With everything gathered, Jeb made his way back to the plot of land he had planned to work. Tearing up the cover plants was much easier than he had expected, which made him pause for a moment. When he realized that the last time he had taken a field back from fallow he was still Classless, Jeb went back to work with a renewed vigor.
As the day turned to dusk, Jeb took a break from his plowing to look at the sky. A few stars had begun to shine out, and all of them looked familiar. Jeb set his tools down and stared at the steadily darkening sky, searching for his sister’s star.
To his shock, as the sky continued growing darker, the star appeared. Smiling, Jeb picked up the rest of his tools and went back to his room to sleep. As dawn broke the next day, he returned to the field and finished clearing it.
Jeb had the seeds of White Managrass in his hand, ready to cast, when he realized that he hadn’t made any Firewater yet. “Is there any chance I could get a well or some sort of non-Magical water?” he asked the Academy. Some instinct of his told him that using Conjured Water alone would not be the healthiest for his crops. He was saved from introspecting on why he believed that by a well appearing beside the field.
Jeb carefully lowered the bucket of water into the well, filling it with water and pulling it up. Soil Savvy and Soil Improvement seemed to be telling him that the water had some nutrients in it, and he just hoped that they were what the fields needed. Once he sealed the lid onto the pail, he felt the Enchantment start to activate.
Jeb sent a small trickle of Mana into the Enchantment, trying to speed the process of Attuning the water to Fire Mana. It seemed like it was helping, and more, it seemed like the Enchantment was designed to have significantly higher flow rates of Mana, so Jeb increased the flow rate. Unlike when he had made Firewater before, this process took less than a hundred Mana. When the water had been filled with Fire Mana, Jeb found that he was unable to push any more Mana into the Enchantment.
He took a moment to look through the Schematic to figure out where the stop came from. It was clear that there was nothing explicitly in the Schematic that would cause it, for all that Jeb knew it was a real effect. I suppose that Professor Bearson did mention that a well crafted Enchantment causes downstream effects, Jeb thought, putting the Schematic back in his pack. If he really needed to learn, he could probably ask Professor Bearson at some point.
Jeb opened the pail and was suddenly in the midst of an inferno. The air itself seemed to become Fire, if only for a second. Thankfully, the feeling quickly faded, and he took a moment to look at the liquid inside the pail. It still resembled water to his sight, and it felt slightly cool to the touch.
When he looked at it with his Magical vision, though, Jeb saw a roaring inferno. It felt much more concentrated than the Firewater he had made before, which he supposed made some amount of sense. He nodded to himself, picked up the packet of seeds, and carefully planted them in the soil. As soon as they were in the field, he carefully watered them with the Firewater.
By the time that he had made it to the end of the row, the first plants were already flowering. Jeb watched the plants quickly finish their growth. The soil seemed somehow diminished, though Jeb’s Skills weren’t able to tell him exactly how. He interrogated the feeling as he harvested the Managrass, trying to place the familiar feeling.
It took until he had finished separating the seeds from their fibers for Jeb to realize what he was feeling. The soil felt the same way that some of the treated materials he had used in Enchanting laboratory did. The Magic in the soil was reduced somehow, and Jeb was not entirely sure how to fix it.
The seeds all had a vague hint of Fire about them, though not all were equally condensed. It felt like there were two axes of the Fire feeling, where some emitted more Fire and others felt more strongly of Fire. Jeb wasn’t sure which of those axes was more important for his project.
He debated between doing an actual controlled test to figure out the answer and just going based off of his gut feelings. Ultimately, since he was planning to make as many forms of Elemental Managrass as he could, Jeb decided to go with the more controlled version. The size of field that he had plowed seemed just about the right size for the amount of water that the pail held.
Jeb mentally divided the field into thirds. After a moment’s consideration, he put the field in fourths and marked it slightly. With his plan in mind, Jeb went through the seeds and placed them into five piles.
The seeds that most strongly felt of Fire went into one pile. The seeds giving off the most Fire went into another. The seeds that seemed balanced between feeling and emitting Fire went into a third. The seeds that felt the least different from their parents went into a fourth pile as a control, and the rest of the seeds went into a bag to be tossed away.
I should plan a little more, Jeb thought to himself. He was in no real rush, and there had to be some way for him to keep the soil from getting dangerously depleted. Ideally, Jeb would be able to find a Magic fixing plant that he could use between crops of Managrass. Even more ideally, he would be able to find something that he could just sow into the field with his next set of seeds.
Jeb carefully packaged and labeled each of the five sets of seeds, picked up his tools, and began to walk. As he did, he wished for a place where he could store the different supplies he was beginning to amass. Carrying everything back and forth to his room was getting tedious already, and it was only his second day at work.
He nearly ran into the shed that suddenly appeared beside the field. It felt somehow brand new and unspeakably old, in a way that Jeb could not place. The smooth wooden door opened without any resistance or sound, and Jeb placed objects in the room, seeing through the sunlight that diffused through the loosely woven ceiling. With a nod, he closed the door and moved towards the cafeteria. Doing all of the work of growing and harvesting Managrass alone was more tiring than Jeb remembered. He needed to refuel himself.
The cafeteria was, unsurprisingly, nearly empty when he arrived. With a glance at the clock on the wall, Jeb saw that it was almost eighth bell. If it had been the middle of the term, there would have been a number of students in the space, eating and chatting as they all prepared for their morning classes. As it was, Jeb was left with nothing but the gentle bubble of a few boiling containers of food and the small rush of air that accompanied doors moving far away. He ate a quick breakfast and moved into the Library.
“Good morning, Kaitlyn,” Jeb said, poking his head into her office.
“Good morning to you as well, Jeb. How can I help you?”
“I was looking for Margaret,” he said, then paused. “Though I suppose that I have another question as well. Am I supposed to come to you or Margaret with the research questions I have now?”
She shrugged, then spoke in a rapid clip. “In general, I would say that questions directly pertaining to course materials are best directed towards me, and questions directly pertaining to communicating with your former Librarian are best left to Librarian Margaret. Since I presume a majority of your questions are neither, you can use your best judgement for each. I am happy to direct you to her if I believe that she is better equipped to answer your questions, and I presume she feels the same way. What was your research question this morning?”
Jeb reeled from the quick reply. “Oh, um.”
He paused, collecting his thoughts, then spoke again. “I’m not sure how much background you want, but I’m trying to find a way to keep the Magic in soil from being depleted as I grow Managrass.”
“Given what is in your public record, I can guess at the rest of the background,” Kaitlyn replied dryly. She swiped a lock of hair out of her eyes and held out a hand. A book came rushing out of the Stacks and landed, opening to a page that she immediately began reading.
“As with any other problem, there are as many solutions as there are people interested in solving it. Given your courses last term, I presume that this solution will be among the most useful for you.” She handed the book over to Jeb as she continued giving background. “A few years before the Druidic College was,” she rolled her eyes, “disbanded, there was a collaboration between a Professor in that department and a Professor of Enchanting. The goal was producing a simple Enchantment that could be mass produced to help new Groves be established. That goal, of course, was never realized. Still it is a simple enough Schematic.”
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
Jeb quickly skimmed through the Schematic. It was made of a number of physically unconnected pieces which set a perimeter around wherever needed to have increased soil Magic concentration. Through a mechanism that Jeb could not even slightly parse, the Enchantment both drew in ambient Mana and reflected internal Mana to somehow increase the Magic within the soil. “This looks great!” Jeb replied.
“I am glad I could help,” she replied. “While you are here, though, do you still need the textbooks for your last term’s courses?”
Jeb thought about the question for a moment. She coughed meaningfully. “If you will need them in the future but do not need them now, please return them.”
“Oh!” Jeb replied, “right, I forgot about that.”
“I presumed as much,” she replied calmly.
Jeb ran to the Stacks, picked up the books from the term, and returned them to Kaitlyn. Once he had, he moved towards the wood shop to start crafting the Enchantment to keep the soil refreshed. It was one of the few Enchantments that Jeb had seen which actually specified a material to be inscribed upon. Thankfully, it was no more specific than simply “wood,” which was in plentiful supply in the Academy. Given that he was marking out a rectangular field, Jeb was relieved to find out that he only had to make four of the small posts.
By the time that he had finished Enchanting and placing the stakes, the sky was growing dark. Jeb took the cue from the setting sun and, after a quick stop for dinner, went to sleep himself. The next morning, the soil was clearly more Magically dense than it had been even before he had planted the first batch of Managrass. Jeb nodded and planted the four sets of seeds after pulling another pail of water.
Jeb’s Status Sheet at End of Chapter:
Jeb Humdrum Human Age: 16 Class: Wizard Level: 3 Experience: 1015/204
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Total Statistic Load: 633 Physical Load: 228 Strength: 52 Dexterity: 53 Endurance: 54 Vitality: 55 Presence: 14
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Mental Load: 405 Intelligence: 83 Willpower: 85 Magic Affinity: 89 Mana Depth: 74 Charisma: 74
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Mana: 1755
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Glyph Attunement: 31 Least Shape Earth (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Hold Earth (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Create Earth (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Destroy Earth (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Shape Earth - Efficient (Modified) Tier 3 Spell Lesser Shape Earth (Modified) Tier 3 Spell Least Shape Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Shape Water - Efficient (Modified) Tier 3 Spell Lesser Shape Water (Modified) Tier 3 Spell Least Hold Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Create Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Conjure Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Conjure Water - Efficient (Modified) Tier 3 Spell Least Destroy Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Move Air (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Hold Air (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Create Air (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Destroy Air (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Move Fire (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Hold Fire (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Create Fire (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Destroy Fire (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Create Mud (Modified) Tier 2 Spell Attune Earth Mana (Modified) Tier 0 Spell Attune Water Mana (Modified) Tier 0 Spell Attune Water Mana - Efficient (Modified) Tier 2 Spell Attune Air Mana (Modified) Tier 0 Spell Attune Fire Mana (Modified) Tier 0 Spell Attune Sand Mana (Modified) Tier 0 Spell Least Create Sand (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Attune Sand Mana - Efficient (Modified) Tier 2 Spell
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Bard Songs Known: 1 Lute Enforcement
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Skills: Meditation Spell Glyphing Gift of Gab Identify Soil Savvy Animal Handling Fertilizing Lute Playing Singing Musician Pollination Brewing Distilling Smithing Wood Identification Woodworking Soil Improvement Glassblowing Magic
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Achievements: Focused Meditator Student of Magic Glyph Specializer
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Quests: Major: Slay the Dragon of the West (Progressive)