Chapter Fourteen: A Child of Cultivation

Chapter Fourteen

A CHILD OF CULTIVATION

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“Before immortality, Orethnia;s first gifts were the forests, the land and the creatures within. We must respect them as we respect ourselves.”

– Calista Kezia of her Grace’s Order of Radiance

~*~

“Ride now, read later,” Kaedric said as he offered her a hand up.

“But–”

“Now, Liv. I sensed something else out there before that thing ambushed us. We need to get back on the road before another decides to come investigate.”

The thought of drawing more unwanted attention from those things was enough to temper her excitement. Muttering an apology to her book, she dismissed it and it vanished in its usual puff of golden dust. She took his hand and admittedly grunted with the effort. Everything ached and curiously enough, her senses tingled as if they’d been burned around the edges. The positivity of the mint helped soothe the phantom sensation, but wasn’t enough to remedy it in its entirety.

Kaedric’s sharp whistle had Kelsa trotting up from where she’d been grazing some distance away, dragging a disgruntled Ember along with her. The mare’s reins had been tied to the saddle and she appeared none too pleased by the fact. She huffed when they came to a stop, shaking her head and licking her lips.

“Is equine recall a part of my curriculum?” Liv wondered, watching as he untethered her mare and murmured his quiet apology.

“It’s certainly useful. We can practice once we’re back home,” he said, passing her reins over.

“I’ll hold you to that,” she said.

The two mounted in silence and as Liv settled back into her seat, she noted they weren’t all that far from the field. She could see the edge a short distance through the trees, as well as the boulders Kaedric had displaced. Her body gave an involuntary shudder at the sight of them and she quickly looked away. The corruption she’d sensed from the Rot had left its mark.

They took a winding route back to the main road, watching and listening for any signs of additional afflicted along the way. When none arose, she silently thanked whatever gods called this world home. One of them had been terrifying enough and while Kaedric had handled it with relative ease, she imagined she would have been ripped apart if she were alone. Or if another had sprung out from the trees while he was distracted. Short of running, she was useless. Vulnerable.

And she needed to change that. Fast. She couldn’t effectively fend for herself out in the elements, defend herself in any respect or even compete against even the general populace. The more she mentally replayed Kaedric’s fight, the more she realized the demonstration was as impressive as it had been terrifying. He had skill, experience and competence. If she caught the attention of someone along a similar vein with ill intentions, she didn’t stand a chance. Until now, she hadn’t realized how difficult this whole survive the new world business was going to be.

The moment Kaedric deemed it safe, she summoned her spiritbook. As it manifested, she noted several changes she’d somehow missed when she’d summoned it earlier. It had grown thicker, somehow, and the leather had darkened to a rich mahogany brown. Tiny, flowering vines grew along the spine and around the edges of the cover, adding an oddly welcoming aura. A thin black ribbon of a bookmark had materialized as well, wrapped in what might have been a honeysuckle vine.

Liv blinked, “How did–”

“Your book evolves as you advance,” Kaedric offered, “The more elaborate the book, the higher the order.”

“Well, that’s good to know,” she said, admiring the changes.

You have five selections remaining, the book wrote.

Five? That couldn’t be right. She passed the midpoint between her second and third order days ago and she’d used the selection to round out her foundation with energy transduction. The next order was only supposed to grant her four selections. Unless . . .

“Show me my information page,” she said.

Olivia Lockhard

Age: Twenty-six

Origin: Unknown

Place of Birth: Unknown

Living relatives: Two detected

Gemcore: Animite

Designation: Type III

Order: Fourth

Aspect Alignment: None

Access to Arcane Spring: 4th Order

Active Effects: Forsaken.

In death, life blooms anew, but not for you.

She read a singular line over and over again until it fully sank in. Fourth order. How the hell had that happened? She knew she’d been on the cusp of reaching her third, but she’d never expected to blow right through it.

“Am I seeing this right?” She asked.

Though her book said yes, she showed it to Kaedric anyway.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

“What is it?” He asked, pushing Kelsa in closer at her behest.

She tapped the line with a gloved finger, “This.”

His brow knit, “Fourth? Already?”

“So I’m seeing that right? I’m not going crazy?”

He shrugged a shoulder, “Your book confirmed it.”

“Yeah, but how? All I did was poke my nose where it clearly didn’t belong and lay in a mint patch.”

“You used your skills to read the most advanced case of Rot I’ve ever seen, Liv. The potency of whatever it was you sensed was likely enough to push your progression. As for the mint, it may not have appeared particularly special, but sitting in concentrated energy fields relating to your element nurtures your gemcore. They’re natural treasures, in that sense.”

She tilted her head as she considered. His first point made enough sense, she supposed, but she wasn’t quite sold on the second. She’d been around plants and other vegetation for days and hadn’t seen near as much progress.

“Wouldn’t the forest count as a concentrated energy field?” She asked.

“To some degree, sure, but I’m guessing it's similar to how open ground or rock is for me. There’s still a degree of energy, but it’s basic. Common may be a better word for it, but regardless, certain stones, crystals or mineral types hold varying energy concentrations and make-ups.”

“Like the herbs and other plants you forage?” She asked, making the connection.

He nodded.

That was interesting.

“Does that mean I can just sit in that patch and passively advance my order?”

“Not exactly. Gemcores passively feed on the available energy of a treasure, regardless of what it is. It will give you a boost, yes, but natural treasures need time to recover after they’ve been depleted. Depending on your order, you eventually reach a point of diminishing returns as well. You’d have to find more powerful sources if you wanted to see any meaningful supplementation,” he said.

She sighed, “I should have known there wasn’t a way to cheat the system. Fair enough. How long until they’re ineffective?”

“In your case? Your sixth or seventh order.”

That was better than she’d assumed.

“Once we’re able to travel together along your routes, could you show me a few places you think might act as these natural treasures for me?” She asked.

“I can,” he said, “that means more saddle time, though. Some of them are further away than others.”

Liv winced, “That impromptu sprint back there showed me just how lacking I am in the whole riding department. I could use the practice.”

He inclined his head with an air of approval, “I may make a woodswoman of you yet.”

“Much as I might bitch about it, I’m still here to learn. You’re still my best chance of staying alive in the long run.”

“You’ll do more than just survive, if I have anything to say about it,” he snorted.

She grinned, “See? Best chance.”

He gestured to her book, “Are you still planning on going the corporeal route?”

“I still think it makes the most amount of sense. The energy side has some interesting skills, but I’m not sure how useful some of them are. Like Disrupt Energy, for instance. Or Read Aura. I’ve been doing well enough with a blend of Read Energy and my detection skills. I want something more active,” she said, summoning her tree.

Kaedric had to lean down a bit in order to inspect it for himself, thanks to the height differences of the mounts, but he managed.

“What about Arcane Strike?” He asked.

“I’ve considered it. From a defensive standpoint, it’s between that and Generate Barkskin. I have a limited arcana reserve, so I’m hesitant to select both.”

“You could use them interchangeably. At least until you find out how much arcana they siphon,” he said.

“True, but I’ve been playing around with the idea of selecting Cultivate Microorganism too. I’d need to experiment with it, but I might be able to leverage certain bacteria or algae types. The cultivate verbiage coupled with the Encourage Growth prerequisite lead me to believe I’ll be able to grow something that already exists rather than manifest it out of thin air, so I’m fairly certain I’ll need samples to play with before I can really do anything with the skill. In that case, maybe I should save it?”

“I can’t speak to specific bacterias, but algae should be easy enough to come by,” he said.

She sighed, “Your helpfulness isn’t making this any easier, you know.”

He chuckled lightly, “How about we start with the ones you have your heart set on and work our way to the outliers?”

“Fair enough,” she said, tapping her chin with a finger as her eyes flitted up the page, “I’m thinking Wield Flora and Shape Flora. The first has potential for both offensive and defensive uses. Shape Flora may have more offensive ones, but sky’s the limit on that one.”

“Believe it or not, I used both those skills in that fight. The earth variant, of course, but even so.”

“Really?” She asked, then shook her head for asking such a stupid question. Thinking back, she could definitely see it. How hadn’t she noticed it before?

“They’re both useful, so I wouldn’t discount either one. You can use them for more mundane things too. Like creating shelter if you’re caught out in the woods. Or landscaping your yard.”

She actually giggled at that last bit, “I’m not sure how much landscaping I plan on doing, but I get it. All right, say I chose both of those. I have three left. Which do you think would best round out my skill set?”

“If you’re having reservations about the energy skills, I would go with Generate Barkskin, Cultivate Microorganism and Arcane Shield. With that spread, you should have a solid base to draw from,” Kaedric said after a moment of thought.

She’d been leaning toward a combination of the same.

“I suppose I can always go back and select one of the other skills later, if I really wanted to. You can do that, right? Go back and choose skills from a prior order?”

He nodded and she mirrored the action as she thought.

Focusing her attention on her spiritbook, she said, “I’ll go with those, then. I choose Wield Flora and Shape Flora under governance and Generate Barkskin, Cultivate Microorganism and Arcane strike for creation.”

Excellent, all available selections have been made.

She smiled.

“Solid choices,” Kaedric said, seeming rather satisfied himself, “But remember: no practicing in public. Aside from it being frowned upon while out and about in town, you’re liable to draw far too much of the wrong kind of attention.”

“I remember,” she mumbled, then opened her mouth to ask–

“And no practicing on the road, either. You never know who we might come across or who might be lurking around where you can’t see them.”

This time, she scowled. She couldn’t fault him for his logic on either of those fronts, but it didn’t soothe any of her mounting disappointment. She finally had a number of cool and useful skills at her disposal and she couldn’t even use them.

“Fine.”

They rode in silence for a time before he eventually said, “You can practice at the inn tonight. Behind closed and locked doors.”

“Inn?” She questioned, “We’re not going back home when we’re done?”

“Shopping around for you is likely to take up a majority of the day, to say nothing of locating a buyer for your arcana. It would be dark before we got back and I’m not keen on riding back at night knowing afflicted have strayed into the area. We’ll have breakfast in the city, then head back tomorrow morning.”

She perked up at the prospect of breakfast, “Do you have restaurants? Cafes? Things like that?”

“A few,” he said.

Liv squealed, “What about coffee, do they have coffee? Please tell me they do.”

He gave her another one of those odd looks of his, “I can’t say I’ve ever heard of that particular, erm, item, but they have teas and pastries.”

“It’s a drink,” she said, “Trust me, if they had it, you’d know. Back home, people live off the stuff.”

“Including yourself?” He guessed.

“I’m no Starbucks girly, but I enjoy a cup every now and again,” she said, but eventually folded under his continued scrutiny, “All right, fine. I have one every morning. Happy?”

“Ah, there’s the truth,” he chortled.

“Stupid human lie detector,” she muttered under her breath.

“What was that?”

“Nothing!” She said, giving him her best smile.