After entering the house, Frank took off his gear and left to get cleaned up and change his clothes. Mom and Alex stepped into the living room and sat on the couch. None of them were worried about anyone trying to get on the property, as both Dog, and apparently Pepper, could handle the situation. “So tell me, I said, what’s been going on around here? How have you guys been holding up?”

“Actually, not too bad," Alex replied. After the incident that ended the world or whatever happened, I initialized with Bramble Wall and Vine Whip like I said. I also had high starting stats in alchemy and even higher in herbalism. When I reached level 5, I was given the option to become a druid. Before all this, I wanted to become a botanist and find cures for things. In high school, I took botany and floral design. I've always liked working with plants. This must have been what the system used to determine the skills and abilities I started with.”

“Makes sense, I said. That was true for me as well, and it seems to be a commonality among us all. Frank is a warrior, which makes sense because he’s a martial artist and has been a bouncer most of his life. Can you see what I am? You should have a high enough intelligence score by now if you’re a caster type class.”

“No, I can’t,” came the reply.

“Okay, I want to try something with you. I started. I tried this and was awarded the “inspect” skill. Look at me with the specific intent to glean any information about me you can and hold it until you get a prompt.” Alex narrowed his eyes and stared at me. For a few moments nothing happened, then I could see Alex’s eyes un-focus as if he was looking at his stat screen.

“I got it," Alex said excitedly.”

“I got it too,” mom replied, not even realizing she had focused on me as well.

“Human, Level 6, Ranger," Alex said. Level 6 huh? Must have had a memorable trip home."

“Sure was, " I said. We can discuss that later though. I want to hear about you. How did you get to level five so fast? You've been fighting people a lot?”

“Yeah pretty much," Alex said. We’ve had a number of people try to enter the property and take our food and weapons. I think someone even tried to take Pepper once, but she wasn’t having it. It hasn’t been overly difficult though. I can use my vine whip to tangle and ensnare people or just cause some good damage by whipping them with the thorny vines. I can make them pop out just about anywhere I see within fifty feet, so I don’t even have to get that close.”

“I haven’t gotten too much sleep in the last two days," Alex continued, "because I have to re-summon the wall every hour, and that’s only if it hasn’t taken damage. The second day and night weren't as difficult as the first. I don’t know if it’s because the worst people are dead or moved on.

“What spell and ability did you get at level 5?" I asked.

“I chose dark vision and a spell called overgrowth.”

“Oh nice," I said. I chose dark vision too. What does overgrowth do?”

“You saw the greenhouse out there didn’t you?" Alex asked.

“Yeah I did, I replied. Looks pretty lush.”

“Well, I can choose to spend a certain amount of mana and imbue a two foot diameter of soil, which is what I did with grandma’s planters in the greenhouse. Or I can focus in increments of four or eight hours and enhance larger plots of land. Four hours gets you a quarter mile in diameter and eight hours gets you a half mile. But that is hours of uninterrupted focus."

“What it does, Alex continued, is it helps plant life grow much faster and you can harvest twice as many fruits or vegetables. Leaves and foliage grow pretty fast but fruits and vegetables are slower. The fruits and vegetables in the greenhouse were already there, they just grew faster and larger. We haven’t seen much new growth, but it's only been a couple of days. I’m guessing it will be about a month from seed to harvest for a full harvest, which beats 3 to 4 month cycles. You should see the strawberries we have in there. I’ll bet it would only take four or five to make a small jar of jam,” Alex said with a smile.

“Sweet, I said. Now all we need to do is find you some peanuts to plant and PB&J’s are back on the menu.”

“The coolest part is, Alex said. Once the spell is cast, the mana stays imbued in the soil for up to a year. This is provided something doesn’t harm the soil, like a “salt the earth spell” or something.

“What else?" I asked.

“Well, I’ve been able to make healing potions for grandma using my herbalism and alchemy skills. I’ve grown and cultivated dandelions and Aloe Vera and made a major medicinal tea. I throw in some wild lettuce for its pain-killing properties and a little mint for flavor.”

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“Yeah, Mom replied. I haven’t felt this good in years. My back and hip don't hurt anymore and I haven’t had a migraine since I started using them. Plus, watching and helping Alex has granted me herbalism and alchemy skills as well. Granted they’re not as high as Alex’s.”

“Heck yeah," Alex said. Doing that even got me a teaching skill at Beginner 3.”

“Very nice," I said. I made a minor medicinal tea using dandelion and green pine needles while we traveled home. Frank needed it for his diabetes. I have a heal spell but it seems to only heal physical damage and not diseases. I think I would need a cleanse spell for that.”

“What other skills did you learn son?" I asked.

"Let's see, I got some beginner combat skills in hand to hand. I’m guessing from the boxing and kickboxing I did when I was younger, not to mention some of the defensive tactics you taught us growing up with all the pressure points and arm bar take-down maneuvers. Of course being your son gave me beginner skills in building, crafting, bow mastery, wilderness survival, axe mastery and even sword mastery. Probably from all those times you took us out there and beat us with your bamboo Shinais,” Alex said while laughing.

“I never beat you. I started with a huff. I mean I did, but I didn’t BEAT you beat you.”

“What about you mom?" I asked. What did you end up with?”

“Well I didn’t get any combat skills, which is fine by me. I have no aspirations to be out there adventuring as Alex has explained it to me, and I’m still only level 2. I have mid-apprentice skills in cooking and baking. Which makes sense because I’ve worked in the bakery industry since I was 17. Hell, I have taught you how to bake and decorate cakes since grade school.”

"Yeah, you did," I replied proudly. And how to crochet and needlepoint.”

“I also have a journeyman's level of proficiency in crafting, she said. I’ve been sewing and making things out of different materials since I was a child. Hell, if we didn’t make our own clothes growing up, we wouldn't have any. Plus, I worked in the electronics industry for almost 40 years before retiring."

“OH SNAP," I said excitedly. I completely forgot about that. Do you still have all the tools and materials like resistors and transistors, junk like that?”

“Sure do” she responded. It's all out in the shop.” By shop, she meant a forty foot shipping container on the back side of the house.

“That’s right, I said with a grin on my face. The container, the METAL container. The one I had Frank attach a grounding rod to. I bet everything in there still works, like the power tools.”

“Of course they work," she said. How do you think we have been cooking and boiling water? I grabbed an old heating element from an electric stove. I wired it up to the deep cycle battery from Frank’s boat and the solar battery tender. I then had Alex chisel out a grove in a paving stone as a base. Works like a charm.”

“Mom, you’re a genius. I knew I got it from somewhere.”

“Well it sure as hell wasn’t from your dad,” she replied.

“With your tools and materials we may be able to fix some blown electronics. You don’t need a schematic or anything else, do you? If you had the burned part in your hand,"

“Nope, she replied. I’d just have to copy what was there, considering it’s not too fried and I can actually tell what each part is.”

"Perfect," I said. We’re keeping that on the back burner for now. HAHA, burner get it, cause you made a cooking burner I laughed.”

“Great dad joke dad,” Alex said, rolling his eyes.

“Well it’s definitely something we need to look into," I continued. Once we figure out a plan of action to survive the first week of whatever this is.”

Just then, Frank walked back into the living room wearing what looked like comfortable night clothes. “Are you going to sleep there Frank?" I asked.

“Damn right I am," Frank exclaimed. We’ve been walking for two days and haven’t slept in twenty-four hours.”

“I don’t blame you," I said. I’m going to leave here in a minute and go back to sleep myself. I want you to stay here with Frank and your grandma, I said turning to Alex. Are you okay with that?”

“Absolutely,” Alex responded.

“Okay cool," I replied. Frank has a radio and a charger that can contact us anytime. If you need me, hit us up on the radio and I’ll head this way. I’m leaving the van Frank and I kind of commandeered here with him, that’s why I brought Chad’s truck with me. So if you want or need to leave here, you have a working vehicle. Is that okay with you?"

"Certainly," Alex said with a grin. You worry too much dad.”

“Damn right I do.” I laughed.

With that I got up and grabbed my gear. I looked over and glanced at the Katana in its scabbard on a stand sitting on top of the entertainment center. “That reminds me," I said as I grabbed my sword. "You have the Inspect skill now, check this out,” then I handed it to Alex. Alex’s eyes bulged.

“Holy crap, this is an epic blade, and it’s a named blade with our family name. Damn, and it has awesome stats and traits This is the blade DJ gave you isn’t it?”

“It sure is,” I replied.

"How did it go from a totally mundane blade to an epic weapon like this?" Alex asked.

“Who knows son, How does any of this work? The system was really good to me with this one I guess.”

“Hey Frank, do you mind if I pick up your katana and check it out?” I asked. “I want to see if the system upgraded your weapon. Oh by the way, we figured out how to get the Inspect skill. These two can teach you how to get it I think.”

“Sure, go ahead,” Frank said. I picked up the Katana and unsheathed it. Activating inspect:

-You have found Katana Blade of the Berserker, quality: superior, steel, rarity: uncommon, Damage: 30 slashing, 30 piercing, has the sharpened trait.

“Hot damn," I said with a massive grin. This blade has some very decent damage and traits and it’s a named blade. Want to know what the name is?”

Frank looked at me with a knowing shake of his head. “Sure, he said. Let me hear it.”

I stated proudly, “It’s called The Katana Blade of the Berserker.”