[Farmer] Mage
B2 - Chapter 23

“This is one that I planted just a few months ago. What do you think of it?” Arhan asked.

This farm had caught Cal’s eye on the way to town. It stood out from the purple-colored crops growing on it. Each stood straight—as tall as him—and purple grains grew at the top in a densely packed sphere.

“Uh, it looks good,” Cal replied, unsure what Arhan was asking for.

“I didn’t mean its physical appearance. What do you think of how I’m growing this crop? You can use your sensing ability.”

Cal gave him an alarmed look, wondering how Arhan knew he was a sensor.

Arhan saw his concern and laughed. “Please, when you made your presence so obvious, it was easy to conclude that you were a sensor. If you hadn’t known there were so many Masters lurking in town, why would you need to make yourself look so harmless?”

… That’s another mistake I committed, and I hadn’t even considered it as such. In fact, I thought I was being clever.

Cal figured there was no point trying to downplay his abilities, not when Arhan basically told him he was aware of everything. At least, the friendly Master claimed he might help him with understanding the crop.

He did his best to avoid spreading his mana tendrils to Arhan and reached out into the farm before him. He nearly flinched at the overload of information that poured through the mana tendrils. It was worse than encompassing the entirety of Mariner’s Rest.

Cal used the lessons he had learned from using [Mana Sense] previously and forced most of the information into his mind’s periphery. He could finally get a vague understanding of the multitude of spells working in tandem on the crop. Of course, he wasn’t able to tell exactly what they were, but he could touch on some functions.

The most obvious of the spells Cal noticed was an invisible barrier that covered the crop like a thin film around it. He couldn’t tell why it was there, but he suspected it would have to do something with repelling pests and other irritants that could affect the crop’s growth.

Cal pushed that to his mind’s periphery and moved onto the next. There was a spell infused in the crop’s roots, which pulled mana into the crop at alarming speed. It was almost like a vacuum, but multiplied hundreds of times to every symbol crop on the farm while also being stable enough where there were no conflicts between the multiple spells in use.

The last spell he could sense was one that caused the most trouble. It was a dense blanket woven into the soil, having an unknown function, but it blinded him to the spells in play that were more subtle.

“What did you find?” Arhan asked as soon as Cal pulled back his mana tendrils. “Do find anything familiar?”

Cal shook his head. All the spells here seemed to promote the crops’ growth. While he had similar functions on his farm, his way was not through spells, but equipment effects, interface rewards, and class skills.

Arhan’s expression fell, and Cal’s mind snapped back to focus. It didn’t matter if he didn’t know the exact spells, but that didn’t mean he had to be a mute and look like a fool.

“There are too many spells in use and I can’t tell all of them apart, but there are three I could tell apart. There’s one that blankets the soil, though I can’t tell what it’s for. Other than that, one channels mana into the crop through the roots, and the other surrounds it like a thin film. My guess of the latter is that it protects the crops from pests.”

Arhan listened patiently, nodding in the right places, and smiled at the finish. “I didn’t think you were so accomplished as a sensor. If I didn’t know you were a Farmer, I might have thought you as a Mage.”

Cal laughed uneasily with Arhan. At least he doesn’t know I have dual Classes.

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“What is the Celestial Order having you do over there? You’re the first Apprentice Farmer I’ve heard of, so it has to be something interesting. Are they trying to reduce the reliance on my territory’s crops?” Arhan frowned before answering himself. “No, that can’t be it. Just one of you won’t do much. It must be some exotic crop you’re in charge of.”

Cal met Arhan’s sharp gaze and knew the man expected an answer. Luckily, what he did was no secret, and easily verifiable. “Disappointment awaits you, I fear. I just grow Sunfire Grains, though my farm being in the Northern Wastes makes it a little interesting.”

Arhan raised a brow and tilted his head. “Sunfire Grains,” he muttered. “Your guild has no history of growing that crop, though it is suitable for where they stationed you… But I’m puzzled why. Halfwits lead the Celestial Order, but even they wouldn’t exile someone like you to their wasteland.”

Cal wasn’t sure if he should defend his guild when it was so blatantly insulted. Technically, Arhan insulted the administration, not the guild. I’ll let it go, considering Arhan’s ability to turn me into a smear.

Arhan narrowed his eyes as he leaned down to get closer to Cal, his considerable height on display. “It’s more likely that the Celestial Order has little control over your actions. You’ve been stumbling along, experimenting with what is right and wrong. Am I right?”

Close enough. Cal shrugged.

“I’m tempted to take you under my wing,” Arhan said with regret. “The others would complain endlessly if I do.”

“Er, I’m happy where I am, Master—” Cal cleared his throat at the look shot at him. “—Arhan.”

“I’m sure you are.” Arhan didn’t believe him. “Well, I suppose I can still give you a little help for being interesting. Which of the spells you detected do you want to know more about?”

Cal’s eyes widened in surprise. He had expected little other than the quick look at the farm and getting back to the inn unharmed, but he would never refuse knowledge from a Master Farmer.

“… Just one spell?” Cal asked, not about to resist pushing for more.

“It doesn’t have to be just one. All you have to do is defect to the Harvest Union and you get that and more,” Arhan grinned.

Cal was sure that was supposed to be a joke, but he felt Arhan wouldn’t be unhappy if he took that seriously. Of course, he had no intention of jumping to another guild, even if that would solve multiple headaches caused by staying in the Celestial Order.

I wanted to avoid interacting with the guild to stop attachments from forming. Then I went and did exactly that with people that called the Celestial Order’s territory home.

He shoved that thought from his mind and reviewed the spells he sensed on the farm. He didn’t deal with pests in the Northern Wastes, and he had beasts that could help if there was a problem in the future, so the invisible barrier wasn’t that important to him.

Cal would choose between the spells that were woven into the soil and the one that pulled mana into the crop. “… Could you tell me what the spell is doing to the soil? Is it enriching it for the crops or something more complex?”

Arhan thought his question over for a second before shaking his head. “A little of both, but mostly just enrichment. If you want something to use in your wasteland, that will be the most useless spell since you found a way to already grow crops there.”

“Oh.” Cal blinked. That made his decision easy. “Then I choose the spell that pulls mana into the crops.”

Arhan’s expression lit up. “My creation! You know how to pick the spells, uh—” He frowned. “I never got your name, kid.”

“It’s Cal.” He blinked at Arhan’s raised brow. “Cal Maddox.”

“Hm, Cal Maddox,” Arhan repeated before shaking his head. “Never heard of you. I thought I might with how unique you are to come from that guild. Anyway, let’s get started.” He gripped one of the purple-grained crops by its stalk and yanked it out of the ground.

Cal felt a sense of camaraderie with Arhan, thinking of how he does the same when harvesting Sunfire Grains.

“This is called a Phantasia Tree,” Arhan said as he threw the uprooted crop on the ground near Cal. “Despite the name, it’s not a tree, but I’m sure the resemblance it has to one led to the name. Study the roots again.”

Cal didn’t hesitate to reach out with a mana tendril. It was much cleared without the spell blanketing the soil interfering, but even more helpful was how all other spells that had been working on the crop were gone. Arhan had deactivated them.

He sensed faint, warm pulses ripple through the roots, trying to find mana it could no longer draw. Not that it was unsuccessful, but the air turned out to be a poor source of mana compared to the soil on the farm.

Maybe the spell woven into the soil is the mana source. Either way, I can use the pond as the source if I learn the spell.

He frowned when he sensed the roots deteriorating. The spell went into overdrive as it tried to stop the process by sucking in as much mana as possible. Once that wasn’t enough to stop the deterioration, the spell cannibalized the crop to stop the roots from dying. It was successful, briefly.

“Impressive, isn’t it? It’s the ultimate growth preserver,” Arhan said with a smile. “And that didn’t need my input. If you want, I can teach it to you.”

Cal wasn’t sure how this preserved growth, but he wanted the spell.