God, I really didn't expect the entire dinner to end in disaster. Ifira suddenly slamming the table and hitting her father was a shock honestly, what made her do that? Just because her father screamed?

  No wonder everyone was silent while we ate, I thought the whole family just wanted peace but I guess no one wanted to piss her off? How many servants has she killed because of that? Ten? Fifteen? Why are my estimates so low? Actually, is it bad that I'm expecting it to be higher?

  Yeah, it is. Maybe Ifira only killed like, a small amount of people so far? She still hasn't become the monster she is in canon so that's very much a possibility! Yep!

  Being with a murderer is far better than a genocidal maniac, at least when it comes to Ifira.

  Not so sure for everyone else though, like Arezan Surez, who's basically insane? I still don't know who he is so neutralizing him is still difficult but I'm sure I'll find him eventually. Maybe.

  Assuming that I don't, I'll just take him out when he first shows himself, which is still a few years. I have ample time to prepare, really. Gather enough strength to kill him before he becomes the Touch of Ilk.

  Future death knights aside, I think I should focus on improving Flotol's... Everything more.

  Everyone's houses have been fixed and are looking decent, or so I say, in truth, only the outer edges of the village have gotten this treatment. The inner rings are still being worked on but since the raft's end point has been reinforced heavily— both by the houses and the repaired anchors. — repairing the inner areas within Flotol will be a breeze!

  So easy in fact that I'm not the one managing them, it's my father. He says that he wants to feel useful so I let him do it. I'm just glad that he finally felt restless again, now he should throw himself into work more often.

  Boredom really is too powerful, it can even make a man reluctant to take charge of a village into a somewhat competent leader. And the latter is only true because my father is inexperienced when leading a team, I'm sure he'll grow into his role eventually.

  "Focus Rontress, you know that messing with magic will create dangerous creatures, correct?"

  "Yes, I'm sorry." I rolled my eyes, seriously, why was Wardcruncha being such a hard ass? "Taking a break isn't a bad thing, you know? I've been working on this for an hour so I wanted to breathe."

  "If you can't keep up with this, then you won't be able to keep up with fights in the future." He says simply. "Fights, and I mean serious ones, will force you to work for hours, not just one."

  "Fine old man!" God does he have to be so persistent? "I'll start making the magical plants again! I don't know what this has to do with fighting but okay, sure, whatever. I'll make your magical plants."

  "Children really do grow up too fast, I remember when you intently listened to everything I said. It felt like it was just yesterday." Which, to be fair, it totally was to him. I wonder how he views the passage of time? He's lived so long that a day must feel like an hour to him right?

  "Sure, whatever." Okay, to be fair, maybe paying him back with magical plants after everything he's done for me isn't a bad idea. "What do you want? I'll see if I can grow them."

  "Really?!"

  And... Now I regret it. Damn it. I knew he just wanted to work me to the bone! I should have listened to my gut!

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  Yet despite my grumbling and complaints, I did what he wanted me to do anyway. I pushed magic into the parts of plants he asked me to, and they varied in species as well. I didn't know where he possibly got them from and I didn't ask, it's his business.

  So many plants, others were easy to manipulate, while some were incredibly hard. It's like they were alive? I'm not sure. No, I think they had some kind of sentience? That's interesting...

  Looking back, I think I should have tried a different approach than just forceful manipulation. I did win in the end, but now I'm curious what else I could have done to the damn things.

  Sentient plants sounded interesting, honestly. Wonder how that worked?

  And can I plant them on the wall? In Flotol? Having tiny little guardians sounded fun! Or at least someone to talk to.

  "You're staring at that Mandagora too much Rontress."

  "Mandagora? What do they do?" Poking the poor thing with a stick didn't cause it to wake up, I think I fried its brain?

  "When left unchecked? They become dangerous plants that can put an entire village to sleep with just a scream, normal people would have fainted and bled through their nose if they heard those screams earlier."

  Wait, why does that sound so familiar? Those kinds of effects are usually from something else right?

  "Is this a mandrake?"

  "No, those are different, they're the bigger cousins of the Mandagoras."

  "Ah, okay." So it really is what I'm thinking about? Or its cousin, rather. Didn't know mandrakes had family trees. "I think I made this one brain dead, poor thing."

  "Don't feel pity, they eat people."

  Wow, that's pretty cruel, just because it eats people? I don't think this one has eaten someone either, so it's still innocent right?

  "Again, don't feel pity. I know what you are thinking, but just because it hasn't killed anyone yet does not mean it won't in the future, let's leave it at that and just focus on other things, like you needing to practice more of your magic."

  "Fine, fine." I roll my eyes and go back to training my flora-kinesis. "It's been easier to link with plants recently, I think I'm starting to get the hang of this!"

  "That so? Maybe your body is finally adapting to the changes made to it? It wouldn't shock me if you can somehow grow roots out of your feet now." Wait what? "You can taste the ground with your foot even, I remember a dryad who helped me search for a rare ore by tasting the ground with her foot and then digging through them with her roots."

  "Look, I don't want to know about disgusting abilities like that—"

  "It's not disgusting, it is useful." He corrects immediately. "You should use every single resource at your disposal."

  "— and I don't want to know about your past hook ups either!"

  "We did not have sex."

  "Virgin."

  "I'm not a virgin."

  "Disgusting! Are you describing your sex life to a little girl?!"

  "... What's wrong with that?" Wardcruncha tilted his head.

  "I..." Everything? Why is he acting like I'm the weird one here? "You're disgusting."

  "There's no winning this argument, is there?" He gave me a dead-eyed stare.

  "Nope." He did not seem amused. "Okay, fine, I'll continue practicing my abilities." I shook off my shoes. "Oh wow, the ground is way too cold right now."

  "It is winter, is it not?"

  "Shut up!"

  So I continued practicing my abilities, and I don't know what Wardcruncha meant by tasting the ground or planting my roots because I can't seem to do it? The root thing seems like it requires skill— and what is it even for? — but tasting the ground should be easy right?

  No matter how hard I try, I can't seem to do it?

  Hell, I tried to see if I could taste the air with my skin by testing it with the fumes coming from Wardcruncha's pot. Nadda. Nothing.

  Since that didn't go anywhere, I just continued growing and manipulating plants. I'm now adding magic into my practice and by stuffing leaves with it, I can check out all the things I can do to plant life.

  And it is a lot.

  Putting spells in plants is obvious— I made a wand out of it even. It's ineffective but it gets the job done. — but I can also give it other effects like making it survive fire or making it produce fruits without a budding flower, and during winter no less.

  The first one is probably the most useful thing I can do to it though, putting spells in plants lets me mass produce scrolls and although I'm not good at doing this yet, I'm sure that with enough practice, I'll be able to make three scrolls at the same time. Maybe even five.

  Modifying them to have different properties is my main thing for now though, since that is more useful for my current projects. Scrolls are nice, but I don't even have a shop to sell them in right now!

  Meanwhile, Flotol is being worked on every day and the insect traps I've placed around the village means that the workers aren't as irritated while doing their job, making them more efficient.