I woke up freezing.

  I rolled over, expecting the Seaside Climate Control unit to be lulling me back to sleep. Instead, there was cold. The air in the mansion was cold enough to store meat in.

  I sat up, shivering.

  "Right," I muttered, my breath misting in the air. "The ban."

  I dragged myself out of bed and went downstairs. The house was dark. Not the cozy dark of dawn, but the dead dark of a de-powered building.

  There was a piece of notebook paper taped to the refrigerator door.

  Boss,

  I told the citizens it's a scheduled 'System Upgrade.' Told them to expect 'Bi-Annual Maintenance.' You have about six hours before they realize their toilets don't flush and their refrigerators are dead. After that, they start rioting.

  Don't make me a liar.

  - Sal

  I checked my watch. 4:00 AM.

  "Six hours," I said to the empty kitchen. "Plenty of time to reinvent the industrial revolution."

  I wasn't worried. In fact, I was excited. For the last year, I had been playing by everyone else’s rules. I bought their tech, I used their logistics, I fought using their infrastructure. I was a consumer in the apocalypse.

  Today, I became a manufacturer.

  I grabbed a coat and headed out the back door.

  The greenhouse was warm. Tim and the others generated their own heat, independent of the grid. It was a nice reminder that biology didn't need a wall outlet.

  I sat on the bench and opened my System Interface.

  I had been lazy. I had treated the [Catalogue] like a vending machine. I put Qi in, I got a specific plant out. I never questioned the recipe.

  "Well," I whispered, cracking my knuckles. "I'm a Gardener and what is gardening if not forcing nature to do things it doesn't want to do?"

  I unlocked the new recipes I had earned during the trip to the summit.

  [Razorgrass]

  [Sky Piercer Bamboo]

  [Grounding Vine]

  I looked at the Grounding Vine. Absorbs/drains electricity.

  "If it absorbs it," I mused, "it has to store it and if it stores it, it can release it."

  I opened the [Crafting] tab.

  I started with the immediate need. Electricity.

  I selected the Grounding Vine as the base. I needed a conductor. I didn't have copper wire, but I had soil rich in metallic minerals from the Adam mine. I combined them.

  I poured Qi into the mix, visualized the flow of electrons and the snap of a spark gap.

  [Synthesis Complete]

  [New Item Created: Voltaic Vine (Special Grade)]

  I planted the seed in a pot and it grew instantly, a creeper that crackled softly. I touched a leaf and a jolt of static stung my finger.

  "Bio-batteries," I grinned. "Nice."

  Next, light.

  The Heavenly Moss was great for ambient mood lighting, but you couldn't read a book by it. I needed lumens.

  I took the bioluminescence trait from the moss and grafted it onto the root structure of a turnip and I tweaked the output, cranking the brightness until the System warned me about potential blindness.

  [Synthesis Complete]

  [New Item Created: Bioluminescent Bulb (Special Grade)]

  It looked like a glowing onion. I hung it from the ceiling and it illuminated the entire greenhouse with a soft light that looked like a noon sun on a hot summer day.

  Finally, refrigeration. The most important luxury of the modern world.

  I looked at the Heavenly Filter. It purified water, but the byproduct of purification was a drop in temperature. If I amplified that...

  I grafted the Filter onto a gourd.

  [Synthesis Complete]

  [New Item Created: Glacial Gourd (Special Grade)]

  I cracked one open and frost poured out. The inside was naturally sub-zero.

  "Essentials covered," I said, dusting off my hands. "Mister O can keep his neon and his chrome. We're going organic."

  I tested the installation in the mansion first.

  I planted the Voltaic Vines in the basement, letting them tap into the earth. I wove them up through the walls, replacing the copper wiring Sal had ripped out. The lights flickered, then stabilized. The power was clean, silent, and limitless.

  I hung Bioluminescent Bulbs in the hallways and I placed Glacial Gourds in the pantry.

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  The house teemed with life. It was a living organism.

  "Now for the rest of them," I said.

  I walked out to the driveway and I closed my eyes to activate [Dominion].

  My awareness expanded and I felt every root, every blade of grass, every speck of soil in Southfield. I felt the colony in Adam, miles away but connected through the earth.

  I didn't need a construction crew or technicians for this.

  I visualized the grid.

  Grow.

  In thousands of homes across Southfield, vines sprouted from the foundations, weaving into fuse boxes. Bulbs grew from ceilings. Gourds swelled in kitchens.

  It happened in seconds.

  In Adam, Mayah watched as the lights in the mine turned on, brighter than before.

  In Southfield, Mrs. Higgins woke up to a warm house and a lamp that she didn't have to plug in.

  "System Upgrade complete," I whispered, opening my eyes.

  I pulled out my phone and sent a mass text to the Eden Citizen Registry.

  [From: President Kaaz]

  [Subject: Utility Bill]

  [Message: Effective immediately, the cost of electricity, heating, and water is 0 Stones. Rent and Taxes are reduced by 50%. Welcome to the Upgrade.]

  I smiled. The overhead was gone. Eden was financially free.

  Two hours later, I stood at the podium in the newly christened Eden City Hall.

  It was a modest building compared to the Thunderdome or the Arsenal, but it was ours. The room was packed with 70 delegates—one elected representative from each block of Southfield.

  Grace sat beside me, looking immaculate in a white suit. She had reviewed my proposal and, for the first time in a while, hadn't argued with a single point.

  "Order," I said.

  The murmuring died down.

  "As of this morning," I began, "Eden is energy independent. We rely on no one for our survival. But survival is not the goal. Expansion is."

  I looked at the faces in the crowd. They were teachers, mechanics, former accountants. Ordinary people who had survived the end of the world.

  "I am not a King," I said. "I am a President. My term is indefinite, but it is revocable. You are the shareholders and if you think I'm doing a bad job, vote me out. I'll go back to my garden."

  A few chuckles ripple through the room.

  "However," I continued, gesturing to Grace. "The business side is different. The Beckenfein Estate manages the economy and Grace is the CEO. She stays."

  Grace nodded to the room.

  "Today, I am introducing the Blue Ocean Resolution," I said.

  A holographic map appeared in the center of the room. It showed Southfield and the distant colony of Adam. Between them was the red expanse of the Wilds.

  "We need to connect the head to the body," I explained. "Currently, we rely on convoys that are vulnerable to monsters and raiders. That ends now. We are building two routes."

  I traced a line on the map.

  "Route One: The Green Corridor. An overland highway enclosed by a Great Wall of Heavenly Bamboo. Thirty feet high, lined with turrets. A safe zone cutting straight through the Wilds. We will secure a massive swath of territory and create a trade route that Seaside can't touch."

  The delegates nodded. That made sense.

  "Route Two," I said, pointing underground. "The Dark Web."

  I zoomed in on the subterranean layer.

  "I will weave a tunnel network connecting Southfield to Adam using the reinforced roots of the Heavenly Bamboo. A private subway system. We can move troops, high-value cargo, and Spirit Stones without ever seeing the sun. No satellites can track us and no scouts can spot us."

  I leaned on the podium.

  "Seaside needs roads and White Hill needs fuel. I just need dirt. I can exist where they cannot. This is how we win."

  I looked at the count.

  Vote: 62 Yea. 8 Nay.

  "Passed," I said, banging the gavel. "Grace, handle the press and explain the details. I have an army to feed."

  I drove to the old strip mall on 12 Mile Road.

  The Diamond Boyz—now the Eden 2nd Division—were drilled in the parking lot. Joakim had them moving in perfect sync to a beat only they could hear.

  "At ease," I called out as I walked up, Aiya trailing behind me.

  The men stopped, chests heaving. They looked better than they had yesterday and the new organic tech along with the sense of purpose had done wonders for morale.

  "Training is good," I said. "But biology is better."

  I led them into the converted kitchen. It had been fully renovated with the new bio-appliances.

  "Aiya," I said.

  I gave her some ingredients and she started cooking. An hour later she was done.

  Aiya stepped forward and tapped her [Immortal Cookbook] skill.

  50 steaming bowls materialized on the tables.

  "Listen up," I told the gang of fifty men. "You are on a strict regimen starting now. No more scavenging. No more ramen."

  I pointed to the bowls.

  "Breakfast: Heavenly Oatmeal. It permanently boosts Constitution and it makes your skin harder than leather."

  "Lunch: Monster Meat Stew. Strength boost. You'll be able to bench press a car within a month."

  "Dinner: Heavenly Tea. Qi Regeneration. You'll recover from a twelve-hour shift in twenty minutes."

  The men stared at the oatmeal. It smelled incredible.

  "Eat," I ordered.

  They dug in.

  Aiya stood beside me, watching them gorge themselves. "I mass produced enough to last them a year," she said. "Stored in the cookbook however is an infinite amount. We can deploy a hot meal anywhere in the tunnel network instantly."

  "Good," I said. "They’re investments, Aiya."

  My phone buzzed.

  I stepped outside. It was Grace.

  "He signed," Grace said, her voice sounding relieved. "Siegfried is in my office. He reviewed the contract."

  "Did he haggle?"

  "No," Grace said. "He just asked if the hospital had a coffee machine. I told him we grow our own beans and he signed immediately."

  "One million stones a year," I said. "For a Realm 3 support cultivator who can kick a wind mage out of the sky. That's a steal."

  "He starts tomorrow," Grace confirmed. "Chief of Medicine at Southfield General."

  "Perfect," I said.

  I hung up and looked out at the parking lot.

  Everything was in place.

  Eden was self-sufficient. We had infinite power, food, and water.

  Eden was stable. We had a democracy that kept the people invested and a tax code that kept them rich.

  Eden was militarizing. We would soon have a tunnel network that made us invisible, a regiment that was hulking out on magic stew, and a physician who could fix anything short of death.

  "We're ready," I whispered.

  I got back in the truck.

  The next time I sat at the table with Mister O and Axehill, I wouldn't be the "Gardener." I wouldn't be the chump who accidentally started a war he couldn't finish.

  I would be an equal.

  "Let's go home, Aiya," I said. "We have a highway to build."

  We drove back toward the mansion as the sun was setting, casting shadows over the renovated streets of Southfield.

  I didn't know what Seaside and White Hill were planning and I didn't know what monsters lurked in the other major cities.

  But looking at my rapidly industrializing city, I knew one thing for sure.

  Eden wasn't going to get left behind again.