Name: Superior Crop Enrichment

  Grade: Platinum

  Description: Nicknamed the “Golden Harvest” and “Exactly What You Need,” Superior Crop Enrichment uses principles of hybridization, core creation, and wards to create mana-enriched grains and vegetables. Using this skill, you can theoretically hunt a fourth evolution beast and satisfy your people for six months.

  Unfortunately, this skill requires decades of arraycraft experience to employ. So, unless you conveniently have a team of top-tier legacy arraycraft specialists from Theovale, I wouldn’t take it.

  Note: The next stage, Divine Crop Enrichment, teaches you how to fertilize the soil with soul force. So, in case you were wondering—yes. This does, in a different way, work with aura and neara, too. So if you master it, you can theoretically kill a fourth evolution beast and use it to feed your people mana and soul force for six months.

  —---

  A smile crept on my lips. Over and over, I had been reminded of the profound power of having an army. Now, that army would allow me to sit down and do actual botany for the first time.

  Four years ago, I would’ve done anything to avoid hard science, but the opportunity now made me salivate like a feral beast.

  “Done,” I said. I accepted, and a slurry of books entered my mind.

  Book: Fundamentals of Wards (Grades 1-4) has been added to your shelf.

  Book: Fundamentals of Channel Creation (Grades 1-3) has been added to your shelf.

  Book: Advanced Ward Suppression (Grades 1-2) has been added to your shelf.

  …

  I pushed the rest aside and sat beside the crop fields. “Hey, Lithco.”

  He materialized right beside me. “At your beck and call.”

  “Will this speed up crop growth?”

  “By more than double.”

  “Seriously?”

  “It’s a bit more complex than that. Unlike normal plants that wither after physical maturity, these plants mature and then absorb mana as long as they can before the seasons kill them. So while it fruits twice as fast, it’s not completely mature.”

  “But is it physically mature and edible?”

  “Yes.”

  “What a boon… Where do I start?”

  “I’d start by copying down instructions for your arraymasters so they can start working on the ward system and.”

  “Copy them? Can't you just…”

  “No. If people could just transfer the information, no one would fight for skills.”

  I sighed.

  “On the plus side, you can have me summarize the book in the ways you need, and then you can read it to a transcriber. You’re wealthy enough to afford one of those. It also forces you to read a book for once.”

  “Doesn’t sound half bad…” I muttered. “What about me? Where do I start with the seeds?”

  “Usually, you’d have to start a good ol’ Mendelian selection process. You’d sit down with seeds and start to establish core networks through them. You’d find which ones worked and then grow them the next year to see which ones worked and which ones didn’t. Then you'd cross breed for desirable traits, in-breed to make them ready for monoculture, and then establish your foundation seeds.”

  My eyes deadened. “Please say I can just buy them.”

  The process Lithco just described would take a decade.

  “There's no need for that. Trigan established deals with the Elinga family, so you're already using mana seeds. They can take some pain, but not at your scale. That means that you just need to find seeds compatible with your mana techniques, and then modify their genes with magic. It'll be a dance of science and magic, but I think you can pull it off.”

  “You think it'll be worth the time investment?”

  “I don't know. Is food important?”

  I shot him a stink eye.

  “What? It's a fundamental question. Besides, ninety nine percent of the mana you thread into it will go back to you. It doubles as threading practice. Speaking of which, you may want to give the job to Kai. Your hormonal decision making nearly destroyed his life, but the adaptive circulation gains he had to make to prevent dying were quite something else. In a way, your terrible decisions made him ideal at this job. It's practically fate.”

  ”That's not funny.”

  “It's not. I'm being dead serious. The experience improved his circulation monumentally, but it also made it erratic and creative as he found fresh solutions to avoid certain destruction. So not only wasn't it a waste, but it was indeed fated. Because you're not just breeding genes—you’re breeding channels. And your channels are eerily rigid at this point. You could learn from him.”

  Brindle only taught me combat-related soulmancy and how to create brambles, but I became ingrained with the feeling of his circulation and evolution processed. So while Yakana taught me how to circulate, I slowly drifted my circulation until it felt “natural.” That had benefits when doing things as Brindle had done them—but I wasn't Brindle. From Nymbral to Dreamscape I had different magic that needed different circulation. If I didn't break his habits, they would become a prison.

  Still—it felt weird talking about it like that.”

  I grimaced. “Please don’t remind me.”

  “So all’s well that ends well, huh?”

  “I don't know. Why don't you ask him?”

  I followed Lithco’s and saw Kai approaching me. Far from the ghoulish mass of varicose veins and wheezing lungs he had been a few days ago, he looked healthy—remarkably healthy—healthier than when I met him.

  I braced for impact, preparing for an endless slew of thank yous, or worse, I don’t blame yous. I’m not sure what I expected, and I was fairly certain that I would be dissatisfied no matter what he said, but instead, he simply lifted his hand in a statuesque wave and said, “Yo.”

  I was so stunned by the unrespected response that I burst into bewildered laughter.

  “That went better than expected,” he said as he sat down.

  “What did you expect?” I asked.

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. Awkwardness or something.”

  “You and me, both.”

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  Then, we fell into a deep silence. A nipping breeze caressed my skin as I stared blankly at the frosted farmland. It was technically spring, but everything was still dead and tired. It felt like the current situation with Kai—there was a promise of growth and recovery, but it was currently desolate, broken, and forgotten. It was just… bleak.

  He sat beside me, overlooking the same scenery, but his face was far more serene. It didn’t look like he was compensating for something, so the expression didn’t bother me as much as I thought it might’ve if it were on anyone else’s face.

  A few minutes passed by like that before he broached the topic—albeit in a strange way.

  “My father always taught me that when someone helps you, you should show your gratitude. Not just to say thank you, but to go out of your way to show them it mattered to you in tangible gestures and actions. And even afterward, you’ll want to attend their event or send them a present to show them your gratitude wasn't just in the moment. It was important to him—just for something small. But sacrifices… My father said that when someone sacrifices for you, showing isn’t enough. If someone sacrifices for you, you can’t show you’re grateful—you need to prove it.” He glanced at me with genuineness in his eyes. “I already swore my mind and body to you. That hasn’t changed. But from now on…” He glanced back at the farmland. “I have a whole lot of proving to do.”

  I smiled with tired amusement. “How are you going to prove it?”

  He laughed. “Dunno. Usually, you take an arrow for ‘em. But if something’s coming to kill you? Hah. I wouldn’t even make proper bait.”

  I giggled as he used dramatic hand gestures to express terror before being eaten.

  “So I don’t know,” Kai said. “But the thing about proving your loyalty is that it’s not… one thing. Day after day, month after month… I’ll act in your interest. I’m not sure how that’ll look. For all I know, you’ll never want to speak to me again. But even still. I will give my life to support you, and make it a daily goal.”

  I replied with something between a laugh and a scoff. “This is too much.”

  “No, it’s not. You’re a queen. You saved my sister, and we pledged our lives to you. The only thing I’m doing is vowing that I’ll bring you results. It’s not that weird…” He laughed awkwardly as he looked away. “Well, since you’re a queen. Otherwise, yeah, it’d feel like stalking.”

  I laughed softly and took a deep, fresh breath. Poison Sense heightened my senses, so I was immersed in the smell of wet and rotting logs and the fragrance of early spring fungi. It grounded me, taking me out of this social dynamic I didn’t understand and putting me into something I did.

  “Okay,” I said.

  “Okay, what?”

  “Okay… It’s okay. I’ll accept… whatever you’re saying. I don’t have any expectations, but if you do prove it… it’d be nice.”

  He nodded.

  “And if you want to get started on that,” I said, standing up slowly. “Come with me.”

  He raised an eyebrow as he stood. “Where’re we going?”

  “To pick up magic seeds.” I wiggled my fingers. “I’m going to teach you the circulation spell to create spirit channels in seeds. From now on, your job is to create mana seed variations for breeding.”

  He furrowed his brow. “It’ll be my… job? Sorry, but I don’t know anything about seeds.”

  “Right now. By next year, you’re going to know absolutely everything there is to know about seeds because it’s the only thing you’re going to do this year. It’s our first priority.”

  His eyes widened. “Why me?”

  “‘Cause you suck at threading and prone to destroying yourself. So I figure if I want to protect my investment, I should make threading your full time job.”

  He stared at me in wonderment, and then he flashed a beaming smile.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Nothing. I… love it. It’s actually… the one thing I wished you’d say. But Jaylin…”

  My entire body shivered when I realized that I still hadn’t seen her, and then I cracked an awkward smile. “Well… I guess you’ll have to deal with it. ‘Cause if she won’t accept me overseeing your training…”

  His face paled. “Oh no…”

  “She will.”

  “Mira. You have no idea what you’ve just suggested.”

  “I don’t, but that’s the will of your queen.” I sent him a cheeky smile and pulled him into Wraithwood Botanicals, the greenhouse we built in the forest. The second we walked in, we were blasted with warm, humid temperatures. I looked around the room. It was thirty feet in diameter, which, when hollowed out, had the general square footage of a standard American one-bedroom apartment—and it was full of plants. The walls, the floors, the countertop, and the office. And that was just the first floor.

  When we entered, we immediately started walking up spiral staircases that led to eight floors full of plants, many surrounded in various colored wards that handled heat regulation, precipitation, and a gaseous domain.

  This was the Hellara family’s specialization—alchemical herb hotoculture.

  Felio helped set it up with us, but she spent most of her days working in blissful alchemy heaven. Instead, Jaylin managed the botanical garden with a team of four.

  Jaylin was up on the floor and was coming down when she saw us.

  “Kai!” she cried, rushing down the stairs. “You’re up!”

  “I’m up,” he said.

  She grabbed and rotated his forearm, inspected it, looked at his cheeks—touched his forehead.

  “I’m fine,” he said.

  Jaylin’s eyes flashed with fury. “You were purple and wheezing two days ago!”

  His face turned ashen.

  “Just because you were too close to death to remember doesn’t mean that we don’t. You’re lucky you got away with just—” She abruptly stopped herself, afraid to stab a sore spot.

  Kai responded by lifting a finger up above her head and summoning a tiny water droplet that hit her forehead.

  “Hey!” She covered her head with both arms. “How many times do I have to tell you….” Her eyes widened as she watched dozens of water droplets materialize and drop from his fingertips. She looked between it and me and back. “No way… how?”

  I tried to answer, but Kai stopped her with stern eyes. “I was never sick—and so there was nothing to heal. Do you understand?” He must’ve heard from Kyro.

  Jaylin looked between him and me.

  “It wasn’t a miracle,” I confirmed. “He was in bad shape, but our expert team of healers and alchemists helped him through. That’s the official story—that’s what I expect you to adhere to.”

  Her eyes welled with tears. “Yes, of course, but… how? How did you—”

  “Using something none of us will ever see again. That was the one and only miracle Wraithwood will ever see on the subject. And that’s why you are going to oversee Kai’s work to prevent it from happening again.”

  She snapped her eyes on Kai. “What work?”

  He winced.

  “Our work,” I interrupted. “Over the next two years, I need you to oversee the production of seeds that can handle steady torrents of mana. Right now, we have mana seeds, but we need something that can handle third evolution cores. Our arraycraft team will create a converter, but it will still be heavy.”

  Jaylin’s eyes trembled in terror. “Heavy? That’s beyond heavy. Third evolution cores don’t just have more mana. It’s different mana. If you try to put that into a plant—”

  “That’s where your brother comes in. He’ll be the one bolstering the seeds with platinum-grade enhancement spells. I’ll then test them with higher cores.”

  That’s when it clicked, and her face flashed between me and Kai in a state of anxiety-stricken horror.

  “And—you will oversee this process to make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid,” I said quickly. “That means you can tell him to go to his bedroom and twiddle his thumbs for the next month.”

  Kai grimaced as Jaylin’s shoulders slumped in relief.

  “That said—”

  Jaylin’s body tensed up again.

  “—It’ll take a whole lot of hybridization and inbreeding to establish a monoculture that can handle this, so if you worry too long, you’ll fail.” I moved my head to establish eye contact with her shying eyes. “People make mistakes and learn from them. Your brother has a year to evolve at peak performance—and this will make sure he does it right. So make the most of the opportunity, okay?”

  She bit her lip, eyes tearing up.

  I turned to Kai. “I’ll see you tomorrow in the threading chamber at five thirty.”

  I walked away to give the siblings space, only to catch a deep look of betrayal in Kai’s eyes as he watched me leave. It made me feel like a villain, but… whatever. If you asked me, it was a good thing. Let him suffer a bit. Prick.

  I grinned as I walked outside, feeling a pressing weight lifted from my shoulders. Kline materialized out of nowhere, brushing my leg. I dropped to my haunches, letting him nip at my fingertips.

  “Come on,” I said lovingly. “Let’s check on your brother.”

  I threw on Cloak of the Predator as Kline activated Active Camouflage. Then, I scooped Kline up and flew into the air, flying over the camp as Tyler led soldiers in morning training.