Midas made the most out of the first of the two days he and Uteli had to spend underneath Baumfall. His body was completely frozen in place as he sat on one of the cushions—only the light tapping noises of Uteli's steps echoed through the large central room the two of them had now spent what seemed to be eternities in. The mana the youth could form a loose grasp of moved through his core and limbs like a somewhat thick liquid—its loose shape was hard to make out, as if he was bending the water inside his blood.
Mana had always been elusive to the youth—his understanding of redirecting it through his limbs allowed him to feel a dim sensation tone through the fibers of his biceps as the gooey substance of energy flowed into his fingertips. The youth had always been using his right hand to bend, as the plant stone slotted inside the rune laid on the back of it. Trying to somewhat make use of the energy stored in his left hand's fingers, Midas watched if the stone would activate, just to be sure.
Already feeling his head hurting, able to sense some pressure pressing against his fingernails, Midas watched with stern brows as a barely visible flicker radiated from the green stone—quickly erased again, as the youth couldn't hold up the pressure, letting go of the stored-up mana to let it flow back into the rest of his body. Laying on the back of his head to let the ringing in his ear dim down again, the youth grasped for air, turning his head to Uteli as she swung her heavy axe through the room, her swings sloppy yet visibly heavy as she barely was able to stay on both of her feet after every swing.
Helmut would visit from time to time, making sure both of them were alright on their own—bringing just enough food for the both of them. Every time the elite would visit, Midas spared no time throwing questions at him, as he was able to learn that completely bending one's mana is impossible for most—as the body would take grave damage internally without it, rapid aging or rotting of one's skin being possible outcomes for the complete lack of it. Tensing up his muscles, the youth is able to push his mana much closer to his skin, making bending easier, which most likely also allowed for the dim glimmer of his stone as he put said pressure onto the whole of his body when storing all of his mana on one single limb.
Getting up from the ground again, Midas zoned out for a while—his head flooded with fear and uncertainty about how they would encounter Gunvar at the festival, having to also rely on pirates to get Javelin back somehow. Looking up at the entangled vines in the center of the large circular room, the youth extended his right hand out to the vines that made up a pillar from which sets of glowing fruit sprouted—their ends spreading out on the ceiling. Making one of the trunks that made up the walls surrounding the storage house seemed much easier as the youth had direct touch to the plant matter, unlike now, as he aimed to make one of the entangled vines move from afar.
The youth directed a fraction of the mass of mana into the palm of his right hand, making his bandaged fingers spread out in the direction of the vines. The stone didn't take long to glow up, making one of the growths that clung to the roof of the room loosen up—curving down in the direction of Midas sitting in front of it, leaning down. Unlike with bending stone, the youth had to keep up his mana, needing to keep up a steady stream of it into the plant stone to keep the long growth moving.
Bending stone was much simpler; the pillars he was able to shoot up from the ground only consumed a larger chunk of his energy—keeping up until they were destroyed by another force or retrieved into the ground again by feeding the sun stone some of his mana for a second time. Forming a fist with his bandaged hand, Midas slowly pushed his arm back, making the vine unbind from the entangled pillar of growths with roughly the same speed as his motion. The end of the growth pointed towards him, eventually stopping to levitate as the youth grasped onto it with his left hand.
Midas was able to tell that the thin stem of the growth contained mana just like his body, possibly allowing him to make it pull into his direction with the usage of his stone. Mana can be somehow manipulated and moved by using these—the blue stone used by Ivyda and Gunvar is no exception, even though they only seem to allow for the bending of water. Knowing that, the youth theorized the mana stored in plant matter must somehow be different from the mana that is stored in bodies of water—even though he felt somewhat unsure with his claim, as he himself didn't know much about stones like the sun shard.
The vine lying in his palm had the same thickness as his fingers, much more sturdy than any plant he had seen in the water kingdom—its dark green body flexible. Observing it, Midas widened his eyes—the same vine that lay in his hand could perhaps be used to grab the container in which the Nor'Luft powder would be stored inside of, allowing him to get it from a much further distance without having to face Gunvar one-on-one.
Turning to an opening door, Midas looked up to Helmut—his hair bound up together again—bringing a flat pot made from braided plant fiber and placing it on the table behind the youth. Uteli spared no time dashing towards the table, eagerly awaiting another meal. Once Midas sat beside her to eat, he couldn't tell for sure what time it currently was—unsure if the sun was up or not.
"What time is it...?"
"The sun is starting to set, but we still have one day left..."
Saying so, Helmut lifted the top of the pot, revealing boiled pieces of meat and starchy roots—just the right thing to help with his mana regeneration while keeping him filled. Uteli melted at the taste of the boiled meat; having eaten only fruit and bread for the past few days, they now traveled together. The faint taste of Fahin was something Midas already was used to, not minding the mild dryness of it as the meat practically dissolved on his tongue.
"I see you are able to bend vines already. I'm impressed—I didn't even notice you had a plant stone on you. Have you retrieved it from one of the guards spears before you came here...?"
"I... found a piece of glowing green crystal outside of town—it lay next to a broken cluster of green stone, so I took it with me—eventually finding out it can be shaped into a plant stone."
Midas's reply left Uteli and Helmut quiet for a moment, simply looking at the youth as he had to lie in order not to give away his ties to Gunvar—accompanying him at the very moment the intruding pirates were forced to break out of the trunk, possibly interfering with Jikith's mission by doing so, even though only the man capable of bending fire was present among some of the other grunts. Uteli decided not to stop eating, rather taking another piece of meat than to openly question where Midas truly got the stone from.
"I plan on using vines to get a grip on the powder from afar; perhaps we can snatch it from the carriage by driving by as fast as possible—this way we might avoid having to fight the knighthood general... The only problem I'm facing, however, is the fact I need an already existing vine around me in order for it to work."
"Interesting suggestion; don't worry, however... bending plants requires only a fraction of it to be in range, be it a seed, a leaf, or a fraction of a stem. From it, a whole other plant is able to sprout if you put enough mana into it—even though it might be quite costly to pull off."
Midas watched as Helmut got up from his seat, turning to the vine that lay on the ground to pull off one of the tiny crown-shaped leaves that sprouted from its stem, and walking towards the youth as a green glow radiated from his throat. The youth widened his eyes at the sight of the stem from which the leaf sprouted, suddenly growing in length, sparing no time to gain in thickness as well as sprouting new sets of leafage from its long body—already reaching down onto the floor before the youth realized.
Midas saw a similarity to the bending of the woman in the orphanage, having used the same aspect of this type of bending to completely shut off one of his cuts—the extending body of the plant used to do so, still clinging onto the healed wound, even though it visibly already withered—losing its grasp on his skin.
"Perhaps I will be able to do something similar to that if the vine gets somehow cut off..."
"You will, however, if you plan on doing so from afar without direct contact... your mana would most likely deplete rapidly—perhaps you should start on doing the same thing I just showed you before... just to get a feel of it."
Midas watched as Helmut picked off one of the newly sprouted leaves, placing it into his bandaged palm, making him form a loose fist with his right hand to focus his mana. Feeling something move inside of it, the youth slowly opened his eyes again after establishing his mana flow into the stone, seeing both of the vine ends slowly sprout from his palm, loosely hanging down to reach for the floor. Uteli grinned at the sight of the youth, too focused on keeping his mana flow to feel any relief at the fact he was now practically able to close off any minor cut he might have.
"If you do so over and over again, then you might just be able to do this..."
The youth raised his head as Helmut stood in front of them, closing a leaf in between both of his palms—rapidly letting two ends of a vine curve in the air, eventually letting go of it, as his hands were crossed behind his back. Simply looking at the levitating growth with a calm grin, Helmut made the long growth dive down into the wooden floor, letting it burrow through it—before it eventually resurfaced from another spot in the ground, moving in a circle before smoothly halting over the blonde man's head. Uteli watched with a gasp as the same glowing fruits began to sprout from the stem that levitated—quickly reaching the size of a fist, their bodies ripe enough to be colored in the same dim yellow Midas was used to seeing.
"You are able to direct it through the ground...?"
"Of course, depending on the kind of vine and your mana reserves... vines like this can be directed through not only wood, but also dirt and, in some cases, stone—if you have the skill to do so."