To burn a plant was the easy part. The hard part was ensuring that he kept the fire under control. Although smog suffused the area, the heat hadn’t let up. It was that dry, desert heat that withered plants and turned green grass into yellow weeds. In fact, for the plant to be as green and lush as it was, it must be evidence that something hinky was at work.

  In a normal world, without water, the plant wouldn’t survive. That was one thing in Logan’s favor. The plant was unnatural—lush, which should help him keep this manageable.

  The problem was that everything else wasn’t the same. The wooden docks in front of Jack and Logan’s cabins had to be hot to the touch, like walking on burning coals. Anything made of wood—Jack’s cabin, the shed—all of it was a hair trigger away from going up in flames. Not to mention the pine trees surrounding them.

  There was a reason interface fires existed.

  So, he needed to make the fire hot enough that he killed the plant, but not so uncontrollable that it spread to other structures.

  That would take delicate work.

  Taking out his lighter from his spatial collar and holding it in his hand, Logan opened his senses and deployed [Life Fabricator]. Back in the perception trial, he’d figured out how to grow a star. In comparison, this should be child’s play.

  This was the part where [Mimicry Armour] would come in play.

  Flicking on the lighter, Logan latched onto the flame, using [Mimicry Armour] to force it from the lighter to a ball of flame the size of a tennis ball. Furrowing his brow, he then used [Life Fabricator] and envisioned that ball expanding, oxygen feeding it, until it bloomed into the size of a basketball. And yet, it was controllable as if a hidden cushion of air surrounded it, a barrier that wouldn’t let it spread.

  Then clenching his fist, Logan used [Mimicry Armour] to force the fire to hover, then pushed it towards the ground until it was directly over the plant. All of this was so taxing that a dull headache radiated behind his eyes. But compared to the other things he’d tried with the skill, it was nothing.

  And yet, as the flames brushed over top of the plant, it was like he was roasting a wet branch. The plant was too lush and healthy to catch on fire.

  Logan took a step back, narrowing his eyes while he considered the problem.

  He wouldn’t have to worry about keeping it under control if the plant wouldn’t catch on fire in the first place.

  It needed more oxygen.

  Cracking his neck and shifting his shoulders, Logan frowned as he concentrated. This time, instead of using that cushion of air to keep the fire under control, he funneled the air into the hovering flame until it turned from red, to yellow, to blue.

  As he kept funneling oxygen, he imagined a circle of air around the ball of light that kept it contained.

  He’d just created a ball of flame that was so hot it was like a supernova, under his control, at his mercy.

  After that, eliminating the plant would only be a matter of his willpower.

  ***

  Logan rubbed soot from his face, and when his hand came back covered in black charcoal, he gave up and inched his way towards the beach and the edge of the water. Crouching down, he splashed his face and scrubbed his hair. As he got up and shook his head like a dog, letting water fly, he surveyed the scene around him.

  The green bean plant was gone, shrivelled into dust like it had never been there in the first place. From the greenhouse to the neighbour’s property, all the way past Logan’s cabin. He’d cleared out baseball fields worth of the stuff. Baseball fields!

  There was a sharp tang to the air, something that made him swallow and his eyes grow damp. A slight breeze helped to clear it, but together with the smog, this wasn’t a healthy environment.

  Once Logan finished the Build an Empire Quest, he’d return here and deploy the rest of his plan for making this place liveable, but for now, it was the best he could do.

  In addition to Jack’s cabin, Chase and Brooke’s group could occupy Logan’s old property, and the neighbour’s massive house that was more like a resort.

  As he willed out a bottle of water and took huge gulps, he admitted to feeling relief. He was still on a time limit, the clock was ticking, but clearing out the zombie infected plant lessened that festering worry he’d felt since he’d arrived. At least now, he knew that Lara and the kids would be safe.

  And although it had taken time to achieve, he couldn’t forget his massive accomplishment of bringing back Tasha and Jack. A little green bean plant aggravation, his annoyance at Matt… he’d live it all over a thousand times if he achieved the same result. That meant that in addition to growing plants and massive trees, aging people, and building stars… he could save people.

  Save people from infection. Yes, it hadn’t been perfect, and Tasha and Jack still looked like they’d walked off the set of a horror movie, but inside, it was them. That meant that if the Queen Serpent did the same to others, Logan could save them as well.

  He couldn’t hold back a wide grin, his pleasure surging, as he gave Jack’s cabin one more glance and then deployed [Threshold Shift].

  ***

  “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that,” said Lara, swaying on her feet as she swallowed, her face pale. “Give me a plane, give me a car. Heck, give me a bicycle, I just want the world to go back to normal. A world in which my little brother doesn’t beam me up like I’m in Star Trek.” Lara looked around the clearing, staring from the shoreline to Jack’s cabin. “Although I can’t deny that it’s super convenient. You found them, then? Jack’s alive?”

  Sawyer and Hunter had already recovered from the transport. Sawyer twirled around in excitement, and then went right back to playing with Shoot. Logan had been gone for longer than he’d wanted. It was well into early afternoon, but even with that time, the vine cat had made surprising inroads with his nieces, gaining their trust and acting like a playful puppy.

  [Chameleon Vine: Level 25.]

  Shoot leveled up by gaining acceptance, and her new level increase had allowed her to finetune her shifting ability. She was still the size of a lion cub, her tail flicking from side-to-side, but now, the green vines that covered her body had retreated into a solid looking form, as if she were no longer a hedge of interconnected vines, but rather a solid, cohesive animal. Although she could in no way pass for a cat upon closer inspection, from a distance, she looked like a green cat without fur.

  But the one thing she’d kept up was the flowers. Blooming from her ears, from white carnations to violets sprouting from the edge of her tail. If he knew his nieces, that would have delighted them to no end, so why give up a winning strategy?

  Brooke and Chase and the others were behind Lara and the kids, staring around with worried eyes, their bodies full of tension. Huddled behind them was a group of about fifty adults and kids. One of the toddlers started wailing, while another child who looked five years old sniffled, snot dribbling down his chin.

  “There, there, little human brethren!” crooned Ernie, sliming around at their feet, the horns on top of his head jumping up and down. He’d purposely deployed his [Mimicry] effect to make himself colorful, his skin fluctuating from pink to orange, to purple to green, as if he were trying to mirror the colors of a rainbow. “Don’t cry, don’t cry!”

  The five-year-old child stopped sniffling and instead tried to grab one of Ernie’s tentacles, his little grubby hands flapping, his eyes alight with excitement.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  Ernie had turned into a babysitter.

  Logan snorted.

  Since he’d left, his vine cat had turned into a pet, and his octopus had turned into a child minder.

  “I’m assuming you didn’t have any trouble, then?” he sent to Ernie in his mental voice.

  Ernie tilted his head at Logan. “Hah! As if anything would attack while my minions guarded them. No… the trouble came from something else. The little ones have many emotions!”

  Logan rubbed the back of his head. At least he no longer had to worry about everyone being afraid of Ernie. Who was he kidding? Ernie could ingratiate himself into any group and win them over, his personality so vibrant that no one would resist him for long. They were no longer in a world where talking animals was strange. No, it had become routine just like all the other shit.

  Sarah burst past the group and pushed in front of Brooke and Chase with her hands on her hips. Her hair was messy, and dark circles were underneath her eyes. “This is where you took us?” she said, huffing. “Here?” She tapped the tip of her foot against the charred ground, sneering. “How is this better than the city? It looks like it was just on fire!”

  Lara shot Sarah a frown, sidling closer to Logan as if she wanted to defend him. Even though Logan was over a hundred levels above her, she still had that big sister protection built into her, that don’t fuck with my family, or I’ll fuck with you fire.

  “How is this better than a prison?” Lara spat. “Without Logan, you’d still be stuck inside of Pied’s Kingdom. Show a little gratefulness.”

  Logan smothered a smile and then nodded his head at Jack’s property. “It’s powered by solar panels, and the lake gives you a direct escape route in case the forest fire approaches. Better yet, it’s remote, which means that XP harvesters won’t surprise you.”

  Brooke looked from Sarah to the property, her brow furrowed. “Solar panels are one thing, but you have to admit that it doesn’t inspire confidence. And there are way too many people for that cabin. Half of us will have to camp outside, defenceless on this barren ground. It’s covered in soot. Eventually, our food will run out, and we’ll need to grow our food. How are we supposed to do that in this soil?”

  “There’re two more cabins, one on each side. The one to the right is massive, enough to fit thirty people, easy. As for the ground…”

  Logan fidgeted. What he was about to do felt like showing off, but really, it would be the only way to put their complaints to rest. He hadn’t thought it was that bad when he’d left, but he could see how upon first glance, a charred property wouldn’t look that attractive. Logan could fix that with a snap of his fingers, only he’d be giving away one of his skills, and he was worried that they would start to think of him differently.

  Still, Chase and the others had agreed to follow him; he deserved to give them hope that ‘following’ wouldn’t mean they’d be living in squalor.

  Wiping his expression clean, Logan backed up and retreated until he was twenty feet away.

  “Logan…?” asked Lara.

  By now, doing this hardly took any concentration at all. Compared to growing one of his massive carbon trees, it was nothing. However, he took a second to consider where he’d source the life from, since there were way too many people here and he didn’t want to inadvertently end up sucking life from a person rather than a plant.

  That wouldn’t go over well.

  Decision made, Logan targeted the treeline where Matt had fixed his traps. Once he killed them, the pine trees were far enough away from the cabin that they wouldn’t cause an eyesore.

  Deploying [Life Fabricator], Logan latched onto the pine trees, pulling on their auras while at the same time he envisioned what he wanted.

  Grass. Lush, green grass as far as the eye could see. Covering the charred ground, roots burrowing deep, churning up the soil, refreshing it, turning the burnt organic material into blooming life. Down below where the earthworms had retreated, he urged them up, making the soil rich and ripe for growing.

  Centimeter by centimeter, green shoots burst through the ground, growing until the grass was five inches long. With a push, Logan extended the grass past the area around Jack’s cabin and beyond, covering the ground as far as he could sense.

  When he opened his eyes, the pine trees he’d targeted were husks, as if a vacuum had sucked out each ounce of moisture and life. But beyond that, lush green grass that was wet to the touch covered the ground. The scent of moist earth and a sweet tang had replaced the acidic smell in the air.

  When Logan looked at the others, they were gaping at him, their eyes wide and shocked.

  Sarah looked pale, and she’d tucked her hands underneath her arms as if for comfort.

  Brooke and Chase, on the other hand, looked blown away with pleasure, as if he’d just validated their decision to follow him. The kids who had been so upset were stepping onto the grass as if snow had appeared in front of them, their feet tentative before they collapsed in lumps, sitting and sprawling, while Ernie retreated with a relieved huff.

  Whereas Lara was looking at him with a puzzled quirk to her brow, as if someone had replaced her brother with someone she didn’t recognize.

  “Uncle Logan, you’ve turned into a wizard,” said Sawyer, her eyes wide, Shoot prancing around behind her.

  “Er, well, something like that,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck and shifting on his feet. He moved closer to Brooke and Chase. “Is that better? More tolerable?”

  With a smile, Chase gave him a nod, while Brooke swallowed and ducked her head. “Sure, that works,” she said in a strangled voice.

  For once, Sarah was quiet.

  “Don’t worry about growing food,” said Logan. “I can grow anything you want. But for now—”

  Tasha and Jack had exited the patio door and were making their way over to them. Tasha with her pink baseball hat, but Jack with a bare scalp full of scraggly patches of hair. Although they didn’t look as bad as when he’d first transformed them and they’d cleaned up most of the black tar, Jack was covered in hundreds of thin scars and his eyes were milky white.

  Tasha had put on makeup, and she’d changed her clothes so they were no longer covered in dirt, but there was no way to cover those eyes.

  “Is that…” Lara whispered. Shuffling forward, she beamed in excitement. “Jack, you’re alive!”

  As they moved closer, Lara came to a sudden stop. Blinking, she gasped and took a reflexive step back. Grasping for Hunter and Sawyer, she clutched their shoulders in a white-knuckled grip and dragged them away. “Girls, don’t go any closer! Something’s wrong!”

  Logan awkwardly shifted. “Yeah, about that…”

  ***

  Logan let Lara and the kids get settled into Jack’s cabin, and then removed some of the items that he’d cleared from their bedrooms back at Hope’s End to make them feel more comfortable. Lastly, he let Brooke and Chase coordinate where everyone else went, dividing them up equally between the three properties.

  They assigned those with children to Jack’s cabin so they could have power, while the others had their pick of the two cabins on either side, with most picking the sprawling neighbour’s property rather than Logan’s family cabin since… well, there was a reason he’d been at the cabin when the Integration hit.

  It was full of mold and rot from the drug dealers.

  As for Tasha and Jack….

  “Are you sure you want to do this?” Logan asked again. “The others will come around to you eventually. You just need to give them time.”

  Tasha gazed at the back of Jack’s cabin, her face blank. “In addition to the hunger, I don’t feel things like I used to, Logan. It was roasting outside before; I’d be covered in sweat, but now it’s like I’m standing inside of a freezer. There’s something wrong with us. Until we figure out if we’re a threat to everyone, we’ll stay outside and guard the perimeter.”

  Jack was staring out at the water with a vacant expression before he focused back on Logan. “I would never forgive myself if I hurt those kids. It’s better this way.”

  Logan hesitated. He knew it was the right decision, but after everything they’d been through, he felt awful banishing them into the woods all night. “At least take my cabin, stay there tonight instead of outside. What if something attacks?”

  Tasha’s milky white eyes flashed like a reptile. “We’ll be fine,” she said in a robotic voice before she cleared her throat and attempted a smile. “We’d feel better outside.”

  Frowning again, Logan left them to it and then approached Ernie, who had retreated to the shore, doing loops and twirls. The sun was dipping on the horizon, filling the sky with oranges and reds.

  “What are you doing?” asked Logan.

  “I’m summoning my army!” said Ernie. “You moved me here with the others, but you left poor Larry and my minions behind. My mighty steed is missing a passenger! Such despair, such pain. He’s a ball of defeat without me around.”

  Logan shot him a puzzled look. “They’d have to be at least a few miles away, wouldn’t they? You can communicate with them over that distance?”

  Ernie bobbed his head and puffed his cheeks. “I can communicate halfway around the world! For my power is immense, and I rival all.”

  Logan glanced back at Tasha and Jack, who were still in the same place he’d left them, just standing there and staring. “Ernie, can you sense anything off about my two friends? Tasha and Jack? Any connections to the Queen serpent?”

  Ernie didn’t even glance at them, still doing his strange tentacle dance. “They are odd ducks, like an octopus that leaves the nest with only two tentacles rather than eight. But I sense no thread connecting them to the queen. I sense no thread to anything.”

  That was an odd way to phrase it, but Logan had to believe that they wouldn’t be a threat. After all his work to bring them back, it would kill him to find out it had all been in vain.

  Scrubbing his hand through his hair, he paced on the beach, kicking his feet in the water in aggravation. Finally, he decided that was all he could do. There was no sense worrying about Tasha and Jack when they might be fine. Acting oddly, yes, but who wouldn’t act oddly if they’d just been a zombie.

  Besides, he didn’t have time to worry about it when he had too many other priorities.

  Logan pulled up his quest status:

  [Quest: Build an Empire! Craft ten lodestone access points and sell 100 items within 48 hours.]

  [Reward for completing the Quest: Lord status. Lord status will allow you to declare yourself the lord of your community, receive pledges of loyalty, and Karma tax.]

  [Penalty for not completing the Quest: All future KarmaCoin earnings will be reduced by fifty percent. In perpetuity.]

  [Quest Progress: 7% complete. 26 hours remaining.]

  Fuck. He had only a day to finish the quest, and night was rapidly approaching.

  It was one thing to go to a city and set up a lodestone, but if he did it in the dark, he would have no customers. The Build an Empire Quest wasn’t just to craft 10 lodestones, but to sell 100 items. Without advertising and luring people over to his lodestones, with people hiding and staying off the streets at night, there was no way he’d make the quest in time. And yet, if he waited until morning, would that be enough time to find a place for nine additional lodestones and to lure in that many people?

  It was one thing to find people, but another thing to find enough people who had KarmaCoin who could buy items.

  Wait a minute.

  Just because it was getting dark here didn’t mean it was dark everywhere. Logan had [Threshold Shift] which could take him anywhere he wanted, and the cost was only 500 Karma.

  On the other side of the world, it was morning.