Chapter 8: Cultivate !
The vegetation was even bushier farther down. They both had picked staff to ease their way. In the mean time, the two disciples reaped every food they could. Moss had shown her the easier plants to recognize as he knew novices could easily make mistakes. She did fine however, so he introduced a few harder plants, notably tubers. Those were especially good to have since they were a way more nutritious treat than greens. Once roasted, they would prove to be a fine meal. They could find five of them.
As for predators, they saw no clue of their presence. The boars were another story though. Their prints were way heavier than those Moss had been accustomed to. Probably another race, and nastier. Fortunately their mating period had not come yet. They would not attack on sight... Theoretically. Really, this place was different. Plenty of birds and plants were unknown to him. He stumbled upon them everywhere.
In that respect, he had taken care to memorize the plant draws of both scrolls. Whilst the planned hour almost expired, he finally glimpsed a leaf shape that reminded him of one in the sister's scroll.
-'Sister, come ! And take out your parchment.'
-'Why ? What did you find ?'
-'This.' He pointed a small seeding with weird split leafs and pure white flower buds. It grew in a fairly illuminated place.
-'Does it not resemble the second figure ?'
They had already tried one time but the comparison had not been convincing. This time was different.
-'Yes. It is the same, no doubt. Now this is good. We have only been at it for one hour !'
Both shared the excitement.
-'Please pick it up, brother. I do not want to mess this up.'
-'... Done.'
It had come easily. They stored the plant in the pouch with sparkling eyes.
-'Now I would dare say that our session ends on a high note.' The princess said.
-'Agreed !'
-'We just have to find a proper place to settle down and be done with the hiking.'
And as they kept descending the hill, they finally came across water.
-'Hear that, brother ?'
-'What ?'
-'There is a stream nearby.'
-'I hear nothing...'
-'It is coming from this way.'
The stream was just big enough to deserve that name. Still the water ran clean and fresh. After they drank a bit, they walked along in search of a suitable camp. Considering the distance they had crossed, returning to the glade was not an option any more.
Eventually, Lauren found a small clear space not far from the stream. It was fine, so they dropped their stuff there and accommodated the place.
Then it was time for their first training. As it happened, Moss and Lauren shared the same physical practice. The draws of the dual state moon cultivation art were just a bit more ornamented and its descriptions more convoluted.
Push-ups, headstand, squats, pull-ups, static positions, the old man was soon heavily panting. His old joints were not satisfied with this sudden madness. The commoner knew how injuries felt however, and those sensations were not stingy enough to worry him. He pushed himself as best as he could.
As expected, the sister did far better.
-'Come on grandpa, your push-ups are all crooked ! Straighten your back and your head. And bring your elbow closer ! You look like a weird worshipper !'
-'Punk ! From what I see you are not better, apply your own advices !'
They joked about it but the woods had no mirror and it helped to correct each others form. Moss could not train until the sun turned yellow, but the sister did. To avoid idleness he sorted their harvest and gathered some wood to start a fire. That was hard. Even his fingers had been persecuted by the hanging required for pull-ups. He did it anyway.
Then he waited for her to finish before starting the fire, as both methods recommended not to train near smoke.
A thought crossed his mind. If he was to train during the day and meditate during the night, when was he supposed to sleep ? He could only wait and see.
When time came to prepare for the night, they were both having trouble to move. They did not have the strength to joke any more. Lauren directly ate the spiritual plant they had found earlier.
-'What a weird taste.' She said.
After that they consumed their tubers eagerly with a fair supplement of greens. They had found some aromatics as well so it did not taste bad but definitely felt weird as well. To be sure, this was no castle cookery. Once their belly was full, the girl sat to meditate. Next to her, Moss had nothing to do until the moon was up. He listened to the wildlife and dozed off a little. In the end he really fell asleep. He woke up as Lauren shook him by the shoulder.
-'Hey, don't sleep ! Night has come, you must meditate.'
-'Yes. Thank you.'
-'You remember the instructions are read to you earlier, right ?'
-'Yes.'
He moved a bit in order to see the moon between the trees. It was enlightened on three quarters of its surface. The light method undoubtedly applied. The technique recommended to try to feel the moonlight on his skin and to watch it by intermittence. Else wise the eyelids had to be shut. He also had to try to feel the attraction of the heavenly body, and to meddle its energy in his own.
Lauren had come to sleep next to him.
A short time after that, she suddenly spoke.
-'Say, old man.'
-'Yes ?'
-'You are a commoner, right ?'
-'Yes, why ?'
-'I don't understand how you got a place in the trial.'
Moss was a bit lost.
-'I am not sure what you mean... The token was given to me, is that what you are asking ?'
-'Oh. Do you know its value ?'
-'Frankly I don't. With all those nobles, I guess it is not cheap ?'
-'No. It is worth the weight of ten men in pure gold.'
Moss flipped for the second time of the day.
-'What ?! So much ?!'
-'Yes. Can I ask who gave it to you ?'
-'Sure, but this is a strange story. I do not know him myself very well.'
And so, he briefly narrated her the circumstances of his meeting with the scholar.
That tale was hard to believe. Yet she knew that the sect could not be fooled by a simple thief. The token were not nominative but they could tell if one had be stolen. Some had tried.
-'What a strange story. I have bored you enough with questions, brother. I will sleep now. Have a good night.'
-'I know... You too, sleep well.'
Far from there, poor Marchen was alone in the dark, puking his guts out from random things he ate, next to a failed attempt to start a fire. Torim and Menlo were not better, only they had a fire. Yu had broken Elios's nose in a little argument, but now they were good friends. They had had a decent meal, but no fire...
With that, the first day of the trial finally ended.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone