Slightly chilled water from the endless current of the river inside the amazing Progress Garden ran over his scales as he watched his creator with awe.

  They were having a conversation about a new project when his creator and friend had a bolt of inspiration. Suddenly hundreds of plants and materials appeared along with a hastily crafted work bench. Strange screens with pictures of unbelievably long lists of plants and animals appeared and he quietly examined each one as his creator nodded to himself.

  Splash loved watching Synexus work and he gained insight from each successful project. He knew his creator was beyond intelligent, but some of the creations were still completely unbelievable. Look at himself. He was a common river trout that was altered to be able to think and speak. His whole existence was proof of his creator’s genius.

  Sometimes when Synexus wasn’t in the garden, the trout had thoughts of wanting to leave. Distant, forlorn dreams of seeing the world outside of the created space, but then he would miss out on the incredible existence unfolding before him. He knew if he ever truly wanted to leave and swim in the vast world, Synexus wouldn’t hesitate to accommodate his request. Of course, if he did request it and was set out on the world, he was afraid he would end up being even lonelier than he is now. Having a high intelligence is a blessing and a curse. His fellow trout just didn’t understand him, and it was hard to come to terms with his purpose, if he had one that is.

  His friend did begin to create more trout that will match or exceed his intelligence, and he was truly excited for them to mature. He would have friends of his own race and be able to converse even with Synexus wasn’t visiting the garden. However, there was one thing that scared him about the youngsters. What if Synexus ended up liking them more or finding their intelligence more valuable? Where would that leave Splash?

  No. He had gone down this thought thread dozens of times before and only one solution came to mind that would possibly solve his problems. The fear of asking was an indomitable dam standing before him though. If Synexus said no, then it could ruin the only true relationship he had. If Synexus agreed and then something went wrong, he would be dead and that would be equally as sad. That’s why he liked when his friend dove into another big project. It always provided him with a reason not to ask for a time.

  Eventually, he would ask Synexus to alter his foundation to be a person so he could walk the world like the others.

  ***

  Synexus understood how big and complex a project on this scale would be. He had reviewed the creation of Gene a hundred times in Zunzutoxian’s codex, and this wouldn’t quite be up to that level. It would be more in the middle of that and his creation of the Hydra plants he had made.

  Those were the first plants he created using the thief plant’s apical meristem command center. When he thought about the bridge at first, he didn’t even realize he already had some experience with it. Part of him was thinking of ways to give the plant bridge a brain by mixing in some animal DNA, but then it hit him that he didn’t need it truly sentient. After all, that would be kind of weird.

  So, after only an hour, he had the base for the “intelligence” for his enhanced bio-architectural system. Next, he needed an actual seed to work with.

  After some deliberation he decided to use a seed that was held within the gift he received from King Drawgdar. It was a completely unexciting species of giant grass, but it would be the perfect foundation for his new creation. One reason was because the sheer size of the seed would give him the room to work with when adding all the will pathways. The second reason was because the plant’s foundation would be easy to completely alter since it didn’t have a lot going for it.

  Two hours in and he already had a plan for the intelligence and had the specimen he would be working from. All he really needed to do now was to rewrite the gene structure to accommodate all the genetic information from any useful plant in his Archives and any elemental makeup from his Database.

  Once he made the biggest gene edit of his life so far, he would begin Mana Weaving all his skill’s will pathways into the seed itself. This was needed so it could use the sheer amount of genetic information held within.

  Overall, the only hard part was the gene edit. Making a perfect genome that can accommodate all those different genomes would prove difficult, however, that’s where the codex comes in. Gene was made in a similar way, and he had access to Gene’s genome and the creation process.

  When he turned his attention back to the real world to inform Vorin that it was going to take longer, his entire party groaned. Kumo won some guins because apparently, they all bet on how extra the bridge was going to be. Since they already understood how important it was to create something miraculous, Synexus vowed to make it the best bridge he could possibly create. Time wasn’t an issue as long as he kept it under a week or so. Yu would get antsy and who could blame her, but she would understand when she saw the bridge.

  That’s when he dived back into his garden and completely shut off the outside world. His focus, all his focus, would be on creating his first bio-bridge.

  ***

  Splash continued to watch his creator while mentally taking notes of his process. The trout’s mouth fell open when a massive seed bigger than Synexus’ head and longer than his arms popped into existence. Instincts told the fish that the seed would be the foundation for the newest creation.

  Synexus closed his eyes and Splash watched even closer to figure out anything that his creator was doing with the seed to no avail. He simply couldn’t see the mana or skills that his creator often told him about.

  He asked Synexus constantly if he would get access to System when he turned twenty years of age, but there is even knowledge that his creator doesn’t know. Of course, he would pick a class close to that of his creator that way he could alter himself instead. Still twenty years felt like a long time when he was born only four months prior.

  Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

  Right in the middle of his thought the big scaly chicken walked over trying to get his creator’s attention. The blasted bird was probably hungry again. She was always hungry. Splash quickly spit some water to get the chicken to leave their creator alone. It was clear that Synexus wanted no distractions. He was clearly deep into the seed’s foundation.

  Six hours passed and Splash still didn’t get bored watching his creator work even though nothing was happening on the outside. It was all internal work. Still the immense focus his creator was able to summon when diving into a project was something that Splash envied. He unfortunately couldn’t do many projects while swimming in a river. It was one of life’s many disappointments. Synexus knew this was an issue and that’s why he tried to include Splash in his projects as much as he could. He truly was a good friend.

  At the ten-hour mark, Splash saw his creator’s eyes shoot open and a smile formed on his face.

  “Another success?”

  “Almost! That was simply the first part. Now I must imprint my will onto the seed, so it has instructions. How long was I at it?”

  “10 hours strait this time!”

  “Wow! No wonder I feel kind of tired. Still, there is no time like the present!”

  Splash watched his creator throw some food to the annoying chicken and then sprinkle food into the river.

  “Is there anything I can help with?”

  “You’ve already done your part. I wish you could help more, but the next part is all about mana. Perhaps one day if you get access to a class.”

  “Is there no way for you to alter me so I can be useful before twenty years have passed?”

  “Hm, perhaps. Altering you will hurt though, and I can’t do it right now. Let’s talk about it after this project, yeah?”

  Splash simply nodded. It wasn’t quite what he wanted, but he understood. He didn’t want to be a burden. He just wanted to be useful.

  Before the fish could get another word in, his creator’s beautiful silver eyes were closed again and this time the fish could feel power circling around his friend. He watched in awe to see if he could gleam any new information about this strange energy known as mana.

  From what his creator had told him in the past and from what he had witnessed, it was an energy existing in the air, and it was ever present. However, it was also an energy within a person. His creator was full of the stuff. That’s why his current hypothesis was that the energy connected a person to the world which is why he felt he needed to be a person to be able to access the energy.

  He knew he could simply ask his creator about the mysterious energy and Synexus had even offered a couple of times to satisfy his curiosity, but he felt it wouldn’t mean as much if he was given the answer. Perhaps figuring out the mystery was the first step into harnessing it.

  Every time he was able to witness the energy in action, he could feel it too. Sometimes he felt like he was close to a breakthrough almost like if he simply opened a part of himself the energy would flood in and make him whole, yet whenever Splash tried, he couldn’t quite open himself up enough to the energy.

  This time was no different.

  At first, he could feel the sheer power of the energy flowing around and through his creator. He could almost sense the path it was taking. It was soaking the entire garden, and he felt like he was on the edge of something big. An understanding that would open his eyes to the truth of the world. Even though he couldn’t quite be sure if it was truly mana, he did notice a certain spot in his creator’s body that seemed to be the destination of the energy before it was directed into the seed. One of his hypotheses was that he simply lacked a certain organ that would process the energy and this was step closer towards proving that idea. Still organ didn’t feel quite right.

  Unfortunately, before he could grasp something solid, his creator’s eyes opened once more and he brushed sweat from his brow.

  “How long that time?”

  “I’m not sure. Sorry, creator! I was focusing on the mana once more. I was close this time!”

  “No worries, Splash and please call me Synexus. Maybe I can direct a flow of mana towards you one day until you get your breakthrough.”

  Splash’s eyes lit up at the opportunity.

  “Please! That would be quite the learning experience.”

  Synexus chuckled.

  “Well thank you for this amazing idea. I believe I’m done. I’ll check on you in a bit! Let me go grow this bio-bridge.”

  The next instant his creator was gone once again leaving him with the big chicken. The cold child of loneliness fell over him yet again.

  ***

  “Alright, all done!”

  “What the…Synexus you scared me!” Zuls jumped and yelled at the exclamation.

  “Sorry. How long was I at it?”

  “It’s been like three days. What were you doing? We were getting worried.”

  “The will pathways took a lot of time to plan out, and the mana was taxing to gather and direct. However, I think it will work exactly like I want it to.”

  Kumo brushed away the fog and the cloud hovering above their heads.

  Synexus stood up and stretched since he had been sitting down cross legged for three days. He walked over to the side of the mountain and looked at the misty valley below. Black Hydragon wings sprouted from his back, and he flew down through the mist to the valley floor. He wanted the roots of the bridge to be in the ground down at the bottom so it would have more support.

  With Progress Garden, he summoned the seed several feet below the hard ground and started to pour his mana into the seed. Something like this would take most of his mana pool even with his high efficiency with Instant Growth.

  Soon the plant broke through the ground in front of him and he watched as it continued to spread out along the valley floor until it met the mountains on both sides. Then it shot up growing into thick supports for the bridge.

  Synexus flew back up and landed next to his friends who were watching in curiosity. Seconds later the thick plant supports grew high enough and the bridge started to take its first form.

  It was its first because the bridge was special. Using the apical meristem command center it would be able to sense pressure, temperature, and damage anywhere along its body. Then using the instructions of the will pathways which were ultimately his skills Instant Growth, Genome Archive, Instant Repair, Element Database, and Body Transmutation, it could alter itself to counter what it was sensing perfectly. It would change to fit the immediate needs.

  They all watched as the bridge took form and anchored itself on either side of the chasm. Then it went from soft green to cold steel to sky blue to a clear material where it nearly looked invisible. Finally, it landed on a glistening silver with a crystal canopy covering the bridge. Four spires at each of its corners shot into the sky and caught the early morning sunlight.

  “I think Kumo wins some extra guins because this has to be beyond any of your expectations.”

  “Synexus is right, pay up!”

  A round of laughter rang out from the party as they became the first people to cross the magnificent bio-bridge.