Chapter 5: Plans
When Oakley woke up, it was already noon.
He took out some protein bars from the backpack and a water bottle, that was his usual breakfast.
While eating he was planning his next move, and came up with a couple plans.
The first plan was to stay here and reinforce the area even further, and he could do so even better than before because of the new pots he could make that allowed him to place the plants on the roof.
The second plan was to find another place to move, because he had a very bad feeling about this place. He didn't know why, but he's always trusted his intuition, especially because it has always helped him out in someway when he was on his own after his grandparents died. And, there were those creatures that tried to sneak up on him, who knew what would come next.
Though he would occasionally hear gunshots in the distance, there was none of that today. He would've woken up if he heard it, and despite his fatigue last night, he considered himself a light sleeper.
He decided to trust his guy feeling and leave the area, but he would do so tomorrow, as it was noon and he didn't want to be caught out in the open at night. So, the plan was a mix between fortifying the place and leaving for another area.
He looked at the hallway, and as expected the creatures died with their eyes locked on him, with that creepy smile.
He just opened the blinds and the window, and jumped down, but not before bringing his pots with him.
He wouldn't clean up the house when he could just move to another.
He chose the house on the other side of the street.
As he was relocating the plants, a tedious process he wish there was a skill for, he was thinking of those grotesque creatures, 'The housing area here is blocked off by walls and a gate that is still closed, so did the creatures climb up or is there an opening I don't know about? Oakley couldn't possibly monitor the whole area, it was too big.
He was leaning towards the latter, because if the former was true then they could have just scaled the house and broke in through the window.
This conclusion reaffirmed his trust in his gut feeling, and the notion that staying here for too long wouldn't bode well.
He made his way to the front yard again, and started making more pea shooters and sunflowers. He took the time to make even more sunflowers, the lighting they provided was too important.
The houses had pea shooters positioned at the end of hallways and aimed at windows and doors, and this time he didn't even lock the doors because when the pea shooters notice a threat they would just destroy the door.
Oakley was sure that they were coming back, and he bided his time by making more plants and pots whenever he could.
Whenever he made too much plants, he would feel tired and fatigued, but that feeling went away after a while. He assumed that the feeling was only temporary and was a result of lack of mana.
The process of him fortifying the place continued, over and over, with even him climbing to the roof and putting plants there.
…
A couple hours later and the front and backyard had about 10 pea shooters and 3 sunflowers.
The roof had 3 pea shooters on each side with 1 sunflower behind it.
And he fortified the inside of the house with 12 pea shooters placed in positions facing windows, doors, and at the end of hallways.
He wanted to make more, but he didn't have enough mana.
Now, Oakley just closed the blinds, and sat in the center of the room just in case the creatures could climb to the windows or break the walls. This would allow him ample time to react.
Then, as he was waiting he could hear the rain again.
Rumble! Rumble!
It was the same pattern as before, rain followed by thunder and then the creatures would come. Whether they knew to use the rain and thunder as a cover to close in on prey, he didn't know, but that didn't matter.
He as confident in his planning and defenses, it had saved his life time and time again.
Thoom! Thoom!
The noise of the pea shooters were heard, and with extra light from the sunflowers, they should be able to gun the monstrosities down before they get too close.
He moved one of the blinds a little, and looked through the window.
He saw that the plants were doing better than he thought, none have even touched the grass of the lawn yet. He noticed that there were normal zombies mixed in this time, but they were gunned down all the same by the pea shooters.
The pea shooters on the roof were firing as well, they appeared to have the best positions with their high ground and whatnot.
There was a new type of zombie mixed in, aside from the normal zombies and the stealthy crawlers, as he called it.
Well, not new per se, but different.
The zombies appeared to be running, and though they weren't too fast, they didn't appear to get tired.
Most of the zombies died, but some managed to get to the door, ignoring the pea shooters they passed.
Oakley found it strange that the plants weren't attacked, didn't the zombies see that they were getting attacked by the plants?
It's as if they didn't notice them at all, just like all of the other plants they passed, like the trees or the grass. All of it was ignored, as if it wasn't on the zombies' radar.
He didn't know why the zombies did that, but that was a good thing good for him.
Thoom! Thoom!
He heard the pea shooters downstairs firing, right when the sound of the doors being turned were heard.
Seeing that his preparations were more than enough, he decided to take get some sleep. He would be traveling to go find another location, and he didn't know how long it would take or how far it would be.
Aside from that, he didn't really need much. A shower or such would be nice, and he had indeed found the water to be running, but he didn't trust it. What if the water was contaminated?
He still had a water bottle on him and some protein bars, which should last him for a while.
He went to sleep, seemingly ignorant to the battle going on around him.
…
He woke up a couple hours later, and checked outside. It was morning.
Ignoring the corpses littered everywhere, he checked his interface. There was most likely a notification about his experience when he was asleep.
=============
[Interface]
Name: Oakley
Class: Lifeweaver 5★
Power: 15 {Select Skill}
Abilities: Pea Shooter 1★, Small Flower Pot 1★, Sunflower 1★
=============
He had reached another point where the power and experience wouldn't increased unless a skill was selected.
He interacted with {Select Skill} again, and received the familiar prompt.
[Select Skill.]
{Sap-pult 2★}
{Small Lily Pad 1★}
{Witch Hazel 4★}
Oakley thought that {Sap-pult} would be nice, thinking that it probably flung out sap which would slow and trap enemies, but he didn't feel that it was needed because his pea shooters were more than enough currently.
As for the {Small Lily Pad}, it was useless currently, and he remembered that he saw {Large Lily Pad} before. So, if anything, he would rather choose the latter, when he needed it or didn't have anything better to choose.
He had to choose {Witch Hazel}, the rarity was one thing, but the power he suspected it had was absolutely too good to pass by. He had hit the jackpot with this skill, which was supposed to turn the zombies into a puff shroom plant, or mushrooms that attacked his zombies in turn.
The plant is literally based off the witch hazel plant, which was a plant with fragrant bright yellow flowers with string-like petal in a cluster.
He activated {Witch Hazel} immediately after making a pot.
Now, he had a very powerful trump card that could turn the tides. He noticed before that the plants seemed very intelligent, so he tried to convey his thoughts to the hazel plant, wanting it to transform of the the zombies on the ground outside into the mushroom plant.
Seemingly understanding Oakley's intent, the hazel shot out a purple haze or mist that hit a corpse on the lawn.
A moment later, and a small purple mushroom could be seen, it appeared alert and ready for any zombies.
The transformation appeared to be permanent.
The drain on mana wasn't too significant, and this applied with all of his other plants, but he knew it could be quite the expenditure if he wanted to make more.
The advantages of the class lied in the defenses, which would take planning and preparation, and that was something he was used to doing when he was juggling between jobs and classes in college after he was on his own.