Chapter 150: Vine Growth
After finishing the assessment, Xilutiya had some temporary leisure time, as it would take a while to wait for the evaluation results.
In these days, she first submitted 5000 pounds of excellent quality wheat, which at the association’s acquisition price of 2.1 silver coins per pound—70% of the market price（）—exchanged for 105 gold coins.
As for the ‘rare’ and ‘perfect’ quality wheat, she kept them for now to observe, not in a hurry to sell.
This day, she stayed in White Stone Fortress, inquiring with association staff about learning abilities related to combat.
“Hello.” A rather intellectual-looking woman received her.
“My name is Angelina, and I am the librarian of this branch.” This Miss Angelina was one of the rare ‘Secret Word’ natures, with strength around Third Order.
“Hello, I am Xilutiya.” The maiden simply introduced herself, but judging by the other’s expression, she had probably recognized her long ago.
After some conversation, Angelina understood the maiden’s needs and then began analyzing for her.
“Generally speaking, gardeners do not participate in combat, because the abilities they cultivate are mostly unrelated to fighting.”
“However, things are not absolute; there are still quite a few gardener factions that have developed abilities for combat use.”
“Currently, adventures in the woodland and dealing with enemies are all done in small groups, and many gardeners, before teaming up, will specifically learn one ability, namely ‘Vine Growth’.”
“Its effect is to instantly stimulate the vitality of vine seeds or plants, making them grow rapidly to trap or defeat enemies.”
“Compared to Flower Blooming Technique, this ability is relatively simple to learn, and most gardeners can master it with diligent practice.”
“Additionally, the currently most popular one is the ‘Bloodthirsty Vine’ developed by ‘Blood Thorn Garden’; gardeners only need to buy a bunch of ‘Bloodthirsty Vine’ seeds, embed them into enemies’ wounds during combat, and they will burrow into the opponent’s body, absorbing blood to grow, with excellent effects.”
Hearing this, Xilutiya roughly understood the principle and usage method of this ability.
“Additionally, ‘Vine Growth’ is also the foundation of ‘Grass and Tree Growth’; if you separately learn ‘Vine Growth’, ‘Grass and Tree Growth’, and ‘Tree Sprouting’, you can attempt to fuse these three abilities into ‘Grass and Tree Growth’ at Third Order.” The other continued to explain.
Hearing this, Xilutiya felt curious and asked again: “Does Flower Blooming Technique have a follow-up advancement path?”
“‘Flower Blooming Technique’, ‘Pollination Method’, ‘Abundant Fruit Method’, at Fifth Order, can be fused into ‘Flower and Fruit Secret Ritual’, but this ability has very high requirements; even among Fifth Order gardeners, few can master it.”
Afterward, Xilutiya also learned about the origins and uses of ‘Aromatherapy’.
“‘Aromatherapy’ is not popular on our continent; I only know about it through some books.” The other recalled slightly and answered.
“Actually, ‘Aromatherapy’ is a variant of ‘Pollination Method’, or rather, it only uses the part of ‘Pollination Method’ about stimulating floral fragrance and amplifies its effect.”
“The complete ‘Pollination Method’ does have effects similar to ‘Aromatherapy’, but not strong; its main role is to select and improve plant traits for breeding and improvement.”
“In addition, ‘Pollination Method’ has quite high difficulty and generally requires Fourth Order to learn, while ‘Abundant Fruit Method’ also requires Third Order to master.”
Having learned so much about gardener-related content, Xilutiya became concerned about the uses and advancements of her other breathing technique ability.
“The basic breathing technique is similar to meditation method, both ‘Blood Law’ natures, but after proficiency, it can fuse with other abilities to transform.”
“For example, ‘Castle’ path can fuse with ‘Iron Armor Protection’ to become ‘Steel Body’, ‘Golden Steam’ path can fuse with ‘Heat Storage Breath’ to become ‘Iron Lung Breath’, ‘Mist Shadow’ path can fuse with ‘Sound Concealment Method’ to become ‘Silent Body’, and so on; this way, it retains the breathing technique’s ability to strengthen oneself, adds other effects, and subsequent advancements and enhancements will not interfere with the main nature.”
After listening to Angelina’s explanation, Xilutiya felt somewhat satisfied, and then they discussed the choice of combat abilities.
“If you know how to use bow and arrow, pairing it with ‘Vine Growth’ or ‘Grass and Tree Growth’ will have good effects.” The other suggested again.
“Gardeners’ combat abilities ultimately cannot compare to those transcendent specialists in fighting; engaging in close combat would be particularly dangerous, while using bow and arrow to shoot and attaching effects of various plant seeds would be a better combat style.”
“This is not our original creation; on the Second Continent, the elves there are generally experts in using bow and arrow, and also skilled in using arrows to attach various ‘Emerald Honey’ nature secret arts.”
“I understand.” Xilutiya nodded slightly; it seemed ‘Vine Growth’ was a must-have ability.
Afterward, she applied to the association to learn ‘Vine Growth’ and ‘Grass and Tree Growth’, two abilities, each requiring 40 points, totaling 80 points.
In these six months, according to the tasks accepted as a First Order student initially, if evaluated as ‘passing’ then 10 points per month, ‘good’ is 20 points per month, ‘excellent’ is 40 points per month, ‘outstanding’ is then 80 points per month.
Gardeners’ tasks settle points once every half year; now she had just completed the first task, earning 6×80=480 points, currently deducting 80, leaving 400 points.
Soon after confirming, a Third Order gardener from ‘Four Seasons Alliance’ began giving lessons to Xilutiya, and the other happened to be the capable old man she had met before, Yude.
This day, the two came to a practice garden of the association, where various plants grew, and the ground was covered with fine sandy soil.
“I didn’t expect that in three months, you have progressed so much.” Upon meeting again, the other sighed with emotion.
Originally, this old man wanted to take Xilutiya as an apprentice, because during the test he knew this maiden had a solid foundation and excellent talent.
Unexpectedly, everything happened too fast; currently, this silver-haired maiden was already a new star noticed by many big figures in White Stone Fortress, and when it came to taking disciples, it was no longer his turn.
Regarding this, Xilutiya didn’t know how to respond appropriately, so she could only smile and nod.
“Thank you for the teacher’s praise.” Being modest at this time would seem a bit hypocritical.
“Hehe, never mind, teaching you the new ability this time also counts as being your teacher once.” He touched his short mustache and then began the teaching.
“First of all, what gardeners are best at is cultivating plants, so how to convert this strength into combat power, rather than spending extra time and energy learning other abilities, has become the top priority.”
“Plants mostly lack direct attack abilities and are difficult to move; to break through this, we need to often carry seeds or other smaller plants to cope with combat scenarios.”
“Among them, ‘vines’ and ‘grasses’ are the most convenient to utilize and control.”
“Thus, ‘Vine Growth’ and ‘Grass and Tree Growth’ these two basic abilities were derived.”
“As the names imply, these two are abilities to catalyze the rapid growth of vines and grasses to control enemies; this stimulation method is completely different from usual plant cultivation.”
“The former is reckless rapid growth to bind enemies, the latter is careful tending to various situations, striving to make the plant’s state perfect.”
“So, the former two can be used roughly, without worrying about overexertion, and can even use various ways to strengthen one’s own nature for stronger effects.”
“Now I’ll demonstrate for you.” He spread open a seed in his palm, dropped it into the sandy soil, then like fast-forward, the seed sprouted and branched, spreading everywhere, wrapping around a nearby stone pillar, continuously covering upward until the entire stone pillar was bound by thick vine branches, without gaps.
“This is the first time, Xilutiya.” After telling the maiden, he began the second demonstration; this time at the same unhurried speed, explaining each key point during the process: how to mentally guide, how to control direction, how to adjust the nature’s exertion, etc.
“I understand.”
After watching the second time, Xilutiya felt it was about enough, but this old man did not stop and instead began the third demonstration.
This time, after the seed landed, it was like an explosion; several branches twisted like living things, continuously extending in all directions, covering the surrounding environment where the two were with lush green vine branches and leaves, and the vines tightly binding the stone pillar finally snapped with a crack, crushing the stone into fragments.
“This…” Xilutiya was surprised, inwardly shocked.
“This is me using Third Order nature to drive this ability; you currently don’t need to deliberately pursue this level.”
“I understand, teacher.”
In the following two days, Xilutiya followed Yude to learn these two abilities until fully mastering them.
【Vine Growth Lv.1】（Emerald Honey）; Ability to rapidly grow vine plants, can bind enemies.
【Grass and Tree Growth Lv.1】（Emerald Honey）; Ability to rapidly grow grass plants, can parasitize enemies.
