Blood Wine and Eye Potion

In October, the autumn breeze gradually died down.

Sylutia crouched in the garden behind the house, carefully examining the Swan Orchid in front of her, which stood about as high as her arm.

Its blue-green bulb was spindle-shaped, standing in the soft soil, while pale green leaves grew from it, curving naturally.

[Swan Orchid](Good-53): Growing; humidity and light are suitable, and ventilation is good.

Only good? The girl gently touched the flower stalk, feeling a little disappointed.

She had thought that if she met all the Swan Orchid's growing requirements, its quality would reach Excellent.

It seemed things weren't that simple.

If meeting its growing requirements wasn't enough, she would need to study its growth more closely and create ideal conditions. The problem was, how could she know what conditions would let the Swan Orchid grow best?

Communicate with the plant? But the Swan Orchid was just a plant, not a living creature, and it couldn't speak.

Wait. Though the Swan Orchid couldn't speak, it wasn't dead, either. Just as blood flowed through animals, following their own rhythms, a liquid called "nectar" flowed through plants. If she could sense that rhythm, perhaps she could learn about the plant's condition and help it grow stronger.

Hope stirred in Sylutia. She placed her hand on the Swan Orchid's bulb, closed her eyes, and carefully tried to sense its faint rhythm.

Time passed...

After a long while, she opened her eyes and shook her head in disappointment.

Plants were vastly different from animals. They had no hearts, and so there was no such thing as a heartbeat.

She would have to ask Scholar Heide.

The next day, after class, Sylutia went to Scholar Heide's study to ask about cultivating plants.

"Looks like you've hit a bottleneck." Scholar Heide had expected this.

"Your problem was one the earliest gardeners faced several eras ago."

"Unlike Fairies, who are naturally adept at cultivating plants, humans and other creatures have to overcome the barrier of understanding and communicating with them if they want to learn how to cultivate extraordinary crops."

"There are actually two ways to do this. The first is common: you simply replicate the methods passed down by your predecessors. The second is to study each plant individually and make targeted adjustments based on its condition."

"The latter is clearly more effective, but it's also much harder. Most gardeners in the First Order use the former method."

"That's why you'll find both high-quality and low-quality fruits in the same orchard. All gardeners can do is increase the number of plants as much as possible, so that more high-quality fruits will appear."

"I was going to suggest that you follow an established method for now."

"But after spending time with you, Tia, I'm sure you wouldn't be satisfied with simply following a method and leaving the rest to luck." Scholar Heide stroked his beard, speaking as if he knew her well.

"Yes, teacher. Please teach me." Seeing how confident he looked, the girl knew he must have a solution.

"Hehe, you always sound so sweet when you call me teacher." The old man grumbled a little. Sylutia rarely spoke to him in class, quietly listening from a corner without volunteering answers.

"All right, I won't make you wait." He stood and searched the bookshelf, finally pulling out a book.

The Book of Pear Fruits (hand-copied edition), written by a Dweller in the Woods in the Fifth Era, described how to cultivate the Red Pear Fruit (Second Order) and how to observe red pear trees.

He opened to a page and showed its contents to Sylutia.

[Emerald Eye Potion Recipe] (First Order): A potion dropped into the eyes, one of the Seven Basic Eye Potions. It allows the person who uses it to sense the subtle flow and condition of plants.

"This is the recipe for the Emerald Eye Potion. Normally, secret knowledge like this wouldn't be given to you until after you graduated," Scholar Heide explained.

"But since you need it now, I'll teach it to you early. When you graduate, you won't receive an extra reward for it, so don't blame me, your teacher, for being stingy."

"Making the Emerald Eye Potion requires some rare herbs. I can provide you with one set for free, but you'll have to find the rest yourself." He added another explanation.

"I understand." Sylutia took the book, sat down to the side, and copied the potion recipe onto a sheet of paper.

Most of the herbs in the recipe had no Aspect Power rank and were merely relatively uncommon. But one of the main ingredients was a fresh flower bud with First Order Emerald Nectar Aspect Power. A single one cost nearly seventy silver, so it was no wonder Scholar Heide couldn't afford to be generous. If he subsidized every student, he probably wouldn't be able to keep it up.

All told, the materials would cost around ninety silver. The girl estimated the amount in her mind. That was under ideal circumstances; if any of the herbs proved hard to find, the cost would rise.

"Thank you, teacher." After finishing her copy, the girl bowed in thanks.

"All right, take my note and go see Manson. He'll have the ingredients ready for you in a couple of days. The reason I'm not giving you money is that some ingredients are hard to buy, even if you have the money."

That was true. With Scholar Heide's name behind her, she could easily obtain ingredients from the city's various guilds and nobles. For someone unknown, though, it would be incredibly difficult.

While Sylutia worked toward becoming a gardener, the other students in her year were gradually making plans of their own.

"Mick, don't you have class today? Why are you back?"

In a courtyard in the Lower District, one of the adventurers saw the young man walk in.

"We don't have class today," Mick replied, though something was clearly on his mind.

"Is Jero here?"

"Not right now. He's probably at the bar."

"The bar? Then I'll go straight there."

Half an hour later, Mick finally found Jero drunk in the dim bar and helped him outside.

"Big brother Jero, there's something I'd like your help with." He hesitated for a while, but finally spoke.

"W-what is it? Go on." Jero was still a little drunk. His right hand waved wildly in the air, and its force nearly made Mick lose his grip on him.

"It's like this. Next month, our class will have an exam. If I place near the top, there'll be a big reward." Mick gritted his teeth.

"So I want to get stronger and do well on the exam, but I need some help."

"Haha... What kind of help? Just say it." Jero had sobered up a little.

"I need Blood Wine to improve my Breathing Technique." Mick felt a little ashamed. He seemed to rely too much on his big brother, even though they weren't related by blood and had only met while working as adventurers.

"Heh, I thought it was something serious." Jero's large hand slapped Mick on the shoulder.

"Here, take it!" He fumbled around the inside of his belt and pulled out a gleaming gold coin.

The coin was a round piece of metal that glimmered pale gold. It bore the image of a Cold-Feather Bird, marking it as a coin from the Winter Kingdom in the north.

Looking at the gold coin, Mick felt a jumble of emotions: gratitude, nervousness, guilt, and a hint of anticipation.

He closed his hand around the coin, which was warm from Jero's body, and helped Jero back to his room in the courtyard to rest.

After saying goodbye to his friends, Mick left with the coin and headed to the Adventurers Guild. The guild sold Blood Wine, a medicinal liquor brewed from the blood of beasts with at least First Order Aspect Power. It could improve abilities related to Blood Law Aspect Power and was also well suited to training the Breathing Technique.

"With this, I can reach the second stage of the Breathing Technique within a month." Mick walked out holding the crimson bottle of wine, silently steeling his resolve.

Once he was strong enough, he would repay Big Brother Jero for sure.