CHAPTER 82: TEDIOUS WORK

Sylara came for Calen and Elira herself in the morning, and led them straight to the farm, where a rudimentary training arena was set up, right next to a pen capable of hosting one animal.

"Seems like you were right." Calen whispered to Elira.

"I mean, it was the only logical solution." She whispered back.

"So I’m guessing you already know how this is going to work - I’m going to purify an animal with Calen, and then teach Elita while he recuperates." Sylara smiled. "Any questions?"

"Just one." Calen nodded. "What will you do once I get the hang of it and don’t need to rest between purifications?"

"That’s easy, if we can do it continuously we’ll finish the batch planned for the day earlier, and I’ll be left with time to just teach Elira."

Since the number of animals they had to purify per day was rather large, the farmhands didn’t waste any time and left the first animal in the fenced area.

This time there was no need for magical restraints, since the creatures have been simply sedated into near unconsciousness - it was going to make his job a bit easier, since it meant that the animal’s will won’t be actively going against him while he uses the flame.

"While we do this first one do a warmup - run around the arena, stretch a bit, stuff like that." Sylara instructed Elira, and then entered the pen, followed by Calen.

The first thing he did was scan the animal with his power, just like he did with the mutated beast yesterday - if only to confirm that the only bit of Blight in its body was the small seed attached to its heart.

When he cautiously enveloped it in flame and started chipping away at the tumor, he felt that it was indeed easier than before, as neither the core nor the animal were fighting against his will.

It was easy enough that he could just about manage a conversation without messing up.

"So, do you know why the corruption starts begins with the heart?"

Sylara didn’t seem particularly surprised by the question.

"The Blight is a parasitic entity, and it cannot exist on its own, it needs a living - or at least formerly alive - host. In living creatures it corrupts body and mind, and since the former is much easier than latter, it starts with the arguably most important part, your heart."

"What about plants then? Isn’t the creeping veil a manifestation of the Blight?"

Sylara shook her head.

"It’s an organism expertly twisted to become a part of the weird ecosystem the Blight creates, but at the end of the day it’s also just a corrupted plant taken from an another world." She looked at him. "Let me ask you this, if the sunlight is detrimental to Blight’s creations, why keep it at all? Why not just snuff it out once and for all and be done with it?"

Calen narrowed his eyes.

"Judging by the context of the question, I assume the answer isn’t ’because it can’t do it’?"

"It’s not." She confirmed. "The real reason is that the creatures twisted by the corruption still need sun, and it means that paradoxically, so does Blight - because it is using things that need sunlight it can’t darken the sun completely, as it would kill most of the things it controls and therefore destroy itself."

Calen nodded as he stepped away from the animal - he finished the first one without any hiccups, which was a great thing, but he was also a bit dizzy, and completely out of power, which meant it was time for Elira’s training.

***

"I already know your general level because of what you did in the Fool’s tomb, so we’ll focus on more niche powers that come from the nature domain."

Elira hesitated before asking:

"Excuse me, but how did you learn how much can I do with just a single action?"

"One usage of divine power is enough to gleam how easily you wield it, and to what capacity." Sylara explained. "As I was saying, during our training sessions I’m going to show you some of the more... esoteric applications of this power."

When Elira blinked, Sylara was suddenly holding a potted plant.

"Not many people know this, but just like people and animals, plants have memory - now, their memory isn’t quite like what we have since they lack most senses, but it is still there, and druids can learn to extract and interpret those memories."

She held up the plant in her hand.

"Today your task will be to recover at least one memory from this plant - by the evening I want you to tell me as much about it as you can find out, where it stood, who takes care of it, when was it planted, stuff like that."

Sylara handed Elira the pot, and made an encouraging motion, but the alchemist only stares at her.

"...how exactly am I supposed to do that?"

"Well if I tell you everything you won’t learn anything!" She laughed. "Try stuff, trial and error are inevitable when working with the forces of the universe."

"Could you at least give me a hint?"

"Fine." Sylara sighed. "Try addressing just one plant instead of the entire domain."

Sylara snapped her fingers and an intricate chair grew out of the ground - it was made of wood and vines, with soft moss serving as cushions - and she made herself comfortable.

"Go on, try it." She encouraged.

Elira careful put the pot on the ground and say next to it - unsure of how to start, she put her hand on one of the delicate leaves and asked it for information.

A strange sensation overwhelmed her, a completely unknown one she couldn’t quite understand accompanied by a feeling that she was being observed, in more ways than one - a feeling which came from Sylara.

She released the leaf and took a deep breath.

Perhaps she should specify what type of information she was looking for, and from when.

’let’s try something simple... maybe vibrations from a week ago? That’s simple enough and I should be able to interpret it - I think.’

Connecting with the plant again she asked for the specific part of a memory, and suddenly-

The world around her disappeared, and all she could see was darkness.

But she did feel something - vibrations, a whole lot of them.

And strangely she could gleam much more from them than she should be able to, she could tell which was human steps, which came from a voice, and how they spread around the space.

When she completely adjusted to the strange state of being, she finally began piecing together the information she got.

She - or the plant - was located in a small room, where only a single person stayed for most of the time. The room was also rather empty, considering how the vibrations spread, it had a few pieces of furniture at most.

It was worth noting that the person in the room was always the same, at least as far as she could tell.

’Small and fairly empty chamber occupied by a single person - either a bedroom or an office.’

Just as she thought about trying to get more information, she was violently thrown out of the memory, leaving her stretched on the ground gasping for air.

"Impressive, twenty minutes is very long for a first reading." Sylara praised her. "What did you learn?"

After Elita evened out her breathing, she told Sylara about her findings.

"Your on the right track, but you chose a fairly difficult sensation to interpret for a human." She nodded. "Think about this - what can a plant sense in the exact same way as we can? Think about it while I handle the next Animal with Calen."

***

"That looked rather strange" Calen commented.

"It does look a tad unusual, but it is a very useful ability, especially in heavily forested areas." Sylara answered. "Even the Blightborn made their own twisted version of this technique."

"I have to point out that the land is a bit short on forests, and plants in general nowadays." Calen chuckled as he started to work on the next creature.

"That’s only partially true - like I told you earlier, all of Blight creations are based on something else. Let’s take the creeping veil as an example, it is a growth made mostly of corrupted plant flesh, but deep down there’s still a sliver of that original life, and a skilled druid can reach out to it, and retrieve a sea of information."

"Is that what you are?" Calen asked. "A skilled druid?"

"Maybe I’ll tell you after the ritual, for now focus on your task - it’s good that you can do this without paying too much attention, but if you did you’d be able to finish your job quicker and use less energy while doing it."

He could only sigh and do as she told him, after all it would be better for him if he finished earlier.