105 Nature's Blessing

In contrast to his expectations though, the High Priestess's teachings were not about understanding the plant element itself, rather, how to communicate his plant spirit with the Gaia. Night after night, only after two weeks was he able to connect with Gaia, and when that happened, he felt one with nature, he saw the seeds sprouting into life, the life force of the tree, the wonderful nature etc. and this caused his plant spirit within his spirit core of darkness to increase tremendously until he finally received a huge breakthrough with the plant elements.

[Spirit force has increased]

[Congratulations! You have mastered the peak stage foundation of the plant element]

His understanding of the plant element had reached peak stage. Just a few more increases of spirit force and spend more time cultivating the other two elements, he would eventually reach rank six acolyte.

[Emery Ambrose]

[16-year-old]

[Plant Spirit - Peak Stage]

[Water Spirit - High Stage]

[Earth Spirit - High Stage]

[Battle power 27 (19)]

[Spirit force 90 (52)]

[Spirit Core of Darkness - foundation]

[Fey Bloodline - stage 1]

[Acolyte Rank 5]

"I believe that congratulations is in order. I can feel that you have passed a threshold in your understanding of the plant element," said the High Priestess to him with a great smile.

"Yes, I have. Thank you, High Priestess for your guidance." said Emery with a bow.

She shook her head and said, "No, I didn't do much. It's the will of Gaia and your talent has made you reach this point. In fact, I have never seen someone else, including my late-sisters, who can absorb the elements as fast as you. Even Vivian didn't have much talent. I'm pretty sure that in a dozen or so years, you'll be more powerful than me."

"Your words are too kind, High Priestess," answered Emery with an awkward smile. Inside him though, he was undecided if he would be proud or not. In this place, he probably was the most talented, but there was Thrax, Julian and Klea in the south and Chumo in the east, who all had a higher spirit aptitude than him. Also, in the Magus Academy, he was the only one who had spirit aptitude B while the rest had A. Somehow, inside him, he wished he could be more.

Thinking of the academy, he then tried to ask if she knew the existence of the Magus Academy.

[Restriction spell activated. You are not allowed to say any information about the academy who isn't part of it]

As his mind wandered, Nimue, the High Priestess said, "I hope you don't fall and keep your usage of our ancestor's legacy for the purposes of good will, Emery. Your case is truly curious, making me a bit worried."

"What are you worried about?" asked Emery, slightly tilting his head.

"It's about the nature of our ancestor's blood. Remember I mentioned that males aren't able to live past fifteen years of age?"

Emery nodded. 

"That's because our ancestor's blood is savage in nature. The males are unable to fully handle the power of our blood, hence, they are weak at birth. And once they turn fifteen, those who have the pureblood of our ancestors start to become mad like wild beasts. So… we had to…"

She didn't finish her sentence; she looked in pain. He somewhat understood what she meant, after all, he had felt an uncontrollable urge whenever he transformed, especially when his life was in danger. "High Priestess, what about the ones with the black tatoos in their bodies, like Cavvi and Chief Brennus? They are past fifteen years of age. Can you teach me how to control it like they did?"

"That is a different matter, although they were still family by blood, their power came from Gaia, they were not actually born with the gift like you. The last few hundred years only the female born with the gift is able to control it, and eventually with the help of Gaia they will not need to dwell on the bloodline to control the spirit," Nimue explained.

"Right now, Your case is the first one in our history. So, I am unsure how to approach your situation. However, I am sure that Gaia will give you Her blessing once you are ready. At the moment, here is what I can do for you. Watch carefully and learn." Nimue then began to cast a spell and her mouth emitted like a very gentle song. Emery felt his mind calm as if he was floating in the sky. The injuries he also had in touching some poisonous plants glowed green as a surge of warm but firm power surged inside him. 

Then a notification popped in his head and it said:

[New skill acquired]

[Nature's Blessing - rank 3 plant spell]

[Soothes the mind and slowly cures external wounds over time.]

A healing spell would always be useful for him and his friends. Truly, he was grateful with the gift and the guidance. Then, Emery left the cave and retired for the day. He planned to spend more time finding more plants in the forest, if he could, when a new notification suddenly arrived. 

[Seven days until recall to the Magus Academy]

After reading this, Emery changed his mind about staying longer in the forest and decided he would go out the next day after he had said goodbye to the others. He still had a few things to arrange and check before he left for the Magus Academy and be gone for at least three months.

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Author Note: