Cal found joy explaining how to treat the dead soil of this land while patting the sack of mulch at his side, one of the many that were stacked high. He had already introduced the tubs of loam and powered crystals before the mulch.
It was the most basic of instructions, considering both were [Gardeners], but he was just happy at the thought of these tasks no longer being his responsibility.
“Do you have questions for me?” Cal asked after he finished.
Vaela exchanged confused looks with her friend. “Is that all? Isn’t there some special step that lets you harvest your crops so quickly? It almost feels like you’re overpaying us.”
Cal cleared his throat and cut down the line of questioning. The pond’s secrets would stay with him. Plus, he couldn’t immediately pass on all his tasks. Some he needed to do personally to upgrade his tools. “I’ll take care of that part myself. Do you know Drex? He’s a mortal that works at the port in town.”
“I’ve heard of him,” Liora said, excited to have something to say.
He nodded. “Drex is my supplier for almost everything on the farm, so be sure to get to know him. You’ll be in charge of making sure the farm will always have enough supplies to run.”
“We’ll find him as soon as we return,” Liora said, happy as could be that she could contribute.
Cal saw Bole out of the corner of his eye, waiting just beyond the tree line and staring at them without blinking. “It looks like Bole is waiting for you two. We’re done for today, anyway. Come back tomorrow to start.”
Cal waited until they were gone before turning to Tavia, who had been waiting patiently the entire time. “Well, that was interesting.”
“Some people have inexplicable thought processes; there’s usually nothing else to it,” Tavia said quickly with a grin. “Guess what?”
Her excitement took aback Cal. “You found a powerful artifact?”
“Better! The boost from the farm lasts even when I’m far away! It decreases in effectiveness over time, but it only fell a few percentage points when I stayed in town overnight!”
His eyes widened in surprise. He had noticed the moment the connection between Tavia and the pond snapped not long after she left, so he had assumed the break had taken away all the advantages. “Did you use mana to see if that would speed up the fall?”
“I tried a few spells that weren’t the most intensive, but I didn’t see change at all. I can match a weaker Apprentice Mage while the boost is active!” Tavia laughed and launched herself into him.
Cal caught her and flinched back when he felt something surprisingly hard jabbed into his side. He hissed and asked, “What is that?”
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“Oh,” Tavia’s eyes widened for a moment. “I can’t believe almost forgot to tell you about Orrin.” She sounded fond when she mentioned his name. “He made a breakthrough with his smithing and wanted to show off his new skills. Look at what he made for me!”
She reached into her robes and pulled out a short dagger with a blade that was the darkest black he had ever seen. He could see stunning flecks of blue that shimmered at the slightest movement.
Cal took it from Tavia’s hands to inspect it. Although the craftsmanship was inferior to that of some commonly sold daggers, this could be overlooked, given Orrin’s past struggles with this material.
“He is amazing, isn’t he?” Cal asked rhetorically.
Tavia answered anyway. “He deserves to take that test. It comes with access to materials that are hard to get, so the longer the delay, the worse it is for his progression.”
Cal nodded. “I’ve been delaying it for a little too long. I’ll get it done by tomorrow. Did Orrin say anything about coming to the farm?”
“In a few days,” Tavia replied. “He wants to make you replacement tools before heading over here.”
He felt touched and resolved to spend more on the smithy he was building. He noticed Tavia’s attention drifting.
“Were you going to tell me why there are cats treating Nibbles as their leader?”
Cal turned to see that Nibbles had somehow corralled the cats to march in unison around the golem. He had to admit it was impressive. “Honestly? I forgot about them. Nibbles brought them back from the trip she took with the pack leader. As long as they keep everyone in line, I don’t care.”
Tavia looked temped to go over, but stopped herself with a slight shake of her head. “Has Seris moved into her new room?”
“No, she slept in my room to avoid the noise in the construction.”
She rolled her eyes in reply. “And she still sleeping? It’s past time for her to start the day.”
Cal didn’t stop her when she entered the house. He had to admit she’d handled most of the discipline during Seris’s training, and he would not contradict her now.
He looked around his farm and decided to work on one of the more tedious tasks he couldn’t pass to someone else, preparing three Advanced-rank tools every month.
Luckily, Overseer Marek hadn’t rejected pickaxes yet. There were plenty of spares in the storage, and it was one of the simplest to upgrade.
Cal wiped the sweat off his forehead as he finally finished upgrading a second pickaxe from a lowly Common-rank to Advanced-rank. If anyone knew all he needed was a day of hard work to make two Advanced-rank tools, they would die of jealousy.
The only issue was that there was another dirt hill forming beside his beautiful farm.
“Move these to the pile,” Cal ordered the golem, who was acting as his assistant and cleaning up the surface layer he had broken with the pickaxe.
He looked up at the night sky as he stretched with a soft groan. For all his strength and power, he was beholden to his sleep schedule. He hadn’t got proper rest for a few days, and while he could force himself to push through for a few more days, it would do him no favors. He could already feel his efficiency falling.
Tavia and Seris are already asleep. I might as well do the same.
Cal returned the pickaxe to the storage room and checked over his farm out of habit. The pack leader hadn’t moved other than to take a drink from the pond, the wolf pack was wandering around, but probably nearby, Nibbles was taking a nap on one of the large cats, and the Golem slowly completely the cleanup he ordered it to do.
Everything was in order.
A satisfied smile appeared on Cal’s face and was about to turn in for the night when a wolf’s howl broke the silent night. Several more howls joined the cacophony as the pack leader’s massive form rose from its sleep before blurring out of existence.
The pack leader’s newfound speed surprised Cal before he pursued close behind. If the pack leader felt the need to take personal action, it was also worth his personal attention.