The next morning, Jeb was relieved to see that the bucket he had brought was still brimming with Water Mana. It did make him consider his next steps, though.
The Magical Skills that he had were absolutely synergizing with the Farming Skills he had, especially now that he was using them in conjunction. Jeb was certain that every living thing had its own Mana signature, and if he wanted to have the Water Mana change the plant, it would be a far more effective use of his Mana to overload the Managrass’ own innate Mana all at once, rather than trying to do it slowly over a number of generations.
That certainly changed how he viewed the situation. If he didn’t have enough Mana in the bucket now to completely reaspect the plants, then in many regards he would just waste the Mana. But, he also wasn’t sure how much Water Mana the bucket was losing. As he thought about it, there were a number of ways that it could be losing Mana.
It could be deaspecting back to plain Mana. The Water Mana could be dissipating into the environment. Jeb supposed that it was theoretically possible for the Water Mana to be making new water, though it seemed unlikely. It could just disappear like his Mana seemed to whenever he used it for a Spell.
He considered those possibilities and made the decision to try growing the crops after breakfast. That would give him time to top the bucket of water back up, in case it had lost some of its concentration over the night. After breakfast, Jeb emptied his Mana pool into the bucket of water and started planting the seeds he had harvested the night before.
They had lost all obvious signs of Water Mana, which lent more credence to his belief that he needed to overload them with Mana proactively. Still, they couldn’t have less affinity for Water Mana than the previous generation, and they might have some slight Attunement already. Once they were carefully planted, Jeb saw them start to draw in the Mana from their surroundings.
Just as he was about to empty the small amount of Mana that had refilled his core into the bucket and dump it on the crops, he considered what he was doing. It was almost certain that he would be putting in well over his full Mana capacity at once. That would probably make the crops grow incredibly quickly.
A quick trip to the well later, Jeb had six more buckets in case the soil suddenly became too dry. Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, he started pouring the bucket of water onto the crops.
Nothing happened.
Jeb realized that he had poured one of the fresh buckets, rather than the one that was screaming in his Magical vision. He started pouring that one, hoping that the momentary waterlogging wouldn’t harm the growing Managrass too badly.
To his relief, the plants didn’t seem harmed. When he watched them shoot out of the ground as though racing into the sun, if anything he thought he might have not put enough water in. The soil was looking dry by the time that he started pouring water on the plot again. It was a good thing he’d gotten all six extra buckets.
Jeb ended up needing to empty all of them onto the plants. He was a little surprised that they needed so much more water, but had two potential ideas. The first and more hopeful idea was that the plants were Attuning themselves to Water and so needed the extra water to complete the attunement somehow. The second and more practical answer was that they didn’t have time to spread their roots deeper or absorb any water from the air.
In either case, his Water Bees (as Jeb had begun to think of that portion of the hive) began swarming over the flowers. He could understand why. The flowers practically screamed the feeling of water. It was almost disorienting.
His physical senses all told him that he was looking at a plot of White Managrass. His Magical senses, on the other hand, made him feel like he was surrounded by the ocean. At least, what Jeb imagined being surrounded by the ocean felt like. He’d never seen water that didn’t have land visible all around it.
When he harvested the Managrass, though, he was sad to see that the Quest for Breeding a New Trait into a Magical Plant wasn’t completed. Despite the fact that the fibers all seemed completely coated in Water Mana, the Mana must not have penetrated all the way through the plant.
When he looked at the Quests for Pollination though, Jeb remembered that there was a fourth Quest option.
Pollinate Minor Quest First Tier Breed a Plant to have a new Trait What’s the point of having plants if they don’t look how you want? Minor Quest Second Tier Breed a new Variety of Plant Make your mark. Create something distinct from its parents. Minor Quest Third Tier (Unlocked due to Synergy with Mana Manipulation) Breed a Magical Plant to have a new Trait What’s the point of having Magical Plants if you can’t bend them to your will? Minor Quest Fourth Tier (Unlocked due to Synergy with Spell Glyphing) Create a New Magical Plant If you can make new Spells, why not new Plants? (Update Available)
Jeb completed the Quest, more than a little surprised. Water Mana changing some trait in the plant was what he had expected. He wasn’t expecting the System to call it an entirely new plant.
Congratulations! You have completed the Minor Quest Pollinate Fourth Tier “Create a New Magical Plant” Like the Glyphmaster you are, you have created a new species of Magic Plant. You have created the Magical Plant ‘White Watergrass’ Rewards: 78 EXP, 4 Intelligence, 4 Willpower, 20 Mana
That was a huge reward, and Jeb was a shocked for two reasons. First, it was a little annoying that it was easier for him to complete the Fourth Tier Quest of making an entirely new plant than the Third Tier Quest of adding a new trait. That was overshadowed by the other surprise, though, which was that he had somehow created a new plant.
He quickly ran to find his grandfather, wondering if he might already be familiar with the plant. Thankfully, he was talking to his Uncle Frank, so he explained the situation to both of them at once.
“That’s something you don’t hear every day,” his grandfather said when he’d finished. “Congratulations, Jeb.”
“I’ll see how it takes to being made into Manaweave,” his uncle said, “though maybe it’d be more appropriate to call it Waterweave.” Jeb was shocked at how unconcerned they seemed about the whole situation. Something must have shown on his face, because the two explained.
“Honestly, the rumors that Manaweave takes to Mana so well has had a lot of Farmers wondering whether you could Aspect it as Managrass. None of us ever had the Skills to do that, though, and no Mages ever offered. It’s still nice to know that we sometimes have good ideas.” His uncle collected the fibers and his grandfather took the seeds.
“Do you have anything in particular you want these for?” he asked.
“If you have a use for them, you’re more than welcome to them,” Jeb replied.
“If your uncle doesn’t have too much trouble with weaving it, I’ll probably bring them to the next big market day. Waterweave will probably be a blessing for some of the farms that grow Managrass often. Something new is usually worth a little more.” Jeb had nothing to say to that, so he just went back to the raised bed to refresh it for whoever would use it next. It was unsurprising that the soil was completely depleted.
The crops had grown in a matter of minutes rather than days. More and more, Jeb was realizing that nothing came free. Growing the crops more quickly meant more soil depletion.
For as long as Jeb was only working in a single raised bed on a project that mostly would benefit himself, there wasn’t much of an issue with that. When it came to matters of scale, though, he was certain that there were a number of calculations that needed to be made to balance not only the present success of the Farm, but also its future potential. After all, even if you could reduce the growth time to hours instead of weeks, if you then had to spend all of your profit replenishing the soil, it would do you no good.
Jeb considered how he could mitigate his damage to the soil. As he did, he realized that he hadn’t Inscribed any sheets of Manaweave that day. He rushed back to his room and quickly Scribed three sheets with Least Move Earth (Efficient). It remained his highest Tier Spell, and that was important for making the most out of his technically limited number of sheets of Manaweave.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Congratulations! You have completed the Minor Quest Glyphmastery Third Tier Scribe Chain “Scribe a Third Tier Glyph”. You have engraved Least Move Earth (Efficient) onto Manaweave. Rewards: 59 Experience, Mana +20
As he did so, he looked at the pile of books in the corner of his room. He hadn’t opened any of them since at least before learning Woodworking. It was tempting to try learning a Fourth Tier Spell, especially since he had a Quest to Scribe one, but Jeb hesitated. The last thing that he wanted to do was accidentally lose a few days right now.
In the end, he decided to leave the books where they were. The risks outweighed the rewards, at least for the present moment.
Jeb then looked over at the lute case he had. Even though he wasn’t sure if he wanted to bind it, he did miss the feeling of playing his lute. He decided to take out the Songbook, since he didn’t have much else to occupy his day with.
There was no point in growing more Watergrass until he found out if it turned into Waterweave well, and the same was true for the other Elements. It might be worth a Fourth Tier Quest, but Jeb did also need to start increasing his Charisma. He looked at the next song in the book.
It was a familiar one, an Anthem to the Glory of the Adventurer. No one that Jeb knew actually liked the song, though no one ever got too mad when it was played. His grandfather came up as he started playing the song and sat down beside him.
“Jeb, I think it’s time that we have a conversation about life,” he said, and started telling stories from his past.
Jeb wasn’t surprised to learn that there were many Humdrumville residents who had gone off to become adventurers. Some had succeeded, coming back to the town with stories and gold. Others came back broken, able to survive only on the kindness of the town. There were others who only came back as a corpse, though they were rare. Far more often it was simply a name from a Messenger, and if their family was lucky, a cause of death.
At least those families had closure. For many, their sons and daughters left with dreams in their eyes and something vaguely sharp in their hands, never to return again.
“Truthfully, that’s part of why I’ve always been so grateful that no one in our family was ever given anything but a Farming Class,” his grandfather told Jeb after telling him about his childhood friend. “Sure, we never have Bards singing our praises, but I never had to lay awake at night wondering if any of my family would ever come home again, or if the last words I said to them would be the last I could say.” The stories were clearly meant to remind Jeb that adventuring was not all glory and joys.
“Why did you feel the need to tell me this?” Jeb asked. “Sorry, that came out wrong, but-”
His grandfather held up a hand, “I know what you meant. For better or worse, you’ll probably need to end up going to the Capital, if only to learn how to live your life safely. I just want you to remember that life is never as pretty as songs make it sound. When you’re given the choice between glory and safety, please choose safety.”
With that, his grandfather left.
Jeb finished learning the song easily. It was not a difficult song. The Quest rewards for learning a puff piece about adventuring made his fingers feel like lead.
Congratulations! You have completed the Minor Quest Lute Playing First Tier “Learn a Piece for Lute” Go forth and serenade. Rewards: 1 Charisma, 20 EXP
Congratulations! You have completed the Minor Quest Singing First Tier “Learn a song” Go forth and serenade. Rewards: 1 Charisma, 20 EXP
Jeb’s Status Sheet at End of Chapter:
Jeb Human Age: 16 Class: Least Mud Initiate Level: 1 Experience: 5028/100
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Total Statistic Load: 313 Physical Load: 124 Strength: 28 Dexterity: 21 Endurance: 30 Vitality: 41 Presence: 4
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Mental Load: 189 Intelligence: 45 Willpower: 38 Magic Affinity: 51 Mana Depth: 25 Charisma: 30
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Mana: 745
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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
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Bard Songs Known: 1 Lute Enforcement
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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
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Achievements: Focused Meditator Student of Magic
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Quests: Major: Slay the Dragon of the West (Progressive)