The White Tower Academy's greenhouse was known privately among the apprentices as "Elmer's Heart." It was no ordinary hothouse, but a living, breathing magical marvel. Enormous white stones were shaped into arching supports resembling the roots of ancient trees, holding aloft a dome of massive, faintly shimmering crystal panes. As sunlight filtered through the dome, it was refracted into beams of the purest life-giving energy, bathing the exotic flora below in a gentle radiance.
The air was thick with the rich fragrance of damp earth, mingled with the sweet nectar-scent released by the "Sun-Chime Petals" on the hour, and the bell-like tinkling of "Giggle-spores" when disturbed by footsteps. This was a sanctuary of life, a stark contrast—heaven versus hell—to the pit of decay and death Elara had just escaped.
This was Elara's first time setting foot inside. For the past sixteen years of her life, it had been a sacred ground she could only gaze upon in her dreams. She walked gingerly along the flagstone path, each step feeling as if she were treading on clouds, afraid to disturb the profound tranquility.
However, the sanctuary's peace was soon shattered by a frustrated, rage-filled roar.
"Useless! A bunch of useless fools! You can't even maintain a basic 'Positive Mana Cycle'! Get out! All of you, get out!"
Before a quarantined area in the center of the greenhouse, a stooped, white-bearded old man was laying into two senior apprentices. He wore a gray robe stained with dirt, a pair of rusty gardening shears hanging from his belt. This was the master of the greenhouse, the most knowledgeable and most difficult herbology master in the entire academy—Elmer.
The two senior apprentices, a young man and woman, both wore silver leaf-shaped badges on their chests, signifying their excellence in herbology. At this moment, however, their faces were pale, their brows slick with sweat, as they struggled to maintain a faint green magical formation. The formation's light was visibly dimming.
"Master, the contamination's corrosive power is too strong... It's devouring our mana!" the female apprentice, Lila, pleaded, her voice trembling on the verge of tears.
"Then output stronger mana! Did you think you earn credits from me by reciting textbooks?" Elmer was incandescent with rage, his bony finger pointing towards the center of the quarantined zone. "Look at it! Look at that Moonlight Herb! It is dying right before your eyes, and all you do is complain!"
Elara's gaze traveled past them to the area enveloped by the formation. There, in a bed of specially prepared silver soil, sat a plant that should have been radiating a soft, lunar luminescence. Instead, it was devoid of life. Its leaves were yellow and curled, their edges tinged with an ominous black. The veins that once shone like pristine moonlight were now like black, venom-filled vessels. A cold, chaotic mana fluctuation emanated from it, constantly battering the faltering green formation.
That was her mission objective—the dying Moonlight Herb.
Just then, the other apprentice, Ron, noticed Elara standing not far away. When he saw the burlap clothes that marked her as the lowest class of menial laborer, a look of contempt and annoyance flashed in his eyes.
"Hey! Which sector are you a cleaner from? Can't you see the Master is busy? Get lost! The pollen in here isn't for the likes of you to be breathing!"
His voice was loud, immediately drawing the attention of both Elmer and Lila.
Elmer turned his head, his cloudy eyes filled with impatience. His frown deepened when he saw Elara. "This is no place for you. There's no trash to take out in the greenhouse." His voice was as hoarse as two stones grinding together, each word dripping with a coldness that pushed everyone away.
Faced with three sets of contemptuous stares, Elara's heart clenched, but the heavy leather pouch at her waist gave her boundless courage. She took a deep breath, ignored the two apprentices, and looked directly at Elmer.
"Master Elmer, good day," she said, keeping her voice as steady and respectful as she could. "I'm not here to take out the trash. I heard there is a Moonlight Herb in the greenhouse suffering from contamination..."
"So what?" Lila cut in before Elmer could speak, her tone dripping with acid. "You're a cleaner. Are you here to offer us advice? Or perhaps you plan to sweep the contamination away with your broom?"
Ron let out a snort of derisive laughter, as if he'd heard the world's greatest joke.
Elara ignored their taunts, her eyes remaining fixed on Elmer. "I am here... to heal it."
The moment the words left her mouth, the air fell silent.
The brief silence was followed by an eruption of undisguised, mocking laughter from Lila and Ron.
"Ha! Did I hear that right? She said she's going to heal the Moonlight Herb?"
"Is she insane? A mute who doesn't even have a mana signature dares to make such a boast?"
Elmer didn't laugh. He simply stared at Elara with the expression one would reserve for an idiot. "Little girl, do you have any idea what you're saying? Do you know what level of 'Blight-Rot' that is? It's a mana plague from the Forbidden Deeps! Even the Dean's 'Grand Purification' could only suppress it temporarily! You?" He looked her up and down. "With what?"
Faced with this almost judgmental interrogation, Elara knew that any explanation was futile. Words were forever powerless against deeply ingrained prejudice.
She didn't answer. Instead, she let her gaze scan the area, searching. Soon, her eyes locked onto a patch of "Weeping Moss" growing in a crevice just outside the quarantine zone. The edges of its fronds were already turning black and curling up. It was an indicator plant, extremely sensitive to its mana environment, and had clearly been grazed by the aftershocks of the contamination.
It wasn't as sick as the Moonlight Herb, but it would be enough to prove everything.
"Master," Elara spoke again, her tone firm. "Facts speak louder than words. Grant me ten seconds, and ten centimeters of proximity to that moss."
Her calm composure stood in stark contrast to the surrounding chaos and ridicule, causing an imperceptible flicker in Elmer's cloudy eyes. He had lived for over a century and seen all manner of people, but he had never seen an apprentice of such low status dare to make a request so calmly in the face of his fury.
"Fine. Very fine," Elmer said, a humorless, angry smile on his face. "I'll give you that chance. I want to see how a Mana Mute performs a miracle! If you are just putting on a show for attention, I will personally throw you to my Carnivorous Snap-dragons!"
Permission granted. Elara walked swiftly to the patch of moss. Lila and Ron temporarily ceased maintaining the formation, wearing expressions of smug anticipation. They wanted to see how this overreaching cleaner would make a fool of herself.
Under the watchful eyes of the three, Elara untied the pouch at her waist. She didn't pull out some world-shattering magical artifact. She simply used her fingertips to pinch out a minuscule amount—not even a full gram—of pure white powder.
"Is that... salt?" Ron whispered mockingly.
Elara was deaf to the external disturbances. Her entire focus was on that tiny pinch of Purification Dust. She could feel the thread-like wisp of newly awakened mana within her being drawn to the powder, creating a wondrous resonance.
She gently and evenly flicked the white powder onto the soil at the base of the Weeping Moss.
Szzzzzle—
An extremely faint sound, like the fizzing of melting snow, was heard.
In the next second, everyone present held their breath.
The moment the white powder touched the contaminated soil, it dissolved into a visible, soft, and pure white light that seeped downwards like quicksilver. The black, poison-like veins on the moss fronds, as if meeting their natural predator, let out silent screams as they dissolved and receded at an astonishing rate.
The withered, curled fronds, as if injected with a divine life force, unfurled inch by inch. The change wasn't a crude healing, but a gentle "course correction" from the very source. Desiccated cells plumped up again, and dying chlorophyll radiated with a vibrant green once more.
Finally, when all the black had vanished and the entire patch of moss had returned to an unprecedentedly lush and healthy emerald, a single, perfectly clear, crystal-like dewdrop slowly formed on the tip of the highest frond.
The entire process took less than eight seconds.
The very air in the immediate area seemed to have become a fraction fresher from this small-scale purification.
The sneers on Lila and Ron's faces froze, replaced by the kind of horror one might have upon seeing a ghost. They rubbed their eyes, unable to believe what they were seeing. It wasn't a hallucination. It was a miracle, happening right before them, subverting the dozen years of alchemical knowledge they had painstakingly acquired.
Elmer's reaction was the most dramatic. He shot forward like a gust of wind, shoving Ron out of his way, and practically fell to his knees on the ground. His hands, which had touched countless rare herbs and were more sensitive than any precision instrument, were now trembling slightly. He carefully touched the revitalized moss, feeling the stable, pure life energy flowing within it.
"This... this is impossible..." his voice was filled with a mixture of incredulous shock and wild joy. "Such pure purifying power... It targets the root cause, and with no side effects from energy conflict... This... this is a miracle..."
He whipped his head around to stare at Elara, his gaze no longer filled with contempt or scrutiny, but with the fervent glow of a hungry dragon that had just discovered a priceless treasure. "That powder you just used... What was it?! Answer me!"
Facing Elmer's almost roaring demand, Elara tightened the drawstring of her pouch and calmly uttered two words: "Purification Dust."
"Purification Dust..." Elmer chewed on the unfamiliar name. He swore that in his one hundred and twenty years of life, he had never heard of or read about such a substance in any tome or grimoire.
"You made it?" he pressed, his voice hoarse with excitement.
"Yes," Elara's answer remained crisp and clear.
Elmer stared at her, as if trying to peer into her very soul. An "alchemist" who could create such a divine substance, yet wore the burlap of the lower class and had almost no perceivable mana. The secret she was hiding sent a shiver down his spine.
But in the end, he didn't press further. To a scholar who had dedicated his entire life to herbology, nothing was more important than the hope standing right before him.
He took a deep, shuddering breath, forcibly calming the tempest in his heart, and got to his feet. He didn't even glance at the petrified Lila and Ron beside him, but issued a direct order to Elara.
"Follow me." His tone was still gruff, but it was now laced with an undeniable, almost pleading urgency.
"The condition of that Moonlight Herb is a hundred times worse than this moss. It's being devoured from the inside out by the 'Blight-Rot'—it is consuming its soul." He strode towards the quarantine zone, speaking rapidly without looking back. "Let's see if your miracle powder can perform a real miracle!"
Unseen by anyone, a small smile finally touched the corner of Elara's lips.