Versatile: Alternate World



It was a surprise revelation from Almira that I didn't know even back in the last timeline. The master who taught everything was actually an Elder Treant?

"Wait, seriously? How? I mean, this guy is a Treant. How did this guy manage to impart knowledge to you?" Riko was so confused that she decided to bombard Almira with a few questions without waiting for her answer.

"HOHO, pretty simple. Here, this is how I usually teach this young apprentice of mine."

And in a split second, a big round thing landed on our land. It's like a small boulder but has the texture of wood. I can even say that it very much resembles wood.

Then, it suddenly cracked open and some kind of sprout appeared before slowly forming into a person. Then, a few more minutes later, an old man appeared looking like a blacksmith now standing right where the big round thing landed a few seconds ago.

Everyone including myself was baffled. That wasn't just a random transformation, the black thing earlier became a human!

"This is my ability, Human Mimicry Seed. And as you can see, this form is something that I used to impart knowledge to my apprentice. After all, my old appearance is something I can't even hold a hammer and properly light the forge's fire."

Riko was so curious that he touched the arm of the Treant's mimic seed.

"Wow, you can't really tell if he is a real human or not! He resembles one so much!"

"Then, does your seed gets a mind of his own or are you still controlling him, and your brain is still connected?" Pandora asked.

"Although we appeared disconnected by the main body, I can still operate it as I gave it a new brain. We are connected and I can use a small side of my brain to fully control him as our brain is much bigger compared to humans, allowing me to still be able to properly control this body and my original body simultaneously. The only downside of this is that it is now incapable of staying in form for a whole day, it can now only last for an hour before the seed returns back to its previous form and decays."

Hearing this, Almira frowned. "Master, shouldn't your ability be capable to last for at least 3 days at most before you, returns to its former form? How come it suddenly changed?" Almira is concerned, perhaps because Almira had been so close with this Elder Treant before that she was not liking what she was hearing.

"Haha, well that is why I am here to ask for help. As much as my old body is still formidable, they are not fit for fighting and you guys are much more capable of doing this request of mine. Not only will you help me in the process, but you will also help everyone affected by the problem as well."

Hearing something that we are the only ones who can solve, I decided that it is worth to listen what his concerns are all about.

"Alright, you got my attention. Let's hear it."

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...

Because the seed has limited time, Almira just decided that it's best that the Elder Treant would talk to us with his original body instead of using the seed mimicry ability.

"Let's continue moving instead of stopping, that way, you all can see what I am talking about as well. If you see it, then you will immediately understand what was the problem in the first place."

Almira turned to me and tap my shoulder and also looked at everyone.

"Alright, you guys should listen to his problem as I will personally control the machine and follow the old man to the destination. I can't listen while I am there so please do it on my behalf, alright?"

I nodded in response. The others also nodded as well, before we returned our focus on the Elder Treant speaking.

"The problem isn't located at this misty place but a bit outside of it. It started 3 years ago when I noticed this happening. Before, like what my apprentice said, the Mimicry ability is capable of lasting for a maximum of 3 days, in fact, it can even reach 4 days if pushed hard enough but now, I can't even keep it stable for a whole day. It's also pretty exhausting and hard to even produce one seed to use as well."

"If it was too hard to do, then why did you even show us how it was done?" Father asked a reasonable question.

"My guess is that he showed it to us because we are doubting his legitimacy as Master's Master. He wanted us to show how he did it," I answered. I noticed it before since he immediately show it when Riko started to ask Almira how.

Riko also realized this and scratch her head. "I'm sorry... I got too curious, I didn't know."

"HAHA, don't worry. If it can prove my words by showing it all, then that is enough, no?"

"My guess is that your body is deteriorating for some reason which resulted in this ability of yours to weaken a lot then?" Pandora guessed.

"Not only this ability but a few more others as well as my body too. I first thought it was due to how long I was living in this world which resulted in me showing signs of deterioration which I thought would signify the close end to my life but it turned out to be wrong. I find out I was sicker rather than dying."

"So it was an illness then?" I asked.

"I thought so, at first. But soon, I realized it wasn't. This is when I discovered what is causing me to feel this way.  Three years ago, I discovered that the water supply that has been running all over the plains and the misty forest has been contaminated by something and I was consuming that liquid on a regular basis without knowing of it. As a result of my gradual intake of the contaminated water, I am now showing signs of incurable poison in mybody."

Water contamination! So that is what he means that he needed our help. If it's water contamination, then that means, something is currently doing some kind of stuff that is causing the water to get contaminated by poison. And for him to just noticed it after trying to find out what was happening to his body, means it was a recent contamination and during that time he didn't know about it, the contamination slowly spread.

Then, all of a sudden, we slowly emerged from the mist and revealed to us grand plains nearby. But that is not what is eye-catching to me. In the middle of that is a big lake that has a few rivers connected to it, supplying water. One of those rivers is channeling towards the area where the mist is which might be the place where the Elder Treant is getting his supply of water.

On that lake is something else, living there.

"I concluded that the water has poisoned me in the process which is why I decided to trace the river. Then when I checked the Grand Lake, in the middle of it, there stays a dragon. I have seen plenty of dragons in my life, I even used some of their body parts as materials for making weapons so there is no way I am ignorant of what it was. The Grand Lake is also looking kind of different as well which is why I found it a bit strange. The water is looking too blue like how most oceans do, however, the Grand Lake should produce transparent colorless water, not blue if I remember correctly."

I went down the walking mansion after it stopped at our destination and went to the nearest river. I wasn't even far and I can smell the putrid rotten smell coming from the water itself. It doesn't smell like rotten corpses, but it does smell something really bad I can only describe it as something of a health hazard smell.

"I immediately realized that it was poison after the water changed. I didn't know about this since I usually consume water by just extending my "roots" and drinking the water. Who would have thought that I have been drinking it right now and almost killed me in the process."

"I think I have an idea now of what you are trying to ask us based on the information we hold," I got the gist of it now after seeing everything.

"Indeed. My request is for you to all kill the dragon that is infesting the Grand Lake and remove the poison from it. I don't know what was its reason for staying there but his stay is causing other life to suffer as a result. I don't want the nature and the waters of the Grand Lake totally die due to something that is selfishly claiming the waters for itself."