Spring saw the taro root before Liam had fully pulled it from the satchel and made a sound that was not appropriate for a market stall.
The root was the size of a man's forearm, pulsing with faint earthy mana, its iridescent skin catching the shop light in a way that made it look less like a vegetable and more like something that had opinions about being harvested. Spring poked it with one finger, watched it shimmer, and his hands started shaking.
"You actually killed the Lake Boss," Spring said, reaching for his weighing scale with the reverence of a man handling something sacred. "A single slice of this would start a bidding war between every guild in Aeros. The mana density in the fibres alone is worth a hundred gold. They're too scared to even find the path to the water, and you just walked back in here with it under your arm."
