As he waited for his Mana to refill, Jeb spent some time trying to learn how to play the flute. Unlike Singing or Lute Playing, he had no explicit directions or Method Book that he was going to work on. A voice in Jeb told him that it would be good to encourage the System given how much he was currently rebelling against it.
As he took his fingers off of the holes on the flute, raising the pitch with each motion, he realized that it wasn’t quite that simple. Especially when he was only using his top fingers, he needed to replace some of the lower ones to make the pitch fall more in line. It was so fun learning an instrument from scratch that Jeb nearly missed it when his Mana refilled.
Once it did, though, he started trying to catch handfuls of dirt again. By the end of the day, he could reliably hold dirt without it moving too much. It still fluctuated a little as he loosened and tightened his grip on his Mana unconsciously, but it was a massive improvement over what it had been even at the beginning of the day.
As he started to drift off to sleep, he considered what he could do to make his progress more efficient. Having more Mana would be nice, and he considered just filling sheets of Manaweave with Glyphs each morning. That idea had merit, though Jeb wasn’t sure how sustainable it was.
After all, even if he made the time to keep growing a field of Managrass each day, he wasn’t sure if his uncle would have time to weave it, or if the family had enough extra fertilizers to replenish the soil for him. It was worth considering, he decided as he drifted off to sleep
In the morning, he asked his grandfather about the questions and got the answer he had been privately expecting. While there was always plenty of material for experimentation, his uncle was too busy to weave a set of Manaweave every day, or even once a week.
“Though on that note,” his grandfather said, “I realized that we never followed through on testing whether or not you’re needed for us to grow Watergrass. Would you like to come test that today?”
Jeb considered the question. It might mean that he fell a day behind on learning control over his Mana. On the other hand, it would at a minimum probably result in a sheaf of Manaweave, and likely a sheaf of Waterweave. That made the decision easy enough, “I’m ready when you are!”
The two of them made their way out to one of the raised beds that his family kept for experiments. His grandfather seemingly thoughtlessly tossed a handful of White Watergrass seeds onto the field. As Jeb opened his mouth to comment, he noticed that each seed landed perfectly spaced from every other seed. Even more than that, each seed also sank to the exact perfect depth for them to grow.
Seeing Jeb’s mouth open in shock, his grandfather laughed. “There are some benefits to being a Farmer,” he said. “It may not be as flashy as a Wand of Fireballs, but being able to grow crops more efficiently has its own benefit.”
As Jeb watched, the Watergrass started growing nearly as quickly as when he had poured the bucket of Water Mana infused water onto it. As Soil Savvy activated, he noticed that the crops were also draining the soil far less than when he had grown them. Once more looking at Jeb’s shock, his grandfather just gently reminded him, “I’m a Farmer, you aren’t.”
For some reason, hearing that fact laid out so clearly made a weight leave Jeb’s shoulders. He hadn’t realized that he was feeling pressured, but the explicit comment about their different Classes made him realize that, on some level, he had still been seeing himself as a Farmer with a Mage’s Class. Jeb knew that this would not be a one off realization, but it was still an important one.
As the Watergrass grew, he could tell something was wrong with it, though he couldn’t figure out what. When it finished growing, it looked like when he had grown it. His grandfather harvested it, Jeb was about to suggest that they put the seeds in a different container than the seeds he had grown.
To his surprise, his grandfather did that without any prompting. “It’s always good to keep the first generation of a new plant separate from later generations, at least until you know that it breeds true,” his grandfather said. As a general rule, that made a lot of sense, and Jeb tried to remember that in case he ever explored this part of his Skills more deeply.
His grandfather walked him through cleaning and refixing the soil. Even though there were far fewer nutrients drained than when Jeb grew the Watergrass, that wasn’t the same as no nutrients being drained. As he worked in the fertilizer and compost, though, Jeb couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something else still drained in the soil.
Something must have shown on his face, because his grandfather commented on it, “what problem is going through your mind right now?”
Jeb considered what to say, “I have the feeling that something is missing from the soil that we aren’t replenishing right now, but I can’t figure out what it is,” he said honestly.
His grandfather stopped working the soil. As he stared at it, he frowned. “Hmm, I can’t see anything missing,” he said. As Jeb opened his mouth, his grandfather held up a hand, “I’m not disagreeing with your assessment, I’m just saying that I don’t see anything. I can see two reasons that are likely to be why this is true. First, you and I have a far different set of Skills, so there could be a Synergy with one of the other Skills you have that I don’t.”
That made some sense to Jeb. While he didn’t know for certain what Skills his grandfather had, his mind went back to the conversation they had at his mother’s birthday celebration. There was no chance that he had any Magical Skills.
Jeb considered how his Magical Skills could be interacting with Soil Savvy, but before he could get too lost in thought, his grandfather continued, “your Soil Savvy is also much younger than mine. It’s possible that you’re detecting something that’s draining from the soil that I have stopped noticing because it doesn’t affect the crops we grow here. Whether or not that is also true of Watergrass is its own question, but-” his grandfather just left the sentence hanging, clearly not sure how to finish it.
Jeb considered both options. The second one really didn’t resonate with him at all, and he told his grandfather that.
“Well, then, while we wait for your uncle to make the Waterweave, try seeing what Synergy is showing you the issue. Once you figure that out, it should be easier for us to find what’s missing in the soil.” He walked off, leaving Jeb to try to find the answer alone.
Jeb sat down and tried to Meditate. As his mind cleared, he looked at the soil more deeply. There was absolutely something missing from it.
Try as he might, though, he could not figure out what Skill that feeling was connected to. He found a resonance with Soil Improvement, which made sense. A connection to Fertilizing and Pollination also seemed obvious. But, he knew that his grandfather had those Skills.
That made Jeb stop. He didn’t actually know any of the Skills that his grandfather had. He briefly considered getting up to ask, but forced the idea down. Even if his grandfather didn’t have Soil Improvement anymore, whatever he had was close enough that it probably wasn’t the difference.
Jeb’s earlier idea that there was some connection to Magic came back to him. He thought he could see a resonance between his Soil Savvy and his Mana Manipulation, but it was faint. As he focused, the same resonance seemed to be affecting Bardic Magic, Enchanting, Improved Glyph Groking and Spell Glyphing.
That was either incredibly helpful or completely useless. If he was actually seeing the resonance, then Jeb had confirmation that the issue was with something Magical in the soil. If he was only seeing the Skills resonate because he hoped to, though, then he was going to be unable to figure out what was actually wrong.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
Framing it like that, Jeb decided to just operate on the assumption that he was right. Letting the System guide him, he moved without thinking.
A steady trickle of Mana flowed from him and into the soil. It wasn’t Attuned to anything or forced through any Glyph or Enchantment. As Jeb watched, though, the soil took in the Mana.
As the soil took in the Mana he fed it, the problem seemed to resolve itself. Jeb ran off to tell his grandfather.
“Interesting,” his grandfather said when Jeb relayed his solution. “I wonder if that’s because you bred the Watergrass from Mana Hungry Managrass or whether it’s always an issue. I also wonder how our soil has been replenishing itself before.”
Jeb had an idea for the second question, though no idea how to test the first. “After realizing that the issue was Mana, I started looking at the field with my Magical vision.” He realized he had never told his grandfather about that, so he quickly explained what his Magical vision was.
“Anyways,” Jeb said, returning to the conversation, “once I looked at what was happening Magically, it was clear that the soil had a lower Mana concentration than its surroundings. As a breeze pushed air across the soil, there was a slight transfer of Mana. If I had to guess, it would have reached equilibrium relatively quickly, at least in the timescale of growing things.”
After winding down the conversation, Jeb went back to the hive to practice his Mana control until his uncle finished making the Waterweave. Before his Mana had emptied, he saw the bees buzz an alert. Looking up, he saw his grandfather and uncle walking over.
Jeb’s Status Sheet at End of Chapter:
Jeb Human Age: 16 Class: Least Mud Initiate Level: 1 Experience: 5721/100
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Total Statistic Load: 336 Physical Load: 124 Strength: 28 Dexterity: 21 Endurance: 30 Vitality: 41 Presence: 4
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Mental Load: 212 Intelligence: 47 Willpower: 48 Magic Affinity: 54 Mana Depth: 33 Charisma: 30
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Mana: 910
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Glyph Attunement: 25 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 Attune Sand Mana Tier 0 Spell Least Create Sand Tier 1 Spell Attune Sand Mana - Efficient Tier 2 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 Soil Improvement Enchanting
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Achievements: Focused Meditator Student of Magic
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Quests: Major: Slay the Dragon of the West (Progressive)