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Domain Ch 9 - Growth

Domain Ch 9 - Growth

Chapter Nine - Growth

A mere three minutes later, they arrived at the edge of a quickly growing complex. She paused on the way to the ground, staring out at the maze of buildings. The further away from the front it got, the lower the walls were. She could see greenery in a few of the closer ones, but it was barely sprouted. They’d likely just planted stuff and grew it a tiny bit as a placement marker.

To be fair, that actually worked in her favor, because it meant she mostly just needed to worry about pumping energy in. “You planned all this out?” Hunter’s voice held awe, and she realized he hadn’t actually been involved in any of the planning for this. To be fair, most people hadn’t. Eamonn, the Earth Guard, maybe their parents? It was getting really hard to keep who knew what straight.

“At least the basics of it all. I mostly just pointed them in the right direction and then other people took over.” She murmured softly, noting that there was a small group of people working six enclosures down. She let them drift closer to what she knew was the roof of the fellacai enclosure, studying how it had all turned out.

Aside from the grid stone supports, half the surface included glass paneling to let the light in, while the other half was a finely woven mesh that looked like some form of enchanted rope and metal coil braided together for maximum durability. It would allow the elements to circulate while still keeping them securely inside. The other enclosure nets would have much larger spaces, but given the size of the fellacai, the workmanship was exquisite in its attention to tiny details.

It wasn’t that she didn’t trust the swarm not to cause trouble if they got out, but for the purpose of the zoo and peace of mind of the king, this was what they’d planned. She felt a small pang of remorse, given that the fellacai in Mianach would be able to move MUCH more freely. They had the entire cemetery woods and a city to patrol. Maybe she’d convince them to modify this later, but for now she’d be satisfied that they weren’t in a tiny cage anymore.

Moving them down, she dropped them where she knew the keeper entrances were. Like all zoos, she’d kept them separate from the public viewing spaces. For now, there was still open ceiling where she could enter the large corridor without a key. She restored their gravity, still hauling along the two cages as she moved confidently to the entry.

The locks hadn’t been added yet, probably because they weren’t expecting her to come set them loose early. Obviously, they didn’t know her well enough. Not that they would have been able to stop her, regardless. She swiftly moved the mechanisms that kept it deadbolted, pleased with how smooth the process was. A short hallway to the second door and then they finally emerged into the interior of the enclosure.

“Wasn’t it supposed to have plants?” Hunter asked curiously, looking around at the entirely barren space. The only interruption in the dirt was a small stream that meandered through. He looked very confused as he asked, “I saw some in the next enclosure. Why would they leave this one empty?”

Laughing softly, she answered, “I asked them to let me do this one by myself.

“Oh,” was the only response she got from him as she left the beann by the door and used her magic to flip open the cage, completely unafraid. Fellacai came streaming out, her little ones flying up to join them as they did loops. The only problem was…there was literally nothing for them to land on except them and the ground, and they…had companions that were eyeing them far too curiously.

“Make sure your bonded don’t do anything stupid.” She casually warned them as she moved to the first spot she wanted to grow a tree, mentally flipping through her ring inventories until a giant metal keg appeared next to her and a few seeds in her hand. With a thought, she carved out a hole half a foot across and three feet deep, lifting it up like she’d just cored an apple and setting it aside.

“What’s that?” Camille asked, walking over to inspect the sealed metal container that was taller than her.

“And why are you digging a hole?” Hunter added his own question as he stared into the darkness like it would give him answers, while keeping a firm grip as he petted his little Raphna. Camille’s two birdies were sitting on top of their brethren’s cage like little sentinels. She had a feeling they could tell that agitating the swarm would be a bad idea, given that there was nothing stopping them from using their pollen…except her.

Well no, that wasn’t true. She could feel the magical suppression calming them and forbidding them from using their magic. Thankfully it was only targeted at creatures, or her job would’ve been a whole lot harder.

Gesturing from the giant barrel to the hole, she said, “I figured, use what you have. Siothuil Cemetary proves that using blood is an easy energy bank, and I happen to have a whole bunch of random monster blood tainted with pollen that I don’t how else to use, so why not here?”

Camille’s smile went slack as she pointed at the metal. “Are you telling me this entire thing is full of blood?”

She waved her hand in a partial gesture. “I mean. Blood or the equivalent? I cleaned up the square where I fought the monsters, and there was a whole bunch of pollen mixed in, but also it’s weird colors.” She called to the metal, opening a hand-sized section that she could pour from as she called it out like a snake, sending a small stream of it to her newly made hole. “So it’s more like blood, ichor, and pollen, as you can see.” Although there wasn’t a huge difference between them, the point remained that it was a weird mixture of red, blue, green, black, and rainbow sparkles.

Staring at the mash of fluids, Hunter looked a little queasy as he asked, “Are you sure using this is a good idea?”

Jade paused, thinking. “It doesn’t seem like it’d be a problem, but I suppose I could consult Ren to be sure.” Just because she hadn’t considered potentially bad consequences didn’t mean there weren’t any.

“I think that’s probably wise.” Camille piped in as she, too, watched the interplay of colors as the liquid started to settle in different layers of viscosity. It was a bit weird it hadn’t done that before, but she supposed she’d just shoved it all in and then immediately put it in stasis, so it hadn’t had time to separate previously, being frozen and all.

Jade wrinkled her nose slightly, and the fellacai were moving towards the further edges of the enclosure. With a wave, she closed off the opening once more, leaving only what was already out to stink up the vicinity with the coppery tang and slightly rotten stench that she associated with mesmer blood.

Flicking out the right mirror, she poked a string of mana at it as she called her nature teacher, absently recalling the mix she’d put in the hole back out and letting it sit in a globe of wind that cut it off from everything else, watching as it sorted itself out like an eerie lava lamp.

It took a few seconds, but Ren answered looking slightly harried. People were moving around behind her, and she looked to be in some sort of…farm? Was she still in Mianach? With classes starting again next week, she’d kind of assumed most of her teachers would return through the portal this morning, but apparently not. “Hey Ren, did I call at a bad time?” She asked a little tentatively. She hadn’t meant to stress out her teacher.

Letting out a small huff, Ren seemed to center herself as she put on a smile that was still a bit strained as she replied, “I’m a bit busy, but it’s fine. What did you need?” She didn’t miss the small glare the woman sent to someone who was probably behind the mirror.

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

“Oh, sorry. Just a quick question. I was going to grow the trees in the zoo, and I thought I’d use blood to help fertilize and power the process. I have a whole bunch of monster blood mixed with fellacai pollen I collected in Mianach, so we just wanted to make sure it was safe to use.” She floated the ball of separating substances over next to her so Ren could see it.

Frowning slightly, her nature teacher stared at the collection before she answered, “Didn’t you say the mesmer blood had some form of taint in it?”

Blinking owlishly, Jade nodded. “Yeah. It absolutely does.” She hadn’t even considered that. If it was a beacon for the mesmer, using it to grow trees seemed like a really bad idea. That wasn’t even mentioning the virus and what side effects that might have.

“Well, I’m not a blood mage, but we frequently use monster blood in the farms, so as far as I know, everything else is fine if you can separate that out.” Glancing at whoever was bothering her, she asked, “Sorry to rush you, but was that everything? Getting things back on track here has been a mess.”

“Yep, that was it. Thanks for answering, I’ll let you get back to it. Take care!” She waved at the mirror, with Ren nodding absently before cutting the connection. She held up a hand to forestall any questions from the royals as she closed her eyes.

Reaching out with a mixture of spiritual, blood, and healing magic, she probed her construct. Not all of the mixtures had perfectly separated, but she was able to feel the taint. Calling it from the mass, she nodded in satisfaction as the blackish ichor detached, forming a separate globule. She opened her eyes, pulling out another hunk of metal that she shaped into a much smaller barrel before depositing the sickly payload. She looked at the still colorful residue, then looked to her friends. “Should be good now. Satisfied?”

Given that they’d been closely observing the whole process, Hunter nodded simply. “Yes.” Jade could tell he was trying not to rub it in that he was right to stop her. No, that felt like a wrong interpretation. He seemed more at ease, though he was still glancing at the open container of taint queasily.

She paused. Was he more sensitive to it because of his kidnapping? Closing her eyes again briefly, she focused on her spiritual domain, taking him in with that sense for the first time. The light green of his spirit was crisscrossed with scars on his upper body, focused mostly on his arms and neck. She’d gotten rid of the physical marks, but his spirit still looked like he’d been sent through a bramblebush.

Trying to not be obvious that she was observing him, she opened up the barrel once more, depositing her floating orb back into it as she pulled the taint out from the entire thing. It took her a minute as she sifted through the various bloods to make sure she didn’t miss anything, double checking them for anything else that registered as harmful, but she couldn’t find it. It did feel rich in power and nutrients, but not dangerous.

Packing away the last of the mesmer taint into the new barrel, she closed it off and made it vanish into her ring as she rejoined the world once more. The sickly sweet rotting scent was still in the air, so she circulated a bit of wind, pulling out another breeze from her fae ring as well. It was noticeably weaker, not having had time to build up since she did it in the classroom.

She probably ought to figure out how that worked, given that they were in stasis, but creating fresh air? It was weird, and she decided not to overthink it. Hunter visibly relaxed further once the barrel was no longer in the same plane of existence, so there was definitely still something going on there. It was weird that she didn’t seem to have the same aversion, but maybe it was due to the length of time? The kids had begun the conversion process when she saved them, whereas she always got it out of her system immediately.

It was concerning, to say the least, but not something she knew how to deal with right now. More like something she’d mention to Ashanna the next time they got to talking about spirits. Her nose wrinkled as she thought, yet again, that it was super annoying Xuxianara had been so hostile. There were so many questions she had for a centuries old spirit practitioner, but nooooooo. She had to be a racist bigot.

Having thoroughly annoyed herself through her own thoughts, she took a deep breath, holding it before she released it with the mentality that she was exhaling the negative energy. Nodding to herself as she recentered, she turned to look at Camille and Hunter. “Hey, do you guys want to help me dig some holes?”

The little prince glanced at her crater, then shrugged. “Sure. Where do you want them?” Neither of them had nature magic, but both of them had earth, so she might as well get help where she could. Glancing around the enclosure, she shrugged and reached out with her earth magic, pulling out one inch cores and setting them next to the hole in her chosen locations.

The magic came easier than ever, and she realized that her domain was somehow making distance magic way more cost effective. Obviously, the further it was from her, the bigger the drain. But it was a noticeable improvement nonetheless. Gesturing to her handiwork, she said, “Just follow those marks. I’m gonna start growing the trees.”

“All right. Let’s get this done.” Unperturbed by the flock of fellacai, the royals split up to go excavate while Jade casually pulled out the liquid of one layer, filling the hole and tossing one of her cherry seeds in.

Reaching out with her nature magic, the seed eagerly drank in the energy as it absorbed the blood and residual pollen. She let it grow freely instead of trying to direct it, curious how the blood might influence its path. As it grew bigger, she watched as the leaves sprouted with a light blue tint. Making it blossom once it was taller than her, she made sure the roots were steady as she watched the flowers bloom. They came out mostly white with blue and a few lilac accents, and she figured the blood she’d pulled probably came from the sylfae, and as she was just about done, she added the coding intent that it would purify and release the fresh air like they did.

It was rather fascinating to observe, but also just really pretty. She couldn’t wait to see what the other layers would give her, and then try mixing them up before she straight up directed the growth with her own magic. She still wanted to grow a rainbow menagerie for them so they all had their own affinity trees, and this seemed like an easy way to boost that a bit. She did one last check, making sure the root system was solidly in place before she stepped back, admiring her work.

Despite being relatively simple to do, it still took time. The leaves rustled as swirls of fellacai began to explore the first addition to their new home. The royals returned to her side, Camille reached out to brush the flowers as she admired, “It’s gorgeous.”

Lavender’s tiny voice echoed in her head, “And yummy!”

“It’s gonna take a while if you want to fill this whole place up.” Hunter pointed out.

Laughing softly, she shrugged. “Good thing I have all day then, isn’t it?” Without any concrete plans, she could spend as long as she wanted perfecting the enclosure. “It’s probably going to be boring though, so you don’t have to stick around if there’s something else you’d rather do.” Glancing around, she shrugged. “I can’t imagine watching me grow plants all day was at the top of your list.”

The two of them exchanged looks, then seemed to shrug in unison. Hunter acknowledged, “Maybe not, but I think even if we left, we’d mostly just be bonding with our new companions anyway, and we can do that just as well here.” He paused, then finished, “Besides, we could always just call someone to bring us something if we get bored.”

Weighing that in her mind, she agreed. “I suppose that is one of the perks of being royalty.” Reaching out to scritch the little raphna, she glanced at the still-caged beann and offered, “Should we go drop them off in the enclosure next door? I think they grew some of the stuff for them already.” Now that she had one tree grown in this enclosure, she didn’t mind taking a short break. They now had access to food and water, and they were free to fly about. It was the bare minimum, but it was enough for the moment.

Camille hesitated, and Jade could feel the thrumming of her attempted communication with her bonded. Finally, she nodded, “Yeah, that would be great. They’re a little anxious watching the fellacai.”

Jade paused. Given that she hadn’t noticed the birds had any specific magic, she supposed the fellacai actually were quite dangerous to them in a swarm. Maybe they would eat them as a snack if given the chance, but confronting thousands probably wasn’t their idea of a good time. Either that or they just also wanted to fly around, having been cooped up for almost a week. She’d kinda forced captivity on them.

Feeling bad as she was reminded of her own trapped body, she instantly agreed. “Not a problem. Let’s go give them some room to fly.” She sent a mental query to her little ones, but they sent back the impression that they wanted to stay with the swarm for now, trusting that the royals would watch over her. Inversely, they didn’t really want to follow her to a place where she released a whole flock of birds with only a few of them present.

Smiling as she sent them love and understanding, she lifted the cage and gestured to the doors. “Well then. Shall we?”