Chapter 173: A Little Magical Botany ss of Horrors


    Oh yes, Khalik said emphatically. The games are run by The Watchers, but they are sponsored by the city. A number of the events have different prizes: usually fine items for one to disurels of tinum, dragon-bone flutes, sps of goldwhile some of thepetitions provide the winners with actual magical items, which are donated by the finest shops and crafters in Generasi. At least, thats how it was in my brothers day.


    Donated? Alex asked. That doesn''t sound like a good way toyou know, make coin.


    Aaaah, you underestimate the games. These merchants and crafters do not donate out of any desire to be charitable. No, their minds work to expand their purses. The prince tapped the side of his head. You worked at a bakery in your hometown, did the baker not bring some of his confectionery to your festivals?


    Alex burst outughing. First of all, bold of you to think we were fancy enough for confectionery. Second, Im pretty sure the only thing that McHarris would ever donate to anyone was his handin someones coin purse.


    Truly? Perhaps it is different in Thamnd, then. Khalik looked around at the lush gardens around them. They were passing through a small grove of trees that were heavy with ripe fruit. The fact that the fruit looked like giant eyeballs made them pretty unnerving. "In Tekezash, whenever there is an event; a party, a wedding or tournament that my family attends: tailors, chefs, and other trades folk behave like they would gut each other for a chance to supply the event with their wares. Even if they must provide their goods without charge. Think of it this way, suppose I sample a ss of wine at a party. I enjoy it, and openlypliment it. What do you think happens?


    Well, uh, Im not surebut if people are trying to get in the good graces of the prince, then theyre going to pay attention to whatever you do?


    Exactly. Khalik winced. It is one of the reasons why it is so good to be anonymous here. Back home, if I try a sweet at a festival one day, I wake up the next to find the vendor of that sweet up to their necks in orders from courtiers, and pounds of the sweet delivered to me with theirpliments. For months everyone around me would be eating it in hopes that it would start a conversation.


    Ugh, that sounds kinda creepy. Well, maybe its different for you, but thatd get really creepy for me really fast.


    It amused my brother, but it made me ufortable.


    Yeah, I get that, Alex said, ncing behind him.


    ygon was walking just behind them, taking up basically the entire path. The golems helmeted head nearly scraped the lower branches of the canopy. Najyah was perched on ygons shoulder, and had nodded off sometime during the trip.


    Youd better not poop on my golem, Alex thought. Or its eagle stew.


    His mind stopped on the thought: his golem.


    If the expedition to Thamnd was sessful, thered likely be a lot of wizards making their own ygons: their own golems made from dungeon core remains. On the one hand that excited him, but on the other, itd bestrange seeing his once unique golem all over the ce.


    In a way, it was kind of like what Khalik had said: waking up one day to see that everyone was doing the same as you.


    He paused.


    Oooh, he said. So if a champion or winner of a game winsI dunno, a super awesome magical sword lets say, then people will pay attention to the sword <em>and</em> who crafted it.


    Now you get it. Other prizes are donated by the city too: like coin purses. Apparently, one year the prize for the flying joust was a purse of a thousand gold, and a suit of armour worth fifteen hundred gold pieces.


    W-<em>what!?</em> Alex gaped. Thats-holy shit!


    The games are <em>very </em>well-funded, Khalik chuckled. You know why kings, lords and realms throw these tournaments? To show off. High prizes just scream about how wealthy you are. I can afford to offer a prized warhorse as the top prize for a race! It took years of breeding, time and training to raise him, but I can afford to just <em>give him away!</em> You see?


    Thats crazy. Alex shook his head. Butothers showing off might be to our gain. Ill ask Theresa: shes close enough to The Watchers. Maybe shell know what events theyll be having.


    Indeed, ah look, we have arrived!


    The prince, The Fool and the golem stepped into a clearing with a stone area about the size of arge ssroom. There werent any walls, and a number of chairs and tables had been set upor likely walked there by themselvesand students were already getting themselves set up. Some of them wore straw hats or had cast a spell of tinted shade over themselves. Alex looked through the trees at the ss ceiling high above.


    The sun would likely be brutal as the day went on: he shouldve brought his hat.


    They chose seats at the front of the ss, but Alex had ygon stand at the back out of the way. In front of them rose one of the bs of obsidian that served as a writing board for the professors, and directly in front of it were several nts: some green, some blue


    Isthat Alex squinted. Is that nt on fire?


    Its nothing to worry about, said a husky student from the next desk. "Its fireweed: it ignites the air within close proximity to it with its mana, but other than that, its harmless.


    Alex blinked.


    That was the sort of definition of harmless that someone would apply to a crocodile being raised by a seemingly half-mad goblin wizard in order to sic it on his opponents.


    So not exactly harmlessat all.


    Alex wondered how Kybas was doing. He hadnt seen the little goblin-wizard since the practical exam for alchemy.


    And is that one also harmless? Khalik pointed to a nt at the end of the line. It was a massive greenish-ck monstrosity with several stalks with each one ending in long, snouted sets of green and yellow striped jaws. There were no lips, so its endless fangs were visible and unnerving.


    Near it was a suspiciously empty cage with its door open.


    Ya, if you stay away from it, the student said dryly.


    Mhmmmm. Khalik looked around. And is that the reason our professor is missing? I see his bag, but I do not see him.


    Im alright! a voice called.


    Alex and Khalik startled and turned.


    Surrounding the open ssroom were several patches of vegetation rising from raised garden beds framed in stone. One was a particrly thick patch of rye, through which Alex could see a slight form moving about.


    Vampire pumpkin got out of its cage and into the rye! Just need to catch i-aha! Got you, you orange little pig!


    A rustling came from the rye, and a dark haired man sprang up, triumphantly holding a big orange pumpkin that struggled in his grip. On his hands were heavily-padded, elbow length gloves.


    Thought you could hide from me? Feh, Id make you into a pie, but youd taste like six day old buns that vagabonds had pawed over. He emerged from the rye, marched across the stones and shoved the pumpkin into the cage, then locked the door. He double checked the lock before turning away.


    Even in Generasi, it made for a strange sight.


    The slightly built man moved a nearby nt that had thin stalks with four leaves like some sort of clover. And this is why you never leave Earth Keyor zemaljski klju- He shook the nt slightly to indicate it. -as its called in its homnd in Savdrava, which is within the Irtyshenan Empire, for those who dont knownear locks of any kind. Even its juice can open most locks when rubbed on them, and the fumes it gives off can sometimes pop a lock.


    He moved the nt away from the cage, cing it about fifteen feet away, toward the end of the row. The professor took his gloves off and rubbed his hands together with a sort of contagious nervous energy. Wee to MBO-1550: Magical Botany I, Im Professor Salinger, but were all adults here: so, you can call me Holden.


    He gave a slight smile, and his lip trembled a bit. First of all. To any of you who are taking this for an easy credit, I invite you to- He pointed at the path out of the ss. -take the easy route out now. Theres a lot of memorizing in this course-


    He paused, double taking as a huge grin swept across Alexs face. The Mark was <em>built</em> for this sort of thing.


    -ooookay, I guess someone likes reading. Well good, because theres two textbooks for this ss and apressed semester is not a long time to get through them both.


    He looked around, noted nobody leaving, and nodded. Good, the ss is small enough: Id call it cozy, but any smaller and wed just be lonely. So.


    Professor Salinger turned to the nts behind him. Magical Botany is the study of nts that contain mana of some kind, which gives them powers, uses, and abilities beyond regr flora. You arent going to find guides to gardening or raising dandelions here.


    He pointed to the jawed nt Khalik had pointed out earlier. Aubreys Eclipse. If fed enough blood, it can grow to the size of an oak tree. Sentient blood makes it smarter. But, if you harvest its pods during an eclipse and simmer them for precisely forty-eight hours in sea water? Itll clean out your blood of just about any contaminant known to wizardry. Poison? Gone. Hangover? Gone. Parasites? Gone. He turned to the pumpkin, which seemed to be sulking in its cage. The vampire pumpkina rtive to the killer tomatowas considered nothing more than a pest: an old pumpkin left outside on a full moon in an area contaminated by recently spilled blood, that came to life to cause mischief on a farm. Now, we know that the seeds, if dried and ground, will act as a repellent against mosquitoes, ck flies, and most other blood-drinkers. And this is without refining them through the discipline of alchemy. So, what am I getting at with all this?


    He looked around, and Khalik raised his hand.


    Yes, your name?


    Khalik, he said. I think, Holden, that you are hinting that magical nts have valuebut they are not easy. They are often dangerous. And I suppose each must be handled with care?


    Exactly, Professor Salinger pointed to Aubreys Eclipse. If you were to go close to that specimen half-asleep, hungover or what-have-you, like you were simply picking flowers, then it will take your whole damn arm off in under a second, if it hasnt been recently fed.


    He turned toward the board and wrote one single word.


    <em>Respect.</em>


    This is going to be the most important thing Im ever going to teach you: Magical Botany requires three kinds of respect from you. He pointed to the nts. Respect for the nts- He pointed to the textbook. -respect for the material-'''' He pointed to the students. -and respect for yourself. That is the only way youre going to do well here. Because remember what I said about memorization? Youll need more than that. Slick alchemical procedures and calctions are only going to get you so far here. Magical nts are living beings, and some actually respond to the emotions they feeling from you. For example, if you dislike a certain nt and think, I hate this big dumb nt around a mandrake, its scream turns about three times nastier in your ears.


    He drew a diagram of three nts: a small one with what looked like a cotton ball at the top, then an arrow leading to one that was literally a tall stalk with an actual sheep growing from the top, and then another arrow leading to arge, ram-like creature with bushes growing from its back and thorns sprouting from curling horns.


    The vegetablemb is a nt that will undergo metamorphosis if you show it proper affection and <em>only </em>if you do that. But if you do, itll produce twice as much wool as a regr sheep as long as the nt grows, which is quite a long time if you keep foliage around it for the sheep-top to graze on. When the nt dies, it makes one more change and themb transforms into its final form: a ram-like creature with bush-like, golden fleece and thorny horns and it then goes off into the wide world. Without affection, themb withers when the nt dies. I had only one student this past year who managed to get his to change. Fellow showed it as much love as he did his crocodile familiar andtrust methats a lot of love.


    Alex blinked.


    Could that have been Kybas? Hed have to ask the little fellow next time he saw him. Maybe get some tips.


    It was too bad that affection wasn''t a way to make golems evolve.


    He nced over his shoulder at ygon.


    An element of chaos was what made them change, so it was hard to predict what would make each one undergo a transformation.


    Still, if affection wont make you evolve, Im going to show it to you anyway, Alex sent the cheery thought to ygon.


    Then he froze.


    Something had definitely touched his mind.


    or did it?


    It was brief and quicklike the brush of a feather in the darkbut something was definitely there. Was it The Mark? Or.


    He looked at ygon closely.


    Alex started to wonder if those little moments ofygon responding to him were so imaginary. His golems core was made from dungeon core remains, a newly analyzed substance.


    Who knew what the unique core would be capable of.


    It was something to keep an eye on.


    He stared at the golem, but ygon remained still, as though the mental contact had never happened.