The morning breeze felt cool on Taka's skin. He floated through then castle garden riding on his flying flower pot, traveling in straight lines. It had been almost a week since Syla told Taka her about how she came to be the former Demon Lord's adoptive daughter, and he was supposed to begin teaching her the next day. He had spent the past week honing his handle on psychic and earth magic to be able to use more spells.

Taka lowered the pot to the ground in front of a bed of flowers that looked like multicolor lilies. The flora of the swamp region his new home of Kronkswell was in was different than he expected. Flowers and crops of many kinds grew well here, despite the murky appearance of the swamp-like marshland. Bick, the orc that had healed him in the training hall, had explained to him that the lizardfolk, which he was made aware was the species' preferred name, had a unique racial ability to cultivate swamplands to be able to grow almost anything. It was an incredibly useful skill to keep a remote community fed.

Taka closed his eyes and focused on gathering psychic energy; his awareness and ability to feel the energy had increased at least twofold each day, and he could feel his capacity continue to grow. Or at least, his usable capacity -- there was still a lot about magic he didn't fully understand. Once he gathered enough energy, he took a deep breath and thought to himself, let it flow around you, then push your awareness beyond your body, let it flow further. The book had described a spell called "third eye" that would supposedly let the caster expand their awareness using psychic magic by filling the area around them with magical energy. While flipping though pages using telekinesis, Taka had discovered out that the General Magia: Psychic, Volume One had unfortunately been damaged, and there were no other basic spells that he could make out in the book, so "third eye" it was. Taka slowed his breathing and then willed his psychic energy around him in a bubble.

Taka became aware of everything within a 5ft spherical range of himself. The way the flowers drooped ever so slightly towards the right, the inside of his flower pot... but it didn't permeate the ground. Interesting, he thought to himself as he dissolved the magical bubble.

Taka switched his focus to the flowers, sensing the energy inside of them. Arise, he willed to the closest stem, a magic circle forming underneath the flower. He felt the rhythm of the earth as he poured energy into the threads that flowed through the flower, and the flower's small roots shot out of the soil like legs and the flower sprinted toward Taka. A notification popped up sounding like the medieval fanfare of horns blasted in his head, startling Taka.

Update: Lily Minion has been added to the Royal Court of Dirt.

Update: Conditions have been met for ability: EMINENCE IN SOIL.

EMINENCE OF SOIL: Ability of chosen High Worms. The Worm Mother smiles down upon you. You have been blessed with the power to command the legions of nature.

That was unexpected. Taka was trying to create a golem from the stem of the flower as he had read in the General Magia: Earth, Volume One grimoire, but the whole plant lifted itself out of the ground and ran over to him, and golems weren't supposed to move on their own. Plus, the system or whatever had described it as a "Lily Minion," instead of a golem... why? Taka thought to himself, pondering his mistake. Summoning magic was an entirely different kind of Magia that he hadn't ever tried to understand yet, but he figured it was related to spirit magic...

Taka opened his status window.

NAME: Filo, Prince of Dirt RACE: High Worm** CLASS: Magic Scholar MAGIC: Earth*, Psychic*, ë̶͙͈́̋̽̃̽̆v̵̨̡̯̭̭̮̼́ͅi̸̟͓͈̲͋̒͆̐̎̅̇͆l̶̩͉͙͉͕̓̉̓̈́͌, Raw SKILLS: Telepathy, Burrow, Charm, Fear, Mana Transfusion

It was the first time in ages he had activated it, but the only piece of information that was indicated as new was the psychic magic he had awakened almost a week ago and the additional symbol next to his race. Taka sensed a presence next to him and felt tapping on his flower pot. He turned around to see an older lizard man smiling at him: it was Deon, the lizard man who trained Syla alongside Rhoz. Taka activated his TELEPATHY skill and established a link.

Stolen novel; please report.

"Hello, Filo," the older man said.

Deon was the only one who didn't refer to Taka using the title of "Sir" -- Taka liked that about him.

Hello, Deon. I hope you're well. Taka sent back. What brings you out here?

The two had seen each other in passing a few times at this point, but never had struck up conversation.

"I come out to the gardens every morning, it clears my head."

Ah.

"But I have to ask," the lizard man said, bending down next to the worm, "how did you do that?"

Taka followed the man's gaze to the Lily Minion, which was standing at the base of the flower pot, eagerly bending its root knees in anticipation of... of what? Taka thought to himself.

I... I cannot answer that question, Taka sent, trying to hide his embarrassment.

Deon scoffed and poked at the Minion. It fell, then got back up and shook the flower at the lizard man angrily.

"Sir Filo," Deon said in a serious tone, picking up the Lily Minion and dropping it in the flower pot next to Taka. "We should go somewhere for a little chat."

----------------------------------------

Taka looked down upon the castle town of Kronkswell from the window of Deon's tower study as the Lily Minion swayed next to him. It was a pretty town, especially considering it was built on top of a swamp. Lizardfolk were incredibly particular about appearances, and living somewhere that was up to their aesthetic standards was something many of them took pride in. Taka hadn't gone into town much due to how much attention he drew, especially when he was with Syla, but he planned on getting to know the place better. After all, it was his home now. His home. The idea of this town, somewhere in this world, being his home still felt unsettling, but he genuinely liked Kronkswell.

"His Majesty already informed me of your... situation," Deon said. "No need to tell a lie about being a night crawler."

Taka wasn't sure whether to tense up or relax. Vanz'goran had seemed serious about keeping the fact that Taka was a High Worm a secret, so that means the former Demon Lord trusted the lizard man, but that didn't mean Taka could trust him.

"Syla has told me all about you, too. The kid really likes you."

Taka stayed silent, not sure what to say.

"You have raw magic, yes?"

Taka froze. How does Deon know? The lizard man also referred to the Demon Lord with only his name, which no one had done since Taka arrived. There was a lot more than met the eye with Deon, and he knew that Taka had been keeping secrets. Dangerous secrets.

"I'm won't ask you why you didn't tell Vanz'goran," Deon continued, "but if you're planning on keeping it a secret, you can't be using it out in the open."

I -- I don't know what you're talking about, Taka sent.

Deon pointed to the Lily Minion, "this. It's not a summon, and it's not a golem. That means you used raw magic to make it."

Taka's heart raced in his chest. It didn't make sense, all he had done was follow the process to make an earth golem -- goddammit, he thought to himself I didn't filter it.

For most people, using different kinds of magic, as long as you possessed the affinity for it, was straightforward. You channel your mana for a specific kind of magic, you cast spells. Simple. For Taka, using magic to cast specific spells required the step of actively processing it, which he thought of as "filtering" it, to use. Possessing raw magic meant one could use magic without going through the processing phase, which was supposedly an extremely rare and powerful ability. But for whatever reason, possessing raw magic made the process of filtering magic into a specific type a more arduous task that didn't feel natural. When he poured magic directly into the lilies in the garden, instead of manipulating earth magic and infusing his own through the roots like he had done before, he poured unprocessed mana into the flower. That's where he went wrong.

"Raw magic is dangerous," Deon continued. "Simply possessing it makes you a target for kidnapping and assassination."

Taka shuddered. This was exactly why he had chosen to keep it a secret from everyone he had met so far.

What are you going to do to me? Taka sent.

The lizard man sighed and turned toward his desk. Deon stuck out his hand and Taka saw a thin line pure energy radiate from it to a quill.

"I'm going to show you how to not get yourself killed," Deon said as the quill sprang to life.