460 Lost Prince (1/2)

Thomas looked around and noticed some strange water and portals by the waystone and paused. ”Is this irrigation technology? How did you manage to do this without a pump?”

Zero blinked and paused. He was communicating with Zoe, informing her of their new guests when the gnomes started poking around at the village's technology. The people in charge were still on their way but Zero saw how the gnomes were immediately feeling at home with Half Moon Village's weird setup. On the other hand, Jermine looked like she didn't know where to start or what to do.

”Are you alright?” Zero asked her.

The blind girl shook her head. ”I-I'm fine. There's a lot of mana here... it's slightly hard to breathe.”

Zero felt slightly bad for Jermine and did a little something to the air around Jermine and created a seal on a talisman that he gave her. ”Keep it close,” he told her. ”It's not the best but it'll have to do for now. I'm low on mana.”

Jermine nodded and kept the talisman close to her chest while Truen greeted Cleo who appeared before them with one of her vine clones. Zero could tell at once how much Cleo had grown based on her ability to maintain several plant clones now.

”Zero!” she greeted with joy then it immediately turned to worry. ”What happened?!”

The doctor laughed and brushed it off. Truen shook his head at Cleo's horror-stricken expression. It might not be obvious to others but to the dryad who was well acquainted with Gaia's spells, she was able to tell how badly damaged Zero's vessel was.

”It's a long story,” Truen told Cleo who nodded even if she was still worried. To think that there would be something out there capable of destroying a vessel created by the six Great Gods and best magician... Cleo didn't know what to think.

Without wasting time, Truen told Cleo to take Olive under her tutelage. The gnome gardener was more than glad to work with the dryad. Cleo gave Zero one last look of concern before she left to explain how things worked around the village, starting with the portal to Heaven where they attend to magical crops.

Raj was the next person to arrive, followed by Wiser who looked like he'd aged terribly. Lovina also exited the portal and was aghast at Zero's damaged vessel. Clowis was the last to arrive but when he did, he immediately felt as if something wasn't right.

”Zero?”

Nobody had a chance to ask Zero what happened because the young village leader was already giving out orders left and right. Clowis was assigned to take care of Ginger and Turmeric. Wiser was told to give Pepper a task and Lovina was pleased to meet Wesley, a fellow alchemist. Raj felt slightly uncomfortable with Thomas who immediately took a strange obsession with him. In fact, the gnomes kept staring at him.