Phase Two

During the day, four more appraisers had quit the Depository. Each signed a bloodoath contract, Kinky tower had four permanent appraisers. Errit had Invega buy tabulators and pass them out, he filled them with CP and had them buying the more basic herbs, freeing himself from duty.

Errit went to see the Dragonkin construction team and gave them instructions. A few hours later, the suns would be setting again and there was much work to do.

Likoe was instructed to build planter boxes for each floor. "Planter boxes? What are you planning?" He had no idea what to expect, he did how he was asked. Following the blueprints, he made 20 more levels to the tower, there were massive breaks between each level.

The tower sat like a shelf in the middle of the City, 21 levels in total. They had forty five foot ceilings and a barrier was set on the outside of the building, not even bugs could enter or escape. The Barrier required an energy source, the bottoms of each tray in the tower were marked with formations to gather energy at a trickle. With 20 trays, they would be able to draw tremendous amounts of power for the shield once they were activated.

When each of the trays were completed, Kink instructed the Earth user to fill the trays with soil. He wasn't sure if the weight would be too much but he had seen some massive construction projects take place on Earth before. Aside from the awkward height of the tower, there was little reason not to trust the construction method. Watching the tonnage of soil filling the basins was fulfilling. When the trays were filled, Errit sunk his chains down to the bottom of each tray and pumped energy into it.

The soil was free of seeds, created and crafted. It was a dead lump of dirt. When it received Kink's energy, it held onto it like a sponge, prepared for inundation.

The Garden Dimension was every growing but after a while, the suspicion would rise too much. He had to have an answer prepared for those who inquire about his source of the materials. Herbs grew, and some of them took hundreds of years to develop.

Standing atop the roof, the pillars still went up another twenty feet. The shield extended above the tower, not just around it. Not a single drop of rain or air would exchange with the environment inside the Tower. Each tray was fitted with rain formations on the underneath, they would rain onto the tray below them according to the needs of the garden inside.

"This is almost perfect, but I need light." Glowstones were useful, but they gave off poor light. Kink played with one in his hands. the Glowstone rods themselves were plenty useful, but the light penetration effects that nature required to grow the insides of the plant, not just its top leaves, was just too poor.

'Its possible to use them for the undergrowth, maybe that will help keep them in a grow cycle..' Errit kept thinking to himself, he had to think of a way to keep his garden in a grow cycle, not just a flowering cycle. He had to make the plants grow but if he used his ability, the plants would grow to maturity and fruit. Those fruits would rot if left out, he couldn't just harvest the trays every day. They were his alibi and the plants providence.

Jay contacted Errit via Communication stone, there was a disturbance. Several council members were approaching the Tower, they were coming directly from the Depository. "Kink, there are eight of them. This is going to be a hostile encounter, I repeat, they are fucking pissed." The stone on Kinks shoulder broke.

Kink rushed to the bottom floor. The chains did good work down the stairs, he moved like an insect, scurrying with the chains down the stairwells. He got dizzy about halfway down. There were more than a kilometer of stairs that coiled up the nine hundred meter stairwell.

He arrived just before the Council members.

"You're well informed I see. Where is your office, we must speak." Their leader, an Ellentor that went by the name Luimei, spoke with a dignified tone. His patience was eroding by the second, Errit led him into the conference room on the first floor.

"I'm sure this will be more than enough accommodation for our needs." Kink closed the door behind them and went to his spot at the table. "Please, have a seat."

"I'd like to discuss something with all of you before your business here is even discussed. Will that be okay with the eight of you?" Kink's mind started to go into overdrive, he stared at each of them intently.

Luimei nodded and looked around the table for objection, when there wasn't any he spoke. "That will be acceptable, we have our own questions but they can wait for a moment I suppose."

Kink was very surprised at the colorfulness of the meeting, they were being downright polite. he cleared his throat and started to explain the business plan. "I intend to create a second market. All too often I've looked for materials and the 'empire'" He used air quotes and kept going. "The Empire, gets first crack at everything. That's unacceptable. Many materials are entirely unobtainable because of one reason or another they simply don't make it into the auction house. Don't deny it. Its not an accusation when I have proof. I've done my own investigating into these matters and have noticed a significant amount of materials don't ever make it to the public. We are absolutely denied." Putting his hands up and looking up at the ceiling he started to emphasis his position.

"We are unable to grow, don't raise your hand but, how many of you have read some of my writs? They are very informative right? Some of them have bits you can't read in the libraries, but even your own appraisers were stumped by my findings. Its pitiful. I'm retraining them. This tower, Kinky Tower, will become a garden shop. I want the Elders and members of the Council to agree to my proposal, and so I have a compromise." Errit pulled several books out.

Passing them out among the council, his grin increased in size, "These are not complete, you cannot have them either. These books are examples, I want full access to all the appraisal information in the Capital. I want to build a complete appraisal methodology book and compendium. It will be as neat as these. I have a method for production, but I've also heard mentions that the Council has their own printing press. Can you confirm this?"

'He's perceptive,' Luimei nodded again, "That is true, Otherwise how would we update them?" He kept his hand in the air to hold the attention of the room. "There is restricted information, classified documentation and other things to consider. Your proposal is an interesting one, however it doesn't change the reason why we've come to this meeting or even why we have chosen to come here instead of having you brought to us."

Luimei seemed upset, "After analyzing the writs from the last few days, we've noticed that more than 98% of them were from you throughout the capital as a whole. How is this possible?"

"Trade secret, But, If my proposal is accepted, I'm sure you'll read about it." Kink felt good getting to use that line, so many of the tradesmen were guarded while he went through the crafting districts. None of them dared discuss projects or developments because then the materials would dry up or rise in price.

'HMMPH' A loud snort came from another in the council. The Nyankin woman with long hair was named Ginger. She tried throwing her weight around. "You should be lucky we don't have you thrown out of the City for disrupting trade.." Before she could continue yelling, Luimei got up and stopped her.

"While she's not wrong that we could have had you arrested for disrupting trade, you could have been more vicious and you weren't. So maliciousness can not be established, however its hard to deny, even for you, that you had a part to play and that there was some method of planning involved. We are not innocent of your charges either, so, I will, in principle agree to your proposal. On the grounds that you stop interfering with the Depository entirely." Luimei seemed rather firm on his compromise.

Kink shook his head. "FUCK NO. Not a chance. You will not cut me off from selling my herbs and materials to your depository, you'd be a complete moron to even consider it. I have nothing but the best of material cultivation sights prepared above me, soon I'll have little need to even go out for most of the basic requirements in the City, what then? Will your city even be able to go elsewhere for your needs? no, you'll come directly to me. So don't be a fool. and don't threaten me." He pointed at the woman, "You. Sit down, This is how its going to go.. I've got my business and until I can guarantee that the Empire isn't abusing its citizens, as a slave labor force, to ferret materials out of the lands. Secondly, I will have access to those books, not because I demand it, but because you will. and Lastly, I will be given a seat on this Council, her seat."

"Outrageous!" Some of the council stood up, furious.

"Sit down." Errit's tattoos started to turn, his emotions were starting to surface, the Mask did a good job of hiding his facial expressions but his voice was all over the place.

Luimei stood up and yelled "QUIET!" The Council members sat back down and waited for him to continue. "What do you mean, slave labor force?"

"Its simple, I turned in over 30000 writs these last few days. Many of them were extremely rare materials, virtually impossible to find. After turning them in, I followed the stacks of writs to the Auction house, 28743 of them made it to the auction house, that means over 1200 materials were kept from the public. That's one of my biggest grievances, I don't farm for the empire. I'm not your fucking slave or personal farmer. The Empire doesn't get 'Dibs' on the items people turn in, If it does, then the people will find out and know about the betrayal." Kink's voice grew more contemptuous.

"You will not interfere or seize my property ever again." Errit snapped his fingers, Likoe entered the room.

"Luimei, its good to see you." Likoe walked over to the table and sat beside Kink. "You know what this is?" He placed a fruit onto the table. It was a Ransonor Fruit. "I've lived on this world for like 50 plus years.. fifty fucking years. Do you know that this fruit is rare, valuable and tasty? maybe you know about its use?" Likoe picked it up and ate it, the juices flowed down his face. "I've never seen these fruits before, and I spend a lot of time going through auctions."

Ginger piped up again, "Just because you haven't seen it, doesn't mean there is some conspiracy to keep them from you! Sit down, you stupid overgrown lizard." Her hair started to stand up like she was ready to fight.

"Shut your mouth kitty, we're not done." Kink stood up. He turned his hand over and a pile of fruit came out, they tumbled onto the table, hundreds of them. "I've turned in well over a thousand of these to the Depository, not a single one made it to the Auction house. NOT ONE!"

Luimei's eyes finally saw, "Is this true?" He looked out at Ginger and then the other council members.