When Jeb made his way back home, he decided to start testing Managrass grown with Elementally Attuned Mana. He deliberated on which option would be the best. Each kind of Mana that he could make seemed like it would come with its own benefits and drawbacks.
In the end, Jeb decided to go with Water Mana. After all, it was what he had engraved into his staff, so it was on theme. He was beginning to get the impression that defining himself with a theme was key to a lot of Higher Tier Classes. Even though he was not the least bit certain that he wanted to commit now to a single Element, getting in the practice of submersing himself in one seemed like it could be a useful skill to develop.
Back in the field, Jeb decided to try an experiment. Rather than seed the field and then pour Mana onto it, Jeb called Attune Water Mana to mind. He tried forcing the Water Mana into the soil as he finished the other tasks to prepare it for the Managrass. It was difficult for him to get the soil to accept the Water Mana, which was obvious when he thought about it. Of course Water Mana would be difficult to bind to soil, which was primarily Earth.
Jeb took a moment to consider what else went into soil that wasn’t Earth. After all, he had made Earth with Least Create Earth at least a few times. When he did so after learning Soil Savvy, he could tell that it was missing almost everything that a plant would need to grow healthy.
He shook the thought away. Although it was interesting, he was in the middle of a task.
He scattered the White Mana Hungry Managrass seeds, carefully burying them in the moist soil. Almost immediately, the Mana levels in the surroundings started to decrease. Jeb was almost concerned about that fact.
“I doubt that they’ll get much stronger,” he reasoned aloud, feeding the small amounts of Mana that had regenerated during his planting through the Glyph for Attune Water Mana. It flowed onto the crops and they started pulling it in. The drain on the surrounding field stopped, and it almost seemed like the some of the Mana that had been in the field before was being pushed back out by the plants. Jeb chose to believe that they were letting go of the ambient Mana.
As he watched the field sprout, though, he noticed that the Managrass didn’t all appear to have gotten an equal measure of his Water Mana. He had to assume that each seedling was equally capable of absorbing it, but there seemed to be a wide disparity in how much Water Mana he could sense within each plant. As he looked more carefully, it seemed as though the earlier that Jeb planted a seedling, the more Water Mana it had inside of it.
As soon as he made the connection, it was obvious. Of course the Mana would get taken up by the first available plant. Still, it did mean that Jeb had to consider putting his Mana into the plot more carefully.
He started watering the plants as he considered what he could do. As the water poured onto the crops, Jeb considered how similar the sight was to his Water Mana pouring down onto the crops. He then realized how ridiculous he was being.
Water Mana wanted to bond to water. Or, at least, when Water Mana was made to interface with a physical thing, it preferred to interface with water. Managrass, especially the way that Jeb grew it, needed a lot of water.
He found himself at a crossroads. On the one hand, he had crops in the ground that he had started to give Water Attuned Mana to. On the other, he had an idea for how to get Attuned Mana into them far more effectively.
Jeb might have stood there in indecision for far longer, but his grandfather stopped by to see why he was “standing like a scarecrow in the field.” After hearing the story, his grandfather just looked at him.
“What?” Jeb asked.
“Why don’t you just put your Water Mana into the bucket of water when you water the plants again? They’ll need it, and that way you can test it, at least a little.”
Jeb wanted to argue that it wasn’t quite what he meant by infusing the bucket of water with his Water Attuned Mana, but he supposed it didn’t really matter that much. As he kept an eye on his growing Managrass, he kept a steady trickle of Mana feeding into Attune Water Mana and directed it into the bucket.
He was realizing that his Mana regeneration rate was clearly not constant. While working with his crops, he was able to keep almost a point of Mana a second flowing through the Glyph without draining his Mana down.
By the time that the Managrass needed water again, Jeb had poured at least a few hundred points of Mana into the bucket. He carefully distributed the water, making sure to spread it evenly on all of the shoots. When he had finished watering them, he carefully surveyed the bed.
The Water Mana levels were evening out between the different plants. When that happened, he wasn’t quite sure, but it was another piece of the puzzle that he would need to pay attention to next time. As Jeb watched the plants start to bud and bloom, he realized that he didn’t need to hand pollinate this crop. After all, he wasn’t explicitly trying to breed in a trait, and even if he was, all of the plants had similar levels of Water Mana.
Looking around, he saw a few of the bees from his hive. How he knew that they were his bees was a question best answered another time, but he called them over. “Are you all willing to pollinate this Managrass?” he asked. Seeing the bees agreement, he realized that there might be an issue, “Oh, they are called Mana Hungry by the System, so if you feel your Mana being pulled away from you as you pollinate them, please let me know.”
The bees buzzed their agreement, and Jeb saw his hive mobilize towards the bed. Unsurprisingly, the cohort of bees that had been asking for Water Attuned Mana were the most enthusiastic pollinators, seeming to sprint between the different plants.
A few of the other bees began buzzing a question. The longer that they buzzed, the more Jeb was able to get a sense of what they were saying. Apparently the dancers were a contingent from the parts of the hive that had Attuned themselves to other Elements. They were asking why Jeb favored Water Mana so much.
Jeb started to go backwards through his logic. “Retroactively, there are a few benefits to using Water Mana,” he said. “But those aren’t really relevant right now. I decided to try growing the Managrass with Water Mana because I wanted to see what Elementally Attuned Mana would do to it. The reason I chose Water Mana over the other Elements is because I made a staff with Attune Water Mana on it.”
Jeb paused. He tried to remember why he had chosen Attune Water Mana to Scribe onto the staff. “And I made the staff with Attune Water Mana because Water Mana had been on my mind. It’s the only Element I have that uses Conjure instead of Create as a First Tier Glyph. Depending on how these tests go, I am also really curious what the other Elemental Manas would do to the Managrass, though.” That seemed to mollify the other bees, and they resumed their role of pollinating plants around the farm.
As Jeb watched the bees go, he kept a steady stream of Water Mana pouring into the bucket. He was curious if there was a limit to how much Water Mana a bucket of water could hold. If there was a limit, someone else had certainly measured it before. But, he wanted to find out if he truly loved research, or if it was just something that he enjoyed as a hobby.
If it turned out that a bucket of water did have a Mana limit, the next question was going to be how much Mana it could hold. Jeb was also curious how long the bucket would hold Mana, but that seemed like a question for another day. When the plants finished growing, Jeb thanked the bees and started harvesting.
The seeds absolutely had some hints of Water Mana within them, but it wasn’t enough for the System to recognize it as a new trait. Being totally honest, Jeb wasn’t certain if the plants had actually integrated any of the Water Mana, or if it was only obvious that they had Water Mana because of how little Aspected Mana there was on the farm.
As Jeb worked on harvesting and regenerating the soil, he tried to maintain Attune Water Mana in the bucket. He realized that he had never tested the range on his Glyphs, which more and more seemed like an oversight. From his initial experimentation, it felt like it was a skill that he could improve.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
It was a struggle for him to keep the Spell going while on the opposite side of the bed from the bucket, and the difficulty increased the longer that he stayed there. It felt like the spiritual equivalent of doing any sort of strength training. Something that was difficult once only became more difficult the longer it was held.
When Jeb finished with the field, it was nearly time for dinner. After dropping the new set of Managrass off with his uncle, Jeb walked back home, still carrying the bucket.
“So, Jeb,” his sister began, “any reason that you have a bucket at dinner tonight? Did you forget that you were holding it or something?”
A few of his family members chuckled, though they did all lean in closer to hear what Jeb had to say. “No,” he replied, thinking of how best to answer the question. Jeb had learned his lesson after speaking to his aunt and the Librarian.
He needed to give an answer that was plausible and fit within the realm of answers that they were expecting. If he could preempt whatever question his answer would inevitably lead to, that would make the conversation flow better. As he deliberated on the best way to answer, his sister prompted him again, “so then why do you have the bucket?”
Jeb realized that a bad answer was still better than no answer. “I’m testing what the effects of Elementally Attuned Mana are on Managrass. Right now I’m testing Water Mana, which naturally takes to water well. Also, if I infuse the soil as I plant the Managrass, the seeds I put in first end up with far more Mana than the ones I put in later. By infusing my Mana into the water, each plant gets an equal amount of Water Mana.”
That seemed to mollify most of his family, though his Aunt Esther looked like she had a follow up question. Jeb tensed, hoping that he hadn’t done something wrong again.
“Entirely out of curiosity, how did you pollinate the flowers for the Managrass today?” she asked.
“I asked my bees to,” Jeb responded hesitantly. He couldn’t think of any reasons why that would be a problem, except, “I warned them that the Managrass was Mana Hungry, so they knew to stop pollinating if it started trying to consume their Mana,” he said.
“Did they seem to have any adverse reactions to it?”
“No,” he replied.
“What did you do with the harvest?” his grandfather asked.
“I gave it to Uncle Frank again,” Jeb said. Seeing that the conversation was winding down, the rest of his family returned to their own, smaller groups for conversation. Jeb continued pouring his Mana into the water until he fell asleep.
Jeb’s Status Sheet at End of Chapter:
Jeb Human Age: 16 Class: Least Mud Initiate Level: 1 Experience: 4733/100
----------------------------------------
Total Statistic Load: 303 Physical Load: 124 Strength: 28 Dexterity: 21 Endurance: 30 Vitality: 41 Presence: 4
----------------------------------------
Mental Load: 179 Intelligence: 41 Willpower: 34 Magic Affinity: 51 Mana Depth: 25 Charisma: 28
----------------------------------------
Mana: 665
----------------------------------------
Glyph Attunement: 22 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 Least Shape Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Hold Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Conjure Water (Modified) Tier 1 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 Air Mana (Modified) Tier 0 Spell Attune Fire Mana (Modified) Tier 0 Spell
----------------------------------------
Bard Songs Known: 1 Lute Enforcement
----------------------------------------
Skills: Least Mud Magic Meditation Mana Manipulation Spell Glyphing Improved Glyph Groking Gift of Gab Running Identify Soil Savvy Animal Handling Fertilizing Lifting Athletics Lute Playing Singing Musician Pollination Brewing Distilling Bardic Magic Smithing Wood Identification Woodworking
----------------------------------------
Achievements: Focused Meditator Student of Magic
----------------------------------------
Quests: Major: Slay the Dragon of the West (Progressive)