Rage

More time passed and I grew 6 months older. During this time, Vander and Silco started hastening their plans for Undercity. They gathered their people and started claiming territory from some gangs and making alliances with others. The ones that kept order in Undercity and didn't harm its citizens were the ones they allied with, while the ones, like the riffraff that tried to mess with my mother before, were quickly dealt with.

Their names were quickly spreading and gain them a reputation from their deeds. Even the citizens that didn't have anything to do with the gangs started looking at them differently. Vander had a better reputation than Silco as a leader and based off their actions. Vander tended to just beat them and maybe break a few bones here and there. Maybe a few died, but when it came to Silco, he was an expert with his blades. Even I heard of all the blood that made rivers through the streets of Undercity. The man practically made it rain whenever he went through a crowd with his blades. The bloodshed and gore left behind every time quickly made people afraid of him.

There were still people who respected him, but Vander's image was better for the cause and he was made the figure to rally behind. It wouldn't take much longer for the Lanes to be united under their banner.

I got 6 new knowledges during this time. It was mathematics, science, metallurgy, blacksmithing, architecture and construction. Some was to supplement my current knowledge while others were for long term goals of improving the city's situation. The first two are pretty basic, but covers a vast area as they were considered broad terms, so anything that could be considered a form of math or science, I now know. Metallurgy increased my knowledge of the metals of this world and their properties and what combinations can make stronger alloys and what's best for which item's creation.

Blacksmithing taught me how to form things from metal. It was another broad term that taught me multiple facets. Weaponsmithing, goldsmithing and armorsmithing, I had gained knowledge about these subjects as well when I chose blacksmithing. This allowed me to make many things with metal, whether big or small. I could now make many of the things I learned before that requires metal. From stuff from Marvel or the puppets from Naruto. I could've made the puppets with wood, but metal would be better thanks to the gears and with nobody else having chakra, no one else would be able to use them. Though with with gears, I could send metal threads through the body that would allow people to use them like the puppeteers from Naruto, but still at a lower quality as they would only be able to control one at a time and would have to make many movements to get the puppet to walk and use its hidden weapons.

The other two were just for future endeavors.

Other than that, most of my time was spent taking care of the plants in the garden as the were very needy. Apparently, Getting the powers of three plant based supers amplified my connection to plants to the point I could hear them. They don't really speak in human tongue, they just send out their intent or emotions and my brain interprets it into something I can understand. Even though they aren't really talking, My brain makes it seem like they are to me. Luckily I figured out that I could do the same thing to talk to them, otherwise people would start to think I was crazy, which isn't uncommon here, but something I still didn't want.

It sucked when I first felt there pain though. I was hanging around my mother when a large pressure was felt in my head and a loud scream rang through my ears. Then, I felt the pain and fear and I somehow instantly knew what was happening. I initially screamed out loud when it hit me, which worried my mother.

"Lucius! Honey, answer me. What's wrong, are ya hurt anywhere?"(Ester)

Vander then came rushing over from the bar with Silco in tow when he heard all the screaming.\

"What's going happened? What's going on?"(Vander)

"I don't know. Lucius just started screaming in pain and right now he's not really responsive."(Ester)

"Let me see. I don't see any injuries and he's still breathing. Let me try something. Vander, hand me your shoe."(Silco)

"What? Why? I don't think it's the time for jokes right now."(Vander)

"Oh just hand it over."(Silco)

Vander groaned but still hurried to take off one of his shoes and handed it over to Silco. Silco then turned it over to make sure nothing was in it and then put it near my face. When the scent hit my nose, I quickly regained focus and pushed it away as I gagged.

"I thought that might work. Now, Lucius, what happened and why were you screaming earlier?"(Silco)

Once I regained my awareness, I quickly fought to get out and shouted, "THE GARDEN!" and ran through them towards the gardens. They quickly followed me and when we arrived I saw a few people I hadn't seen before harming the plants. The were cutting into the doctor plants(trees) and had crushed a few of the hedges. To others it was just an act of vandalism, but I could feel their pain and hear their screams and it was unbearable.

The adults that followed me quickly saw what was going on and went to stop the assailants. In there shock at being found out, the vandalizers stopped what they were doing and tried to fight off the three trying to stop them. With their assault on the plants halted, the constant pained the plants were experiencing dulled down and was overpowered by rage.

The plant's rage flooded into me just like their pain and became my rage. With their rage flowing into me, my powers went haywire on the plants. It flowed through the ground and into their roots. The plants began to heal and recover, but nor only that. They began to grow larger and mutate into something frightening. Even my little pet plant(remember him) grew so large that he towered over the adult humans. By now, they all noticed the changes in the plants and looked on in horror.

Those who knew of my gift looked at me and saw a iridescent green glow in my eyes. The plants began to move. Roots shot up from the ground, wrapped around some unlucky few who were then dragged back underneath the dirt with the roots. Then there were loud screams then abrupt silence coming from underneath the tree, signaling that the people dragged under were dead. Others were attacked by my pet plant. His way of doing things were a lot more gruesome. He ran to a group a assailants and open his mouth which now contained thousand of large, sharp thorn as teeth, then thick vines would shoot out and grab any assailant nearby and drag them into his now open maw. Once inside, he would shut his mouth and the screams rang out. Shortly after, blood was seen dripping from his mouth followed by silence, then a slight hiss . It seems his mouth contain a strong acid that's dissolving their bodies.

When the hedges joined in, they shot thorns at a few assailants. these thorns apparently contained a paralytic poison, as the assailants froze up and fell over, unmoving. I would've thought them dead if not for the look in their eyes. The hedges weren't done though. Roots, much thinner than the trees', came from the hedge, wrapped around the paralyzed assailants and dragged them back into the brush. There was no sound afterward, but I'll just assumed that that's the last time we'll see them.

With all the assailants dealt with and the plants anger mostly subsided, I used my ability to calm them down and return them to their previous appearance. With everything now calm, the group of three quickly turned to me quickly turned to me, ready to rain down a flurry of questions.

"What was that!?"(all)

"Oh. That was just another form of use for my powers. I can manipulate plants and become sort of a conduit or medium for them to act when they feel like it. I do have some control over them, but those guys just had to piss them off."(Lucius)

"Why is this the first time I've heard of this? Are you telling me that the entire time you and other people been in here, y'all could've been eaten like that? That was horrendous and not something I would wish on anyone. Well, anyone I know."(Ester)

"No no. It's perfectly safe normally. They just retaliated in kind. The assailants were killing the plants and so they decided to kill them in return. I only didn't tell you cause it never came up and nothing happened before, so I didn't want to worry you. Also, with the way people have live so far, there's no way people would believe that plants are actually sentient and that they can think and feel pain. They would just think that it's my power doing it."(Lucius)

"Are you saying that these plants are intelligent? That they have awareness and can feel pain and anger?"(Silco)

"Yes, but that goes for all living plants, not just these ones. It's just that there are really carefree and mellow most of the time and no one can hear or understand them. Also, there hasn't been anyone that could allow them yo act out in order to protect them selves."(Lucius)

"Does that mean the grass we're standing on as well?"(Vander)

"No. The grass would have to grow a lot more and for a lot longer for that to be the case. I normally keep the very short though, so no chance of that happening."(Lucius)

"Is it still safe for people to be in here and what about the bodies?"(Vander)

"Yes, it's still safe and you don't have to worry about the bodies. The plants will bury them deep into the soil and then use them as fertilizer. Once they are done, they'll secrete an acid like substance that will dissolve the 'leftovers' and allow the nutrients from them to mix with the soil."(Lucius)

"So, is this a form of magic or something else?"(Silco)

"This is not magic nor any form of magic. It does not use runes or mana to make it work."(Lucius)

"Well, let's not stand around here for long. Let's go. I'll continue this conversation with you later young'un."(Ester)

After we left, we returned to The Last Drop's backroom and spent hours with them asking me questions about the plants and my abilities. Vander's questions were pertaining to safety. Silco's were pertaining to their possibilities if used in different ways that could help them in the fight against the enforcers. Mother's questions were more along the line of responsibilities and about telling her stuff like this beforehand in the future.

I answered their questions as best as I could and reassured them. It took a few hours in order for there to be no more questions. By the end of it, I was beyond tired and wanted to sleep and I had to promise to stay away from the garden for awhile till we were sure it was safe. We didn't know if these assailants worked for someone and if so, who. They died too quickly and weren't even given a chance to surrender. I had given the plants the ability to retaliate, so they should be fine for now, but I made sure to tell them about only using enough force to fit the offense and had to give them examples in multiple forms of words, intention and images through thought transfer.

While not in the garden, I spent time in my lab down in the basement. I couldn't do anything with the current state of my body, except read and study the books. The most interesting ones were those singed with C.R. on them. It must be the author's signature. This author's research covered multiple fields. Luckily they were dated well enough for me to follow along with their start and increase in knowledge. It seemed like the author started with machines as their first focus of study. These even included old machines that they made that would be considered out of date now, but with my knowledge and a few more up to date books from the shelves, I was able to learn the designs and improve them. I even got to use a few journals I got from Mother. I filled them with the knowledge and designs I had made from combining all three sources. I even included the original designs and notes, then the modern knowledge from other books and then showed knowledge that I already had that could help the design and then showed the combined and improved design with all the notes and knowledge on it and then signed it L.K.

I did this for all of C.R.'s machines. I filled book after book with these notes and had to keep asking Mother for more journals. Day after day, it seemed to never stop. At one point, I heard her mutter that she wished I just went back to my plants. I even had to ask Silco to get me more books from his friend and asked Vander to help place a few more bookshelves. I had to separate the tech books from the medical and then organize them by date. Eventually, I ran out of tech books to read as it seemed that at some point the author just gave up on tech entirely. The last few instalments of tech research were just to facilitate his studies into and use of medicine.

Seeing that this was the case, I then repeated the same process with the medical knowledge I had. It had lasted a lot longer than the tech journals as it seemed that it was his new focus. It went on for years and years. There was even notes that was dated to just five years ago. By the end, my lab looked more like a study with a nice chair and with a nice lamp on top of a small side table and they sat on a nice looking rug.

My lab materials was pushed to a small section for now as it couldn't be used yet, but with enough time I'll get there. When the time comes, everyone should be gathered, the Uprising would be over and I'll be ready.