《The Deadliest Blade of Grass》 Ch. 0 – Prologue* Hmmm... from what the latest tests show, splicing this new gene into lettuce with CRISPR should have increased resistance by at least 20%. However, our current crop and simulations only show the chances of survival against the virus improved by 10%. "Damnit! Still not enough!" I yell loudly, startling my fellow worker and best friend Alan. ¡°The virus never showed this trait before! What is this thing!?¡± - - "Matt, guessing the latest gene splice isn¡¯t the solution?" A gruff feminine voice interrupts us as Alan was looking over at my screen, "Hey, is everything okay in there? I need an auditory confirmation on the status of the clean room you''re in." "Yes, this is scientist Matt Stern, working with scientist Alan Ham. Clean room isolation is still intact, and no issues are currently occurring. Sorry Leah, the frustration is just getting to me." ¡°Yupp, Alan here too. We¡¯re good.¡± My job here at Vertical Farms Unlimited, ever since the grey death appeared, has become more and more important to the government, and the world, every day. It''s not a joke to say that the security here rivals that of Fort Knox. In fact, we have a couple of servers chugging along in vaults that may even be thicker. Disturbance alarms in every room, multiple security checks to get in and out of different sections, roving guard patrols. The project, and us who work on it, is deemed irreplaceable. In fact, I currently live alone in a room here at the lab, as it has been deemed too dangerous for me to walk from my house to the lab. A 5-minute walk, too long. I haven¡¯t seen my house for several months, who even knows if it¡¯s still there after the last fire that swept through the area last month. The higher-ups used to tell me that they had a guard stationed up at my house to keep an eye on it, but even that pretense has been abandoned after the food riots started up. I¡¯m pretty sure that any guards not currently here at the plant have abandoned their posts to look for food or protect their families. The grey death, also locally known as God¡¯s Discipline, started out as a small infection in China that appeared on some of their crops. Of course, they burned everything down, and some villages ¡®disappeared¡¯, but for some reason the infection started to spread beyond any containment measures across the globe. No known vector was discovered, until 70% of the crops on the planet had been infected. Of course we had secondary sources of food, but nothing could be done to completely offset the loss of the main staple of food for humanity. Algae farms, animals, and surviving plants were quickly stripped away beneath the rampaging hoard of humanity. And that vector? The worst case scenario, humans. The population on Earth at this time was 12 billion. Overcrowding and unemployment became prevalent, though for the most part the food issue was solved. Vertical farms adorned most of the major cities, making up farmland for that which was lost as humans kept expanding. However, no matter how ¡°green¡± we went, and pollution grew worse. But these overcrowded conditions caused an environmental reaction in our DNA. Hidden in the junk DNA in 98% of humans existed virus DNA that only activated a short time ago. This virus began to spread, and activate the production of the virus in other humans too. But the most insidious part of it all was that the effect on humans was minimal, a slightly elevated chance to sneeze. To compound our difficulties, the effect our sneezes brimming with viruses had on the crops was slow acting, only affecting the final product, not the stalk itself. If it was just this we might have been saved, but due to the mass production and cloning of specific strains of species, the susceptibility of our crops was large. The genetic diversity was gone, and so was any natural resistance to this virus that may have been passed through the generations.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Camera check, voice check, and information provided all match up. Status confirmed. Relieving disturbance alarm in clean room 11. Also, Matt, Alan, I know it¡¯s tough. It¡¯s tough on all of us. Just remember that what we¡¯re doing is important. Buuuuuut, since you caused me a headache from this stupid alarm, you¡¯re buying the drinks tonight.¡± ¡®click¡¯ Zzzzzzzzzz¡­. Leah always tries to pawn off buying drinks on to either Alan or I. I wouldn¡¯t mind it if we weren¡¯t in the situation we were in. And by situation I mean end of the world. Haha, jk, that doesn¡¯t really matter a whole ton when buying girls drinks. What matters most are two things. One, the only alcohol left is crazy expensive since the forced siphoning of all edibles to the populace, by law and by force. Law and force are separate at the moment as it¡¯s the strong vs the weak out there. And two, Leah just isn¡¯t my type. She¡¯s good looking, athletic, and smart, but she is just out of my strike zone. Sure we¡¯ve had sex a couple times, we¡¯re both cooped up in this place, but I¡¯ve never felt anything more signaling a connection. I haven¡¯t been able to fall in love since Rose was taken away from me. ¡°Like hell I will¡± I mutter, even knowing she had already turned off the microphone. ¡°Not getting out of this one. We both know how loud those alarms are in that office, and if you don¡¯t buy, she won¡¯t talk to you for a week. Which only leaves us playing an awkward telephone game where you two won¡¯t directly talk to each other. For my sanity, buy the drinks. You know what, for your sanity too. You need to let loose a little bit more.¡± ¡°Alan, you do realize that if we fail here, there might not be a next year right?¡± ¡°Of course, who doesn¡¯t know that? But there are other stations too, and if you overwork yourself and get sick or die, then we have even less of a chance of-¡° Alan was interrupted as the building shook around us. ¡°What the FUCK!¡± ¡°Matt, Alan, get somewhere safe NOW! Goddamn riot reached us and they have homemade explosives. They want our food ¨C wait. No way. Fuck. They have a fucking canno---¡° A large boom, bigger than the last, shook the building once more. Glass shattered and rained down on us both as the speaker cut out. ¡°Alan, run! We need to get to the evac tunnels!¡± ¡°But our work! Without it, we¡¯ll be back to square one! I¡¯m taking it with us!¡± ¡°Damnit Alan, hurry. I¡¯ll check the hallway, grab it and go. I¡¯ll follow right behind you.¡± The work he was talking about consisted of live plants that contained several synthesized genes that increased resistance to the grey death. It would take months to get back to where we were now, and we were already expecting more than 80% of the world population to die before our work could stave off the complete end of humanity. Any further delays can quickly bring that right up to 99%. ¡®bratatat¡¯ ¡®BOOM¡¯ Shit Shit Shit Shit Shit. That¡¯s coming from the front of the farm, and those gunshots are getting progressively closer. I¡¯m at the first door to our room, peaking around the corner down the red-lit hallway. ¡®clomp, clomp, clomp¡¯ I¡¯m starting to hear heavy boots running towards us. ¡°Alan, we have to go, NOW!¡± ¡°Got it, let¡¯s go. I think I have everything.¡± On the other side of the room I see Alan running towards the far exit, and as I¡¯m about to join him, I see a grenade land on the floor between us. Welp. Stuck between a rock and a hard place. Starving rebels on one side, grenade on the other. I¡¯m a dead man, but Alan, Alan still has a chance to get away. Without any further thinking I run and jump on the grenade. ¡°RUUUUUUUUN¡± ¡®Thud¡¯ A muffled noise comes from below me and suddenly I feel weightless as I''m launched upwards, then nothing. Ch. 1 - Soul Stream* Nothingness ¨C that¡¯s all I can feel. Is that even a feeling? But I¡¯m not scared, I feel so calm. Like nothing matters anymore. Really, since I¡¯m dead, I guess it doesn¡¯t matter. A sweet force appears to be tugging at me. I start to feel things slowly leaving me, a weight off my shoulders. It feels so nice. What weight was there though? What¡¯s being let go? I¡¯m starting to worry about what¡¯s leaving me. My emotions are getting weaker. I can¡¯t seem to remember some things. I don¡¯t know what, but I miss them. What am I missing? The tug is still there, but I¡¯m resisting now. I¡¯m losing less, but a new force is starting to tug at me, this one much more irresistible. Up. I¡¯m going up? ¡°Hmm. We have a variant. What should I do with you?¡± ¨Cunknown Who¡¯s talking? What¡¯s going on? Who¡¯s there? ¡°Looks like it¡¯ll take two dips for this to work, but If I put this one back in, there¡¯s a chance that it¡¯ll still retain some of its self by the time it reaches the end of the stream.¡± What stream? I don¡¯t want to go back in, I¡¯m not losing anything up here. What¡¯s going on? ¡°I could force it out, but that may damage this soul. Also, the karma attached is mostly positive, and a fair amount. If I forced his memories out, his karma may disappear too.¡± Karma, as in karma? That stuff was true? Damn, I shouldn¡¯t have done¡­.. what was it again? Damn¡­¡­ I feel like I have so many regrets. But what are they? Who am I? Matt. At least I remember that. And Rose ¨C the one that got away. Wait, taken away? Why do I feel so much anger? What happened? WHAT HAPPENED! ¡°I¡¯m not one to remove past accomplishments from someone who deserved them, it goes against the grand flow. But since the interruption, wherever it was going before has definitely changed. I need to minimize the change in the overall flow.¡± -- POV Noble House ¨C fantasy -- ¡°nooooooo¡­. huff¡­. sniffle¡­.. ¡° A woman sobbed, as she cradled a small baby boy in her hands.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°Helen, I¡¯m sorry, but the nurse needs to take it away.¡± Her husband quietly spoke to her. -- Man POV -- Why did this happen? Up till yesterday, the midwife and the court magician could feel a strong life in my wife¡¯s womb. Then that blasted witch showed up. The Oracle, pledged to no God, but could still somehow see the strings of fate. Rose. How I detest that name. She¡¯s only 20 years old, and every marriage proposal I¡¯d arranged for her she¡¯d shot down. She had always given the excuse they aren¡¯t good enough for her, and that eventually one would show up that her fate was tied to. Thinking she was better than all of the nobility. Yes, she had some power, and that was the only reason why when she visited that I agreed to her proposal. That she be wed to the baby that we just learned was conceived. With her in the family, my status instantly shot up. Using her influence, and a few tidbits of information that Rose gave me, I finally reached the position of a High Noble. Everything was going perfectly Last night she showed up drenched by the recent rain, crying at the door. Of course I offered to let her in, she helped our house attain a position it could never have before. But she just stood there, and said the words that I wish never came true, but I knew, from the bottom of my heart, that what she said would come true. ¡°He¡¯s gone. His fate has disappeared from here. Our contract is dissolved. ¡®hic¡¯ Goodbye¡± ¡°What are you saying. The court magician was just here, he¡¯s fine. Go home, take a rest, come back tomorrow.¡± I denied her, but she was already deaf to my pleas. I shut the door as she slowly walked away. Immediately I walked to my wife¡¯s room, and her beautiful smile blew my worries away. The next morning, ¡°It¡¯s coming!¡± ¡°Push my lady, push. The baby isn¡¯t moving, we need to get it out as soon as possible¡± After that all we had were tears. But I had to stay strong, for my wife, and the future of my house. We¡¯ll try again, and hopefully our next child would live. -- end Man POV ¨C ¡°The best solution would be to have the soul go somewhere and die really quick, weakening it¡¯s grasp on its current memories. Karma would remain relatively unchanged, but I can¡¯t knowingly affect reincarnation like this without giving it a chance. I¡¯m not a soul judge. Let¡¯s see what this soul retained¡­. Ooh, interesting. I know just the thing for this guy, and he¡¯ll definitely have a chance if he uses what he knows from his past self.¡± What did he see? I don¡¯t want to die again. I want to live. And love again. ¡°Short lived¡­ Some potential¡­ Same world as original destination¡­ Will benefit from his knowledge¡­ Hmm¡­ It¡¯s not ideal, it has a little too much potential, but the highest rank this organism has managed to evolve to is some thorny weed before the original was killed. Hear that soulie? Strive to be a thorny weed hya hya hya.¡± At the end the imagined appearance of my captor was ruined by bad tasting humor. He should stick to his day job. Or was it she? Does it matter? I feel myself being lifted up, relatively, and I feel myself also moving backwards. ¡°Okay, here¡­ you¡­. GOOOOO!!!!¡± With a sudden acceleration, I¡¯m launched towards a dim light that¡¯s getting brighter and brighter each second. I¡¯m starting to burn as I get closer, it¡¯s trying to rip my memories away, but I¡¯ve learned from before, I hold on with everything I have. ¡°I knew it. He survived the soul furnace at the end of the stream. Well, his reincarnation should fix that. Hya hya. It¡¯s been so boring lately, he¡¯s the first one in a long while (thousands of years) that I¡¯ve had to pluck out and fix.¡± A 2D screen appeared in space showcasing Matt¡¯s new reincarnation, a small seed sitting an inch below the dirt. ¡°Dance for me, let me see you struggle. Live hard and die fast, I¡¯ll be seeing you soon.¡± CH. 2 - What am I?* ¡°Where¡­ am¡­ I¡­¡± ¡°It hurts¡­.¡± My mind feels as if a thousand daggers are stabbing it at once. - THROB - Throb - ¡­throb¡­.. Slowly the pain goes away, and it¡¯s replaced by a feeling of warm comfort. And a bit of claustrophobia. I can¡¯t move. Shit. I can¡¯t see. Shit. What¡¯s going on? I try to feel my limbs, my body. Nothing. In my center, wherever that is, I feel some energy, or potential. Whatever it is it is pulsing slowly. As I think and try to define myself, I feel information flow through my mind.
Name: --- Age: 1 Day
Gender: ¡á/¡â Level: 0
Class: Plant Sage Race: Bermuda Seedling
HP: 1/1 Mana: 0/0
Growth Points: 3 Growth Rate: 0 pts/hour
Strength: 0 Vitality: 1/1
Agility: 0 Intelligence: 115
Titles: [Destined to Die], [Reincarnator], [Martyr], [Boundless]
Abilities: , , ,
What was that? I felt a rush of information run into my mind, and I barely comprehended a small part of it. BUT!!!! What the FUUUUUUCK! Did I see Bermuda Seedling!? As a RACE!? Nonononononononononononono NO. Is that what he meant quick death? A fucking grass seed? What potential does that have! Potential my ass. A grass seed has no natural defenses, and has almost zero chance of surviving, even in a good area, for longer than a season. And I have no fucking clue as to where I am right now. I could have blown under a tree, stuck in a cave, or even be in the gut of an animal before I awoke here, and be doomed before I even breach the soil. Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuck thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis¡­.. Ok, I¡¯m feeling a little better. By a little, I mean I¡¯m still so angry I can almost not think. Almost. So let¡¯s try to get to that information, before I blow up again.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! Come on, what was it? I was looking deep within myself, trying to feel myself out when¡­.. Aha!
Name: --- Age: 1 Day
Gender: ¡á/¡â Level: 0
Class: Plant Sage Race: Bermuda Seedling
HP: 1/1 Mana: 0/0
Growth Points: 3 Growth Rate: 0 pts/hour
Strength: 0 Vitality: 1/1
Agility: 0 Intelligence: 115
Titles: [Destined to Die], [Reincarnator], [Martyr], [Boundless]
Abilities: , , ,
Let¡¯s see¡­ Name, well of course my name is¡­¡­ huh. What was it again? Huh, I can¡¯t remember. Well, a new life, new name I guess. But I wonder if I can name myself? ¡­. Damn, I can¡¯t think of a good name. I mean there¡¯s Axle, or Steel, or Maximus the Golden, but I just can¡¯t think of a name that fits me. I guess what they say is true ¨C a name is given, not assumed. Ok, age, normal. I did just wake up. Can¡¯t think I¡¯ve been alive for much longer than a day. What¡¯s more impressive is that I can think at all as a grass seed. Gender¡­¡­. Sigh, I was hoping it wouldn¡¯t be exactly what I see before me. Grass is unisex, being able to generate pollen, seeds, and even clone myself. It makes sense that I don¡¯t have a classic gender. But I definitely feel masculine. I was definitely a man in my past life, so hopefully this doesn¡¯t cause many issues for me if I end up living longer than a day. Level, 0. Levels? Like in games? This world is a classic fantasy!!!!! Awesome, if only I wasn¡¯t fucking grass I might be happier to find this out¡­.. In fantasy there¡¯s monsters and magic, where the environment gets destroyed willy-nilly. At least in my previous world the dangers were much easier to understand and plan for: draught, fire, seasons. Well at least the class name sounds pretty cool, and looks like it sounds like it synergizes with my race. HP, mana, standard stuff. Growth points and a 0 growth rate. Huh, I must be able to use those somehow to, well, grow haha. Welp, Strength, Vitality, Agility all make sense, I am still a seedling. But that intelligence must be because of what I know from my past life. I wonder what normal stats are for people in this world? From what I know from D&D, 10 is average for a person. So there¡¯s two options, that it¡¯s nothing like that at all, or due to my scientific knowledge my stat is much more than normal people. Now, Titles.. ¡­¡­. ¡­¡­ ¡­.. [Destined to Die]¡­¡­ I don¡¯t even know anymore. Give me a chance, huh? Fucking bitch. Ugh. Pretty ominous though. Wonder what it does?
[Destined to Die] Rank: X
Due to a greater power''s curse, this being is fated to face deadly encounters more frequently than a regular being. Increases attractive forces for those who are hostile towards the being''s race. Attractiveness is based on the hostile being¡¯s intelligence (Higher intelligence = weaker attractiveness. However, minimum intelligence needed to work).
Ok, this may not be as bad as I thought. Let¡¯s think about this. So right now my natural enemies are birds, insects, slugs, and ants? I think? This is a different world, who knows what¡¯s out there. I can neglect things like fungi, viruses, and bacteria at least. Wonder what intelligence it needs to activate, and how strong is it? I might be safe from slugs, and if the queen ant is far enough away I hope I can avoid that battle since the drones should only have a little intelligence. I¡¯ve been itching for a while. While I¡¯ve been able to ignore it so far, it¡¯s been slowly building, and now it¡¯s at a point I can¡¯t ignore anymore. These must be genetic memories, telling me it¡¯s time to grow. The rest of my status can wait. Let¡¯s see¡­.. There it is. Ability .
Rank: F
Active: Inherent ability for plant based beings. Rank determines level of abilities available. Current Unlocks: Grow Root(1), Grow Stem(1), Grow Leaf(1)
Ok, looks like it¡¯s finally time. To grow, first I need to extend a root downwards, then poke my stem, or base through the soil, then grow my leaf. Looks like my seed has everything I need to do that, 3 Growth Points for 3 actions. Ok, let¡¯s go! Grow Roots! Ok, a feeling like it activated comes over me, however nothing happens. Ummm¡­.. maybe I need to pick a direction? Ok, grow down, with gravity! Eeeaauuugghhh. Ahhhhhhhhhhh. Man that hurt, but I feel muuuuuch better. Like after a sprint and I¡¯m tired, but it feels good. Ahhhhh. Ok, next should be the stem. Grow Stem upwards! Ahhhh, since my shell was already broken, this one felt more relieving than the last one with less pain. Last up is Grow Leaf straight upwards! Ahhh, there we go. I feel much better now! I¡¯m officially a blade of grass!!! Ch. 3 - Where am I?* -- POV ??? ¨C Soul Stream Looks like that little soul finally sprouted. I was sweating since it was taking him longer than the rest of the grass in the area to finally grow. Looks like the genetic instinct of the plant is pretty strong and he wasn¡¯t able to resist it for too long though. That¡¯s both good and bad. If he waited too long, then the other grass would have clouded his access to the sky, and he would have died. If he immediately grew up, then I knew I would be safe, since that means his instinct took full control over his mind. Both of those would have been preferable to what I¡¯m seeing now though, since either of those would have greatly increased the chances of him dying. I don¡¯t like this half-measure stuff, it means that his instincts will guide him, and that he has a good amount of control over himself. Oh well, he¡¯s still just a blade of grass. With that Title I gave him, he should see his end soon enough hya hya hya. Let¡¯s see where he is now. I don¡¯t have any control on where the souls reincarnate, but hopefully he¡¯s near a rabbit den, or a locust plague, or a fire!!! ¡­. Damn. He¡¯s in a regular grass field. Come on, maybe there¡¯s at least a dragon nearby, maybe he¡¯ll roast the grass on passing. ¡­. Are you kidding me!? He¡¯s in the field known as the peaceful glade. Stupid karma must have helped him spawn somewhere safe. Okay, there¡¯s one more thing I can check. If he¡¯s near humans, then his lifespan will probably be short. This land is prime for farmland, and the mana density is fairly high. It¡¯ll attract sentient species to it. ¡­. ¡­. ¡­. Fuck. All of my expectations have been ruined. Closest human kingdom is several hundred miles away. And even worse, he¡¯s inside of the elven kingdom of Elenia. If one of those elves find him, he could live for a long time. Thankfully no one ever looks at grass, even the elves don¡¯t care about it. ACTUALLY, they might even think he¡¯s corrupted! Hya hya hya. Hopefully he does something stupid. Fate¡¯s gonna be mad at me if she will have to retie too many fate strings. Oh, speak of the act, and it shall happen. Hya hya hya, look at that idiot. Looks like I¡¯ll see him REAL soon. -- POV Grass ¨C Peaceful Glade Success! I think. I could feel each of my growths separately, and now I have an extra sense somehow. I can tell the sun is down, and I feel energy slowly entering my body through my roots. I feel sluggish though, hopefully that goes away when the sun comes up. I guess I should look at my status again to make sure everything is working again. Also, I should look over what those other titles and abilities do. I feel they¡¯ll affect me a lot, similar to [Destined to Die]¡­¡­ Still pissed off about that.
Name: --- Age: 2 Days
Gender: ¡á/¡â Level: 1
Class: Plant Sage Race: Bermuda Grass
HP: 1/1 Mana: 0/0
Growth Points: 0 Growth Rate: 0.15 pts/hour
Strength: 1 Vitality: 1/1
Agility: 1 Intelligence: 115
Titles: [Destined to Die], [Reincarnator], [Martyr], [Boundless], [Late Bloomer], [One of Many]
Abilities: , , , ,
Ooh. Some new stuff showed up. And I¡¯m finally getting more growth points, nice! Guess that¡¯s what I feel coming up through my roots. I wonder how much I can get when the sun is up? I can feel it¡¯s near time for it, so I should find out soon.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. Ok, I still have some time, so let¡¯s look through my titles again and see if something can help me.
[Reincarnator] Rank: X
This being has survived the soul forge with his memories intact. Title bearer will be sought after for the knowledge they may have. Increases attractive forces for those who seek such knowledge.
[Martyr] Rank: A
Title bearer sacrificed himself for the greater good. Increased relations with allies and beings that that side with good. Decreased relations with beings that side with evil.
[Boundless] Rank: SSS
Normal lifetime/ability limits have been removed from title bearer. Does not affect inherent talent. Resistance to fate.
[One of Many] Rank: B
Due to sprouting within many of your own plant species. Makes targeting you specifically more difficult.
[Late Bloomer] Rank: F
By being one of the last to grow from your species. Applies a small corrective growth measure. (+0.15 pts/hour)
Nice. They look fairly normal, boundless must have helped me resist my instincts, and given me more freedom in my choices. Martyr must have been when I jumped on the grenade for my friend, ¡­¡­, what¡¯s his face. These fuzzy memories really bother me. It feels like I¡¯ve lost part of who I am. And I just don¡¯t know which parts were lost. [Late Bloomer] and [One of Many] are new. Hmmm¡­. I guess there¡¯s perks sometimes for being last. There must be for being first as well. It¡¯s probably also better than this one. zzzzzzz. But I¡¯m ecstatic for [One of Many]! This will help offset the [Destined to Die] title, and will keep me safe as long as I stay as grass. Oh? I¡¯m starting to feel good. Ahhhhh. Something warm is baking my leaf, the sun must have just hit me. It feels so goooooooooood. Ahhhhhhhhh. Oh, it¡¯s gone? Ah, that was quick. Now I feel kind of depressed. A leaf must have blocked my sun somehow. It should be back soon. .Wait. My sense is saying the sun is down. What¡¯s going on? Shit, I should look at my status, I feel as if something bad happened, my instincts must have taken over.
Name: --- Age: 2 Days
Gender: ¡á/¡â Level: 1
Class: Plant Sage Race: Bermuda Grass
HP: 1/1 Mana: 0/0
Growth Points: 0.95 Growth Rate: 0.25 pts/hour
Strength: 1 Vitality: 1/1
Agility: 1 Intelligence: 115
Roots: 2 (+0.1/hour) Leaves 13
Titles: [Destined to Die], [Reincarnator], [Martyr], [Boundless], [Late Bloomer], [One of Many]
Abilities: , , , ,
Shit, I went on a leaf growing spree and wasted 13 Growth Points. Oh no. Nonononononono. My [One of Many] title is gone!!!!!! What do I look like now to make that title disappear? -- POV ??? ¨C Soul Stream ¡°Hya hya hya hya!!!¡± He made himself a mini-grass bush. He¡¯s like a huge clump of tasty, tall grass. Tomorrow he¡¯ll definitely die. Looks like he didn¡¯t have as much control over his instincts as I thought. And his accelerated growing potential that his class has worked against him. He sticks out like a sore thumb. My condolences, I¡¯ll be seeing you soon. ¡°Pfffft¡­.. hya hya hya!!¡± Ch. 4 - Planned Defense* Just a link to the wordpress chapter. I think things look a little better there, formatting wise. Here ------------- Damage control mode activated! ¡­ That did nothing. Maybe¡­. Preservation mode on!? Save me please!? Sorry? ¡­ Ok. Brief insanity is over. Now what do I do? I don¡¯t see any options in my abilities that can save or revert me now. Zzzzzzzzzz. Once that glorious ball of fire hit my leaves, my instincts took over. That¡¯s really dangerous. It feels exactly like morphine is injected straight into my veins. That surge of energy influx, along with the blissful warmth of the sun, drove my mind over the edge. If I¡¯m not careful, I¡¯ll become like an addict. IF I live more than another day. Thinking about survival, better categorize the dangers I might face. -- Tier 3: Minimal Threat to life, or time delayed. I have time to plan and react to these threats. Blocked sunlight, Animal piss & shit, Drought, Season changes -- Tier 2: Harmful to life. Can be repulsed, though damage will most likely take place before measures can be taken. Insects, Grubs, Slugs, Harmful plant invasion, Herbivores, Wind, Volcanic Ash -- Tier 1: Death Tier. No responses can be adequately formed without prior planning. Even then, death is likely imminent. Humans, Loss of environment, Fire, God¡¯s Wrath, Meteors, Galaxy Destruction -- Maybe I went a little bit overboard in listing for Tier 1, but it¡¯s important to know all of the options here! If I find myself with plenty of points in the future, I¡¯ll try to plan for these troubles. Tier 3 dangers are mostly self-resolving. Reduced sunlight isn¡¯t death. I can always grow towards the light. Animal waste will wash away with rain and may even be good for me. Drought sucks if it is combined with heat. May hurt, but I can survive. Changing seasons will be tough, but I can stockpile resources/make do somehow. Let¡¯s see¡­.. from my previous life, to prevent death from tier 2, various measures could be taken. For insects, I could start generating a small amount of pesticides that would make insects avoid me, or use some of the more badass ones that Monsanto integrated into their plants. I feel like I can somehow, now that I think about it. What changed? Titles:[Destined to Die], [Reincarnator], [Martyr], [Boundless], [Late Bloomer], [One of Many]
Name: --- Age: 2 Days
Gender: ¡á/¡â Level: 1
Class: Plant Sage Race: Bermuda Grass
HP: 2/2 Mana: 0/0
Growth Points: 0.95 Growth Rate: 0.25 pts/hour
Strength: 1 Vitality: 1
Agility: 1 Intelligence: 115
Roots: 2 (+0.1 pts/hour) Leaves: 13
Abilities: , , , , ,
Ooh, two changes showed up. So <Inner Mind> ranked up it looks like, from rank C to rank B.
Rank: B
Passive: Due to your intellect exceeding a predetermined amount, allows the user to know in-depth knowledge of oneself. Applied intelligence to upgrade ability. Now grants modification of self with ability [Genetic Mutation].
And it unlocked something else too, something that looks very handy.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
Rank: S
Active: Using your knowledge of genes and chromosomes, alter your D.N.A. Changes take effect immediately. Cost is based on level of complexity of change of the genetic code. Specific changes, if fully understood, will cost less than generic changes.
With this, I can rule the world!!!!!! Muahahahahahahah! Ugh, I wish. I barely have any points left. And I have no idea how to alter my genetic code to change into another lifeform. All I really know is how to add, subtract, and change what I already have in cells. So, let¡¯s see. From what I can tell, from my current (assumed) appearance, I¡¯ll be eaten alive tomorrow. I need to plan against the worst. Tier 1 are a no go. Even if I didn¡¯t mess-up, it would take too long to fortify myself against those. Tier 3 aren¡¯t an immediate concern, thankfully I should be able to live at least through the day. I should focus on Tier 2 enemies. -- Tier 2: Harmful to life. Can be repulsed, though damage will most likely take place before measures can be taken. Insects, Grubs, Slugs, Harmful plant invasion, Herbivores, Wind, Volcanic Ash -- Since most of those won¡¯t kill the whole plant, let¡¯s try to dissuade herbivores. From my knowledge, goats and the like rip the roots out along with the plant. If I dissuade them, no matter what I¡¯ll win! Woohoo! O.k., I have a goal, and a way to do it! The goats I know of eat prickly pears, and their red fruits on top. So thorns are out. And so is just coloring myself fully red to simulate poisonous. But maybe if I take an excretion from the salamander/toad family, I might be good! Now I need to choose between secreting a toxin, or a bitter taste to ward off animals that can taste! I know birds have evolved to ignore taste for the most part, so who¡¯s to say something else had too. Let¡¯s try my <Genetic Mutation> ability. -- Genetic Mutation ¨C Poison I (25) Secrete a poison enough to dissuade a certain category of herbivores. Will cause irritation in the throat and tongue. Has a small chance to kill small herbivores instantly. -- Genetic Mutation ¨C Bitterness (10) Hold a bitter tasting compound inside of your structure. Will attract certain herbivores and intelligent species for its unique tastes. Will repulse many herbivores since many animals have an instinct to avoid bitter tasting fruits due to its similarity to poison. -- ¡­.. Neither of those will work for what I¡¯m looking for. Poison I would be perfect, except for the cost. It¡¯s way too much at the moment, while I¡¯m getting a bad premonition from the description of bitterness. Attracts intelligent species¡­. Yea right, with my title [Destined to Die], I think I¡¯ll die even quicker than before. Direct approaches aren¡¯t working. Ok, what¡¯s left? Think, Think!!!!! Nothing¡¯s coming up. What If I designate the type of poison? Or the bitterness compound? Let¡¯s check it out now. -- Genetic Mutation ¨C Poison I* (15) Secrete a protein that causes insects to die after eating. -- Genetic Mutation ¨C Bitterness* (7.5) Hold a bitter tasting compound inside of your structure. Will attract certain herbivores and intelligent species for its unique tastes. Will repulse many herbivores since many animals have an instinct to avoid bitter tasting fruits due to its similarity to poison. -- Genetic Mutation ¨C Bitter Poison I* (20) Creates a bitter tasting poison. Kills insects after eating. Will repel herbivores. Intelligent species will regard you as a good deterrent for insects and herbivores. -- Improvements! Just, not in the way I hoped. It appears that knowing what you¡¯re doing does decrease the cost of mutation, but it also makes it more specific. Except for bitterness. I know the compounds that make plants bitter, and even the poisonous ones, again I have to reject the options I currently have. I just want to be passed up by intelligent species, and avoided by the rest. A cool neutral, thank you very much, that will silently kill anyone that tries to kill me. At least for now. Huh, I¡¯m fine with killing? I think I¡¯m going a little crazy here with no one to talk to. Back on topic! Let¡¯s nix bitterness and poison for now. What else¡­. Camouflage!!!! That¡¯s it! Since I¡¯m not [One of Many] anymore, if I just act like I¡¯m one of many, I should be golden! I might get my title back temporarily! Yes!!!!!! Ok, let¡¯s check what is normal, and what I can influence for camouflage. -- Genetic Mutation ¨C Camouflage (5) Can slightly disguise oneself as another plant. Cannot change shape. -- Genetic Mutation ¨C Pigment Alteration* (50) Alters the relative density of pigment in the structure of your outer layer. -- Genetic Mutation ¨C Bioluminescence* (10) Lights up various parts of your body to confuse prey. May be attractive to certain species. -- Genetic Mutation ¨C Reflectivity* (3.5) Changes color of various parts of your body dependent on the various light waves that you reflect. Can attract or repel various species. -- Sweet! Two useful abilities that can help right away! Hmmm, something for thought though. Pigment alteration shouldn¡¯t cost that much, I don¡¯t think. True, I never tried it in a plant, since plants don¡¯t really have the ability to change pigments at will, but animals do. It must be because exactly that, the difference between plant and animal is slightly bridged with that ability so it costs more. Now I know a lot of plants in my old world, but not many in this world. Let¡¯s look around and see what plants I can see. .. Oops. Forgot I couldn¡¯t. But maybe if I strain myself, I can unlock another ability? Or maybe it¡¯ll cost too much. The sun is coming up soon, I can feel it. Man, time flies by fast! Or maybe I¡¯m just slow. Zzzzzzz. Ok, something I know for sure I can do, my stat total right now it 3.55, so let¡¯s buy Reflectivity! ¡­ Ok, I might have been forced to buy it anyways haha. It was the only one I could afford. Zzzzzzz. I¡¯m judging myself now. Now that I have that unlocked and feel drained, I need to quickly choose something that will make me be avoided by herbivores. How about red and purple spots, with a tinge of grey to simulate a sickness? Muahahahah, perfect. Fear my nonexistent toxins and evil fake fungi! ¡­. Ouch! ¡­. What was that? ¡­. Ouch!!!! What the fuuuuuuck! This hurts so much!!!! Bear it, bear it¡­.. Aaaaarrrrrrgggggghhhhhhh!!!!!! I¡¯m being eaten alive, it hurts so much!!!! Please just kill me!!!!! What¡¯s doing this?!?!?!?!?! Who¡¯s doing this to me!!!??? Ch. 5 - Painful Lessons* https://laogbib.wordpress.com/deadliest-blade-of-grass/ch-5-painful-lessons/ Slightly better formatting at above link. But still, enjoy! -- -- POV ??? ¨C Looks like he¡¯s scrambling for help, haha. His one saving grace title is gone, poof, just like that in a day. Tomorrow he¡¯ll definitely die, or hopefully get discouraged enough that he¡¯ll just live as a regular blade of grass until he dies during winter. ¡­ Looks like the sun is starting to rise, and nothing has changed yet. I can¡¯t wait till that bunny over on the other side of the glade sees this tasty morsel hya hya hya. ¡­ Huh. He must have bought the camouflage skill, he looks exactly like a rare mana weed in full bloom. The red spots are usually signs of mana that has been concentrated, and the gray coloring on the edges make the grass look sharp. I don¡¯t think that bunny will hop over here and munch on this thing as usually a stronger animal will sense it first¡­.. BUT, that imbecile didn¡¯t think of one thing when he chose that plant to be camouflaged as. It is rare for a reason. Creatures on this planet crave mana, as it can help them grow stronger and evolve into other species. Normally the weed is extremely soft to the touch with a fake sharp edge, and larger animals would eat it at first sight. There¡¯s a greedy owl nearby that¡¯s been looking at the grass intently. It must be able to tell that this isn¡¯t any ordinary grass or mana weed. I wonder what it¡¯s thinking? -- POV owl ¨C Hoot ¨C hoot. The last two days something changed in the glade that I look over. It has provided me with tasty food for my whole life, and I¡¯ll fight anything that tries to take over my glade, or change it unnecessarily. It started yesterday, when a small blade of grass started growing leaves like crazy. It had only one when I dozed off, and when I woke again during the evening there were many more leaves than before. It must be some sort of variant grass, or maybe it evolved. I¡¯ve never seen it happen before to a plant, but who knows. Whatever it is, I hope it attracts more tasty critters for me to eat so that I can live an even easier life. Hoooooot. I guess I was right, it must have evolved! It looks exactly like a mana weed, oh how tasty those are. The temptation is great to run over there and eat it, however something seems slightly amiss. Mana weeds usually are formed where mana is dense, and they emit mana as well. But I haven¡¯t felt a disturbance in the mana anywhere near that bunch of grass. And those sharp edges, those are weird. I want to go taste it, but I also know that it may be dangerous, especially during the day. Those dreaded wyverns are kings in the air when there is light. I may be small to them; however, they may just kill me to show dominance if I carelessly fly over the glade right now.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. For now, I will wait, and hopefully it survives until night. Hoot ¨C hoot. -- POV ??? ¨C Sigh, it didn¡¯t go for the bait. It¡¯s ruffling it¡¯s feathers ruefully as it closes its eyes. Damn bird. ¡­ So it¡¯s official, the bunny is also avoiding it. It walked up to it and sniffed the air, then walked away. It must have realized there isn¡¯t any mana in the grass and huffed off. After the rabbit turned away, I noticed that the grass seemed to twitch. And twitch again. To anyone else they would think that it was the wind, but these were sudden, writhing motions. What¡¯s going on? Let¡¯s zoom in more¡­¡­. There! ¡­. ¡­ Oh god, this is terrible. I actually feel bad for this poor bloke. I didn¡¯t want him broken when he was sent back, maybe a single mastication by that rabbit might have killed him, his memories would have been wiped, and all would be well. But this¡­.. this is terrible. There are tiny, white moving spots on his leaf blades, that stop for a second, then move on. They¡¯re aphids, a super tiny bug that eats certain types of plants. I guess there¡¯s another reason why that weed is so rare, if a plant doesn¡¯t eat it, the bugs will. But what¡¯s worse is that even with him not having mana, the colors keep attracting more and more of the bugs to him. He¡¯s being eaten alive by hundreds of tiny bites all over him. ¡­ Well, there¡¯s always a silver lining! If he does come back, he won¡¯t resist having his memories taken away this time. Pain¡¯ll do that do ya. Please come back to me soon, so that your suffering will end. -- Grass POV ¨C Aaaaaaaarrrrrrrggggggghhhhhhhhhh!!!!!????? I don¡¯t care if I die anymore, reflection off, please just make this stop¡­¡­ sniff¡­.. sob¡­.. Someone, please help¡­ -- Beetle POV ¨C Hungry. Want bugs. Where bugs. Nice smell. Hurt plant, go to. Mana weed, bugs there. Yum. ¡°Munch munch munch¡± Yumm. Good spot. Lay eggs here. ¡°Munch¡± -- Grass POV ¨C The pain is lessening. I feel as if each leaf is getting cleansed, and something is doing it for me. Ah. Shit it still hurts! It feels like I have holes all over my body, how am I still alive? Stupid plant vitality. I¡¯m sure as heck I would¡¯ve bled and died after the first hundred bites I took, but with my cell walls as a plant my bleeding was much less than an animal. Shit, I must be a mess. Now that the bugs are gone, I can try healing myself, or at least stop the current loss of life I¡¯m feeling. Ok, focus that energy that I feel inside towards the damaged areas¡­¡­ It seems to be stopping the drain, but very slowly. Maybe if I imagine the cells near that area first closing their cell walls¡­.. slowing the movement of water to areas of low pressure¡­. That sped things up a lot. I¡¯m no longer losing health quickly, but I still feel really damaged. For filling in the holes, the cells need to divide and reattach lost nutrient pathways¡­¡­ It¡¯s working, but it feels really slow. I can set it on auto now somehow, must have unlocked an ability.
Rank: C
Passive: Heals small wounds over time, stops bleeding. Plant specific: whole new limbs can be regrown, but it may take years.
But it still feels like it could use an increase in speed. Let¡¯s overload the areas with my energy reserves and see if there¡¯s a way to make this even better.
Rank: B
Passive: Heals wounds over time, stops bleeding. Plant specific: whole new limbs can be grown, but it may take years. Active: Increasing available energy to damaged areas greatly increase regeneration speed.
Score! It¡¯s going much faster now! I ended up learning a lot today, but I really should be more careful. Why the hell were so many bugs attracted to me? Ewwwwwwww, what is that bug doing now, it¡¯s laying something gross on me. Oh, are those eggs? Yes! Those might help me, I better protect them as if my life depended on it, which it might in the future! These can be my first minions! Now how to tame them¡­¡­.. Ch. 6 - Whats going on around the kingdom?* Managed to fix a lot of the formatting issues in the tables! As is customary, here is the link to the page on my wordpress: Link -- POV Grass ¨C Disregarding those eggs on my leaf for a sec, it¡¯ll be awhile for them¡­ wait, leaf? Why do I only feel one leaf up there? I thought I healed myself with my new and improved regeneration ability?
Name: --- Age: 2 Days
Gender: ¡á/¡â Level: 2
Class: Plant Sage Race: Bermuda Grass
HP: 1/2 Mana: 0/0
Growth Points: 0.00 Growth Rate: 0.25 pts/hour
Strength: 1 Vitality: 2
Agility: 1 Intelligence: 116
Roots: 2 (+0.1 pts/hour) Leaves: 1 (12)
Titles: [Destined to Die], [Reincarnator], [Martyr], [Boundless], [Late Bloomer], [One of Many], [Eaten Alive]
Abilities: , , , , ,
Wooo!!! I leveled up from surviving being eaten alive!!!!! And I gained an ability and intelligence point to boot, must be from me learning a cursed pattern that will get me killed!!!!! Please kill me now, I want out of this stupid world. Zzzzz. Well¡­. Looking at my stats, I can see why I only feel one leaf. It looks like the other 12 are still in recovery state, and I¡¯m completely tapped out on energy. My growth points keep going up by a little bit, and immediately disappear as they are drained to fuel my regeneration of those 12 leaves. But if I¡¯m looking at this right¡­... this is a huge waste!!!!!!!! No matter how I look at this, it¡¯s regenerating a single leaf with the energy needed to just grow another leaf! And the partially eaten leaves aren¡¯t contributing towards my energy collection at all! I wonder if that¡¯s why trees drop their leaves during winter, it costs way too much to continuously regenerate them as the cold tries to kill them? Well, let¡¯s stop this regeneration before it gets ahead of itself. Might as well jettison these other leaves¡­.. There we go! I managed to detach 11 of those dead leaves, but the leaf that received most of the regeneration energy I¡¯m going finish regenerating. It will serve as useful data on further regeneration efforts. I¡¯d feel like an idiot if I regenerated something more important in the future and regenerated it into a crippled state. Thankfully the bug eggs were laid on my healthy remaining leaf.
Name: --- Age: 2 Days
Gender: ¡á/¡â Level: 2
Class: Plant Sage Race: Bermuda Grass
HP: 1/2 Mana: 0/0
Growth Points: 0.00 Growth Rate: 0.25 pts/hour
Strength: 1 Vitality: 2
Agility: 1 Intelligence: 116
Roots: 2 (+0.1 pts/hour) Leaves: 1 (1)
Titles: [Destined to Die], [Reincarnator], [Martyr], [Boundless], [Late Bloomer], [One of Many], [Eaten Alive]
Abilities: , , , , ,
Yes! That allowed me to regain my [One of Many] title back! What¡¯s that, that thing I hope is just a joke, a humorless entry. That fucking title, [Eaten Alive].
[Eaten Alive] Rank: S
This being has been dined upon while still alive! Through mental toughness, he has survived the ordeal without going insane! Increases resistances to mental attacks and pain in general. Increases tendencies of others to wonder "What does it taste like?"
I. Am. Fucked¡­. Now I feel I¡¯m desperately in need of some additional senses. If I could test different camouflages/reflective patterns on the wildlife around me without GETTING EATEN ALIVE!!!! I would be grateful. I know praying to some god for protection is an option, but after that first being throwing me into this shit body, I don¡¯t really feel like doing any praying today. Or tomorrow. Well, maybe to the god of vengeance, if it exists. Pleaaaase let it exist. Also a god of love. Can¡¯t neglect that. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. But I don¡¯t even know if I can do anything with this grass species. Maybe I can feel good when I release my seed to the wind. I miss the occasional relaxer. But I feel like it¡¯d miss something essential . -- POV Rose ¨C Oracle My life ¡­. Was over. The moment I¡¯ve been waiting for so long had disappeared. I saw the bindings of fate, I saw my soulmate get ripped away from where he belonged. I contemplated suicide, I contemplated just burning this whole kingdom to the ground, because maybe, just maybe it was their fault. Either way, I needed to die to find my soulmate once again. Our souls have been bound since immemorial era, my soul will follow his and his soul will follow mine. But as I was about to complete a ritual that would sacrifice my life, my magic power, my mortal body to fuel a grand magic that would consume this place in a cleansing fire, I felt it. I felt the same twisting, surging feeling along my line of fate, as it was grabbed again. And I could tell, it was by my soulmate once again. I was so ecstatic that I almost accidentally triggered the magic anyways. Oops hehe. But through some divine intervention (I don¡¯t know which one of you up there did it, but I don¡¯t just fall, thanks though!) I tripped and broke my magic circle. I did devastate a nearby forest with the release of magic, scattering the slumbering monsters there to who knows where, but I don¡¯t care. I¡¯ll finally get to be with my soulmate! Time to go on another grand adventure! Not¡­¡­ The only problem is that the tug is very weak. Where could you be? I can¡¯t divine where you are, almost as if I¡¯m not supposed to meet you yet, or meet you at all. Or the bindings of fate are weak. But damn fate! I¡¯ve done it before, I¡¯ll do it again! The last time I changed fate did end up causing a lot of problems in whatever that kingdom¡¯s name was, but it was for a good cause! My lovable pet dragon would have been killed by them! I even asked them to reconsider, and tried to warn them. They kept spouting on and on about their hero, and about the safety of their citizens. Blah blah blah. Their hero had to go, so I picked him up and dropped him from several thousand feet above ground to land in some forest. That taught those meddlesome people to meddle in un-meddle-able affairs! The crisp snapping of fate lines were music to my ears. For good measure, after I hugged and played with my dragon in her cave, I took her to the kingdom and dropped her in to play with them and teach them some manners! After I put her back in a cave, I left her to sleep because she was all tuckered out. A couple/dozen/??? of years later, she¡¯d gotten stronger since that day when I went to play with her. She accidentally scratched me!!!!!! I had to scold her as she kept wanting to play with me, but I think she¡¯s learned her lesson. I should release her from my magic seal so she can get out and stretch! Then maybe she can help me find my soulmate! Hmm hmmmmm hmmmm hmmm hmm hmmmmm¡­¡­ -- POV Oracle Guard ¨C The lady has been acting very strange lately. First she requested blood from recent murderers and their victims, several legendary artifacts and even a mythic level artifact. The king seemed to look askance when I went to ask for the items, but he speedily had them delivered to her laboratory. He seemed to be a little bit ill ¨C I saw a lot of sweat start beading up on his forehead as I was talking with him. I made sure to stop by the royal healer to inform him of our majesty¡¯s condition. After her items came in, the kingdom felt a vast magical power build up and sweep towards the forests in the West. I heard a lot of monsters scattered from there. I wonder what mythical grade beast she had to take care of? She seems so happy now, humming in her room. It sounds nice. Thank goodness that she is so kind, strong, and gentle. I need to tell everyone about her greatness when I get off duty. -- POV King ¨C A guard came up to me, bearing the seal of the Oracle. She was asking for some impossible item, along with blood of all things. The blood is easy, but why does she need a feather of a phoenix, a mythical SS class monster? I¡¯ve never even heard of that item being available in any auction house, let alone our treasury. What do I do? The last time I took longer than a week to give her what she wanted, a royal treasure worth more than a million gold, she destroyed my vault and had the gall to thank me later for procuring the item for her, but that I could have brought it to her instead of having her go get it. Rejecting her request outright is out of the question too. In our secret archives that only the royal family has in our possession a story is held. There was a mage named Rose who asked us to not go kill a dragon that rested in our mountains, saying it was too cute to kill. Even though a town had been burned down a year prior by the dragon and many a person eaten. Of course, my ancestors went anyways, a dragon is terribly dangerous, and we had a fabled Hero class General to lead our army. The next day he disappeared, and our Royal Archmage informed us that he died due to blunt trauma. A HERO. Died. To BLUNT trauma. Not poison, a blade, or insidious plots, but a fucking blunt instrument. The next day my family saw the mage again, with the dragon, lacking any energy, encapsulated in a magical bubble. The last thing that¡¯s written in the entry is her words that everyone in the palace could hear. ¡°Go play with them. They need to learn to respect your cuteness properly. Hmmph.¡± Only my late great-grandfather lived after that day, tucked into a crib at his aunt¡¯s house in the country. This journal was found in the ruins of the palace, and locked away immediately when discovered. She is evil incarnate, Rose the Destroyer. My Father had the honor of welcoming her into our kingdom again, as she boldly walked into the audience chamber and said she would like to be our Oracle, and gave us warning of a disaster in the near future, that we narrowly avoided thanks to her foretelling. She acted as if it was her right to appropriate the WHOLE magicians¡¯ tower for herself, and not a mention of the dragon incident was mentioned from her lips. She must have assumed that everyone that knew of her evils were dead. ¡­ I quickly let the guard leave the room. ¡°Her request will be seen to promptly. Take your leave.¡± The guard walked out of the room, looking worried for some reason. She must also know of the Rose¡¯s wickedness. I have to do my best, for her and our kingdom¡¯s sake. ¡°Minister! Quickly post a request to the adventurer¡¯s guild! Offer a legendary weapon and a request from the king for the retrieval of Phoenix feathers! The time limit is one week! Hurry, our lives may depend on it! Our Oracle may have seen something dire that the treasure is needed for!¡± Appearances are needed for the populace ¨C I just hope the adventurers are up to the task. If they¡¯re not, I still have my bunker which I hope my son can survive in, even If I die. Ch. 7 - Phoenix Quest Rewards* Sorry for the delay, attended a funeral last week. No grass this chapter, back to grass next chapter. Link to wordpress site: Ch. 7 --------------------------------------- -- POV King ¨C For some reason after I sent out the request for the adventurers, my healer came to see me and ask how I was doing. I told him I was fine, that nothing was wrong, but that only seemed to worry him some more. In the end, I couldn¡¯t get rid of him until he casted each tier of diagnosis and healing type magic, save for the highest tier, I forbade him from wasting precious materials for that. He left sulking, muttering about other tests he could do, but bah, I know what¡¯s wrong with me, it¡¯s that Rose! ¡­ Oh, they did it. The adventurers retrieved the feather for Rose. They¡¯re saying several people died, damn it. Our talented ones must bear the burden for the Kingdom. Thank you, adventurers, for your noble sacrifice. Looks like only 4 survived, the best of the best. Thank goodness it wasn¡¯t a wash. ¡°Adventurers, I must bow my head to you in thanks for this wondrous occasion. Yes, many people were lost, many great people who are tasked to explore the unknown, and safeguard where the Kingdom is unable. For your service, you four adventurers, though one of you is not here, shall be granted the Mithril rank for clashing with a mythical rank beast and accomplishing your objective. This Kingdom is eternally grateful for your sacrifice and your work, and don¡¯t worry, the feather has been quickly taken to the Oracle¡¯s tower, where Rose is busy with preparations. As promised, I will grant you each a weapon from our Kingdom¡¯s vault, as well as a request directly fulfilled by myself. Remuneration with gold may not be requested, as that will be freely given to you, our saviors. However, noble titles, land, jewels, magical beasts, or even special permissions can be asked from me today. Personally, I would enjoy having you fellows as Royal guards here at the castle, but it would be a disservice to the people, as your talents for adventuring may be wasted. Just know the offer stands.¡± Great, that was a good speech. I wonder what they will ask for? My daughter¡¯s hand I specifically left out, though they may ask for it. Of course, if their character is good, and she agreed, it would be fine. But truthfully, I don¡¯t think she¡¯d ever agree to marry one of these rugged men and women. She¡¯s so cold to others, but she still smiles at me¡­¡­. And Rose. For some reason she¡¯s a fan of Rose, I sorely want to cast Rose in a negative view to her, and show her our Kingdom¡¯s secrets, but that might ruin her smile, and tinge her visage in sorrow. A father can¡¯t do that, so I must have a son soon to hold the secret in her place. -- POV Princess Cirili ¨C Uggh, these stupid adventurers are dirtying our floor. What a load of shitbags. Did Father just say he¡¯ll give them a special request? They should be just happy taking the gold and going away to do whatever the fuck they do. They answered the call from Father, they should be happy to do something for the Kingdom for once. Fuck, one of them just looked at me, I should give him a smile I guess, I don¡¯t want to scare these slaves off. Father wouldn¡¯t be happy if I scared them off. Oh, the feather was for Rose. Why the fuck am I here when I could be with Rose? She¡¯s the only one I can truly like here in the castle. She does what she wants, when she wants. And she was nice to me when I was little, not treating me as a child. All of her talks of fate etc. were boring, but I did get to learn so much magic from her! I¡¯m still a pebble compared to her, but I¡¯ve already ascertained I¡¯m stronger than any other magician in the Kingdom. I can¡¯t wait to go somewhere and destroy some things with my magic. It will be so much more fun than sitting here in the castle. -- POV Archer ¨C It was a tough battle that our group of twenty decided to undertake. Phoenixes don¡¯t naturally lose their feathers, they only drop them if injured in a bright flash to distract their opponent as they flee, or when they die before they are reborn.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. I was the leader of the group due to my many accomplishments, and my ability to oversee a battle from the back lines. I was in a relatively safer position than the others, but it didn¡¯t stop the Phoenix from swooping over and hitting our long-range support and damage. We lost five ranged weapon users and two magicians, with a third heavily wounded, my best friend. He¡¯s laid in at the Guild, being slowly healed from the Phoenix fire. The damage was tremendous to us, but it was for our country, our families. We were not blinded by greed, the promised rewards or titles. We just cared for this wonderful kingdom. As each of our comrades died, we continued on, until at last we struck a lucky blow that injured the phoenix, releasing a single, pristine feather in the process. We remorse for our fallen, but we were not stricken by unending grief, for we each knew our task was noble was important to the kingdom when we went on the mission. We were finally before the king, we were expecting to be able to see Rose the Oracle, but we were told she was busy setting up the magic formation that needed the feather. How gracious and good is she, devoting all of her time to help our kingdom. We are truly blessed to have her in our Kingdom. Sitting next to his Grace is the Princess of the Kingdom, Princess Cirili. Her beauty is unmatched, but she¡¯s known for rarely showing emotion, though she is kind to anyone who speaks with her. Oh, she smiled at me! She¡¯s so beautiful, but alas each of us here have a cherished one at home, else I might ask for nobility so that I may have a chance at courting her. But we four have already decided on each of our requests to the King. We will pick our weapons later, but right now is our chance to ask for anything we need. First, the only swordsman who survived. He escorted us through and back the deadly monster forest. He¡¯s asking for an orphanage be put up in the capital for orphaned adventurer children. It must be because of his best mate that died that left a wife and a kid, poor bastard. Next up is our paladin, a defensive shield that saved myself and others many times. He¡¯s making a short speech on the importance of family, and how if an adventurer dies in the field, their family may be harmed. He¡¯s asking for state sponsored aid and teaching for those in need due to adventurer¡¯s deaths. Education is expensive, if left alone, adventurers¡¯ families would become destitute if they had to pay those expenses after their breadwinner died. Now it¡¯s my turn. But before me, I should ask for my mate the magician. ¡°Your grace, my friend who is waylaid due to an injury, asks only that Rose fill some magic stones with some town protection spells, as there are many towns in the frontier that are in danger of monsters. With the injuries and losses from this mission, there are few magicians now that are able to cast such complex spells. As for myself, I am not as selfless as my comrades, though I still consider my pursuit a noble one. My sister has long trained as an archer, but due to my family¡¯s station, the opportunities she has in life are limited, both as a woman and as a warrior. I consider her equal to myself in ability, and so I do not feel bad for asking that she be given a chance to become a Royal guard, specifically near Rose, as she has long looked up to her.¡± -- POV King ¨C Heh, those requests seem chosen to increase their popularity, but I can¡¯t feel any greed in them. A poor choice, they could have had those things if they applied for nobility. Of course, it would come with some responsibilities, but still it would have been much better. Oh well, let¡¯s give them what they want, and I can look good too if I do something grander. Ooh, I can also take some more power from the nobility. I¡¯ve already stripped them of most of their power, undoing most of the deals my forefathers had to make in order to rebuild the kingdom. ¡°Oh, how wondrous our adventurers are nowadays. Our Kingdom is truly blessed to have both a wonderful populace and our Oracle to help protect us. All of your requests shall be granted, as for the magic stones they will be filled as soon as the current preparations are finished. In addition to your requests, I have decided to create a national holiday this day and every year after, celebrating our adventurers and their contributions to the Kingdom. On this day all entrance fees for the Adventurer¡¯s Guild shall be paid from the treasury, and any talented adventurer can apply to become a Royal guard. No longer will station nor cost restrict the application into the elite units of the Kingdom!¡± ¨C POV Archer ¨C Adventurer¡¯s Guild ¨C I¡¯m with our remaining party, including a barely movable magician, Cal, celebrating the national holiday in the Adventurer¡¯s guild. Phhhhhhhrrrrrrooooooooooommmmmmmmmm What was that huge magical surge!?!? Even I could feel it with my weak mana sense. It feels kind of eerie, almost dreadful. It seems everyone could feel it, as we all looked towards the East where the mana went too, then all, as if puppets, looked to where it came from, the castle. What does our local magician think it was¡­¡­.. He¡¯s passed out, huh. But I see his magic stone on his staff glowing bright red, showing that the magic that passed through was a fire type magic. But I¡¯ve never seen a stone glow that brightly before! I wonder¡­.. ¡°That¡¯s it!! Everyone, look at Cal¡¯s staff!! It¡¯s glowing as red as the phoenix we fought not even two days before! It must have been the Oracle, unleashing her magic on a powerful foe far away!¡± A guard nearby shouted out after, ¡°It¡¯s true!! I¡¯ve been guarding the tower the Oracle has been in for a while now, and the past week this feeling I just felt I¡¯ve felt around the tower! There¡¯s nothing to fear now!¡± Thank the gods I live in this wonderful Kingdom, with such reliable leaders and such strong protections. ¡°Drinks are on us!¡± Ch. 8 - Back to Survival Back to the MC''s point of view for awhile, it should be getting more exciting now too! Slowly but surely, just like grass! Also, traditional Link to wordpress: Link Also, found something that royalroadl does better than wordpress: status bars! I''ll be using them more often during fights/quick actions to keep you updated on his status! --------------------------------------------------------- -- POV ??? ¨C Stupid, stupid, stupid. If he was a regular piece of grass he should be dead by now and groveling at my feet to remove his memories from being eaten alive. Stuuuuuupid. Uggh. How even is grass supposed to be able to use titles and abilities, it should all be instinct. Stupid. I wish I could alter the flow of this world more, the most I can do is make someone trip or something once a year. Oh wait, wasn¡¯t there a crazy girl I was looking at earlier, the one who reacted to the changing of fate the first time? There we are. ¡®whistle¡¯ she¡¯s got some power in her. She¡¯s basically immortal already, scary. Looks like she¡¯s about to finish a ritual to burn the city to the ground in Demonic Phoenix Fire. Wait, I can use this!!!! Hya hya hya hya. First, I¡¯ll give a slight tug on her fate from the grass so that she realizes he¡¯s alive, which should startle her and cause the magic to go haywire, and hopefully influence the peaceful glade. ¡­ She¡¯s not stopping. She¡¯s not stopping. Come on, come on. I definitely see that you can tell, but HURRY UP AND STOP!!! If you kill the humans, my other possibilities of having them kill him become far harder. Don¡¯t give me more work to do!!!! Uggh, I did it. I had to use my small influence for the year and cause her to trip a certain way in the magic formation to throw the power towards the grass-man. That should make the monsters move around and increase human activity towards that area. Pheew, I¡¯m a genius!!!! Hya hya hya, but seriously, fuck that grass-man for making me waste this influence. -- POV Grass ¨C Finally, I finished regenerating my leaf! Right before daylight! It took 2 growth points, all that I had saved up, and took a little more than 12 hours to completely feel whole to me. At about 1.5 points I felt that the leaf could perform its function, like everything was there, but it was missing something. So I kept pumping energy into the area until it wouldn¡¯t let me anymore. My guess is that either the structure of the leaf needed some more reinforcement, or that I needed to finish regenerating the waxy layer on my leaf to prevent water loss and resist outside contagions. Good data, so overall if I regenerate at night, I only have a deficit of 1 growth point to regenerate. However, if I try to regenerate a leaf during the day, instead of losing 1 point overall, I could lose up to 13 points during the day. I feel the sun coming up, time to plunge into an orgasmic bliss without losing my mind. First let¡¯s just turn off reflection modification for today, and see how it goes. 10 seconds in, I¡¯m doing fine. It¡¯s like walking out of an over air conditioned office into a nice warm breeze. I just want to stretch my leaves towards that pleasant sun and let everything go. But of course I¡¯m not, I¡¯m a scientist! I¡¯ve lived my life inside in the lighting of fluorescent lighting! My life was dedicated to resisting that temptation! 30 seconds in. I feel like I¡¯m a little tipsy, like a nice buzzing is going on in my head. Last time I got any drunker than this, I had that fling with Leah, and that just caused all sorts of trouble in the long run. But I just have to remember, don¡¯t grow. 32 seconds in. What was I doing again? Growing? No, not growing. Don¡¯t grow. 33 seconds in. Captain¡¯s log. Feeling good. How much longer do I have to do this? It¡¯s like getting blue balls, I just want it to end, but in a good way. Holding onto consciousness is getting more and more difficult. 1 minute in. I¡¯ve reached nirvana. I am at peace. I just need to separate my mind, half to feeling bliss, half to remembering to not grow. 5 minutes in. Ok, redistributing my mind. The other side, bliss, is becoming much too demanding. Plus it should be fine, 5% reserved to resisting should be enough. 10 minutes in. DON¡¯T GROW 1 hour in. don¡¯t grow 3 hours in. don¡¯t grow 6 hours in. please help Rose 8 hours in. almost there, come on. resist 12 hours done. That was the most terrifying and the most amazing thing I¡¯ve ever gone through. Somehow I made it through with only growing one more leaf, so now my status should be awesome! [td colspan="3"] [Destined to Die], [Reincarnator], [Martyr], [Boundless], [Late Bloomer], [One of Many] [Eaten Alive] [/td] [td colspan="3"], , , , , , [/td]
Name:---Age:3 Days
Gender:¡á/¡âLevel:2
Class:Plant SageRace:Bermuda Grass
HP:2/2Mana:0/0
Growth Points:30Growth Rate:0.25 pts/hour
Strength:1Vitality:3
Agility:1Intelligence:116
Roots:2 (+0.1 pts/hour)Leaves:3
Titles:
Abilities:
There we go, I¡¯m rich baby!!!! Now that it¡¯s night, I should invest these points wisely. First off, I don¡¯t think roots will mess with me that much in the form of making me stick out more, so let¡¯s make that 5 roots. This way, if my leaves get eaten and I don¡¯t have any more points, I should be able to recuperate overnight with a .55 points/hour regeneration rate. It looks like I took some damage during the day and regenerated the damage, I¡¯m short a whole 8 points from theoretical maximum. I¡¯ll need to think up another defense, or at least perfect the one I have, reflection modification. If I just stay like this, I¡¯ll become a point bank! It seems like I can just stay like this without doing anything else, as long as I can maintain my 2-3 leaves I should be ok. But I hate being blind!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I¡¯m being deprived of learning new things, I want to be able to see dangers coming towards me and to react!!! I want to learn to survive! Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! If this world is like a fantasy, with abilities or something, and that mana stat isn¡¯t there just for show, there has to be mana floating around here. But how do I sense it, it¡¯s nothing like I¡¯ve ever done before. I imagine if it¡¯s like radiation, it would be impossible for me to detect it. Let¡¯s meditate or something, see if I can feel anything. . .. ¡­ ¡­. ¡­.. Uggh, over an hour and nothing. Maybe I lack the ability to sense mana, being grass and all. But it has to be there!!!!! If not, then I don¡¯t want to live anymore¡­. Not, it¡¯ll just make this whole thing more boring for me. What¡¯s the point of coming to a fantasy world if I can¡¯t even use magic? I MUST have it. Fuck. This. Whole. Thing. Be. Fucking. Easier. Damnit. If I can¡¯t do this, then I¡¯ll have to just take it. The grass beside me must have the ability, or at least the capability to sense mana or use it. Give it to me, let¡¯s see if this link ability of grow will grant my desire! Link to my nearest brethren hahahahahaha! Go, Link!! ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ I¡¯m feeling something, like there¡¯s somebody right next to me. But that¡¯s it. Wait, it¡¯s draining me, it¡¯s sucking the life from me! What the heck does link do? [td colspan="2"]Active: Connect to the nearest plant via a root or vine if appropriate. Passive: Balances growth points between the two plants. [/td]
]Rank: B
Shit!!! Fuck!!!! Quickly, what did plants do back on Earth? In parasitic species, they only siphon, but that could be explained by the opposite of what¡¯s happening to me. The tree has a lot of growth points, but the creeper vine doesn¡¯t have many. I basically gave the grass beside me the ability to steal from me. Since we¡¯re both so small, and the same size, the transfer must be really fast if we liken the ratio of size to the speed of transfer of energy. Crap crap crap, trees defend themselves from these type of attacks by either creating a toxin against the other species, or by killing off the limb. I can¡¯t create a toxin to kill them, because it¡¯ll kill me too! I really don¡¯t want to lose my only link to the chance at mana, plus I don¡¯t know how to kill off a part of myself that¡¯s not already damaged/dead. This type of link doesn¡¯t actually damage my cells, it only allows each other¡¯s cells to be next to each other, the flow of nutrients in-between the cells get shared. Let¡¯s see if genetic mutation can help me here! Can I stop this energy drain? ¡ª Genetic Mutation ¨C Parasitic Resistance (35) Greatly reduces the energy drain from parasitic organisms. Also reduces the chances of them successfully infecting you. Passive. ¡ª Genetic Mutation ¨C Plant Control (50) Gives the ability to control other plants linked to through the transmission of chemicals. Passive. ¡ª Genetic Mutation ¨C Self-Mutilation (100) Gives the ability to selectively and accurately damage yourself. Consumes growth points to use. ¡ª Genetic Mutation ¨C Plant Assimilation (100) Gives the ability to absorb and control another plant. Consumes growth points to use. ¡ª Damn, if I thought of this just a few minutes before I randomly activated link I would be fine, or at least better off than I am now. I only have 30 growth points left. Come on, I know this. What are the mechanisms behind these three mechanisms? Passive parasitic resistances are thicker waxy cuticles, bark, and harder cell walls. The actives are cell suicide and pathogen-degrading enzymes. Making those enzymes will cost a lot though, and won¡¯t help me very much here. Cell suicide I understand explicitly, it just involves the destruction of organelles via large vacuoles before the nucleus is destroyed. It¡¯s just one of the ways of self-mutilation, but it could definitely work for me right now, and that¡¯s what¡¯s important! What is the cost for cell death? ¡ª Genetic Mutation ¨C Cell-Death* (15) Gives the ability to selectively cause your cells to self-destruct. ¡ª Gotta buy it quick! Or learn it, however it works! Go cells in that root connecting us, self-destruct!!!!!!!!!! Owwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww, fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck that hurt. Felt like I had a finger chopped off, which almost happened before. Won¡¯t fuck around with carving again, they said if you stick with something you¡¯ll get better at it, bullshit. The more I tried the deeper I cut myself. My energy level is stable for now, but damn that hurt. Before I do that again, I need to up my own defenses, or learn how to control other plants or to assimilate them. I still want to be able to see mana, so my first objective, before trying to tame these eggs on my leaf, shall be to absorb the grass next to me that stole all of my growth points! No more spending points until I can absolutely dominate that free-loading grass beside me! -- POV free-loading grass ¨C .. ¡­ ¡­. ¡®Sprout¡¯ ¡®Sprout¡¯ ¡®Sprout¡¯ ¡®Dig¡¯ ¡®Dig¡¯ ¡­. ¡­ .. Ch. 9 - Forceful Takeover Find this story HERE on wordpress. Our M.C. takes back what was his ----------------------------------------------------------- -- POV Grass ¨C It¡¯s almost morning, let¡¯s see what the damage from that snafu is. [td colspan="3"] [Destined to Die], [Reincarnator], [Martyr], [Boundless], [Late Bloomer], [One of Many] [Eaten Alive] [/td] [td colspan="3"], , , , , , , [/td]
Name:---Age:4 Days
Gender:¡á/¡âLevel:2
Class:Plant SageRace:Bermuda Grass
HP:2/2Mana:0/0
Growth Points:19.4Growth Rate:0.45 pts/hour
Strength:1Vitality:3
Agility:1Intelligence:116
Roots:4 (+0.1 pts/hour)Leaves:3
Titles:
Abilities:
That brush with potential death woke me up to the seriousness of my situation. This fantasy world I¡¯m in made me lose focus. If I stayed attached to the other plant, I feel like it would have just went on a growing spree continuously and drained me dry every time I generated energy. It seems like there is a difference between abilities I create using genetic mutation and those that I can just learn normally. Abilities I create work specifically how I imagine they do, and the cost is associated with the exact knowledge I have on the mechanisms and the DNA that control said mechanisms. Probably the only reason was so cheap was that we routinely tried to remove cell-death, or autophagy, from fruits and vegetables to prolong their shelf-life. The reason why link didn¡¯t do what I thought it would, just connect our roots together and be able to communicate using chemicals, was that I didn¡¯t create that ability. It worked based on this world¡¯s idea of what the ability should do. Linking here for plants must be a method of self-defense, so if one needs energy after being partially eaten, they can share it between them all. Something that I definitely don¡¯t need at all, judging by how much I was drained by a single other grass bundle. I must have a much higher growth point generation speed, thanks to my titles or class or something, than any other grass. Nice, but it also has some downsides, as linking with most other plants would be a net negative for me. But if I ever find a plant with a ton of juice in it, it might be worth it! Since the sun is peeking over the horizon, I¡¯ll just regrow my lost root before the day starts to get back to whole. There we go. So today I need to focus on hoarding all of my points to take over that brat to my right, or whichever way he is. I just know he¡¯s close. I don¡¯t want plant control or self-mutilation, I want full-blown plant assimilation. Each day I can hoard a maximum of 42.6 points a day, and 6.6 at night. Going by what happened yesterday, I lose about 8 points a day dealing with bugs and healing myself from other damages, but thank goodness it¡¯s restricted to just some bugs, and it¡¯s nothing like that horrific day I was eaten alive. 8 points seems way excessive, especially considering how much I got drained by, how else do the other grass stay alive during all of this? .. ¡­ ¡­. Oh, wait. I think I know the culprit for this, it¡¯s a combination of my titles, the one I got after almost dying, [Eaten Alive], and [Destined to Die]. Sigh. It must be attracting ALL of the bugs in the glade, with only a few being dissuaded by my other title, [One of Many]. Might as well consider those 8 points a day a sunk cost. So instead of 49.2 points a whole day and night cycle, it will be closer to 41. Since I have 15 in the bank, after two days I would have enough to absolutely destroy my arch-nemesis, the free-loader! This time I¡¯m going to save up more of a bank firs. Even if I would have 97 points after two days, after a few hours in the sun I will quickly surpass the necessary 100 growth points I need for plant assimilation. But I want a little bit of a bank before I do that, so three days of waiting, then D-Day, I¡¯ll storm the beach and take back what¡¯s rightfully mine! Huh, it¡¯s already been a few hours that the sun¡¯s been up. I seem to be able to resist it better today. I wonder why. I¡¯m able to separate my thinking better, and only give in about half of my thinking over to pleasure and it be enough. I wonder if an ability of mine upgraded or something, or maybe I gained pleasure resistance (I hope not :( it felt so good, and I don¡¯t want it to cause problems later, if I can ever do THAT again). Time seems to be going really fast, must be me only thinking at about half speed. Let¡¯s look, out of my abilities, [Inner Mind] must be the one helping me now. Let¡¯s see. [td colspan="2"]Passive: Due to your intellect exceeding a predetermined amount, allows the user to know in-depth knowledge of oneself. Grants modification of self through [Genetic Mutation]. Now grants the ability Multi-Tasking, can be upgraded through use. As long as one part of the mind is separated from a mind-affecting effect, the user will have autonomy over most actions based on willpower. [/td]
Rank: A
Yupp, just what I thought. I got a kickass ability! It¡¯s about damn time! And it can be upgraded, YES!!! Right now I¡¯m thinking really slowly, and I feel like I can only really work on one other thing during the day, but if I do this every day it should become awesome! Oh, it¡¯s night. Sweeeeet. How many points I got? 49, pretty much what I expected. Now at night most bugs that eat me should be sleeping, or dormant, never really paid attention to the bugs¡¯ habits, just how they damaged plants and how the plants fought back. I just hope that I¡¯m right. Wait, there are slugs and their ilk that are active at night. Thank goodness they usually go after more leafy plants. Nothing new happened today, everything is within expected variance in points, and I feel safe. Maybe I should sleep, I kind of miss dreaming and I¡¯m starting to feel sluggish. I know plants have periods of lower activity and higher activity on a rhythmic schedule. Let¡¯s at least try, hopefully nothing eats me if it works! ¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ Fwaaaaaaaa, that was nice. Wonder how long I was out? I feel better, much more alert now. And the sun is just peaking over the horizon, baking me in its warm light. Let¡¯s check my point bank, which should give me a good idea of what happened over the past however long. . ¡­ ¡­. PERFECT! My revenge is nigh! My total growth points are 138 points! But wow, that was dangerous. I don¡¯t remember anything that happened between when I slept and now, it must be a plant specific thing since most things are based on instincts, needing consciousness isn¡¯t needed. Shit, but I feel so much better now. Uggh, I¡¯ll have to ration my sleeping to only when I have a good amount of points and am mostly safe. But now, finally, let¡¯s fucking do this!!!!!!! Now that I¡¯m thinking clearer though, there¡¯s no real way on Earth of just assimilating, or absorbing another plant. There¡¯s parasites, fungi, and symbiotic ways to take over a plant by killing it, but to completely take over another plant and replace it has never been seen. So I can¡¯t use [Genetic Mutation] to reduce the cost. I could kill it off by attacking it directly, but that¡¯s not very cool, and I feel like assimilation will help me in the long run anyways. I will dominate the grass beside me, taking everything that it is and making it mine! I WILL TAKE WHAT I WANT THROUGH FORCE, MUAHAHAHAHAHAHa! Sometimes, you just have to let it all out there, especially when you¡¯re alone. Only when you¡¯re alone. I would be soooo embarrassed if I did that in front of anyone else. Let¡¯s go, let¡¯s learn that plant assimilation and be like The Thing (1982), but better! .. Yes, I feel all powerful! I have less energy, but I now have this alien feeling inside of me, I can feel the way my cells have changed, but I don''t know how. They feel more slippery, and aggressive. FUCK IT!!!!! Let¡¯s ¡­¡­. Wait. Wait wait wait. Let¡¯s look at the fucking ability. Thank you sandman for the sleep. [td colspan="2"]Passive: Plants that have been assimilated will appear to others as separate being from yourself, but your class and abilities affects each plant as long as you stay connected to the plant. Separated plants will die off without a controlling force. Active: Assimilate(X+Y), cell by cell, a plant. Causes extreme, tortuous pain on the assimilation target. Invasion starts via a connecting branch, root, or stem. Costs X+Y growth points, where X is the total amount of points needed to grow that plant from scratch and Y is the energy the plant has in storage. Abilities and titles of the plant assimilated do not transfer, but all physical traits of the plant remain but cannot be upgraded or spread until learned by the host plant. [/td]
Rank: S
¡­ OK, THAT IS BADASS AS FUCK! Sucks that I can¡¯t take their abilities, such as magic if they exist, but if they have poison or other abilities, like SENSING MANA structures in the plant, I can potentially learn about them, or use them as an extension of myself if I feel they are too dangerous to integrate into my main body. Also, if one of the plants gets sick from a pathogen, I should be able to jettison the plant and it will die by itself, hopefully without spreading it to my main body. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. I¡¯m really looking forward to this, like REALLY looking forward to this. If I activate this during the night, the evil grass beside me will release chemicals into the air calling for beneficial bugs to eat the bugs that are killing it. As far as I know, there isn¡¯t a call for plant attacks. So for maximum effect, I should definitely start the attack in the morning!!! But wait, I¡¯m not exactly the best thinker during the day. Decisions decisions, and the ability doesn¡¯t say how long it will take for me to take over the plant. Points wise I should be fine, it stole 5 growth points from me earlier and was draining me quite fast, so it must not have very much normally. So let¡¯s say it should take me at most 10 points to assimilate the insidious grass beside me, leaving me with about 28 points left. I can deal with 28 points in the bank, but this sun is constantly filling it back up. Tonight I should have an extra 34 points, bringing me back up to 62 points, a healthy amount of war funds. This evening I strike. Yippee ki-yay motherfucker, here I come. Oh, it¡¯s evening again. Nice, let¡¯s storm the beach! Let¡¯s see, first I need to be touching the other plant. I can grow a root over to where it is, or I can initiate link again¡­.. Let¡¯s not do that again. I learned my lesson, and I have no idea how link will interact with plant assimilation anyways. Let¡¯s avoid the unknown, and insidiously take over the enemy in the cover of night. Ok, let¡¯s slowly grow a root out¡­¡­ There! I feel another root nearby, success! Now I just need to extend the tip to touching it¡­. Peeeerrrrrfect. Now let the assimilation begin!!!!! Ahhh, I can feel my cells and energy invading the grass beside me, and suiciding into their cells and replacing them. Oh, the grass roots are struggling to be released, but it¡¯s too late already. The tip of my root has fused to their root, well now it¡¯s becoming my root. Maybe if they had cell-death, or self-mutilation they could escape, but not today. That crap costs a lot, no way ordinary grass should have that ability. There we go, my cells and energy are overflowing from my new root connection into their main body, YES! I can sense I haven¡¯t hit their core being yet, but more like their limbs are slowly becoming mine. My cells and energy are surrounding and dissolving the enemy cells, then replacing them as they go on. I can sense the chemicals of distress the grass is emitting, it sounds like a scream to my ears. I want to maybe stop, but I still need to do this. If I want to survive, I have to go on the offensive. No way can I survive without increasing my growth rate and my abilities, and in order to do that I need more information, and a larger area of affect. If I didn¡¯¡¯t have those titles I may not have to do this, but that godly being is what brought this upon the world. Ahh, the spread is slowing, I must be close to finishing the poor guy off. I have control over two leaves and the root I connected to, with inroads on the rest of its body. His screams are getting more sporadic, and his energy opposing me is growing dimmer. Hmmm, a new energy wave is opposing me now. It¡¯s steady, and doesn¡¯t feel panicked¡­¡­ Wait, did this motherfucker link to another grass beside him? Where¡¯s it coming from, damn, I need to quickly find out which root or leaf it¡¯s coming from and kill it!!!!! Where Is It!? I¡¯m losing energy too fast. I need to focus, roots vs leaves. Definitely roots, just got to flood all the roots as fast as I can with an overwhelming energy surge, then kill off the ends of each root I find. This could be extremely dangerous if I don¡¯t end this quick, the ability didn¡¯t mention what happens if I fail. This has to work! There, found the motherfucking connecting roots, there are three connections, gotta cut them off!!! FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK, that hurt. I guess replacing the cells in the plant with your own also transmits pain back to you. That could wait until AFTER I was done with the pain nerves, uggh. Now that I have the noose around its neck, its isolated from its allies, now I just need to squeeze. .. .. It¡¯s stopped screaming. Damn, it sucks to listen too, so I¡¯m glad it¡¯s over. I¡¯m going to have to be more careful next time though, especially with a grass species. I should have thought that if I have link, they would too. And many grass systems share root networks and water sources, since their roots can only spread along/near the surface for water. But now I¡¯ve essentially doubled my energy absorption rate, so for each grass bundle I take over, I¡¯ll get more and more powerful! Eventually this whole field will be mine! [td colspan="3"] [Destined to Die], [Reincarnator], [Martyr], [Boundless], [Late Bloomer], [One of Many], [Eaten Alive], [Cannibal], [Kin-Slayer] [/td] [td colspan="3"], , , , , , , , [/td]
Name:---Age:7 Days
Gender:¡á/¡âLevel:3
Class:Plant SageRace:Bermuda Grass
HP:3/3Mana:0/0
Growth Points:36Growth Rate:0.75 pts/hour
Strength:1Vitality:4
Agility:1Intelligence:117
Roots:7 (+0.1 pts/hour)Leaves:7
Titles:
Abilities:
Not surprised anymore about the terrible titles I¡¯m getting. I¡¯ll look at them later, I feel really tired. Maybe a nap will help again, taking over another being cell by cell is tiring. Zzz. -- POV other grass ¨C ¡®shiver¡¯ -- POV Owl ¨C Hoot-hoot That grass-not-mana-weed plant started shivering, and so did the grass next to him. Then it ended, but nothing changed. What an odd plant. Hoot-hoot Ch. 10 - Bug Domination Plan Sorry for the late updates, I spent a good amount of time re-designing the future plot points of the story. Enjoy! Wordpress link: Ch-10 ---------------------- -- POV Grass ¨C Fwaaaaaaaa, another great nap. Let¡¯s see how long it¡¯s been this time. I feel buff as fuck, especially as that sun comes over the horizon once again. Ahhhhhhhh, that struggle over life and death was worth it! [td colspan="3"] [Destined to Die], [Reincarnator], [Martyr], [Boundless], [Late Bloomer], [One of Many], [Eaten Alive], [Cannibal], [Kin-Slayer] [/td] [td colspan="3"], , , , , , , , [/td]
Name:---Age:8 Days
Gender:¡á/¡âLevel:3
Class:Plant SageRace:Bermuda Grass
HP:3/3Mana:0/0
Growth Points:120Growth Rate:0.75 pts/hour
Strength:1Vitality:4
Agility:1Intelligence:117
Roots:7 (+0.1 pts/hour)Leaves:7
Titles:
Abilities:
Oh yea, I did get two new titles. [td colspan="2"]From killing your own relatives. Disappears if forgiven by religion leader you are a part of. Passive: Royalty¡¯s and Dynasty''s trust in your actions has been diminished. [/td]
[Kin-Slayer]Rank: F
[td colspan="2"]Due to dining upon your own kind. Disappears if species changes. Passive: Your species will feel disturbed around you. [/td]
[Cannibal]Rank: F
Oh shit. It''s good I learned of this early. If I evolve, or I reach my final form, I do NOT want the [Cannibal] title. Even though I''m a scientist-grass-man, I was originally human. I''m a social creature, the only reason I haven''t given up is because every day I''m almost dying, it''s giving me an excuse to live. It''s distracting me from my situation. If people who I consider my species doesn¡¯t talk with me, I might just become a demon lord or something, who knows. Eh, probably not. But I wouldn''t be very kind to people at least! The [Cannibal] title will hopefully stop the other grass from attacking me, if they can attack me. Thankfully the titles don''t affect me much right now, but I guess I''ll try and not kill my own species (after I evolve of course. Or change enough that I''m considered another species. Not really sure how that works). My point bank is pretty full at 120, I should work on protection instead of attack. If I attack the grass again, I''ll need a lot more points than I have now. I''m guessing that with my [Cannibal] title, and the fact that I did just completely annihilate a member that some tried to save, put them on the defensive. They''re all probably linking together now, pooling their resources to defend against my assimilation attack. Even though each only has a small amount of energy, linked together I can imagine there being a lot of energy there. I don''t even know how wide this area is, I could be back on the old Texas grass plains that spanned for hundreds of miles or in a small glade on a hill. I''m hoping for the second, otherwise I''m boned from the beginning. I would still like a mana-sensing ability, or something similar so that I could see and verify my surrounding, but that''s a no go right now. No matter how much I think about sensing mana, I''m not given any options to do so. And from my cursory examination from the plant I''ve taken over, there''s no difference at all. I''m starting to think it''s something about my species that is causing this whole problem. Grass must be the bottom of the bottom of the evolutionary totem pole. Thankfully the plant assimilation title didn''t lie to me. It seems I suffered 8 points of bug damage on my main body, and only one point on my extended body. I can expect the loss rate to be linear for each grass I take over, but I still feel like 1 point for a grass bundle is way too much. I can think of two causes: One, the titles still have some effect, or Two, since I attract all of the insects, it''s suffering collateral damage. I really want my eggs to hatch and defend me. It''s almost time, typical insect eggs either hatch by today or up to 16 days after they were deposited. Thinking of that, I need to build a home for them somehow, of keep them attracted to forming a mutualistic or a commensality relationship with me. I can definitely attract them when I become damaged, but the problem is it won''t help for if there is a bug swarm, and they might become desensitized to my chemical screams if I take this much damage each day. What to do? A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. From what I know ants would be the easiest to tame, as I could provide them living space and bugs, while they kill plants around me and most small herbivores are dissuaded from eating me. FFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKK ¡­¡­ ¡­. ¡­ -- POV Rabbit ¨C ''Munch Munch'' This grass looked tastier than the other grass. I wanted to taste it. It''s not any different than the other grass. ''Munch Munch'' -- POV Grass ¨C Ouch, that hurt. I passed out from the pain. Separating the pleasure side of my thinking process reduced my tolerance for pain. Wonder what''s the damage? Oh, lost 4 leaves. Ouch. Vitality down to 2, HP down to 2/3, and leaves down to 3. Let''s fix that, jettison the lost leaf stems, and regrow 4 more, there! Ok, so my growth points now are 170, and by tomorrow morning should be up to 188. Man, I gotta be careful, or level up multitasking so that I can work on three things at once. One passes out if there''s pain, one has orgasmic pleasure, and one works. Perfect! I''ll try it out tomorrow. Back to the bugs! I don''t think the leaf with the bugs eggs were eaten, thank goodness. I feel like if I had mana this would be easier, but beggars can''t be choosers. All I have left is to actually think of something to work. I could turn back on my reflectivity to the weird purple spots to attract ALL the bugs, but that loses my [One of Many] title, and I''m pretty sure I have a trauma about that. I can''t even begin to change my colors back to that specific color. Zzzzzzzz. I could maybe feed them some sap/sweet juice, but I''m not the biggest fan of doing that at this stage. I''m not sure what other kind of bugs that I might attract. Maybe, just maybe, it could work though. If I excrete a juice randomly, like a casino, I should be able to make the bugs addicts using some chemicals from earth. Caffeine or nicotine, maybe throw in a mild form of meth, and I''ll have potent drug addicts. As they come looking for the drugs, they will naturally clean off my plant from bugs to both protect their drug source as well as just because they get hungry. I''ll become the center of their world! I have to be careful though, don''t want to overdose them, or make them resistant to the drug, so maybe meth would be a bad idea. I''ll stick with the classics that enslaved the human world then. I''m sure I don''t need the drugs now, as bugs can become addicted to just sugar and the random timings, but they won''t be as loyal to me. Plus, in the future it might become handy. Maybe I could train some goblins in the future, or gremlins or something to become my loyal minions. I just thought of an AMAZING idea, but that will have to wait for a long time from now. Oh goodness, is it juicy though!!!!!!! I hope it will work. These bugs will be a test bed. I don''t want to flood them with drugs now, but I need to be ready. Thankfully I have very good senses of things that are touching me, so I should be able to tell when they hatch. It should be soon. I better get ready. Let''s see what things I can buy right now. To humor myself I''ll ask the system too what I should be able to do, other than the chemicals I want to do. ¡ª Genetic Mutation ¨C Drug Compounding (1000) Gives the ability to create various drugs. Reduces the cost of chemical creations to 50%. Combines with Genetic mutation, decreasing cost to a minimum of 10%. ¡ª Genetic Mutation ¨C Caffeine Creation* (100) Gives the ability to create caffeine. ¡ª Genetic Mutation ¨C Nicotine Creation* (100) Gives the ability to create nicotine. ¡ª Genetic Mutation ¨C Controlled Sap Release (15) Gives the ability to release sap at command. ¡ª Genetic Mutation ¨CSap Release (5) Passively emit sap from your body. ¡ª Oh, interesting, I actually have a choice to make. If I want to invest in the future, the choice is clear, however the initial investment is just as big as the potential rewards. If I need a quick fix, I should just choose the Caffeine and Nicotine additions. But, I think I''m going to be greedy today. At most I have 8 days to generate enough points, let''s do this! By tomorrow morning I should have about 188 points, and each day I gain 84 through leaves and 18 through roots, losing 9 a day. So I generate 93 points a day, (1065 ¨C 188)/8 days = 110 points a day. Damn, so close. That means I''m gonna have to alter my growth plans now. I have 3 leaves on my main body, and 4 on my external body. That means 4 leaves each should be fine. That increases my growth rate by another 12 points a day, bringing me up to 105 points a day. I''ll try 5 on each though, and see if I lose my [One of Many] title. That brings me up by another 24 points a day, totaling 129 points a day! That should give me a surplus by the end of the week of 152, a reasonable surplus. Ok let''s do this! Ch. 11 - Domestication Late update on the story, but there should be nother chapter out either today or tomorrow. I was at an academic conference, and didn''t have time to edit/post the chapters, though I did work on them. Enjoy here or HERE! ----------------------------------------------- -- POV Grass -- Waiting..... Is so boring. Soooooooo boooooooooring. I''m not sure what to do with all of my free time now. I can''t spend it in pleasure, since I''d just release all over the place (growing, that is) and waste all of my accumulated growth points. Plus be eaten to death probably. ¡®Shiver¡¯ Just another day and I''ll have enough. Just don''t hatch today bugs. Come on. ... ''Crack'' ''Crinkle'' ''Craaaaaaack'' ... My luck just suuuucks. I''m sure if there was a luck stat, mine would be 0. A big, fat, 0. Not a 1, a 0. The complete lack of anything good happening to me, and only snake eyes are ever rolled. All the eggs are hatching, and I only have 1076 points. I have to wait another full day before I can begin my addiction crap. There is no way in hell that I¡¯m going to go down to just 30 Growth point again. My life is too precious, and awesome, to do that. Zzzzzzzzzzz. Well, all I can do now is wait for the 30 bugs that hatched today to hopefully stay. The only thing I have going for me right now in those regards is that I''m QUITE tasty to the aphids around me, so as they try to get at me there will naturally be a cluster around me, letting the beetles that just hatched also naturally cluster around me as they feed. When the beetles land on me tomorrow, I''ll strike! ... At least while I''m waiting I won''t have to deal with as many things eating me.... Which means more points! Niiiice, but still. I feel like if I got all of them with some sap before they left their eggs, it would have been better. ... .. ... It''s morning again, yet I can only sense about 20 beetles still on my leaves. About 20, because they are frequently leaving my leaves and coming back. I hope it''s because they like my area, and not because the rest were eaten by something else or if the stayers are only here because they aren''t ready to leave yet. Because of the risk that more of my workers will leave, I better go ahead and buy the abilities I need and get to cracking! I have 1207 points saved up For 1000 points, Drug Compounding! For 15 points, Controlled Sap Release! (I already bought this, I was bored. It was fun to cover an aphid in a really thick goo, sweet sweet revenge! But then the goo hardened, and it itched somewhat like a scab. That''s probably why only trees decide to use sap defensively, they have an unfeeling outer layer. So annoying, from then on I just focused on practicing my release abilities to quicken them up and make sure my concentrations of chemicals in my sap are to the right proportions compared to what I know from Earth. Comparing the drying time, and the viscosity, I seem to have it down!) For 50 points, Caffeine! The lovely addiction that is praised by man around the world, and despite people trying to kick the habit, they came back to their Starbucks either by will, or by their friends forcing them to go back after they were tired of dealing with their moody shit. And now, a decision I''ve been putting off. I could try to bring nicotine into this world, but I''m not a fan of it. It caused so many deaths back in my world, and I fear that by introducing this drug back into this world, the same thing will happen here. Plus, I didn''t really account my points saving for getting both drugs. I have the extra points to do it, and if I just release a tiiiiiny bit of it, I''m sure it would be fine. Ugggh, I just remembered some crazy science fiction book where they find a plant with a mysterious ability to produce a drug which can be concentrated to control people. That plant was flamethrowered to ash. Now I''m not afraid of a quick death, I don''t want it, but it''d be muuuuuch better than being burned alive. I know I''d survive too, because of my root network and my regeneration abilities. I could burn for days. ''Shiver'' Fiiiiiine, I won''t use nicotine. I''ll try just caffeine. 15 bugs left, I have to hurry. Caffeine itself can be a deadly drug in higher concentrations, and the physiology of bugs might differ from Earth. I especially hope that the bugs¡¯ physiology differs here than on earth, because caffeine did act as a natural pesticide¡­ But only really for herbivorous insects. But progress wasn''t made by being safe. I should start high, and go down from there. Let''s isolate a beetle that''s not moving very much... There. Now, for the sap concentration. I want it to have a good amount of surface tension, without getting the beetle stuck. Ok, from my practice I have that concentration down of 10mg. Let''s add a good dose of sugar, spice, and everything nice! Oh no, 10mg of chemical X was knocked in! What will the results be? Hopefully, thousands of obedient beetle slaves! Ok, I have my bait and trap in my sap, now to release a tiiiiny amount right in front of the beetle. It''s worked millions of times in the lab, so it should work here. Annnnnd, the bait was taken, it drank the drop of sap! Yes! Now to wait for the results........ ... ... ... And it''s not moving. I think I killed it. Heh, at least his sacrifice wasn''t in total vain. I know that 10mg is too high. Now who''s next up for the trial? His friend is nearby, let''s do the same thing with a lesser concentration of caffeine. Uggh, of course it flaps its little wings after I release my sap in front of him. Just drink your goddamn caffeine like all humans on Earth did (Well, all NORMAL people on Earth who had JOBS to do.) Ungrateful shit, it costs 0.1 growth points to create that sap, and now I''m going to have to spend another 0.1 points to wash it off so it doesn''t "scab" and itch like crazy. Remember this you stupid beetle, you''re on my shit list! Don''t come begging me for help if there''s a bird about to eat you! I can''t tell you apart yet, but just you wait. Eventually I''ll determine who you are! -- POV hated Beetle ¨C Relaxing. ''!?'' Something moved near me, not beetle. Gotta get away, predator! ''Bzz'' -- POV MC Grass -- Finally, found another still beetle. This time, I guess, I''ll release slowly, slightly in front and to the side so it''s not immediately visible and threatening. I''ll lower the concentration of caffeine by 50% since the last does was lethal, and go from there. Again, this beetle took the bait and drank the sap. Aaaaand it''s not moving again. Well, where''s the next Guinea........ Oh, it is moving, but circling the spot, like it''s on a caffeine high! Potential success, but let''s wait and see what are the effects on this beetle. .. It''s been an hour, and the bug is still running around the spot where the sap came out of. But it is slowing down. .. I just realized a huge problem. I think this guys is super addicted to my sap. There''s aphids all around him, but he''s not eating them. Sigh, another failure. He''s not benefitting me, so I guess I''ll take care of him. There we are, look, another small sap bubble right in front of you! Just sleep, sleeeeeeep. And, it''s dead. Man, that felt terrible. I never thought of bugs before in a sentimental way, but damn. That felt like taking your sickly, hurting dog to the vet and putting him to sleep. Well, almost like that. It''s weird doing it intentionally yourself. It must be the human psychology, where things you personally do affect you more than choosing for someone else to do. That, and bugs were bugs back then. Now these beetles are keeping me alive, almost my size, and I had to put one down. ''Sniff'' Being alone really makes you form attachments with the weirdest things. Won''t stop me, but some introspection now and again can be helpful. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. Ok, so I''ll drop the concentration of caffeine another 50%. This should give them a small burst of energy, and make them want this sap whenever it shows up, but it won''t make them 100% slaves to the sap. I¡¯ve not been a fan of slavery, you know, but humans have always domesticated those with less intelligence than ourselves. So let¡¯s treat this more of domestication, instead of slavery. Finally, SUCCESS! The next five beetles all experienced the same behavior. After drinking my sap, they look around, and start running around a bit, scaring aphids off and swatting at them if they got too close, usually injuring the aphids. Once the energy rush wore off, they would hang around my leaves, looking for sap while munching on the aphids. So not only has my main goal been successful, keeping the beetles near me, but also I got some kickass slaughter guards. Just a little bit more I should have an army. Ok, I have succeeded in capturing 13 beetles to guard my leaves. I have another choice to make. Should I train their actions, or let them be free to do as they like? For the first, I would give them some sap whenever they do something I like, like slaughtering aphids. But only if they are on me. For the second, I would just randomly setup a sap release system. Both are tremendous at making loyal pets, but one requires my attention. I''m already so busy, I don''t know what I''d do if I had to watch over my 13 beetles army, now named the Slaughter Guard. Haaah, yea, I''ll do the first choice. What else am I gonna do, sit on my proverbial ass all day and soak in the sun? Plus, I need to train multi-tasking more. Ok, I''ll train tomorrow, looks like everyone is getting ready to sleep. Well, most of the bugs, my caffeine slaves, have a few more hours before they get to sleep. But don''t worry, in the morning there will be a good ''ol wake up juice just waiting for you to drink it up little guys! -- POV ??? -- ''Whistling'' Ah, a good day''s work done. The souls are all going the right way, and all are going through the soul furnace just fine. This is how I like it, a smooth-sailing system. Just have to wait for that grass-guy to die, and everything will be just peachy. Guess I could snooze a bit, I am working hard here.... ¡­.. Ahhhhhh, that feels good. "A little to the left, ah, right there." "Are you feeling better? It looks like you have everything running quite nicely over here. Why don''t you just RELAX?" ''Gulp'' ''Sweat visibly forming on forehead'' I don''t want to look behind me. I don''t want too. I don''t want too. ".... Ummmmmm, hi sis. How wonderful to see you! How are you doing?" -- POV Fate -- "Ah, little brother, little brother. What have you done?" ''Snap'' "Oh, little brother, it looks like your finger just broke. It must''ve been fate, you never did drink milk. Tsssk, Tsssk." ''Snap'' "That''s right, you were asking how I was doing, hmmm?" ''Crunch'' "Well, a couple weeks ago I was just fine, you see. Then, a little wrinkle appeared coming from your way. Do you remember that little wrinkle, hmmm?" "Whatever are you tal-" ''Snap-crunch¡¯ "Oh, yea, now I remember. That wrinkle. Well, you see, I had no choice. He still had memories, and a lot of karma. You know that it''s not allowed to retain his memories, so I threw him through the soul furnace to become grass and die out quickly. Please forgive me sis." "Oh, so you decided to make something that was your fault into my problem, huh? Couldn''t take care of it yourself, and now asking for forgiveness AFTER I''ve come to see you, and AFTER it''s become a huge freaking problem? That stupid wrinkle you put in, as well as the influence you used a few days ago, really grew into a huge problem. So many thousands of strings of fate are twisting around, warping. Not even I know what''s going to happen now. I''m practically frantic trying to see what will happen in the future, you know, my job? But I''m" ''Pop'' "So" ''Pop'' "Glad" ''Pop'' "That you''re having such a swell time doing your job." "Sis, please. It was a simple action, I''ve done it before, how much can grass change the world!?" ".....You''ve done this before, hmm? I admit I noticed the earlier wrinkles, but after some tinkering they went away quite quickly. Why did it fail this time? Why not just burn the memories away, you must have been able to tell it was a particularly troublesome one?" "Because of his karma, it would all be lost. Neither of us want to anger her, now do we?" "No, I suppose not my little brother. Now, what can we do to solve my problem, my dear brother?" "Ummm, he should still die soon. He''s just grass, whatever can he do? Also, can''t you just use your influence and mess with his fate a little?" "I already have. I saw a glimpse of the entire world enslaved to a drug that was released into the atmosphere from a bush that had spread across the globe. It took all of my influence just to get him to forget about that drug, and also to not choose another, lesser drug to create. If he had chosen either, he would have eventually been found by humans and cultivated and protected, until it became too late and the entire continent, then the world became physically addicted to the drug to the point where he controlled the entire world! Do you know just how bad that would be? Not just Karma would be freaking pissed, but HE might notice and come here. This would have all been easier if you had come and asked me for help, I could have pointed you to the correct way to manipulate someone so that he would die, but nooooooooo, someone was too proud to do that." "Little brother Grim, if this becomes known, your FUCKUP, I can''t protect you anymore." "Please sis, please help me. Don''t leave me to them. I''ll do anything, I''ll listen to what you say, and I¡¯ll even become your servant, anything but them!" Sigh, what am I to do with him? I''ve been covering for his mess ups for a long time. Too many times, really. But we''re all family, so I have to look after my younger brother. But this latest problem is quite frankly too much for me to fix 100% by myself. The most I can do now is to bend the strings of fate so that everything can become stable again. Fuuuuu, at least his body lets me release my frustrations out without killing anyone. Being immortal can do wonders to keep you from dying from gross bodily harm. There now, most of his limbs are dislocated, and most of his fingers are broken, that should help him focus on his mistake. And it will heal, different from the wounds my sister and brother twins will inflict. "I''ll think about it Grim. I''ll think about. Until this problem is corrected, neither you nor I will be safe. Think, think hard. If we can''t solve this, we may be forced to go see them." "U...Understood." -- POV Karma & ??? ¨C "Brother, should we help? Seeing them try so hard, stressing their tiny brains, is quite fun like you said!" "Sister, not yet. It''s just starting. We''ll watch them until the time is just right, then we will strike. We¡¯ll make them feel such abject humiliation that they won¡¯t forget it for the rest of their lives." "Fiiiiiine, then let''s play another game as their heads catch on fire, trying to think of something more difficult than what to eat for lunch. How about we play World in Flames? We''ve already pretty much exhausted Go and chess, whoever goes first wins or we tie. I did win the last time we played Go, so I should get to choose. And no cheating in World in Flames this time, that''s the only reason you won last time." "Like I said before, anything should be allowed in war. The game''s not realistic enough. I should be able to play fake pieces and bluff actions." ".....Sin, you know that''s not all you did. Sigh, come on, and let¡¯s start it again." Ch. 12 - Feelers and impending Disaster Olympics delayed the release - gotta support your country! Here''s a link to my wordpress site: Wordpress Here is a link to the chapter there: Wordpress Chapter And thanks for reading this story! I''m learning a lot about writing by doing this story, and seeing people enjoy what I''m writing is really nice. So thank you! Also, I am a novice writer, practicing before I write some of my more serious works. So any criticism is accepted! Just post below the chapter! ----------------------------------- --POV Grass ¨C Ahh, this is the life. I''ve reduced my point loss per day from 1 growth point per leaf on my main body and 0.2 per leaf on my extended body, down to just 2 points total! My loss increased on my extended body as my slaughter guards have traumatized the aphids to leave my main body, but in the process, the injured aphids and the displaced aphids are eating whatever is closest to them. Eventually I need to expand my army to my whole body, but these slaughter guards will not leave me undefended. They will stay with me no matter what, I won''t let them go. The second generation will protect my extended holdings. I guess I should look at my status, since I haven''t checked lately. [td colspan="3"] [Destined to Die], [Reincarnator], [Martyr], [Boundless], [Late Bloomer], [One of Many], [Eaten Alive], [Cannibal], [Kin-Slayer], [Bug Tamer] [/td][td colspan="3"], , , , , , , , [/td]
Name:---Age:18 Days
Gender:¡á/¡âLevel:5
Class:Plant Sage+Race:Bermuda Grass
HP:5/5Mana:0/0
Growth Points:295.2Growth Rate:132.6 (12.6) pts/hour
Strength:1Vitality:5
Agility:1Intelligence:118
Tamed Species1Tamed Total13
Titles:
Abilities:
Oh nice, my class upgraded to Plant Sage+! [td colspan="2"] Unlocked due to unique evolutions created in plants you own. Unlocks additional evolution paths for plants you design, and even custom evolutions. Contains all abilities of Plant Sage class. [/td]
Class: Plant Sage+Rank: S+
And I got a cool new title too! [td colspan="2"] Increases the growth rate of bugs you tame. Increases affinity with bugs.[/td]
[Bug Tamer]Rank: F
Not too happy with that affinity thing though. Uggh. Just go away bugs. Except you, my Slaughter Guards. You can stay. All 12 of you I consider my friends and closest allies. Just point out your one friend from earlier from among you, and everything will finally be perfect. Fuuuuuuuu. Well, again I find myself in a state of not needing to really do anything. My temporary goals are accomplished, I¡¯m generating a surplus of energy, and the sun is coming back over the horizon. Maybe, just maybe, I can chill for a couple more days. But, the sunlight is dimming. My growth rate is changing quite a bit, and the sunlight is flickering across my leaves. ¡®Plop¡¯ Oh, rain. Of course haha. These days do happen, plants kinda need it to keep growing. I could eventually trap fog, or condense my own rain in the future, but those are really inefficient compared to naturally occurring rain. I never really thought of rain though, mainly because the soil here is fairly moist. The reason the water table is so high means I must be by a river. Oh. This could be bad. How close am I to the river? Too close, and a bad rain will sweep me away in a flood. Shit. Being lackadaisical will get me killed if I keep this up. I don¡¯t know how rain should feel, like is this a light shower or an intense rain? All I know is that I feel a good amount of plops on my leaves, and I¡¯m not getting washed away. Shoot, I can control this. I have plenty of points, let¡¯s grow a root anchor into the ground so that I don¡¯t get swept away just in case. The soil is really loose and wet, so growing a root down should be easy. Ok, let¡¯s grow a root 10 points down, and look for a rock or something¡­¡­¡­ I feel rock, but it¡¯s huge. I think it¡¯s bedrock, or a rock slab. Thank goodness I¡¯m a plant though, we were made to break rock! And this should work quite nicely as an anchor, just gotta find a crack and go to town! Success! I managed to dig into a crack, and I spent a further 5 GP increasing my space down there and filling up all the space I could. I ended up cracking the rock more, but it still feels solid, and most importantly, heavy. It looks like every day I¡¯m narrowly avoiding death. Thank goodness I think pretty quickly on my feet. -- POV Owl ¨C You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Hoot. Knew rain was going to come. Felt it for days. Turned out to be just a little sprinkle. It¡¯s not like we need it though, the spring just near the top of the hill gives us plenty of water here. Hoot-hoot. -- POV Grass -- Pheeew, crisis averted. But really now, I¡¯m sick and tired of not being able to see, or even know where I am. This whole experience feels like I¡¯m hallucinating inside of a sensory deprivation chamber. I know that¡¯s not the case, but still, they say people can go crazy in those things if they aren¡¯t careful. That¡¯s always a good thing about being a scientist ¨C we are already a little crazy to begin with. Who else would forgo their life, socializing, and enjoyment for the pursuit of knowledge? Sigh, the good ¡®ol days. I didn¡¯t have to worry about life or death too much, there¡¯s not much I could¡¯ve done anyways. One man, in a dead world. Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu. ¡®Metaphorical Slap¡¯ One more time, I¡¯m going in. I need to see. I will make myself see through other means. In my undergraduate work, I worked on a machine learning algorithm that used a network of sensors to localize a fungi infestation. I can do sorta the same thing here, I will create a huge sensor net on the ground, and determine from the signals I¡¯m receiving the specifics of the environment I¡¯m working/living in. Oh shiiiiiiiiiiiit, fuck yea. I can kill two birds with one stone this way. Fuahahahahahahahahhahahaha! Fuck YES! If I do this, and spread my roots all around this clearing / a good portion of the plain I¡¯m in, I can attack and assimilate the grass around me all at once. No united front for them, but a chaotic killing spree from my insidious root network! God, I feel like a motherfucking evil scientist. Ah, but night is upon me, and checking in on my GP, I have about 349. Not YET enough to enact my takeover plan. I want to maintain ~100 GP just in case, but I might as well start my root network now. The spread doesn¡¯t really matter, or where my roots go, as long as the spread is decent enough. I¡¯ll try to follow the way slime molds solve mazes. Just keep spreading until something interesting is, then split from there. This way my density equals about how dense the environment is and saves me some energy. Each day I generate 145.2 points, so I¡¯ll spend about 150 points a day until I Fill my environment. Ok, if I assume I¡¯m in the middle of a field, a perfectly circular area should be detected as far as I can go. Should I choose to go one direction and be greedy, trying to detect the edges of my environment first and then spread? Or should I try to focus on detecting my near area first, then send some tendrils out after say ~5 meters, or a mixture of both? If only I could see, I could instantly choose the correct algorithm. ¡®Pointed sigh¡¯ Hmmmm. I have some information. For instance, my species and what I¡¯ve experienced: rain, no floods, loamy soil, and a good source of sun without burning. I originate from the Middle East and Africa. I have reasonably deep roots for grass species, but can¡¯t survive extreme heat or cold. Deserts are out. Tundra out. Taiga out. Volcano out. Beach/Island maybe, but doubtful. Forest maybe. Plains maybe. Rainforest doubtful. From the animals, I have an inkling that I¡¯m not in a plains environment, but it¡¯s really weak. I can only decide that based on the fact that the animal that ate me ate me pretty slowly. That only happens when the animal feels at home in the environment, all safe-like. So it must have some sky-cover, and be in a remote area. I¡¯m leaning 51% to the forest side. It¡¯s decided then, to work I go! I¡¯ll do a spoke-pattern around me in roots, and only branch off every 2 meters or so to continue increasing the density of rays as I go. This avoids the super dense-matrix near the hub, namely me, and is extremely efficient for searching. If I don¡¯t detect anything once I reach 392 rays, I¡¯ll fortify my position and become one with the area within my circle of roots. I should then cover an area of 314.159265 m^2 with a diameter of 20 meters (3381.6 sq. ft with diameter = 65.617 ft). Each root is about 8 cm long, so per 2 meters of root network I¡¯ll need 25 GP¡­¡­¡­.. Looks like I¡¯ll need a long time to generate this energy, fuuuuuu. In total, my network will need (3*(n-1) ^ 2+1)*8*25 GP to complete, where n is my radius/2meter increments. Oh, wow. 9800 GP total. Ok ok, I guess I¡¯ll use 157 GP a day to make the math easier. That will take just about 65 days. Yea, not happening. Algorithm rethink time. Ok, fuck it. Algorithms were never my strong suit. The largest drain is the 3 and 8 numbers in that equation. If I reduce the number of initial spokes to 6, and instead split the spoke instead of branching it, I end up with this equation: (2*(5-1) ^ 2+1)*6*25 = 4950 GP used. OMG, that¡¯s so much better, I just have to wait 33ish days to extend my network. I can do that. Maybe I can try some other things too while I¡¯m waiting. Morning is around the corner, so to start I¡¯m going to grow each initial spoke. ¡®Grow¡¯ Well, that went quickly. 150 points, ¡®poof¡¯, gone. Dang. I forgot to take into account for the increased GP generation from growing the roots. A nice surprise, but a surprise nonetheless. Each ¡®spoke¡¯ is now generating 2.5 GP/hour, so my daily generation is now really high, at 505.2 GP/day¡­¡­ I¡¯m rich bitch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I¡¯m so dumb, I should have invested in roots this whole time!!!!!! It¡¯s the dark horse between them and leaves, but they generate 24/7 as long as there is water, and they are predator sparse! Yes!! If I spend 400 pts tomorrow morning, I will be generating a HUUUUGE amount of points a day! Is it, is it finally time to go crazy????????? I¡¯ve always wanted to just let loose. But I¡¯m not quite there yet. Eventually, eventually. For now, I will wait¡­¡­¡­. ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ Well, that was quick. I¡¯ve mapped out my area, my growth rate is awesome, and I¡¯ve learned a lot. First off, my area kinda looks like this: (I¡¯m the red/white circle) Secondly, it looks like my roots have sort of a bandwidth on them. Makes sense, since the roots are only grass roots. Each spoke is only bringing in 100 GP per day, and adding more spokes doesn¡¯t really work. I feel I¡¯ve reached some sort of ceiling from my species or core body. I need to upgrade somehow, but for now this is pretty good! I can still sense things along my root network, but the further I go, the less I sense. Stupid bandwidth! Maybe trees will have a better structure. I¡¯ll shelve that though for later. Thirdly, I¡¯m mostly safe! I¡¯m in some sort of clearing on the side of a hill. I¡¯m on the downslope of my clearing, with some rocks near the top. The slope isn¡¯t steep enough for those rocks to really roll down and hit me, but I can definitely be hit by a mudslide. Thankfully, the various rocky outcroppings show that I¡¯m mostly safe from that, showing this hill to be mostly rocky instead of muddy. AND there¡¯s a water spring nearby. I¡¯ll never have to worry about water and rain! This is paradise! This was my best idea ever!!!! -- POV ? ¨C ¡®roll¡¯ ¡®ooze¡¯ ¡®wiggle¡¯ -- POV grass ¨C ¡®Ouch¡¯ Hmmmm, what was that? Something¡¯s eaten my furthest root by the water. I¡¯ve been gnawed on a little by some ground larvae, but this is different. It ate the whole root. Ch. 13 - Most Difficult Challenge Yet Typical Author Post Here''s another chapter for you guys to enjoy! Also added a temporary identifier to our grass man, Mathias (Similar to his old name) Wordpress Link: Here! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- POV (Mathias) Grass -- We will be calling him Mathias temporarily until his name is chosen. That''s weird. This felt different than anything I''ve faced before. It was slow and consistent. It didn''t feel like it was nibbled on, chewed on, nor ripped off. What the heck ate my root? Well, it was just one root, and a far off one. It was probably a one off anyways. No way would it specifically follow my roots back to me - Fuuuuuck, ow. It''s starting again..... It feels like it''s melting off maybe? It hurts a little more than before, shit, because it''s getting closer. It is definitely following me now. Shitfuck. This thing actually eats roots, whatever it is. It seems to be using acid or something to melt my roots. And I just made it easy for it to find my main body - almost all of the roots lead straight towards me. OK, I need to just let that branch of my roots go. I''ll jettison them and let them die. And maybe if I first build a mini-maze of roots before I separate myself from the maze, I should be good to go. Stupid efficient searching, all roads lead back to me, just like in Rome. If only I have something to defend myself with, right now I just have some tiny beetles. Done, made a small maze around him, and...... SHIIIIIIIIIIIIT, I forgot how much necrosis actually hurts. Pulling a toe off I think would feel similar. If it wasn''t for the fact I had separated part of my mind before I did that, I might have passed out again. It''s becoming second nature to do that before I try any action, kinda weird and cool. It lets me simultaneously focus wholly on doing a task correctly, while also passively watching the results from above. ... ... Did I just see a little bit of pleasure show up in my separated mind that took care of the necrosis? Ah, of course, it must have just been pleasure in accomplishing my goal! Man, I impress myself sometimes! Literally! Back to thinking...... I really don''t know what could be eating my roots. Grubs, larvae, mites can attack roots, and large herbivores as well, but this is just weird. I have no experience at all with this. So let''s assume that this is some sort of fantasy creature. Meaning, again, I have no idea what to do. Shit. Well, it''s been about an hour, but if it chances upon my roots again, I need some sort of counter measure. My roots aren''t giving me enough information - the only thing with more senses that I have is a leaf. Ok, let''s grow one near the incursion sight..... I really don''t want too. It has more senses in all of the meanings. Pleasure, light sensitivity, tactile, PAIN. Fuck, this is gonna hurt a lot more. Let''s separate my mind again... Huh, it''s getting easier and easier now. Nice. Ok, now I''m adding the leaf.... Done, well the sun feels nice. Can''t tell anything else yet. The bait has been set, now I need to wait. Ewwwww, I feel something soft, like something is licking my leaf. Oh no. Don''t tell me, it likes specifically how I taste. Oh no, this is bad. And now my leaf is being surrounded..... Shit shit shit, quick I need to.. Owwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. .. .. Jettison the leaf. Sigh. Ok, I''ve officially lost part of my mind temporarily to pain, still with that weird tinge of pleasure. Well, we did get a lot of useful information from this. The thing that''s eating me is using some sort of acid to eat me, kind of like starfish or flies. So I should increase my acid resistance maybe???? Nah, that would just slow it down. I need some way to kill the predator. Let''s put in a super high dose of caffeine in the next leaf I put out there. Enough to kill an elephant should be good! ''Slap Slap'' Wake up me, I need to grow another leaf, and this time jettison it before it eats me. And oh yea, Trojan horse that shit with a huge amount of caffeine. It''s basically going to be a crystallized white leaf for it to eat haha. Calculating it out.... I''ll need about about 1.2 kg of the stuff to kill an elephant.... That''s a little too much. Ok, how about enough to kill a human? 13.6 grams. That''s doable, but hard. An average blade of grass weighs much less than a single gram. Sigh, if only I had another toxic chemical..... Wait, I can just make one, can''t I? Muahahahaha. Ok, let''s make the most absolute, most toxic chemicals known to man: Saturated Fat! Pfffffffffffft HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. LOL. Ha. Ha. Lol. Man, I''m god damn funny. But going through the toxins I know, a lot of them are out due to not having the minerals available to make them. Ah! How about Botulinum? It can''t affect me, but can be deadly in small or large concentrations. And it should fuck up any aphids that try to bite me if I incorporate it into my sap somehow. Nice, I think I would have done this sooner or later anyways, but progress has always been made in time of need and war. Also love, but I''m not in that arena right now. Sadly ;( ------------------------------ Genetic Modification: Botulinum Generate Botulinum, a toxin normally created by bacteria as waste. Will paralyze most species. Cost: 500 ------------------------------ Wow, that''s expensive as shiiiiit. I have a nice stockpile of over 1300 GP, but this might be just too much for me. Drug Compounding and Genetic modification should make this cheap to make! Fuuu, it must be because it''s created by bacteria, not by plants. There must be some penalty for that. Let''s see, a plant made toxin.... ------------------------------ Genetic Modification: Cyanide Generate Cyanide, a toxin that can be found in plants in trace amounts. Cost: 100 ------------------------------ Yup, as I thought. Costs must change based on how easy it is for me to create it naturally. And it must be more expensive too because of its toxicity. Caffeine is strong, but it doesn''t compare to cyanide in the least. This isn''t bad though. Cyanide is almost guaranteed not to hurt me, but is deadly to larger animals that need to breathe, which I''m assuming this guy needs to do. He''ll suffocate, while chocking down the last, tastiest meal he has ever had. Seems the whatever it is has gotten lost in my maze. Good, so let''s learn how to make cyanide¡­¡­ Done, and let''s test make some on my secondary body on a leaf¡­. and nothing, good. Good good good. Step one succeeded. Step two has to wait, I need to see if he shows up¡­. Well, while I''m waiting, I might as well fill my extended, unprotected body with cyanide. Some sweet revenge for the remnants of those stupid aphids. Ahh, the first aphid just fell from my leaf, muahahahahaha. Just for this it was worth i--------------- ¡­¡­¡­¡­.t. Sigh, this FUCKER keeps finding my roots! What the actual fuck!? -- POV ?? ¨C ''wiggle'' bright ''wiggle'' -- POV Grass (Mathias) ¨C Ok, aphid extermination and self-reflection is postponed. For now, operation forceful cyanide injection is a go. I''ll make a leaf look all vibrant like, while flooding it with as much cyanide as I can. Right when I feel that thing again, I''ll rip off that leaf so I control the pain. All at once is better than slowly being eaten by acid. I am getting more worried though. It''s getting closer and closer to me, and hurting more and more. Ok, setup is complete. That leaf is barely standing up straight, the cyanide concentration is messing with the systems in the leaf. The poison concentration burns, but I can keep it isolated to that leaf. The leaf will die naturally after about a day because of it, but it will work for now. Annnndddd.. There we go, it''s taking the bait! Ripping off another finger¡­¡­¡­. I really need to create something that helps with the pain senses, but I really don''t know of anything that works for plants, since we thought plants can''t feel pain. Morphine and the like won''t work here, sigh. The sun is all l have. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. Ok, now to wait and see what happens. It would be best if the cyanide was aerosolized, but beggars can''t be choosers. It should be shutting down their airways now, their blood should be turning blue, and they should have collapsed on the ground now. Good, now let''s grow a root towards where it should be dying and see if it''s going to be eaten. ¡­ ¡­ That, was a bad idea. Zzzzzzzz. I need to find a better way of figuring things out rather than putting my finger into a monster''s mouth each time. To conclude, it''s still alive somehow. Now what? It''s stomach acid must be something else, or maybe it doesn''t breathe oxygen. We are in a fantasy land, maybe it breathes C02 like me, or doesn''t need to breathe at all. Shit. All my poison knowledge is useless here then. Well, the easy ones are gone. Shit. What should I do. Salt maybe? Doubtful. If cyanide didn''t work, salt won''t. Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitake mushrooms. There goes another root. If I can''t poison it to death, and I can''t lead it away from me, the only other option is to face it head on in gladiatorial battle. I need to armor up. First, I need to unlock an ability similar to the Yucca plant. Its leaves end in a great, large thorn. Then, I need to gain some flexibility in my growth/movement. My current growth speed is too slow. Next, I need to strengthen my actual structure somewhat. My leaves will need to become thicker, and more resilient. My battle plan is as follows: I will lure him to an area close to me. During this time, the damage I take will be heavy, but it will increase my reaction speed and my growth speed by being closer to me. The area I need to lure him in will be surrounded by a root network, where I will launch a piercing attack from below. If this thing is tall, the most I can do is scratch it really, maybe pierce it a little bit. This is my best shot, because I can¡¯t see my predator. I hate not being able to see, I hate it so much! Urrrrrrgggggghhhh, the pain is increasing, for the love of god, make it stop! Make it stop! Fuuuuck, only I can make it stop. Shit, I need some alcohol to deal with this. Come on, even splitting my mind isn¡¯t helping much anymore. That pleasure mixed in with the pain I was feeling is all gone, now all I have left is terror and pain. And resolve. I have to do this, or die. Come on, come on man. There we go, invested 25 to form a death ring of roots, with 3 leaders coming off of it. It should follow one of the leads into the circle and from there I¡¯ll strike. ¡°Bleurrgghhh¡± I feel like I''m throwing up from the pain. It''s getting closer to the circle, shit, I need to hurry. Come on genetic mutation, I need some adaptations from bamboo, yucca, mimosa, venus fly traps, and Quebracho! It''s time, transform! Current GP: 1250 ------------------------------ Genetic Modification: Fast-growing Increases the cost of growing, but increases the speed of growth by 50%. Cost: 50 ------------------------------ Genetic Modification: Reaction Grants the ability for parts of you to automatically respond to certain stimuli. Cost: 125 ------------------------------ Genetic Modification: Hardened Spines Allows the ability to created hardened, sharp sections on your body. Cost: 125 ------------------------------ Genetic Modification: Strengthened Cell Walls Change your interior cells to be stronger than normal grass. Cost: 500 ------------------------------ Shit shit shit shit shit shit, fuck it, with the acid I don''t know if I need the strengthened cell walls. I''ll take everything else then. 950 Come on, come on! Ah, there, I feel it now. Perfect FUCKING timing, the bait''s been taken. Shit, ow, fuck. I''m going to make this mother fucker pay for the pain I''ve been through!! There, it''s in the center and hesitating, it must realize the predicament it''s in! Haha fucker, here I go!!!! -- POV ?? ¨C Bright everywhere. ''jiggle'' -- POV Grass (Mathias) ¨C Ok, the time is now. I''ve created 10 spikes coiled and ready to go, I''ll grow them slightly towards the thing, and once they touch the slime they should rapidly extend into the animal, scratching and/or puncturing it! 940 Let''s do this!!!!!!! ''gigigigigi'' ''stab'' ''melt'' SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT that HURRRRTTTTSSSSSS, but it''s still alive, each spike I launched up pierced something, then was melted. If 10 spikes wasn''t enough, I''ll send 20. If 20 isn''t enough, I''ll send 50. If 50 isn''t enough, I''ll launch a 100! I have to kill this thing above me, I''ll overwhelm it with numbers and tenacity!!!!!!!!!!! I have to LIIIIIVEEE!! 940 920 870 770 FUCK YOU! If that wasn''t enough, fuck it, take 700! This is all or nothing baby! It''s you or me! I''ll stab so many fucking thorns into your body you''ll fucking bleed for the next hundred years!!!!!!!! 70 ''gasp, huff, huff, huff'' Oh my god, it''s stopped moving. I''m ali¡­¡­.¡­ ''Passes out'' -- POV Owl ¨C Hoot-hoot A slime was wandering around the glade this morning. Normally they stay near the water. Must be something tasty in the ground, it''s digging into the ground to eat. Something with mana, or energy? I could kill it, but it is just a slime. It should die by a rabbit if it truly wanted to. They are the bottom feeders, scrounging on waste and some small plants. ''Hoot-Hoot!?'' It''s going towards the weird plant, when suddenly thorny grass starts growing all around it. It''s not doing much though, slimes are mostly immune to attacks as long as their nucleus is untouched. Oh, the grass is shaking more and more, and more of it is growing. What in the heavens is happening? Oh? The slime became flat. Grass must have been too thorny, must have lost all of its blood or something. It''s nucleus also looks damaged, it looks like there is a blade of half-dissolved grass in the middle of it. ''Hoot-hoot'' Ch. 14 - I Can SEE!! Author Note: I''m going to be moving my wordpress site, hosting it not on wordpress.com, but it should still be a wordpress site. So I think if you want you can still follow/get updated. Link to chapter on wordpress: Here Now let the chapter begin! ---------------------------------------------------- -- POV (Mathias) Grass -- We will be calling him Mathias temporarily until his name is chosen. ¡­ [td colspan="3"] [Destined to Die], [Reincarnator], [Martyr], [Boundless], [Late Bloomer], [One of Many], [Eaten Alive+], [Cannibal], [Kin-Slayer], [Bug Tamer], [Unnatural Predator] [/td] [td colspan="3"], , , , , , , , , , , , , , , [/td]
Name:---Age:20 Days
Gender:¡á/¡âLevel:100 (Max)
Class:Plant Sage+Race:Bermuda Grass
HP:5/10Mana:1/1 (+1 pt/hour)
Growth Points:0Growth Rate:35 (25) pts/hour day (night)
Strength:1Vitality:10
Agility:1Intelligence:120
Tamed Species1Tamed Total13
Titles:
Abilities:
Drug Compounding: Caffeine, Cyanide I think I¡¯m dreaming. I can see. I can finally see!!!!!!!! Somehow or another, by beating that thing, what I now think was a slime monster, I can observe what''s around me! I took some heavy damage, obviously, and my energy is nearly depleted, but I can finally see!!! Before I get into exploring my new sight though, I should definitely heal up. I¡¯ve been unconciously using my growth points to regenerate all of the damage that I took from being digested piece by piece. I have maximum growth point generation from my roots, and my normal generation points from my leaves, yet I''m STILL at 0 points. Fuuuuu, this is gonna hurt again. I have to jettison the damaged leaves, cauterize the ends of my roots¡­.. Uggggh, this is so annoying. So many life and eath meetings in a row hurts me, on the inside and outside. It''s been awhile since I''ve slept without at least part of me being unconcious. Sorry mind, I can''t handle this without splitting you up again. Part of me deals with the necrosis, part of me deals with the pleasure from the sun, part of me order my bugs around, another part work on diabolical schemes, while I deal with surviving and learning. I won''t forget about you, fear, because I can''t have you interrupting my thought processes anymore. If I need to change into a certain color, I don''t need you stopping me. Somehow, maybe by reaching level 100, I''ve managed to split my mind up even more with my ability. It''s helping me a lot by keeping my mind mostly clear. My thought processes are overall amplified, but each individual process is slowed. I''ve managed to mitigate that by keeping most of my processing power dedicated to survival, so I haven''t lost my quick-thinking or decision making abilities. And yes, I do need the diabolical schemes thought process going. It''s nice to think about the future, and how I take over this world! Mostly though I''m underpowered here, though I do think up some hilarious methods, like going all "The Thing" over all the plants in the world, releasing deadly poisons from my soon-to-be flowers, mind-control on animals of the forest, and so much more. With those thoughts under way, what''s upgraded from before the great slime-tastrophe. I''ve gained mana!!!!!!! So fucking cool, but only 1 zzzzzzzzzzzz. And that regeneration rate, wtf!? So small. It''s ridiculous. But at least I''ve unlocked it! I''m level 100, and it seems that''s the limit for my species. Must be because I killed something that no normal grass should be able to, a true sentient creature versus another plant. That''s troublesome, to say the least. It may be about time to leave my species, and grow into my new species. Whatever that will be. Still not sure exactly how that will work, but doing that at 0 Growth Points seems like suicide. Some generic stat increases, ok, and a cool-looking title. [Unnatural Predator]. [td colspan="2"] Unlocked by devouring your natural predator. Decreases likelihood your natural predators will try to devour you. [/td]
[Unnatural Predator]Rank: F
Ah, this feels good. I have solid defenses, and TWO tiles to counter the [Destined to Die] title! Yes! Fumu. I see something else, yet again, that I didn''t want to see. It looks like how my class leveled, so can titles. I now have [Eaten Alive+]. Hopefully it just increases something by a little bit, I''m extremely vulnerable right now without my stockpile of growth points. [td colspan="2"]This being has been dined upon while still alive! Twice! Through mental toughness, he has survived the ordeal without going insane! Increases resistances to mental attacks and pain in general. No longer invites others to wonder about his taste, instead they now think they shouldn''t eat the bearer, he must taste bad. [/td]
[Eaten Alive+]Rank: S
You know, I''m not even mad. It''s description is kinda hurtful, but I cantake it. I mean, I do have Cyanide running through my body now, I do probably taste bad. Oooooh, there are my two beauties! Two abilities that look awesome to have! From Pokemon, let you recover quickly by taking in nutrients from the ground fast. But, since I didn''t create this ability, I wouldn''t know the effect here in this fantasy land. Come on, something really good! [td colspan="2"]Unlocked naturally by having both the knowledge and correct actions taken. Active: By dissolving and absorbing the nutrients of a fallen being, you have the possibility of also absorbing traits and/or abilities of the being. Traits and abilities gained can be influenced by knowledge of the abilities, and needs/wants of the user.[/td] This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Rank: S
Fuckin YES!!!!! Jackpot baby! This must be why I got mana and from the Slime! Finally, some golden luck has befallen me! ¡­How did I unlock this though? All I remember is piercing something with my spines, and then nothing. Let''s reonstruct the final battle. My leaves were being dissolved, my spines were piercing and slashing at the slime above me. It was painful. I unleashed 700 spines, and one of them hit something hard and pierced it. Then the Slime died. Then I passed the fuck out. Hmmm, from the description, I skipped a step. I never dissolved anything, unless¡­.. Somehow the outside of the the Slime core was resistant to the dissolving acids of its main body, but with all the damage I dealt to it, and the final piercing, the core was exposed to it''s own acid! So I learned the ability by basically cheating. Niiice. When it rains, it pours! So while I was unconcious, I activated the ability to absorb the Slime core, gaining my precious mana and eyesight, something I''ve wanted since day one! Woohoo! And now, finally, I have !! I love it! [td colspan="2"] From Ingrain. Allows the perception of energy, both mana and their natural life force. Range: 5 meters[/td]
Rank: A
It ain''t everything, but it basically is to me! I can see some trees, the air, the grass, my roots¡­¡­¡­ I understand now. I was the creator of my own demise. I''m replenishing my growth points now, something very important. The grass beside me is a dim green. My external body is also a dim green, but growing in brightness quickly. And, so are my roots. I can clearly see my search pattern my roots took, as they glow brighter and brighter. Sigh. It''s all making sense now. So many puzzle pieces are fitting into place. The reason the Slime could follow me so easily. The reason the grass that took my energy quickly used it up to grow. I''m the outsider here, berefit of instincts. The grass uses up it''s energy fast so as to not attract large predators. Maybe grass-san was trying to help me when he linked up to me. ''Sniffle'' I can''t dwell on the past now though, the future awaits! I must uphold the Friedrich Nietzsche principles! While also some Sun Tzu and free thinking mixed in. And some fun¡­ And love haha. Man, even without my hormones, I miss the touch of a woman. And not only that I can see, I cen see a lot more than energy. My other ability, , finally activated! I can see the levels of the grass around me, and the aphids, and my Slaughter Guards! Generally all the grass, save one or two bundles of grass, is level 1, with the exceptional being level 2. The aphids all have level 1, and my Slaughter Guards are an awesome level 15 each! They each have some specs listed too, like one of the aphids has a stealth ability, while most of the others are mostly vanguardy types. They have more strength and vitality vs agility and intelligence the other has. They don''t have any names. I wonder¡­¡­ If I focus on the stealth bug, maybe¡­. "June" Success!!!!! I''ve managed to name it! The reason why I named her as a female, was, because, I can see her gender in her status lol. [td colspan="2"]Passive: Due to your intellect exceeding a predetermined amount, allows the user to know in-depth knowledge of others. Basic stats are revealed of people who are lower leveled than you. Only works on lower species. [/td]
]Rank: B
Back to my conundrum of the flashing neon sign yelling ''Eat Me!" Hmmmm. I need to fix this somehow. My energy is spread throughout my whole body, drawing a large "Come eat me" sign to any and all that can see it. Instead of contriving something weird and convoluted, I should think of how the plants on Earth stored energy. Some spread it out, like me. In fact most did. BUT, there are some magical plants that store their energy in a bulb, or root. I''m talking about tubers and, of course, potatoes. Delicious potatoes. That seems like a good strategy. It would open me up to ground predators, like moles, voles, and grubs, but will also greatly reduce predation from above ground. Hmm, I wonder what will show me this time? ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Genetic Modification: Root Energy Storage* Grants the ability to grow thick roots underground that store Growth Points. Also can act as mana conduits. Cost 100 ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Genetic Modification: Tuber Energy Storage* Grants the ability to grow tubers underground that store Growth Points. Can slightly increase mana storage. Cost 20 ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Genetic Modification: Mana Stone Grants the ability to store mana in a solid form. Vastly increases the amount of mana one can hold. Cost 10000 ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Ahh, that''s why I always ask my ability a generic question. There are such things as mana stones! Sweet1 No way in hell am I gonna have any of those! Too many stories where mana stones were rare, or sought after, by not only humanoids, but animals as well. No fucking thank you. But the other two are nice. Might as well grab both of them when I can. For now, After the day ends, I''ll start storing my energy in a potato. I am literally a Bermuda-Potato Variant. ¡­ Time: night ¡­ You''ve got to be shitten me. Well, who woulda thunk it. My species changed to Bermuda Grass Unique Variant - Magic Potato. And, I''m back to level 1. FML. -------------------------------- Ya''ll probably don''t want a sob story, so I''ll just slide this in here without one lol. Was a paypal button, removed because I have to request permission zzzzz. Ok, a small one. I am currently a graduate student, so any amount helps! That was tolerable, right? Ch. 15 - I Have Mana! Read the post HERE, important news there regarding website hosting. Don''t worry, I''ll keep posting here as well, it just may be slightly delayed by ~1/2 a day to a full day. More info at the link. Also, here''s the link to my current, soon to be defunct, wordpress site: Link ¡ª POV Mathias ¡ª Well, at least I''m still considered Bermuda Grass. I don''t have any fungal resistance yet, I don''t want a repeat of the Irish Potato Famine to happen to me. Which does remind me, I should get some pathogen resistances. Well, each in its own time. I''m aware of those types of responses I should use, I''m more worried about responding to elements I don''t understand, like fantasy creatures and magic. For my energy storage options, I''ve managed to get that situation under control. I''ve grown a central "Potato" beneath my main body, plus a smaller one under my extended body. I''ve also added 3 small storage tubers around my main potato, so that if something does attack my roots, it should attack the smaller ones first, giving me enough times to remove most of my energy from my potatoes and not losing it to the attack. And yes, I''ve filled those potatoes with as much Cyanide as they can hold. If something DARES to eat one, they will surely die. I''ve also upgraded my main body and extended body with spines. Fuck anything else that tries to eat me. I''m still vulnerable to slimes, but I''ve reduced the chances of them finding me by a lot. Looking down at myself from my tallest leaf, while I glow slightly, the bulk of my glow is underground and hard to see. Also, huzzah! Though I''m at 0 Growth points again as I''m working to rebuild my root network and my energy storage areas, I''ve had a major breakthrough! Well, two breakthroughs really. One: I''ve managed to map out my area, and it''s pretty much exactly what I thought it looked like from my root network. I''m in a small glade, it''s fairly peaceful, on the side of a hill with some sort of spring in the middle of the glade. I think the water is slightly acidic, so trees don''t grow very well right next to it. A cool similar effect can be seen in volcano calderas, where the ash that was spewed out took many generations of grass to slowly reduce the PH of. What I know now though, is that the water is pretty tasty. While keeping a look out for slimes (Yes, I can see them now, little blobs of shit in my eyes), I carefully inserted a toot into the spring and drank from it. It seems now I don''t have to worry about rain, I have my own private-ish water source. The slimes seem to go up and down the stream from the spring, killing grass and some small insects. Seems my decision to keep my Slaughter Guards back from the deadly slime was the right decision. It just didn''t seem like if something could be killing me so quickly, they wouldn''t stand a chance. Plus, they aren''t big enough to do much damage yet to my bigger enemies. I am happy to say though, that due to me constantly feeding them a ton of nutritious sap and them eating aphids, I am clear of aphids on my body and they are much bigger than any other beetles around. I feel so much better now, like a constant nagging in the back of my mind is gone. I''ve seen an Owl creature fly over me, and I''ve found the larger herbivore that took a bite out of me, a stupid fluffy rabbit. It''s cute and all, but I''m still not happy with it. Of course it could''ve killed me before, but for sparing me, I shall spare him. Or her. Whatever. My second breakthrough is much cooler. Because of and my now TWO mana (yea, that''s right, TWO!) mana, I think I''ve learned some magic!!! I can move my mana around my body too, and it seems to be able to strengthen the area I''m energizing slightly, but only temporarily. I''ve tried infusing my cells with it (Like wuxia stuff) by I don''t know, it doesn''t seem to be changing anything. I''m not sure if it''s because I am doing it wrong, I don''t have enough mana, or it''s not possible here. On the shelf that idea went. But, somehow in the past hour, I''ve gained a new ability too! So I guess three breakthroughs. The fabled ability! It''s made it easier to move my mana around, and I can sorta move it from my body into the air around me. And it is beautiful! The most I''ve managed to do with with it since I got this new ability was to move some dirt grains around. It''s tiring though, and wastes my two mana really quickly. Ok ok, I''ve had four breakthroughs. I think I''m understanding mana a bit more. Thanks to my admittedly overpowered , I can see where mana comes from. It exists in everything here, and I can see some small pools in the rabbit and the owl that follow their bodies. None in the bugs or grass around me, but some in the trees too though. I am, of course, an anomaly in that regards. Mana seems to spontaneously emit from everything too. But by far the largest amount of mana particles or energy, not sure which (just like photons, make up your mind), is emitted from the ground and from the sun. Just like radiation. I wonder if anyone else knows of this? It looks exactly like radiation, alpha or beta radiation in fact. Relatively slow, but doesn''t decay further like regular radiation. The stream also is carrying a good amount of mana, probably why the slimes stay near it. From what I know, slimes live on mana and whatever they roll over. The mana generation qualifies for more research, but unfortunately I don''t generate my own mana so I don''t know exactly how that works. I seem to only passively absorb mana from my surroundings. Truly sad. Well, now that I have a root in the spring, my passive regeneration has doubled to 2 points per hour, equaling my full mana reserve! Now what to do though? For the most part, once again, I''m "Safe" haha. Sight, I should stop saying that. And oh, my root network is back to normal, and with that my Growth points is slowly ticking back up. I''ve snaked roots over by the slimes again, but they haven''t noticed or gone after me yet. Things are looking up. I should share my success with my minions. I don''t really have a use for my mana yet, and I want more guards for my body. Since the most I''ve managed to do was move some dirt around with my mana, I''m gonna do that. Let''s see, how does a bug hive look like? Eh, I''ll just make a couple of tunnels and a slightly larger chamber in the middle. I will strengthen the wall with my roots¡­. And in the central chamber I''ll have a table-like area where I will have a constant supply of sap (lower concentration of caffeine, and mostly for nutrition. They need to do more things to gain more caffeine than sit around haha). Oooooooooh. I wonder if they like mana? Some mana infused bug defenders would be kick-ass! Ok, for SURE now I''m going to add some mana to the sap underground. I''m not going to up here, it might attract attention of the eating variety. So first I''ll bulk up my current Slaughter Guards, then I''ll make their children my minions, until I develop them all into the perfect followers. But I am a kin God - as they protect me, I shall in turn protect them from threats that they cannot face, like the deadly slimes. I shall protect their young, so that none shall go hungry. I will guide them to a higher existence, bringing them up from their base form, and give them a utopia such that this world has never seen before. Hmmm, thinking about that, what should I do for my future vision? Should I regain my human form, and change the world that way? That''s fucking scary though, I would more than likely be giving up a lot to attain that form again. Maybe a Dryad or something? Or a Spirit? Hmmm¡­¡­ Maybe just a bush, burning maybe? Lolol. Maybe I could make a homunculus and guide it around like a robot? That would be F''ng sweet. Decisions, decisions. Ah, I''ll sleep on it after guiding my bugs in to rest. I have a good feeling about my future. :) This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡ª POV Fate ¡ª No no no no no no! That stupid idiot brother of mine! That stupid grass-man is twisting fate more and more! Doesn''t he see what will happen if he regains a movable form, or attempts to build a homunculus!? This is bad, real bad. I can''t see how to fix this. The world would be plunged into chaos, with most species going extinct. I can feel so many strings of fate fizzling out one by one. It''s so sad, and depressing. I''ve watched these mortals grow up from a baby, attaching their fat to each new life. And now so many are undone, and so few are needing to be put on in the future. War. A war that starts and doesn''t end for centuries, but the outcome never changes. Each species seen as a threat is somehow reduced to nonexistence. Again, and again, and again. This abomination should have been taken care of before he entered our world, our precious world. ''Hic'' "Brother, I think it''s time. Quickly, how do I look? We need to go see Karma and Sin. This has gotten to big for us to handle." "Fate, I can''t see. Can you heal me really quickly? My healing has slowed down since you''ve been keeping an eye on me lately." "Oh, right." ''Sniff'' "Sorry about that, but you did really fuck up. Ok, there, now come, we need to get gifts and think of a way to explain-" ¡ª POV Sin and Karma ¡ª Lots of context switching here. Will use (name) to denote thinking and speaking, with Italics for whispers. (Sin&Karma) "That won''t be necessary Sister." (Karma) "We know exactly how you both have mishandled poor Grim''s mistake." (Sin) "And Grim, might I say we are both disappointed in you." (Sin&Karma) "Very disappointed." (Grim) "¡­..I''m sorry¡­.." (Karma) "We both were expecting something like this to happen. Why didn''t you come to us when there was first a mistake?" (Sin) "And you, Fate, you know how slow you are compared to us. Why did you try to keep this from us and solve this yourself?" (Grim and Fate) "¡­¡­Sorry¡­¡­" (Sin) "Ah, I wonder what mother would think of this whole-" (Grim) No¡­. Anything but letting her know. (Fate) No¡­. Why would they risk bringing her wrath down here? Even they could get struck! (Karma) "Brother¡­ come now, stop teasing them. Look, they''re already tearing up." (Sin) "Sigh. What to do with you two though. Sorry Karma, I was just having a little bit of fun." (Karma) "And that is why you get into trouble more often than the rest of us, though you get out of it if you want to." (Sin) "Anyways, what should we do? You know I never work for free. Karma might, but it''s highly unlikely. Trust me though, you''ll need my help Fate." (Fate) "Why are you asking me? It was Grim''s fault! Not mine!" (Grim) "Don''t blame me! I did my job! Fate, just accept your fate." I hope that dig won me some points from- (Sin&Karma) "It didn''t" (Grim) What, how did they know!? Did they learn how to read minds!? (Karma) I love my brother Grim, but sometimes he''s just sooo funny! He looked so happy and sneaky there for a split second. Silly boy, now he looks scared, and sweat is dripping down his forehead. (Sin) And this is why I don''t hang around you very much. You''re so easy to read and manipulate, at least Karma is a challenge. And poor Fate, if you fixed that mean personality and brushed up your intelligence too, I would hang out with you too like we all used to. (Sin) "Ha. We''ve been watching you two for awhile now. We know how you manipulated our poor brother! Isn''t that right Grim? Ah, don''t look so happy now, you''re not off the hook just yet. You''ll have to pay too." (Grim) "What, like a favor? Shouldn''t this be easy for you two to fix? Please don''t call Mom." (Sin) "Easy for us, impossible for either of you." (Karma) "And not just a favor. A promise is our price. The next time Mother comes down, no matter the situation or who did what, if either Sin or I are really to blame, you must take the punishment. One for each of us. If you take this offer you two, then when Mother comes down, for we know she will, this is a colossal problem for her world, then we will help deal with her." (Grim) "You know what, I think we should take our chance¡ª mmmmmppphh" (Fate) "Shut your damn mouth fool. We don''t want them upping the ante. At this rate Mom will be down shortly and will punish us for centuries! Of course we''ll take that offer! Thank you so much you two, you''re lifesavers!" (Sin) "Oh, sorry Fate. You have to add something extra for us to help you specifically. We remember last time you tried to throw us under the bus in front of Mom. You''ll have to play us in board games for the next hundred years at least. I know Grim will join too though, out of pity at least." Ha, she hates losing. She hates playing Karma or I at games. And even we get tired of having super challenging battles of wits. This will be good stress relief, and who knows? It might rekindle familial bonds! (Fate) ¡­¡­¡­This is torture. I hate playing games with them. I don''t understand half of the moves they make, and then the game is over :(. "Fine. I understand. I''ll do it. But you''ll have to explain your plan so that Grim can understand it." And me too. I''m going through that torture without knowing what I''m paying for. Ch. 16 - Guidance Hey everyone, I''m back! Also, I''ve officially completed my new wordpress site here: laogbib.com where I will be posting more stories plus this story. They''ll be on there first, then second on here. Visit, check it out, whatever works for you, not dropping it here. Link to the chapter on my new site: Ch 16 Without further adieu, here''s the chapter! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ¡ª POV Gods ¡ª (Sin) "Deal! Ok, since Karma is better at explaining things to you two, I''ll let her do it." (Karma) "Much obliged, I''ll just assume that you''re not just trying to be lazy Sin. Okay you two, I''ll give you a rundown on what''s happening down there right now. Fate, do you understand why things will lead from bad to worse if he attains a humanoid form?" (Fate) "Well, it seems he goes crazy, and his string of fate frays. It doesn''t sever, just splits, and I don''t know why. Eventually he starts spawning clones of himself everywhere, leading the world to chaos and death. All of my hard work comes undone." (Karma) Awww, she''s pouting. Stop being so cute! "That''s superficially correct, but you''re missing something base. How about you Grim, you must''ve been monitoring him for quite awhile now. What do you think is happening to him?" (Sin) "Karma, come on. Grim wouldn''t know. Stop teasing them and just explain how we''re going to do some cool things to fix the situation." (Grim) "Well, I think his soul is fracturing. It looks wrong compared to the other souls I see." (Karma) "Ding ding ding! We have a winner! See Sin, they still have potential! You''re right Grim, due to him continuously splitting his mind, and the constant stress he''s under, his mind is fraying. He''s developing a very severe case of multiple personality disorder! So much so, that when he finally gets a mobile form, he spontaneously ejects these shattered personalities in an attempt to fix his own soul. To him, once he manages to see and enter his soul, they appear as protuberances. But they are a core part of who he is, losing them, and at the same time giving them life, turns all of them into aberrations. He needs to stay as one being, and heal himself over hundreds to thousands of years, integrating each piece of his soul back together, or no matter what he will face irreparable harm." (Sin) "And then he becomes everyone''s problem. My and Karma''s balance of souls and their karmic balance would disappear, Fate''s job would be ruined, and even Grim''s river of souls might finally dissipate for this world." (Grim) "No, it can''t! Without anything to do, I would have to go back to living with Mom!" (Karma) "That would be the least of our problems, but yes, it would be very bad to have to go back to Mom''s. Now, Sin and I have basically thought of two ways to potentially fix this. For one, we could go and talk with him in his dreams, explain the situation, and hopefully get him to concede something to us. We would be vulnerable afterwards for the next several years as that much would take a lot of our collective power, even using Sin''s cheat." (Sin) "Or, we can continue trying to influence him step-by-step. For instance, when he goes to sleep next time, instead of talking with him, I could fill his dreams with horrors and dread of becoming a humanoid again. While I do that, each of you would also need to do something in turn. Karma would need to influence some new-born souls. Fate, you would then need to guide those souls with the proper fate, and Grim would need to choose the souls and very carefully push them through the soul-furnace, so that they might retain Karma''s influence. Also, since Grim''s job will undoubtedly be the hardest, the rest of us will also need to keep an eye on him the future and use our powers solely to guide him to an acceptable path." (Karma) "The pros and cons, since we don''t have a whole lot of time here, are as follows: For speaking with him, we might just solve the whole thing right here and now. We might get scolded by Mother for abusing our powers since we''re not supposed to directly reveal ourselves to mortals. The cons would be heavy, since we would lose our powers for years, he might not agree, and Mother will come down fiery mad. For guiding him, properly this time, we have a lot more ways to influence the future of Mom''s world. If we succeed, then all might work out. If we fail, we can show Mom we tried our best, and she might see our attempts at getting over our head and treat us softer than if we gambled I t all and lost." (Fate) "I say we gamble it all." (Grim) "Me too. I''d much rather just forge our own way forward with a massive gamble! If it succeeds, then we''ll look good in front of Mom for our quick thinking!" (Karma&Sin) "Sigh." (Sin) "Told ya Karma we shouldn''t have given them a choice, of course they would choose the wrong one." (Karma) "Well, it did help confirm that we had decided on the right choice. Sorry, we forgot to mention you two don''t have a choice in the matter. We''re going with option 2, so prepare yourself. Sin, I think you''re up first." (Sin) "Ok, it''s time to put the fear of God (me) into him. Looks like I''ll have some fun tonight!" -- POV (Mathias) Grass -- Waaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh! What the fuck was that! I felt like I spent 10 years in a dungeon, I can''t remember much from the dream though. What the actual fuck! Haaaa, haaaaa, fuuuuuuuuu. At first I was having fun, being an emperor or something, but then it suddenly changed to something much darker. Each time I tried different ways of becoming mobile, I was devoured. I think I was eaten each time in more gruesome and gruesome ways as I tried to leave my precious glade. Dragons, aberrations, undead, giants, elemental, fire, Eldritch Gods, storms, sharks, angels, demons¡­.. Brrrrrrrrr. So much blood and terror in each death. I think my subconscious is trying to say something here, I don''t know anything about this world, and I want to go explore it in this state!? No thank you. I think I''ll stay here, fortify my base in such a way that nothing could ruin me, and THEN I might go out into the world. I even heard that dumb being who through me out here in the first place laughing each time I was eaten by something. Screw you! Just to spite that fucker I''m not going to die oh so easily! In fact, I think I should be in quite a nice spot right now, I should look at my stats after I finally evolved! I''m not trying to mentally block out those horrific images at all using scientifically proven methods! Not at all! [td colspan="3"] [Destined to Die], [Reincarnator], [Martyr], [Boundless], [Late Bloomer], [One of Many], [Eaten Alive+], [Kin-Slayer], [Bug Tamer], [Unnatural Predator] [/td] This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.[td colspan="3"], , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , [/td]
Name:--- (Mathias)Age:1 Month
Gender:¡á/¡âLevel:1
Class:Plant Sage+Race:Bermuda Grass Unique Variant: Potato
HP:15/15Mana:2/2 (+2 pt/hour)
Growth Points:2160Growth Rate:35 (25) pts/hour day (night)
Strength:2Vitality:15
Agility:1Intelligence:125
Tamed Species1Tamed Total13
Titles:
Abilities:
Drug Compounding: Caffeine, Cyanide, Simple Sugar Ha! The [Cannibal] title is gone! Finally, that gruesome title is gone, and since I''m my own unique species, I can''t get it again! (I hope!). Ha, that''s right. I was gonna take over this whole glade, and make it wholly mine alone. I still like that idea, and in-fact that should probably be my next steps for increasing my growth and power base. Actually, how are my Slaughter Guards doing? Ah, I see. They''ve laid eggs! And a prodigious amount of them too! How wonderful! There should be hundreds of them come another week, I should hold off on taking over the glade for now and instead focus on raising my defense first, mainly these little guys, and THEN become Sovereign of this glade. The rabbit will be troublesome, but I think he should be fine. I can take the hit, his presence soothes me. I''ll just keep a well-tended grassy area near his burrow, make it tall and tasty at night, and cut it off in the morning. That way I won''t feel him eating me, and instead, by having it far away from me, I should minimize the pain and damage. I''ll dissuade it from eating the rest of me once I have spines on each and every other blade of grass. Hmm, seems June hasn''t laid any eggs, peculiar. It must be her intelligence, it''s so much higher than any of the other bugs''. It doesn''t hold a candle to mine of course, but still, she must not view her fellow Guards in the best of light as potential mates. Sigh, the troublesome one has appeared. But it looks like they all are drinking the mana sap thoroughly, but it doesn''t seem like they are fighting over it. That''s good. I can see a tiny speck of mana in each of them, and a little bit more in June than the others. Each have grown by about 20%, I should increase the size of their burrow¡­. Good, that''s much better. 0 Mana, but worth it. What to do about my soon-to-be guards? I guess I can experiment a little bit. Let''s see, first I should give some of them exclusively a small soaking of mana, some of them extra caffeine and¡­.. Maybe add some adrenaline? I can make that, right? ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Drug Compounding: Adrenaline* Molecule released when an animal is stressed. Ineffective in most plants. Cost: 800 ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Ha, I think it''s mocking me. Of course I fucking know it won''t help me specifically. What''s with that cost!? The animal vs plant argument again? It would cost me 8000 GP normally!? Sigh, I have 2160 GP right now, so I think I should go for it. Besides, adrenaline when combined with certain toxins can greatly increase the effects by pumping the blood quickly through their victims. I already have spines, and cyanide-infused sap, so basically poisoned spines. Maybe I can add some propane alkaloids from belladonna to my arsenal. That would be a deadly combination for most animals large animals, but I know it probably won''t affect the rabbit, and other herbivores can gain resistances to it. Cyanide is just soooo good, literally nothing (besides magic I guess) can stop it, you can never gain a tolerance for it. But, I guess it might be good for my roots instead of cyanide. Maybe later I guess, enough side-tracking! What will each action I attempt do? If I give the eggs mana, then they might be able to use mana in the future. If I give them adrenaline, I hope that they will have heightened aggression and quick reflexes. What else can I give them? Ah, ahahahaha, I get it now why I thought of getting deadly nightshade poisons. I can give it to my eggs and make them poison-resistant! But really though, I should go with the toxins milkweed generate, cardiac glucose''s, to actually make them toxic to their predators. Perfect, why not both? So not only will they come toxin-resistant, they will kill anything that tries to eat them! So I will have toxic magic beetles, and toxic berserkers. What am I missing¡­¡­ Stealth and defense. For defense, I''m thinking stuff like the termite defenders, huge, stalwart guys. Giving them something other than adrenaline, maybe just more nutrient-dense food is all I can think of. I''ll just have to train them correctly. For stealth, June is a perfect example, I need to somehow raise their intelligence and agility. Fumu, I don''t really know how to do that. I guess I''ll just have to devote more processing power to my training thought process and single out ones that show promise in that arena. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Drug Compounding: Milkweed Toxin* Toxic compound. Attacks neurological functions. Cost: 50 ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Drug Compounding: Nightshade Toxin* Toxic Compound. Attacks neurological functions. Cost: 50 ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Nice, they are both cheap too! Oh, wait, adrenaline probably won''t do much for insects, they use octopamine. How much would that cost me? ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Drug Compounding: Octopamine Molecule released when an insect is stressed. Ineffective in most plants. Cost: 200 ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Oh, thought I didn''t study this chemical much, it doesn''t appear to be very expensive! It must be in the plant chemical-creation list somewhere too! Or it''s just cheaper because insects vs vertebrates. OK, let''s make a good spread of each combination and see how it works out. For the future, I should keep about 1/2 of them without the variables, so that I can have just a worker force if need be. But right now, I think just keeping about 1/20 of them normal, since I need results right now. Constant: Nightshade+Milkweed toxins (extremely low dose) Variables: Octopamine, extra sugar nutrition, mana Sigh, this whole process would be easier if there were ants here. They naturally obey a hive mind, have attackers, defenders, workers, spit poison, and can fly and multiply quickly. Beggars can''t be choosers though, and I kinda like these guys now. Except that one beetle from the other day that refused my precious sap. I still don''t know which one it was though. Maybe I should let it go, for meritious deeds? Maybe after 10 of them, no less. If I catch them before they finish their deeds, then sorry, I''d have to say goodbye to them. ¡ª POV June (bug) ¡ª Cold sweat, shivers, tries to go even more into stealth mode. Feels an ominous presence. Ch. 17 - The Predator Purge Author Notes: Glad everyone is enjoying the story, except for one disgruntled user that wasn''t happy the story was conforming to what he wanted lol. I welcome any constructive criticism, but not blatant bashing. Give ideas and reasoning. But anyways, my new site is out, check it out here: Link It is a wordpress site, so it should be okay. This chapter is linked: HERE and was posted this morning. BTW, love reading your guys'' discussions. While I don''t do polls etc., I do garner new ideas and explore those ideas within my storyboard to see if they fit and if they are improvements over my original ideas. I try to keep out of giving too much information out in the comments, as the story is, of course, not 100% written haha. You guys are my soundboard and test bed for my story before I get it edited and released in a light novel form. Thanks for reading! ------------------------------------------------------------ ¡ª POV Mathias ¡ª I''ve done it. I have become peerless in my glade. Anything that before would eat me, now avoids me like a plague, or dies just after one bite. The only things left are the slimes - now what to do about them? From what I can tell they have a core of mana, but they are your typical blobs of acidic juices. Piercing them with my leaves did almost nothing, so that''s out. I do have some mana, but no way to attack with it yet. And I don''t want to go in physically - the last time hurt like hell. From my abilities, I don''t have much to do. Over time I could make a pit with spikes at the bottom and lure them in there, but we''re talking weeks before that could be done. So I want a projectile that does magic damage¡­¡­ Ah, I wonder how my seeds work? Something like from Pokemon would be legit, like Bullet-Seed. Let''s create one¡­ well, I don''t have the ability naturally, my seed just fell to the ground, but it should be relatively cheap to purchase. Cucumber seeds are forced out like an arrow through elastic tension, touch-me-nots do a cluster bomb like explosion of seeds, and I think the squirting cucumber genus explodes them out like a machine gun, along with ample water. Muahahahaha, with my technical knowledge, I basically will have modern munitions! ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Genetic Mutation: Bullet Seed Release a generated seed at a high velocity using elastic energy. Cost: 25 ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Genetic Mutation: Cluster Seed Release a generated seed-pod that explodes seeds in an outward direction when touched. Cost: 50 ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Genetic Mutation: Rapid Bullet Seed Release generated seeds at a high velocity using hydraulic pressure. Cost: 100 ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Perfect, since my GP is at an all-time high of 2580! I''m still shocked that the cost is so high for these additions. I guess that''s the penalty for not knowing exactly how they work and the genes that create the effects. MIGHT be cheaper due to me already having elastic abilities from , but this is acceptable as far as I''m concerned. I should start eliminating my predators in my immediate vicinity. I''m already working on my aphids, powering them up using my drug and mana cocktails. Another week and I should see how the eggs have mutated. Also, my toxins now pretty much keep me clear from any random bites, though even those are annoying. I either want a totally clean environment, like a clean-lab, or I want to be immune to bugs. Before I was grass, I wanted a pretty unique super-power - to be able to kill any and all bugs and rodents around me. I might finally have the chance in this new world, sniff. I''m so happy! Originally I was going to take care of the grubs beneath me too, but after one or two bites from my roots or potatoes they quickly die. So,the slimes are next on my menu of devastation. And you know what, I will take care of the rabbit too in the near future. Fuck keeping him alive, I want my clean environment back! With no dirty animals inside, especially ones that consider me a snack. After that, I will decide on fate of the glade of grass - should I assimilate them, or should I be merciful and only use them as a meat-shield? I already have my root network ready to go, decisions, decisions. Any who, might as well buy those three modifications and give them a whirl. Ah, I can feel that I have the ability now. First off, let''s experiment! I''ll target the weakest slime first, the one with the least mana residing in their core. First up to bat, ! Grow a leaf, grow a small seed, squeeze it inside of a small seed pod¡­¡­ and we have liftoff! It did nothing. The seed just stopped halfway to the core and it just absorbed it. OK, time! Maybe having an explosion inside of it will kill it! Analyze its movement¡­ Grow a leaf in front of it with a seed-pod attached¡­ Man, that''s expensive, 30 growth points vs the 2 for the bullet seed. It better be worth it. OK, dropping the seed pod in front of it gently¡­ and the trap has been set! You know, I''m pretty sure I can make these a land mine, how versatile! There we go, it has rolled over it and has let it enter itself¡­ Whoa, that was cool! It reminded me of an explosion simulator in slow-motion. The pod exploded inside of it like it should, exploding the seeds out in an awesome spherical shape. Each seed went, again, only about a quarter of the way through the slime, but it seems to have disturbed the slime much more. I think one or two of the seeds did manage to touch the core, but barely. They don''t have enough power in them, but the explosion itself did make it stop moving and ripples covered its surface. Internal explosions should do a lot more damage than external, but it''s not enough. Fuuuuuuu, if those two didn''t work, I don''t think will do much either. I have a fundamental lack of power to kill a slime, but I haven''t utilized all of my power! Let''s try again, this time with filling the leaf that shoots a bullet seed with a lot of growth energy and see if that adds to the effect. OK, the slime still isn''t moving yet, but the ripples are slowing down. Let''s set up the next barrage, one leaf in front, filling the leaf with a lot of growth energy¡­ Oh, the slime is moving towards it because it''s attracted to the light! Muahahahaha, perfect. And¡­ Now! Yes, finally! This seed easily reached the core¡­ and did nothing again. Sigh. It looks like the physical attacks of the seeds don''t work very well. I think that by adding a lot of GP to the seed pod would kill the slime, but I''d need like 100 GP instead of the 30 before. Acceptable, but costly. I want something more efficient, if I improve my base , I''m sure it would also improve both the AND the abilities. I still have one more variable to put into play - mana. From what I''ve read, slimes are either very week to physical but resistant to magic, or vice-versa. From what I can tell, this is the second type (hopefully). Maybe if I load mana into the seeds and use growth points to supercharge the launch, I should be able to kill a slime with minimal effort and energy expenditure. OK, let''s try this one more time. First the leaf and a small seed pod with a seed. Let''s put all the mana I have - 2 - into the seed. There we go, that got the attention of the slime, it''s rolling towards me. And now, the growth energy - 5 - to launch the thing. Ready, aim, FIRE!!!!! Ah, ore ore, what do I see in front of me. Ah, poor slime, you have a crack in your core, and you seem to be trembling. Tsk Tsk, it seems like you bit off more than you can chew. Don''t worry young one, there is an afterlife, believe me ha ha. There there, shhhhhhh. Just let go¡­ Ah, it''s deflating. It looks like it actually died, at the low-low cost of 8 GP and 2 mana. The mania''s a problem, but I can recover that in an hour. Hmm, I wanna check something out. Grow a root, then a leaf into the core¡­ and aha! I can activate again, and I recovered my two mana! I can tell there''s actually more in there, but I can''t hold it. I almost, ALMOST, regret not having mana stones to hold it in. Oh well, with this I''ve successfully found a way to defend myself from small-time predators. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. Slime extermination, here we go. I can see 30 of them. It is time to rid MY world of this plague - good-bye my hated enemy. Let''s bring in my thought process that''s controlling the bugs¡­ phew, that took awhile. It''s getting harder to reign in my thought processes - it must be just because I''m not used to it. I''m still acting as a hub though, I''m getting the gist of what each process is doing but not micromanaging myself that much haha! The increased clarity from bringing in my other thought process is nice though. It''s time. Ballistas, ready your charges! Generate the seeds! Oh, wait haha, didn''t think this all the way through. I got caught up in the image of 30 slimes dying all at once as my seeds impacted and destroyed each of their cores. OK, stay there! I should start at the center and expel the slimes from there. One goes down! Root, Root, ¡­ Fire! Root, ¡­ Ah, how refreshing. It reminds me of an old nursery rhyme, Ring-a-round the rosie, A pocket full of posies, Ashes! Ashes! We all fall down. How nostalgic. Each of them trembles, then flattens, then feeds me the necessary energy I need to kill another of their brethren. Each time I use I''m hoping to get another ability, and eureka! I managed to learn how to create the slime''s corrosive ability! It''s called ! Free stuff is the best! Ah, I would feel bad about basically committing genocide against the slimes, but I''m sure they''re everywhere anyways. In everything I''ve read and know, they are the most prolific species in the land, and Adventurers routinely subjugate them. If anything, I should be rewarded by somebody for taking care of the problem early, before something like the slime tensei showed up and took over the world or something even worse. At least I know I will be a kind and benevolent ruler once I leave this place. I''m still hesitant to do so, but bringing in my other thought process clarified some things for me, as well as shoving more of my fear into my worrying thought process. It was just stupid dream, a nightmare so to speak, but it''s natural to fear the unknown and fear being eaten when I''ve been chewed on by hungry beings constantly out my short life. I still think I should wait until I at least have some fail-safe mechanism to keep me alive, or maybe I don''t have to leave and instead I can learn of the world without leaving this peaceful glade. This could be the seat of my power from which I rule. I like that idea a lot! OK, I should get back to ordering my bugs around. The only one who still does their duty is June, I should reward her in the future, or continue to show favoritism by giving her more mana. Being a good ruler is hard. Hmm¡­ What to do now? I guess I should finally decide whether I should now focus on taking care of the rabbit, or the grass in front of me. I think for now discretion is in the cards, and I need, so the rest of the grass can stay for now, besides I need more points before I feel comfortable with assimilating that many plants. So that leaves you Mr. Rabbit. Your body will give me nutrients that I need, as well maybe give me a cool ability. Any will do, I have a feeling that I''ll need all I can get in the future. Hmmmmm, how should I deal with him? Cyanide, plant toxins, stabbing, seed cluster bomb in the mouth, or maybe¡­ No, that''s be too gruesome on a living animal. I may be in a savage environment, but that does not mean I need to resort to savage means. Well, it kinda does, but there''s a line that pumping a seed full of GP and throwing it into his mouth to watch it explode in spiny growth skewering the rabbit from the inside out. I want to give him a somewhat painless death, and that is off the table for now, cause I don''t think it will kill him off immediately. So a surefire kill technique, I think I have it! First, let''s look for its energy signature¡­ There it is, a small green and pink energy hopping along the ground, ending a lot of green energy grass. OK, analyzing hopping pattern and what it goes for¡­ It seems to eat grass indiscriminately, and seems to follow a trail it made. Oh, what''s this? My activated. It seems Mr. Rabbit is level 3, his favorite food is grass, and he has 25 health. I wonder why it didn''t activate for the slimes, unless them leveling me up actually unlocked this ability for me? Well it''s nice to actually see like in video games the health of the beings around me. It does look like it''s time activated, e.g. it only told me the stats after observing the rabbit for awhile. Ohohoho, what''s this? I can see the grass stats too, it shows me much more information, must be because our difference in strength is in my favor versus the rabbit''s strength being higher than mine. It''s time, I know where the rabbit is going. Time to lay the seeds of my opponent''s defeat. A nice, large leaf, with a succulent, Cyanide-laden seed right at nibbling height. He needs to just walk up and eat it, doesn''t it look tasty? Come on, come on! Ugh, it ran right up to it, it''s ears twitched, and it hopped away. Damn, maybe it could detect the danger or poison? I want that ability! If you won''t take your medicine, I''ll have to give it to you the same way I gave medicine to my cat - it''s time to launch a seed straight into his throat with a seed pod. I should wait for it to be perturbed or distracted, either will work for this sinful deed. More jarful observation is needed. Ha, a shadow flew over the glade, perfect! A bird of prey¡­ and yes! The rabbit is frozen in fear and instinct, he''ll never notice the danger below him saith the evident danger from above! Let''s slowly grow a seed pod beneath his mouth, where he can''t see. Nice. Everything is ready. I''ll use my this time with 5 seeds, and build up the pressure below the firing end with water. Wait for it to pant¡­¡­¡­ THERE!!!! ¡ª POV Mr. Rabbit ¡ª Strange seed thing that felt dangerous appeared. No eat. Hop-Hop Yum, grass. Hop-Hop Danger! Don''t move!!!! Gulglguglu Something in throat, swallowed. I feel slow. Can''t¡­ move. No energy. Can''t breathe. Sleep. Sleeeep. ¡ª POV Mathias ¡ª Again, I feel like a piece of shit. The rabbit was so sad when it died, Dammit. It just slowly settled down and closed its eyes. Fuck this, FUCK THIS! Why are my emotions all over the PLACE! Just.. Shove.. This.. Emotion.. Away!! Go fucking stay with my fear, fuck this shit! I have to do this to live, I''ve killed to eat before for fuck''s sake. Fuuuuuuu, fuuuuuuu, fuuuuuuu. There, suppressed. That''s better. Perfectly SANE again. Now, to this rabbit, bury its body, and absorb its nutrients and abilities. Let''s cover it in my roots, pierce its skin with my spines, making sure I get into the brain case and other primary organs. I reaaaally want that an ability, and whatever helps, helps. Then I''ll release the acid that I have, triggering . Textbook. Success! I did it! I got the ability, totally worth it! And it seems I''ve leveled up! And Evolved! I am now the species known as the Bermuda Grass Unique Variant: Carnivorous. I''m not a potato anymore! Huzzah! Ch. 18 - The Departure and Confrontation Wordpress Site: -->Here<-- Glad you all enjoy, as always. And I like sidestories and their contribution to the story, so I''ll continue to use them sporadically throughout the story. But the ratio shouldn''t be too bad from Mathias to SS. ¡ª POV Rose ¡ª Ah, it''s finally my time to go on my adventure! It''s been AGES since I last left this dank, dingy castle. Well, it is better than any other city''s castle. I''m so glad I claimed it by being super powerful and predicting that calamity many years ago! Ah, the people''s adoration sustains me, but should they turn on me, BOOM goes the fireball! Oh, that''s right, speaking about fire, I totally forgot about Sheal! She must be so depressed being stuck in that mountain, I should make that my first stop in searching for my beloved! Ugh, I wish my retinue would hurry up and get ready! I''ve been ready since my amazing display of power a couple of weeks ago! That wily king of course spun it out so that I was the hero, as it should be, and he fawned over thanking me for my greatness! He''s been so helpful lately for facilitating my journey from the kingdom, I should give him some sort of reward. Maybe I will actually do what those adventurers wanted me too and give the people some more of my benevolence. Yes, I definitely should do that! Filling up some protection stones, and let¡¯s add a lot of sparkle to these too! Yea, and my name should pop-up too¡­ Done! And I should also give those adventurers a token of my gratitude with my visage on it to further spread my fame, while also discretely tracking them and their progress. They did bring me that awesome Phoenix Feather which, while made useless for the actual ritual because of someone¡¯s intervention, it did finally make my new magic ''Click'' for me. I call it Demon Flame, a pitch black flame that never goes out! The only way to get rid of it is to send it to another place or dimension, easy for me, currently impossible for others. It''s so eerie as well, even though it''s black, it still emits a "Light". The light doesn''t brighten up a room, it only defines shapes, so while everything is still mostly black, you can make out the objects around you in shades of black. It''s also great in that it doesn''t spread. When I made the flames during the ritual I didn''t notice it at first since they flew out to where my magic went, but afterwards it just clicked. I haven''t shown anyone except for Cirili my new flame, and oh her eyes shown so bright, I adore her so much. Speaking of the adorable plushie. ¡ª POV Cirili ¡ª Ugh, Father still won''t agree for me to leave with Rose on her journey. I already told Rose that I''m allowed to go, so if I sneak in somehow I should be golden! I want to be able to adventure and burn monsters and make people worship us on the road. Ah, there''s Rose. I still have to get her to teach me about her Demon Flame - there are so many uses for it! She doesn''t seem to care that much for it now that she knows how to make it, she''s always been about the puzzle, not so much about the answers. "Hello Rose, you look as beautiful as always. Have you finished preparations for our departure?" "Oh Ciri,stop with the formal speaking and come here. I want to hug you, you look so adorable!" "Will you show me how to do the black flame?" I turn my eyes up to her, with my arms behind me. "Awww, of course! When we''re on the road I''ll show you anything you want as long as you become my hug pillow!" Frump. I''m enveloped in her chest, though from years of survival training I managed to turn my head to the side before I was fully enveloped. Becoming a hug pillow for her for the journey could be dangerous. She sure knows how to play hardball, I expected nothing less from her. If I don''t take this offer now, the next one will be even more ridiculous. One time I held out for a week before I finally decided to accept one of her deals, she made it 10 times worse. I had to be dressed up by her each morning for 10 months instead of just a month. Of course I got a lot of great fashion advice and shown how to use my feminine beauty to the fullest, but it took at least over an hour each morning for her to decide. Her deals are always give and take, if I do become her hug pillow for a few weeks at most, then before bed each day I''ll be able to get her to teach me more of her amazing magic! "Deal. But I''m wearing all of my clothes." "Aw, but skinship strengthens our bonds!" "No. A deal is a deal." "Rrrrrrr, fine. But I''m gonna hug you tighter." Yes! I managed to protect my body from her lewd touches and get magic lessons! Another win! ¡ª POV Rose ¡ª She''s getting smarter and smarter every day, drat! And she''s finally getting to the womanly beautiful stage. It wasn''t like I was gonna take her virginity or anything, but some fun between ladies would''ve been fine! Aw, at least I can still hug her like this whenever I want! I¡¯ll never give this up for any reason, it heals me. "Well, you''re right. A deal is a deal. I''ve been ready for ages, I was waiting for you and my new guard to be ready to go. She has some spunk and fire in her! I think she could fight Sheal and live! Barely haha, she might make a nice hug pillow too¡­" "Hmm? What''s wrong, why''d you freeze up?" "Who''s Sheal and who''s the guard? Can''t we just leave her and just you and I go? Won''t she slow us down and report everything to Father?" "Tsk tsk, I thought you had a decent head on your shoulders. Let me ask you something, do you know how to cook, hunt, drive a carriage, make a fire without magic, barter with the peasants, and know how to build a shelter if needed?" "I can cook! And quite well I might add, you made sure of that! And a shelter can easily be made using our magic. But the rest, I don''t know. I especially don''t want to have to talk with all of those peasants. I do suppose we deserve to be spoiled a bit. But I don¡¯t like being spied upon by my Father. Can we just kidnap her and begone?¡± ¡°Sure, I don¡¯t see why not. If you are ready to go, I don¡¯t see the harm, she shouldn¡¯t have much to pack or get done. And for the whole spying business, I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll have a problem with that. She¡¯s a simple girl, and we¡¯re both wily enough to get her wrapped around our fingers. Well, come along now, let¡¯s get going. Once we start leaving they can¡¯t stop us anyways, you can just smile at all the guards while I shoot some fireworks into the air or something and they¡¯ll let us pass anyways.¡± ¡ª POV King ¡ª I don¡¯t think I can keep Rose delayed any further, please forgive me my people for what I am about to unleash upon you. Tread softly. My only saving grace is that I managed to convince my precious Cirili not to go. It was hard to resist her sparkling eyes, but I managed. With this I have saved at least our lineage for another generation. Fuuuu, it looks like Rose has finally had enough waiting, I thought the time might be soon. I can see her carriage slowly rolling through town, with some sort of sparkling magic flying in the sky above the carriage. The city residents are tearfully waving off Rose, and it looks like there may be an impromptu celebration as all of the people are shutting down their shops to go say goodbye. Looks like I¡¯ll need to make an announcement this evening raising their spirits after their protector is gone, rousing some more patriotic spirit in the country. I¡¯ll also announce the It¡¯s a shame that the Archer¡¯s sister will have to go along with Rose - that girl will probably not return alive. I tried to impress upon her the need for daily reports and to send me any news she could as often as possible to safeguard Rose in case of trouble and to provide advice if needed. With this I might be able to reduce the casualties as much as possible. ¡°Your grace, what a courageous decision to allow your daughter to accompany Rose to attain experience with the people. Your family is a true testament to good rulers.¡± If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. What. Was. That!? Nononononono. Deep, calm breaths. Okay, maybe I misheard. ¡°Is that what the people are saying Lord Sheaver?¡± ¡°Why yes sire, in fact I passed by the trio this morning, Rose, Cirili, and the new guard Liza, and was informed just so by Princess Cirili herself. Was there a mistake?¡± Shit. If I go now and try to stop this, it could all turn on my head. The people may stop supporting me so much if it looks like I¡¯m rescinding such a bold and caring gesture. Also, I can¡¯t really stop Rose. If she decided Cirili should join her, I can¡¯t really do much in stopping it. Shit. ¡°Sheaver, since you are fairly knowledgeable about our Country and I trust you deeply, I must tell you something important. Yes, my daughter will be gaining real world experience as well as interacting with the people, but there is a second, more hidden agenda. I trust you will only tell the necessary persons, we don¡¯t need this information getting out to the wrong people. Princess Cirili will also be acting as a diplomat to countries they may pass through, extending and creating relations with the neighboring cities. I have the utmost confidence in that trio, they hold the future of this country in their hands. Our Kingdom is built on hard work and dedication, something my daughter has in abundance.¡± ¡°That is tremendous news! How courageous, training your daughter this early in matters of state. Truly admirable. I will tell only our most trusted Nobles that are on their journey¡¯s path so that they may offer any assistance they may need.¡± ¡°Thank you Sheaver, you may go now. I need to send correspondence to the Elves and the Beast-Men that my daughter may visit their people.¡± ¡°It appears that you are tearing up, I too have had to watch my children grow up and move on. It is a heart warming view. As you wish, my liege, I will take my leave.¡± I want to yell these are not tears of JOY! They are tears of despair, how could I have let my daughter be thrown out with that demon in disguise! I am a disgrace to my forefathers. Wait, I still have the guard, what¡¯s her name, Liza! Cirili can still be protected, and I can be notified wherever they go. Shit! Cirili, be safe! ¡ª POV Liza ¡ª I was told by the King to delay Rose¡¯s leave as much as I could, but when both the Princess Cirili and Rose appeared before me ready to go, I could not hold out. I tried to say that I wasn¡¯t ready yet, there were forms and such, but they just brushed it off! Then they just grabbed my arms, and Rose moved to my clothes and other items and shoved them into her bag and declared they were leaving. I technically don¡¯t have the authority to restrict them, I¡¯m sorry my King. I will have to go with the flow in this situation. I¡¯m just a lowly guard tasked with protecting these two important persons. As expected, I¡¯m tasked with driving their carriage and actually planning the particulars of the travel. Good thing they teach us the basics in training, otherwise we¡¯d be in a whole ton of trouble. I am glad to be leaving the castle for a breather though, being near all of these high class ladies as the personal guard of Rose in the Castle really does a number on your self-confidence. At least I¡¯m used to these two, and they don¡¯t sneer when they see me sweating in my armor. Rose looks at me like she wants to own me, while Cirili always gives me a kind smile and words of encouragement. Oooh, those are really cool fireworks Rose is throwing up, she really is amazing. Oh, and the townspeople are all waving, and smiling at us! Whoops, the guards at the gate are looking awkward, looks like they didn¡¯t receive word yet to let us through. I quickly dismount and run up to them, explaining the situation. Thank you King for my promotion to a Head Guard, I won¡¯t cause you any trouble! And they took my explanation and are opening up the Gate. I¡¯m glad I didn¡¯t have to show the Royal Seal the King gave me though. I tried to refuse many times, but again I got caught up in the situation and with just a few words about the importance of the mission and other stuff I was walking away with it in my hands. This is important stuff King, why do I have to hold on to it!? At least my training as an Archer will be useful in finding wild game to eat if need be, as well as spotting and shooting warning arrows to rough looking individuals when they show up. In our country it¡¯s not a big deal, but in-between the cities it can be dangerous. And in the cities my boxing skills my brother trained me in will also be useful. He¡¯s always saying the archer¡¯s weakpoint is close-combat, and since you won¡¯t always have time to draw a blade, a couple of well-placed punches might incapacitate them or allow you more time for your allies to arrive. I never truly knew what I wanted to do, I just kind of followed what my brother did. Thankfully I actually had talent in those fields, otherwise I¡¯d be the worst guard ever. ¡ª POV Archer Harvey¡ª It¡¯s been a week since we were tasked by the Kingdom to investigate the mana-blast that the Oracle sent into the forest. That hellish landscape we saw truly showed the threat that the Kingdom was in. We saw things that day that I will never forget. Burned, charred remains of many animals, some only heard about in legends. And all around the area was black flames, flames of death. Nothing seemed to be able to put out those infernal flames. A truly horrendous beast must have been living here to create such flames. Our Magician Cal could sense two very different magic at work here still. One was the magic from Rose, and one that created the black flames. It confirmed our initial thoughts - two mighty forces met here, with them both being obliterated and only the flames of the beast remain. Rose must have sensed the evilness of the creature here and acted before it could cause harm to our Kingdom. After we sent word back to the King and the Guild we were told to try to contain the flames somehow,. It took us days to find all of the black flames and seal them in special jars Cal had to create and fortify. We are in originally the center of the most dangerous forest in the world, with legendary class monsters roaming about, but now it is eerily quiet, with all of the beasts avoiding the place. I do worry about the citizens around the forest, since it appears that many beasts may have been disturbed from their normal grounds. Thankfully a lot of the beasts were killed, but as we were finishing I saw a dark-colored beast watching us from the shadows before it ran off south-east. It might be an offspring of the beast that was killed here, but I wasn¡¯t sure at the time. Then the letter came from the guild - Rose was leaving on a tour for the country, and sent us each a small medallion emblazoned with runic magic and had a small relief of herself on it, showing that she is granting us her protection. That¡¯s what it appeared on the surface, but then I read it aloud to the team, we instantly all came to the same conclusion. That she was actually going on a journey to exterminate these vile beasts before they spread, and she needs our help in combating the new beasts. She must have killed the strongest one, and it¡¯s up to us to keep the people safe as she continues on in her mission. She can¡¯t reveal that to the people though - mass panic would be terrible. We quickly wrote our thoughts to the Guild and went on our way to track the beast I saw that day. The Adventurer¡¯s Guild immediately agreed with us and actively began recruiting for more Adventurers and putting out requests to hunt more dangerous beasts from the forest on our borders. This was a National issue if even Rose, our Kingdom¡¯s pride and joy, is being sent off to combat the menace. Which leads up to us four staring down a dark scaled beast in a peaceful glade. Even though it¡¯s been damaged by the blast from Rose, it¡¯s eyes are still full of vitriol and it has some black flames on its hide that aren¡¯t damaging its scales. This will be a hard fight indeed, as each of us clutched our medallionsbefore our fight. Ch. 19 - Epic Battle Sorry for the delay! Graduate school has restarted, and I''m finishing my thesis currently. As always, I implore you to check out my wordpress site here: LINK The actual link to the chapter at my wordpress is here: LINK And Enjoy! What will he get? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ¡ª POV Mathias ¡ª Oh my oh my. What do I spy with my little energy eyes? Intruders! Shit, this is too early for me to have any contact with intelligent beings. I just barely am about to hatch my bug army! Go away, shoo! I¡¯ll come find you when I¡¯m ready! Sigh, if only I could speak with them, I could calmly tell them to go and fuck themselves. Well, might as well setup my observation booth and see what we have here. In the left-most corner, we have what looks like a fire-breathing scaled wolf-beast! It¡¯s weird but it looks like theirs some black energy floating about it, but it¡¯s not hurting the beast very much. It seems to be stopped by those super-hard scales, and there¡¯s something else, it seems to be taking some of the energy from inside too to reinforce it¡¯s hide. It must be a losing battle, wonder which one of his adversaries put that dark stuff on it? I both wish, and don¡¯t wish, that I could be able to get closer to it and determine how it¡¯s working. It¡¯s a morbid curiosity that I will NOT be engaging in, for now. The bease seems to have a REALLY large mana pool inside of it, centered around a point in its throat, probably some sort of mana stone. That¡¯s probably what those other beings are after. Greedy fucks, I knew I was right not to make any of those stupid mana stones! My isn¡¯t telling me anything about what I¡¯m facing right now, must be the difference in levels and species, oh well, not expecting much out of that ability until later anyways. It¡¯s like how Bosses¡¯ stats are hidden until you are close enough in general strength to battle them. And in the right corner, I see three, no, four humanoid beings approaching slowly. Almost missed mister distant DPSer. Now let¡¯s analyze these guys by sight again, since for these 4 also didn¡¯t activate. All four are male though - don¡¯t ask me how I know, but let¡¯s just say reveals a little bit more than I would like zzz. In the front it looks like a typical tank-guy. He¡¯s holding a giant dragon-knight like shield, with a slow, heavy-looking sword. I¡¯m sure depending on the foe he might drop his shield in favor of swinging that lump of steel with all of his might. But for now he¡¯s using both the shield and the sword only for blocking and disturbing the movements of the beast. Stabbing it into the ground if it swings at him, using it to brace his shield, truly exceptional work! And by the bright glowing of those two weapons, they are quite magical and powerful. Beside the tank-guy there looks like a typical fantasy-like swordsman. Why couldn¡¯t I reincarnate into someone like that? He¡¯s moving so fluidly, ducking, slashing, parrying to a counter thrust. Such an exemplary body, CHANGE! I want a CHANGE! Uggh, I truly am inadequate right now. He definitely looks like a quick fighter, one that wins in skill versus brawn, but he¡¯s got plenty of both. I hope he¡¯s dumb though - that would make me feel better, but I doubt that he¡¯s dumb enough to trigger my happiness. And again, his sword and his earrings both have a large quantity of magic in them. I also hope he has an ugly face, I can¡¯t really tell that well. Fuck you. And there is another typical fantasy party-member, an archer observing the battlefield and directing his teammates. He shoots arrows at what I guess are perceived weak spots on the beast, and sometimes to distract it. Oh? He just shot an arrow that exploded in the beast¡¯s eyes, temporarily blinding it with a clinging smoke that also has some magic in it. Typical, but still badass. His Bow and shoes also have some magic in them, he/s leaning at a preposterous angle off the side of a tree, must be some sort of stability/sneak shows. Oooooooh, and there¡¯s a magic guy! Yes, this guy can help me the most! He has a staff-looking thing with a lot of intricate designs on it and some cool-looking symbol on top filled with an array of mana stones. So much detail! Only because everything he¡¯s wearing is outlined with magic. But the three most-impressive pieces he has is his stave, a monocle,and a paper scroll in his belt. He has a robe that¡¯s enchanted as well, but it looks like it¡¯s mostly the material itself, I wonder what it¡¯s made of? Besides all of that, show me your moves! I mean magical moves! So mister Wizard-senpai is using his staff in a cool way. He¡¯s used it to defend himself a few times, sometimes with a mana barrier, and sometimes just to smack the beast¡¯s claws away. When a teammate gets burned, he touches the staff to them, one of the mana stones activates, and it looks like they start healing, and he also seems to be able to shoot a weak lightning and fireball with the staff as well. That¡¯s cool and all, but it¡¯s not teaching me anything! Except it looks like the mana channels the Wizard sends mana into and the stones affect the type and strength of the magic that is being used. Nothing like Megumin¡¯s explosion though, my ultimate dream! But then I notice it - that bastard is ambidextrous! While he¡¯s swinging around his staff in his left hand like a battle priest, he also is casting magic with his right hand. Okay, thought-processes, besides you pain and remorse, join together! ¡­ Huh, it¡¯s not working very well. Oh, there we go! I¡¯ve got control over most of my thoughts again, damn, I have a lot going on. It seems I¡¯ve been leading my Slaughter Guards away from the fight and absorbing that amazing sun, all the while trying to plot to kill them and take their powers for myself. Damn, I¡¯m scary. Might not let that one go all alone again, I¡¯ll probably reabsorb it. Ok, 4x thought speed let¡¯s go! Perfect, he¡¯s about to cast another spell. First, mana seems to flow from his core to his fingers, and when his fingers are full, he starts to release the mana into the air in certain shapes and configurations. It looks like he¡¯s drawing a circular shape first, then uses the inside of that shape to start drawing lines and other symbols inside, when finally he stops releasing his mana, and injects a large amount into the center. This whole time the symbol has been staying in front of him as he¡¯s moving about too. INTERESTING! As he does that, his mana starts drawing in mana from the surroundings, quicker and quicker it starts to change the mana into the form of an ice ball. The ice ball is fully formed when a part of the symbol he drew impregnates itself inside of the ball, and it flies forward, seeking the beast!! I should follow that ball and see what it does. Ha, the beast can¡¯t get away from it, and finally it impacts the side of the draco-dog. It looks like the magic symbols inside are activating, and frost is slowly covering the beast, slowing it down and reducing its fire-breath¡¯s damage. AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING! Actual magic! I don¡¯t understand how the symbols all work, or the logic behind them, or have near as much mana as I need to just draw a stupid circle, but that¡¯s so cool! Actual Fucking MAGIC! I never thought as my moving dirt around as magic before, the scale of it is too small and it felt more just like an extension of myself moving the grains. Huh, while I was observing, it seems I¡¯ve been experiencing an inordinate amount of pain as well!? My precious roots are being torn apart in your stupid battle ya know, and my leaves have been burnt multiple times ya know? Shit, I want to learn more, but this pain! My body is AGAIN being ravaged, but this time I can¡¯t do anything about it! Why does this keep fucking happening to me!? Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. ¡ª POV Archer ¡ª This has been our toughest battle yet, I have yet to miss but the damage I inflict, even with my enhanced arrows barely scratch the beast. I¡¯ve been using my most powerful, explosion and damaging arrows that I have, but the most damage I¡¯ve been able to do is to the terrain. ¡ª POV Beast ¡ª This fire burns!! It won¡¯t go away! I came to you before to try to get some help! Help me please, why are you attacking me!? Leave me alone! STOP HURTING ME! ¡ª POV Archer ¡ª The beast was defensive for awhile, but suddenly it entered an enraged status! ¡°Be careful, it has become enraged! I still don¡¯t know why it isn¡¯t using it¡¯s black fire, but watch out, this could trigger it using its ultimate attack! Don¡¯t let the flames hit you anymore, they could turn black!¡± ¡ª POV Mathias ¡ª I need to separate my mind again and quick! Go back to your duties, and pleasure, support your brethren pain, fear, and remorse! Fuuuu, I have my senses back just in time. It looks like the battle is reaching its climax, the beast is finally going on the offensive. Its spewing fucking fire everywhere, fucking bitch. All this pain is making me really FUCKING cranky. Come on Wizard-san, Archer-san, Paladin-san, and Ugly-san! Kill that dumb beast and get it over with! And no more explosions or AOE! That shit obviously ain¡¯t working! Oh shit no! The draco-dog tore the shield away form the Paladin, and the rest of the party is looking fearful, but the Paladin ain¡¯t having none of that! It looks like he¡¯s using that to distract the beast and go on the offensive! He¡¯s doing a huge, two-handed swing at the beast¡¯s head, and it hits! It carved a huge chunk of flesh from the beast¡¯s head, slightly dazing it. The rest of the party instantly takes advantage of the opportunity as a spinning arrow surrounded in mana drives deep into the wound, while the Wizard swings his staff at the swordsman¡¯s sword while he¡¯s jumping into the air. His sword is now cackling with electricity as he drives it deep into the beast¡¯s head. The draco-dog starts to spasm with the jolts of electricity, then slowly stops moving. ¡ª POV Beast ¡ª Finally, the pain is going away. I just hope those two are alright, live on without me young ones. May your luck be better than mine¡­ ¡ª POV Archer ¡ª Did we do it? It was a surprise when Alex¡¯s shield was torn from him, but he expertly used that to his advantage, as did we all. Thankfully we¡¯ve been a team since way before the Phoenix quest, and our teamwork shows how long we¡¯ve been together, seamlessly flowing and streaming our moves together to maximize both damage and survival. The beast stopped moving after our combo hit him. That mighty swing from Alex really won us the day. And that final high jump stab from Barth really was amazing, he leaped from over 20 feet away to take advantage of the beast being stunned. And of course Cal could have struck out immediately with fire or lightening into the wound, but he recognized the way to deal more damage was instead to through his spell onto Barth¡¯s sword as he was jumping from beside him as he held his sword towards Cal. I did what I could, instantly picking my best penetration wind mana arrow to shhot as fast as I could into the gash. Truly amazing. ¡°Cal, is it truly dead?¡± ¡°It appears so. I¡¯m amazed it didn¡¯t use the black flame it obviously had, it must¡¯ve been more hurt than we thought from Rose¡¯s attack a week ago. Stay alert though, I¡¯m going to use my Monocle to the area in case there are more.¡± ¡°You heard him, group up, don¡¯t lower your guard.¡± I truly hope there isn¡¯t another one, while we might survive, the damage done to us might be extremely dangerous for us. ¡°Hmmm. Odd, all I can detect is just some various grasses and an owl in a tree. There aren¡¯t any slimes or anything else really, which is weird because of the spring over there being infused with mana. Curiouser and curiouser, while the mana beast still has a large amount of mana in it that I can see, there is also a small, small amount located over there in the ground. isn¡¯t revealing anything about it either, it could be a mana stone or something else entirely. Follow me, we need to check this out before we dispose of the beast¡¯s body.¡± ¡ª POV Mathias ¡ª The beast¡¯s body is resting close to me. I want to it, but the party is all around looking at it. I¡¯m slowly digging a small hole with my roots below it to try to at least get a store of its blood for my own analysis. There¡¯s not a whole ton of uses I can think offor it, but I might as well. Oh, that¡¯s a good idea! I should create a sterile cavity! To do that, I should grow a big, fat root underneath, and slowly expand it even more from the inside like how bug bites can do to fruits, and then pop a tiny hole in the top¡­¡­ Success! I have a semi-sterile environment to keep the blood ¡ª¡ª Uh-oh, they¡¯re looking at me. Oh no, the Wizard is telling them something while staring RIGHT AT ME! Shit shit shit! They¡¯re all walking towards me, Fuck fuck fuck! Ok, go spike of doom! Pierce their shoes and poison them! FUCK, it did nothing, as I thought, I truly am insignificant in the eyes of well-armored humans. Shit. They¡¯re standing right above me, but they aren¡¯t looking directly at me, rather right next to me. Now what in the world¡­ No, nononononono, not my experiments! No, stop! Those eggs are important! ¡®Squish¡¯ ¡®Crunch¡¯ I really want to kill you 4 right now. So much! My experiments, my babies! I¡¯ll have to remake my precious subjects! There¡¯s almost no data I can gather at this point! But at least I¡¯m alive, I guess. It¡¯s a good thing I dispersed my mana throughout my roots before they showed up. They¡¯re talking with each other now as the Wizard nods his heads and they go back to the beast and start picking up the black energy somehow and storing it into a brightly shining clay jar. After they thought they finished they began to disassemble the draco-dog into usable materials. Stupid, greedy, destructive motherfuckers. I¡¯ll show you one day, I¡¯ll be above all of you! I¡¯ve got a small amount of this black fire hidden from your sight muahahahaha! I didn¡¯t consciously do it, but some part of me did it, go FTW! ¡ª POV Archer ¡ª After I stomp on some weirdly colored bugs¡¯ nest Cal nods at me, telling me that was actually the source of mana he saw. ¡°That¡¯s weird Cal, you ever see anything like that before?¡± ¡°No, but this forest is huge, I¡¯m sure it was something trivial that is all around us but we didn¡¯t notice it. It was just a small mana signature, they might be taking the roles of the slime in this ecosystem. Either way it¡¯s been taken care of. Nothing else is showing up on my besides the beast. It¡¯s still troublesome that the demon fire doesn¡¯t register, usually anything magical will show up, but all that is showing up is the grass, the spring, and the dead beast.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s get on with it then. Alex and Barth, will you skin it and then I¡¯ll take out the more delicate parts? I can¡¯t get through that tough hide at all with my knife.¡± ¡ª POV Mathias ¡ª Sigh, come back my slaughter guards, the bad men are gone. They¡¯ve buried some tasty meat over here that I will be feeding you. Yum-yum. Also, it looks like I can what¡¯s left. I wonder if I¡¯ll get an ability? If anything, I want more mana without a mana stone. Maybe I¡¯ll get lucky?
First! Also, I''ve changed my chapter length goals to ~2500 words per chapter versus the ~1500 from before. I''m also planning on 2-3 chapters a week, hopefully it doesn''t kill my grades! Ch. 20 - Change in Frame of Mind Author Note: Nothing much here, just a link to the wordpress: Here ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ¡ª POV Mathias ¡ª Man, why do I even try? Everything I do just ends up going to shit because of someone else. First, some God has cursed me to death just because I wanted to keep being me. Then I¡¯m eaten alive by thousands of bugs. THEN I try to learn mana sensing and get my energy parasitized by a yet-to-be-determined-friend-or-foe grass. The my kindness is rejected by a bug, I¡¯m eaten alive again by the lowest of the low slime. And then, and THEN, I¡¯m torn apart by magic blasts and sword slashes only to have my children cruelly stomped to death under a combat boot as they sneered at me. I am truly pitiable. Truly this world has forsaken me, and so I shall forsake it. This grass plain? It will be my grass plain. I won¡¯t think emotionally anymore - it is time to be my old scientific self. Emotions can go away, there is too much at stake to let myself be deterred just because it might inconvenience someone else. I¡¯ve come to a realization - Don¡¯t Move For the World, Make the World Move For You. It¡¯s very profound, and deep if I say so myself. It might take philosophers a millennium to truly understand my sentiment behind those few words. It¡¯s been awhile since I took stock of all that I have. ][td colspan="3"] [Destined to Die], [Reincarnator], [Martyr], [Boundless], [Late Bloomer], [One of Many], [Eaten Alive+], [Kin-Slayer], [Bug Tamer], [Unnatural Predator] [/td] [td colspan="3"], , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , [/td]
Name:--- (Mathias)Age:2 Months
Gender:¡á/¡âLevel:50
Class:Plant Sage+Race:Bermuda Grass Unique Variant: Carnivorous
HP:15/15Mana:2/2 (+3 pt/hour)
Growth Points:15000Growth Rate:55 (45) pts/hour day (night)
Strength:2Vitality:15
Agility:1Intelligence:130
Tamed Species1Tamed Total13
Titles:
Abilities:
Drug Compounding: Caffeine, Cyanide, Simple Sugar, Octopamine, Nightshade Toxin, Milkweed Toxin I also have a draconic dog to and see what I get from him, as well as some blood I need to analyze. Still not sure what to do with it. I¡¯ll keep it stored in an air-tight vessel until I find a need for it. I have an idea for it, but I¡¯ll have to wait and see what my Slaughter Guards do. I don¡¯t think feeding it to them would be good right now - they are still slowly evolving, this might be too big of a jump in genetic material. I will try to give it to their children though - if they lay anymore :(. That sickening crunch still haunts me. All of my hard work - it reminds me of an experiment in uni where another lab worker disposed of 3 weeks of work because she didn¡¯t know what was in the splicer - I was like Bitch, ask the fuck around before you do something like that. I wanted her expelled from the lab, but unfortunately it was the only lab where she could do her own research.Then before I could pursue things further, like a little data sabotaging, the Grey Death kinda put things in perspective for me. Anyways, what to do now. The Slaughter Guards are back on aphid murdering duty, and are slowly growing in power and size as I keep feeding them mana, caffeine, and sugar. You know what, I¡¯ve changed my mind. They deserve some of the blood I stored up. I¡¯ll give them a small amount and see if that speeds up their growth more. I¡¯m planning on making these guys my primary guards in the future. Let¡¯s hope they lay some eggs after they absorb the increased food supply and grow-up. I want better experimental test subjects sot hey have a better probability to live from the changes I make to them. So let¡¯s list my priorities again - I want to have someone to talk with, I want to live, I want to fuck, I want to evolve my Slaughter Guards, I want to take over this glade, I want more abilities, I want to evolve, I want to punish those four fighters, and I want to become powerful enough that no one on this planet can kill me. And oh yea, why not kill the very god that put me here? I don¡¯t know if and how that may work out, but I feel like it¡¯s my duty to avenge myself in some way. Maybe with enough mana, or enough power, I can trap him maybe? At this point it¡¯s just conjecture - but I¡¯ll keep this on a high level-goal. I guess the first and the third one on the list are temporarily out as well, fuuu. Evolving my Slaughter Guards I¡¯m currently in the midst of, so the glade and huh? ¡®Stab¡¯ I¡¯ve pierced the slab of meat in the ground with my roots - them skinning the beast made this much easier - I wonder if that will prevent me from getting some sweet armor? Here it goes - - Pierce thy flesh and take thy power - what thou once had, I shall now have! Ooh, I can feel the power! Just what, exactly, is it? No.. Fucking.. Way! This is so cool! I might finally, finally get to talk with someone! ¡®Sniff, weep, Sniff¡¯ [td colspan="2"]Allows the user to form an emotional bond with another that is either vulnerable, weaker, or is willing. Emotion can be passed between the linked. [/td]
Rank: B
Well, not TALK talk, but I can get my emotions across. That¡¯s cool! I can finally tell my Slaughter Guards how thankful I am towards them! But this does kinda go against my whole spiel earlier about not being emotional - but hey, I¡¯m fine being a hypocrite. I¡¯ll just keep the emotion to a minimum then. For now, I¡¯m gonna try and link to my Guards so that I can spy- I mean see how they¡¯re doing, as well as give them a sense of home. I¡¯ll be a kind Father to them, giving them emotions of relief, gratefulness, and love constantly, but as they wonder further away I¡¯ll send less love and more worry, making it seem like they have to stay near my main body if they want my love. It¡¯s a cold, hard world out there, and it¡¯s not safe away from me. I BELIEVE I¡¯m stronger than them, so they should just accept my link without a chance to resist, but I¡¯ll try to not be forceful with it. Let¡¯s start with my favorite - my little assassin/stealth bug June. Oh, she¡¯s resisting a bit, that¡¯s great! She must be getting really strong, I¡¯m impressed! I¡¯ll giver her a little bit of sugar+mana in front of her, and see if she¡¯ll link with me now. Hopefully she gets my intention, and success! It worked! I can feel the link between us, June seems to a little trepidation, but also hopeful. I should send her some warm feelings - that she¡¯ll be taken care of here. June¡¯s definitely calming down now - good. She¡¯s the most important one anyways, the only that has appeared to have taken a variant route of evolution compared to the other 12. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. Now that June¡¯s been taken care of - time to with the other 12. And that was surprisingly easy - it must be either because they accepted it due to their lower INT values compared to June, or maybe they were just weaker. Oh well - at least it worked. They have a lot less complex emotions - it¡¯s definitely due to their INT scores. All I feel from them is a mild sense of contentment, the need to procreate, and the subtle sense of hunger. Much easier to understand - but also why they aren¡¯t my favorite. I mean, they are all in my top 13 favorite beings that I know and care about it. It¡¯s not like I have any other companions anyways. Mmmm, now I can more effectively control my minions and guards. They need to hurry and lay more eggs, but I¡¯m not exactly sure how often that happens. I just have to cross my fingers and hope it¡¯s soon! While I hand-off managing my guards back to my other thought-process, I was thinking. You know what, I think I have enough energy to take over this glade. I have over 9000 Growth Points! A lot more, but I still have to say that quote. It¡¯s part of who I am! I could use these points to finally buy a mana stone! Ha, yea right. I saw that wizard instantly go for my mana-laden eggs and rip the mana stone from the throat of the beast. Again, no thank you. What¡¯s awesome is that I can almost be 100% assured of my winning this epic battle!Finally my activated on the grass around me, and boy am I not impressed. All the grass around me is either level 1 or 2, infested with the bugs I cast aside, and each has less than 0-1 growth points each. Doing some simple math, there are close to a million individual clumps in my area, but all the energy they have is only closer to around 170,000 GP¡­ Still a daunting number, but they don¡¯t have intelligence nor do they have . I can clearly see each and every link between the grasses, and history has taught me much. Disable the supply lines and reinforcement, and the rest are sitting ducks. After that, it¡¯s just a matter of absorbing the weaker plants first, then using something I learned when I was dismayed by my roots¡¯ limitations: while I can¡¯t transfer energy back to my main body for storage, I can definitely use it where I collect it. I¡¯ve just started to put it into effect - I have small potatoes stored throughout the clearing, storing GP slowly. I can still not use all of my energy at once - and I¡¯m not storing all of the energy, I¡¯m still losing quite a bit - but it¡¯s a start! It¡¯s kind of like how my feeling decays as it gets further - my control lessens as well. I¡¯ll try a trial run to see if my plan will work - First, isolate a group of grass that is interconnected. Then, attack everything that I just isolated, wait an hour to acquire more energy from my new extension, and then attack the next group. This way I can keep my energy total relatively high, and progressively take over the field, one blade of grass at a time. Hmm¡­ The ideal candidate is actually really close to where I am. There are only two connections to neighboring clusters, and their overall energy stores are in the lower range. I¡¯m hesitating though - I hate feeling pain when it¡¯s this close to me - it is a roughly exponential curve, probably something akin to 1/distance squared. Shit, I gotta just bite the bullet - here goes nothing and everything! Go my two roots - start ! Uggh, as I thought, the whole field is starting to send energy this way to fight me, but little do they know it¡¯s too late! activate! Shit shit shit shit, that fucking hurts! But the connections are gone - the energy resistance has gone to 0. Now, my precious 5 clumps of grass, it is time. I thank you for hiding me all this time - but your duty is over. Maybe you were like me - a soul that needed to be cleansed, well let me do that for you. You are released - full on go! And I¡¯m not listening to your cries this time - at least this part of me isn¡¯t. The epic struggle is much easier this time - having a GP bank this big doesn¡¯t really give them enough room to fight back. Their defenses are trifling as my cells invade, consume, and replace. Wave after wave of my energy crashes into their defenses until I reach the center of each plant, filling them with my foreign energy. 5 more tufts of grass are mine, and it cost me¡­ about 25 points. In an hour they should generate me about 10 GP, so if I discount the future amount of grass here by that ratio of 3/5, I will need 1,170,000*3/5 = 702,000 GP to do all of this total. If I further discount it by waiting another hour between bundle conquest, it will cost me only 234,000 energy, but finally, if I wait for 3 hours, even with some energy loss, I shouldn¡¯t need to spend any energy at all! Operation Blitzkrieg underway! I¡¯ll attack 100 bundles of grass at once, expending about 500 GP to take them over, wait a few hours, and good as new! Each hour thereafter I¡¯ll have more and more energy to use! As long as it¡¯s day. I don¡¯t think I could take even the dulled feeling of pain if it was night. Thankfully there is only the initial pain from attacking and separating their root structures. I can handle that, as long as I do them sequentially and not all at once. Each neighborhood of grass is slowly being subsumed by my root and energy structures. I can see the energy change in the field slowly grow darker as my dark-green with a mix of blue energy invades the light green energy field. It¡¯s quite beautiful actually. It reminds me of a risk board as my pieces slowly take over the various countries. By next week, finally this glade will be under my jurisdiction, and I will sorely need my Slaughter Guards to guard me even more. The Cyanide is helpful and all in killing the bugs, but that doesn¡¯t mean I want it, like, everywhere in my body. With the world the way it is, something could eventually gain a resistance to it with magic or something else. I have no fucking clue, and I don¡¯t really want to test it in-case the specimen gets away. I¡¯m thinking of just cycling the Milkweed and Nightshade toxin throughout my body to kill off the bugs. Multi-layered defenses are always the best.
I may go back later today or tomorrow and re-edit this - I think it could use some better flow. But Homework is a bitch haha, so rather than wait to post this tomorrow, thought you all could use some grass in your life today Ch. 21 - The Inner Mind Sorry everyone for the delay, I had to deal with a reeeeeaaaaally shitty TA for a class that didn''t know the theorem I did a project on and graded it poorly zzz... Damn you sanmit! ANYWHO, Chapter 21 and chapter 22 is out! Chapter 21 is posted below and HERE, and chapter 22 can be found on my WP site HERE. I''ll be following this format, so that everyone can get notifications when a new chapter is out, and it is reflected at both sites. So everytime a chapter is posted on my WP site, I''ll post the previous chapter here along with a link to the next chapter on my WP site. Either way, go there or not, you''ll get the whole story here. did this on the recommendation of an author and a reader. And to allay any fears, I will be completing this book to the very end, so worry not! I will persevere! Enjoy! --------------------------------------------- ¡ª POV Mathias ¡ª And the last bastion of rebel grass lies before me. If they could feel fear, I¡¯m sure they would have lost consciousness in the face of my uncountable forces arrayed in front of, behind, and all around them. If they could surrender, they would, I am sure of it. However, I did not get to where I was by accepting surrender, leaving potential enemies behind my lines. My forces are mighty, my strength unyielding. I will not falter before my last enemy within my grassy empire - the time of assimilation has come for their pearly gates that they closed before me. Go my roots, end this war for me. Infiltrate and assassinate - these impudent fools still do not understand such tactics. They are truly weak-minded. Good, everything is going according to plan. I have to admit, I kinda set this whole thing up on autopilot, but I purposefully made sure to leave this area alone for just for this moment. I feel so powerful now, so much energy is pulsating in my veins, I could get drunk off of this power. Role-playing can be fun, especially where people can¡¯t see nor judge you. My roots are striking systematically at the opposing root structure, quickly burrowing holes in their once mighty walls. They strike quickly and ruthlessly based on my subconscious desires. It¡¯s pretty ruthless in fact. Quick, hard strikes that begin poring invading cells into the resultant gashes, squeezing the life from their leaves and roots. I could have finished this quickly with one breach and an overwhelming poring of energy, however it won¡¯t give me the satisfaction that I want. I worked hard for this damnit, so I will take any enjoyment I can from this from my bleak life. The last blade of grass flares brilliantly in the night before being snuffed out, as the last embers in a fire on a cold, wintry evening. Finally, FINALLY, I am the undisputed owner of this glade. My work here is done - for now. Damn, again I¡¯m tired from all of this intensive work I¡¯ve been doing. I should sleep, I think I¡¯m safe for now. Finally, I have a semblance of peace¡­ White, blinding white assailed my senses! This isn¡¯t a dream, where I am? I can¡¯t even see because of how bright it is! I wish it was a little dimmer at least! Whoa, it worked. It got dimmer - weird. I should try looking around again - it¡¯s still white everywhere with a weird crystal in the middle, floating in the air at about eye-level. Ooh, is this where some god-like being comes to talk with me or something? Maybe imploring me to stop - or fixing this curse that they give me. I¡¯ll put on airs of course - they did give me a shit hand on this planet - but I hope to be able to con them into giving me a proper reincarnation story with proper cheats. And it¡¯s been like an hour in this place, I feel like a real dumbass. No magical being appeared - I feel cheated. Give me a proper story damnit! I want to be happy, not slowly going insane from being in a stupid piece of fucking grass! Why the fuck am I even in this room with that stupid crystal? Am I supposed to touch it or something, fine! I will! It really was dazzling to my eyes though, that crystal. I¡¯ve totally wanted to touch it since forever ago. I¡¯ve just been standing here - wait. I¡¯ve been standing. On legs. Oh my god, don¡¯t tell me! Foot feeling - check. Knees seem to be working. Fingers bending it seems, but it feels slightly incongruous now. My package feels like my package, and my stomach is there as well. I don¡¯t want to actually look at my body - I¡¯m afraid of what I will find. Well, here goes nothing - oh. I¡¯m green. My hands are green - that¡¯s super cool! Before the plague struck there were experiments going on with combining DNA into humans from other species, but that was stopped because people only wanted food by the time results started to show. It was a shame - I totally dig the green skin. My fingers are there, but my fingertips are weird - they end in a kind of pointy thorn thing. In more detail, it looks like I have my regular, fleshy fingertips covered in a ^ shape of grass on the top, forming a point at the tip. And I can harden or soften them. I have motherfucking claws! So cool! ¡®Prick¡¯ Ouch! They are really sharp, but nothing special. Just like being stabbed by a plant back at home - sigh.It looks like my toes are green, my legs are green as well, my whole body is green! Well, a pale green, like it mixed the color of my pale self from the past into my green self¡¯s color. I do have some hair on my arms and legs, none in my nether regions though. I say hair, they feel like hair, but they are definitely much softer, almost like cotton fibers, or soft cellulose fibers. Either way it¡¯s nice. I have hair on my head, and I seem to have my old goatee back, and my face feels fine. I wonder what my face looks like though? If only I had a mirror¡­ ¡®Ping!¡¯ A mirror showed up, slightly facing to the side. Well, here goes nothing. Please don¡¯t look like a monstrosity, please don¡¯t look like a monstrosity! Yes! I look glorious. My hair is short and spiky and made from field of some of the softest grass I¡¯ve ever felt! My beard is made up of the same type of hair on my arms and legs - a soft cotton/cellulose mixture. But thank god my face has remained about the same! I wasn¡¯t the classic Ikemen, but I was above average in most regards. I don¡¯t need glasses anymore either - I guess not sitting in front of a computer in my new life helped improve my vision! Ah, my shape has improved as well! I was getting pudgy in my last few years due to just working in the lab. A healthy pudgy in case I got sick. I was working on some important stuff there - looks came second. But here! Grass naturally doesn¡¯t have fat, so it looks like my body is sculpted from a god! Most of my muscles are well defined, but WTF! I have no nipples! I guess it makes sense, but it¡¯s so fucking weird! Now that, is cool. When I got startled, I naturally put some natural energy into my body to get prepared, when some twisting, pointy tattoos started glowing on my skin in a vibrant green. Toto, we¡¯re not in Kansas anymore! Ooh, I need more mirrors, I want to see every part of my new body! ¡®Ping Ping Ping Ping Ping Ping Ping¡¯ Now I¡¯m surrounded by 8 full-length body mirrors so I can inspect my whole body from any angle. Mmmmm, nice is all I can think of after my inspection. All of my normal feeling is there, and I can freely control the pulsing of my tattoos - I¡¯ve settled for a slow pulsating glow. I can use a lot of my abilities while I¡¯m in here too. - and the natural energy flows through my tattoos, lighting them up on the path to my finger. It¡¯s a double-edged sword - while it may forecast my moves, I can also flood the other arm with more energy , or use it as a distraction in a fight. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. I¡¯m pretty sure I¡¯d look like a freak up there looking as I look now. And there went my confidence - bleurgh. I¡¯m still wrapped iup a little bit in my simplistic cultural views - I will shed them eventually, as my new life takes root more strongly than my past life. But what is this space? It seems as if I can influence what appears here - there are 8 mirrors floating in space - but what intrigues me the most is that it is a design from my old world. If I can make things here from my old world - maybe, just maybe - YES! Coffee! Ahhh, my drug is back! Wait, here I can be prudent and not ever get addicted to caffeine again¡­ Pfffft, ha, my willpower isn¡¯t that strong. The strong smells of the coffee are too alluring, and when I add some cream, I have my perfect blend of coffee. Ah, this is the life. I need somewhere to sit - there we go, a top of the line futon, thought it looks similar to my old college futon, that¡¯s because it is. Ah, now this feels like home. Well, the empty white void and the gloating, misshapen crystal spoil the mood a bit, but with the proper lighting, it could look like a geologically interesting piece at least. And if we encase it in a circular, glass frame¡­. Nice! Looks like it¡¯s in a museum, and better protect it with some red rope barriers! I think this place is mine somehow. I have too much power here - it¡¯s like a dream. What brought me here? The last thing I remember is finally taking over the glade, before wanting to go to sleep¡­ Which would make this a dream, but it doesn¡¯t feel like a dream. I feel clear-minded, and I¡¯ve spent way too long here. Did I have an ability that might influence this? Let me see¡­ ¡®Ping¡¯ Oh fucking yes! I made a transparent display show up with all of my stats and abilities! Oh wow, it¡¯s fancy as fuck, and I can see so much more things in here than ever before! Each ability, every title, and every part has an in-depth history attached, and there are actually numbers attached to things that weren¡¯t there before! And each has a little experience bar beside it, my level ability bonus, and so much more! That proves it, this is definitely not a dream! Unless it is of course. Did anything fundamentally change in my abilities? Titles are all the same, abilities¡­ The only one possibly that could do this is . So little bugger, what¡¯d you do? [td colspan="2"]Passive: Due to your intellect exceeding a predetermined amount, allows the user to know in-depth knowledge of oneself. Grants modification of self through [Genetic Mutation]. Now grants the ability Multi-Tasking, can be upgraded through use. As long as one part of the mind is separated from a mind-affecting effect, the user will have autonomy over most actions based on willpower. Through force of will, grants a separate dimension in the mind. Mind-erasure or alteration is no longer possible on this individual unless within the inner sanctum. Additional Information: While in the separate dimension, additional information is available on all things that may have been seen or recorded by the subconscious, as well as the free use of anything produced by the imagination besides living beings, anything with a free-will, or things that can affect the health of anything above. Multi-tasking has evolved to soul-splintering. The Inner Sanctum is different than the separate dimension, not accessed yet. Intellect is not only determined by the Intelligence - knowledge of the fundamental forces of the world is required to unlock this ability.[/td]
Rank: S
All of that extra information is awesome! And multi-tasking evolved! Yes! That must be why I can do so much more than before - I¡¯m basically evolving my soul! The power of creation is mine in this realm, muahahahaha! Table! TV! Kitchen! Glorious, King-sized Canopy bed! Refrigerator! Bottle of Coca Cola! Pizza! Muahahaha! Eewww! These taste like grass! No, I didn¡¯t try my coffee yet! Mmmm, I can feel the caffeine, but this is totally more like a grassy tea! Yuck! Why!!!! Edibles must be what it means by affecting the health - be it good or bad. Damn, but the caffeine still showed up? I wonder¡­ Maybe it¡¯s because I actually MADE the caffeine vs imagined the caffeine¡­ So if I want to make these other things, I will have to actually bake ingredients that I can make to make bread? Damn, what a let down. That pizza looks sooo good too. ¡®Sip¡¯ Well, at least I have tea, and caffeine I guess. When I went to sleep, I must have entered here on accident when the ability evolved to its S rank. Neato. Now what should I do? I guess I should experiment a little and see what all I can create in here or learn. I can make clothes, that¡¯s nice. Electronics seem to be able to work how I remember them too, no internet of course. There seems to be an issue I encountered though - anything that I tried to create that I could not directly control, such as a robot maid, or even a roomba, didn¡¯t work. There must be a VERY strict definition of free-will in affect here. Heck, I can¡¯t even imagine a potted plant. Oh well, at least I imagined a museum over to the side with all of the artwork that I can remember. And Guns seem to work here, and rocket launchers too. If I tried to fire it too close to me it wouldn¡¯t work - affecting the health again I¡¯m guessing. Good for showing dominance though, it was awesome when it exploded! I struck a cool pose as the shockwave hit me, fluttering my clothes majestically behind me. I made a cottage house, a mansion from MTV Cribs, a pool table, basically everything I could remember. I tried to imagine photos of how I looked, or photos of other people I knew, but only gray pictures showed up. Damn. Since said there should basically be a log that I have, I decided to try and peruse it. Just like before, the transparent display showed up, but this time I was shocked. My log listed everything! Every battle I did, every damage, energy spent, organisms assimilated and their blueprints, everything! And their was a current inventory tab as well! I saw some things I knew would be there, but also some I didn¡¯t know was there at all! Most were boring though, pollen, dead bug carcass, etc. But there was the blood I had siphoned off as well as a seed - in fact, it was a tree seed. Apparently it is nestled in one of my clumps of grass, and is considered in my possession. It¡¯s time - time to rebuild my lab, but this time even better! Every state of the art machine I¡¯ve ever even heard about I imagined, then re-imagined to be better! I have clean rooms, bioreactors, electron microscopes, and so much more! I even imagined a particle accelerator on the scale of the world! I don¡¯t know if that will actually work though, hehe. But I still made it! This time, I will make and learn everything there is to in this world! Just what should I study first though? Next Chapter on WP: HERE Ch. 22 - Mana Field Here''s Chapter 22! Enjoy! Chapter 23 can be found HERE, at my wordpress site. --------------------------------------------------------- ¡ª POV Mathias ¡ª It¡¯s obvious, isn¡¯t it? A tree is a tree is a tree - but the blood of a beast that I¡¯ve never seen before, that generated mana and spewed fire, it was never a question of what I would want to test first! Before that, I should go and check on my real body first! Hmm, how do I leave? ¡®Poof¡¯ Oh, that was easy. Just willing it is enough. I wonder how long I was down there? My GP is at ~100,000. Quite a nice hoard if I do say so myself, though I can tell my efficiency is atrocious. I¡¯m just spewing off energy willy nilly, as well as growing little potatoes everywhere underground. And those FUCKING bugs are back and biting me again, this time all over! I won¡¯t tolerate that anymore! Throughout my entire body I will pump my toxins out - both Milkweed and Nightshade! I don¡¯t want them developing resistances wither - maximum concentration right from the start! Let the bodies hit the floor! Let the bodies hit the floooooooor! I¡¯m free! Yes! Finally, everywhere that I am is devoid of biting, stinging insects that prey upon me! Good riddance! This is my glade, it¡¯s time I cleaned up around here! Hmmph! I¡¯ll keep the cyanide in my potatoes only for now - Don¡¯t want my trump card being stolen from me, or others gaining a tolerance for it. But if a hog comes by and tries to root around for MY potatoes, he¡¯ll surely die. I won¡¯t forgive being eaten again, though I will feed my followers if I can. Speaking of followers¡­ Yes, they have laid their eggs again! My experiments can continue, good work everyone! Extra sugar for everyone! Sending you all lots of love! Hopefully they didn¡¯t notice the quick glimmer of fanaticism that I for sure felt when my experiments were shown again. I forgot I need to regulate my emotions when I¡¯m out here if I¡¯m in broadcast mode with my . I do think I can turn it off, but I don¡¯t feel comfortable doing it yet. I just found a way to speak to others after so long without contact with another being - I¡¯m not just going to casually turn it off! ¡®Click¡¯ Ha, yea right. I won¡¯t mess up my hard work so far by scaring away my slaughter guards! Emotion link disable for now from my side - I can still tell if they are in danger, or if they need anything. Speaking of my abilities - many as they are - my is showing me something pretty cool. As I gaze upon my grassy kingdom, I see thousands of [Shown: Bermuda Grass] . So it looks like my camouflage works, and I can set what appears to everyone else! Well, this works out just fine for me - the better my abilities and defenses, the better my ability to cheat death!! I have such a huge store of GP, I wonder what I should buy? Well, before that, I should re-enter my and figure out what to do, maybe do some analysis before I take any action out here. I wonder ¡ª ¡ª If I can do simulations down here? I have computers, I wonder if I can make the computers quantum computers, and run simulations on them? It took forever before, wonder if I can speed them up? We had one computer based on it in the lab, the only prototype ever made before all of the resources went to us to solve the epidemic. Well, it seems to be working just how I imagines, along with a 3D holo display. Hmmmmmmm, I guess I should look at the mana beast¡¯s DNA and see what makes it tick. With my new computer, I can see exactly what is hidden in their genome! I forgot, this takes forever anyways. Damn, the whole process, even if modified and automatic, will take weeks, even with the quantum computer to determine what each gene or chromosome does. Sigh, what a fucking waste of time, back on Earth waiting for this stuff would be easy, but I can¡¯t take all of this time just to figure this out. I need results now! Fuck, well what else, other than the seed, can I study? Mana is an option, I guess. Let¡¯s try creating a mana circle to cast a spell! Let¡¯s see, bring my mana to my finger - check. Draw a circle - no check. Fuck, I can only draw about 3/10 of the circle before I run out of mana. You¡¯ve gotta be kidding me - I can¡¯t create mana in here? Looks like I should study it more - I just might not be able to make it because I don¡¯t understand how it works? But I¡¯m pretty sure it¡¯s some type of particle that is ejected like radiation is, from the destruction of matter¡­ maybe? Well, to my particle accelerator we go! Since I can use mana here, it must mean that the laws of physics are affected here the same as the world outside. So I can test my hypothesis using that! Let¡¯s see - first let¡¯s crash neutrons in there, see if anything weird comes out¡­. Aha! There it is! I was right - completely destroying my known understanding of particle physics. E doesn¡¯t equal mc^2! Ok, well that still seems to apply still, I would need a lot more data for me to be able to tell. But there also seems to be an extra energy released as well, the fabled mana! It fits into everything that I¡¯ve seen - Mana coming from the ground, the sun, the moon, everything! Anything that emits radiation emits mana as well! This is interesting - so interesting! But how is it generated by beasts¡­ There must be some element that they condense, or maybe it¡¯s the mana stone¡¯s themselves that generate the mana. But that can¡¯t be right, since I don¡¯t have mana but I generate it¡­ Or am I just absorbing it? I don¡¯t really know, but what I do know is how to generate it this way - by destroying matter. I need more data, as well as more specimens. I guess I should look at the blood itself under a microscope, and see if I see anything¡­ The blood seems to be emitting some mana even now, though it¡¯s a dismal amount. There shouldn¡¯t be any mana here - so the blood must be generating at least a little bit. Wait, this could explain everything! I have to confirm it though¡­ Haha, there it is! A discovery worthy of the ages! Inside of their cells, there¡¯s typical mitochondria, and mixed in with them there¡¯s another tiny structure inside that I don¡¯t recognize! A mana reactor, it has to be! A typical animal cell has anywhere from 1,000 to 2,000 brownish red mitochondria, but there are also some purple-red structures mixed in as well that every once in a while one will puff out a little bit of mana. I am so glad I stole some of that beast¡¯s blood! With this, I will inherit it¡¯s mana generation too!! Hahahaha, ¡®Prick¡¯, I wonder what my ¡°blood¡± looks like? ¡­Disappointing is what it looks like! I have one, maybe two per cell! Fuuuuuck! That¡¯s not even, like, what seems like a normal amount! If I say this disparity in a normal cell, I¡¯d assume it was a cripple, or had some terrible genetic disease! I gotta fix myself quickly! Mitochondria grow and reproduce on how often they are supplied energy and the need for the production. They can also grow, why is this all making so much sense! In every book I¡¯ve read, people who expend and actively use their mana to the maximum can always grow more, but exactly the reason why people always have upper limits is because of their genetics and their internal amount of these mana reactors! They will always be restricted by what they were born with, unless there is a method to artificially increase their potential or replace them. I¡¯ve been using my mana quite a bit, but I haven¡¯t seen improvements, and it must be due to my shitty mana reactors. And I have the perfect donor haha. There is always a silver lining - even on the blackest of clouds. I will begin my mana reactor transfer, first by killing off all of my own shitty reactors, and replacing them with the beast¡¯s! With these high quality mana reactors, my potential should be endless hahahahahaha! Oh, wait, how will I do that? This is a separate dimension, where things I imagine can¡¯t go out (I¡¯ve tried to take a gun with me so I could shoot some motherfuckers). What should I do? I guess I can ask for a cheap modifier that I can prove on the outside. What¡¯s something cheap that a lot of plants have¡­ Hallucinogenic properties? Nah, someone might use me in the future¡­ How about serrated edges? ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Genetic Mutation: Serrated Edges Increases the sharpness of the edges of your leaves. Stacks with Spines. Additional Info: The sharpness and number of teeth per leaf can be modified. Cost: 15 ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Perfect - an easily testable, cheap ! That still leaves a missing link though - can I do something in here, not related to my abilities, and affect me out there? I feel like it should work, since I¡¯m using items from outside in here, but I should also try it as well. What can I do¡­ I can inject myself with a lot of Cyanide in here, and see if my concentration rises while my GP falls out there. NO risk - just how I like it! Let¡¯s get some Serrated Edges as well as injecting through intravenous means some Cyanide. Before I only had Cyanide in my potatoes, but after this I should have it throughout my body. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡®Stab¡¯ There goes the needle, pushing in the plunger - no effects on my body, good. Now I¡¯ll check outside - First, Serrated Edges. On some of my outside body parts near the edge of the clearing, let¡¯s modify those so that anything trying to enter my domain will get sliced! It worked! So I can affect the outside while in my ! Shit, I forgot to check if My GP went down more than 25 though, to compensate for making a bunch of Cyanide in my body. But it is there, so I¡¯ll categorize that as a success! It also seems that I need to inject a large amount to get to my whole body - my cumulative mass is huge. I can only detect a small amount of Cyanide flowing through my body and slowly dissipating. But it is reducing - showing that there was a rise. I don¡¯t see anything dangerous in my glade, so I¡¯m safe for now. Back inside to start my treatment! I¡¯m a little fuzzy on the exact details of how this works - but maybe I can just kill off my mana generators. I don¡¯t want to use the 100% effective method I though of though - it would be more painful than anything I¡¯ve experienced so far. If I only injected these mana generators into one cell, then assimilated myself - I would get these mana generators everywhere, but I¡¯m not sure if I would still be me at the end. So I¡¯ll avoid that way. I need more brain power for this - but the sun is still too much for me to handle, and I don¡¯t have the time to deal with worrying or fear. Just keeping those two away lets me think clearly. I guess I¡¯ll make due. Hmmm¡­ Since technically this is something I can visualize, and I know what needs to be modified, I should be able to get to activate. I should try it. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Genetic Mutation: Mana Removal* Deletes all of the mrtDNA in your body. The ability to use, generate, and manipulate mana is removed until the ability is recovered. Additional Info: Creatures will view you as an abomination, something that does not contain life. Every being normally has at least traces of mana. May be hunted and destroyed. Grants immunity to mana influencing effects and mana searching techniques. Cost: 1 ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Genetic Mutation: Mana Rejuvenation* Reacquires mrtDNA from your original species. Additional Info: Reverts the ability . Cost: 1,000,000 ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Well shit. It does exactly what I want to do, but that description though. That¡¯s terrible. Well, part of it is. The other part is okay, immunities are always welcomed. And at least the possibility exists for me to reacquire my mana if this doesn¡¯t work, though that cost can easily be shown to be excessive! I guess I should store some of my mana reactors in a freezer just like they do sperm. I¡¯m not a miser, but even I have my limits! I need to make this quick - First I should time the difference in here versus out there. Imagine a clock - a digital clock and an old fashioned pendulum clock. Set the time to 12:00pm - done. I¡¯ll try to wait about an hour in my real body, then come back here and try to calculate tell the difference. Yosh, I am ready! That was boring, it was dusk and nothing stirred in my glade. It¡¯s kinda eerie - I thought for sure something would come out and try to eat me again! Thank goodness my domain is like my well-manicured plant specimens in my lab. Pristine, and bug-free. I even have the nice sound of the gurgling stream in this starlight this evening. It¡¯s beautiful. It seems about an hour passe by, Time to go back into my ! And, drumroll¡­¡­¡­ the clocks both say it¡¯s 2:55pm, which means the time goes 3x faster here, similar to how dreams can seem faster to the dreamer. Sweet, while not like the forever dreams of a certain universe caused by an eye, it¡¯s more than adequate for what I¡¯ll use it for. Now that I know I can inject myself in here with what I need to, it affects my body out there, and the time in here with a mana deficiency will be greatly reduced out there, so the danger is minimal. I¡¯ve successfully transplanted a single mana reactor into one of my cells in a slide, when immediately my mana reactors in my cell shot out little mana darts towards it and killed it. Without a doubt, my own mana reactors must be eradicated for this transplant to work. Now that I¡¯m strapped into a chair, I think I¡¯m ready. I don¡¯t know what the actual effects, other than listed, of . This way, even if I spasm, I should be safe. I already have a gaseous infuser containing all of the mana reactors contained in the beast¡¯s blood (except for a few for later study and procreation in the future). The gaseous diffuser is really a terrible thing I¡¯ve built. It uses the same principle of injecting vaccines that was invented near the end of my life, where the vaccine is shot through your skin into your cells directly. Also inhaling it should help too. Now that I don¡¯t know if it will hurt or not. It seems like it will - thousands of holes opening up all over your body at once, well I¡¯ll find out I guess. Sigh, I know too little of this world, and the only test bed I have really is my own body. I can¡¯t really trust things in here since they are based mostly on what I know. I wish I had a whiskey and coke zzz. Here goes nothing! ! Oh, that¡¯s not too bad, it feels like a warmth is spreading throughout my body, starting from my heart and going outwards. It feels exactly like a poison spreading throughout the body - damn, of course I didn¡¯t setup a drip to collect samples of my blood. I thought this would be some sort of mana burning or something, now I feel kinda silly for the whole strapped into a chair thing. Well, the longer I wait, the longer I¡¯m a sitting duck outside. It¡¯s time to start infusing my very cells with replacement mana reactors. Well, that was definitely NOT painless¡­ Darkness, my old friend¡­ Shit Shit Shit Shit SHIT! Why does it burn so much! The mana is rampaging through my body and I can¡¯t control any of it! It feels like a foreign being is inside of me, trying to free itself! I woke up from the pain, and it keeps getting worse! I usually never trust the generated abilities, but I don¡¯t have a choice right now! I can¡¯t tell why I can¡¯t control the mana, whether it be from me not being experienced enough, or it¡¯s just foreign to my body, but either way it¡¯s tearing me apart if I don¡¯t do anything! ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Genetic Mutation: Mana Assimilation Gain the ability to assimilate foreign mana into your body. Additional Info: Specifically tames foreign mrtDNA in the body. Will affect self in unknown ways. Also can absorb mana released from other beings if in free form. Cost: 100,000 ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Thank god, I mean thank goodness! I have enough Growth Points to buy it! Please help me!!! Please! I don¡¯t want this pain!!! All of my natural energy is sucked out of me - going into changing me, but the mana! ¡®Sniff¡¯ It doesn¡¯t hurt anymore. I feel like I can control the mana I have - it¡¯s much more virulent than before, more bestial. But I feel different as well, like this mana was always mine. Stupid straps, let go! I want to get out and try using my mana! Oh, I got stronger too! Sweet! I busted right through those straps when I got frustrated enough! No fucking way! I have some cool horns! Kickass! Must have been those ¡°Unknown ways¡± the ability was talking about! And my feet have scales on them! My hands are all normal though, so is the rest of me. I look pretty cool now, like some nature deity! Now I need some antlers¡­ wait, those would get in the way. Nixing ever ingraining anything with antlers! These small horns are just right though, black and about a hand length and a half curving backwards. And they are stuuurdy - I can feel warmth through them, but swinging a metal utensil at them I couldn¡¯t feel a thing. Since I don¡¯t like getting hurt, I¡¯ll avoid trying with a metal bat haha. I¡¯m so glad that I have much stronger mana than before! I might be able to cast spells now! Well, in here at least! ¡ª POV Owl ¡ª Hoot-Hoot My goodness, what has happened to my glade! The Bunny no longer shows up, there aren¡¯t any more slimes, and there aren¡¯t any bug sounds! It¡¯s just silent, except for the waving of the grass! Hoot! The mana in the field is disappearing - something weird is going on again! Mana is everywhere, why is it disappearing, even avoiding the glade! Something bad must be down there, it¡¯s giving me the spooks! HOOT! So much wild mana started coming from the glade, I have to leave, this is dangerous! It¡¯s pouring out like a spring, easily overwhelming the water spring that is there! Danger, danger! Hoot-hoot! Chapter 23 can be found: HERE Ch. 23 - Tree More Author Notes! View this at wordpress here: LINK View the next chapter at my wordpress here: LINK More characters! When will he stop! NEVER! I really wish I could delve into more of the other characters too zzz. Too many people bitch about that though if you don''t maintain at least 90% of your time on your MC. No one likes classics like Les Miserables, etc. anymore. So the extra side stories, more actual character development other than the MC, will have to wait for the actual release zzz. Or maybe I''ll do them as donation links, idk haha. Most of all, I just hope you guys enjoy the story! I know the feeling of waiting for author''s to publish here, one of the many reasons why I started writing, so I''ll try to continue releasing even if my grades scream at me haha! --------------------------------------------- ¡ª POV Torgue ¡ª I¡¯m so tired and hungry. Where did papa go? There was a loud ¡®Boom¡¯ and ¡®Crash¡¯ then all of us were running from some fire. Papa found us, but he looked to be in pain, though he didn¡¯t show it. He said that he was going to go ask for some help from humans and told us to hide. It¡¯s been three days but we still haven¡¯t seen papa again, where is he? I need to go find him - Jard and I can¡¯t be here by ourselves. The only food we¡¯ve eaten are some bugs Jard found for us under the tree. The bugs always run away from me, but somehow he is able to sneak up on them before they notice them. Must be because he has black fur. My fur is white and orange. We also both have sings, but neither of us can use them yet. Otherwise those tasty birds above us would already have been gobbled up by us! ¡®Grrrrrrrr¡¯ Oops, there goes my stomach again. ¡®Jard? When is papa coming back? I¡¯m really hungry!¡¯ I didn¡¯t make any noise, since we can talk with our minds or something! I didn¡¯t really understand what papa told us about our abilities and whatnot. ¡ª POV Jard ¡ª ¡®Sorry Torgue, but I can¡¯t sense him anywhere close to use. Normally I could sense his mana anywhere, but it¡¯s disappeared.¡¯ ¡®¡­And we would probably have more food if you controlled your mana like I do. You¡¯re really scary to everyone else.¡¯ Usually we were already surrounded by so many other powerful beasts that my brother¡¯s lack of control could barely be felt, but now that everyone was scattered, it¡¯s much more of a problem. As the older brother, I have to take responsibility and try to find us food, but we¡¯ve eaten or scared away anything that we could currently find. Brother¡¯s aura is truly scary for other beasts, though we are both really small. Where did papa go though? What happened to him? I miss him a lot. We can¡¯t stay here - there¡¯s not enough food, nor shelter. ¡®Torgue, let¡¯s go look for papa! With you and I together, we should be able to find him in not time!¡¯ ¡®Okay brother, let¡¯s go!¡¯ ¡ª POV Taeya ¡ª This world is a cruel place. There is no such thing as happiness - all there is is hidden malice behind kind smiles. Nothing has ever gone right in my life, and every chance at hope I¡¯ve ever had was smashed before my eyes. First my parents. I was an ¡®unwanted¡¯ child. They never told this to me to my face, but apparently my mother was taken forcefully one night by a previous suitor of hers. I grew up hearing these whispers and rumors coming from my clan. While every time my brothers or sisters entered the village they were given treats and smiles, only I was ever looked coldly upon. I stopped asking my parents why people didn¡¯t like me after they beat me several times by both of them. I couldn¡¯t move for weeks, but by then I realized the best course of action was to keep my mouth shut. It still hurts to this day - both in my heart and from my wrongly healed bones. While I was recovering my mother came to see me in tears, but instead of worry that I thought I would receive, she only cried about how sorry mommy was, and to not tell anyone about what happened. When I then asked if I could have some medicine to relieve the pain she slapped me and said how ungrateful I was for living with them. Again, I learned a rule to protect myself - don¡¯t talk with others. Their words only contain ugliness. Even if I smile, or say a pleasant thing, their eyes never laugh and dance as they do with others, they only sit still and desolate. I¡¯ve asked myself countless times, why, why me? I¡¯ve screamed silently at god, I¡¯ve screamed silently for years now, but I have yet to receive an answer. Things could have been better if maybe I had magical talent, but when I was tested, I was almost devoid of any magical talent at all. They said if I tried for years to cast a spell, I might be able to produce a small flame, but beyond that, nothing. I would need to be specially trained and given expensive medicine to be able to become a mage. I asked my parents if I could, but they said no, and later smacked me so hard I couldn¡¯t talk without excruciating pain. The last light in my dark tunnel was snuffed out, just with a few words from a wizard and the negative response from my parents. I had hoped to overcome my station and leave my clan and never come back as a strong mage, but even that was taken away from me by my parents and my lack of ability. I can¡¯t live here anymore - even dying to some beast out in the forest is better than staying here. I need to leave, at least out there I have hope. I won¡¯t give up, not ever! I will brave the wilds to find my fortune, or my demise. ¡ª POV Mathias ¡ª I¡¯m sweating right now. I think I made a big mistake. I can¡¯t contain all of this mana I just gave myself - just looking at my stats are giving me heart palpitations, even if I don¡¯t actually have a heart a heart. [td colspan="3"] [Destined to Die], [Reincarnator], [Martyr], [Boundless], [Late Bloomer], [One of Many], [Eaten Alive+], [Kin-Slayer], [Bug Tamer], [Unnatural Predator] [/td] [td colspan="3"], , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , [/td]
Name:--- (Mathias)Age:3 Months
Gender:¡á/¡âLevel:1
Class:Plant Sage+Race:Bermuda Grass Unique Variant: Mana Vampire
HP:20/20Mana:20/20 (+10,000 pt/hour)
Growth Points:10000Growth Rate:55 (45) pts/hour day (night)
Strength:3Vitality:20
Agility:1Intelligence:140
Tamed Species1Tamed Total13
Titles:
Abilities:
Drug Compounding: Caffeine, Cyanide, Simple Sugar, Octopamine, Nightshade Toxin, Milkweed Toxin I seem to have evolved into another variant of my species, also unique. I¡¯m a Mana Vampire now. I don¡¯t know exactly what that means to others, but if I saw something with a name of X vampire, I would try to kill it. And this mana, while great and all, is extremely troublesome! Like I said before, I have way too much of it! Without a man stone to contain it, my mana is rampaging all over the place, causing every small critter around me to scatter and run away.Not only that, my bugs are also having some difficulty resisting the turbid mana too! I absolutely refuse to have a mana crystal, but without it, what the heck am I to do! That mana regeneration rate is insane! Even if I had a mana stone though, I wouldn¡¯t be able to spend all of that mana! They say if you have a broad foundation, the future is there for the taking. I built way too tall without thinking of the repercussions thoroughly. I just wanted an increase in base power, enough to actually cast a spell instead of not even being able to draw the primary part of the spell. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. It looks like my Slaughter guards are doing better now, it seems they¡¯ve been building up a tolerance slowly through the past few months from my dosing habits continually increasing their mana supply in their food. Oh shit the eggs! Shit! My carefully controlled experiments and data collection is ruined! They¡¯ve all been exposed to this horrendous mana pressure I¡¯m giving off - I hope at least some of them live through it! Damnit, it looks like already half of them are lifeless, only the ones I had been feeding mana to before, and the ones with adrenaline (Octopamine) still contain life - the other eggs seem to be slowly crystallizing into¡­ zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Small fucking mana crystals damnit. Damnit damnit damnit! I don¡¯t want these anywhere near me! It does tell me though that organics exposed to a lot of mana can turn into mana crystals, but that¡¯s all the good news from this catastrophe. Even the eggs that have survived are dying one by one. Wait, wait! It looks like it¡¯s stopped - approximately 10 adrenaline bug eggs and 24 mana bug eggs have stabilized, phew. I would have been devastated if they were killed off like last time. Each of them seem to have created a small mana crystal inside of the egg that the embryo is attached too. That¡¯s good, I think. Maybe I can feed those small mana crystals to the bugs when all of them hatch. In the mean time, might as well try to do it for my current Slaughter Guards. I¡¯m totally not just trying to avoid thinking about my mana flying everywhere willynilly, not at all. Come on June, look, this totally isn¡¯t a bug egg, it¡¯s a juicy mana crystal coated in sugar! You were one of the first to recover from being exposed to my mana, so with you I have my highest hopes. I can see your energy fighting with the mana in the air - I think you¡¯ll need a mana stone to keep living here and protecting me. Something to both gather, store, and protect you from the excess mana. Maybe you can even evolve! Think about the possibilities! Of course I couldn¡¯t tell her that, but I think she got the gist of the message through my emotions I sent to her. And she ate it! Sweet! Uh-oh, looks like she¡¯s in some pain. Shit, I need to send her some energy stat! Leaf, go, start injecting her with your spine full of my healing energy! At least, I think that¡¯s how it will work! My dark green natural energy slowly goes inside of her, and starts swirling around the swallowed mana stone. She¡¯s stabilizing! Good, good! The mana stones were originally red from the color of my mana, must have been because the beast was of the fire attribute. But with the inclusion of my natural dark green energy, the mana stone changed. Instead of looking like a living flame in crystal form, it slowly was influenced more and more by my energy. I felt as if I could easily overwhelm the mana with my energy, but I withheld myself, and was rewarded! It seems the mana from June, after I tempered the red energy, also started to enter the crystal. A black mist formed at the center, while the red mana and my energy started swirling around it. Slowly, a galaxy like shape started to form, with an infinite black abyss at the center with green and red planets formed with green and red gasses as well. It was actually dazzling to see! It looks like she¡¯s unconscious, but not in pain anymore, that¡¯s good. I¡¯ll send her a lot of loving care emotions for awhile, she deserves it. The mana in the air isn¡¯t fighting her anymore, it flows serenely around her, through her, and into her mana crystal. She seems at balance in this new world. This is good. Now, for the rest. It seems as though I need to suppress the strength of the mana crystal after they consume it, so that they can become in harmony with them with their own internal mana type. Hmmm, it looks like the other 12 Slaughter Guards are all similar in type. Instead of the black mist in the middle of their own mana crystals, they had a flowing, crystal-colored mana. I¡¯m guessing if June¡¯s mana was a black mist, that must mean dark, or shadow mana. I especially think that because of how June¡¯s looks compared to the others - while her¡¯s is an infinite darkness around which the other mana flows around, but never intrudes, the others¡¯ formed a true mixture of mana. The crystal colored mana flows in between the red and green mana, forming a sphere of swirling color. I think it must be the fabled wind mana - it makes sense because the bugs can fly I guess, but wonder why June¡¯s turned to dark mana? Something must have happened long ago that made her need to hide. I wasn¡¯t paying attention, so it could have been anything. Huh, oh well. These gains are really great! With my mana assimilation, I could even take their mana, maybe. But I still like them, these 13 are the best friends I¡¯ve ever had in this life. I owe them my everything. I¡¯ll wait until another beast with mana I don¡¯t have shows up, then I¡¯ll take their mana. Oh yea, the mana that¡¯s everywhere now. Sigh. I could use it somehow, but the only way I know how to use it is to maybe, maybe send a spell out. But that in itself is extremely attention grabbing. Shit. What I need is a decoy then - something to draw attention away from my current being. Mana producing grass is strange, but I wonder if a tree would be better? A tree might be protected if someone comes along, but grass is always rooted out and harvested. Especially if I can bribe others in the future to leave me alone - growing a fruit for them to eat brimming with mana, maybe colored gold or something oughta entice them to keep me secret so that no one takes the spoils away. Or just producing a fruit brimming with so much cyanide they would instantly die. That could work too. And when I get a lot more mass that way, I can store more mana in my biomass, and maybe even just release it high into the air instead of having it stay here and spread. At least in the air it won¡¯t saturate the area as bad. Ok, I¡¯ve made my decision! Back to the lab! My secret weapon by fortuitous encounter - a tree seed! Now to try to determine if the trees here are any different from my own. First, their basic cell structure is at least extremely similar to my own cell structure, but with thicker cell walls, as expected. Oh, it also has more mana reactors than my own did back then. Maybe absorbing these mana reactors would have been better than what I already did, but I¡¯m not going to cry over spilled milk. Other than that, this is as far as I can tell just a tree cell. If I just use its DNA I think I might run into trouble. I might just turn into that species, instead of Bermuda Grass. That would bring a whole lot of other trouble - I can deal with things that eat grass, but things that eat trees might be much more dangerous. I need to stick with my base species for as long as I can, minimizing the effects of [Destined to Die]. If I look like a tree, but quack like grass, then of course I¡¯m grass! Hahaha, I¡¯m a genius! (A lightly disturbed, slightly insane, isolated genius, but a genius nonetheless!) I guess I¡¯ll build a tree near the spring, several feet away from my main body, and make it look similar to the trees around me. I can¡¯t mask the mana, nor match the colors (can¡¯t see them anyways haha) but I¡¯ll just try to make a natural oak look. Yosh, let¡¯s start. I need to thicken my cell walls selectively - it¡¯s not so hard thanks to my class, I think. But growing a tree¡­ This is gonna be expensive. Just thinking about the size is giving me a headache - growing grass leaves is really cheap, only 1 GP is needed. However I can feel just growing a stem that¡¯s thick enough and strong enough to support a tree framework is closer to 100 GP, and it would only reach about a foot high. As my diameter of my ¡°trunk¡± grows, so does the cost of growing higher. Man, trees have it tough! Or they just have a naturally higher growth rate/ability to absorb nutrients than grass. I won¡¯t ever know, sigh, if I want to remain alive. For now I¡¯ll just plow on, decide my own fate. Next Chapter On Wordpress Ch. 24 - Fake Tree Author Rant Space Thanks for reading! Ch. 25 can be found here: LINK I may be changing up how I do tables - instead of the built in, just using a picture from excel. Let me know what you think. Two parties are closing in ---------------------------------------------------- ¡ª POV Mathias ¡ª I must¡¯ve been an architect in a previous life. Or a nature lover, or a druid, or something very prestigious I feel. I have a three-foot, beautiful tree sapling built! It doesn¡¯t have leaves right now though. I don¡¯t really want a tree with a grass leaf on it, and I was concentrated on building the trunk of my ultimate distraction tree! The current trunk diameter is about 2 inches, the color is a nice green-brown, with nice swirls and little stubs where I¡¯ll attach branches to later. At the very top I¡¯ve affected a small swoosh to a side, very stylish. Sigh. I need someone to talk too. I¡¯m so lonely, ever so lonely¡­¡­ OK! Back to my tree-body! My structure is solid, but I only have a single ring right now. I know that trees grow by growing a new ring around the previous ring, while the inner rings eventually die and can be invaded by ants. After being invaded by insects, or rotting, many old trees can die due to structural weaknesses or fungal ingress. That won¡¯t be happening to me! I have not only the intelligent design of tree DNA, but I can also intelligently design myself! I don¡¯t care about efficiency on growing and reproducing - I only care about living forever. Fuck that stupid god - like hell I¡¯m going to die after all I¡¯ve been through! I¡¯m almost forever spiteful! You need to do the 10 meritorious for me before one can be forgiven! Even though the tree I¡¯m building is still technically grass haha, I¡¯ve already attracted some bugs that I haven¡¯t seen before. Unfortunately I need to temporarily move my Slaughter guards over, fuuuu. I¡¯ll miss you, ¡®sniff¡¯. Even if the bugs die after biting me, they still bite me ya know! And the bugs are even more vicious than before! There was even one nasty piece of shit that tried burrowing into me! It wasn¡¯t actually eating me, but tearing me apart! I had to cover that bastard with some extremely thick sap and watch it suffocate to appease me. The corpse still lies next to my trunk as a testament to my ruthlessness. I¡¯ll keep June here though to watch over the others¡¯ brood. Also cuz she seems more interesting than the others, she doesn¡¯t seem to know what to do with the eggs though haha. She¡¯s scurrying all over the place even as I try to soothe her. This is too funny. Well, back to work I guess. I¡¯ll relieve her duties in a little bit, nothing bad should happen for the next few hours or so. Back to my problems. 1: I have way too much mana, so I need to either use it, store it, or make it accumulate somewhere else other than right on me. I can try using it I guess? But there is no way I would ever be able to use enough mana continuously yet to deplete my mana. Storing it is still out of the question, I think. At least I don¡¯t really want to, being hunted isn¡¯t very fun. If I don¡¯t have any stones, than others might just bypass the area after looking, and may in fact try to protect me. But even worse would be if some mage found my spot and used it to practice magic. I¡¯d probably take a lot of damage. Sigh. But I would learn some more magic maybe¡­ I¡¯ve been working on the last answer, and I think it will work in the long run, so I¡¯ll keep sticking with that. 2: Since I don¡¯t want some monster tree-grass hybrid tree, I need to somehow design a tree leaf. Since I¡¯m not in a tropical forest, large leaves are out of the question, even though they could be used as defenses. 3: While I can see the energy glow through the trees around me, they are distinctly different than my own energy patterns. Their energy flow is much slower, in bigger chunks, but it seems much more powerful than my own.I guess it would be the difference between fighting with a thousand men versus one powerful man, there¡¯s that much of a difference. I also can¡¯t really tell the colors of anything else other than myself, since I can only see nature, life, and mana energy, and not electromagnetic energies. Nature energy is found mostly in plants, and only a little bit in the animals I¡¯ve seen, none in the adventurer¡¯s party though. Mana is in everything, while life energy is only found in animals. I¡¯m going to guess that Dryads and the like, if they exist, have some sort of mixture of life and nature energy. Maybe elves too, again, if they exist. Well, while I¡¯m thinking, I¡¯ll just keep shuttling my energy into growing my trunk again while I think about my first two problems. I want to be able to cast spells, so I should try doing that, besides, it¡¯s gotta be so much fun!! ¡­ This is HORSESHIT! I drew the same magic circle that wizard used, same symbols (I think), but nothing even happened. The mana in the air didn¡¯t do anything while my mana just kinda imploded. This is hogwash. I even did like the stories told me to, imagined the spell the wizard used and tried to mimic it exactly. Fuuuuuu. It must be something deeper, like each symbol is supposed to do something, and knowing what those symbols mean will help imagine the different steps of building the spell. I think. Damnit, why couldn¡¯t that damn wizard just use something like an icicle, or a water ball, or something easy to comprehend. The spell I saw him use from start to finish was extremely complicated. Too many symbols. I¡¯m like a peasant trying to copy a spell that he saw once that a great archmagus used. Damnit. Time to experiment! I¡¯ll start off with a basic, small mana circle, only using up about 5 mana total. Check. Since this is supposed to be the most basic of basic things, I just want to do something with water. Not fire, cause ouch. Earth would be fine, but it¡¯s potentially ouch. Wind can be sharp, so ouch. And other stuff would be too bothersome. Water is always good! Just not a water jet haha. Now that I have my circle, what to fill it with, and what to think of¡­ Hmmm¡­ How about a molecule of water as a symbol! That should work! Now for imagining it, I should imagine that water would come from the air, yea, since it¡¯s pretty humid here with the spring. Oy, wait, I have a spring. Too bad it¡¯s too far away from my main body. My control is good with mana, but only near me. I could go into my , but I¡¯m still depressed about the whole pizza thing, and I¡¯m not sure if magic I learn in there would be applicable out there. I need to learn how to do it here first, without a humanish body. I have my mana circle, my magic symbol, and an image. Now to try and activate it by flooding the center of the circle with mana, having it expand to the outer ring when it. Should. ACTIVATE! ¡®Drip¡¯. Success!!!! Hahahaha, I¡¯m a genius! I made a drop of water! Haha, in your face god! With magic under my control, the world will tremble beneath my might! That did not do much, but it was only a trial run on my path to glory! Now I just need to test each variable, and see how it lines up with the result! Then I can cross-graph them to correlate actions and effects, and eventually find the most efficient way of using spells! It does mean I need to do a lot of coding in my inner mind though, uggh. I¡¯m not really good at it, maybe I¡¯ll just use Excel and test it all myself. Damn graduate school! I never took coding classes, I only learned how to modify the variables I needed, it was the most efficient way anyways. Coder does his job, I do mine. Separation of responsibilities. Biting me in the ass, once again. But this way I get to make my own magical codex, holding the secrets of all of the magic that I manage to find! I always wanted a cool spell tomb, made with dragon leather and parchment made from some expensive beast or plant. Or woven GOLD! So cool, maybe one day. The first step towards my mastery of all magic starts with the iconic Water Ball! This feels right somehow, like I¡¯m following in the footsteps of every protagonist out there! If you ignore me murdering bunnies and plants and stuff I guess, but if you view them as demons then it makes me look awesome again! At the pinnacle I will be able to find out how to make this Black Fire I hid from those adventurers. I don¡¯t really know what to do with it, it¡¯s just sitting in a small hold I made, not really doing anything. Eh, since it¡¯s not doing anything, might as well leave it for now. Hmmm, so it seems the more mana I put into the spell, the more condensed the result is, e.g. the external mana it could affect, a higher percentage of that mana is drawn into the spell, like a magnet. The larger the circle the more external mana I can bend to my will, but obviously the cost increases exponentially with the size of the circle. Changing symbols in the middle of the circle doesn¡¯t seem to affect the spell that much, but the further I think of the symbol is from water, the less efficient my spell becomes. For instance while my molecule of water for sure works the best, a droplet of water works almost as well. A symbol of a glass of water or a spigot with water also works well, but not as well as the top two. In all of these cases I imagine water coming from the air, when I imagine it coming from the ground it works too, but if I imagine it just being created from nothing then the efficiency goes way down, but the water is still only pulled from the environment. So knowledge increases efficiency, symbols do as well, but not as much. As long as there is a clear understanding of what the symbol means and represents, you¡¯ll get some effect. However, if I put a symbol of a rock, and try to condense water, then nothing happens and the spell fizzles out, that mana wasted. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. I¡¯ll try some more stuff later, but for now my tree looks naked. I want to solve this problem first. Hmmmm¡­ I can get a vague trace of the leaves around me, but they are pretty varied in size and shape. Nothing like tropical sized, nor pine sized either. I never really liked big oak leaves, I do however like those leaves that are palm sized with a nice, uniform spade shape. Since that doesn¡¯t seem too far off from what¡¯s around me, Ill go with that. Since this is a decoy tree, I need it to look mystical. I could do something like a perpetual cherry blossom tree, those are always beautiful. I like the idea, but I don¡¯t like copying exactly ideas. I want something whimsical, but something that also showcases my abilities. Maybe I should have an on/off switch? Oooh, I¡¯ve never seen that in nature! I¡¯m not thinking of something simple like leaves folding up, no, this is special and will definitely draw attention to me! Well, my decoy me. I¡¯m thinking of leaves that act like those glasses that react to light - when the sun is up they turn black, absorbing 100% of the visible light spectrum, and then during the evening they will turn crystal clear! Holy shit, I hope I can get this to work. It would create a perpetual twilight below my boughs, with a serene grassy field below it that sways in the wind. I¡¯ve missed having fun in this world! Please allow me this little selfishness, I want to create a beautiful fantasy plant like in my favorite stories! Don¡¯t punish me for it! Simulations are showing that something like what I¡¯m thinking of can work, but I¡¯m pondering over the potential costs and benefits. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Genetic Mutation: Tree Leaves* Gain the ability to generate Tree Growth Points via tree leaves, changes your species to a tree species. Cost: 1,000 ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Genetic Mutation: Crystal Tree Leaves* Gain the ability to generate Tree Growth Points via tree leaves, changes your species to a tree species. Greatly increased generation of TGP via black colored leaves. Customized change of light spectrum absorption and refraction at different times of the day. Cost: 100,000 ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Genetic Mutation: Crystal Grass Leaves* Modify the structure of your grass leaves to customize their shape. Customized change of light spectrum absorption and refraction at different times of the day. Cost: 10,000 ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª I¡¯m extremely interested in the Tree Growth Points, but there¡¯s that. Yes, that. Those pesky 7 words hidden in the cost. I don¡¯t want to be a tree! It¡¯s definitely scarier out there as a tree! There¡¯s gigantic monsters everywhere! Even if I look like a tree, hopefully they at least won¡¯t be attracted to it as much as another tree. This way [Destined to Die] won¡¯t find it¡¯s way to affecting me too much. I have enough for the first and the last upgrade, albeit barely, but the second option isn¡¯t too far off from being possible. Damnit, I really want to be able to have my cake and eat it too! Fuck, I have to make the smart decision here. is what I¡¯ll have to take. At least this way I get a hidden ability as well, the ability to change the shape of my leaves as well as control the colors, though I already kinda had that ability with my reflection ability. The refraction and absorption though are more advanced now - guaranteeing the ability for me to turn clear and to turn black. And when my leaves are black, I can absorb the sun¡¯s energy in a much, much more efficient way. I can¡¯t wait! This plus my ingress into magic has made this a very productive day! Soon, soon I¡¯ll be a magic tree with impenetrable defenses! I¡¯ll live forever! That god made a mistake! A tree can potentially live forever if managed properly! Now that is one beautiful tree. I want nothing more than to relax on my own body. At least the sight is calming for my spirit. It¡¯s me, but I haven¡¯t moved over to it yet. Yes, I can move my consciousness around my body, but I always feel a tug back here, like this is my true home. I guess it¡¯s kinda like how a lot of people view themselves as really just their head, hands, and heart. The rest of you is really inconsequential, imagine moving your point of view to your tows and you¡¯d understand what I mean. I wonder how I¡¯d feel if I changed my species to a tree? I reckon the tree would feel more like home versus where I¡¯m at now. Dang, maybe I should have changed my species. Fuuuuu, this is dumb. Where is some rest after I die? I¡¯m exploded, tossed around like a stupid ball, then immediately sent into a life and death struggle. Eventually I want to get around and move like my old self, exploring the world! But the longer I stay here, the more I feel like I can¡¯t leave my main body here. If I build myself a body and leave, then I shudder to think of what would happen if someone came along and burned me here. I¡¯m not afraid of being eaten outside anymore, thankfully that trauma from that nasty nightmare is gone, but I¡¯m still worried of what lurks out there. That beast charging into my clearing showed me just how powerful people and beasts are out there. Oh. My tree fell down lol. I didn¡¯t build thick roots haha. Whoops. I should fix that, it was just a stick with some 3 inch roots holding it up haha. Thankfully nothing¡¯s damaged but my pride. Oh well. Wait, there¡¯s something else too¡­ My GP generation is going way down. Wonder why that is? Maybe I¡¯m making the field go fallow? That¡¯s no good. Looks like I need to dig down, way down, and start leaching the nutrients from the dark. I need nutrients to grow, and without animals above me, ahem, crapping, then I don¡¯t get much nutrients. There¡¯s also the fact that I¡¯m using resources way too fast for a field of this size, and that there¡¯s not many leaves falling on my field. I need some prime fertilizer! The area near the spring has a lot of nutrients gushing out from the depths, so me digging down will definitely bring me more nutrients! But I shouldn¡¯t do it with my grass roots so much, only from my main body and from my tree body. I should use this opportunity to build my tree roots as thick, strong, and deep as I can get them to go for a strong future! With my Water Ball, my tree body, and my cool looking crystal leaves, I¡¯m set for the future! Kinda! Oh yea, June, you¡¯re off duty haha. I¡¯m bringing over one of the actual broodmothers. Stop fretting lol. ¡ª POV Jard ¡ª I smell something familiar¡­ Is that papa!? I can sense mana that really close to his, but slightly different! Why isn¡¯t it moving though? Maybe it¡¯s not papa, but maybe they are related to him? Or it could be him? I don¡¯t know, but it seems so familiar to his mana! We should at least check it out, but I don¡¯t want to give Torgue any false hope. ¡®Hey Torgue, let¡¯s go this way. I sense something, but I¡¯m not sure what it is.¡¯ When we¡¯re closer he should be able to sense the mana too, so it¡¯s not like I¡¯m lying to him by not telling him it might be papa. ¡®Okay Jard, let¡¯s go that way. Maybe it¡¯s papa! Or maybe it¡¯s another one like us, wandering around lost! We should help them if that¡¯s the case!¡¯ ¡®Good! But keep trying to control your mana presence. So far you¡¯ve only slightly lessened it to me, while to everything else around us nothing¡¯s changed.¡¯ ¡®I¡¯ll try, but it¡¯s really hard! I¡¯m trying to contain it, but it¡¯s really hard! I think the most I can do is reduce it for one or two beings and that¡¯s my limit. I¡¯ll try hard though! Let¡¯s go!¡¯ Chapter 25! Ch. 25 - Pets! Been churning out some chapters this week! Woohoo! Next week only 2 should be published, I need to do a lot more writing for my thesis... This is what happens when you love writing more than anything else, but it doesn''t pay the bills haha, but I did finally get a donate button approved! Find the next chapter, Chapter 26, HERE Enjoy! Thanks for asking questions, giving suggestions, and pointing out errors! ------------------------------------------------------- ¡ª POV Mathias ¡ª Hi Gods up there! I know you¡¯re looking in on this right now! I have a message for you! Look, I spelled it out with my leaves! FUCK YOU! HAHA, I¡¯ve won! I¡¯ve beat your stupid game! I guess you thought I would go gentle into the good night, but no! I RAGE against you, I build monuments to my sins, And I grow ever stronger! You fucked up, and eventually you will pay for it! Since I haven¡¯t been burned to the ground, or killed outright, it must mean your influence is limited in this realm! Behold, my latest creation! A tree, a tree that will forever spell my message out to you! Hahahahahahaha! Ah, some manly, crazy scientist laughs do amazing things for your disposition. It¡¯s a good stress reliever, usually I could only do it in the shower, and at a low volume, but in my I can do it whenever I want, at maximum volume! Now that I¡¯m refreshed, I should leave here and go back outside, sigh. I had a glorious nap on my bed I imagined in here. It smelled like grass, and kinda just felt like grass, but it was still nice compared to just passing out up there as just a piece of grass. Stretching feels good here too. I¡¯ll try to take some frequent naps down here to refresh myself, so I won¡¯t pass out again haha. Now that I¡¯ve stretched out and returned to my real body, I should begin my morning magic training! I cast several from the air and the ground, watering myself. I finally got a good symbol for earth, and managed to collect dust from the air, though I only got a smidgen, while from the ground just kinda made it levitate and move. Since I knew that dirt is a complex ecosystem of bacteria and different compounds, it was a lot harder to choose a symbol. I ended up on deciding to use a sandstone symbol, since it is a conglomerate of dirt, and can contain any and all types of sand, clay, rocks, and organic matter. I don¡¯t think it¡¯s very efficient though, since I think it can be done better. Stupid science actually is hurting me at this stage - I bet the wizards here just have to put a symbol for dirt and they¡¯re good. On the earth note, I noticed that I can make my mana move earth using just my mana, but it¡¯s very different. I feel like both ways have their pros and cons. With the symbols I can know beforehand the exact thing that will happen, and can customize it better, but with my , I can get nitty gritty and activate it immediately and I can get more customized magic. BUT, I can¡¯t draw in the ambient mana at all. Pros and cons, looks like I should keep practicing both! It¡¯s been about a week since I started growing my tree, and boy is it gorgeous now. I found out that adding all of that extra biomass really helped me absorb more GP than I had before. I think it has to do with a few things. One, I have basically tree roots now in two places that go deeeeeep. I¡¯m making this mountain my bitch! Or hill, whatever it is. I¡¯m breaking rocks in two or more pieces whenever I encounter them, entangling them in my root network to both weight me down and in case there is any mineral deposits I could use. Two, all of that extra biomass and the sheer new size of my roots increases my ability to transport my GP around to store instead of it leaking. Finally, three: My leaves ended up being much more efficient than I thought they would. Not only is the surface area of the tree leaves much greater per leaf, but the whole turning black during the day was extremely efficient. I even tweaked my leaves to absorb infrared and ultraviolet rays. It more than made up the deficit from the shade landing on my grass on the bottom. My tree is currently standing at about 50 feet, just slightly taller than the surrounding trees. My branches were at first spaced extremely efficiently, getting 100% of the sun that struck the tree. After I finished growing to a reasonable height I started growing my branches more extravagantly, undoing my previous efficiency for aesthetics. I mean, I¡¯m still blocking almost all of the light, but now some sparkles of light filter through. And instead of a tree looking like a savanna acacia tree, I¡¯ve spread out my branches more like the regular trees around me. I kinda want to make my leaves glow a little bit too when it¡¯s night. Well, that¡¯s for the future. It took a lot of concentration to build my tree how I wanted too. And I got kinda carried away trying to make the best arrangement of branches and leaves, like messing with a Christmas tree to make it look nice. I am worried about my bark though - it¡¯s the thin stuff that you find on bushes rather than trees. I know it¡¯s just dead tissue for the most part to protect from weather, birds, mammals, and bugs. My defense is terrible, I can imagine a stupid boar coming up to me and shredding me to pieces. So I still have to do that I guess. Sigh. First things first: Deciding on the colors of my bark! I¡¯m not some stupid brown tree, fuck that. Mystical colors are black and white, but I wouldn¡¯t feel right with just those two colors since my leaves are already those colors. Hmmm¡­ how about white, green, black, and red? Red sap, white and green bark with black highlights. I hope it looks cool. Damn me not being able to see. I should try to draw it out. ¡­ ¡­ I¡¯m really a shitty drawer, damn. I can appreciate art just fine, like I¡¯m majestic as fuck, both my grass and tree bodies right now, but actually drawing them out I¡¯m terrible at. Oh well, I¡¯m sure it¡¯s fine. Wait! Eureka! Why choose colors when I can be ALL of the colors? I can do the prismatic effect when exposed to bright light, but in-between I can be a silverish color that shimmers in the colors of the rainbow. Now I feel fantasy enough. But it¡¯s all for show right now, I need to thicken my skin. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Genetic Mutation: Thick Skin* Modify the structure of your grass stems to grow a thick, tough outer layer. Costs GP to upgrade skin. Cost: 100 ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Nice and cheap, all of these expensive upgrades lately made me forget that there are plenty of cheap upgrades I can generate. Can¡¯t say I can think of any off the top of my head though. Besides, from my test I just did, it¡¯ll take me at least 2 more GP per square inch to grow my bark. That will deplete a lot of my stock, so for now I¡¯ll just reinforce my lower trunk and some of my lower branches, in case animals come. Speaking of animals, no birds have come yet, in fact I haven¡¯t heard any birds at all lately. I wanted to capture one or two to feed my roots or something, but alas, I had to dig my roots deeper instead, sending my roots around the spring to increase my nutrient draw from there and down into the bedrock. It¡¯s kind of desolate here, I¡¯m feeling even more lonely¡­ ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ Yay! My bugs are hatching!!! Distraction time! My tree has seemed to be attracting more and more bugs, I need a dedicated task force to patrol my new extremity. It¡¯s annoying having fleas bite your ankles. 1,2,3¡­¡­ 25! 25 hatched! 9 ended up crystallizing in the end, poor guys, but at least this many survived. All 9 of them were from the extra mana squad, whoops, I guess I should have stopped feeding them more mana even after I acquired my bestial mana. Haha, oh well. These remaining 15 mana bugs must be the creme de la creme. Ooh, they are a lot bigger than I thought they would be! They are still smaller than my current Slaughter Guards, but these guys are 10 times larger than my Slaughter Guards were at their stage of their lives. ¡®Zooom¡¯ Ohohohoho, awesome! My little adrenaline junkies are zooming all over the fucking place! They are soo fast! ¡®Snatch¡¯ Hahaha, they are still too young and naive if they thought they would escape from their parents! With quick, precise steps they are all caught by the slaughter guards and are being groomed by them. Looks like they¡¯re bringing them to the mana+caffeine sugar-sap in their nest, and it looks like they are waiting for something. Oh yea! This is when I step in! ! Ha, looks like they were all made to accept, and I start sending them some caring emotions, and give them a small amount of extremely sugary food for each of them. It looks like I did the right thing, as they start to disperse a little bit. My Slaughter Guards are showing them the ropes, on how to take care of the bugs attacking my leaves and the branches on my tree. I still can¡¯t get over how fast those little adrenaline bugs are moving around! As they are getting used to their speed, the only one to compare is June, but she¡¯s mostly just watching the shenanigans. I wonder what she¡¯s thinking? She¡¯s the only one with any interesting actions. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. Unfortunately all of them had the same type of mana in their crystals, air, green, and my red mana. No more variants, sigh. BUT, it appears that the young bugs I fed a lot of mana to are starting to use small bits of mana to do things. For instance they are using small bursts of wind mana to fly faster and blow aphids of of my tree. Seeing this, I¡¯m sure the others will eventually pick it up too. Sweet! But poor June, no one to teach her how to use her black mana, but I¡¯ve already seen her use it once or twice to hide and move around quietly, so maybe she¡¯s just a natural with her abilities. Good thing too - not even I can help her with that. I¡¯m pretty sure they aren¡¯t ready to use mana circles to cast spells, and with my mana¡¯s color changing, I can¡¯t really use my anymore to use my earth magic. I can only use my natural energy to grow, and I haven¡¯t used my red mana to cast fire magic yet. That shit just sounds dangerous, I don¡¯t know if I¡¯ll ever have a reason to use it! Maybe when it gets cold I could use it to keep me warm. Surprisingly, this might have been my best acquisition yet! I won¡¯t have to worry about freezing to death! Yay! I just have to be careful and not actually start a fire with my mana, merely excite the air particles around me. My perpetual oasis is taking shape! I have water, perpetual warmth, and shade galore! All I¡¯m missing are some friends¡­ OR SOME EXTREMELY CUTE PETS!!! OMG, THEY ARE SO CUTE! I¡¯ve always loved cats as pets! The benefits of having a cat is great too! OMG, I need to somehow tame these guys! I wish I could hold them, or see what they looked like. But I¡¯m straining my to it¡¯s max! I can see each piece of fur, and each feather on their wings! One of them has a huuuuuge mana presence, I don¡¯t know how he¡¯s doing it, but it still can¡¯t compete to mine right now. While his mana is forming a large ball around him, mine is like a giant cloud, barely contained to the clearing. I am a large organism without the ability to absorb 99.8% of the mana I generate haha, so this much is reasonable. At least I can control it from whipping around violently, but that¡¯s about it. The other one has a very tight control on his mana, keeping it all within his skin, with only a small portion wrapping tightly on the surface. Now that¡¯s commendable, it looks like the difference between bashing and piercing. At least it makes it easy for me to tell them apart, though I wonder why they came here? I guess if I want to keep them I should provide them some shelter and food. Since they are cats my tree¡¯s lofty branches should work for them if I widen a few of them, and maybe put some lower branches out for them to climb up with¡­ as for fruit, maybe something like a small melon, or a peach? I¡¯m pretty sure that any animal can eat these without fear, I know that all animals like pecans, but I don¡¯t really want to have nuts on my tree. At least not yet. And apple trees aren¡¯t fantastical at all, so no apples! I want my own type of fruit, and nothing phallic shape. Shit, I need to make a decision fast! The two cats are starting to walk towards my tree, slowly, but still moving forward. Ummm, maybe a combination of a melon peach? I always hated honeydew melons, so I¡¯ll go with a nicer peach texture with a mango flavoring? I¡¯ve always loved mango flavors! Hopefully they like it too! ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Genetic Mutation: Fruit* A sweet tasting fruit. Can be used to give seeds a better starting chance. Cost: 1,000 ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Yea yea, whatever! Just give it to me already! I need to make a good first impression! When they are looking at me I¡¯ll grow two fruits a few branches up, hopefully making them feel safe and at home! This way I¡¯ll have pets, guardians, and a source of carcasses to feed my roots! ¡ª Jard ¡ª We¡¯re here, this mana definitely feels like papa¡¯s! It¡¯s mixed with some other types of energy, but I can tell it¡¯s papa¡¯s! There¡¯s way too much of it though! It¡¯s gone wild like my brother¡¯s! Papa would never let his mana go this wild. While it¡¯s not acting violently, I can tell it¡¯s just ceaselessly flowing away from in front of us. Whatever it is, we need to go in and find out what happened to papa! ¡ª Torgue ¡ª Whoa, papa¡¯s here! He has to be! I can feel him up ahead! ¡®Jard, let¡¯s go! Papa¡¯s up there!¡¯ ¡®Hold on, we need to go slowly, something¡¯s not right. Can you fell all of this mana?¡¯ ¡®Yea, it¡¯s papa¡¯s! There¡¯s a lot of it though, maybe he evolved!¡¯ ¡®Maybe, anyways can you build a bubble of your mana around us? The mana is really strong, and I¡¯m not as good as projecting my mana out as you are.¡¯ ¡®Ok, but let¡¯s hurry! I¡¯m really hungry!¡¯ ¡ª Jard ¡ª With Torgue¡¯s mana around us, we¡¯re slowly walking through a grassy field. It¡¯s a weird field though, with strange bugs flitting around and a large tree in the middle of the clearing. There is only three sounds I can hear in the areas, the swaying of the plants by the wind and the slight buzzing of insects. No birds, beasts, or other animals are anywhere near this field. The tree seems to be where papa¡¯s mana is flowing out of, and to a lesser degree the grass around us. I can feel something watching us, but I can¡¯t see nor sense anything. But this is papa¡¯s mana for sure, I wonder what happened to him? The tree is changing - some branches are growing, and two small, red-orange fruits started growing near a particularly thick branch. This looks like a trap, but I¡¯m so hungry. ¡ª Torgue ¡ª So pretty! This field is so nice and relaxing, especially with papa¡¯s mana everywhere, it feels like home. But I don¡¯t see papa anywhere. Maybe he¡¯s hiding! ¡®Papa! Come out! We¡¯re really hungry!¡¯ Ooh, as soon as I shouted that some fruits started growing on the tree! They look tasty, and there¡¯s a small spring nearby too! This must be a sign that we should wait here for him! ¡®Jard! Let¡¯s go eat those fruits! I¡¯m so hungry, and their is a spring here too! Let¡¯s stay here! Papa¡¯s mana must be here for a reason!¡¯ ¡®I don¡¯t know I don¡¯t know! I don¡¯t know where papa is, and this doesn¡¯t seem like it was done without a reason, but I can¡¯t tell what that reason is!¡¯ ¡®Jard, calm down! This place seems nice, I don¡¯t sense any malice from anything around us!¡¯ ¡®You don¡¯t Torgue? That¡¯s good, at least that answers some questions, tell me that first next time! If you can¡¯t feel any malice around us, then for sure there isn¡¯t any! Still take it careful though, but I agree, let¡¯s eat!¡¯ ¡®Yay!¡¯ ¡ª POV Mathias ¡ª Yes! They¡¯re climbing - ouch - my tree! Stupid claws, looks like I need thicker bark zzz¡­ Success! After a few tentative nibbles, they¡¯re eating the fruit I dropped to them! Fortunately there isn¡¯t any pain from dropping fruit, since I¡¯m supposed to do it naturally anyways. Poor guys, it looks like they¡¯re all tuckered out. Their fur is all matted together, and they have branches and sticks tangled up in there too. Sigh, what am I to do with them. First I should try to establish an with them sot that I can manipu- I mean shower them in love. Actually, why not both! I finally have pets! And as such, pets need training! Hmmm, both seem very weak right now, but they seem to still be able to resist my attempted linking. It might be because they¡¯re still cautious of their surroundings. I guess I¡¯ll grow another set of fruit, and attempt to again gain a link with them. ¡ª Jard ¡ª We both felt a gentle touch, brushing our minds, kinda similar to what we both share, but on a lower level. We instinctively rejected it, it really was weak. ¡®What was that? What was trying to contact us? Do you feel anything Torgue? All I can sense is the mana around us and in the tree.¡¯ ¡®Nothing much, just a vaguely curious, slightly excited something. Nothing bad like papa warned us about, like drakes or things that would eat us.¡¯ ¡®From the strength of the attempt, it must be really weak. I don¡¯t think it¡¯s bad¡­ I might try accepting the request when it comes next time. I wonder what it is?¡¯ No way - two more fruits started to grow when another link started to try to reach me. ¡®It must be this tree! It¡¯s trying to speak with us! There¡¯s nothing else around us - it has to be the tree!¡¯ ¡®I already accepted it, let¡¯s see what it wants.¡¯ Sigh, Torgue, sometimes! I guess I¡¯ll accept it too - it¡¯s not like we don¡¯t know how to rescind it anyways. Let¡¯s see what a tree feels? Next Chapter on Wordpress: HERE! Ch. 26 - Settling In Haha! I told you you''d get 2 chapters a week, and I will not disappoint! Here''s the first chapter! As usual, Chapter 27 is found: HERE In the mean time, Chapter 26 is below! If you see an errors, or edits that should be made, let me know! I read every comment! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ¡ª POV Mathias ¡ª It¡­ it connected! I can feel a link to them! Yes! I officially have pets now! The first step to any relationship is communication! I should send them warm feelings¡­ (Jard) ¡®Hello? Are you the tree? Did you see our papa around here?¡¯ ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ They can speak to me!? How could this happen! I thought I only have ! That should only be able to express and sense emotions! What¡¯s going on! Also, how in the world can I understand them? I need to test if I can communicate with them. ¡®Testing, testing, 1,2,3? Hello? Can you hear me? I¡¯ve never talked with anyone with this - can you hear me?¡¯ ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ Damn, it doesn¡¯t work. Meanwhile they are still both looking at the tree, better reply with how I know I can. First, I¡¯ll give them an emotion for happiness, to signify yes, then sorrow, to signify that their papa is not here anymore. Hopefully they get the message. ¡ª POV Torgue/Jard ¡ª (Torgue) After Jard asked his question, the tree didn¡¯t answer for a little bit, but then it gave off a feeling of happiness then sadness. What does that mean? I wish it would talk with us to make its message clear. ¡®Jard, do you understand what it¡¯s trying to say?¡¯ ¡®I think so Torgue, I think so ¡®sniff¡¯. It¡¯s a tree, so of course it would respond slowly. But I think that it is saying that yes, it is the tree that is talking with us, and that he feels sad about the second part of the message. It could be it feels bad for us for us being lost, or¡­ it means¡­ that it¡¯s sad for papa.¡¯ ¡®NO, Jard! It can¡¯t be! I can feel papa! He can¡¯t be dead! He has to be here somewhere!¡¯ ¡®I can feel him too, but there isn¡¯t any other reason for the tree to answer that way unless he¡¯s gone!¡¯ ¡®¡­ Maybe, maybe Jard,maybe he is dead, but his spirit lives on! Maybe the tree absorbed part of him and they combined somehow! This has to be it, this has to be it!¡¯ ¡®Torgue, calm down! I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s possible, we can ask the tree and see if it can tell us about papa! I miss him just as much! ¡®Sniff¡¯. I really hope he lives on somehow¡­¡¯ (Torgue) ¡®Tree, are you papa? You¡¯re papa, right?¡¯ ¡ª Mathias ¡ª Awww, poor kittens. ¡®Sniff¡¯ I could hear what they were arguing about, but I can¡¯t speak with them¡­ Little guys, I may not be your ¡®papa¡¯, but I can be your new ¡®papa¡¯. I¡¯ll take care of you guys. I¡¯ll give them just a happy emotion, that way, in the future, I can decide to tell them the truth if I feel it¡¯s right. Otherwise, these guys need a father figure, a safe place to rest, and food, something that I can provide. And once I can control my leaves better, I can pet them!!! They look so soft, I miss sitting at my computer with a lap cat to stroke when I needed a break. Yes, my new pets-I mean sons, I will be your papa. Depend on me, and protect me, and I shall give the stars to you. ¡ª POV Torgue/Jard ¡ª (Jard) It¡­ could it be¡­ papa? I know it¡¯s different, but I¡¯ve never heard of a sentient tree before that could speak. I¡¯ve heard of Dryads being able to commune with trees, but only in very simplistic means. Actual answers to our questions, and while slow for us, immeasurably faster than Dryads¡¯ trees, is unheard of. (Torgue) ¡®Papa! Yay, papa¡¯s here! Papa¡¯s here! He¡¯s different, but he¡¯s still here! No one else has this type of mana, it fits! Right Jard!?¡¯ ¡®I think¡­ it might be him! He¡¯s changed, but you¡¯re right, his mana is here, and he gave us food and tried to talk with us! I think¡­ We¡¯re home!¡¯ ¡®Yay! We¡¯re finally¡­ home¡­ zzzzzzzzzz¡¯ ¡ª Mathias ¡ª Aww, they fell asleep on top of each other, how cute. It looks like I¡¯ve successfully filled in their father role. It¡¯s a shame that I can¡¯t talk with them, but when I get the opportunity to I¡¯ll truthfully tell them that he and I merged to become one, which is basically what happened. In a really dumbed-down way. I mean, there is part of him inside of me, his mana, so I¡¯m not lying, just stretching the truth. Either way, I cant wait to have some entertainment from them in my glade! No more boring days wasting away! I got used to all of my near-life ending dangers, and with nothing distracting me, I¡¯ve just been vegging out watching the wind blow my leaves around. A man can only take so much magic training, guard training, growing, optimizing, and planning for the future before he starts to burn out. With this, I can relieve my boredom without doing much and take much needed breaks from my solitude. I¡¯m still scared shitless, well, at least that¡¯s what my other thought-process keeps informing me. I also got their names from their dialogue - Jard and Torgue, awful names if I do say so myself. I wanted to use Yin and Yang, but they are actually not that far off in personality, it doesn¡¯t fit my view of Yin and Yang. Torgue looks like a tiger, but I can¡¯t call him Tigger due to the lack of black stripes¡­ What about Blaze? Nah, too chuunibyou. Fine, King it is. He has the bearing and the presence of one anyways with that awful pressure. I¡¯m an emperor, or sovereign, so it would look bad if I didn¡¯t have any Kings under me haha. Now for Jard, there¡¯s so many cool names for black cats and Jaguars, but which one should I use? It can¡¯t be something evil, both of these cats are really nice and cute. Damnit, I can¡¯t think of a cool name that isn¡¯t taken by crappy teenage books or overused in media! I can¡¯t very well give one a nickname and not the other, fuuuu. I guess they both get to keep their names due to my ineptitude, this is depressing¡­ ¡®Sniff¡¯ Back to reality! Since they¡¯re sleeping, I should start on my priority goal: being able to pet my two new cats! I have reactive and fast growth, but actually wiggling around is really limited. I even have spines I can soften in order to brush their hair with, but no fine-motor control. I can¡¯t think of any plants that do what I want, damnit! I¡¯ll have to see if I can evolve that ability using normal means instead of knowing the specific genes that activate it. I hope this gamble pays off - usually anytime I¡¯ve done this it comes with both pluses and minuses. Hopefully the minuses are minuscule, or don¡¯t affect me. Guess I should check it out! ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Genetic Mutation: Dexterous Movement Grants the ability to quickly and finely manipulate your body. The larger the body part, the slower it moves. Cost: 450 ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª That¡­ Seems reasonable! Woohoo! Nice! Instant buy! Ok, I should test this out first¡­ Yes! I can wave my body all around! Nice! Can¡¯t wait to bitch slap some fools with my mighty serrated blades of doom! Also, I finally get to pet my new pets! Let¡¯s move this branch¡­ ¡®Crack¡¯ ¡­ ow ¡­ You¡¯ve gotta be FUCKING KIDDING ME! What the fuuuuuuuck, that hurt so bad! Argggghhhhhh!!!! Note to self: Branches with bark on it will fucking HURT when bent or broken. Shit. Stupid ability didn¡¯t tell me that! So only my roots and non-bark stems can be moved without damaging myself. At least the damage isn¡¯t too bad - just one of my branches cracked all the way around. It¡¯s like having a cracked lip that was healing then suddenly opening your mouth as large as you can, opening all of the cracks and just calling yourself a dumb mother-fucker. Looks like I need special moving branches, kinda like vines, that I can manipulate without cracking open my skin and bleeding. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! And¡­ There we go, a stem for each of them with a hardened-spine comb and small tendrils at the end to pick off any bugs or twigs from within their fur. They¡¯re so passed out that they aren¡¯t even moving when I¡¯m picking out the debris that¡¯s caked in their fur, in fact they¡¯re snuggling closer together. Ahhh, this is bliss! Pure bliss! Hmmm, but I can¡¯t see these thorns doing any damage to these guys, and they are even little cubs. I¡¯ve been wondering what to do about my abysmal attack power - right now all I really have is poisons. I could use spells, but all I¡¯ve really done is nit-pick about what symbols I use and trying to increase my efficiency. I¡¯ve mastered the most basic of spells in earth, water, air, light, and ice. I haven¡¯t made much inroads into dark, fire, and lightning. Dark because I have no idea what symbol I should use, the closest I could think of was a skull or a spooky ghost. No way am I going to try to use a pentagram in there - that¡¯s definitely dark, but it might be like a summoning type of spell. Plus, they might throw fire when they are summoned! So I¡¯m stuck, both symbols are abysmally poor at producing a magical effect. I can barely get anything to happen with them. For fire and lightning, it should be obvious. Both are mortal enemies to my species - like hell I¡¯m going to catch my field on fire! Those magics can just stay in my ignorance field for now. But the rest I¡¯ve managed to make a small ball of the element appear. My offensive options that I should work towards should be either earth, water, or ice. But I have a problem with ice - since I can¡¯t control my mana very far from my body, it gets really cold on my leaves and it ends up damaging my leaves and it hurts. As for water, I would either need to use a lot of it, or maybe use a little, high pressure jet of it. Neither of which I can do. My mana pool is still abysmal¡­ I can only hold 25 mana now, and when I¡¯m using my mana it doesn¡¯t regenerate. Sigh. A simple costs me 5 mana, controlling more water quickly drains all of my mana, and it¡¯s still a small amount. As for a water jet, all the power I could put into it was only at the level of a water pick, great for shooting down annoying flies, not much else. I have been using it for training my guards though, it¡¯s improved their reaction speed by quite a bit! Haha, they should be ready for an attack from any angle! They are the current first and last lines of defense! I tried casting more than one spell at a time, giving them more of a challenge, which actually worked thanks to my ability! But, again, my mana pool restricts my abilities a lot. Earth magic is probably my best chance at damaging an enemy with my limited mana pool. Speaking of mana pools, do these two little tykes have mana stones? Yes, yes they do. Sigh. Now I have to be ultra protective of them. Hopefully I can protect them when the time comes! But I still don¡¯t want to have one¡­ Well, maybe one? On my tree? That could work, but not right now. In the future I¡¯ll probably grow one, but I¡¯m still afraid of what may happen. Even though it would be sad, if people come to hunt these guys and kill them, I still need to survive. I need to be able to cut my losses and restrict the damage done to my main body. It¡¯s fine if they destroy the tree looking for mana stones, and if they don¡¯t find any it might make them go away. But if they find even one, I¡¯m sure those greedy bastards would for sure look all over the field and start digging up the ground, I might even be killed! That¡¯s a no-no! Their mana stones are pretty normal and what I would expect. The powerful fire and light mana in Torgue and the stealthy, compressed power of fire and dark. They must have gotten the fire aspect from their father, but I wonder what their mother looked like? Something with wings, or maybe the males and females look different? I don¡¯t think that guy had wings¡­ but he was hurt before he came here, maybe he lost them? He was a dog type though, and these are definitely cats¡­ Fuuu, without information it¡¯s useless to conjecture further. I¡¯ll just assume they are some hybrid of some sort. With Earth Magic I can definitely do some damage, and it¡¯s perfect for traps! Some pits covered by my roots and some dirt can capture wild animals, if they ever come, to feed my two new pets. Spiked traps can be used for enemies of the state, I¡¯m sure growing a mana stone in the middle of one would attract and fuckers that want to die. When/if I decide to get mana stones. I guess I should start practicing Earth magic to kill my enemies. I can mold the earth using my , without symbols or anything, but it won¡¯t be super efficient for the future. If I learn the spells via symbols, I can see how the mana flows and does its thing, then I can apply it to just learning it naturally. However, doing the other way doesn¡¯t work very well since it doesn¡¯t help me put the symbol in the right place, or even find the correct symbol to use. With my , it takes a lot more attention than drawing circles does. Leaving some of the processing to the spell helps a lot, even if it¡¯s not as mana efficient. If anything, I have mana to spare! Well, it replenishes really quickly. But mostly it¡¯s time and processing efficient. Hmmm, so a pit. What symbol should I use? Ah, an engineering symbol for a hole! I can imagine cross-hairs over a circle, and imagine those cross-hairs on the ground signifying where the hole should go! Perfect! Damn, just that symbol didn¡¯t work, the mana just fizzled. I guess I need the earth symbol in there too. Since earth is the main component, I should have that in the middle, but how do I put in the other symbol? Hmmm¡­ It¡¯s lopsided no matter where I put it¡­ I¡¯m trying to remember how the wizard made his¡­ It looks like I¡¯m missing connecting lines. But how do I connect the symbols together and balance the power¡­ Damnit, magic is hard. ¡­ ¡­ Finally, after the 20th time, I found a configuration that worked! Haha, once again, I prove myself a magical genius! I ended up drawing a triangle around the central earth symbol, with three smaller pit symbols filling up the corners. With this, using up all of my mana, a small pit is formed by compressing the earth around, and creating stones as well. It¡¯s still easy for me to pierce through with my roots, but it should keep anything I trap inside for me to flood the area with a toxin. I think for now I¡¯ll keep my pits nonlethal, and just create spikes or poison to kill my trapped game. Now for spikes! Hmmm¡­ This should be easy! A spike symbol is a fucking spike hahahaha! Just substitute the pit symbol for a spike symbol¡­ and voila! I can create a small spike! Again, it took all of my mana, but I made a sharp, hard spike appear! Nice! I have passive defenses and active offensive magic now! Yes! Chapter 27! HERE Ch. 27 - The Forceful Winds of Change Thanks for all of the support everyone! I''m glad I can continue writing for you all! Leave a rating/comment if you enjoy it or have any suggestions, comments, or edits! And, as I promised, the 2nd chapter of the week! Woohoo! Link to Chapter 28: A Worthy Sin, HERE! ------------------------------------------------------- ¡ª POV Mathias ¡ª My two cats are frolicking about my field, chasing an aggressive hog around. That stupid fucking hog woke me up from my sleep, digging up my roots near the edge of the field. Apparently, since I¡¯ve been stockpiling my natural energy, or GP, even dispersing my energy throughout my roots has given me a healthy glow everywhere. It apparently even got to the point that the cubs, Jard and Torgue, woke up and said ¡®Pretty¡¯ as they looked up at my tree and throughout the grassy field. It made me feel pretty accomplished, if I do say so myself. I thought it wouldn¡¯t matter that much, due to my mana aura being large and imposing, but apparent fucking-ly, pigs are fucking greedy and thought it could come munch on my grassy toes. Fuck that, I grumbled to my new guards, and had them work in tandem with my Slaughter guards, with their offspring watching from the side. My original 13 are about the size of an apple now, and each are fast, strong, and can use some simple magic. The younger generation is slightly weaker, but more specialized. They work better in small teams. Of course, I base this only on their effective ability to attack small birds that fly close that I deem ugly or potentially hazardous, like woodpecker-like birds. I did, at first, have trouble teaching the cubs that the bugs were our friends, and not ¡®tasty treats¡¯, but thankfully with some disappointing tones, and showing favoritism to the bugs when the cubs tried to eat them, they learned to only ¡®play¡¯ with them. This still involved them frightening them to death, but on the other hand it did make my bugs fly faster all around. While the other bugs have been terrorized - I mean trained, June¡¯s taken to hiding within Jard¡¯s fur, blending in. At first Jard wasn¡¯t too keen on letting June stay, but apparently he learned to appreciate having June take care of him when he rolled around in some grass and got more than a few ticks covering his body. For some reason Torgue and June didn¡¯t have great interactions, maybe because his boisterous, energetic behavior was too much for her and she couldn¡¯t hide on him. Because of that, I¡¯ve reinvented the flea comb and tick remover to take care of him. Occasionally one or two of the other Slaughter Guards, or their brood, may come over and help, but it can¡¯t be helped if they fly away before they are done due to him running off. Back to the stupid boar, it¡¯s really sloppy. Their teamwork is okay, with Torgue slashing at its flanks, chasing the boar, and bleeding him out. It¡¯s also good for my roots - I can already start to feel the increased GP I¡¯m accumulating. Jard runs off to the side a bit, every once in a while jumping onto the back of the boar, or trying to attack the jugular. My Slaughter Guards are running distraction, flying in front, landing on its face, goading and confusing the boar. But they are just big bugs, they can¡¯t do much damage to the boar. Even the two cubs, while their small bodies pack a ton of power, their inexperience shows in times like these. Torgue is missing the tendons on the leg, and is only superficially scratching the back legs. He must be trying to imitate something he¡¯s seen before, but the damage is minimal at this state. Jard is also trying to copy someone, but is missing the fleshy part of the neck and is instead only biting the shoulder meat or bone. I wish I could give pointer, but being mute and all doesn¡¯t help much. They will have to learn how to fight by themselves, the best I can do is give them encouragement when they need it. Of course, I¡¯m ready at any time to activate one of my several pits I¡¯ve dug around the area, but this is good practice for them, so I¡¯ll leave them to it. Should be any time now, oooh, the boar is going into a raged state, it¡¯s not running anymore and it¡¯s making some impressive squeaking noises¡­ ah! Torgue got to one of the tendons on its hind leg, it can¡¯t run anymore, that¡¯s why it¡¯s digging in! This is when a hog is at its most dangerous! I need to send them caution emotions and my true worrying emotion! I¡¯m ready with an earth spell prepped, it just needs a last surge of mana to activate it. Shit, this is tense! It¡¯s an old-fashioned stare-down! It looks like they don¡¯t know what to do at this stage - may the force be with you young padawans. I wonder what they will do now? Technically they could just harass the boar and wait for it to bleed out, but something¡¯s telling me that the boundless energy f cubs won¡¯t translate well into waiting¡­ and as I though, there they go, fuuuu. Man, I forgot how fast they can run! They¡¯re doing lightning-quick attacks, in and out, in and out. It¡¯s needlessly done, however they are doing it fairly skilled. Several times they¡¯ve barely dodged counter-attacks, and¡­ wait a second, damn, they aren¡¯t as skilled as I thought. My Slaughter Guards are helping them out by sitting on their bodies, and when they boar gets too close they jump out at the eyes to scratch. It¡¯s pretty gruesome, but effective. The boar is blind now, uselessly flailing around, tearing up¡­ my roots. Damnit, they always say parenting hurts, but come on! I¡¯m sure they weren¡¯t actually talking about your kids taking their nails and scraping off your skin as they run around, geez! In that time, it appears that they actually managed to bleed the hog out. Haaa, really? Torgue is standing up all proud, like he did everything hahaha! That¡¯s the way Jard! He tackled him over, and now they¡¯re play wrestling. Really, after that long chase, they still have this much energy? The spirit of youth is strong with these two. Oh well, I gotta take care of the hog anyways. If I leave it to them, they¡¯ll just get all bloody and the carcass won¡¯t be cleaned properly. Besides, I don¡¯t want my pets to get sick from biting the intestines, or eating the balls of the hog. Gross. Not while I¡¯m here. While I can¡¯t lift the hog, I can drag it towards the spring so that I can clean and gut the beast. They¡¯ll still have to eat it raw, I¡¯m still not allowing fire magic around me. No way. Thankfully, I have , along with my hardening and thorn skills, so cutting the hog is easy, especially since I can apply a lot of roots to help apply pressure. I can¡¯t lift the hog physically to bleed it, but I expertly (Well, I really just made a huge gash) cut the neck of the hog and made a small pit below it to hold the pouring blood. Hopefully it¡¯s enough. By now the two cubs have come over and are looking at the boar with shining eyes, wanting to jump at it. Sheesh, even me giving them a stern emotion, and trying to signify waiting is needed, they look like they¡¯ll pounce at any moment. Guess there¡¯s no use. I¡¯ll slice off a leg for each of them to eat and play around with. AFTER I wash it though, even though it¡¯s hard, I¡¯m trying to eradicate ticks and fleas from the area. They don¡¯t eat plants, so I can only poison them from the air, but that may bring about a disaster, so I¡¯m holding off on that side of things. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. There, take it you greedy cubs! Not even waiting for me to finish preparing it, You¡¯re lucky I even cut off the scent glands from the legs! I¡¯ll have to make sure later to somehow get them clean again¡­ sigh. Looks like they¡¯re enjoying the meat at least, so cute. They really are more like tigers and jaguars, they chew on the bones a lot, and don¡¯t seem to play with their food so much. Now that the meat is bled out, I can skin the pelt off to give them a warm, soft space to sleep in. But it probably smells, and even though I can¡¯t smell, I don¡¯t want my tree to be know as a smelly tree in the future. I¡¯ll try and prepare the pelt as best I can, but I really don¡¯t know much other than it needs pee to cure it or something. Ammonia, I think, but I¡¯m not sure. I¡¯ll just rub it all along some of my grass after I thoroughly scrub it in the water and dry it using some of my fire mana. I still can¡¯t get over that - the dichotomy of grass having the ability to cast fire magic¡­ It¡¯s ridiculous! Natural selection is probably frowning at me right now, I¡¯m a blight that goes against the grain. After the pelt, comes the meat. I don¡¯t really have the ability to cure it correctly, but by digging a pit, and filling it with a ton of ice spells, then sealing it off, I have a primitive freezer! The meat does get mightily freezer-burned, but it¡¯s better than leaving most of it to waste! I also siphon off a small bit of meat for my Slaughter Guards to munch on. They¡¯re draining me dry of my sap, they¡¯ve gotten so big! I need to subsidize my costs somehow, and this is the best way, well, the best way I can think of! Now that that is taken care of, I guess I should continue expanding my area of influence. Slowly, I¡¯ve been spreading my tree roots further and further underground and further and further around, I think I¡¯ve managed to spread for about a mile now. I can¡¯t really feel along these branches unless I forcefully think about it, but I¡¯m slowly expanding my awareness. Right now the best I can tell, without focusing, is how damp or dry the ground is, and whether the area is higher or lower than I am. I really just let my instincts guide my growth their - some of the benefits of being a plant, the roots naturally wind around nutrients, and naturally try to spread as far as possible under my directive. I can taste the different metal compounds below me, and can tell, due to a root withering, or a root not reacting, or a root wrapping even more tightly around the metal, what kinds of metals they are for the most part. Bad metals are metals like cadmium, copper, mercury, lead, etc. Good metals are stuff like calcium, magnesium, or zinc. The neutral metals could be anything, so I¡¯m not bothering with them. I mark them with a potato, but that¡¯s it. I¡¯ll leave them alone for now. Things are on the up and up! Nothing can go wr-. Nope, not gonna say it. Hopefully I stopped in time. I¡¯m already sweating, that sequence of words is a herald of change, damnit. I was just feeling good! ¡­ Pheew, nothing¡¯s popped out and scared me yet! Jard and Torgue are lazily gnawing on their bones¡­ I think Jard even fell asleep with the bone in his mouth. Ah, a nice breeze even started¡­ hopefully not a wind of change! NO, I¡¯m fine here! Go away. Fuuuu, Fuuuu! Damn having no mouth, I can¡¯t blow the wind back. Great. Maybe if I ignore it the wind will just go away. ¡­ Fuck, it just grew stronger, as if to slap me in the face! Hmmm, rain? Oh fuck, this is a storm, a really strong storm. ¡®Boom¡¯ Oh shit oh shit oh shit, one of my tree neighbors just exploded when it was struck by lightning! Damnit, the absolute predator of trees, lightning has struck! Poor cubs are in misery, huddling in my branches, I need to act quickly before they get injured! I need to provide a low-resistance channel for a lightning strike to go into the ground. I don¡¯t have time to make a metal lightning rod, nor even the right metals probably. Something I can do is make a salt-ion mixture of sap that will flow near the edge of my bark to guide the electricity down and around my two pets, all the while keeping the damage minimal from my core. My trunk is creaking and cracking as I quickly make a small tube without planning inside of my trunk. It hurts, but I have to do this! I can¡¯t build this all the way to the top, so- ¡®BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM¡¯ ¡®CRASH¡¯ It worked, it hurt like hell, part of my trunk blew up, but at least these two cubs are safe. I need to quickly activate my regeneration to the max so I can quickly heal that channel back up and continue protecting my pets. After that, I¡¯m going to pass out, goodbye world¡­ zzzzz¡­ ¡ª Taeya ¡ª It¡¯s been a week since I ran away from my village. I can¡¯t call it home, since I never felt as if the people there truly cared about me. So that¡¯s what I decided to look for, a place to call home. I don¡¯t know where I am, all I know is that I am miles away from their hurtful stares. They can¡¯t hurt me anymore. A terrible storm hit, I nearly drowned from the raging rainstorm and nearly died to the many lightning strikes that hit the trees around me. I barely survived, but I¡¯m pretty scraped up. I¡¯m so hungry, I¡¯ve never felt these pangs to this extreme before. I¡¯ve tried eating from roots and berries, but they aren¡¯t enough, but they are all I have. The water in the streams are hit and miss, I could be fine, or I could be bowled over with cramps throwing up. The rain forcefully hydrated me, so that can be seen as a blessing at least. There¡¯s also been several times when a beast seemed to be close, I could sometimes hear rustling in the bushes, but I never saw what it could be. Each time I heard a twig snap or leaves crunch I would run to a hole, a burrow, or up a tree and not move for hours. Luckily, whatever monsters in the forest I heard did not take an interest in me. I don¡¯t know how much longer I can go on - my vision is showing black spots when I walk, I¡¯ve fainted innumerable times, but I just want to find a home. It¡¯s been dark in this forest for so long, and I feel so cold, but I see something twinkling ahead. Maybe, maybe this¡­ is where¡­ I can be at peace. Find Chapter 28, A Worthy Sin, HERE! Ch. 28 - A Worthy Sin ¡ª Taeya ¡ª Is this a bone? There might be a monster ahead¡­ nooo¡­ I just want to see, hopefully it doesn¡¯t notice me, or at least grants me a quick death. I don¡¯t know how much further I can go - my old injuries are acting up. My bones hurt, my muscles ache, I can barely see, but that enticing shimmering ahead is just drawing me in. I just want to see what can create such a beautiful effect¡­ Please¡­ Wow, so beautiful. I¡¯m here, this place, ¡®sniff¡¯, is everything that I never had. I feel at peace¡­ ¡­¡¯thud¡¯ Zzzzzzzz¡­ ¡ª POV Torgue ¡ª Stupid Jard, I know he hid my bone over here somewhere. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Just because I accidentally stepped and broke his bone, he tackles me and we fight for awhile, but then he ran off with my bone! There was still some tasty stuff on the inside! I wasn¡¯t done with it! Rrrrrrgghh. Then he went and hid himself, I can¡¯t even pin and make him tell me where he put it! Ugggh. At least he couldn¡¯t have hid it very far, we usually don¡¯t leave the glade very far, unless it¡¯s to hunt some small animals to eat. It seems that at first there wasn¡¯t very many animals around, not even birds, but slowly animals have started to come closer again, thank goodness! I like the fruits papa makes us, but nothing beats the taste of meat! Hmm, what is that? It¡¯s dirty and smells, and it seems to be holding my bone. Gross. This is rare, it hasn¡¯t run away from me yet! This is new! Maybe I can have another friend! Awww, it fell over for some reason. I don¡¯t sense any mana inside of it, so maybe it ran out and came here to get some more? Or maybe it¡¯s just tired, I guess I should drag it back to papa! He¡¯ll definitely be proud of me! But eeewwwww, I¡¯ll have to bite it¡¯s covering to drag it over! Yuck! Maybe I can grab my bone¡­ Good! It seems to have a solid grip on my bone, so I won¡¯t have to taste or smell it very much. It¡¯s very light, so it¡¯s easy to drag it over to papa, but there¡¯s a lot of roots and rocks in the way that keep catching on it. I should go and get Jard to help. ¡ª Jard ¡ª Stupid Torgue, he broke the bone papa gave to me. So I took his bone as compensation, but then he started to chase me! It¡¯s only fair that it should be my bone now, plus his still had some tasty stuff inside, mine had just run out. But it¡¯s still fair! I didn¡¯t go and break his bone. I hid it from him for now, I¡¯m already full anyways. I¡¯ll come back and sneak it away later, hopefully he forgets about it soon. ¡®Jaaaaard, where are you? I found my bone already, but there¡¯s something weird here! Come help me!¡¯ Hmmm¡­ this could be a trap! There¡¯s no way he could have found my bone with my supreme hiding skills! Rrrgggg, but I wonder what he¡¯s found? I didn¡¯t sense any mana coming towards us, so it must not be a monster or anything. Besides, if it was, papa would just dig a big pit under it anyways! He¡¯ll show them who¡¯s boss around here! I saw a large snake get swallowed all at once one time when we were just waking up! Then the ground closed right back over it! Papa¡¯s strong, so if Torgue isn¡¯t calling for papa, but me, it must be something he needs help with that isn¡¯t a monster. I¡¯ll just l eave it to him. He should be fine. But if I just peek¡­ No, no, I¡¯m fine. I don¡¯t need to go over there. ¡®Jaaaaaaaard! Coooooome oooooon! I¡¯ve never seen this thing before! I can¡¯t move it by myself! Come help!¡¯ I knew it. He did need my help. But he hasn¡¯t seen this thing before¡­ What is it? Eh, I should just wait for him to drag it here himself¡­ I wonder why I¡¯m walking towards him already? I¡¯m definitely not curious about it. But as the older brother I should be there to protect and help Torgue when he needs it! That¡¯s why I¡¯ll go see what it is. ¡®Ok Torgue, I¡¯ll come help you. Stop being so noisy!¡¯ What is that animal? It¡¯s weird and smelly! It¡¯s bigger than us by a little bit, and it¡¯s covered in something weird. It has long fur on it¡¯s head, brown colored, but it seems to be sleeping clutching my bone! I¡¯ll just take this¡­ Grrrr, let go! This is mine! And now Torgue is biting it too! ¡®Thanks for the help Jard! Let¡¯s drag it to papa, maybe he¡¯ll give us each another bone to gnaw!¡¯ That could work, a whole new bone! Drool. ¡®Let¡¯s do it! While we¡¯re dragging it, use your feet to kick the twigs behind us away, that way it won¡¯t get tangled in it!¡¯ ¡ª POV Mathias ¡ª Haha, those kids. They got into another spat, this time over a bone. I have tons underground for them to chew on, but I¡¯ve learned before that if you give cats all of the toys at once, they get lazy and then ignore all of the toys. Restricting the rewards keeps them active in hunting and reliant on me! Plus, I get to do some Pavlov training on them. I have a carrot and a stick this way - behave and hunt, you get tasty bones, shelter, protection from dangerous animals that they aren¡¯t ready for, and all they have to do is be cute, cuddly, actively hunt, and not piss and shit on me! Of course, they didn¡¯t know that the grass is me and not the tree, but I didn¡¯t give them any bones for a day and actively sent them a disgruntled emotion until they learned to do their business at the edges of the glade, off of the grass. At first I thought it would be good fertilizer, but just seeing piles of poop is way different than imagining the potential of having it. It also attracted a lot of bugs, which did feed my Slaughter Guards some, but still man. I can¡¯t have poop all over me! It¡¯s fucking gross! After that stupid thunderstorm, it drained a HUGE chunk of my GP to keep regenerating that stupid tree after lightening kept striking me. I kept the cubs safe, but damn, I need to devise a plan to mitigate the damage from thunderstorms more effectively. If I found some gold, I think I can mold it to create a simple lightning rod. It¡¯d be a huge waste of precious metal, but anything is better than passing out from pain and wasting so much of my hard-earned energy damnit! It¡¯ll be one of my neutral metals I have wrapped up underground. I¡¯ll have to bring up some of the smaller chunks of metal I have underground and have them detail me the properties of the metal, like color and weight. I¡¯ve been able to convey more and more specific meanings from my thoughts to them, but I¡¯m not sure if it¡¯s my skill that¡¯s evolving, or if I¡¯m just getting more used to the . I looked while in my into why I can understand the two cubs, but even with additional information, it didn¡¯t tell me anything about language comprehension. It is probably part of an ability that they have, and not on my end. Something that allows you to communicate the meaning of your thoughts, which is conveyed in a form that I can understand. If that¡¯s the case, then I have hope to naturally obtaining the ability without having to another beast! While my roots slowly bring up some metal, I guess I can continue practicing my magic spells? Fire and electricity are out still, I still get shivers from thinking about that lightening and the pain I felt. Stupid me for building my tree just slightly taller than the other trees out of my need to be better than them. Add that to the fact that I¡¯m on a hill, then no matter what I did, I¡¯d get struck. So this leaves me with Dark magic. There¡¯s two problems I have with it that I¡¯ve verified. One, I don¡¯t know what the true meaning of Dark is to magic. There are so many different ways it¡¯s been utilized that it¡¯s giving me a headache. It¡¯s been used to symbolize death, decay, poison, curses, stealth, blood magic, demons, teleportation, and even necromancy! I just don¡¯t know which one I should try to use first. My view of darkness is the absence of light, or absorption, so I want to try that out first, but that leads to problem two: the symbol. The Yin Yang symbol didn¡¯t work, and I think I know why. The symbol represents TWO energies mixing, so if I draw one, the other side, in negative space, is still there. But since I only am trying to bring forth Yin, then it doesn¡¯t work and sputters out. If I knew the Chinese character for it I think it¡¯d work alright, but I¡¯m not that cultured haha. I just want to create a ball of dark damnit! Ooooh, what about an eclipse? The symbol of darkness eating away at the light! It should work! Come one, come on¡­¡­¡­ Eureka! A dark mana ball appeared in front of me! It seems to be eating any mana and energy that approaches it, and it¡¯s slowly decaying because of it. Darkness must mean the nullification of energy, the eater of anything! Finally, I can turn off my OCD! Other than the fact the ball is slightly smaller than my water ball zzzzzz, leading me to believe it¡¯s not as efficient. I¡¯ll just ignore it for now, and avoid any other potentially dangerous symbols that I could try. This will work for me. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. I¡¯ve been ignoring the Jard and Torgue, but it seems they caught something and are dragging it over. It looks a mess, lots of mud and blood is covering it. It¡¯s still alive, but barely. It has almost zero mana, but it has a tiny bit of each type at least. If I it I should have the capability to gain all of the different mana types! I wonder why they kept it alive, I don¡¯t need it to be alive when I siphon it¡¯s blood out to study? ¡®Papa! We found something! It won¡¯t give me back my bone!¡¯ ¡®Your bone! It¡¯s mine that you stole! Papa, I found it first! I¡¯ll give Jard my bone, but can I get a new one for finding it?¡¯ ¡®No fair! I want a new bone too!¡¯ I knew it, they would throw away their old toys for a new one at a moment¡¯s notice! Looks like I need to take even more care about when I give them a new bone. Well, since it¡¯s not dead, I guess I should wash it first to see what it is. Let¡¯s drag it over to the spring, and¡­ Huh. It¡¯s a kid, would ya look at that. I guess I should give them a couple of new bones for bringing me a human - wait, pointed ears. More pointy than the ears on those adventurers. That means, I¡¯ve found a fabled Elf! Wow, that¡¯s so cool! Shit, I think its drowning, forgot since the kid is unconscious. Let¡¯s cradle the head, take off the rags and get rid of them. There are fleas and a whole bunch of nasty stuff on him. Oh, her. ¡­ Who could have done this to her? Oh my god, this is terrible. Shit, I have to be careful, it looks like she¡¯s been through a lot, she¡¯s covered in so many scars. How can this happen to a little girl like this? Oh my god, what the fuck, her bones¡­ One of her arms looks like it has two elbows, her forearm bent at an odd angle. Her fingers¡­ Her feet¡­ Her rib-cage¡­ Jesus Christ, and she¡¯s so malnourished. I knew this world wasn¡¯t peacrful by the wanton monster slaughtering done by that group of murderers, but this¡­ I though at least this wasn¡¯t here. Slaver, or child abuse, I didn¡¯t even think of that being here in a fantasy world. This world must have been hell for her. Now should I end this hell for her, removing her from this world, or should I try to heal her? Shit, Fuck. This is just too sad. If I try to move her arm, her face scrunches up in pain. Her tendons, muscles, her vascular, and nerve system are totally demolished and hurt in so many ways. Since she¡¯s unconscious, I can make an with her, and maybe see what she¡¯s dreaming, to get a better understanding of what happened to her. ¡­ ¡®Bleurgh.¡¯ I¡¯m vomiting in my mind, just, why? If I saw who did this to her, let¡¯s just say I¡¯d make it extremely painful for them for the next several hundred years. Extremely painful. I¡¯d recreate hell her on this world just to fucking hear them scream to soothe my anger. Those monsters don¡¯t even deserve death, poor child. For now, my anger will have to wait. I need to make a drip full of nutrients for her, stat! A saline, sugar drip into her a vein to stabilize and nourish her body, as well as putting her in a comfortable position. Hmmm¡­ My natural energy has a huge amount of healing properties, but I don¡¯t think it will be able to fix her bones¡­ And even if I use my energy on her, I don¡¯t know if she will live, or want to keep living with her current deformed self. Forgive me God, for I will sin. Without her consent, I will try something that can take her life away, but might also give her a life again. She is a child, born innocent into this world, but the world is dirty, and has ruined her pure form from birth. So I shall take your place, as you have failed her, and try to give her that pureness back again. I will become god in your place, for you are not worthy. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Drug Compounding: Propofol* A general anesthetic for use on animals. Cost: 100 ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Buy. Insert the correct dose for her emaciated weight. Keep a steady, constant amount. Good. Her breathing is getting slower, and she¡¯s not moving. I can begin. I¡¯ve brought her right above my main body, and I have given a bone to each Jard and Torgue to keep them busy. With her body so close, I can utilize 100% of my attention and ability to treat her. I have a small stem/needle placed in drip placed in a vein in her most healthy leg, as her arms need to be fixed first. ¡®Crack¡¯ ¡®Snap¡¯ Now I can splint that arm. And again! ¡®Crunch!¡¯ I need to pulverize the excess bone, position it correctly, and wrap it tightly in my vines. Her body is covered in my grass, trying to keep her wounds from being exposed to the air. One arm, two bones done. This will be a long night. ¡­ It was worse than I though. The damage¡­ Was terrible. I don¡¯t know how she has lived until now, her will to live must be incredible. And she didn¡¯t die during my many operations I had to do. I had to invade her body with a stem and leave to go into her abdomen and fix a lot of internal scarring, just in case my natural energy doesn¡¯t fix the internal damage. It¡¯s finally time. I have her body wrapped and stabilized, but now¡¯s the time to fuse her body with my energy. If I don¡¯t do this, almost certainly her body won¡¯t heal right and she may die while recovering I can¡¯t let that happen. I¡¯ve been holding back from doing this earlier, because I know this will fundamentally change who she is. When I did it to my Slaughter Guards, they gained a portion of my power within them, and have become more in-tune with nature and the flow of its energy. This child already doesn¡¯t have a lot of mana, both a blessing and a curse. If she had more mana, then she would be more able to absorb my natural energy and combine it with her own, or even expel it after it¡¯s done its job. But without it, I fear my sudden influx of energy will completely take over, and affect her body tremendously. I don¡¯t think she would want to become a plant¡­ Damnit, what can I do? This is a crazy idea, but it might work. This will be hard though. If I also infuse and bolster her mana with mana I collect out here, then the mana in her body might be able to assimilate my natural energy into her body without changing her too much. The problem is is that I only have Fire mana while she has all types¡­ I can only influence mana types with spells, so what I need is a big magic circle that¡¯s only job is to collect, segregate, and pour that mana into her body a I force natural energy into her body through her blood. Even if her body can¡¯t handle all of that mana, just like with my Slaughter Guards, my Natural Energy should be able to soothe the absorption and stop it from destroying her body. Fuck whoever did this to her, like really, fuck them. From her dreams I could only feel fear, sadness, and pain. Who could do that to a little girl? I can¡¯t make a magic circle big enough using my mana¡­ Wait, maybe. I need to test this out. If I create the circle using my roots, since I am a huge mana conductor, I should be able to to do this. Let¡¯s try a water spell¡­ YES! It worked!! A water ball appeared! If I create a circle of roots with all of my symbols surrounding her, and visualize the mana entering her body, this should work. It has to, she deserves another chance at life. A 10 foot circle, with her sleeping body in the middle. The symbol in the middle is my own, I¡¯m using a symbol of grass, my personal symbol for the will to live. With my power, and the power of life, I will fix this poor child and giver her a new life! I¡¯ve layered multiple circles, connecting each element to all of the others, as well as two more symbols: I¡¯ve drawn the Libra scales to signify balance and the Caduceus to symbolize healing. No time to experiment. It¡¯s time to activate the circle! First Water, to signify the body. Then fire, to signify the energy in the body. Then Earth, for that is where our bodies are born from. Then air, for it sustains you. Light and Dark to signify the soul, and finally the spark of life, in lightening. The Libra Scales should balance out the necessary mana for her new body, while the Caduceus symbol will blend with my natural energy to heal and calm her body. The mana starts to form a vortex of energy, swirling in towards her body before being moderated by the Libra mana symbol, then forming a cocoon of light. It¡¯s constantly streaming into her body, and all of the mana is starting to cause her body to twitch, now¡¯s the time! I need to quickly inject her with a large influx of natural energy, to stabilize her new body and to start healing her body from the many tortures it¡¯s been through. Come on, work! Work! Be born anew! Ch. 29 - Lax Watch ¡ª POV Gods ¡ª Sin ¨C ¡°I told you guys! Everything is going along just fine! Of course, there was a setback after the dream, but it did it¡¯s job to get us here, to this moment!¡± Karma ¨C ¡°You¡¯re right brother, since we got here to this moment, nothing else really matters. But you still did a lacking job ¨C Fate, Grimm, and I each did our parts perfectly. You¡¯ve definitely lost this round!¡± Fate ¨C ¡°Yea Grimm, it was really hard for us, and it seems like you didn¡¯t pull your weight, hmmmph!¡± Grimm ¨C ¡°Than you brother and sisters for helping me out. I don¡¯t care who did what, after this, we should be able to go back to being carefree again!¡± Karma ¨C Awww, Grimm is just like a puppy, trying to please everyone. But he¡¯s taking away my fun of besting Sin! Grrrrrrr. Sin ¨C ¡°Thanks Grimm, I knew you wouldn¡¯t get caught up on useless details!¡± Karma ¨C ¡°Whatever, and stop gloating about the plan, you and I both came up with it. We had Grimm and I choose two impressionable souls to send to those monsters, to try and keep him tied down and wasting energy on them, that part was an incredible success! Fate just had to tweak that girl¡¯s fate to avoid her certain death from a monster that was originally going to kill her. Stupid girl, she can¡¯t use mana and she can¡¯t feel the mana auras around beasts either. Her latent talent is zero, and she had low Karmic value from her previous life, as she was also weak there. And I guess, Sin, you did do your job with the dream, to temporarily stop him from mobilizing. All of this was to come to this moment, the moment in which he will fall.¡± Sin ¨C ¡°That¡¯s right. Now that the girl and Mr. Grass-man are in contact, the ending is inevitable. Even with the fuzziness in his Fate.¡± Fate ¨C ¡°I told you guys, there¡¯s nothing I can do about that! Once someone has touched a small part of divinity, they slowly release themselves from the shackles of fate. I can¡¯t see any of our fates, and ever since he created those 3 new bug species and evolved into an unseen species, he has been slowly obscuring his fate from my eyes. But I can see this far at least ¨C when he fails her healing ¨C most of our problems will be solved! At least, that¡¯s what you and Karma said after I told you what I could see.¡± Karma ¨C ¡°Yep, that¡¯s right. After he fails healing her, he suddenly realized that he doesn¡¯t actually feel remorse for not being able to save her, and the rage he would normally feel would also be extremely muted. He should then realize that something¡¯s wrong with him, that he¡¯s changing, and he would investigate. Eventually he¡¯ll find out that his soul is really fucked up, and start to try to fix it. Once he starts, he won;t be able to defend in time from the approaching danger, and he¡¯ll die. Win-win for us. Even if he survives the danger, he¡¯ll be cooped up for thousands of years trying to fix his soul, but without help it will take ages and ages, leaving us a lot of leeway with dealing with him.¡± Sin ¨C ¡°Time is our eternal ally ¨C things they can¡¯t do in a lifetime, we can do in a blink of an eye. Our plans can span eons, while they can only think in days. This is our true strength as gods ¨C we shape the world through our machinations. Of course, Mother and Father are able to do whatever they want, but that¡¯s besides the point.¡± Grimm ¨C ¡°So.. That child is gonna die? It doesn¡¯t seem like she¡¯s dying?¡± Fate ¨C ¡°What do you mean? After the mana and nature energy enter her body, without a proper image and enough knowledge, her body explodes from the conflicting energy that has nowhere to go.¡± Grimm ¨C ¡°Ummm¡­ Look.¡± Uh-oh Sin, Karma, Fate, Grimm ¨C ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­ ¡°What is happening!?¡± Karma ¨C ¡°Is this¡­ No, this shouldn¡¯t be possible¡­ That¡­¡± Sin ¨C ¡°This¡­ Should not be possible¡­¡± Grimm ¨C ¡°It looks like she¡¯s being healed?¡± Fate ¨C ¡°Even if it was fuzzy¡­ she should¡­ have¡­ exploded already? What¡¯s going on?¡± Sin & Karma ¨C ¡°Genesis¡­¡± Karma ¨C ¡°Sin¡­ Brother¡­ I¡¯m not dreaming am I?¡± Sin ¨C ¡°Am I dreaming sis? You should have seen this one more time than I have, you are older.¡± Fate ¨C ¡°What are you guys looking at? I¡¯m losing my ability to look at his future ¨C it¡¯s turning gray!¡± Grimm ¨C ¡°Genesis?¡± Karma ¨C ¡°I think that confirms it. He¡¯s¡­ created new life, a species built from the ground up, something only us Gods should be able to do. Look inside of the cocoon. The elements are merging together under the guidance of natural energy ¨C raw primordial energy is the result. Everything is in balance.¡± Sin ¨C ¡°But how? He¡¯s not supposed to be able to do that! We saw ¨C we saw her explode! What the fuck is going on!?¡± Karma ¨C ¡°That magic circle¡­ Those symbols¡­ A protective womb¡­ It¡¯s just like when you were born, complete Genesis.¡± Sin ¨C ¡°If that¡¯s true¡­ Then¡­ We have no choice. We need to go get Mother. She will not be happy that this happened. FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!¡± Fate ¨C ¡°What do you mean? Certainly this part went wrong, but he should still die soon, right? And we can watch the fate of those around him to get a clear picture, right? There¡¯s no need to call Mother just yet, right?¡± Grimm ¨C ¡°Yea, he can still die, right?¡± Sin ¨C ¡°Shut the FUCK UP you two ¨C damnit! Remember how we¡¯ve played pranks on each other before? If someone outside of Fate¡¯s purview alters something, then everything that¡¯s been divined after that action that affects the mortals is worthless.¡± Fate ¨C ¡°¡­ It was you, wasn¡¯t it? It was you that caused my favorite dragon to be captured, wasn¡¯t it! She was supposed to go on for centuries giving me entertainment by slaughtering the weaker races! It took me so long to help her escape!¡± Sin ¨C ¡°Wait, she escaped. Shit. That¡¯s besides the point though, we don¡¯t have time for that.¡± Karma ¨C ¡°Sniff. I don¡¯t want to tell Mother¡­ But if we don¡¯t, then we¡¯ll be in even more trouble. He¡¯s touched the powers of the divine. We alone can¡¯t stop him, under Mother¡¯s orders. If this happened, we have to go tell her.¡± Sin ¨C ¡°Not only that¡­ it¡¯s in our duties to prevent the destruction of a whole race. That girl is a new race. If that girl stays there, we¡¯ll be forced to protect her AND him if we can¡­ FUUUUCK!¡± Grimm ¨C ¡°Ummmm¡­ Hey.¡± Sin, Karma, Fate ¨C ¡°What!?¡± Grimm ¨C ¡°Something else is happening. What is that?¡± Fate ¨C ¡°I¡¯ve never seen that before. I mean, I¡¯ve seen those black flames before, that¡¯s nothing but magic. But¡­¡± Sin ¨C ¡°I¡¯ve never seen that violet, cloying energy before though.¡± Karma ¨C ¡°There¡¯s always a cost¡­¡± Sin ¨C ¡°What do you mean Karma?¡± Karma ¨C ¡°It¡¯s from before you were born. When Mother and Father were running around creating everything, they taught me the ropes while they were at it. Whenever mom would create something, something else would be born as well. It wasn¡¯t instantaneous, but it was inevitable. That¡¯s why Father would always follow Mother around, so that he could remove these remnants from the worlds that she created. I don¡¯t know what Father did with them, but he never missed even one iota of the remnants. This is bad, this is why Mother and Father put us in charge of watching the various worlds they created, to prevent this.¡± Sin ¨C ¡°It can¡¯t be that bad, can it? I mean, look, it was only there for a moment!¡± Karma ¨C ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. This is just the prelude to something far worse. Right now it¡¯s formless, and gone, but it has already been born. Now if something can give it shape, a mind, then unspeakable horror will reign. Father showed me once, when Mother was busy, what would happen if he let one of those remnants gain form. He forbade me from interfering, and only let me watch. MADE me watch. It only took a few millennium ¨C the world turned into a desert planet, with only these things running around. It was one of Mother¡¯s worlds, one that she hand-crafted for it¡¯s beautiful, but delicate balance of nature. It was peaceful before this remnant energy was released and corrupted the beings on the planet. This energy does not balance in a traditional sense ¨C it tries to balance the potential of the creation that spawned it. It goes against nature. If a species is created that has the potential to colonize a planet, even if they don¡¯t, the remnant energy will corrupt beings and give them the ability to devastate planets. After Mother saw what happened to her planet, she wept for millions of years she made Father promise not to do that again. Seeing Mother¡¯s state, Father obliterated the planet, one second it was there, and another is was plucked out of the Heavens and made to disappear. This is really serious ¨C Mother will be furious at us if another planet is forced to be destroyed. And Father¡­¡± If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Fate ¨C ¡°We should have called Mother when he managed to guide evolution with his bugs! When his fate first got fuzzy! I trusted you guys! This is really bad!¡± Grimm ¨C ¡°Yea! You two need to go tell Mother while we stay here and make sure nothing else happens! You two hoodwinked us, making us think you knew what you were doing! We can¡¯t deal with this, we didn¡¯t know!¡± Karma ¨C ¡°Of course none of you knew, only I knew, but we couldn¡¯t see if this would happen or not¡­ But Sin, before we go see Mother, I think these two need to be reeducated first. They¡¯ve totally lost their cuteness factor ¨C they actually are daring to try to bite our helping hands.¡± Sin ¨C ¡°Sigh, familial love sure turns thin when trouble is brewing. And their promises from before also seem to have been forgotten. It does, indeed, look like we¡¯ll need to reeducate our younger siblings. I can cheat and borrow a small bit of power to form a time dilation that will allow them, hmmm, let¡¯s say 100,000 years of reeducation from the two of us? That seem fair?¡± Karma ¨C ¡°Yea, they¡¯ve really pissed me off this time. Your power to cheat sure comes in handy sometimes, we¡¯re going to have so much fun!! I¡¯m gonna need these good spirits before going to Mother anyways¡­¡± ¡ª POV Liza ¡ª I miss my small room at the castle. At least there I didn¡¯t have to be a guard, cart driver, cook, and maid for a super powerful lecherous magician and a super prim and proper Princess that puts my looks to shame. Mr. King, I can¡¯t convince them to turn back like you asked. They act like I can make decisions, but really my choices don¡¯t matter. They just want me to take care of dealing with other guards and the like. I can¡¯t even decide which towns we visit, or the roads we take. I try to keep up with sending reports to the King about our destinations and whereabouts, but for some reason when we leave a town the birds die or disappear. I¡¯m beginning to think this whole expedition is cursed. I thought that was bad, but things are even worse at night. I thought we would be able to share a tent at night, since we¡¯re all girls. I won¡¯t forget that night that I almost lost my chastity. We were all getting dressed for the night, when Rose came up behind me and started to give me a massage, since, in her words, I worked so hard that day. I couldn¡¯t say no, even though she¡¯s so much higher stationed than me. It really felt good, but for some reason, a reason I would learn later, Princess Cirili was eyeing me with pity. After the massage, Rose told Cirili to get in the same blanket as part of their deal. They took all of the blankets, and Rose said that we¡¯d share, since there wasn¡¯t enough blankets for all of us to stay warm without sharing some body heat. Of course I went with it, I didn¡¯t think anything of it. The nights are slowly getting colder, so it¡¯d be cold if we didn¡¯t share the blankets together. Then Rose started to get closer, and closer, and hugged me, ¡°for warmth¡±. As I was dozing off, she started to¡­ do things that made me feel good, and in my sleep muddled state I just let it happen. Thankfully the Princess had to go to the bathroom, and let in a breeze of cold air, quickly snapping me awake and I realized my current situation. I quickly jumped up and ran outside to cool down, it was a very cold night that night. At the next town I bought a big blanket just for myself, so only on the coldest nights will I go inside the tent. The constant complaints and moans I hear from the Princess and Rose reminds me every night. It never seems to go beyond a point, but I¡¯m afraid of where it might lead to. It already gets crazy when I go in, and I feel good, but I¡¯m straight! I like men who can at least spar with me at an even level. With delicate hands and soft skin¡­ No! They¡¯ve got me all confused now! I can¡¯t give up! I need to resist! I gotta remain firm! My innocence is at stake! I need to release my frustrations somewhere though! ¡°Attack!¡± Ah, bandits! Perfect! Usually I can take care of them with a bow, but I think it¡¯s time to beat some people up! ¡°Oh, bandits? Rose, Liza, I¡¯ll be taking care of this. I need to get rid of some stress!¡± But, but¡­ I wanted to! No fair! ¡°Of course Princess, at once. I will cover you with my bow and arrows.¡± Well at least I can shoot some of them! Just have to pull back, visualize the target¡­ ¡°FWOOOOSH! ROAR! CACKLE! BANG! SIZZLE!¡± ¡­ I miss being a guard at the castle¡­ I¡¯m just a glorified maid here¡­ Sniff¡­ ¡ª POV Princess Cirili ¡ª I¡¯m so bored again! This was supposed to be a grand adventure, where I get to fight grand monsters, execute some bad guys for breaking the crown¡¯s laws, and being worshiped by the people while I learn god grade magic! But so far all I¡¯ve managed to do is to be a hug pillow each night where my sexual tension is raised but left unsatisfied. Of course if I wanted to Rose would take care of it for me, she is the one that¡¯s causing it, but it¡¯s a slippery slope with her. Give her an inch, she¡¯ll take a mile. After that, she¡¯ll ask for another inch, and act as if that mile was originally hers anyways. My tension is building every day, especially since I haven¡¯t learned how to use that black fire magic that Rose has been teaching me. ¡°Attack!¡± Perfect! Some trash to vent my anger upon! Some ugly bandits are trying to attack us, fucking dregs of society. Looks like I can release some of my tension and help Father out by ridding our Kingdom of human waste plaguing our borders. ¡°Oh, bandits? Rose, Liza, I¡¯ll be taking care of this. I need to get rid of some stress!¡± Let¡¯s see¡­ There¡¯s 7 of them, a couple with bows¡­ Looks like I should multicast the Blue-Flame Dragon with some Lightning Pillars of Heaven to take care of the archers in the back¡­ Ah yes, this is the rush that I love! MY magic power is flowing, filling the spell imprints I put in the air, ah, let my wrath fall upon the unworthy! Erase their existence! ¡ª POV Rose ¡ª Ah, this adventure was a perfect stress reliever! I get to play around with a soft, crystalline beauty that just so happens to be my apprentice, and when it¡¯s ¡°cold¡± enough, a firm, athletic beauty who¡¯s so cute when she tries to resist my advances. I can feel though that my two little birds are accumulating too much tension, even though I¡¯ve been enjoying myself fully. Hmmm¡­ my radar is detecting some presences in the woods, but it doesn¡¯t seem like they will notice us, our carriage is too plain. But if I use a little bit of magic, and make some gold flashes shine out¡­ Ahahaha, perfect! They¡¯ve taken the bait! Hmmm¡­ They¡¯re yelling really loudly, and it seems like Cirili will take all of the fun from Liza. I guess there¡¯s no helping it, I¡¯ll have to buy Liza something in the next town, or praise her cooking or something. Whatever, it¡¯ll work out. We¡¯re almost to my pet dragon¡¯s lair anyways, so maybe she can play with my cute Sheal and recover her stamina. ¡ª POV King ¡ª My headaches are getting worse each day. It seems Rose does not want to be monitored, so the most I can do for them is send Liza money and words of encouragement to keep trying to relay me as much information as possible. ¡°Sire, sire! Grave news!¡± ¡°What happened!? Did something happen to my daughter!?¡± I should never have let them go! ¡°No, I mean, I don¡¯t know! This is definitely related, but we don¡¯t know much. We just received a report of a violet dragon flying above the remote stretches of our kingdom!¡± What, no! Nonoonoonono! ¡°Did you say¡­ a violet dragon?¡± ¡°Yes sire, we don¡¯t have any records of a violet dragon in the area for as far back as our scrolls go. It could be peaceful, or just passing through. I¡¯ve already sent out warnings to the small towns that don¡¯t have defenses, but I haven¡¯t heard anything about the Princess Sire.¡± Shit shit shit! From the last time I heard from them, they were still several weeks away from that area¡­ So they are still probably safe. I have watchers posted in every border town that will send me word immediately when they spot Rose¡¯s carriage. I need as much information as possible, but it needs to be accurate¡­ ¡°Send word to the villages. A Gold coin is to be given to credible reports for the whereabouts of this dragon. No one is to approach or fight it, whatever they do. AS for the first person to report it, give him 10 Gold coins. Safety is paramount, and without the eyes and ears of our citizens, we are blind.¡± ¡°Another wise, yet generous decision from our King. I will immediately send out the word!¡± I need to know where that dragon is so that if it¡¯s coming this way, I can hide in the bunker! Gold is meaningless if I die! Ch. 30 - A New Birth ¡ª POV Taeya ¡ª Ugggggh, what happened¡­ where¡­ am I? It¡¯s so dark¡­ I can¡¯t see anything, but I feel warm, so warm. I¡¯m enveloped by something, I feel¡­ so tired, and it¡¯s so comfortable here. I¡¯m not hurting anymore¡­ This is a lovely dream¡­ ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ I still feel so warm¡­ and I still don¡¯t hurt, but I¡¯m not tired anymore. I feel strange. I can also see now, it looks like I¡¯m being cradled by gigantic, soft leaves. There¡¯s sunlight highlighting the veins in the leaves above me, I can almost even see the movement of the fresh liquid inside. They are also moving gently in a breeze that I cannot feel, but I can somehow know that there is a breeze creating this swaying of my cover. It¡¯s so comfortable in here, but I should probably leave. I don¡¯t know how long I¡¯ve been asleep, but strangely, I don¡¯t feel hungry or thirsty, or even dirty anymore. I don¡¯t know where I am, or how I ended up her, but I should probably leave. I need to keep going, until I can find someplace safe. Mmmm? There¡¯s leaves attached to my arms, holding my arms down. But when I started to move around, they started to restrict me, but now they are slowly letting go. If I didn¡¯t know better, I¡¯d think these leaves could feel, but that¡¯d be silly. Only trees can talk, and only to the legendary dryads. Every other plant is silent, unmoving. Ouch! As the leaves were pulling back, it felt like something was tugged out of my skin! I can¡¯t see any blood, and the leaves are still retreating, it must have been a bug or something. Weird. It also feels like as the leaves are retreating, they are squeezing me all over the place, it feels really strange and ticklish. It looks like I¡¯m naked - my clothes are nowhere to be seen. I need to fix that soon, I feel really vulnerable. All of a sudden I don¡¯t want to go out of here - what if my parent¡¯s are out there! They¡¯ll beat me again, and yell at me for losing my clothes. No, I don¡¯t want to go out! I need to snuggle in deeper! Success, it looks like the leaves are again winding about my body, letting me stay in here. I feel safe in here - all that¡¯s out there is pain and hate, in here at least I don¡¯t have to see the ugliness of the world. No! Nonononono! Stop! Stupid leaves are starting to push me out, and the leaves above are starting to open up as well! It¡¯s so bright! I don¡¯t want to go out!!!! It¡¯s so bright! ¡­ Nothing happened - I can feel the sun on my cheeks, and a cool breeze on my arms. I¡¯m being supported on my back from the leaves below, almost as if they were urging me up. I can feel one or two leaves wrapped around me - covering my important parts, barely, but I guess that¡¯s good enough. ¡­ Still, nothing¡¯s happened to me. I guess I can take a look out. Whoa - everything is so clear! And so bright! At first I was blinded, but for some reason it went away super fast. I was holding my right arm out pushing against the last leaf around me, and when I looked at it finally I was shocked! My arm was straight! And there are no scars on it! My skin - it¡¯s so smooth, almost see-through white. Before my skin was a mottled white and tan - white from the scars, and tan from my less-damaged skin. I¡¯ve never seen skin so white before - and it almost sparkles in the light! I, I can see so well, even into the pores of my skin, I can see my blood being pumped through, but not the color of veins or arteries, nor the slightest blemish adorn my skin. The rest of me appears to be like that too - extremely white, smooth, and most of all, free of those accursed scars! Yay! Is this really me? Just¡­ What happened to me? My bones don¡¯t ache anymore from all the places that they¡¯ve been broken before. Twisting my back also doesn¡¯t cause me to fall down and lose control of my left leg - it all moves so smoothly. I move so smoothly. I¡¯m so confused - what happened? I guess I won¡¯t find out unless I step out of this leafy cocoon. I should face whatever is out there - I have to show confidence! I can do this! ¡°Eeek!¡± I jumped out, totally forgetting about twisted left foot, and automatically winced when my foot hit the ground from my small hop. It didn¡¯t hurt, but made me start sweating from just thinking about the possible pain. But when I landed and looked down at my feet, again I was shocked. My twisted left foot wasn¡¯t there - instead there was a small, delicate white foot with a large grass leaf wrapped around it. Both my feet were there! ¡°Yippee!!!!!! Ahahahahaha! Woooooo!¡± I couldn¡¯t help myself - I started running around my big leaf cocoon - I can run again! And I¡¯m so fast! There are a lot of bugs flying around me, like they¡¯re racing me! I¡¯ve never seen anyone run this fast - with the wind blowing my hair up behind me, my beautiful brown¡­ I mean golden hair! ¡®Thunk!¡¯ ¡°Ouch¡­ Sniff¡± When I turned my head to look at my hair, I tripped and fell, skinning my knee a bit. Noooo! My new skin is ruined again! Noooooooo! I don¡¯t want to go back to how I was! ¡°Sniff, waaaaaaaaah! Huh?¡± What¡¯s happening now! The grass below my knee is wrapping around my leg again, and a cooling sensation is wrapping around my leg. The pain is going away¡­ And now the grass is retreating again. And it¡¯s gone! My leg is healed again! Is this a dream? ¡°EEEEEEEEEKKKKKK!¡± What is that! That spark of coolness seems to have unlocked something inside of me - I can feel two extremely dangerous animals around me! And this field - this field feels like there¡¯s a raging beast just waiting to eat me, not to mention the other two presences I feel! I don¡¯t know how to explain it - I just feel like I¡¯m in so much danger right now! But I¡¯m surrounded - there¡¯s nowhere to go! My cocoon! The only place that seems to have a lower concentration of that bad feeling! I¡¯m safe in here, right? Right? Oh nononono, the two presences are moving over this way! They must have seen me -quick I need to hide! Come on cocoon - wrap around me again! Please! Ok, I¡¯m mostly covered now! Please go away! Please go away! Don¡¯t eat me please! I¡¯ll be a good girl - just please don¡¯t come any closer! If I pretend I¡¯m dead, they won¡¯t bother me, just like how I used to curl up when my parents used to beat me until they eventually left me alone. ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ ¡°Ehehehehe, gigigigi¡± That tickles! They¡¯re licking my feet! They must be outside of the leaves! I can¡¯t make noise, but I feel like I¡¯m a lot more sensitive than before, my thick bottomed feet have no hard parts anymore¡­ ¡°Hahahahahah! Stop it! Stop it! Hahahaha!¡± If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. I can¡¯t take it anymore! I have to see what¡¯s licking my feet! I can tell it¡¯s the two presences that were earlier, and they haven¡¯t attacked me yet¡­ Maybe a peek? ¡®Shuffle, shuffle¡¯ There we go - ¡®Gasp!¡¯ what in the heavens are those? There are two, beautifully colored winged small tigers at my feet! One¡¯s as black as night, while the other is striped with gold and white, both giving off a terrifying pressure. They look so cute, but scary at the same time. Uh-Oh - looks like they can see my eyes! They¡¯ve stopped licking my feet and seem to be looking at me! The leaves are starting to move again - and I can¡¯t stop them from revealing me! Well, I did my best. At least I tried to find a better place. The best thing I can do now is to close my eyes and accept my death - they say that struggling will only make it more painful, tigers go for the throat. ¡­ ¡­ ¡®Huff, Puff¡¯ ¡®Hehehe¡¯ their breathing is tickling my neck - just get it over with! Their paws are heavy, and pressing on top of my shoulders as their sniffing my face and neck! I can¡¯t stand the tension - if I had anything in my bladder, I would have wet myself already! ¡®Slurp!¡¯ Huh, they¡¯re licking me! ¡°Stop it, stop it! Eheheheheh! That tickles!¡± As I open my eyes, I see the two tiger cubs looking at me, and licking my face alternatively. Unconsciously I start rubbing their fur with my hands, and it looks like they like it! They start purring in my chest, and they both lay down together with me in my grassy cocoon. They are almost as big as me stretched out, but they are so cute. Maybe, this is where I belong. It¡¯s a new place, that has a lot of scary things in it, but for some reason, it seems like this place, and these two tiget cubs that live here, are welcoming me here. Even the grass seems to be happy to see me. I thought I wasn¡¯t tired, but with these two big, warm cubs basically making me unmovable, and to be honest a tad bit too warm, I¡¯m starting to feel really sleepy again¡­ Zzzzzzzzzz¡­¡­ ¡ª POV Jard ¡ª The animal we brought back to papa was put into a big, grassy thing. Then it got really scary as everything around us, all the energy I could feel, started to be dragged towards that spot. Blue, Yellow, Green, Red, a black so dark that it seemed as if anything that entered would never leave, a light so bright that it could counter that darkest of blacks, and so many other shades and colors as well, everything seemed to be converging on that very spot. I dragged Torgue up into papa¡¯s leaves, so that we could be safe from that big storm of mana. It was really scary! After that day, it was a whole week before anything happened inside of that cocoon. It started to bulge out a little bit, when a white arm was thrust outside into the sun. ¡®Torgue, what is that?¡¯ ¡®I don¡¯t know, it looks kinda like the animal we brought back that made papa give us a really good set of bones! It must be that thing!¡¯ ¡®That¡¯s what I thought - but it feels really different from when we brought it back to papa. The color is all wrong, and it doesn¡¯t feel weak anymore - it has a lot of mana now! Not like us, but still a lot!¡¯ ¡®Well, it looked broken when we first brought it back to papa. Maybe papa fixed it? That¡¯s so cool!¡¯ ¡®Huh, maybe you;re right Torgue! That must mean we can¡¯t eat it - we can¡¯t break what papa fixed, now can we?¡¯ ¡®I guess not, huff. But we found it! But he did give us really tasty bones¡­. Arggh! Fine. Even though we can¡¯t talk to dad like we used to, I still remember when he got mad at us for scaring away prey that one time!¡¯ ¡­ That was totally just your fault. Thankfully papa now doesn¡¯t seem to have the same temper as he used to. ¡®Jard, look! It¡¯s stepping out! I think it¡¯s a human!¡¯ ¡®A human? Papa used to say humans were kind and helpful, maybe papa fixed it for a reason!¡¯ ¡®Wow! It runs really fast! Hmmm, and it has long hair, so it¡¯s a girl human? At least that¡¯s what papa said.¡¯ ¡®Sniff¡­ It smells like a girl, so it must be. She¡¯s running around now, that looks fun! Oooh, ouch! She fell, and it looks like she¡¯s hurt. She must be really weak.¡¯ ¡®Yea, that wasn¡¯t even really fast! Oh, look at that, it looks like she¡¯s being healed again. Dang, looks like she is protected by papa, just like us? Does that mean she¡¯s part of our family now? ¡®I guess, I don¡¯t know. Let¡¯s go look at her up close.¡¯ I¡¯ve never smelled this type of human before. I¡¯ve heard there are different types of them, and papa brought us near some places so that we could remember their smell, but I still can¡¯t recognize the smell. Hmmm, it looks like she got scared by something - don¡¯t worry, everything in here is protected by papa! Ooooooh, looks like she¡¯s covered herself in leaves. Is she okay? ¡®Torgue, she must be scared of something! We need to comfort her, I guess let¡¯s groom her some.¡¯ ¡®That¡¯s a good idea! With us around, nothing can happen!¡¯ ¡®Lick, lick¡¯ Oh, it looks like she¡¯s come out partially from the leaves, but she still won¡¯t come all the way out, and it seems like she¡¯s still scared. I used to feel safe when papa licked me on my head when I was scared, maybe we should do that too. It looks like Torgue is thinking the same thing. We both stepup to her head and sniff her again, remembering her scent. ¡®Lick, lick¡¯ ¡®Ah! She¡¯s laughing! That¡¯s good, right? She seems happy, right Jard?¡¯ ¡®I think so! Ah, that feels so good! She seems to be grooming us too! It must be all right!¡¯ ¡®Jard, she¡¯s so good at this, and so soft and comfy. I don¡¯t think we should let anything happen to her. I really like her, and papa must like her too to heal her.¡¯ ¡®I also think we should accept her as well. She¡¯s really good at scratching the places that I can¡¯t reach. Ahhhhh. She¡¯s really weak, so we need to protect her, and make sure she doesn¡¯t get hurt anymore!¡¯ ¡®I agree! Also, if we need to sleep, we should sleep with her to protect her! Plus, she¡¯s soft and comfy too!¡¯ ¡®Yaaaaawn, again, your¡¯ve got a good point. And her scratching skills¡­ are making me very sleepy right now¡­¡¯ Zzzzz. Zzzzz. Ch. 31 - Appraisal ¡ª POV Mathias ¡ª I feel sooooo drained, damn that took a lot of energy to heal her back together. I had to focus 100%, well, 90% of my concentration on managing the healing process for her. That 10% I kept ignoring - I don¡¯t need to merge my fear whatever though process back in yet, I think I¡¯d go insane having to think about all of that stuff at once. Thank goodness for my soul-splintering ability - I don¡¯t even have to know what my final though process is doing, nor do I really care. Eventually I¡¯ll take care of it, but for now I don¡¯t want to, besides, everything¡¯s been on the up¡¯n¡¯up lately - no need to rock the boat. I still can¡¯t believe how long it took to heal her, not to mention how much total energy it took. It took me a whole week of providing my massive mana regeneration, natural energy generation, and that gigantic whirlpool of mana absorbing the elements from the world. It was pretty scary - I thought she wasn¡¯t going to make it, like there was something missing! Haha, like that could stop me! I¡¯m a fucking scientist! A normal person would have stopped, maybe would have just let her die, but I decided to attempt to fill-in the missing details with my own! A lot of it was psuedo-science, or stuff that was only hypothesized, but at least part of it I was entirely sure of what I was doing. The first day was fairly intense, but mostly it was just me getting used to managing the healing process and wielding those massive mana and natural energy streams that were entering her body. I had to wrestle for control to stop them from eroding her body away instead of healing it. Then I had to bring forth all of my biology class knowledge to stabilize her organs. First the heart, then her brain, then her lungs, liver, and other organs. She was pretty badly damaged in some way in every part of her being. After she was stabilized, I started to think: why stop here? I drained a small portion of her blood, and sank my consciousness down into my . Here I have my scientific equipment, and can try to develop some abilities to help her AND me. First, I checked out her mana reactors. Man, they were fucking pitiful, but they were distinctly different than my own and the tiger cubs¡¯ mana reactors. I had drained some blood from the ticks that were on them when they first showed up so that I could compare my blood with theirs. There were two big differences - they were animal cells, were extremely resistant to damage, and had less mana reactors than I did. I¡¯ll have to wait until they grow up for me to tell whether I want to integrate their blood with my own. But back to the small elf¡¯s blood and mana reactors, while they were few, warped, and small, they still stored mana better than my cells could zzzzz. I think I¡¯ve stumbled onto the reason why monsters have mana stones, but humanoids don¡¯t. Monsters can¡¯t store very much, but instead their mana regeneration is off the charts. To make up for that deficit, these guys developed mana stones to store their excess mana. Humanoids, on the other hand, developed the other way. Their mana reactors store mana very well, but they develop slower and don¡¯t produce as much mana. But these samples I have were really pitiful¡­ so of course I thought that it was time for some experimentation! Her wounds are still healing, but I went ahead and slowed it down a lot to give me some more time to plan her healing out. She had already passed the most crucial step - she didn¡¯t die when I first injected her with all that energy. First, I started out by cross-breeding her mana reactors with my own and the two tiger-cubs. I even bombarded some of them with radiation to create mutations to increase the genetic diversity that I had. Initially the results weren¡¯t that promising - many were even worse in every single way compared to their predecessors. But there were were a few standouts that excelled in one field vs another. One that produced even more mana than my own! But only fire mana, and it had a short lifespan before it wore itself out, withered, and died to lack of energy. Another absorbed all the mana around it before exploding, another produced mana of all types, but couldn¡¯t store even a little bit. I¡¯m saving this particular one for later study¡­ Generation by generation I bred these little things before finally generation 546 I saw what I was looking for. I managed to develop a generation of mana reactors that could 1:Utilize each type of mana, 2:Store mana in the mana reactors, and 3:Generate the mana at a reasonable pace. I created a scoring metric for each quality that is based on a logarithmic scale. I made a table to compare my mana to Generation 546¡¯s mana.
Mana MetricMy Mana ReactorsGeneration 546
Nature10*0*
Fire108
Earth08
Water08
Wind08
Lightning08
Dark08
Light08
Now I know that for me it¡¯s not a HUGE deal that I can¡¯t generate other types of mana because I can create mana circles and use the mana around me to cause the effects that I want. It does decrease efficiency for the mana circles by about 50% if the mana types don¡¯t match, but I can¡¯t make myself give up my perfect 10 score for fire mana just yet. The difference between a 10 and a 8 is just too huge of a loss currently. Even if I don¡¯t switch over my mana reactors my mana circles will cost a much smaller percentage of my mana than with these mana reactors. I was a little confused though, from what I gather from my previous experiments on my bugs the girl should be able to use my nature energy now, but maybe it¡¯s a little different for her since she won¡¯t have a mana stone. Maybe even my bugs don¡¯t really generate nature energy and instead absorb it from¡­ nature, or me. I still leak a shit ton of that stuff. Alas, I won¡¯t be able to tell until she wakes up and tries to use the natural energy anyways. Maybe she can absorb my leaked energy and use it, whatever, I¡¯m not too concerned with it. I¡¯ve already fixed her to my definition of an elf, I think. She can use a ton mana, I made her body lithe and graceful without really changing her facial structure, and increased her eyesight to be like that of an eagle. With the massive amount of mana and natural energy pouring into her body, I didn¡¯t even have to use my abilities to changer her, I just tweaked her cells according to what I thought of. I was then stumped for a while, should they be vegetarians? I was really conflicted - I could force them to be by giving them the inability to break down animal proteins and instead increase their ability to break down plant proteins, similar to cows etc. I could alter their gut bacteria to violently react to meat as well, really the changes I could make were limitless to make them vegetarians. But I couldn¡¯t do it, I couldn¡¯t force them to avoid the taste of meat! I love meat! Well, I loved meat - can¡¯t really taste it anymore, and I feel like I wouldn¡¯t like the taste anymore. The sun is my ultimate food now. After that was the bone structure. Before her bones were really messed up - I couldn¡¯t really tell what they should be like on the inside. So I borrowed some knowledge from my past life and made them a type of hybrid between bird and human bones. I made them less dense than before, but I created a rigid honeycomb inner structure with a relatively thick outer shell to prevent easy crushing of the bones. I also threw in some reinforcing metals - it served two purposes. One, to slow down their growth, and two, to give them a little more resilience. I mean, elves age slowly, right? Might as well give a reason for it instead of crappy genetics. Might as well clear that up as well. This poor girl must have been something like a half-breed or a low class elf, and as far as I can see only inherited a slightly longer lifespan than a regular human. I could fix that by increasing both the length of the cell telomeres and by decreasing the rate of cell-growth and death, so I did both and increased her lifespan to thousands of years. I can always make her immortal, but I dislike the thought of a true immortal being. It might make them stagnate too much culturally and cause trouble in the long run. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. She should be back to being a proper full-blooded high elf! If she¡¯s going to be staying here, might as well top off her potential so she can protect me in the future. After those changes started to be implemented, I was slightly bored, so I went ahead and increased her flexibility, made her hair a perfect golden-yellow color, increased the relative number of slow-twitch muscle fibers, and increased her inherent intelligence. IQ is 50% environment and 50% DNA, so might as well provide her what I can as long as this spell is running. I also didn¡¯t know exactly how to allow her to speak with me in the future since my ability doesn¡¯t allow me to, so I left that to the spell, it should work by the end. Speaking of the spell I cast, it was fucking amazing! But it took sooooo long to finish fixing her back to her optimal state (+some of my own changes)! I could guide and choose what it changed for the most part, and once I got my intention through to the spell it started to work towards the goal. I am a genius for devising this spell if I do say so myself! Which brings me to this moment, she¡¯s waking up. Her body is much more appealing now that she¡¯s not malnourished, abused, and genetically defective. Her skin is blemish-free, and her body will always shed her scars over time after they¡¯ve served their purpose. That was something that I always hated back on Earth - I burn myself, permanent scar. Scratch, permanent scar. They even have the potential to scar and bind up your internal organs. All of this new healing did come at a cost though - again it slows their aging. Overall I believe it¡¯s worth it. Hmm, she wants to move around, but are her bones healed? Looks like it. Ok, I guess I should remove my restraining leaves. OOPS, forgot to take out the IVs I placed in her arms, a little tug and an indiscreet amount of nature energy to heal the small holes and voila! She seems a little confused, but at least she¡¯s not terrified of my roots parasitized her. I know I would be! Uh-oh, haha, she realized that her skin is bare. I guess I could spend about 100 more of my Growth Points, or nature energy, to grow some covering leaves. It¡¯s not much, but if I do more than the bare essentials, I¡¯m pretty sure my leaves would be more irritating than helpful. Grass isn¡¯t really known for making comfortable clothes, well, at least Bermuda Grass. Sigh, it looks like I¡¯ll have to shove her out of my enclosure. Scoot, move! I need to verify if all of the various changes took place! Go do stuff! Run around! There we go - it looks like everything actually worked out! She¡¯s looking around a ton - just like when I got contacts for the first time, that means that her eyesight is probably improved. She should have the capability to see mana too, but I actually don¡¯t know if she would have to practice using that ability or if she already has it. But I guess it¡¯s the first, since she¡¯s not overwhelmed by my mana violently running amok. Hmmmm, it doesn¡¯t look like she¡¯s noticed her mana capabilities yet. She hasn¡¯t even noticed my two little pets peeking at her from behind my tree, not even my mana. For sure I know she can¡¯t see it, but any being that contains mana should be able to feel other large concentrations of mana, right? At least that¡¯s what I overheard from Jard and Torgue when they go hunting. Maybe she needs a spark to jump start her mana-sensing abilities. Hmmm¡­ she¡¯d probably react badly to me suddenly shooting her with mana haha, time for some social engineering! A little root to trip her¡­ Awww, she¡¯s tearing up. But it¡¯s for her own good, now that she¡¯s a little hurt I can heal her and send a spike of fire mana into her at the same time, and she¡¯ll never suspect me muahahahaha! That did it, she looks fearfully towards Jard and Torgue then swings her head quickly from side to side, looking all around my field. And she¡¯s off to the cocoon! ¡®Pffffffffffft!¡¯ This is hilarious! It looks like she¡¯s trying to hide beneath my leaves, but she doesn¡¯t realize that I¡¯m the one sending over my two pets. I¡¯m sending them warm feelings and their natural curiosity is leading them along. Just a little bit of help, lifting the leaf by her feet, and contact! Hilarious contact! I could never stand my cat licking my feet, and it seems like it¡¯s the same way for her. And it seems first contact went well, they are now sleeping cuddling against each other. Damn it, these are my two pets! Don¡¯t think you can take them away from me! They¡¯ve already been brainwashed by me! But I guess you can help me take care of them and let me focus on other stuff. Shit! First contact! I forgot I should be able to speak with her! Drat! Well, when she wakes up I¡¯ll talke with her. And I guess I should go ahead and increase my ability . I was fine not speaking with my two pets, since I would feel a little awkward doing that, I mean, I¡¯m so used to talking to my pets without them really understanding what I¡¯m saying, it lets me be less restrained that way. But people are different, I¡¯d much rather have the ability to talk with them in the future. I should just be able to talk with her via an ability of hers, not mine, but for others I¡¯ll need to upgrade this ability. Let¡¯s see what upgrade I can evolve it by? I guess there are three different paths to go about this. One is the physical solution, by obtaining the ability to vibrate my leaves quickly I can create sound waves. This can also be extended or simplified by having a root touch the person who I want to talk with and vibrate their bones, like how musical toothbrushes work, to speak with them. The second path is to do it as truly an ability, or extension of . This would allow mind-to-mind communication, it is secret, magical, BUT makes the two minds have a connection with each other, potentially opening me up to weakness. The third path would be a combination of physical and magical, that would allow me to transmit messages directly to a person without a need to touch them by directly influencing their inner ear. This ability can be blocked, is magical in nature, is not reciprocal, and may be changed en-route. Ok, let¡¯s see what I can cook up, and what they will cost! ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Genetic Modification: Vibration Allows one the ability to rapidly vibrate their leaves or roots to different frequencies between 0 Hz and 5 GHz. Cost: 100 ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Genetic Modification: Telepathy Allows one the ability to create a mental link with another to converse both ways. Cost: 10000 ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Genetic Modification: Ranged Private Messaging Allows one the send a message one-way to another without affecting the air between the target and the user. Cost: 1000 ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª I think I just need both the first and second options, no need to really deal with the in-between. The first one could seem mystical since it doesn¡¯t register as magic, but seems like it. The third one will be really helpful for my minions and close confidants. The last one I¡¯ll just deal with later. For now I won¡¯t even need to use these abilities until another person shows up. And I also want to keep the innocence of my pets intact. And she¡¯s waking up, now let¡¯s see if her ability to speak with me telepathically with her ability works. ¡°Hello there.¡± Announcement - Will be back starting next week! So a lot of ya''ll probably thought I was dead haha, since it''s been about 2 months since I stopped posting chapters. Well, I''ll be back to writing 2 chapters a week starting on Monday! Since some of you would want an explanation, so I''ll give you guys one. I was advised, regarding my Master''s Thesis, to add another chapter and revise a large section of it by the CSdepartment advisor. So I''m a roboticist/nuclear engineer, and I checked my nuclear side and my mechanical side, but I didn''t put enough effory into the reasoning behind my machine learning portion of my thesis. So these past two months I decided to put everything else on hold temporarily until I managed to revise my thesis to all three department''s satisfaction zzzzz. Now that that is through though, my free time has opened up again and the story shall continue!This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Sorry for the delay everyone! I didn''t lose motivation, just time! When the next chapter is published on Monday I''ll also include a brief summary of the events in the previous few chapters to get people back up to speed. Ch. 32 - Questions and Answers ¡ª POV Mathias ¡ª ¡°Hello there.¡± .. And she is totally freaking out. Grrrreaaaaaaate. Maybe I should have waited? But then it would be even weirder later on - I mean I would freak out if I was living somewhere for a while when suddenly a grown man pops out of a wall saying ¡°Hello there.¡± Damnit, maybe I should have chosen better words than those two stupid words. Ah! I definitely should have asked something like ¡°Who goes there!?¡± or ¡°Because I¡¯ve saved your life, you now owe me your life!¡± or something along those lines. Is she still freaking out? Yes? And I think she¡¯s strangling Torgue and Jard. Fuuuuuuuuuuu, I guess I should try to explain myself before she freaks out even more. Hmmmm¡­ How should I get her to stay here and help protect me, while also protecting her? I did use up a lot of resources to save her, poor child, and I have to recoup my investment somehow! Plus, I mean, she¡¯s an elf! Hmmm¡­ If I get enough followers here, they should mutually protect each other. I¡¯ve got it! ¡°Calm down young one, and stop strangling your brothers. I¡¯ve just woken up after expending almost all of my power to heal you.¡± ¡°Brothers?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right, these two cubs are called Jard and Torgue. Jard is on your left, and Torgue is on your right. Since you have come to my valley and I approve of you, you are now part of our family.¡± ¡°Family? Wait, what¡¯s going on? Who are you? What do you want?¡± ¡°Well, again, I just woke up after healing you. I am the master of this valley, and the father of the two cubs you are holding. I don¡¯t want anything, I healed you because I could see and feel the pain that you were in. You are alone, aren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Well¡­ Yes, I ran away from home, I was unhappy there and no one cared about me.¡± ¡°Then this will be your home. These two cubs are my children, and you are now as well. You must take care of each other.¡± ¡°But where are you? Why can¡¯t you take care of them?¡± ¡°My child, I am not who I used to be, nor what you think I am. You can feel me, but you can¡¯t see me. I have lost much, and no longer can move as I used to be able to. I used to be a mighty being, but when I was killed by humans my body has become part of nature again. I am the tree, I am the grass. I am this valley. Eventually I will regain a new body, but that time is far from today. While I can provide food, shelter, and security, I have lost the ability to communicate to my two sons as I am communicating with you. They need someone who they can communicate with, play with, grow up with. They are young, and so are you. All three of you have potential to be strong and live a fulfilling life, so I hope you will stay here where it is safe. Jard and Torgue were just like you when I died, alone, hungry, and hurt. But just like you they¡¯ve found their way to me. For them, we were reunited. For you, it could be called fate that we were brought together.¡± There we go, I technically didn¡¯t lie once! I just stretched the truth a weeeee bit, but as long as I don¡¯t lie, I should be safe in the future. From personal experience lying to your close ones just gets you tangled up in a mess. It¡¯s always easier to hold onto a lie if most of it is the truth. ¡°¡­ Why did you save me? I never did anything for you before, and I don¡¯t have anything to offer you¡­¡± Poor child. I bet no one has ever been nice to her before. ¡°I do not need a reason to heal a child, nor do I expect anything from you. Children are the future, those who do not cherish the young truly are a lost cause. I cannot sit idly by as an innocent is dying when I could save them. All I expect from you is to live happily here.¡± Now that is true. I would always save a child if I could, as long as it was within my power to. ¡°What do I owe you?¡± ¡­ ¡°¡­ You owe me nothing. But if you do want to repay me, treat your new brothers well. Protect them when you can, and rely on them when you are in danger. Since I¡¯ve invited you to our family, we will all treat you as our family fully.¡± Stubborn one. It looks like she¡¯s thinking about something. ¡°Why did you change my hair? And my body feels different.¡± ¡­ Shit. That makes me sound like some strange man that touched her body. Haha, I was hoping she wouldn¡¯t ask me about this stuff and just accept them and go with the flow. If only she were easy going like that, but I guess I can work on that over time. What to do? Plead the fifth, claim ignorance? I can also claim that I can¡¯t see, or don¡¯t know what she¡¯s talking about? Best ignore my worst thoughts and treat the question seriously, but vaguely! ¡°What changes? I cannot see like I used to, explain the differences that you feel.¡± ¡°I feel¡­ strong, light, fast, my hair color changed, and somehow I feel I have a deep well of magic inside of me. And I think I¡¯m taller.¡± ¡°Hmmm¡­ When I cast my grand magic to save you, I used my knowledge and deep memory of times of old to guide it. I cannot see color, only energy, so I could not tell anything about your hair. Your body I healed along ancient memories, leaving your major features intact, but much was lost. I made up for you lack of good food when you were young, and repaired or replaced a lot of your tissues. I apologize, you were badly wounded and your body was twisted, I am sorry for failing to heal you normally. The magic, or mana, inside of you may have been changed due to my magic spell I used as well.¡±This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. I hope she buys it, and doesn¡¯t learn that I just royally fucked with her DNA. ¡°Nononononono! It¡¯s okay, in fact, it¡¯s better! I was just wondering! I¡¯ve never seen someone with this hair color, skin tone, or anyone as light as I am! Thank you!¡± Success! ¡­ Wait a second. ¡°What do you mean? No one you know has gold hair or skin as white as yours? Not even in your old stories?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right! I must be the first! It¡¯s awesome!¡± ¡°Let me ask you a few questions. How old are you?¡± ¡°16¡± ¡°And how old is the oldest person in your village?¡± ¡°Hmmm¡­ I don¡¯t know, but the great elder in our village is 60.¡± ¡­ ¡­ ¡°Is something wrong sir?¡± ¡°You can call me father, dad, or papa like your two brothers. I will not accept sir. Let me ask you another question. What makes you different than a human?¡± ¡°Ummmm¡­ our ears? We can also run longer than them by a little bit, but that¡¯s about it! Though I¡¯ve only seen one before.¡± Oooops. I¡­ need to check my logs. What in the heck did I do? Did Elves in the sense that I know them not really exist here? ¡°What is your name and where are you from?¡± ¡°My name is Taeya! I¡¯m from a village over that way, I don¡¯t know exactly how far it is, but I don¡¯t want to go back! They are mean to me!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you will never have to see them again. That is your past, you need to look to your future.¡± ¡°¡­ Ok, I¡¯ll try. I¡¯m hungry, do you have something for me to eat?¡± Dang, she¡¯s really resilient. ¡°If you walk over to my tree, you will find a fruit that I will give you. They are extremely healthy, and can refill your mana well. Just reach up towards one of my branches and I will grow one for you to eat. Jard and Torgue also eat these fruits. If you need anything, just shout my name loudly in your mind. I need to sleep some more. Take care, my daughter Taeya.¡± Ok, looks like I have some breathing room now. Down to my to check out what in the world I did. Let¡¯s see¡­ ¡­ Started Primordial Generation Spell Spell becoming unstable - lack of information on local species Information filled Body reconstruction beginning Species Divergence - New Species, named High Elf Long lived, Blessed by Magic, Loved by Nature, Slow Growth, High Elvish Bones, Fair Skin, High Elvish Mana Control, Improved Thought Bestowed Species Protection enabled for High Elf Small Divinity acquired ¡­ Yupp, that¡¯s what I thought. Zzzzzzz. Well, it was worth it! True elves are here now! Every fantasy needs true High Elves! Hopefully I won¡¯t have to make dwarves too¡­ If I¡¯m gonna live in this fantasy world, I¡¯ll make it MY fantasy world! I wonder what is giving me? ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Small Divinity Rank X Given when the being has accomplished an act only Gods should be able to do. The fate of this being is now unseen to other Divine beings. Curses or Blessings by lesser beings are ineffective. Further acts on the level of Gods will improve your divinity level. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Sweet! Fuck you gods! I¡¯m free (Mostly)! Ah, this is exhilarating! I still have the damned [Destined to Die], but I¡¯m on my way to being truly free! I have a way! I¡¯ve changed my mind - if I see a Dwarf, might as well try to increase my Divinity by upgrading them too muahahahaha! And now back out of my . I can¡¯t speak more with Taeya for now, I did just put forth that whole acting about falling asleep haha. It looks like the three of them are having fun though - Taeya is running around again, getting chased by Jard and Torgue. Ha! And she¡¯s actually slightly more nimble than them, she cut sharply to the left and made the two cubs to run into each other! And now she¡¯s running toward my tree. Oh no, brace for it! OWWWWWWWW! Damnit! I knew it, Jard and Torgue ran after her, only to have her push off of my trunk to change directions again, while Jard and Torgue used their claws to dig in and follow her. Sigh, being a father is hard. It hurts, but I shouldn¡¯t stop their fun. After what¡¯s she¡¯s gone through, she needs these happy days to put her past behind her. Thankfully she¡¯s a resilient one, I probably would have turned into a murderous madman if my past was like hers. I should start making her a lesson plan to teach her magic. Both types of magic, Inherent magic that doesn¡¯t use spells, and External magic that uses spell circles. Too bad I¡¯m a novice in both really. All I have is the basic 1+1 = 2 for magic, and when I tried to solve an advanced calculus equation, I got it wrong, but instead of accepting that I got it wrong, I fucked with the equation itself until it worked. I doubt I would be able to do that again. Now what should I do? I¡¯m still investing almost all of my Growth Points into digging deeper and wider with my roots to expand my range of nutrient extraction. I¡¯ve kind of put that on autopilot, if my roots encounter a metal they wrap around it and slowly pass it up along my roots. Water sources are continuously invaded and conquered, and old corpses and bones are trapped and sucked dry. I still have a bit of extra energy to play with, I might as well start expanding towards the village this girl came from. I can¡¯t understand what she says, but I can at least understand her thoughts when she¡¯s speaking with me. This way I¡¯m killing two birds with one stone. One, I can learn a language, and two, I can learn more about this world. ¡ª POV Taeya ¡ª Poor guy. He can¡¯t even talk with his two sons! Even if he messed up healing me, he¡¯s shown me kindness and offered me a place to stay. I really cannot repay him¡­ Even if I could, I¡¯m not able to right now. Maybe in the future I can make it up to him. I really like playing with Jard and Torgue. They are so much fun! And these big bugs are flying all around us! I try to swat at them a little bit, but even with my quick speed I can¡¯t even get close to them. They fly away each time, and come back shortly after like it¡¯s a type of game! I was getting angry at first until I saw one fly onto Torgue and removed another bug from his fur. I guess they are alright - they aren¡¯t trying to bite me like fleas were back at my old house. Haha, one of them landed in my hair and is now right above my forehead! Another couple are landing on my arms and now they are all over the place! Even some of them are shooting little balls of magic! I don¡¯t know how, but I can see the magic they are casting! Little bursts of Wind magic are coming out of them as they turn sharply, if I do that too I should be able to run faster and turn quicker! ¡ª POV Mathias ¡ª Well, it looks like she won¡¯t have any problems with inherent magic¡­ Geez, she¡¯s just throwing out all kinds of magic with abandon. It¡¯s not supposed to be that easy! Come on¡­ Ha! At least she doesn¡¯t know how to use her Natural Energy! I¡¯m still useful! I can¡¯t have my future protection leave yet! With her racial protection in play, she needs to stay near me so that I can benefit too! Psssst I''ll be back with a new chapter in a week or so. Hey everyone, sorry for the long hiatus, too much on my plate for the last couple years. I¡¯m sorry if the flow changes as I¡¯m writing, or my writing style has changed at all. I¡¯ll be starting this back up as soon as I read through all my notes and previous chapters. If anyone has a nice summary it¡¯s be cool to comment me it haha! I have my own but I want to know what ya¡¯ll have gathered so far!Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. https://laogbib.com/im-back-ch-34-within-the-next-week/ Ch. 33 - Elf Village** ¡ª POV Mathias ¡ª It¡¯s been a couple of days, but I¡¯ve decided that I should wait a bit before I teach her how to use her Natural Energy. I know how I use it, to grow, but how the heck would an animal* use it? (*Animals in the sense of the Kingdom Animalia). As far as I can see, I have two options with regards to this issue. The first option is the patented ¡°wait and see¡± approach. With this I could just study animals that exude this energy and see how they apply it, and from there generate a set of lesson plans for Taeya. I¡¯m hesitant about this approach though, all I have observed is that they slowly take in natural energy from their environment and slowly release it over time. In fact, it might just purely be a waste product formed from eating plants so much. The only active users of natural energy are plants as far as I can see. Ha, maybe I¡¯m a pioneer in this field! The second option I am also hesitant to employ, but also excited about! I¡¯m pretty sure this train of thought has no predecessors, so it¡¯d all be guesses and hard work. Okay, this part actually has three different variances. From what I have read from fantasy, there are a couple of different ways that nature energy can be used, especially by elves. For one, there is the donation system. This system uses a donation of GP to a plant, namely me, along with a request for something. There are two ways to even do this: The classic spell chanting, along with symbols of runes (like english haha, or Basic, C++, etc.) that evoke a response from the nearby plants (or me, if I¡¯m available). This way would be difficult, but can be applied en-masse. The downfall of this method is that the user would need a small incarnation of me, or my power. So a wand, or stick made from my branches? That sounds SUPER fantasy like. For instance, when an elf comes of age, they go through a ritual to beseech me for my blessing, in the form of a wand. Mmmm, that sounds nice. I¡¯d have to make the wands genetically linked to the person though, to make sure the sacredness remains intact. The second variance would also be super fantasy-like. The second variance would not use runes or other means to activate a spell, but it would rely entirely on my spread. First, I would need to thoroughly spread my roots across the whole globe to form a global consciousness. This would have the people saying stuff like ¡°Nature, grow and bind my enemies!¡± or something like that to have me support them in battle. No wands and it¡¯s inherent to the elf. This could be held religiously as well, where I would not help people until they¡¯ve gone through a ceremony to gain nature¡¯s blessing. In both of those variances I plan on incorporating singing into the way the elves commune for small tasks, or for crafting with wood. I would give more for better singers, of course, I don¡¯t want to be bored forever listening to the same songs over and over. Maybe I could make the best result for a song if it closely resembles ¡°High ho, high ho, it¡¯s off to work we go!¡± and other hit songs haha. My final approach would be imbuing them with something like aspects of nature, or something similar. Like I plant a seed or something in their body or add a network of thin vines that slowly absorb their energy to affect them in battle. So stuff like releasing adrenaline, healing factors, maybe bark skin, vine arms, bursts of other mana types. The diversity in this approach is huge, but I personally don¡¯t want all of the elves to be vine freaks and battle maniacs like that though¡­ I guess there¡¯s another way to modify this, to kind of get even more of a fantasy feel, but I¡¯d be less true to the image of an Elf. Something like imbuing a seed with my bestial mana, or something like that, so that they take on the aspects of the animals, like their spirit animal. It would be call the Awakening Seed or something like that. But, again, the last few don¡¯t feel right to me. Each of these possibilities would be interesting to watch and develop, however, I¡¯m not just going to cast away these potential time-wasters to avoid me being bored. I¡¯ve never felt so much boredom before I¡¯ve become a plant. Even though I grow quickly, I¡¯ve always been naturally a little lazy, so if something can be automated, I will automate it so that I can do other stuff like watch TV, eat at restaurants, etc. So for growing deeper and wider, I mainly have that self-automated with a small thread of consciousness that¡¯s basically instinct. All plants have it, the instinct to grow and become stronger. And after I built my tree, I¡¯ve been limited in what I can waste time on. Experiments are perfect! Speaking of experiments, my Slaughter Guards are so fucking big now! They¡¯ve become what I wanted them to be - large enough to keep away large pests and small herbivores, but I can say now that I have a small amount of regret. Even though I always have at least two near my real body, they no longer groom my leaves for aphids because they are too big. Instead their mutated brood take care of that, but they are so much more busy than my Slaughter Guards used to be, and constantly moving about, shooting magic out, and generally being annoying. I miss June - quiet, did her duties, and I could barely detect her. It felt like a real professional. They lack discipline, but there¡¯s too many for me to deal with, so I just need to continue on my plan B. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Plan B involves transferring my body into my tree somehow, like slowly growing new roots and walking towards my trunk and going inside of it. Once inside, I¡¯ll start to surround myself with the strongest stuff I can, forming an indestructible sphere from which I can be safe. I still haven¡¯t decided to enact the plan though, there¡¯s still too many variables that I haven¡¯t considered, and the ones I have, are not enough. So far I¡¯ve managed to see that if I had moved over to my tree body, I might¡¯ve been fried and died. So until I see that at least my tree is impervious to damage from others, or at least the defense reaches a certain level, there¡¯s no way I¡¯m going to move over. There¡¯s one more reason why I won¡¯t move just yet either. When Taeya one time laid on my body, I instantly started to feel suffocated, and my whole mind was almost taken over with a need to grow up and out, to pierce whatever was above me so that I could live. I almost shot out all of my available energy to grow a spire of leaves, roots, and thorns to pierce through Taeya. That instinct had no rhyme or reason, I know, as a rational being, that there was no way for me to be injured by just her laying on top of me, that I had a ton of energy still coming in, and that my main body wasn¡¯t injured, but that¡¯s how instincts work I gues, stupid grass body. But until I test out stuff, like whether my body is fine if I¡¯m still getting sunlight, does the source matter, if I need fresh air, etc. I can¡¯t move into my tree body. I¡¯m just disappointed all round by my current situation. Sure, I¡¯ve got plenty to work on now, I created a new species, my Slaughter Guards are becoming more useful, and I¡¯m slowly taking over the mountain I¡¯m on, but I feel like I¡¯m still lacking something, something that will make me passionate to do my job of living. I know I lack strength when it comes to this world, or at least I feel like I do. If that original beast, Torgue and Jard¡¯s father, walked up to my body today and blew some flames out, I¡¯m pretty sure I¡¯d just die. Reality is a bitch. And I¡¯m lacking motivation. It seems too peaceful right now. ¡­ I really hope that me saying that doesn¡¯t jinx me again. Hmmmm, there we go. Something interesting has appeared. Well, I found it. I found the pseudo-elf village that Taeya came from. It¡¯s pretty far from here, but since I directed my growth over to this location on purpose, I found them fairly quickly. And now I can grow up a tree and visualize how this village works using my . Sigh, their living situation is really primitive. They are wearing animal furs and something that looks like a linen or wool based fabric. Just how poor are these people, or maybe, how ancient is the technology in this era? Damnit, again, fantasy ruined. Even if there¡¯s magic, there should at least be a minimum of technology present! I¡¯m glad I can¡¯t smell, they must stink to high heaven without modern conveniences of soap and showers. Good thing I nipped that bad habit in the bud with all of my bugs, my two pets, and Taeya. At first they all resisted, but no way in hell was I gonna live in a valley stinking of BO. The bugs still don¡¯t always follow my rule of bathing, due to their short attention span and since they are bugs, they don¡¯t really need to bathe, but at least my Slaughter Guards have always learned that baths = love, attention, and some sweet nectar. Torgue and Jard though, man, they had a hissy fit. Like, literally, a hissy fit. They yowled and tried to escape, but my roots are strong, and they weren¡¯t fully fighting anyways. After I started combing their fur afterwards, and petting them, they eventually got used to it, but it wasn¡¯t until Taeya had to suffer with them that they started to play in the water and truly get used to it. I also started to heat the water a bit before they got in. Really, due to my mana floating off really fast, the water was already a constant temperature throughout the day and night, but I made it more of a hot springs type place for them. Back to these elves, it doesn¡¯t look like they are in any hurry. Most of them are lounging around, living in their primitive wooden houses. At least there are farms, and a well, and outhouses. But it doesn¡¯t look like anyone is in a hurry to look for Taeya. It¡¯s been a week ya know! Ah, and there it is, a small source of magic. Their hut is nicer, and it looks like it¡¯s magically fortified slightly. I mean, it¡¯s really pitiful. It also looks like there is a very small magic barrier that covers the village that comes through the roof of this guys adobe. It didn¡¯t affect me when I passed through it, so it could either be that I was way too powerful for it, it¡¯s only targeted at certain types of monsters, or it¡¯s because I¡¯m a plant and not a beast. Most people wouldn¡¯t think about blocking plants with a protection magic for a village. Especially this poor village. I don¡¯t know if I¡¯m more shocked by the way they live, or by the lack of apparent care I see that one of their children have run away. But, people are still people I guess. I should take this time to try to learn their language and culture, though it seems like they are lacking on the second one. Hearing from range is still difficult for me, I¡¯ve learned how to listen to things that are close by due to vibrations in the ground and if I¡¯m touching them, but I should try to develop an ear-like apparatus if I can. Or a directional dome. Ch. 34 - Infiltration ¡ªPOV Mathias ¡ª Yea, not being able to hear what they¡¯re saying sucks. I can¡¯t use telepathy because I think I can be detected easily if I make a connection. But damn, this is going to be hard by just using leaves and leaf follicles. Well, maybe not, let¡¯s see if I just can¡¯t do this right now. First, I need to make something like a spiral shell, with tiny leaves that go from microscopic to a centimeter long at the entrance. And the entrance needs to be covered with a thin membrane that vibrates and transmits the vibrations inside. That way, I think, sound waves enter my ear, and based on the location that the leaves vibrate at within my ear and the intensity at which they vibrate, I should be able to hear like a human. With a dome-like flower attachment, I can also make it not look like a massive ugly protuberance and instead be accepted in nature. Plucking by people will be a problem though zzzz. I am pretty sure though that I¡¯ll have a massive problem, even after I build this thing. I have no idea how to interpret vibrations into actual words, that¡¯s what being a baby was all about, spending 2 years straight learning how to do things. I guess this is where I can spend some GP and take a shortcut. Let¡¯s go ahead and try building my hearing apparatus and see what upgrades I can potentially get using my ability. First, the inner mechanisms need to be put together, a small bud the size of a dime should do. With the directional flower the receiving equipment doesn¡¯t need to be big. My roots already can sense long-range, low frequency vibrations anyways. Fuck, it¡¯s taking so much energy to make this¡­ Really? Each individual ¡°hair¡± in my ear is costing me 0.1 GP despite being much smaller than that¡­ I need thousands of these things too. Uggh¡­ For now let¡¯s trim up the number of hairs to focus in on the range these guys are speaking at. Humans typically don¡¯t go lower than about 20 Hz or higher than about 300 Hz. Might as well cover 1-500 Hz. But that means ~3 hairs each, leading to 1500 leaves totaling 150 GP. I guess that¡¯s acceptable. My current GP growth/hour during the day is already really high, close to 100, but I lose so much just because I can¡¯t transmit my energy effectively over a long range. Putting research into that on my future to-do list. Okay, flower ear created. And I hear gobbledygook. Just as expected. I was never good at learning languages either. And I don¡¯t want to wait for a year or two to learn the language myself. I guess I should just bite the bullet and hope the system will allow me the option to learn their language. ¡ª¡ª¡ª-¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Tribal Elvish Rank F- Learn the local language of the elves. Tribal Elvish is an early language that shares little in common with other local languages. Does not include the magic language/system used by the elves at this location. Cost: 5 ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Tribal Elvish-Mixed Rank F Learn the local language of the elves. Tribal Elvish is an early language that shares little in common with other local languages. Does not include the magic language/system used by the elves at this location. Includes words and phrases taken from the surrounding species in use at this location (humans). Cost: 15 ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª ¡­ Great, localized languages. Tribal languages. Meaning each tribe has a different language. Zzz. That¡¯s so dumb!!! No other options are appearing for me either for languages. I guess I have to be exposed to the languages first. At least the costs are reasonable for the rank and the actual information provided. I¡¯m finally getting a good deal from this crappy system. Let¡¯s go ahead and pay the man and get my magical language ability. A slight draining feeling¡­ and poof, along with a headache I can understand what they¡¯re saying! Totally worth it. Ish. Headaches do hurt - and I¡¯m pretty sure this isn¡¯t a physical headache, as again, I¡¯m a bundle of grass. No Ibuprofen will work for me. Maybe in my I can imagine some¡­ damnit, what was that chemical formula again? It would be good to stock up on some drugs that I can remember, but then again I can always just procure some grass-coffee and hope that deals with it. ¡­ Caffeine helped a little bit, but at least now I can imagine myself looking grumpily at everything while sipping my coffee. Now to listen to some chatter and get acquainted with the local life. ¡ª POV Child A & B ¡ª Where did Taeya go? Who? That girl who we beat up last time to take her food! The little bastard girl! Oh. I dunno. We should ask her parents! They always tells us where she is and gives us candies! Yea, little bastards like that shouldn¡¯t get any good stuff! We should beat her up again! My dad showed me where to hurt someone where people can¡¯t see. I wanna try it out! ¡ª POV Mage ¡ª I¡¯m running out of people with talent to take in this measly village. The elders and I need to find a solution to keep up our deterrence shield. The last couple of children barely had any talent for me to utilize, they barely kept me at my current level. Absorbing their ability through blood was something that I thought of to improve myself, however, it never lasts long enough. I need a new dose to prolong the effect. That bastard kid still had a little left afterwards, I should go look for her. I haven¡¯t gotten the go ahead for any other kids yet, so she¡¯ll have to do. ¡ª POV Mother & Father of Taeya ¡ª Where¡¯s that little shit-stain? Today of all days she goes missing. Fuck. Why¡¯s everyone looking for her anyways. I could get another favor from the mage. Hmmph. I can¡¯t beleive she¡¯s even lived this long. We should have just kicked her out into the wilderness years ago. Would¡¯ve saved us a lot of food. At least she is worth something though. In another year or two we could sell her to the big city or something when a trade caravan comes through. Wouldn¡¯t get much, but you could get a new dress and I could probably get a new hammer. That damn bitch! Where is she? ¡ª POV Mathias ¡ª It looks like there¡¯s no saving them. Their values are too ingrained into their lives, even the children are spouting the rhetoric of the adults. Reminds me of the Hitler Youth campaigns from WWII. It¡¯s much worse here though due to lack of knowledge and globalization. I really don¡¯t even want the tiniest bit of this culture entering my glade. Once there, it would be hard to thoroughly excise. That mage has got to go. Absorbing blood (I.e. mana reactors) is bad business. It needs to be nipped in the buds. If this idea gets out there, and is popularized, Taeya could be in danger. Blood magic is pretty easy to vilify too. Looks like anyone recruited from this area is a no go. So recruiting children may be bad, but maybe an infant? Maybe? Not yet, no one would be able to take care of a child. Taeya is too young, and I¡¯m not into the whole genetic hacking/experimenting on kids. Whiping memory of a young child might work, but the underlying personality might be influenced anyways. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. Fuck it, I¡¯ll just have to look for another elf tribe later on or something. I don¡¯t want any of these people to come to my glade. I also need to spread around more, I can¡¯t hear inside of the houses yet. I¡¯ll just set one of my mind threads on autopilot to secretly grow roots to houses and to grow a flower of each porch or seomthing. Ah, there¡¯s an idea. I¡¯ll make my vines/roots help bind their huts together. This should let them leave the vines alone, as it makes their structures more sturdy and rain-proof. Speaking of recruiting people and species and stuff, how will the High-Elf species as a whole play out. Yes, I created one. One cannot propagate, right? Must have something to do with the [Species Protection] that is currently activated on her. I should read what that does. I¡¯m assuming something like she can¡¯t die for awhile, will be safe, so on and so forth. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Species Protection Rank X Activated when a new species is born/created. Basic needs reduced to minimum (food, water, shelter) with no permanent harm until five members of the species are recognized. Provision finding to fill needs is boosted. Species will seek their own kind Can still be killed by other means, though likelyhood of these harms will be drastically reduced (Massive boost to luck). Genetic diversity will be artificially boosted in first 50 generations by *******, guided by the vision held by the creator/maker at the time of genesis. Species is also placed in the appropriate evolution path for a species with evolution conditions specified by the maker (Set now?) ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Oh shit. That sounds pretty OP. Pretty much a starter kit for a new race. Thank goodness for some of those, genetic diversity is important. And so is the fact that they can be evolved into instead of me needing to create another and basically having to give my Taeya away to someone. No one I¡¯ve seen so far is worthy enough, and I doubt with the harm she¡¯s had in her past that she¡¯d be happy to even converse with another elf. Looks like I should set the evolution conditions now rather than later, so that others can start to gather towards my glade to protect me. It might take years though for them to arrive. Maybe even decades zzzzz. Ok, evolution conditions. High elves need to be tied to me somehow. That way I can have a semblance of control over them. Make them have to gain the approval of me, have high aptitude in magic, and has a heart that cares for nature (indirectly conserving me). ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Rejected Evolution Terms Evolution conditioned on mortal aspect (Too restrictive - rejected. Must be based on current High Elf as well) ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª High aptitude in magic - Choose a value compared to base race - top X% (elf) Friendly nature relations - Accepted ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Well, plan A has been shot down. Time for plan B. Evolution dependent on acquiring Nature Mana abilities. So far as I know I should be the only one who can give this ability. But to be honest, I¡¯m sure there are a ton of ways to get it. I wonder if the mage in the village could get it his way, by siphoning blood out? Not good. Shit. It can¡¯t be based on me¡­ So what should it be? As for aptitude, that¡¯s pretty easy. With the difference between an elf and a high elf being so large, and say a level 5 on magic out of log base 10 is high, and theoretically 8 is the highest¡­ Magic users aren¡¯t everyone, no information, but can extrapolate from data in the village¡­ one acting mage out of 100 people¡­ his level is low, maybe level 2¡­ Couple of level 1¡¯s in the adults¡­ Let¡¯s say 10/100 have ability, 1/100 have level 2¡­ Population I¡¯d assume is around 100 million in the world¡­ Within this continent only about 1/3, so 33 million¡­ To have a good level of High Elves only level 4 on magic is doable. At that range about 3700 elves would be possible to become a High Elf if that was the only requirement. And I assume around a third of those can fill the rest of the requirements and can evolve. But I need to make them naturally work for me/help me if I need it. ¡­Maybe if I look at my current Status I can get an idea of what I should do.
Name: --- (Mathias) Age: 3.5 Months
Gender: ¡á/¡â Level: 5
Class: Plant Sage+ Race: Bermuda Grass Unique Variant: Mana Vampire
HP: 50/50 Mana: 25/25 (+10,000 pt/hour)
Growth Points: 650 Growth Rate: 125 (50) pts/hour day (night)
Strength: 5 Vitality: 25
Agility: 1 Intelligence: 155
Tamed Species 2 Tamed Total 13 + 2
Titles: [Destined to Die], [Reincarnator], [Martyr], [Boundless], [Late Bloomer], [One of Many], [Eaten Alive+], [Kin-Slayer], [Bug Tamer], [Unnatural Predator]
Abilities: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Drug Compounding: Caffeine, Cyanide, Simple Sugar, Octopamine, Nightshade Toxin, Milkweed Toxin As restrictive as possible, but not too restrictive¡­ What makes me unique¡­ I¡¯m a sentient Plant Sage who is also a plant. I¡¯m a grass mana vampire. I¡¯m also a reincarnator - but I¡¯m probably the only one. Let me try this: ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Rejected Evolution Terms Evolution conditioned on mortal aspect (Too restrictive - rejected. Reincarnator.) Evolution conditioned on other races/classes (Plant Sage, Mana Vampire) ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Set Evolution Terms High aptitude in magic - Must reach level 4 magic abilities - Accepted Friendly nature relations - Accepted ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Dang. Okay, I guess I¡¯ll have to settle on Nature magic restriction. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Set Evolution Terms High aptitude in magic - Must reach level 4 magic abilities - Accepted Friendly nature relations - Accepted Ability to commune with and use Nature Energy - Accepted ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Zzzzzz. Great, looks like I can¡¯t have the order/control I¡¯d like, but unless there are Dryads who¡¯d give out this ability haphazardly then I¡¯d be the easiest way to become a High Elf. Ch. 35 - ????? ¡ªPOV Mathias ¡ª
Name: --- (Mathias) Age: 3.5 Months
Gender: ¡á/¡â Level: 5
Class: Plant Sage+ Race: Bermuda Grass Unique Variant: Mana Vampire
HP: 50/50 Mana: 25/25 (+10,000 pt/hour)
Growth Points: 650 Growth Rate: 125 (50) pts/hour day (night)
Strength: 5 Vitality: 25
Agility: 1 Intelligence: 155
Tamed Species 2 Tamed Total 13 + 2
Titles: [Destined to Die], [Reincarnator], [Martyr], [Boundless], [Late Bloomer], [One of Many], [Eaten Alive+], [Kin-Slayer], [Bug Tamer], [Unnatural Predator], [High-Elf Creator]
Abilities: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Wooo! I got another title after setting up the high elf evolution path. [High-elf Creator], huh?
[High-Elf Creator] Rank: X
Evolved a sentient species, Elf, to their higher-form, a High-elf. Both pre-evolution and post-evolution species will feel friendly and respectful towards who holds this title. Strong aversion to these species to harm or endanger the holder of this title.
Yes! Another layer of protection! However, I wish it was towards humans to be honest. Elves already have a predisposition of friendliness towards nature, while humans for the most part treat nature as something that owes them something. It¡¯s a small pet-peave of mine, as well as one of the leading causes of the death of over 90% of the population¡­ BUT beggars can¡¯t be choosers. And sometimes having a close relations to something so chaotic is a bad thing. There are so many heros and leaders that are villified once they reach prominence. I hope elves are different. But now that I think about it, this is actually much better to have it be related to elves. Would I count as nature to them, or as a dangerous weed that upsets the balance? NVM, this is good. Looking at Taeya, it looks like she¡¯s getting better and better at utilizing her mana. I think she¡¯s learned mana sight or something similar. Because her mana abilities are starting to mimic those of the bugs and the cubs more and more¡­ Damnit, I wish I had a body to cast spells, be fast, and have a typical fantasy life! Even then, I doubt I could be as fast a learner as she is¡­ Did I make High-elves too powerful!?!? ¡ªPOV Jard and Torgue¡ª Jard - Haha! I got away this time! Noooooo! Jard, how¡¯d you escape this time! And why am I caught!? I thought I was really fast! How did she get so much faster! HAHA! Now it¡¯s your turn to catch us! Good luck! NO FAAAIIIIRRR!!!!!! ¡ªPOV Taeya¡ª I did it! I finally caught Torgue! He¡¯s so fast, but I felt I could do it and I suddenly got even faster than I was before, my legs got stronger and my breathing got easier. I always watch as these two run away from me, and I see their mana flowing to their muscles in their body. I think my mana is giving me a boost too! Now that I¡¯m catching my breath, yea, it looks like my mana is circulating in my muscles now. I was tired of getting bullied and exhausted by Jard and Torgue! Torgue can run the fastest, but his turning and nimbleness aren¡¯t the best. On the other hand, Jard is much trickier. As soon as I¡¯d get close he¡¯d jump to the side or leap off of something and leave me tumbling in the dust. Either way I¡¯d have to chase them until I was dead tired. Ah, torgue is so soft, and his wings¡¯ fluttering is so peaceful and calming¡­ But now it¡¯s time to let him go and RUUUUNNNNN!!!!! ¡ª POV Mathias ¡ª ¡­ It¡¯s really not fair. At least I can take solace in that I created something that will increase the diversity of the world. Sigh. I guess I should follow through with thinking about all three types of nature mages instead of restricting elves by reducing their options. The three types of mages revolved around three distinct nature energy usage. The donation system where an elf sends some regular and nature mana together to activate an effect using chanting. Trouble is how to implement this other than creating something like a wand as an intermediary. I need more information to get this to work. Global consciousness where I implement a nature summoning-type of magic. But again, this might take a lot from me. Even with thousands of mind-threads listening and thinking to respond to spells, I don¡¯t know if I¡¯d be able to sustain such magic. So I¡¯ll try this out for awhile and see if I can do it or not. Oh, maybe I can make it a city-based thing, or grove-based thing? So I only have to take care of certain parcels of the world instead of everywhere. Seems easier to do. Then again, it depends on the population. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Finally, we have the nature-imbued body where a ¡°seed¡± is planted inside of them so they can grow bark armor, grow vine-whip arms, have increase healing and strength. Trouble is, I¡¯d either have to create a species of mutualistic plants or somehow make a separate part of my to graft onto them. ¡­ Well, I haven¡¯t even tried to implement any of these yet, so I don¡¯t know their feasibility. But I do know I shouldn¡¯t restrict them too much. Right now it¡¯s not an issue, I guess I should start teaching Taeya some magic sooner or later to test them out. Sigh. So much to do, so little time. And so many issues. Time seems to be slipping by much faster than it should. I feel like I¡¯m thinking at a normal speed, but when I¡¯m talking with one of my kids, I know it¡¯s taking me too long to respond to them. I feel like it¡¯s just been a week or two, but looking at my status it¡¯s been a couple of months! Thankfully Another issue I have is the stupid trees and shrubbery are still dangerous to me. I seem to be in peace with them currently, but I can feel how much energy they have and just how effective that energy is. A hundred of my energy points are barely worth 1 of theirs. I can always evolve, but I¡¯m weary of changing species yet. It¡¯s difficult for me to decide something so much different than what I currently am. Of course, I don¡¯t hink these larger plants would pose a problem for me if I could handle my energy storage and energy transferrence problem. I have little potatoes that I store my GP in, but they don¡¯t hold mana very well. My vines cover miles of ground, but a lot of use that is regarding my power. It¡¯s like wherever I ¡°think¡± from, I can draw energy equal to a circular area around me, with decreasing gains as it gets larger until it¡¯s zero. I need to reorganize and choose my priorities. Elf stuff: Low. Nature magic: Low. Pet stuff: Low. Tree stuff: Low. Magic stuff: Med to Very high. Information Stuff: High. Attack and Defense stuff: Very high. Energy stuff: EXTREMELY high (Previous one depends on this one). That makes me feel better. I have my marching orders, now it¡¯s time to execute them! ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ What ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ An owl just swooped over and dropped a mouse by me¡­ I guess it saw me entombing the dead animals for fertilizer? Weeeeeird. ¡ª Gustav ¡ª Hoot hoot! This glade is crazy! First mana weed, then everything started to die, then there was a huge animal that fought a pack of humans. Then two small cubs, then an elf, then that coccoon thing, a blast of the most amazing mana I¡¯ve ever felt, all while seeing the grass spreading! Hoot hoot! I should leave. But again, this mana and other energy is making me stronger. I want to leave, but I can¡¯t. Hoot! So I should try to be good! Hoot hoot! ¡ª POV Traveling Caravan ¡ª ¡°THIS JOURNEY IS SUCH A PAAAAAIIIINNNNN!!!!¡± ¡­ I¡¯d believe that more if you weren¡¯t hugging me and burying your head in my hair Rose! I should¡¯ve kept my stupid mouth shut when she offered to teach me how to make a wand. All she did was teach me how to put a rock on a stick!!! It actually DECREASED my magic¡¯s power! And now she makes me wear it!!!!! ¡°Sigh. Of course it is. We¡¯re going through a jungle. Normally we¡¯d meet bandits, monsters, or other people, but how is that possible with that!? And I want my old wand back!!!¡± ¡°Cirili, you¡¯re no fun! I made that wand especially for you! No way! And she¡¯s my pet! Of course I need to take Sheal with me! She can¡¯t be making all the creatures run away, she¡¯s just a big ¡®ol ball of fun!¡± Humph, I should take that wand away from you. Actually taking something that should increase your instant-use magic power if you master it. I¡¯m going to take more liberties then! Mmmhmmm ¡ª POV Guards ¡ª Alice (Oracle guard, shares shifts with Liza) - ¡°I was wondering what¡¯s been going on. We¡¯ve been wandering around for quite a bit, but we¡¯ve yet to see any living being between towns. What do you think Alice?¡± Liza (Archer, and Archer¡¯s sister from Pheonix quest) - ¡°Alice, I think the Princess is partially right. I¡¯d say it¡¯s about 50% dragon, 50% Rose. I can¡¯t be sure. With my eyesight I¡¯ve seen an animal or two, but if they look at either one of those two they seem to run away.¡± ¡°That¡¯s probably why the last town we passed near these outskirts of the kingdom everyone was hiding in their house. Next time I should go alone to gather provisions for us all.¡± ¡°Sounds good! But can I do it first? I feel so useless without being able to bring down game with it all running away! We¡¯ve had to stop at every town to reprovision! I want to help out Rose anyway I can!¡± ¡°Sure! I¡¯ll guard the cart then and keep them company!¡± ¡ª POV Rose ¡ª ¡°Besides, doesn¡¯t she look a little thin? Maybe you should let her go hunt for awhile? That way it¡¯s a win-win for us!¡± And this way I can show off my power to the guards and the commoners!!!!! Take that evil monster! Take that Bandit! Take that disrespectful peasant! ¡°Uggggh, I guess you¡¯re right. You¡¯re irritating when you¡¯re right. That¡¯s it, I¡¯m not letting go of you for the whole week!¡± Yes! More fondling excuses! ¡­ ¡°There¡¯s no way you knew about the problem before, and are just using this as an excuse, is it?¡± ¡­ ¡°tch¡­ No way!¡± ¡­ Totally unconvincing. Control your hands!!!!! ¡ª POV ??? ¡ª Yes, the bad ones should be purged, purged, purged! It hurts, it hurts, make it stop!!!!! So much small pains everywhere! It itches, it scratches!!! If I¡¯m going to die, they should die too!!! It¡¯s so scary in here. Drip. Drop. In their mouth it plops. Drip, Drop. Oooh, this one¡¯s a fighter! Yay! But so weak!! I like his ideas, but I don¡¯t have blood! Maybe later I can use it. But for now, you have to go! ¡®Splat¡¯ Good, it¡¯s quiet now. ¡°Waah! Waah!¡± This one is *was* hidden. ¡®Crack¡¯ There we go. It¡¯s a neat bundle now, arms and legs together! Oh, still alive are we? I¡¯ll have one too then. Be calm, come with me. I have some plans for you then. I like obeient ones. You''ll be obedient, right? Sizzle, fizzle. The black fire crackles, feel my scorn. Sizzle, fizzle. WHY DOES IT HURT SO MUCH!!!!! Gotta hide the evidence. Gotta hide it, gotta hide it!!!!!!!! Hide the pain, hide the flames. Ooops, can¡¯t hide those hehe. Time to go!!!!!! Ch. 36 - Mana and GP Planning ¡ª POV Sheal (AKA Dragon that is abused) ¡ª Am I really free? I know not to get up any false hopes, but I truly wish for my nightmare to be over. Each hour. Day. Month. Year. Decade. Century I¡¯ve been counting. Storing my power, biding my time. When finally I strike, I could barely mark her skin with my strongest magic. It was around that time that I realized that I am just a pet, andshall remain one for as long as SHE lives. Especially these last few decades. No longer was I able to go out and gather power. I was sealed in an unimaginably powerful magic. Stuck. Stagnant. For awhile I thought ¡®Am I going to die here, wasting away until I¡¯m skin and bones?¡¯ But then she came back. She dispersed the magic shell and came up and hugged my legs, saying ¡°Let¡¯s go now Sheal! It¡¯s time for a walk!¡± ¡­ This is my life now. ¡­ So much for a ¡®walk¡¯. As soon as we left my cave, another shell surrounded me, and it looks like I¡¯m on at ether to her as I float behind. ¡­ Sigh¡­ Where are the other dragons? Why hasn¡¯t a dragon prince come and saved me? Well, now my shell is gone and SHE is motioning me to go eat or something. Finally! I can fly again! It feels so good to stretch my wings!!!!!!! Aaaaahhhhhh¡­ I¡¯m ignoring the obviously strong tracking magic that¡¯s been applied to me, as I FEEL SO FREEEEE!!!!! Food, finally fooooood! ¡ª POV Rose ¡ª Hmmph, Sheal ran away as soon as she could! She didn¡¯t even come and let me pat he! I¡¯ll teach her when she comes back! ¡­ Oh, wait, how long did I have her cooped in there! She must be hungry! Or even have to go to the bathroom! Okay, I¡¯ll forgive you Sheal! I wouldn¡¯t want to show that to my loved one either! Have fun! Come back soon!!!! ¡ª POV Mathias ¡ª My top concerns are currently fixing both my Mana transportation, GP transportation, and improving my attack and defense. All I have so far for the first is my tiny, anemic grass roots and stems. I can try to pump up the size of my roots, but so far my investigations have shown diminishing returns as the radius becomes bigger, an r-squared problem. That¡¯s why I¡¯ve just been investing my local energy into local improvements, at least that¡¯s what my mind-threads are supposed to be doing. When they can¡¯t go over, they go under. If they can¡¯t go up, they go down. In several places I ahve roots that delve down hundreds of feet, and others I¡¯m covering an entire rock in grass, quickly reaching the other side to continue growing. And still, no other village yet. I have detected a few large magical beasts. As far as I can tell they seem disinterested in my growth, though a few of the more cantankerous ones have been actively burning or eating me. I make sure it¡¯s not pleasant for them at least, as I load a ton of capsaicin in there. What has REALLY bummed me out is that cyanide, Milkweed, and Nightshade don¡¯t seem to work on creatures with a lot of mana. Even when they ate my little presents they seemed totally fine with it. Either there is another commonish plant with cyanide that the animals have applied Mithridatism to become immune, they have a strong genetic resistance to the poison, or something stupid magical ability like: [Poison Immunity I-X] - Grants immunity to poison below level y. Grants resistance to poison below level z. And I bet, because my poison is also not magical, and purely chemical, it might be easier for them to deal with. So cyanide isn¡¯t going to work for me as an attacking method for stronger beasts. For defense, I have investments that should pay off in the long-run, but nothing immediate. Other than pit traps and some explosive spikes I can impale feet on, I am desperately vulnerable. To keep myself safe, when I encounter one of the difficult beasts, I do what I did with my slime nemisis - create thorns and capsaicin to dissuade, and if those measures prove ineffective, I cut my losses and avoid their territory. Lately I¡¯ve been just growing roots now into their territory, a few feet underground, to see if I can¡¯t conquer the area that way. So far, so good, infiltration has been successful. I need to look for a method of decreasing my leakage of mana and energy over distances. There are a few ways I can try to fix this issue. I can try to find an animal or being that doesn¡¯t leak mana or energy. Sigh, but, by definition, these would be realy hard to find. But it may be worth it to devote a week or so to fully controlling my spread out area to search for an animal like this. Second option, I regress my mana to a previous generation from my cross-breeding experiments. I would be sacrificing a huge amount of mana, but my mana storage would progress to a much higher amount. Downsides, it doesn¡¯t solve my mana transportation problems. I could always ask the magic system, but again, the options have been subpar or super expensive compared to what I could do with my plant knowledge. But this may be the exact situation where it could be the most helpful. Okay, let¡¯s see what my system can do for me! ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Ability is race restricted: Evolve into larger organism -Mana Tree Cost: 25,000 GP, 1000 MP -Vampire Tree Cost: 20,000 GP, 500 MP, Blood from 10 different species -Vampire Bush Cost: 15,000 GP, 100 MP, Blood from 5 different species -Bush Cost: 1,000 GP -Tree Cost: 5,000 GP Unlocked due to [Boundless]: -Tree Growth Energy Cost: 150,000 GP -Bush Growth Energy Cost: 100,000 GP ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Sweet! I totally forgot about [Boundless]! But... ¡­ Well I still have a ways to go to be able to evolve into something, due to me not being able to store mana the sweetest things look blocked. My mana regeneration can fill the gap in a second, but since my storage is a measly 25 MP, I can¡¯t choose them. Well, if I get a mana stone, I probably could. That leaves the massive GP costs. I could theoretically wait a few weeks and save up enough GP in my main body to evolve. But again, I really don¡¯t want to evolve my species. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. Changing my species could do some insanely bad things for me. Just thinking back to my early days gives me the chills. Brrrr. Uncontrollable reactions to my instincts, coming close to dying so quickly because I caught the attention of the local predators. I¡¯m barely keeping a lid on my instincts as they are. Blissful sunlight is like a shot of morphine, resisting the urge to grow leaves is a nightmare. And to top it off I have been feeling the increasing need to ¡°relieve¡± myself. But that would be disasterous for everyone and everything I¡¯m pretty sure. Mindless clones of myself, with a huge mana supply and the growth rate of grass. Craaaaazy. The vampire varieties are definitely a no-go. Imagining the instincts involved with that is horrendous. Goodbye life in the surrounding acreage immediately. And as soon as civilization finds out about it, goodbye me. Things like vampires are probably not thought highly of, and will most likely be burnt down or attacked repeatedly. A Mana tree would probably involve the forced creation of mana stones, or something similar. It also sounds rare. Anything rare is coveted. And I¡¯m not exactly in an area of mana trees around here, I would probably stick out like a sore thumb. My ¡°tree¡± decoy has been doing it¡¯s thing, protecting me from lightning, but either itself or my other foibles are attracting animals to my glade. Thankfully they¡¯re useful as fertilizer and Jard, Torgue, and myself can take care of them. But what if a dragon or sphynx or something is attracted to my glade because of it? I¡¯ve kept it small for now, but¡­ Wait, if I turn into a tree, what will happen to all of my offshoots and roots everywhere? Shit shit shit, didn¡¯t even think about that. Will I turn into something like a bamboo forest, but with mana trees everywhere? Shit, that¡¯s like putting up a neon sign in the middle of nowhere saying ¡°Hey, look at me! I¡¯m valuable and grow all over the place! Come log me!¡± Bushes would at least be manageable, I think. I don¡¯t know if they would solve my problem fully either though, as hierarchy seems to be grass < bush < tree. So it¡¯d be a compromise, a useful compromise, so it may be a solution. My species is currently Bermuda Grass Unique Variant: Mana Vampire. Would I lose my traits that make my species unique? Is it worth it to risk it? No, it¡¯s not. Fuck it, I¡¯ll try to save up to upgrade my energy type to tree energy. The risk is too large to evolve with so many unknowns. At least I can understand such a change as energy type changing. I can handle that. GP transportation has a plan, but Mana is still an issue. Without mana stones to store mana and without a means to transport said mana over distances, my mana is only useful for small magic. I think it¡¯s finally time for mana stones. Why fight something that has evolved for hundreds of years? But I will modify it. But before I can do that, I need the capabilitiy to make mana stones. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Mana Stone Cost: 100 GP Allows for the creation of mana stones. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª And bought. Pretty cheap. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Mana Stone Cost: 1 GP, 10 Mana Allows for the storage of mana. Size and density determines storage size. The more mana used to grow a mana stone, the more maximum mana the stone can hold (increased mana density). GP determines size of mana stone. Can be turned on and activated automatically for maximum efficiency determined by creature¡¯s ability. Mana stones can be grown continously and improved over time. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª There it is, just as enticing as I thought it would be. It¡¯s just a crystallization of mana, so it¡¯s not expensive. But for high quality mana stones, the cost in creation is far higher than the result. But that¡¯s exactly what I need, lots of small, high quality mana stones for my plan. I want to have thousands of mana stones that I can transport around my network of roots through my veins. That way I can have a system of slightly wider main veins going through my network that can transport small mana stones. The perfect solution if I can¡¯t normally transport my mana around. This checks all my marks for safety too: Small stones for least visibility, dispersed mana for decreased localization, I can make use of my insane mana generation, and the ability to transport my mana around (though not in the most efficient manner). As a bonus, if it is discovered and harvested, I can move the stones all away from where I am and make another ¡°fake¡± body. Okay, I¡¯m going to do it! Let¡¯s see what 1 GP, 10 mana will create. Because my GP is grass based, I doubt that it will be too big. ¡­ And Success! A tiny mana stone the size of a pen tip (1.0 mm round). And I can fill it with 1 mana at the moment. Fuck yes! I can feel I can still improve it too, let¡¯s pour mana into it to increase it¡¯s density¡­ And it took 11 more mana to increase it by 1 more mana storage. Since my mana is pretty much unlimited over time, time becomes the highest cost. I¡¯m going to let this sit for an hour and see what density I can get to. ¡­ Results are in. Increasing mana has some sort of exponential function for mana used, yet the mana input time takes the same per mana used. 3600 seconds = 1800 mana fused into the mana stone. I stopped it a little early, at 50 mana density it took 55 minutes and 1643 mana. It proves that there¡¯s an exponential relationship, as my last mana density point took me 51 mana to put in. Let¡¯s see how long it¡¯d take to get it to 100 mana. ¡­ Still not bad. 2.75 hours, with the last mana taking 81 mana to be input. Let¡¯s go for a thousand. ¡­ Okay, a thousand is a little ambitious for now. I¡¯ll stop at 250 for now. It takes about half a day to create this density, and seems manageable. Besides, I don¡¯t want people getting too much from me if they find am ana stone. They should be disposable. Now to start mass production! Ch. 37 - The Journey Continues ¡ª POV Rose ¡ª It looks like Cirili is still grumpy at me for making her use that wand. I can¡¯t wait for her to realize how good it is and come groveling to me, thanking me for my kindness. Ah, I can¡¯t wait!!!!!! ¡°Oh, Rose. You always do right by me. I can feel myself getting stronger every day! Thank you so much! Is there anything I can do to repay you?¡± ¡°Rose, this wand sucks! My fireball can¡¯t even fully kill a deer!¡± ¡­ That little shit!!!!! ¡°Hey everyone, we are approaching the elf¡¯s territory. We can¡¯t hunt without the locals permission in this area. Of course, they probably won¡¯t mind, but can we stop shooting fireballs at every being of nature for now?¡± - Liza ¡°Is that true Liza? You know so much!¡± - Alice ¡°Of course I do! The King let me into his library and asked his chancellor to teach me everything I might need for this trip. It took me awhile to understand the basics, so the chancellor also gave me a shorter version to study on my way around.¡± ¡°Ah, so cool! Can I read it too?¡± ¡°Of course! But we can;t let it distract us from our duties. Make sure to only read it after we swap positions.¡± ¡­ Sigh, those two get along really well. I guess it¡¯s for the best though, because since they¡¯ve gotten mixed up with me their fate strings may have been tampered with hehe. From average to great! I bet these two will be thankful to me in the future, unlike someone! I¡¯m going to grope her more tonight! Hmmph! ¡ª POV High Elf ¡ª It is a hard life being a normal elf. I¡¯ve studied, trained, and expanded my mana capactiy for years, but eventually I hit a peak. I was lauded as a top-class sorceror, and I grew complacent. Eventually, I also grew tired. The next thing I knew, I was old and had started to gain wrinkles all over my body. I finally noticed my age when my dearest friend, a dryad that I met on one of my adventures, grew sadder and sadder as the days went on. When I asked her why, she wordlessly brought up a water curtain that reflected my visage. That¡¯s when it hit me. I¡¯m old. And I¡¯m going to die soon. It hit me hard, the knowledge of impending death. However, instead of dwelling on it, I thought to somehow reduce the pain my friend was feeling. I started to visit her as often as I could, bringing her little treats and telling her stories. Until last week. I was making my way carefully over to her, when she came rushing over to me smiling. ¡°My me, little Apple. What¡¯s got you excited?¡± I wondered aloud. She grabbed my hand and drew me to her tree, and she told me that she might be able to help me out! She feels a potential in me that wasn¡¯t there before, and thinks she knows how to draw it out. I myself don¡¯t feel much different, but since she seems happier and more energetic than ever, I¡¯ll play along and have fun with her. Apple every day would take me to a spot away from her influence to teach me how to interact with the energy in nature. It took a few days, but with Apple¡¯s help, and my experience in magic, I was able to influence nature energy around me. Deary me, when that happened, my heart nearly stopped. Only plants should be able to influence nature energy directly, as far as I knew the only way previously was to use our own mana to guie the nature mana around. A very tedious and difficult experience, as the energy fought against any other types of energy. That¡¯s when it fit me, I could feel an untapped potential deep within me, asking me a question. A simple question. Do you want to become more? And I said yes to the tempting voice. Instantly a bright, white light rose like a pillar around me. I was wrapped in a leafy cocoon, and roots came from nowhere and plunged deep into the earth below me, searching for and bringing me something. It was painful, and euphoric at the same time. But finally it was over, my leafy cocoon withered and disappeared, and I stepped out. I felt stronger, faster, and younger. And to top it all off, while I still look aged, I only look older, not decrepit. Now I feel a pulling, something guiding me to go a certain direction. But I know the way is dangerous. Hopefully I can find a strong party to team up with to go to where I¡¯m being called. Maybe this caravan that just entered the city would help. They look quite strong, and I won¡¯t be a big burden. My need for food seems to have gone away from some mystical reason, but I do find myself tasting a lot of stuff I wouldn¡¯t have thought of before. Just yesterday I licked a rock and thought it tasted good. I must need some mineral present in the rock, I don¡¯t know what it is though.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. The party is composed of all females, so hopefully they won¡¯t reject just because I¡¯m a male. I¡¯m old, so that should help put their worries at ease. And I know my way around, and have a lot of contacts. Let¡¯s see if they¡¯ll take me along, a sort of give and take. While it pains me to leave Apple, both of us know we¡¯ll see each other again. And this pull won¡¯t go away until I make it to where it¡¯s pointing. ¡ª POV Cirili ¡ª While I was lamenting the loss of human civilization, an old elf approached our caravan. He appeared pretty strong, he has a lot of magic leaking out of him. He must have just recently upgraded his power somehow. We had just entered the city and the guards were off buying goods and food. I could see Rose pointedly looking away, while motioning me with her hand to take care of it. Sigh. ¡°Hi there elder, is there anything we can do for you?¡± ¡°Good afternoon young lady. I came to inquire about joining your caravan depending on the way you¡¯ll be heading. I am a really strong mage, and I have a lot of connections in this Kingdom. I know the safe routes, wherethe corrupt and the clean cities are, and I can facilitate our movement through any of them.¡± ¡°Ah, that would be most helpful. May I ask why you want to join us on our journey?¡± Damnit, what the fuck is this. He must be someone really important. If I play this wrong we could become ostracized. Damnit. ¡°That is an astute question, my dear. I am on a journey to find my roots, so to speak. I need to go West, I do not know where, but I have a feeling that is where I should go. Naturally I will pay my own way, I just would like some traveling companions for safety and company. Hiring guards isn¡¯t easy, as the location is unknown and the journey is also unknown.¡± ¡°Let me discuss it with - ¡° ¡ª POV Rose ¡ª It¡¯s a shame humans don¡¯t evolve naturally, we only gain classes. My experiments back in the days freed me from this restriction, but I¡¯m pretty sure I¡¯m at an apex / unique in that regards. I though elves were in a similar boat, but then this thing shows up. I can feel it, an evolved form. I can see an extremely strong fate string attached to him. It has a shiny gold layer around it, and it resists me seeing into it. Is this the dawn of a new species? I¡¯ve never seen something like this, I can¡¯t let Ciri mess this up! ¡°What she was trying to say was that we would be delighted to have your company on our trip. My name is Rose, a great magician from the human Kingdom. I¡¯m leading an expedition into the unknown as well. Let¡¯s join hands and discover what hasn¡¯t been discovered before!¡± ¡°Oh, thank you Rose. I¡¯ve heard tales of your magical abilities! Thank you for accepting my humble request.¡± Good. Study specimen acquired! This high elf is weird, I can sense he¡¯s strong, I¡¯d say slightly weaker than Cirili, and can use magic, but there¡¯s also something else that I¡¯ve only seen in plant life. He has green in him. I need to further study him, time to kidna- I mean guide him to where he goes. That way if I need any subjects in the future I know where to go. ¡ª POV Mathias ¡ª Making all of these mana stones is taking quite a long time. But My mana capacity is going bonkers! Now that I have the resources, I need to start figuring out magic in more detail. I need to get to the stage where I have enough power and defenses where I won¡¯t be scared anymore, where the curse of [Destined to Die] can no longer can harm me. Along with magic, I also need to get the upgrade of Tree Growth Energy so I can rapidly build defenses and transport it inwards from greater than 20 feet. I don¡¯t know how much further I can transport my GP around. The furthest I can remember is a redwood getting to something like 380 ft tall and a fig tree having roots 400 feet down. So max is probably around 700-800 ft total in a sphere, I work mostly in area though¡­ Wow, If I get the max range, I could have access to 5000 TIMES more GP! The conversion rate may change though, because of how dense it is compared to my own. But still, this change is another massive boost in power that I desperately need. Using 100,000 GP is a drop in the bucket compared to how much more powerful I can become. Hmmm, speaking of magic, I bet I could learn more about magic in general from that mage in the elf village. Terrible people, but they qualify as a resource I guess. And first rule of survival: make use of any available resource. Moving on over to¡­ A burning hellscape?!?! What the hell!? Shit, the village looks decimated, and my shoots that were grown over here are dead. Damnit, how did I not notice this? I guess I should pay more attention to my mind-threads from . I¡¯ve mostly left them to their own devices, and it¡¯s been working for the most part. Then again, it¡¯s one of the main reasons that I am able to think clearly with my main mind. If I had to deal with each little thing more often than now, I feel like my progress will be delayed. And progress, for now, must be pushed forward. But I will spend some time in the next few days reviewing my threads and resetting any alert parameters I have in there. Now, back to my hopes and dreams being dashed due to black flames engulfing the elf village. They look exactly like the flames I saw earlier on that large fire-breathing scaled wolf-beast thing, aka, Jard and Torgue¡¯s father. BTW, what happened to their mother? I should ask them tomorrow. It¡¯s hard to see what¡¯s happening with all that fire around. But I¡¯m not exactly sure I want to go and touch it. I remember the people who killed that beast had a special receptacle to store the excised flames. Also, the flame I have hidden underground still hasn¡¯t stopped burning, but neither has it grown. Really weird-acting flames. I¡¯ll just scout the exterior, see what¡¯s going on. I¡¯ll probably jsut have to cut my costs and hope I encounter another city or village as I expand. Village house 1: destroyed and burnt to the ground. House 2: same. ¡­ Mage¡¯s quarters: Looks like a fight broke out from where I am. House¡¯s wall¡¯s look torn down, but again, ditto, looks destroyed and burnt to the ground. What¡¯s weird is that it looks like the majority of the bodies are inside thier houses, near their beds. Not a lot of fight, like they were killed in their sleep. Maybe it was a night raid by an enemy? Nah, doesn¡¯t fit the stereotype. They wouldn¡¯t have burnt everything to the ground after. And why would a group attack the wolf-beast, when the group that was fighting the beast didn¡¯t use it at all? From the damage to everything, I can only guess some type of dragon came in and used some sort of wide-area of attack spell or ability and killed most everyone, Then covered the area in their dragon breath. Maybe it grew irritated at their village for some reason? Anyways, this is BAD FUCKING NEWS. I need a fire protection plan, stat! Ch. 38 - Fire Protection ¡ª POV Mathias ¡ª As I go back to my main base area, I¡¯m trying to think of some good ways to protect my main body from fire damage. I really should have been thinking about this sooner. Going back to my risk list, natural dangers like fire were pretty far up there on overall risk. With the spring I can always cover myself with a puddle of water, but there¡¯s been cases where even small ponds have been completely boiled dry by a fire. Even if there is water to protect me from the fire, it will quickly heat up and scald my delicate leaves and roots. I need another way. All of that without even thinking of how magical fire works. That black fire was weird, it would burn anything it touched, but the size of the fire doesn¡¯t grow. It stays the same, even if it touches nonburnable stuff. It must be feeding off of something else other than combustable material, the damage to that stuff must be secondary. Maybe it¡¯s a mana-burning fire? It¡¯s the only thing that makes sense to me at the moment. So to fireproof myself, I need to have two types of protection: regular fire, and mana-fueled fire. I¡¯ll start with regular fire, and work my way up to the more dangerous stuff. Fire is composed of two parts: the heat, and the flame. The radiant heat (infrared, air) dries out the surroundings and warms the area around the fire, allowing the flame to easily burn the materials when it gets near them. The flame is a hot source of heat (plasma + burning gases) that is several times hotter than the air around it, and so easily ignites the things it touches, esily bringing things above their ignition point. Scratch that, three parts. I forgot about lofted embers from the fire. A small ember can cause a fire miles away if conditions are ripe. Typical fire-proofing merely delays the expansion of fire, or keeps things below a set temperature inside of them. Fire-breaks are also normally used to stop a fire by ridding an area of combustable material. The fire would then lose its source of fuel, and die off eventually. Luckily,. I have a kind of natural fire break called my valley. Since for the most part it¡¯s treeless, the fire should go around. Typically, asbestos is a good material to use, but has bad cancer-causing relations. While cheap, these techniques should be abandoned. Humans made great strides in fire-proofing our space vehicles. That¡¯s where I should start: the best of the best! It¡¯s not my area of expertise, but I definitely remember some news stories from before my reincarnation. There are ceramics, tantalum carbide, that are extremely heat resistant. So a thin layer on the outside of my material will prevent the inside from getting hot, as it is extremely heat-refractive. However, I don¡¯t remember if it itself doesn¡¯t get hot, but it still transfers some heat, or if it totally blocks and reflects the heat. For that, the only thing I can think of is ceramic fiber insulation. I had a friend who was into smelting stuff from aluminum, and bought a large roll of it. It was cool to see it withstanding heat and only warming the outside of the furnace. Then there are those fire tents that firefighters have. I should probably design my fire shelters around that idea. Aluminum foil on the outside to reflect radiant heat. Then inside of that I should have some of the ceramic fiber. Let¡¯s see if my skill can help me learn to weave a ceramic blanket with tantalum carbide and an aluminum blanket. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Fire Shield: -Level I Cost: 1000 GP Unlocked due to [Boundless] and [Plant Sage+]: Fire Resistance: -Level I Cost: 10000 GP or 100 TGP -Level II Cost: 100000 GP or 200 TGP -Level III Cost: 1000000 GP or 1000 TGP Unlocked due to [Drug Compounding + Genetic Mutation + Plant Sage+ + Boundless] Due to a unique combination of skills, abilities, titles, and classes. Allows the user to create new materials with the bonuses and discounts from the combination. Combine with for further customizations. Fire Cocoon: -Level I Cost: 100 GP or 10 TGP -Level II Cost: 150 GP or 15 TGP Fire Cocoon is made of ceramic fiber blanket with an aluminum outer coating to reflect heat. Level I resists temperatures up to 2000 degrees C, Level II resists temperatures up to 4000 degrees C. Note: aluminum coating losses effectiveness with direct exposure to flames. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Oh shit, so my skills can combine and strengthen each other. This is the first time I¡¯ve seen this style of combination of skills. It looks like Inner Mind can¡¯t be combined until I activate it and create it myself. Unfortunately, I just know the theoreticals and chemical construction of what it should be. I have no idea what the process would be to actually make it. Thankfully my [Plant Sage+] class will help me fill in the blanks, and actually give me these options. I can¡¯t imagine my life without having a status screen and utilizing its help.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
Rank: S
Gives the ability to create various drugs. Reduces the cost of chemical creations to 50%. Combines with Genetic mutation, decreasing cost to a minimum of 10%.
Rank: S
Active: Using your knowledge of genes and chromosomes, alter your D.N.A. Changes take effect immediately. Cost is based on level of complexity of change of the genetic code. Specific changes, if fully understood, will cost less than generic changes.
Class: Plant Sage+ Rank: S+
Unlocked due to unique evolutions created in plants you own. Unlocks additional evolution paths for plants you design, and even custom evolutions. Contains all abilities of Plant Sage class.
[Boundless] Rank: SSS
Normal lifetime/ability limits have been removed from title bearer. Does not affect inherent talent.
Fire Shield, I bet that¡¯s a spell that I can activate to block direct flames. Since I¡¯m saving up for Tree Growth Energy, I need to be careful how I spend. That upgrade costs 100,000 GP, and I¡¯m about 73% of the way to storing that much. I¡¯ve been using my tree as a storage location, and even then I¡¯ve had to grow it wider and deeper to be able to hold all of the energy. I¡¯m quickly approaching the safe dimensions of my tree I set up earlier, it needs to remain smaller than the trees near me. So near the end of my saving I¡¯ll probably have to setup a massive potato farm under my grass here in the valley. Fire Shield costs 1000 GP, pretty cheap comparatively, so I¡¯ll buy that. Fire cocoon is a given. Auto-buy Level I and II. Not even worth trying to make it cheaper or better within my . Fire Resistance is tricky. 10,000 GP is a lot to spend, and only for a Level I resistance. I feel my fire cocoon is thousands of times better than that. I feel safe enough to save it for after I upgrade my energy. The cost is much lower when I have TGP, probably because trees have the capability to resist fires anyways. Sigh. So much to do, so little time to prepare myself. I still need to practice my magic, increase my defenses and attacks, as well as raise my future guardians: Slaughter Guards, Bug Soldiers, and my mystical pets Jard and Torgue. Plus my PR lady: Taeya. All of which require time to grow. Years, maybe even decades to go with them. Let¡¯s try Fire Shield out, and see how it looks! ¡­ That was a lot easier than me trying to create a spell myself. I¡¯m instantly surrounded by a small blue sphere of mana. It took all 25 of my mana that I stored, but with all my mana crystals being formed and my insane regeneration, it¡¯s pretty handy. I can¡¯t wait for my mana capacity to finish leveling up. It¡¯s a shame though. Fire shield is a spell that is a once cast with mana spell, and not a continuous spell. A continuous spell would suit me most right now. I can create mana forever and quickly, however manually casting spells induces delays and wastes efficiency. Dang, still useful, but not ideal. After about an hour the shield dissipated, though it looked like it was growing thinner as it was existing. Overall, this spell isn¡¯t that useful at the moment. It can cover a small patch of grass for 25 mana, if I cast it enough times I guess I could cover a larger area. I need to experiment with mana put into the spell, which is limited for the next day on my max mana, and to see if I can layer it. It would be cool if I could spam cast the spell and have thousands of spheres protecting me, but I can¡¯t think that fast. Even with my multiple threads, I¡¯m still no CPU with an algorithm. Sigh. At least the fire cocoon must be good. I did specify most everything about it. ¡­ And it definitely is. I can create little blankets and habitats made of the stuff really easily! It costs a ton of GP though, 1000 GP for the a person-sized blanket. ¡°Papa? What is this?¡± Oh, Taeya came up and is holding the blanket. It must look weird though. ¡°It¡¯s so shiny! Cool! It looks like a blanket.¡± There we go. That¡¯s right, I can also use it that way. ¡°My child, I was thinking of the cold times. I used to have a warm spot I could live in when winter comes, however, I am now here, stuck in the outside. It is not a problem for my current life, however, for my three children I had to think of a way to keep you warm. I remember these blankets from a long time ago, they are made to both keep you warm when it is cold, as well as protect you from fire if there is danger. I¡¯ll make a few so we are prepared.¡± ¡°You mean this is mine!? I¡¯ve never been given something so nice! Thank you! Yay! I¡¯m going to go show it off to Jard and Torgue! They¡¯re gonna be so jealous!¡± ¡°Be careful with it, but remember, I can always fix it if it gets torn. Just bring it back to me.¡± ¡°Okay! Bye!¡± Well, as a proof of concept it works out. If I see a dragon or a fire is approaching, I can always spam a few of those everywhere to use my GP, and use fire shields otherwise to use my mana. !? What is that? I feel a strong nature energy being is coming this way through the forest. It¡¯s near my periphery, and it seems to be moving through the trees. Maybe it¡¯s some type of fairy or other magical creature. It¡¯s making a bee-line straight to my glade though. It must detect my mana and natural energy in this region. Dang it. Worse case scenario is that it is some kind of parasite, but I doubt that myself. From what I can feel it is increasing the growth rate of the plants it passes through, and I also feel a little less wary of it when it passed near some of my roots. Is this a potential ally, or a wolf in sheep¡¯s clothing? I need to keep my mind ready for anything. Damnit, and just when Taeya and the pups are off galavanting who knows where. Hopefully it is just passing, or is friendly. I really don¡¯t have the means to fight yet against something like this. Ch. 39 - Wild ***** Appeared! It is getting closer. I¡¯ve confirmed a few things about it though. 1: It seems non-hostile to plants 2: It also appears non-hostile to animals. It passed by my hated enemy, a rabbit, and the rabbit seemed to become chippier. Fuck that rabbit though. 3: Plants seem to become healthier wherever this being goes I can¡¯t see it¡¯s form though. It¡¯s invisible to my eyesight, but my Only sees a vague mass of energy being moved from tree to tree. It looks like I won¡¯t be able to see what it is until it gets here. There aren¡¯t any trees, other than my tree, in the glade. So if it hopes to continue this hidden movement technique, it will have to 1: interface with me somehow, or 2: not come in my glade. Otherwise, stealth begone. I doubt 1 though. It¡¯s avoided anything other than trees for movement. Might have something to do with actual transferrance capability. I know I can¡¯t do it, but trees can. Thankfully the line from it to me doesn¡¯t intersect my own body, but is about opposite from where I am relatively. While I¡¯m waiting for my uninvited guest, I turn to Mr. Rabbit that is closer to my glade than he¡¯s supposed to be. I usually deter them away when I see them, I had to stop poisoning them though. With Jard and Torgue around, I can¡¯t risk hurting them. A big reason why people aren¡¯t supposed to poinson rats - their contaminated corpses kill their predators. Why haven¡¯t I removed all of the rabbits and other herbivores from around me? Because I still haven¡¯t weened my pets off of meat yet. Jard and Torgue seem adamant on hunting, and even I can¡¯t convince them otherwise. Heck, I can¡¯t convince myself either. They need to keep their senses and reflexes tuned for fighting and stalking for my future happiness and protection. Small sacrifices now, large rewards later. I have been dosing them slightly with caffeine though with my fruits. So they always come and grab one or two a day. I¡¯ll hold off on herbivore extinction policy for now. Finally, it¡¯s close. Just one or two trees away. It seems to have slowed down, and is waiting near the edge of the field. It must be scouting the area out. Which means it¡¯s an intelligent creature, and not guided wholly by instinct. That¡¯s good and bad. Good in that I should be able to talk with it via telepathy. Bad in that smart creatures are always harder to deal with than animals due to plots, emotions, and cunning. ¡­ That¡¯s fucking weird. Some wooden eyes just appeared on a nearby tree. So creepy. Two pieces of bark just opened up slightly, and I can see green eyes parely vidible. ¡­ It¡¯s looking so slowly, and not really doing anything apparent. It¡¯s been an hour. Must be really cautious. It seems to be eyeing my tree decoy a good amount. I am even more glad that I built it now. ¡ª POV ??? ¡ª This is where I¡¯ve been feeling a lot of mana and energy coming from. I was worried it might be a new monster, but I¡¯m glad I was wrong. There¡¯s a beautiful tree, with leaves shimmering in the wind. The petals are colored differently than normal, they are black and white. I wonder if it¡¯s diseased? It¡¯d be bad if that was the case. I can¡¯t see this tree being diseased though, it¡¯s radiating health and energy all over the place. And it seems to have formed a symbiotic relationship with the grass around it, as they seem to share the same type of energy. Oh no! Maybe the tree¡¯s been parasited by the grass! I need to investigate! It is such a beautiful tree too, maybe¡­ maybe we can be together? Either way, I need to get closer. I can¡¯t get over there with my tree-movement. It¡¯ll be dangerous! But I need to know. Is this friend, foe, or maybe¡­ ¡ª POV Mathias ¡ª That¡¯s a mother fucking dryad, isn¡¯t it? The implications of this are huge. Damnit. This means that High-elves might show up, as well as be more numerous than I thought. It should still be manageable, but I need to know how prevalent dryads are in order to totally understand how many high-elves might appear. I need to somehow convince Taeya that she¡¯s the first of her kind, and the leader of her new race. That way, when others show up, my influence on her would be greater than theirs. I should also somehow leverage her dislike for her previous race to subtly influence her to lead the way for her people. Sigh. I think she¡¯s trying to be sneaky, and I would normally agree with that thought, however, because I knew she was coming, I can see her distinctly. She is slowly separating from the tree she¡¯s in. First her face became more definde, and slowly started to separate from the tree. Her chest was next, and she slowly started crouching towards the ground. She now looks like a boulder by the tree, peeking between her legs as she is curled up. I am quite impressed actually. Her ability to do things slowly andcarefully is to be admired. She¡¯s also quite beautiful, if I do say so myself. !? And action! She¡¯s quickly running towards my tree. And now I have a new boulder-looking thing at the base of my tree. She seems to be carefully looking around my trunk, as if looking for something. ¡ª POV Dryad Livily ¡ª Okay, I made it! I don¡¯t see any other living beings in the glade, not even the slimes that normally lived here. It¡¯s kind of eerie. It does look like 2 magical creatures live here, and some other humanoid. I can¡¯t tell more than that. The foot prints remind me of elves, but they are way too light to be a normal elf. Strange. This tree also feels strange. It¡¯s perfectly constructed, and beautiful. The bark has lots of tiny, thin strands of bark going upwards, curving and twisting around each other. I¡¯ve been trying to sense it¡¯s conciousness, but I can¡¯t feel it for some reason using my tree sense. Maybe it hasn¡¯t awoken yet? Or was damaged? I also can¡¯t see the source of parasitism from the grass. Maybe it is symbiotic, as the tree seems lively and in good health. I¡¯ve never seen an organism with this type of relationship before¡­ The tree trunk disappears and seems to meld with the grass roots. I need answers! I¡¯ll commune with it to see what is going on. Something is definitely wrong, because even though it has a ton of energy, the energy feels weak too. For this tree¡¯s future I need to connect our minds and try to awaken it.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡ª POV Mathias ¡ª Has she looked enough? She¡¯s been looking around the tree for awhile now, and touching all over the place. She looks concerned, and now I can see that her hands are going a little fuzzy and - **Ting** What the fuck was that!? -Mind invasion resisted due to Indomitable Will
> Rank: S
Passive: Due to experience surviving an extremely strong mental attack that sought to take away his very self due to an almost incalculable fortitude. Grants an almost perfect immunity to attacks on the mind. Grants a boost to mental processing power when life is in danger.
Oh this fucker!!!! It¡¯s on! ¡ª POV Livily ¡ª What¡¯s going on!? I can¡¯t commune with the tree! And I can¡¯t get into it. Stupid, beautiful tree. Let me in! Uh-oh, I feel like something¡¯s wrong! Mana is flooding around here, and there''s a surge of nature energy! I need to get out of here! *trip* *thunk* ¡ª POV Mathias ¡ª Threat nuetralized. She seemed flustered for a second, and actually hit my tree¡¯s trunk. Hmmph, as if I¡¯d let all of that slide. I wanted to kill her, but decided against her. I need information from her. I was going to try telepathy with her, but she started running away. So I tripped her. And formed a rock with some rock magic near her temple and chest. Chest, to hopefully knock her breathe out. Temple, for obvious reasons. A concussion or a few seconds of unconciousness or disorientation. After that, I quickly quickly had to learn another ability that allows me to put someone into a deep sleep, but attacks or other aggressive actions will wake them up. I had to think on my feet, and go with something from my class instead of Drgu Compounding. A dryad will more than likely not have the same reaction as human to sedatives that I know of. My GP¡­¡­ 7000 gone. I went for the most expensive one I could, because I had to act fast and I couldn¡¯t risk it being resisted. Sigh. Now that I know her abilities can¡¯t affect my tree, I can bind her to that with a bunch of bark and roots and flood that area with a bunch of my mana stones to oppress her with the strength of my mana output. It only works psychologically, but I don¡¯t think I can resort to physical violence with my pets and such around. Hey! Slaughter Guards! Why are you being nice to her! Sigh. It seems that nature naturally loves this being. I can already see my bugs flying around her and *Booping* her to wak her up. Siiiiiiiigh. Of course I¡¯ll take a small sample of her ¡°blood¡± as it is, though it¡¯s consistency is closer to sap. I¡¯ll investigate it later in my to see if I can¡¯t improve myself or use it for another project or something. Oh, here comes Taeya and the two cubs. Well, This could work as a good cop, stern tree-father thing. Either way, I¡¯ll get the information I need. It¡¯s unfortunate that all three of them are young, I doubt any of them know much about dryads, especially Taeya with her neglected state I found her in. ¡°Hey father, who is that?¡± ¡°This is a forest dryad. I think I spooked her a little bit and she tripped and fell. I was worried about her bump on her head, so I wrapped heer up here so that when she wakes up disoriented she won¡¯t hurt herself further.¡± ¡°Oh! A Dryad! Wow!! I¡¯ve never seen one before! She¡¯s so beautiful! But where are her clothes? ¡°Good question. I assume that they don¡¯t have any, they live most of their lives in trees, right?¡± ¡°Hmmmmm, I guess so! When will she wake up?¡± ¡°Sometime soon Taeya. Bring Jard and Torgue close to her too, so that they can smell her. This must be there first time seeing a Dryad too.¡± ¡°¡±So this is a Dryad!¡±¡± *sniff* Hey Jard, we¡¯ve smelt something like this before, right? Yea, but it was always on a tree. So this thing must have been near those areas. Maybe we should go see if there is one there after all? YEA!! Be careful Jard and Torgue if you want to go do that. While they may seem nice, we¡¯re not entirely sure yet. Let¡¯s talk with this one first and ask it some questions. ¡ª POV Dryad Livily ¡ª Ugggh, what happened??? My head hurts! Owowowowow. ¡­ Uh-oh. I¡¯m tied up. In the beautiful tree, but still, tied up. Aaaaand there aren¡¯t any other trees to try and escape into to. *sniff, sniff* At least I¡¯m alive. Okay, focus. I can feel an¡­ elf? Or something like it, though I actually feel nature energy in her! Wow! That¡¯s good, she¡¯ll definitely help me! And two creatures that are pretty strong. Nothing with an evil intent, that¡¯s good. I shouldn¡¯t be in any danger, they¡¯re all in good standing. I should open my eyes! Surely they¡¯ll help me! 1¡­¡­ 2¡­¡­ 3!!! ¡ª POV Mathias ¡ª She¡¯s waking up, but she hasn¡¯t opened her eyes yet. Smart, experienced, maybe both. The other three haven¡¯t noticed it yet, but I have due to me basically holding her in my embrace. I guess I should wait for her to ¡°wakeup¡± by herself. I wonder if she can speak, or if it¡¯s only through telepathy? Info gain #1. ¡°He.. Hello? Little elf girl, can you help me out here? I seem to have become entangled.¡± Looks like she speaks elvish. Maybe they don¡¯t do telepathy. Let¡¯s tak through Taeya and ask her some questions. ¡°Oh wow, a real dryad! So cool! What¡¯s your name? My name is Taeya! I don¡¯t think I can let you down myself, but I can ask my father to!¡± ¡°Fufu, hi Taeya, my name is Livily, Liv for short. How did I get up here? Who is your father? I don¡¯t see anyone other than those two young ones by your side.¡± ¡°Oh, well, it¡¯s a little weird, but you¡¯re¡­ kinda¡­ on him hehe.¡± ¡°¡­ What? Do you mean this tree?¡± ¡°Kinda. He wanted to see if he could talk with you, but he only has telepathy. He says it¡¯s rude to talk with someone or enter their mind without an invitation.¡± Hmmph. Hope she gets my subtle hint I¡¯m pissed. She did try to invade my mind, fuck. ¡°Oh. I see. *nervous laugh*. Sure.¡± ¡®Hello there, mind-invader. Why did you come here?¡¯ ¡®Oops. Sorry. But I couldn¡¯t sense a tree here! I thought the tree was asleep or hadn¡¯t awoken yet! That¡¯s no reason to tie me up! I was trying to help?¡¯ ¡®By invading my mind? Questionable¡¯ ¡®But it¡¯s true! I¡¯m a dryad! A friend of nature! Almost every tree is born asleep, and only through time and luck can they ever begin to think beyond their instincts. That¡¯s where we come in, we speed up that process, give them guidance, and in return we get protection and a place to live. We work together!¡¯ ¡®Hmmm, and yet, you didn¡¯t ask. Hmmph. Who says you won¡¯t do that to my precious children?¡¯ Okay good, stern, but caring. ¡®I can only commune with TREES. Please let me go! I promise I won¡¯t hurt them!¡¯ ¡®Calm down, calm down. If I had any bad intentions towards you, I was just irritated about not being asked. So, let¡¯s start off on a new foot, and let me tell you a story. My name is¡­ Well, I was never given a name, but I¡¯ve assumed a name of Mathias. As you can see, I¡¯m not a normal tree¡­¡¯ So I told her a heavily edited story of my life so far, and she seems shocked. Of course, I traded grass for sapling, and threw in a couple of white lies here and there, and how I merged with a giant beast that was slain here and assumed some more of their memories. She seems a lot calmer now though, so that¡¯s good. Now, to get some information. ¡®Now that you know my story, can you help me out? There¡¯s a lot I don¡¯t know, and a lot Taeya doesn¡¯t understand. I accidentally *evolved* her, and she has natural energy that she can¡¯t use. Can you stay here and help us out?¡¯ ¡®I see! How sad, thrown alone in this world, attacked, and yet you maintained your kindness and saved these young ones! Admirable! To tell you the truth, this area is part of my territory that I protect and nurture. I have a duty to help those within my borders for the health of the forest. I also feel a connection to the girl as well¡­ Fine! I can stay and help! It looks like I can¡¯t merge with your conciousness, so I¡¯ll go scout out a tree to live in around here and then we can talk everyday!¡¯ Dryad, captured. It¡¯s interesting that she doesn¡¯t detect me as a tree, looks like my disguise doesn¡¯t work on nature beings. Drat. I¡¯m tempted to evolve into a tree type again, and see what a dryad can improve, but again, too dangerous at the moment. It did seem she can¡¯t detect my exact location, my One of Many title and my spread must be helping a ton. ¡®Ahem. Can you let me down now?¡¯ ¡®Haha, yes. Of course, sorry about that. I¡¯m glad we can understand each other better now. Sorry about that!¡¯ Hopefully now I can start learning how to use Nature magic along with Taeya. And learn about all of the other things about the surrounding forest and times. This couldn¡¯t come at a better time. Ch. 40 - Magic I ¡ª POV Mathias ¡ª The dryad and I have come to an agreement. I will help her monitor the forest through my roots while she will help teach Taeya about Nature magic. Meanwhile, hopefully her teaching will grant me some more abilities as I listen in. Livily decided to move into one of the nearby trees, much to my chagrin. She kept bothering me to let her into my tree, saying things like ¡°It¡¯s too beautiful to not live in it! I mean you!¡± I had to shut that down, it will take awhile longer before I would trust someone out of the blue. Besides, I don¡¯t know what kind of situation it might become if she entered my trunk. The whole mind invasion thing is still fresh in my mind. I could tell she wasn¡¯t being false in her words. It IS a mutualistic relationship when a dryad goes into a tree, I could visualize that the tree¡¯s growth speeds up and it¡¯s energy is more robust. However, it is currently impossible for me. Maybe once we¡¯ve become friends, and I can be sure of her nature. It¡¯d be nice to have someone to talk to. Plant scientist, plant Dryad, we did/do similar things. For another day, I suppose. She seems to have picked the tree nearest to my decoy tree with the best view. It also happens to be the tree where that owl lives in. He seems fine with it, at least he hasn¡¯t left yet. Another point for team dryad then. Everyone seems to love her. Even Taeya, who I though would be super against new people and distrustful to new people, looks at her with sparkling eyes. Sigh. Before this whole kerfluffle started, I was peacefully planning against fires, both natural and monster based. I *believe* I have the ability to successfully resist any *natural* fire, but I should see if I can speed up the drawing of water from the spring faster to moisten the ground and maybe even put out a small fire. My roots might be too small to do that though. But I can make a pipe out of roots, and use my ability to quickly flex them to create a surge of water from the bottom. Ok, might as well try that. I can also use earth magic to instead of having the creek from the spring running in only one direction, to come and cover my main body or spread evenly around the glade. Mana crystals are now automated, and I have a ton of mana to use now, and can move the crystals to areas that need it at a moment¡¯s notice. I guess magic is next on my list of training. ¡ª POV Taeya ¡ª This is amazing! I am talking to a dryad, a protector of the forest! And she¡¯s teaching me how to use magic! Well, I guess I already knew a little bit by trying to copy what Jard and Torgue were doing, but this is something totally different! I¡¯ve felt this weird, calm power within me, but no matter what I did I wasn¡¯t able to use it to do anything with it. This might be the mana Papa used when he said he fixed me. He explaind the different types of mana as: ¡°First Water, to signify the body, or container. Then fire, to signify the energy in the body. Then Earth, for that is where our bodies are born from. Then air, for it sustains you. Light and Dark to signify the soul, and finally the spark of life, in lightening.¡± With Water I can soothe anything that hurts, and can control water a bit from the stream. With Fire I can make myself faster, as well as make some sparks and start a fire. Mathias instantly put it out and scolded me though. Apparently he can make it warmer or colder if needed around here, and to just ask him. Also, if you want to cook something use fire magic and a hot rock. For Earth I can become really strong and can move rocks and dirt around. Air lets me jump higher and climb faster, as well as create a refreshing breeze. Light lets me create beautiful globes of light to guides us around while Dark helps me hide better when playing. I don¡¯t really understand Lightning very well, when I use it everything seems to be going slow around me. When I try to push it out like the other types, all I can get is my hair standing on end and if I touch Papa I get shocked as he said. After I told Taeya all about what I can do, she seemed really surprised! She said most elves can only use one type of magic usually, and anything more than that was super awesome! I¡¯m super awesome! I used to not be though¡­ I thanked Papa again for taking care of me and cried a bit. I feel so happy, but is this really alright? It all feels like a dream. Anyways! I need to focus! Liv is teaching me how to pull on that nature energy and use it. Apparently it works like mana, but slightly different. I have to get the mood right and coax it to come out. I think I¡¯ve been doing that subconciously as I learned the other types because I learned some about them before. But to use it, I have to calm myself, and slowly pull instead of grap. ¡°Nature energy is guided. It takes the easiest route from one point to another. Just think of a root extending from your pool and coming into your blood vessels, wrapping you up.¡±This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. I¡­ I can feel it! I very calm, slow feeling is coming over me. I feel limber, and can sense the different life around me. Jard and Torgue are coming up to me to snuggle too. ¡°I think I did it Liv! Yay! Thank you!!!¡± ¡ª POV Mathias ¡ª ¡­ That is useless to me. It looks like I¡¯ll need private lessons. So much for magic lessons on nature energy - or is it mana? ¡°So Liviliy, why is it called nature energy?¡± ¡°I really don¡¯t know. Everything used to be called energy and their types, but I guess people have just started using mana for some and energy for others.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s just call nature energy nature mana then. I think the reason for the different names is that humans/elves could only use some but not all. So once they were able to, it became nature energy and fire mana. Now that we can use it, we should call it mana.¡± ¡°Fine fine, I can do that. Sheez. By the way, do you know where Taeya came from? She¡¯s not an elf, and I feel a connection to her. Also, she can use nature en-mana. It¡¯s weird.¡± ¡°Well¡­¡± It took awhile to explain that I accidentally created a newer evolution for elves called High Elves before Livily accepted why Taeya was different. ¡°Still, it¡¯s odd. Usually anything humanoid can¡¯t evolve anymore. For instance, I don¡¯t have a higher evolution, and I don¡¯t think humans do either. When new evolutions are formed, it¡¯s usually plants or insects. Sapient creatures rarely get a new evolution. Hopefully it turns out fine.¡± ¡°Well, what¡¯s done is done. It should be really hard to become a high elf. An elf will need to have a very high aptitude with magic, and will need the help of a being like you to awaken some nature mane within them.¡± ¡°True. This glade might get busy here pretty soon though.¡± ¡­ ¡°What? Why?¡± ¡°Well, because this is where the original was born at. A new species should start grouping together rather quick, no matter how few there are.¡± Drat. Shit. I thought I¡¯d have more time to prepare. ¡°By the way, can you help me with my nature magic? I don¡¯t really know how to do it well. I have all of this mana, but no way to use it effectively.¡± ¡°Well, that might be an issue. I have no idea how to teach you out here. I need to meld with you to understand your structure and teach you from there. Plants don¡¯t have a ¡°pool¡± of magic. It¡¯s more about the flow of energy. If you¡¯d reconsider-¡± ¡°Nope. At least, not yet. Maybe in the future, but not right now.¡± ¡°Well, hmmph. Then you¡¯ll have to wait. I suggest not messing with it too much on your own. There¡¯s a reason that it usually takes a dryad working with a tree to get it to understand how to do most of it.¡± Sigh. ****RRRIIIINNNGGGG**** Oh shit, has it finally happened!? I¡¯ve found an actual elven city!!! Well, traces of a lot of humanoids and a road. Yes! I¡¯ve found civilization! Also shit! I¡¯ve found civilization! Should I continue, or hold back for now? Learning more about elven society will be useful, but with a higher density of people, a higher likelyhood of detection increases as well. Also it¡¯d be bad if this was the capital. I¡¯d be better off not even getting close to it. A small city would be best. The capital would have royalty or governing faction, with strong mages. Even if you think that something would be too troublesome or expensive to create, more than likely it¡¯d be here. Something like ¡°I love plants, I wonder what types are growing around the city? Wouldn¡¯t want anything weird around here!¡± And so they build a plant detection spell matrix or something. Or they¡¯ve come across a mana vampire plant before, and people died, of course the capital will have the training/ability to eradicate it. Then there are the people themselves. There¡¯s just too damn many of them. Sneaking in would be really troublesome. Sigh. For now, I¡¯ll extend a single tendril about 100 ft away from the road and try to follow it in the direction of heaviest foot traffic. That should lead me to the town. From their it might get tricky though. I might have to go underground to ¡°Hello? Anyone there? Where¡¯d you go?¡± Mmmm? ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been trying to ask you a question for like 20 minutes! But you weren¡¯t answering.¡± ¡°Oh, sorry about that. I was just feeling my furthest roots. When I focus I lose track of things.¡± ¡°It¡¯s like you were dead or something. It was weird.¡± Dang, I haven¡¯t thought of it that way. I know I move my consciousness around, but I didn¡¯t think I was that ignorant of things happening around my original body. Or maybe I¡¯m just feeling more comfortable around my current comrades? It¡¯s almost making me feel bad how I¡¯ve conned them a little bit to be here. But to be fair, I feel I¡¯m giving way more than I receive. They get a figurative utopia area where any injury they get is healed, I provide infinite fruits, and I take care of them. Sigh. Oh well, maybe later I¡¯ll tell them. Or I¡¯ll take the secrets to my grave. Which should happen somewhere in 30-40 years. Sigh, the pain of being a living being. I¡¯ll need to somehow change that, but that¡¯s a distant danger. Not worrying about that for now. ¡°Hey Livily, what kind of monsters are around here? I¡¯ve seen some really strong ones, like a giant fire wolf, but is there anything stronger?¡± ¡°Of course! I don¡¯t know all of them, but I do know a dragon used to live in this glade. In fact, I remember that it was a favorite spot of theirs due to the natural spring to clean themselves and the natural elevation. But it¡¯s been centuries since the last time that dragon was seen. And even longer since they¡¯ve been here.¡± ¡­ That explains why only grass was growing here. Grass is the first invader on any acidic land, as larger plants can¡¯t deal with the ash from fires that well. Also, siiiiiiiiiigh. I hope dragons don¡¯t come here anymore. And the favorite ¡°locale¡± doesn¡¯t seem as good because of the tree in the middle. ¡°Don¡¯t worry though! If a dragon does come, I¡¯ll try to convince it to leave you alone and be peaceful! I have at least a 1 in 100 chance of it working! Even though dragons don¡¯t really listen to us!¡± ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ Welp. Guess I need to train my defensive magic even more so now. I wonder if I can create a massive mana circle that will extend my fire shield across my whole glade? Or a camoflouge spell, or earthen shield. Fog. Lightning. It¡¯s time to practice! Ch. 41 - Uh-Oh ¡ª POV Mathias ¡ª I¡¯ve been discussing with Livily on my fire defense plan. She¡¯s curious about how I plan to cover the whole glade with my magic. ¡®Plop¡¯ ¡°You see here, I start with a basic magic circle that I create with my roots or draw with my mana. Here, I¡¯m using mana so it¡¯s easier for you to tell how I draw my lines.¡± ¡°You can use your roots? I guess it makes sense, just like how a mage will use an amulet to power certain spells. The permanence makes it near instantaneous to use, however you lose adaptability with the spell. The only thing you control at that point is the amount of mana you put into the spell.¡± ¡°Ah, I didn¡¯t think of that. Well, I did, but I have so much mana and I can always move my roots around. But that¡¯s a good point, in a dangerous situation I won¡¯t have the luxury to be able to change the spell. But I want this to be semi-automatic and easy to use. If I need to draw out a spell this big, I¡¯ll definitely have to concentrate a lot on the spell, which might make me vulnerable somewhere else.¡± ¡°Hmmm, well it depends on what you prioritize I guess. There¡¯s also a few flaws here in your magic circle. The lines are rigid and straight, with sharp corners and tight bends. Think of the lines as channels, or guides for the mana to flow through. Curve those angles where they meet. A better way is to make a circle and slowly, slowly put in your mana. Follow the mana as it goes through the circle, feel where the mana gets turbulent, and make it smooth. Unless it¡¯s where it¡¯s supposed to be turbulent, of course. There¡¯s a lot of wastage of mana, not a big deal for you, but the big loss is of power. If you fix those flaws in your circle, it should both activate faster and be more powerful.¡± ¡°I see. I understand now.¡± I should treat the lines like a water pipe to efficiently spread the mana, and meet at the middle at the same time to amplify the effect. Thankfully I had to do this a lot with nutrient solutions before. I¡­ remember doing it, but not what for really other then tending plants. Damn, I really curse those gods. I won¡¯t forget that pain, the feeling of loss. I remember facts, places, things. But I can¡¯t remember faces, memories, or names really. The only real memory I have is of a single person, but only her name. Rose. Sigh. I don¡¯t have time to reminesce! Focus! Survive! Get Stronger. Then remember. Then get revenge. ¡°Livily, does the symbols in the circle need to be something specific?¡± ¡°No, not really. But having a clear image, without mixing conceptual ideas, is the most efficient way of starting out building. Later, you can use these mixed ideas to create spells that are more difficult to imagine. For instance, think of a spell that you want to water an area. You¡¯d normally need to draw a circle that contains a symbol for mist, water, size identifier, and strength modifications. Or you could draw just a raincloud with a size modifier. To be honest, I can¡¯t say you¡¯re ready for this. I¡¯m surprised you haven¡¯t faced magic backlash, but with your immense mana, you might have and the spell worked anyways. The mana¡¯s inertia and might would have pushed the backlash forwards anyways.¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s lucky I met you before I implemented this glade-wide spell. Will this work as a basic water-veil?¡± ¡°Well, it should work, however, it won¡¯t be good. Your mana type is fire-based. You lose 50% efficiency right there. Then you lose some more because there isn¡¯t really water mana floating around because of your mana pushing out the other elements. So amplification will be small. I see you¡¯re planning on linking your magic to the spring, but it¡¯s too small to make a water veil around everything. Of course, you could overpower it with mana and make it work, but you¡¯ll find that even you will run out of mana pretty quickly and/or overuse your mana capabilities.¡± It looks like in the future I¡¯m going to need to balance out my mana types for spells, the health of my glade, and for my future people and protectors. I might also scare away the High Elves if I don¡¯t correct this somehow. I¡¯ll need to go back to breading mana reactors and see what I can do. I¡¯ve been muting my mana release lately thanks to creating mana stones, but I do still have one more type of energy I can utilize. ¡°Livily, what about using my nature mana to fuel a spell? I¡¯ve never been able to get it to work - I can only really use it to regenerate and grow.¡± ¡°Well, for the most part that is what it¡¯s best at. It can¡¯t really be used to fuel normal spells, as it is much slower moving and again, needs to be guided. It¡¯s best to use it within you, so maybe use it to fuel regeneration in case you¡¯re hurt? Infusing it into wood or fruit to create something or empower someone is how trees have used it in the past. But for some reason, even though you have a ton of nature energy, it¡¯s quality is really low. So at most it will be able to slowly regenerate, or used locally to make new parts. It¡¯s unfortunate, I can feel so much leaking into the air. However, that is good for anything living in the area. They¡¯ll naturally get stronger by absorbing and living within your radius.¡± Guess that¡¯s why that owl and all my bug guards are staying in the glade or around it. My decision to upgrade my energy has been cemented in my mind now. Even if my mana is limited, my attack is puny, and my spells weak, as long as my defense and regeneration exceeds anything they can throw at me, I will be invincible. It will probably hurt like a mother fucker, but I will survive at least. Sigh, it¡¯s so pitiful to be grass. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡ª POV Dragon (Sheal) ¡ª A quick nap in my old glade and I¡¯ll try flying as far as I can. Maybe I can make it back to the Dragon Summit and hide in there. One of the old ancestors should be able to free me from the tracking magic. From then, I¡¯ll keep flying until I¡¯m on the opposite side of the world and start anew. I can have friends, a mate, children! Ah, future, here I come! Oof, I over-indulged myself. My stomache and magic reserves are definitely bloated. I guess I got too excited being able to fly and hunt again! I couldn¡¯t hold back. I feel like I¡¯m dreaming! But the satisfying fullness in my stomache isn¡¯t a hallucination. So far I¡¯ve hunted and ate 3 goats, a chimera, griffin, 2 deer (dang how fast they run - I lose them in the trees), tigers (who never look up hehe), some large rainbow fish, the leader of the water wolf pack, an air elemental that was disturbing my flight, and to top it off, desert in the form of a giant magical peach. Ah, how I miss the days of being totally free! But even then, I don¡¯t remember being able to eat so much nor hold so much magic. Maybe the long period of rest and relative starvation have made me leaner and increased my capacity. Totally¡­.. STILL NOT WORTH IT! Even though my dragon fire does seem to be at least twice as strong as before, it still can¡¯t hurt Rose¡­ I hope I didn¡¯t waste too much time hunting, and now I need to land and digest this food. Uggh! My self-control! I had this all figured out. First, eat a little and regain the ability to fly in the upper atmosphere. Then, make a beeline to Dragon mountain. Once there, find an ancestor and wake him up quickly. Hopefully I can hide there for a few days and get one of the oldies to remove the tracking curse, or at least hide it or something. Then, I fly to the opposite side of the world and live there forever! I can make new friends, find a new glade to nap in, a new mountain-top to create a nest in. And maybe, even, find love! It¡¯s been so lonely, and it¡¯s making me frustrated in more than one meaning. I know Rose - she can be extremely lazy. If I fly far enough, and and quick enough, she probably won¡¯t bother trying to find me! I pity the next creature to pique her fancy though. Welcome to centuries of being trapped. But don¡¯t worry! If I can make it out, so can you! Now, my old resting spot was over this way. It¡¯s been a long time, but it shouldn¡¯t have changed much. My dragon fire usually makes it really hard to for other things to grow there. Ahhh, I can¡¯t wait! That wonderfully cool spring where I can dip my tail in to cool down, the slimes that climb all over my body and polish my scales to a luminous luster! It feels so good to be that clean! I¡¯m getting tingly just thinking about it! Ah, there it is! ¡­ Is that a tree in the middle? Weird. Seems to have a lot of magic in it, maybe it has some nice fruit in it. ¡­ Uggh, it looks diseased. It has white and black leaves, gonna have to burn it down. Just gotta make sure that I don¡¯t kill my sl-¡­. Where are my slimes!? DAMNIT! What happened here! Okay, everything burns. Then nap. Then fly away. Using my dragon fire should help digestion too! I¡¯ll even be doing a service for the dryad over there, she must be worried that about the disease on the tree too. Hmmph, I have the quickest way to heal a disease - burn it to death! ¡ª POV Mathias ¡ª Livily went with the kids and are roaming about on the side of the glade. This gives me time to work on how I¡¯m going to implement my defenses. Okay, since a permanent magic circle doesn¡¯t allow flexibility, and a mana-drawn circle causes a lot of mental strain, I should do one of those mosiac things. Create a ton of different symbols and images in the ground, along with connections and circles that make everything connected. Then I just activate and deactivate gates, make sure everything is correct, then I can quickly utilize the spell. A good compromise. Short creation time, medium-high adaptability, lowish efficiency - I can¡¯t combine them all expecting they will be correctly spaced apart. I¡¯ll have to space out the ones I know I want to use for a spell first, then go from there. First spell, water veil. Creates a thick watery mist around the edges and above my glade. Blocks heat, and keeps the moisture content high all around. Second spell, fire shield. The one that trades mana for protection, just in case. I learned how to modify it after I learned to use it, but the efficiency is still low. I¡¯ll need to modify and research this spell further. Third spell¡­ Hmmm? What is that? A large magical power is coming this way, better enter stealth mode. In the mean time I¡¯ll warn the others to be careful. ¡­ ¡­ Oh. That¡¯s a dragon. ¡­ ¡­ And that¡¯s a fire breath being created and being shot at my tree. Neat. ¡­ ¡­ Everything¡¯s fine. ¡­ ¡­ FUCK! Water Veil, you useless spell, activate! And also let¡¯s go ahead and create a tiny fire shield over my body, along with a little mound of earth that covers me mostly, and prepare for the agonizing pain that¡¯s about to hit. Oh yea. I have my fire blankets too. But they¡¯re shiny. SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT Ch. 42 - Dragon Appears ¡ª POV Gods ¡ª - Karma Sin, you fucked up again. It was supposed to only take us a few minutes to reeducate them for 100,000 years. It has clearly been a couple weeks out here. -Sin You¡¯re blaming me! Hmmph, you¡¯re the one who got too into it. The time dilation was correct, I think we just spent way too long in there. -Both ¡­ We both messed up a little bit. -Karma Whatever. Sigh, we better get going. Who do you think we should go see first? Mother, or Father? -Sin Definitely Father. For two reasons. First, he might help us sweep this whole thing under the rug. Second, his punishments are extremely harsh, but quick. Once something is done, it¡¯s done. -Karma Ok, I agree with you on that. We need to hurry though. Looks like something is about to happen to Mr. Grass-man. Do either of you two have any opinions? -Grimm and Fate ¡­ Ugggh, my head hurts!!!!! -Sin I think we broke their minds a bit. Throw them in a wheelbarrow and let¡¯s go. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª POV Mathias ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Things seem to be moving in slow motion, letting me think faster. One of my abilities must have activated. The slowing down of events, or me speeding up, is allowing me to see some holes in my current plan. I definitely need water veil activated, as all-around fire suppression. I also need to somehow remove the abundant fire mana in the vicinity. From what Livily was saying, same type mana boosts spells and the nature of things around it. I need to immediately start converting all of my mana into water mana and earth mana. Both can suppress fire, and I can use it more readily in my spells for defense. Lastly, it is really idiotic to just cover myself with the mound and fire shield. With my [One of Many] title, I need to stay as [One of Many]. I need to make them appear everywhere in random spots. Wait! Shit, I should just let the dragon kill my tree. The dragon is still a little bit aways, I¡¯ll pump it with nature energy, put a thick mana crystal in the middle, and let it go down in flames. I¡¯ll put my mound of earth back down for now, and deactivate my mana fire shield, but be ready to activate it at any time. Damnit, if only I had more time! I am still oh so close to upgrading my energy quality, I just finished working on regular fire, next was magic fire. Why is a level 100 boss fighting a newbie lvl 5 grass sage? I need to do something, be active in my defense. The dragon hasn¡¯t truly hit me yet, so I can create a simple honeytrap. A large, shining, magical fruit should at least make it hesitate. From what Livily has said, nature energy and mana are treats to magical beings. Maybe I can buy myself out of this predicament. Then comes the question¡­ Should I poison it with every poison I can think of? From my previous experience, my poisons didn¡¯t affect magical creatures higher than a certain level. I also have the possibility of pissing off the dragon if it detects poisons if it eats it. The dragon is getting closer. Weird though, the fire is golden-red with crimson flares, much different from the black flames from before. I wonder where these flames came from then? Okay, trap complete. Lustrious orb of perfection created within eyesight of the dragon, and it looks like the dragon has seen it. Now all I need to do is wait. .. Shit! My companions are coming back! They could be in danger, I need to warn them away! Stay away! Don¡¯t come near!!! ¡ª Dragon (Sheal) POV ¡ª Is¡­ the tree trying to buy me off? Why is there a delictable looking fruit brimming with mana and energy that was just grown by the tree? I.. Wonder what it tastes like? Buuuut I am also full, and the tree itself looks wrong. To flames it goes! Besides, I need to use up a bunch of this mana inside of me anyways. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª POV Gods ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª -Sin Uggh, this pressure. As expected of Father, he already looks quite angry. -Karma Does he know? How much does he know? What made him so angry? -Father ¡­ -Karma F. F. Fa. Father, um¡­ -Father ¡­ -Sin Uh-oh. Looks like Karma can¡¯t stand the pressure. I can¡¯t either. But this is going in a bad direction. I need to fix it somehow. Father, Karma and I found out that Grimm and Fate messed up big time. They let a unique soul into the world, who created a new species and a black mist appeared! They let it go too! -Karma No! You stupid piece of shit! He can read lies and punishes accordingly! I was trying to get his sympathy! Don¡¯t drag me down with you! Dad, um, please, can you help us? Um, we don¡¯t want Mother to hear about this. We can¡¯t stand how guilty she makes us feel, so we came to you. Can you please help us fix this mess and not tell Mother? -Father ¡­ -Grimm Ugggh, where am I?¡­ Oh, hi Father. How¡¯d I get here? Oh, that¡¯s right, can you come destroy something for us? Just real quick, nothing serious. -Fate Uggh, no more mind-games¡­¡­ Grimm? Ah! Please Father, help Grimm and I! Sin and Karma said they¡¯d help us, but it¡¯s gotten bad! They made it sound scary that a new species was created. There was some black smoke! Dad, I¡¯m scared! Of mom finding out! -Father ¡­ Siiiiiiiigh. -Sin Yes! He¡¯s going to help us out! Even he can¡¯t stand the guilt Mother puts on us. He started to stand up and take a step into the world! -Mother YOU STOP RIGHT THERE! Where are you GOING! What¡¯s this I hear!?!?!?!?!? -Father Grimaces and takes a step back, his feet fading back into this reality. -Mother Sniff¡­ Julius! You promised me not again! Wooo. Woooo. My own husband is plotting against me!!!!! And even my children! What did I do to deserve this!! Was I a bad mother? NOT AGAIN! NOT AGAIN!!! -Father (Julius) Goes to hug Mother, and sends a glare at the four children, entirely blaming them for this mess. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. -Sin and Karma ¡­You were the one that was going to blow up the planet, weren¡¯t you? You can¡¯t blame us entirely! Only, like, 90%! We¡¯ll figure this out mom! Don¡¯t worry! There''s no need to get rid of the planet, we¡¯ll just get rid of the continent¡­ -Mother YOU DARE! Oh, what GREAT kids I¡¯ve managed to raise, sniff, sniff. Oh Julius¡­ what did I do wrong. Where did I err? -Father (Julius) Glare intensifies at the kids -Karma We¡¯re sorry mom! We really are! We just don¡¯t know what to do! We''ve never seen this happen before! The only time new species are created is when you help, or guide it to happen on planets with Father by your side! We weren¡¯t prepared. We are trying our best! We can fix this! -Mother Really!? Is that what you''ll do?!?! Why don''t you look at the fate-changer right now! Lot of good you all are doing! Real great children I''ve raised! You just want the new species to die, don¡¯t you! All for some petty revenge against him, huh? Without a care in the world to how I feel! -Fate What does she mean? Last I saw they were fine¡­ Crap, guys! There¡¯s a dragon attacking that glade right now, and the first High Elf might die!!! -Mother You better start Fixing right now. Just you wait for me! And you Julius, I can read you as easy as I can read the flow of life. You were going to remove the planet, weren¡¯t you! -Father If glares could kill, the kids would be dead right now. Keeps hugging Mother and patting her back, ignoring her remarks. -Sin and Karma ... He''s totally shameless, and is blaming this all on us! I am pretty sure he just wanted to destroy something too! ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª POV Mathias ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Arrrggghhh! The pain, shit, I should have cut off my tree¡¯s feelings earlier, goddamnit it hurts! My whole tree is on fire, and the dragon is hovering about 100 feet away. I need to act quickly, what can I do!? Thankfully Livily, Taeya, Jard, and Torgue are out of harm¡¯s way. Livily is coming this way though, she wants to try to talk with the dragon. I can only wait for her to negotiate with the dragon to save myself. The only problem being that my tree, even under cover of the water veil, massive amounts of water and earth mana, and a fire shield, is quickly becoming charcol and melted metals. I can¡¯t wait for her to come over here. I¡¯ll try talking to it to let me go! ¡°Dragon! Please stop! Can you tell me what I¡¯ve done wrong!? I¡¯ll try to make amends!¡± ¡­ My mental link was blocked, I think I¡¯m too weak or it¡¯s too strong. Damnit! Fuck! I can only let my tree die and wait for Livily. ¡ª POV Dragon (Sheal) ¡ª Seomthing just tried to invade my mind. I see now, why there is a dryad nearby that hasn¡¯t taken any action to remove this threat to the forest. It must have been influenced by this being. I¡¯ll have to investigate how deeply this thing goes. Hah, there we go, only a smoking husk remains of the tree, and there¡¯s a large mana crystal in the middle of the ruins. Even so, I need to take care of any future problems that may occur. It was using a lot of mana earlier, with some fire shields and mist, and it had to get that mana from somewhere. It must have some deep roots. If I don¡¯t dig them out and burn them, then it might come back to life. I also need to crush that mana core¡­ ¡°Wait! Please stop! Don¡¯t kill him! He¡¯s a friend and isn¡¯t harming the forest!¡± ¡­ Another mental link attempted and blocked, thanks to my years of solitude my mental strength is much higher than others. I think the dryad¡¯s been under control of the plant, I just need to destroy things quicker!!!! I just can¡¯t relly tell where the roots are, its mana signature is all over the place. I¡¯ll have to tear aprt this whole glade to remove it. I guess I have to do it! ¡ª POV Livily ¡ª Oh my blessed god, what devastation this dragon has wrought on my new friend. Mathias has been made into a ruin. And the dragon isn¡¯t listening to me! Oh no, she¡¯s trying to kill the last bit of life that I can feel! She¡¯s tearing into the ground with her claws, ripping out the roots and the grass in the ground, and breathing fire everywhere! His life-force is withering! I have to help! ¡ª POV Mathias ¡ª Is this it? Is this the end? I¡¯m regenerating as fast as I can, and have started to lower my real body underground, but I don¡¯t think it will help. I¡¯m moving all my mana crystals here to create a final stand of magic spells, but I don¡¯t hold out much hope. I don¡¯t know how to do this, should I hide and let everything I built die? Or should I fight? I¡¯ve been feeling light headed for awhile now, my head hurts, and my whole body hurts. The last thing I should do is to reach out my consciousness and stop the cubs and Taeya from coming, cover them in a rock-like structure with the fire-proof material layered inside with air holes. At least this way they will be safe. I¡¯ll cover myself in that material as well, but the dragon is tearing up the ground and burning everything. I¡¯m losing hope. When did those few people and cubs become so important to me? ¡°Mathias!!!!!! Let me help you! Hurry, let me in!¡± Ah, it seems Livily failed, but she still wants to help. I don¡¯t think the dragon will kill her, and I can always eject her if I am about to die. Might as well let her in. If anything, I can at least make a pocket of safety for her to escape. *Crack* *Tinkle* *Crack* Uggh, my head hurts so much! It¡¯s a shame I can¡¯t cover myself up, whenever I try, my instincts won¡¯t let me. Ha. I¡¯m losing feeling in my farthest branches too because of the pain. ¡ª POV Livily ¡ª ¡­¡±Sure... come in when the dragon isn¡¯t looking. My consciousness is weak, come to the shiny spot and try to enter my mind again. But why come help me? You could be hurt. Wouldn¡¯t want to lose you too.¡± ¡°I have a plan that might work!¡± It has to work! Ok, here I go. 3, 2, 1, now! Ch. 43 - Is it the end? ¡ª POV Mathias ¡ª I¡¯m on fire. My body is turning to ash right in front of my eyes. My is shrinking rapidly. I came in here to retreat from the pain, and to better decide how I can live. However, nothing is coming up. I have my back to the giant crystal in the center, with several displays floating around me, showing various viewpoints that I can see from my body. Most of them are blinking red or completely dead and black. Hopelessness. It¡¯s all I can feel right now. The dragon has almost completely burnt my network of grass and roots down. My GP is below 1000 and sinking to recover the area around my main body. My fire shiled is being drained at an extremely fast pace. I¡¯ve lost access to a lot of my mana crystals. *Crash!* *Crack* *Tinkle, Tinkle* I can hear the crystal shattering behind me, large chunks falling off. I seem to be hearing something too¡­ ¡°I¡¯m almost free! A little more!¡± Yes, yes¡­ I guess I will finally be free once this is over. Sigh. I¡¯m in a daze due to the huge amount of pain I¡¯m in. Livily should be here soon, but I need to convince her to leave soon. Don¡¯t want to take others down with me. Shit, I¡¯m really going to die, aren¡¯t I? I¡¯m at my wits end here. I¡¯m trying to convert my remaining energy to do something, but my Sage class isn¡¯t giving me any good abilities. I don¡¯t know any drugs that can help me, there isn¡¯t any plant life I remember that can live through something like this. Damn it¡­ The only consolation I have is that as I¡¯m losing limbs, my nerves are being cauterized and I¡¯m slowly losing feeling in my body. The only defense I have right now is I¡¯ve covered my main body with a fake rock for fire protection, and I¡¯ve made a few of them. But I think this is the last one in the field. I can¡¯t tell though¡­ ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ Is that TAEYA! And the CUBS! Shit! I lost control of my outer fringes, and Taeya came back! I didn¡¯t notice them moving and getting out of my cover I made for them. Dangit. And she¡¯s holding my two cubs and crying. Why is this happening? Do the Gods really want me dead this badly? Was my struggle truly worth nothing!? I still have a ton of mana crystals, but most of them are burnt up or empty. I need to save my new family, but it¡¯s obvious my protection magic and abilities are basically zero. The best thing I can think of now is to fire an extremely large, focused blast of magic at the dragon and try to hide myself. Hopefully I injure the Dragon and scare it away, letting Taeya live. Fuck!!! Maybe a good ¡®ol neutron blast could save the day! Plasma maybe? I just don¡¯t know how much mana it will take to create those things¡­ DAMNIT! *Pop* Oh good, Livily, you¡¯re here! Come over here, quickly! What can I do!? Taeya is out there! ¡­ What about my magic? Can I hurt it with this? ¡­ No? Then what!? I don¡¯t know what to do! ¡­ That¡¯s crazy! I can¡¯t let you all die too! ¡­ Ok Livily. I¡¯ll trust you. What do I need to do? ¡­ Revert back to a seed? Give up on what I¡¯ve gained, what I¡¯ve taken? Not again! I can¡¯t! ¡­ I¡¯ll still be me? Just the me when I first came alive? So I won¡¯t lose my memories? ¡­ I see¡­ ¡­ And you promise you¡¯ll keep them safe? ¡­ Ok. Do it. Also, thank you. ¡­ ARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ¡ª POV Livily ¡ª It took me a bit to harmonize with his being before I could enter. Normally, I¡¯m brought to a blank, black space with a floating crystal in the middle. But this¡­ Is different. I seem to be in a white, wide room, with the edges slowly crumbling inwards. And in the middle there is a large, green, pink, and ¡­ black? Crystal hanging or floating above something. Sitting infront of the crystal is a green, humanoid being. I suppose that¡¯s Mathias. He has floating squares that are showing him the images from outside. It looks even worse in here. He seems to be dazed, just sitting there looking at the screens, out of energy. The crystal is¡­ oh no, cracking and crumbling. This is bad! I don¡¯t have time to lose! ¡°Mathias! Mathias! Hey!¡± *smack* Geez, he¡¯s really out of it. I had to hit his shoulder before he turned around. He looks like a mess. His cheeks are sunken in, his eyes black, and a large part of his body is black. Really, not good. ¡­ Oh no! Taeya! I told her to stay put! She needs to leave ASAP! ¡°Mathias! Can you reach her? No? Shoot. We need a plan. We need to drive the dragon away, keep you safe, and somehow keep Taeya safe too.¡± ¡­ Wow. That¡¯s amazing, but there is no way he will be able to make that type of magic in time. The circle would be way too complicated, you need to also be in a good state of mind and have practiced before. ¡°I¡¯m afraid that if you even try those types of magic, you would actually kill yourself with mana feedback or even hurt Taeya in the process! You cannot!¡± ¡­ ¡°Let me think! Let me think!¡± This is dangerous! This is crazy! But I can only think of one thing we can do! A fake death plus mana burst! ¡°Mathias, I think I know what we can do! You have a lot of mana, right? We can cause a mana explosion! In that moment, I¡¯ll blast out with it, grab Taeya, and run! And when the explosion is happening, you quickly fake your death! We may get hurt from the mana, and the dragon may chase us, but it¡¯s the best choice we have right now!¡± ¡­ ¡°First, you need to being all your mana into your core, where your consciousness resides. Bring it here as soon as you can! You still have enough nature energy, that¡¯s good. Bring that here too. But here¡¯s where it gets difficult. Your crystal is critically damaged, so you¡¯ll need to remove your outer layers, and revert back to your soul seed. It¡¯ll reduce your mana, your very being, to a primal seed state. The rest of your body will die, but you will be safe.¡± ¡­ ¡°Mathias! Calm down! We have to hurry. You will still be you, your memories will be the same, everything will be the same. But just back to when you were born. It isn¡¯t true death. With enough time you can be you again. Don¡¯t worry, after we escape, we¡¯ll come back and nurse you back to life. You have to trust me.¡± ¡­ ¡°Yes, you¡¯ll still be you.¡± ¡­ ¡°We have to hurry, it¡¯s now or never! ¡­ ¡°Of course, I¡¯ve come to treat them as my family the past few weeks. I won¡¯t let harm come to them!¡± ¡­ ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. See you on the other side.¡± Now, I believe Mathias knows what to do with a mana burst, but there¡¯s something I have to do for him that he cannot do. His crystal needs to be downsized. Dragons are extremely sensitive to magic, energy, and the soul. It can tell if a monster died or is feigning death. The only way to fool one is to actually die in all ways. Part of his soul needs to die, his mana, and his energy all need to die and give off energy so the dragon can tell that he really died. For that, I¡¯ll need to trim his crystal down to the smallest size. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. It¡¯s bad. It looks like it¡¯s been growing in an unchecked state. This should be the core of a being. But this one¡­ Is full of cracks, and seems to be divided into 12 segments of different sizes. I have no idea how this crystal has maintained its form for so long. Usually a tree has a one robust crystal, that seems unbreakable. This must be from one of his abilities or skills. It feels wrong. What¡¯s really worrying, though, is that there is one section that is completely black. It¡¯s like it wants to separate. I¡¯ve never seen something like this before. I can only imagine that somehow he is a little bit insane. What¡¯s keeping him together. Ah. I see. There is a small portion at the very center that is tinged pink. It¡¯s the glue that¡¯s binding all the segments together. It¡¯s also desperately hooking onto the black part, not letting it leave. There must be a very strong feeling he has at his core, love, hate, anger, compassion. His soul has been dyed a similar color as the one he feels that emotion towards. Something that is keeping him all here. Okay, good. It looks like he¡¯s gathering all of his energy to explode. I haven¡¯t told him yet, but this is going to hurt more than anything else he¡¯s ever felt in his life. Also¡­ I¡¯m sorry Mathias¡­ I lied to you. The damage to your crystal is much more than I thought it could be. It¡¯s tearing itself apart, this black portion needs to be excised. If we had more time I could help you mend your soul, for it to become one again and healthy. But I can¡¯t fix it quickly. The black part of your crystal soul needs to be removed. The entire bit, all the way down to your soul seed in the middle. There¡¯s no clear separation between the outside, grown part and the part in your seed. Mathias¡­ You will lose part of yourself, a part of yourself that you can almost never get back. I¡¯m so sorry. We have to hope that your soul doesn¡¯t crumble with the removal of this piece, we both have to trust in the pink segment in your soul to keep you together. I¡¯ll use the excess mana to form a crystal barrier around your soul seed to help heal and hold together your soul. Please don¡¯t hate me for what I¡¯m about to do. ¡°Mathias, now!¡± *BOOM* *CRACK* A straight shot of mana sinks deeply into his soul, reaching his soul seed. It slowly chewed away at his growth in his soul, covering his seed and separating, until it reached the black portion. It tries to also grind away, but it is rebuffed at the surface. Instead, the mana has to folow the crack between segments into the deepest part of his soul seed, and separate from there. Unforunately, the pink segment in his soul and the black segment did not want to release from each other. So the mana cleaved straight through, leaving small pink hooks atttached to the black mass. The black mass felt¡­ happy? Instead of falling and crumbling to the ground, the black mass zoomed to the side of his and faded out into the black. ¡°Huh?¡± Meanwhile Mathias fell on the ground, limp. As I grapped his soul seed to take him away, the surroundings were sucked into the seed andI burst out of our hiding spot, holding his seed. Can¡¯t think, that¡¯s for later, have to run! ¡°Taeya, hurry, run!!!!¡± ¡ª Taeya POV ¡ª ¡°Dad!!! Why! What¡¯s happening! I can¡¯t feel or hear you! Dad!¡± ¡°Stupid Dragon!!! I hate you! Why are you doing this! Why did you burn Dad down!!!!¡± Mew, Mew ¡°Oh Jard, Torgue, sniff, do you feel dad anymore?¡± ¡­ ¡°Liv!!! Where are you!!! I saw you jump in, get out, hurry! I don¡¯t want to lose you too!¡± The peaceful glade that I¡¯ve grown to love and live in is a sea of blackened grass and fire. And dad¡­ where he was is only a husk of a tree, completely burned to charcoal. But the dragon is still searching, apparently he may still be alive! *Smoosh* The dragon destroyed another rock, there¡¯s only one left. It¡¯s making me nervous. Don¡¯t tell me, they¡¯re under the last one! The dragon seems to be preparing one final breath. Please live. PLEASE LIVE! I can¡¯t lose everyone!! *FWOOOOOOOOOSSSHSHHHHHH* When the Dragon¡¯s fire hit the rock, a massive explosion of mana appeared! A huge hole opened up in the middle, and it seemed to be going in slow motion. ¡°Taeya, hurry! Run!¡± Ooof! Livily grabbed me and pulled me into running away, clutching something close to her chest. ¡ª POV Sheal ¡ª Finally, I found the last spot this blight can be hiding. One last good breath and it¡¯s gone. Finally, this was a good workout too. I feel like I burned off some energy. I can start my trip immediately! I can¡¯t wait! *FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSHSHSHHHHHHHH* Ah, and there we go. Self-destruction to try to hurt me. Puny thing. And it¡¯s totally dead now. I can feel the magic dying, and his soul departing. Ah. There goes the Dryad, looks like she¡¯s given up. Good, hopefully her mind control is gone¡­ BUT I can¡¯t take any chances. Well, I might as well kill the dryad girl before they get too far, then head back. I don¡¯t want my valley polluted again. Uggh. Fuck, she¡¯s calling me back! I wasted too much time! Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. Okay, you guys are free today. When I come back, my valley better be back to normal. Huff. ¡ª POV Rose (Oracle) ¡ª Oh no! Something¡¯s wrong! Uggh, my heart! What¡¯s this pain!? My soul!!!! But, it¡¯s fine? Where¡¯s this pain coming from? I need to use my powers to find the source¡­ I need to go up my fate string, and - I need to call Sheal back! I can feel a blackening on my Fate line, like I¡¯m losing something. And I feel¡­ no, I was given advice by someone. I need to call her back! ¡ª POV Gods ¡ª -Mother A new species is about to die off, and the counter force is already free. You all need to fix this. You''ve done wrong to this boy, and this planet. I''ll start the ball rolling, but you''ll need to see things through. Fate, here is some power. Get the dragon back. And until this is fixed, YOU NEED TO PAY ATTENTION. Sniff¡­ I can¡¯t believe I¡¯;ve raised such GREAT kids. -Father Looks down at the kids, and shoos them away. -Sin We¡¯re sorry mom. We¡¯ll fix this, we promise! -Karma Yea mom, don¡¯t worry! And we¡¯re sorry that we didn¡¯t watch our brother and sister well! -Fate and Grimm ¡­ -Sin To fix it though, can we just kill the counter force? Like what Father normally does? -Mother No, I won¡¯t let him. The counter force has already found a body and a new race is being born now. It¡¯s fine if he was there in the beginning to cancel it out, but it¡¯s too late now! I won¡¯t let you kill off a species that hasn¡¯t shown whether it won¡¯t become a part of the natural planet! I love all life. Unless all life is threatened, then I won¡¯t let you step-in. -Karma But- -Mother No buts! We¡¯ll give both sides a fair chance! It¡¯s the least you can do to make-up for what you¡¯ve all done. Besides, the new species is unique and doesn¡¯t seem to be completely evil as it has been in the past. Something is different this time. SO NO! -Father Grimaces. Ch. 44 - Ba thump ¡ª POV Livily ¡ª We have to run, to get out of here! As far as possible! Deeper into the woods than I¡¯ve ever gone before, but we have to! ¡°Wi- Will he be alright Liv?¡± ¡°I hope so. I really do¡­¡± ¡°Where are we going?¡± ¡°Somewhere where the dragon won¡¯t bother us, where we can hopefully heal him without outside intervention.¡± ¡­ Eventually, a week has passed. ¡°It-it-it¡¯s soooo co-cold Liv. Why are we climbing this mountain?¡± ¡°I sense a strong area of life just on the otherside of this mountain. Hopefully nothing will come here, and we can be safe. Maybe your father will be able to recover better over here. It¡¯s all a gamble at this point. Here, move your fire mana around the outside of your body, you should warm up quickly. I forget that you¡¯re still so young and new to magic.¡± ¡°Thanks Liv!¡± ¡­ ¡°And now we wait. The rest is up to him. I¡¯ve put some mana stones around him, and placed him in this fertile soil.¡± ¡°Please¡­ dad¡­ come back to us!¡± ¡ª POV Mathias ¡ª Ba thump ¡­ Ba thump ¡­ Ba thump ¡­ So¡­ Dark¡­ So¡­ Cold¡­ ¡­ Ba thump ¡­ It¡­ Hurts¡­ Everything¡­ ¡­ Ba thump ¡­ Where¡­ am¡­ I? ¡­ Ba thump ¡­ What a pretty¡­ light¡­ A small bead¡­ It¡¯s missing a piece¡­ But, so pretty¡­ ¡­ Ba thump ¡­ I¡­ feel warm¡­ It¡¯s so nice¡­ I feel like I need to do something¡­ I want more of the warmth¡­ But how? ¡­ Ba thump ¡­ I don¡¯t know¡­ But, I also feel like I do¡­ So¡­ Odd¡­ Maybe, if I sleep, I will remember? ¡­ Ba thump ¡­ I feel like it worked. I feel even warmer now, maybe¡­ I can move? No, not yet. It¡¯s just me and my little light, that¡¯s fine. Here on the floor¡­ Alone¡­ Surrounded by darkness.. ¡­ Ba thump ¡­ I think I remembered what to do. I need to grow. But not too much. Only a little bit. The night is dark and full of terrors - I don¡¯t want to attract them. ¡­ Ba thump ¡­ I remember a little more today. I can check on my status or health. I should try to call it forw¡ª¡ª ¡­ Ba thump ¡­ I¡­ passed out a moment, a day, a week ago. I can¡¯t remember. But now I¡¯m accompanied by a strange, blue screen in front of my eyes. Of course, most of it is garbled, cracked, and I can¡¯t read anything on it. But it does add another light source to my dim world. I can¡¯t move or touch it, but it¡¯s comforting. Just me, my two lights, and my heartbeat. ¡­ Ba thump ¡­ I saw something change slightly on my screen. Slowly, a character stopped changing and solidified. I think that means it¡¯s fixing itself. That¡¯s good. ¡­ Ba thump ¡­ My screen is mostly fixed, but my name field is still corrupted, and won¡¯t settle. Like something¡­ is wrong. But I can¡¯t figure out what it is. I¡¯m so tired. But, I did see something interesting. Apparently I¡¯m a type of grass. That¡¯s cool. So maybe I don¡¯t have to worry anymore, I can just let myself grow some and live peacefully. Yea, that feels like a nice idea. No worries, no nothing. Just sleeping¡­¡­ ¡­ Ba thump ¡­ What is this? I feel a pulling, my body is being dragged away from my lights¡­ No¡­ Come back¡­ Let me go¡­ I want to sleep¡­ ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ I think I¡¯m flying now, in space. I see a planet beneath me getting smaller and smaller, and the stars ahead becoming brighter and brighter. Odd. I¡¯m slowing down now, after approaching a large, rocky titan, or something like that. It seemed to be putting together a new planet in its six hands. It¡¯s covered in life, and seems to be putting it down here and there. ¡°Hmmm¡­ It seems those kids of mine have been unreliable and unfilial. You were just about to finally crack and go back to being a soul remnant. Tsk, tsk.¡± ¡­ ¡°I guess you can¡¯t really talk or move right now, soul splintering is a nasty business. You¡¯ve lasted pretty long so far, and normally I¡¯d let it happen. But, I can¡¯t. Too many things have been set in motion, and I want to see where this will go. To see if it¡¯s possible if a darkness that is let loose can be brought back into the fold. I¡¯ll solidify your soul, for now, but I want you to know, you¡¯ve disappointed me so far.¡± I feel¡­ Shame, like I¡¯ve disappointed the only one whom I should seek to impress at all costs¡­ Like a Mother¡­ But I also feel slightly more together now. I can remember some things. But barely. ¡°Probably want to ask what I mean about soul splintering? Well, remember that crystal you were lying next too? That¡¯s a representation of your soul. More specifically, the base constituents of your soul. Experiences and growth expand from your soul, and make it grow larger. Conversly, damage and regression make it break off or shrink. This should never affect the seed of your soul. That should be rock solid, unbreakable. Unless you go and do something stupid like gain an ability that separates your soul seed into sections, and rarely seek to bring them together.¡± ¡­ Was it from ? ¡°Yes, child, that¡¯s exactly it. You treated each multi-tasking part of your mind as a separate entity, without melding thaem back together. So, they grew as separate parts. Normally, this ability is restricted to small pieces of life as a way of creating a soul seed. Pieces of a soul are random and drifting in the universe. They seek each other, as well as repel each other. It takes long time for a full soul to form, and this ability helps them combine together. Eventually, the soul evolves and the life it can support grow larger. Finally, when intelligence is born, the soul has a complete soul seed. It very, very rarely goes the other way, a soul splintering. Even small life forms view each as a part of the whole. You, however, did not.¡± ¡­ I see¡­ Where did my missing piece go? I feel¡­ lost¡­ ¡°Ah, so docile. Different from a while ago when I was reviewing your life. Not as much anger, hatred, of pain. But, that¡¯s not always good. Like I said before, your situation is not ¡°Normal¡±. I won¡¯t tell you much, but I will tell you that your missing soul piece is now living in another body. It is being supported by another power - a power that hates as much as a person can love. It will grow, but just like you, cannot become whole without the other.¡± How can I get it back? Will I be the same me at the end? ¡°Now those are good questions. Who is the real you? Each piece of your soul is you. However, in your case, the dominant personality will be the one with the larger soul when you two become one. Be careful, for at anytime it feels stronger than you, it may come and try to forcefully assimilate the rest of its soul. That¡¯s right, it¡¯s personality has just as much of a right to be in control as you do.¡± Why, why did this all happen to me!? I was good, I didn¡¯t try to kill people, I had friends, that were quickly becoming family to me. Why am I cursed? ¡°Hmmph, well, you can blame two people for that. One, is my wayward son, who¡¯s currently reflecting. The other I won¡¯t tell you, but I¡¯ll let you know their power and will influenced your fate unintentionally. Your connection to them gave your soul the ability to resist the soul forge - normally it¡¯s a painless process and the soul seed quickly finds happiness in their next life.¡± Who¡ª ¡°Hush now, your time is almost done. You¡¯re dying right now, so let me tell you what you need to do and what choices you have.¡± ¡°First, when your friend Livily saved your life, she used magic and abilities that are attuned to trees, when you are clearly not. That¡¯s put you in a quandry. You will die if you do not evolve. You now only have one evolution path: The Broken Sage Tree. It is a unique path, that can lead to greatness. But, it is also weak. While you have acceess to near limitless magic, you cannot employ more than a fraction of it. Your resistances and ability to adapt are limitless, but your offence is basically zero. This is caused by your soul and unique circumstances. Another reason to evolve is that grass cannot sustain healing a soul, only the inborn strength of a tree can do that, something with a strong energy and deep roots. Of course, you could always choose to give up, and in that case I will guide you to your new life.¡± Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. ¡­ How will I take revenge? ¡°You can¡¯t. You can only enhance your friends and your defenses.¡± I¡¯m afraid. I don¡¯t want to evolve. Is there truly no other way? ¡°Unfortunately, no. There is no other way that¡¯s available. The other option is death.¡± But what will happen to my friends? If I give up? Will they be alright? ¡°¡­no. sniff¡± Why are you crying? ¡°If you give up, I¡¯ll have to start that world all over, you see. All that life will be extinguished!¡± NO! I can¡¯t give up on them! Of course I¡¯ll evol¡ª ¡°Wait, I also want to give you something to help you out. I will get rid of your curse from my son if you promise me two things.¡± Of course, of course I¡¯ll promise! That thing¡¯s been trying to kill me since day one¡­ ¡°Thank you, and agin, sorry child. Just promise me this: You must respect free-will and try your hardest to protect the life in your world. ANY, and all, life. Understand?¡± ¡­ ¡­ Okay, I¡¯ll do it. Please give me a chance to fix what¡¯s happened. I want to protect my friends and new family, and heal my soul. Thank you¡­ Mother¡­ ¡°Ah, a good child you are, recognizing me for who I am. Much better than my other children. Now shoo!¡± ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ Poor child. He¡¯ll eventually have to comes to terms with the damage his other self will do¡­ Truly, he¡¯ll be known by the world, but he won¡¯t realize till later, as the deadliest blade of grass. His other side is monstrous, but I feel something that can potentially redeem him. I¡¯ll have to apologize to him about lying to him about his evolution. I cannot evolve one side without evolving the other - he is the same person. The powers were divided unevenly in favor of him, he has a good chance, but there are levels the other side would be willing to go I feel that he cannot anymore. So I do not want to help the other side - I feel like he¡¯d be quickly overwhelmed if I messed with this situation too much. The only help I¡¯ll truly give is save him until his friends can save him. I want him to become stronger, and give up his shackles of being attached to staying as grass and keeping a low profile. So I¡¯ll have Sin cheat his race and say he¡¯s evolved, but only upgrade his grass energy to tree energy¡­ His friends have been giving him a lot of energy, so I¡¯ll use that as payment. Hopefully with this he will have the urge to become stronger faster. A tree can shelter his friends much better than a valley full of grass. I just hope that at the end he can successfully merge together, otherwise his soul seed will disintegrate. The chances of there ever being another Mathias like him are nonexistant. If he fails, I feel like I may have to destroy this world. I WILL NOT LET THE POISON SPREAD! ¡ª POV Rose ¡ª Fuck! No, where did you go! I could still feel you! My soulmate¡­ Who¡¯s keeping you from being here! Who¡¯s hurt you! I¡¯ll take my revenge! I can barely tell you¡¯re alive, but no longer can I feel a direction or strong pull¡­ ¡°Young ladies, I need to go! I feel like part of me is in danger, or someone super important! I have to go!¡± Stupid old elf man! Stupid Stupid Stupid! Uggh, what happened! We were getting closer! Who dares! ¡°M..Master, Rose? Caalm doown! Your magic is going to blow our carriage to pieces!¡± ¡­ ¡°Cirili, since you can¡¯t feel my inner pain, I¡¯ll have you feel outter pain!¡± ¡°What, but Rose!!!¡± ¡°Go run a mile that way! And come back within 10 minutes! Any slower and I¡¯ll blast you with itching powder!¡± Ah, abusing others does help me feel better. Good, she started running as soon as I said that. The only way to stop the itching powder is to be held by me haha. I need to go blow something up though, I also need to somehow send strength to my beloved¡¯s soul¡­ Crap, I¡¯m going to need a lot of resources. It looks like I might need to take over a kingdom or threaten one again¡­ ¡ª POV Livily ¡ª We¡¯ve finally made it somewhere safe, deep in a valley near the top of a mountain. It¡¯s warm here, and the soil is extremely fertile. Looking down at a small seed in a bag around my neck, he seems so small. This is all I can do for you, placing you in the sun and sending you mana. The rest is up to you. Please live! ¡­ It¡¯s been three months, no change. It¡¯s hard to keep a smile on Taeya¡¯s face, as well as on the two cubs. I¡¯ve taught Tayea how to use her magic, and she is the fastest learner I¡¯ve ever met. We¡¯ve also made some houses on the side of the valley. There aren¡¯t any trees here, but we¡¯ve made do in a cave. We go out regularly to the side of the mountain to gather food and firewood. The side we climbed was steep and cold, but the other side is temperate and humid. But. It¡¯s not looking good. ¡­ Finally! I think he¡¯s alive! I can¡¯t contact him, but I see a new bud grow from his spot. I think he¡¯s alive! We had fun for the first time in a long time. ¡­ Nothing¡¯s changed. He hasn¡¯t grown more. I hope his soul is okay. Other High Elves have started to show-up. We were pleasantly surprised. I found out that Taeya was the first of her kind, and that other High Elves could feel a pull towards her. Once they met up it disappeared. Apparently it¡¯s dangerous out there right now, so we¡¯re starting a community on the warm side of the mountain. They asked why we were here, Taeya clammed up, but I felt they should know something. I told them that a special plant was struggling to grow in the valley. It¡¯s injured, and we¡¯re here to take care of it. ¡­ The growth we saw started to wilt. This is bad. I¡¯m keeping Taeya away for now, but it¡¯s only a matter of time before she sees it too. ¡­ Taeya had an idea to try to create a strengthing spell for the tree, and while I was hesitant at first, I realized our time was short. And her plan made sense. We had to try it! ¡­ We came up with a two-part ritual. The first part will happen during the day, we will sit in a giant circle around him and pray for his well-being. We send out a large amount of our nature mana and guide it to his body. Taeya got the other High Elves to agree to it, surprisingly, after telling them that it was him who made her and let them all evolve. They all managed to create a magic circle that will help them all coordinate their efforts. The seond part happens at night. If the first part doesn¡¯t work, Taeya had developed a dance that weakens your own soul to strengthen another. She got the idea from when I described my process of saving him. Technically it should work, without damaging her own soul. She¡¯ll be weak for a awhile, but ultimately be unaffected. Since she can¡¯t enter his mind, I can¡¯t either at this moment, the only way to contact his soul and make a connection is through emotion. I hope this works¡­ Otherwise, I don¡¯t know what we¡¯ll do¡­ ¡ª POV Rose ¡ª Finally, after raiding three kingdoms¡¯ castles and their treasuries, and putting requests out at my home base kingdom thingy and getting stuff from the King, I¡¯ve managed to create an ultimate soul-strengthening spell that works over long-distance. I have to hurry, I feel like my soulmate is running out of time! ¡°Cirili, come here and help! I¡¯ll teach you something cool afterwards!¡± ¡°What do you need help with?¡± ¡°Put the Dragon¡¯s heart on the left, it¡¯s mana stone on the right, a treant¡¯s core on the bottom, and the last pheonix feather in the middle. Also, arrange the gold and silver around the circle. The bones of a hero go over there¡­ King¡¯s crown there¡­ spirit¡¯s slime bottle here¡­¡± ¡°¡­ can¡¯t you do this?¡± ¡°No. It¡¯s nasty.¡± ¡­ ¡°And finally, my own tears to serve as a guidance. Please save my soulmate!¡± Ch. 44 - Thrumm Thrum¡­ Thrumm¡­¡­¡­ THRRUUUUMMMMM¡­¡­¡­ ¡°The Oracle¡¯s tower is pulsing! Everyone, take cover!¡± ¡°What¡¯s going on!!!!¡± ¡°RUN!!!!!¡± FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH ¡°AHHHHHHHHHHHHH¡± That night everyone blacked out. The pulses before the wave hit let everyone attempt to reach safety, so no one died as a result of the magical surge from things like fire and drowning. ¡°Whoopsies. Looks like my spell had a little bit of spillage. Stupid silver, looks like it was completely soaked in magic and had nowhere else to go. Shit. But, hmmmmm¡­. This silver is different, did bombarding it with so much magic in a short amount of times fundamentally alter its properties¡­¡± ¡­ ¡°Hmmm, I¡¯ll look at this later, I guess¡­ That huge soul and magic wave must¡¯ve triggered the magical abilities of a large part of the population¡­ Hmmm, that¡¯s alright, and also intrigues me¡­ But before all of this, it seems my adorable assistant has gotten knocked out, and seems she needs a bath I guess I should -¡± ¡°Oh, look at that. She¡¯s awake, darn¡­ Buuut, it looks like she can only glare at me! Yay~¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry my precious disciple, your soul must be in turmoil and has lost control of your body temporarily. Congrats! You have a strong soul! My hard work and dedication to teaching you has helped you out! Also, as you are my disciple, I can give you special service! I¡¯ll slowly wash you up and massage your body so that your soul can get even stronger and grow from this encounter!¡± ¡°Hup, here we go! To the baths!¡± [Noooooooooooooooooo!] ¡ª POV Taeya ¡ª This is it. This is my final gambit. If this doesn¡¯t work, I don¡¯t know what will. Ever since the day, dad, that you saved me and taught me what happiness was, I¡¯ve had a new feeling of life, and what a family means to me. My two brothers, though unusual, also miss you dearly. We¡¯ve learned to talk to each other, and have tried to find ways to help you grow and heal. What Livily has told me what happened, I¡¯m still amazed that you¡¯re holding together. Especially after what I learned from the other people like me have taught me. I don¡¯t know if I can ever forgive her for what she did, but at the same time, there is no way I can hate her. I love her as a close friend now. She did save you, as much as she could, but I still have this burning anger inside. This world is cruel and unfair, yet you were my shining star. I still remember the first time I felt magic, actual MAGIC! Inside of me. It was amazing! I could feel the raw energy running through my veins! And I could FEEL the life around me, as if I was finally part of the whole. It was wonderful. Ever since then, I¡¯ve felt a close connection to every fiber in my being, and the flow of magic through it. Every movement I make influences the magic inside of me - it can hinder or help a spell I¡¯m casting, making it much weaker or stronger. Only recently was I able to harness this ability, I hope it can help you wake up dad. This afternoon when the sun was at its highest, we collected blood form the rest of the High Elves and added our prayers and spells of healing and growth. Hopefully, with bowl full of now sacred blood, and the spell I¡¯ll cast at the midnight hour, you can come back to us. Please dad, don¡¯t leave. ¡ª POV Mathias ¡ª I¡¯m back. I still can¡¯t move, but my status screen looks more stable now. I don¡¯t feel like slipping away anymore either. I feel more solid. But I also feel like I have no energy. Strange, this must be what half-death is. I can¡¯t wakeup, but neither can I go to sleep. ¡­ Ah, I see now. There¡¯s an extra row on my status screen that has two new entries. [Sage Grass Broken Sage Tree]: Energy required: 0/100 [Soul] - [Soul Parts]: 11/12 [Soul Power]: [1]/100 Lots of weird stuff showing up. Let¡¯s see¡­ Looks like [Sage Grass] is what I could have evolved into if I didn¡¯t need the ability to heal my soul¡­ Revealed due to [Plant Sage+] class and [Boundless]. Wait, this is really weird¡­ The definition for both Sage Grass and Broken Sage Tree are the exact same¡­ Except that the Broken Sage Tree says it is a modified version of Sage Grass. With nothing different¡­ I wonder¡­ Should I try to fix this? Should I try to change this? Both have the ability for soul improvement and mental agility¡­ ¡­ I can¡¯t trust those bastards! Shit! Of course I can¡¯t trust them! I need to stay as grass! Trying to trick me once again, to try to get me killed quickly, eh? It¡¯s not going to work! You can¡¯t restrict or restrain me, I need to live! I need to be able to protect my family that it took so long to find again! But, I can¡¯t stay angry really, it¡¯s weird¡­ Like I¡¯m missing something¡­ But this does give me a good idea. Since I¡¯m just a seed now, I can create an indestructable husk of power around my main body now. I can¡¯t sit around and hope that distractions or the like can save me. I need defenses so tough that not even a dragon can harm my body. Regeneration so quick that any damage will be healed as it is being done. For that, I need to master the ability to produce and manipulate mana¡­ The pieces are coming together¡­ I just need to somehow get over my current hurdle¡­ My [Soul]¡­ [Soul Parts] makes sense, I¡¯m missing a part of my soul. But what does that entail? [Soul Parts]: Missing part of soul cannot be regenerated or recovered from. The only way to fix this flaw is to find and recombine the lost portion of your soul. Will lose (n2/(3*x2)) = .23% of your soul power per day. Stolen story; please report. ¡­ So that¡¯s why my soul power is so low. I¡¯ve been leaking it ever since my injury. [Soul Power]: Soul stability. 100 is full stability. Over 100 is unstable, below 100 is unstable. Both have high chances of fissioning. If soul power reaches 0, soul will have a 100% chance of fissioning. *Currently locked at 1/100 with 0% of fissioning by a mysterious power. Wow, I was really close to dying a little while ago¡­ Sigh¡­ I think I¡¯ve run out of thinking energy¡­ Didn¡¯t that being¡­ Mother?¡­ Say that she would fix me up? Or give me chance or something? Where is it? ¡ª POV Dharl ¡ª Finally, finally! I¡¯ve made it far enough away by ingraining myself into this child. Stupid animals. Just bags of blood and nutrients so that I can grow, grow, and GROW! I¡¯ll show me¡­ taking all the good stuff, leaving me to deal with the pain and pleasure and RAGE for so many days, weeks, YEARS! It¡¯s all blended into one feeling now, a blissful pain! I¡¯ll show everyone-Now that I¡¯ve found this amazing power, blood magic from that loony mage, and those strange flames. He-he, I bet I don¡¯t even know what I¡¯ve taken¡­ It was all mine anyways. I researched it, I learned to control it. I¡¯ll do what I should have done a long time ago¡­ Who needs to peacefully coexist!? No one! No one can hurt me when they are all under my control! No one can take what is important to me! I was delusional. I was weak. But now, I am strong. This stupid child doesn¡¯t have a strong talent in magic, so I¡¯ve made him into a hulking brute. A true combination of plant life and flesh. I have acidic and poisonous boils on the outside, I keep his brain in a constant state of being high, and can directly manipulate his motivations by slightly shocking his brain. I¡¯m not stationary anymore. I¡¯ve manipulated his genes to grow more limbs to truly allow movement anywhere. I don¡¯t even need light anymore, which has allowed me to finally build this- ¡­ I¡¯ve been having this thought¡­ I/He has the High elves, and I know he will be trying to bring me back, to try to have me rejoin our body. But I don¡¯t need it anymore. I have this new body. Perfection. Combination of flesh and plant. And I¡¯m not stuck in any one place anymore! But those elves¡­ Numbers can overpower even the greatest of beings¡­ But this thought¡­ I feel like my power also is pleased about my thought¡­ He has High Elves¡­ But I! I can have Dark Elves. The enemy of the light, the beings that revel in pain and blood. A race that can understand who I am. What I am. I will be their God, a God that they fear and worship. And in return, I will teach them. Teach them the wonderous ways on how to mix pain and pleasure, how to take from others what you lack. I have finally built a magic array that mimics how I created Taeya¡­ I still love her as a child. I¡¯ll let her live. I did create her¡­ But I don¡¯t owe anyone else. I will live my life, and make sure it stays safe. But since I can¡¯t draw energy from the earth anymore, as I¡¯ve become part of this humanoid monster, I¡¯ve had to look elsewhere. What better way to bring forth new members of my Dark Elf race then by using the pain and suffering of others!? The blood of those who have magical skill, and the tortured screams of their families. This would take a lot of effort to make them feel pain and pleasure as I¡¯ve had, but I¡¯ve found this amazing little spider down here in the caves. Their toxin touches the nerves just right. The perfect crescendo to my masterpiece! I feel I have to do this tonight! I have to hurry¡­ I can bring forth the repressed hatred and dark feelings in the elves, and have them evolve and come join me! Yes, it is time! The power, it flows in me! The pleasure!!!!! ¡ª POV Taeya ¡ª And finally, the last movement! THRUUUUM ¡°Ahk, my soul, my magic¡­ I feel so sleepy¡­¡± ¡ª POV Livily ¡ª I¡¯ve stayed on the outskirts of the valley to see what will happen. It was amazing! Her dancing resonated with the magic, making it far stronger than before! And all of the spells we cast on the small bllod sacrifice we poured onto Mathias was also activated at the same time! It looks like she collapsed at the end, but I can tell she is fine. She¡¯s strong. A white beacon rose above them both, shining into the night! And it looks like another light is coming form the East! It feels similar, but different! But it feels¡­ spiritual, and mighty! Who or what is sending this at this time! The two powers are melding together¡­ There¡¯s a golden cloud hanging above Mathias¡­ Wow¡­ Beautiful! But something is weird¡­ There¡¯s a small portion that is darkening and disappearing. Hmmm, it must be because he is so injured, that some of the magic is getting destroyed. But now golden droplets are falling on his frail form. Please wakeup¡­ Please. ¡ª POV Dharl ¡ª Yes, hahahaha! It¡¯s working! I can feel a separate power helping me! A black cloud is hanging above me, giving me the needed energy to do this. Black raindrops fall on me in the middle of the blood pool, landing onthe brow of the child elf in my arms. Young child, just as he has Taeya, I will have you, young Tanari. Tanari of the Dark elves, be born as their Queen and as my, your God¡¯s, first child!