Esper Harem in the Apocalypse

"Now, time to use my science knowledge…"

Rudy placed his hand on the tree trunk, and as he had expected, it was ice cold, just like the fruits.

"I kind of hoped I would have a seed. If it had, I would have fast-forwarded its time and made it a tree. Still, how do the flowers turn into the fruit without a seed? Or perhaps, it actually has a seed, but it expands and gets absorbed by the fruit as it grows?

Hmm. That's the most logical explanation I can come up with. But I think I am wrong. This world can defy science. Magic can defy science.

The first tree was created by the Lord using his magic. That makes me question how the first trees were produced in the human world? No big bang theory can explain such things. The variety between them, even the simple cell analysis, brings out intricate details.

The human anatomy itself is a mystery. How everything works the way it's supposed to be. Even a simple process like breathing is so interesting.

Dammit! My inner science geek is coming out!"

Rudy placed his both hands on the tree and closed his eyes.

'I don't know what I am doing, but here I go.'

Rudy pierced his fingers into the tree's trunk and absorbed its magical power. After a few seconds, he tried to stop, but his body kept sucking its powers, and soon, the leaves started falling.

Before he could do anything, he had sucked all the power from the tree and made it lifeless.

All the leaves and branches fell off, and the trunk itself became so hollow that even a kid would kick it, and it would break.

"..."

A strong gust of wind broke the tree from where Rudy was holding it. It fell on the other trees, but Rudy turned it into ashes before that could happen.

The guards who witnessed everything could only pray in fear.

Since the trees were created by the Lord himself, damaging them was considered as a bad omen. And it wasn't one of those superstitions like the blue moon child; it was a real bad omen.

Many tried to cut the trees or steal their parts, but they were struck with a calamity and died a horrible death. In truth, the garden didn't require the protection it was getting because the trees could protect themselves without anyone's help.

"...."

Rudy was lost at his words and didn't know what to do next. He only tried to take a sample of the tree and had it analyzed by his body, but he never expected something like that to happen.

"I am sure the powers don't have a taste to them, but… I feel sweet…"

SIGH!

Rudy looked at the ground where the ashes of the blood moon tree's root were lying. He placed his hand on them and used his restoration ability, but nothing happened.

"..." He lowered his gaze and muttered, "I basically killed that tree. It was alive, and now it's dead. I never used my restoration ability on a dead person, but I was sure I wouldn't be able to bring them back to life. And these ashes just confirmed it."

Rudy was feeling upset. He came here to produce more trees but ended up reducing them.

'Think… think, Rudy. There has to be a trick…'

Rudy raised his brow at the ashes and slowly moved his hand towards them. After grabbing one layer of ash, he gulped down hesitantly and ate it.

'As expected, it's sweet…'

He ate all the ashes and ended up creating a pit on the ground while searching for the deepest parts of its roots. After digging deep enough, he found a red orb, which resembled the blood moon fruit, but it was hard as a marble.

Rudy tried to crush it, but the orb had no cracks even after using half of his super strength.

'So this is the main seed providing the nutrients required to the tree. It's like the universal seed that won't ever decay or get eaten by the worms… if they exist in this world.

I am sure the vampires know about this orb too, but they don't know how to cultivate trees using it. Anyway…' Rudy stared at the orb and muttered:

"This will help me grow more trees. Now I just need to find a way to grow it again…"

The first thing Rudy tried was his time-forwarding ability to see if a new tree grew out of it, but that didn't happen.

"It needs something to make it bud. I doubt water would work. Maybe some kind of magic?"

Rudy released a bit of the power he had absorbed from the tree before, and the orb began to glow.

"Alright! I think I can make it work. But even if I grow this tree again, I won't be able to produce more. Unless… I have this orb…"

It was time for Rudy to shine once again and create a new power with a reasonable logic behind it. After pondering for three seconds, he smirked from the corner of his lips and uttered with a proud face:

"Damn, I am smart!"

Rudy held the orb properly and uttered, "Duplicate."

As soon as he uttered that, the orb was duplicated.

"Noice!"

It was a simple ability that required minimal logic. Rudy copied the data from the orb and created another orb by conjuring the correct elements from the world.

'I shouldn't get too happy. I still haven't produced a tree…'

Rudy buried one orb in the pit and released the power he had absorbed in the tree. The orb glowed for a few seconds and began to shake.

With a loud popping sound, a four clover leaf came out of the orb.

Rudy kept releasing the power on it, and the leaf slowly grew into a plant and later became a tree. After a few minutes, that tree had become large, and it eventually became the largest and the tallest blood moon tree in the entire Vampire World.