CH 11 Survival Test - Part 2

While Rudra was searching for food, he also thought about how he was going to make a shelter for them. He literally had no tools except for his body. As he searched his mind interface records for some inspiration, he found a certain story from a travel journal of an Inhuman that he found interesting. It described the Inhuman meeting a certain tribe of Inhumans who could have a symbiotic relationship with plants and gain their help in exchange for providing them with energy.

Finding it interesting, he decided to try it out immediately. He sat down and paced his palms flat on the ground. He slowly spread Prana from his palms to the ground, connecting with various shrubs, plants and grasses. He slowly and steadily supplied them with energy, just like he did while healing Mukti.

Slowly but steadily he felt a minute life at the edge of his consciousness. With a few more minutes, the number increased to a dozen, then a few tens, then a hundred, and finally a few thousand. While doing this, he had an inspiration and also infused himself with skill points, something he never tried before. He figured that since skill points could help him upgrade skills, he might also be able to acquire them using Skill Points.

He infused thousands of skill points into himself and suddenly he felt a certain knowledge emerge inside him. he knew that he had succeeded and checked his status. He found that he had gained a skill called Flora Manipulation at rank D-. Happy at acquiring the skill he wanted, Rudra infused the rest of skill points into it, upgrading to Rank C- too.

With the skill at C- rank, Rudra found that he had gained a pretty strong connection to plants. He could also order them to construct certain simple structures and they would be able to do it without problem. As a test he infused the plants around him with Prana and guided them to create a dome around him.

Within a few minutes, a simple dome had been constructed around him, made from live interwoven plants and tall grasses. Satisfied with his discovery, he roamed the forest to find a few edible fruits. He supplied the plants with Prana, making the fruits extra juicy and delicious before he picked them.

When he came back, he found that Mukti was still resting. Deciding not to wake her up yet, he kept the fruits next to her before sitting some distance away from her on the ground in lotus position. He placed both palms flat on the ground just like before and activated Flora manipulation skill.

Prana flowed out of him like a broken dam, startling him. To balance out the consumption, Rudra closed his eyes and rapidly circulated his cultivation technique. Dense Prana from the root chakra flowed out constantly, strengthening his connection to the plants.

Around ten minutes later, the consumption of prana reduced to a trickle before finally ceasing. Opening his eyes, he found that he could feel every plant within a hundred-meter radius, making him realise that he might have gone overboard.

Even more surprising was that he could sense a small consciousness trying to actively connect to his mind. Following the thread of thought, he traced the consciousness to a small touch-me-not plant in front of him. He was pretty sure this plant had not been here before, so he figured he might have accidentally made a seed grow when he was supplying Prana.

As he connected his mind to it, the touch-me-not plant sent him a series of images and impressions that roughly communicated what it wanted to tell him. Apparently when he was using his skill, the small chance of granting sentience had been activated and this plant had been randomly selected.

This plant now had a basic sentience and could communicate with him more efficiently than other plants. It could also act as a relay point to transmit his intentions better to the other plants. Finding this useful, he immediately communicated the process of creating the shelter to the plant spirit.

Within moments, a light tremble ran through the ground as tall grasses and plants grew rapidly, winding onto the nearby trees. Like a construction video being fast forwarded, a basic multi-walled room was constructed right around him, also including Maya inside it.

The trees acted as pillars to support the thick greenish-brown walls, made of interwoven plants and grasses. A gently canvas like roof was made above them, big translucent leaves allowing filtered light of green colour to seep into the room, giving an enchanting feel to the whole setup.

Providing the plants with another dose of Prana as thanks, he asked them to keep a look out for any intruder near them. The Plant spirit assured that it will definitely keep watch. As a spirit from the Touch-me-not plant, sensory abilities were its forte.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Mukti woke up sometime during early evening when the lights had started to dim. Looking around the big mystical room made of vegetation, she was shocked. Looking around herself in concern, she only calmed down when she found Rudra sleeping a few feet away from her.

She also found a few big and juicy looking fruits next to her. Realizing that Rudra must have got them for her, she carefully took a bite and fresh juicy flesh of the fruit delighted her taste buds. With her eyes curved into crescents, she rapidly ate all the fruits, taking care to fully appreciate taste of each one.

Licking the remaining juices of her fingers, she slowly pressed various bandaged locations that had her healing wounds. Finding them already much better than morning, she gave a sigh of relief. Whatever Rudra had done while bandaging her had apparently been effective.

She knew her healing speed and realized that she was currently for some reason she was healing at least thrice her usual speed. This made her look at Rudra with appreciative eyes and the barest hints of smile touched her red lips.

Deciding to let him rest, she decided to watch over him. But within a minute she realized that the place felt weird for some reason. She felt as if all these plants were watching her. The creepiest sensation came from a small touch-me-not plant that was right in the middle of this weird room. It was as if that small plant was glaring right at her.

Feeling bewildered, Mukti was wondering what to do, when Rudra woke up. Finding Mukti awake and walking, he quickly approached her. When he patted her on the shoulder, he was greeted with Mukti showing both a relieved yet worried expression.

"Weird Plant!" She said pointing to the touch-me-not plant and Rudra realised what was up.

'Mukti had great instincts, she must have recognised that something was different about these plants' Rudra thought while touching the bridge of his nose. He decided to make an excuse regarding it as even he knew that Flora Manipulation was a very rare skill and having it at such a high level was even more rare.

"Umm, if I tell you it's a secret skill of mine will that be fine with you?" Rudra asked her carefully "I can't exactly explain it right now so please understand and don't inquire about it."

Mukti looked right into his eyes for a while, judging something. As if satisfied with her judgement, she gave Rudra a small affirmative nod and he let out a sigh in return.

'Honestly, I can't see through this girl' Rudra thought wryly as he mentally commanded the plants to make a small opening in the room wall, enough for them to be able to leave it. He also instructed the plants to only open it for them and no one else.

He took Mukti with him as they slowly and carefully explored their surroundings. The encountered a few wild beasts, but the beasts were much weaker than them. Mukti insisted that he let her handle them and he agreed. He finally found that Mukti wasn't weak at all, it was only that she had been ambushed and hurt badly before she could use her full power.

Mukti dispatched the beasts easily with a series of Mind Power based attacks. Her attacks stunned the beasts who had no protection against easily, making it easier for her to kill them. She often made their brains turn to mush through her mental attacks, which looked very terrifying in reality. Rudra was partly terrified and partly impressed with her progress.

After exploring till they were satisfied, Rudra helped her gather useful fruits and herbs, which he further nourished with his Flora manipulation. Having collected enough they went back to the room constructed by Rudra to rest.

At the time when Rudra and Mukti were having a relatively easier time thanks to Rudra's skills, some others were having trouble as they tried to search for Rudra in the seemingly never-ending forest. A group of four were battling a horde of mutated beasts currently, frustration clearly visible on their faces.

The group contained two boys and two girls, and even though they had superior cultivation, the sheer number of beasts made it a tiring experience.

"Seriously Shyam," one of the girls complained "I don't get you obsession with that Rudra kid. Is it really so important that we are going through all this for him? Can't we just meet this kid casually once we are admitted into the academy?"

Before the boy called Shyam could reply, the other boy interrupted him "If he is truly as talented as you said then he will surely get selected by the Golden Academy of Dwarka, or possibly even more than one academy. At that time, you will just have to persuade him to join the Golden Academy of Dwarka."

"Anshu, Ananta and you too Gayathri, you guys are simply not comprehending his level of talent. Average stat of E-, barely 10 years old, good chance to have high rank innate, also suspected to have multiple skills. I would have wanted him if he had two of these, let alone them all."

"He is also backed by Nanotech Goddess so don't even try to intimidate him." Shyam continued "Moreover, why should we intimidate someone like him instead of befriending him? I am strictly against needless violence and hate."

"Fine, we just have to find him, as soon as possible right? Then I guess we should stop holding back" the final girl, named Gayathri, stated in an energetic voice. Saying as much, her power level suddenly soared and she blasted four mutated beasts back with a single punch.

Following her lead, the others stopped holding back too and soon only parts of the mutated beasts were left in the surrounding. Seeing that the beasts were all finished, they continued their search for Rudra with renewed vigour.