World Seed: Game Start (43 page)

Most
of my elements were getting pretty close to the point where I would
be able to cycle them constantly, without focusing on them. Once I
was able to do so, my grove should begin expanding explosively, as it
means I’d be able to take in mana on a far more regular basis.
Likewise, it should mean that my passive mana regeneration might even
improve for the same reason.

There
were still two hours left before I’d land, and I needed to be
prepared. I hadn’t expected to get into fights yet, so I had
previously forgotten about charging up my weapons. Now, however, it
was entirely necessary to do so. I didn’t have enough time to
fully charge all of my weapons, and I knew it, so the first thing I
did was finish charging my beam saber until it was full. After that,
I did one round of charging up my pistol, and was recovering my mana
from that when the escape pod’s mechanical voice spoke up
again.

“
Entering
planet atmosphere. Please secure yourself to prevent damage during
entry.” Never one to argue with the wise opinion of an AI, I
hastily found a large seat and planted my behind in it, strapping
myself in for what promised to be a wild ride. Looking out the
window, I was relieved to see that this planet was green, indicating
the likeliness of plant life, and thus breathable air. Unfortunately,
what I could not see from this distance was signs of habitation, but
that wasn’t unusual. Typically, unless you were looking at the
dark side of the Earth, it was hard to notice anyone living there if
you looked through the naked eye from space.

I
felt the craft rocking slightly as we entered the atmosphere, like
turbulence on a plane ride that just kept getting worse and worse.
Unlike the shuttle or the cruiser, this escape pod didn’t seem
to be equipped with the same level of inertial dampener. Thinking
such, I rated my odds of entry without injury as rather poorly.
“Sorry, Celeste…” I said as I looked down to the
watch, an idea coming to mind.

“
What
do you mean–” She tried to answer, before I quickly used
as much mana as I could muster to wrap around the small wristband.
Jarl had said I would need to be able to completely suppress the aura
of a magical item before I could transport it into the grove, but I
had to at least try. Celeste was powered by my aura, so I gave myself
decent odds of success. And sure enough, a moment later the bracelet
vanished from my wrist. Briefly entering my grove, I made sure she
landed safely on the ground, rather than getting planted somewhere.
Though, her hologram appeared above the bracelet a moment later.

“
Oh
come on! This is so not fair!” She yelled out to the empty air,
drawing the attention of the two birds. It’s a small world,
after all. “Come on, Falenel!” She pouted, seeing that I
wasn’t bringing her back out. But, if she were to become
damaged or broken in the inevitable crash, that would suck royally. I
was actually enjoying her company, and didn’t want to lose her
like that.

Briefly,
I realized that being able to put her into my grove meant that I
could take her with me now when I logged out, which made me smile
slightly before I went back into panic mode. Since I used most of my
mana to put Celeste in my grove, I didn’t have enough to
activate the Aspect of the Armored Beast. I could only ride out the
turbulence and pray that nothing broke.

…

Fun
fact, I’ve never actually been in a crashing escape pod, even
in the science fiction games I had played before. I had expected the
entire process to be over in a matter of seconds. However, the ride
to the ground took far longer, as the view outside the craft became
red for a short while and the turbulence grew to new heights. I was
starting to worry that the escape pod might shatter before even
hitting the ground, when it slowly began dying down. After about five
minutes, there was barely any turbulence left.

Looking
out the window, I could more clearly see the ground approaching,
though it still looked some distance away. The red haze that had
appeared had entirely vanished, and I could only shake my head as I
called Celeste back to my wrist. Immediately, the holographic woman
flared to life as I felt the metal return to its normal place. “Now,
you listen here!” She began, raising her hand to point at me
accusingly. “Don’t just go sending me off at the first
sign of danger! We’re supposed to be partners, aren’t
we?”

I
sighed, shaking my head with an embarrassed smirk. “Yeah,
sorry. Didn’t want you to get broken if we crashed. And I
really was expecting a crash.” I looked back outside, and she
seemed to understand we hadn’t landed yet.

Celeste
let out a huff at that. “Well… as long as you
understand, it’s fine. But you put me in your grove! That means
I can visit your world, right?” She suddenly looked to me, her
previous anger having completely vanished, instead replaced by a
hopeful expression.

I
chuckled, and if she had a physical body I would be patting her head
by now. “Yes, yes, don’t worry. Next time I go back I’ll
take you with me. Satisfied?” After I asked that, she nodded
happily before fading back into my wrist. I looked out the window
again, and saw that the ground was becoming very close. In just a few
more seconds, we’d land and find out what our situation is.

Sure
enough, a moment later there was a dull thud as we gently touched
down. I didn’t know what kind of propulsion the pod had used to
counteract the fall, or if it had been some kind of magic, but
whatever it was, I was just glad that I was still in one piece.
“Computer, do you have any information about this planet?”

A
moment later, the mechanical voice rang out. “Negative. Planet
not registered in data banks. Conclusion, either an unexplored
planet, or one of dangerous origin.”

I
did not like the sound of that. “Explain dangerous origin, and
give an example.”

“
A
planet which is extremely inhospitable or possesses particularly
threatening circumstances may be removed from data banks to prevent
discovery. Example, sentient worlds capable of draining the life of
any creature that lands on them.”

Now
I really didn’t like the sounds of that. “Has such a
planet been found before…?”

“…
Unknown.
If such a planet has been discovered, it has been removed from data
banks due to dangerous origin.” Now I felt a bit silly for
asking.

“
Alright…
next question. This thing should have sensors, since it was able to
find the planet. Is the air outside breathable by my species? Also,
what is the standard rescue protocol for situations such as this?”
Both were very important questions. If I was expected to stay in the
pod until help arrived, I needed to know this.

“
Scans
show that the atmosphere outside is capable of sustaining your
species. Alliance policy for rescue attempts, in the event of a
hostile faction capturing or destroying a ship, and escape pods
successfully reaching an uninhabited world. Survivors are strongly
recommended to remain near their escape pods until help arrives. In
the event this proves impossible they are suggested to remove a
portable beacon from the pod to ensure easy retrieval. Should it be
impossible to send ships to rescue, a summoning ritual will take
place on the nearest inhabited world to rescue survivors.”

So,
as long as I take the beacon with me, I’m guaranteed to be safe
one way or the other. Thinking of something, I decided to ask. “Does
the beacon work when placed in the inventory?” I didn’t
want to have to carry around a homing beacon while also worrying
about fighting off monster attacks.

“
Affirmative.
After forty eight hours, if a rescue has not yet occurred, the
summoning ritual will be initiated at the nearest inhabited world. At
that time, all survivors will be relocated and capable of reporting
to the rescue team.”

I
sighed, nodding my head. If I needed to, I could theoretically stay
in this pod for as long as I had to. Between the food in my grove,
and my ability to logout when nature called, I could sustain myself
for well more than two days. However… I looked at the door to
the escape pod. There was adventure just outside that door! Worst
case scenario, I die and respawn back on X-23, no big deal.
“Computer, where is the beacon?’

A
small compartment opened up next to my seat, containing a palm sized
metal object. Taking the object, I placed it in my inventory before
unstrapping myself from the seat and getting up. After taking out my
pistol and beam saber, I moved over to the door and had the computer
open it. “Celeste, keep an eye out for any signs of movement,
and alert me to anything you consider a danger to my health.”

Suddenly,
my entire body was highlighted in my Cybernetic eye with the same
yellow light that Celeste always used. “…Very funny…”
I heard a small giggle before the light faded, and the door to the
pod opened. Outside, the area was a vast jungle, with there being
only a small clearing around myself caused by the pod landing.
Turning around, I was able to get a good look at my escape pod for
the first time. It was big, roughly five meters in diameter, and six
tall with a cone shape. On the side was the word Nostromo, likely
referring to the ship that it came from.

Returning
my attention to the jungle, I prepared myself to be assaulted by
random fluffy, scaled, fuzzy, slimy, or scraggly menaces. However,
much to my disappointment, nothing arrived. Celeste was even unable
to see any animals nearby. Aside from the plants, there was
absolutely no sign of life from anything. I don’t like this…

I
began to inch my way back to the escape pod, when the ground suddenly
began to shake, as if an earthquake had appeared. Looking back at the
pod, I saw the ground splitting below it, and instinct said that the
pod was currently the least safe place I could possibly be. I
hurriedly activated my Aspect of the Bird to grow the angel wings and
flew off into the sky, just in time to see a sight I really wish I
could forget.

Beneath
the pod, the ground opened up, roots and vines flailing. Beneath the
surface, the plant life writhed as if with a mind of its own,
grabbing onto the pod and pulling it down into a giant circular,
green maw that appeared below it. I watched as the plants ripped
apart the metal escape pod, destroying it in seconds before the
ground slowly closed up.

“
Celeste…”

“
Yeah…?”

“
I
don’t like this world.”

I
heard an audible gulp from the AI at my wrist. “If it makes you
feel any better… I don’t think it likes us either.”

Chapter 39: A World
of Green

After
watching the ground literally consume my escape pod, I couldn’t
help but gulping slightly. In my mind, I was very thankful for the
fact that I had grabbed the beacon before leaving the pod, or else I
would be well and truly stranded here. “Okay… let’s
just hope that not every plant is hungry… I can’t keep
flying for two days straight.”

Saying
that, I flew down closer to the ground, but refused to land on it.
Instead, I used my Aura Sight and Mana Sense to scan the nearby
trees, making sure to watch for any that might attack me. In all the
games I’ve played before, I can honestly say I’ve never
had to be afraid of a forest because of its trees.

As
my Mana Sense swept over them, a few plants reacted by throwing their
branches at me, or vines sweeping out. However, none responded except
for the ones I scanned. So, I simply dealt with the branches and
vines that attacked by withdrawing my Mana Sense and dodging away.
Near as I could tell, the plants had two methods of sensing ‘prey’.
The first, and also the way it found the pod, would be through a form
of tremorsense. Something big and metal landing on the ground likely
alerted all the big baddies in the neighborhood to come to a dinner
party.

Said
big baddies were probably still lurking underground, so I most
definitely was not going to land on the grass. Instead, I kept
scanning trees until I began to notice a pattern. All of the trees
that decided to attack me had a far more complex aura than the
‘docile’ trees. Though, not all of the docile trees had
the same simple auras, making me think that some were waiting to trap
me.

At
least it gave me something to go off of, and it was something that I
could easily scan with my Aura Sight without wasting mana. Moving
over to one of the simpler trees, I did my best to gently land on it,
my eyes darting around me to watch for a possible attack. After a
full minute of waiting, there was no sign of an attack, so I sighed
lightly and got to work. It would be great if I could just spend my
time on this one tree for two days, as my sense of adventure was
entirely used up by now.

After
I landed, I began cultivating a Seed of Plants. Not surprisingly, I
found a very dense plant mana permeating the atmosphere of this
planet, so much that it was even carried on the wind. Part of me
worried that this might be the planet’s form of Mana Sense, but
if that were the case I’d be pretty much dead already. With the
density of the plant mana, I managed to finish refining the seed in
barely two hours, after which I began work on a Seed of Darkness,
which took considerably longer.