During his outing for resources, Lloyd found many small critters and insects with whom he enjoyed their company. Be it hostile or friendly he would welcome any creature he came across. Enjoying the sights around him Lloyd didn’t stray from his goal of looking for a resource and with his determination he eventually found a single resource node. There before him entangled within the roots of a large fern with multiple vines, each a brightly colored contrast to the fern they adorn, a small shining orb glimmering a verdant hue its luster indicating a common or uncommon resource he could add to his inner world. Before reaching for the Node Lloyd didn’t let greed blind his reasoning and tossed a small stick at the cluster of flora, with a snap the vines surrounding the fern all spasmed and retracted creating a frenzy of motion which quickly ended with the twig shredded and the foliage around the plant being uprooted and torn to pieces, all except the fern itself. Seemingly having a symbiotic relationship with the odd vines, the fern’s roots slowly grew around the compost that now surrounded the plant encasing the would-be food to help fuel its growth. While the vines were slowly retracting to their previous position with a quick motion Lloyd quickly grabbed the Node and leapt back. The plant quickly reacted to the foreign stimuli and the vines once again thrashed the area thanks to his quick action Lloyd only received minor scratches and scarring. Pocketing the glimmering sphere Lloyd continued his search, to his disappointment Lloyd only found one additional Node being a small sphere within the nest of a fox, Lloyd quickly scaring it off. The second Node glimmered a dull brown, seemingly being a common with how dim it is. Continuing his search in his chosen section of grove Lloyd didn’t find any further nodes and nothing else of note except the beauty of the grotto itself.

Upon returning to the initial clearing Lloyd saw both his friends there bickering/chatting. “I found more so I did better” A smug dragon sounded

“No, you moron, I got the rarer ones so I’m better. It’s quality over quantity” a deep rumble countered.

“You guys seem happier than me, what’d you get?” Lloyd cut in hoping to cease further arguments

“Didn’t get lucky?” Cheyenne asked with a hint of worry. “Don’t worry I’ll give you one if you need it.” She finished clearly wanting to keep Lloyd in a happy mood.

“I’m fine, don't worry. I only got two, I think an uncommon green and a common brown. What about you two?” Lloyd said trying to clear his friends worry

“I got three, one rare and the other two common,” Cheyenne responded.

“I got five, two uncommon and three common” Johnnathan responded with pride, quickly following “you okay?” an undertone of worry could be heard showing clear concern for his friend.

“I’m fine really! Now um .... What does the color mean again?” With Lloyd’s voice trailing into a whisper Cheyenne and Johnnathan were awestruck with the sheer stupidity they were hearing.

“What Do You Mean!”

“What Do You Mean!”

“Did you not listen to your parents at all!” Cheyenne bellowed at the ridiculous scenario. “I mean, I’ve never heard of a Bearer that doesn’t understand the basics”

“You’re dumber than I thought Lloyd” Johnnathan mumbles out while shaking his head.

“Don’t be mean! I was just so excited about the prospect of growing my own world I kind of lost attention to the following explanations and became too embarrassed to ask” Lloyd squeaked out while trying to shrink away, unsuccessfully. With a loud crack two sets of eyes were drawn to the large troll.

“All right I’m going to give you a crash course and that’s it! After that you need to learn for yourself.” Cheyenne bellowed after clapping her large hands. “You know the rarities; do you know that your first resource is incredibly important?”

“Is it?” Lloyd questioned.

With a sigh seemingly ignoring the response as acknowledgement Cheyenne continued. “All worlds start as nothing but a featureless marble of indiscernible color. Each Resource Node adds to the world a point of origin with each color representing a different origin. To my knowledge there are Seven Origins.” Cheyenne holds up seven fingers putting each down after a short description. “There are the Green Nodes, also called the Verdant Origin. All green Nodes give your world something related to plant life, or something related to the element of Life. There are the Brown Nodes, also called the Earth Origin. Brown Nodes give your world something related to the element of earth. There are the Blue Nodes, also called the Water Origin. Blue Nodes gives your world something related to the element of Water. There are the Red Nodes, also called the Fire Origin. Yadda Yadda you get the point. Following Red we have White, Grey, and Orange. White is the Air Origin, Grey the Metal Origin, and Orange is special. The Orange Nodes only appear as rare or higher resource Nodes, they are called the Sentience Origin. The Orange Nodes give your world a sentient race such as goblins, humans, and Elfs. With higher rarities the colors can start to mix as well giving you unique rewards, now don’t ask us anymore that's the limit of the basic knowledge given to new Bearers,” Cheyenne finished her long explanation with another sigh.

“Now what colors did you get, you newt? I got all red, one rare two common.” Cheyenne says while looking at Johnnathan,

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“Stop giving me nicknames! One blue uncommon, One brown uncommon, One red common and Two brown common. Not a great haul for our first Nodes.” Johnnathan adds looking downtrodden at their bad luck. With so many duplicate nodes with no variety and only one green amongst the three it can severely limit their worlds depending on the rewards they receive.

“So, in total we have one rare red, one blue uncommon, one brown uncommon, one green uncommon, three red commons, and three brown commons. Not great but not too bad the browns can give a solid foundation at least it hurts that we only have one non common brown though.” Cheyenne continues, summarizing the group's haul. “If it’s alright with you I’d trade you the red rare for the brown uncommon and a brown and red common.”

With that the haggling between the three begin, each acting as if they were all seasoned merchants, none of the three having bought their own supplies before yesterday. With the spark of opportunity, the fire of ambition led the three to continue bartering until the late hours of the night, often making nonsensical deals that they viewed to be in their favor. Eventually after much back and forth the distribution laid as so.

Lloyd kept the Green uncommon, Blue uncommon with two brown commons. Johnnathan ended with the rare red and common red. Cheyenne ended with the Brown uncommon, two red common and the final brown common. The value of the Rare is evident in the distribution of the Nodes. With the distribution of the Nodes finished, after a long string of complaints from Johnnathan, the three decided to split into isolated sections within the clearing to begin their refinement of the Nodes. Quickly grabbing the underbrush surrounding the area and making a makeshift obstruction hiding the path they took to get here using dead bushes, ferns, and the largest amount of twigs and branches they could find a poorly made barricade “blocked” their path in.

With the area devoid of any predators and the path “obstructed” the childhood friends set about to truly begin their paths to power. Lloyd, sitting in a loose lotus position, held the blue uncommon Node between his hands and slowly tuned the surrounding noises out leaving him to his inner world. Within the core of his body in the nebulous center of his person, a featureless marble-like object was held suspended above a void. Lloyd continued, following his instincts as a Bearer, to absorb the resource he held. The Blue hued orb held between the temple of his fingers dissolved into motes of light, imperceptible to the eye, and flowed into his ethereal limbs, each vein of energy coalescing into his core. Within the void of nothing and the vessel of Lloyd’s body the darkness gained light, and the emptiness gained color. The marble was bathed in a dull blue light while the phantasmal energy began to change the world itself, instead of solid mass the planet became translucent slowly the surface began to ripple and flow. Over time the world changed into a planet of water while the depths continued eternally. Lloyd gained not just stale water with his uncommon but an ocean of salt water and microorganisms, such as phytoplankton and primordial amoeba, a veritable cradle for life. Continuing without hesitation Lloyd grabbed the prepared green uncommon and began the process anew. Lloyd’s inner world was once again bathed in light, this time a verdant hue, within the depths of the abyss of water green stalks began to climb the darkness. Slowly the growth of the trunks slowed, ending with an enumerable number of Sea Trees; the thickness of each Sea Tree varied, small saplings about as thick as a regular small tree and the older trees thickness being comparable to large buildings. Each tree has coral tubing instead of leafage making small coral reefs upon the crowns of the larger trees. Each Sea Tree has a rainbow of color decorating the void of blue surrounding it. The water around the branches and crowns of the Sea Trees began to roil and cloud the sea, darkening to a brackish gray black instead of blue. The trees themselves connected to the core of his planet creating living vents for the volcanic gasses housed within the planet's core promoting the further growth of the nubile life taking form on his juvenile planet.

The process of absorption exhausted Lloyd but he knew with the growth of his first life and his initial step into being a Bearer the process was not yet finished. Throughout his body Lloyd could feel pathways being created hundreds upon thousands of microscopic pseudo-physical tubes extending through his body, the initial use of this new adaptation came as an instinct to Lloyd and establishing the direction Lloyd could take to develop this new power. Lloyd could channel the power of these pathways and absorb and direct poisons and toxins in liquid or gaseous form, the strength of the poison or toxin being the limiting factor of his usage. Looking to his side where the left-over Nodes lie, Lloyd contemplated further usage, or the potential trades he can make for these commons for more suitable Nodes. Lloyd’s ponderings were cut short by a bellowing laugh coming from his scaly friend.

“HAHAHAHA, I LOVE YOU BOTH FOR LETTING ME HAVE THE RARE!!” Johnnathan exclaimed between his laughter.

“Would you shut up?! I was about to use another Node!” Cheyenne yelled at the Drake-Spawn.

“Cheyenne let him boast and have his moment.” Lloyd whispered to her upon making his way to the troll's side. “He needs these moments, and it doesn’t hurt to let him be happy.”

“He’s a pain Lloyd” Cheyenne sighed. “But fine, I understand. I’ll humor him.” Turning towards the source of the raucous laughter Cheyenne yelled over the sound. “What’d you get, dumbass?”

“This upcoming prince of fire has a volcanic land with a large salamander! I think it even has a trace of dragon blood in it!”

“I thought you looked fatter” remarked Cheyenne with a smirk

“No, you fat troll look!” Johnnathan proceeds to spit a shot of lava onto a patch of grass, quickly catching fire to the plant life around it. “I’m on the path of a true dragon!”

“I know I say this a lot but you’re an idiot” Cheyenne says while she stomps out the growing fire and covers the now rapidly cooling lava in dirt. “Lloyd and I still have Nodes to absorb so if you would be so kind can you keep watch” with a tone indicating he had little choice to decline Johnnathan quickly controls the growing pride to grumble off into the distance to keep watch on the entrance to the grotto.

Turning towards Cheyenne, Lloyd quickly voices the question bugging him. “Cheyenne should I use all the Nodes, or should I keep some to trade?”

“Depends on what your plan is. If you like your Nodes use them, if you want different origins try and trade. There will always be opportunities” Cheyenne responds with an incline of her head while she herself thinks of the possibilities. “Though personally I don’t see anything wrong with using them now to establish a foundation and they’re not rare or even uncommon Nodes so you wouldn’t be losing an expensive option.” Turning back to Lloyd, Cheyenne continues. “Ultimately, it’s up to you so just do something you won’t regret. You’ve got this.” While patting Lloyd on the shoulder Cheyenne goes back to absorbing the rest of her resources.