Mark gripped the neck of the vial, snapping off the bronze cap and throwing it into the trashcan near Karter’s feet.

“Look Sam, everything else aside I’ll have a line set up so that we can ensure everyone involved stays safe, the tonics will be handled with the utmost care.”

Mark and Sam had informed Karter of Joslin’s problem and Sam would later hand over the supply when Karter figured out a good distribution of people to spread it over.

He told them to keep a couple of the tonics on them for the next few days, so Mark had separated a small bundle for himself.

While they were busy dividing the tonics, the door to Karter’s room burst open again. Mark kind of felt sorry for the guy, as Ethel barged into the room in the same fashion as they had.

Not only that but she had company, a man and woman followed in tow.

Mark recognized Oliver right away, though they had only spoken a little on the way to the city, the man had left a strong impression on Mark.

His skill with plants and their magical varieties was incredible, Mark had not seen him since they had gotten here but by the looks of things, he could guess why.

The woman next to Oliver looked to be in her early thirties, and the resemblance was uncanny. If she was not his daughter, she was a relative, though with a decidedly more feminine jawline.

Boe pattered into the room last, as though he were making sure to scent all the smells outside in the hallway before moving into the room.

When Boe spotted Mark, the medium-sized border collie lumbered over and leaned into him, doing a thorough inspection of where Mark had been since he’d last him.

Once again Boe sneezed and shook his head, offended by what he’d found. Mark tried to scratch him under his chin, but Boe was having none of it and sauntered off, toward the woman who had just entered with Ethel.

“What's going on, I heard that the Loyalists were here,” Ethel said.

“Here and gone, by the looks of things the mission will contain both of the city's powerhouses,” Karter said as he rubbed his eyes.

Mark glanced at Oliver and the woman, Ethel saw his curious glance and cleared her throat.

“Right, introductions, for those of you who haven't met this is Oliver and his daughter Holly. They had just recently been reunited in the last invasion.”

It turned out that the reason Mark had not seen Oliver for a while was because he’d been searching for this woman.

Mark was happy for the man, going over to shake Oliver's hand, and Holly’s in turn. When he did, Mark noticed a small set of eyes and nose poking over Holly’s shoulder, watching him curiously.

It took Mark a second to realize he was looking at a ferret and not just that, another little head poked out of the woman's jacket pocket. On closer inspection he thought it might have been a sugar glider, at least that was the first thing to come to mind. He’d barely registered the two small creatures when a small trill of a bird came from somewhere inside the many-pocketed jacket

Mark couldn’t help it as he smiled.

“You’re like a regular Disney princess.”

Holly grinned back, a look of exasperation on her face.

“No points for originality, but I'll take the compliment as is.”

Mark couldn’t help but snort.

Ethel glanced between them.

“Glad you two are hitting it off so soon because Holly is one the candidates for that… position”

Mark’s smile dropped off at once, though he did manage to keep a neutral face.

Holly saw Mark stepping back and smiled.

“Don’t worry, I ain't taking the job, I just wanted to see the faction my dad had thrown his chips in with.”

Mark nodded but didn’t comment.

Ethel looked pained, but that same sly look entered her eyes.

“Oh, just wait til you see them in action, my girl, you’ll have a change of heart in no time.”

Mark had taken to avoiding Ethel whenever she started plotting, it never ended well for him.

“Right well I needed to check up on Terry, see how he’s taking all this, so I’ll…” Mark started

“-Just a moment Mark, now that Oliver is back I want to put you two on our agriculture front. We need to start cultivating plants and you two are the best for this task.”

Mark stopped, both worried he’d been caught in her web, and interested in the task she was offering.

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Like a squirming fly, Mark couldn’t help asking.

“What would we be growing?”

Ethel hid her victory well but Mark knew the woman by now.

“Well for starters, some of the samples you brought back from beyond the wall, as well as a basic nutritional fare. We have plenty of space and cutting costs in the Marketplace is only smart.”

Mark glanced at Sam for help, who conveniently spotted something out the window that she found all too interesting. Jonathan gave Mark the same look he would a fallen soldier.

“So with those two stipulations in mind, free rein?” Mark asked.

Ethel let her smile through now and Mark's shoulders drooped.

“Thank you, Mark, make sure to have it well on your way before you head out. Oliver, you can follow Mark he’ll lead you to a spot he thinks is best. Now, Holly, I was thinking we should start with the financials, Jonathan, won't you be a dear and-.

Mark didn’t wait for Ethel to continue, he grabbed Oliver and got the hell out of there. Stepping out into the hallway, Mark began making his way toward the staircase, instead of heading down they climbed the stairs to the top.

Opening out onto the now-empty roof, Mark spotted his cherry tree first. At the sight of it, Oliver rushed over to inspect it.

“Oh my, well isn't this a wonderful specimen, and it’s growth is stable.”

Mark grinned at the man and took out a couple of pips he’d saved. It took up some of his daily quota but Mark was not too bothered, Sam had kept the vials and Mark would put his share in his inventory when he had the chance.

“Oh my, it's a triple resource restorative? This is incredible, have you looked into producing saps from it yet?”

Mark tilted his head.

“I’m sorry, but I’ve had little time to investigate this aspect, we’ve mostly been using its fruit.”

Oliver's eyes widened.

“Ah I see, well a couple of fruits would be useful but the energy within each fruit is not much. Even a simple brewing technique could improve your returns.”

Mark scratched his head.

“Brewing technique?”

Oliver nodded vigorously.

“Yes! It's super easy, throw a couple of the fruits in a pot with some water and boil it until it turns into syrup. The concentrated liquid is highly effective for restoring energy.”

Just then Jana’s potions made sense, all those vials had tasted like thick sweetened syrup. Was the trick to making those really that simple?

“But, if you want something potent then we’ll need to tap the tree for sap. The sap can be mixed with other saps to make various effects, but there is still a lot we don’t know. Some are even outright poisonous. I’ve managed to collect a little glossary of known plants but it's growing every day.”

Mark’s brows raised at the knowledge and he looked into his inventory seeing the one other plant he’d acquired while escaping from the dungeon and traveling from highrise to highrise.

Taking it out would be his last use today, but it seemed worth it.

Producing it, Mark held it out to Oliver.

“And this one?”

Oliver glanced down and nodded as though he recognized it.

“Yes, people are calling that one boar thorn, it's kind of like a weed. Not very fancy but it is a powerful poison, though… I have heard of people distilling its sap to make a sort of alcohol that can affect Aura users.”

Mark perked up at this news, magical booze, was not what he’d been expecting, but it certainly wasn’t unwelcome.

“Well, for starters, this space is no longer in use. I was thinking we could enclose it and create a greenhouse of sorts. Keep the more dangerous and rare plants up here. Test out what works and then move it to the ‘fields’. I have a space in mind for that as well.”

Oliver nodded at this.

“Sure I also have a few samples we can try out, but the basics we can get going immediately. The only worry is that we’ll need more people with the relevant spells.”

Mark crossed his arms.

“Don’t worry about it, I got that covered. We’ll put out a call for people with [Nature control] and go from there”

Luckily managing this project wouldn’t take too much effort from Mark, but as the two of them discussed details, they began going over their discoveries in regards to [Nature control].

As of late Mark had moved more into using the spell for manipulating the human body, to heal and reconstruct. He was getting better but there was still so much to learn he doubted he’d ever master it.

Oscar on the other hand had dove into splicing different species of plants together and plant manipulation itself.

In all honesty, Mark hadn’t used plant manipulation in battle too often, as he had similar spells that could create the same effect with fewer resources.

“Ah, but that's where you’re wrong Mark. Once an organism reaches a certain level of self-sufficiency, the cost of negligible to you. And the best part is that you can ask it for what you need, here let me show you.”

Walking over to one of the empty planters, Oscar took out a seed from a pouch and made a small hole in the soil, dropping it in and covering it, he began channeling some Mana into the surrounding soil.

Mark thought he heard him whisper.

“Try to stop anyone passing by, please.”

The soil shuddered and when Oscar took his hand away a small bush of daisies pushed their way out of the planter growing rapidly.

“Okay now move your arm over it,” he said as he took a step back.

Seeing where this was going, but interested anyway, Mark extended a hand past the small bush.

At first, all it did was sit there inert, but the moment Mark's arm got within reach, it had a sudden reaction. Bursting out as verdant growth and extending upward to encircle his wrist, attempting to leash Mark’s hand to the ground. Its strength was more than enough to arrest Mark's physical abilities and perhaps even some aura users.

Mark wanted to know how it worked immediately, causing Oscar to laugh.

“I call that one my daisy chains.”

Mark made a painful face at the dad joke but was no less impressed by what Oscar had accomplished.

As they spoke he got the feeling it was similar to his [Animated minds], however, where he had to be exact with every step. Oscar would communicate his intentions, and the plant would do the rest.

It sounded great but in all honesty, there were vanishingly few things he could get across to a plant, other than grow or not grow.

It would take some time to get a deeper understanding of how to get what he needed out of the plants. Saturated varients seemed to be more responsive, though only marginally. It was while they were still discussing the finer details of manipulation that, the door to the roof groaned open.

Holly stepped out and when she saw her dad, a smile that reached her eyes bloomed on her face.

“Hey, old man are you two done playing in the soil?”