Limits

Days passed again, while my herbs grew bigger and bigger. The Aran Grass already filled the whole section, while Oviral Plants filled about half of the section assigned to them. The Ghost flex was already growing very well, as well as other herbs. I was mostly interested in Blood Yarn, which breached the soil, and grew to about 50 centimetres tall. I would still need to wait a long time, before the whole section is filled with them.

On the other hand, I managed to create a medicine, in similar effects to my Healing Essence. It was made from the Arran Grass, and Oviral Plants. I made extracts of both, and combined that. The result astonished even me, When I showed my Extract to Ulon, he asked "How did you produce that?". I replied "I used Arran Grass and Oviral Plants. My method though, is a bit different". He asked me a few times, to teach him that method, but I said "I can't teach it to you. I promised the person who taught me all of this, to only teach it to my inheritor. Unfortunately, you are too old to become my inheritor, while I'm too young to pass all that knowledge to someone else".

Ulon understood what I meant, and for some reason, didn't seem angry or disappointed. He said "The teacher who passed all of that to you, was an intelligent man. I will no longer ask about it, and respect your teacher's wish". I said "It's not a problem for you to study it, and come up with a method by yourself. Here, take it and study it. Maybe you will be able to improve your own medicine". Ulon was very grateful for that gesture, and said "If you need help in the future, I will do what I can to help you. Remember that you are welcomed here". I nodded, and went back to my own matters.

Ulon gave me all the plants, the field and passed his knowledge to me. I only gave him one of my Healing Essence, for all of that. Giving him some of my new inventions, for him to study, was something that I owed him anyway. 'He never asked for money from me. He helped me out, and treated me very well. I would like to meet more of such people, rather than arrogant and lofty bastards' I thought. I decided to call that new medicine Arran Liquid

I was also working on another medicine. Stronger than my current Healing Essence. It would be made from three different herbs. The Extract from Oviral Plant and Arran Grass was weak still, but if I added Night Safis, I would be able to create an advanced recipe. 'If the Extracts from Arran Grass and Oviral Plant can create something similar to my Healing Essence. What would the final result be, if I added Night Safis… This alone makes my blood boil!' I thought.

I knew more advanced recipes, which were in Nick's book. Though this, would be my own recipe, and with extracts nonetheless. I still needed to wait for Night Safis to develop properly. 'When I finally harvest it, I will be able to check, what type of medicine I can create with its use' I thought. Besides the new healing Extract, I also made an Extract from Ghost Flax. When I tested it on myself, it really hid my presence. Not only that, I had a feeling of floating, after drinking it. I created an Extract of the Ghost Flax, but without the use of any supportive herbs. I had none of such kind, therefore couldn't use them.

I asked Ulon about the mixture, from the Ghost Flax that they did, and he gave me one. When I tested the effects, mine was at least twice as good. 'Extract are really the way forwards. If I stuck with the classical way, I would not receive such results' I thought. This applied to everything in Nick's books. I could make an Extract of pretty much every herb, then combine those effects using the classical approach. Not only that, with my improved theory, I could use the supportive herbs, in order to minimise the use of herbs, when creating Extracts.

'Nick started all of this for me, while I'm taking it to another level. I think Nick would be pleased, about what I managed to accomplish. My inheritor, if I ever find one, will get all the benefits, while me and Nick had to work hard, in order to come up with everything… Inheritors have it nice' I thought. Of course, it was more of a passing joke, as I was an inheritor myself.

When I got accustomed to the work in the fields, and living in Apium. I also noticed a few things. 'Normal guests, that come here for a short visit, would not be able to notice that, but I can' I thought. The Apium was separated into three fractions. This should not really be a surprise, as even the statue of Atol Ancestors had three different fractions. But to a normal passerby, they might seem to work together as one, but that was just on the surface.

Corruption always found its way, to every society. All three fractions, were struggling for power. I learned that there was a council, which consisted of three members. Each member was from a specific fraction. There was the Warriors Fraction, Craftsmen Fraction and Floral Fraction. These fractions were fighting, to take control over the whole Apium. Although at first, it might seem like a friendly competition, it wasn't that friendly underneath. 'There are some shady businesses, going on around Apium, but normal Atols don't know about them. It's the elite, that keeps their hands on everything' I thought.

One such example, was the fact I couldn't buy stuff from Craftsman Fraction anymore. Atols from that fraction would mostly avoid me, and wouldn't speak with me. All of this, because of one Atol. I learned that the Atol called Oran, had a high standing in the Craftsmen Fraction, so others naturally listened to him. 'No wonder he was lofty and arrogant. With his status, it pretty much given' I thought.

I wasn't interested in those power struggles much. As long as no one disturbed me, I wouldn't disturb them. I gave rest to those type of thoughts, and simply focused on my own matters. I managed to figure out, how to improve the watering of my field. The solution was to create channels, that would deliver a specific amount of water, in specific intervals. It might seem simple, but it wasn't.

'I have a concept in my mind, but building that, will take me a long time. I have to create wooden channels for all the holes that already exist, then I have to make channels for the sections to be watered' I thought. The problem was with the water delivery. Different herbs, require different amount of water, as well as different technique of watering.

Some sections needed to be watered every day, while others once is a few days. I had to create a structure, that would allow such thing. With no ideas on how to do it, I even asked Frosty. To my surprise, Frosty had an idea. Frosty wrote to me the whole plan, and it had the potential to work.

Frosty's idea, was to create sectioned channels, just like my field was in sections. Each channel would be different size, this would allow for smaller channels to fill up sooner, and distribute the water everyday, while bigger channels would need more time, and would distribute the water once every few days. This was a great idea, but I still had to test out, what channel sizes I need, in order for that to work. Besides that, I also needed to figure out, how to water the herbs, that needed special attention. 'I will test out the channels first. Then I can figure out, how to water some of the herbs, that need extra care' I thought, and went outside the Apium, to gather some wood.