The Seeds
The situation unfolded according to the novel’s script. The heroine, ever virtuous, attempted to prevent any conflict for fear of both parties being reprimanded by the institution. But the more Aria saw the heroine’s demeanor, the more irritated she felt, belittling Nara along with despising her own half-brother. This made Wint furiously angry, compelling him to summon his sword.
Before they could clash, the professors finally arrived. The two quarreling students were immediately punished, each tasked with copying 10 magical tomes—a punishment that benefited the institution since more copies meant more students could borrow them simultaneously. Moreover, copying the tomes was akin to memorizing them, serving the students’ own interests.
Ellie stayed in the background. She saw that Wint had already claimed her seat. Her role as the heroine’s friend ended as soon as she played her part in protecting the heroine, who had fallen to the ground. The scene seemed crafted to show that the heroine also had a friend who deeply loved her, whose goodness made everyone want to protect her. That was about the extent of it.
With a new friend entering the scene, it seemed Nara had already forgotten about her village companion, Ellie, who wasn’t particularly bothered. She moved to the back of the room, where she found herself alone as no one sat in the last row, effectively making the area hers. If she weren’t wary of being called upon, Ellie might have spent this tedious time in the secret planting plots instead.
One by one, the professors introduced themselves to the new students. From her spot, Ellie could see her own botanic elemental professor, who stood out as uniquely beautiful.
Perhaps he was bored with socializing with the male students admiring his beauty, or maybe he still had work to do in his own greenhouse. Nevertheless, when he noticed Ellie at the very back, he kindly offered her a smile, nearly stunning all the other male students.
Ellie got through this tough time, only to find that her role as the heroine’s friend had placed her in the same classroom as Nara. Fortunately, their desks were not too close; otherwise, she might have felt even more bored.
Coincidentally, Nara ended up sharing a desk with Wint, the hero who had come to her aid, and it seemed she quite liked him too, judging by her twinkling eyes.
"So, you’re a scholarship student? What does your family do back home? Farming, raising pigs, or gathering wild products?" A deep voice of a man sounded. Ellie looked at her deskmate, who wasn’t from a high-class family. However, his family was wealthy merchants, so money was never tight for them.
"We farm vegetables," Ellie replied. Since she had to spend the entire semester with him, she preferred not to make an enemy on the first day.
"Really? Poor thing, farming must be hard. Hard work and so little money. Why don’t you plan to buy vegetables from others in the village and resell them? You wouldn’t need to farm yourself, also reducing the risk of the crops not growing well. Just invest in a cart," the son of a merchant suggested immediately, feeling it was wasteful for her to exert herself so much just by hearing about her occupation.
Merchants like them often did this. He remembered from a book he once read, those who were early merchants started by buying and selling first. They relied on purchasing produce from local producers at low prices, then traveled to sell it in the city. Villagers who thought traveling to the market themselves was a waste of time would agree to sell at these low prices. After doing this repeatedly for a while, they would have enough money saved to open a store and start buying other items.
Of course, his idea wasn’t wrong, but he oversimplified things a bit too much.
"I can’t do it alone."
"Hmm? What about your parents, or you could find someone to help."
"My parents are gone, and just because others might help doesn’t mean they would trust a kid like me. Maybe they might take advantage of me later. Who knows what an orphan can do?" Ellie spoke to this point, and the expression of her deskmate changed slightly.
"I understand. Well then...my name is “Xeno from the Tates family”. Nice to meet you. What’s your name?" It seemed that Ellie’s first friend would be a deskmate. Ellie gave him a faint smile before introducing herself.
"I’m Ellie. I don’t have a last name." The two nodded to each other. It seemed they got along well and could become friends. Even though scholarship students were generally of a lower status, they could still befriend those from the middle class.
The first day of classes wasn’t very eventful. The professors just explained that every student had to attend general subjects for 4 hours each day, supervised by the classroom advisors. After the morning classes, students were free to spend their remaining time as they pleased.
While Ellie was called aside for a special discussion because of her botanic elemental powers, she returned to the botanic-elemental building with a key that marked her own planting plot.
This was her second visit here. Previously, she had come to see which summoning plants she could bond with, and since then, there had been no reason for her to return.
The situation was the same as before; the plants looked wilted and unattractive. She had assumed that once the semester started, children with botanic elemental powers would come to manage it, but that was not the case.
The nameplates were still there, but no one came to tend to things. Ellie checked around before noticing that Professor Medik was already waiting.
"Hello, scholarship student."
"Hello, Professor," Ellie respectfully responded to the beautiful-faced man. His expression was somber as he followed her gaze.
"That the plots of students who either gave up or realized they couldn’t pass last year. They haven’t shown up this year. I really should remove their names, but it still makes me sad. Maybe I’ll wait and collect it along with yours," Professor Medik sighed. Ellie was slightly shocked by his disheartening words, and it seemed like Medik had just realized what he said.
"Ah, I might have given you the wrong impression. It’s not that you’ll end up like those who couldn’t accumulate enough points to pass the year. I was just speaking of the worst-case scenario. It’s like last year when 1 wind elemental student didn’t make it. It’s not just the botanic elemental students, you know."
Ellie’s eyebrows twitched continuously when she heard this. Professor Medik’s excuses did not make her feel any more encouraged. Even though he tried to say that she shouldn’t feel bad because others also faced similar challenges, it ultimately implied that she would face the same fate, wouldn’t it?
"Uh, don’t worry about the future. I’m here to guide you to the planting plot since there are no other students here, only the 2 of us professor and student. After this, if you need any advice, you can go upstairs; I’m always there."
"The planting plot I’ve selected for you is the largest. The previous owner had invested in installing a magic water pond, so you won’t need to fetch water from the central supply or hire a water magician to help you. There’s also a little leftover fertilizer, and I’ll give you seeds as a gift; you can choose whatever plant seeds you want."
After the young professor said this, Ellie realized just how much he truly cared about his students. He knew she lacked water magic power and couldn’t afford to hire someone to help, so he chose a planting plot that already had a magic water pond installed. He even mentioned wanting to give her seeds. Ellie felt a bit better about Professor Medik.
Ellie reflected on herself, glad that she had read extensively about the institution and its grading system, including the harvest points. For the first year, students needed to accumulate 10,000 points to graduate, with a total of 330 days available, 35 of which were holidays for students and professors.
For students taking on various missions, they would need to calculate how to earn at least 212 points per week to complete the academic year successfully.
However, it’s challenging for those unable to participate in combat missions against monsters or herbal gathering missions. It’s no surprise that botanic elemental students might not graduate as quickly as others.
Nonetheless, for her first year, Ellie had already figured out how to make it through.
"Professor, if that’s the case, may I have Red Zuck seeds, Raden seeds, and Clear Skite seeds, please?" She immediately stated her needs, surprising the young professor.
The Red Zuck plants she chose were herbs used in making low-level stamina restorative potions and could be planted or harvested from the wild for points. The institution awarded 10 points per plant. However, they took nearly 30 days to grow.
Raden plants provided 14 points per plant but took 45 days to grow. Despite this, these herbs were in demand as they were used in potions to ward off certain animals and insects, essential for those camping in the forest.
The third choice, Clear Skite plant, was quite valuable if sold. The institution awarded 25 points per plant. These were used in deodorant potions, crucial for escaping detection if encountering wild animals with a keen sense of smell. Unfortunately, these plants were rare and difficult to cultivate. They had flowers that attract insects and pests very effectively. They were also sensitive plants; an insect bite on 1 leaf could cause them to wither and die.
For Ellie, experimenting with just a few Clear Skite plants initially was her plan. If she succeeded, she planned to expand her cultivation significantly in her second year since they only took about 45 days to mature, the same as Raden plants.
"Student, I think you chose these herbs hoping to score points from the institution. But these herbs are difficult to cultivate even though they only take 30-45 days to grow. Given the space allotted, you can only plant about 100 of these."
"If you plant 100 Red Zuck plants, I estimate that in one month you could earn 1,000 points, and thus you could meet the first-year point requirement in 10 months. But consider what would happen if they died or yielded poorly," the professor warned with concern.
It might be better if students chose to grow grains or other vegetables based on their prior knowledge and experience. Although these might only earn a small amount of points, such as 1 point per 1 kilogram for unprocessed rice, people have passed by growing rice.
These plants took about 3-4 months to harvest, a duration that might not sit well with this scholarship student. However, in comparison, more produce weight would gain more points, wouldn’t it?
These herbs must be planted and spaced appropriately, while rice, if managed well with good fertilization, could potentially yield significantly more.
However, growing these kinds of plants had limitations that cannot be overlooked. In the first year, students might pass, but that didn’t mean they’d yield twice as much rice the following year.
And it’s not surprising that ultimately, they realized their limits and gave up, or despite persistence, they still failed.
Ellie wasn’t thinking simplistically. She wanted to learn how to cultivate herbs, like planning to mainly grow Red Zuck in her first year as Professor Medik understood, so she would be busy every month taking care of her own herbs while also trying to grow Clear Skite on the side. She knew it was challenging, but successful cultivation could earn her more than double the points and suffice to get her through her second year.After advancing to her second year, once she could reliably cultivate Clear Skite, she would experiment with other higher-points plants. This was her strategy, but if push came to shove, could her tricky botanic elemental magic power really not help her advance through the years?