In the end, it was no surprise that Billy never discovered who to raise more of those trees. It was quite a tricky and weird process. Basically, one tree must be sacrificed in order for five others to be born. After splitting one tree, Billy found five cores in its trunk. The cores looked like roots, and they had to be replanted as soon as possible, and then the ground had to be bathed daily with the juice of the same type of tree. After around three months, a new tree would be born… it was quite the roundabout process and it was surprising that someone learned that.
"It grows quite fast, huh… And since it is a magic tree, it doesn't need sunlight either," Billy thought. "I suppose I will make a massive underground garden and then make my subordinates look after them… Putting that aside, why do I like to dig for holes so much? Tunnels… Underground arenas and gardens…"
That certainly was a weird habit of his. Regardless, Billy wondered what Jean would think if one day he learned that below his capital there was a massive training arena, a warehouse for monsters and a massive garden of magic trees.
While Billy was thinking about that, he suddenly received a message from one group of spies that was operating in Toles state. It seemed that one of them was attacked by a group of bandits. Still, since he was armed with Billy's crossbow, he managed to turn the tables and defeat them without even killing a single one. They were asking what they should do with the group and their goods. Billy didn't need the money that bandits that stored or the things that they had stolen. However, he couldn't just return them without giving some answers about the bandits. In the first place, he didn't have the authority to capture them. So, the best answer was to keep quiet and move them to his territory. To make things end as soon as possible, Billy would need his magic cart.
In the end, Billy left when the sun had set and found his group of spies and bandits in a grove waiting for him. They worked well and even healed the wounds of the bandits by using some pills. The bandits didn't know Billy. Just by considering his presence and how the spies treated him, they knew that he was a big deal. Still, he just put them in the back of his magic cart while they were using shackles. Ten more bandits to reform…
Billy's wives wondered where he spent the night when he arrived the next day, but they didn't press for answers. Billy got lucky, but then he realized that they looked a bit weird.
"Did something happen?" Billy asked.
"No… I guess not…" Kate replied.
"It is just… Nah, it is nothing," Natalie added.
It was weird for even Natalie to feel troubled like that, so Billy got curious. Still, he couldn't press for answers since they didn't ask him where he spent the night. Billy considered the idea of telling them that he reformed some bandits and made them his underlings. Still, he decided to keep quiet and give his wives some privacy for them to solve their own problems since it seemed that they didn't want to trouble him.
Billy watched his new underlings working on his new garden day and night for the next few days. Since Billy had a lot of juice stored to use on his vehicles, he decided to raise hundreds more Edish trees at the same time. Making them level up will be a pain, but it is necessary.
One day, Billy finished his training early and then when he returned home, he found that his wives and the kids had left to visit Alexander and Lily. That was rare for them to do so without telling him… While they lived nearby, Billy decided to take it easy since he was also pretty tired from his work and training. Just when he was about to take a bath, Sarah appeared at his gate.
"What is up?" Billy said. "It is rare for you to show up at this time of the day."
"... I discovered something and I wanted to show you," Sarah said and then made a water Ball appear above her hand.
At first, Billy thought that it wasn't anything new, but then he realized that Sarah's mana didn't expand and then returned to a single spot. The man was in the shape of a sphere and then became water…
"Wow… You learned how to convert your mana directly into water," Billy said while he approached. "That was impressive…"
"It seems I am above you now a bit when it comes to magic," Sarah said, showing a small, confident smile.
"Indeed. Do that again, I want to try to understand how you did it," Billy said.
"It isn't that complicated, but you need to practice more to be able to make more mana become water," Sarah explained. "The trick is to control the density and think of cooling down your mana."
Billy didn't get that explanation, but even though he saw Sarah doing the same thing over and over again. At the same time, Magic Eyes were active. He didn't get it. He also used the same thing when he got fire Creation, so it wasn't surprising. In any case, Sarah didn't know how to explain the skill any better, so Billy had a hard time grasping the secret. Still, it couldn't be helped since Billy also didn't know how to explain how Fire Creation worked.
Fortunately, after a few hours, Billy managed to learn that. He just had to keep trying with small amounts of mana, and he eventually succeeded.
"Thanks, I owe you one," Billy said.
"Don't mention it," Sarah said.
Billy thought that something was off with Sarah lately, but perhaps that was just his imagination. She looked a bit more energetic as well, so Billy was confident that things would improve for her.
