The Traveling Merchant stood beneath the enormous tree, looking perfectly ordinary, and yet somehow very strange. His muted costume colors were washed out farther by the pale light that seemed to shine from everything on this moon.
The line of players in front of him was also very ordinary. Although the shining branches they all wore would have been strange back in the Empire.
Jade was immediately inundated with messenger animals as soon as he took a step. Several were from the acquaintances he had made while he assisted with getting the first portal stabilized. One was from Skyheart Snowsong, and the other three were from Apella.
He responded to Apella's demand that he message her first, but he didn't wait for Eric to log in before he did anything else, as he'd been instructed.
Jade checked on Harmony through his own app (which might be some kind of violation of privacy, but which she had given him permission to do) before replying to Sky. He was pleased to see that she had both eaten and finished a number of small chores this morning, indicating that she was still feeling a bit better.
Sky logged in and made it to Hisui before Jade finished going through the rest of the messages. He was starting to think that he may have stopped the Imins guild from auto completing the Tree's quest.
Jade stared up at the vast shining tree that loomed overhead. Sky looked at Jade, and stepped elegantly out of the path of an Augusmin who had strayed far enough from the flowing crowd to rub against the line of players waiting in front of the merchant.
"What's up?" she asked.
Jade blinked and focused Hisui's intense gaze on his friend who did not reflect the pale light as brightly. "Remember when you said you could hear the tree singing about being invaded by colors?"
Sky's head tilted, and she replied, "It is now complaining about how its roots are being touched by shades of darkness, but it is also joyfully triumphant about how quickly the sky is expanding, I think?"
"They are connected somehow," Jade announced.
"What is," Apella asked as she elbowed her way through the line of players.
An Agusmin scoffed at Apella's rude behavior, but the two players seemed relieved that her goal wasn't taking their place in line.
"Everyone in the guild that placed the permanent portal is earning nearly twice as many leaves as the other players who are following the Augusmin around the moon, according to the messages I've received," Jade explained.
"What does that have to do with dark colors touching the roots?" Sky questioned.
"I don't quite understand that yet, but I think that maybe it means the light is dimming as the air gets thicker," Jade suggested.
"So... why is one guild getting more leaves?" Apella prompted him when he stopped.
"Everytime someone uses their portal, a bit more air puffs through it," Jade explained.
"That's... silly. If that's all it takes, some wizard can just create a wind well and complete the whole thing," Apella objected.
"Want to get in line and try to buy a scroll?" Jade asked.
The three of them exchanged glances and moved as one unit toward the end of the Traveling Merchant's line.
--
"Three billion gold," the Merchant told Apella as cheerfully as if he had announced a price of three copper.
"That's ridiculous," Apella objected instantly. "No one could afford that!"
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"Some could," the Traveling Merchant promised seriously. "But no one has bought one yet."
"Ever?" Jade asked incredulously.
The Merchant shrugged. "My customers all tell me that they know a wizard who will give them a better price. Would you like to meet with a wizard instead?"
"Are there any NPC wizards on the moon already?" Sky asked curiously.
"A few, but most of them are currently very busy," the Merchant replied cheerfully.
"Installing portals?" Jade suggested.
The Merchant's smile was sly as he replied, "Perhaps."
"Who created this scroll that costs three billion gold?" Jade asked, despite knowing he wouldn't be able to afford such a thing with another decade of playing as Hisui.
"The Dragon," the Merchant replied simply.
"The dragon? Which dragon?" Apella asked with a frown.
"The Dragon. The first dragon," the Traveling Merchant explained seriously.
"Do you have any scrolls for a windwell spell that weren't written by a God?" Jade asked.
"Not at the moment," the Merchant replied smugly.
"Let's go," Sky interrupted, grabbing Hisui and Apella by the hands, and yielding the spot they had waited for to the next person in line.
Apella's face contorted, as Jade replied, "Thanks. I was letting myself get distracted."
"So, what's our plan?" Sky asked.
Apella spluttered, "You're the one who interrupted!"
"Obtain another handful of diamonds somehow," Jade replied. "We'll probably have to create them at this point."
"What?" Apella asked blankly.
"Does it have to use gemstones?" Sky asked.
"Unless you found a convenient power source, like a volcano, in your travels," Jade replied wryly as he turned his dwarven figure toward Apella and explained, "to power another temporary portal."
Apella stopped resisting Sky's gentle pull and gazed up at the shining tree overhead. Jade's gaze followed his friend's.
Sky nodded to Apella, and confirmed it, "The world tree is the only thing we've seen that might be some kind of power source."
"It does contain power," Jade agreed wryly. "But it also contains its own will."
"We might just be assuming that," Apella pointed out.
"It sings," Sky objected.
"And offers quests," Jade added.
"Fine," Apella threw her hands into the air.
Jade turned to the Augusmin flowing over the tree roots in graceful leaps, and called out, "Have any of you seen the dark spots or colors the tree sings of?"
The crowd didn't stop moving, but after a moment Sky assured him, "They are still repeating the question to each other."
A rather familiar, older, Augusmin once again traveling along the edge of the root in front of them, slowed and altered his path toward where they stood.
"Keep moving, and you'll come to the place where your God stepped on our tree," the elder grumbled loudly.
Even as he stepped forward to move with the Augusmin, Jade started to put an idea together with fragments of his own memories that he hadn't considered before.
"Oh. This may not help," Jade muttered as Apella snagged one arm and Sky took his other so that they created a knot in the flow of the crowd.
"Explain," Apella grumbled.
"If the dark spots and colors are the Emperor's foot prints, instead of damaged roots, power won't be seeping from them," Jade explained.
It didn't really take very long for them to travel as far along this root as they had once flown, and Jade wondered if the oddly long flight time they had experienced in the air above had been compressed here on the ground. They traveled on foot as quickly as an urban vehicle.
The Augusmin veered away from the bright colors that pulled Apella, Sky, and Jade up onto the root they had been traveling beside, and the elder warned them as he moved away, "Be careful. It is spreading."
Jade stared down at the flowers that were growing in every pocket of dust in every groove of the root, but barely stretched beyond it.
"Maybe the root keeps them warm through the cold nights," Sky suggested.
The air seemed to waver above the flowers, as though they were radiating heat, but Jade's hand couldn't detect any warmth above them. If anything, the air that moved against his fingers felt even cooler.
"Are they creating this breeze?" Apella asked as she spun slowly with her arms out. She was crushing random plants beneath her boots, but they sprung back surprisingly sturdily when she stepped off of them.
"It looks like they are," Sky agreed.
Jade stared at the flowers wondering if the Jade Emperor was somehow taking over the Moon's server with them. They were still playing Living Jade Empire, but this wasn't the Emperor's server.
For once, he did the simple thing, and used the summons to ask.
"I don't know what you mean," the Jade Emperor replied innocently. "These flowers are the result of an automated process, but the effect is a bit like a gift to my co-worker isn't it?"
"I guess," Jade agreed uncertainly. "I have also completed your other request."
The Emperor arched an eyebrow as his expression shifted to one of obvious surprise. "It's too soon, it's not time yet."
"I don't think it will store very well without..." Jade began.
"What is it?" Apella interrupted with interest. "You forged something for the Emperor?"
"This isn't really the best place to discuss it," the Emperor replied calmly.
"Oh hoh, how interesting. Now I'm curious too," Sky
Jade explained without explaining, "I prepared a vehicle, but it will need regular maintenance."
The Jade Emperor smiled rather than scolding him for continuing to discuss the topic.