Ken led the Students out of the classroom. Once out of the classroom, they took to the skies via the Psychorage Improvisation which the Students within the Hidden Phoenix Village had spent some time learning. Ken led them to a very large barren land which appeared to have been divided into sections. In each of the sections were what appeared to be three greenhouses.
"You will divide yourselves into teams of six and each team will choose a section of the land. You will further divide yourselves into sub teams of two, each of the sub teams will select one of the three greenhouses. Your goal is to transform this barren land into a farm. The team that succeeds in this task will find themselves learning a very powerful Terrain Alteration Ability" Ken said. "I will give you a bit of advice before you begin. The first step to countering a Debilitating Terrain Alteration Ability is to be aware that it is being used against you" Ken said with a smirk.
The Students began to split into teams of six. Josec, Harry, Buern, Jason, Estelle and Fleur formed a team.
"You should also have the ability to identify the target of the Debilitating Terrain Alteration Ability. Take full advantage of every means in your arsenal, every ability and potential ability of your current environment to turn the disadvantage into an advantage" Ken advised.
Josec's team headed to a section of the barren land. Within their section of land were three very large greenhouses.
"Let's begin by studying our terrain" Jason suggested.
"Why don't we split up into teams of two first?" Harry suggested.
"I'll be teaming up with Fleur" Buern said.
"Then I'll team up with Estelle" Harry said.
"Well Jason, looks like you and I are stuck together. Now that we've settled that issue, it's time to study the terrain" Josec said.
The six Students agreed and headed to the section of land that had the first greenhouse. Within the first greenhouse were what looked like empty canals. At the centre of the greenhouse were a great number of small, dry, light seeds that appeared to have wings or hairs.
They headed to the second greenhouse. Within it, they discovered that the dome was retractable. Josec and Harry spent some time playing with the retractable mechanism, discovering that the roof of the greenhouse could be opened or shut. Within this dome were a great number of waxy, fibrous seeds.
The Students headed to the third dome. Within it were mostly the seeds of fruits like mangoes and oranges. There were also cages that contained bats as well as beehives.
"Hmm, this is very interesting. All three domes appeared to have fertile soil but it appears there are different conditions that need to be taken into consideration to utilize the domes effectively" Harry said.
"Yes, Master Ken did say that we need to take full advantage of every means in our arsenal, every ability of our current environment to turn our disadvantages into advantages" Josec reminded them.
"Jason, you noticed the canals in the first dome right?" Fleur asked.
"Mm hmm, the canals seemed to suggest that the first dome is meant to support irrigation" Jason noted.
"Yes, but the first dome had seeds designed to thrive in environments that encourage seed dispersal by wind so those seeds should actually be in the second dome which had a retractable roof" Fleur said.
"And the seeds in the second dome were designed for dispersal by water. They would thrive better in the first dome. The seeds in the third dome though seemed to match their environment" Jason noted.
"Looking at how this test was designed, differing environments, limited resources, unique sets of tools and the promise of a prize…at first glance it would seem these conditions are meant to encourage competition" Harry said.
"The land certainly is barren but the plants are not the only ones that have to endure debilitating conditions. If the six of us had chosen our domes without first exploring all three of them as well as our options, if we didn't discuss together our intentions, we'd have chosen domes that do not support the conditions necessary for the seeds within them to thrive. Only one team out of the three would have had optimum conditions further encouraging rivalry and division. In the end, none of us would be able to turn our section of land into a farm. Though it appears we were split into rival teams, these conditions should encourage collaboration. It's the only way to accomplish our goal" Harry noted.
"I see. So that is what Master Ken meant by the first step to countering a Debilitating Terrain Alteration Ability is to be aware that it is being used against you as well as to be conscious of the target of the technique. At first glance, it would seem that the focus of the test is the plants but the teams are also the focus of the test. It certainly bears a fitting name 'Farming the Desert Of Confusion'" Buern laughed.
"For now let's begin by shifting all the seeds into the environments that would best support their growth and proliferation" Estelle suggested.
So the students shifted the dry, light seeds into the dome with the retractable roof and the waxy, fibrous seeds into the dome with the canals.
"There, done. I suppose the next thing we should do is prepare the land and choose our respective domes. We should each choose domes that support our abilities. Estelle and I will take the dome with the retractable roof. It should help us proliferate our seeds through my wind abilities" Harry suggested.
"Fleur and I will take the dome that has the channels. With Marina's abilities, we should be able to proliferate our seeds" Buern suggested.
"Then Josec and I will take the dome with the bats and bees. With Silas' abilities, it shouldn't be too hard to get the bats and bees to proliferate our seeds" Jason suggested.
"But there will be no way for our seeds to grow once they start to spread if we can't find a way of turning our section of the land fertile. We should begin by extending and connecting Buern's canals to all the domes and then further extending them into the rest of the land just like we did in the Continent Of Deserts" Harry suggested.
"Leave that to me! PSYCHORAGE ABILITY! GAEIA!" Jason roared as he transformed into an embodiment of nature.
He headed into the dome with the canals and began to cause the canals to extend. He extended the canals into the surrounding areas of all three domes and further extended them all over the barren land. Buern summoned Marina and instructed her to keep the canals constantly filled with water. As Marina busied herself with maintaining a constant flow of water throughout their section of land, the six Students busied themselves with sowing the seeds within their respective domes. Other Students who began the test with bitter rivalry observed their actions and realized that their techniques worked. They in turn began to work together employing their own unique variations of the techniques Josec, Harry, Buern, Jason, Estelle and Fleur were employing and this was replicated throughout the entire stretch of barren land.
Over what seemed like months and years within the Book Of Jo-lan, the Students nursed their seeds into trees. When Harry's seeds began to bear fruit, Josec raised up the Labyrinth Of The Defender over their entire section of land creating vents which led from within Harry's dome into various sections of the land. This allowed Harry to proliferate the seeds of his plants through careful use of his wind abilities.
Josec and Jason also began to let the bats and bees partake of their crops once their crops began to bear fruit. The bats would eat their fruits and fly throughout their section of land and beyond. Whenever they excreted the seeds, the land which had gradually become fertile through Buern's use of water techniques to irrigate the land, caused the plants to grow. Seeds from Buern's crops in turn found their way into various sections of land by utilizing the flow of the canals constantly filled with water. The seeds of Josec's team found their way into the fields of other teams and the seeds of other teams in turn found their way into the field of Josec's team. This in effect allowed for the proliferation of many varieties of plants and crops eventually transforming the entire stretch of barren land into a great farm. The Students began to realize that in order for their crops and plants to flourish, they needed to aid the environment of their crops, in other words, their various fields and they also realized that at times, to aid their plants meant aiding the plants and surroundings of other teams.
Ken was impressed with them.
"I see you succeeded in 'Farming the Desert Of Confusion', well done!" he congratulated them.
"You've learnt two very important principles concerning Terrain Alteration Abilities. The first is that evolution can be triggered by something quite trivial or insignificant and the second is that at times to aid a terrain that is seemingly damaged beyond repair, you need to aid less damaged areas in proximity to the severely damaged area and gradually extend the zone of recovery into these severely damaged areas thus leading to a complete recovery of all areas. I'm proud of you" Ken said.
"Thanks a lot Master Ken" the Students said gratefully.