The Garden

“”This tree runs quality tests””

If my guesses are correct, then I’m screwed. I am basically food. Well, nothing I can do right now, I got a bigger problem in front of me: the virus. After choosing the skill, I was given 10 seconds to prepare before I left this “space”. With this in mind, I put aside all my doubts and concentrated on the, previously postponed, battle.

“Virus Type B” Is Destroying Your Membrane

60% Chance to defend

“60% huh… That’s not bad” I muttered.

However, I had a plan. If I see that the fight isn’t going to end up well, I will use Cell Division. At worst, I would lose half of my points and energy but I’d still keep my skills.

“It’s getting smaller?” I was shocked.

The monstrosity I was versing was slowly shrivelling up. When I thought so, the virus stepped back and fled away. Even if I wanted to continue battling, I wouldn’t catch up with it. It's movements were on a whole different level in terms of speed. In addition to this, it was not worth chasing those viruses. I knew this as I'd seen other cells get ambushed before by a whole group of viruses after being dragged by one of them.

The sight of your enemy running away after picking up a fight was frustrating. What’s more infuriating is that I couldn’t do anything about it. For now.

“Virus Type B” Has Been Absorbed Partially

You have produced 30 Energy and 120 Points

Energy Reduced → 70 *(100-70)*

“”Well… At least it’s over.”” I sighed.

Mentally exhausted, I left the place. I decided it was better to go back where I had been farming, a secure and peaceful site.

>

During these 24 days I’ve only been able to absorb 210 Basic Nutrients because the amount has decreased. The reason must be the updraft.

There were around 80 cells gathered in “the roots” and no viruses nearby. After checking twice, I decided to join the group after investing all my points in Speed “A” and Energy Consumption “A”. The only ability left is Membrane, which is over budget.

Afterwards, a sudden updraft dragged all the cells at an unbelievable speed. Such was the speed that I lost consciousness.

As soon as I woke up I unconsciously closed my “eyes”.

“So bright.” I thought.

“Huh? Brightness?”

The scenario had changed. Vast green landfills surrounded me.

“What 's this? Wind?” I wondered.

The feeling caused by a pleasant and charming breeze. I had forgotten this sensation.

“Welcome!”

Before I could react, I heard a man’s voice. I snapped back to reality and looked above me.

“”A human?”” I thought.

I was shocked. A muscular fully grown white male was standing in front of me. He was wearing glasses and had a long-black beard.The place I was in looked like an herbalist shop. Shelvings with small trees were located behind the man and my prediction was that I was in the tree’s leaf.

“Hi…” A trembling young voice filled the room.

''Sigh… Another beggar” The man muttered. It wasn’t loud enough for the client to hear it, but I clearly heard it. The shopkeeper's face darkened, his previous gentle attitude disappeared and his tone changed.

“What do you want, kid?” said harshly. “”He is looking down on the customer”” I thought.

“I wa...wa...wa...want a...a...a se...seed.” The kid stuttered.

This kid had a short, skinny body and looked quite nervous. He was wearing torn clothing, mud covered his face and his long-black hair was curly probably because of dirt. Anyone could tell apart that he was poor and hadn’t eaten a proper meal for years.

“You can’t buy anything without possessions” The man stated with a straight face.

“Wha..what?” The kid looked confused at the shopkeeper’s response.

“I said that I won’t sell it to you if you don’t have anything to offer, mendicant.” As the man said this, he sat down.

“No,..I ha..ha..have somet...something. I do.” He emphasized this twice.

“Ha…” he sighed. “What do you have to offer? A castle?” ,said with a sarcastic tone.

The shopkeeper adopted a hostile attitude from this point onwards. He was losing patience with the kid. However, the last thing he said was strange to me. “”Offer? A castle? Don’t they use currency?”” I questioned this while thinking they may have a barter system. The only thing I could do now was analysing the situation.

“I ca...can off..offer you a co...cow”, the flimsy kid replied.

“¡¡¡¡HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!” the shopkeeper started to laugh. “Ha… That’s a good joke.”

“It..it’s true” the kid firmly said.

“Yo, kid. Are you making fun of me? Do I look like a fool who would believe that? You are just a brat that probably lives from hand to mouth every month.” he smirked.

This is not going to end up well. This kid doesn’t have enough confidence to confront this guy’s impolite attitude. “”This kid is like my past self.”” As I thought this, a bitter feeling invaded me.

“IT 'S THE TRUTH!!” The kid suddenly shouted.

His scared and embarrassed face had vanished. Instead, he now had a serious and confident expression. He yelled those words at the shopkeeper, who was stunned for a moment. He kept quiet for a while, most likely deciding what to do with this stubborn kid.

“”I was wrong. This kid can’t be compared to me at all. He’s completely different.”” My admiration for this kid started to grow. “”What a sight.”” A slimy kid who stuttered at the beginning of the conversation, now had such a daring look.

“All right kid. Calm down. You will bring shame upon myself if people see you with that appearance inside my shop” he finally said after one minute.

“Yes, I’m sor..sorry” The stuttering came back.

“As I know you aren’t going to give up, I will sell it to you. However, I’ll only give you a low-quality seed if the cow is in bad shape. Medium-quality if it is healthy. Is that okay?”, while saying this, he pointed at different trees. One of those was mine, and it was when he mentioned the ‘low’ quality seeds.

“Ye..yes! Do yo..you want to che...check it right no..now?”, the kid asked.

“Is the place nearby?”

“Ye...yes, it will on..only take te..ten minutes.”

“Ok, let's get going then”, the shopkeeper stated.

After this, both of them left through the door silently.

“”I hope they’ll come to an agreement”” I wished.

""Wait, how did I even understand them?"" I suddenly asked myself. Despite this, I didn't think too deeply about it. It may be true that plants can hear other's conversations, as it was said in my previous world.

""The horse whisperer was it called?"" I wondered. I had read a book written by Nicholas Evans which was similar to this, however, in this case there were not horses but plants.

"That may explain why I can understand them" I thought.

While waiting, I realised I had the form of a viscous gel. My flagellum had disappeared, but I could still crawl with a cilium-like structure. When I looked around, there were more gels in the leaf. It looked like “The Garden” was the tree’s leaves in the end. Afterwards, I slowly approached one of those gels to see if I could learn more about my current condition. It was impressive, though there were lots of gels, the leaf didn’t flatter nor move when I crawled.

“”We may not weigh at all””, this was the only answer I could come up with.

After inspecting another gel I confirmed that I had the same appearance of a low quality “seed”, although, in my opinion, I wasn’t one. I tried to touch the membrane of the cell in front of me to see if something happened. So it did.

“Low Quality Cell Absorbed” -- You have produced 100 Energy and 1000 Points

>

Name: Luke

Being: Unique Superior Cell

Energy: 5.990/1.000.000

>

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Speed: A (-)

Metabolism: A (-)

Energy Consumption: A (-)

Membrane: B (0/4000)

Points: 1500

Speed: Movement speed. Current Multiplier X4

Metabolism: Efficiency of energy production. Current: 1 Energy/nutrient

Energy Consumption: Amount needed to survive. Current: 0.02/nutrient

Membrane: Ingest nutrients/Defend. Current: 3 Nutrients/bite - 55% Chance to defend

Passive: Cellular respiration

Active: Movement (Cilia) // Cell Division