rain forest. He simply entered the forest and began walking around. He thought something was weird because the gem on his weapon kept flashing as he walked. It wouldn't take him long to find something there. He saw well-worn grooves in the dirt forming a series of straight lines going every which direction. It looked both natural and unnatural at the same time.
As Botan took a knee to examine the small trails, he saw something out of the corner of his eye. He leaned back just in time to dodge something shooting out at him fast. However, by the time he'd stood, the fast moving object bounced off a tree and ricocheted back at him. It hit him in the dead center of his chest, knocking him on his ass and knocking the wind out of him. He was now laid out on his back, eyes shut, breathing heavily. Botan heard a concerning noise and opened his eyes.
"Whaaa!?" Botan saw something coming down on his head and rolled out of the way. The thing that attacked him landed where his head was. Botan stared in confusion.
"What the fu-?"
[Bumping Top]
What had attacked him had been a spinning top, about a foot tall, made of wood. It had yellow eyes that showed some kind of body hidden beneath. The whole thing looked ridiculous.
"It's a damned top!?" Botan barked in confusion.
The monster shot at him again and Botan did the only thing he could. He took his small weapon in both hands and swung it like a baseball bat. It hit the top with a loud crack, knocking it back. Small chips fell all over, shoving the top was already heavily damaged. But Botan put all of his strength into that and that small creature wasn't dead yet? It was a foot tall!?
The creature landed on the ground and seemed to be spinning more slowly, beginning to wobble. Botan backed up a bit, wanting the creature to have to move more to reach him, so he could judge when to swing better. The Bumping Top shot at him at first, but moved to the sides and began ricocheting off of trees much faster than it would normally move. This meant Botan was just a little too slow in his swing. He still hit, but had he landed it better, the top would have been dead and he'd have not just taken more damage.
"That doesn't make sense. Hitting other things should slow you down, not speed you up!" The movements made no sense to Botan. It felt like a completely unreal situation.
"Casting magic requires physical movement." Botan remembered.
"So this thing is using magic? That'd explain it, but… I feel like there's an entire additional dimension to all this that I don't get." Botan assumed.
The top came back once more to hit Botan and he answered it with a swift hit… that missed. "What!?" The top switched directions at the last moment and feinted Botan, bouncing off another tree to come back again. Botan did what he could to stop it. He followed his swing through and spun his entire body around to hit it again. When he made contact, spark flew out and a low humming was heard. A moment later Botan and the top were thrown back, with the top shattering.
[EXP Gained: 2]
"What was that!? I… is it because of the way I moved? Spinning a full rotation like that was a spell wasn't it? Or close enough to one, I guess…" Botan more or less discovered what that was just now.
He stood up and brushed himself off. After a moment, he turned to the defeated enemy. He walked over and found four things of note. Two yellow glass marbles that must have been the creature's eyes, and two small spikes that were at the top and bottom. Botan looked at his menu to see what he could do with these drop items, only to find a menu that would give him drop items.
"So I can double dip?" Botan asked aloud.
The gem on his weapon began to shine again. He pulled it away from the monster and it faded, then brought it close again and it shined again. "Don't tell me."
He fed the wooden pieces to the flower, as well as one of the glass marbles and one of the top spikes.
[Red Spinning Flower]
Abilities Locked Equip Effect: Bonus: Speed +2, Skill: Spin
.
[Sight-Seeing Flower]
Abilities Locked Equip Effect: Bonus: Magic + 2
Special Equip Effect: Bonus: Acute Sight (small)
.
[Thorned Flower]
Abilities Locked Equip Effect: Bonus: Attack + 2
Special Equip Effect: Bonus: Pierce Exploit (small)
"Whoa! Three forms, and they all do different things… Hmm…" Botan looked over what he had. He found out that anything labeled as an "Equip Effect" was something he'd "unlock" by using that form long enough, gaining those bonuses and skills permanently. However, "Special Equip Effects" did not work this way. Instead those bonuses and skills could only be used while using that specific weapon form.
"Then for now, I wanna unlock this." Botan tried to switch weapon forms.
[Unable due to level requirement]
"...Battling more tops it is." Botan wasn't discouraged. He beat that enemy in three swings. He could do it in two if he paid attention.
Botan went further into the forest, where he found more of those top monsters, but also, he now understood the glowing of the gem on his weapon. It would glow when near something it could unlock something from absorbing. He absorbed grass, tree bark, roots, and some leaves.
[Grass Blade]
Abilities Locked Equip Effect: Bonus: Attack + 5
.
[Bark Sola Flower]
Abilities Locked Equip Effect: Bonus: Magic Defense + 3
.
[Flower Roots]
Abilities Locked Equip Effect: Bonus: MP + 2, Defense + 2
Special Equip Effect: Bonus: Water Resistance (small)
.
[Leaf Flower]
Abilities Locked Equip Effect: Bonus: Defense + 3
Special Equip Effect: Bonus: Thrust C (small)
.
He had a double take when he saw [Grass Blade], but remembered that grass was technically a 'flowering plant'. Still, there were so many forms and he couldn't equip any of them, yet. Further in he found and beat six more [Bumping Tops]. Some of them gave 1 EXP, some gave 2 EXP. Botan assumed their levels were different. He could not absorb more of the materials, but kept the spikes and glass eyes, hoping they might be worth something back in town.
Just when he was becoming confident in his abilities against whatever the forest had in store for him, he saw another monster. It was similar to the other tops, but this one was blue in color… and had spikes. He accidentally dropped a glass eye in surprise, breaking it.[Tackle Top]
[Level: 5]
"Yeah, no. I lost to a truck. That thing has literal spikes…" Botan decided to back down.
"Snap." Botan stepped on a twig on the ground. The monster's eyes separated, rolling around and meeting together facing Botan.
"Why am I like this!?" Botan ran away with the Tackle Top right on his heels. He ran for a bit, but the chainmail wasn't exactly made to sprint in. Eventually he stopped and turned around.
"It's gonna hurt, but I got this, right? It's level 5, but I'm a hero. A level 1 dragon has to be stronger than a level 5 ant, right?" Botan tried arguing.
The monster had caught up and leapt at Botan, just as the others did. And just like them, Botan swung his weapon in response. Sparks flew and he felt a lot more resistance, but he was right. He was still stronger than it. However, it also was faster at recovering due to being heavier. It didn't fly as far, meaning it hit the ground sooner and came back for more. Botan had to put everything he had into the next seven hits, each one forming tiny cracks . After the eighth hit, it shattered and Botan fell back resting against the tree.
[EXP Gained: 9]
[You are now level 2]
"Nine EXP from him? Could be because of its level, could be because it's stronger than the other kind, could be because of the gap in level between us, could be all three." Botan needed more information before he could actually figure out how EXP gain worked.
He sprinted in chainmail and swung with everything he had over and over. He was always athletic, but he felt this was going to get more strenuous than he'd ever had to deal with before. He caught his breath and went to stand. He looked up and saw 5 Bumping tops hanging in the trees. "So I guess they're technically seeds? Weird."
He absorbed the blue materials, but the rest was collected as before.
[Blue Spinning Flower]
Abilities Locked Equip Effect: Bonus: Speed +4
"Oh, that reminds me." Botan concentrated and tried to change his weapon into the [Grass Blade].
[Unable due to level requirement]
"Seriously? …What about this?" Botan tried switching to the [Red Spinning Flower]. With a flash of light, his weapon changed forms. It was now a bit longer and resembled a pinwheel flower, if a pinwheel flower was a circular saw on a stick.
"Now this is a weapon!" Botan swung it a few times. The first thing he noticed was that while it didn't weigh too much, the base form weighed practically nothing and he had failed to notice that. Second thing he noticed was that it swung better with two hands due to its balance. It was also 4' long, when the base form was only 2' long. He'd have a bit of range now. The last thing he wanted to test was the skill.
[Spin]! He shouted the skill name. The blade spun as he held it. "That's cool, but…" He looked at his stats. [Spin] drained his SP slowly. It was at a low rate, but he should still only use it when he is about to attack. "So SP is like MP, but for skills instead of magic…, okay."
Botan ended up fighting more that day, calling it quits when his SP hit zero. With this weapon form and [Spin] he could one-shot the normal Bumping Tops.
Today had a lot of progress despite him only having 5 hours at most to grind. He fought his first monsters, gained his first level, got his first drops, looted his first bodies, gained and used his first new weapon form, and learned a skill. He had a long way to go, but at least for now, he felt he was making progress.
As the sun set, Botan made it back to Weldroe. He was killed by a sneak attack at night once. He wasn't risking night time at level 2. Not to mention whatever other kinds of monster become active at night. But he had already mastered [Red Spinning Flower] in just a few hours.
He'd sell his catch, buy some food, and find lodging. He was being strict on his money, so things should work out.
[Otherworld Index]
Today we will be taking a look at [Bumping Tops], [Tackle Tops], and [Crashing Tops].
These creatures are technically plants and more specifically, seeds. When they fall from a tree, their shape catches the air in such a way that they begin to spin. From this moment, until the moment they stop spinning, they're a living monster.
While future events and maybe future Otherworld Index entries will explain motion magic in detail later, what is important to know about these top monsters is that they live through magic. They'd be basic oversized seeds if not for the motion making them more. Therefore, if one were to stop a top from spinning or moving for 10 seconds, it would die.
Oddly enough, if one is killed this way and then spins the body long enough, it revives. Though, more accurately, it lives anew. As it'll be level 1 again.
As it spins, it slowly absorbs the material it grinds on the bottom. Meaning it starts out wood, but transitions to petrified wood, then to a type of metal if given enough time. All subsets of top monsters all start as [Bumping Tops], but over time and due to what materials it intakes, it becomes the other possible types.
At the end of its life or if it feels weary, it'll drill itself underground, eventually coming to a stop and dying. The body is then after a seed again. It'll grow into a tree, bearing new tops like acorns. When they fall from the tree, they'll begin to spin, starting the lifecycle over again
Its eyes are made of glass and can roll around on a track, meaning they are not bound to one another and it can either have depth perception or see two directions at once by freely moving its eyes as it pleases. Collecting these is advised as destroying them lets you inspect a target or object. Making them a useful and ubiquitous consumable item.
[Author's Notes]
Botan has begun his work as a hero. Next he'll need to deal with selling materials and lodging. Soon he'll need to address magic and travel as far as his level allows. There's also the king's imminent death and the return of many officials via the delegation that went to the international conference to consider. How far will Botan be allowed to grow before something or someone comes to throw a wrench into it?
These have been fun to write, I hope they are fun to read. I've always been the kind of person to make weird creatures or magic systems, so doing a story with a world I get to create has an appeal all its own for me.