Chapter 91: First day at farm

At first sight Rick had missed a the silver haired girl cultivating silently outside the hut completely. But listening to Jeff's call she opened her eyes and looked at the green haired kid he brought with him. 'Is that your child Mr. Jeff?' She asked with a beautiful smile. Rick was lost in her charms for a few seconds. She was one beautiful girl Rick thought to himself. When she grows up she was not going to lose to Nana in sex appeal department. There was a very good chance that she was from one of the branches of the nobility in the town. 'Yes, indeed' Jeff declared in proud tone. 'Leave him to me Mr. Jeff, you can continue on your work. I will bring him to Mr. Lyod for his training.' Jeff nodded and telling Rick to follow her, he left in the direction of the trees.' Rick was left alone with the silver haired beauty with red sensual lips and a round and firm butt. He had a sudden desire to ask her if she would be ready to let him fuck her in exchange of some of the fruits he had collected in his personal space.

He got aware of his stupidity and quickly putting these random thoughts to the back of his mind, he began his introduction. 'Good Morning, Miss Sophia. Like you rightly identified I am Mr. Jeff's son. The name is Ryu.' He introduced himself with a little bow. But he didn't recieve any reply, checking out he found that Sophia was evaluating him by walking all around him. It sure looked like he was some kind of tool or something in the market that she was appraising before deciding on her purchase. 'You don't look to intimidating.. hmm.. Aren't you the same boy from the awakening ceremony with one of the best performance?' She was looking genuinely confused. 'Yes miss, that would be me.' There was no point in telling her otherwise, half of the whole town was present when his abilities were revealed.

'Hmm.. I recognised you correctly then. But although your mana cultivation is tethering on the boundary of a junior mage. You still look very weak. Huh.. anyways we will have plenty of time to gauge your capabilities. For now let me bring you to your initial training area, otherwise master's going to scold me. Come.' She held onto Rick's hands, dragging him towards the side just after her monologue ended. He tried to sense her cultivation but there was simply no sensation. That clearly meant that this girl who was no older then him by 2-3 years was already on the level of an earthly mage. She had already surpassed Jim in cultivation despite being of similar age. Why was such a talented person remain here in this town. Shouldn't she had already been inducted by some families or institutions in the capital? His mind had many doubts but this was not the right time to ask her about these matters so he let her drag him to wherever she desired.

After walking some 300 metres they reached another thatched hut, with some children of his age standing in the lawn. Rick found everyone he knew there. Kyro, Jake and Kira were standing together as the candidates had formed their own groupings. Once again the noble one were standing together sticking out like a sore thumb. Sophia left him at the entrance as she moved through the small crowd to reach someone cultivating in the balcony of the hut. 'Master I have brought the last one. This is the son of Mr. Jeff. If you have nothing else allow me to leave.' Her 'master' nodded before stopping her from moving 'Why are you leaving so soon little girl? Haha won't you help your master in teaching some basic knowledge to these newbies. I won't ask you much just let them know what we are dealing with here. And then you can leave and cultivate in peace.'

At the same moment his friends had noticed him and Kyro came running and pulled him towards the group. All of them greeted each other and meanwhile Rick saw Sophia frowning a little bit. She didn't look not entirely cool with the idea. Taking one last glace on her master's stupid grin she sighed and shouted at the children in front of her 'Listen up kids. Prick your ears and remember whatever I will tell you at all times. This won't be repeated so leave no confusion in your mind... there will be a single responsibility on all of you, that is saving the trees. All the trees you see around here is from the section C. It is the most outer section of the plantation and it will have mostly virgo trees with a few nida trees sparingly. Like that we have 2 more inner rings that will have mostly Tura and Yuva trees respectively.'

Her explanation continued 'All of you right now will only be allowed to roam through the outmost section. You CAN move to the other 2 inner sections of you have someone to supervise you. But remember this point well once you cross the last section that is section C, that will be the dead end. No one and absolutely no one is allowed movement deeper into the plantation. Coming to the task for which you are required here is that we need you guys is to get rid of the black vines that are plaguing the trees here. You will need to destroy them as efficiently as you can and with minimal harm to the tree itself.' She took a pause and continued after watching her would be colleagues murmuring 'I know you might have questions regard the details but you will be told rest by that old man here. So give it your best shot. Goodbye we will meet very soon once you guys come out of your training.'

Completing the duty assigned to her by her master she took her leave without caring for anyone. 'Haha that little girl is a cultivation freak, spare her the basic courtesy. You guys can direct your questions towards me.' The old man took over. One of the commoners held his hand high and old man directed him to speak up. 'Master Lyod are you going to train us on how to destroy the vines. Because most of us here I believe don't have any type of prior training.' 'Haha little kid you need not worry about these things. I will assure you that we will start from the very beginning here.' All the commoners looked happy while the nobles humphed. Watching that Rick didn't follow completely Jake gave his own explanation 'We from the branched if nobility had been given some prior knowledge and trainings by our elders regarding these vines.'

Rick was very surprised with this, they were best friends to Jake in this town but ne had never mentioned these things to them. 'But brother why did you keep this knowledge from us.' Rick wanted to confirm his doubts. Jake looked a little ashamed but before he could answer they were interrupted by the voice of the old man 'That's because they can't speak of it in public. And now that you guys too know about these matters I will ask of you not to release this information to the common populace.' Kyro was curious and asked 'Do we have any reason to keep this as a secret?' The old man didn't took offence that Kyro spoke out of turn replying with the same smile 'What do you think will be the first thing people will do if they come to know that their food supplies are being destroyed by som vines?'

'Panic' was the first word that came to Rick's mind. 'Correct. That was absolutely correct kid. So as you can probably imagine the results if we reveal this to them.' Some other guy asked worriedly 'Is the situation so bad master Lyod?' Lyod took a breath and began his monologue 'So right now we have everything in control. First I will explain what the vines are and how they work then I will explain about the situation. We call them krypto vines. They are black in colour and are deadly to the trees present here. No none knows their origin but we have a general theory that it originates from the center of this plantation. Because the vines in the section C that is closest to the center are the most dangerous. They are massive in size and are able to suck life out of even the majestic yuva trees. Subsequently their size and destruction capacity goes down as me move outward. That's the reason we do not allow you kids to roam any further then the this outermost layer.'

'But master didn't you just told us that the vines are harmful to the trees so why should we be careful of them?' The previous boy extended his question. Master Lyod's expression grew heavy and he answered 'Thats because they are not only deadly for plants but rather they are deadly to these plants as well as humans.' Rick watched his surroundings grow tense. He figured out that most of them now only understood the severity of the state of affairs. 'What they actually thrive on is mana itself. Hence their first priority is the large stockpile of natural mana that are the trees. But once they feel threatened they can attack humans too by homing on their internal mana flow. Hence all of you needs to remain vigilant at all times.'