Sharp

We arrived back at the Adventure Society in Vitesse and Rod handed out bags of coins, “From the Hunger Essence,” he said.

That got me wondering if my Reaping Magic would ever produce Essesces or Awakening Stones. It is certainly a possibility, but It would probably need to rank up a lot more.

“Come on, you two, you can bunk down at my place tonight. It is closer and nicer than the Academy,” Val linked my arm in one of hers and Gail on the other side and led us out.

“Um, I am happy in the student housing,” I protested.

“Nonsense,” Val responded, “You are the reason we finished early and were so successful. One night, you will be fine. We have another week before the next semester starts.”

“I need to get home to see my parents,” Gail said, “But I was going to wait until the results are posted so I can show them.”

“Where do your parents live?” I asked her.

“Arnham. It is a medium-sized town that is a couple of days to the east of Vitesse.”

“There you go, you can stay till the results are posted,” Val said.

“But that is two nights,” I said.

It was already dark as Val directed us through the streets. If she lived close by, she would have been in one of those ridiculous mansions. Sure enough, less than five minutes later, she stopped at an ornate gate with a bronze-rank Guard, who let us in. Inside were immaculately manicured lawns and gardens. I stopped to examine some flowers I had not seen anywhere else.

“What are these?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Val said. “Pretty. You can quiz the gardener tomorrow. I am pretty sure she has the Flower essence.” She dragged me away.

“Welcome home, M’lady,” said the Butler, who opened the door of the mansion for us. His accent was not quite local, but I couldn’t place it.

“Thank you, James. This is Gail and Theo, who were with me during the assessment. Are there guest rooms available?”

“Yes, Ma’am. The west wing rooms are free. I trust you were successful.”

“I hope so, James. I hope so. Come on, you two, I will show you around.”

The first thing that was obvious was the sheer number of plants and flowers. They were everywhere, and the scents were lovely. I expected to be overpowered by my enhanced sense of smell, but I wasn’t. I need some of these in my garden.

The other thing was the size. The place was massive. They even had their own Mirage chamber. It was a lot smaller than the ones at the academy, a maximum of four people, but that was still very impressive. Gail and Val were already talking about sparring in there tomorrow.

We went to the kitchen and had a cuppa before retiring for the night.

“You go to the same academy as Josh.” I said, “What is he like?” I was trying to determine if there were ongoing issues.

“He is nice enough,” She replied. “He tried hitting on me a couple of times, but backed off when he realised he wasn’t my type.”

“Not your type?” I asked.

“Male,” she said.

“Ah,” I said and looked at Val.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Val said. “We are just friends.”

“For now,” Gail said with a wink. Val blushed.

“And Josh was OK with you turning him down?” I asked.

“Yes. Is there a reason for these questions about Josh?” Gail asked.

“Theo was a big part of why Josh changed Academies,” Val said.

“Well, he should be thanking you,” Gail said. “Obviously, the Brisku Academy is the superior one.”

Val snorted in disagreement. “We will see about that tomorrow in the Mirage chamber!”

The room I was shown was larger than the whole five-room cluster at the academy. I admit I slept in. When I came down for breakfast… maybe it was brunch. The staff informed me, “Miss Vallery and Miss Gail are in the Mirage Chamber.”

I had a leisurely brunch and wandered out into the garden to explore. It was delightful. The scent and colour were amazing to my enhanced senses. I found a garden shed and a work area tucked away behind a pond, and there was an elderly elf working there.

“Hello,” I said, “Can I give you a hand?”

The elf looked me up and down. I was back to wearing shorts and belts, although I had left the earrings in.

“Sure,” she said. “Do you want to grab that sack of fertiliser? I am Fleur.”

It turns out Fleur was a contract gardener, and she looked after a number of the noble estates. She did have the Flower Essence as well as the Earth and Growth essences with the Empower confluence. I helped her all morning.

When Fleur found out I had Blood Root Vine as a familiar, she was excited. “They have a lovely dark red flower that spreads a beautiful fragrance and looks great with the dark green leaves.”

“Ardisia has not produced any flowers yet,” I said.

“Fool, boy, then you are not feeding her right. Come with me.” She led me back to the shed and said, “Grab that sack of fertiliser, no, not that one, the next one. That is Blood and Bone fertiliser. It is made from ground blood and bone and is good for a lot of plants. You enhance it with blood and bone quintessence. I will give you the formula. Empty the sack here on the planter bed—all of it. Now let her get her roots into that.”

I brought Ardisia out. She sank her roots into the rich soil, and I felt content from her. I was horrified I had been neglecting her.

“Give her the water from that barrel, and we will leave her for a few hours in the sun. She doesn’t look too malnourished.”

It felt strange not having her with me, but I could tell she was happy. Obviously, my Tranquil Garden compensated for things like the right fertiliser by supplying magic. But it seemed I could greatly enhance things by adding the right stuff the different plants need. I grabbed a quick lunch and spent the afternoon with Fleur; she taught me so much.

Fleur was horrified I had given Ardisia bronze rank earth. “Iron rank only, boy. She is iron rank!” as if that should have been obvious, and I guess it was. She took me out, and I bought some Iron Rank Blood and Bone Fertiliser and traded some of my bronze rank quintessence for Iron rank blood and bone quintessence. While I was there, I bought different types of fertiliser for some of my other plants, like the berry bushes. I needed more knowledge and got some gardening books to read. I might even look for a skill book, as they are good at imparting knowledge.

When we got back in the late afternoon, Ardisia had produced a small flower, and it smelled lovely. “You clever girl.” I got back feelings of peace.

Fleur had left for the day, so I raised my arch and prepared a proper place for Ardisia near my meditation area. I created a climbing frame for her vines and prepared a proper bed for her. When I brought her back into the garden, she was very pleased.

I looked around, and I decided I needed more gardening knowledge and then parts of this place would need redesigning. My Tranquil Garden levelled from this.

The next day, the three of us went to the Adventure Society together to get the results of the assessment. All three of us passed. They wouldn’t tell us who else passed, but we were good. We were matched with our new Identification tokens then and there. That let me into the Adventure Society Trade Hall, so I said goodbye to the other three. Gail had booked a flyer to take her home for a few days, and I saw them part with a hug. It seemed their relationship was progressing fine.

The trade hall brought together all sorts of businesses for Adventurers. Often, these were businesses with other shops in the city, but the trade Hall outlets had specialised goods or discounts all in one place.

I sold all my bronze-rank goods, except for what I would need to resummon Ardisia and Kai at bronze rank. I let Kai keep his ratling pelt bed, and I kept some of the rot poison. What I wanted to buy was not in the hall, but the shop would give me a discount when I showed my Adventure Society ID.

Skill Books impart knowledge—basic knowledge, yes, but knowledge. What I discovered was that if you narrowed the subject matter, you got more depth. A general book, Garden Plants of Vitesse, gives an overview, but if you get Root Vegetables by Season, then you get much more detail. The problem was that most skill books were general, as most people wanted general knowledge from them.

I had to hunt. I was brimming with coin and had five days before the start of the first Semester of year two. Gardening books were quite cheap. I got some general skill books. Introduction to Herbalism, Basic Poisons, and Garden Plants of Vitesse. I didn’t learn much from the last one, but these did lead me to Fungi and their Uses, Quintessence Use in Gardening, Herbalism for Healing, and Fruit and Nuts. Fertilisers and their Benefits was a huge help, in addition to what Fleur taught me.

During the five days, I discovered that the more my knowledge grew, the more the Tranquil Garden adjusted to it. It started adjusting soil makeup and moisture content to suit the plant being grown. The yields and speed of growth all improved. Tranquil Garden levelled again to beat out Kai as my highest levelled Skill at level eight.

I knew the Tranquil Garden would expand when it was Bronze, but I didn’t know what else it would do, and I really wanted a pond, so I learned Growing Freshwater Plants as well as River and Lake Habitats. We will see if it has any effect. The habitat one fed into what I had learned in Wilderness Awareness. I was also a bit worried about what would happen if the Garden went to Bronze and Ardisia and Kai were still Iron-rank.

I didn’t want to neglect Kai, so I got Raising Rodents. What I learned was rats were hardy creatures and didn’t need much at all. I knew that already, so I wasted my coin on that. I swapped out the bronze-rank Ratling pelt for an iron-rank one, as that was not good for him either.

I started my second year broke but with my head stuffed full of knowledge. My Tranquil Garden was much more fruitful, vibrant, and peaceful. Ardisia’s flowers smelled great.

I was content. Ardisia was content. Kai was hungry, as always.