?


    Ace caught the torch and looked around, his eyes wide. It was a big room. Wide enough to y football inside. But what stood out the most, were the slithering, snake-like tree roots of an eerily green tree.


    "Stay where you are!" He yelled to the kids above and braced himself for the unexpected as he looked around. The roots looked silent and harmless, but their constant slithering on the walls made his hair stand.


    Had there not been the benefit of possible Gu, he would have already left.


    Walking closer to a root, he considered throwing the fire at it. But that would only be trouble, trouble for the vigers above, and the same for him.


    His hands firm, he silently patted the root. It stood there calmly and just kept moving in its own rhythm. ''Are you a Living nt?''


    Ace''s eyes brightened.


    But he then looked around and was only more impressed by the humongous size. Then, his eyes widened further. Where do these rootse from?


    He looked for the source and walked around, finally finding a hole in hismp''s light after doing a whole circle; It was a dark hole and all the roots came from inside it and then spread around the room.


    Licking his lips, his heart slightly pumping, he spread the light inside… and he breathed in sharply. The Roots went much, much further than just this Basement. It was so big, he could only see its tip at the moment.


    And he then suddenly thought of one thing, The forest area surrounding here constantly had Landslides and Earthquakes… and underneath was a humongous tree slithering around.


    Was it a coincidence?


    He didn''t think so.


    Even more intrigued, Ace walked around for a while and couldn''t find anything until he found some writings on the wall. He brought the torch closer and read.


    Hello, the next Blueme chief.


    Oh? A message?


    ''I don''t know If it was Rome or Raina that took my ce after I died, but I will tell you everything you need to know here.


    In this world, other than Gifts, there are two other extraordinary forces, Born dragon abilities, and Gu. Both are equally as powerful as the Gifts, if not more potent.


    If you had to read this, it must mean I am dead or incapable of teaching you this at the moment, so I hope the settlement flourishes in your hands.''


    And then there were a lot of details about what Gu and Born-Dragon abilities were and some details about mythical dragons that he already knew and such.


    The chief was imparting knowledge.


    He skipped them and read the rest, ''The tree that you see is part of the Lust Royal Family''s defense mechanisms, it is in fact, alive. I don''t know much of the details about it but I know it wille out and fight when and if the royals have war near their castle.''


    ''But this is not a bad thing for us, in this basement, rarely, a flower blooms and wanes, ''Heinous Devouring Flower'' and it grows in huge numbers. Its leaf could be used to knit great clothes, its constantly growing branches as walls and its flowers as even food. Everything is good. But the flower is a bit ominous though, as it also seems alive and before it dies, transforms into a blue me that other flowers eat. It is a self growing mechanism I think.''


    ''And I have some Gu below this writing, use this if you feel like it, they are the three that remain after the building of the walls. It mighte useful in time, they are just some simple Gu though."


    Ace looked down and found three things, one, a grey gem. One, a transparent pearl, thest a blue star — each the size of a fingernail. Hadn''t he known where to look, there was no way he could have found it.


    He looked at its names carved on the ground.


    Old dying men indeed had weird hobbies, ''one is a sticky Gu, the grey one. If the wall ever seems shaky, use it on the wall and it should fix itself.


    The transparent one is a Tremble Gu, If the wall ever shakes more than it should when the big tree moves, use it on the walls, the walls surround even the settlement''s ground so it should calm everything down.


    Thest one, the Star looking one is a special one. It can make the gs made using clothes shine brighter, so if you ever make a g for our settlement, use it to make the g brighter, never use it on something other than clothes, only that works.''


    Ace speechlessly looked at them, fuck u, they are useless!


    Nevertheless, this was enough to trick the kids!


    "Rome, Raina, You cane down!" He said as he rubbed the writing off of the ground and walls.


    Rome and Raina came running down the steps, Raina asked, "Did you find something?"


    "I have sad, and angering news for you."


    "What is it?" Rome asked, fearing the chiefing here.


    This whole ce and the tree were so creepy, they had been shaking up there.


    Ace looked at them and asked, "Did you see flowers around here?"


    "The blue ones?"


    "Yes, the blue ones. They are known as Heinous Devouring Flowers. They fall into aa before death…" He then exined to them about the flower and how it transforms into a blue me and everything.


    Then, he said, his voice venomous, "Your chief secretly made your mother transform into that flower, his lifespan wasing to an end, right? He wanted to eat the Blue me your mother will turn into and increase his lifespan. She had already been in aa for some time and soon, she will transform into that blue me. Some things just shouldn''t be transformed into."


    The kids turned utterly silent.


    They couldn''t believe it, that chief who seemed harmless at best and slightly cunning at worst wanted to turn their mother into an abomination and increase his lifespan?!


    Of course, it was bullshit, it was just that somehow, a single flower ended up outside the basement, and Rena, their mother transformed into it out of curiosity.


    In a sense, curiosity can kill a cat.


    But it was not dead yet. Raina suppressed her emotions and asked with a broken tone, "Is there no way to save her?"


    Ace smiled, "I found a way, and it is so simple, even you could do it."