Chapter 9: Exploring the Enchanted City
With induction trials passed thanks to both Van's teachings and his own growing aptitude, Kai now had some free time to explore Kazan at his leisure. The eclectic mix of magic and mundanity made the bustling metropolis endlessly fascinating. But while the urban scale impressed, Kai's country roots made him value nature's presence too.
Consulting a district guidebook, he discovered the so-called "Mage Gardens"- a park with botanical wonders from across the realms. The guide warned unlicensed visitors against touching plants, but with Van's physical omnyoji tattoos imprinted on his very skin, Kai felt at one with the currents of life itself.
Arriving at the gardens with wolf companion in tow, the duo appreciatively inhaled a perfumed air rich with otherworldly fragrances. Sculpted hedges lined pathways passing burbling fountains and floral sculptures. Conjured rainbows arced over mosaic stepping stones as enchanted insects danced playfully through the air.
In one section holding swaying fields of viridian reeds shooting up twice their height, Kai felt a strange life force throbbing within the unusual plants. None else stood nearby in the flower maze, so Kai decided on some harmless experimentation. Drawing a glowing sigil with his finger, he politely asked the reeds about their origins.
Rustling excitedly at the magical attention, the emerald stalks explained via images conveyed psychically how they came from spores on a comet that landed ages ago. They only flowered once every six years to reproduce before lying dormant.
Delighted by this cosmic gardening, Kai wanted seeing the blooming process occur quicker. Tracing an accelerant hex, he stimulated the plants' life cycle. Almost instantly, resonant humming filled the air as the thickets began quivering with generative energy.
But soon the greenery shot upwards without control, their rapid vertical rhythm shaking the ground itself! As panicking visitors fled the chaos, thirty-foot high verdant towers erupted in rows with Kai helpless at their base. Wolf whined as his master created accidental mayhem destroying garden borders and property.
Attempting damage control, Kai tried communing with the out-of-control flora, asking them to please halt the deadly overgrowth. But they replied apologizing for the inability to stop once flowering season commenced early.
Kai cursed himself for the foolish tampering as officials shouldered through the crowd, none looking pleased by the wizard-caused destruction even if accidental. As long as no terrible vines or carnivorous flowers attacked, perhaps Kai's status allowed some leniency for repayment arrangements? Otherwise ignoring the ruckus, his furry ally happily chased squirrels up the mega-sized stems.
Later safely avoiding serious academic censure after agreeing to community service hours rectifying the reed towers mess, a humbler Kai enjoyed simpler city pleasures without showy applications of power. In Kazan's sprawling bazaar, he indulged curiosities by conversing with gnomes selling enchantments and salamanders stoking forge fires. Exotic menageries displayed leashed but still fearsome beasts like miniature werewolves and juvenile wyverns.
But most wondrous of all was when Kai helped an elderly street performer by amplifying her songbirds' calls with an invigorating chant. The melodic chorus attracted delighted crowds whose generous tips enabled the formerly struggling woman to finally retire comfortably. Nothing matched applying powers judiciously to spread hope and happiness!
Bellies filled with sugared fig pastries bought from the bazaar to share with wolf, Kai decided calling it an early night. His fluency commanding physical omnyoji spells flowed directly from ancestor Van's own understanding over reality's deepest layers. But wisdom meant acknowledging limits in properly channeling such formidable strength responsibly. Though his journey was still early, each small lesson brought Kai closer on the path towards the great man he might one day become.