Robert decided to use the silent message spell to convey commands to the puffbloom. He instilled one directive in the creature's mind. Should it go for too long without a command or lose sight of him, it was to return to his last known location and search for him. Silent message was cheap and the beast bond made it even cheaper as both spells were of the same affinity. The message piggybacked on the conceptual link that already existed. This allowed for a level of control and reaction speeds that were only surpassed by the direct but expensive control from mind blackout.

He spent time training and playing with the puffbloom, which still needed a name. It was something that kept returning to the fore of Robert's mind as he went. Whenever he thought that the creature didn't have a name, he felt this.

So, to kill two monsters with one sword swing, he approached Amanda. The puffbloom went first, propelled by its own Wind magic.

"Oh. Hey, little one!" Amanda said with a squeal as the puffbloom brushed its floating hairs against her hand. She turned and looked at him. "You did it!" She said with a cheerful tone.

"I did," Robert pumped a fist. "Hey, the little guy needs a name and I can't come up with anything. Do you have any suggestions?"

Amanda poked her cheek with a finger. "Name, name, name..." She then pointed the finger up. "What about Cotton or Dandelion?"

Robert looked from the young woman to the monster, and then back. The inspiration was obvious.

"Dandelion is rather long, isn't it? What about Dandy?"

"Your choice," he grinned.

"Sure. You'll be called..." She stopped and inhaled. "Coal!" Amanda squealed

Robert sputtered. "Coal? Why coal?"

"Because it will be a great conversation topic! Everyone who sees your pet and hears the name coal will ask that same question! And then you can spin some tall tale!" She said triumphantly.

He let out a wry laugh and looked at the puffbloom. "Your name is now Coal!" He felt a tug in his link and the Ether tether crystallized. A chunk of essence was taken from him and spread through the link, reaching Coal. The puffbloom became electric as its floating hairs moved and waved around. They both felt the wind currents emanating from the puffbloom. Robert felt feedback through their link. He now could sense Coal's general position and mood. And it was happy. It also seemed... smarter, somehow?

He knew from the books he read about the spell that the affinity used to link with the beast affected the link and the boons it could grant. Most often, it was used with the Animal affinity (despite working on monsters too), which granted the tamed creature greater physical strength, health, and resilience. For elemental beasts, it often enhanced their powers if bonded through the same element. And for Mental, it seemed to give it a boost in intelligence.

"Go plan and eat some flowers, Coal. Don't go too far away from the picket fences."

Coal squealed and floated away. They watched the puffbloom go in silence. Robert broke the silence.

"How are you doing?"

Amanda smiled. "Much better. I didn't know I missed the sun this much! And gardening always puts me in a good mood. I think I enjoy seeing the seeds sprout."

"That's great!" Robert said with awkward hand movements. He then wrapped them around the small of his back. "So, are we good?"

Amanda studied him. "Sure. We're good."

Robert lowered his head and sighed. Why did that answer disappoint him so much?

"About—"

"That was a slip of the heart," She blurted out, interrupting him. "I shouldn't have done that. Can we put that behind us and never again talk about that?"

He felt an urge to hug her. But his hands were squeezing each other behind him so he couldn't move them.

"Sure. I just don't want it to become a roadblock between us."

"It won't. Rest assured," She grinned. "Once we return to civilization, everything is going to be normal again."

"Good. Good," he said, watching the garden she was tending to. "Do you need any help here?"

"Yes, I do!" She said with more excitement than expected. It felt forced. "Can you dig some furrows over there? Just follow the pattern."

"I surely can!"

Robert took the hoe and put it to good use.

*

*

Hours later, Freddy returned with another puffbloom. Robert commanded Coal to keep its brethren company and keep it from floating away. They were almost ready with the garden.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"How much do you think your talent has improved?" Robert asked.

"More than double," Amanda replied. "Though it wasn't the evolution I wanted, it improved all aspects of my crops. Quality, yield, growth speed, resilience. Look there. The first seeds I put in the earth are already sprouting."

"That's amazing," Robert said. "You already use plants in combat, this is a straight upgrade."

"Yes. I need to get creative with the plants I use. But the synergy between my talent, druidic attunement, and the plant growth spell is very good. I think I could've killed that octopus much faster if I were to fight it now."

"Yes. But let's not fight giant monsters for some time now, okay?"

"I can get behind that," she grinned.

They heard the door open. Noah came out of the cabin. He jogged toward them, sparing a glance at the two puffblooms dancing in the air. "Good job, everyone! I see you are almost finished with your assignments."

"We surely are," Robert said. "What's next?"

"Next, we are going to work on developing some new spells. I'll start with Amanda if nobody minds it."

"Sure," Amanda replied. "What do you have for me?"

"I want you to use Nature essence to compost the grass Robert mowed. Can you do it?" Noah made it sound like a challenge.

"I don't know," Amanda replied. "I never tried it."

Noah smiled. His ears always moved up when he did. "That's okay. Look, your interpretation of Nature is leaving one key aspect in the dark. Nature is also decay, erosion, and putrefaction. If you can speed up plant growth, why can't you speed up these natural processes? We need fertilizer for the plants."

Amanda frowned, then went into deep thought. "Okay. I think I can do it."

"Good. Why don't we get the bags of grass and try the new spell? At two stars, you are assumed to have the expertise to develop your own custom spells. The cookie-cutter spells provided by the Ether scrolls are a one-size-fits-all approach. The spells you develop for yourselves will always be better. Better damage, essence efficiency, range, and so on," Noah lectured. "Now, Amanda, I want you to focus on the grass and decay it into fertilizer. Freddy?"

The Taulusian barked as he appeared next to Noah a few moments later.

"Can you make a breeze blowing from where we stand toward those woods on that side? Just like we talked that day?"

Freddy nodded. Robert noticed that Noah was giving Freddy private lessons. It increased the respect he had for the teacher by a lot.

"Good. You both, start with your casting. Amanda, focus on the mental image of the goal you want to achieve."

Robert watched as Amanda's eyebrows were pulled together. She had her eyes closed and her hand reaching for the bags. The wind picked up speed as Freddy used Wind essence to blow a breeze. For several minutes, nothing happened. Then the bags of grass started to deflate, along with a foul smell spreading everywhere.

"Freddy, focus on moving all the air around the grass bags away from us. Imagine the stench is a poisonous gas you need to protect us from!" Noah said.

Freddy changed his spell and Robert couldn't smell the stench no longer. Coal and its puffbloom friend approached. Robert extended a hand and both landed on his arm. Landed in a sense, because since they had no limbs, they couldn't touch down. So the two balls of floating hairs just stood there, still. Which meant they were resisting Freddy's Wind essence with their own. He conjectured that the essence efficiency of these critters must be through the roof. They needed to use it all the time.

Eventually, Amanda stopped channeling Nature's essence and Noah signaled for Freddy to stop with the wind.

"Let's take a look at the finished product, shall we?" Noah opened the bags and pulled a handful of brown stuff, reminding Robert of dried peat. "Now, the two of you. Spread it over the garden and water it. Amanda, don't use create water. Instead, use the condense moisture spell we trained."

Robert felt somewhat left out. Was Noah teaching spells to the other two all the time? He pushed that budding jealousy away. No. It was good his friends were growing.

They spread the fertilizer around the garden. When they finished, Noah told Amanda to go inside and take a bath while he had a one-on-one with Robert.

*

*

Noah took some furniture out of the tool shack and set it on the lawn. A folding table and two matching folding chairs.

"Now, it is time to fix some of your spells," Noah said. "A few of them are bad. I learned a bit about your background and I understand you didn't come from wealth like Amanda. There's no shame in it. You clawed your way into the elite of this nation, all by yourself. Be proud of what you accomplished. But there's no reason to get stuck with shit spells. Now, tell me. Which spells in your repertoire do you think could be improved?"

"My haste and slow spells," Robert replied straight away. "The buff from Haste is not that large, and the slow spell seldom takes effect on my enemies."

"Great. Those are staple spells of the Time affinity. Go ahead and shatter these two spells. You don't need inefficient tools."

Robert shuddered for a moment. Though the spells weren't good, they were still better than nothing."

"Trust in yourself. I believe you have one of the deepest insights into the nature of Time."

With Noah's encouragement, Robert entered his Ethercosm. His two stars, one huge and bright, the other small and dim greeted him. The second star was barely filled, only one or two percent. He knew it would be a big challenge to complete that and ascend to three stars. Most Archhumans never did, getting stuck in the high percentile points. But his second star would double his available essence when full.

He went for the two sand beige frames of lesser haste and lesser slow. He started with the first, discarding it and watching as the runic bands shattered into free Ether that dissipated into wherever. Then he studied the lesser haste shell and also shattered it. He felt the loss of the two abilities. His job done, Robert returned to reality.

"Good. Now, I want you to go back to your Ethercosm and draw not a haste nor a slow spell. I want you to make one that allows you to set a creature's speed in time. A single spell that grants both effects. Think of how the liminal void accelerates your perception of time. Think of how fast the shockwave was moving to make it perceptible in the liminal void. You want to speed up your allies by a lot and slow down stuff like the shockwave. Take your time and weave the shells."

Robert sunk back to his Ethercosm. He wasn't expecting the assignment but he understood the rationale behind that. Having a single spell for both effects would save him time and essence training the spells to increase their efficiency and also require one less vestige or remnant to evolve the shell. He set out to do what was asked of him. Robert wove the bands of runes, concentrating on the vivid mental image.

It took time. Robert could feel his body grow hungry as he laid the rune bands. The sand beige frame formed and he let it rest. It took a lot of his essence to build and it was still ethereal. He needed to use the spell and process essence through the frame to crystallize it entirely. Opening his eyes, he got a nod from Noah.

"Did you do it?" The teacher asked.

"I think I did."

"Good. Now, I want you to cast the opposite effects on each of the two puffblooms here. Use haste on the one bonded to you, then cast slow on the other and have them play a game of tag."

Freddy barked to display his support.

Robert looked at the two puffblooms and cast his spell. Coal's speed went up by around twenty percent, while the wild puffbloom lost between ten and fifteen of its speed. The huge buff was another benefit of their beast bond. Spells cast on the bonded monster by Robert had increased efficiency.

They sat and watched as the two hairballs flew above the lawn, playing tag with each other.

Amanda appeared by the door. "Hey, guys. It's your turn to take a bath!"