AN: Here we go with another random installment of Galactic Fist of Legend. This one is a bit lengthier than the last chapter by a reasonable margin. a lot happens. :) Anyway, feel free to ask questions, but I'll try to avoid spoilers.

This story is caught up enough that I probably won't update again until next week so that I can update my other stories, most notably Origin and Blackthorne. There should be a wild Earth Tactics Advance update tomorrow sometime, and a Nocturne update before the week is out, though.

Chapter 11: Soldiers of the Shroom

The small town of Yellow Blossom proved to be just as interesting up close as it was at a distance. Like a giant's version of a farmer's market. Mushroom capped people lived in every type of fruit or vegetable house imaginable.

Scott took in the sights and sounds of the local color as he walked along their stone pathed streets. The people seemed friendly and overly curious as he approached. Just like the guys who rode in the turtle mechas, these people were short. They looked completely human, but none of them rose above the height of his chest.

"Oh my, he's a big one." said a busty girl wearing a mushroom cap like it was a sombrero. She wore what basically amounted to red lingerie with an untied see-through pink nightie. A sign above the door that she leaned against said,

"Saucy Bella." An apt name for a building that looked like an overgrown bell pepper.

Hearing himself referenced, Scott walked over to the short and busty mushroom capped girl. "Hello, my name's Scott. Could you point me toward the mayor?"

"Oh poo. Why would you want to see that silly old mayor, when you could spend a little time with me...?" she said before sliding her hands along her hips in a sensual manner.

"You make a sexy point there, but I do need to talk to the mayor." said Scott.

She sighed softly. "Fine, but think of me afterward, alright? The name's Bella, Bella Pepper."

Scott spent a brief moment discussing the whereabouts of the mayor with the ever-so-saucy Bella then set out on his way. After he left, another overly busty mushroom capped woman poked her head out of the door. "Was that a human?"

"Yes... a big one."

The new girl rolled her eyes then grinned. "What's with you and humans anyway? I'd be a little scared."

Bella laughed saucily then said, "Dunno, but he could bust my blocks any day."

The other girl could not help but laugh along with the sexy shroom girl. "You're crazy, girl!"

The working girls were left behind as Scott continued on his way. The mayor's office was an oversize crown of broccoli with a set of sliding doors at the front. Scott walked up the marble stairs and made his way inside.

A pretty young secretary waved happily at him. "Hello! Welcome to Yellow Blossom, Traveler. How may I help you?" she asked in an overly friendly tone.

Scott smiled at her then nodded his head. "I have news for the mayor. It's about the empire."

Her friendly smile froze on her face for a moment then her eyes widened slowly. "The empire! Uhm, oh... The mayor went to the castle today since there are a few dignitaries visiting from beyond the warp."

"Beyond the warp?" asked Scott curiously.

"Oh, yes. Foreign ambassadors from other worlds in alliance with the Shroom Republic. It's a fairly big deal." she said, some of her sweetness and a little of her friendly demeanor returning in the process.

"So, I have to go to the castle?" asked Scott.

"Yes! Just tell the guards that you have news for the mayor. Though, I suppose that Vice-Princess Lilliana will want to hear what you have to say as well."

Scott blinked. "Vice-Princess."

"Yes! Vice-Princess Lilliana is the first in line to the hereditary presidential seat. Everyone loves her! She's warm, and kind, a real peach of a girl." said the chatty secretary.

"Hereditary president..." muttered Scott. How was that any different than being a king?

The secretary smiled brightly, unaware of Scott's thoughts. "He's not in attendance today, but the princess should be available to hear your words."

Scott thanked the cheerful girl then headed off toward the castle. It was only a short walk to the main thoroughfare that led to the only normal looking building in town. Why an ordinary medieval castle would be sitting near a town that looked like a giant vegetable garden was anyone's guess.

He arrived at the gate to the castle and was greeted by two heavily armed soldiers. Instead of sombrero style mushroom caps, they wore white armor and helmets more befitting a soldier from Earth. There were little red circles on their helmets.

"Hold, traveler." said one of the shroom soldiers in a deep and commanding tone. It was a surprising voice from a man only slightly taller than the average citizen in town. "What business do you have at the castle?"

"I have to speak with the mayor regarding the empire." said Scott. He had no idea what to do in this sort of situation. He saw no point in lying to get in, and other than the fact that the empire soldiers had attacked him he knew nothing else about their group.

"The mayor... Understood. One moment." said the deep voiced soldier. He then placed a hand to his ear and began to speak once more. "Sergeant, this is gate leader. We have someone at the gate who says that he needs to speak with the mayor."

Scott could not hear the return communication. However, after a brief moment the soldier spoke again. "Yes. He says that he has information about the empire."

After another brief moment the soldier spoke again, this time to Scott. "Are you a citizen of our country, or affiliated with a military unit in the alliance?"

"No."

"Understood." said the soldier before informing his sergeant of that fact. Once he received a response he told Scott the answer. "You will have to wait a moment, traveler. The sergeant cannot authorize you entry since you are neither citizen nor soldier of our realm. Only the colonel can authorize you."

Scott thanked him then continued to stand around while he checked out the castle. While it had a medieval vibe, it also had gun turrets along the walls. Just beyond the gate, he could see soldiers stomping around in mechanized suits. They looked more like power armor than giant mechanical turtles, but they were clunky with a squarish look all the same. They did not have the streamlined look of the armor he had seen in Bounty Star.

Scott's answer came in the form of six heavily armed shroom soldiers arriving at the gate. One of them wore a helmet with yellow circles. They each wielded a heavy rifle with an oversized bayonet on one the barrel, and wore the oversized mechanical boots that the power armored soldiers wore.

"You are the traveler with news for the mayor?" asked the soldier with the yellow circle helm.

"Yes." said Scott simply.

"Understood. I am Sergeant Kranz, Colonel Grey has allowed you entrance to the castle but you will need to remain with this escort unit at all times." said the sergeant.

"No problem." said Scott. He just wanted to get the job done at the moment. If he was lucky, this world would be unlocked soon. He was not too keen on platform hopping in the future, but there was no reason not to visit the place.

Scott moved forward at the sergeant's direction, and was soon in the middle of a six shroom escort. After entering the gate Scott was able to see more of the troop movements inside. There were hundreds of armed soldiers, and several dozen mech-wearing troops as well. A few of them had suits with large u-shaped torsos and oversized spherical shoulder pods. From the back, he saw triangular formations with unknown purpose. There were two on the upper back, one more in the center of the lower back, and two more on the legs where the Achilles tendon would be.

Not long after Scott passed their location, the assembled troops were addressed. "Send em up!" called a power armored soldier with a blue circle helm.

Another yellow circle helmed soldier called out, "Jump Team Alpha! Take Flight!"

Each of the soldier presented their arms then lowered them. Immediately afterward five blazing flames shot out of the triangular formations. The soldiers shot into the air and then began to fly around the castle in a wide circular pattern.

Inside the castle, Scott was led along a corridor with immaculate brick work for the walls and polished concrete floors.

He passed a few television screens mounted inside the walls showing that the world had something like modern Earth technology. The screens had a handy map in one corner, and ran a local news broadcast. The anchorman sported a business suit with a mushroom shaped lapel pin, though he wore no cap.

"Top story today, the arrival of the inter-realm alliance dignitaries on world three has nearly come to a conclusion. The Alliance formed by our beloved hereditary president Mu Shroom, fourth of his name, has been drawn into impending conflict with the armies of Emperor Cromwell and his inter-realm army of darkness..." Scott was ushered along the corridor before he could hear more.

Eventually he was led to a room halfway along the next corridor. Inside the room there was short, even by present standards, man in a fine robe Instead of the mushroom cap most people in town wore, his cap looked more like an upside down turnip. "Mayor Turnipos? We have brought the traveler."

"Ah, good." said the mayor. He looked to Scott then said, "Ah, a human. Very nice, are you from one of the major houses?"

"No, nothing like that. I'm just a traveler passing through. I needed to tell you what I saw." said Scott.

"Of course, of course! You had information about the empire."

"Yes. A large ship of some kind dropped four soldiers of mechanical turtle armor near my location. They attacked, but before I was able to stop them they mentioned something about orders to bring all humans to the empress alive."

"This news... is most distressing." said the mayor. "Where did this take place?"

"I'm not particularly familiar with your land. I was on a large floating wildflower garden. I had to cross over a few floating blocks, a bridge with a weird goldfish, and go down three zip lines to get here. If that helps."

"Sounds like you were on an upper layer... How long ago did all this happen?"

"Sometime this morning. I came as fast as I could." said Scott.

"I see." The mayor turned to the sergeant. "You'll need to alert the vice-princess."

"Ah. Sorry, sir. The vice-princess just left ten minutes ago to greet the last arriving dignitaries at the castle in the third layer."

Scott tried to maintain a neutral expression, but it was quite difficult. Trying not to laugh, he asked, "So, your princess is in another castle...?"

"Yes." said the sergeant without missing a beat. He then looked to the mayor. "Princess Violeta is still here, however."

The mayor nodded. "That would be fine. She can inform the president."

It seemed a little odd that the people he was speaking with needed someone else to talk to the president on their behalf, but Scott let it go. This was a different world, and had different rules.

The guards showed no interest in taking Scott to meet with their princess. Instead, he was asked to completely reiterate everything that he had seen and experienced since the meeting with the Kupathian troopers.

The mayor stared at him hard when he said that he had eaten both a gravitas flower and a boom seed. The scrutiny made Scott feel more than a little uncomfortable, as the room grew silent. Even the shroom soldiers seemed quieter than before and they were fairly stoic to from the beginning.

"You, you claim to have eaten a gravitas flower and a boom seed?" asked Turnipos. Shock and more than a little disbelief laced his tone.

"Well, yeah. They kept saying eat me."

"If you have eaten the seed of boom, can you show me?" asked the mayor, his eyebrows pressed together and his head lowered as he spoke.

"Sure." Scott held out his hands and called the fire. Twin orbs of blazing flame appeared before his palms.

Mayor Turnipos hopped back in surprise. The soldiers murmured something that sounded both surprised and slightly awed.

"Just who are you stranger? Only the royal family and legendary heroes can utilize two powers at once. Even the most revered warriors of our realm can only use one at a time and will suffer terrible internal injuries over time while the power is used."

Scott willed the flames away. "No one particularly special. The rules of a world don't always influence me as much as someone else."

"I see." said the mayor solemnly. "Just like them..."

"Them?" asked Scott.

Mayor Turnipos shook his head. "It doesn't matter. Our people thank you for your diligence on our behalf, traveler. The castle will be off-limits for the next few days, but I can offer you a small reward and a free stay at the Yellow Blossom Hotel."

"That would be great, actually." said Scott. He did not know how much longer he would be in this world now that his introductory mission was finished.

The soldiers led him back out of the room, but then continued down the corridor instead of returning the way that they originally came. Scott asked about that.

"The patrol pattern changed while we were speaking with the mayor. We have to follow the new pattern while moving you."

Mollified by that answer, Scott continued onward with the soldier in silence. However, that silence did not last for long as shouting erupted around the next corner.

A tall blond haired man with delicately tapered elven ears pounded on an ornate door. "Princess Vita! What's the meaning of this?"

The door opened to reveal a glorious blond elven woman wearing a colorful set of robes that were made of various shades of green. "Why, whatever do you mean Sir Chaine?" she asked in a sweet, lilting voice."

"This! This abomination!" Chaine held up what looked to be an ordinary tunic. It was designed with varying shades of green itself.

"What, your glorious new court tunic? You can't wear chainmail and leather all the time, you know."

"This is a dress!" snapped Sir Chaine. "I won't wear a dress in public."

"It's a tunic, I assure you." replied Princess warmly, an amused smile on her lips.

"Not happening."

The soldiers stopped completely, either to gawk at the scene or to access whether they needed to intervene, Scott did not know. Either way, the little quarrel before them continued.

"Sir Chaine! I am your princess and you will indulge me in this." she said before she closed the door with a haughty huff.

Sir Chaine glared at the door for a moment then through up his hands. "Well. Excuu-use me, princess."

Chaine started muttering as he walked away, but then shouted back. "I'm not wearing a dress!"

He took two steps before the door shot open. "It's a tunic! You'll wear it and like it!" shouted the princess.

"I'll wear pants if I do!" snapped Chaine.

Vita gasped loudly then placed a hand to her maidenly chest. "You beast... You are supposed to wear tight leggings with this sort of thing. How could you ruin such a beautiful tunic with common pants?"

"Whatever." muttered Chaine as he walked off. "Saved the kingdom countless times and the princess wants me to strut around in a dress."

"Tunic!" shouted the princess before slamming her door in a huff once more.

The soldiers stood at attention and saluted as Chaine passed them by. The annoyed elf did not notice them, though he did briefly notice the man in the center. It was hard not to notice. He was the only man in the castle that was taller than he was.

The only thing that came to Scott's mind was a simple theme song. "Doo, dadada doo, da doot doo." he whispered as the soldiers started forward once more.

Chaine stopped dead in his tracks and turned toward the man being led down the corridor. "The World Song... How can he know a tune so close to it?"

He decided to casually shadow the guards as they led the man out of the castle. Curious about the towering figure in their midst, he wanted to see what he was doing.

"So, who were they?" asked Scott curiously.

"Princess Vita, and her royal guard Sir Chaine. They are visiting dignitaries from beyond the warp. They come from a world known as Ha' Ruul."

Scott could not help but think that his entire life story to date should be boiled down to one title, Copyright Infringement: A Lawsuit in the Making. Still, the worlds that he had visited so far only seemed to speak to a certain design motif. Some things were similar but most were still drastically different from what one might consider to be the source material.

Eventually, Scott reached the gate of the castle and was escorted beyond it. He thanked those soldiers for their time then headed off toward town. He never noticed the elf slipping around corners and hiding behind common objects.

It was not long before Scott reached the entrance to Yellow Blossom once more. As soon as he did, the world turned black and white and everything seemed to freeze in place. A beautiful new screen appeared before him, shockingly blue against the stark contrast of the background.

Hub-Location Unlocked

You have unlocked the town of Yellow Blossom. You may return here in the future when you wish to spend your free time between missions. You will have to create a recreation room, and a recreation door in order to make use of this location.

--

Note: You have now completed the opening scene for this world-setting. As the only champion to have reached this setting through a warp zone, you may choose a reward based on the world-setting.

- Lifestyle: Shroom Soldier

- Bloodline: Shroom

- 100 Gold Coins

--

You will now return to your previous mission. Would you like to return to your [Home] first to remove your current status effects and accept your reward?

Current Status Effects

Minor physical injuries – 2 EXP

Internal Chemical Damage– 15 EXP

[Yes | No]

[—]

Scott chose to go back to his cell before heading back to his story mission. If nothing else, he could take a moment to collect his thoughts and look over his new reward options.

The black and white world returned to its normal colors. The customary bright white door of light rose up nearby. Scott took one last look at the world around him then walked into the door that existed between the worlds.

After Scott left, a surprised Ha' Ruulian knight stared at the space where Scott had once been. "No way..."

Scott stepped into his cell then sighed softly. He would say that it was good to be home, but it was a fairly dark and depressing hole. Either way, it was safe-ish.

He walked over to the orb of light and touched it. He had not finished his main story quest, but he had completed a mission. He also wanted to see what his rewards were. The moment that he touched the orb the customary light of healing washed over him. He could not help but smile as he felt even his minor wounds heal. "So, I gained experience after all. Good. Let's see how much."

Mission Score

You have completed a side-quest. Congratulations!

Grade: B

Base Reward: 200 EXP

Grade Bonus: X2

Total: 400 EXP

Elimination Bonus: 40 EXP

Settings Bonus

Conscientious Platform Hopper Route: You jump good! You also return borrowed things to where they are supposed to go. Such a nice boy.

Grade: A

Route Bonus: 800 EXP

Special Bonus[1]: You unlocked a warp zone to [Imperial Garden]

Special Bonus[2]: You unlocked the hub-zone [Yellow Blossom]

Bonus: 1000 EXP

Total: 2240

Entertainment Bonus

You proved to be highly entertaining on several occasions. This reduces the annoyance of our people as they wait for your race to fail their challenges and become our property.

Entertainment Grade: B

Entertainment Bonus: 400 EXP

Fan Following: You have acquired new fans. Once you have 100 fans, you will be granted a one percent bonus to all EXP earned. Each additional 100 fans will increase your EXP by one percent as well.

Fans: (174)

Fan-Base Bonus:26.4

Total EXP Earned: 2649.4

[—]

The total experience earned made his eyes light up. "Holy shit..." It was only the side-quest, and yet he had gained several thousand points! Upgrading to normal difficulty had paid off.

"Man, this is great. Let's see what my rewards are..." said Scott while tapping a little floating menu button that flashed the word reward constantly. He read through the information screen and then clicked on a few things that popped up. A slow grin spread across his lips.

Lifestyles – An approach to living that allows for the development of special abilities. A lifestyle is a temporary concept that can be changed at your [Home] point. Some lifestyles are race locked, but for a price that lock can be removed.

You may equip only have one lifestyle by default. If you wish to acquire more lifestyle slots, visit the battle dome.

Pimps up! Hoes down! Become a real playah!

Bloodlines – A semi-permanent change to the core nature of your being. These changes can range from minor alterations to entire changes in species. You may acquire more than one bloodline at a time, however, bloodlines that do not mesh well may result in your untimely demise or an existence as a hideous abomination. You cannot remove a bloodline without completing a racial reset mission. This is a lengthy and typically deadly process. Do not accept a bloodline unless you are certain that you wish to adhere to the new paradigm.

Or, you could just choose to be a zombie. We won't judge.

The gold coins were just currency usable in the Imperial Garden world-setting. He could only choose one reward, and that was the least useful one of all. Now that the hub was open, he could even purchase gold coins with EXP. Of course, he would need to build his recreation room and room door before any of that would be terribly useful. Scott looked at the shroom bloodline first in order to see if it would make him happy.

Shroom Bloodline

You are a child of the great goddess of the eternal garden. You enjoy wearing fancy hats shaped like common plant life. You have a cheerful disposition and a friendly demeanor more often than most.

Advantages

- You are part plant and will regenerate 10% more quickly in direct sunlight.

- Your ability to resist poisoning from digestion of spoiled food is reduced by 20%

- Your strength and vitality development has increased by 50%.

- You can develop type two feats in strength and vitality.

- You are 10% more resistant to lightning.

- You are 10% more resistance to water.

- You are 150% more resistance to earth.

- If your body is at least half submerged in earth, your regenerative abilities increase by 20%.

Disadvantages

- You are a type of dwarf race that cannot exceed the height of 5 feet 4 inches. The average height for your species is 4 feet 5 inches. Mini-Me like a boss! Am I right?

- You develop all attributes save for strength and vitality at a capacity 25% less than that of a human.

- You are 10% more susceptible to fire, frost, wind and herbicidal toxins.

- Your lifespan is reduced by 15% compared to a human.

The shroom bloodline was a great deal more useful than the zombie bloodline, but it still came with too many demerits. Further reading told him that it could be developed into a stronger version over time. So, it remained a potential change for the future. Honestly, the biggest issue that he had with it was that he did not want to be so short. Was that petty? Sure. Still, he was used to being around six feet tall. Such a massive shift in height perception would be weird. He checked the lifestyle reward option.

Shroom Soldier Lifestyle

The fighting force of the Shroom Republic, shroom soldiers have improved height, strength, and vitality compared to a common shroom.

Advantages

- Strength + 1

- Vitality + 1

- Can utilize garden powers given by devouring the ancestral garden spirits.

- Improved height compared to common shrooms.

- Increased base hit points

- Increased hit point regeneration

- Access to [Floral Power] stat

- Can purchase and utilize shroom soldier equipment and abilities at the EXP exchange.

- Access to type two strength and vitality feats.

Disadvantages

- Race lock: Shroom Unlock for 1500 EXP

- Heavily dependent upon ancestral garden spirits for special techniques.

After further reading, he learned that taking the shroom soldier lifestyle would allow him to use the garden spirits on worlds other than Imperial Garden. There was also no mention of his height shrinking. If he removed the race lock, that wouldn't be an issue anyway.

Honestly, the only real downside to the lifestyle change would be the cost to remove the race lock. Admittedly, that was a fairly big disadvantage. However, the possibilities caused Scott to be quite intrigued.

He chose the shroom soldier lifestyle and then spent the EXP to unlock it. He wasted no time in equipping his new path in life then grinned like a moron when he felt a rush of energy flow through him.

[Name: Scott Davidson]

[Age: 20]

[Race: Earthling]

[Lifestyle:] Shroom Soldier

[Level: 1][413/1000]

[EXP: 1149.40]

[Life Span: 7 Day(s)]

Hit Points: [25]149

Floral Power: 1.5

ATTRIBUTES

[Strength: 2.40[3.40][Resilience:4.00]

[Vitality: 4.00[5.00][Dexterity: 4.00]

[Concentration: 1.5][Charisma: 1.00]

FEATS

[Improved Regeneration I]

[Improved Hit Points I]

[Improved Coordination I]

POWERS

[None]

[—]

"Not bad at all." said Scott before checking what else he could spend his EXP on. There was no point in saving it until after the story mission. If he failed there, he would die. Trying to save up EXP might be easier in the future, but for the moment he needed every edge that he could acquire.

A new menu appeared before him when he checked the purchases section. He could not acquire shroom soldier exclusive items. He had unlocked the gravitas flower and boom seed in the equipment section, but there were other types of ancestral garden spirits to acquire through adventuring in the Imperial Garden.

In the sections for powers and feats he saw the good stuff. Though, it was all level-locked. He could only purchase level one abilities. So, that was another reason why his level was important to develop.

Shroom Soldier Feats[/b]

[Level One]

- [Soldier's Resolve I][400 EXP]

- [Improved Strength I][500 EXP]

- [Improved Vitality I][500 EXP]

- [Improved Hit Points II][2500 EXP]

- [Improved Regeneration II][2500 EXP]

- [Improved Floral Power I] [100 EXP]

- [Improved Floral Power Regeneration I][100]

Each feat had its own uses. The improvement feats increased the overall capacity of a stat. The strength improvement feat, for instance, would allow him to increase his strength by another four points through EXP expenditure.

Soldier's Resolve was the feat that excited him the most, however. It would increase his hit points, strength and vitality. It would also allow him to resist damage a little more easily, and further assist in the usage of floral powers by reducing their cost slightly.

Scott purchased Soldier's Resolve then checked the price of equipment. He automatically received both one Boom Seed and one Gravitas Flower since he unlocked the race requirement for shroom soldier. It was a way of giving him back what he had lost by transiting to his home-point. The offer would not have been available after returning from the story mission, so it was good that he had come back to this place first. It would be something to keep in mind for the future.

Boom Seeds cost one thousand EXP, while the Gravitas Flower would cost four hundred. They were far too expensive to use regularly as their effects only lasted for twenty-four hours. Though, he could buy them from Yellow Blossom with gold coins once he opened his recreation room. Through the exchange, he learned that a little under one and a half EXP was worth one gold coin. The exchange rate was much different than in [Bounty Star].

In the power section two powers were already provided. Both were consumption powers that allowed him to eat a gravitas flower or boom seed and obtain its abilities. The available powers that he could acquire at level one where few in number, but interesting.

Shroom Soldier Powers

[Level One]

- Gravitas Super Jump[250 EXP]

- Burning Smash[250 EXP]

Gravitas Super Jump

Using the power of the ancestral garden spirits, expend your floral power to leap to all new heights.

Floral Power: 4[3]

Requirement: Must have consumed a gravitas flower within the last twenty-four hours.

Status: Jump Height X 4

Burning Smash

Using the power of the ancestral garden spirits, expend your floral power to better guide your destructive fire power. Instead of catching a boom sphere after it bounces back to you, you can now slap it away in a direction of your choosing. This will allow for better control of where the third bounce lands.

Tennis anyone? Hee. Hee.

Floral Power: 1[0.75]

Requirement: Must have consumed a boom seed within the last twenty-four hours.

Status: Single Use

Scott chose to purchase both floral power feats, and the two shroom soldier powers. He then checked his status to see what had changed.

[Name: Scott Davidson]

[Age: 20]

[Race: Earthling]

[Lifestyle:] Shroom Soldier

[Level: 2][1232/2000]

[EXP: 49.40]

[Life Span: 7 Day(s)]

Hit Points: [41]165

Floral Power: 6

ATTRIBUTES

[Strength: 2.40[3.90][Resilience:4.00]

[Vitality: 4.00[5.50][Dexterity: 4.00]

[Concentration: 1.5][Charisma: 1.00]

FEATS

[Improved Regeneration I]

[Improved Hit Points I]

[Improved Coordination I]

[Soldier's Resolve]

[Improved Floral Power I]

[Improved Floral Power Regeneration I]

POWERS

[Gravitas Super Jump][FP: 3]

[Burning Smash][FP: 0.75]

[—]

"Don't know if it's what someone else would have done, but it's definitely right for me." said Scott as he looked over his stats. He noted that floral power worked similar to hit points. It used concentration as its base instead of vitality, however. The basic abilities of the gravitas flower and the boom seed used a negligible amount of floral power, an amount that could easily be replenished by simply resting for a moment. The actual powers developed from those basic abilities required a great deal more energy. Two super jumps, or eight burning smashes would empty his floral power pool.

"Well, that definitely gives me a reason to increase concentration now." said Scott with a smile.

He had less that fifty EXP left, so he opted to toss nine points into strength, forty points into concentration, and used the last fraction of a point to buy a little more food and water. Empty once more, he noted the slight increase in his floral power stat from the improved concentration then nodded. It was not much, but every little bit helped.

"So then, shall we go face down the zombie apocalypse?" asked Scott, a slight grin on his lips. Fully healed, his equipment repaired in the process, and ready to rock, Scott walked toward the door. It was time to finish the story mission and get those people to a safer place.