Copy of Gahall

"Syunios is the god of nature and Gahall is his greatest creation, a seed that can grow into anything and everything, even if it's all at once. As long as there is any sort of air, oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, it can continue living, even in the burning pits of flames. It can grow an apple and a carrot from the same branch, even mixing them a little if they are similar enough. So what does this copy do then?" Page asked.

He replied, "It can grow any one thing you want from it as long as there is enough water."

Zeeth looked at Page and Gror happily, "Wait, that's perfect! The one thing we couldn't get was the roots of the tree, this can replace that!"

Page skeptically asked, "Where did you get such a thing?"

"I stole it from a group of traveling merchants."

"What?! And what happened to them, are they still alive?!"

"Yes, we have them locked up to work for us. No one is dead yet."

This time Page kicked him in the face and dug an arrowhead into his cheek. Traveling merchants were like his very own extended family, they were the people who had gone through exactly what he did as a child, what his father did for a living. He felt a connection to them like no other. "tell me where they are and how do I free them."

"Just up those stairs, there is a lock on the door that can be opened with this key." the beat-up Weller pointed to a brown key near his pockets. Page rushed up the steps while Zeeth and Gror waited with the two to make sure they didn't escape. One of the kids had kicked a small rock and hit Fatso in the face. Another kid picked up a stone and threw it at Weller. Soon, the barrage of rocks that had been hitting Zeeth had turned to Fatso and Weller.

Page came down the steps, followed closely by a few sickly and worn out looking people. A few had been stripped of their clothing and were wearing simple towels over their bodies.

"Guys, a few of these are fighters. This guy here is even a C1 hunter, we can leave the kids in the protection of these guys, we gotta get the other items so that we can get Rolas as our teacher and help us."

"Why wouldn't she help us now? Kids are in danger."

"You misunderstand the cruelty of the people living here. It is a city of curses and dark magic, almost everyone here has had to fight even as a child for what they wanted. People here curse and poison those in their way from the shadows, using every cunning and despicable trick in the book. No one here does charity work, she wouldn't just help random people because no one here does. No one has been taught to live like that here. We need to earn her trust first."

"Oh. that's… kinda depressing. In my village, every dwarf helps one another, no matter the case. That's how we flourish and grow."

"Yeah, well people are different here. Hey, do you have any of these ingredients here?" Page kicked Fatso again, the one who seemed more willing to talk, and showed him the sign. Fatso shook his head but that didn't seem to work so Page murderously said, "speak."

Fatso shut his eyes tightly in regret and whispered, "yes."

"Where."

"We have the white milk flower, one large fairy tongue, and a few pieces of sapphire in the cabinet upstairs."

"Any more?"

"A few of these are hidden around the place, I don't remember where they are."

Page lifted his fist, ready to punch him in the face before he quickly said, "I'm sorry, I know where they are, I can lead you to them!"

They collected all the items they had and a handful of money. Page handed the hunters a few weapons to defend themselves if they ever needed to and had all the kids moved to a different area. They were all given some sort of mask and covering to protect themselves if they were ever seen, Fatso and Weller were knocked out clean, had their mouths stuffed with rags, their eyes covered with rags, and their entire bodies covered and chained down to a few wagons. Page attached a few strange, rainbow-colored rocks to their napes.

Zeeth asked, "What's that?"

"What? Oh, these rocks? Mana Distorting Stones. Prevent them from using magic properly even when they are awake."

"You had these all along?? They could've been so helpful all those times before!"

"We wouldn't have been able to use them, the people need to be unconscious first and we need to actually tie it down and hook it to the proper parts of their nerves. Besides, all those fights were good practice."

Zeeth shrugged and said, "Yeah, I guess you're right. Oh, we need to grow this seed into a Trickling Tree."

"Oh, right! How do we do that?" Gror said, excited to use a legendary seed, even if it was a copy. he had never even seen such a thing before.

"Guys, this seed doesn't belong to us. These belong to the merchants here, give it back." Page took it from him and handed it back to the hunter.

"No, take this seed. We are forever grateful for your help, who knows what could've happened to us, especially my children. I shudder just thinking about what they would make us do, please take it. We actually have a few more just like it. A friend of ours works in Keltar and can get us a bunch for cheap."

"How much? Do you think we can buy some, this stuff sounds really useful."

"I can put in a word for you, he sells it to us for 250 styrs each if we buy ten."

"What?! That is so much!" Gror hadn't had the chance to use a lot of money in his life so 2500 was an unimaginable amount to spend.

"No, 250 is a great deal. I would put these up for more than 450 styrs each. In competitive areas, it can easily go up to 700."

"Right, Keltar sells it for 500 styrs each. I'm not sure how they make so many but it works better for me in the end."

"Where can I find Keltar? Is it in Melanis?"

"No, unfortunately, they don't have any stores here to my knowledge. I get them from Jarlon, we were going over to Dwarven lands to exchange some pickaxes and tools."

"First Dwarven! You're heading over to my hometown?"

"You're from there? Well, we were but we'll have to put a hold on that, our carriage and many of our things had been stolen and destroyed. Hey, can we go with you guys later? We've never gone there before so I might have trouble navigating there, you can really help."

"Of course, we're gonna go right after staying here for a bit."

"We might need to stay for a few months, there is a lot to do. Let's grow the roots of a Trickling Tree first. Somewhere private and locked up so it can't run away." said Page.

"These things run away?" Gror asked.

"Yeah, once the roots mature enough to be useful, they also grow strong enough to carry them away. That's why it's so hard to find them, they always run away from humans to save their roots."

"That's kinda creepy…"

"Yeah, but it's necessary. If they were too weak to run then the roots were too weak to use. I wonder if there is anywhere we can use to grow this."

They eventually found an old abandoned warehouse that used to house livestock that was to be demolished soon due to constant complaints about the smell. They talked to the demolishers and they were given permission to use it as long as they agreed to demolish it for them by the end of the month. For Zeeth this was a win-win situation. He would get to grow the plant and destroy a whole building, something he found very exciting.

They all went in, making sure to lock the door several times to ensure nothing could escape or some in. Zeeth lined the walls with Lumos gems which created a second layer of protection and a constant and amazing source of light. The hunter told them the seed needed a sample of what it was trying to become before leaving with the kids and others. No one had any portion of a Trickling tree, but the leaves could be sold almost anywhere. They were not nearly as useful or precious as the roots, the Trickling tree often shed its leaves early in its run to make running easier and so that no leaves would make a trail to where they were. They easily bought some from the markets in exchange for a few Lumos gems Zeeth created and wrapped the seeds up in them.