Logging in the next morning, John began by checking on the wheat. His instincts (which he assumed, at this point, were the system) were telling him that he needed to water them. In addition, he felt that now was a good time to apply any growth enhancers he had. So, he walked out to the garden plot that contained the wheat and looked it. He could see tiny sprouts had poked through the soil and seemed to be doing well.

Considering his options, he decided to apply the Herb Slime goo now, and then water it in a couple hours after the goop had time to soak into the ground and plants alike. To that end he took out the ten urns and lined them up in front of the plot, then unscrewed their lids. For a moment he contemplated the contents, and wondered how he was supposed to apply the ooze to his plants. Finally he settled on direct application.

With a gesture he focused on the first urn and tried to pull the goop out of it with Control Water. The ooze moved sluggishly, and he felt that if he really wanted he could separate the water out of the slime. Wondering what would happen, he focused on the idea of the water separating out. After a moment of concerted effort water began to condense out of the ooze, quickly depleting it and leaving an oily, scummy residue behind. Keeping the ball of clean water floating in the air, John examined the residue.

[Name: Herb Slime Goo Concentrate]

[Quality: Poor]

[Description: Created from the internal goop of an Herb Slime, this concoction is a powerful fertilizing agent that has been concentrated into a much stronger form by the removal of most of its thinning agent (water). When applied to a plant it will help them grow and increase their health (and possibly quality). Ingestion is not recommended.]

“So a more concentrated effect on a small area, not really ideal for this,” John muttered to himself, then carefully mixed the water back in, rehydrating the mixture.

Lifting his hands, John used Control Water to slowly empty the pots into one massive ball of goo. From there he caused it to drift out over the plot. Once it was in the approximate center, he began manipulating it. Instead of a large ball of goo he wanted a flat plane that would cover most of the field and apply at least a small amount to all the burgeoning plants.

Getting the goop to flatten out was much harder than he’d thought it would be, and took a concerted effort of will and careful manipulation of the mana to achieve. After several minutes he was feeling the strain, and he’d only managed to cover maybe a fourth of the plot. As it was the goop was becoming stretched quite thin, and soon it started developing holes where it was stretched too far. After several more minutes John had to admit there wasn’t enough to cover the entire field. Carefully, with shaky control, he deposited the goop back in its vessels and stopped to think.

After a few moments he decided to approach this differently. What if, instead of trying to keep the use of the goop and the watering of the field separate, he instead combined the two? Nodding to himself at the idea John did a little math and then created a large reservoir attached to the back of the plot. The construction stretched the full 30-foot width of the plot, the full 3 feet from the top of the wall to the ground (and two feet beneath the ground as well), and a good four feet out from the wall itself. With foot thick walls and floor this gave it internal dimensions of 28 feet in length, 3 feet in width, and 4 feet in depth. Thus it’s total capacity was around 336 feet, and it could store about 2,500 gallons of water, about 500 gallons more than the plot would actually need.

Nodding in satisfaction John filled the reservoir to about the two thirds mark and then began to empty the urns into it. Once all the urns were empty he used Control Water to agitate the entire reservoir, ensuring that the goo mixed well with the water. After a few minutes he couldn’t see any thick strands of green goop anymore and he declared it done. Then, out of curiosity, he did a quick Inspect of the water.

[Name: Very Diluted Herb Slime Water]

[Quality: Poor]

[Description: Made from Herb Slime Goo that’s been heavily diluted in water, this concoction will help speed the growth and health of plants, though only to a small degree. There is also a tiny chance that it will increase the quality of the plants upon which it is used. Not recommended for ingestion.]

John considered the water for a moment and then nodded. It wasn’t going to be as good as applying the slime directly to the plants, but it would ensure a more even spread across the entire field. With that in mind he started using Control Water to create a large rivulet which he began to feed into the furrows of the field, filling them up with water until the basin was dry. He then collected the urns and went to check on the tree.

He found the tree much as he had left it yesterday, although it seemed slightly taller, now reaching almost to his chest. He made a seat from the wall and sat down next to it and set a four-hour timer. Then, placing his hand on a small branch, he began feeding it space mana once more. As he fed it he allowed himself to be carried away into the tree once more. For a while he was the tree, and the tree was him. He could feel it was less confused now, and more confident in its purpose. Its magic, it seemed, wasn’t going to ever be all one thing, and instead felt like it would have an innate flexibility to it, whatever form it finally took.

Four hours later John was jolted out of his reverie by the alarm. He broke the connection to the tree and stood up, stretching.

“So,” came Helen’s voice from nearby. “Do we have a portal tree?”

John looked around and found her standing not far away, looking at the sapling thoughtfully.

“I don’t know,” he answered truthfully. “Its magic has pretty much settled, and mostly in that direction, I think. But only mostly. I think it’s going to have some flexibility in what its magic can do, but I don’t know what that will look like.”

“Hmmm, perhaps the ritual was a poor idea. It seems to be encouraging swift growth, which may have limited your time to influence it,” she theorized.

“Yeah, I considered that. Though, I don’t know what more I could do. I don’t have the gold to feed it more magic items, and I only met with limited success in directing its magic manually,” John admitted.

“A shame, but we will see what happens,” Helen said with a nod. She then turned to look at the entrance to the shrine, where John could see the new road stretching off into the distance.

“The road will be completed by tomorrow,” she informed him.

“Alright, I have the funds required. How many miles does it stretch?” John asked.

“Two and a quarter, so around two gold and twenty-five silvers.”

John nodded. “I have that. I’m glad I’ll be finishing at least one of my quests.”

“Oh? Have a quest you won’t be finishing?” Helen asked.

“I got a quest to build or commission a portal and anchor. It’s only got eight days left on it. If the tree doesn’t count then I’m going to fail it,” John explained.

“Ah, yes, it does seem unlikely at this point. Though, in eight days the tree’s magic might finally reveal itself. If so, you may yet succeed,” Helen said encouragingly.

“Here’s hoping,” John replied. “Anyway, I need to go into town…” he paused, struck by a thought. “Will the, uh, squires? be running the dungeon?”

“We will likely run many of them through it for confined area combat training, and they will have days where they are free to do what they wish, so some may attempt it. Why?” Helen asked.

“Well, I need bodies and Herb Slime goop from the dungeon for fertilizer, currently I pay a couple of other players to get them for me. But if your people are going to be running the dungeon it might make sense if I paid them to bring things back,” John explained.

“Hm, an interesting thought, the squires won’t have much to spend coin on for a while, however they may enjoy pocket change. I suggest having a Job Board constructed, and leaving jobs posted on it, so that you’re not overwhelmed by dozens of answers to your request at once. In fact, it’d be best if one was placed in the village itself. Perhaps you should speak to some of the townsfolk about it?” She suggested.

John nodded. “A good idea, I’ll talk to Grandma Loren about it.”

Helen’s brow twitched slightly, and then she nodded her head. “Good luck to you then.”

“Thanks, good luck with your own work,” John responded.

Helen gave a slight nod, then turned to leave. John exited the wall, closed it up, and then headed for town.

The first part of his walk was actually quite nice, the finished portion of the road made the walk smooth and easy and he made more than double time toward town. It was only as he reached the end of the finished portion and stepped off onto the grass that he realized how much quicker he’d been moving. Pausing, he turned and stepped back onto the road and checked his status effects.

[Great Quality Road: +50% movement speed]

“Wait, roads have qualities?” John asked no one in particular.

“Of course roads have qualities, everything has a quality,” One of the nearby squires snapped even as he magicked new stone pavers into place.

John paused and gave the demonkin man a long, level look. “Thank you, I didn’t know that,” he said, without hint of ire or annoyance.

“Oh, great, so you just wanted your road to be pretty, thought you’d make us do all this extra work for no real reason,” the man said in disgust.

“Actually, I requested this road be built to this standard because it’s one of the best road designs ever used in my own world,” He patiently explained.

The other five squires had stopped and were watching the exchange with some interest. John could easily tell that they were no warmer to him than the man talking though, and he wondered if maybe he should just walk away.

“Oh, great, you’re a player, so you don’t actually know anything. Wonderful, not only are we in the back end of nowhere guarding a useless plant, we’re doing it at the behest of an ignoramus,” The devilkin said, giving John a withering glare.

John just stared at the man for a moment, then decided that walking away actually wasn’t that bad of a plan. “Yup,” he said finally. Then he stepped off the road, walked pointedly around the group, and continued on toward town. As he walked he could hear the Devilkin muttering imprecations, though none of them were loud enough that he could clearly hear what was being said. Still, he made a note to avoid the man if they ever met elsewhere.

The town looked about the same as when John had last seen it. Although now there was a road bed that terminated at the main thoroughfare. More than one curious glance was thrown his way as he walked out of the grass next to it, and he just waved and walked on. He glanced around for Sally and Ex but didn’t see them, either they were in the dungeon or doing something else. So, he continued on to the square where he found Grandma Loren sitting and eying the sky. John looked up and noticed the gathering clouds. It was going to rain soon it seemed.

“Hello John, what brings you into town? It seems you were here just recently,” She asked as she turned to look at him instead.

John sat down next to her. “Helen, that’s the commander of the Knights Magi, said I should talk to some of the folks in town about setting up a Job Board. So I thought I’d come ask you about it,” he explained.

“Knights Magi? I thought I saw some squires running around. I take it they’re out guarding the shrine and tree?” she asked.

“Yeah, Ledos offered me a contract, basically I’m still the owner of the shrine, but they get to control access to, and in addition protect, it and collect the appropriate toll for its use. I get some of that but the majority goes to the knights and the churches of Ira, Ledos, and Thuana.”

“Hmmmm, an interesting arrangement. Before we get too far off topic, I think a Job Board is a fine idea, we hadn’t needed one until now what with having such a small population, but I suppose that’s since changed hasn’t it? I’ll talk to Phillip about building one for the square here. Now, tell me how the tree is doing, has the system named it yet?” Loren Asked.

“It’s doing well, no system given name yet though. It’s growing really fast, but we think that’s because of the ritual, unfortunately that means its magic solidified much faster than we expected. I tried to influence it towards portals, but the best I could do was explain the effects of portals to it repeatedly. There was some resonance but, I just don’t know. I get the feeling its magic is going to be more flexible than I was hoping,” John explained.

“Flexibility might not be a bad thing, it’s a living organism, they tend to need a little flexibility. I wouldn’t be too worried about what comes out of it though. Odds are good its going to be something worth having, even if it’s not what you were looking for,” she said in a reassuring manner. “Besides, the God of Magic sent his Knights to oversee it, he must be expecting great things.”

John nodded. “Let’s hope.”

“What else have you been up to out there? I hear someone dug a ditch all the way to the town and filled it with sand and gravel, the start of a road perhaps?” she commented.

“Yeah, I’m paying the Knights to build it. Well, that sounds far more commercial than it is… was? Basically, Helen offered and told me the cost and I accepted,” John explained.

“You know John, most people don’t call the leaders of Knightly organizations by name. You should probably learn her rank and use it,” Loren admonished.

John paused, thinking it over. “I suppose I should,” he said finally. “Honestly, she introduced herself and didn’t give me a rank to work with. I guess I just assumed that was normal.”

“It’s not, though if she didn’t introduce herself by rank means she probably doesn’t mind. Still, best to try not to throw her name around too much in public,” she said.

John nodded once more. “Got it.”

Loren gave a nod of her own. “Good. Now, I’m going to get inside before it rains.” The elderly woman used her cane to lever herself up off the seat and dusted off the front of her robes. “Have a good day dear. And good luck with your farming.”

“Bye,” John said with a wave as she walked off.

Standing, John wandered through the stalls for a few minutes then, as it started to rain, began to make his way back toward the farm