"James Frought, Give. Me. The Relic. NOW!" Jack took another step towards me with one hand towards me, while his other held out his sword ready to swing. I could see his eyes darting from my face and down towards the cube. Something wasn't right here, Why is he so adamant about getting this back to the Headquarters that he would so easily switch his attitude to kill me over it?

"I can't do that Jack, This thing is something I need for my future. My system showed me what it is and this is exactly what I need to get stronger. Why are you acting like this Jack? I thought we were friends? Why is this so important to you or better yet why is it so important that you take it back to headquarters?"

"Jimmy, it's because Relics like that have the power to alter the very life we know. If HQ could harness that power, it could increase our survival as a species tenfold. Just hand it over and I promise we can pay you back. How does a million credit sound? I can even transfer it over to you right now through the system." Claire spoke up as she too stepped forward towards me but to the left of me. Almost as if she was cutting off a route for me to escape from.

I looked over at Alex but he slowly shook his head while taking a slow step towards Jack. He was slowly inching his way towards Jack while slowly reaching for his weapon until the barrel of a gun was pressed against his skull.

"Don't move Alex. I don't want to do this but I will if need be." It was Hannah.... She had come down and saw what was happening and instantly took Alex hostage with a pistol I never knew she had.

"Hand it over Jimmy. Please? This doesn't have to end badly.... We could..... I mean.... Haaaa, we could become something Jimmy. I know you felt it these past few weeks. Please Jimmy." Hannah looked at me with pleading eyes to give the Cube over but the whole time I couldn't help but notice her finger never moved from just barely above the trigger. Her arms were steady and finger control was still as impeccable even as she begged me to hand it over...

"Oh good lord what is happening out here! Jack what is going on!" Kelly yelled out as she ran out. She skid to a halt as Hannah pulled out a second pistol and aimed it at her.

"Do not move Kelly. Things are heated right now and we don't need any unnecessary casualties, understand?" Jack said without taking his eyes off of me.

"B-B-But what is happening? Why are you surrounding Jimmy like that? He didn't do anything wrong!?"

"Kelly he took something that rightly belongs in the hands of the people to improve everyone's life, but instead he is being selfish." Claire said with a hint of aggression as she looked back at me and took a step forward. I saw out of the corner of my eye as Bubba, who had been by my side this whole time. Took action and stood in front of me defensively. She squawked at Claire threateningly and Claire jumped back.

"Keep your bird under control Jimmy, I don't want to have to kill it." Jack said with a serious warning.. but by now I was getting fed up with all this bullshit. This last month they have been acting all nice but once I get something that they want they turn into this? Saying it's for the greater good but even a blind man could see the pure greed these bastards had in their eyes. And the way Hannah held those guns towards Alex and Kelly solidified that she had done this more than once. These bastards were all to comfortable killing to get what they want.

[System has identified hostile intention towards user. Will now transfer user to safe zone.]

A system pop-up appeared and a second later a low hum started from the Cube in my hand as well as a purple light that glowed brighter and brighter as seconds passed. Bubba squawked in surprise before sensing how confused I was but I just waved her back to stand by me just incase.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing!? Stop that right now James and hand over the fucking artifact, are you willing to risk the life of Alex and Kelly for a silly little trinket!?" Jack shouted just as the light was starting to blind everyone but the light was only aimed towards them and I saw as just when Hannah instinctively moved her arms to block the light, Alex turned and slammed her to the ground while Bjornson jumped towards Jack and Bobba slammed into Claire. By this point a small windstorm had kicked up with the ramping energy that this cube was emitting and I could barely hear Kelly when she yelled.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

"JIMMY RUN AWAY! WE WILL BE OK HONEY I PROMISE!" Kelly yelled as she ran towards Hannah and kicked her face like she was making a field goal.

I tried to take a step towards them but Bubba stopped me as the cube in my hand lifted and the four smaller cubes split apart to form what I could only assume was a doorway. I couldn't see anything but a purplish mist that shifted like a psychedelic lava lamp. I looked towards Bubba and with a resolute look I took a step into the misty doorway... Maybe with my eyes closed just in case.

[User has entered personal Dimension. Safety has been assured, closing portal now.]

I opened my eyes to the system message, along with a view of an acre of dirt... Nothing but dirt for an acre. It was just one huge square of land. I got to the end of one side but was met with some kind of barrier but all around the side and above looked like I was just floating in the sky. I was happy that there was a barrier because I swear I could feel my balls withdrawing into my body at the thought of looking over the side and down into nothingness. I wiped the cold sweat that formed on my forehead as I sat down on the ground followed by Bubba sitting behind me. I leaned back into her soft, but musty feathers and mentally replayed what just happened.

For weeks I had worked around and interacted with Jack and his team, but to think that in the face of something as amazing as this cube they would turn to murdering me so easily..... How long had they been like that? And if they were a squad sent out from HQ, what sort of interactions could I expect from them? If I ever interacted with them that is...

"Kweh?" Bubba nudged me as she looked up and around the square plot of land that was around us and then back towards the now closing doorway that then turned back into a cube and instantly flew back into my hands.

"Well that's a cool feature." I mused as I took a look around me before sighing. "What the hell am I going to do now? What about Alex and Kelly? What about my family? Where the fuck am I!?" These questions started rattling around me but I shook my head before panic started to settle in.

"That's right! My system updated didn't it? That should give me something to move forward with hopefully." I focused on pulling up my system screen and in front of me appeared a blue screen with my stats and my skills so far. It also had a few menu selections as well.

[James Frough]

[Rank D Tamer/Farmer] [Abilities(4)] [Creatures(1)]

[Species: Human]

[Land owned: 1 Acre]

[Str-5]

[Dex-11]

[Con-10]

[InT-10]

[WiS-15]

[Cha-12]

[System updated: Statistics for User [James Frough] will now be shown and updated with future endeavors. Statistics are based off of human anatomy where baseline is 1.]

The menu options were self explanatory since I only had Bubba and I still remember what my abilities did. I was happy that now I could see my own stats but..... Why was my Str so low compared to the others that were in the double digits!? I know I'm not the strongest man in the world but come-on really?

"Haaaaaa, well at least it says that I'm 4 above what a normal human is so I guess that's fine? I wonder what that equals out to be though? Does that mean I could pick up a car with my bare hands, or just lift a little bit more than usual?"

Not getting any answer of what the difference between the numbers meant I closed the screen and looked around the plot of land again.... Yup nothing but dirt....

Sighing I held up the cube Infront of me and examined it again, I was hoping it had changed or looked different at the very least but nope nothing. "Hey! You damn cube how the hell am I supposed to get out of here? What even can I do here?"

Still holding the cube in my hand I looked around again thinking uselessly that by holding it something around me would change, only for the cube itself to rumble before the 4 lesser cubes split up to form a screen of its own. Purplish mist appeared and sprawled over the screen of what looked like some kind of sci-fi energy barrier before fading away and leaving words behind.

[The User [James Frough] has been given permission to utilize the Cube of Growth to grow stronger and increase survivability.]

[The land has been blessed to grow anything that the User needs for survival.]

After I read that the cubes fell back together again and I was left with a few more questions.... 1. Who the hell gave me permission? 2. What the fuck am I supposed to grow around here when I have nothing!?

"Kweh.. Kweh." Bubba then nudged me to draw my attention before she reached down and with her beak plucked out a feather and then placed it in my hand. As soon as she did my system appeared automatically with a picture of the brown Choco.... I mean Kweh feather.

[Kweh feather(Contour)]

[Plant ability: Yes]

[Potential grown items percentage: Kweh feather-90%, Kweh Egg-.05%, Kweh stat increase(Con,Dex,Str)-9.95%]

What the hell? I stood there with my mouth wide open as what I was reading was just.... Well, just outright insane! Was this really telling me that I could plant this single feather with the chance of growing something that could increase my stats!

Oh shit did the HQ know what this thing was and what it could do? Is that why they were so eager to get this from me?

"Hey Cube, how long can I stay in here? What about food and water?"

With the same rumble and misty letters the cube screen appeared.

[Only what is grown can appear here. The user can leave after the required cooldown of (2 hrs remaining) has passed.]

"Well that's not bad, but am I going to just end up in the same place I left? That could be bad if I popped up infront of Jack again."

[Safety feature designated safest possible point of exit to be......[Home]]

"Home? Do you mean back on earth? How can you transport me from this world to earth?"

[Dimensional portal...]

Okay...... so besides the faint hint of intelligence right there that I'm clearly going to ignore, I guess I'll just wait for the 2 hrs. to be up and then head home.