Learning To Live As A Cultivator 78 Chapter Seventy Eight - I Decide To Plan For Winter

Maimai nodded, her eyes not having left the pup, but receiving no regard from the stubborn creature at all. In the end, she decided that no matter how cute the puppy was, her Piku was the best! Her Piku was not sharing the same amount of affection for its owner as it suddenly became burdened with not one but two riders! It mourned for its private stables upon the sects mountains and its long and lazy days.

While Piku dramatically huffed and puffed its way back to the school, Tor took the pup back to the beast tamers school.

It took a long while for Maimai's Baku to arrive back at the school stables and Leon felt it would have been quicker to walk. Maimai saw him off with an enthusiastic wave then turned to brush down her mount, all the while cooing about how good and wonderful her Piku was.

Leon headed for the Food Hall to see if there was anything left to eat. There was a roll of bread and some cold meats, not much, but Leon took this to his hut satisfied. He ate his cold meal under the light of the glowing orb, thinking that the days were becoming shorter, though the weather remained mild without much fluctuation.

A year was considered five hundred days, cut into four seasons and like upon Earth, these seasons could vary in temperament across the two continents. The inst.i.tute was in an area of mild temperament, despite being scattered across mountains, but would still receive snow in the winter and occasionally heat waves in the summer. The outer alchemist school was upon a slope, but also sheltered by taller mountains to the west. This somewhat protected the school and the herbs it abundantly grew, so their personal microclimate could be considered most stable.

Leon, however, was not aware of this and decided to make plans to ensure the protection of his garden in colder months. But he was not sure of how to do this and decided to seek advice in town when he descended in a week to meet with Mr Clawse once more. It would also be a good chance to see if others had any knowledge about herbs that might not necessarily be written down.

Poorer families would not generally have their children learn to read, finding teachers, paying their fees, this was often beyond their abilities and purse strings. But that did not mean that they lacked knowledge that they wished to pa.s.s down to their children. This was therefore done by word of mouth. Leon felt that there could be much to learn in the wisdom of these elders and was willing to seek them out and learn.

In the meantime, Leon planted the three bulbs that he had received from the Cloudy Spiritual Pill request in three pots and placed them on a shelf within his hut. He then began to remove the weeds, basically any seedling that he did not recognise as being one of his herbs, from the herb and flower beds. He did not toss these aside, as he knew how lacking his knowledge was, just planted them in pots and would wait for them to grow and see if they could be identified.

Some that had definitely turned out to be weeds and not herbs, nor edible plants, still attracted b.u.t.terflies and bees, so he had a small field growing a bit of a distance from his hut with these weeds. They were usually watered by the rain or the waste water from his bath and chamberpot and did not seem displeased with this, so he continued to rely on them.

One 'weed' turned out to be silver nettle tetree, from which silver nettle tealeaves could be plucked for potions. The sapling was still young, so of no use right now, but it was an ever-green and would be able to provide him with the staple ingredient for healing pills throughout winter in the future.

Watering his garden took half a barrel of rainwater, so there was just enough left for a bath. He didn't fancy having to refill the barrel as he usually did with bucket after bucket from the lake or holding out for rainy weather, perhaps a wheelbarrow should be added to his shopping list. Yawning, he filled the bath with heated water and threw in some bath salts as he liked the scent of them anyway and proceeded to soak. Dreamily sitting in the cramped bath of warm water, he didn't wonder about why his soulsea felt so calm and refreshed after a time and simply cultivated without thought.