Gardener of Eden

Chapter 85: Chapter 85: Shining Bright

As the arena’s subterranean mechanisms reconfigured Sector 07, raising a sprawling plot of rich, compacted earth into the center ring, Rowan stepped down onto the arena floor.

Setting his gear at the edge of his designated boundary, Rowan unlaced his boots and set them aside, letting his bare feet sink directly into the soft, damp soil of Plot 07. The cool, nutrient-dense earth pressed against his skin, immediately opening a direct, uninhibited pathway between his body and the subterranean leyline currents running deep beneath the Colosseum.

The moment his feet bonded with the earth, a soft, resonant hum vibrated through his core. A radiant, golden aura erupted around him, clinging to his skin like liquid sunlight before pulsing outward in rhythmic, mesmerizing waves.

High above in the imperial booth, Emperor Aurelius von Aetheris IX subtly shifted on his throne. His golden eyes narrowed, piercing through the ambient arena wards to lock onto Rowan’s position.

As a Sovereign who had presided over generations of high-tier Awakeners and imperial prodigies, Emperor Aurelius recognized true mana quality instantly. What he felt from the young cadet on Plot 07 was staggering. Rowan’s mana was not merely vast—its purity, structural density, and underlying tier completely transcended the average student standard. It vibrated with a refined, ancient resonance that made the surrounding elemental atmosphere naturally bend and bow around his form.

”Father?” Crown Prince Julian murmured, his sharp eyes catching the subtle change in the Emperor’s posture. ”His mana signature... it isn’t behaving like standard earth-elemental energy.”

”It isn’t standard,” Emperor Aurelius replied, his commanding voice laced with rare, quiet intrigue. ”The density of his core is a full tier higher than any cadet on that field. The earth isn’t being forced by his spellcraft—it is actively yielding to his command.”

Beside them, Princess Lyra leaned over the gilded railing, her eyes bright with excitement as she watched the golden light wrap around Rowan’s bare feet, turning the damp soil around his ankles into a shimmering, mana-rich basin.

Down in the balcony, Squad 07 watched with quiet confidence. Caelen rested his elbows on the railing, Barney wiped soot from his hands with a grin, Mirei kept her calm gaze locked on the ring, and Seraphina monitored the sudden spike on her spectrographic slates.

Unbothered by the gasps echoing through the spectator stands, Rowan adjusted the brim of his Enchanted Straw Hat to shade his eyes, resting his hands comfortably against the smooth wooden shaft of the Hoe of the World-Tiller. Feeling every micro-vibration of the soil beneath his soles, he took a deep, steadying breath, ready to begin the final cultivation trial.

The grand evaluators strode onto the field, holding velvet-lined cases containing the single, unified subject for the final cultivation trial. Each contestant was handed exactly one seed—a stone-hard, heavily calcified grey husk that felt cold to the touch.

It was a fossilized ancient seed, the original ancestral form of a peach. In the current era, modern atmospheric mana had completely altered the biological rules of agriculture. Whenever ancient, pre-mana seeds were exposed to today’s ambient mana, they either rotted instantly, mutated wildly into volatile mana-absorbing monstrosities, or remained petrified as dead historical artifacts. To sprout an original, uncorrupted ancient crop in its true ancestral state was considered virtually impossible by modern standards.

Down on Plot 07, Rowan held the fossilized peach seed in his palm, feeling its petrified stillness. Standing barefoot in the cool, damp earth, he closed his eyes and channeled his golden mana into the soil beneath him.

Raising the Hoe of the World-Tiller, he struck the soil with a low, resonant rumble.

[Skill Activated: Earthbreaker Plough - Celestial Furrow]

The damp earth parted in perfect, nutrient-rich furrows, unlocking the subterranean leylines beneath the Colosseum floor. Rowan gently set the ancient fossilized peach seed into the center furrow and knelt, pressing his palms flat against the dark soil.

[Skill Activated: Breath of Eden - Lv. 2]

A blinding pillar of emerald and golden light erupted from Plot 07. Instead of letting the raw, chaotic atmospheric mana corrupt the seed, Rowan’s skill created a field of absolute, pristine vitality. The level 2 skill completely purged the ambient mana toxicity surrounding the furrow, restoring the precise primordial soil conditions the ancient seed needed to wake from its millennium-long slumber.

CRACK.

The stone husk split open. Deep, radiant roots plunged straight into the subterranean leylines. In seconds, a thick, silver-barked trunk burst through the surface, twisting upward with incredible speed. Sweeping branches unfurled across Sector 07, bursting into a cloud of delicate, pale-pink blossoms that filled the entire Royal Colosseum with a sweet, ancient aroma. The blossoms dropped away to reveal dozen upon dozen of plump, shimmering peaches—completely free of mana corruption, perfectly preserving the ancient ancestral strain in its pure, original form.

Spectators stood in stunned silence, while Emperor Aurelius IX leaned forward on his throne, his golden eyes wide with rare astonishment.

As the fragrance of pale-pink blossoms and ancient peaches settled across the Colosseum, the imperial evaluators carefully secured samples from the ancient tree on Plot 07, locking Rowan’s cultivation metrics into the encrypted imperial archives.

Rowan wiped the damp earth from his bare feet, pulled his boots back on, and slung the Hoe of the World-Tiller comfortably across his back. Tipping up the brim of his Enchanted Straw Hat, he made his way up the marble stairs and stepped into Squad 07’s private viewing suite.

”Sprouting an extinct ancestral peach from a dead fossilized seed...” Barney laughed heartily, clapping Rowan on the shoulder as he sat down. ”You nearly made the capital evaluators drop their slates!”

”The Emperor’s eyes didn’t leave Plot 07 for a second,” Caelen noted with a sharp, approving nod.

Rowan smiled faintly, leaning back against his chair. ”Four divisions down. Now it’s time to close it out.”

Down on the arena floor, subterranean lifts reconfigured the ring one last time. The target ranges and soil plots lowered into the ground, replaced by ten state-of-the-art alchemical workstations equipped with temperature-controlled cauldrons, crystal distillation columns, precision scales, and pressurized reagent dispersion arrays.

The host’s voice thundered across the stadium: ”Ladies and gentlemen, we arrive at the final individual trial before the grand overall squad standings are revealed—the Alchemy & Reagent Dispersion Competition!”

Seraphina stood up smoothly from her seat in the private gallery. She adjusted her silver-trimmed gloves, taking a small leather case of her specialized testing tools from her belt.

”Show them what Sol-Aethel’s top alchemist can do, Seraphina,” Rowan said, adjusting his straw hat.

”I have no intention of letting the capital take this category,” Seraphina replied with cool, analytical precision.

Descending the marble staircase, Seraphina stepped onto the arena sand and took her place at Station 07. High above in the royal booth, Princess Lyra leaned over the railing to watch, while Crown Prince Julian and Emperor Aurelius IX observed with keen interest, eager to see if Squad 07 could complete a clean sweep across all five individual categories