Misty stretched in her little hammock over the doorway and let out a small yawn.
Sunlight poured into the room through the windows she had washed yesterday.
For some, cleaning three windows was something that took barely a few minutes of work.
When the rag was the same size as you and threatened to absorb you if you were not careful, it became a bit more laborious.
Regardless, Misty floated up, made her little bed, and moved toward the rows of growing herbs.
She ran her hands over the flowers as they passed through her liquid body with a tickling sensation.
The small green bag on her side shifted as she floated over to the next section.
Its weight was something she was still very much getting used to.
Since Aiden had left, Misty had been tending to things at home.
And yet, even with him running around and doing whatever adventurers did, she could still feel their contract connection.
That had only made things stranger when she woke up and found that she had changed from a Dewdrop Spirit into a Springlet Healer, the next stage of growth.
It came with several perks.
For example, she had way more mana now.
She even had new abilities that let her do things like heal.
The cost, however, was that she could no longer use her abilities to coat the herbs with mist.
Her new abilities, while cool, had too much pressure behind them to be used for gardening.
So Misty had been forced to use her actual body to water them instead.
She did not mind, since she was made of water.
But it was much more tedious than before.
She finished watering the herbs and began moving around to handle some of her other chores.
Mainly dusting, cataloging stock, and more.
Larz traveled up every other week or so to get the list and grab materials Peridot requested. On some occasions, he even brought honeydrops with him.
Misty grabbed her little chunk of charcoal that Larz had made with a wooden handle, then began writing down that she had harvested two more stalks of Amrans.
Once that was done, she set it down and flew toward the door.
With her chores done for the day, she could finally do what she wanted.
And as of late, she had a pretty big project to handle.
Restoring the burned land around the old shrine.
While it had been needed at the time, the ash spirits had left quite a mess behind.
Luckily, Misty was not the only spirit working on it.
As she flew over, she already saw Rocky and Whiz working away.
Today was a big day.
"Looks like it's almost done being carved through," Misty said as she came in for a landing.
Rocky continued to stare ahead at the trench, a look of concentration on his earthen face.
Small bits of dirt fell from him like sweat.
Floating next to Misty, Whiz crossed his arms.
His light green and cyan body churned and shifted like a tiny tornado with a face made of static electricity.
"Yep," Whiz said. "Rocky's doing the last touches before your role comes up."
They both turned to Rocky.
After a moment, he seemed to fall back in a heap and took in a deep breath.
"There," Rocky said. "The channel is carved, and I made sure the dirt around it is just right so the small roots can get water better."
Rocky and Whiz turned to Misty.
She nodded and adjusted the small leaf circlet that had formed around her neck during her evolution.
Then she took a deep breath.
Channeling her mana, Misty reached toward the small stream near the top of the hill and the makeshift dam Rocky had built.
She pulled at the water slowly.
A small trickle began to come out, making its way down the path they had carved.
As the trickle grew faster and faster, the dirt began to give way more and more.
Misty forced the water deeper into the ground, toward the plant roots waiting below.
Thirsty roots drank it in.
As Misty continued pushing water toward the plants, Whiz flew overhead and opened a gap in the canopy, allowing more direct light to stream down onto the new growth.
Misty shook out her hands, feeling the strain.
She had used double the mana she had ever had as a Dewdrop Spirit to do that.
But it was well worth it.
The repairs would not be instant, but the plants would begin to push back the ash and make way for life where it had been burned away.
In some ways, the ash was even helping the soil gain nutrients.
"We finished the first one," Rocky said, placing his oversized pebble-filled hands on his hips as he stared at the trickling stream. "And it only took a month too."
"Well, yes," Whiz said as he drifted over the river with his fingers laced behind his head. "We are lowest-grade E-rank spirits. The fact this didn't take three months is amazing."
Rocky turned and drew a small map of the mountain, showing where they had planned seven more digs like this one.
They gathered around the small map.
Misty pointed toward a spot just a mile or so north of where they were.
"Since we just finished site three, let's try for seven next," she said. "That way it's still relatively close by for all of us to reach."
She turned and began to float off.
Whiz quickly flew in front of her.
"Easy there, whirlpool," he said. "Rocky and I are spent from that. We're not stage two like you yet, so we might have to call it here for today."
Misty turned back to Rocky.
He had an apologetic look on his face, but she could see the small white flower on his chest wilting from fatigue.
Even Whiz's air currents seemed to be moving slowly.
"You're right," Misty said, floating back over and sitting down. "I just got swept up in the excitement, is all."
"Don't be," Rocky said, punching his fist into the air. "I bet all this practice will make me so energetic as a stage two that you'll barely be able to keep up."
"How about you do a bit of recon on the site for tomorrow?" Whiz suggested as he helped Rocky to his feet. "That way you can mark some sections for us to begin tackling."
Misty nodded.
She floated up, waved the two goodbye, and began flying toward the next site.
Part of her wanted to be angry and call them lazy.
But in terms of lowest-grade spirits, Misty was very lucky.
Even if Aiden did not have any special skills related to spirits, just having a contract with a system user was said to accelerate a spirit's development stage-wise.
Rocky and Whiz were not so lucky as to have a system-user contract.
Instead, they had come because they were natural spirits brought here by the damage.
If anything, they probably felt worse than Misty did that they could not keep up.
She flew out of the treeline and began examining the spot they had marked with a rock.
Almost unconsciously, she found herself turning back toward the spot in the field where Aiden always used to nap.
As before, she found herself staring at an empty patch of grass.
Then she turned back to surveying.
Yet her mind drifted.
She wondered how Aiden, Jax, Liora, Selene, and Kaelen were doing.
Maybe Aiden had found adventure was not his calling and was on his way back.
Or maybe he was living his best life somewhere on the continent.
Misty was so lost in thought that she failed to notice the strange little pig wandering over.
It must have been young.
Its tusks had not even begun to set in.
Strangely, it seemed to be wearing an old can on its head like a helmet, and it walked with an exaggerated stride that seemed oddly arrogant.
"Uh," Misty said, looking down at it. "You're new. Did you get lost? Where is your mother?"
She scanned the field.
Then a familiar voice came from behind her.
"Looks like Sir Oinks-a-Lot found the field before we did," said the voice. "I used to come here all the time because it was a prime napping spot."
Misty whipped around.
There they were.
They were missing Kaelen and seemed to have two new members, but they were back.
Aiden adjusted his glasses and gave her a warm smile.
He had a small scar on his cheek now, and his hair was longer and messier than before.
Intricate armor sat over his chest, and a spear showing clear signs of use was strapped to his back.
"Hey, Misty," Aiden said. "How's it been holding down the fort?"