149 – Lesson in Herbology
After Aetheric Illusions, the next class for both Elise and Sophie was A Mage’s Guide to Defensive Gardening, and both of them were excited. The first class had been an unfortunately boring syllabus day, but that day came with the promise of something much more exciting: hands-on experience. From today onward, every day would be a practical class, and the teacher would bring in sample plants for them to work with.
The class was held in an enormous greenhouse about halfway to the west side of the campus. Most of the rooms in the greenhouse were locked and covered in warning signs, and within a few of them, they saw some wriggling plants through the foggy glass. The classroom itself, however, was held in the center of the greenhouse in a large open room that was currently uncomfortably warm and humid. The room was filled with tables and stools, and on each table, there were three small potted plants.
Elise and Sophie arrived somewhat early, so they chose a table near the front. The professor, a motherly woman with auburn hair named Sucri, smiled and nodded at them from where she stood behind a larger table at the front of the room. She had a potted plant as well, though her pot and plant were much bigger. As far as Elise could tell though, they were the same plant, just in different stages of growth. The students’ versions were sprouts while the professor had a fully grown version.
Elise and Sophie both bent over the table to take a closer look at their plants. The small versions at least weren’t very noteworthy. They were just small, viny plants sprouting out like a star from the center of the pot and crawling along the ground. The bigger version on the table had the same vines, but much thicker, and they were hanging out of the pot and spreading across the entire table.
“Oh!”
Elise looked to the side to see that Sophie had poked her plant, and one of its vines was now wrapped around her finger and trying to pull it in toward the center where a small purple thorn was slowly emerging through a tiny slit that had been invisible until that point. It was so small that Sophie was able to pull her finger away without issue. The vine flailed around for a few seconds as it searched for the finger, then went still again while the thorn retracted.
Elise then poked her plant, watching as it wrapped around her finger, then flailed as it pulled away. It was almost cute how it worked. “Cute” probably wouldn’t be the word she used to describe the larger plant though, if she ever saw it in action. While perfectly still at the moment, each of the vines was at least an inch thick and there looked to be dozens of them. While perhaps not a problem for Elise, even without magic, now that she had reached 5th tier, she could easily see it being a deadly trap for weaker animals and children.
Over the next few minutes, Elise, Sophie, and Sucri all watched with amusement as other students filed into the classroom and experienced their own miniature surprises. A few of them were unfortunate to poke the center of the plant and got pricked by the tiny thorn. One of them was a young man who promptly put his finger in his mouth to stop the bleeding. Elise heard a sigh behind her and saw Sucri pursing her lips and shaking her head. In that moment, Elise couldn’t help but see her as a mother trying her best not to laugh as her child got a minor wound doing something ridiculous.
As the time for class to begin drew near, Elise and Sophie were joined by Isabelle, the willowy girl they had met while waiting in line for registration day. Neither of them knew her that well, but she was pleasant enough, and knew quite a bit more about herbology than either of them, so she was more than welcome at their table. With her help, Elise expected that passing the class would be a breeze.
A few minutes later, it was time for class to begin, so Professor Sucri clapped her hands three times and called out.
“Attention, class!”
The noise immediately quieted, aside from a few in the back who were still laughing and joking about a friend who had gotten stabbed by the little plant.
“Welcome to the first real class of A Mage’s Guide to Defensive Gardening!” she said. “As you can see, I’ve set out a little sample for each of you to work with. We will be working with these same plants for the rest of the week, so please try your best not to kill them. I would hate to give a bad mark to someone so early in the semester.
“As we discussed yesterday, today, we’ll be starting the more hands-on class. In case you weren’t paying attention, however, I’ll go over a few things quickly before we begin. This class is registered as a lab class, but in reality, it’s somewhere between a lab and a practical. I want you to understand how to deal with these plants, but I also want to give you plenty of time on your own to get to know them, so each class, the first half will be guided work with the plants, and the rest will be free study time. Yes, you are welcome to leave early during this section, but don’t blame me if you underperform on the exams due to lack of experience.
“Now, the plant you see before you is known as the tanglethorn, and it is one of the most commonly used defensive plants due to its price, ease of care, and ease of setup. It is very effective for warding off small creatures and weak monsters, and it will make intruders think twice before stepping onto your property, but if you are hoping for more serious defenses, there are better options. Other plants in the same family can be more effective and dangerous, but are also harder to care for.
“Our goal for this week is for you to fully understand the needs of this plant, how to care for it, and most importantly, how to make it safe to have in your garden, because as you can imagine, you wouldn’t want this trying to eat you every time you went out to look at your plants. Before we begin though, I noticed that some of you were already familiarizing yourselves with your plants. Unfortunately, many of you seem to have forgotten the safety lecture that I gave last class.”
Her words were calm, and her face was smiling, but a chill fell over the room, and a lot of people started glancing toward the foolish few who had gotten stabbed.
“Would anyone here like to remind the rest of the class what my three rules for attending this class are?”
At first, nobody raised their hands, but after a few seconds, Isabelle did.
“Yes, Isabelle?” asked Professor Sucri.
“Don’t touch anything that you can’t identify without asking first, don’t approach the desk at the front without permission, and don’t put anything in your mouth unless instructed to.”
“Precisely,” said Sucri, nodding before turning her gaze further back in the classroom. “And Arthur, would you say that you, and the others in this classroom, followed those rules?”
Elise looked back to see the young man who had put his finger in his mouth looking mildly embarrassed.
“No, Professor,” he said.
“This is your only free warning,” said Sucri, speaking louder, and gazing across the whole classroom. “This plant in its infantile stage is relatively harmless. However, the thorn in its center contains two types of poison. In its adult form, it can paralyze a full grown man in under a minute and decompose his body within a day. In its current state, at worst, you will feel mild numbness, but even so, under no circumstances should you put that poison in your mouth. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Professor,” said Arthur sheepishly.
“This applies to everyone,” said Sucri.
“Yes, Professor!” said the class.
“Wonderful!” said Sucri, clapping. “Then let us begin!”
Sucri launched into a brief lecture covering the origins of the tanglethorn, its natural habitat, the climates it could easily adapt to, the kind of soil it preferred, and more. While it was a lecture, she made sure to keep the class engaged by constantly asking them to do things. When she talked about its origins on the west side of the Jungle, she pointed out the heat and humidity in the room. When she talked about its water requirements, she had them poke the soil in the pot so they could feel it themselves. When she talked about the nutrients they needed, she passed a box filled with small cubes of beef that they could feed to the plant.
As she continued, Elise watched her plant pull the beef in and press it down onto its thorn. At first, it just sat there like a tiny skewer, but by the time the lecture neared its end, the beef had started to visibly sag, presumably as it rotted from the inside out. Elise was tempted to feed the plant some nature mana to help it grow and strengthen its poison so she could watch it faster, but she refrained. It would get there eventually, even if she did nothing, and she didn’t want to get in trouble for acting without permission.
“Before we get to the end of the lecture, would anyone like to volunteer to assist me in a demonstration?”
Sophie’s hand shot into the air. Professor Sucri smiled at her, then continued speaking.
“This demonstration will not be dangerous, but it may seem like it, so I don’t recommend volunteering if you are faint of heart.”
Sophie’s hand rose higher.
“Sophie, you seem quite eager,” said Sucri. “Why don’t you come up here and join me?”
“Okay!” said Sophie, excitedly getting down from her stool and walking up to the front.
Sucri put a hand on her shoulder, guiding her around until she was standing behind the table, only a few feet away from the mature tanglethorn. Sophie glanced at it eagerly, knowing what was happening next.
“Sophie, would you mind touching the tanglethorn?” asked Sucri, gesturing toward it.
Sophie didn’t need to be told twice. She reached out and touched the nearest vine, which promptly wrapped around her arm like a snake and started pulling. From its center, a ball of thorns that looked almost like a sea urchin dripping poison emerged, and Elise shivered at the thought of coming into contact with it. The rest of the vines started reaching toward Sophie as well, but all at once, they all stopped moving, freezing in place, some of them in midair, poised to attack. Elise sensed the professor using mana on the plant, and knew that she had stopped it, but she also sensed Sophie’s own mana moving, ready to attack the plant in case it didn’t stop. Then, just as quickly as it started wrapping her up, it recoiled, freeing her to take a step back.
“As you can see, a mature tanglethorn will latch onto anything that even lightly touches it, trying to pull it in, and its poison would likely be deadly to poor Sophie here. Of course, the plant is completely under my control, and I would never allow that to happen, but I believe that demonstration should be enough for you all to understand the dangers that this plant might pose if planted in your own home garden.”
A few of the students nodded and murmured their assent.
“Now, for a different demonstration. Sophie am I currently using any mana?”
“I don’t think so,” said Sophie.
“Correct. I am not.”
The professor took a step forward and put her hand on a nearby vine. The plant remained inert.
“How about now? Am I using mana now?”
“No,” said Sophie, shaking her head.
“Correct. I am still not using mana. But the plant isn’t attacking me. Sophie, you are free to return to your seat. Make sure not to touch the vines.”
Sophie nodded and trotted back as Sucri continued speaking.
“Teaching plants who not to attack is an essential skill for any would-be defensive gardener. In some cases, this is simple, and in others, it’s almost as difficult as training a rabid monster. An ordinary tanglethorn is one of the easier to train, and in fact, it is so easy that I am going to have all of you do it right now.”
She waved her hand and two boxes flew out from under the front table, landing in front of Sophie, Elise, and Isabelle. Elise peered inside to see that one was filled with small syringes, and the other had glass vials half-full of clear liquids.
“Each of you, please take only one item from each box while I explain. And please pay attention, as what you are about to learn is the most fundamental method of taming aggressive plants, and is effective on more than a third of all the plants we will be studying this semester. And unfortunately for the squeamish, this method involves blood.
“Unlike animals, most plants do not respond well to ordinary forms of training. They cannot learn their own name, or understand commands, or develop bonds to humans in the way that animals can. Instead, you need to target their base biological and magical instincts. In this case, we will be teaching it that your blood is bad for them, and since your blood contains your mana signature, they will also learn your mana signature and will no longer be aggressive to you.
“When you get your syringe, I want you to draw blood from yourself. It doesn’t need to be much. Just fill to the first line, and then inject the drawn blood into the vial. The vial contains a diluted herbicide that mixes well with blood. Once the blood is in the vial, close the top and shake it until it’s mixed, then pour it into the soil around your tanglethorn. I will be walking around the classroom, so if anyone needs help, please raise your hand.”
Elise had never been squeamish about needles, but she had also never drawn her own blood before, and was a little worried she would break the tip off doing it wrong, or that she would miss a vein and have to re-pierce herself. Fortunately, that didn’t turn out to be a valid worry at all. Not only was the syringe’s needle magically reinforced, it was almost magnetically attracted to the nearest vein. It went in almost painlessly, and when she pulled it out, it left behind a small puff of mana and aether that closed up the hole before it could even begin to bleed.
Elise followed the directions, sticking the blood into the vial and shaking well. The clear liquid turned a pale red as it mixed with the blood, and while she had never paid much attention before, as she observed more closely, she did vaguely sense her mana signature within. It wasn’t a very clear sensation, but there was definitely something there, and apparently just noticing that fact was enough for a level in {Mana Sense}.
She poured the vial into the pot and watched as the vines recoiled, thrashing around and curling into spirals. She started to feel bad, watching the poor little plant struggling and in pain, but it soon calmed down and returned to stillness.
Around the same time, Sophie’s calmed down as well, but when Elise looked to her right, she saw Isabelle staring at her empty syringe with an apprehensive expression.
“Not a fan of needles?” asked Elise.
“Not particularly, no,” said Isabelle, still staring at the syringe. “I’ve had a few too many bad experiences with them.”
“Want me to do it?” asked Elise.
“If you don’t mind.”
She handed the syringe to Elise, then closed her eyes and looked away as Elise brought it to her upper forearm and pressed it in. Isabelle winced when it entered, but otherwise handled it well, looking back once she felt the needle leave and the healing magic do its work. Elise handed the syringe back, and Isabelle nodded, shooting her a grateful look.
“Thanks.”
“No problem.”
Elise looked back at her own plant while Isabelle continued with her lab. She watched the meat decompose a bit more for another minute or so before deciding to poke her finger at the plant. The vine she touched twitched at the contact, but it did not try to wrap her up. She poked again, and this time, it didn’t even twitch. A few minutes later, once everyone in the class had evidently finished with their own parts, Sucri returned to the front and started speaking again.
“As you can see, the process is very quick and simple for tanglethorns, at least when they’re young. Doing the same to a mature one is much more difficult, and would take multiple sessions, but for a sprout like this, what I gave you is more than enough. Now, for the rest of the plant’s life, it will never attack you. When setting a tanglethorn up on your own property, you will want to repeat this process for each person that you trust who will regularly be on your property. It is especially important to do this for any children or pets you may have, as they are the most likely victims.
“And with that, the lab section of the class has ended. As I said before, you are now free to leave if you would like, but I encourage you to stick around a bit longer and learn more about your plants. If you would like, I have extra syringes and vials, if you would like to become immune to your friend’s plants as well. However, before you use them, I have another set of vials containing nutrients and nature mana to help them recover from the initial poison. If you try without using that first, you will most likely kill your tanglethorns.
“Next class, we will be re-potting the tanglethorns, and then magically growing them some as we learn about their juvenile form. Until then, have a great day. I will stay here if you have any further questions.”
Elise and Sophie didn’t have any questions, but they chose to stay anyway so they could befriend each others’ plants. Isabelle stayed for a few minutes as well to do the same, but left shortly after, saying she needed to go to the bathroom. Elise noticed that she looked mildly pale, apparently having been put off by the needle. She idly wondered what had happened to the girl to make needles affect her so much, but since Isabelle hadn’t shared, she wouldn’t pry.
Elise and Sophie chatted for a little while while Sucri answered questions from a short line of students, but when those students left, Elise and Sophie were interrupted when they looked up to find Sucri standing over their table with a smile.
“I saw that you two put on the registration form that you had {Nature Mana Manipulation} or {Mana Manipulation},” she said with a smile.
Elise and Sophie both nodded.
“I saw that you also had Magical Combat classes on your schedules,” she continued.
Elise and Sophie nodded again, and Sucri pulled out a piece of paper from her pocket and handed it to them.
“I am the chaperone for a school club called ‘Fighting with Nature,’” she said. “I’d like to invite both of you to join. I think you’d make lovely additions. Additionally, our club has a special agreement with the University allowing you to gain permission to enter the Dungeon much earlier than you normally would. If you are interested, the first meeting of the semester is this Saturday. You don’t have to join if you come to the meeting, but if you do join, you can be in the Dungeon as soon as next week.”
“We’ll think about it,” said Elise, nodding. “Thank you.”
“Of course,” said Sucri. “Oh, it looks like someone else needs help. If you have any questions, feel free to ask when I’m done.”
“Alright.”
As she walked away, Elise looked down at the paper, which had some information about the club, as well as the location and time of the first meeting. While she hadn’t been actively looking for clubs, Sucri’s offer was very tempting. She had been wondering how she would get permission to enter the Dungeon, and this seemed to be a good option. Especially since nature magic would likely be her main combat specialty, at least publicly, since she couldn’t very well be scaring monsters to death around ordinary people.
“Are you gonna join?” asked Sophie.
“Maybe,” said Elise. “It’s not a bad idea. I do want to get into the Dungeon sooner.”
“Then I’ll join too,” said Sophie, nodding.
“Don’t you want to join a club where you can take full advantage of {Mana Manipulation}?” asked Elise.
“Well, I get practice with everything else with Iris, so I don’t really need it. I’d rather just join the club you’re in.”
“Fair enough,” said Elise, shrugging. “I should probably look around at the other clubs, but I don’t see a reason not to join this one.”
“Let’s go to the meeting on Saturday then.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
The rest of the class time passed without event, and Elise and Sophie had to split up for their next classes. Elise went to Basic Unattributed Spells, which turned out to be the most boring class ever. Evidently, they were starting with {Telekinesis}, then moving to {Magic Missile}, and only then going to {Mana Shield}, so the entire first two thirds of the class would be pointless to her. She even somehow got drafted into being the professor’s assistant to help the other students out.
I really need to get Sophie to help me with {Mana Shield} later, she thought as she left.
Basic Magical Combat was almost as boring, but it was a bit more active. When the class name said it was “basic” it truly meant it. This first day of class was just covering things like mana conservation and identifying when a threat was too powerful to face. Still, even as boring as it was, as someone who had never gotten any formal training, Elise was able to gain a few small things, and looked forward to what else she might get. Her time with Oberon had gotten her into the mindset of the basics being important, so while it was a little tedious, she was ready to give it her all. While aether would remain her main weapon, she also thought magic was cool and wanted to be as proficient as she could with it.
When they returned to the house, Elise and Sophie immediately set to work on learning {Mana Shield}. Unfortunately, they didn’t quite figure it out. While Elise managed to unlock the Skill Quest, apparently the System was very finicky of what constituted an “attack,” so they spent most of the time until nightfall just trying to dial in the power of Sophie’s attacks. Irylax gave them a few tips, so they knew they were moving in the right direction, but they didn’t want to be working all night, so they decided to give it up for the moment.
With that out of the way, Elise returned to her room and her mind returned to her conversation with Jessie in Aetheric Illusions. She finally had a way to cure Jag, and wanted to make sure she didn’t mess it up. She wanted to help Jessie in any way she could, which meant using the resources at her disposal to try to find a solution, and luckily for her, she had two potential connections: Titania, and Irylax. Irylax was busy with Sophie at the moment, so Elise first tried praying to Titania, and unexpectedly got an almost immediate response.
“Go to sleep.”
The direct response from Titania gave her a mild headache, but Elise got the message loud and clear. Sleeping was a bit easier said than done, but she still made it eventually, and when she finally drifted off, she found herself within her own soul realm with Titania sitting on her bed.