“I want to learn,” Cal blurted out. Reason set in right after. “But am I allowed to? I can’t imagine the Harvest Union being happy about it.”Arhan gave him a look before muttering under his breath about the Celestial Order. The tone wasn’t flattering. “My guild won’t care about what I do with my own spell. Besides, I’m curious about how much you’ll understand.”Cal’s token refusal disappeared. “Then I’ll thank you in advance.”“That’s the spirit!” Arhan picked up the uprooted crop. “I’ll skip the basics like how roots function and dive right into how the spell—” He stopped at the awkward look on Cal’s face. “You know how roots function, right?”“I think so?” Cal cleared his throat and tried to sound more confident. “They absorb water for the crop.”Arhan waited for him to continue and sighed when it became apparent that was all. “Water and nutrients. Roots have other functions, but those are the two you need to know for the spell. Most magical crops have tiny, nearly undetectable root hairs that help with the absorption.”Cal felt the spell on the uprooted crop deactivate.“Study the roots, and this time try to find the root hairs,” Arhan said.He nodded and reached out with his mana tendrils again. His focus previously had been on the way mana flowed through the crop, and not its physical appearance. Now, he realized it would have been unlikely for him to discover the root hairs even if he tried. The spell had blurred them to his senses from the mana infused in the roots, but now, he could feel that they were there, even though he couldn’t see them with his eyes.The root hairs numbered in the tens of thousands, enabling a surface area so stupendously high it made Cal fear the thought of planting it on his own farm. Several hundred of these Phantasia Trees would drain his (...)