Riku had his hands in the rich soil of the spiritual herb bed with his eyes closed.
The earth pulsed as if in recognition, and greeting. Shouldn't it be familiar? Soil was soil no matter which world he was from. Did his earth elemental talent come from his origination from a world called 'Earth'? Riku's mind wandered and wondered, trying to establish some sort of connection with the land.
The land simply waited patiently, doing nothing, steadily supporting his weight and the weight of all things above it.
Waiting for him to make a move.
Maybe the key to being friends was having things in common, like mutual interest…? Riku speculated, and started to form Stone Skin, just to be more like the earth.
Something changed. Something shifted. Riku frowned. His stone skin felt… different. Colder. Thicker. Softer, even…?
No, wait. This wasn't Stone Skin. This was…
Riku opened his eyes to see himself covered with a layer of rich herb bed loam. "Eh…?"
He felt at his arms, then sighed with relief. Underneath two inches of soil was his usual granite-like stone skin, full body coverage. Yet somehow, he'd ended up wearing two inches of soil. What was this…?
[So maybe this 'Earth Resonance' thing would basically modify the earth-elemental techniques I use?]
[It is more than that, but that seems to be the current result. Speculating new label for modification. New Stone Skin mod designated as Earth Armor.]
Earth Armor. Riku wondered for a bit, then released the technique. Speculating, he went over to a nearby rock and put both hands on it. Then, he tried the Stone Skin technique once more.
The rock cracked. Instantly, it fell apart into a thousand smaller pieces each the size of his fist, and flew at him in a flurry. Startled, Riku froze, only to feel the rocks gathering around his Stone Skin harmlessly. In fact, based on what he felt from the stone, it seemed the stone itself wanted to protect him…
"Stone Armor?!" Riku grinned. It stuck to his clothes, covering him up to his neck. Moving around in it was definitely heavier and clunkier, but Riku felt certain that his defense capabilities had just taken a very big leap.
More. With a short laugh, Riku walked around looking for more stones, calling them to himself without knowing how he did so, simply by wanting them to come to him and then letting them know. More and more stones flew up to join his armor, thickening it, adding another inch to the layer, and then another…
Five inches. Seven inches. Eight inches. Nine. Riku strained to keep it all together at that point. Stones started falling away despite his best efforts. With a sigh, he relaxed and let it all fall away. That was his limit, it seemed. Nine inches, and he wouldn't be able to keep it up for long. Seven inches was already hard enough to maintain. In a combat situation, Riku didn't think he'd be able to keep up more than five inches.
But having stones fly to him gave him another idea. He pointed. [Stone! Go there!]
Nothing happened. [Go! THERE!]
No result. Riku frowned and held up his hand. [Come here.]
Instantly, the rock he'd been looking and thinking at hopped up to his palm. [I get it. I can't send them away. They won't listen to my orders. But I'm their friend, so if I call them and ask them to come with me, they'd happily do so. It can't be used as an attack, since they don't rush over, the speed is too slow and too gentle, or else I'd be hurt too… but it's very nice armor.]
Also, Riku felt there was a range limit. He had to get close to whatever stone he wanted to invite. Close enough to touch, or better yet, actually touch them. They seem to appreciate it when he touched them.
"At this rate I'm going to be keeping rocks as pets." Riku surmised. Which, come to think of it, wasn't actually a bad idea. Keeping a pile of stones in his room would mean easy access to rock armor. "How to stones even move by themselves? They don't have muscles or anything."
[Litho-magnetism. They latch on to your Stone Skin like magnets.] System explained briefly. [The stronger your Stone Skin technique develops, the greater the capacity.]
A light-bulb seemingly lit up in Riku's head. [So, if my Stone Skin technique is strong enough… using earth armor to look like a ten foot stone giant is possible?]
[Theoretically.] System figured.
Riku grinned. He might not even be able to add one foot to his height using Earth Armor right now, but one day…
Meanwhile, he practiced the advanced form of Stone Skin – the Iron Skin technique. At this level, he could barely cover his fist with Iron Skin. The difference is, this time, he started calling for more rocks.
They surrounded his fist on all sides, twice as thick as the layers of rock anywhere else. Riku grinned. If the next level added another five inches of rock into his Earth Armor, then just covering his entire body with Iron Skin would effectively double the armor. Riku now had a clear goal for training in mind.
He would love to pursue it too, but right now, he was done for. It was an inner exhaustion, a tiredness in the soul, and he could really, really use a break..
Glancing over at Tu's grave, he said, "Was this what Master Huang had in mind for us? He kept saying to do gardening, and to get a feel for the earth-element."
Tu's gravestone stubbornly refused to reply.
***
Roughly around that time, Ji Iris was making a presentation in a council of war.
Five of the Ji cousins of her generation had gathered in the lounge. Thyme and Basil, the two boys, were paying rabid attention as they had been the moment they heard the word 'war'. These two cousins had long been taught to protect the girls in their family since they were young. This included protecting their honor, which of course meant they had to respond against insults. Riku rejecting her in front of her father during an official negotiation had very quickly risen to the No.1 insult in their Must Avenge list.
On her right, Orchid, likewise, had her eyes narrowed as they discussed several schemes that might, just maybe, not be included in the rules of engagement. For instance, holdings pets as hostages. Would capture of pets be considered 'kidnapping'? Otherwise, the holding of innocents might likewise suffice, but then again, the average local was already as strong as Orchid, if not stronger. Stage 4 Adepts were everywhere in town these days.
Theft wasn't included in the banned actions either. As a mix of the two, they could steal a precious item and then hold it hostage… or something like that?
Constant annoyance was also a possible action. So was boycott. And non-stop chattering. Or arson, but they dismissed that one very quickly. Riku lived at the Magistrate. Setting the Magistrate on fire was definitely going to get them into more trouble than they could handle. Other than the Magistrate, Riku also cared for the Xi Clan territory, but there was no point setting that on fire; someone else already did.
"Ria? What do you think?" Iris asked.
Cymaria, over on Iris' left, was the fifth person in the lounge, and the least attentive. She kept looking out at the window, observing the herb fields, especially Dad's Private Expensive Garden. This lounge was one of the few places where she could see over the fences right into the garden itself. Cymaria always did have herbs on her mind. As expected of a Ji Clan girl, perhaps, but maybe she thought and talked and read and heard about herbs just a bit TOO much. Sometimes, it was like nothing else even concerned her…
Iris hadn't been managed to get Lotus or Rose on board. Neither of them particularly cared about the Xi Lands or some childish war. Rose was far more interested in the boys at her school and Lotus was on another crazy cultivation spree.
"How old is Riku?" Rose had asked.
"Ten." Iris answered.
Rose instantly lost interest.
"How strong is Riku?" Lotus had asked.
"He's just a Novice."
Lotus instantly lost interest.
"Is Riku a skilled herbalist?" Cymaria had asked.
"No, he's a Spirit Smith."
Cymaria instantly lost interest…
"We'll be discussing it in the lounge." Iris mentioned.
That was why, other than the prank-loving Orchid, Cymaria was the only other girl among the Ji cousins that Iris managed to drag up here.
But as it was… "Orchid, I'm sorry. But I think this time, I'm going to have to go with the boys' idea. Pranks just doesn't seem like they'll be that useful."
"She's right! This is war!" Thyme instantly threw in his support of her support of his ideas. "The best way to fight a war is to fight!"
"Beat him up!" Basil raised his fist.
"Beat him to a pulp!" Thyme raised both fists.
"Beat him into the dirt!" Iris raised her own fist in response.
"That's so boring." Orchid sighed. "You guys can handle it. Call me if something interesting comes up. Or if Shui decides to make a move, or such."
Iris turned to Cymaria hopefully, but the girl was already muttering. "Three more days for the Black Starlight Flowers, one week for the Azure Crystal Rose. Dad's garden is…"
She was still studying the garden and talking to herself when her cousins departed from the lounge.