Chapter 330

Chapter 330

Resting my chin on the side of the skiff, I cant help but smile at the antics taking place. Cupped gently in the palm of his hand, my teacher holds the green stone up in the air and turns in place, locked in a bitter struggle with the greedy and ever-persistent Mama Bun. Covered in octopus ink and slime, my dog-sized bunny is an adorable sight as she leaps higher and higher with each attempt, her little paws desperately scratching at Taduks robes as she tries to get a taste of whats in his hands. Landing squarely on his shoulder, Mama Bun holds on for dear life and chomps down on my teachers voluminous robes, eyeing the stone with undisguised greed as her little nose twitches away at a mile a minute.

Back foul beast! Taduk cries, sheltering his precious discovery from the ravenous rabbit, though he does nothing to dislodge her. His hare supremacy ways, while not entirely behind him, are slowly losing to the floppy-eared charms of the bicorn rabbit. This is mine! Off with you now, shoo, shoo! As if called to action by my teachers words, Mama Bun pops her head up to shower Taduks cheek with bunny kisses, but her eyes never leave the fuzzy green stone. Mama Bun might be smarter than she lets on, having learned that bunny kisses equals treats, but unfortunately my teacher has a heart of stone. Stop that. What are you doing? he asks, leaning away from the bunnys display of affection. I am not a salt lick. Shoo! Shooooo!

Shoulders shaking with silent laughter, Guard Leader skirts lightly around the skiffs other occupants to come to Taduks rescue, gently bringing Mama Bun away for a wash, those black bunny eyes wide with anguish and sorrow as she accepts the loss of her treat. Freed from her harassment, Taduk sits down to study the stone beside me, hmming and hahing as he studies it in the light. After an in-depth visual scan, I nod along and offer an informed and educated opinion. The rock is covered in algae. With a noncommittal grunt, Taduk continues his inspection, mind adrift in his thoughts like our skiff in the bay.

I call this his thinking mode. Hell be perfectly fine doing day to day tasks like getting dressed, bathing, and eating, but its important to keep an eye on him. Sometimes, youll hand him an ink pot and hell try to drink it or you put a coat around his shoulders and hell lay down for bed. It usually happens when hes pondering something interesting, like when I point out a problem in his logic or he comes across a new strain of Heavenly Plant. Hell, when I handed him Yo Lings book on Runic Inscriptions, he stayed in this fugue state for the better part of a week.

Having run out of educated opinions, I move on to guesses. Is there a Spiritual Algae? This time, Taduks grunt has a minor affirmative slant to it. Ive never heard of Spiritual Algae before. A negatory grunt, followed by a furrowing on his brow. After reviewing what little I know on the subject, I too am frowning because we probably just wasted days chasing down a worthless plant. There are always exceptions to the rule, but at first glance, Spiritual Plants generally are no different from their mundane counterparts. The ability to gather Heavenly Energy isnt obvious unless you check using Chi, so a Spiritual daisy sitting in a field of mundane daisies doesnt stick out nor will it develop any unique features or uses. The most valuable Spiritual Plants like idamare, foxglove, and blood needles only exist as Spiritual Plants, each one able to absorb Heavenly Energy from inception and possessing almost magical properties useful in a wide array of occupations.

The limiting factor to farming Spiritual Plants is their inability to propagate. Seeds from a Spiritual Plant will sprout into their mundane counterparts while a cutting of a Spiritual Plant loses the ability to cultivate Heavenly Energy, even after it sprouts roots. Taduk theorized that this was because plants, like humans, need to form a Core to absorb the Energy of the Heavens, and planting seeds or taking cuttings was like creating a new plant which would need to form its own core. For the aforementioned plants which are able to cultivate from the start, the conditions needed for proliferation to take place are unknown and undocumented. Taduks been studying it for years, if not decades, but hes still never seen a Spiritual Plant sprout.

Now why does this matter? Because algae, or that nasty film which forms on water, isnt all one plant, but billions of tiny, microscopic plants all clumped together. The rock in Taduks hand may be covered in algae, but only one speck in there is cultivating the Energy of the Heavens while the rest is just your everyday fish food. My teachers probably busy searching for the actual Spiritual Plant, so I leave him to it. Turning my attention to the octopus, I say, Teacher, do you still need the octopus? It seems cruel to let it suffocate and Ping Ping likes her meals fresh. She doesnt seem too interested in her prey, having already gone back to swimming around the skiff, but let's be honest: one extra snack wont ruin her figure.

When it becomes apparent Taduk isnt listening, I reach over and lift the octopus out of the boat, dropping it into the water while keeping my guard up in case it attacks. Limp and senseless, the brown and white spotted creature is unpleasant to the eye, with a smooth, bulbous, egg-shaped head and two bulging eyes closed in sleep. Eight tentacles covered in protruding suction cups emanate from the head, all writhing and twitching as it slowly sinks into the water and curls up around the butt of my pole-arm.

Eh-Mi-Tu-Fuo. Mumbling his mantra, the monk speaks out loud for all to hear. Stay your hand Junior Brother. This one would plead for mercy on the creatures behalf.

My lip curls in disdain. Mercy? This damn thing took us on a wild goose chase for days, so Im not sure mercy is on the menu. If Ping Ping doesnt want to eat it, I will. Fried tentacles and octopus balls sounds pretty good right about now.

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Hate to say it, but I agree with fatty. Speaking around his pipe, Guan Suo puffs away as he lounges in the skiff. Clever beast there, itd be a shame for it to end like this.

Been chatting with the monk, have we? Raising an eyebrow at the lazing half-red-panda, I ask, Will you be shaving your head and going vegetarian too?

In a surprisingly good mood, Guan Suo chuckles and shakes his head. Nah. Fatty knows better than to try and recruit me. Besides, I tried a vegetarian diet for a while a lifetime ago, but it wasnt for me. A short pause and a faraway look tells me theres more to his story than it sounds, but he pushes past with a grin. Im a little surprised though. I figured youd be all for adding that creature to your menagerie and keep it in a tub or something. Seems like a waste just to eat it.

Psh. Like Id keep anything that wasnt cute and floofy. Even Ping Ping is kinda cute when she smiles, so long as you cant smell her breath. What do you mean?

Too lazy to answer, Guan Suo goes back to puffing at his fancy pipe and staring at the clouds. Annoyed by the abrupt dismissal, only the memory of him exploding an entire school of sharks keeps me from speaking up, instead turning my attention back to the monk. If youre so interested in keeping it alive, I ask, venting some of my ire on the monk, then why didnt you snatch it up and send it away? Not like theres anything I could do to stop you.

It is not this ones place to interfere with the creatures Dharma.

...But pleading on its behalf is okay?

Yes, the monk nods, smiling so widely his eyes disappear. Because this one is Junior Brothers Dharma protector. Killing the creature affects your Dharma, so this one must take steps to guide you back to the proper path.

But I dont want an octopus pet Its slimy and gross. Okay, but how about we fill it with water first? Itll be easier to make nice if it can breathe. Dispatching the first two soldiers I see to collect water, I deliberately position myself between the monk and Taduk, worried the large, angry ascetic might lose his head. So Teacher, why am I making nice with the octopus?

Right, right. Running back inside, he emerges with his washbowl and holds it up for me to see, the algae covered rock sitting neatly in the middle and covered in water. Because of this. Glancing at the sky, he moves himself out of the way so the rock is in direct sunlight, holding it up in outstretched arms like hes presenting a gift to the Heavens.

Did he have a stroke or something? Sorry Teacher, but your student is slow and requires more explanation.

Because its Spiritual Algae!

Taduks toothy smile hits me like a hammer in the gut, so dazzling and genuine like a childs delight. I guess thats where Lin gets her charm from. Infected by his good cheer, I hesitate to continue in case I ruin his good mood, but curiosity wins out over caution. Um but isnt that a bad thing? One speck of Spiritual Algae is kind of well worthless.

Indeed it is my boy, Taduk replies, losing none of his good cheer, but we dont have a mere speck, we have a whole stone covered in Spiritual Algae!

What? Thats impossible!

Thats what I thought too, but its true. Lowering the washbasin to peer at his prize, Taduk giggles and stamps his feet in delight, a behaviour not unlike Mama Buns when she gets a treat. I checked and double checked it, every last speck of algae on here has a core, but thats not all. Carefully lifting the rock aside, he points out a smooth, blank patch on the stone, devoid of all algae. See that? The octopus has been feeding on the algae and letting it grow back to form more algae. Unless the creature waits for thousands of years between each nibble, then it stands to reason that when this Spiritual Algae reproduces, it remains capable of absorbing the Energy of the Heavens! It doesnt seem like much, but there are millions of Spiritual Plants right here on this rock. If we can study how it reproduces, then we might be able to apply that to other strains of plants and cultivate an entire garden full of miraculous, life saving medicinal herbs! Even if we cant, we could grow more algae and your stupid rabbits wont eat any more of my precious plants! What a glorious find.

Hm lots of ifs and mights there, but I dont want to ruin it for him. Thats amazing and all, but why do I have to make friends with the octopus?

Blinking in confusion, it takes Taduk a moment to get his mind back on track. Isnt it obvious? We must see and study how it nurtures the stone. We saw it bring the stone up to the surface for sunlight during the day, but its possible it also rests by a source of Heavenly Energy too. If thats the case, if we find the creatures home, well likely find your missing droplet too.

Ah okay. Gotcha. Repressing the urge to sigh, I peer into the cauldron at my newest pet. God its ugly. What should I name it? Otto? No, that doesnt make sense in Common. Calamari? Maybe, but then Ill always treat him as an emergency food source. Floppy Sea Spider? Too creepy and Floppy is overtly sexual.

Ah. Ive got it.

As Taduk Heals the octopus, I reach out with my loving Aura to greet my newest friend, smiling as he blinks and takes in the world around him.

Hello Sir Inks-a-lot, or Inky for short. Welcome to the family.

Rocketing out of the cauldron, the creature flings itself onto my face and smothers me in darkness, slime, and stench. Screaming in muffled terror, I fall to the ground and flail about, gagging as I fail to dislodge my tentacled assailant, its strong suctioned arms threatening to tear my skin and wrench my head off.

As suddenly as it began, the attack comes to an end as the octopus falls limp. Ripping the tentacles off my face with a loud pop, my eyes tear up at the pain as I scramble back from the unconscious creature. Gasping for air, I glance around and see my soldiers standing around and hiding their smiles as Taduk titters with laughter and checks on the octopus. Rain my boy, he says, chortling as he puts the octopus back in the cauldron. Mirror suction marks HA!

Running my hand over my face, I wince in pain and shame as I feel the large bumps neatly scattered across my skin, wondering if Healing will make the swelling go down. If not, I might have to go back to plan A and drink a pot of diarrhea tea.

I refuse to make my debut with a face full of tentacle hickies...

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