Thanks for your patience, here is the beggining of the second arc of the story.

For all of you who have read Daniel black and love the building aspect of it, I'm planning on taking this story in that direction. The example of using the plants for building here is a bit crude still, mostly because the MC is still learning how to use his abilities but my plan is to improve on that.

Hope you like this chapter and if you hace any suggestion, please feel free to comment.

Captain’s log, date… 23 days after the world went to hell or… after the merge, or…

Well, honestly we are not entirely sure what to call it yet, but everyone knows what I’m referring to anyway so…

After the first nine days, the elemental merges have stopped and the world seems to be going back to normal. At least if you ignore the monsters spawning at night. The climate on the other hand has been severely affected, one day is hot like summer, the next day is windy and raining all the day and other days just starts snowing without notice.

The terrain changes as we move, every day we wake up to see something that wasn’t there the last day and although we can still drive without losing ourselves in this new world I fear the day when our maps can’t help us anymore.

We tried to use the radio, to reach for other survivors but so long there has been no luck in doing so. Despite our efforts both John and Sam agree that it’s not a problem with our radio. There is simply no one transmitting out there. We are alone and that…

That scares the hell out of me, and we must face a horrible truth.

The world has changed, the very foundations have shifted to incorporate a new system, a new energy, a new everything. The laws of physics have been reshaped under or very eyes and the world has been upgraded to a new future.

Welcome to Earth 2.0.

The crew of the Zombinator is scared and confused, and yes, we’ve been hurt by this change like everybody else, but we remain united and despite our trials and tribulations the mission of the Zombinator remains the same.

To boldly go where no zombie has gone bef-

“Ouch! What did you throw at me?” I asked touching my arm.

“A copyright strike in the shape of the TV remote,” answered Knight pointing at the object in the ground. “You’ve been trying to rip-off Star trek since we started, you know this was going to come.”

Sam snickered and I glared at him with evil in my eyes.

“First, if the FBI decided right now to come here and do something about it I would be more happy that anything else,” I said and then pointing at Sam. “And second, if you laugh again I will put you to answer the space phone.”

“I don’t really care, you already put me driving the Zombinator. That is racist enough and I think I’m going to have a talk with our human resources guy,” said Sam smiling.

I stared at him for a moment.

“Our human resources guy and probably all human resources guys are now zombies, so good luck with that. And you are missing the entire point of your job,” I said walking close to him. “We are the A Team.”

I pointed at him. “You are B.A., the only one allowed driving the Zombinator and a professional mechanic that can turn everything into a weapon,” I walked close to my brother. “You are Face, charismatic, useful in battle and outside of it, but for the most part we have you because you are my brother and we needed a fourth guy.” I walked further to where John was sitting cleaning his rifle. “John is obviously Hannibal because he is the only one with some degree of knowledge about tactics and fighting in whatever he did before all of this. His plans will fail almost all the times until the ending when everything will go fine, but that’s okay. Unfortunately we don’t have cigars…”

John smiled.

“Which means you are Murdock,” finished Knight pointing at me.

“Wasn’t it obvious? I’m awesome, funny, and a little bit crazy. I’ve been in a hospital for the last few years, I made Sam mad at me and I took a few classes in how to pilot a helicopter with S-” I stopped breathing for a second.

Knight noticed quickly.

“I see your point,” he said trying to change theme. “So, according to your logic and by the power of the TV rules in the eighties we can’t die if the Zombinator rolls and explodes in midair.”

“Exactly,” I nodded.

“Good to know,” he sighed and went back to the book he was reading. “Why are you doing these videos anyway? It’s not like if someone is going to watch them.”

I moved back in place and started the video I just made. It was short and ended with me getting hit with a TV remote. And that was just fine with me, I’ve said everything I could say about what was happening.

“They are important,” I said looking at him. “Someday, and someday not very far I will be known as the savior of humanity. I will protect the survivors and guide them across the lands to find a place to call home where they will remember my efforts and courage making me a statue of gold. It will be a horrible statue and I will hate it with a passion but it will bring hope. Some day when I’m gone they will write songs about me and make temples where people will pray in my name. And then they will see a video of me doing stupid shit and they will know that I was never a God. The people will rise to attack the preachers that tried to use my name to gain political power, the temples will be burn and everyone will be back to their happy life without having to worry about religious bullshit.”

Knight and John stared at me. Sam was trying too hard not to laugh.

“That, or just for people in the future to have an accurate recording of how the world was shortly after the merge,” I finished.

After that they ignored me and went back to their things. I didn’t care, I knew… It was still weird to know how they were feeling at any moment in time. I knew that right know they were fine but there was something else. I felt it before during the first merges, they were worried and scared because of me and I didn’t dare to ask why.

Mostly because I had a pretty accurate idea, I’ve had more information than them. I’ve come back from the death. I had memories of magic and spells. I had messages telling me about the merges when they had none and although I hadn’t told them I had a mysterious quest that from my suspicions could possibly be from the creator or the game master of the new system.

I simply had more access to the system than them and it was showing. Apparently it was also a bit scary when I started to talk about mana and read their emotions so, I tried to be inconspicuous.

I was still thinking about that when Sam talked.

“Eh… guys. We are starting to run out of energy,” he said looking back slightly. “We have to stop and recharge the batteries.”

I looked outside the windows. We were driving cross-country or almost, we were technically still in the road but the grass had started to grow on top of it and some parts were just broken by the earthquake.

We were not in a good position. For the last days we had been driving close to mountains or hills, places in high ground that were defensible, or caves were we could hide for the night. The Zombinator was tough but it was better if we didn’t get overrun by monsters. For our days inspecting the behavior of monsters they seemed to not like the day and they rarely appeared outside of their hunting grounds but during the night…

The night was scary, and although we had managed some measure of achievement hunting wolves and evil trees the night was another world altogether. You just didn’t fight in the night if you wanted to survive.

“Not a good place to stop,” said Knight summarizing our thoughts.

I grunted but kept looking. There was something I could do about that but I preferred not to do it because manipulating plants was very exhausting. It would be better to find a place to hide that was already there but after a few moments we realized that today we were not going to find a place like that.

I walked close to Sam.

“Can you pass through those trees?” I asked pointing at a little elevation on the ground where some trees were growing close together.

He drove closer and said. “Yes I can pass the Zombinator through that, but why?”

I shrugged. “I’ll improvise some shelter.”

“How?” he asked and then watching the trees his eyes widened in understanding. “Are you sure?”

I shrugged again.

“He is right, Adam. All the times you start playing with plants you almost black out,” said my brother looking concerned.

“Yes, well, I pass out a lot lately. It’s part of my cunning plan to see if I can develop an ability by virtue of losing consciousness,” I said.

The argument didn’t hold much water and Knight looked at me trying to make a point without actually saying anything.

“We don’t have that many options, do we? I can do it. It’s still soon and I can take my time. Don’t worry,” I said. “And in any case I think it’s time to grind my abilities. They are too useful to let them sit without leveling them up.”

He was still giving me the look but I could feel his mind changing opinion followed by a slow nod to Sam who started driving again to the trees.

“Don’t overdo it,” said my brother.

I nodded and the Zombinator pulled between the trees, there was not a lot of space to maneuver but it would work. We stopped and I opened the door after making sure briefly there was nothing outside. The air was chilly but nothing I couldn’t stand for now. From behind I heard the door opening again and my brother walking out spear in hand.

I gave him a look and he smiled.

“Just making sure nothing jumps from a tree and kills you.”

I grunted starting to shape the mana in my hand into a seed. I walked to him and planted the seed in him.

“Just making sure you don’t die protecting me,” I smiled.

His need to protect me had always been annoying, but his fear was real and a few minutes later I had my spells both in me and him as a precaution. Then I got to work. The overwhelming sensation came back the moment I touched the tree.

“How are you going to do it? They are a bit far away from each other to simply join the branches, right?” asked Knight.

“I’m still thinking this through, give me a few minutes,” I said.

The gap between the trees was big enough for the Zombinator to pass which was bad. I didn’t think I could grow new trees in between without killing myself so that was out too. The roots were a better idea to work with and thanks to the psychopathic tree of doom I had a good guess in how to begin.

But that was just part of it, this was going to be an slow job and I had to take as much as possible from it. I checked my abilities quickly.

SkillsSeed of regrowth Lv. 2Barkskin Lv. 2Breath of the world Lv. 1Mana absorption Lv. 1Inspect Lv. 3Philosophiæ naturalis Lv. 2Empathy Lv. 6Enhanced coordination Lv. 1Green hand Lv. 2

Despite my efforts in healing and using my other magic abilities they remained at level two. That was weird because I had been using them quite a lot and it was a while since I get level two in some of them. Maybe level two was a bottleneck of some kind. I’ll had to figure something out.

I activated Breath of the world to regenerate my stamina while I worked. With luck I wouldn’t tire out. I couldn’t move while I was using it but I didn’t care much about that. In comparison, the requirement of Green hand was a lot worse. If I had to drop to the ground every time I wanted the grass to do something I…

I blinked. Shit, I was an idiot.

I dropped to the ground and started undoing the shoelaces in my boots. Then I realized that I was even more of an idiot and got up again unequipping the bots directly into the last spot in my inventory.

I moved my feet in the grass breathing deeply and feeling the connection with the grass. It worked perfectly, in fact it worked so well that when I tried to move the life mana from the environment it responded faster. I stopped to think. It kind of made sense, the mana of life comes from life (duh) and a closer connection to life should help me getting more of it.

A hand waved across my vision and I found Knight staring at me. “Are you okay there?”

“Sure. I just realized that I’m a genius at the level of Einstein,” I said smiling.

“Because you stared at the infinite for five minutes and took off your shoes?” He asked with a click of his tongue.

I sighed. “Okay, maybe not Einstein level but… Apple bar genius level?”

“So you are an idiot,”

“Wow, you got that very quick. Now who is a nerd?” I asked. “Okay, never mind. Let’s begin.”

I put my hand over the tree and opened my mind to it and the mana.

The first step was something simple. I told the closest trees to bring the largest roots outside and then infused my mana into the roots to make them grow faster reaching between them. When the root of a tree touched another I made them join. A quick snap and the roots broke just a little at the tip fusing slowly one to another. In a few minutes the three closest trees were connected by the root and for some reason, perhaps that now I was physically touching those trees too, my control over them grew.

That was okay because the next step was going to be more complicated. I ordered the roots to splint into more roots growing directly upwards like little poles. My idea was to make some sort of net out of roots but it went wrong very fast. The roots simply weren’t strong enough to stand on their own.

I focused on the branches and made two of them grow and fuse together making an arch, but it was weak. It could stand the weight of the roots but wouldn’t do much as a defense. I smiled and patted the grass with my foot slightly. With a green flutter the grass jumped to the task embracing the trees until all of it was covered in a thick grass blanket. In many sense the grass was tougher than the tree, it was more resilient and elastic, you could cut it but not break it and here that was going to help. With a thought I made the grass grow around the branches, but not like it was used to.

I taught the grass to weave and despite how difficult that might have seemed the grass learned quickly. The leaves knitted together to the shape of a simple fabric that covered the branches and strengthened them.

Then I could go back to the roots. They grew back, their weight being supported by the fabric of grass that was following them and quickly snapped around the branches joining them in a powerful embrace. The result was something resembling a prison cage with bars made out of roots and grass, but I wasn’t done. With a few more orders the roots grew in all directions filling the gaps and finally the grass covered everything in green.

I moved back form the tree slightly dizzy. I wasn’t sure how much time had passed since I started but I calculated that it took me twenty minutes to complete that wall. That was fast enough and I didn’t feel very tired. I sighed and looked back at my brother.

Knight was staring at the wall of plants.

“My eyes are up here,” I said.

“And your wall is there,” he said ignoring me. “Do you think that can stand to a pack of wolves?”

“You can try for yourself,” I shrugged noncommittally, but then knight brandished his spear at the wall. “With your flaming spear no you idiot!”

He blinked and nodded equipping the bat. There followed a few minutes of non-stop trashing at the green wall where Knight tried to break every part of it and achieved nothing until he stopped.

“Okay, is solid enough. You think you can do the same with the rest?”

I nodded and went back to work.

It took me over two hours of work talking to plants but I made a wall surrounding the Zombinator. By the end of it I was tired and breathing with difficulty, even the mana was starting to get thinner around me. That was something new, I guess using so much of it for hours would do that. With a slow and careful movement I disconnected myself from the trees. The alien consciousness vanished like if it had never been there, leaving behind a feeling of completion and thrill.

It was tiring but addictive. I was still and touching the grass and it was singing, almost begging me to keep going, but I couldn’t. Something told me I shouldn’t keep like that for too much time but just as an afterthought I gathered the little mana that remained around and powered a spell. It was nothing complicated or even new, it was just the logical next step in my ability to manipulate plants.

I blessed the grass to grow.

Subs-skill from Green hand acquired: Blessing of Growth.

Green hand Lv. 3

Learned ability.As a druid all plants beings recognize you as a protector of nature. You can control and feel plants in your surroundings.

-Blessing of growth: In other times the druids helped the world blessing the fields with huge harvests. The growth rate and duration depends on the amount of mana used.Active ability.

I nodded to myself closing my eyes slightly. I know what it did without reading it. I could feel it and my memories filled in the blanks.

“Are you okay?” asked Knight.

“I’m great,” I said breathing deeply. “I mean, I want to sit somewhere and don’t get up in a week but besides that… I’m fine.” Advertisement Previous

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