Thorne read the scroll they had left, shocked by how simple the underlying concepts were.
The three paths the masters had provided them were incredibly simple, but Thorne felt they would provide earth-shattering changes to their cultivation.
Not to mention the idea of growing your cultivation with a tree to attune yourself to nature.
This was unprecidented!
And all he had to do was give them the ancient sapient twisted vine!
Thorne danced a little jig before hurrying to his best disciple to share the paths with him.
....
Salem examined the root closely. He hadn't been able to examine it thouroughly with Thorne by him, so he had to bring it to himself to properly investigate it.
It had veins in it that behaved like a neural network and it was clearly still growing.
"Anyone want to bet that it'll grow if I give it tons of nature energy?" Salem asked.
"Like I'd take that bet." Alina scoffed. "Just do it."
Salem chuckled and used his nanobots to inject the energy of nature into the little root.
The plant neural pathways began pulsing and dividing, forming more complex connections and growing more and more dense.
As the neural pathways were maturing, so was the root.
It began growing branches that coiled around each other and formed crude arms and a head. (I am Groot)
The plant didn't end up with a refined face, it just looked like a bunch of roots had coalesced into a featureless mask.
Cthulu, who had yet to be unsummoned, abruptly held out its hand and began charging up an attack.
"Stop, Cthulu!" Alina exclaimed.
Cthulu immideately dispersed the attack but began gesturing agitatedly at the maturing plant and then to its head and back to the plant.
"I think Cthulu means to say that it might take over your minds." Reaper said.
"How?" Salem asked. "It's a plant."
"I don't know." Reaper responded helplessly. "This would be so much easier if Cthulu could talk.''
"Should I stop feeding it?" Salem asked Cthulu.
Cthulu nodded vigorously.
"Alright." Salem said, retracting his nanobots. "Will it behave differently if we just let it grow?"
Cthulu shook its head.
"So as soon as it matures it'll try and steal our minds?" Salem asked.
Cthulu nodded.
"That's unfortunate." Salem said. "I wanted a plant pet."
"Let's investigate other families' treasures then." Ruby said. "If this one is dangerous and will take over our minds, why don't we try and find a treasure to increase out mental fortitude?"
Cthulu shook its head.
"Is it based around willpower?" Salem asked suddenly.
Cthulu nodded.
"Fascinating." Salem said. "A plant that tries to overcome your mind by trying to make you give up."
Cthulu nodded.
"I wonder how it communicates with one's mind." Salem sighed. "Is it by manipulating the small magnetic fields your body produces when it releases a neural impulse? And if so, what's stopping it from turning people into vegetables?"
"How can it turn people into vegetables?" Ruby asked.
''Where I come from, when someone's brain ism't active, it's called a vegetative state." Salem explained. "Because their brains are as active as a vegetable. So, it's called a vegetative state."
"Humans are wierd." Alina noted. "Why not call it a stone state, or an inactive state?"
"Good question." Salem said. "I don't know."
Alina shrugged.
"Shall we visit another family and quote Magic: the Gathering to them?'' Salem asked. ''I'm curious as to what else there is in store."
....
Through sending their two Spirit Companions and one tamed beast, they were able to arrange and attend meetings, collecting strange and seemingly powerful items over the course of seven days.
Salem had been screwing around with several of the items they had recieved since he had gotten them.
Although they hadn't gotten an item from every family, as several families wanted them to work for them, Salem was happy with just collecting strange items.
Several of the items seemingly defied the laws of physics.
Although Salem had learned previously that the so-called laws of physics were little more than guidelines, it was fascinating to see an stone that could provide a seemingly endless amount if energy.
Not only did the energy in the item not decrease when it was drawn out, the stone seemed to output even more energy.
This, along with several other items, were something that Salem would keep as little playthings, especially seeing as they didn't seem to be useful.
After sorting through all the items, Salem finally decided it was time for them to select their cultivation methods.