Beginner's Luck: Growth 8

Fluke pulled out one of the Fuscia resonant shards and held it in his hand. This shard immediately vibrated and behaved almost unstable despite having not been mistreated in any way. Putting a small amount of resonance into the shard this one behaved much like the Cobalt shard. The only notable difference was that this shard let out a barely audible musical note, similar to water rubbed on the rim of a wine glass. And again, after a minute, the shard returned itself to the pouch, which prompted Fluke to check his information.

6 Fuscia Resonant shards: Highly unstable, with resonant energy this shard is a deadly projectile that will track and follow a target marked by its wielder.

Fluke picked up the Amber shard and tried to put energy into it, but nothing happened. When he checked his Insight, there was no additional information. The same results happened when he pulled out the Emerald shard, no special abilities came forth, and no additional information. Fluke suddenly felt exhausted after this emotional and physically exhausting day. He had chopped down trees, trained his abilities, nearly died, walked several miles, and mined slabs of stone, and his body was telling him that no amount of meditation was going to pay the heavy toll of the day. Fluke went and sat next to the bed and treasure chest in the corner of the room. Removing his dirty pants and boots, he placed them in the bag and pulled out Fluke's Lucky shirt which was now clean. Mason's bed was calling to him, and he hoped the man wouldn't mind.

"Hey Mason! Can I use your bed?" Fluke called out.

"I don't have any work for you today! Come back another day, but for now leave me to my tasks!" Mason didn't turn away from his work. And since the man didn't say 'no', Fluke laid down, removed his mask, keeping it on his chest and fell fast asleep.

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"Welcome back kiddo!" The deep voice of Parche the Rabbit called to him like it was an echo and distant. A moment later Fluke found himself sitting in a small patch of grass floating in the Liminal. Parche was curled up under the spiraling tree which was now no longer a sapling but substantial and tall. Fluke rubbed his eyes and smiled at the snow-white rabbit.

"Hello again Parche. I think I have several gifts for you." Fluke reached into his pocket and found four small Lingots from chopping down trees, twenty medium Lingots from his quest from Mason, and to his surprise one of the green aventurine stones that the goddess had left behind. The rabbit stood, shook itself from nose to tail, stretched with a yawn and then hopped slowly over to the outstretched hands of Fluke. Parche sniffed at the stones and Lingots that rolled around in his hands before picking each one up gently.

Parche nodded and let out satisfied grunts with each one he examined. Then waddling over on his hind legs to the tree, he set each one down at the roots. The light from the Lingots added themselves to the tree which caused the trees growth to accelerate slightly. With the green aventurine, he placed it on the white bark of the tree, which slowly absorbed the stone into it. The green color began to turn the white bark to a light shade of green. Parche took a step back and admired the changes.

"Not bad for a single day kid! Though, I noticed that your rock garden requires some tending." Parche turned and pointed his left ear at the sandy patch with jagged stones. Fluke stood and walked over bracing himself for what was to come. He grabbed one stone and saw the same flashes of violence as his first time in the Liminal, but this time the pain was bearable. Fluke didn't recoil, but rather felt the feelings this time, and turned the stone over in his hands. Before him the jagged edges smoothed and crumbled to sand, revealing what looked like a large river stone. Putting it down, he reached for a new jagged stone. Flashes of pain and anger raced through his mind as he saw moments of the near fatal attack from the Derboul, and how the Librarian had thrown him in a moment of rage. The pain forced him to drop the stone, and silent tears ran down his cheeks.

Parche was there beside him, looking up and waiting to see if the boy needed a calming presence. Fluke wiped the tears and shook his head at the rabbit.

"Rough day kid?" Parche twitched his ears. Fluke nodded but took a deep breath before speaking through the tight knot that was in his chest.

"Busy day. But that can wait..." Fluke flopped sideways back onto the grass, taking more time to steady his breathing. Parche hopped up and nestled himself against the boy's chest, which surprised the boy.

"Yeah, yeah kid. This one is free." They sat there together for a while in silence until Fluke rolled onto his back and looked up into the sky at the square of light. The top of the tree wasn't even a quarter of the way up, but something told Fluke if he kept growing that tree, it would help him reach the next tier. Parche hopped away and looked out into the darkness that surrounded them, which reminded Fluke of the other two floating patches. Sitting up, Fluke began meditating and feeling his resonant energy surround him. Parche let out a low whistle from between his teeth.

"Now that is impressive for one day's growth!" Parche nodded in appreciation at the amount of Resonance fluke was moving around his body. Fluke looked at the rabbit with a wide grin, before asking a question that was burning in his mind.

"Hey Parche, how do you mark something with resonance?" Fluke once again attempted to make a tube of energy, but with the way he was moving his arms, it became more like pizza dough. Throwing his energy out it made a decent distance but still didn't reach the distant patches.

"Not like that buddy." Parche had a front paw on his face in embarrassment.