Chapter 71. Seven Seeds Out of Two Hundred [BONUS]
Kaia drew her sword before the soil stopped moving.
Brann stepped in front of Rowan while Cedric ordered every weaker troop away from the field.
Carlos kept one hand near the Warden Chain.
Nothing emerged. The green lights instead continued pulsing beneath the soil like slow heartbeats.
"Inspect isn’t identifying it from here," Carlos said.
Rowan watched the dirt instead of the weapons. "The soil rose and fell together. It may be a mechanism beneath the beds, not a creature."
"May be?"
"I am a farmer, my lord. I do not name things buried under ancient fields."
Carlos almost smiled. "At least you are honest."
Before continuing the work, Carlos returned through the portal and brought Blue into the district. The Mana Water Sprite would be needed if the preserved roots reacted badly to the restored flow.
Blue floated through the silver doorway instead of walking. Its small body became almost transparent inside the portal before the blue light gathered together on the other side.
Every member of Cedric’s group stopped working.
"Is that a Sprite?" Rhea asked.
Even Cedric stared openly. He had remained calm after seeing Brann, the Warden Chain and Carlos’s equipment, but Blue surprised him more than all three.
"A Mana Water Sprite," Cosmic said with far too much pride for someone who did not own it. "Rare Grade too."
"You have a Rare Sprite living inside your territory?" Tomas asked.
"Yes," Carlos answered.
"And you brought it here to water roots?"
Carlos frowned. "What else would I bring a Mana Water Sprite for?"
Nobody answered.
Blue circled Carlos once before floating toward Rowan. The Sprite ignored everyone staring and waited beside the farmer for instructions.
Cedric watched that too.
"It listens to your farmer."
"Rowan taught Blue how to irrigate crops," Carlos explained. "So Blue listens when he decides how much water something needs."
The surprise on Cedric’s face changed into something heavier. Carlos had not only obtained a Rare lifeform. He had given it work, training and a place inside his territory.
Rhea looked toward the portal after Blue crossed.
"What else is living inside Ironroot?"
Carlos smiled this time but did not say anything. Sometimes being mysterious was a good feeling.
The system marked the next two obstructions only after the Dormancy Monitor awakened. Both were deeper than the first and wrapped in preserved roots.
Rowan marked safe cutting lines with pieces of white cloth. He made Elias check each mark behind him while Boro carried water to any root exposed beneath the sun.
Carlos did not understand why some roots needed covering while others could remain open. He followed Rowan’s instructions anyway.
Lydia had not arrived yet, and there was no specialist who understood the ancient stonework. That meant every cracked section had to be supported by hand until the soil beneath it was removed.
Brann held the largest slab above four workers for nearly twenty minutes.
"Heavy?" Carlos asked.
"Yes."
"Need help?"
"No."
The Bearkin’s arms were shaking by the time the last worker crawled away. He still lowered the slab slowly instead of dropping it near the roots.
Cedric watched the entire thing.
"My two Axemen together could not hold that."
"Brann isn’t Common grade."
"I noticed."
Carlos handed Brann water before returning to the obstruction. Stronger troops made the work possible, but they also needed care after doing it.
Cedric divided his people without waiting for Carlos to explain every movement.
"Rhea, take the loose stones. Tomas, keep the channel clear. Milan and Evan carry everything behind the regulator. Nobody touches a root unless Rowan points at it."
His group moved right away. Carlos watched him for a moment before joining Brann at the largest collapsed section.
The Bearkin lifted one stone while Carlos controlled the Warden Chain beneath another. The black links wrapped around it and pulled the weight away without disturbing the roots below.
Cedric stared at the floating chain.
"That is a weapon?"
"Sometimes."
"What is it the rest of the time?"
"Whatever I need it to be."
Carlos was as vague as he could be. But he could do nothing about things they could see.
Cosmic answered from behind them. "He means dangerous."
It took nearly three hours to clear all four obstructions. Nobody was injured, but every person was covered in grey dust by the time the final stone moved.
Rhea’s injured Woodcutter had reopened the scar on his leg. Carlos used cloth and ordinary medicine instead of wasting a recovery potion on something that Rowan said could be cleaned and bound.
Rhea tried to refuse the medicine until Carlos reminded her that an injured worker slowed everyone.
"You make kindness sound like business," Cosmic said.
"..."
Cosmic became very interested in the channel after that.
Carlos returned to the regulator.
--
[Auxiliary Channel Three obstruction cleared]
[Active caretaker mechanisms detected]
[Partial Owner may initiate controlled restoration]
[Would you like to proceed?]
--
"Controlled restoration sounds slower," Carlos said.
"Slower is better than drowning three hundred years of work, my lord. We should be very careful with what we do." Rowan answered.
Carlos selected it.
Water entered the channel in a thin stream instead of rushing forward. Every Dormancy Monitor turned from green to blue as it passed.
The field moved again.
This time, straight lines rose beneath the soil. Stone frames pushed upward one after another until their tops became visible.
They were not creatures.
Hundreds of narrow containers had been buried beneath the seasonal beds.
Water flowed around them before entering openings along their sides.
--
[Seasonal Preservation Beds accepting restored flow]
[Dormancy release: 1 percent]
--
The number rose slowly.
Cedric’s people sat near the channel while Carlos refused to leave the regulator. Rowan checked the soil repeatedly.
Blue released small amounts of Mana Water only where Rowan directed.
At thirty percent, thin roots withdrew from the first buried container, then at sixty percent, its stone lid cracked down the middle.
At one hundred percent, the lid finally opened, but there was no monster inside.
Rows of small black packets filled the container. Most had collapsed into dust, but seven remained wrapped in silver roots.
Carlos approached after Rowan confirmed the water was stable.
--
[Ancient Seasonal Seed Store]
[Stored batches: 7 viable, 193 lost]
[Caretaker succession trial available]
[Recovering viable seed identities]
--
Carlos’s happiness fell when he saw how much had been lost.
Only seven batches had survived out of two hundred.
Rowan picked up some of the dust between two fingers. It disappeared before he could place it inside a container.
"The others cannot be recovered," he said.
Carlos hated that answer even though the seeds had died centuries before he arrived. If one additional channel had been restored earlier, perhaps more would have survived.
That thought was useless. He had entered the Pocket Dimension as soon as the event opened and reached the district before anyone willing to repair it.
Saving seven was better than finding two hundred empty packets.
Then the first silver root opened.
--
[Unknown preserved seed batch recovered]
[Quantity: 12]
[Grade: Rare]
--
Six more roots began opening behind it.
Every packet opened at a different speed. Rowan made Carlos wait until the silver roots withdrew completely because pulling one free could break the seal.
Cosmic counted the surviving packets while Cedric counted the dead ones.
It was extraordinary looking at tnne seeds growing like his, it was almost like scientific magic.
"Seven can change a territory," Cosmic said.
"But One hundred and ninety-three though..." Cedric answered.
The final root released its packet, and the whole buried container became still.
Carlos stored nothing yet. He ordered everyone away from the container until the system completed its identification.
After watching one hundred and ninety-three batches become dust, he would not lose the remaining seven because someone became impatient during the final minute.