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Chapter 181
After gathering a bunch of men together, I began a project of erecting a small grove. My initial thoughts were that we’d have to find tiny fast-growing trees. It’d take months, but I was determined. I underestimated the capability of magic in this world. We lived in an area called the wilderness, and while Chalm wasn’t surrounded by woods, we were close to a woods. One of the few products this city exported for money was lumber. Thus, uprooting and moving a tree could be considered this cities specialty.
I had Celeste pick out what trees were best, although I sent her with her mother. The mother couldn’t say anything, but if she found a tree she liked, she seemed to buzz around it excitedly. As to what Celeste thought about her reincarnated mother, she seemed happy, and laughed and flew around beside her. However, it was clear that when it came to abilities or mind, Celeste was vastly superior. The former Fairy Queen was at a level where if you pretended to throw something with your hand, she’d go look for it for several minutes. It was at that kind of level.
As for Celeste, as a Sylph that controls the wind, she seems incredibly quick. Lydia and Celeste had a race, and it was difficult to see which could move faster. I suggested that Celeste use her wind magic on Lydia, and she moved like a blur. I checked her levels, and low and behold Master Wind Magician level 1 gave her the Haste skill. Becoming a Sylph seemed to give her access to the Adept and Master levels of Wind Magician.
I did ask some of the magicians as they helped me move trees about the Novice versus Basic. I was wrong to think that it had to do with level of training. That made sense considering Celeste had no formal training. As they described it, there were two magical paths someone could take, the elemental path and the mana path. For elementals, they start as Novice Magicians and then based on what spells they use they eventually pick a path. Then they get Apprentice, Adept, and finally become Master magicians.
I asked them if there was a means of having a dual magical ability. They had read about it being possible but said it was extremely hard and no one knew exactly how. Novice Magicians who tried to do this took twice as long to reach Apprentice and it always seemed like a toss-up which they got. I still suspected it had to do with maxing out Novice. Since they couldn’t equip more than one job or easily switch jobs, this kind of stuff never occurred to them.
When it came to mana mage, they were more rounded but didn’t have nearly the level of elemental control. They started out as a Basic Magician, like me, and then went to Intermediate, Advanced, and Master. Like with elemental magicians, we could branch out at the Advanced level. However, Advanced mages weren’t called advanced, they were sorted by colors. A Black Mage learned destructive magic, a Red Mage learned combat enhancement magic, a Green Mage learned natural magic. That was where I sat. I was a White Mage, which likely could be obtained if I dedicated my Mage skills to healing and fighting undead.
Of course, none of these people had heard about White Mage, but it also didn’t create a sensation when I asked about it. This was because the color system was known. This is also why me being able to defeat a dungeon didn’t cause a wave of shock. Sure, it was impressive, but if I had a tier 3 job, they reckoned I couldn’t be simple. In short, the town had overestimated my abilities. I decided there was no point in correcting them now. They wouldn’t even be able to understand how I started in this world with a tier 3 job.
As to why White Mages in this world were so rare? It probably was because Priests and Resurrection existed. When there was already a tier 1 job that could do it and do it better, who would bother fighting their way up to a tier 3 job to do the same thing? It was a little disappointing that my job wasn’t so OP as I had thought, but with dungeon points, I had already gained something no one else had. I also had Master White Mage to look forward to as my final level.
It took the greater part of a day, but a small secluded grove was made, and a large hole went down into a small underground hole. Essentially, it was a well. I told the town from here on out, this place was forbidden by order of the lord. This was actually my first proclamation in Chalm, so everyone was very eager to see it through. If they ignored me now, there was little point in me going to the Capital and asking for recognition.
Chapter 182
“What does Master plan to do?” Lydia asked, looking into the deep hole in the ground.
Other than Lydia and the two fairies, I had the Guild Master with me too. I felt like the only way I could keep people out, was by leaving someone behind who knew why it was important. I felt the Guild Master and Mayor would at least understand the significance of what I was about to build. All the trees the Fairy Queen had selected had been planted. The place resembled a beautiful arboretum. The Queen was flying around excitedly from tree to tree. Celeste seemed a bit less excited.
“Are you okay?” I asked her before answering Lydia.
“It seems… As a Sylph, I’m no longer like my mother. I crave the wind, and the forest breaks the wind a bit too much. It feels oppressive to me.” Celeste admitted, but then waved her hands. “Don’t worry about it, anywhere outdoors is nice! I like this place a lot, but my place is by Master’s side! Does Master plan to create a spring of life here?”
“Ah! You guessed? The earth Adept really helped dig out a big space, it actually has reserves spreading out under the city. I only have a few sprinkles of fairy dust left, but once I start the spell, I can create several hundred gallons of water of life. I have Miki out right now getting all of the mana potions she can get so I can maximize the amount. Would this work?”
Celeste shrugged. “With Mother’s magic, possibly she can turn it into a spring of life, with time.”
The Guild Master’s mouth had fallen open. “Waters of Life? A spring of life? Is that really possible?”
“Ah… yeah… it seems like I got the ability to make water of life. It’s dependent on fairy dust, and I don’t have a lot, but I thought if I spent some time making an underwater reservoir, at the very least I could give the fairies here a home.”
“No wonder you ordered this place to be untouched. People were just thinking you wanted to make an outdoor bathing area for your and the gi- well nevermind that.” The Guild Master shook his head, “A fairy spring is rare and valuable. Fairy springs infuse the local ground with mana. It repels certain monsters including ghosts, enhances crops, increases the quality of life, and many other benefits. It also keeps dungeons from forming nearby. What happened to Old Chalm will never happen again if there is a fairy spring nearby. Kingdoms have been built around fairy springs. Even the Capital City had a grove locked within the castle walls which contains a fairy spring.”
“Really, I didn’t realize they were such a big deal.” My mouth twitched.
I was really just building a place for Celeste and her mom to play safely and call a home.
“If you really do successfully create one in Chalm… our city will have no limit on its ability to grow.” The Guild Master sighed. “Although, there is always the threat someone will attack us and try to take it forcibly. That’s why it’s even more important that we get the Capital and Aberis to accept us.”
“I see…” Apparently, it was really for the best. “In that case, if you want to help…”
“Mana potions, right?” I smiled as the Guild Master nodded. “I’ll get every one in town even if I have to pull teeth. You can count on me. This fairy spring is now our top priority!”
“Ah… just keep it a secret, eh?”
The Guild Master’s excitement diminished slightly. “O-of course. You can count on me… uh… My Lord!”
He gave an awkward laugh, patted me on the back, and then left. I started wondering if I needed thicker walls for my new grove.
Chapter 183
When Miki returned, I decided it was time to start. If the Guild Master managed to conjure up any more potions later, that was fine too, but this was more than enough for me. I made sure to Refresh myself, find a comfortable position, and then pull out the fairy dust. I used Create Waters of Life, and soon a steady stream of water was flowing out of my hand. I had done this many times in the past, so it was very familiar to me.
With White Mage, Basic Mage, and Hero all equipped, my status was looking pretty nice. The water was at least twice as strong now as it was when I first cast it in the dungeon. The Water Control spell didn’t hurt either. It allowed me to get a feel for the water falling and a sense of how much was under me. I increased my mana output until I had a good amount of water flowing. I wanted to get the most out of this spell, and that meant managing between speed and mana consumption.
I could produce a small trickle almost indefinitely, but I would pass out from boredom or sleep deprivation long before I filled any part of the well. I could also create a flash flood downpour of water, using all of my mana in a minute, but then I’d be out a pinch of fairy dust and I’d need to recast once I recovered. The idea was enough to empty my mana reserves in about six hours. I reckoned that was about the max I’d be able to cast. If I felt like I could keep going after that, then I’d depend on mana potions.
Actually, this turned out to be really good practice in mana control and figuring out exactly how much mana I had to cast spells took on a very quantifiable feeling as I adjusted my production of waters of life. At the moment, I was producing about the equivalent of four garden hoses at once. Then again, a hose took all day to fill a swimming pool, and I was probably trying to fill ten swimming pools worth of space underground.
At some point, while I worked, Lydia decided to snuggle up next to me. This encouraged Miki to do the same. Celeste, noticing our position, ended up joining, using her full form as she took up all the remaining space. With the three girls snuggling with me, I thought this wasn’t such a bad situation waiting after all.
As we lay there, snuggling outdoors, Astria came to realize no one was playing with her as she buzzed around. Seeing the pile of us, she cautiously came over. That’s when she noticed the waters of life. Coming from my palm and falling into the dark hole in the ground. She grew excited and immediately started splashing through the stream.
“Hey! I’m still working on that!” I said as she started splashing the water everywhere.
Astria cocked her head at me, but then flew up to the water stream and held up her arms. To my surprise, the stream coming from my hand started to triple in amount. I also felt that the mana was more concentrated, much closer to the level of a spring’s concentrated waters of life.
“Hah… you’re making it come out faster! Awesome.”
Astria seemed proud of herself. Celeste watched what Astria was doing, and then tried to replicate. Once again, the stream increased in speed and amount, as well as water purity, although not at the level that Astria had done. Perhaps this was because they both had Water Control and Create Water. They could feed into my spell.
Like that, for the next two days we spent every waking moment either resting or dumping fairy water. As time went, I realized the grove was starting to feel thicker in mana, and mana recovery, in fact, happened faster here. This allowed me to in turn produce more water, which added to the effect.
On the final day, Celeste had collapsed from exhaustion, and I was on my fiftieth mana potion and on my last leg. I was starting to think that maybe creating a spring from nothing was really just a pipe dream. That was when Astria suddenly started flying around the hole in the ground we had created. Suddenly, water started to jet up, and as Astria swirled around it, it turned into a beautiful shape before slamming down on the ground. Water began to overflow from the hole as more and more water bubbled up. I finally collapsed, laughing as water sprayed down on us.
I had never been to a real fairy spring. I suspected this wasn’t quite at the level of a real one. However, it was something I had built with the girls together, so I was satisfied.
Now that this was out of the way, it was time to start planning our trip to the Capital.