Ryan set aside a full week to build and settle into their new underground base. He figured that ought to be enough for a group of supers working together.

The first official day at their new home, Lucas woke him up just before dawn. The wolf man and his wife were currently acting as the base’s night guards. If anything got past their senses without making noise, Ryan would eat his cousin's tacky cowboy hat.

After he was up, they each gave him a mock salute before retiring to the blanket piles. His uncle had squirreled away quite a bit, but even he hadn’t stored enough spare sleeping bags for their little community. Most of the former captives were using blankets on bare ground.

Something I should have fixed by the end of the day. Ryan thought as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He’d given up his own bag to Lily, the small woman who’d been one of the first to stand for him last night. His dad had taught him leaders led by example. And no good leader slept in comfort while his men ached. Even if packed dirt wasn’t the most restful of mattresses.

Besides, Renee had let him share hers for a time.

After stuffing a bundle of protein bars in his pocket for after breakfast and doing his best to stretch his shoulders out, Ryan climbed up and out of the makeshift hatch they’d erected. The length of scrap roofing tin they’d used for it wouldn’t protect them from the rain running in, but it was better than nothing. Another project. Ryan reminded himself. Though hopefully I can just have Sheila take that one.

In the dewy haze of the forest, Ryan got to work on the most important project of the day. The one that would determine how the rest of the week would go. The one they’d lugged all of that steel, rubber, and other scrap from the farm out however-many miles into the forest for.

Solar panels.

With his new immunity to electricity, Ryan could suck out power simply by jamming his thumb into an outlet now. He wasn’t an electrician, but he was pretty sure doing that to whatever remained of the town’s power grid would end either in a blackout for him or a last second realization that his ‘immunity’ was more like the melting temperature of rocks. People only thought rocks were fireproof. Past a certain point, everything burned.

Solar panels on the other hand didn't have the same risk as a city grid. They were fairly low-power compared to lightning mc-dead back at the school. Primarily though, they were passive energy generation. Energy he didn’t have to eat or kill anyone to acquire.

In the strategy games he’d played, Ryan had always aimed to maximize passive profits whenever he could. Back then it was mostly because when you're paralyzed in a hospital all you have a lot of is time. That didn't make it less of a strategy now though. His power was designed for the long game. And Ryan intended to play it.

In terms of energy, nuclear was the clear winner long term. Short of getting his hands on a nuclear power plant however, that wasn't likely any time soon. It also probably came with a whole host of its own issues - not least of which was how in the hell he'd get close enough to touch one.

But solar panels... those were just about the lowest upkeep cost renewable energy option around. Just set ‘em up and wait for the sun to keep on doing what it’s been doing for billions of years. Might need to look into hydro-electric in the future, too. A dam would be… well, damn amazing. The power those things put out…

Shaking his head, Ryan focused back on the task at hand. Someone had dragged all the scrap out of Big Mamba for him last night - Lucas, probably - so now all he had to do was get’r’done. Ryan walked over to the pile and started selecting the pieces with the least amount of visible rust.

As he worked, he went over the plan. From what he could remember of his coursework and the all-too-excitable renewable energy hippies on campus, he had a fairly good idea what to expect. Despite the articles constantly reporting percent gains in efficiency being trumpeted around the internet, mankind was far from beating mother nature in solar conversion.

Even the best, most expensive panels hovered around 20% efficiency when converting to electricity. And since anything much above that resulted in a power cost that turned his stomach, that was the sweet spot Ryan was aiming for as well.

He'd also decided to go with a standard household solar panel - 72 solar cells. That should do well enough out here that he didn't have to worry about weather hardening.

Some quick mental math using numbers from articles in engineering magazines told him he could expect about 300 watts or so per four hours of sunlight. That was peak daylight hours though, when the sun shined brightest and best on the earth's surface. If Ryan remembered correctly, they only got about 5 hours worth in this region before it dropped off.

Still, even if it only amounted to 500 watts/day per panel after inefficiencies or whatever other factors… that was still however many more points coming in each day that he didn’t have to scarf. Ryan placed his hand on the accumulated scrap. Then, something odd happened.

A bunny with vampiric-looking fangs and red eyes hopped out from underneath a bundle of metal rods as casually as if it belonged.

Ryan stared at it.

The vampire-bunny stared back.

Just as Ryan was starting to feel an ominous sense of dread creep up his spine, the strange creature broke eye contact and sauntered off into the woods. Four smaller fluff balls with similar features darted after it. What the hell was that? Ryan wondered.

Unwilling to believe he’d just come dangerously close to what felt suspiciously like a monty python skit, Ryan waited to see if the universe would follow up that curious event with something else. When it didn't, he re-focused on his task.

Now for the big ask of the day. The one every great leader asks when they set out. How much is my empire going to cost me?

Would you like to create a standard 72-cell solar panel to the presented specifications with these raw materials? Cost: 231 points, 1/10th of materials consumed.

Ryan laughed out loud in triumph. His euphoria echoing about the field with all the energy of an announcer at the first game of the season.

“Ladies and gentlemen, Ryan Richards is. open. For. BUSINESS!”

With a grin on his face that went ear to ear, Ryan used all of his available energy to bump his max up that sweet, singular point. He would later swear that the bars he ate after this - Rocky Road Riptacular flavor - were the best he'd ever had, before or since. Each bite somehow better knowing the wonderful purpose they were fulfilling.

He was under no illusions about how lucky he'd just been with that cost however. If increasing his energy hadn't been top priority of the day already… it would be now.

The very instant his capacity was topped back up, Ryan activated his power.

Sounds followed immediately after made him think someone had shoved steel into a blender and hit puree. The scrap metal he'd been holding onto crunched, melted, and flowed as it spread itself out over a lengthy rectangular shape with 72 smaller squares indented across the surface. Plastic sheeting wrapped itself into both cords and a rear-facing adjustable stand. It then flowed over the rest, changing the color scheme of the panel to black.

In seconds, it was done. Closer inspection revealed there was even a logo on the back. ‘Supernova Solar Panelling’ was emblazoned in bright orange on the stand. Ryan supposed that was because his power had created it from the only visual he’d had to work from - one taken from the world’s formerly largest online retailer: D-Nile.

Named after the world’s largest river to symbolize the flow of trade… and because of the ridiculous slogans it let them come up with. Ryan supposed it wasn’t the silliest name the company could have picked. They could have named it after the second-largest: the Amazon river.

Ryan dismissed those irrelevant thoughts and set up the panel. His power hadn’t included an instruction manual, but the need to face the sun and the bright-orange off/on switch didn’t exactly require established literature to get right.

A warning gurgle sounded from his stomach just as he turned the panel on. Ryan grimaced, bracing for what was about to come. He grabbed a spare roll from BGM and ducked behind a large tree. As he popped his squat, Ryan swore to add two more things to his task list for the day.

One: Get some working plumbing installed, ASAP. Porcelain was far more comfortable than pine needles. Bidets might work. Eliminate the need to waste points on TP.

Two: Find a way to upgrade his friggen stomach already so these back door blowouts could be less of a presence in his life.

*********

By the time the others got up, Ryan had nine more solar panels laid out, charging, and connected to the farm's old generator. Happily, the connections to wire it all together were relatively cheap. Especially with the scrap plastic they had.

He also managed to make a personal edit that was perhaps his most game-changing so far. After shaking his head at the low cost, Ryan could only berate himself for not thinking of it earlier.

Would you like to upgrade your intestinal tract to enable it to process energy-drained biomatter as regular waste? Cost: 45 points.

New intestinal tract will not require immediate expulsion of target material.

Blissfully, there was no real pain during the change. Only an odd swirling sensation in his stomach that made him wonder if nature was making a second call. When nothing happened though, Ryan just shrugged and got back to business.

I really need to get used to thinking outside of the box with this editor stuff. Even theoretical questions keep ending up as affordable upgrades.

Ryan spent the rest of his morning speaking with his people. Learning their powers and previous occupations so no talent went to waste. He made a list of who had, or had done, what. For his own purposes - and because he intended to eventually create a database of such information - Ryan included their stats in his notebook as well. Tablets. Need tablets. And some sort of base-wide network we can connect to. I wonder if we rescued any system admins.

His little band, once Ryan had them all down, were rather impressive. The former captives almost all had unique powers - at least, according to their owners. Which of course is why they were taken in the first place. Super strength seems easy enough to come by though, for whatever reason.

Ryan took a note from one of the architects he’d worked with before and jotted down a few quick tables to sort his people by. Narrowing them down by experience, power, and skill Ryan was able to pick the few he wanted to head up various areas with relative confidence they’d be able to handle it. Once those were handed out he had Renee divvy up everyone else under them as the sun began to climb.

Operations: Lucas Fulmon

Powers: Werewolf, Acidic Excretion, Spiked Fur

Background: National Park Ranger

Construction: Sheila Heart

Powers: Dark Dwarf

Background: Project Foreman

Security: John Stone

Power: Gunshot

Background: Retired Army Captain

Logistics: Lily Hosetter

Power: Plant Growth

Background: Biology Professor

Admin / Everything Else: Renee

Powers: Sensory Amplification, Suggestion, Tigress Eyes

Background: Human Resources

“Lucas is out for the night, but he’s in charge of planning our next move on the mayor. Sheila, as we discussed before you’re the head architect here. I want a list by the end of the day of everything you need from me that we can’t build, dig, or find ourselves. John, you’re in charge of keeping us safe. Get me a list of what you need for you and your people by sundown to do that. Powers, equipment, whatever it is. Be creative, the world isn’t all brute strength these days. Lily, you’re in charge of supplies - food, equipment, whatever else. I’ll also need you three to coordinate and prioritize what we need today vice what can wait for tomorrow or the next day."

Everyone seemed to be following along, so Ryan continued. "We'll meet up at dinner tonight to go over everything and figure out what it will all cost. I’m going to spend today experimenting. Haven’t really gotten the chance to do that much yet and there are some things I want to try that might greatly improve our situation. I'll be nearby if needed, but unless something major happens - consider yourselves the experts and me the one staying out of your way. ”

Heads nodded assent from around the group. More than one seemed grateful for the lack of micromanagement. Renee tapped her notes and held some paper up with a purposeful look. He thanked her with a small nod of acknowledgment.

“Right. Renee here has a list of the people who report to you now, it has their powers and I think some of her thoughts on them. Use them as best you can. I already told them earlier we’d be doing this. As for any conflicts… I guess just bring me the big problems and we’ll work out something together. Sheila, I think Jerry is yours but at the moment he’s still on rest. I don’t have the points to fix what’s wrong with him internally just yet, but when I do he’s yours.”

Unable to think of anything else immediately pressing, Ryan ended his speech. “That’s all I’ve got. Any questions?”

Sheila shook her head. Jerry had been the next best thing to mangled when they found him, so nobody was really surprised about that last bit. Whatever the mayor’s goons had done to him had broken quite literally every bone in the man’s body. More punishment than coercion at that point, the cruel bastards.

John, the near-ancient retiree, spoke up. The old man still had a commanding voice despite his age. Renee had mentioned to him earlier that people naturally gravitated towards the old soldier when he spoke, which is why he’d been given the security position. Being able to cut through confusion would be invaluable in a fight.

“Just one there, son. Couple’a folks been asking when we’re gonna get their families. I know we’re still setting up an’ all so I don’t expect there to be a definite answer but… that on your docket somewhere?”

Ryan nodded. “That’s the next move I mentioned earlier. The one Lucas is planning. Have them ask him if they want to help, have information, or have suggestions for targets. I plan on rescuing everyone as soon as we can - but we need to make sure we don’t lose people doing it if possible. And that we’re ready if they find us. I doubt our little hole in the ground would stand up to the police if they showed up today.”

“Nonsense, if they do I’ll show their little hole the upside of my fist!” Sheila retorted confidently as she stood up and gathered her trash. MREs might be convenient meals, but the heaters they used couldn’t just be tossed to the side. Smokey the bear would not approve of that action. And for all Ryan knew, that title might actually be accurate these days. I wonder how the bears are dealing with flaming birds...

The dark dwarf woman cocked her head at Renee. “Mind pointing me to my new crew? Plenty to get done today and I want to use all the sunlight I can before we have to string up flashlights.”

Renee nodded and got up. She gave Ryan a hidden wink and a smile that promised more later when turning so that only he could see, then left with Sheila. The others followed soon after.

Their new leader watched his people go and felt like, overall, he’d handled that well. As the rest of camp started going about their day, Ryan got up and grabbed a length of steel scrap from the pile. He dragged it to the far side of the clearing, well out of earshot. Today was already turning out to be interesting. But his earlier comment to the group hadn’t been an idle one. It'd been inspired by his grandfather who had often said: “A good leader picks the right person, then stays the everloving hell out their way”.

Ryan resolved to do just that.

*********

At the far edge of the clearing, with an entire day free for experimentation ahead of him, Ryan found himself a little torn on what he wanted to try first. Ever since he’d increased his wisdom his mind felt like it had been exploding with ideas. Ideas he was practically salivating to try. Some were so obviously tantalizing that he was momentarily concerned for his own sanity that they hadn’t surfaced earlier.

Of course, the uncomfortable realization that he’d probably not taken the optimal path choice-wise since waking up had followed shortly after. Looking back over things now, with new understanding, meant he saw problems and even solutions he simply hadn’t considered before.

While Ryan knew he wasn’t stupid, that didn’t necessarily mean every choice he made was smart. His focus in his previous life had been directed at formulas, memorization, and a few narrow areas of materials study while at college. He’d never actually gotten that far into the application part of his field. He now realized that same narrow focus was a trap he’d fallen into again after waking up in the hospital. Maybe if I hadn’t, I’d know what happened to Mike and the others.

Unsure where exactly that particular voice came from and unwilling to give it any more of his time, Ryan took a deep breath and attempted to get his thoughts back on track. Wasting time on regret wouldn’t help him here. Compared to his enemies, he’d already lost enough time as it is.

The walk through the forest over here had been somewhat aggravating in that he’d had all that time to think but his attention kept getting drawn elsewhere. The captives they’d rescued had all been injured in one way or another and healing those injuries - in some cases, not losing them to those injuries - had been top priority. Both for his attention and for his points.

While he didn't blame any of them for being hurt and was quite relieved that he'd been able to heal most of them… his anxiety had risen as they went. Marcus solidified his control over the town with every passing day. Uprooting him would be an uphill battle.

Between those thoughts, navigating with Lucas (okay, mostly just following Lucas), watching for attack, and not wanting to reveal all of his cards in case some turned on him - traveling just hadn’t been the right time for experiments. Now, though? It’s just a question of what to do first.

Over the past few days, Ryan had come up with a large number of possible experiments. Some of which he’d written down for a time when life calmed down. Ultimately, he’d lumped all of the immediately pressing ones he absolutely had to try into one of two primary categories: Energy and Survival.

Today, his focus was energy. Specifically: getting more of it. Their camp wasn’t likely to be attacked right away, so survival was scheduled for tomorrow when he would hopefully have more capacity (hah!) to actually do something meaningful about it.

The funny thing was his power didn’t seem to care much what type of energy he gave it. Food, electricity, people… Everything he converted turned into points, albeit at different ratios, regardless of source. Of the methods he’d tried so far, the most impactful test of versatility had been electricity - and not just a paltry fraction of a point from a battery. Proving he could get viable point counts from not just calories - or whatever it was his power drained from the food he ate - had been a game changer.

And now that his body could absorb those shocks with no pain... so long as the current didn’t literally melt his skin and cells down to editor-brand slag, Ryan was effectively set on that front.

One thing did concern him however. The change to making himself mostly-shock-proof hadn’t been just a simple addition to his mental character sheet. It had altered what felt like every single inch of his body. His entire being felt… different, now. Skin, muscles, even his hair felt like it’d undergone massive change on a deeper level than when he’d just improved his physical stats. He even felt the difference in his teeth when he chewed or spoke.

His whole body had felt… odd. Unfamiliar. Even the friction he felt between fingers was as different from before as fabric was from stone. In places, his skin was redder and denser, almost cool. Metallic. Still more of him was now blueish and stretchy. Elastic. He could pull a bit of that blue skin back almost two inches off his arm now without any pain at all.

One might have expected becoming ‘immune to electricity’ to make him more rubber-like. Or maybe have made him resemble some other insulator - Ryan was suddenly glad his power hadn’t chosen wood - but the actual results were more of a mix. In order to not take damage from electrical current, his body now channelled incoming voltages intelligently. Guiding it towards where it could be harmlessly converted. Which, as far as he could tell, appeared to be in his chest.

Ryan could get his power making skin a better conductor in some areas and worse in others. That made sense to him. What he hadn’t expected though were the internal changes. He could feel the new weight inside of him as he moved. Some organs were now larger, almost as if padded or bearing a thicker inner lining. Lung function hadn’t suffered, possibly because of his increased stats, though his chest had filled out to compensate.

Looking at his arms Ryan could see that his once-blue veins now took on more of a silver hue. He could trace the lines of that silver - following the redder skin and metallic feeling - from any extremity back to his center. They were channels, Ryan had realized. So the current can be redirected no matter where it strikes.

As much of an oddity as all that made him, it didn't stop there.

Immediately after the change Ryan had noticed moving his arms and legs took

more effort. This had persisted even after acquiring his newly increased strength. It was no longer enough to trouble him, but it had been enough to make him sure that if he'd started with this change his previous body wouldn’t have been able to handle it. His entire frame was heavier, now. Denser. With a strength of 3 or even 5, his new weight would’ve been enough to render him immobile. He’d have been effectively paralyzed, despite his repaired spine.

Overall, while the changes weren’t immediately visible if he covered up… At least the cave had been dark. Ryan thought with a bit of gratitude for the circumstances of his first rendezvous with Renee.

All of this had made him realize that although his power as an editor was immense, it was not without potentially crippling risks. Hell, he was lucky that generator trick hadn’t been fatal. Twice!

Despite the baggage it’d come with, Ryan had no doubt in his mind that making himself immune to shock had been the right move. It was actually pretty cool that his entire body was now some sort of hybrid metal-plastic biomaterial. As time passed he was evolving further and further from human with each new upgrade. A fact which might have bothered him more if he didn’t literally have an orc for an inlaw now. Besides, what are humans if not adaptable? My race is still superhuman. At least, for now.

Distracted by a sudden thought, Ryan mentally called up diamond skin to his right arm and examined it. The reflective skin shone as brilliantly in the morning light as it ever had. Unchanged. I guess that makes sense. Diamonds don’t conduct electricity, so there wasn’t a need to change anything.

Ryan resolved to be more careful when upgrading himself from now on. To take in new material or energy in small doses and make gradual changes. And to experiment in as safe a manner as he reasonably could. It would be an irony on a near-cosmic scale if he changed himself to absorb radiation and then died in an explosion from the resulting atomic fusion. Or if he tried to absorb thermal energy and then froze himself to death sucking out his own body heat to power an edit.

He felt his spine tingle a bit in apprehension at that last thought. Mostly because the image of himself trapped in an icicle of his own making was just… too real, somehow. Horrifying. At least with the kaboom he wouldn’t feel anything. And I’d finally get to be in two places at once without that cheesy straddle-the-state-lines trick.

Dumb as that last thought had been, Ryan couldn’t help but laugh at it. He put a hand to his forehead paused for a moment, looking down at the steel bar he’d brought over. He pulled up his power.

Now… first attempt on the ‘docket’ for today was…

An hour later, Ryan had the answer to a number of hypotheticals. The steel he’d brought with him now sported five 1-inch top layers of varying new metals, each about six inches by six inches. In order, the sections now absorbed the following:

Heat (35 points) Kinetic energy (75 points) Light (45 points) Sound (20 points) Edible matter (100 points)

Heat, as he’d sort of expected, was a relatively cheap alteration. The metal could now take in about 1500 degrees Celsius according to his power, which covered most types of fire. Much higher than that however and the cost rose exponentially. Kinetic was a bit harder to test. The math behind it had always seemed rushed to him. Instead of numbers, Ryan gave the metal a solid thump with a fallen log. The metal held, which was good enough for him.

Light - or rather, the electromagnetic spectrum - had taken a number of tries to rein in the expenditure.

Visible wavelengths were cheap, so he'd started with that. There were actually a few ranges in the realm of ‘attainable’, but going for more than one established wavelength pattern at once or even a single of the higher energy waves resulted in a cost that was simply too far outside reason.

Sound had been included more as a curiosity than anything else. Absorbing energy wasn’t the goal so much as making sound proof material was. If he could make it out of metal, they could incorporate it into armor or buildings. Happily, the new material turned out to be the cheapest of all his tests. A shout over that section was now like yelling into a fluffy mattress from inside the comforter.

The final experiment, edible matter, was admittedly a bit of a wildcard. After placing an M&M from the meal packs on it (with extreme caution, because technically he was also edible matter) the material had sucked in the chocolate almost as fast as most people did. Then it had glowed a hot red for a short while before returning to normal. Technically this material only covered "human-edible" matter but for a hundred points it covered a bunch of options if they ever ran into an excess of food.

An almost as interesting result of testing was how, much like his own body, each new material had changed drastically from the steel it had once been. The heat section now looked more like copper. Next to it, the kinetic section looked like a grey polymer that almost seemed to form out of latticework underneath the surface.

Blackness was all he could make out of the light absorbent section, its texture was soft - almost porous. In sharp contrast to the sound-absorbent section next to it which was covered in jagged shapes and holes that were clearly designed to trap soundwaves.

And the matter-eater section… pulsed. To Ryan, it almost looked like the greenish-brown metal had transformed into moss. It retracted and extended ever so slightly in a way that seemed oddly reminiscent of breathing. After watching it for a moment, he had the oddest feeling that the metal was alive. It might not hit all the criteria laid out by his first science teacher, but that framework seemed antiquated in this superpowered world.

Looking out over his work, Ryan had to marvel at what he’d created. My old professor would’ve killed to get his hands on these.

He wasn’t quite ready to start making any of his purpose-made panels into a larger device. He wanted to see how the conversion ratio was for these single tiles first. If the solar panels brought enough, then he could start churning out more. He didn’t have near enough for an omni-converter sort of device yet either, but that was alright. It wouldn't be out of reach forever.

Watching the breathing material was somewhat entrancing. Ryan lost himself in thought as he stared at it.

Given the massive changes to his biology when he’d gone all spark-plug, he didn’t particularly care for the idea of trying to become a walking omni-converter right now. For one, he couldn’t afford it by any means. For two, he’d rather wait until he had some sort of regeneration power going before he tried any more biology-fiddling that could potentially leave him vegetative until he could reverse it. And for three...

When he’d first healed himself after getting diamond skin, Ryan had noticed that the cost had changed to reflect what was actually being repaired. When he’d been healing the wounds of the captives, that pattern had remained true. The more unique or specialized - maybe the more energy-dense? - the anatomy he tried to repair, the higher the end cost became. His own increased stats and upgrades reflected the trend. If he wasn’t careful, it might not be possible to fix a life-threatening injury when the time came.

Energy capacity handicapping me again. Ryan thought ruefully. Those solar panels can’t charge fast enough. I’ll also have to weigh the cost of increasing my own capacity against the potential gains of adding more panels.

Lost in concentration as he pondered his ever-expanding list of point purchases, Ryan didn’t hear Lily approach until she was hardly two feet away. The quiet woman waited for a moment, pausing to inspect the now multi-colored ‘scrap metal’ Ryan was busy musing over.

“Sorry to bother you, but I need some seeds and Renee said you’d be able to whip up a few for me. She also figured they’d be cheap enough to not interrupt your work too much." Lily reached out as if to touch the black section of the steel, but seemed to think better of it. "Any luck so far?"

"Some. Figuring out what all can be easily absorbed." Ryan answered. He might’ve flinched away when she spoke, but Lily’s voice had a gentleness to it that served to stall the response.

Ryan shared what each new ‘metal’ was and what he'd figured out so far. Since he was on the topic, he also told her about how he restored energy through food and now electricity. He left nothing out. Since they were bound by blood, there was no reason to. And this way she can tell the others so I don't have to tell the same story a hundred times.

Lily listened with the quiet patience scholarly types always seemed to have. The petite woman never interrupted him, just soaked up the information like a sponge.

Then she did the same thing Ryan's old professors used to do whenever he’d spent far too many hours on a project. She hit him with a game-changing question right out of left field.

"What about trees?" Asked the diminutive biologist, walking around the scrap metal to rap her knuckles on the pine tree behind it for emphasis. "Have you tried absorbing them?"

"Trees?” Ryan echoed surprise. “No, I haven’t. Why?” Her tone was respectful, but he suddenly felt like a student all over again.

Lily's voice adopted a practiced lecture tone as if she were reciting something. "Well, for starters, trees are composed primarily of cellulose. Which is itself just an incredibly long chain of glucose. You know what glucose is, don't you?"

"Sugar." Ryan responded with growing excitement, seeing where the former professor was going now.

"Precisely." Lily waggled a finger at him. "This forest we’re standing in is basically a highly specialized solar-sugar field - one nature has been working at the efficiency of for far longer than those solar panels you whipped up. The potential energy in trees is enormous, which is one reason why forest fires are so large and burn for so long, but you--" she gave him an excited look, her normally reserved nature seeming to fall away as she spoke about her field.

"--you, Mr. Fearless Leader, don't have to burn wood to get at that energy. You can just take it directly. And unlike the rest of us super-vanilla-bean humans, you might be able to digest the glucose in plants. There’d be some CO2 and water release possibly - not to mention plants normally need to add oxygen for this to work - but… hmm. I wonder if--”

She stared off into the distance mumbling lower and lower until her voice trailed off. As he watched, too intrigued to risk interrupting her musings, Lily seemed to come to multiple conclusions. Then she dismissed them all with a wave.

“Anyway. I’m pretty sure you can do it. Can’t be harder than what you did with the generator, right? I don't know what the conversion rate will come out to, but…" Lily's eyes lit up as if she were on the cusp of announcing a new discovery. She clasped her hands together. "Can we give it a go?"

Not one to turn down the wisdom of his betters, especially when they were this cute and enthusiastic, Ryan readily agreed. Who would’ve thought to just go around gnawing on bark for points? Trust the biologist to tell me to just eat the damn trees.

Still, Ryan had learned not to absorb something without a little preparation. Pain was a powerful motivator and he couldn't imagine that channeling solid wood into himself would feel like a warm hug. Just the thought of how many millions of slivers the tree before him could shred into was enough to give serious pause. So before grabbing onto the tree to give it a go, Ryan opened up his power. This time he was very specific with what he wanted.

Would you like to give your left arm the ability to painlessly channel wood and other material into your chest during the energy drain process while retaining previous properties? Cost: 195 points. Yes, or no?

Ryan had no idea why the point cost was so high, given that he was only altering one arm, but he had a feeling it had to do with whatever new substance his power was planning on changing it into. He hit accept with some reluctance, trusting that if Lily's plan worked the energy cost would be more than refunded soon.

Chainsaws tore through his left arm as the change took effect. Ryan gritted his teeth and clutched at his shoulder with the other arm as he fell. The pain brought him to both knees, but he managed not to cry out. It was a close thing. Very close. Next change I make… deadening nerves during... ergghh… future changes.

Lily gasped and rushed over to him. She put her arms out like she wanted to help, but then retracted them with another noise that was an octave higher. "Oh my god, are yo-- what's-- what's wrong with your arm?"

By the time she was done asking, the change was done. Beads of sweat rolled down Ryan's forehead as the pain fled. Ryan wiped them away absently. “Pain is a powerful motivator” Ryan. He chided himself. Why was it always pain? Why not heat or pressure or-- ugh…

"It's fine." Ryan quipped as he regained his feet. “The changes are… let's just say nothing’s free. Even with superpowers.”

Lily looked like she wasn't sure he wasn’t about to fall back over, so he added. "I'm fine, Lily. Once it's over the pain goes with it. See?" Ryan held up his newly upgraded arm and waggled his fingers.

“That’s what I was talking about!” Lily snapped as she pointed at his arm. Confused, Ryan followed her gaze.

A length of his arm had been transformed into smooth wood the color of rich, polished mahogany. It ran from the shoulder down to his hand and then surrounded his entire middle finger. When Ryan's fingers flexed, the now-wooden finger and the rest of his arm moved as well. What is this stuff? Ryan marveled.

"Are you… part plant now?" Lily asked hesitantly, her introverted nature returning to her voice. There was a note in it he couldn’t quite identify. A question somewhere. Lily’s eyes were still wide, but she hadn't retreated. One of her hands reached out slowly to touch his mahogany-toned finger with her own.

He only noticed because of the pressure, and the fact that he was watching her. Other than the slight force being exerted on the rest of his arm, the wooden section had almost no feeling. It felt kind of like a fingernail did, really. Only one that went up all the way up his arm.

Ryan pulled his hand back and Lily did the same. She apologized, but he assured her it was fine. "Sorry for worrying you, I sometimes forget how strange my power is for others."

The former biology professor shook her head quickly, making her red hair swish about her face. "No-no, it's fine! I just-- didn't realize you were doing something. Sorry. Here, before you go again, I'll go uh… stand over there." She hurriedly moved back, getting well out of the way of tree falling distance. Then she gave him an exaggerated thumbs up.

Ryan smirked in amusement. Then he pantomimed slowly reaching for the tree. With a quick motion, he snapped a branch off. The sound made Lily jump, which brought a laugh out of him.

He raised the branch and then his voice so she could hear. "If it's all the same to you, professor. I'm going to start with this first." He waved the branch a bit and watched the professor come to the realization that yes, a branch was a much better idea than trying to swallow a tree through your arm. She didn't come any closer though.

Ryan returned his focus to the wood in his hand. A small part of his mind pointed out that what he was about to do technically counted as staking yourself. Another part chimed in that he already had werewolves as guards and sucked blood to heal himself, so depending on how you looked at it - he was halfway to vampire lord already.

The rest of his mind told those parts to stuff it, and Ryan activated his power. The branch cracked a thousand times over as it merged into his arm as if guided by a vacuum. In terms of points however, the result was negligible. Buuut it still worked. Next up… he glanced at the branch's former owner. The big one.

Ryan placed his left hand on the tree.

Would you like to absorb this tree and the energy within it? Points gained: 3,056.

Warning: Energy gained over your maximum will be lost if not immediately used. There is also a chance it may violently escape.

"Hah… hahah… hahahahhh! Lily! I owe you a fruit basket!" Ryan shouted in triumph.

The former professor rushed over, concern evident on her face. "What happened? Are you alright? Did it--"

"It worked." Ryan said soothingly as he raised his hands towards her. Her expression changed to confusion as the tree was quite obviously still standing. Then understanding dawned as she recalled how he could test his power without using it directly.

"How much? Was it worth it?"

"Oh yes. Hell. Yes, in fact." Ryan could already see a number of his former worries absolving themselves in the near future. Not to mention they would save a ton on gardening costs. Then he remembered Lily had come to him for something, not the other way around.

"Wait, didn't you say you needed… seeds? What kind?" He asked.

Lily appeared to have momentarily forgotten her original request in the excitement as well. Her expression brightened. "Ah, yes! My power can't make something out of nothing, but if I have something… I can make it grow. Tomatoes, lettuce, whatever we want to eat really. Can your power handle making some?”

The smirk from earlier returned to Ryan's face. He patted the pine tree like it was an old friend's shoulder. An old friend he was definitely about to wood chipper for points, buuut that was beside the point. "Yeah... I think I can handle a few seeds."

*********

Absorbing the pine tree turned out to be a rather messy affair. Lily had been right to back up.

Ryan had foreseen this problem after the branch however. So instead of trying to literally fist an entire tree into himself at once, he went about the process in sections. Doing it piecemeal like this kept the spray down to manageable levels and prevented injury to the rest of his non-wooden body. As with the rest of his changes, each section took only a few seconds of grating chainsaw-like noise and rushing wind as large sections of tree - roots and all - were sucked into his arm one by one.

It took about ten minutes or so per tree, mostly hampered by gravity and the fact that both soil and rock weren’t on the menu. They tended to careen in exciting directions when the whole arm-vortex act got started. By the fifth tree, Ryan had fallen into a groove with the entire process.

He worked like a man possessed for the rest of the day. Stopping only for a single meal - more to give himself a minute to connect with his people than out of any real desire to eat. Their progress was encouraging and he created a number of tools Sheila requested at lunch so they could keep working. The rest of the requests put forth to him, aside from Lily’s growing seedstore, were put off till dinner.

All told, Ryan was able to absorb 48 trees by the time his people came looking for him for dinner. Only one relatively minor incident marred his progress - a fallen log he hadn’t seen was being held by the branches of a nearby tree. When Ryan hoover’d it, the log fell and broke painfully over his shoulders. Luckily for him, the wood had been worn brittle by time and bugs so it was more of a shock than anything else.

The solar panels were a complete success. He pulled just over 2,000 points worth of energy from the generator, bringing his total accumulated gain for the day to just over a whopping 150,000 points. Of course, he’d spent them as he went, but looking over the personal upgrades he’d managed to make - his time today had been well spent.

There’d been one surprise as he raised his capacity. A pleasant one, once he’d figured it out. When he’d raised his energy capacity to 250 points, the equation to raise it any further had changed.

Previously, trade off had required his entire max capacity in exchange for a single point of capacity increase. Raising it past 250 required more however. Much more.

It now took double his maximum capacity to afford the next increase - but each increase now yielded him an additional 5 points. A hefty yet overall timesaving discount that Ryan rather appreciated. He’d been dreading raising it a single point at a time.

With that favorable ratio Ryan was able to more than triple his maximum ‘charge’.

Total energy capacity increase for the day: 230 raised to 800 at a cost of 121,590 points.

Ryan stopped at 800, figuring that was a more-than-respectable jump for a single day’s work. Thereafter he’d started making solar panels out of trees. Without using any of the scrap, the cost wasn’t friendly… but it wasn’t outside his new capabilities. And he couldn’t deny that a small part of him found amusement in being eco-friendly by clearing the environment.

Would you like to create a solar panel to your previous specifications? Cost: 761 points. Yes, or no?

Ryan managed 30 additional panels before dinner. He had some of his people help lug them over to the new solar farm area and get each set up for tomorrow. The cost was high - almost 23 thousand points - but with 40 panels soaking it in each day Ryan could expect eight thousand points per day of sunshine. For free.

Those were numbers he could definitely live with. Not to mention the base would have its own steady power source if needed.

The last four thousand or so points for the day went towards the various building materials and other requests his newly appointed staff had brought to him. Despite what earlier this morning would have felt like a ton to work with, when it came to base and community building, the total ended up being little more than a drop in the bucket.

Making this place both livable and defensible is going to take more than just a day’s work. Maybe more than a week. I need more time. Ryan realized as he walked towards his new sleeping bag.

…

Then he froze. A simple question popped into his head.

If I need more time, why not just cut out sleep?

Excitement at the prospect of finally not being beholden to one of humanity’s greatest time-wasters, Ryan checked his power.

Would you like to remove the need for sleep with no ill effects? Cost: 580 points per day of sleep skipped. Yes, or no?

Frowning at the strangely high cost and feeling his rush die down considerably, Ryan altered his attempt. He wanted it to show why this change - something that certainly didn’t sound like it should be that expensive - demanded such a high amount.

Daily upkeep cost breakdown:

240 points (total cost from attributes) 40 points (total cost from upgrades) 300 points (total cost from superpower)

= 580 points.

Hu-uh. Well, when you put it like that… seems sort of reasonable. Sleep is when the body normally repairs itself from the strain of the day, so the attribute cost makes sense. Same for the upgrades. Apparently my editor power costs more than both to maintain.

He pondered that for a minute, considering what it said both about the rarity of his power and how important sleep must be for races like orcs or elves with their insanely high attributes. Not to mention how, despite the evolution, superhumans still shared quite a bit with their predecessor.

Ultimately, he was still paying to skip 8 or more hours of recuperation with energy that Ryan could easily make back in that time. The cost was still worth it for now. In the future though, it might be better to just get some rest.

Ryan made the change.

He spent the rest of the night clearing the woods as his people slept. Reasoning that the more he helped now, the better off they’d all be, Ryan poured all of the energy he acquired in the night into filling as many of his people’s requests as possible. By the time the sun came up he’d piled tall heaps of construction materials, furniture, clothing, tactical equipment, and other necessities around the clearing.

Lucas and his wife offered to help move everything around during their shift. Carrie finally began to open up and, in stark contrast to her husband, kept up a running stream of conversation as the hours passed. Her sense of humor proved to be rather dark and ribald, which fit in well with Ryan’s own. Their company went a long way towards making the monotonous work he was doing actually somewhat enjoyable. By the end of their shift even Lucas was cracking wise, though his own brand of humor was much tamer than his spouse’s.

After having fulfilled all the requests he could manage and a few more for good measure, Ryan wiped the sweat from his brow and together the trio watched as dawn’s first light spilled out over what looked like either a hoarder’s wet dream or a junkyard owner’s last nightmare.

Carrie made a comment about leaving the plumbing to the others so she could get her own worked on and took her leave. Lucas gave Ryan the questioning eyebrow, but Ryan waved him off. He wasn’t about to get in the way of his friend’s good time. The big wolf quickly followed his wife down the entrance to their newly walled off room with a goofy yet expectant grin.

If the cave’s a rockin’, don’t come knockin’. Ryan thought with amusement as the pair left. He looked over towards where Renee was still sleeping, but decided not to bother her. Instead he breathed in deep of the crisp forest air.

It was sweet. Pine-scented.

A new day of promise lay before him. Ryan was, if anything, more excited for today’s experiments than he had been for the day prior’s. Yesterday had been about growing.

Today… Ryan thought with smug satisfaction as he pictured the various badass upgrades he had planned.

Today is about showing.