“Are you going to explain what that was all about?” Samantha demanded as soon as they arrived back on New Earth.

“Which part?” Vork said blandly as they removed their weapons and started packing things away.

“Which... ok you know what? Fine, let’s start with who they were. You called them scavengers?”

He grunted. “Scavenger is a mid range class that a lot of a certain kind of person ends up as, so we call people in that group scavengers. As to who and what they are, they’re scum. No allies, no communities, they just drift around to make what money they can, however they can. They go around raiding low grade worlds, looting battlefields and generally picking on anyone weaker than themselves.”

She nodded, mentally checking it off her list. “Ok, not great people, will avoid in the future. The treaty?”

“A few dozen millennia ago, Kurtza and a few other of the larger empires got together and formed the treaty, a bunch of laws on how to handle interactions between races. Since then they’ve become the standard interplanetary legal system.”

“Great, the universe isn’t entirely lawless, so let’s get to the big one. What did they mean when they said we’ll all be dead?!” she shouted at him, causing Vork to wince.

“First off, they were exaggerating. It’s unlikely your species will be wiped out completely. It’s far more probable that you’ll just lose your home world and the survivors of your people will be forced into becoming nomads.”

“Do you actually expect that to make me feel better?” she questioned in disbelief.

“No, of course I don't.” He admitted. “But what do you want me to say? This is just how the System is, where the weak die out and the strong get stronger.”

Samantha was shocked, the teacher who she’d thought was supporting her honestly expected her to die. Not just her, but all of humanity.

“How can you say that? How can you look me in the eyes and tell me we’re going to die so calmly?!”

It was Vork’s turn to look angry. “Samantha, I care for all the pupils I've trained, and you are no exception, but humanities fate is neither my fault nor my problem. When the treaty was made our empire spanned over a hundred thousand worlds. Five hundred years ago we only had ten thousand and now we have lost half of even those. My people are losing worlds quickly, and those are the ones that matter to me.

The reason why we took on this quest from the System, to raise and train you for six months, is because the rewards will help stabilize our people. Until the end of our time here I will do everything in my power to make sure that you and your race are ready for you’ll face. But once that time comes I’ll put my own people’s well being first, just as I’m sure you would.”

“Well then, when that time comes, I hope you realise that as you watch us rise above your empire, that you should’ve been allies instead of abandoning us.” Samantha uttered before storming off.

Breaking into a run once she was out of sight, she raced home as fast as she could. Throwing open the front door, she went for the kitchen to find her father and hugged him, bursting into tears.

“What’s wrong Sammy?” he said as he held her tightly, looking her over carefully. “Are you hurt anywhere?”

She shook her head, trying to talk through her tears. “W-we met some people, and Vork drove them off, b-but they said... and he said...”

Thomas winced and rocked her gently. “Ah that. You’re mother and I knew you’d figure that out pretty soon.”

Pushing him back, Samantha looked at her father, her eyes wide. “Y-you knew?”

“A lot of people are starting to work it out I think, the Kurtza are struggling to keep it a secret. Our trade instructor started sweating when we asked her about what to do in the future and we forced it out of her. I'm so sorry sweetie.”

“S-so that’s it then? All this work and we’re still gonna just... die?”

“Oh sweetie... that’s nonsense. We’re tougher than that. Sure, it’s gonna get bad, and things will get pretty rough for all of us, but we’ll pull through. Our family always does.”

“Promise?” she asked.

“Of course, the Gillian’s are nothing if not survivors.”

~

Numb, was the best word to describe how he currently felt. Nothing hurt, but like the worst case of pins and needles he’d ever had, he knew without a shadow of a doubt that the second he moved, he’d regret it. Still, nothing gets better by ignoring it, so mustering up all of his energy, he forced himself to sit up.

And was immediately proven right.

“Everything huuuuurts....” he whined to no one in particular.

“MARCUS FRIEND!” Datov cried, the thoughts echoing around his head.

“Datov, I'm ok now.” He called out weakly. “You brought me back to life, good job buddy.”

“Friend alive? Buddy?” Datov quickly asked.

Gingerly Marcus began to move, pushing away debris as he answered. “Alive thanks to you. I died because of you as well, but accidents happen. And it’s not what I thought I’d be talking about, but buddy is something you might call a friend. Did you have any trouble... reanimating me?”

“Datov buddy! Looked, couldn’t find! Give up, give mana everywhere!”

“Everywhere? For you, what counts as... ah.”

Looking around as he struggled to his feet, he saw that the area for a good mile or two around the shore had been scoured clean, the sand of the beach melted into glass. The ocean looked like it had fared better, but judging by just how clean it looked, Marcus had a feeling that the original waters had evaporated, along with the fish in it.

“Sorry that we ruined your beach Datov, what I saw was really nice.” He sighed.

“Beach nice. Friend better.” Datov stated firmly.

“I'm touched.” Marcus said as he began to walk away from the scarred area. “Well we’ve learned a few things from this, even if it didn’t go to plan.”

“Learn?” they asked.

“We did indeed. I learned that you’re not able to manage what I’d call precise actions. You learned that what’s small for you isn’t small for others. We both learned that you can successfully bring me back to life. I’d still like to avoid that, so I need to accept that I need to get tougher.”

“Friend dying bad.” Datov agreed.

“We also need to figure out a way for you to locate me better. I don't want you to have to blast the area every time.”

“Hard find...” Datov said, before trailing off.

“Hmm? Giving it some thought? Well you do that, meanwhile it looks like our friendly System wants to tell me some things.” Marcus said before pulling up his latest array of notifications.

-You have been raised from the dead. Due to your title of ‘Evergreen’ you receive no penalty-

-Through your experiences you mana affinities have changed-

“I think I've seen the word before, but does the system mean by affinities?” he muttered looking for an explanation.

-Affinity – Mana and magic come in limitless different types, which the System does its best to categorize. A person’s affinity represents how well they can absorb, understand, use and resist that form of mana. Affinities can change through heavy training or extreme events-

Marcus nodded. “Magic flavours, I can get my head around that. So according to this sheet here, my affinities are...”

Affinities

Nature +50%

Fire -50%

Light +25%

Dark -25%

Mundus +10%

Death +5%

“Well nature certainly makes sense, can’t get more natural than a tree, and fire for the same reason I guess. Playing with photosynthesis leans me towards light so I can follow that, death... yeah I know that way better than I should. So what’s Mundus?”

-Mundus - A complex offshoot of the life mana type that makes up the imprint of entire planets. Rarely used, it can be found in powerful creation pr preservation spells-

“That is definitely Datov’s fault.” He said upon reading.

“Datov’s fault?” The planet asked, hearing its name.

“Nothing bad, I can just handle your mana better now. Which is still not at all by the way so don't test it.”

“Mana... Datov remembers!” Datov exclaimed.

“You remember your mana?”

“Looking for friend. Hard. Find other wobble!”

“Other- hang on, are you saying you felt someone else arrive on you?!” Marcus shouted, stopping dead in his tracks.

“Yes! Other! More friends!” They said happily.

Marcus thought quickly. “Datov I need you to promise me something: do not try to talk to them.”

“But new friend?” They asked, confused.

“We got very, very lucky with how I survived, but if you try to talk to them, they’ll probably die, and stay dead.”

There was a moment of silence before he got a reply.

“...Ok.”

“Promise?”

“Datov say ok!” They said grumpily.

He sighed with relief. “Thank you Datov, and in return I’ll do my best to talk to them for you. Now is it only one person or a group?”

“Think one. Hard see.”

“Right, and where are they now?”

“Lost when fix friend. Think come see mana!”

“The mana... the mana you used to revive me? You think they’re coming here?” he asked.

“Yes! Go find?”

Marcus thought about it before shaking his head. “No, I think if they’re coming here, it’d be better to wait for them. Can you try and nudge the animals away from them? It’d be sad if our new friend got eaten before they got here.”

“Try! But what friend do?” Datov agreed.

“Well, thanks to your efforts there’s plenty of loose timber and flattened ground around here. if we’re going to have guests, we should have a shelter for them to stay in.”

“Marcus make?”

“I was a trained architect, so I'm sure I can make a wooden hut or even a log cabin. How hard could it be?”

~

“Is done?” Datov asked doubtfully.

Marcus hesitated. “...Sure. I’ll admit it was harder than I thought it’d be, so I had to change my plans a bit, but it’ll do, I think.”

The ‘hut’ had failed almost immediately, with Marcus realising that plans, power tools, workmen and construction materials couldn’t all be replaced with sticks. The hut hadn’t improved beyond a few piled logs before he switched his plans. Now it was a lean-to that, if you wriggled down and stayed low, you could technically go inside.

“Leaning.”

“A lean-to is a classic building, one of the simplest structures you can make to protect yourself from the elements.”

“Am elements. Falling.”

Sure enough at Datov’s words the layer of branches he’d tried to weave together slipped off the side and fell to ground. This left him almost where he’d started two hours ago, except now many branches were broken by his efforts.

“Well shit.” He swore.

“Shit!”

“Ah, sorry Datov, that’s another bad word. But you’re right, this isn’t working.” Marcus admitted, looking at the sad pile in front of him.

“Give up?”

“No, I don't like giving up, especially when I know I can do it. Maybe... I need a little help.” He said thoughtfully.

“Help!” Datov said, causing the ground to begin trembling.

“Stop! I have a plan. Now, I can use mana to move the plant around, but I don't have any mana, where you have all the mana, but can’t move a plant without levelling a forest. Do you see where I'm going with this?”

“... Give mana?” Datov offered.

“That’s the plan, but don't actually give it to me. Last time you touched me with mana it was way more than I could hold, and now I can’t hold any. Can you just bring the mana... closer? Then I’ll try to grab it myself.”

“Work?”

“I have absolutely no idea, but let’s give it a shot. Ready when you are.”

Rooting into the ground, Marcus didn’t have to wait long before he felt the man moving below. Feeling like he was dangling over a raging river, he carefully reached out and tried to grab a piece, only to have it fall away from him, unable to hold the mana in his broken pool.

“Working?” Datov asked, intrigued.

“Not yet, but not failing either. Let me try something else.” He said, frowning in concentration.

He could move the mana, he thought, just not hold it. So maybe if he just used it while it was still under Datov’s control...

Slowly, he separated a thin string of mana from the flow, guiding and stretching it up towards where he needed it. It still all flowed back into the main jet of power the planet was producing, but there was now a single point on it where it touched the wood that would become his hut. Then with the mana line in one hand and the wood in the other he activated his ability.

Green Touch had been slow to move plants before, and now that it had become Personal Growth, he’d assumed it would be slower. But whether it was the increased level or sheer amount of mana pouring through his hands the wood flowed like water. The dead twig he held sprang to life, growing faster than he could track, magically created wood pouring out into the image he desired. It was hard, the concentration needed for the image, using the ability, and holding the thread of mana without breaking it made it an arduous task, but after a minute he thought it was enough.

Looking at the result, he was happy with it, though he did realise he’d gotten a bit carried away. The hut was now a sprawling two story building, fully furnished with wooden furniture, a kitchen that served no purpose and a bedroom he’d never use.

But it was a house, one that he knew well. The one that he designed a long time ago, that he’d always planned to build for himself once he settled down. And now here it was, made of wood on the blasted beach of a living planet in a far off corner of a foreign universe. But at least he had his double garage, so that was something, he supposed.

“Nicer. Not leaning.” Datov commented with approval.

“It’s definitely several steps up. Thanks for the mana Datov.” He replied happily before spotting another message for the system.

-You have earned enough experience to reach level 2!-

“Oh god what did I kill?!”