Chương 13

After the brief confrontation, Elara naturally became the leader of the apprentices working in that section of the spirit fields. The patch where Alistair had disrupted her Raincall was assigned to another apprentice, who recast the necessary gardening arts and finished tending it. As for Elara, all she had to do was wait until tomorrow. Then she could perform the final round of cultivation on the high-maturity plot she had chosen and harvest the plants once they matured.

By the time everything in the fields had been settled, noon had arrived. Dawnmere Trading House was directly owned by the Moonwatch Sect, so its apprentices received generous treatment and weren't worked particularly hard. Once they finished watering the fields, loosening the soil, and checking for pests, Alistair led everyone back to report to Garrick. The others initially wanted Elara to lead the report as a display of her new authority. Elara didn't care about details like that.

More importantly, she had no idea how they normally reported their progress, so she handed the task back to Alistair.

"Master Garrick, we've completed all of today's cultivation work. We also checked the fields for pests, and there aren't any problems."

"You may find somewhere to cultivate this afternoon. Be back here tomorrow morning." Garrick was already waiting inside the wooden cabin, calmly drinking tea. As he looked over the group, he quickly noticed something was off. Part of the reason he had left Elara alone with the other apprentices was that he wanted nothing to do with the conflict between their two groups. One side served Dawnmere's head manager, while the other served its third manager. Garrick couldn't afford to offend either of them.

Yet now Alistair Li, the pampered second son who normally refused to let even a speck of dirt touch his clothes, looked thoroughly disheveled. The other apprentices weren't in much better condition. It seemed Cedric had sent him a truly formidable newcomer. Garrick dismissed the others, then retrieved the three gardening-art manuals Cedric had left in his care.

"All three of these arts are difficult to learn. They're among the finest basic gardening arts available. Many Rank One Spirit Gardeners struggle to master them, and some never manage it at all." He spread the three manuals across the table as he continued.

"I understand Cedric's intention. He wants you to choose one and begin studying it. Trying to learn too many arts at once will only slow your progress." Elara acknowledged the warning and examined the manuals one by one. Lifewater Restoration Art. Rootmend. The first two were healing arts used to restore damaged spirit plants. Neither was something Elara urgently needed. From what she remembered of Seed of Ascension, both arts also had very little versatility.

They were useful within their intended roles, but there wasn't much else a clever player could do with them. Her attention soon shifted to the final manual. Its name was simple. Metal Gathering Art. If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it. I can't believe an art this overpowered is sitting around in a place like Valehaven. All three manuals contained Low Basic-grade arts, but Elara knew Metal Gathering Art was by far the most versatile of the three.

It also offered the greatest potential for creative applications. In her previous life, the player who pioneered the combat Spirit Gardener style had started with Metal Gathering Art. Through extraordinary control, he had gathered countless fragments of metal and made it look as though he were commanding a storm of ten thousand swords. Much later, that same player had set a historic trial record on one level of the Stairway of the Great Dao.

His reward had been a Metal Dao Seed, which eventually allowed him to raise Metal Gathering Art all the way to the Origin level. Elara drew a slow breath and forced herself to contain her excitement. She had no expectation of reproducing that player's spectacular sword storm. But if Metal Gathering Art gave her even a few basic offensive applications, that would be enough to defend herself. More importantly, it might allow her to challenge the Ember Sanctum's second trial.

"I'll choose Metal Gathering Art." Elara picked up the manual and carefully put it away.

"Are you certain?" Garrick asked.

"That art is mostly used to enrich the soil. It gathers mineral nutrients and concentrates them around the plants. Either of the restoration arts may be more useful to you." His advice made perfect sense from the perspective of a professional Spirit Gardener. Metal Gathering Art offered only a modest increase in growth speed. Healing damaged plants was usually far more valuable.

"I'm certain. This is the one I want." Most cultivators believed gardening arts had no combat potential. Since no one thought they could be used in battle, few people were willing to waste time developing them in that direction. The effort required was enormous, and most experiments led nowhere. But obstacles like that had never stopped Seed of Ascension's dedicated theorycrafters. Some of them had been fanatical about the full-immersion game.

The moment they entered its virtual world, a few had immediately started tasting things no sane person would ever put in their mouth, simply because the experience was impossible in real life. Their willingness to experiment had been almost frightening. It was through their countless bizarre forum posts that Elara had learned so many unconventional applications for Spirit Gardener arts. Elara returned to her courtyard alone.

Prim had been so fascinated by the Mindveil Grass fields that she had decided to leave him there. Before departing, she replenished his qi and gave him two simple instructions. First, he was not to cross into any other growing area. Second, he was not to damage the Mindveil Grass. Once she arrived home, Elara went straight inside, sat cross-legged on her bed, and began meditating. The Ember Sanctum's cooldown wouldn't end until close to evening. Besides, her dantian was nearly empty.

She had been too busy in the fields to properly recover her qi, so she had been forced to wait until she returned home. More than an hour passed before Elara opened her eyes.

"The spiritual qi out here really can't compare to the Ember Sanctum." After cultivating for over an hour, she had restored only seventy or eighty percent of her qi. Her dantian still wasn't full. Inside the Ember Sanctum, recovering from complete exhaustion took no more than half an hour. Combined with the Sanctum's ability to maintain her body in near-perfect condition, she could cultivate and practice her arts almost without stopping while she was inside.

With most of her qi restored, Elara began preparing another entry pass. A Soul-Calming Talisman. Her previous experience made the process much easier this time. The first attempt failed, but the second produced a perfectly acceptable Soul-Calming Talisman. When the light outside began to fade toward evening, Elara prepared to enter the Ember Sanctum. She held the talisman before her and looked directly at its reverse side.

"Student Elara seeks to carry on the ember of the Divine Sects. Grant me entry to the Ember Sanctum."... Mist swirled around her as the Stairway of the Great Dao appeared once again. Elara had returned to the Ember Sanctum. Before entering, she had carefully memorized the entire Metal Gathering Art manual. All that remained was to practice it.

"The manual says the best place to learn Metal Gathering Art is somewhere with mineral veins and soil rich in metal-aspected essence." The Ember Sanctum responded immediately. White mist surged around her. When it cleared, Elara found herself standing in a fertile mountain valley. Exposed veins of unfamiliar precious ore ran through the surrounding rock. Beneath her feet lay dark gray soil rich in both nutrients and mineral essence.

"This should be perfect." Elara recalled the Metal Gathering Art's cultivation method and began releasing qi into the earth veins below. The process shared some similarities with one aspect of Soften Earth, but it demanded far greater precision. With Soften Earth, she merely needed to guide her qi through a chosen area and alter the structure of the soil. Metal Gathering Art required the qi she released to become an extension of her perception.

She had to search through a vast expanse of earth, locate even the smallest traces of metal-aspected particles, and draw them together. That was the foundation of Metal Gathering Art.