“Let’s see here... we have a request to hunt down a group of bandits that have been spotted in the woods, would that do?”

“What else do you have?” Jicker asked with a sigh.

It had been easy enough to find one of the various adventuring halls that handed out quests to people looking to make some money. People, either NPCs or players, would come and request for a task to be done that they either wouldn’t or couldn’t do, and left it and the reward with the hall. And when an adventure proved they’d completed a quest, the hall would hand over their pay minus a cut the hall took as their fee. It was a quick, clean and simple system setup so that anyone could use it.

Except, apparently, people who couldn’t manage even the simplest quests available, leaving Jicker standing in front of the counter for the last ten minutes as the girl behind the counter went through every assignment they had on hand.

“Hmmm, scraping the bottom of the barrel here...another wolf pack, but you turned down the last one, and our last available quest is taking down a rabid bear. With all due respect, have you considered that adventuring might not be for you?” She asked politely, eyeing the growing line behind him.

“It looks like you might have a point. Thanks anyway.” He said before leaving.

Heading back out on to the street he wondered what he should do now his plan had managed to fall over at step one. Checking the clock on his menu, he saw that there was a class on herbalism starting soon, and decided to head in and get a lesson out of the way for the week. Making his way back to the academy, he saw that people seemed to be travelling in groups in and out of the campus now, unlike the random streams he’d seen before. Shrugging, he went to the administrators to get directions to where the lecture hall was.

Checking his name off the attendance roll, he found a seat in the amphitheatre style room, and waited as a few dozen other people began to file into the room. There were times when the realism of the virtual reality was so intense that it was hard to believe it was just a game. But sitting in a room for an hour as a professor droned on for an hour about pine trees was all too believable. He wasn’t the only one who’d been bored, he was happy to see, as more than one student had be prodded awake once the lesson was over.

“Oh, and a reminder from the headmaster,” the professor called out to the escaping crowd, “since the forest seems to have become more dangerous recently, please ensure that when doing field work for the academy, try to work in a group for safety. Also, if anyone has any questions about the lecture, I will be in my office for the rest of the day.”

With a grin on his face, Jicker hurried through the crowd while doing his best to avoid getting underfoot. He’d forgotten that the schools usually had their own quests to do, since they couldn’t rely on a constant stream of hopeful students to do it for them. Reaching the greenhouses he’d visited before, he looked around and found the same woman who taught him herbalism to begin with.

“Hello, professor? I didn’t actually get your name before but-” he began before being cut off.

“If you’re to learn herbalism, grab one of the packs from the cupboard and get what it says.” She said without turning around.

“What? No, I already got those for you yesterday, don’t you remember?” Jicker asked confused.

“Look youngster, I get dozens in here every day trying to earn their place here. I don’t have the time or patience to remember every person who comes through here...” She said as she turned around, clean a large pair of spectacles, pausing as she looked at him. “Although I’d remember you, gremlin, now that I look at you. So what do you want then? You’re already in the academy, I don’t give any lectures and I damn well don’t give private lessons, so why are you bothering me?”

“Well I was wondering...wait you don’t give any lectures? Then how are you a professor here?”

“An elf with tenure is a powerful thing, but we’re not talking about me here. What do you want?” She said, crossing her arms.

“Well... I'm looking for paying work.” He said bluntly, getting the feeling she wasn’t big on manners anyway.

She snorted. “If all you want is to make some gold, try the adventuring hall. Honestly, do kids these days even think or do you just-“

“I’ve checked,” He said quickly “but they don’t have anything... suitable for me at the moment, so I thought I’d try here.”

She looked at him for a moment, before taking out a pipe, lighting it and taking a deep pull. After a few moments she exhaled. “Not much of a warrior, are you. Don’t bother trying to deny it, I've seen a lot in my time, and while I'm not sure what you are exactly, I definitely know what you’re not.”

“Fair enough I suppose. So do you have any work? And should you be smoking in a greenhouse?”

She gave him a sharp look. “Act you know more about plants than me again and I’ll throw you out of here before making you pay for the glass you break on the way out. But yeah, I've got something you might be able to help me with. Call me Molta, don’t bother with any of that professor nonsense, and follow me.”

Heading to the back of the greenhouse, they walked through a side door into what seemed to be a combination office and laboratory, with various notebooks, pictures and glass ware seeming to cover every wall and available surface. Molta began shuffling around piles of papers on what he assumed was a desk underneath, until she eventually pulled one free.

“Right then,” she asked turning back to him, “What do you know about the upheaval?”

Jicker froze, the question catching him completely off guard.

“I-I don’t really-” He stuttered, panicking about why she was asking.

“Of course you don’t know anything. Pretty much no one does, and most of the people who say they do are lying. Now, come and look at this.” She said, ignoring his reaction and rolling out a map.

Taking a moment to get his thoughts under control, he went over to look at the paper which seemed to be a hand drawn map of the Greyleaf forest.

“I've been collecting information on the changes it caused in the nearby area. Now a lot of this is pretty vague, since it’s on such a large scale, but from the way most of the trees fell, there looks to have been a blast that was centred in the woods. I've been mapping it out, and from what I've gathered, there should be some caves right near the middle of the blast. That much of any sort of energy is going to affect the environment, so here’s the deal: go out there and find these caves, and then take samples of what you can from in and around them.

As for your pay, well, that’ll depend on what you can bring back for me. I know you can tell what a plant is, so if you just bring me a pile of grass, you’re getting nothing but slap upside the head, understood?”

Ding!

Quest: The cave of potential wonders.

You have been tasked to investigate caves in Greyleaf Forest and bring back any samples of plants changed in the upheaval.

Success: bring samples from the caves to Molta.

Reward: unknown

Failure: Don’t return with the items within 1 week

“Yeah I can do that. Anything else I should know?” Jicker asked.

“Not really, though I’d keep an eye out if I was you. I've heard some weird animals showed up in the forest the other day, and they’ve been tearing through people who go in unprepared.”

After grabbing a few things and leaving the city, Jicker made his way to the borders of Greyleaf, ready to start his first real quest. Looking around, he saw that there were very few people entering the woods on their own, with impromptu parties being formed by anyone thinking of going in.

“Check it out,” he heard a voice say as he walked towards the forest edge. “Another one of them is going in alone! Bet you ten gold that he doesn’t come out alive.”

He turned to see a pair of adventures sitting on the ground looking at him, either unaware or simply not caring that he could hear them.

“No point betting on that, to obvious,” the other said. “But I’ll bet you twenty that he dies within the hour.”

“You’re on.”

Sighing he stepped in to the woods, the sounds of civilisation falling away as he headed deeper in amongst the trees. The bright light of the midday sun was quickly transformed into dappled shadows as the canopy above blocked out the sky. Pulling out a copy of the map he’d gotten from Molta he did his best to get his bearings, trying to keep track of which way he’d come in by. After a while he remembered that he'd been given a compass and pulled it out thankfully, otherwise he knew he going to end up getting lost.

Travelling further in, the forest slowly began to shift, with trees becoming taller, the undergrowth thicker and the light fading even more. Not for the first time he was glad that gremlins had good night vision. For the most part the trip went smoothly, even having the time to pick up a few herbs and plants he spotted along the way. He was beginning to wonder why everyone was so concerned about how dangerous the woods had become when he heard a rustling from behind him.

As Jicker pulled out his pipe to face the creature, a large boar burst through the bushes freezing when it saw him, apparently just as surprised as he was. But it soon regained its senses and made a deep guttural noise before charging towards him.

Although he had become stronger since he had started playing again, Jicker had no illusions that he could beat the boar in a fair fight, not when its shoulder was almost twice his height. Leaping out of the way of the charging animal, he was informed he hadn’t been fast enough by a sharp pain in his leg as one of its tusks caught him, tearing through muscle and throwing him to the side.

You have taken 43 damage and have gained the open wound status.

You will continue to lose health until the wound is closed or healed.

You have taken 1 damage

You have taken 1 damage

...

Rolling to his feet, he stumbled as his injured leg wasn’t able to support his weight, the boar began to turn and bear down on him again.

Jicker was trying to figure out what he could do to get some distance when a black streak sped past the boar, letting out a squeal of pain as a long wound opened op on its side. Before either he or the boar could react to this development, several more streaks came through, each dealing a heavy blow to the boar. Before it could more than take a few steps away, it collapsed defeated. Moving gingerly, Jicker hopped closer to the body, trying to figure out what had happened, though he had his suspicions.

They were proven true almost immediately as he inspected the injuries on the boar when a soft growl came from behind him. Turning he came face to face with a silhouwolf, only inches away from him, staring intently at him. As his breath caught in his throat he realised it wasn’t staring at him so much as it was staring at the boar. Limping out of the way, he watched it and another of the wolves came and began to drag the body away, melting back into the shadows with only the drag marks showing they’d been there at all.

Grabbing a couple of anaesthetic tablets from his pack, he sat as wound began to heal over, and studied his surrounding more closely. As he looked around, he saw that there were several patches of shadow that seemed to move, and were much deeper than they should have been. He wasn’t sure when but it seemed that the silhouwolf pack had been keeping an eye on him since he re-entered the woods, which explained why nothing until now had given him any trouble.

Getting up and testing his leg to make sure it was fully healed, he tried to get his bearings, only to realise that he had completely lost his sense of direction when the boar had thrown him. Looking around, he couldn’t even see where the boar had broken through leaving him with no trace of how to reach the caves, or even how to get safely back out of the forest. Though if he picked a direction and kept a straight line, the wolves might see him out...There’s an idea, he thought to himself.

“I need to get to the centre of the forest,” he called out, watching as his onlookers paused in their movements. “Which way should I go?”

He waited for a minute, wondering if he was expecting too much from wild animals, when one of the wolves broke its cover and stood in the open, howling once it was sure it had his attention. Once the echoes of its call faded it stared at him for a moment before darting away.

“Should I take that as follow me? Sure why not.” He said and began to head in the direction that the silhouwolf had disappeared in.

It took the better part of an hour to slowly make his way through towards the centre of the woods, having to wait for new directions several times after slipping downhill sides or finding ways around cliff faces. Eventually though he managed to spot an opening in a rocky outcrop, which he took to be his destination.

“I think this is where I'm supposed to go... thank you for your help?” he called out, wondering how much they could really understand.

Checking his pack he made sure he had enough darts and pellets within easy reach and drew his pipe, not wanting to be caught off guard again, before entering the cave.

As he stepped through the cave opening, he held his breath for a moment before sighing in relief, happy to not see any messages or warnings. While this cave seemed to be just that, there were plenty that were actually dungeons, with a variety of extra rules or penalties as well as traps, monsters or even magic seals that stopped a person from leaving until they cleared the dungeon or died trying. But just because the cave wasn’t a dungeon didn’t mean it was any safer. More than one adventure had thought they were safe after taking refuge in what turned out to be a bears den.

Slowly making his way forward, he moved as quietly as he could, following the old rule of sneaking, being that there’s no point in starting to sneak once you’ve already announced yourself. Holding his pipe out in front of him to check for traps, he made his way deeper and deeper into the cave as it began to descend, the random rocky opening giving way to what seemed to be a much older cave network. With stalactites hanging from the roof, and what looked like a now dried up waterway, it seemed this place had existed well before the upheaval.

Eventually what little sunlight had managed to find its way down through the cracks faded away, leaving the cave in total darkness. As Jicker went to grab a torch from his pack, he went still as he spotted movement from deeper inside. Straining his eyes to make out what he could, he wondered if it was another player who had gotten the mission, though it was unlikely. But as the figure moved and revealed more details, he mentally swore. There were plenty of races and classes that moved slowly, and there were quite a few with greyish complexions. And while there was even a couple that smelled bad enough for it to be considered an attack, the gaping wounds in it neck and stomach were unquestionable: zombie.

The undead were surprisingly uncommon to find in a game like genesis, though plenty of players went the route of a necromancer or death knight regardless. But the kingdoms and various religious groups came down without mercy on any place or dungeon where undead began to spawn, making him wonder how he’d found some so close to a major city. But in any case, it didn’t help him now, as he pulled back quietly, wondering what to do.

The first cave he’d entered and he’d already found an enemy that countered his every skill. Without any real bodily functions, he couldn’t hope to hit a weak spot, not that a dart could really accomplish much against a zombie. And poisons were even more useless, since you could hardly stop a heart that wasn’t beating anyway. Which left him to either have to try to beat it to death by clubbing it with his pipe, something he doubted he could do at the best of times, or coming up with something else.

Making his way back out of the cave, he considered throwing in the towel and contacting the guard about the undead, which was sure to have a squad of soldiers come out and clear the caves. He wouldn’t gain anything from the quest, but it probably wouldn’t be viewed as a failure either. The idea of luring them out of the cave crossed his mind, hoping the wolves would finish them off, but most animals were unwilling to approach the undead, and he didn’t want to break the status quo he had with the pack at the moment.

“No, I can do this.” He said to himself, trying to psyche himself up. “I'm not going to give up before at least trying something.”

From what he could remember of the little he’d had to do with zombies, they were resistant to most physical damage, as well as cold, dark and earth based magic’s, while having weaknesses to light, fire and holy attacks. While he no means of producing light or holy abilities, fire... fire could be done. All he need was something that could burn well enough and he’d have a chance. Looking around he groaned as he searched the quiet, dim and green forest floor. Most of the old wood and been burned away in the upheaval, and apart from a few twigs that would be next to useless, the rest was still far to fresh to burn reliably.

Giving up, he found a seat on a rock and began playing with a branch in his hands, his mind working. He knew that you couldn’t burn greenwood because it had too much moisture in it. But not all plants had the same water content, so presumably, some would burn well enough even if it was fresh off a tree. And if he could alter a plant, dropping its moisture content low enough...

Finding a small bush to test his idea on, he activated his adaptation. Immediately he was flooded with dozens, if not hundreds of menus and options he’d never seen before, many of them not even close to what he’d become used to. Apparently, he discovered as he began to browse his options, altering an animal had certain restrictions, probably to prevent mistakes like forgetting to let the poor creature to be able to breathe, or just having it die immediately. But no such blocks were in place on plants, and he could get to work at a much deeper level. Able to go as far as adjusting the level of carbon and oxygen in the wood, he quickly realised he was in way over his head, but also that he had more options than he thought he did. Remembering an old science lesson, he smiled and got to work. Using some of the more user friendly menus, he adjusted the plants base so that it was completely fireproof, not wanting to lose his work by accident. The he began to work on creating small fruits, shaped like a thick skinned grape. It took more than an hour to figure out to reach his goal, including dropping out of the game several times to look up the necessary ratios, but he eventually managed to adjust the fruits so they would be filled with roughly ninety percent ethanol by the time they were ripe. In addition, he placed a thin layer of white phosphorus underneath the skin as a means of ignition. The seed inside the fruit itself was comparatively normal, though its heat resistance had been raised exponentially, with the same treatment given to the skin. Eventually he decided it was as good as he could manage, spending a few minutes playing with the colours and shapes, settling on a dark base that rose before spreading out a few feet up, with deep green leaves. The fruits themselves were bright red, and were smooth ovals that, on average he hoped, should fit inside his blowpipe.

Ding!

Adaptation has become permanent. Note- all plant changes are 50% more likely to become permanent-scales with level of herbalism.

Type: Modified fern.

Do you wish to name this plant?

“Incendiberry bush.” He said, feeling pleased with himself.

Name accepted. Do you wish to be identified as the creator?

“No. In fact, don’t identify me as a creator of anything until I say otherwise.”

Change in permissions accepted. Creator will remain unknown. Now applying changes to plant.

Enigma has increased by 1! Total: 3

Evolution has increased by 1! Total: 4

Herbalism level has increased by 1! Current level: 2

Note: Created plants will spread naturally if planted in suitable environments and cared for.

Carefully taking a berry off of the newly formed plant, he looked at it closely, seeing if there was anything he’d missed. Seeing that it seemed to be in good condition, he threw it as hard as he could in to the caves mouth. For a while nothing happened, and he wondered if the skin was too thick to break that easily, but right before he’d gone in to check what had happened, it ignited.

The phosphorus had gotten enough air and reached a warm enough temperature to ignite itself, and lighting the now evaporating cloud of ethanol with it. The result was a small, bright flame that erupted explosively, burning for a minute small pile where its remains sat. Picking at the still smoking scraps, he saw that, while the seed could potentially survive the fire, this one had ended up a shrivelled piece of charred wood. Pocketing it just in case, he went back to the bush and sighed.

He was happy with what he’d achieved with the plant, even if it wasn’t perfect. He’d always felt proud when he’d managed to build something or design something new, and this was definitely the most ‘from the ground up’ thing he’d made, and the stat increases were just a bonus. But staring at the bush as it sat on the forest floor, surrounded by grass and branches, he realised his mistakes. Not only was he going to need to move the bush so it wouldn’t accidently set the forest aflame, but he was going to need to make a call.

~~~~~~

“And you’re sure they won’t just...explode at random?” Sarah asked, both curious and concerned.

“They shouldn’t, unless something pierces the skin, then it’s all up to fate from there. Though I doubt anything’s going to try and eat them, not twice anyway.” Matt said chuckling. He’d been able to get straight through to Sarah once he logged out, since it was still early in the afternoon, and she’d been quick to pull up all of the information on his work.

“Gross, but it looks like it all checks out. They won’t grow very well in most conditions, but the fact they will grow at all is still an issue. I'm going to need to phone this in Matt.”

“I figured you would. Well, I guess ill grab something to eat and sit by the phone for a while then.”

“No problem. I’ll be in touch soon.” She said before hanging up.

Seeing that he likely had some time, Matt grabbed a piece of fruit and went to watch the TV for a while. The big story today seemed to be about a celebrity couple getting a divorce, which was apparently a ‘surprise’. It seemed the news had finally stopped featuring his... no wait, apparently one of the reasons they were getting a divorce was that their home in Genesis had been destroyed and they couldn’t agree whether to move or rebuild, so apparently that was his fault too. Eventually the phone rang, Matt picking it up quickly, hoping to get back to it.

“Hey Sarah, so is everything clear or-” he began

“Do people not check caller ID anymore?” August’s voice said quietly though the line, silencing Matt instantly.

“M-Mr. Fronz, I-”

“Don’t worry, this should be brief. Now, I'm interested to see that you’ve managed to move to creating new flora, in addition to fauna. While a few people have had some luck breeding a few trees and things together, no one has made anything this... unique. So well done, I suppose. But I’ve also been told that, with suitable conditions and care, anyone could manage to grow these... Incendiberries? As long as they could acquire a few healthy seeds. Now while this new addition of yours doesn’t affect any of my market interests, being far too left field to really compare anywhere, I believe there is a ready market that would purchase the fruit if available, even if just as an ingredient. As such I would like you to collect several dozen such seeds and give them to an agent of mine who I will have come and see you in the near future. In addition, I want you to avoid letting them spread naturally, or selling them yourself, though a few here and there will be fine, as a small distribution will help dissuade the idea of tampering.”

“I-” Matt began trying to get his thoughts in order. “I had planned to give some as samples to my herbalism teacher as part of a quest, is that going to be a problem?”

“An NPC I presume? They don’t really matter as far things like this go, so as long as they don’t start selling them on the street corner, I won’t have any problems with you. Now, have I made my points clear, or are you working on anything else I should be aware of?”

“Not...right now, no.”

“No, what?” August said, a hint of danger in voice.

Matt remained silent for a moment, but decided it wasn’t worth arguing over something trivial. “No sir.”

“That’s better. It doesn’t end well when a person forgets their place. Now I’ll leave you to sort things out, since I have matters of actual importance to deal with. Oh, and make sure you destroy the original plant would you? Can’t have that just sitting around now can we?” He said before hanging up.

Throwing the phone down in anger, Matt fumed. He’d hoped he could have made some gold off of selling the berries, but in less than an hour that chance had been stripped away. Still, he could at least use them himself, and would have to if he was going to get a hold of the seeds he’d been ordered to get. And right now, he thought as he grabbed his headset, setting things on fire seemed like a great idea.