The Magewood sapling in the shrine’s entryway already looked a bit perkier than its brethren in the greenhouse – whether it was just its nature or some other factor, Sophie had no clue. It had always seemed a little happier than the rest of them. Perhaps the Magewood was just a hardier variant.

Sophie hesitantly held her hand out and pressed her fingertips against the thin trunk. Would it respond the same as the Dawnwood? Would it accept her mana at all?

She had heard somewhere in her old life that you were supposed to talk to plants, so she figured some encouragement couldn’t hurt.

“You can do it,” she whispered. It was mostly to the tree, but also maybe a bit to herself as well.

She focused on her mana and brought it to her fingertips – she’d have to be a little careful. She had a good amount left, but she felt like it wouldn’t be the brightest idea to use too much of it considering Elowen had accidentally drained her earlier today.

When she made the connection with the Magewood sapling, she could already tell that it was somehow different from the others, just as Mabel had said. For one, the mana within it responded in a much livelier fashion to her. Again, perhaps not enough that Sophie would call it an affinity, but more like the tree itself was happy to finally receive the mana it desperately needed to grow and flourish.

It also had some other quality to it – something bright and green and full of promise.

Sophie carefully monitored her own reserves as she threaded mana into the sapling, this time watching the tree carefully as she did so. The outward changes were not quite so drastic as the saplings in the greenhouse, but Sophie did see more leaf buds appear and one of the Magewood’s few existing leaves perked up a bit.

Finally, after a few long moments, something within her said enough and she released the connection, letting her hand fall to her side.

Elowen floated around the tree curiously, her hand reaching out occasionally as if she’d like to touch one of the leaves for herself.

“It seemed to respond well,” Elowen said, and Sophie nodded.

“It did,” she agreed, and when she reached out to touch the tree again, she could feel the connection waiting to happen. She’d have to check on it every morning and see how it was doing now. She had no idea how much mana it would need, but if it needed a consistent source to grow properly, she imagined it would need mana every day.

Sophie still had some mana left after working with the Magewood tree – perhaps even enough to do another one of the Dawnwoods in the greenhouse – but she felt oddly exhausted already, and it was barely noon. The earlier experience with Elowen’s bond really took it out of her, and while the Magewort tea seemed to replenish her mana, she suspected that it wasn’t quite as refreshing as a good night’s sleep would be, perhaps especially when she had been so low.

It would not be a good idea to use her mana much more today. She couldn’t let herself feel disappointed about that though. Overall, the experiment with the Magewood tree was a success. She wasn’t actually sure what she did to it, but if it needed mana to grow, giving it mana seemed like the right thing to do.

Besides that, she’d probably need to plant it somewhere. It couldn’t live in this pot forever. But she’d figure that out after she spent a few days giving it mana, seeing how it responded to that. She’d also have to read more of Rosalie’s books to see if she could find out any more information on where and how to plant it.

Without the ability to use any more of her mana, Sophie decided to sit down to an early lunch of leftover Market kebabs. Maybe she’d go to Caulis again today. She could settle her tab at the Crafter’s Guild and perhaps see if Acacia was less busy. Part of her wasn’t sure if she should tell Acacia everything, but she wanted to confide in someone besides Elowen.

She collected the library books she had finished, figuring she’d turn those in as well, and started making her way into Caulis.

***

Sophie was about halfway to Caulis when the little wyvern showed up again. It wooshed right past her as she was walking before it turned back and flew straight towards her again. She stopped mid-step, startled by its sudden appearance.

“You can’t just do that!” she complained, but she couldn’t help but laugh. It fluttered its leathery wings a few times, but then it took advantage of her static state to land on her shoulder. Its talons dug into her slightly, but again, not sharply enough to be painful.

She laughed again and raised her arm to let it hop along until it reached her forearm. “Listen here,” she said, continuing to scold it. “You startled me.”

It made an interested, half-preening noise, and then Sophie felt –

She felt mana, warm and curious, sparkling along her arm for a brief moment before it sunk into her. Sophie yelped in surprise at the sudden boost in her mana reserves, and the wyvern took flight again at the noise, zipping into a nearby tree branch as if unsure of itself.

“Um,” Sophie said.

The wyvern blinked at her a few times, tilted its head, and then flew off.

“Thanks?” Sophie said, watching as it flew away, completely bewildered.

She poked at her mana reserves. It wasn’t like it had added much, to be fair, but it was noticeable. She felt odd about the whole experience, and Elowen’s warnings of wyverns spreading corruption echoed in her ears. She wasn’t like… corrupted now, was she?

Wouldn’t she know if she had accidentally accepted corrupted mana?

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

She continued her trip to town, feeling a little freaked out about the whole idea, but unsure what she should do about it now. Should she turn back? It felt a little silly to worry so much, though. The wyvern had never shown any sort of hostility towards her or any sign of corruption that she could tell. Turning back now seemed a little excessive. She pushed herself to keep walking down the path, even as she continued to poke at her mana reserves, wondering if her mana seemed different at all.

By the time she had reached Caulis, she gave up on figuring out whether or not she had been corrupted. How would she even tell? She had never been in contact with corrupted mana, as far as she knew.

No, instead, she decided she would at least do her planned errands for the day. If she noticed anything out of the ordinary, she could always head back immediately to ask Elowen about the whole corruption thing.

But so far, she felt perfectly normal, if still a bit low on mana from her strange experience with Elowen’s bond earlier this morning.

So she made her way to the bathhouse to clean up a bit, and then on to the Crafter’s Guild to settle up her tab. The window repair for the greenhouse ended up being a lot more coin than she had been expecting, and her stomach dropped a bit as she handed over another gold piece and a bunch of silver.

By the time she left the Guild, her coin purse was starting to feel awfully light…

She had never been that good with money, and her new gig as a shrine priestess didn’t exactly pay a steady salary. In fact, no one else had come to receive a class since that Bard – Garrick, was it? And that was over a week ago.

Sophie frowned, finding herself wandering the streets of Caulis as she thought through the predicament. Why weren’t people showing up to receive classes? Were there just not enough people who needed them?

But if that were the case, then she would need to figure out some other source of income. And probably pretty soon. There were so many other things that had to be done at the shrine, and she also had to buy food.

Ugh, that settled it. She had probably better stop by the Adventurer’s Guild again and see if there was anything at all she could do in her low-leveled state. So far, she was quite good at filling mana lamps, but that was about it. Hopefully Calli would have some ideas.

***

Sophie hadn’t considered the possibility that anyone but Calli would be working at the Adventurer’s Guild when she stopped by, but as she walked through the door, she was suddenly thankful to see the familiar face, even if Calli was a bit pushy last time.

“It’s the priestess!” Calli greeted her. “I didn’t think you’d be back,” she teased.

Sophie felt her face heat. She hadn’t planned on coming back, if she was honest. Not if she could help it. Adventuring and quests did not seem to align with any of her interests, but she had to find some way to make money in this strange fantasyland.

“I seem to be lacking work,” Sophie admitted. “I mean – there’s plenty of things to do around the shrine, so I’ve been keeping myself busy, but no one’s come to get a new class recently, and I’m not sure I really have the skills needed for quest work... Is there some way I could get the word out that the shrine is, uh, open for business?”

Calli nodded thoughtfully at that. “Well, I’d be surprised if there was anyone left in Caulis who didn’t know about the shrine re-opening, so that’s not your problem.” She leaned forward over the counter a bit. “I bet there are still people in town who are looking to get a class, but they’re probably waiting for the festival.”

“The… festival?” Sophie asked.

Calli nodded again. “The Midsummer festival? Ah, do you not have the same traditions, then?”

Sophie vaguely recalled someone telling her something about a Midsummer festival… “Oh,” she said. “Oh, I suppose we don’t…” And then she remembered Acacia telling her about the months, and –

“Oh,” she repeated, suddenly realizing. “That would be soon, wouldn’t it?”

Calli rapped her knuckles against the wooden counter. “Yep. In less than a fortnight, in fact. People are probably expecting you to hold a class selection festival at the start of Midsummer, so they’re waiting for that.”

Drat. Sophie wasn’t sure the shrine was ready for a festival. “Ah, okay,” she replied. “Two weeks?”

Calli nodded, and Sophie’s stomach twisted. Two weeks was not very much time to plan a festival, especially considering Sophie had no idea what it should entail. But somehow, it also felt like a strangely long amount of time. Sophie hadn’t even been in the fantasy world for two weeks, yet, if she hadn’t completely lost track of her days by now, and so much had happened already.

“It’s more fun to get your class at the festival, anyway,” Calli continued. “Or so I’ve heard. Caci and I had to go all the way over to a shrine near Sentus to get our classes.” Calli frowned at the memory, as if it wasn’t all that pleasant of an experience, and Sophie figured she’d have to ask Acacia about it some day.

“But in the meantime, if you need coin…” Calli grinned and leaned further over the counter, pointing at the quest board. “I can still get you registered. In fact, all I have to do is put your name in our Guild book.”

Sophie stifled a laugh. Here was the sales pitch again. “I mean, thanks, but uh –” She really did not like the idea of quests, but surely she should at least ask. That was kind of the whole point of coming here, wasn’t it? “I guess I’m not exactly sure what kind of quests I could do at my current level. What do you have available for a priestess?”

Calli’s grin widened, and Sophie felt like she was falling into some sort of trap. “Well, the Watcher group recently found a mana pool nearby, but it needs purification, and it’ll be weeks before we can get anyone. Unless our friendly neighborhood shrine priestess were to help…”

Sophie shook her head. “Unfortunately this friendly neighborhood – err, well, what I mean to say is that I don’t actually have the ability to purify anything yet, let alone an entire mana pool.”

Or even herself, she realized, if that little wyvern had somehow given her corrupted mana. She had almost forgotten about that after the sticker shock at the Crafter’s Guild.

Calli frowned. “Ah, right. I suppose you are pretty new, huh? Well, unfortunately, even the smaller stuff we have for priestesses involves purification.”

Drat. Of course it did. The one skill Sophie hadn’t even considered learning yet. She didn’t even know where to begin.

“You better come back as soon as you learn purification,” Calli teased. “Because I have a whole lot of work to send your way.”

Sophie spluttered a laugh, and thanked Calli for her time, managing to make her excuses to go. Now, not only did she have a festival to prepare for, but she had to learn purification on top of it. And if she wasn’t more careful with her coin, she’d have bills piling up soon. She shook her head as she stepped back out into the streets of Caulis.

She probably shouldn’t go to the bakery, given all of the above, but she still really wanted to talk to Acacia. Acacia could help her figure out what to do about the class festival, and maybe even have more ideas what Sophie could do for work in the meantime until she learned purification.

She would just have to resist the pastries this time, perhaps.