Chapter 76: Into the wild
Clayton stood in Verdis Hold’s bustling market, his Shedskin morphed into a scavenger’s cloak, masking his Verdant Lord aura.
Like this, he looked and seemed harmless, enabling him to blend into the market without attracting attention.
It was the perfect disguise that he wanted. And he grasped it after 3 months of experience, experimenting to find the best way to blend into Earth post the Genesis Protocols.
His Regalia of the Verdant Warden, currently in spear form rested against a vine-woven stall, while his new Artifact, the Thornshade Dagger, a venom-coated Artifact from a Luminous Seed Behemorph kill hung sheathed, its stealth-enhancing hum subtle.
His Heartseed Core pulsed steadily, Architect Aspect cloaked to blend among the Rootbound Clans’ pacifist townsfolk.
His Aphid Network, now over 50 minions strong, lurked beyond the Expanse, hunting under Veil of Verdant Shroud, while his Rootsite stood fortified, a distant bastion.
Verdis Hold’s 5 square kilometer sprawl glowed with Mycoglyphs, its Groveheart Bastion shielding Luminous Seed Awakened that protected the town, their pacifism a quiet strength.
Torren, the team’s Luminous Seed leader with Flamevine Wrath Aspect, haggled at a Verdant Relic (Artifact) stall, red-vined armor sparking.
The journey to Africa was a gargantuan marathon. But the journey first to the Scorchpaths was just as much a marathon.
Before the Genesis Protocols, the Scorchpath Outskirts was a southern fringe region near what used to be New Arizona District; a dust-choked, marginalized sprawl outside any megacity walls.
With cracked highways, rusty solar farms, and independent communes trying to survive off-grid, it was a proper outskirt.