Cultivating Plants

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

What if you wanted to discover a world of magic and plants, but cultivating nobles, hashish-obsessed assassins, and a tight budget were constantly a nuisance in your way?

Aloe had been a simple girl who lived with her mother; yet after her grandfather died, she finds herself the heiress of a greenhouse, a luxurious commodity for a desert dweller like her. However, as she was predisposed to sell the greenhouse because she was desperate for money, she finds her grandfather's secret cultivation technique!

Her grandfather's research opens a whole new world of magic and possibilities, but it soon becomes clear that life is not as simple as a fairytale and her life will be filled with strife.

~ What to expect ~-Slow burn.-Lots of drugs.-Lots of ART.-Unique spin on cultivation! No cults or sect crap.

Chapter updates 4 times per week.

[Winner in the Royal Road Writathon challenge 2024!]

[Winner in the Royal Road Writathon challenge 2025!]

Information

Status: Completed
Year: 2023
Author: Epsilon Twilight

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.0/ 5.0
Followers: 659
Views: 747,327

Reviews

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Community Reviews(10)

SocSRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Ive been following this story for a while now and while it started quite magical and delightfully it first turned thirsty and then dark in recent chapters. Yet i keep coming back to it.
Ive read the negative reviews and it does make sense to me that someone might be disturbed at the sudden twist in the story. Whithout Spoiling too much but not having Fellow readers unaware: Death of Loved ones and Sexual Assault are Topics. As well as the odd review about linguistics - this fictions magic system reads like it is still in development while being written and the logic behind it is quite wonky.
Nonetheless i enjoy this story i keep coming back to it to see aloe stumble experiment and grow. One thing that is currently a bit amiss for me is that Aloe is quite a loner and the charakters overall relationships seem very cold and political. Even in interactions between old family friends. (2.4. Summon - despite her Uncles family helping her there is a certain coldness and awkwardness i cant quite describe) Id love to see genuine Friendships maybe in contrast to Aloes cool buisness relations(eg.with the Scribe of Commerce or the Hashish Dealer/Assasin) or her Political Persona in the Palace.(e.g. with Rani and other Sultahnazade/the Sulthana)
Worldbuilding is slowly revealed through contrasting book inserts. Which i find quite refreshing but also confusing at the current time. These Worldbuilding Snippets are in conflict with each other and since Aloe isnt traveled in the world yet and we also havent seen or had any interaction with a charakter from other parts of the world it is impossible to know which snippet is the truth. (Addendums01/Addendums02- though i recommend rereading them after the book. Eg. Reading book 2 and Rereading Addendums 01)
Id love to see more people of this world, and id be nice if aloe wasnt always at the bottom of palace politics but i think thats whats currently underway.
I would recommend this story although it has its dark parts.
tienunrealRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Really enjoyed aracane soul and this one looks to have a very interesting setting/magic systen. So far the exact mechanics are still to be revealed but there seems to be a lot of unique mechanics. So far we know it involves using plants and potentially some kind of evolutionary cultivation to create stronger ingredients almost like alchemy.. Other than that Epsilon is great at providing consistant updates so can't wait to see where this one goes.
D.M. Rhodes (Razzmatazz)Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Cultivating Plants, written by author Epsilon Twilight, is a progression cultivation novel about… cultivating (plants!). The story follows Aloe, who inherits a mysterious greenhouse in the desert and undergoes her adventure to find out its secrets and learn everything there is to discover about the odd, magical plants that her grandfather had been keeping there.
It’s a very unique premise and the author commissions a little unique art of the plants here and there, which is super cool. Give it a fair shot! =)
God Of KnowledgeRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This novel takes a slower more investigative dive into the meat that is magic. The system is truly unique, I haven't encountered something like it. So far it seems to head in a good direction. No drama no problems. Truly a glass of water that is the parched desert of good novels.
KingFoxRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
There are some awkward moments whiles reading but overall the story is so far pretty good. The characters that have been introduced are charismatic and I'm excited to see where the author goes with them. I also like the idea of the mc studying magic and selling the good stuff;⁠).
Some_Random_CultivatorRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Exotic, different, breathing and real.
This is not your "numbers go up, by-the-numbers", this is exploration, discovery, heartache, despair and trauma.
And maybe, if Aloe lasts long enough, hope.
It's not niche, it's good. Read it.
Ah, apparently I need more words because a short review can't be succinct without giving away plot spoilers.
AggressivelyconfusedRoyal Road
★★★★ 3.5
Overall, i like the story. It is not my usual cup of tea, and there are certainly things i did not enjoy in the story, it was a good read, even if it left me a bit scarred. I would have preferred it if Epsilon would have been a bit less... blunt when it comes to certain very harsh topics in the story?
To clarify, and i cannot stress this enough, this story is not for the faint of heart. SA is ever present. I cannot stress enough how epsilon should have handled the branding of this story better. I want to avoid spoilers so that is all i will say.
BrGastlRoyal Road
★★ 2.0
This book contains some promising aspects, but it doesnt deliver. Espacially since it features traumas, emotions, disgusting things and overall crass topics.
Such storys need to deliver on coping mechanisms or put in a way that you may understamd the trauma on a deeper level to actually enjoy the new experience. But the characters arent that deep, they dont show what makes their trauma so traumatic, they dont truly deal with it. You could view it maybe as a sarcastic view how many psychich damaged people roam the earth without an inkling of knowledge to heal what was destroyed in the process of living, hurting and getting hurt. Though this story doesnt has this snarky edge to fulfill such a purpose. After following this story for a year just because I was interested what will happen down the line I find myself wonderimg what purpose this book contains because its definetly the story of all these traumas. I sometimes wonder if this books is autobiographic and I just dont understand... anyway a book you maybe might be able to enjoy better, if you take three steps away and think outside the box. IMO
PunkCMRoyal Road
★ 0.5
After several days of reading this story I want to review it.
First of all, when you start reading it, you think you are in for a ‘silly’ story as the synopsis indicates. However, the story quickly changes. The writer of this novel has created an ecosystem in which powers are obtained through cultivation or rape. On the basis that reaping and raping have the same etymology.
In addition, the age of the protagonist, the character who is constantly being raped, is never made clear. Yes, she ends up saying at one point that she is 18 years old, however, before the rape itself, they repeatedly indicate that visually she looks younger to people.
One might think that the story has some twist or attempt to deal with the subject sensitively, but nothing could be further from the truth. If you look at the comments the author himself makes in replying to people or in the notes, you can see that he often makes jokes about the subject or takes it extremely lightly. Not to mention that in the novel itself nobody, BUT NOBODY, understands rape as something negative. To the point that, towards part three, there is a character who talks directly about what kind of person he prefers to commit rape.
Finally, as I was reading this I couldn't believe anything that was happening. It is not literary malpractice, or lack of writing skill. The story has that intention, it wants to be that way. Whether it's because it's ‘dark’ or whatever.
The novel has some bad writing mistakes, which is normal as the author is not a professional and that's fine. Some jokes don't fit well, some scenes could be better handled or even much clearer. Without sounding bad, the usual, it's nothing serious.
But as I said, he has created a whole magical ecosystem, where there are characters who repeatedly rape the protagonist to take away her powers. That's not a mistake, it's thought out and it's intentional.
Just as it's intentional that it's extremely harsh and disgusting. Sorry, spoiler, but the protagonist is
PorttRoyal Road
★ 0.5
I feel like putting
-Mild nakedness
In the description is not enough considering the protagonist gets LITERALLY RAPED in the story. Even if it is tagged as sexual content. And quite frankly I am not even sure why the author decided that this had to happen but considering the aforementioned lacking description it could just be that their idea for the story fell into the gutter somewhere along the way.