Mentored Training 7

“The point of our training today, is for all of you to know the full extent of your abilities. As I understand it, you have not fully tested the things that it might be prudent to test. Nor do you entirely know what you are capable of. You all use your abilities in a capable and skilled way, do not mistake me. However, you are in dire need of testing and more knowledge of your own capabilities.” Olivia tells us.

“How so?” I ask curiously, and our teacher looks at me, smiling. “Ivy dear, do you happen to know which kinds of plants you can create, and which are currently beyond your reach?” She asks. “Oh…I’ve never really thought about that before.” Ivy says. “It is okay. Paige, have you ever tried to tunnel through the earth?” Olivia continues.

Paige shakes her head, getting more red faced by the minute. Olivia smiles kindly at her. “That is okay, there is nothing to be ashamed of. There are a lot of abyssals who do not know the extent of their own power, both because they do not test their limits and because they do not think to use what they can do in ways other than the obvious.”

“Today, I am going to help you find out what you are truly capable of, to the best of my ability. You all have a lot of power, and it can doubtless be used in ways that you are not used to. Ivy, we shall start with you, if that is alright.” Olivia concludes. The nature spirit nods and takes a couple of paces forward, towards our teacher.

“Let us start simple. Grow a rose.” Olivia instructs. Ivy does so, and the older woman nods, satisfied. Her instructions continue, and Ivy follows in rapid succession. “Grow a small oak tree. Good, now grow a vine of ivy. Now some brambles. Now an apple tree.” Our teacher instructs, with Ivy following along easily.

“We do not know how long your plants last, this is something we will need to test. However, with those few simple species of flora, you have multiple uses. Roses can be beautiful, decorative in nature, but also used as a small scale deterrent. Oak and other trees are useful for shelter, with some trees producing leaves and other substances that can be useful, such as tree sap.” Olivia says.

“Trees are also among the types of plants that would provide cover or a hiding spot in a pinch. Vines can be used for climbing, but also as irritants for those who touch them. Brambles are useful for fortification, deterrents, cover and protection, but also for food. Brambles are part of a genus of flora that also includes some types of berries, and as such, this type of extra fortification can also double as a source of food.” Olivia concludes.

Our teacher was pacing as she explained, and now she stops and turns back to Ivy. “You my dear, are an incredibly versatile mage. From my observations, you value your abilities as to how well they can serve you in direct combat, and this is one aspect of things, but it is not the only aspect of life.” She says, and Ivy smiles at her.

“You can help to break into places, mount assaults on fortified positions, fortify positions yourself and make those positions livable with fresh food. You have access to potentially thousands of ingredients for different healing remedies, foods and different crafting materials. Remember, the scope of your abilities goes beyond what can help you in direct combat.” Olivia says.

Further testing reveals a few more things. Ivy’s plants are real things rather than mana constructs, and don’t seem to have a limit on how long they can last. We could have figured that out already from Ivy planting the flowers around our palace, but it’s nice to have a proper confirmation on that. The food she grows is also very much edible.

We find that Ivy can’t grow any magical plants. When we research a few types of magical plants, including trees that produce enchanted wood and brambles with thorns that can properly damage abyssals, Ivy tries to grow some of them and finds that she can’t at all. We even try ordering seeds from the abyss auction to see if Ivy can make them grow faster or influence them at all, but she can’t do any of that.

It seems that her abilities are limited for now to the world of mundane plants. However, that does include all mundane plants, and as Olivia explained to us, that still gives Ivy a metric ton of options for different things. We do a quick test to see whether or not Ivy growing plants from seeds is quicker than from scratch, and we find that there’s no difference in speed or mana cost, which I feel is a little overpowered and really cool.

We also test the limits of Ivy’s possession and control of plants. There is no time limit to her control of plants, except for her mana running out. I find myself wondering if she’ll be able to control a plant infinitely if we get her mana regeneration high enough. That would be cool.

As Ivy describes how she can actually see and hear things through the plants, but only when she is actively controlling them, Olivia points out the potential spying applications for being able to do that, which is something else none of the rest of us had thought of yet.

Through further testing, we find that there’s a limit of about a 10 metre distance for which she can control plants with ease, which begins to fade after that limit. Her control drops entirely after the 20 metre mark, which is a pretty generous limit, all things considered, for an ability that’s still fairly new. Hopefully we’ll be able to increase that limit later.

We also find that her control doesn’t diminish any more than normal through walls, making that power a very good tool for spying on people. We test how much she can move within her control, and much to our delight, she does indeed have full movement. We knew that already to an extent from combat, but with Olivia as our teacher, guiding us to think more creatively, this is a much more significant thing.

Sadly, she can’t go full ‘whomping willow’ just yet, as her abilities don’t let her grow plants big enough for that yet, but she can still achieve the same effect on a small scale. I bring this up and there’s a collective shudder among us all at the mention of the series. Jk Rowling lessened the appeal of it quite substantially when she revealed herself to be an awful person.

Quickly moving on from that unpleasant topic, we next test to see if Ivy can spread pollen or other such substances for a debuff. The conclusion we come to is that while Ivy can spread pollen and some types of spores, it doesn’t put any buffs or debuffs on any of us. The pollen makes us start to sneeze though, which is a bit unpleasant.

It turns out that Ivy can also dissolve her plants at will, as we find out when she removes the plant spores and pollen from the air. This leads us to doing another test, and we find that Ivy can remove naturally growing trees and plants as well. It costs mana to remove plant matter though, even stuff that she creates. Still, that’s another potentially quite useful ability for her to use.

With all the testing we’ve done from Ivy’s abilities, there are plants, bushes, flowers and vegetables littered across the landscape. The nature spirit spends some time to clean it up, and we all have a small break for a morning tea. Olivia advises that Ivy do some reading on uses for different types of plants, including magic plants. The more knowledgeable she is on the subject, the better she can use her powers to greater effect.