In the past few days a small commotion had been taking place in Elliot’s garden, a familiar sight for the residents of the surrounding houses.

A pet wolf pulled a plough through Elliot’s garden, opening ditches. A closely following “Dung Beggar '', clad in his work apron, sowed seeds and took a shovel of manure from a pushcart nearby, spreading it evenly around the ditch before hastily closing it, one hand holding a tissue to his nose.

The man in question, the illustrious Dung Beggar himself, found that he wasn't as happy as he had imagined.

[FUCK! 10%? Are you dumb?! What about the price of the seeds? Are they free?]

Looking down at a small linen sack in his pocket, he couldn't help but tremble at the thought of the price of the little yellowish seeds that filled it.

“Ten silver coins or fifty Contribution Points.” Miss Gerturde had said nonchalantly, making Aegon wonder if the seed's yellow color was because they were somehow made of gold.

Golden Wheat, an extremely common medicinal herb ,the wheat was only slightly more metallic in color than its secular counterpart, even its effects were not that exceptional, only being able to serve as physical nourishment with a hint of elemental energy absorbed during its growth.

However, those unappealing properties were only deemed as such by cultivators with a wealth of resources. To most people, Aegon included, being able to absorb energy simply by eating was extremely helpful and would, over time, make a significant difference between two similar individuals in terms of talent and dedication.

Doing some quick mental math, Aegon reckoned he could get enough wheat out of his 10% cut to barely make it worth the 50 Contribution Points investment.

But that was only in regards to his cultivation given that he would use his cut for it, he would have a negative net outcome when it came to his contribution points, something which made him extremely depressed.

Yet that was all temporary, even though he often called himself stupid for his oversight, after this first harvest, such an initial investment would not have to be repeated since he would have more than enough seeds to plant this garden and many others and it would all be profit and smooth sailing from then on.

[A comforting thought.]

Dusting himself off and freeing his poor wolf from the plough, both man and beast made their way down to their room.

Looking at the various gardens around him, planted with an inconsequential amount of herbs, Aegon’s eyes glinted with greed.

[There’s a lot of room to grow, I just have to make a decent harvest with Elliot and then it will be much easier to convince everyone else.]

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

…

Morning came and Aegon sank back into his new routine, having finished the hardest task in Elliot´s garden, he now had a lot more free time since he mostly only needed to water it and keep an eye out for weeds and other pests.

Sitting down in a meditative position, Aegon started the daily process of absorbing the particles of lightning energy in the vicinity. One after another he quickly reached 25 particles, yet that 26th particle made him frown ever so slightly and by the 30th small beads of sweat were rolling down his forehead, after he finished absorbing the 31st particle, he relaxed his posture and opened his eyes once again.

“It seems I really can't go much further than thirty per day.”

Resigning himself with reality, he rose to his feet before unsheathing one of his swords and balancing it on top of his fingertip as he made his way out of the door and paced around his garden.

His garden was flourishing, sprouts of various herbs were already dotting his packed yard with only a small, thin path leading in and out of his fenced room.

A frown formed on the young man’s face, on the ground close to his feet a smaller sprout poked its head out from the ground.

Aegon slowly squatted to take a closer look, doing his best to keep the sword safely balanced on his finger tip.

“Weeds everywhere.”

Extending his free hand in a trained fashion he dug up the still growing sprout from the ground in one swift motion, roots and all.

A smile made its way back into his face when he threw the poor plant over his shoulder and into the road behind him.

With no further troubles in his garden, the young man reached towards his room's door, letting out a wolf that, although still a pup of his own species, was already large enough to be seen as an adult by any of its more common cousins.

Closing the door behind his partner, both man and beast took their usual path down the mountain, stopping outside Roy’s house.

“Roy, I’ve been thinking, aren't we supposed to go on another mission soon? It’s been a while since the last one and…, now that I think about it, do we even know what the consequences are for not going on a mission?”

Roy scratched his head, trying to recall what Mentor 1 had said that day.

“Nope, I don't remember him saying anything about consequences, he only mentioned that it was supposed to be our tuition. I guess if you don't pay your tuition in an outside school you get expelled, so maybe it’s the same here.”

Aegon pondered Roy’s words before answering.

[A rarity.] His friend thought.

“Hmmm, I don't know man, would they be so lax as to just expel you? It seems a bit light, I think we would just be forced to do it anyway, we are to learn but also as part of the ‘army’ of the Martial House.”

“Would it be that easy to leave the army?”

“I don’t think it’s easy but it’s not that hard either. A lot of people leave the mortal armies every day to come back to their everyday lives so it’s possible. And they expel people too.” Roy nonchalantly answered.

“You're right but still, it doesn't sit well with me, maybe the army wasn't a good example...maybe a family? You can't really be expelled from a family that easily, you can leave but you still represent it in a way, so I guess that’s how I see it, and how the Martial House as a whole sees us.”

Roy stopped in his tracks and looked at his friend with some exaggerated surprise mixed in with a hint of true shock.

“You actually said something worth listening to, this is a first.”

Not waiting for his friend’s obvious reaction Roy took off running towards the Mission Hall with a shouting Aegon hot in pursuit.