Michael made his way through the fields, taking note of all the medicinal herbs as he passed.
"Luckily my new Master seems to be organised, all these herbs are planted categorically.
Ginseng, Canis root, Lichen… and even a few I don't recognise" he was impressed at the meticulousness of the owner.
"With this system of planting and cultivation of herbs, it shouldn't be difficult to find the ones on this list. Which must mean the real test is in my ability to identify and harvest said herbs successfully."
He looked down at the list, reading its contents once more before nodding.
"It explicitly states 50-year-old Bloodwort and 40-year-old Jarrin Root not 'at least' that age. Even without the attempted sabotage from Mr. Stick-in-his-ass this could be harder than expected."
"Master I'm quite knowledgeable about herbs" Archie decided to raise his voice after seeing Michael's face begin to frown.
"You're knowledgeable about herbs? I know you have a space for planting them, but where did you learn about herbs?"
"I… I don't know" Archie tilted his head after thinking carefully.
"Huh?? Hey man, don't just talk a big game because you want to earn some brownie points. I've got a lot riding on this test"
"Master, I don't know why I know… but I somehow knew about the Spirit Elderflower" Once again being doubted, Archie began to feel a little undervalued. He had yet to show his capabilities and usefulness with the Eternal Pendant so he could somewhat understand.
"Hmm, you're right. Well, I guess we can give it a try, it's better than stabbing in the dark" Michael felt a little guilty. He knew that Archie and the Eternal Pendant would be invaluable throughout his cultivation journey, so he decided to put his trust in his new sidekick.
'If he screws it up for me I'll just change his name to Arsefly' he chuckled a little at the thought.
"Okay, 40-year-old Jarrin Root. Luckily, we seem to already be in the section of the field that cultivates root herbs."
He began to scan the area in front of him, naming off the many root herbs he could see. There were rows and rows of Ginseng and Canis Root herbs, demarcated by pathways in between.
"Master, in the back" Archie pointed out.
He looked up and saw what looked to be merely a few twigs protruding from the ground. The issue with root herbs was that upwards of 90% of the herb was under the soil, meaning identifying them was considerably more difficult than other herbs.
Making his way over, he noticed that the soil seemed to be darker than the others, almost as if it were tainted by something. Michael bent down and began to gently brush away some of the soil covering the root, he could smell an acrid odour from the upturned soil.
"This is definitely the Jarrin Root, the soil is darker due to the poisonous effect of the herb itself" Archie quickly spoke, urging Michael to be careful.
"So how do I tell which one is the 40-year-old herb?"
"You can tell the age of the Jarrin Root by the depth of colour within the soil" Archie said matter-of-factly.
Michael frowned and looked at the whole row of herbs, while only slight he could still see a difference in shade between each one.
"Okay genius, we know the darker ones are old. But do you know how old they are judging by the colour?" he asked, his tone oozing sarcasm.
"That…" Archie stammered.
'Tsk' Michael clicked his tongue in frustration.
"Alright, I'm just going to have to make an educated guess. Of all the herbs we've seen in this field, the oldest were 50 years and the youngest 10 years. If we assume that the meticulous owner only harvests the herbs once they reach 50 years, then we should be able to determine the ages of the Jarrin Root."
"The darkest soil should be the 50-year-old herb, and the lightest 10 years." Michael quickly eliminated the lighter shades. Unfortunately for him the herbs were not planted in ascending order, otherwise he wouldn't have had to take such a gamble.
After eliminating the darkest and the lighter shades, he was left with only 1 herb that would fit his hypothesis. He stared at the herb and began to scratch his bare chin, deep in thought. On one hand, his hypothesis seemed logical however it had too many variables.
"It looks good to me Master" Archie said with a thumbs up through their mind link.
Michael rolled his eyes at Archie's blind confidence, he pondered for another moment before throwing all caution to the wind.
"F*** it, she'll be 'right" he said emphatically, emulating his late father.
He got down on his knees and began to carefully remove the soil surrounding his chosen herb. Having harvested upward of a thousand Ginsengs in his previous expeditions, he managed to adeptly unearth the Jarrin Root from the ground without breaking any of the roots.
Archie whistled in appreciation at the ease of which his master harvested the root. Not damaging the herb during harvesting was very difficult, not to mention the fact that Jarrin Root was poisonous. Breaking a root would cause the poisonous substance to leak out.
With a thought Michael sent the perfectly harvested herb into his dimensional space and stood up in one motion.
"Make sure it goes into the 1st sub-space Archie, I need it to be kept at 40-years-old" he said while dusting himself off.
"Roger!" Archie saluted.
"Now, next on the list… 50-year-old Bloodwort" He looked around the fields for a moment.
"Judging by the layout of the herb field, we should look toward the Haemodoraceous flowers. We might also find our 3rd and final ingredient in the same area".