"I’m letting you know beforehand that the golden sugarcane didn’t communicate in clear, explicit words, so don’t expect me to know exact details," Nero clarified once he had finally broken free from the old man’s grip.
No matter how frail he made himself appear, the man was a bona fide Arcanist, and his grip was like a vice, leaving Nero completely incapable of breaking free. It was only after the Lieutenant broke him free of his stupor that he finally let go of Nero.
Even now, having regained some semblance of self control, Nero could see the uncontrollable excitement in the old man’s eyes. Then again, considering that Nero presented the ability to farm a Sage level ingredient, maybe that was the appropriate reaction.
"The gold sugarcane requires an area filled with a special kind of aether, and the only way to produce that aether is by planting the relatively regular sugarcane that surrounds it. I brought back a sample of one of those regular sugarcane as well.
"Not only that, the amount of sugarcane that needs to be planted to support the golden sugarcane is directly related to the level of the surrounding sugarcane. If the level is low, then there needs to be more ground covered around it. In comparison, if the level of the regular sugarcane can be elevated, it needs to fill in less space."
"Did it mention how the regular sugarcane needs to be planted? What are its needs?"
Nero shook his head.
"No, nothing like that. Instead, it was a lot more concerned with something else. Apparently, the sugarcane plant is especially attractive to curses and cursed energy, so it’s prone to being targeted by curses and cursed animals and plants.
"In fact, even the agreement it offered was related to that. It gave me its own shoot and told me about the environment it needs to grow. In exchange, it wanted us to protect and nurture the new bamboo shoot, and not try to use it until it develops its own self awareness."
"You agreed to such a deal?" the Lieutenant asked, his voice filled with incredulity and question.
"Yes, when the talking plant with the power of a Sage told me the only way to get its help was to make a deal with it, I made a deal with it," said Nero with an incredibly plain face. "Why? Is that an issue?"
Instead of answering, the Lieutenant looked towards James, who rubbed his chin while muttering to himself. After a few seconds, James looked back at Nero with glowing eyes.
"Well, your level is very low, so you are not privy to many details. Allow me to redress that right now - at least in regards to this. Even though you did not use any cards, and the sugarcane did not use any abilities, its innate power is exceptionally great. At the Sage level, even ordinary words have a semblance of power.
"By forming an agreement with you, a representative of Kolar, it has created a binding contract with us as well. If, for example, our intention was to use the sugarcane before allowing it to reach maturity, we can no longer do that. Trying to do so will have some kind of consequence, the most likely of which is that the ingredient itself will be ruined.
"Suffice to say, you have committed us into a lengthy and very expensive agreement, yet you do not need to worry about such a thing. Originally, Vanessa had been fully briefed on all of this, which is why your mission was just to protect and escort her while she would manage any such interactions should they occur, but clearly this new arrangement is much more successful."
"So does that mean now I’m going to be the one making contact instead of Vanessa?" Nero asked. "Does that mean she won’t be joining anymore?"
There was a reason Nero was curious. He was well aware of the fact that Vanessa herself had an agenda to fulfil in Perilith, and he didn’t want to be the one to mess that up.
"No, you will be briefed on the parameters of what we need and what we’re willing to pay up, as well as the various types of situations you can expect facing Sage level ingredients. But there’s too much to go over in a short period - Vanessa will continue to accompany you."
The scientist turned to look at the Lieutenant.
"We’ll need to alter the plan. Over the next few days we’re going to need as many sugarcane samples as possible. Hold off all other missions until at least 100 samples have been collected, as well as soil and water samples."
"Collecting samples, especially from the outside, should not be an issue at all. We’ll deploy the Arcanists teams. If we’re lucky, a single day should be enough to collect that many samples."
"No, take your time. We need a few days to brief young Nero here anyway. Besides, considering how successful he has been so far, I think it’s in our best interest to ensure Dr. Iris signs off on his discharge papers."
An awkward silence filled the room, though Nero retained a straight face, as if he didn’t know about the threats the woman had delivered to his superiors.
"Has my agreement with the sugarcane caused any issues?" Nero couldn’t help but ask, partially because he wanted to know more about the situation.
"Not in the slightest," James said. "To utilize an ingredient of such a level, it would be a waste to use it at anything less than its full potential anyway, when it would naturally be grown to its limit. The issue comes with the plant gaining sentience. We cannot be sure of the kinds of limitations we will face when that happens. But no matter what, it will definitely still be worth it.
"Ingredients for cards at the Sage level are so rare, they’re preserved over centuries for when they might be used. Even if it’s not useful immediately, there will come a day when it will be needed."
"Continue the rest of your debriefing. What happened after you made the agreement?" asked Lieutenant Earl.
"Once I agreed to the sugarcane’s deal, it broke off a piece of itself and sealed it with some of its own power before handing it to me. I put the thing inside the glass orb from Pot Prison, but the aura of the plant was still leaking from it.
"I expected our return to be much more difficult, since the aura attracted curses. I suppose, in a way, that Frigid Storm helped us out. Without it, we would have been swarmed by countless curses and other creatures. I can’t say for certain whether we would have survived or not."
"Got it. So we need a better containment method. Well how about…"
The meeting went on for much longer than Nero expected, for not only were they getting as much information from Nero as possible, they were slowly beginning to explain some of the reasoning behind their actions to him.
Now that he had proven that he could venture alone into the deepest, most dangerous cursed zones alone and come out unharmed, the army’s entire strategy changed. What Nero didn’t know was that he was experiencing for the first time something that his own father experienced in every single mission - the entire plan hinged entirely on one man.
While Nero didn’t know it, Lieutenant Earl did, and he knew it well. In a world where fairness didn’t exist, monsters were real and a single man could make or break an empire, the influence of powerful individuals could never be underestimated.
While all of this was happening, faraway, in the heart of Kolar in Lorilem, the capital city, there was a grand building, towering above all others.
It was taller even than the presidency, or the office of the Chief of Army Staff. Standing in front of it were not actual soldiers, but marble statues over 10 meters (30 feet) tall of soldiers holding their spear right beside them. The building was the Military Civil Supreme court.
Within that building, Donivan Kade, son of Morphius Kade, oversaw the entire judiciary, making rulings that affected even other Sages, including his father.
The stoic man sat at his desk, his true age and experience detectable only in his deep eyes hidden behind a youthful appearance. Silently he continued his work, going through one paper after another, and every so often an assistant would come in and drop off new files, but they hardly exchanged a word.
The man maintained the exact same tempo continuously, as he had been doing for a long time, until he reviewed an application for a special circumstances draft targeting especially skilled Neophytes who performed well during the war.
The nature of special circumstance applications was such that they were filed for record keeping and bureaucratic purposes, as they were approved the moment they were filed. This was because they were meant to be used in war or battle circumstances during which a wait for approval could not be afforded.
Such applications were filed on a weekly basis whenever certain curses would unexpectedly act up, or some issue arose. Yet it was this one that caused Donivan to pause.
The door to his office opened when another assistant came in with a number of files, yet the man paused when he saw the expression on Donivans face.
"Send a summons to the Chief of Army Staff," Donivan said, his voice even and devoid of all emotions. "As the Arbiter of Law and Order, I hereby accuse him of being in contempt of the martial honour upon which Kolar is built. The act of sending untrained children, where warriors stand at the ready, towards a danger our soldiers can actually face, has stained the very creed of this nation, and brought shame to the martyrs of ages past. A refusal to answer this summons will be taken as an admission of guilt, and he will be sentenced to life imprisonment in a Cursed Zone."