He spent the next few hours on the meditation hill, not that he actually did any meditation.
It had been necessary to water the crops when they suddenly started showing signs of withering fast. So fast that it was visible.
This happened precisely when the tunnels underneath them were filled with water.
Cal had to nearly drown the soil before the crops started to recover. His only guess for the unexpected behaviors was that the roots of the Sunfire Grains switched focus from the rain at the surface to the water in the tunnels below.
If there weren’t enough roots absorbing the water soaked in the soil, it could explain the withering. Nearly drowning the crops seemed to have fixed it… for now.
The overabundance of water made it easier for the Sunfire Grains to use fewer roots to absorb what was required while it tried to connect to the tunnels.
All of this might be too late. I hoped this would have a better yield, but I have never seen the Sunfire Grains wither quite like that. Even with the last batch, it was the soil that was dangerously dry, not the crops.
Cal had a feeling that this batch would be another write-off. Not in the sense that it was a complete failure, but it was another batch in which he wouldn’t be able to get the true effect of [Green Thumb] due to unrelated factors.
He sighed before standing up and warned, “Nibbles, I don’t want to see any of them missing!”
Cal narrowed his eyes when she licked her lips instead of replying to him. He had a feeling that the bribe of sixty tubs of powdered crystals would no longer be sufficient.
She won’t eat any… probably.
He hopped back down to the field and headed to the pond. A significant part of it had been drained to fill the tunnels. Even more would be drawn when the crops’ roots were connected to the tunnels.
Cal cast [Rainfall] until the pond was filled to capacity.
“Nibbles!” He shouted in the direction of his meditation hill.
Cal thought she would take a few seconds to respond since she was preoccupied with the harvested crops, but he was mistaken. Nibbles popped out of a newly made hole in the ground before it was quickly covered up.
“Could you dig under the pond and see if there are any changes to the soil?” Cal shared a long look with her. He added, “I don’t need any new tunnels. I’m just curious about the increasing depth of the pond.”
Nibbles shook her head firmly, clearly refusing his request.
“Is there something stopping you from digging under the pond?” Cal asked with a frown. She let her actions speak for her.
Nibbles abruptly jumped into the pond—basking in the water for a moment—and swam halfway to the bottom. She mimed an invisible wall before resurfacing and moved feet away from the edge of the pond.
Cal stared at her forming an ‘X’ with her arms as she tapped the ground under her with her foot.
“You can’t go below that point,” Cal said slowly, continuing when Nibbles nodded. “And that restriction outside the bounds of the pool to where you stand.”
The solemn look he received told him he had the correct answer.
“There has to be another way to communicate,” Cal muttered, scratching his chin. The pond was somehow dangerous to Nibbles. He could sense only one thing from the pond, but he didn’t know that could cause issues. “Is it the mana that stops you?”
Nibbles shrugged, apparently just as clueless about the issue as he was. He let her go back to staring at the harvested crops, and he was alone by the pond.
The mana density is getting higher with every cast of [Rainfall].
Cal couldn’t really understand why. All he did was refill the pond when needed. It shouldn’t affect the density of the mana it contained… but reality proved otherwise.
He shook his head, turned away from the pond, and went straight to the sacks of mulch stacked by the wall. It was time to finish the last step of the soil repair process.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Cal glanced at the window of Tavia’s room as he passed by—not that he could see anything. They were one-way only by design.
She hasn’t made a peep since she returned.
He wasn’t sure what the issue was, but the longer she hid herself in her room, the more he felt an urge to insert himself in the situation. Tavia didn’t know he was an Apprentice, and his increased rank and strength could be a solution to whatever she experienced at Silverpine.
Cal set that aside for now and ripped open the first sack of mulch onto the slurry-covered soil. Once he finished the previous sack, he returned to the stack of mulch to get another. He repeated until the entire five-thousand-square-foot area was covered with mulch around an hour later.
He took the rake out of the storage room and gently raked the mulch flat before stepping back. He could hear the distant sound of carts traveling toward the field. There was one last thing to do before they arrived.
Cal raised his palm and cast [Rainfall]. Even though he had cast the spell plenty of times before, covering this much land at once brought him a sense of pride.
He quickly cut off the mana after a light rainfall, which was the last thing required in the step. He nodded to himself as he double-checked his work. Everything seemed right. He should have the third batch of Sunfire Grains planted before the day ended.
Cal checked the second batch of crops on his way back to the storage room. He needed to make sure they had adequate water.
The water he had copiously added with [Rainfall] no longer pooled above the soil, but that didn’t seem to affect the Sunfire Grains. In fact, the moisture in the soil seemed to be unchanging. That hinted at the roots having reached the tunnels below.
He quickly hung the rake in the storage room before he stood by the pond. He stared intently at the water level to catch the expected decrease if the crops were drawing from it.
There! It actually works! Cal beamed when he caught the pond’s water level drop ever so slightly. Orrin will be happy to not have to make the irrigation system.
He eyed the channel feeding the water to the tunnels and immediately knew it needed to be deeper and possibly wider. As more crops were planted and needed water, there would be a significantly greater requirement for water flow.
Cal was getting ahead of himself when he suddenly remembered the guildmaster. The beaming smile fell off his lips since all of this could be a waste.
That was how Miren and her entourage found him.
“Initiate Cal,” Torin greeted as he stepped out of the carriage. He turned and ordered, “Walk slowly with light steps and carefully exit the carriage.”
Cal stared in confusion until he saw his tiny golem gingerly climb down the steps from the carriage. He looked to Torin with a raised eyebrow.
Torin had an exasperated expression as he explained. “We learned early that being extremely specific with the commands was necessary. I only wish it didn’t require so much damage before we learned.”
“… I see.” Cal didn’t think of that issue. Since he was the caster, only he could give the golem vague commands since it knew his intent. That wasn’t the case with others.
Miren followed the golem out of the carriage and waved down at the carts that followed. Three were loaded with different-sized stones, and one had four people in addition to the driver, who had been waiting for an order.
Torin took over. “Unload the carts and lay the stones near the house. Keep it out of the workspace.”
Cal waited patiently for Torin to finish before he spoke to Miren. “Looks like you were happy with the golem… what did you use it for?”
Torin was about to answer for her when Miren jabbed him in the ribs with a glare. He winced and said, “I apologize. That’s a trade secret, Initiate Cal.”
“Right…” Cal glanced at the embarrassed look on Miren’s face and let it go. It wasn’t that important anyway. “Anyway, I do appreciate the help with this.”
“It was an equal trade—” Torin was interrupted by Miren’s tug on his arm. He glanced at her before approaching Cal and handing him a note. “The Overseer asked us to pass this to you.”
Cal murmured a thanks before opening the note.
The guildmaster informed me that you were given one month to present yourself to the council. This can be ignored. Continue as usual and wait for the reversal.
He reread the note multiple times and asked, “The Overseer handed this to you?”
“Yes,” Torin confirmed. “Well, to Madam Miren.”
“Just before we left Lumina.”
Cal nodded slowly before putting the note in his inner pocket. “You can tell the Overseer I received it.”
“Very well,” Torin moved to help Miren back onto the carriage. “If there is anything we can help with further, come to our office in Lumina. And the workers will finish on their own. They will build a stone path from the tree line to the house. If you need more paths, you only need to tell them.”
Cal absentmindedly said a farewell before standing in the same spot for far too many minutes. He had a good reason.
Overseer Marek had been sincerely subordinate to the guildmaster the last time he had seen him. That was stuck in Cal’s mind. That did not match the intent of the words behind the note.
Will this change anything, even if it’s true? Cal wasn’t sure. He had little idea of the many things at play to know the best option.
I’ll continue with my plan to escape. If that isn’t necessary, then so be it. I will have benefitted from my urgency in that case.
Cal saw the workers had everything handled by themselves and that it would take a few hours to finish the main path to the house. He would leave them be until then.
In the meantime, it was time to deal with the golem.
I wonder if I can modify it after it has been formed. Cal attempted to do so, but the interface appeared.
Active golem detected.
You must deactivate the active golem if you wish to use [Harvest Guardian].
Cal thought it was a bit of a shame that the tiny golem would need to be destroyed, but he didn’t make the rules.
[Harvest Guardian] deactivated.
The tiny golem immediately crumbled into dust. He ignored the shocked looks of the workers who noticed and went into the house.
Cal intended to form another golem as soon as the workers left. In the meantime, he would fill the hearthstone. The extra mana would give him a little more help when he drew from it during the formation.