I gaze at the hard pole in front of me, slowly running my branch across its surface, feeling almost nothing in return. Dulled senses do suck.

Hmmm… Well I suppose it’ll have to do, I can’t be limping forever.

I take the crutch from the overturned ambulance car and continue walking along the streets.

If I remember correctly, this street should lead me to the botanical gardens, which contains enough soil for me to root properly. It should also allow me access to water and sunlight easily, I really need to get my leg fixed soon, I assume that’s what photosynthesis will work for. My walking speed has slowed to a crawl, or a slow limp to be precise, which doesn’t help my current ordeal, even with the crutch.

Can it be further improved? Maybe some skills would allow for that. Root seems to be a skill I can use. How do you even obtain skills?

Skill Acquiring - No Data Available

Not available, or much more likely, not revealed.

The leg itself is composed of a single root reaching the ground, various burns and charcoal spread around it, my sap slowly coagulated at various points. I actually think I’m leaving a small trail behind me, but I can’t exactly control that yet. I don’t see any notifications pinging off in my sight, so the bleeding is either stopped by itself, or sealed off by the drying sap.

Health.

Health levels critical

At this rate, it’s going to take forever, I assume. I wonder if there are consumable potions. Those come nifty in games, although this looks like a badly made one. I also wonder how you learn magic. Is there magic in the first place? Well, the Imp threw Fireballs or something, so there might be magic. Are there magic affinities or anything like that?

I’ll take the silence as an incentive to keep digging around. So many questions, and nobody to answer.

My trip ends up as uneventful as I hoped it would be, I almost expect a tumbleweed to appear from somewhere.

If that is a reference, we do not know of it

Just watch a western movie.

Recommendation?

Ummm, I heard Clint Eastwood stars in popular ones. I didn’t actually watch westerns.

Noted

Do I get something for that?

Title gained: Recommender

Effects: none

This title is private

Thanks.

Soon enough, I reach what used to be the botanical gardens. Now, it’s overgrown weeds, several pyres and a bunch of death all around. As I said, Hell on Earth.

Corpses are a good source of soil nutrients

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

I’m going to pretend I didn’t see that one, Overlords.

Am I talking to all of you or a single one?

I am Overlord 13, also known as Pharankorobox

Well, now I have a way to call you at least. I hope you don’t mind being called Pharan.

Please do

I walk around the broken fences, shattered windows, burned corpses and the occasional dead Imp. This would be my first visit to the gardens, shame it’s under these circumstances.

I tread slowly, not helped by the fact that I’m using a crutch and holding my bag over the other shoulder. Or that there are two half meter leaves behind my back.

I reach a more secluded area of the garden, complete with a small pond. The muddy water doesn’t let me see what’s inside, which might be for the better.

Well, no better time than the present.

Root.

Nothing happens?

“Root?”

Are you asking or telling?

“Telling?”

I facepalmed with all my 6 hands. Congratulations

How do I activate it then?

Silence echoes through the air. Oh, look a tumbleweed.

Alright, let’s try visualisation then, maybe it works a bit better.

I close my eyes, picturing my legs burrowing into the ground, the white root strands spreading through the soil far and below. My foot tingles and my stump tickles as my body heaves and I get a sinking feeling in my guts.

I retch little water and food I ate this morning. I perform a bow to inspect what happened to my legs.

All the roots are now completely underground, the warm soil surrounding what seem to be my ankles, which I can’t rotate anymore, but I’ll call them ankles nevertheless.

A sudden refreshment surges through my legs up my torso, clearing my mind. My hair vines swivel in the wind and my leaves turn towards the Sun.

I feel like I could spend eternity like this and not get bothered.

Suddenly, my vision blurs, and my headaches. My mind is being bombarded by new information seemingly from nowhere.

I close my eyes and try to get a sense of what is going on. Before my closed eyes, a half sphere appears, white colours going over a complete void, picturing what seem to be roots in the ground. I spot a small worm burrowing through the ground near one of the roots, as the worm passes by touching it briefly. A tingle fires off somewhere in my feet, too distant and weak to be precisely determined.

So this is Underground Detection.

I open my eyes, the visual image of the ground merging with my sight. I suppress the Underground Detection, my pains slowly ceasing.

I am both hungry and full at the same time, I try to wrangle a can out of my bag, but it makes me drop my crutch. I try reaching it with my branch to no avail, and decide I’ll just pick it up when I stop rooting myself. I don’t exactly need it right now anyway.

I reveal the contents of the can, pouring some water over my hands in hopes it decreases the amount of dirt on them before I dig into my meal.

My brief meal done, I observe my surroundings. Several trees are left standing, along with some vines reaching around them. Bugs move across the dirt beneath me, not even one trying to climb my roots. I guess having only one Charisma works in that.

A crow circles above me, cawing all the while. I lift one of my arms to resemble a real branch of a real tree, my attempts to blend in with the surrounding seeming comical.

If there was a Camouflage skill, you wouldn’t get it

The crow swoops down, landing on my branch. It’s the same crow from this morning.

I take my other hand and reach for the crow slowly. Its lack of reaction only strengthens my resolve to pet it. My fingers, if they can be called such, reach its feathers, the crow shifting around as I move my hand over its body, the crow seeming to enjoy our interaction.

Gained trait

Wildlife companions

Wild animals are more likely to perceive you in a positive or neutral manner

Some animals might consider a mutually beneficial relationship with you

This trait has less impact when in company of humans without this trait

I spend more time than I would like to admit petting my new companion.

If I’m a pirate tree, can this be my parrot?

Sure thing, firewood

The crow caws as I look into the ruined city in front of me, the Sun high in the sky.