Chapter 17
Elijah watched the little brat scurry around the garden with Dora. She always had a soft spot for kids in over their heads. If he wanted to make him quit, she was not going to help, but he didn’t need it anyway.
“Do you wish I'd sent him away?” Asked a familiar voice. Only many years of experience stopped him from jolting or showing any sign of surprise. Turning towards the woman behind him, Elijah tried to hide his thoughts better. Not that it ever worked.
Virya stood there with a book under her arm, staring at the two working in the garden.
He knew she would send the brat away if he asked. In the same way, she knew he would never ask for something so trivial. It would be humiliating and childish.
“I’m confused about why you accepted him. He will most likely not last the month and even if he miraculously does, I still don’t see the point. He would only be a stain on your name if someone discovered he was your student.”
Virya turned to look at him. Despite the many years he had known her, he still felt like a little kid in front of her. The same as when his father told him she was going to be his teacher. Her face looked slightly amused, but it didn’t make her eyes any less piercing.
“I’m so glad that you worry so much about my reputation, but we are well beyond such concerns. If someone discovers where we are, he will be the last of our problems.”
She was right. This started to feel a lot like one of those lectures he received when he was younger. He didn’t have a choice but to admit the truth.
Elijah cursed the brat for putting him in this situation, “You are right, teacher. I just can’t see how he will be worth our time.”
Virya continued to stare at him expectantly.
“And I don’t like him,” Elijah admitted with a grumble. This was so embarrassing. “He should have taken the money to help his family. It was clearly the best option. He is going to waste both our time.”
Virya seemed satisfied with his admission, turning her gaze back towards the garden.
“I remember you complaining you were bored not two weeks ago. It’ll do you good to teach someone. Make sure if he fails it’s his fault and not yours.”
With that she walked away, leaving Elijah more confused than before.
He was glad the questioning was over, but she hadn’t truly answered his question.
He sighed. He had long grown used to her methods, but it was still frustrating. If the brat was a charity case, there were easier and better ways to help these barren islands.
Was he looking at all this wrong? Was he the one being tested? Did Virya want to see if he could be a good teacher? She did always say how teaching gave a new perspective. He had imagined he would tutor a promising scion of a minor house, not some random child taken from the streets, who had yet to unlock his first gate.
Maybe it was a test of patience. Virya didn't forbid him from making the brat quit. He only had to make it fair.
Elijah smiled, he liked a challenge. Since he was stuck with the brat, he could at least have a little fun.
~ ~ ~
Kai had thought his first week had been hard, now he realized it was nothing compared to his new routine. Every minute of his day was accounted for. No time to waste and no time for breaks.
Despite all Virya’s talk about taking him in as her student, she had yet to teach him personally. Theodora took care of Mana Sense training and he couldn’t say that he minded it. Virya’s presence made him feel uneasy, while Dora was patient and always willing to answer his questions.
Today the sun was high with not a cloud in sight. He dutifully followed Dora through the garden as she gave her lesson.
“Mana Sense is the cornerstone to understanding the Essence of Creation present in every corner of Elydes and beyond. Whether you want to become a weaver of the arcane arts or add a little flavor to your skills, Mana Sense is where you start. The most advanced professionals in any field use mana in some way. Be they cooks, smiths or farmers. And you can’t use something you can’t perceive. Not efficiently at least.”
Kai could already see where this was leading and he wasn’t too fond of it. “But I can already feel mana pretty well, when will I learn to do something with it?”
This felt a lot like theory before practice. He wanted to learn how to throw lightning and fireballs. It felt like every time he got close to anything magical, he was told to wait longer. He would be happy by lighting a candle. Something, anything.
“Be patient dear, the level of your skill isn’t everything; you must learn how to apply it correctly first. Smarts before brawn, remember. You might learn to create a few sparks or move a feather, but then you would get stuck. It’s better to learn things properly. Your Mana Sense can never be good enough. It will make you progress much faster when you learn other mana skills later.”
Sensing his sinking mood, Dora tried to distract him with a cheerful voice.
“Now let’s get to work. Mana is everywhere, but it's particularly concentrated in living organisms, which makes them the perfect subject for beginners. To know when and how to properly harvest a plant, reading its mana flow is essential.” She tried to make it sound as exciting as possible.
Dora knelt beside a row of small shrubberies dotted with red flowers with a silver pistil. “Take these silver hibiscus for example. Focus on one plant at a time and tell me what you see with Mana Sense, dear.”
It wasn’t what he imagined his first magic lesson would be like, but beggars can’t be choosers.
As soon as he activated the skill, light particles crowded his vision. He tried not to get overwhelmed by the three-sixty view, concentrating only on the plant in front of him. It took a bit of effort to ignore the lush garden brimming with life and mana, but it wasn’t the first time he had tried this.
As if putting on a pair of glasses, the small shrubbery came into focus. No more shifting points of light, but a continuous flow that passed through the whole plant, from the leaves and flowers to the roots that disappeared into the ground.
“Look carefully and tell me what you see. Focus one section of the plant at a time, but don’t forget they are all part of the same being.” Dora’s voice came from behind him in a whisper.
It was hard to listen or talk while using the skill. His focus wavered more than once, but he started to describe what he saw.
“Be more specific, Kai. Observe each branch and leaf.”
He didn’t know what he should be looking for at first, but he started to notice small differences. The flow wasn’t equal in all branches. In some it was a slow trickle, in others like a river, fast and consistent. It took a moment to realize the flow of mana depended upon the number of flowers on each branch.
Where there were no flowers the plant hardly sent any, but as the number of flowers increased so did the flow. The mana wasn’t flowing randomly inside the plant, it was circulating with purpose.
“Good job.” Dora complimented. “Seeing is the first step, then you must know what it means. For that knowledge is important, but so is experience. You won’t always be presented with plants you’re familiar with. Learning how to analyze a new specimen and understand what you see is very important.”
Kai had never taken the time to observe something in such detail. This opened many new possibilities to look at the world.
“Aunt Dora, can you also do the same with a person? What can you tell from a person’s mana flow?”
She gave him a shining smile, “Indeed there is much you can tell by looking at someone’s mana channels. Healers learn to judge their patients’ health by their mana flow, but human beings are much more complex than this plant.
“For now, I want you to observe each silver hibiscus in my garden and tell me what you find. Start with the health of the plants and add anything else you find noteworthy. If you do a good job, I’ll cook whatever dish you want, desserts included. Now let’s get to work. Knock when you’re done.” With that she was off, going towards the greenhouse beside the garden.
Her promise got his attention. Yesterday he discovered ice cream existed in this world too. Dora mostly prepared sorbet with local tropical fruits. He could already taste it, that cold sweetness.
Kai enthusiastically turned to look at the neat three rows of hibiscus standing in front of him, he counted at least thirty. It was going to be a long afternoon.
After he decided to stay, Dora gave him a notebook and an enchanted pen that wrote without needing ink. It was much plainer than the one his father possessed, but it worked fine.
He had looked at it from all angles, but there was no sign of runes or mysterious symbols visible on its bare metal surface. It probably made sense from a practical standpoint to have them on the inside, but it did not satisfy his curiosity. He had been tempted to open it, but he couldn’t find any seam to unscrew and he didn’t want to break it.
He opened his notebook on a fresh page to start writing his observations. Many pages were already filled with barely legible notes on botany. If they continued at the same pace, he would soon need a new one.
Realizing his mind was wandering off-topic, he stopped stalling and activated his Mana Sense to begin the tedious task.
He moved through each silver hibiscus and noted down their health based on the mana flow. At first, he wasn’t sure what he was looking for, but after the first few plants, it became easier to interpret what he was seeing by comparing them.
Realizing his approach left a lot to be desired, Kai tried a new method. He quickly went over all the plants noting down his observations without trying to understand them.
After having a clearer picture, he formulated different hypotheses and tested them how he could. Looking for the underlying patterns.
He hit a small roadblock at first, but then he understood the trick. While this was a Mana Sense exercise, observing the hibiscus with his normal senses was also important. His Mana Sense allowed him to find the anomalies, then ordinary sight could reveal as much.
His task proceeded smoothly. He went over all the plants a second time with a deeper understanding. It was much easier to piece the puzzle together when you had all the pieces.
He did feel a bit proud of himself, before he remembered all the times he went on tangents, based on snippets of information over the years.
Anyway, let’s move on…
He added an unassuming line in his notebook.
‘Note to self: whenever possible, always gather all available information before trying to find out the solution to a problem. Don’t waste time with insufficient information!’
It felt so obvious when he wrote it down, but most things were in abstract terms, applying them in real-life situations was the tricky part.
Going back to his silver hibiscus there were still a few small oddities that he couldn’t explain. They appeared in only a handful of plants out of the thirty-plus specimens. Often, they were unique to a plant. After racking his brain without results, he remembered the memo he just wrote down. Even if leaving a question unanswered miffed him, he forced himself to move on.
I hope noticing them is enough.
Going over his notes, he felt satisfied. There was only one irregularity still bothering him. He had observed it in five hibiscus, so it wasn’t too rare and it wasn’t something too minor either. Their entire mana flow looked weak, it wasn’t something localized to a branch or some roots, the whole plants felt strained.
It kept bugging him. In most cases, mana anomalies showed something with his normal sight, a dying branch or a fat caterpillar feeding on the leaves. But these plants looked perfectly healthy. They were some of the most thriving and bigger specimens.
He kept pacing back and forth between the five plants, but he couldn’t come up with any reasonable hypothesis.
“So, how did it go?” Dora asked, interrupting his fruitless musings.
She was standing a couple meters from him. The sun was much lower on the horizon and several hours must have passed. He was so focused on his task he hadn’t noticed the light dimming.
He remembered Dora had told him to call her when he was done. The fact she was here didn’t bode too well. Despite this, he was calm.
Well, I did all I could. Time to get my grade…
Dora didn’t look upset, but she wasn’t smiling brightly either. Maintaining a reserved silence, while her yellow eyes watched him expectantly.
Stopping himself from overthinking, Kai decided they might as well start from his current dilemma.
“These silver hibiscus have a lower mana flow than the rest, but I can’t see anything wrong with them. They seem the perfect example of a healthy thriving plant, with many blooming flowers and branches. Is it because the low mana density can’t sustain them?” Kai suggested, not too confident in his guess.
Dora took a glance at the plants, before answering. “You’re quite right, these plants are healthy, but they grew too fast. Now they can’t gather enough nutrients and mana to sustain themselves. If we don’t provide them with what they need, they will start to wilt soon.”
Dora assumed the lecturing tone she used when she explained something important.
“If the ground and mana are too far off from the needs of the plant, it is usually best to prune a few branches to save the rest. Otherwise, it will require constant attention and supplements to survive as it is. These silver hibiscus aren’t valuable, so pruning would be the best option. But even with rare and expensive plants, it is often best not to let them grow too large. It will dilute the potency of the parts you want to harvest.”
As she spoke, she was already pruning branches with practiced ease.
After she was done with the plants, she turned back towards him, “Is there anything else you noticed, dear?”
“Yes, I…” Kai shuffled the pages of his notebook unsure of where to start.
He began with the observations and conclusions he was most sure of, then moved to his speculations.
He walked among the rows of hibiscus to illustrate his points, while Dora followed along and asked questions. He expected her to focus on the plants or his use of Mana Sense, but she seemed more interested in his thought process. Her smile growing ever larger.
In the end, she told him to recount all his actions and reasoning from the very beginning and not skip anything.
“You did very well Kai, the methodology you use is very important in research work. You also showed great adaptability when you ran into a dead end. Your process was a bit chaotic, but it’s a very good start, an investigative spirit is fundamental in alchemy.” Dora complimented him, already muttering to herself all the different things they were going to do together.
Kai couldn’t say he didn’t enjoy the praise, but he was a bit confused. He had been confident he had done well enough, but all the other times he had given his all in her test on botany, she had never appeared half as enthusiastic, even when she praised him.
I know I’m amazing and all, but it seems a bit excessive.
Thinking back to it, he realized he had used a very loose version of the scientific method: gathering data, formulating hypotheses, testing and repeating. He had not done it intentionally. He guessed having suffered through the school system back on Earth must have been worth something.
I never thought I would need to thank my science teacher, but weird things have been the order of the day lately.
With a shrug, he decided to enjoy the compliments while they lasted. He had the feeling he was going to need all the confidence he could get. Elijah had not given him half a nod of acknowledgment, despite going through all his skill training.
The cold butler was going to be the one to train his Awareness skill, and he could bet that was not going to be pleasant.