Tree Vampire

Alan was already in the herb field. Doing his work. But he could not concentrate on his work thinking about yesterday.

The abilities of the system were wonderful.

In theory, he could much more with just the ability to absorb energy. Only the sky was the limit. Yesterday night, he was having some coffee and felt it was too hot, so he used the system to absorb the heat and the next second he had chilled coffee in his hands. That was how good the system was for the day to day usage.

This intern fueled his curiosity towards the system. He even had the crazy thoughts of preventing global warming by absorbing heat from the atmosphere.

How crazy can a person be?

Now working in the field. The drowsy Alan moved around plucking weeds. Just looking at the glossy leaves of the blue moon grass made him remember about the manager. The fox in sheep's clothing.

It's true when they say that bad memories stick with you. Nothing could get rid of the smirking face of the manager from his mind. He was exactly like a duplicate of the manager from his previous life. Reminding him of the bad memories again and again.

'Just you wait. I will repay in some way Mr Manager.' Alan thought while tightly gripping onto the weeds.

Maybe it was anger that made him overthink certain things. But, Alan was not a kid to not understand the underlying implication of the manager's action. Today, he lost the chance for a promotion. But tomorrow, he may not even have his job. That is how those kinds of guys work.

The manager may not fire him now without any rhyme or a reason. It would be a dark spot in his career if he did. But who knows what reason he would find.

'He is keeping tabs on me. I know that for sure. How else can he know how much money I needed? And grabbing my weak spot at the right time. This seems too unrealistic to be a coincidence.'

'Although the system may have caused evolution. I did my part in looking after the herbs too. Since somehow our interests were in conflict. He wouldn't want me here anymore here. Besides, I am just a guy that he could dismiss. So, I would have to make the first move to gain a foothold. And what better way for it than making the manager a scapegoat.' A smile slowly floated on Alan's face.

Usually, Alan was a calm and quiet individual who doesn't go for any conflict. But that doesn't mean he would stand back and allow anyone to bully him. He too had self-respect.

Slowly pondering about what he could do. A plan slowly surfaced in his mind. Although Alan only had a high-school level education. He knew the way of the world. The only one who could do something about that shrewd manager is someone above that manager in status.

'I have to make the waters murky.' Cleaning his hands Alan was ready to make a move.

'And what better way it was than by using the system. This wouldn't leave any trace.'

Although the system didn't give Alan any superpowers. But isn't absorbing energy from plants itself a pretty good superpower, extremely useful in his case. And the ability to sense energy. It may only be his feeling. But sometimes Alan could feel that an object has a high amount of energy by just looking at it. Just like how conditioned reflexes work. If he was near objects with high energy. He would feel hungry. Yes, hungry!

Like how our mouth water just by seeing or smelling food. Although it couldn't accurately measure the energy or recognize the source. He knew that herbs have a high amount of energy. Just feeling hungry while going near the blue moon grass was an example. So, relating everything Alan came to the conclusion that the higher the value of the herb more energy it would have.

'It is time to suck up some energy. Way better than sucking up to that embarrassment of a manager.'

****************

A lone figure can be seen trekking along the mountain. With heavy footsteps, he was moving into the forest, away from the people. Just using his gut feeling as bearing, he moved through the forest. He was feeling hungry.

Yes! That figure was Alan's. He decided to stay at night making a lousy excuse of looking after the herbs. Life Crops also had the facilities for him to employ such means.

At night, there were guards patrolling around the perimeter. And in some areas, they had watchtowers and check-posts. This shows how seriously the Life Corps takes its security.

Even then, the guards were incapable of covering the large expanse of area that the company had under constant surveillance. So the inner compound and forest area along the northern part was left alone for most of the time. And luckily the herb field Alan was looking after was near this very same forest. That was why Alan was able to go unnoticed.

With his guard up Alan moved even deeper into the forest. Although there may be snakes or boars in the night, there was no predatory animal or mutated animals on the edge of the forest. So, he could move freely.

Finally, he reached a hilltop. This hilltop was the place selected for the next expansion of the farm. Now, it was a large expanse of trees.

'It's time to get down to business.' With a sincerely creepy smile, Alan moved forward. He was already feeling hunger just standing in the lush forest. He didn't know why, but the part of the forest he was standing in felt like it had more energy than the surroundings.

With each step Alan took, he stroked every tree he could reach with his arm. Then immediately that tree would lose its vitality. Its leaves would droop and fall to the ground. Its wooden trunk would turn lifeless. Completely destroying the tree from its core.

There were many precious trees used for furniture in that forest. There were even some sandalwoods. But Alan sucked the life out of everything without a bother.

It was not without any benefits though. Any tree taller than a house would give him one unit of progress in the energy needed to wake the system from hibernation.

[1/1000] Alan got excited seeing the progress. Not holding back, he began wantonly absorbing energy from everything he saw.

[10/1000]

[20/1000]

…

[100/1000]

…

[600/1000]

By then, Alan had ravaged the whole hill of trees. Leaving behind nothing. Only the empty shell of the once-thriving ecosystem was left behind.

'400 units more… Ah!' Alan was a little frustrated. Although there were trees that gave him more than 50 units of energy at a time. But he couldn't find anything special about them. And it was night too. With only a small flashlight, what could he even find peculiar about them after sucking the life out of the trees? The unusual feeling went away after he ravaged most of the forest.

'At least, the objective is completed. I would like to know how our dear managers face would look after finding a whole hill of dried trees, even better when the phenomenon happened in a day.' It was a happy occasion for Alan. This way he could land the shrewd manager of his in big trouble.

'Although I almost turned into a tree vampire. It's all worth it.'

'it's time to go back and sleep. I don't want others being suspicious of me.' Feeling happy about his handy work Alan moved towards the herb field.