B.F.HUUPS
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Chapter 49. Tickets
🕑 Added 2024-05-22 21:36:42 +0000 UTCIt was a relief not to have to worry about carrying sacks of gold coins around anymore, and hopefully, they would be easily accessible and waiting for Abe when he finally got to Lantern.
He had learned that there was a ticketing booth beside the giant tree that sold seats on the ships. Fortunately, they had started selling tickets with the news of the ghoul's corpse being found; unfortunately, the first ship wouldn’t be disembarking for a week. The fare cost 50 ducats, and Abe begrudgingly bought the ticket.
Waiting around wouldn’t be so bad if he had the means to buy some living armor, but the sum of 1 million ducts was impossibly far away, and Abe had run out of ideas to make coin, not that he wanted to stick around to try and make a living here anyway.
He took some time to loiter around the town's taverns. News had spread that an outsider sporeking had found the corpse, and a few eyes rested on him warily, but none did anything. Still, Abe was getting the feeling that sticking around for too long would be a bad idea.
Within the tavern, sporelings hunched over round tables, sharing some thick ale brewed from sap procured from the tree. Apparently, the giant Treeking was called Old Silveroot, and not only was it the lord of the domain, but the source of most of the resources that life here rotated around.
He could see the similarities with Miss Nia, how her minions relied on her blood to survive, but that was about it. Sure, she was a powerful entity that kept her domain safe to some degree, but she wasn’t a source of resources that her minions effectively farmed and sold. And he wondered if the giant tree was an exception or if this was a common occurrence.
Growing uncomfortable at the number of eyes that lingered on him, Abe rose from his chair, gave the barman a nod, and exited the establishment. Thankfully, his heightened hearing allowed him to eavesdrop on many conversations and develop a growing understanding of this place. Secluded here in their little bubble, the sporelings were clearly not used to foreign entities with abilities like Abe, and he was reminded of the caution and deceptive use of words used by the patrons in the undead taverns beneath Lantern, noting how different the two worlds were to one another.
Outside, he glanced up at the giant tree. There were still several days until his ship left, but the ticketing booth had told him that his ticket would allow him access beforehand.
If that tree is going to detect my presence, I doubt it will matter if I enter now or later.
He hummed in indecision, unsure if it made any difference. But it wasn’t just eagerness to leave this world, but intrigue that pushed him to want to explore the thing. He wanted to understand the heights that existed within the realms beyond the mortal realm, and this might be his only chance to explore a high-level dreamer like Old Silveroot.
Approaching the giant tree, Abe reached the guards with a nod. They briefly glanced down at his ticket and ripped it in two, not showing concern about his appearance.
He stepped inside and immediately spotted pointy-eared humanoids like the ones within the Slayer branch and even a couple of furred creatures with tails waving at their backs.
Okay, maybe that explains it. There might not be many foreigners within the town itself, but this place is like a terminal, connecting the domain with dreamers from beyond. No wonder the guards show little interest in me; as far as strangers go, I’m probably as normal-looking as they come.
His eyes widened as he turned to look around at the natural superstructure. Spiraling stairways grew out of the tree and circled the interior. Platforms draped in leafy vines hung at all levels, and round doorways led to and from the hollowed branches that acted like rooms.
Cautiously, he eyed a couple of sporelings who seemed busy at work, either running around completing errands or manning stations behind various counters. Still, none seemed bothered or interested in him, so he turned to the spiral staircase and began climbing it.
As he walked up the stairway, sporelings and bigger mushrooms he suspected to be sporekings hurried about their business. He passed offices dotted by mushrooms hunched over paper-covered desks scribbling away in a hurry, and messengers passing note boxes attached to ropes that were pulled up and down along the tree’s inside. And most levels had at least a few armored sporelings holding their spears to attention.
It didn’t take him long to find the lounge, but as expected, it was empty. A sign noted the departure of his ship. It was the only one advertised, and it seemed this sleepy port saw little transport either to or from it. Although, compared to Miss Nia’s domain, it was a sea of activity.
Since he had plenty of time to explore, Abe continued up, trying to catch a glance at as much of the impressive tree and the ongoings of the mushrooms as he could.
A line of armored mushrooms again cut off the uppermost levels, and they weren’t just the smaller and weaker sporelings of lower levels but a dozen sporekings, including one that looked at least twice the size of the others.
Abe nodded awkwardly at the stiff-faced guards and turned away. He didn’t need to approach them to understand that it was off limits—unlike the other doorways, the door behind the sporekings was closed, and he saw no traffic coming or going.
However, some doorways led into the surrounding branches, like balconies on the 50th floor.
Outside, he felt the wind gust against his face and was amazed at the view cast across the rolling hills, forests, and villages dotted far into the distance.
He strolled out, took in the view, and took some deep breaths. For a moment, he almost enjoyed being in a dreamer world.
Having a penthouse up here wouldn’t be so bad, would it? Then again, do trees have showers and electricity? Hell, does the domain have power at all? Yeah, no. As pretty as it is, living somewhere like Lantern would probably be nicer.
Abe turned his gaze away from the view, spotting round windows lining the branches stretching across the sky.
Freezing mid-step, Abe halted as he returned to the door. Something caught in the corner of his eyes, and he turned his gaze up to the branches above that were partially shrouded by mist and cloud.
“What’s that?” he mouthed, narrowing his gaze.
Between the leaves, the branches, and the clouds, it was hard to see what was above, but the energy signals couldn’t be mistaken. He could see the glowing dots no matter what obstructed his view, and they weren’t just sporekings.
“That’s dreamer energy, but it isn’t dreamer… what is it? I can feel its life, hidden beneath something impenetrable, as if its life hasn’t awoken to the world around it yet,” he muttered beneath his breath, forgetting about his surroundings momentarily as the strange phenomena captured his attention.
Whatever it was, it was something special. He could tell that much without even spotting it, but his desperation to see what had caught his attention became too much, and he allowed his eyes to transform back into their wight form, ignoring the risk of detection that came with it.
The heightened strength of his undead senses furthered his vision instantly, sharpening the edges of what he saw and even cutting through the leaves and other obstacles to some degree.
It must have been a couple hundred meters away, tiny little objects that lined the branches, their energy sources far bigger than they had any right being.
Blinking, he tried to force the shapes into finer detail as he made sense of what he was looking at.
There was no mistaking that they were part of the tree, green little things with small caps atop them.
“Are they,” he muttered. “Acrons? Living armor?”
His jaw slackened. They were definitely acorns, and with the powerful energy concentrated within them, only one thing made sense: that they were the acorns that grew into living armor.
As his vision focused, he realized that hundreds of them were above.
“That’s a literal fortune just sitting there for the plucking,” he mouthed.
But what really caught his eye was one above the rest. It was larger, and its energy signal was twice that of the others. Not only that, but it wasn’t green like the others, but black.
“That thing,” he stretched a hand out toward it.
The black acorn seemed to hum with energy, beckoning him toward it. It was a treasure like none other he had ever seen.
Abe shook his head with the stupidity of the thoughts entering his mind, but he couldn’t deny them.
He needed that acorn. Its promise of power was too much to resist. Coming here, it felt like it was destiny. That acorn had been grown for him, and he felt that to leave without it would be surrendering a once-in-lifetime opportunity. To surrender a chance to reach his true potential, he remembered what he had been told and taught back within Miss Nia’s domain.
He had potential, a lot of it, but if he didn’t work hard and struggle for the greatest prizes, then he wouldn’t reach it.
There was a problem, though; he was greatly outnumbered, and if he found himself in combat against even a fraction of the sporekings in this domain, he would certainly perish.
But his mind was made up. The acorn had to be his, and he would spend the next few days finding a means to make that happen.
