The waves faded, and as their ethereal light waned, gra.s.s began to grow again. It grew rapidly now that Li's extraordinary magical energy had infused the dirt with life bearing nutrients. The patch of dead land was no small little area, either, considering the magnitude of power involved in Tia's demonfire attack.

A fairly small crowd could have easily fit within the neat ring that Tia's blast had carved into the dirt, but Li's magical energy was more than enough to support gra.s.s growth throughout every inch of it. The gra.s.s broke through the dirt as little shoots at first before rapidly maturing into full blades.

It was after this, though, that things became rather irregular.

The gra.s.s did not stop growing. It grew and grew, not just vertically either, but in width, growing so much that within a few seconds, there was now a ma.s.sive bush of giant gra.s.s twice the height of the average man. 

Then it grew some more, the gra.s.s now intertwining with each other and bunching together in the form of a gigantic bush. 

"The h.e.l.l's this?" said Azhar in wonder. 

"All of you, get back." Li scooped Tia in his arms, and even as he scooted away, her head weakly turned back to the bush, ever curious about what her parent was capable of. 

When everyone stood a good distance away from the still growing bush, Old Thane asked, "Lad, I must repeat Azhar's sentiment. What exactly is this?"

"I'm not too sure. Everyone get behind me. Now." Li's tone conveyed an immediate seriousness that made everyone present shuffle behind him with Tia snuggling her head into his chest and tensing up. 

He opened a palm, ready to absolutely obliterate this strange growth from the face of this planet. He did not truly believe his [Wild Growth] could create a threat, but he took no chances considering Old Thane, Tia, and the farm were this close to him. 

The bush, now as large as the cottage, began to collapse upon itself, the blades of giant gra.s.s curling around each other until they formed a shape vaguely reminiscent of a finger. A sudden earthquake crashed through the ground with a rumble that sounded much like a groan. But almost as soon as the quake happened, s.h.i.+fting the dirt up and down like it was water, it faded, and with that, the gra.s.s construct disintegrated.

The enormous gra.s.s scattered into countless tiny, regular sized blades, and a strong breeze carried them all away, dispersing them thoroughly so that it felt like nothing out of the ordinary had happened at all.

Li scanned the area and found that, as he had intended, the gra.s.s had grown back just like before, healthy, green, and normal sized. In that regard, his spell worked as intended, but everything else was quite odd.

"Huh, so you can shake the earth, eh?" said Azhar, breaking the tense mood.

"Hm. Not like this, though." Li called to Old Thane. "Old man, can you hold Tia for a bit?"

"Certainly, lad."

Li transferred Tia over to the old man, and she squirmed in protest.

"Just a little bit, okay?" said Li as he began walking to the newly grown gra.s.s. "Azhar, follow me."

Azhar nodded, walking right behind Li.

When they stood directly above the new gra.s.s, Li asked, "Can you feel anything off about this gra.s.s?"

"Naw, why, figure somethin's up with it?"

"No, you're right. I don't feel anything wrong with it either." Li shrugged. It was not like his spiritual senses had been thoroughly developed, but they were not entirely absent either, even in his human sh.e.l.l. He could discern whether a life force felt strange or hostile.

This was just gra.s.s. Plain, normal gra.s.s.

Li willed the Myrmeke over, mentally commanding it to inspect the ground underneath the gra.s.s. Within a few eager seconds, the myrmeke had finished the job, thoroughly exploring the area, and found nothing out of the norm. 

"Looks like I worried about nothing. Guess my magic's a little rusty in some areas." Li shrugged as he walked back to the rest of the group. 

"So even you make some mistakes, eh?" said Azhar as he followed.

"You'd be surprised," said Old Thane. "The lad made plenty when he started out farming."

"The important thing is I don't make the same mistake twice." 

Old Thane nodded proudly. "As is evident by the wondrous state of the farm."

Tia yawned, bored of a conversation not centered around her and which she could not really understand.

"Let's get back to the cottage and get some rest for the night," said Li, his tone definitive. "Here, let me take her. You two go on ahead, I'll join you shortly."

As Azhar and Old Thane left for the cottage, Li looked down at Zagan. The demon had sensed his intent and stayed behind, sitting by Li's side.

'Watch over that area. Report to me any irregularities. Destroy any threats,' communed Li to the demonic herald.

'Your will is mine personage's command, Elder One.'

Li gave an acknowledging nod to the demon before carrying Tia back into the cottage. He did not want to make the old man, and, to a lesser extent, Azhar worry about the situation, and to do that, he needed to be there with them. He himself did not believe this situation to be anything much, but he felt that this was precaution enough to take.

"She seems much more tired these days," commented Li as he watched Tia sleeping near the fire form the dinner table. 

"She's evolved mighty hard these past days, so that's expected," said Azhar between mouthfuls of stew, his wooden spoon moving rapidly to scoop up broth, vegetables, and meat from a large pot at the center of the table.

"Lad, you're spilling broth all over the table," said Old Thane as he shook his head.

"h.e.l.ls, old man, you've always been kinda hard on em' table manners despite not carin' bout any other rules."

Old Thane smiled. "I suppose it is manners separates us from wild beasts." 

"Suppose? Aine probably put that in yer head, huh." Azhar pointed his spoon to Old Thane and then at himself. "Let's be real, old man, we both ain't really that different from beasts."

"And yet, we are not beasts." Old Thane nodded, putting his empty bowl aside for he always had a tendency to finish his meals quickly. "Well then, young lad, you are to clean the table once supper is done."

"A sacrifice I'm willin' to take," said Azhar as he shoveled down another spoonful of stew. He said to Li, "This is pretty d.a.m.n good. Where'd ya learn how to cook?"

"It's a wonder what you can do when you have time on your hands. Though I'm only good at a few basic recipes," said Li. He, too, had finished eating. Mostly because he only ate for show, taking a few bites to make sure what he made tasted right. He had learned how to cook meals relatively well while living his thirty odd years as a bachelor, but he did not consider himself a good cook. 

"Mostly, I just think your standards are too low. You'd probably eat anything and call it good so long as it was edible."

"That ain't true," said Azhar. "Y'know, when I was in the hinterlands, all I ate was foraged roots and roast chunks of meat, no seasonin', preparations, nothin'. Three years of that really got to me, and ever since, I've been goin' round the best taverns and restaurants in the duchy."

"Restaurants? With those manners?" said Old Thane. "A wonder they did not drive you out."

"Course' I shaped up when I stepped foot in em' fancier places," said Azhar, mildly offended. 

"And you could afford this?" Li had a basic idea of the distinction between taverns and restaurants in this world from his readings. Taverns offered food, but mostly functioned like bars. Restaurants, however, were luxurious places that sat people down and offered them fine meals, their sole purpose being to provide excellent food and service. 

Unlike his world where restaurants were everywhere for every price range, in Eldenia, restaurants were reserved only to the wealthy. 

"Once a year, I'd spend my saved up coin for a meal," said Azhar. "Course', now that I'm doin' well for myself, it ain't too big a deal no more."

"If only she ate as well as you did," said Li as he looked back to Tia. She had only eaten a few chunks of cured beef before deciding to go to sleep, her body too tired to function. Whenever she was at the cottage, though she could eat anything from berries to meat, she ate rather little, only truly unleas.h.i.+ng a ravenous appet.i.te when she hunted something. 

"That's cause' this food ain't good enough for her. Stuff we eat is fine for us, but dragonkin need the best of the best to really get growin'." Azhar put his spoon down, thinking while chewing. 

"Taking her to hunt every single day would be difficult. Already on harvest days, the farm takes up my time through the night. Will this affect her health in any way?"

"I can't be so sure." Azhar looked over at Tia, his brows furrowing. "She's mighty special, she is. Regular wyrm wouldn't need much, just what we're havin' with the occasional hunt to get em' going. But at this rate, she's gonna' evolve into a full dragon, maybe grow a couple more heads like her mother or somethin'. But I ain't got much idea bout' dragons."

"It is said that dragons feast upon only the finest and strongest flesh," said Old Thane. "The one I beat to death announced he found my flesh worthy of his discriminating appet.i.te. Alas, it was he that ended up in my stomach, hah!"

"Reminder that ya shouldn't mention eatin' her kind in front of her once she starts learnin' the language," said Azhar. He paused for a second. "Y'know, if it's good food yer lookin' for, then why not go to a restaurant?"

"And pay an entire gold coin for a single chunk of meat?" Li found the mere suggestion of what was essentially paying, in terms of his past world, one hundred dollars for a little bit of food rather ridiculous. 

"Food's worth the price, though. All their ingredient's real specialty, grown and raised by the best hands with the best breeds. They even got meat from native Authumbla straight outta' Duvin."

"I see." Li took the suggestion a little more seriously. An Authumbla was a giant cow monster that would have been around level 30, making them more than suitable to consume in terms of raw strength for Tia.

"But nevertheless, it's simply not sustainable to keep buying from these high cla.s.s places without drawing up a huge ruckus into my finances, and I'd have to make constant trips to the city."

"Yeah, on second thought, not really a great idea," said Azhar. He shrugged. "But I wouldn't worry much bout' her if I was you. She's real strong and gettin' energy from you as well. Figure she's good." 

"Putting it that way, I guess you're right." Li pushed his empty bowl and spoon to Azhar's side of the table. "And remember to make sure to wash everything like the old man said."