The willow tree had always been majestic, but as Logan approached, something seemed off. It was huge. Too huge. A day ago, it hadn’t been that massive. Logan blinked, then blinked again, thinking he was seeing things. The trunk was now the size of a VW Bug, its bark knotted and trailing sap. The branches and limbs reached all the way to the shoreline, green shoots drooping into the water from the sheer weight. The tree wept moisture, and with the slight breeze, it travelled in a fine mist. Against the intense heat, the blasting sun, it was refreshing, and the constant ache from his missing finger seemed to lessen.
As he grew closer, a pressure radiated from the tree as if he were in the presence of a living thing. Stranger still? He could no longer see signs of Eleanor’s grave—there was no disturbed earth, no mound. The dirt was polished smooth like a compacted dirt road, as if it had been that way for years. That couldn’t be right.
Still, he had one trick up his sleeve.
Logan used [Idiot’s Inspect] on the tree.
[!@#!#@! ERROR]
What the hell?
He tried again.
[!@#!#@! ERROR]
Wary, he glanced around his surroundings. It was silent, the rustling of the branches in the breeze the only background noise. Was there something wrong with his skill? But no, when he focused on a ladybug crawling up the trunk, the result came back like normal. Either there was something glitchy as fuck with this tree, or his skill couldn’t scan it. Once again, he lamented at the lack of instructions. He could really use a tree-fridge instruction manual here.
But even accounting for that frustration, he couldn’t help a surge of excitement from rushing through him. This thing might be the solution to his problems, and he was excited to find out what was available. And hell, the tree fridge had to be alien. Would that mean he could buy alien merchandise? Logan equated this to getting a winter bonus cheque and then going wild at a Black Friday sale. You wouldn’t necessarily know what would be available in advance, but you knew whatever it was, it had to be good shit.
Inching forward, he passed underneath the drooping branches, their shadow falling on him and misting moisture. He could hardly feel the pain in his hand anymore. The lodestone palm print was still there, but unlike before, the trunk around the stone had grown around it, giving it an ancient feeling, as if it had been there since the tree sprouted.
Logan rested his baseball bat against the tree trunk and then placed his right hand against the lodestone, his wrapped palm slotting into the etching like a glove.
And then he waited.
And waited again.
Huh? Last time, he just had to rest his hand against the palm print. However, since last time, there was something different. He no longer had five fingers. With a sinking feeling, Logan’s heart began to race. Oh my fucking God, did a missing finger mean he’d lost access to the tree-fridge? He couldn’t use the other hand—it wouldn’t match up.
Logan looked up at the sky, directing his ire to wherever the System was—in space? He had no idea. “Are you serious, asshole?! After all of that shit, you’re not going to let me back into the fridge?”
No response. Not that he was expecting anything.
Gritting his teeth, Logan unwrapped his bandage, resting it over his shoulder for easy access. Whatever that mist had done to his pain went out the window as soon as he exposed the raw wound to the air. The stump had clotted, and his constitution had started to work its magic, but it was painful as fuck when exposed to the breeze.
Please work. Logan placed his hand against the etching, his bare palm and four fingers resting directly against the stone.
[Welcome, Idiot! Entering the Karma Lodestone Menu.]
[What would you like to buy?]
Logan almost fell over. Thank Christ. It still worked, it just needed bare skin. He rested his forehead against the trunk, taking in a relieved breath. If that hadn’t worked, he'd seriously considered pulling out the weed wacker.
Logan shot a guilty glance at what had to be Eleanor’s grave and then addressed the tree. “What can I buy?”
[….WEAPONS. CLOTHING. FOOD.]
Still the same as the last time. “Show me the food options,” Logan demanded, already envisioning a juicy cheeseburger and cartons full of food.
[…. Conditions met.]
Logan blinked and he was suddenly seeing a screen in front of his eyes, similar to how he viewed his stat screen.
[F GRADE FOOD MENU:
1 dandelion seed: 50 KarmaCoin
5 bean seeds: 150 KarmaCoin
5 spinach seeds: 500 KarmaCoin
5 potatoes spuds: 1000 KarmaCoin
*unlock further options at higher grades]
For a second, Logan couldn’t believe his eyes. “Are you kidding me?!” It was worse than food left to rot in a fridge for a week without power. This thing wasn’t a fridge. It wasn’t food! It was selling him a weed! A weed! And what the hell was he going to do with potato spuds? The muscles in his shoulders knotted, a tension headache washing over him in a wave.
He’d secretly been putting his hopes on this thing. The fridge was his solution, the way to feed everyone. If all it offered was a bunch of seeds at inflated prices, he was fucked. He’d thought he’d received a cheat with this tree, hell, those error messages had even secretly given him a thrill. If this fridge were out of the System’s control, maybe he could grab an advantage. But obviously, it was just another tool of the System, taunting him with false hope and then insulting him with its choices.
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This thing wanted him to become a farmer.
Logan was no farmer.
Logan ground his teeth, and practically spat, “Show me the weapons.”
[F GRADE WEAPON MENU:
1 length of rope: 200 KarmaCoin
1 paperclip: 400 KarmaCoin
1 ballpoint pen: 800 KarmaCoin
1 large fork: 1000 KarmaCoin
*unlock further options at higher grades]
Logan stared and stared, and then stared some more. A vein in his forehead throbbed, his rage white hot. In what world other than a spy movie was a paperclip or a pen a weapon? And rope? What, did it want him to strangle something to death? As for the fork… it was official, the tree fridge was connected to the System. The chances of it knowing what had happened with Tasha and her fork were too astronomical. That meant that everything about it was suspect, and not the salvation he’d hoped for. Rather, it was yet another sarcastic tree, taunting him with its items. Rope? A paperclip? It was beyond insulting.
Logan glanced up at the sky. “Despite you labeling me an Idiot, I’m not actually an idiot, fucker. I know this is you doing this.”
No response.
Sighing and resigned to more crap, Logan said, “Show me the clothing options.”
[F GRADE CLOTHING MENU:
1 bright pink sock: 50 KarmaCoin
1 spatial storage cat collar: 300 KarmaCoin
1 knit cap: 500 KarmaCoin
1 pair of self-cleaning swim trunks: 1000 KarmaCoin
*unlock further options at higher grades]
It was so ludicrous Logan had to laugh. The tree wouldn’t even let you buy a pair of socks, you had to buy each one separately. And although he wouldn’t mind a pair of self-cleaning trunks, not for 1000 KarmaCoin, thank you very much. But that’s where he paused. Including a cat collar in the items was right in line with the other ridiculous options, but the name threw him off. Spatial storage? For the first time, he was intrigued.
For the tree fridge to have any value, he had to assume that the options became better as he upgraded his grade. It kept referencing F Grade, so perhaps once he upgraded to a different grade, he’d be able to buy a whole outfit. Still, what if there was a trick to this? A gem hidden amongst shit. Nobody in their right mind would buy the cat collar unless you were a cat fanatic, so why include it in the first place? The name kept jumping out at him, and there was something that kept pulling his eyes back to it.
“Lodestone tree, what is a spatial storage collar?”
Logan waited for what had to be a minute at least, with nothing but crickets in response.
Either way, he didn’t have enough money to buy it, but it wouldn’t be difficult to earn. He had 250 KarmaCoin, which meant he’d need to grow enough sprouts to fund 50 additional KarmaCoin. When he’d sprouted the pine trees in normal ground, it had given him 10 KarmaCoin each, which meant he’d need to grow 5 sprouts—as long as there was no variation in the award. Plus, he had a way to generate 29 Karma per minute. He’d earn that in no time. The only thing holding him back was fear that using his [Life Cycle] skill would prompt the System to give him another crazy quest.
Still, he’d never get anywhere if he refused to act due to fear. Decision made, Logan rewrapped his hand, tying the makeshift bandage off with his teeth, and then scanned his surroundings for pinecones. He had to walk all the way back to the hill behind the cabin to find one, the willow tree dominating everything around it. It was quick work to knock out the seeds and dig his first hole in the ground.
Logan closed his eyes, visualizing the seed coming alive, roots burying deep, a green shoot erupting out of the dirt.
Ding!
[You have successfully deployed the skill, Life Cycle, at the sprout level. Calculating carbon reduction… 10 KarmaCoin awarded.]
Logan opened his eyes. In the ground, a small green sprout had breached the earth, reaching for the sun. He had just performed magic. It was still a heck of a rush.
He blew through the other three sprouts in no time, his karma generating fast enough that he never had to wait for it to catch up. Secretly, he’d worried that he’d struggle to master the skill again, but it was like riding a bicycle.
Right before the last sprout, he paused and sat down, crossing his legs at the ankles and staring down at the dirt. Yesterday, when he’d employed the skill for the first time, he’d been flush with success, and after, he’d been frantic to finish the quest. He’d never had the opportunity to wonder how you’d upgrade a skill like this.
Logan pulled up his stat screen and concentrated on the [Life Cycle] skill until it expanded.
[This rare skill allows you to control the life cycle of a tree from sprout, sapling, mature to rotting. Each stage increases per skill level. Karma credits will be awarded based on carbon capture calculations.]
So, the bigger the tree, the bigger the potential carbon reduction which would award him extra money. But there was a big difference between a sprout and a sapling. If he could upgrade the skill, he would need to grow less sprouts but earn higher KarmaCoin. A win-win. Logan shifted, getting comfortable, his brow furrowing as he puzzled over the problem. First, he needed a sprout.
Once he made the decision, it was almost as reflexive as breathing. The roots expanded below ground, the sprout breaching the earth as it reached for the sun.
“Hey buddy,” Logan said to it. It was bright green and more like a large strand of wild grass than anything. To grow it into a sapling, he’d need to quadruple its size.
Here goes nothing. Logan concentrated, staring so intensely at the sprout that it blurred in front of his eyes. Blinking, he refocused, squinting and visualizing the small green stalk doubling, tripling, growing, growing…
It wasn’t moving, and he’d just given himself a headache.
Sighing, Logan shut his eyes. Visualization worked, but it didn’t work by staring at something. He had to imagine it in his mind.
His high perception stat picked up the sound of the wind rustling through the grass, the sharp scent of sap on his fingers, the deep musk of the earth. He visualized the sprout continuing to reach for the sun, invisible hands grasping, its slender stalk thickening in size, layers of green turning brown, then gray. Fine pine needles spread from the main stalk, green shoots multiplying.
Light-headedness threatened to overwhelm him as the sprout continued doubling until its trunk was thick enough to withstand a sharp breeze, then a storm. Still, he continued, the trunk growing layers, narrowing, thickening as it reached for the sky.
Ding!
[Life Cycle is Level 2!]
[You have successfully deployed the skill, Life Cycle, at the sapling level. Calculating carbon reduction… 50 KarmaCoin awarded.]
Logan opened his eyes to a pine tree sapling that had to be 10 feet at least, with healthy green pine needles and a slender trunk the thickness of a garden hose. He’d done that. Him. Forget telekinesis, growing things, bringing them to life? That was the shit.
Still, that didn’t explain why he’d felt lightheaded and short of breath. Pulling up his stat sheet, he studied his Karma stat.
Karma: 2/246
As he watched, it continued to replenish.
3/246.
4/246.
5/246.
6/246.
But for it to have gotten that low, he must have used over 240 karma, getting very close to depleting it while still employing the skill. No wonder he’d felt light-headed.
That wasn’t good news. If it took 240 karma just to grow a sprout into a sapling, how much more would it cost to transform a sapling into a mature tree? He needed to upgrade his karma pool, as well as his generation rate, stat.
Logan allocated his last five points.
[Intelligence: 42]
[Intelligence: 43+]
[Intelligence: 45]
[Wisdom: 30]
He threw four points into intelligence, rounding up his score to 45, and one extra point into wisdom to make it an even 30. Each intelligence point translated into six karma points, which meant he’d expanded his karma pool from 246 to 270. Likely not high enough for [Life Cycle] level three, but he’d get there.
As far as KarmaCoin, he now had 500.
He could buy the spatial collar.