Master Of None

The water poured out in to the fertilizer causing a muddy black and brown mix to puddle around the sapling. The entire party followed Gil's lead and stood a fair distance back. Jane took a large breath and rolled up her sleeves a bit more, with a slight stretch she reached out to touch the sapling. The party watched and listened intently to see what would happen.

" I beseech you goddess of growth and fertility. Bless this young life with your touch and allow it the strength to become a pillar of nature." Swirls of green mana seemed to be growing out of the ground and air itself. These wisps focused in on Gil's mother and were channeled through her hand at an incredible rate. The strength of the green glow continues to increase many times over. The energetic feeling in the air was tangible, it was almost if someone had used a very high level healing spell. The aura in the cathedral was not comparable in the least.

Suddenly the glow dispersed and Jane stepped back looking a bit pale. Gil rushed up and helped her move back while keeping an eye on the little sapling. There started a slow creaking and a slight vibration in the ground, roots started to spring up from the sapling. They were white grey and twisted in and out of the soil. The sapling itself was pushing taller and taller, more branches sprouting. 

The leaves were going through many seasons growing, fading, flowering, and then going dormant over and over. The life cycles of the weeping willow were incredible to witness all at once. "Watch the roots, if they catch your foot it might twist around you!" Gil shouted a warning just as Walker saw a root get near him, he heeded Gil's voice and moved back farther watching the root dig back down in to the ground.

The now much larger weeping willow tree was growing in to a full fledged adult size before their eyes, it was already much taller than them and the trunk was almost double their waist in thickness. After about five minutes of rapid growth the speed of the growth was slowing, after another five the party were amazed to see the long drooping branches of a massive white and grey bark tree. There were tiny white buds starting to form that would soon form leaves. 

"So what did you all think?" No one had the right words to reply to Jane at that moment, and seeing that she was fairly tired Gil decided he would take the job of explaining what had just happened. 

"Mom's mastery skill can only be used once a month. It is called touch of the nature goddess. It can grow a plant in to full maturity in just a few minutes. The cost is of course the nutrients in the soil and a whole lot of mana." Walker thought this was one of the most beautiful skills he had ever witnessed besides the light from Alice's song. 

The shifting seasons that had been shown to the, in wick succession had spoken volumes, trying to describe what they had seen in words would have been too little for what had actually occurred. " It was...just...wow." Gil laughed a bit at this reaction and started to help his mother toward the door of the mansion. He thought it better to leave them to take it all in themselves. 

Midnight and Onyx had been interrupted from their rest and sat much farther away. They were both entranced by the massive tree that had appeared within minutes. They were studying the other plants that they had seen Gil's mother helping with wondering if they would as well burst from the ground and become massive trees too. After some time they had all gathered their thoughts.

"That was one of the coolest mastery skills ever." Remey summed up her thoughts pretty easily, this was what Walker and Su were thinking too and could only nod. 

"I can not imagine what else she could grow if she could use that skill more than once a month." Walker was trying to imagine a farm springing up in to a jungle in just a few minutes using a tun of mana potions.

"Leader, Gil said the skill was called touch of the nature goddess. Does that mean she borrows the power of a goddess just to do that?" Su was curious that one day she may be able ti call for a god's power as well. The real question was how did the world decide what gods would be related to what systems. If they too were bound by the would's system then was the world more powerful than a god. Or was it that they just didn't understand things correctly.

"It sounded like it, but who knows how it all works. All I know is that we have juts seen something great and I can't wait until next month to see what else she decided to grow." u knew that this was all just going to be theory anyways and dropped the thought. She would find her mastery skill when the time was right, no need to rush. 

"Ugh, I am filthy! Let's go inside and get the mud off." Remey had looked down to find there was more dirt on her pants than she had ever seen. " Do you think farmers are always this dirty?" 

"It looked like Gil's mother didn't have a single speck of dirt on her." Su had observed that every time Jane had knelt down not a bit of mud stuck to her overalls. It was like it was afraid to stick to her.

"Must be a skill, if I can get that skill my clothes will never get dirty." Walker was trying to brainstorm on how to gain a passive skill like that or one that the blacksmiths sometimes had that kept them clean.

"Ha! Well if you figure it out also find a way to give it to us." Su nodded supporting Remey's desire. Having such a skill would be pretty great for when they were on long journeys after all. Plus they would always look their best, and a hero should always look their best to set the right example.

With their long days work finished they all went inside, Onyx and Midnight following behind. The baths were full of plenty of dirt but they had made themselves clean again after some great effort. The dirt would not be coming out of their old clothing anytime soon though, luckily they had worn the old clothing intentionally.

They all got in to dinner and later off to bed with out any issue. Everyone had realized that the auction was the next day, they had all been waiting for it eagerly. The party slept like logs, since their bodies had been put through an introductory course in farm labor. When he woke up Walker was not surprised to find that Gil's mother was already outside checking up on the seedlings. 

Just like she had said there was no frost even though it was still a bit cold outside. The night air had brought a morning dew that coated all of the seedlings and the newly grown weeping willow. He was still having trouble grasping just how fast the sapling that was barely grown had become a full grown tree. It was really an amazing mastery skill.

He was not the only one getting up however because the second he had opened his door after staring out the window for some time at the garden, he found Su heading toward the kitchen.

"Good morning leader, care to hunt down some breakfast?" 

"Of course, we need to eat early before my mother starts to cook. I know she will be preparing a lot of things for dinner tonight since we will be having guests. I wouldn't be surprised if we get dragged in to cleaning vegetables before we head to the auction." Walker and Su chatted idly about what they should wear tonight and what crazy items may be sold by those who had the ability to acquire a VIP auction ticket. 

Walker was wondering just who they may see there, he really had hoped that they would see the appraiser of the Garnet family again since he had left such a positive impression last time. "I wonder if Onyx and Midnight will come? Onyx might be interested in an auction but I have no idea about Midnight." This was more a thought out loud but Su answered still.

"I believe Onyx will go no matter what. He seems to want to know everything in the world, it is definitely your influence on him." Su smiled a bit at her teasing, not that this was an insult in any way. " Midnight may not want to but I think she should come with us. What if she sees something that seems interesting, that we do not have a sense for?" Su made a pretty good point.

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