Limits

While we walked, Ulon said "It seems you made a great impression on her. She even gave you some of her herbs. Those things are much more precious, than a whole field of Blood Yarn. But you did help us a lot, we just need to implement the same system, and then we can finally relax a bit". I said "Yes, although there is one more improvement, which I didn't implement yet".

Ulon was stunned, and asked "Did you just say, you have even more methods, to improve our farming? Or did I hear something wrong?". I replied "It's nothing exciting, it's just an extension to the existing system. Currently, you need to bring the water to the field, but my completed water delivery system is automated. This means, you will only need to fill that huge main tank, and the water would go straight to all the fields".

Ulon couldn't believe it, and said "I feel dumb, whenever I'm talking with you... Are you going to implement that for us?". I replied "I can, but under one condition". Ulon nodded, and asked "What is it, that you would like to get in return?". I said "I'm not a permanent resident here. What I want, is the field that I already cultivate. I want to own it, until I'm gone, i.e. dead. I will also leave Apium sooner or later, and I need someone to tend to my herbs. If you guys are willing to do that, and store the harvested herbs for me, then I will build the automated water delivery system for you. I will also help you implement the water delivery system, to all of your fields".

Ulon thought about it, and said "Wait here, I will go ask Fraction Leader about it. If she agrees, then we have a deal". I nodded my head, and watched as Ulon ran back to the Floral Fraction building. I waited for a while, and Ulon returned shortly. He smiled, and said "She didn't even think about it, and agreed straight away. When I told her about your idea, she seemed impressed. Therefore, we have a deal. We will tend to your field, and harvest it for you. You on the other hand, will complete the water delivery system for us".

I nodded, and said "Alright, let's go back. There is loads of work, that needs to be done". The process started again, but on a more massive scale. There were four other fields, that needed an upgrade. I also needed to design, and implement the automated system of channels. It would be used, to transport the water from the huge main tank, to all the fields. Ulon asked me, if I needed help gathering wood. I replied "No, I want to do it myself, as it will be a part of my training. I don't get much time to do any training lately, so I can at least train like that". He was a bit confused, and asked couple more times. I assured him, that I would be fine.

I started dragging the Dead Wood, back to Apium. With time, I had to travel further, and further. This on the other hand, exhausted me more and more. I also did most of the work, as the Atols from Floral Fraction, were not craftsmen. Like this, the time passed, and fruits of my labour started appearing. I got used to dragging the Dead Wood, and my strength increased by a lot. My stamina improved as well. I felt, that I was getting closer to reaching my limits.

After many days of hard labour, I finally managed to create the automated water delivery system for all the fields, including mine. As the water from the huge main tank flooded the channels, the Atols that worked hard throughout so many years, cheered. Ulon patted my shoulder, and said "It has been completed. Your legacy, will stay here for the rest of our lives, and even longer. You should be proud boy. You helped us immensely, and we will honor the deal we made, with pride!". I nodded my head, smiled and said "Yea, I'm exhausted though. I will take a few days off, and get some rest".

Ulon replied "you deserve all the rest, that you need. We still have to harvest out fields and tend to them, but it will no longer take most of our lives. I truly thank you". I waved my hand, and left. My part of the deal was done. I also received all the herbs, that the Fraction Leader Florin promised, and all the harvest from my own field. I had loads of herbs to make extracts from, and some new ones, that I needed to study. But before I did any of that, I went back to my room and slept like a log.

For the next few days, I did nothing but rested. I didn't try to study the herbs, or make anything, and simply let my body, as well as my mind rest. After these few days, I went back to studying the herbs, that I received from Florin. Fortunately, there was a note that came with the herbs. Florin explained what properties each herb had, so I didn't have to study them too extensively.

She gave me three herbs. They were called Alen Sprout, Black Iris and Antal Shroom. One of them looked like a vine, the other looked like a flower, and the third was a mushroom. Alen Sprout had healing properties, and could be used in medical applications. Black iris, could be used as a support, for increasing the strength of medicine, but also for other herbs, as it was very good at extracting properties of other herbs. The Antal Shroom was poisonous, and could be used to make poison.

She cautioned in the note, that the shroom needs to be processed, in order to be poisonous, and that it was safe to touch otherwise. I didn't know how strong the poison would be, but I needed to find out more. I was stunned myself, that they were in possession of poisonous herbs. 'It seems, that not only Warrior Fraction, is capable of attacking their enemies. I will have to speak to Ulon, about visiting Florin again. I have no idea, how strong that poison is, and how it spreads' I thought.

I decided to deal with that later, and focus on making extracts from the Alen Sprout. I had ten herbs of each kind, so I wanted to make an extract, from all ten Alen Sprouts. 'I will use all the Alen Sprouts, but only 4 Black Irises. I will need them more, when I get to create that poison. If the poison is good, then having more Black Irises, would be more beneficial to that process, compared to healing medicine' I thought.

I set up my tools, and started the process of extracting everything from those herbs. Of course, I took it very slowly in the beginning, and tried to figure out when I had to stop. If I cooked them for too long, the impurities would pop up, which I didn't need.

To my surprise, the herbs had very little impurities. I could extract about 80% of the properties easily, without creating any impurities. 'This is great. I can already see, that the strength of medicine is nothing to scoff at. I can extract this much of it, just from one plant. It might be due to the Black Iris as well' I thought. With my little experiment done, I did the full scale extraction, from all the plants.

Soon, I had about one litre of pure extract from the Alen Sprout. 'This thing is amazing. Healing Essence, doesn't even come close to this thing. If I smeared it on any wound, it would heal very quickly. In fact, it would be so quick, one could see it with their own eyes' I thought. I decided to test a bit of it, and smeared some onto my chest.

There were some nasty wounds left, after the battles in the Arena. The scars were quite substantial, so I wanted to check, if the scars could regenerate. After while of waiting, I noticed that the scars started shrinking, until they became half as big, as they used to be. 'This thing is really amazing. I will save it for when I really need it. This can save my life, when I really need it' I thought, and poured it to three separate bottles. 'What should I call that extract?' I thought. After a while of thinking, I came up with a name. 'I shall call it Greater Medical Extract. I will need to add this recipe to my book later' I thought.