《I'm A Tree. Now What?》


 Chapter 1

    Congratulations! You have been reincarnated as a [Tree]!


    I woke up to a flashing blue box in my face. I had just been crossing the street to get to my house when a truck came barreling at me. I still felt all groggy, like I couldn¡¯t fully wake up. It took me a few hours to wake up enough to read the text in front of me.


    Reincarnated? What do you mean reincarnated? I should be at the hospital, so why am I seeing this weird blue box, instead of a white tile ceiling?


    I tried lifting my arms to swat at the box to get it to go away, but I couldn¡¯t move at all. I tried moving my head around to look at the problem, but i realized everything that wasn¡¯t the text box in front of me was pitch black.


    What the hell? Where am I? I don¡¯t feel any pain from getting hit by the truck. Did it miss? Am I hurt?


    Another blue box popped up, partially covering the first one.


    User is at full health.


    What does it mean user?


    To begin tutorial, please say ¡°Status¡±.


    What? Is this a game or something? Alright, I¡¯ll play along. Status!


    Another text box popped up, though this one felt more personal. It was immediately followed by another.


    I assume this is my status sheet then?


    User: ______  Race: Tree


    Level:0 Exp: 0/1


    H:100% S:100% M:100%


    Skills: Photosynthesis


    User has successfully started the Tutorial! The first assigned task is: Select name.


    Name selection, eh? I think I¡¯ll go with Willow, since I¡¯m a tree and all, apparently.


    Name [Willow] has been designated. Please confirm.


    Uh, confirm?


    Welcome, [Willow]. You have been fully integrated into the system of your new home, Vir. During your time here, you will work to increase your level and gain more skills. Skills can be gained through many ways, and the more you have, the stronger you will be. Upgrade your skills to gain incredible strength in your new home. We hope you enjoy your new life. Try to make it last!


    Tutorial has finished.


    Wait, what? That¡¯s it? No more? No actual information? You¡¯re just going to leave me here like this? I can''t even see! What am I supposed to do as a tree?!


    No answer came. I tried calling out again and again, but no new blue boxes came around.


    Ugh, fine. I guess I¡¯m doing this the old-fashioned way. Status!


    User: Willow  Race: Tree


    Level:0 Exp: 0/1


    H:100% S:100% M:100%


    Skills: Photosynthesis


    Well, at least my name updated. This feels rather bare for a Status though. Where are my stats? I guess H is health, S is stamina, and M is mana, but that¡¯s still minimal information. How am I supposed to get Exp to level up?


    After a bit of mental poking and prodding, I focused more on my only skill.


    Photosynthesis (C): Passive. User gains 1 Exp per day per major branch. Also increases regeneration of resource pools while in the sun.


    It seems rather self-explanatory, though I don¡¯t know what the ¡®C¡¯ means. Is that the skill rarity? Looks like I have to wait a day to get my first level. This is sure to get boring fast.


    Having nothing else to do for the day, I took a nap. Next thing I new, I was being woken up by a new notification.


    Congratulations! You have reached level 1! Please select your level reward from the options below:


    <ol>


    <li>Skill Upgrade</li>


    <li>Choose New Skill</li>


    <li>Craft New Skill</li>


    </ol>


    For some reason, option 3 was unavailable, and I really wanted a new skill. I chose option 2, hoping for a way to protect myself in case of emergency.


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    New skill [Hard Bark(C)] has been obtained!


    Not quite what I was expecting, though I don¡¯t really know what I was expecting at all, really. It¡¯s an interesting skill name, but I¡¯m sure it¡¯ll come in handy.


    I pulled up the skill information to check it out. It seems simple enough, but I want to make sure it does what I think.


    Hard Bark (C): Passive. The user¡¯s bark becomes stronger. Reduces damage taken from physical means.


    Yep, that¡¯s about right. I¡¯m glad it¡¯s a passive skill though. I wouldn¡¯t know when to activate it if it weren¡¯t, since I can¡¯t see and all.


    I summoned my status again and saw that I needed 5 more Exp to get to level 2. I took another nap, but chose to make it a bit longer this time. I didn¡¯t want to have to be awake for the entire duration, and since I had nothing better to do, I slept.


    I continued sleeping until I got a similar notification.


    Congratulations! You have reached level 2! Please select your level reward from the options below:


    <ol>


    <li>Skill Upgrade</li>


    <li>Choose New Skill</li>


    <li>Craft New Skill </li>


    </ol>


    This is going to take forever at the rate I¡¯m going. Not that I particularly mind.


    My ¡®naps¡¯ were pretty much me falling asleep and waking right back up, almost as if I were just blinking. I really didn¡¯t mind the time passing that way, as I was none the ware of it.


    I had a choice to make. I could upgrade my Photosynthesis skill, making my naps shorter for it, Or I could get a new skill and hope it would give me an ability to actually interact with the world.


    Well, I pretty much have to choose a new skill, right? I can¡¯t really do anything right now otherwise.


    I chose option 2, praying for a skill that would let me see or move or do ANYTHING.


    Before I was able to even read the notification, I was suddenly aware of everything that was me. I could feel a web of roots digging into the dirt, my trunk standing tall, my canopy of leaves, swaying with the wind.


    With all that, I realized something important. I was small.


    New skill [Self-Awareness (C)] has been obtained!


    I checked the skill description to see what it gave me, though I already knew.


    Self-Awareness (C): Passive. User is now able to sense the entirety of their body.


    Well, it makes sense that I¡¯m small. I AM less than a week old, after all. My root system is mostly a single stem that only goes barely an inch deep, with a few hairs sticking out here and there. My trunk is an inch tall, and it¡¯s topped by a single leaf. I¡¯m practically nothing, right now.


    Now that I was self-aware, I could get a better feel for how everything in my body works. I couldn¡¯t actually ¡®see¡¯, but by feeling around, I got a much clearer mental picture of my situation.


    I could feel my roots bringing moisture and nutrients in from the damp soil around me. It appears to have just rained. I don¡¯t sense any other nearby roots that I might have to compete with, but that means next to nothing in the long run. I barely cover any ground, right now.


    I could feel the sun hitting my leaf. It felt extremely invigorating, as though I should be running a marathon right now. Of course, I can¡¯t actually move at all, but that was beside the point.


    I basked in the glow of my existence for a few hours. It really was a relaxing life I had right now. I had no bills to pay, no job to work at, no girlfriend screaming in my ear that I need to do better. I could finally relax.


    I sat there ¨C stood there? - for 9 more hours, bathing in the sun. After the ninth hour, I could feel my Photosynthesis skill automatically turn off. As it turned off, the energy I was feeling went away and I became lethargic and tired. I decided to nap for now, thinking I¡¯d wake up again when morning came.


    Congratulations! You have reached level 3! Please select your level reward from the options below:


    <ol>


    <li>Skill Upgrade</li>


    <li>Choose New Skill</li>


    <li>Craft New Skill </li>


    </ol>


    The notification startled me, waking me from my slumber.


    No way I was asleep for that long. The last level took 5 days to get, so how did I get to level 3 so quickly?


    I tried to pull up my status, but it wouldn¡¯t show. Not while I still had to deal with the notification.


    Aright, so I have to choose now, then. What do I need the most right now? I feel my last skill was given in response to my desire to be able to interact some, so do I feel like I need anything right now?


    In my head, I went over the last while of me being awake. All I could remember was the feeling of energy running through me, then extreme lethargy. Should I try to request something to transfer Moonlight into energy, kind of like Photosynthesis does for sunlight? Something like that would let me be awake for longer without being forced to sleep when night came. I could see benefits to that.


    Or do I want something to increase my potential attack/defensive power? Right now, I¡¯m a two-inch tall sprout that could be plucked by a nearby squirrel running by me too fast.


    I continued thinking about it, and finally decided to upgrade Photosynthesis. I hoped for it to grow in a way to keep me from being forced to sleep, but again, I didn¡¯t know what to expect.


    As I mentally clicked the button, I realized it would more than likely just increase the Exp gain rate. I immediately felt stupid as the notification popped up.


    Skill Photosynthesis (C) has been upgraded to Photosynthesis (U)!


    I should have just gone with a new skill. I regretted choosing this stupid upgrade as soon as I picked it.


    At least, until I read the description.


    Photosynthesis (U): Passive. User gains 2 Exp per day per major branch. Increases regeneration of resource pools while in either Sunlight or Moonlight.


    Thank the gods! I didn¡¯t massively screw up my life!


    The skill upgrade gave both the outcomes that I was somewhat hoping for. As long I was bathing in natural light, I would be getting the benefit of the skill energy boost!


    I pulled up my status page and took a look to see if there were any difference.


    User: Willow  Race: Tree


    Level:3 Exp: 0/15


    H:100% S:100% M:100%


    Skills: Photosynthesis, Hard Bark, Self-Awareness


    I would still need more than a full week to get to the next level, but I wasn¡¯t in a rush. I had all the time in the world.


    I went back to bathing in the sunlight. It was a nice warm feeling, with energy running up and down my veins. I know they¡¯re not called veins, since I¡¯m a tree and all. But I hated biology, and what kid was ever going to use the term ¡®Xylem¡¯ or ¡®Phloem¡¯ in their life. I might not be a human anymore, but I still feel more comfortable relating to human physiology.


    The hours ticked by, and I was finally at peace. The amount of energy I was feeling flowing through me waxed and waned as a particularly thick cloud cluster passed by overhead, but I was undisturbed. I was a simple tree, and nothing would be bothering me.

 Chapter 2

    Well, so much for nothing bothering me.


    On the morning of my third day of being level 3, my third leaf started to come in. I only felt it starting to grow the day before, so I was amazed that it was already starting to shoot out from my side. I had realized during my mediation, that I had gotten my second leaf when I was last sleeping. The leaf was barely just a bud on my small trunk, and I was admiring how quickly I was growing.


    I suddenly felt a sharp tearing pain in my first and largest leaf. It hurt like crazy, but I also couldn¡¯t do anything about it.


    The pain was growing in a small arc across the leaf, until it reached the other side and completely removed half of it. It was the most painful thing I had ever felt.


    What the hells was that?! Am I under attack or something?


    I pulled up my status to see if there was anything I could discern from it.


    User: Willow  Race: Tree


    Level:3  Exp: 6/15


    H:85%   S:100% M:100%


    Skills: Photosynthesis, Hard Bark, Self-Awareness


    I had lost 15% of my health, and I still didn¡¯t know what the problem was.


    Why was I in so much pain? Where did half of my leaf go?


    I had just gotten used to the new level of pain when it started all over again. This time it was at the base of my injured leaf. Whatever was attacking me was trying to completely remove my favorite limb, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.


    It was a slow and steadily increasing pain. The stem of the leaf was much stronger since it was thicker than the rest of it. The pain persisted for an agonizing 2 minutes before whatever was attacking me apparently gave up and left.


    Due to successful, intense training, skill [Iron Body (C)] has been obtained! Similar skill [Hard Bark (C)] has been detected. Incorporating skill [Iron Body (C)] into skill [Hard Bark (C)]. Skill [Hard Bark (C)] has been upgraded to skill [Iron Bark (U)]!


    I wouldn¡¯t exactly call what just happened to me ¡®successful¡¯ or ¡®training¡¯, but that sure as hell was intense.


    I felt my soul tremble at the pain I had to endure. Part of me was just ripped away in a horrible manner. Maybe this life wasn¡¯t as great as I thought it was.


    I sat there for a while, unable to move, unable to think, unable to feel, except for the aching pain in my leaf. It was slowly lessening as time went by, but it still hurt a great deal.


    After two hours of thoughtless, aching existence, I reminded myself I still had a new skill to examine.


    Iron Bark (U): Passive. The user¡¯s bark is much stronger. Largely reduces damage taken from physical means. Mildly fire resistant.


    Mildly fire resistant? That seems incredibly useful, being a tree and all.


    I tried to keep myself positive, trying to think of all the possibilities that this skill could bring me in the future. Then I remembered I was a tree. I wouldn¡¯t exactly be going anywhere or doing anything any time soon.


    Disheartened, I summoned my status again.


    User: Willow  Race: Tree


    Level:3  Exp: 6/15


    H:84%   S:100% M:100%


    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    Skills: Photosynthesis, Iron Bark, Self-Awareness


    Having nothing better to do, I sat and stared at my status. I didn¡¯t exactly expect anything to happen, but after an hour, I saw my health go up by 1%. As it did, I felt the pain in my leaf stump dull slightly. An hour later, the same thing happened again.


    I started examining myself, using every last iota of self-awareness my skill gave me.


    I could slowly feel the stem of my injured leaf heal and strengthen. It had already passed the level of sturdiness it had when it was previously fully healed. I assumed that was the effect of my improved skill.


    The pain was slowly getting better, and by the time darkness fell, my leaf was almost entirely regrown. It still hurt a bit, but it has gone from feeling like a finger had been chopped off to having stubbed my toe on the corner of a coffee table while getting water in the middle of the night.


    Having fully healed, I basked in the glow of the Moonlight. Unlike the Sunlight, the Moon¡¯s light was a much cooler glow. It brought about a calming energy. It was much needed after the excitement and pain that the day had brought.


    I relaxed and let my newly reformed leaf sway in the gentle breeze.


    I stayed in my gentle mediation for another four days, until the night of the seventh day of being level 3. I had been gaining a point of Exp every time the sun set or rose, and it had just set for the fifteenth time since I had last leveled. I had been praying for this day ever since I was attacked.


    Congratulations! You have reached level 4! Please select your level reward from the options below:


    <ol>


    <li>Skill Upgrade</li>


    <li>Choose New Skill</li>


    </ol>


    Odd, option 3 isn¡¯t even available anymore. Not that I even knew how to use it. But it would have been a nice goal to figure out one day. Now, option time


    I had spent the last few days trying to decide what to request when this day came. I had swung wildly between wanting to become poisonous, to wanting to grow spikes from every inch of my body, to wanting to spew acid from my leaves. Ultimately, I knew my major problem was how small I was, and I needed to fix that.


    Concentrating hard on my desire, I selected option 2.


    New skill [Rapid Growth (C)] has been obtained!


    That was pretty much exactly what I was hoping for. I pulled the skill description up to get a more clear picture on what exactly it did.


    Rapid Growth (C): Active. Spend Stamina to multiply growth rate. Through concentration and mental effort, growth can be directed, to a certain degree.


    Okay, so basically, I can grow taller and make my roots grow deeper, but I can¡¯t forcibly make a second trunk appear from my left side at random. Sounds reasonable.


    I tried activating the skill, focusing on growing taller from my current 3-inch stature. Sure, 3-inches was pretty damn big to some, but I wanted to shoot for the moon here.


    After a fruitless hour spent trying to force myself to grow taller, I felt a sudden drain on my energy levels and my leaves shot up an entire two inches, almost doubling my height.


    I now stood at a proud five inches tall. I felt invincible, at least I did, until I passed out from a lack of energy.


    I woke up and immediately checked my status to see how long I was out.


    User: Willow  Race: Tree


    Level:4  Exp: 8/20


    H:100%  S:100% M:100%


    Skills: Photosynthesis, Iron Bark, Self-Awareness, Rapid Growth


    Okay, that feels unreasonable. Four days just for two inches?


    I examined myself again, trying to see if anything had happened to me while I was out. Other than the previous growth, the only difference was my fourth leaf started to bud. I was on my way to becoming a proper sapling.


    Last time I used Rapid Growth, I had never used an active skill before. It got out of control really quickly, and resulted in me going unconscious. This time, I have experience and know a lot more about what I¡¯m doing. I should be able to control it a lot better now.


    I prepared myself mentally to go through the process of growing again. I¡¯d try to be a bit more subtle this time, aiming to just increase my height by a third of what I did before. I just wanted to gain half of an inch.


    With the mental instruction at the front of my mind, I toggled the control for my skill from off to 10% power. I had previously forced it to go from 0 to 100, but now I understood this was a process, not an off and on kind of situation.


    I watched on my status as my Stamina went from 100% down to 95%. I had felt some minor adjustments to my body, but nothing major. I watched as it went down further to 90%. I was now beginning to notice some changes to the way my body was feeling. It was uncomfortable, but manageable. Nowhere near the pain of having a leaf torn most of the way off.


    My Stamina was now down to 76%, and I had grown almost half of an inch. I turned the skill back off and took a mental breather. I had successfully used the skill without passing out. At this rate, I could grow half an inch a day, since I apparently regenerated 1% of my pool per hour. This would be my new daily routine, at least for now, since I didn¡¯t have much else going on.


    I think I¡¯ll have to alternate between tree growth and root growth though. I already feel a bit wobbly, since I had grown two and a half inches on the top without having any growth on the bottom. In fact, I think I¡¯ll spend the next 5 days working on getting my roots caught up to the point of where my trunk¡¯s growth is at. After that, I¡¯ll focus more on overall growth rather than focused growth on top or bottom half.


    With that decided, I went back to my peaceful sun bathing. I had really come to love this warm, energetic feeling.

 Chapter 3

    As I planned, I spent the next five days spending my Stamina on growing my roots. I didn¡¯t add any other objective other than ¡®grow¡¯ to it, letting them go wild. After the third day, my main root started to branch off, splitting into three separate directions. By the fifth day, the three branches had split of even further. I now had an actual web of roots growing underneath me.


    The little hair roots that had started off so small only a few weeks ago were now thick enough for me to actually get a part of my consciousness in them. It was an odd feeling the first time I did that. I was experimenting with my awareness skill, and I let my thoughts flow from the main portion of my trunk and follow my tree veins down under the ground.


    It was a cold feeling, being underground. It wasn¡¯t necessarily a bad feeling, but it wasn¡¯t as enjoyable as basking in the sun with my leaves. I did feel a lot more hydrated down here, though. The water I was sensing moving through my body had to come from somewhere, after all.


    Huh. Is it starting to feel even more wet?


    I noticed my higher up roots were bringing in more water than usual. I mostly expected them to act as anchor points as I grew, but now they seemed to be bringing in moisture.


    I brought my mind back up from my roots and notices that my leaves were starting to sway a lot. They seemed to be pushed down pretty aggressively once in a while.


    OH! It¡¯s raining! That¡¯s why I¡¯m getting so much more water right now. That also explains the drop in my energy levels, too. The clouds are blocking the Sunlight, so I¡¯m not photosynthesizing right now.


    I focused on the feeling of the water hitting my leaves for a while. It was an interesting feeling. The water slammed down on the leaf, pressing it down hard, then the leaf would spring back up and launch all the water on it away. It was mesmerizing. I kept ¡®watching¡¯ it for hours.


    Eventually, I got a bit bored of the feeling of my leaves bouncing around. It was a mildly tickling feeling, but one that got old pretty fast.


    I focused on my Rapid Growth skill again. I didn¡¯t feel like staying awake for the rest of the storm, since it could last anywhere from hours to days to a full week, depending on the severity.


    I focused on growing just my roots. I had planned on keeping my upper and lower halves relatively even now that I had just caught my roots up, but I wasn¡¯t interested in flying away if the wind got too extreme.


    I brought the mental dial up for the skill and turned it all the way to 100 while having the image of my roots growing deeper and further out firm in my mind. Soon enough, my Stamina bottomed out and I lost consciousness. I next woke up still feeling groggy to a notification blaring in my face.


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    Congratulations! You have reached level 5! Please select your level reward from the options below:


    <ol>


    <li>Skill Upgrade</li>


    <li>Choose New Skill</li>


    </ol>


    I couldn¡¯t think of any new skill I might need at the moment, so I chose to upgrade Photosynthesis, hoping to increase the resource pool regeneration portion of the skill. If I could recharge my Stamina faster, then I could also grow faster too.


    Skill Photosynthesis (U) has been upgraded to Photosynthesis (U)!


    What? It didn¡¯t change? The hell? Did I just waste a level?


    I pulled up my status, hoping it would shed some light on the matter.


    User: Willow  Race: Tree


    Level: 5  Exp: 0/30


    H:100%  S:24%  M:100%


    Skills: Photosynthesis, Iron Bark, Self-Awareness, Rapid Growth


    Nothing has changed. I switched to the skill description instead.


    Photosynthesis (U): Passive. User gains 2 Exp per day per major branch. Greatly increases regeneration of resource pools while in either Sunlight or Moonlight.


    Ooh. The difference was in the description. It didn¡¯t used to say ¡®Greatly¡¯ before the increased regen. I got my wish after all. These level skill improvements are AMAZING!


    I watched my Stamina pool for a while. After a few minutes, it jumped up by 1%. Another 30 minutes passed before it jumped up again. The skill upgrade essentially doubled my resource pool regeneration, and thereby doubling my growth rate as well.


    I still wanted to wait until I was back at full Stamina before trying anything, though.


    I basked in the Sunlight, feeling the little energy I had left in me flow throughout my body. It was an amazing feeling.


    Maybe I should upgrade Photosynthesis from now on. The growth potential is absolutely amazing.


    I spent the next entire day relaxing in the Sunlight, being filled with increasing amounts of energy from my skill.


    At dusk the following day, I decided to use 24% of my now full Stamina pool to have a bit of a growth spurt.


    I turned the mental dial up on the Rapid Growth skill. I slowly started growing both my roots and trunk out. Emphasis on slowly. I was only at maybe a 5 out of 100 on the intensity level. I didn¡¯t enjoy the groggy state it left me in after using it too much.


    My fourth leaf had finally unraveled itself, exposing itself to the sun and adding to my growing crown. It felt like most of the energy spent on my top half was going towards growing the fifth bud rather than growing my trunk or the stems of my other leaves.


    My roots were spreading out like normal when I used this skill on that portion of my body. It was an odd feeling, having my roots dig through the ground, spreading apart the dirt to make way for my inevitability.


    After a few minutes, my Stamina reached 76% and I ended the skill. The fifth leaf was starting to unfurl, but stopped as the skill stopped supplying energy to it.


    I went back to my relaxing. I had a long night of Moon-bathing ahead of me that I needed to be ready for, after all.

 Chapter 4

    The next few days were a blur of growth and relaxation. I had grown out my fifth leaf, and after that, my energy levels were greatly increased again. I was gaining 3% of my Stamina pool every hour, meaning I could now add an extra growth spurt every day. Unfortunately, that energy growth pattern seemed to cap at that, since I didn¡¯t get any boost from my next eight leaves.


    I was up to just over a foot and a half tall, and my root system was spread out in a two-foot radius from my trunk. The roots weren¡¯t very thick yet, but they were plentiful. My thickest roots were almost half an inch in diameter, the rest were all much smaller, branching from the main three.


    I was due to get to level 6 any moment now. I was ready for the next Photosynthesis upgrade I was going to get. With how well the last few worked out for me, I knew it would be vital to my continued growth in this world. I even planned on getting my next 5 levels as upgrades to just Photosynthesis.


    Dusk finally came, and so did the long-awaited notification. It had been more than two weeks in the coming.


    Congratulations! You have reached level 6!


    ...What? That¡¯s it?


    Where¡¯s my skill upgrade option? Or what about my new skill? That would still be better than this... nothingness!


    I mentally raged for a few more minutes before calming down. I guess it made sense that I couldn¡¯t constantly upgrade my skill like that. It would be practically a cheat at that point.


    I still silently fumed at my misfortune. All my plans now had to be thrown out the window and new ones had to be drawn up.


    When will my next skill upgrade option be? Will I get another chance to upgrade like that? Did I waste all my chances?


    I can¡¯t truly say that I wasted any of my chances. Everything I¡¯ve done so far has worked out pretty well, all things considered. I¡¯m almost ready to say I¡¯ve done pretty damn good.


    I spent the next few minutes patting myself on the metaphorical back, when a sharp pain in my leaves got my attention. It was very similar to the last pains I had gotten, which threw me into a mild panic attack.


    But... the pain this time was extremely dull compared to the first instance. I almost didn¡¯t even register the actual feeling of it. I was more hurt by the memory of the pain than the actual pain itself.


    That being said, the top part of the leaf was still removed, although a much smaller portion of it was taken away this time. It also took a lot longer to remove than the last time as well.


    User: Willow  Race: Tree


    Level: 6  Exp: 0/40


    If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    H:99%   S:93%  M:100%


    Skills: Photosynthesis, Iron Bark, Self-Awareness, Rapid Growth


    Rather than nearly 15% of my health, it only took away 0.5%. That wouldn¡¯t have been an issue, except I was suddenly aware that six separate leaves were all being attacked at the same time. Each one only dropped my health 0.5% though, so I was still keeping a relatively cool head for now.


    I only really started to panic when they went for the leaf stems again. Whoever was attacking me was a lot more persistent this time than they were before. They had given up relatively quickly last time. This time though, I could feel my stems being slowly chipped away at.


    An hour later, the attackers finally gave up on trying to remove the entire leaf, and they instead stripped much of the meaty part of my leaves. I took pride in knowing I was still able to relatively defend myself, compared to my last encounter with being attacked.


    When all but three of my leaves were stripped down to the stem, the attackers finally relented and retreated. I felt the weight of whatever was on my leaves suddenly drop, and I no longer was getting attacked.


    I waited with a baited breath, hoping to get another notification about fending off an attack and an upgrade in my Iron Bark skill again. Unfortunately, it was not to be.


    I checked my health and saw I was at 85%. I waited a while and saw that my regeneration was decreased down to 2% per hour again. I waited until I had five grown leaves before checking again. It took seven hours before five were grown back


    User: Willow  Race: Tree


    Level: 6  Exp: 0/40


    H:100%   S:100%  M:100%


    Skills: Photosynthesis, Iron Bark, Self-Awareness, Rapid Growth


    How was I at 100% health when I still had so many damaged leaves? That feels wrong to me. Unfortunately, my regeneration was already switched off, so there was nothing I could do about it.


    I went ahead and spent the next few minutes on having another growth spurt. I focused all the energy towards regrowing my leaves, which seemed to only make more leaves grow instead. I even got a new branch starting to grow as well. I will no longer be just a pole with some leaves growing out the sides.


    The next 10 days were spent in cycles of growing and regenerating stamina. My new branch had grown out about half a foot from my main trunk, which increased my Exp gains from 2 per day to 4 per day. It let me reach level 7 really quickly.


    I got the same disappointment at level 7 as I did 6. Just the level notification. No new skill or skill upgrade.


    One thing I noticed as I continued using my Rapid Growth skill was that I wasn¡¯t growing as fast anymore. Much more of my Stamina was going towards thickening my trunk than it used to. Rather than gaining almost two inches a day, I was now reduced to getting an inch a day. It still brought me up to over 3 feet tall now.


    I had stopped checking how far my roots had gone after they went past the 4-foot radius mark. It left me slightly dizzy trying to keep up with everything going on down there, so I opted to keep my mind focused mostly on my trunk. I still sent my Rapid Growth to assist though.


    I was starting to feel that my rate of growth was getting too much to handle, so when I hit level 8 after 12.5 straight days of Rapid Growth use, I decided it was time for me to take another nap.


    I woke up briefly again when I hit level 9 and got the level notification, but I went back to sleep quickly after dismissing it. Level 10 was my main goal, after all.

 Chapter 5

    Congratulations! You have reached level 10! Please select your level reward from the options below:


    <ol>


    <li>Skill Upgrade</li>


    <li>Choose New Skill</li>


    </ol>


    At last! I can finally get a new skill!


    I was elated when I read that beautiful notification. I wanted to jump for joy, but quickly cooled myself, since I didn¡¯t have legs and all that jazz.


    I needed to decide what skill I most wanted. I could aim for something to defend myself, like upgrading Iron Bark again. It had already proven its use over the last attack I had to deal with. I could upgrade Rapid Growth, since it was the main reason I was as big as I am now. Well, paired with Photosynthesis, that is. Which is another thing I could do.


    No, I think it¡¯s about time I was able to see more than just myself. I am going to upgrade Self-Awareness and hope it gives me a way to see the world around me.


    Skill Self-Awareness (C) has been upgraded to skill Domain of Awareness (U).


    As the notification entered my mind space, I was suddenly able to actually see my surrounding! Unfortunately, there was a bit of a misty wall that stopped my vision around 5 feet out. Funnily enough, that¡¯s right around where the furthest reach of my roots goes. Coincidence? I think not!


    Domain of Awareness (U): Passive. User can see as far as they are able to reach. Nothing is able to hide in the User¡¯s Domain.


    Okay, this is awesome. I can actually see everything in a dome around me, even above where the top of my leaves end. And holy crap, my leaves are Green to the extreme! I have never seen a shade of green so deep before in my life. It made the grass around me look yellow in comparison.


    I studied myself for a bit longer. I was surprised at how gray the bark on my trunk looked. It was kind of odd, the way I almost looked shiny and gray.


    That¡¯s probably due to Iron Bark. Makes my bark look like iron, as well as be as strong as iron. I can live with that.


    Having gotten my fill of myself, I started looking more at my surroundings.


    Everything around me seemed like a basic forest floor. There was plenty of grass, with the occasional weed sticking out. I could see all the insects flying around in my little bubbles of space. There was a line of ants marching by, all of them holding some leafy greens on their ba-


    Leafy greens?


    I took a closer look at the line of ants marching by a few feet away from me. My view of them just zoomed in, like a camera.


    Each ant was carrying a cut portion of a leaf on their back, walking straight across my domain. I had to assume they were carpenter ants, or something similar.


    Are these my assail-ants? Are these the ones who cause me so much pain and agony? THESE BASTARDS! DEATH TO ALL ANTS!


    I raged at the thought of these ants climbing on me and tearing apart my beautiful canopy of leaves I had growing. I had come a long way to recovery, and I refused to stand idly by while these desecrators marched across MY lands!


    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    At least, that¡¯s what I wanted to believe. I still have no means to actually attack them. Yah know, being a tree and all.


    I pulled up my status page and checked everything out. I wanted to level as quickly as possible, but there was really only so much I could do.


    User: Willow  Race: Tree


    Level: 10  Exp: 0/100


    H:100%   S:100%  M:100%


    Skills: Photosynthesis, Iron Bark, Domain of Awareness, Rapid Growth


    I had to wait for twenty-five more days before I was able to level up. I¡¯d spend those days growing bigger and stronger and I will become the death of those ants!


    I said that, but my rage was pretty quelled by the fifth day. I was enjoying this life of mine, and I really shouldn¡¯t focus too much on the negatives in life. At least, that was my thought process from days six through twenty. I was still using my Rapid Growth skill every chance I got, which rocketed me upwards, but I was more at peace during those days.


    That lasted until those damn ants came back for round three of their attack on me.


    Day twenty started off much like the rest of the days. I Rapid Growth myself a little less than a quarter inch, then went back to Sunbathing. It was my favorite past time in this life. It really was relaxing.


    After a few hours of relaxation, I decided to check on my surroundings again. My range of view had gone out from a 5-foot radius to almost 7 feet. Nothing of interest was revealed, but it was still something worthy of note.


    During my viewings, I checked on my leaves and branches again. I noticed there was an ant on me!


    SCOUNDREL! HOW DARE YOU EVEN THINK TO CLIMB ON MY GLORIOUS BODY?!


    I thought angrily at the ant. I could only watch as it waltzed over to my lowest leaf and began munching on it. I felt the similar dull pain, but it was barely noticeable. At this point, I don¡¯t think I would have even noticed the ant trying to eat me if I weren¡¯t watching it live. I guess that¡¯s part of me growing.


    I still swore vengeance on the lowly ant that dared to eat me. Thankfully it was just the one ant who tried attacking me, and it gave up after a few minutes of trying to remove one of my leaves at the stem. It might have succeeded in removing part of the leaf, but the stem was far too strong for an ant to cut through now.


    The next 5 days went by in a blur of growth and bathing in the sweet regenerative light.


    Congratulations! You have reached level 11!


    The notification was taunting me, I could feel it. I desperately wanted that next boost so I could get something amazing to attack the ant with.


    The next level took a full month. I spent every day using Rapid Growth to its fullest potential. I was now a towering 8 feet tall. After day 30¡¯s Rapid Growth use, I was starting to sprout my second major branch as well, which should bump my Exp farming considerably as well.


    Day 18 of being level 11 brought some exciting news as well.


    I had spent the last month experimenting with my only active skill, trying to toggle the growth rate to be low enough that it essentially was low enough to not outpace my Stamina Regeneration, but still improve my growth speed. All that experimentation led to a skill upgrade.


    Skill Rapid Growth (C) has been upgraded through careful and consistent use to become Rapid Growth (U).


    Hell yeah! I love to see progress! I quickly pulled up the new skill information to see what the improvement was.


    Rapid Growth (U): Passive. By decreasing Stamina regeneration, the User¡¯s growth speed will be greatly increased. Active. Spend Stamina to further increase growth rate.


    OOOOHH!!! It got a passive portion! The decrease regen rate is a bit of a bummer, but it means I don¡¯t have to be as hands on about using the skill anymore, so that¡¯s awesome.


    I decided to wait for the rest of the day and watch to see just how much the new passive portion of the skill increased my growth rate.


    It appears to have a very minimal effect. I could tell that my growth has definitely increased, but nowhere near what using the skill¡¯s active portion would do for me. I guess I can still work with that. It¡¯s better than nothing, right? I can now take a nap and have my growth still be increased from what it already was. In fact, that¡¯s exactly what I plan to do.

 Chapter 6

    I slept until I reached level 13. It was a long sleep, lasting around 2 months or so. I didn¡¯t really pay attention. I was going to sleep until I reached level 15, But I decided to spend the time getting that level experimenting.


    I used Rapid Growth to extend the tip of one of my smaller side branches all the way down to the ground. I named myself Willow in this world, so it was about time I started looking like one.


    I spent the next few weeks drooping multiple off branches to varying distances from off the ground, ranging from dragging a few inches on the dirt to barely halfway down my 10-foot body. The Stamina requirements were insane, but they were all vital to my devised plan.


    By the time I reached level 15¡¯s doorstep, I started to look like a proper Weeping Willow. It took a full 3 months to manage it, but I now had 20 long, drooping vines handing from my higher branches, each having a long line of leaves growing on it, so it doesn¡¯t look barren.


    When I finally got the level 15 notification, a smile crept across my non-existent face.


    Congratulations! You have reached level 15! Please select your level reward from the options below:


    <ol>


    <li>Skill Upgrade</li>


    <li>Choose New Skill</li>


    </ol>


    I focused on the intent of being able to control these vines like I used to be able to control my arms in my human body.


    New skill [Vine Control(C)] has been obtained!


    Exactly what I had in mind. I pulled up the description to see what it does.


    Vine Control (C): Active. User spends Stamina and concentration to control their hanging vines. User can use the vines to wrap around a target or use the vines like whips to cause major slashing damage.


    Perfection! Now I wouldn¡¯t be so defenseless against those stupid ants. Or, yah know, anything else that might try to attack me.


    For now, I only saw ants passing by at the edge of my vision, but there was a moment a few weeks ago where I thought I saw the shadow of something much larger and more humanoid walking by. I was too focused on growing my vines out at the moment to really notice, but I was positive there was something out there.


    I spent the next few nights practicing my Vine Control skill to get better at it. I made sure to keep still during the day, just in case there really was someone out there watching me. I got to the point of being so efficient at the skill that it barely cost any Stamina to move my vines at all.


    Using the skill felt extremely natural to me. It really was just like swinging my arms in my old body. The finer motions still needed a bit of practice, which I was getting, but that would take time before I was able to do anything fancy.


    On the fifth night of being level 15, I decided to start aiming at the ants that had long been my enemy. The Vine Control skill said I could use my vines like whips, so that is what I aimed to do.


    I coiled one of my longer hanging vines into a nice loop. I aimed at a nearby line of ants and flung the vine in their direction. Just as the vine was about to make contact with the ants, I yanked the vine back, which resulted in the vine slamming into the ants with extreme force. I got a few notifications after that.


    Leaf Cutter Ant (x8) has been slain. Exp has been awarded.


    Achievement has been earned: First Blood. You have killed for the first time. Will it be your last?


    I pulled my status up and saw that I had been awarded 8 Exp. I also saw I was wrong about the ants being Carpenter Ants as well. Each Leaf Cutter Ant brought me up by 1 whole Experience point. It wasn¡¯t much, but it was some sweet revenge.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    I spent the next few days killing lines of ants that passed by. It turns out Leaf Cutters weren¡¯t the only ones in town. There were also Fire Ants, Black Ants, Crazy Yellow Ants, and a few more whose names I have forgotten. Point is, there were a lot of freaking Ants. But not for much longer.


    I had zoomed through level 15 and most of 16 in just under a week. At the end of the week, I got another Achievement.


    Achievement has been earned: Ant Slayer. You have killed at least 10 different species of ants. Ants now hate you and will actively attack you on sight.


    Oh snap. Looks like the beef is now mutual.


    Immediately after I got that notification, I was witness to a wave of ants start approaching me from all sides. I was honestly a little disturbed by just how many ants were around me.


    But this did give me a good chance to gather some Exp. Each ant on its own was only worth 1 Exp. But when I was surrounded by hundreds of ants, I could level crazy fast.


    It took the ants a few minutes to reach me form the edge of my bubble, since they were so small and slow. That gave me just enough time to steel my resolve to make it through this unscathed.


    I put aside my hesitation of being seen moving by any others, and I now attacked any and all ants on sight. I swung my longer vines around me in as wide of an arch as I could reach, which wasn¡¯t far, unfortunately. I need to use Rapid Growth to make them all even longer when this is done.


    Ants were dying by the dozens, and I had yet to take any actual damage. My vines were looking a bit rough at the tips, but they were holding strong, and healing as my Photosynthesis did its thing.


    After the first wave of Ants all died, the second wave started approaching. I call it a wave, but it was much more accurate to call it a stream of ants. It was a slow and steady gathering of Ant as they approached me from all sides.


    As I killed them, I had to keep getting distracted by the notifications I was getting at the back of my mind. At some point, I reached level 17, quickly followed by levels 18 and 19 as well. The notifications slowed as the waves of ants slowed.


    From start to finish, it took over 4 hours of slow but steady ant slaughter for things to finally calm down. I stopped checking my notifications after the second hour of the attack, so I wasn¡¯t sure how many Ants died during our long and arduous battle. All I knew was that my vines were sore and that only a couple hundred Ants had actually managed to get close enough to me to cause damage.


    The first few Ants to make it to me were a group of actual Carpenter Ants. They made the mistake of stopping at the base of my trunk to try and chew their way through me but were stopped by my Iron Bark skill. If I didn¡¯t know exactly where to look and have essentially telescopic vision in my Domain of Awareness, I wouldn¡¯t even be able to tell that they were even there.


    The second group of Ants to cause me damage were smart enough to try climbing the vines after I had just finished an attack. They latched on to the leaves at the end of the vines and when I coiled back up to attack again, they had fallen off, landing on one of my less mobile main branches, of which I now had 3.


    This group was the group that did the most damage to me. They quickly spread out and started chomping on my leaves as I attacked the main group. Thankfully for me though, I was able to use my shorter vines that I couldn¡¯t attack on the ground with to get to the Leaf Cutter Ants that were causing me so much trouble. They still had enough time to completely strip around 10 or so different leaves down to the stem before I was able to put a stop to their nefarious activities.


    The Leaf Cutter Ant attacks on my main branches were enough to cause me to become extremely distracted, which was enough to allow for a whole army of Fire Ants to climb my trunk.


    Unfortunately for me, these Fire Ants were able to spit small amounts of fire. But also fortunately for me, my Iron Bark skill made me ¡®mildly fire resistant¡¯, which was barely enough to put off the fire attacks from the Fire Ants. They still caused a good bit of damage though. I could feel some of my sap bubbling out as it partially boiled. That was pretty painful.


    When I finally finished culling the Leaf Cutter Ant squad in my canopy, I was able to switch focus to the rest of the assail-Ants. I chuckled at my joke but reprimanded myself for getting distracted during a time of crisis.


    I wrapped my body tightly with a few of my longer vines and gave my trunk a quick scrub. This let me kill off around 200 Fire Ants along with a whole bunch of other Ants that had gotten close enough to me to climb my body.


    After a few more hours of attacking the ground, the stream of Ants slowed to practically a crawl. I had gone from getting around 200 Ants an hour all the way down to a trickle of 10 Ants in the last hour.


    When it had been 30 minutes since I last spotted any Ants, I decided to finally check my notifications. And oh boy, I had a lot to go through.

 Chapter 7

    Hmmm... Let me see if I can condense these blue boxes.


    I fumbled around for a bit before I was able to get the notifications down to 1 line for each category.


    Ants of various species killed (x5000). Exp has been rewarded.


    Achievement [Ant Slayer] has been upgraded due to Ant Kill Count. Achievement is now [Feared by Ants]. Ants now fear you and will actively avoid you.


    Through intense training, skill [Vine Control(C)] has been upgraded to [Vine Control(U)].


    Due to intense training, skill [Fire Resistance (C)] has been learned. Another skill offers similar effects to skill [Fire Resistance (C)]. Pulling effects from skill [Iron Bark (U)] and upgrading skill [Fire Resistance (C)] to skill [Fire Resistance (U)].


    Congratulations! You have reached level 20! Please select your level reward from the options below:


    <ol>


    <li>Skill Upgrade</li>


    <li>Choose New Skill</li>


    </ol>


    Well damn. I had just jumped quite a few levels. Let me take a minute to see what new skill I want before I do anything else.


    My current skills are perfect for now. Vine Control already got a free upgrade from how awesome it was, I even gained an improved Fire Resistance thanks to Iron Bark. After that big fight, I worry that any larger creatures might approach me, so maybe a form of communication? Being a Telepathic Tree sounds awesome. But do I want telepathy, or do I want to have verbal communication?


    Who am I kidding, of course I¡¯m going for Telepathy.


    New skill [Telepathy (U)] has been partially obtained. Skill will be automatically fully manifested after the next level bonus due to high rarity.


    Well damn. It makes sense though. I guess stronger skills need multiple levels worth of rewards to manifest properly. How close am I to 25? Status!


    User: Willow  Race: Tree


    Level: 24  Exp: 800/900


    H:90%    S:88%  M:100%


    Skills: Photosynthesis, Iron Bark, Domain of Awareness, Rapid Growth, Vine Control, Fire Resistance, Telepathy


    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    Achievements: First Blood, Feared by Ants


    Okay, so telepathy still shows on my skill list, it just won¡¯t be available for a few more days. And is there any way to revert my achievement back to Ant Slayer? That battle brought me up by leaps and bounds. I could go for something like that again after I rest some. While amazing, it was mentally exhausting.


    Since I had my status up, I decided to check out the new skill descriptions.


    Vine Control(U): Active. User can manipulate their hanging vines through mental effort alone. Manipulation becomes easier through practice. When used as a weapon, the vines are strengthened, and the tips are sharpened to deal more damage. User has more freedom for how the vines are used.


    Fire Resistance (U): Passive. Greatly reduces damage taken from Fire and Heat damage types.


    Well, that explains the mental exhaustion. Vine Control no longer has a stamina requirement, just a mental one. It should be easier to use the more I use it though, so that¡¯s awesome. I¡¯ll have to start practicing that more often now.


    While Fire Resistance is a load off my shoulders, I wasn¡¯t really that scared of being burned to death anyways, so I guess this is just extra protection.


    Alright, I¡¯ve gone through the leftovers from the battle. I guess I should start planning what to do next now, huh? Since I have 3 main branches plus my trunk apparently counts, I¡¯m getting 8 Exp per day. I need 100 Exp to get to level 25 before I can fully get Telepathy, so that should only be 12.5 days, so I should be good there. But when I get to level 25, it¡¯ll be quite a while before I can get to level 30, seeing how much the Exp requirements have been growing. I¡¯m glad I was able to get Exp even though I hadn¡¯t gotten my level 20 reward though. That would have been a major waste of effort otherwise.


    With how many Ants were attacking me, I realized that there had to be a few Ant hills nearby. What if I were to increase my range for my Domain of Awareness by reaching my roots out further, then I might be able to see where they are and attack. Regardless, it wouldn¡¯t hurt to be able to have a wider area to have a visual contact with anyways. I can only see around 20 feet from me, so it¡¯ll be good to get a better idea of what¡¯s out there.


    Another thing I just realized. This whole area looks to be a forest, so where are all the other trees? And where were the Ants getting the rest of the leaves they were eating from? They only stole from me a few times, which I can understand, given how hard it was for them to harvest from me. But there was nothing else in my range of my view for them to harvest from. I guess I¡¯ll have to expand Domain of Awareness regardless. Hopefully it¡¯ll show something other than grass and weeds.


    I brought up my Rapid Growth skill and focused on spreading my roots outward. As it was now, they made a bit of a bowl shape underneath me. I was aiming to make the top most roots stretch out even further, as far as they could go. I went ahead and brought my Stamina down to 50% before stopping.


    I looked around and saw I only added maybe a few inches to the circle around me. I decided it would be too much effort to spend all that Stamina on something that will happen regardless of my direct interference.


    My next course of action, that will have to take place over several days: I need to lengthen my vine branches. During my fight, I only had 4 vines long enough to cause damage to the Ants on the ground. I doubt I¡¯ll be dealing with Ants again any time soon, but there might be snakes or other threats that are low enough to the ground to warrant such adaptions.


    All that would have to wait at least until tomorrow though. I¡¯m too low on Stamina right now to effectively do anything. The side effect of Rapid Growth¡¯s passive effect put a strain on my Stamina regeneration, though the extra main branches I have help to counteract it.


    Time to grind some levels by... Standing here and growing out my vines, which I¡¯ve almost come to think of as my hair. This should be a fun few days.

 Chapter 8

    User: Willow  Race: Tree


    Level: 24  Exp: 880/900


    H:100%   S:100%  M:100%


    Skills: Photosynthesis, Iron Bark, Domain of Awareness, Rapid Growth, Vine Control, Fire Resistance, Telepathy


    Achievements: First Blood, Feared by Ants


    I still had a few days to go before I could fully unlock Telepathy, but I refused to be discouraged. Frankly, the only thing that¡¯s discouraging me are the two little green men with giant noses and ears that started running around lately.


    Neither of them have really gotten close enough for me to attack yet, but I also didn¡¯t plan on attacking the first visitor I got anyways. At least, not until one of the little shits started trying to hack away at my branches.


    One of the mostly naked men tried climbing me, but I really hated the thought of that. I made sure my vines kept getting in his way by wrapping them around my trunk. It only seemed to piss him off, as he got out a little dagger he kept strapped to his loincloth and started trying to cut my vines down. Thankfully the combination of him being weak and my Iron Bark skill making me incredibly strong kept me safe. He only caused a minor nick.


    Since I still hadn¡¯t technically been caused harm, I decided to spare the little man. I¡¯m pretty sure that these are Goblins, given that I am obviously in a fantasy world and they match the description.


    The little Goblin man gave up after a few minutes of determined slicing at my vine. When he climbed down the 3 feet he had managed to ascend, the second Goblin came over and smacked him upside the head with a heavy looking club. The two started making some mouth movements, but since I didn¡¯t have a way to actually hear them, I couldn¡¯t even tell if I would even understand the language they¡¯re speaking or not.


    Did this system provide a method of translation? I guess I¡¯ll have to wait to find out. If it does, then I¡¯ll be set when I unlock Telepathy and can communicate that way. If not, Then I¡¯ll have to add some sort of Translation skill to my to-do list, and possibly add sound to an upgrade in Domain of Awareness. Either way, I want to be able to communicate with others. I¡¯ve been to damn lonely these last few months, despite how awesome the rest of being a tree is.


    I continued observing the two Goblins as they made a bit of a camp under my canopy. The one with a club looked to be in charge and was ordering the rusty dagger Goblin to get some food. At least I assumed, given what he did.


    Dagger, as I started calling the little man, left my Domain of Awareness and I could no longer see him. He came back a few hours later dragging the corpse of a horned rabbit. I found it curious that I had never seen anything other than Ants in my time on this planet, and all of a sudden, I have evidence of two new species right in front of me.


    The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    Dagger used his namesake to quarter and divide the rabbit into equal shares for him and Club. After that task was done, which Club patiently waited for, the two dug into their meal, and they were rather messy about it.


    Club grabbed his Rabbit hind quarter and shoved a good chunk into his mouth. When he ripped the chunk off, a large spurt of blood sprayed on the ground in front of him. Some even got onto one of my roots that were partially sticking out of the ground.


    My root absorbed the blood and I got to ¡®taste¡¯ the rabbit. I both loved and hated it. It was a cute creature before it was torn apart by the Goblins, so I hated to see it dismembered like that. But I loved it because I got a minor rush of energy in the form of Stamina from absorbing it. It felt disturbing, but I wasn¡¯t going to kick them out just for enjoying a meal.


    While the Goblins enjoyed their meal, I distracted myself by continuing to elongate the remainder of my branch-vines. I had 18 of 20 long enough to drag at least 5 inches on the ground. Vine 19 was a few inches away from touching the tops of the grass, so I focused on that one specifically.


    I spent 5% of my Stamina pool on getting it to the ground, then another 8% on elongating it to have enough to coil slightly on the ground. Then I spent another 17% to add an appropriate number of leaves to the vine to make it match with the rest.


    I had a minimum of one leaf every inch, but the majority of the vines had around four or five elongated leaves throughout the entirety of the branch. When I eventually grew out more vines, I would look like a proper Weeping Willow.


    Dagger didn¡¯t seem to notice the growth of the vine a few feet away from him, but Club stared right at it as Vine 19 finished growing its last leaf. He had missed the entire elongation process of the vine, but he grew curious at the sight of the last leaf. I would have face palmed if I had a face. Or a palm.


    Club got up and approached the vine he saw. He kept munching on the Rabbit ribs he was eating as he got closer. He ripped out another chunk of meat with his sharp teeth and chewed as he walked around. After he did a full lap around my vine and nothing changed, Club started walking all around me.


    Having finished his meal, Club tossed the rabbit rib at my trunk and went back to sit with Dagger on one of my roots. I used one of my vines to pick the rib up off of the ground and tossed it at Club¡¯s head, then quickly settled the vine I used back down.


    I was laughing my non-existent ass off as Club looked all around for the imposter.


    ¡°Who would dare to piss off the mighty 3 and a half foot tall Goblins Warrior? They were surely a fool.¡± I narrated in my head.


    Club ran over to Dagger and picked up his weapon. He then started prowling around the perimeter, looking for any sign of movement. As he passed by Vine 19 again, I snaked it around his ankle and pulled hard. I laughed even harder at the following scene.


    Club tripped and fell hard on his giant nose, with his butt up in the air and his loincloth thankfully still covering the goods. He got back up and started shaking his weapon in the air. He appeared to be yelling something, but again, I had no ears to actually hear.


    Dagger just watched as his companion seemed to trip over nothing and laughed as well as Club tripped and fell into his unfortunate pose. He kept laughing as he saw the bloody nose of his friend, going so far as to fall over.


    When Club regained some semblance of composure, he saw Dagger had fallen over laughing, and went over and hit him hard on his head with his weapon. Dagger lifted his arms in defense, but Club was angry and needed a way to vent his frustrations. He hit Dagger two more times before he dropped his weapon and picked up the remainder of Dagger¡¯s food to eat for himself.


    The Goblin¡¯s fight deescalated after that, and I opted not to mess with Club anymore for the duration of his stay in my shade. It was hilarious, but cruel to the little man. I didn¡¯t want to be known as a cruel tree.

 Chapter 9

    Club and Dagger left an hour after they finished their meal. They didn¡¯t have much of a camp to tear down, just a few rabbit skins they used as pillows to sit on. They didn¡¯t even cook the rabbit they ate under me. Fortunately, they decided to bring along the rabbit bones they had left over. I had no clue what they would do with them, but I was just glad they weren''t leaving a mess under me.


    Life returned to the boring version of normal. I was almost disappointed that the two goons hadn¡¯t stuck around for a few days for me to get my Telepathy skill unlocked. While Club might not have liked hearing I was sapient and enjoyed messing with him, I was sure Dagger would at least have found humor in it.


    I spent the next day and a half relaxing in the Sunlight. It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining strong, the wind was blowing through my branches, making them sway in a transfixing way. I couldn¡¯t be happier.


    When my Stamina was back to full, I grew out Vine 20. I hadn¡¯t actually numbered them, but it was convenient to think of it in this manner, at least for the next few minutes until the elongation process was done.


    After I completed bringing all of my vines down to reach the ground and have a few extra inches to drag through the ground, I received a notification.


    Through extensive training, skill Rapid Growth (U) has been upgraded to skill Rapid Growth (U)!


    I pulled up the description to see what exactly the change was to the skill. I had no clue what it could actually be.


    Rapid Growth (U): Passive. By decreasing Stamina regeneration, the User¡¯s growth speed will be greatly increased. Active. Spend Stamina to further increase growth rate. User has greater control over growth direction and shaping.


    Well, that feels redundant. I¡¯m pretty much done growing vines for now. I guess it¡¯ll be useful when I decide to expand my vine collection. But I won¡¯t really be using the new function any time soon. Bummer.


    I dismissed the notification and other menus I had open. Since I had vision, I was in my mental space a lot less, so I hadn¡¯t noticed that I had other descriptions still up, like the Fire Resistance skill.


    My Stamina pool was now down to around 70% full. I didn¡¯t really have any active plans for now, so I set aside all my plans for the future and decided to enjoy the now for the rest of the day. Tomorrow was the big day, and I wanted to be fully relaxed to enjoy it to the highest extent I could.


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    The rest of my time as level 24 went without problems. It was a little cloudy for a few hours at the end of the day yesterday, but when the breeze picked up, I was really enjoying myself.


    I shook my vines in anticipation as midday neared. I was expecting the last Exp point any minute now, and I was super excited for it. My whole trunk shivered when I got the notification.


    Congratulations! You have reached level 25! Due to skill choice at previous level reward, skill choice has been predetermined. Enjoy your new skill [Telepathy (U)]!


    I immediately pulled up the skill description.


    Telepathy (U): Active. Caster uses mana to connect their mind to a target within line of sight to communicate. Caster may cause psychic damage by issuing a challenge of wills, in which the loser is dealt major mental damage equal to 10% of their health.


    I can use magic? I CAN USE MAGIC!!! This is so much better than I was expecting! I was hoping to just be able to talk to anyone who happened to pass by, but I can cause freaking Psychic damage too?! Awesome!


    I dismissed the notification and eagerly awaited the first victim of my new skill. I wanted to see both how much mana the skill costs and how much damage it can do. I wasn¡¯t going to attack just anyone though. I¡¯d only attack someone who was a jerk.


    Ooh, I wonder if I could upgrade this to a sort of mind control. It would be nice if I could have some way to interact with the world outside of my little bubble. Speaking of bubble, I think it¡¯s high time I expanded my root system. I know it was expensive before, but maybe the upgrade helped.


    I spent almost the rest of my Stamina pool trying to expand my roots to reach further. My Telepathy skill required a line of sight to use, so it was imperative that I be able to see as much as possible of my surroundings. I didn¡¯t want to miss anyone who happened to walk a few inches outside of my Domain of Awareness bubble, after all.


    Despite my best efforts, my roots only stretched barely a quarter of an inch. That was even using 90% of my Stamina pool just to fund this one endeavor.


    Maybe I should upgrade Photosynthesis again to see if that helps me with my stamina regeneration.


    I thought on that idea for a while before I realized I had been wasting half of my regeneration potential. I had only been utilizing Photosynthesis up until now. I hadn¡¯t even looked into getting a skill related to just my roots yet. They were half of my body, yet they were pretty much going to waste.


    Okay, new skill priority list. 1) Test if Telepathy has a translate function, if not get a translate skill. 2) Get a skill related to my roots to increase my Stamina regen. If it helps with other resource pool regens, even better, but focus on stamina. 3) Upgrade Domain of Awareness to include sound.


    As it stands, I can¡¯t really do anything about number 1 until I get a test subject. While it is my main priority, I might be able to get a skill related to my roots without relying on the level reward. I got Fire Resistance without a level reward, so it stands to reason that I could potentially gain a skill by focusing on that and putting in some effort. I will admit that Fire Resistance was painful to get, given parts of me were literally boiling alive to get it, but it was definitely doable.


    Having set a new goal, I cast my mind to my roots, determined to get this skill.

 Chapter 10

    Wow. This might take a while.


    My root system had grown to be massive over the last few months. I now took up around a 28-foot radius around me underground. The roots closer to my trunk were decently thick, at around 2 inches on average. The farthest roots were little baby hairs though. They still worked great to absorb nutrients and water, but it felt much weirder having my mind extend through them. It felt like I did back when I was first starting in this world: small.


    I tried spreading my mind out evenly at first, but time seemed to flow very differently like that. Two days passed before I was able to bring my mind back to being concentrated in one area again. It was both extremely relaxing and scary at the same time.


    When my mind was back to being concentrated in the base of my trunk, I started to extend a small tentacle of thought down one of the 3 main roots I had rather than all 3 at once.


    It was a lot less freakish this way, in my opinion. I was able to keep a measure what was going on both above and below the ground, which was good progress compared to before where it felt like I was on a bad shroom trip in my old body.


    Using this manner of thought extension, I was able to get a good feel for how my roots worked. They seemed to be aiming for the soil richest in nutrients around me, but since I happened to be growing in some pretty great dirt, they were evenly spread. I guess I had some sway on the matter when I was focusing on growing my roots out before though. Now they just go to the best dirt they can find.


    I sunk my mind a bit deeper into the third of the root system I was looking at. I was trying to get a better view of the process and see if there were any inefficiencies I might be able to shore up.


    It took me a few days to realize it, but while I was watching my bottom half, it seemed to be much more productive than when I was focused solely on my top half. I only saw it when I was splitting my focus as a butterfly flew by. The sap seemed to flow faster and easier wherever my mind was focused.


    I tried the trick of spreading my mind out through my root system again, but limited myself to a radius of 10 feet from the base of my trunk instead of the full 28 feet. The end result was so incredibly better that I barely even noticed a difference in the passage of time.


    I stayed like this for 2 full weeks, just watching my body work. I tweaked a little thing here and a little thing there, until I was eventually at double the energy production efficiency I was at before. It was beautiful, and I even earned a skill for it.


    Through hard work and plenty of corrections, you have earned the skill [Improved Digestion(U)]!


    Not at all what I thought I¡¯d be getting, but I guess it seems to do what I was hoping for, so I guess that counts for something.


    I pulled up the skill description to check it out.


    Improved Digestion (U): Passive. User absorbs nutrients much faster, greatly increasing resource pool regeneration.


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    I like the sound of that! I wonder what the result would be if I upgraded it during my next level?


    The thought of having unlimited Stamina to grow rapidly with was amazing, but I had to cool myself. I spent too much time focused below ground that I haven¡¯t checked above ground in a while. Not that I was expecting any visitors, but it¡¯d be fun to mess with Club and Dagger again.


    I brought my mind out of my roots and took a look around myself. The grass blew in the wind, the Sun was bright and shining on my canopy, there were no Ants in sight. All was good in the world.


    I decided to give spreading my mind throughout my entire body another try. While it made time feel different, I thought I could actually get used to the idea of spending some time like that.


    I slowly spread my thoughts all throughout my canopy instead of just letting my mind rest in the base of my trunk. I felt the different branches basically drink in my existence as I spread out. It felt a lot like putting pants on after a while of going commando.


    This was different to what I usually did, given that I mostly kept myself in the trunk. I used to only send a small tendril of thought down the branches to control the vines as I wished, but now, I felt every last piece of bark, every leaf on my branches, every twig sticking out at seemingly random places.


    Now that I was stretching out, I could actually tell why the branch grew the way it did. It was to maximize the collection of sunlight and also resided in a spot that angled off in an odd way in my body. This little twig would become a new main branch, given the chance to grow. It would add to my collection, bringing me up to 5 main branches, though this would take a few weeks to grow fully. I could pump the growth speed up with some Rapid Growth skill usage, but I wanted this one to grow naturally.


    With all my thoughts on increasing my Stamina Regeneration, I never thought about what I¡¯d do with all the extra I now had. I planned on bringing out my roots a few more feet to even it out to a flat 30-foot radius, but after spending so much time down there, I feel like it would be best to let myself grow naturally for a awhile.


    Most trees don¡¯t usually grow 15 feet in a single year. At least, it¡¯s been a year by my estimation. I hadn¡¯t really been able to keep track all that well, between passing out so many times before being able to stay awake during the night, and all the time I¡¯ve spent Sunbathing.


    Wait, you¡¯re getting distracted. Back to the point of what to do with my extra Resources.


    Can I store excess Stamina in my body for later use? How would that even work? Could I do the same with Health? What about Mana?


    I thought about the idea of what Stamina felt like to me. I activated Rapid Growth, focusing on the feeling of Stamina leaving my body. I set it to the lowest setting I had to prolong my experiment.


    The feeling was both warm and cold mixed together to create an equilibrium. The cold was alertness. It kept me awake during the times that I would have otherwise passed out. The warmth was the feeling of a long day at work. I could feel the energy flowing through my body the same way it used to through my arms and legs when I was human, but so much more intense.


    I ended the skill, but kept the feeling of Stamina firmly in the front of my mind.


    Stamina gave me the feeling of a very bright Yellow. The color of the sun. The color of energy. It brought a bit of a sour taste to my mind, but I didn¡¯t have tastebuds to really enjoy it though.


    I sent that feeling toward one of my vines. I condensed the Stamina down into one little bubble on a leaf. This caused the leaf to change from the deep green color of the rest of them to a bright yellow. It was the yellow I had envisioned on my mind as I moved more Stamina into the leaf.


    The yellow leaf started to coalesce into a little berry. It looked like a yellow grape.


    When the little berry started to feel too full of energy, I stopped the flow of Stamina into it. I checked my pool and saw the whole experiment only cost 1% of my Stamina, and that was quickly replenished.


    New skill [Resource Berry(R)] has been learned!


    That sounds about right.

 Chapter 11

    New skill [Resource Berry(R)] has been learned!


    I pulled up the description of my new skill, hoping I could still manage to make Health Berries and Mana Berries while using this skill. I didn¡¯t quite know what Mana felt like yet, given I still haven¡¯t had the chance to use Telepathy yet, but I wanted to be able to when I got the chance.


    Resource Berry(R): Active. User pushes one of their resources into a small berry that hangs from a user-determined location. Berry color is influenced by resource type. User can access the resources held in the berry at will, though depleted berries will shrivel up and fall. Passive. Depleted or picked berries will regenerate over time. Rate of berry replacement is dependent on surplus resource regeneration. Only previously made berries will be regenerated. No new berry locations will be spontaneously formed without user¡¯s direct input.


    Well damn. I stumble into a pretty awesome skill. I still haven¡¯t figured what the letter by each skill means though. I have to assume it involves skill strength, but I don¡¯t know that yet.


    The biggest takeaway I get from this is that I can make new berries that will refresh over time. The passive is the biggest win, in my opinion. I don¡¯t want to have to manually go through making new berries after every time I use one.


    One awesome part of this skill is that it will give people a great reason to approach me. I¡¯ve been getting a bit lonely ever since Club and Dagger left a few weeks back. I miss their ugly faces.


    I reminisced about messing with the Goblins while I continued making new Stamina berries. Each Berry cost me only 2% of my quickly regenerating Stamina pool so I was able to make a large collection of them in relatively quick time.


    I was about to start with making the berries all along my vines but thought better of that. I instead made the berries grow up in my canopy where they wouldn''t be easily reached by the average person or monster. If I decided to grant someone my berries, they¡¯d only get it by my own choice or by chopping me down. Good luck with that though. Iron Bark for the win!


    I left the lone berry on my vine and moved my thoughts higher up. I spread 40 Stamina Berries along the bottom of one of my main branches, stopping myself from making too many, lest I run out of room to make Health Berries or Mana Berries eventually.


    After I finished the last berry, I switched my focus to making Health Berries. I didn¡¯t really have a good picture to make the health Berries with, so I decided on a more masochistic approach to my conundrum.


    I used one vine to completely strip a second vine of its leaves, in hopes I would be able to get a better grasp on the feeling of what Health was. Unfortunately, the only feeling I got was of someone ripping the hair off of a knuckle. Just the knuckle though, not even the entire back of the hand. I didn¡¯t even lose a single percent of Health.


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    Ugh. I guess I have to do this the hard way.


    I brought my first vine back to the top of the now naked vine and wrapped it around the bare base. I began pulling with all my might, trying to rip the vine off. I don¡¯t know if it was a mental block or something, but I found it near impossible to tear off.


    I was about to give up when I remembered I had more than just the two vines. I recruited 3 more vines before I started to feel the naked vine give. It felt like I was ripping my own finger off. When vine number 5 joined the fray, it finally came off.


    When my vine came off, I checked and saw my Health went down by 3%. For how much it hurt, it really wasn¡¯t that big of a deal, apparently.


    As I examined the wound, I saw a bit of sap start to drip out of my open wound. It flowed down my grayish bark and dropped from the tip of a twig that had yet to grow its leaves.


    Is that Health? Would my sap be considered enough to be called ¡°Health¡± by the system? Or is there more to it?


    Calling it Health felt a bit lacking compared to what I had envisioned to Stamina.


    I cast my mind to the broken portion of my branch and felt the pain even more intensely than ever. Where I felt a finger get pulled off before, now it felt like I had completely severed an entire arm.


    Yet, as I watched with a grimace, the wound started to slow heal. I focused more on the feeling and started to get a small glimpse of what it meant to heal.


    It felt warm, almost cozy. The broken wood started to grow anew, replacing the old vine with a new life. The vine started off as a simple branch, and as my health ticked up a point, my vine was almost back to a stub.


    As the stub grew, I felt more warmth flow into it. It reminded me that there was more to Health than just not being injured. Health was being alive to enjoy the Sunlight and to watch the Moon dance among the stars every night.


    My health ticked up another point and my vine was already hanging halfway down my trunk to the ground.


    The warmth continued flowing, the shining sap that was my blood bringing more life with it as it flowed to create a new branch for me. It brought images of my little cousins growing from being small babies crawling around in their diapers to being grown men and women, ready to take on the world.


    My Health finally topped off, and my vine was back to being fully grown. Armed with the feeling of what Health was, I brought my mind up to the second of my main branches and pushed the feeling of Health into a leaf hanging from one a twig on its underside. I pushed the idea of a life well lived into it, the feeling of warmth on a sunny day, of being able to run around and have fun.


    The Health I was pushing into the leaf gathered more and more. When it reached a certain threshold, the leaf started turning red. As more collected, the leaf started looking more plump. The next threshold shaped the leaf into a small, red cherry.


    Cherries are technically a stone fruit, but I¡¯ll let it slide.


    I continued making a few more cherries on the same branch, making them in clusters of 2 to 3 per twig. I had to grow a few extra twigs to make it work that way, but it was Stamina well spent, in my opinion.


    I had to take a bit longer to get an even number of cherries, since I didn¡¯t want my health to dip below 98%. The Health Berries ¨C cherries, as I preferred to call them ¨C took 2% of my health each to make. I now had two of the three resource types set to grow as berries so I would have some reserves to replenish me in the event of a fight. I didn¡¯t know how much I would get back in return if I sucked the berry dry, but that was a test for later. I just wanted to rest for a couple days, given how busy I¡¯ve been.


    I spread my mind through my upper body once again, which altered my perception of time so it felt like only an hour passed when in fact it was two hours. I spent much of my time like this now, ignoring level notifications and pretty much the rest of the world. I was a tree, and no one could bother me. Oh, how wrong I could be.

 Chapter 12

    Time slipped by in a blur. Next thing I knew, I was getting my level 29 level notification. I gained nothing by it as far as I could tell, but it was still nice to see.


    I dismissed the blue text box and went back to my peaceful unawareness of everything. The only thing that brought me all the way back was when Club and Dagger came back. Dagger went and got another horned rabbit for them to eat, of which I still haven¡¯t seen one cross my Domain of Awareness, yet he still managed to capture one in a few short hours while Club sat around under my branches.


    Club leaned his weapon against my trunk and leaned against me right next to it. He seemed to fall asleep rather quickly, having eaten his fill. I knew this would be the best chance to mess with him again. I mentally rubbed my hands together and prepared my mischief.


    I drained a Stamina Berry that was right over him. The berry shriveled as it was emptied of its nutrients and fell. Its remains dropped from the branch it was growing on and fell straight down on Club¡¯s head. A new berry started regrowing as the old one fell.


    The Goblin jolted up, having had his nap disturbed. He looked around, searching for the source of his disturbance. Having found nothing, he picked his weapon back up and did a couple laps around me. He still couldn¡¯t find anything, so he went back to sleep.


    As Club put his namesake down, he noticed the shriveled yellow berry laying on the ground next to where he was. He picked it up and inspected it. It just looked like a yellow raisin, so he popped it in his mouth. He spit it, the berry having lost all of its flavor as I drained it of the resources.


    Club sat back down in his spot to presumably nap again. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes. It was at this point I remembered I still haven¡¯t tried using Telepathy.


    I pulled up my status and concentrated on using the skill. I felt an energy boil up from deep within me. One that I had never felt before. One that felt strange yet familiar, both hot and cold, soft and hard, and smooth and rough, all at the same time. It felt like both Health and Stamina on steroids mashed together. I shuddered a bit as the feeling enveloped my mind. I imprinted that feeling into my thoughts, making sure I would always remember it for the future, that way I could make a few Mana Berries.


    The mana inside me pulled on my mind, making a sort of tendril not dissimilar to what I used to look at the finer parts of my roots and branches. It continued pulling my mind, bringing it to the vine closest to Club, who I was aiming to use the skill on. When my mind reached the end of the vine, it continued to be pulled. The tendril of thought breached my bark and beelined straight for Club¡¯s forehead. It made me feel quite exposed and vulnerable.


    When the tendril made contact with Club¡¯s skin, I felt it dig further into him, almost like it was reaching for his soul. Then the connection was made. I felt a shudder run through me as I was able to ¡®see¡¯ inside the Goblin¡¯s mind.


    Since Club was sleeping, the feelings I was getting were very mixed. He seemed to be reminiscing about the rabbit he just finished eating, about a female Goblin he had met a few months ago that he fought with Dagger to impress and won, about the following... activities the two enjoyed.


    At that point, I decided I could wait for a few hours for Club to wake up before I tried with him again. I took my mental tendril out of him and guided it towards Dagger, who was also resting. He still had his eyes open though, so I guess they were taking turns on watch.


    My mental tendril retreated through the vine it was snaked through and went down a similar vine closer to my new target. I felt the similar exposedness as my tendril reached out to the Goblin. When it made contact with him, I was a lot more prepared for the feeling of our minds connecting. It appeared that Dagger felt our minds connect as well.


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    He shot up and looked all around for the source of the unease I could feel running through him. I sent him a soothing feeling. I didn¡¯t notice a visual difference in his posture, as he still held his rusted and slightly bloody dagger in his hands, but I did feel his mind start to relax. I chose this moment to try speaking to him. I was nervous, as this would be my first time having a conversation in over a year. Possibly two, given how long I was only half aware of time passing around me.


    ¡°Hello there, little Goblin. Be at ease, as I hold no ill-will towards you or your companion.¡±


    Dagger¡¯s mouth moved, presumably talking. Club opened an eye to see what was going on, but quickly closed it. I noticed his hand get closed to his weapon, but that was his entire reaction to his friend talking all of a sudden.


    I still couldn¡¯t hear, but I could tell what he said through the mental link I had formed. It felt like broken English to me, but the meaning was still there.


    ¡°Who is you? I no see nobody?¡±


    ¡°I am the tree that you have taken refuge under.¡±


    Dagger quickly turned and faced me. He didn¡¯t say anything in response, but I could feel his confusion. It only grew as he walked around me, looking for any sign of mobile life.


    ¡°I no see you?¡± He said questioningly. ¡°Is you high in the tree? The branches is too slippery for Gobs to climb. I try before, but keep falling. Brother is good at climb though. I wake brother up.¡±


    ¡°Let your brother sleep. We can keep talking ourselves.¡± I¡¯d also rather not have to talk to a horny Goblin right now, so it¡¯s best that we pretend that he¡¯s still sleeping. I saw Club¡¯s hand inch towards the weapon as we continued talking though.


    ¡°Okay. What you want talk about?¡± Dagger asked.


    ¡°What is your name?¡± I asked the little Goblin.


    ¡°Gobs no has names. We just is,¡± the simple-minded creature responded. I guess I¡¯ll keep calling them Dagger and Club, then. He kept walking around me as we talked.


    Dagger and I continued talking for about 10 more minutes, with every question I asked getting responded with something along the lines of ¡°It is what it is¡± or ¡°I no know.¡± It seemed that Dagger was a rather simple being, not having much in the way of an education or knowledge about the world. He didn¡¯t bother asking me any questions of his own, anyhow.


    Throughout the conversation, or more accurately, interrogation, I noticed Club¡¯s hand getting closer and closer to his weapon. When he reached the weapon, he slowly opened his eyes and started looking throughout my branches. He obviously didn¡¯t find anything, so he moved to start looking around him at ground level, hand never leaving his club.


    ¡°Well my friend, it appears your brother is awake.¡±


    Dagger stopped walking around me and went over to Club.


    ¡°Brother! You awake!¡± Dagger exclaimed.


    I was tempted to connect myself to Club again, to see if he could provide better answers to my questions. The only thing sopping me was how angry he looked. The little Goblin had a mad scowl on his face, one I didn¡¯t want to be on the receiving end of.


    ¡°Who you talking to?¡± Club asked Dagger in the same broken English. Dagger just pointed to me, not saying anything.


    ¡°Trees no talk, dumby,¡± Club bonked Dagger on his head.


    Dagger just rubbed his head and walked back around so he was out of sight of Club. I continued asking Dagger questions for a few more minutes, with him reverting to whispering instead of talking out loud. It made no difference to me as I was reading his mind more than anything. I still had no way to hear.


    And so the rest of the night went. I asked Dagger a few more questions, trying to keep my growing displeasure at how little he actually answered to myself. The Goblin clearly knew nothing of the world. The only thing he could tell me about was that he was level 3 and Club was level 5. It seemed ridiculously low level compared to me at level 29, but I had little else to compare them to, so I let it slide.


    I wanted to ask Dagger more about skills and the letters next to them in the skill descriptions, but by the time I got to that part of the conversation, Club was back to being awake. The two Goblins switched places and Dagger took his nap while Club stood watch.


    I doubted that Club knew anything that Dagger didn¡¯t, so I didn¡¯t bother trying to make a connection with him again. I just let them sleep. They still got tired, whereas I didn¡¯t need sleep anymore. Though I still could if I wanted to. I just watched over the two as they took turns sleeping for the rest of the day.

 Chapter 13

    Night came and went, with the Goblin brothers leaving as the sun rose. I was happy that they came by again, since it gave me a chance to test my Telepathy ability. It also gave me a feeling for Mana, which I quickly used to create a bunch of Mana Berries on one of my main Branches. I was happy, as I now had berries for all 3 resources. It would be nice if I never came upon a situation where I needed to use them, but I was a realist. A need for them would come up eventually. Right?


    I watched the two brothers leave, using a branch to wave goodbye to Dagger. Club had his back turned to me at that point, so he missed it. I guess he¡¯ll go on thinking I was just a regular tree and his brother was just sick in the head.


    The next few months came and went. I used this time to grow out some more vines to use in case I ever needed to kick butt again. I was up to 32 vines when I got mildly bored of the monotony of the task. I had decided to vary the lengths of the vines again, but this time, I made sure to keep the shortest vines long enough to reach at least 2 feet off the ground.


    I found that I needed to extend the length of the original vines as well. Where they had draped at least 5 inches on the ground when I first elongated them, they now hung a foot off of the ground. I guess I had grown a bit since I first made them.


    I made the decision to make one extremely long vine as well. It was more of a humorous project than the need to have one ridiculously long. I grew out vine number 33 and made it long enough to touch the ground. Then I used Vine Control to drape the vine off of the Stamina Berry branch. I then poured some more Stamina in it to make it touch the ground again. I continued this process a few times until the vine was at least a hundred feet long.


    I uncoiled the vine and realized that I was starting to get out of practice with using them. I had been dormant for too long.


    Okay, from now on, I will spend at least 1 out of every 10 days practicing my Vine Control. I don¡¯t want to get rusty with my skills. I guess I should also spend that day growing my vines out a bit too. I wouldn¡¯t want to grow so large that my vines can¡¯t reach any attackers.


    I started off by placing the hundred-foot vine back on my branches and focusing on controlling the regular vines instead. I whipped each one of them, alternating between using one vine with extreme control and using all of them to attack various places around me. It was actually pretty therapeutic having so much freedom of motion compared to what I had before.


    After a few hours of vine practice, I took control of the big boy. I made sure that when I was creating this vine, it had a thick connection to me and that the entire length of the vine was an inch in thickness at minimum, with some sections growing to an inch and a half.


    I unfurled the giant vine and stretched it out to the edge of my vision, about 30 feet away from me. I was tempted to go further, but I can honestly say I was scared to do so. Instead, I snaked the giant vine around me, doing loops and tying knots wherever I felt like. I spent the next hour playing with it. It was honestly the most fun I¡¯ve had by myself since I woke up in this body. Emphasis on by myself though. Messing with Club is going to be hard to beat.


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    After a few more hours of playing with my vine, I put it back in my canopy, draping it over itself a few times before calling it good.


    I went back to growing my vines out for now. I had spent so much time in my half-awake state that I forgot that was on my to-do list. I still had to wait until I reached level 30 to upgrade Domain of Awareness to include letting me hear sound. I wasn¡¯t sure if it would add ears to my body or what, but it was funny to think about ears randomly growing on either side of my trunk.


    I grew another 18 vines before I called it good. That gave me 50 regular length vines ranging from 5 inches off the ground to 5 inches on the ground and one vine that was 100 feet in length. I was proud of the mile-stone I had just reached in terms of growth, but I guess the system wasn¡¯t as impressed.


    I practiced my Vine Control skill some more until it was dark out again, then I decided to go back to my half-awake state of being. It was quite relaxing and a great way to pass the time to reach level 30. It was going to be a pretty good skill upgrade, if I do say so myself.


    The following day, my relaxation was rudely interrupted. I immediately brought myself back to being fully aware as soon as I saw it. There was a giant bird flying overhead, and it appeared to be circling me. The shadow gave it away first, but when I was fully aware again, I could feel the wind in my leaves being shaken in an extremely strong wind.


    The bird dove down and landed on my Stamina Berry branch. It didn¡¯t hurt me at all, though it was certainly a giant specimen.


    The bird in question was a 5-foot-tall chicken, that was somehow able to fly. It looked pretty thick too. I estimated it had to weigh at least 250 pounds, though it was probably less, given its flying ability. I doubt a bird weighing that much would be able to fully support itself in the air for long.


    The bird clucked around my branches, and I was tempted to attack it, but it seemed peaceful, so I let it be.


    After a few minutes of the chicken jumping from branch, it settled back down on my Stamina Berry branch and closed its eyes. It shoved its head into its armpit and quickly went to sleep. At least, I assumed sleep, given the steady vibrations that came from the monstrous fowl.


    I let it sleep, but I made sure to keep a close eye on it. I didn¡¯t want to go losing any Resource Berries to the bird. I wouldn¡¯t mind sharing a couple if it were injured, but it looked perfectly healthy to me.


    The bird slept for 6 hours on the dot. Nothing had really happened in that time, so I just let it be. When it woke up, it looked around, appearing confused. It tilted its head from side to side appearing to be listening for something. I moved my hundred-foot vine a little bit away from its foot so it wouldn¡¯t trip if it shifted, and the chicken jumped off my branch and flew away. I was just happy it didn¡¯t poop on me.


    I mentally waved goodbye to my new feathery friend and went back to my relaxing half-sleep. I still had a long way to go before I was going to be able to hear anything.


    Damn. I bet that chicken would have been some great experience. I guess I could have killed it. Oh well, it didn¡¯t attack first, so I guess I shouldn¡¯t be so murder hungry.


    With that final thought, I drifted back to sleep. I spent the next few months waking up every few days to practice my Vine Control and grow new vines. I stopped at 100 vines for now, thinking that should be more than enough if I were attacked again.


    The next thing I knew, I was getting woken up to a blue notification box. A smile grew across my nonexistent face as I read the long-awaited words.


    Congratulations! You have reached level 30! Please select your level reward from the options below:


    <ol>


    <li>Skill Upgrade</li>


    <li>Choose New Skill</li>


    </ol>

 Chapter 14

    Congratulations! You have reached level 30! Please select your level reward from the options below:


    <ol>


    <li>Skill Upgrade</li>


    <li>Choose New Skill</li>


    </ol>


    I mentally hovered over the upgrade option before something occurred to me. Since I understood what everyone was saying as long as I was linked mentally to one person present, did I really need to be able to hear? I mean, I would have been able to detect the giant chicken a lot sooner if I could, but other than that, what benefit would that provide me?


    I pondered the need for sound for a while before I remembered Club mumbling something under his breath that I couldn¡¯t hear because Dagger also couldn¡¯t hear. If I had the ability to hear everything inside my range, then I wouldn¡¯t have to rely on someone else¡¯s hearing to communicate. Though I would still need to be linked to respond.


    Screw it. I don¡¯t want to be dependent on others to hear.


    I upgraded Domain of Awareness, focusing on being able to hear everything in my little bubble.


    Domain of Awareness (U) has been upgraded to Domain of Awareness (U)!


    I was immediately able to hear the rush of wind through my leaves along with a whole host of other noises that I would identify later. I pulled up the skill description to ensure everything was as I wanted it to be.


    Domain of Awareness (U): Passive. User can see as far as they can reach. Every noise that crosses the boundary of the user¡¯s domain is able to be heard by the User, including sounds outside of the user¡¯s range of sight and touch. Nothing is able to hide in the user¡¯s Domain.


    That at least explains why I¡¯m able to hear the sound of what has to be crickets and other bugs when I can¡¯t see any in my little bubble. I also heard the caw of a crow a few seconds before I saw its shadow fly through my area.


    This would make communicating with others a good bit easier, and I would be able to spy on anyone in my domain without having to be connected to them through Telepathy. I didn¡¯t really expect to need to spy on people, but it doesn¡¯t hurt having the ability.


    I spent the next few days just enjoying Sunbathing and playing with my vines. It was a fun and relaxing week.


    A few more regular sized birds made a nest up in my branches over the next few days. All 5 of them were green and gray parakeet looking birds, no more than 10 inches long with beaks that were pretty short on their face. I thought they were rather cute, and I really enjoyed listening to their small chirps throughout the days.


    On the third day of my new tenants living in my canopy, I sent a mental probe to the one who I guessed was ¡®in charge¡¯, though I didn¡¯t know if birds had alphas or anything similar. I just aimed at the largest one, really.


    When I made the connection, the bird stiffened a bit. I could tell it was about to fly away, so I sent it soothing emotions and thoughts of relaxing in the sun. That seemed to do the trick as I could feel my new friend ease his nerves.


    Unfortunately, the birds didn¡¯t really communicate via words, but they were decently expressive through their emotions and mental pictures in the link I had with them. I learned that they were a small family pod, with the one I first made contact with being the father to the three smallest ones, and the second largest one was the mother. Apparently, some Goblin threw a club at their last nest the day before they made their way to me. I highly suspected it was Club and Dagger¡¯s doing. They did manage to get one of the baby birds, but the rest of the family got away.


    On the less depressing side of things, I learned that I was in the middle of a large clearing in a forest and that there was actually a dirt road a few hundred feet to the east of me. The clearing I resided in was a large circular one that was about 20 feet wider than what I was currently stretched out to. It was actually almost perfectly circular, with me in the center. I¡¯d have to ask papa bird to assist me in some experiments later to get a more accurate picture.


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    I thanked the bird for the information he gave me and let him go back to his business. He and his mate went about rearranging their nest some more to properly fit their family. Apparently, the baby birds were just barely old enough to fly, and they struggled greatly to get to me from where they were before.


    Day 4 of my new friends living in the nook between my highest branches lead to a slightly horrifying picture. The birds found my resource berries. I was struggling mentally between if I was going to let them take my berries or not, but decided to allow it, as long as they didn¡¯t go overboard with taking too many at a time.


    The feeling of the berries being plucked was strange. It didn¡¯t hurt me at all, but since the birds couldn¡¯t remove the whole berry at one time, it felt like I was mildly draining resources to fix the berry until it was completely eaten. The Health Berries were the worst, since they were being healed as the birds ate them, they took longer to be eaten. Thankfully they stopped at 3 berries each. If they had gone for more, I would have had to intervene.


    The Resource Berries were fully restored within an hour of being eaten, which I guess was a great thing to see. But it was still disturbing to think about someone stealing my Health like that. Sure it was excess, but still.


    I connected myself to the father bird as they all finished eating. He seemed grateful for sharing my bounty with him and his family, so I couldn¡¯t even be mad. He seemed like a decent enough guy just doing the best with what he had. I repressed my thoughts on the matter and sent a feeling of being welcome to them as long as they moderated themselves. The bird just bowed his small head and sent another wave of appreciation.


    I guess I can¡¯t be mad if he eats them in the future now. I wonder if they even realized the resource benefits that they offered.


    I mentally shook my head, which resulted in my branches swaying slightly. They did that often when I was thinking seriously about something, though I didn¡¯t realize how loud the sound was of hundreds of leaves shaking all at once. The birds seemed to be on edge for a few seconds as I shook, but quickly calmed down as they realized it was just me. The family had gotten used to my antics over the last few days.


    The days came and went like this, the birds enjoying peace in my canopy, me enjoying the chirping of my new friends, them eating my berries, me struggling to come to terms that it wasn¡¯t stealing as I had given permission. I just had to remember that I regrew the entirety of what they ate in under an hour each time. It was still a mild struggle though.


    After two months of the family living in my tree, I was able to watch the 3 younger birds leave the nest. They still came back every few days to hang out with the family, but they spent much of their time outside my domain. A month after they left for an extended amount of time, they never returned, and it was just the two parent birds left.


    I ¡®talked¡¯ to the parents for a bit about how they felt about their babies leaving the nest, and the dad seemed proud while the mom seemed more nervous. She knew they needed to leave and get some levels under their belt, but it was still dangerous and she would continue to worry about them for the rest of her life. Dad bird gave a mental shrug and flew down to eat a worm he spotted wriggling up from underground.


    We talked for a bit longer, but they didn¡¯t seem to have much more to say on the matter, so I left them to be alone. I wondered what level the two were, but also didn¡¯t want to offend my only consistent friends I¡¯ve had in a few years. Being alone was nice and all, but I did miss having the occasional encounter with people I liked.


    The next few months went by pretty quickly. I practiced my Vine Control and used Rapid Growth to extend my roots out further so I could maybe see the edge of the clearing eventually.


    I had a realization as I was growing them out though. My Domain of Awareness didn¡¯t extend when I grew my 100-foot-long vine. The description was clear that I could see as far as I could reach, so shouldn¡¯t I be able to see 100 feet away from me in every direction?


    I shook my head and went back to growing my roots. Rather than spread out just below the surface, I decided to extend the entire root system. It took way more Stamina to do it that way, but I wasn¡¯t exactly lacking resource regeneration right now, so I figured it was worth it.


    Rather than spend every waking second extending my roots, I decided to spend 50% of my Stamina every morning as the sun rose and another 50% every night when the sun set. I was perfectly able to regenerate the spent Stamina, so I went with it. At the rate I was going, I would be able to see the edge of the clearing in just over 8 more months. I had a goal in mind, and I wasn¡¯t exactly in a rush to meet it. I took my time and grew it out, 1 inch every day.

 Chapter 15

    I had grown 100 inches by the time I got my first major interruption.


    A pack of wolves came running by, which majorly scared my feathery tenants. There was no way in hell that the wolves would be able to reach them, since they sat on my highest branch over 25 feet in the air. Yet they were still tempted to run. I sent them both a calming feeling and a mental video of me killing all the wolves if they even tried climbing my trunk.


    The video mostly consisted of me wrapping my vines around each wolf¡¯s throat and hanging them 5 feet off the ground. It felt like a disturbing picture to me, but it seemed to more than do the trick. The mated pair started tweeting at the wolves as they ran under my branches, almost challenging them to even try to bother them. I wanted to smack them for being idiots, but I guess that was better for them than sitting there scared out of their feathers.


    The pack was gone after 2 minutes. I was surprised at how many there were in the group. I expected maybe around 15 to 20, but it was closer to 180 to 200 of them. It would truly have been a blood bath if I decided to take them out. I wondered what could cause them to run like that. I hadn¡¯t seen them migrate over the last couple years, so this was definitely new to me. In fact, the only mobile living beings I¡¯ve seen on this planet are ants, goblins, birds, and now these wolves.


    I formed the connection with the birds again and asked about what other creatures inhabited these woods. They showed me images of full tribes of goblins, packs of wolves, the occasional feline that looked very panther like, and a few humanoids as well. I was disappointed that they couldn¡¯t give any more information other than there being tall, skinny humanoids, short fat humanoids, and short green humanoids.


    I can only guess the short fat ones are some sort of Dwarf, the green ones are Goblins, and the tall ones are regular humans. I guess this is still better than nothing though.


    I went back to my daily routine of growing and relaxing in the sun. It was another 75 days when I got my next visitor to my little slice of heaven. Though I doubt this one would call it heaven. I heard them before I saw them, given how much they were stumbling.


    A cloaked figure limped in my direction, barely able to make it to me before almost collapsing at the base of my trunk. I was easily able to see their face, given I could see everything in my Domain. It was a beautiful woman with some very sharp cheek bones and even sharper jaw line. I had a hunch, so I also checked out her ears as well.


    Damn, I really thought she was going to be an elf. What human actually looks that good? Damn her normal, rounded ears. But good god she¡¯s got some great features.


    After I stopped checking out the dying person in front of me, I looked more into what her state of being was. I felt a bit like a creeper for checking under her cloak without her permission, but given the circumstances, I felt it appropriate.


    She appeared to have a large gash running across her lower stomach. It looked pretty deep, and looking at her trail, she was losing a lot of blood.


    Despite the protest of my two avian companions, I reached up to my higher branches with one of my vines and tore off a small handful ¨C vineful? - of the health berries. It took a couple tries to get them properly balanced, but I got them down to the woman.


    I felt skeptical giving my resources away like this, but I also didn¡¯t want a human to die right in front of me when I had the opportunity to save her life. I just hoped she made it through this so these wouldn¡¯t go to waste.


    When I brought the berries in front of the woman, she initially was very hesitant, going so far as to try to get back up and run away. She stumbled and fell after two steps.


    I brought my berries over to her once again, hoping this time she would accept them. I knew I should probably try connecting to her through Telepathy, but I wasn¡¯t sure how much that would help, given her clear panic.


    At this point, she started to look pale from blood loss. I had a small pool of it at the base of my trunk, which was feeding me a small amount of resource points, which only helped replenish the berries I took out for her. The first berry was already mostly back to being fully grown.


    I used a few vines to grab her arms and flip her over, as gently as I could. She no longer resisted, which I assume was her giving up and accepting defeat. I held the berries up to her mouth again, which she thankfully ate without much of a struggle. At least, she tried to eat, but she looked too weak at this point to even chew.


    I grasped the berries right above her open mouth, and squeezed the juices out of them, hoping this would be enough to get her to the point of being able to eat on her own.


    She drank the Health Berry juice eagerly. As she took the first gulp, I checked on her wounds. I was hoping that the bleeding would at least stop after eating a couple of these, but I was wrong. So wrong.


    After drinking the juice of two berries, her stomach was almost completely healed. The once gaping wound was now down to just a long scratch. She was still a lot paler than she was before, but she was already in a lot better condition than before.


    I brought down 4 more Health Berries for her to eat. Thankfully she was a lot less hesitant of eating them now.


    When she saw the next batch of berries being brought down for her, she whispered, ¡°Thank you.¡± It was clear as if she were talking in normal English to me, so I was happy with my choice in skill upgrade.


    She ate the next 2 berries with gusto. After the third berry, she started to regain her color. And by the fourth berry, she was looking almost completely back to normal.


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    So, it takes only 6 berries to bring someone from looking like the brink of death all the way back to normal? That¡¯s insane. Each one is only 1% of my Health to make. Maybe I shouldn¡¯t have made so many. This feels dangerous.


    The woman sat up, using my vines as support. When she was back to full health, she stood and walked over to my trunk. She placed a hand on me, and I chose this moment to reach out with Telepathy to her.


    ¡°Hello there.¡± I said to her. To myself, I finished the quote with, General Kenobi.


    The woman jumped a bit, obviously startled. She placed her hand back on my trunk before responding. ¡°Hello, great tree spirit. Thank you for helping me¡±


    ¡°I only did what any great tree would do in my situation. It¡¯s not every day I get to meet a new person, after all.¡±


    She shook her head, opting to remain silent, so I continued. ¡°What brings you to my neck of the woods?¡±


    ¡°My caravan was attacked by a group of Orcs. I was barely able to make it out alive, and I¡¯m sure most of my friends are dead now. I¡¯m just glad I wasn¡¯t followed here.¡±


    I felt a wave of sadness with a small stream of relief came from her as she said that. I almost shivered a bit in grief myself. There was also a tinge of anger in there, but it was all overshadowed by the enormous amount of fear she was experiencing. I was almost surprised she was still able to stand with how strongly the emotions she had going through her were. It was inspiring, to say the least.


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t be so sure about that,¡± I told her. As she finished talking, I started hearing grunting and sniffing. I doubted she could hear any of it though.


    She ripped her hand from my trunk and spun around. What she saw seemed to have scared her, as I suddenly had a small yellow pool at the base of my body. I just shook my head and continued conversing with her.


    ¡°Might I be of some assistance? I doubt Orcs would be very good at climbing.¡± I suggested to her. She just stared off in the direction that the birds showed me was the road, which is the direction she came from. I assumed that the source of the noises I was hearing was in fact Orcs, and that they had followed the woman to me.


    Maybe I should ask her name. I feel weird just referring to her as ¡®the woman¡¯.


    After a few seconds of her silence, the first monster crossed the threshold of my Domain of Awareness. I was honestly impressed at what I saw.


    Before me stood a 7-foot-tall humanoid wearing nothing but a leather loincloth wrapped around his waist. I was glad it covered enough to not be shameful. As my gaze ventured north, I saw pure muscle ripping through the green, hairy skin that was littered with scars. When I got to the head, I was unimpressed. Compared to the woman in front of me, this guy looked like a pig. Especially given he had a snout instead of a human nose. It was only exaggerated by the Orc sniffing and snarling in my direction. Well, I guess in her direction as he probably thought I was a normal tree.


    The woman in front of me just continued to stand in the puddle of her own piss, so I wrapped her in a couple of vines and dragged her up to my higher branches. The Orc was unarmed, though its claws looked impressively sharp. There should be no way for it to attack her, especially since I didn¡¯t intend to let it live long enough to do so.


    As I brought her up higher in my branches, she started screaming. I mentally sighed and disconnected my mind from hers. She was scared and I didn¡¯t want to be distracted from what was going to come next.


    The Orc was obviously attracted to her screams, and charged right at me. Its eyes had to be horrible, since it took so long for it to react. The woman was still screaming, which I feared would only bring the Orc¡¯s friends over. I connected to her again and told her to quiet down so I could deal with this little mess. It didn¡¯t seem to help. I almost gagged her to get her to shut up, but thought better of it.


    Meh. If I kill them all, I¡¯ll get some pretty sweet Exp for my next level. Here¡¯s nothing!


    I was tempted to try attacking the Orc with Telepathy, but I feared the consequences of being counter assaulted, so I held off. I knew it was probably a dumb monster, but I was supposed to be a thoughtless tree, so who knew what could happen.


    I wonder if there¡¯s something like a mental enhancement skill. I might have to put more thought into that. That¡¯s for later though. I have a pig to deal with.


    The Orc was charging at me, and I waited until he was fully surrounded by my vines before acting. I used 15 vines to wrap around his whole body, and I was glad I used so many. The Orc was strong, as evidenced by his rippling muscles.


    I wanted to get more in on the action, but I had them spread out too much to properly wrap his whole body. Then I remembered my extra-long vine.


    I untangled the hundred-footer for the first time in a while and wrapped it around him. The pig man was so thick I could only get it wrapped 9 times before I was out of vine.


    Now that I had nothing to fear from him, I loosened one of the regular vines and brought it around the Orc¡¯s neck. I intended to strangle the damn thing.


    I tightened the vine¡¯s grip around its neck and held it there for a few minutes. It kept struggling the whole time I was strangling it. I brought in another vine to help deal the finishing blow to the monster in front of me.


    It took 10 whole minutes for the Orc to die. I was about to give up when I felt its body loosen ever so slightly at the 3-minute mark. It kept going more limp as the minutes passed by, and I finally got the kill notification.


    Orc has been slain. Exp has been awarded.


    I nodded to myself and used Telepathy to connect back to the woman who was crying in my canopy. I had wrapped a few vines around her and the branch she was sitting on so she wouldn¡¯t fall off. I was glad I didn¡¯t accidentally tighten those vines too, otherwise things would¡¯ve been awkward.


    ¡°The Orc is dead. You¡¯re fine now. Be at peace, young one.¡± I sent her soothing emotions, which were swept aside by a tidal wave of fear and sorrow. She had just lost her friends after all. I guess I should be more surprised at how well she was acting when I first made contact with her.


    I kept the steady stream of calmness heading her way for about an hour until she finally ran out of tears. She then moved on to a much quieter sob until she eventually passed out.


    I draped a few more vines over her limp body to try to help with the slight chill that has been going on lately. I doubted it did much, but it was better than nothing, I suppose.


    While she slept, I checked in with my feathery companions. They seemed displeased about the woman making so much noise during their quiet hours, but were much more sympathetic when I tried to explain the situation to them. They seemed to understand more when I mentioned her friends dying. After that, they went to sleep as well.


    With everyone asleep, I had nothing to do but wait for either someone to show up, or for one of these three to awaken. I spent the time elongating my vines again.


    I realized during the fight that the 5 inches hanging on the ground weren¡¯t nearly as impressive as I originally thought. I couldn¡¯t really reach the Orc with most of my vines, at least the way I had them spread out.


    I guess I should spend some more time and Stamina elongating them before I continue my search for the rest of the forest.


    I focused on the first vine I used to wrap around the Orc¡¯s neck. I brought it down another 15 feet before calling it good. I then draped the vine over one of my branches so it wouldn¡¯t look so ridiculously long. I then spent the next 9 hours doing the same to as many vines as I could, waiting for my Stamina to fill back up before continuing with the next one.


    It was a long night, made longer by my glowing anticipation of finally having someone to actually talk to.

 Chapter 16

    The birds were the first ones up. I had just finished elongating my 9th vine an extra 15 feet when I noticed they were dancing about again. They started munching on the various berries I had growing, then they both flew off to wherever they went during the day. I still wasn¡¯t sure what they did, but I wasn¡¯t overly curious.


    The mysterious woman slept for a total of 9 hours. It was agonizing waiting for her to wake up, but I remained patient. I didn¡¯t want to rush her, especially when she must be pretty messed up emotionally right now.


    She started waking up around the time the sun was fully risen. She still looked pretty tired though. I guess that¡¯s from not having a proper bed to sleep in. I get it. I¡¯d be cranky if I had to sleep in a tree too.


    She picked her head up and started looking around. As she started moving, I removed the extra vines I had lightly draped over her. She got up fully then and started rubbing her face. It was crazy how she looked hot even doing something so simple. I still wasn¡¯t sure she wasn¡¯t an Elf in disguise. Humans just weren¡¯t that beautiful.


    After she got herself situated, she spoke to me. ¡°Thank you for your help last night. I really appreciate it.¡±


    I connected myself to her in order to respond. ¡°You are very welcome. Might I ask your name?¡±


    She hesitated a moment before responding, ¡°My name is Lilly. Might I ask your name in return? I should know how to refer to my savior, after all.¡±


    She still had quite a lot of emotions running through her mind, but she was doing a lot better at controlling them now than yesterday.


    ¡°You can call me Willow,¡± I responded.


    ¡°Willow. A beautiful name for a beautiful tree. It¡¯s a pleasure meeting you, Willow, despite the unfortunate circumstances. Without your help, I¡¯m sure I would have died last night. You have my appreciation.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a pleasure meeting you, Lilly. And yes, the events of last night were truly unfortunate. I am glad you made it out alive though. It seems you have made a full recovery. I¡¯m happy to see.¡±


    I checked where the wound was again, and there wasn¡¯t even a scar left, just some dried blood. It appears Lilly truly is fully healed. I might have to be more careful about who I hand these out to in the future.


    ¡°Another thing for me to be thankful for. It is rare to find a tree growing Resource Berries, let alone one willing to part ways with them for strangers. You truly have my gratitude, Willow.¡± She bowed her head slightly, which made her shift. I wrapped a couple more vines around her legs to give her better support, making sure to not go to tight, lest I hurt her by accident. She sent a small wave of appreciation my way for it. She still seemed so tired though, so I sent a few Stamina Berries to try to help her some more.


    She objected saying, ¡°No, please. I¡¯ll be fine, I promise. I know how hard it is to grow them, so you needn¡¯t worry about me. I''ll be fine after I have a meal or something.¡±


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    ¡°And pray tell, what do you plan to eat? The Orc body is still on the ground, if you wish to consume him. I¡¯m not sure how common orc meat is as food for humans, but I surely wont judge.¡±


    Lilly grimaced. I continued on, ¡°And besides, I¡¯ve already replenished the berries from last night, and these won¡¯t take but a few minutes to be fully replaced. I have quite a high resource regeneration, so don¡¯t worry about me.¡±


    Why did I tell her that? I feel like I shouldn¡¯t be telling her as much about me as I have already. Let me try to get some information in return, at least.


    Lilly smiled and accepted the berries. ¡°Thank you, Willow. Truly, you have been a better friend to me than the one who... Well, than any friend I¡¯ve had so far. Thank you.¡±


    I let her eat in peace for a while. She seemed to relax a bit, and I made sure to maintain the mental connection I had with her. She really did seem to get over the loss of her ¡®friends¡¯ rather quickly. I still felt a bit of sadness, but it was the same sadness I felt in my old life when a celebrity died. I was sad for the loss of human life, but there wasn¡¯t any really connection there.


    I ended up giving her around 20 Stamina Berries and 5 Health Berries. I figured they would provide a decent enough meal for her. I had regrown most of the Stamina ones by the time she was finished eating them, and the health weren¡¯t far behind. I kept the mana berries to myself though. I don¡¯t think she would need to replace any mana, given I hadn¡¯t seen her use any magic last night. She might have before she entered my Domain, but she didn¡¯t say anything about it.


    When Lilly was done with her meal, I helped her get down from my branches. I offered to lower her completely by myself, but she insisted that she could do it herself. I still provided the occasional foot hold for her though.


    I made sure to drag the Orc corpse to the other side of my trunk the night before so she wouldn¡¯t see too much of it this morning. It didn¡¯t seem to work, given she walked around me to check it out herself. I really hoped the wolf pack would come by again to clean that up for me. Them or the goblin brothers, Club and Dagger. I doubt they¡¯d have any issues eating Orc meat. Hell, they might have never tried it before, given how weak they were in comparison.


    ¡°You really managed to kill an Orc by yourself. I¡¯m extremely impressed, Willow. A single Orc needs at least 2 D rank adventurers to take it out. That or a C rank.¡±


    Oh, sweet baby Jesus. True fantasy talk! That¡¯s what I¡¯m talking about!


    I made sure to hide my excitement over her comments, and only responded when I was fully in control of myself again.


    ¡°It was nothing major. It just took a few vines to strangle the brute. I am glad the rest didn¡¯t come over though. I was worried, given the noises being made while I choked it.¡±


    Lilly blushed a little, and I realized how insensitive that was.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t mean you! The bastard was squealing like the pig it is. I figured the rest of the Orc¡¯s would come investigate their companion suddenly disappearing on them, is all I meant!¡±


    She only nodded in response. The only thing I felt through the bond we shared was hatred of the creature in front of her mixed with a bit of fear.


    ¡°Still, it¡¯s impressive that you can take one down. You are strong. Very strong.¡±


    I sent a wave of pleasure in her direction, which she seemed to enjoy for a few moments before standing back up. She walked around me for a few laps, running her hands through my vines. It was an oddly intimate moment, with our minds intermingling for a bit.


    She basked in the warmth of the sun for a few hours before my avian friends returned to their nest in the highest part of my canopy. They chirped in mild annoyance before settling down and taking a nap themselves.


    After a while, Lilly got up and came back over to me. I wasn¡¯t sure what she wanted, so I just asked.


    ¡°What do you plan to do? Now that your caravan is gone, will you continue your journey? Or will you return to your home?¡± It felt insensitive, but it was a valid a question.


    I felt a pang of sadness for a moment through the bond, but it was quickly replaced with a sense of freedom. I wasn¡¯t expecting that. What followed next was a story that sounded a lot like a fairytale from my old world.

 Chapter 17

    Lilly¡¯s Tale


    Lilly had grown up working in a happy little shop owned by her father. Her father was a good man, but also a fool blinded by his goodness. He gave too freely, letting debts go unpaid. Lilly didn¡¯t like it, but she knew her father still made more than enough to support the 2 of them. She was happy with the way things were. At least, until her father married an evil woman with bitchy daughters that made her do all their work.


    She hated her stepsisters with a passion. They made her father work twice as hard as he ever did to try to earn back a quarter of what they spent. They always had to have the latest dress or the newest shoes. They condemned Lilly for wearing simple clothes or for looking like a boy. Despite the complaints, Lilly still received way more attention from the boys in the city, which they hated.


    Lilly did her best to ignore them all, but the worst of them was her new stepmother. She was a vile bitch who only encouraged her daughters to torment Lilly more and more. They always made sure to act like sweethearts in front of her father though. They didn¡¯t want to be cut off from his financial support.


    Lilly spent most of her time working in her father¡¯s store. She had started many years ago as a simple janitor, as per her father¡¯s instructions. She started sweeping, then became a product stocker, then moved up to more managerial duties. She had worked her whole life to get to this point, and she wanted to make her father proud.


    She lasted 2 months in that position before she was replaced by her stepsisters. After that, she completely gave up. She started going through the motions of everyday life, just waiting for the right chance to leave. Her time finally came when her stepmother came to her with a demand.


    ¡°Lilly, your sisters need you to run a caravan to Ostlan. You know what you''re doing, so show your worth to the family. Teach them what to do, and don¡¯t make trouble, okay? If you¡¯re a good girl, we might even give you a raise.¡±


    She had been dangling the raise in Lilly¡¯s face ever since she got there. It had been over 3 years at this point since Lilly had gotten a raise. In fact, they had cut her pay last year, stating ¡®financial needs of the family¡¯. Lilly knew the books though. The family was bringing in well over 200 gold coins a month, and that was after taxes and payroll. They were just full of shit.


    Lilly agreed to show her sisters everything she knew. The 3 of them all packed their bags like they were moving to the new city, not just going on a 10-day business trip. Lilly didn¡¯t care though. They were bringing their own carriage, so they could deal with that themselves.


    Lilly prepared everything they needed for the trip, making sure to save the good food for herself and the other employee they were bringing, Harold. He was a reliable guy that Lilly had worked with for many years. She was happy to have at least one reliable person with her. She hated when her sisters called him Hank or Henry or any other name. They were just too damn disrespectful. The main reason most of the staff hadn¡¯t quit yet was due to Lilly taking the brunt of the bullshit from the new leadership. She made sure the store was still running smoothly.


    Lilly had requested an escort from the local adventurer¡¯s guild the day she had learned of the trip. When they met up with her and the rest of the group heading to Ostlan, Lilly felt unimpressed. Usually, she liked talking to the adventurers who escorted her on the bimonthly caravan, but she just wasn¡¯t feeling it this time. Not when she had to deal with her horrible family.


    ¡°Sarah, come over and greet our escorts!¡± She barked out to her oldest stepsister. Sarah was the worst of the sisters, always tattling to her mother about any little thing Lilly might have done. Lilly hated her the most.


    ¡°What do I need to do that for?¡± Came the bratty, entitled voice of Sarah. Lilly heard her start to get up, but Suzie, the middle sister, told her to sit down and let Lilly take care of it. So that¡¯s what Lilly did. She took care of everything, making sure she yelled out exactly what she was doing to her sisters. Her job here on this trip was to teach them, after all. How would they learn if she didn¡¯t at least try to communicate. At least this way, she couldn¡¯t be blamed for them failing to learn when they got back.


    After Lilly was done getting everything ready, she called up to Harold and had him start going. Harold was running the first wagon, Lilly running the second, and the sisters from hell had hired someone to drive their own private carriage. It was ridiculously decadent and would stand out like a sore thumb when they got to Ostlan. She¡¯d be surprised if there wasn¡¯t at least one attempted robbery while they were there.


    The group traveled along the northern road for 2 days. It had been the longest 2 days of Lilly¡¯s life. It was non-stop nagging from her sisters and she was getting sick of it. She almost wished for a bunch of Orcs to come over and destroy their fancy ride. Maybe they needed a chance to enjoy the open air for once, then they could actually get some levels and stop complaining about their butts being sore from the cushions being too rough.


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    Boo freaking Hoo. I could just strangle the lot of you. You all suck to heaven and back, I don¡¯t get why Dad keeps putting up with you. You¡¯ll all run the business into the ground at this rate.


    Lilly kept her complaints to herself, knowing that if she said even the slightest remark about them, she would be in bad trouble with her stepmother, and her father wouldn¡¯t do anything to help her.


    I swear that woman has some sort of temptress skill or something. There¡¯s no way Dad actually likes that old hag. What kind of name is ¡®Bertha¡¯ anyways?


    Lilly kept thinking her vile thoughts about her stepsiblings for the remainder of the day. When they made camp for the second night, the adventurers set up their rotation for who was going to take watch. Food was made, eaten, then cleaned, tents were set up, sleeping bags were arranged, and everyone went to sleep.


    Nobody could have guessed that a group of Orcs would attack them, especially so soon after sundown. The road they were on was a well-traveled one, with very few monsters stronger than a Goblin roaming around here.


    A group of 5 Orcs came crashing into their camp. Lilly wasn¡¯t sure how the adventurers had missed 5 giant monsters such as these, but they were all taken by surprise. Lilly pulled out the dagger she kept under her pillow every night and prepared herself for an inevitable death. It would take a party of C rank adventurers to take this many Orcs on. Lilly had only been given funds for a party of 5 D ranks. They were pretty much screwed.


    When Lilly was smacked aside with a single blow to the stomach, she started to run for her life. There was no way they were all going to make it, so she should do her best to survive, right?


    Lilly ran for the edge of the road and was going to try to escape in the forest. She might not be an adventurer, but she had a few survival skills up her sleeves. As she started to run, she was attacked again. An Orc had swiped at her torso. Thankfully she jumped back enough for it to avoid splitting her in half, as she was sure it could have if she wanted to. It still left a pretty nasty gash in her stomach though.


    Lilly wrapped her cloak around her and ran into the forest. She pulled her hood down and sprinted as fast as she could. She only made it about 80 feet before she had to slow down drastically. The forest was thick around here, and her wound was bleeding badly.


    She pressed her arm against her stomach and put as much pressure as she could into it. She wanted to stem the flow of blood as best as she could, but she needed to get out of here first. Orcs had horrible eyesight and middling ears, but their sense of smell was incredible.


    She kept her pace up, leaning heavily on trees as she did her best to create distance between her and the monsters who killed her best friend. They weren¡¯t really close, as Harold kept a good bit of distance from her, being the boss¡¯s daughter and all, but Lilly didn¡¯t mind. Most of the rest of the workers only ever talked work with her. Harold at least let her vent occasionally about her stepsisters.


    Oh. They¡¯re probably dead too, huh? I should be sad about that, right? Sad about the death of a fellow human. I can¡¯t be sad about the death a family member, given the way they treated me, but they definitely didn¡¯t deserve to die.


    Lilly knew she was becoming delirious at that point. She hated her sisters, and she never wanted to see them again.


    Lilly stumbled as she entered a clearing. She lost her last hand hold, but saw a giant tree in the middle of the little field of grass. She stumbled her way over, thinking it would be a beautiful place to die.


    She made her way over to the tree, and when she reached it, she collapsed, leaning against the gray trunk. She gazed up at the stars, and felt happy to be able to enjoy nature one last time. She could hear the chirping of some birds, but they sounded miles away to her in her weakened state. She still enjoyed them though.


    The creaking of the tree above her made her think the wind was blowing pretty harshly, but she didn¡¯t feel the wind on her skin. It must be because of the cloak.


    Suddenly, and vine from the tree was in her face, holding something. It freaked her out, thinking she had stumbled upon one of the tree spirits her father used to tell her about for bedtime stories.


    Lilly stumbled to her feet and took 2 steps away from the trunk, trying to get as much distance from the spirit as possible. She had heard a variety of rumors about them, not all good, though not all were bad either. She didn¡¯t want to risk it though.


    As she took the second step, she stumbled and fell flat on her face.


    That can¡¯t be good for me. Now I¡¯ll get all infected and crap. Why does dying have to take so long? Just let me sleep already.


    All of a sudden, she felt a bunch of ropes or snakes or something grab on to her and flip her over. Doing so hurt her quite a lot, but she didn¡¯t bother to resist. She was nearing death¡¯s door, and she welcomed it.


    Lilly then saw the tree holding 3 small berries in its branches. She opened her mouth as wide as she could, but she didn''t have the strength to chew. She had lost too much blood, and her wound kept bleeding more and more. She was surprised at how long she had lived already.


    The tree removed the berry from her mouth. She was glad it was a good tree spirit, but was sad she didn¡¯t have long to interact with it.


    The tree brought two more berries above her mouth and squeezed the juice out of them.


    Why is this tree so insistent I live? Let me die in peace, damn it.


    The juices dripped into her mouth, and she swallowed in surprise. It was surprisingly sweet. She felt the strength run back into her body. She then realized she wanted to live. A smile crept across her face, and she whispered, ¡°Thank you.¡± She knew it was silly, as most tree spirits refused to talk, but she felt a connection to this one.


    The tree gave her 4 more berries, and she was suddenly back to normal. She checked her status and saw her health was up to 95%. Her stamina was running low, but that was to be expected. She got up and approached the tree. She placed a hand on its trunk and leaned forward. She had a long night behind her, and it was only going to get longer.

 Chapter 18

    After Lilly told me her tale, I felt rather bad for the girl. She had been through a lot the last few years and really needed a safe place. I just needed to decide whether or not I would be said place for her.


    ¡°I am sorry, Lilly. You have dealt with much in your travels. But now that you¡¯re here, you can relax as much as you want. You won¡¯t need for anything, not as long as you are in my Domain.¡± I promised her. I didn¡¯t even think before speaking, which isn¡¯t like me at all. I was planning on inviting her to stay for a couple nights to rest, and think it over if I really wanted her to stay with me, but I guess that plan¡¯s going out the window.


    ¡°Thank you, Willow. I appreciate you,¡± she said from her seated position under my trunk. She quickly sat up though, as we both heard a series of howls coming from the south of us.


    I guess protecting her would be considered part of my guardian duties, now that I volunteered my protection. Think before you speak, dumbass!


    ¡°You really are unlucky. First the Orcs, now the wolves. Climb quickly, as I know how fast a pack can really be.¡± I made a ladder out of my vines again for her to get up on me. She quickly climbed up to the lowest of my branches. I urged her further though, as I didn¡¯t know how high these wolves could jump.


    ¡°Do you see anything?¡± I asked her. I could only see inside my Domain, and the wolves sounded a bit far off.


    ¡°Yes. There¡¯s a large pack of at least a hundred coming our way,¡± Lilly called out to me. She didn¡¯t have to yell though. I could hear her perfectly even if she were to whisper.


    ¡°I see. Make yourself comfortable, as this might get pretty bloody. I¡¯d rather not kill, but I will if they try to hurt you.¡±


    Lilly patted my trunk and adjusted herself so she was straddling my second highest branch and leaning against the one above it. She looked a lot more comfortable this way than the way she was sleeping last night. I¡¯d have to remember this position for if I ever needed to rescue anyone again.


    It was odd, thinking of me being a sort of hero. But I knew I could never let a human or other intelligent species come to harm under my branches. Well, aside from minor pranks involving tripping over my vines.


    Sorry Club. It was just too funny.


    The wolves finally came into view of me. They were all running pretty fast, and it took them only a few seconds before they reached me from the edge of my view.


    The lead wolf was much larger than the rest. It stood at least 6 feet tall at the shoulder, and its fur was a much darker gray than the others. It had sharper claws, longer fangs, and looked more feral. Everything about it screamed ¡°Boss Monster¡±, with the pack being a bunch of trash mobs to do crowd control. The way it snarled actually gave me an interesting idea as to how I could kill it though, if it came to that.


    The wolf boss stopped and sniffed at my trunk. A thought came to me, and I suddenly wished I was any other creature than the one I was right now. The large beast turned its body and as it lifted a leg, I reached out with Telepathy, practically shouting at the thing.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you dare pee on me!¡± I reached out with my closest vine and smacked it on the nose to get it to stop. ¡°Bad dog!¡± I yelled mentally. Lilly was looking down on this with a mixture of humor and horror. I completely ignored her though.


    The Big Bad Wolf, Which I am going to start calling BBW, yelped with surprise and looked around for the offending attacker. I could feel pure animosity radiating from our connection. It hadn¡¯t realized that I was connected yet, given its surprised snoot boopage. I called out to it again through our connection, this time with a lot more aggression in my tone. This seemed like a monster that respected strength, so that¡¯s what I¡¯ll show it.


    ¡°You will NOT pee on me!¡± I commanded through the mental link.


    BBW looked around in confusion, obviously unaware that it was me, the tree, who was yelling at him.


    ¡°Who¡¯s there?!¡± BBW barked out. The audible portion was just a regular bark, but I felt the meaning behind it through the link.


    ¡°It¡¯s me, the tree. Do not pee on me, got it? I will smack your nose again if you try again!¡± I threatened him. I relayed everything going on through my link with Lilly. It was a bit of a mental strain to hold both links at once, but it was good training for the skill, at least.


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    ¡°What do you mean, tree? Trees don''t communicate, dumbass,¡± BBW barked his response. The rest of his pack was torn between staring at him and glancing at me.


    Okay, rude. No need for name calling.


    ¡°If I can¡¯t communicate, then how are we talking? Obviously, some trees can talk, yah damn furball.¡± I bopped his nose again with a vine, though this time I was a lot more gently this time.


    ¡°QUIT TOUCHING MY NOSE!¡± BBW snarled. I felt a lot of aggression coming through our link. I sent the feeling back to him, only amplified about 5 times.


    BBW shook his head, and I felt a minor feeling of submission coming from him before his feelings of aggression returned with fervor. This time I felt a bit of a desire to dominate behind his emotions.


    At this point, I informed Lilly that I would be severing our link for a bit, at least until BBW either submitted or left us alone. She sent out feelings of worry, and I returned it with a wave of undeserved confidence. I had never done a mental battle before, but I felt I could do this. BBW and Lilly¡¯s mind both seemed small, though Lilly¡¯s was the slightly larger one of the two. My only mental struggle was when I was first learning how to control my vines with just mental power and when I first started having multiple threads of Telepathy going at the same time. I felt more confident than I should have though. Part of me knew I should be worried about this, but the rest of me was oozing with confidence.


    ¡°Alright, BBW. If you want a mental battle, I¡¯ll give you a battle worthy of the name,¡± I said, mostly to myself, though BBW also heard it. I felt his confidence waver at that.


    I bundled my mind up and battered at his using a ball of mental energy. I felt him strain his body and saw his back left leg give a bit. He stumbled but quickly recovered. In return he just sent a wave of hatred and other emotions. It was barely enough for me to notice over my concentration.


    When I first made contact with anyone, it felt like a soft noodle of mental energy bridging the gap between us. When I threw my mental energy at BBW, I felt a part of my mind actually leave my body. I was glad that I was only fighting mentally against a wolf, and not a trained mental expert, as I knew that would leave me extremely vulnerable if I were to ever try that again.


    As BBW threw wave after wave of emotions at me, I used it as practice to better prepare my defenses. This was actually the perfect opponent to train against, as he was eager but mentally weak. He also didn''t know how to throw mental energy around, though I only learned how to as a byproduct of getting the Telepathy skill.


    I slurped the ball of mental energy I threw at BBW back up and started gathering it again. This time I tried forming it into a sort of mental blade to pierce his feeble mental defenses. It was really just a relatively small bundle of raw emotions that he¡¯s been throwing at me in waves. The rest of his pack was just staring at him during all of this. BBW appeared to be getting exhausted from the mental battle, and his pack was none the wiser as to what was going on.


    I formed my blade through pure effort of will and shoved it into BBW¡¯s mental wall. It was interesting feeling it pierce through. It was also interesting seeing BBW take physical damage from my attack. His nose started bleeding and he yelped in pain when he was struck.


    Okay, maybe I should put more effort into training mental defenses and attacks. I¡¯ll have to ask Lilly about that later on when this is done. The end appears to be approaching after that last attack of mine.


    BBW stumbled and fell on his face. He shook his head, and withdrew into himself. I felt a wave of defeat emanate from him before this, so I took this to mean he surrendered. I took the opportunity to give him his retreating orders.


    ¡°I order you to leave. You and your pack may take the Orc corpse laying at my base, but you will take it with you and leave me be. You do not own me, I will not be marked or scented as your property. Take your meal and go. I do not wish to be defiled, nor do I wish to cause pain. You have provided me a valuable service by coming through here, but the next time I see one of your kind try to disrespect me by pissing on my body, I won¡¯t be so generous.¡±


    After that, I disengaged my mind from BBW¡¯s and left him to limp away. A couple of other wolves tried to come over to him, presumably to see what caused him pain, but BBW just snarled at them and they retreated.


    BBW took a few deep breaths, then let out a loud howl that was sure to reach the very back of his pack. He then trotted over to the Orc corpse, took two big bites, then left. The rest of the pack took a few bites each as they all ran by, but that was the conclusion of my contact with that pack. It was a fruitful endeavor. One I will remember and learn from.


    I reconnected with Lilly and briefly explained everything that went down. She seemed impressed at my feat, but there was a hint of confusion emanating from her. I asked her about it, but she brushed my comment off and asked to climb down.


    ¡°I¡¯m just surprised at how well that went, given it appears to have been your first mental battle. It has me curious about a couple things, is all.¡± Lilly said. Despite her calm demeanor, I could feel her thoughts going a mile a minute. I knew she had probably more than just a few questions to ask.


    ¡°I see. And what are you curious about?¡± I asked her. I hoped she didn¡¯t get too personal, but other than me being a reincarnator, I didn¡¯t have much else to hide. Hell, I don¡¯t even know if I should hide that anyways.


    ¡°Be honest with me here. How long have you been on Vir?¡±


    ¡°Are you asking my life story?¡±


    Lilly just nodded slowly.


    ¡°Alright, then I guess it started like this. I woke up and everything was dark...¡±

 Chapter 19

    ¡°Okay, so you¡¯re level 30 at only three and a half years old, you¡¯re already speaking full sentences, better than my adult step sisters did, and you¡¯ve already grown to be almost 30 feet tall? How far do your roots reach? Your rate of growth is quite frankly amazing! You must have some truly remarkable skills to have grown this much so quickly! To even be able to take out an adult Orc, and go toe to toe with an Alpha Wolf! The Ants, while annoying shouldn¡¯t have been as big of an issue, but to already have earned an achievement... WOW!¡±


    Lilly had been gushing about my growth for the last half of an hour, barely getting a breath in the whole time. She took turns between pacing between two stumps of my roots to doing laps around my trunk, talking the whole time.


    ¡°To answer your question before you move too far on, my roots reach out around 55 feet from the base of my trunk.¡± I reached out with my hundred-foot-long vine and drew a shallow line around me that was at the edge of my vision. My roots reached right under the line I was making.


    ¡°Holly hells! That¡¯s enormous! How have you grown so fast! Oh sorry! It¡¯s considered rude to ask about someone else¡¯s skill like that. Please, ignore that.¡±


    I could feel a tinge of guilt through our connection when she clarified. I was honestly willing to share my skills with her, as long as she returned the favor.


    ¡°I''ll tell you what. You tell me all of your skills, and I¡¯ll tell you all of mine. Do we have a deal?¡± I reached out with a vine, mimicking a handshake. Lilly grasped the end of the vine and shook it with a smile.


    ¡°I¡¯ll tell you right now, I haven¡¯t got anything all that interesting. Most of my skills are related to merchanting. I have one for self-defense, but that¡¯s mostly for perverts who get a bit too handsy.¡± She said with a smile. She then proceeded to list a bunch of skills that revolved around getting the customer to pay the most amount of money for an item as possible.


    ¡°I have Bargain, Bargain Steal, Up Price, Sale, Appraisal, Hide Status and Hand-to-Hand Combat. Your turn!¡± She eagerly listed off.


    I took mental notes of what she mentioned, and considered getting Appraisal and Hide Status for myself in the future. I guess that¡¯ll be for my level 35 and 40 skills.


    ¡°Before I give mine, I want to ask about the letters beside the skill names. I have a few guesses about what they mean, but I¡¯d like a proper explanation, if you don¡¯t mind.¡±


    Lilly paused for a moment before answering. I could feel her excitement growing at my question.


    ¡°The letters represent skill rarity. In order of weak to strong, it goes C, U, R, E, and L. They mean Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, and Legendary. There¡¯s a story about a sixth tier, M, for Mythic, but nobody actually believes it to be real. I guess that since you¡¯re asking, you probably have a few higher tiered skills yourself?¡± Lilly was practically glowing with excitement at the possibilities of what I was about to tell her. I suddenly wished I didn¡¯t word the offer the way I did.


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    I pulled up my Status for the first time in a while so I had a full list of all my skills. I did promise to share all of my skills, after all.


    User: Willow  Race: Tree


    Level: 31  Exp: 60/2300


    H:100%   S:100%  M:100%


    Skills: Photosynthesis, Iron Bark, Domain of Awareness, Rapid Growth, Vine Control, Fire Resistance, Telepathy, Improved Digestion, Resource Berry


    ¡°I was mistaken. I¡¯m actually level 31. I guess the Orc kill brought me over the ledge and I missed the notification. But yes, I do have a few Uncommon rank skills. And Resource Berry is a Rare rank skill as well.¡± I then listed out all of my skills, skipping over the fact that I actually didn¡¯t have a single Common rank skill. Every skill besides Resource Berry was actually Uncommon rank.


    Lilly was bouncing with joy at this point. I could feel her taking mental notes, and filing questions away for later. I could only smirk at her overly excited behavior, but I interrupted her before she could start asking them. I had a few questions of my own, and I knew this conversation would be the best time to ask them. Hell, I''ve already gotten some great information out of her already. I needed to keep pushing while I had momentum.


    ¡°Besides getting either a new skill or skill upgrade, what exactly does gaining a level do for me? I haven¡¯t exactly felt much of a difference between levels.¡±


    Lilly stared at me for a minute. I could feel her mind racing for an answer. She found multiple, but she threw them away, realizing that I¡¯m a tree and I don¡¯t get stats the same way humanoids do.


    After 5 minutes straight of her struggling to piece her thoughts together, she finally started to speak, though slowly and cautiously.


    ¡°Well, for humans, we get Stats. Each level gives us 1 point in each of the 6 major stat groups, and we get an extra ¡®free point¡¯ we can assign by ourselves. We have 3 physical stats, Strength, Agility, and Endurance, and we have 3 nonphysical stats, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. We can also train to increase our stats as well. It would explain your size at such an early age.¡±


    She gave a few examples for how humans can spread their stats for a better life, and how they can specialize and a bunch of other crap, but none of it was relevant to me, so I only partially listened. I only tuned fully back in when she got to a part that seemed interesting to me.


    ¡°As all creatures level up, they also get an increase in resource pools, which can be affected by size as well. So, when you level up, I¡¯m sure most of your benefits go towards increasing your resource pools and possibly resource generation. Hell, you probably get a growth spurt every level as well.¡±


    Well, that would explain how I¡¯m able to grow so fast. I get resource boosts every level, plus I have skills that also help out in that department. Improved Digestion and Photosynthesis help generate and the Resource Berries help store the extra. It was a pretty awesome system, if I do say so myself. I still wondered how fast I would be getting resources if I were to grow to a hundred feet. Or even a thousand.


    Lilly tried to get my attention for a while, but I was too lost in my thoughts of grandeur and world domination via vines to notice. She eventually gave up and climbed my trunk to take a nap where it was safe. I absentmindedly set up a ladder and sent a few berries her way while I pictured kings paying homage to my roots.

 Chapter 20

    The day after the Wolf fiasco was a rather peaceful day. It was also the day I asked Lilly to help me train my mental attacks.


    ¡°I can¡¯t really help all that much,¡± she started explaining. ¡°I have some training for how to defend against mental skills, but that¡¯s mostly to deal with people trying to jack prices up or down when negotiating. I don¡¯t have any idea as to how I could help with attacking or defending with what you described about your new use of the Telepathy skill.¡±


    That was disappointing. I was tempted to beg a bit more, but I¡¯d rather not come off as needy to the first person I could consider a friend in this world.


    ¡°I understand. How about any other form of magic? I have a bunch of mana, and Telepathy barely takes anything. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve dropped below 100% despite how much I¡¯m actively using the skill.¡±


    If I couldn¡¯t get mental magic, maybe she could teach me something else about magic. She did mention having met a few magic caster adventurers in her travels before, though I wasn¡¯t sure how much aptitude Lilly herself would have for it.


    ¡°Now that, I can teach a little about,¡± she said excitedly. ¡°One of the skills I was working towards getting as a bit of a ¡®for fun¡¯ thing was Water Magic. I had a user of the skill teach me a bit of how to use it one time while she was escorting my caravan to Ostlan a few months ago. I haven¡¯t had much time to really put in a concentrated effort into learning it, but I at least know enough that I should be able to learn it, and you should be able to learn it as well, theoretically.¡±


    I was immediately hooked. ¡°How do we begin?¡±


    ¡°First, I need a bowl and water to fill the bowl with. Now, I could dig the bowl out of the ground, but it would be better if- Okay, that¡¯ll work too, I guess.¡±


    As she spoke, I formed a bowl about 6 inches in diameter and 4 inches deep out of one of my smaller branches up high, then I tore the bowl off with two vines, making sure to keep the integrity of the bowl. It felt like pulling out a hair, but doing it actually earned me a skill.


    New skill [Wood Crafting (C)] has been obtained!


    Well, that seems self-explanatory, and I realistically probably won''t be using it all that often. It didn¡¯t hurt all that much, but I still won¡¯t be tearing off little bods and do-dads for just anybody.


    I then brought the bowl down in front of her. She accepted it and held it in her hands while we figured out the next part of our plan. We needed to find a way to fill it with water.


    ¡°I can sense water being brought up to me through my roots, but I can¡¯t exactly force it up or out of the ground all willy nilly. Maybe if I had the skill already, but I need to skill to get the water, and I need the water to get the skill.¡±


    Lilly and I were both slightly dumbfounded as to what we were supposed to do about our little conundrum. After close to an hour of silent pondering and relaxation, I grabbed the bowl from Lilly and brought it up to my higher branches to get a Resource Berry lunch for her. It was a lot more convenient for me to fill the bowl with berries to bring down to her than it was to juggle them in the tips of my vines. When I brought the bowl down to her again, something occurred to me.


    ¡°Lilly, humans require water to survive, right?¡± I hoped she wouldn¡¯t take the line of questions in the wrong way, so I pushed through before she got the chance to. ¡°What water have you been drinking the last few days that you¡¯ve been with me?¡±


    She considered the question before answering, ¡°I guess I haven¡¯t really needed water lately. The berries you provide me are more than enough for me to live... Off... Of... Wait, do you think we could use the juices from the berries to work with? I don¡¯t want you to feel like you¡¯d be wasting them or anything.¡±


    She sounded slightly defensive, so I lightly smacked her head with a vine.


    ¡°I told you not to worry about it. I have plenty of regeneration, and now we know that I¡¯ve been getting more and more regeneration as I level as well. I¡¯ll be perfectly fine, thank you very much. Now get to squeezing so we can get some Water Magic skills!¡±


    Lilly rubbed the back of her head, though I know she didn¡¯t actually get hurt from that. She smacked my trunk and got to work squeezing the Stamina Berries I brought down for her to eat. I wondered if using Mana Berries would be better for this experiment, or if I should try making non-resource berries instead. Heck, with what I was doing to BBW yesterday, I wondered if I could put mental energy into a berry and make a sort of Mental Berry. That would be an experiment for when Lilly was asleep and I had the forest to myself.


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    ¡°Okay,¡± Lilly interrupted my line of thought. ¡°Now that we have our ¡®water¡¯ to practice with, it¡¯s time to try getting the skill. The mage told me that the best way to get the Water Magic skill was to pour a bunch of mana into the water and focus your intent on making the water do something. I think I¡¯ll be focusing on making the water just ripple for now. The more low-key the change you try to make the first try, the easier it will be.¡±


    She held the bowl of yellow jam in between her hands and I felt her concertation focus solely on getting the water to make small waves. I watched closely, hoping to see any sign of either success or failure. I then felt her pour a small amount of mana in through the bowl and into the liquid contained inside.


    A few minutes later, and a whole lot of nothing, Lilly almost dropped the bowl and sat down hard. I caught her and the bowl with a few vines. I made sure none of the smashed berries fell out and that she didn¡¯t hit the ground too hard.


    ¡°Any success?¡± I asked her. She only shook her head. I felt a wave of disappointment emanate from our bond, but made sure to keep my end full of feelings of support and confidence. I¡¯ve been noticing that more of our conversations have become less about words and more about emotions. It was an interesting feeling, but I can¡¯t say that I dislike it.


    Lilly looked down at the berry jam in her hands and dipped a few fingers in. She scooped out the contents and began eating them. I had forgotten that this was supposed to be her lunch. I quickly brought down a few more Stamina Berries, and added 5 Health Berries to the mix for extra measure. I felt a wave of mental exhaustion from her, and realized she would probably need Mana Berries as well to recoup what she just spent.


    I replaced 5 of the Stamina Berries with the Mana Berries and brought them down to her. She looked happy to see them, and popped them in her mouth, one at a time. I took the bowl from her and used a few vines to wipe away the remaining contents. Lilly had eaten most of it, but there was still some residue left over.


    Lilly leaned against my trunk and closed her eyes. Her breathing slowed, and soon I felt her drift to sleep through our bond. It was pleasant feeling the dreamlike state in this manner, but I removed myself from her mind, as that felt too much like a violation of privacy.


    I brought the bowl up to the top of my canopy and set it down in a small nook. I grabbed a single Stamina Berry from my branch and took a few of the thinnest vines I had to make a sort of mesh strainer. I squeezed the berries into a pulp, then strained them further to get a more liquid consistency than what Lilly previously had. This looked more like a proper juice than the jam it was before. I repeated the process a few more times, hoping that this would help Lilly get the skill a lot faster. This way, she wouldn¡¯t have to deal with all the solid bits like before.


    Lilly slept for about an hour, and I handed her the bowl so she could try again. She eagerly accepted it, but I insisted she eat a few more Mana Berries to get fully topped off before she do so.


    ¡°The 5 you gave me earlier were more than enough. But I will keep them for after this attempt, so thank you.¡± She set the berries aside and got to work.


    Lilly put her hands on either side of the bowl and closed her eyes. I felt our connection dim a bit as she put all her mental effort into making the liquid in the bowl start to ripple, as if a droplet of rain just plopped in the middle of an otherwise mirrored pond. It was honestly a rather soothing image she was transmitting. I could tell she had done this many times before in hopes of getting the skill.


    After a minute of concentrated effort to get the scene firmly in her mind, she started adding mana into the liquid in front of her. I could feel her arms start to get tired, but she made sure to hold the bowl nice and still.


    I watched closely as stared at the bowl. I felt her hopes rise as a small ripple formed, but she quickly cooled herself, swiftly returning to the previous image. I made a few mental notes on her image for things I wanted to try when I made my own attempts.


    Lilly drained most of her mana trying to get the juice in the bowl to move even the slightest bit. It was all to no avail. I could feel her start to get a bit light headed, so I prepared to catch both her and the bowl again.


    With vines at the ready, her collapse went rather smoothly. I caught her under her arms and I had two vines under the bowl forming a slightly larger bowl to catch it and its contents. I made it water tight, so there was no spillage.


    ¡°Lay down and breathe for a bit. Eat the Mana Berries and relax. You probably just used your entire Mana Pool in that endeavor, no? You need to recover before even thinking of trying anything else.¡±


    I felt frustration coming from her in great waves. Between waves was exhaustion, both mana related and mental. I could tell she was getting irritated that she hadn¡¯t picked up the skill yet despite how long she had been working at it. A few months isn¡¯t a short time. Well, it is for me now, but it definitely wasn¡¯t for me when I was human.


    I lay Lilly back down in her spot when she was resting before and made sure she ate the Mana Berries. I could tell she didn¡¯t want to, but I also felt a wave of relief when she finally did. I sent a mental smirk at her and she just rolled her eyes and smiled.


    I took the bowl out of the impromptu catcher and brought it under the vine bowl. I made a small gap between the vines and let the Stamina Berry juice pour into its previous container.


    I studied the liquid and could feel trace amounts of mana swirling in it. I didn¡¯t want to use Mana Berry juice just in case it messed with the process of getting the skill, but I was starting to suspect that using it might have actually made it a lot easier for Lilly to get the skill in the first place.


    I was about to tell her my discovery, but when I checked our bond again, I found she was back to sleeping again. Maybe she hasn¡¯t been sleeping as well as I thought up in my branches. How can I fix this?

 Chapter 21

    While Lilly slept on the ground at the base of my trunk, I wove a bed made of a few freshly grown branches for her. It wouldn¡¯t be the most comfortable thing for her to sleep in, but it was a lot better than her just sleeping on my branches.


    She slept for a solid 3 hours this time before she started to stir. When she opened her eyes, it was starting to get dark out. I asked her what she wanted to do. I felt a wave of sadness flow over her when I asked that. I realized she thought I meant in the long term, instead of just whether she wanted to try again with getting the Water Magic skill or go to sleep. It would have gone better had I just shown her the bed first. I suppose we needed to have this conversation eventually though. Might as well be now.


    Lilly took a deep breath before she started. I felt some small sense of duty emanating from her, along with a hefty amount of a desire to stay. She really was a troubled girl.


    ¡°I should probably head back south along the road. It''s only a few days walk south of here for me to get home, but I don¡¯t know if I really want to go home, yah know? This clearing has been more of a home to me than the house I grew up in over the last few years.¡±


    Oh, so we¡¯re just diving straight into the deep end, huh? Alright, just go with the flow.


    ¡°How long until someone comes looking for you? You said you were heading to Ostlan I believe. And that it was around a hundred miles north or so from here.¡±


    I tried recalling our last conversation about it. Apparently Ostlan was a much larger trading hub than whatever city she came from was. Thinking about it now, she never actually told me the name of the city she came from. Oh well.


    She thought about it before answering. ¡°It really depends. My father should have sent word to his contact that we were coming, and we should have been arriving today if things went according to plan. Assuming everyone else had died in the... accident...¡±


    Her emotions almost boiled over for a moment before she regained control and continued.


    ¡°Then they should be questioning our whereabouts by the day after tomorrow. If one of the escorts managed to survive, then they should be making it to either city within the next day or so and telling people what happened. If I¡¯m lucky, someone might come looking in around 4 or so days. But I think I should probably go before then. This little vacation has been wonderful, but I guess I should be going back to my ¡®normal¡¯ life.¡±


    The sadness in her started seeping through our bond. I usually dislike feeling this way, but I could tell that our connection was helping her feel better. I widened the bandwidth that was Telepathy skill and pulled on her sadness more. Soon enough, she was back to be more of her cheery self.


    ¡°Stay as long as you like. It¡¯s getting late for you though, so you should head up now.¡± I made a platform for her to stand on and gave her a few vines to balance on. I sent her a mental clip of her rising through my branches and she stepped on.


    I made sure to go slowly so as to not let her fall. When she saw the bed I had woven for her, she smiled and sent a wave of gratitude my way.


    ¡°My usual nook was nice and all for a few nights, but nothing can beat a good old bed. Thank you, Willow. I truly appreciate this.¡±


    Lilly climbed off her personal elevator and laid down. She used her cloak as a blanket, and I wove a small pillow for her to use as a bed. It was odd how much easier it was to shape my wood now that I had the Wood Crafting skill. I made sure most of the pillow was leaves and small, softer twigs. It was actually a pretty good pillow, in my opinion. Lilly seemed to also like it, so I consider it a win.


    I offered Lilly a few Berries for dinner, which she declined. Then we talked about some possibilities for how to get her to get the Water Magic skill before she had to leave. It wasn¡¯t the most difficult skill to get, but any elemental skill started out as an Uncommon rarity, so it was harder than most Common skills to obtain.


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    ¡°I¡¯ll have some Mana Berry juice for you to try with tomorrow. I think it should be easier to use than Stamina Berries, since it¡¯s already pretty saturated with mana and all that. You should only have to focus on manipulating the mana, rather than saturating the liquid with mana before having to manipulate it.¡±


    After a few more back and forth comments, I could tell that she was getting too tired to keep talking. I knew she would stay up as long as I asked her to, but it would be better for her to sleep.


    ¡°Sleep well, because we¡¯re working all tomorrow on you getting that blasted skill!¡±


    She chuckled and passed out soon after. That left me alone with my thoughts, as the birds had left a few days ago and hadn¡¯t come back yet. I hoped they were all right though. I¡¯d hate for something to have happened to them.


    Having the next few hours to myself left me with plenty of time to practice getting the Water Magic skill for myself. I started with emptying the bowl of Stamina Berry juice and replacing it with Mana Berry juice. I then wrapped the whole bowl in vines and poured an enormous amount of Mana into the liquid before giving up. I had used 25% of my pool, which is more mana than I had ever used before, yet I still didn¡¯t get the skill.


    I focused my mind similarly to how Lilly focused hers. I pictured the liquid making small waves in the bowl, rippling out from the center of the imaginary pond and lapping on the rocky beach before calming down again. To be honest, it was a great mental exercise for calming yourself. The only downside was how exhausting using so much mana at once was. I had only used a quarter of my pool and I was already ready to call it quits. I was surprised at how much mental fortitude Lilly must have.


    I spent hours practicing the same thing over and over, yet each time I thought I was getting close, the mana juice would calm down again. I guess I was shaking it slightly while I was focusing. After my third slight shake, I made a small divot in the ground between a few roots and placed the bowl there. It didn¡¯t matter where the bowl was as long as I had contact with it. At least, I didn¡¯t think it mattered.


    After my most recent attempt, I decided to take a step back and evaluate the way in which Lilly and I were approaching the problem. We were both using the same mental image of a peaceful pond having some very mild ripples across its surface, we were both pouring mana into a watery base, and we both had direct contact with the bowl.


    Maybe we need direct contact with the liquid itself? Could the bowl be providing some sort of interference to prevent us from succeeding? I mean, it¡¯s just normal wood that I grew. I could see how it might interfere with Lilly, but this used to be part of me, so it shouldn¡¯t cause any issues for me.


    After a failed test with direct contact, I dismissed the idea. The only other factors I can think of are our mental processes and the liquid used for experimentation. I doubted using Health Berries would be any better than using Mana Berries, but I went ahead and gave it a shot.


    Before I poured out the Mana Berry juice, I took a quick closer look at it to see if there were any impurities that might be the problem, but all I saw was an extremely oversaturated liquid that glowed slightly.


    Okay, next few experiments should NOT need so much mana. Noted. I don¡¯t think there¡¯s been a liquid so densely packed with the stuff before. I¡¯m sure Alchemists everywhere would kill to get their hands on the stuff.


    I poked a hole straight down in the dirt and poured the Mana juice right down in it. I felt the mana saturate the ground before quickly being absorbed by my roots. It was an odd feeling, but I kind of liked it.


    I gave the Health Berry juice a shot but had no luck with that either. I tried around 13 times before giving up on that endeavor. I switched back to Mana Berry juice, since I felt like that would just be the right answer. I just needed to figure out how.


    Okay, I crossed off both Stamina Berries and Health Berries, and I feel the closest with Mana Berry juice, so I¡¯ll stick with that. Contact wasn¡¯t the problem, so that leaves either us needing actual pure water for this, or we need to adjust our mental image. I can''t think of a better image to use though. The whole pond thing seems pretty legit to me.


    The next hour was spent sending a small supply of mana to the bowl of Mana Berry juice sitting in a wedge between a few roots. I spent my time thinking of various ideas of what Water Magic might look like. I pictured water whips, protective bubbles, a concealing fog, making it rain, and a whole host of other images from various manga and anime I saw in my past life. Nothing seemed to stick.


    After I ran out of ideas. I just focused on the liquid in front of me. I stopped sending more mana into it, since it was almost starting to glow again. Instead, I focused on how the mana was interacting with the contents. It seemed to energize it, making the liquid want to do something. It just didn¡¯t know what to do. I focused on it starting to swirl around, as if forming a little whirlpool, and it obeyed.


    New skill [Water Magic (U)] has been obtained!

 Chapter 22

    The answer is so obvious that I want to face palm. If I had a face. Or a palm.


    The whole time we were focused on the idea of water moving, we weren¡¯t focusing on the water in front of us. We had an image of some random pond having some ripples flow through it. While it was a rather peaceful image, it wouldn¡¯t have worked since it didn¡¯t involve the bowl, the water, or the Berry Juice impurities in the water.


    I was so excited that I almost woke Lilly up right then to tell her how to do it, but then I remembered how exhausted she was the day before and let her sleep. She should be waking up in an hour or two on her own any ways, so I could wait.


    One of the interesting aspects of having an elemental skill was that I could now sense that element. When I was finally calm enough to notice it, I could sense the moisture content of the ground around me, the water in the dirt below me, and even more details of how much water was within myself. It was an odd feeling, but it would only manifest if I paid attention to it.


    As I waited for Lilly to wake up on her own, I decided to switch the Mana Berry juice out for regular water. I think it was easier for me to use the Mana Berry juice instead of water since it was already composed of my mana, so it should be easier for Lilly to flood the water with her own mana and manipulate it that way.


    I used the Water Magic skill for the first tome to pull all the contents of the bowl out and threw it to the side. I then used the sensing portion of the skill to pull pure water out of the ground and trickle it into the bowl. It came out very muddy, so I did a little finagling to get it to be purer.


    I took the stream I was making and thinned it out to as much as I could manage while still being in control of it and felt the water become more pure as less particles were able to stick to the stream. I watched as a small pile of sand and dirt formed under where the stream was thinnest. I then funneled the pure water back into the bowl and saw how clear it was. I strained my vision as much as I could to zoom in and get as close a look as I could. It gave me a headache, but I couldn¡¯t see anything besides water in my bowl. I was happy with my work, and had good timing too, as Lilly was just waking up as I finished.


    ¡°Rise and shine! I made a breakthrough!¡± I helped her get down as fast as I could without hurting her. I could feel some alarm through the Telepathy bond, but it was quickly replaced when she saw the small orb of water I had floating in front of her.


    ¡°You did it! Tell me how!¡±


    I spent the next few minutes recounting everything I could without giving away that I was reincarnated from another planet. She had a few questions here and there, but I could tell she mostly just wanted me to cut to the chase.


    ¡°Finally, the last issue I could think of was the way we were thinking about it. I watched your mind while you made your attempts yesterday, and I think the reason it wasn¡¯t working was because we were imagining a body of water that wasn¡¯t the one we were working on. You have to focus on the water in front of you!¡±


    Lilly slapped her hand against her forehead and I could only laugh as I had the same mental reaction. After she saw the orb of water floating, I had put it back in the bowl for her to try. She sat in front of the bowl and I brought down a bunch of Mana Berries for her to eat while she practiced.


    I was tempted to absorb a few myself, but when I checked my resource pool, I was already back up to 85%, despite using well over 75% of my mana last night. I guess that¡¯s the benefit of being a tree. Extreme resource regeneration.


    I haven¡¯t upgraded Photosynthesis in quite a while. Maybe I should make that my level 35 upgrade? Meh. I have plenty of time to get to that point. If I can¡¯t think of anything better to use the level on, I¡¯ll pick that for sure. Although, upgrading Rapid Growth to bump my growth rate up would be nice too. Hmmmm. Decisions decisions.


    While I was pondering my next level upgrade, Lilly was busy getting the Water Magic skill. She had to refill her resource pool a couple times by eating a few Mana Berries, but she got it after the third try. I could feel her excitement bubbling over when she got the notification.


    ¡°I GOT IT! I REALLY GOT IT! Thank you, thank you so much, Willow! I can¡¯t believe I wasted all that time when the answer was literally right in front of me! I finally freaking got it!¡±


    She was basically bouncing in her seat until she got up and started actually bouncing. Well, jumping for joy, but same thing, really.


    I sent waves of joy and pride her way, and she sent them back twofold. We had quite the celebration, and nothing could ruin this moment for us.


    .....


    I just had to say that, didn¡¯t I? Well, at least this time it was a mild interruption. And one that I recognize.


    ¡°Heads up, there¡¯s a couple of Goblins coming our way.¡± I sent to Lilly. She immediately tensed, ready to fight them off if needed. I could tell she wanted to just go back to practicing Water Magic though. I felt the same, so I decided it was time I reveal myself to Club too, instead of just Dagger.


    ¡°Hello little Goblins. I have a friend with me right now, so I will give you a warning. If either of you attempts to harm her, you will be destroyed. That being said, feel free to enjoy my shade.¡±


    Both Club and Dagger were startled by my mental message. Dagger got over it faster than Club did though, since I had spoken to him before. Club however didn¡¯t seem to take my threats seriously, and he heaved his weapon in a threatening manner. I snatched it out of his hands before he could actually do anything with it though.


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    ¡°This is your one and only chance. Do. Not. Hurt. Her.¡± I sent feeling of protection and violence at the aggressive Goblin, and he soon stomped off.


    Dagger on the other hand approached Lilly. She seemed scared of him, but I reassured her that he was at least somewhat friendly. When he made it to her, he actually extended a hand for a greeting. I saw he was missing a couple of fingers that were there last time, and felt bad for the little guy.


    Lilly saw his stubby hands and accepted it at my encouragement. I told her how I had communicated with this specific Goblin before, and that he was a decent fellow, albeit a bit slow in the head.


    Lilly started communicating using only thoughts, since she was scared that any sudden noises would set Dagger off.


    ¡°If it were anyone else trying to get me to shake hands with a Goblin, I would have thought they went senile. But I guess you were right; this one is at least not aggressive. Can¡¯t say much for the other one though. He looks ready to murder me the first chance he gets.¡±


    I laughed and agreed. ¡°Yeah, Club is a feisty one. He¡¯s also pretty bossy, and I¡¯m sure he hated that I took his weapon away from him. I promise nothing will happen to you though. I already told them both they would die before getting to lay a harmful finger on you.¡±


    ¡°I never doubted you, big guy. That being said, why let them live? You could easily kill them where they stand, so why?¡±


    ¡°They haven¡¯t caused me any direct harm, so I see no reason to kill needlessly. Besides, Dagger over here ¨C the one you shook hands with ¨C is at least a decent fellow. Like you said, can¡¯t say much for his brother though.¡±


    After conferring with Lilly for a moment, I added Dagger to the connection, making sure I acted as a relay between the two rather since I wasn¡¯t sure I could even connect them directly. That was way beyond my means, and I doubted Lilly would want to be connected to a Goblin anyways.


    ¡°So, what brings you to my neck of the woods? Y¡¯all miss me already?¡± I asked Dagger.


    The little guy raised an eyebrow in a strangely human way and asked, ¡°Why miss? You tree. You no go anywhere.¡±


    Lilly stifled a laugh. ¡°He has a point. It¡¯s not like you can exactly move.¡± I just sent an image of rolling eyes to her.


    ¡°Here I was thinking we were friends. What happened to your hand?¡± I was tempted to offer him some Health Berries, but the way Lilly reacted to them before made me more cautious with offering them to any random sentient being needing a bit of help.


    ¡°Fox. Steal my rabbit kill, I fight back, he eat fingers. I mad, but can no kill fox. Fox get away with rabbit.¡± The poor little guy looked so sad at that.


    ¡°Here, eat these. They should help you feel better.¡± I gave him two Health Berries. I just couldn¡¯t stand to see him in pain when I could do something about it. He hadn¡¯t done anything wrong to me, and he quite frankly looked to pathetic to even try getting food a different way. At least now, he could possibly use his namesake weapon to try and get another rabbit for lunch.


    ¡°Thanks Tree!¡± Dagger popped one of the berries in his mouth and his fingers stopped bleeding. All three of us stared in awe as the fingers slowly grew back. Dagger did scratch at it a bit, and I could feel how itchy it was through our connection, but he mostly left it to grow as he ate the second one.


    Dagger used his newly healed hand to grab his weapon and do a few flips before tucking it back in his waistband. He seemed rather happy with the result, and I felt his conviction to get another rabbit before he and his brother set back out traveling to wherever they go.


    ¡°Happy hunting, friend!¡± I sent him as he wordlessly left to get some food. If Lilly was lucky, she might have something other than Resource Berries to eat for the first time in a while.


    I looked around for Club but gave up after doing a quick sweep of my little circle. I guess he stormed off and left Dagger behind. That was disappointing. I still had his weapon, after all. I asked Lilly if she saw him outside of my field of view, but she denied it, so I put him out of my mind.


    Lilly and I went back to practicing using Water Magic, and we actually made some pretty good progress. I was doing considerably better at it than she was, but I tried to hide how well I was doing, and how easy it came to me.


    The hardest part of using the spell was picturing what I wanted the water to do. When I had a good enough picture of it, it became a lot easier. It was also easier to use it on pure water. The water straight from the ground was easier for me to use, since I could pretty much just flood it with mana, but I had to purify some for Lilly to use on her own.


    She was thankful, even more so when I filled a small wooden tub with water for her to properly clean herself with. She was also able to use the water in the tub for practice, so it wasn¡¯t a one and done kind of thing.


    We were practicing for around 3 hours when Dagger finally came back with his conquest. The little rabbit he was holding had a clean cut through its neck with minimal other wounds on its body. I was impressed how cleanly he killed it.


    After Dagger cleaned his kill, he looked around for Club. He seemed confused that his brother wasn¡¯t there, but he wasn¡¯t worried at all. Apparently, it was common for Club to have his fits of bratty behavior and refuse to show his face for a few days. I¡¯m sure it was because of me laying down the law that he was upset, but I couldn¡¯t bring myself to care.


    Since Club wasn¡¯t there to share the food, Dagger offered Lilly part of the rabbit, which I could tell she wanted to take it, but she refused, since she didn¡¯t have a way to cook it. Dagger just shrugged and scarfed as much of it down as he could, which was a surprising amount for such a little guy. There was only two ribs of meat left when he gave up and sat back for a nap.


    Lilly and I practiced our magic for the next few hours while Dagger slept. We were starting to get pretty good too. Lilly was even able to pull more water out from the ground all on her own. It turns out that sensing water was easier for me to do than her. I guess I¡¯m just more in tune with the ground than she is.


    One of the bigger uses of Water Magic was using it as a water whip. It was harder for Lilly since she didn''t have a clear mental picture for how to do it, but it was a lot easier when I showed her. First, I made a long rope of water, about 10 feet long. then I targeted one of my vines and used the water whip the same way that I used the vine for the vine whip. It was basically a more expensive vine whip for me since vine whips only cost mental effort. It was still good practice though.


    Lilly was getting better at the water whips as the morning dragged on to late afternoon, but still nowhere near as good as I was. I did have the advantage of already knowing how to do it and I was even able to do multiple at once. I limited myself to only 5 whips at a time so she didn''t feel as bad. I made sure she was topped off on mana by providing the occasional Mana Berry. She had plenty of time to practice, so I wasn''t worried if she decided to leave me soon.


    My favorite part of using Water Magic was that I can now create water balls or water bullets. This finally gave me a ranged attack that didn''t rely on my physical body. I still had my extra-long vine that I could use for emergencies, but at least that wasn¡¯t my only option.


    The rest of the day was pretty calm. Dagger woke from his nap and watched for a while before getting up and leaving. I assumed he was going to get his brother, but I just sent him a general farewell which he reciprocated. I hoped the little guy would be okay out there.


    When the sun went down, Lilly called it a day. She was getting pretty mentally exhausted, but I was still doing fine. I was tempted to keep practicing through the night, but decided against it. I had some other plans for how to spend my night. It would be one hell of a surprise for Lilly to see when she woke up.

 Chapter 23

    Right when Lilly fell asleep, I put my little plan into action.


    I dipped my awareness a little more into my roots than I usually did and started pouring mana into the ground below me. I kept to the top layer of my roots so I didn¡¯t lose track of time, as I tended to do.


    When I felt the ground below me was decently saturated with my mana, I focused on the idea of the ground around me forming into a small pillar, pulling the material needed from the surrounding earth to build up its height.


    In response to my call, the dirt and rocks flowed.


    This wasn¡¯t at all what I was expecting to happen. I thought it would be a lot more choppy and rough, but it flowed like the water did when I used Water Magic.


    I had the dirt and rocks form a small pillar about 30 inches tall. I was preparing to make a few more similar pillars before I received a notification I couldn¡¯t ignore.


    New skill [Earth Magic (U)] has been obtained!


    I smiled to myself then adjusted my project. I thought I would have to do more before I got the skill, but now I could jump right to the bigger plans.


    I smoothed the ground out around me to go back to how it was before I started my immensely successful experiment. I then flooded the whole ground around me in mana, using up around half of my pool. I needed the ground to be nice and pliable for what I had in mind.


    I raised the ground around me, making a small, hollow mountain with me as a central post. I then shifted it so there was a hole in the side closest to the road Lilly came from. I smoothed out the ground in my mountain, adjusted the inside to look more like a natural burrow, then started making rooms. That¡¯s right, I was making a Hobit Hole.


    It took me the whole night to get it looking as good as I wanted, but it went spectacularly. The rooms were harder to get right, since the walls were falling apart before I realized I could use my roots to support the structures. I wove thinner, longer roots through the walls then used Earth Magic to compact everything where I wanted it. It was strange having everything go as easily as it was, but I decided against looking a gift horse in the mouth. I did have to drain a few Resource Berries to keep myself in a comfortable range though.


    I had 3 major rooms made for Lilly¡¯s comfort, though she¡¯ll probably only use 2 of them. I had the main room with a small chimney and added a rocking chair and a couch woven from roots that I smoothed out using a combination of Rapid Growth and Wood Crafting. It felt odd having furniture made of my body inside of a cave that essentially housed my body, but I think Lilly would like it. And it would be a nice thing to have for future visitors to use.


    I was surprised at how quiet all of my work really went. I had hoped that Lilly would sleep through it all and it could act as a surprise for her when she woke up, but I expected her to wake up at the first sound of the earth shifting underneath her. I guess she¡¯s really enjoying the new bed. I think she¡¯ll like the one in her own private room more though. I made it almost identical, but the feeling of having walls around you while you slept is pretty nice after having to camp for a few nights. I remember my back aching in my old life. I always slept great the night after coming home from a camping trip.


    One of the things that I worried about most for the moment was how short I now looked. My lowest branch was sitting at around 10 feet off of the ground. I had to lift the ground level around me about 10 feet to get a good image of a home. I didn¡¯t mind terribly much though. It just meant I would be spending some more time focused more on vertical growth again before I went back to horizontal growth. I should be back to feeling normal in a few months, max.


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    I worked some more on the floor, making sure that there wasn¡¯t any loose dirt that would trip her up the moment she took her first step in here. Then I remembered the ceiling needed a bit of compacting too, and got to that as the sun started to rise. I had spent much of my resource pools through the night, but it would soon be worth it when Lilly woke up.


    I went over the fine details one more time when I heard a small shriek as Lilly raised her head and started looking around.


    ¡°Willow, how the HELL did you get so short over night? What did I miss?!¡±


    I connected my mind to hers and felt waves of panic and concern for me radiating from our bond. I sent waves of calm back to her and told her to hop down and walk around.


    ¡°I did some... renovating. Nights are long for me, so I have to find some way to fill them. I may have gone a little overboard with the decorations, but YOLO, so oh well.¡± I sent a mental shrug at that last part. She seemed confused but I felt her just accept that as one of my quirks.


    ¡°What do you mean dec... or...¡± Her thoughts fizzled out as she reached the edge of the hill I created and looked inside the entrance. I still had to make a door, but that could wait until later. I had spent a lot of resources already.


    ¡°How the hell did you do this? You made a HILL?! You made a HOUSE?!?!¡±


    Pure astonishment radiated through the connection, and I responded with smugness and a tint of glee. I was happy she reacted so strongly.


    ¡°I may have learned Earth Magic while you slept. I had a pretty good idea of what to do after learning to use Water Magic, and I¡¯ll probably try to learn a few more elements when I can, but yeah, I used that to make this. I hope you like it. I had fun making it.¡±


    She glanced up at me, and I felt the awe and wonder in her mind before she cooled herself.


    ¡°Can I... go in?¡± she sheepishly asked.


    ¡°No. I made it for the goblins. And no girls allowed. OF COURSE YOU CAN GO IN! I didn¡¯t make it for myself!¡±


    Lilly laughed and went in. She checked out the chair and couches and stopped by the pillar that jutted out on the far end of the room. That would be my trunk, since I had to go somewhere. I did shape it in a way that I fit it pretty well with the decorations though.


    ¡°I still have a few more things to add to give it a lived in feeling, but I think it¡¯s a pretty good start. For now, at least.¡±


    She walked around and checked out the next room. This was the bed room I made for her. I only had time to make a bed similar to the one she slept in last night, but it would be the first thing I upgrade when I got the chance. Not as a skill upgrade, mind you. But I would make it more comfortable when I could. Maybe use my Resource Berries as a trading chip somehow. I¡¯ll figure it out as I go.


    ¡°Oh Willow, you shouldn¡¯t have. You put in all this effort, but you know I¡¯ll probably be leaving in a few days. I appreciate you none the less, but this is too much.¡±


    She started to tear up a bit as she laid down in the woven bed. I used my longer vine to grab the woven blanket that was up in my branches and brought it down to her. I did my best to tuck her in, but a tree could only do so much, yah know?


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. Even if you only use it a few nights this time around, it''ll still be here the next time you visit me. I¡¯ll try to upgrade things as I go, so it should be even better when you see me next. Maybe bring a mattress or something though, as I can¡¯t do too much about the bed. Sorry about that.¡±


    Lilly giggled and flooded our connection with a sea of appreciation and affection. She pulled the blanket up to her chin and basked in the feeling of home. I could tell that this was the most at peace she¡¯d been in quite a while. I guess she wasn¡¯t exaggerating about her sisters or mother.


    I hope her mother doesn¡¯t treat her even worse after learning of her daughter¡¯s demise. She can always stay with me, but there are things I can¡¯t provide for her. I guess I¡¯ll see when it comes to that. God, I''ll be hella lonely when she leaves me.


    Lilly closed her eyes and started to drift back to sleep. I started to pull away from the mental connection I had with her when she asked me to stay. I guess I wasn¡¯t the only one dreading the day she would be leaving me.

 Happy Holidays!

    Talking the rest of the year off! I hope everyone stays safe and has fun!


    To fill the word requirement:


    Peter Piper picked a peck of purple peppers Peter Piper picked a peck of purple peppers Peter Piper picked a peck of purple peppers Peter Piper picked a peck of purple peppers Peter Piper picked a peck of purple peppers Peter Piper picked a peck of purple peppers Peter Piper picked a peck of purple peppers Peter Piper picked a peck of purple peppers Peter Piper picked a peck of purple peppers Peter Piper picked a peck of purple peppers Peter Piper picked a peck of purple peppers Peter Piper picked a peck of purple peppers Peter Piper picked a peck of purple peppers Peter Piper picked a peck of purple peppers


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 Chapter 24

    I thought we had more time.


    <hr>


    The night was smooth and delightful. Lilly slept and I watched over her and even got to experience her dreams with her. She ended up sleeping until a bit past noon, by my estimate.


    While Lilly slept, I focused more on continuing to fix the place up for her. I knew she wouldn¡¯t care much about little things like doors, but I¡¯d feel better if she had a bit more privacy and a more defendable place than just staying up in my branches.


    The first thing I did was make a front door. I grew a solid plank that fit the rectangular hole then added a few loops at the top, middle, and bottom that would act as hinges, then made complimentary loops in the frame where it would go. I created three pins using Earth Magic that would slide between them and hold it in place. When it was all done, I was actually really proud of what I saw. It looked like a classic oak door from my old life.


    I then added a less sophisticated door between the main room and the living room, and a third door between the main room and the side room, which I plan on eventually making into a second bedroom. It would be better to have multiple spots for people to sleep in, since most people didn¡¯t travel alone, according to Lilly anyways. I¡¯ll probably have both rooms host two beds each when I get back to a more comfortable height. This would be the most decorating I plan to do for a while.


    After the final door has been crafted, I got an unexpected notification.


    Due to unconventional skill use, skill Rapid Growth (U) has been split into two skills: Rapid Growth (U) and Body Manipulation (U).


    Oh crap! I hope splitting a skill doesn¡¯t change it, cause I freaking LOVED the previous Rapid Growth!


    I pull up the skill description, hoping for the best, expecting the worst.


    Rapid Growth (U): Passive. Decreases Stamina regeneration but greatly increases growth rate.


    Okay, so the active portion of the skill is gone, but the passive portion looks to have just gotten a minor wording change. It looks the same other than that though. I guess I¡¯ll have to see what this new skill is.


    Body Manipulation (U): Active. Spend Stamina to manipulate the user¡¯s body, including creation of new body parts.


    Basically, the same thing as the previous active portion of Rapid Growth then. I guess I was just using differently than intended.


    I dismissed the notification and mentally swiped away the skill descriptions and vowed to upgrade Rapid Growth again when I got a chance. I¡¯d love to be able to grow faster.


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    After I had dismissed the two descriptions and notification, I went back to my meditation. I was mildly interested in Lilly¡¯s dreams, but they were more garbles of emotion rather than the played-out movies I used to have. They were positive emotions though, so that was a nice background feeling.


    Lilly kept sleeping until noon arrived, and then finally got up, feeling a lot more rested than before. It was a good thing too, as we had some new company come about at that moment.


    A tall bald man wearing nothing but leather pants and a strap across his chest entered my field of vision. He was a menacing sight, with the large, double sided battle axe strapped on his back gave a powerful aura, stronger than the Orcs even. He came from the direction of the road and was followed quickly by a robed woman with a staff and a hooded man with a bow. A quick look showed me that he was actually an elf, and my fantasy vibes just sky-rocketed. They were quickly crushed when I realized what this meant for Lilly.


    I sent a picture of the incoming trio to Lilly, and she hurriedly got up and rushed to the door. She fumbled for a moment, as there was now no source of light in the room, but I opened the door for her and helped her along. She was outside of the little hole in the ground just as the group came to a stop in front of the door.


    When Lilly opened the outer door, the group in front of her all raised their weapons, and I prepared to make a rather thick earthen wall at the slightest provocation from them. I flooded the ground around them and Lilly in preparation for a fight, but she seemed to put them at ease with minimal effort.


    ¡°I¡¯m Lilly, daughter of Cedar. I presume you¡¯re the group sent out to find and rescue me and my group?¡±


    Axel (as I will call him, regardless of what his actual name is) stepped forward, putting a hand up to tell his group to settle down.


    ¡°We are. We found the wreckage of the caravan on the road, including signs of multiple dead bodies and a bloody trail leading this way. We came to rescue you, anticipating that you would be gravely injured, but from the looks of things, you seem to be in perfect health. Might we have a word with you in your... accommodations? It has been an exhausting few days, fending off a large pack of wolves.¡±


    That was quite the introduction.


    As if on cue, a series of howls could be heard for a good 30 seconds. Lilly looked back at me and sent an inquisitive feeling through the link. The group just stared at her in anticipation.


    I sent her, ¡°If you think they¡¯re safe enough to be around, I¡¯ll approve it. But if they try to hurt you, I won¡¯t hold back.¡±


    She turned back to the group and said aloud, ¡°Come inside. You¡¯ll be safe in here.¡±


    As she turned to enter through the doorway, I used a combination of Earth Magic and Body Manipulation to open a series of one-inch holes in the ceiling to let some light in. It resulted in illuminating the room to what I consider an acceptable degree.


    Axel and the bowman followed her, but the woman just stared at the ground around her. I could feel she had a good bit of mana in her, at least in comparison to Lilly, so I guess she probably felt my mana running through the little home I made. Oh, and probably the quarter of my mana pool I flooded the ground with.


    While she examined the ground around her, a loud howl could be heard in the distance, but I knew that BBW wouldn¡¯t dare come back. Not after the thrashing I gave him last time. The howl did serve to shake her enough to walk through the door into my abode.


    When the woman crossed the threshold, I used some Body Manipulation to close the door behind her. I may have slammed it a bit harder than necessary, but the little jump she made was well worth it.


    I finally have some proper guests.


    I mentally rubbed my hands together. I just had to have some fun with them before Lilly gave me away.

 Chapter 25

    I kept messing with the woman by flooding various parts of my little structure with mana, then moving it around. I could tell she was following the movement by the way her eyes moved to wherever I moved the mana. She kept tightening and adjusting her grip on her staff with her knuckles going white every time I concentrated the mana in one point. I wonder if it¡¯s a magic user thing to be able to see mana moving, or if there¡¯s a specific skill related to it.


    As if on cue, I got a notification.


    Through hard work and training... or playing around... you have unlocked the skill [Mana Sight (U)].


    I laughed to myself as I read the notification and read the skill description.


    Mana Sight (U): Allows the user to see mana. Clarity improves with practice.


    Pretty sweet, though I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll.... Holy shit, these guys have some serious gear!


    I took a look at the trio again, but this time, they all glowed with a serious aura. I assume it¡¯s from enchantments, since Axel himself wasn¡¯t glowing. Only his axe and pants were. But still, they had to be loaded to afford all this. I remember Lilly telling me how expensive good enchantments were when she was telling me about her dad¡¯s store. Not even they could afford the really good stuff.


    Okay... Maybe I shouldn¡¯t mess with them too much... Maybe just a little bit more.


    I dispersed the mana and had the whole floor settle with a slight glow to it. The lady didn¡¯t seem to relax any, but I was done messing with her for now. I needed a way to figure out how to mess with Axel and the David Bowey over there.


    After Lilly had taken a seat at the rocking chair I made, Axel and Mr. Bowey walked around the room, looking at the table I made, and the couch and other small things I had added through the night before they got here.


    Lilly, being the good hostess she is, asked, ¡°Do the three of you need anything at the moment? I can¡¯t offer much food, but there is a room with a bed and I can get you some water if you need to refill your skins.¡±


    Axel turned back to her and nodded. ¡°We do need some water, but we¡¯re good on food. I need to ask though. How have you stayed safe so long? There are no records of any buildings like this around here. And that tree on top of the hill... Did it grow through the building?¡±


    Lilly smiled and replied, ¡°No wolves should bother us here. There were some Goblins that came by the other day, but they were friendly enough. How was the road here?¡±


    Axel looked confused as to why they were suddenly safe, but I wasn¡¯t really paying attention to the conversation. While the four of them had their talk, I was focusing more on messing with the group.


    I used pairs of my vines and started rubbing them together in a way that produced a creaking noise. The elf¡¯s ears kept twitching every time there was a noise. It was a good start, but I wasn¡¯t done messing with him just yet.


    I unraveled my longest vine and snaked it around the top of the hill to right above where he was and started thumping the ground ever so slowly and quietly. This really got his attention as he quickly drew his bow and aimed at the ceiling.


    Damn, that worked even better than I thought.


    ¡°There¡¯s something above us,¡± he called out to his group.


    I made a telepathic connection to Lilly and started laughing. IT seems she shared in my mirth, though did her best to keep it hidden. She did chastise me a bit before announcing, ¡°That would be our host. He¡¯s a bit of a prankster to newcomers. Please forgive him.¡±


    Axel looked at her quizzically. ¡°Host?¡± he asked. ¡°Is that how you¡¯ve managed to survive in these woods by yourself this last week?¡±


    ¡°Yes. He healed my injuries from the Orc attack, and he even killed one of the monsters himself,¡± Lilly replied aloud. Mentally she asked me if it were okay to tell them of my nature now.


    Not yet, I answered.  I¡¯ll lay off on messing with them, but let¡¯s save the identity conversation for later. You can invite them to stay the night though, if you want. Give the pack of wolves a chance to scatter.


    ¡°He¡¯s offering to let you stay the night, if you so wish. There are two bedrooms available. The men can stay in one, us ladies,¡± she said looking at the woman,¡± can stay in the other. There is a bed in each of them for sleeping. It¡¯s not a goose-feather mattress, but it¡¯s still better than sleeping on the floor.¡±


    Hey, I did my best! And I only made the one for you so far. I hadn¡¯t made the rest of them yet! I complained. But I immediately went about making new beds.


    I repurposed the one in my branches and brought that through a temporary hole in the wall I made to bring it in. I put that one in Lilly¡¯s room, added a few things here and there to make it better suited for being on the ground, then moved to the other two.


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    I made the third one identical to the other two, but I made the last a lot stronger. I made the supporting legs thicker, and the vines that were woven were made a lot tighter. I even added some Earth Magic to make some additional supports. Since this one went so well, I went ahead and added the strengthening support features to the rest as well.


    I had just finished making the last of the adjustments when Lilly showed the trio to their rooms for the night. The boy''s room was a lot emptier at the moment, since it just had the two beds pressed against either wall, but the ladies¡¯ room had both beds and table in between them. I was pretty proud of my house building skills, to be honest. I did make it on short term notice after all.


    ¡°Rather bare accommodations, but at least the beds look sturdy,¡± the elf commented. I officially hated that guy.


    I snaked a tendril of thought over to him and whispered as soft as I mentally could, ¡°Rude.¡±


    Archy (because why did I miss such an obvious nickname) jumped a solid foot off the ground. Axel and the robed lady -I still need something good for her... maybe Ivy? No, don¡¯t want to rush it like with Archy. Whatever, no rush. I¡¯ll get it eventually. They both brandished their weapons again, looking for what could have startled their companion. Archy looked around as well, but wisely just bowed his head and mumbled a half assed apology. The other two, seeing he was fine, hesitantly put their weapons away and looked around curiously.


    The woman stared at one of the roots that was slightly visible through a small gap in the otherwise earthen wall, so I used some Earth Magic to shift the dirt around to cover it more completely. She definitely noticed that and squinted her eyes.


    ¡°So,¡± she said, ¡°when will we be able to meet this patron of yours? I know you said he was a prankster, but I assume we should be able to meet him at this point, no? It would be rude of us not to make our proper introductions.¡±


    Lilly hesitated before thinking at me, ¡°What should I say?¡±


    ¡°Tell them this, exactly,¡± she nodded and prepared to repeat my words. ¡°You can make your introductions whenever you wish. He knows everything that goes on in his domain.¡±


    I feel like that was just the perfect amount of ominous for the situation.


    Axel was the first to respond.


    ¡°I see. In that case, my name is Ragnar, barbarian build and defender of the Laughing Vipers. I am also the leader of our group. It would be a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Your home is a lovely one, and we thank you for your hospitality.¡±


    Rather polite for a Barbarian.


    Archy stepped up next. He was a lot more confident than I would be if I had just jumped 3 feet off of the ground.


    ¡°I am known as Taryn Long-Feather. I can¡¯t say I am the biggest fan of... pranks, but I do appreciate you allowing us into your home. And forgive my rude comment. I meant no harm.¡±


    He stepped back and we all waited as the last of the three made her introductions.


    ¡°I suppose I¡¯m next. My name is Aspen, and I suppose I¡¯m a caster build, leaning more towards the elements. I have to say, you have control over a lot of mana, more than I¡¯ve ever seen before. I¡¯d love to learn from you, if you¡¯re willing to take an apprentice.¡±


    Damn. Now I feel obligated to introduce myself.


    I reached out with a thicker tendril than I normally used, and with great concentration, I split it into four ways, connecting to all of them. They all shivered as I made the connection, except Lilly, who was used to it by now.


    ¡°I am known as Willow. It is good to see new people. You are welcome to stay as long as you like, given you leave my home in a cleanly manner.¡±


    I made my branches creak all ominous like as I separated my mind from them. I was extra careful not to connect too deeply with them, as I only wanted to make a brief introduction.


    I did leave my mind connected to the caster for a moment to add a private message for her.


    ¡°I am not one to take on subordinates, but I might consider a trade in magical information. We can talk in the morning, if you so wish. But for now, enjoy your stay.¡±


    With that, I let the group get comfortable and unload for the day. I decided I¡¯d give them the rest of the day off of being messed with. They looked pretty damn tired to me.


    When evening hours came, the trio brought out some food and shared it with Lilly. I decided to share some berries with them as well, since they had been so good to her so far.


    I made a small bowl out of one of my vines to use as a delivery system and had a minor realization. I could simply make the connecting vine much smaller to make it easier to tear off when I was done with constructing the item. I felt a little embarrassed as to my previous struggles at realizing that, but I was glad to have that down for future references.


    I loaded the bowl with 8 each of Stamina and Health Berries. I brought the bowl down to the front door and gave it a knock. Axel and Archy both jumped a bit, but Aspen (I still need a nickname for her) barely seemed to notice. She had wrapped herself in a thick looking blanket and was reading by a fire they had built and ignoring the world at the moment. I get it. Everyone needed some private time.


    I informed Lilly what I had done, and she went over and opened the door. She grabbed the bowl, took 2 Stamina and 1 Health Berry then passed the bowl to Axel. He looked questioningly at the bowl, but popped a Stamina Berry in his mouth then jumped up.


    ¡°These are Resource Berries!¡± he exclaimed. That got the other two¡¯s attention real quick.


    ¡°Imposible!¡± Archy shouted. ¡°How on Vir could anyone have gotten these? As far as I know, these only grow in a specific grove, constantly protected by high level guardians.¡±


    Oh right, this planet is called Vir. I keep forgetting that. And I guess I shouldn¡¯t have shared the Berries. But that might also make them more valuable as a trading chip, if I so choose to go that route. Hmm... I¡¯ll have to see how this plays out first.


    ¡°These are gifts from Willow. He has his... Resources for procuring these.¡± Lilly gave such a delightfully ominous answer. I¡¯m so glad I¡¯m rubbing off on her.


    ¡°If that¡¯s so, then I see we¡¯ve underestimated this host of ours. Thank you, Master Willow. We will treasure these.¡± Axel said as he started to take out a bag and put the Berries in.


    I connected to him mentally and said, ¡°Food is for eating. Eat now, before their effects wear off.¡±


    I had no clue how long the Berries could be kept for, but I seriously didn¡¯t want my Berries to be used outside of my purview. I have no problem sharing with friends, but I¡¯m the only one who should be able to sell my literal life blood.


    Axel winced at that, but nodded and agreed. He grabbed another Stamina Berry and two of the Health Berries and shared the rest with his group. There was an extra Health Berry that Lilly didn¡¯t have, so I asked her to eat it so it wouldn¡¯t go to waste. She obliged me and then settled back down.


    As the Laughing Viper group began to settle down, they started telling the tale of their trip here. And I had to admit, it was impressive how well they handled themselves.

 Chapter 26

    I stopped listening after the third group of Orcs they defeated on the way here. Apparently, there were a crap ton of monsters rolling in from the south, or something like that. I couldn¡¯t bring myself to care. It felt too much like they were bragging, and didn¡¯t pique my interest. The only thing I wanted to know right now was,


    ¡°What are your plans moving forward?¡±


    Archy responded before Axel could. ¡°I¡¯d like to level up. This many monsters, while concerning, is a great opportunity to gain some additional levels. Sure, we shouldn¡¯t rush to get stronger, and sure there are other ways of acquiring strength,¡± he paused to glance pointedly at Aspen, ¡°but killing monsters and gaining experience is the tried-and-true method of becoming the strongest. That¡¯s the main reason we became adventurers in the first place.¡±


    Aspen rolled her eyes while everyone stared at her.


    ¡°Fine, we can spend a few days in the forest leveling. But if we run into any packs like the Wolves, we should definitely retreat. We might be B-rank, but we¡¯re not invincible.¡±


    B-rank, huh? That means these guys should be pretty strong. I guess they shouldn¡¯t have any issue taking Lilly home. They will take her home first, right?


    After asking as much, Axel quickly responded, ¡°Of course! I should have clarified for Taryn. We need to report to the guild first thing about the increase in monster activity, but after that, we¡¯ll probably try to get another support person, as Aspyn is mainly an offensive caster. If we intend to go on a long-term leveling escapade, then we need to prepare a few things.¡±


    I thought for a moment before coming to a decision. ¡°I see. If that¡¯s the case, then you will no doubt need some... Resources, no? Do you perhaps have a bag that I can borrow? I might be able to offer some assistance as a personal reward for your help in escorting my friend home.¡±


    Axel dumped out a bag. There wasn¡¯t much left in it, but it was still more than should have been able to fit inside the thing. He looked around for a moment before landing on Lilly. She reached out and accepted the bag from him. He rearranged some stuff and split his belongings between his two companions and waited patiently and expectantly. I could only chuckle slightly as his clear glee, looking like my nephew did on Christmas day.


    I could have easily filled the bag right then, but I would prefer to have the night to do it, among other things.


    ¡°You shall have this back in the morning, so be patient. But as for now, you should probably turn in for the night. That goes for all of you. I know you have had a long day, but sleep well, and know that I will be the watch for the night.¡±


    Axel looked mildly disappointed but went with it. He and Archy grabbed their stuff, minus a bag, and went to the men¡¯s room, while Aspen and Lilly went to the lady''s room. Each pair took their time getting to sleep, but when they did, I sealed half of the holes in the ceiling to make the room a little darker and therefore better for sleeping.


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    Before Lilly had gone to sleep, I asked her to leave the bag on her chair. I used a bit of Earth Magic to get the bag out of the room and up to a point where I could carefully grab it in a few smaller vines and start adding Resource Berries to it. If there were half as many monsters as the group claimed, they would likely need a few just to make it home.


    I added a total of 10 of each Berry for them. I figure Axel would need the Health Berries the most, Archy would need the Stamina Berries, and Aspen would need Mana Berries. This was just presumptions, of course, but it made sense to me.


    After putting the 30 berries in, I tried adding some wood in as well, just to test its limits. I was able to add the entirety of my longest vine in it, and it felt like there was still plenty of room.


    Maybe I should invest my next level skill into something that can store stuff. Maybe try to get Void Storage Magic or something like that. Or how about a Pocket Dimension? Ooh, I like the sound of that.


    I continued thinking of various new skills to use when I suddenly thought of an excellent use of my Earth Magic that might be able to emulate a different skill, assuming it was one. I quickly ripped my vine out of the bag and brought my attention to a patch of dirt that was outside the entrance to my little Hobbit Hole.


    I poured in a bit of mana into the ground and focused on forming a rectangular blob. I then added a second, much smaller globe of dirt on top, followed by two small appendages sticking out from the sides on top. I made them similar in length as the main part. I ended it by adding two more similar sized protrusions from the bottom, and started adding joints as necessary. I was impressed at how detailed I was able to make it, but I scribbled some details out, since I didn¡¯t deem them necessary.


    Before I knew it, I had a proper Earth Golem in front of me.


    Well, I called it an Earth Golem, but it still needed my direct input via mana to actually move itself. I was still happy though.


    The night was only halfway over when I made my amazing artifact, so I had plenty of time to play around with it before everyone else got up. I practiced making it do basic movements, such as walking, picking up new blocks I made, and even doing some fine details with a few smaller vines I grew and tore off.


    I ended up adding 5 fingers to each hand, since that was what I was most familiar with. Then I added two feet, instead of having the golem end in two rounded over nubs. I ended the fine-tuning session with a crudely formed face, with a basic two ¡°eyes¡± and a thin lined ¡°mouth¡±. It didn¡¯t need either of these things to function in the slightest, but it did make conveying emotion easier. I figured that it would be better to have something for my guests to look at while they were here.


    As I added the last detail of the Golem, I heard some rustling at the edge of my Domain of Awareness and saw a group of three Orcs start approaching the golem and the door to my little hovel. They were slow, as they were all sniffing at the air with their eyes mostly closed. It was clear they were tracking the scent of the group. But it was also clear to me that this would be the perfect chance to test out my new toy.


    I quickly pulled up my Status page to check on my resources to see how much I had, then I remembered that 1) I was a badass tree with essentially endless resources, and 2) even if I ran out of resources fighting these pigmen, I still had a large collection of Health, Stamina, and Mana Berries. I was set. I still pulled it up though, just because.


    User: Willow Race: Tree


    Level: 31 Exp: 270/2300


    H:100% S:100% M:96%


    Skills: Photosynthesis, Iron Bark, Domain of Awareness, Rapid Growth, Vine Control, Fire Resistance, Telepathy, Improved Digestion, Resource Berry, Wood Crafting, Water Magic, Earth Magic, Body Manipulation


    Oh, this was going to be so much FUN!

 Chapter 27

    The first thing I did was beef up the end of the arms. Doubling the mass would double the force of each hit, after all.


    While the pigmen were still sniffing at the air in front of them, I brought my newest toy right up to them. I added two sharp spikes of stone at the end of both hands, so when I made a fist, there were two claws similar to an old superhero sticking out for added piercing damage.


    I performed a beautiful uppercut to the first Orc, and the claws went right through the monster¡¯s head, with an extra inch sticking out on top. This alerted the other two Orc¡¯s of my presence, and both turned to me and squealed.


    I tried to get at least one more of the pigs before they were done with their cry of alarm, but the added mass made the arms slower than what I had practiced with. I missed the damned thing completely; the monster had taken a step back. I was able to rebalance the golem in time to defend against the oncoming blow, which didn¡¯t do any damage to me, since this was just a construct I made.


    I decided to forgo the extra mass and went instead for a high-speed approach to the fight. I put the golem¡¯s hands together in a sort of boxing pose and prepared to throw a few jabs.


    The first jab I threw connected with the open hand of the third Orc, which was attempting a clawed attack. My spikes went right through its hands, and I tore my hands to the side, making a bloody mess of the monster''s appendage.


    It ripped its hands back and released an even louder squeal. That got me slightly nervous, thinking there might be even more of these things out there than just this small party, but I couldn¡¯t do anything about that right now.


    The second Orc took the opportunity to get behind me and attempt a surprise attack. It was ineffective, given I wasn¡¯t in the body attacking the beasts. The arms of the golem just snapped back in the opposite direction, since its joints weren¡¯t that of an actual human. I did turn the ¡°head¡± around though, for a bit of dramatic effect.


    The Orc had attempted to grab my arms from behind to immobilize the golem, but I instead brought the arms of my Creation around and gave the Orc a big bear hug. I quickly used the mass from the ¡°head¡± to make a smaller third arm in its place, ended the arm in a spike instead of a hand, and impaled the spike through the thing¡¯s head. It was a bit gruesome, in my opinion, but it isn¡¯t like I really got any blood on me.


    With two of the three Orcs now dead, I turned my attention back to the Orc with a mauled hand. It was bowed over, hugging its bloody arm to its body. I¡¯m sure the poor thing was in plenty of pain. I needed to rectify that. I walked my golem back to it and gave it a swift decapitation. It was the least I could do.


    All in all, the whole fight took less than a minute, which was how long it took the members of the Laughing Vipers to stumble their way outside in an effort to join the fight. Unfortunately for them, they were met by the sight of three dead Orcs and a bloodied Golem Puppet.


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    I had gotten a few notifications during and immediately after the fight, but I pushed them off to the side of my vision so I could deal with the group. I knew they¡¯d be having a few questions, and I guess now was as good a time to tell them I was the giant tree they were sleeping under as any other.


    Before I could say anything, Axel and Archy both started complaining about how they weren¡¯t able to get any good kills. Aspen on the other hand was more curious about the stone body standing in front of them. I guess the men really were more level obsessed than she was. I can¡¯t blame them. I did get a decent chunk of EXP from the Orc slaughter.


    Exp: 1170/2300


    Damn. I might have to reconsider my level 35 skill. Maybe I should get a Monster Lure skill to help me power level. That was a full month¡¯s worth of EXP in under a minute. It might be worth it. But I do love my peace and quiet. Hmm... I¡¯ll think on it.


    Bringing myself back to the present, Aspen was asking about the construct I had made that was standing in front of her. I reformed the head out of the arm spike sticking out of its torso and added the face back, making sure it was a smiling one.


    ¡°I had a bit of time to kill last night while on watch, and I figured I would give Create Golem a try. I had just finished the fine tuning when I was so rudely interrupted by these unseemly folks over here. Sorry for the disturbance, you can go back to sleep if you want to.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s already morning, so I think I¡¯ll be fine,¡± she responded, circling the golem. ¡°Could you tell me how you made this? I¡¯d love to learn, if you don¡¯t mind.¡±


    Lilly and the men had gone back inside and started a fire for breakfast while I explained what exactly I had done.


    ¡°Interesting. So, you piloted the creation yourself, instead of having created an autonomous one. Is there any reason in particular that you chose that route?¡±


    ¡°Well, for starters, this is my very first attempt at this; I don¡¯t exactly have much Golem experience. Secondly, I figured doing it this way would allow me greater control over its movements and therefore would allow me to fight better. Lastly, I don¡¯t actually know how to make it autonomous.¡±


    I said that last part with a bit of a cringe. I was giving away my ¡®ancient sorcerer¡¯ vibe by admitting to my shortcomings, but with any luck, this lady might be able to help. Thankfully, she just nodded along with my explanation.


    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know much about making Golems, but I know it had something to do with implanting mental energy into the creation and forcing it to stay through sheer will power. That, unfortunately, is the full extent of my knowledge on the subject. I hope that helps.¡±


    ¡°That helps more than you might realize. I¡¯ve been wanting to experiment with mental energy lately, though the only one I¡¯ve had around to help is Lilly and a pack of wolves that are now too scared to come near my home.¡±


    Aspen froze for a solid 5 seconds before recovering enough to ask, ¡°you experimented with a pack of wolves? How does that work?¡±


    I chuckled and told her how I essentially forced BBW into submission just by battering at him mentally. It was honestly pretty funny, telling it now that I don¡¯t have to live it.


    ¡°So, it wasn¡¯t a pack, but an ALPHA WOLF that you forced to submit to you. You don¡¯t see anything strange about that?¡± She looked around incredulously, as if a bunny just hopped out of one of the Orc corpses, did a tap dance, and burst into flame.


    ¡°In my defense, he was about to pee on me.¡±


    ¡°WHAT?!¡±

 Chapter 28

    I shouldn¡¯t have said that. I should NOT have said that.


    Well, I guess the cat¡¯s out of the bag. Time to tell them I¡¯m actually a talking tree.


    While I went through the dozens of scenarios in my mind about possible ways this could go, Lilly came up behind Aspen and asked, ¡°Whatcha talkin about?¡±


    I made a direct thread to Lilly and told her what had happened.


    ¡°Any advice for how I should tell them?¡± I pleaded. I suddenly felt like I had gone too hard with the mystical wizard vibe and messing with them.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll help you out,¡± she said aloud. ¡°I¡¯ll just tell them the honest truth. And no more pranks, please. We like these people, remember? Now ask the boys to come out and meet us at the tree so the five of us can have a talk.¡±


    She pulled a bewildered Aspen along behind her and made her way to where my trunk sprouted from her temporary home. I called the men over, as she asked, and waited extremely impatiently for our conversation.


    I always felt awkward meeting new people, and this wasn¡¯t an exception. At least when I met Lilly, it was do or die, so she kind of had to accept I was a tree or die. With these people, I had been messing with all of them for the duration of their stay with me. And apparently, they were pretty strong, too.


    Now that I think about it, I don¡¯t know what level these people are. I have to assume high leveled, since they were adventurers, but I have no clue what constitutes being ¡°high¡±. Should I ask?


    As I finished pondering whether or not these folks could kill me if they so chose, the last two members of the Laughing Vipers joined us at the top of the hill. Aspen had spent the time checking out my trunk and my lowest hanging branch in the meantime. If they had been any slower, she might have thought to look up and see all the Resource Berries hanging down. I suddenly regretted my life¡¯s choices.


    ¡°So, what exactly are we doing up here? It¡¯s a nice view and all, but I think we could¡¯ve had this talk inside, no? Breakfast is almost ready.¡±


    Axel scratched his head in confusion as he walked the last few steps to us. I had pulled most of my vines upward so they didn¡¯t bump their heads or anything, which Aspen seemed to have given mild notice to, but had yet to comment on.


    ¡°Well,¡± Lilly started, ¡°I think it¡¯s time to introduce you to Willow, directly this time. This,¡± she turned and gestured to my trunk, ¡°is Willow. A sentient tree.¡±


    ¡°Like an Ent or something?¡± Archy asked. He looked confused about what she meant, but he seemed ready enough to believe her.


    I connected to the group with a split telepathic tendril, so they could all hear me. I absently wondered if they could hear each other this way as well.


    ¡°No, not like an Ent. My status page definitely says tree.¡±


    Through the connection to them, I could tell that they all had different reactions.


    Axel didn¡¯t seem to care much, only wanting food. Though there was a small curiosity in the background of his thoughts about whether or not he could take me on in a fight. I guess that was part of his barbarian nature.


    Archy was decently curious about my nature. He also began to wonder how well my wood would turn into a bow and arrows. Most of the reaction I got from him though was about being annoyed at being pranked by a tree and offended at not letting him in on the info regarding my race earlier. Apparently, it was a racial thing. I could tell he was trying to hide some more information from me, though I caught a mental image of a huge tree. I wouldn¡¯t pry further though. I respected his right to his privacy.


    The biggest reaction was from Aspen. She seemed to embrace the telepathic connection even deeper, going so far as to try probing me back. She ran over to my trunk and started rubbing her hands all weirdly on my body, enough that I used a vine to wrap around her waist and pull her off. She yelped a bit in surprise but started flooding the connection with questions. She skipped verbalizing anything completely.


    It appears this isn¡¯t her first time nerding out over something, as her companions just laughed and walked back inside.


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    ¡°Looks like she found a new toy. I guess this doesn¡¯t change much for me, so thanks for the night¡¯s rest. But like I said, breakfast is almost ready.¡±


    Lilly followed, seeing as she couldn¡¯t do anything to help. I just kept Aspen pulled mildly away from me, but she kept sending out probing tendrils of mana, which I assume is how she gathers information. I guess I could start doing that as well, hoping to get information on stuff I¡¯m unfamiliar with.


    ¡°What skill do you have? Do you have stats like people do? I guess you wouldn¡¯t have an agility stat like we do. How about strength. Your vines seem plenty strong, is that running off of Stamina? Is there a skill you use to move them? Are they like your arms? How old are you? I¡¯ve heard you can tell a tree¡¯s age by counting their rings, though I guess I¡¯d have to chop you down to count them. Not that I would! But what if I...¡±


    This was just some of the barrage she was continuously throwing at me. It went on for over half an hour, with her getting into all sorts of details I hadn¡¯t even thought of. I began taking notes on what she said.


    I¡¯ve already made my roots more efficient by intense inspection, so why did I leave my canopy and trunk alone? I should try that when they all leave, as I¡¯m sure it¡¯ll take some time. Ooh, she brings up a good point about possibly making wooden golems too. I hadn¡¯t thought of that.


    She mentioned having one of my branches growing food, so if I get visitors again in the future, they¡¯d have actual food to eat, instead of what essentially amounts to potions. I might consider trying to add that to a lower branch, and move the resource berries up higher, but I¡¯m not 100% how that¡¯s going to go. Meh, I¡¯ll check it out.


    Let¡¯s see... What else do I care about that she¡¯s rambling on about.


    ¡°...fire resistance would be a MUST for you right? Trees are known for burning and all. But don¡¯t skimp on cold resistance either! We''ve had some relatively mild winter¡¯s lately, but the criers in the capital were calling about oracles blabbing about a harsher one soon. So be prepared for that and...¡±


    Cold resistance might be able to be added to my Fire resistance skill and make it a Thermal Fluctuation skill. That seems kind of advanced though, and I¡¯d probably have to waste two level skill slots to do so. Maybe I can just tough it out if it gets to that point?


    ¡°...host some monster insects, like bees or something! Do you need to pollinate? Ooh, do you need to reproduce? If you were to pollinate a...¡±


    I tuned out the sex talk and focused more on the possibility of hosting some insects. The Fire Ants and Carpenter Ants really ruined the whole insect thing for me, but I do have fond memories of my grandparents owning a bee farm. I loved the honey they made, and who knows, maybe honey could be a sweet treat for me now?


    I¡¯ll put monster insect taming on the list of future posi-bee-lities for now and simply disconnected from the mental assault. She was a sweet girl, and gave me some good ideas, but I think I want to just go at it at my own pace.


    I focused back on the rest of the group and saw that Axel had disemboweled one of the Orcs and used its stomach as bacon. The human appearance of the monster¡¯s bodies had me forgetting that they were pig-based creatures, and in fact, both human. It was still an odd thing to see.


    I connected to Lilly and asked her how her breakfast was going.


    ¡°Pretty good, though I could¡¯ve gone without seeing an Orc being butchered. Nothing against it, and it''s in fact delicious, but I¡¯m not a fan of blood.¡±


    She glanced down at her still torn shirt and shivered a bit at the sight of the blood. I didn¡¯t even realize how dirty her clothes had gotten, and I offered to do a quick cleaning with Water Magic, but she realized she could in fact do so herself and went to her room to do just that.


    I gave her some privacy and connected to Axel. I made sure to keep it a very minimal connection, but from what I could see of the man¡¯s thoughts, he really was a simple guy. That wasn¡¯t to say he was a simpleton, just that he seemed to speak his mind as thoughts came to him. Straight forward, that was it. Not even a second after I felt his intentions to speak the phrase, he said,


    ¡°Damn, this bacon is freaking DELICIOUS! We should go cut some more up for the road. Maybe make some bacon jerky as well.¡±


    It was like there was no filter on him at all. I could tell he could feel the connection I had to him, but other than a brief greeting, he seemed to go back to his food.


    Archy was a bit more... in depth with his feelings about being lied to. Apparently, Elves were widely known as ¡°tree whisperers¡±, or as Axel calls them, ¡°tree huggers¡±. He still felt slightly offended that I had kept my true nature a secret, despite my apologies.


    ¡°I truly didn¡¯t intend to offend you. It¡¯s just that Lilly was the first person I had met before all of you, and I wanted a chance to have some fun. That, and I have some trust issues. Lilly mentioned the value of Resource Berries to me, and I wanted to gauge your reactions before I finally showed you what I really am. I hope we can be friends, Ar- Taryn.¡±


    That seemed to get the Elf out of his mild slump, and he went back to his otherwise curious nature.


    ¡°It has been a while since I¡¯ve met a tree that had such awareness. There''s the grove in my homeland, protected by layers and layers of wards, that is full of sapient plant life, not unlike yourself. I guess I shouldn¡¯t be too offended, since many of the younger trees have been known as pranksters as well. Forgive me for my prior attitude.¡±


    ¡°Be at peace. I just wanted some fun, and I¡¯m glad I don¡¯t have to hide from you. That being said, I have yet to meet another of your kind and am unknowledgeable in the ways of the wider world. Everyone I have met is currently within earshot of you at this very moment.¡±


    The elf just nodded and left it at that. Just in time for his female companion to be done with her ranting. While she did give me a few great ideas for skills to work on, I¡¯m not exactly keen on answering questions regarding my roots and ¡®waste disposal¡¯.

 Chapter 29

    The Laughing Vipers ended up staying for one more night before heading back to their city with Lilly. I would miss the lass, but I knew she¡¯d be better off with her father. I couldn¡¯t exactly offer her an appropriate diet, and while I was safe to be around, the forest was apparently picking up in monster activity.


    Speaking of monster activity, I had to deal with another 4 groups of Orcs through the last night that they were here. They netted me a total of 3,600 EXP, which pushed me well over the edge to level 32. I really didn¡¯t want to become a murder tree, but damn, that was some seriously easy EXP for some very short fights.


    I took the first group out using the golem again, very similar to how the last group went. Unfortunately, that led to two more groups of Orcs hearing their cries, so I used a combination of the golem tactic and a few well-placed spikes through the feet to get these 6 down.


    The last group was one I had a bit more... fun with. I had gotten plenty of experience with my golem¡¯s body, and figured it was time I practiced some more with my Telepathy and see what I can do offensively with it.


    As the group approached me, I used some Earth Magic to bury them up to their necks. This way, they wouldn¡¯t be able to escape, and I could take my time practicing. It felt a bit extreme doing it this way, but a tree has to do what a tree has to do. When the three Orcs were sufficiently buried, I went ahead and covered their mouths with a few roots so they wouldn¡¯t make as much noise and attract others.


    Now that I had my three unwilling opponents, I dove straight in and attacked the one closest to me.


    I started by making the normal connection between the two of us, and felt waves of fear, anger, and hunger rolling off it. I also got a bunch of sensory information regarding their sense of smell. It was mad at how close it had gotten to having a full meal in a long time, but I couldn¡¯t let it eat the people I promised to protect.


    After my initial connection to its mind, I started gathering my mental energy and ramming it into the Orc¡¯s mind. I essentially made a mental mace and was battering at it, hoping to cause some damage. I could tell it was working, if only a little, by the small stream of blood coming from its nose.


    After 30 seconds of battering the thing¡¯s mind, I could tell this wasn¡¯t going to work. I needed to form a better weapon to fight with than a simple mace. The only reason I had gotten this far was due to the obvious difference in mental size. It had nothing to do with me being better than it, just larger.


    I went ahead and ended the thing¡¯s misery by stabbing it through the base of the skull with a sharpened root. That... actually gave me an idea. If I can form mental weapons to deal damage, then why don¡¯t I try forming a sword or a dagger and try a slashing attack.


    Before connecting to the second Orc, I gathered my mental forces and formed a sharp edge. It was difficult to keep it sharp, as every time I tried to switch focus from keeping the edge to making the connection, the energy I used to sharpen my mind would blob out and make the ¡°weapon¡± dull. It was a frustrating process that took a good bit of time to get right, but I managed it.


    When I finally got the technique right, the second Orc went down much faster. It still took a few tries, but this marked the first successful attack with just mental energy. It even gave me a few ways to consider how to attack the third Orc.


    This last monster was one I wanted to take out in a single mental strike. While I only took half of an hour between killing the first and second Orcs, I would take my time to sharpen my mind into a rapier with which I could stab once and completely destroy the mind of the monster in front of me.


    It took me until morning before I had molded my mind into the proper weapon I wanted. But when I did, I wasted no time in attacking. I quickly stabbed the Orc with my mind and destroyed its mental faculties. I didn¡¯t even form the regular connection with Telepathy before I attacked, which didn¡¯t seem to make a difference.


    The biggest gain I received from killing the Orc wasn¡¯t even the Exp I got. No, the biggest reward I received came in the form of a notification.


    Congratulations! Through hard work and practice, your skill [Telepathy (U)] has evolved into [Mental Magic (R)]!


    Sweet!


    I pulled up my status to look at the new skill.


    User: Willow Race: Tree


    Level: 32 Exp: 1570/2600


    H:100% S:100% M:100%


    Skills: Photosynthesis, Iron Bark, Domain of Awareness, Rapid Growth, Vine Control, Fire Resistance, Improved Digestion, Resource Berry, Wood Crafting, Water Magic, Earth Magic, Body Manipulation, Mental Magic


    Mental Magic (R): Active. Caster uses mana to manipulate mental energy. Mental energy can be used offensively, defensively, or as a utility for certain crafts or communication. User is also able to sense the minds of others as well as the strength of those minds. Strength of skill increases with practice and amount of mental energy available.


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    I shoved my mind into the golem and had the creation start dancing. I was so excited by the new skill, and I could hardly wait to tell Lilly. I was only slightly saddened by the memory of the news that she would be leaving today.


    The first thing in the morning, the group came out, had a quick Orc Belly breakfast, harvested the stomachs of the newer corpses and left shortly after our goodbyes. I will admit that Lilly and I had a bit of an emotional one. She was the first person I had a chance to form a real bond with in the last three years. It was a bit hard to know that it would be months before she would even get a chance to come back, and that¡¯s depending on how the current monster horde situation goes.


    After Lilly and I said our farewells, I brought Axel the bag of Resource Berries I had picked for him. I may have gone a bit extra with how firm I was on their intended use.


    ¡°These are for your group and your group only. If I find out that you went and sold these, I¡¯ll be very displeased. You told me that it was dangerous out there, so use these to make sure Lilly gets home safely. You can keep these extras as a bonus for the difficulty of your quest, but that girl better reach her father. In return, if your group ever finds themselves in my area again, I¡¯d be willing to play host again. But that is contingent on her safety. That all being said, y¡¯all are good people. I wish you luck in your travels.¡±


    I may have put a bit of extra mental weight behind the whole ¡°get home safely¡± part, but I was adamant that they knew the seriousness behind my words.


    Axel barely seemed to notice my temperament, as his response came as nonchalantly as ever.


    ¡°She¡¯ll be fine. You¡¯re acting like a father watching his daughter leave home for the first time. You don¡¯t need to worry so much. You have my word ¨C all our words ¨C that our charge will see her home again. And as for the berries you have gifted us, we will gladly keep them to ourselves. While they would fetch a pretty penny on the market, I¡¯d rather the free, tasty potions rather than the expensive gross ones from the Alchemist Guild.¡±


    After that came a couple of thanks given by the other two in the group when Axel handed out the berries as was appropriate. It turns out that Archy used mostly stamina in his attacks, just as I had expected. Lilly said she probably wouldn¡¯t need them, since she had a couple of potions herself, but I insisted she take them since they¡¯ve already been long replaced by now. Needless to say, she didn¡¯t argue much after that.


    With their affairs in order, it was finally time for the group to get going. I decided I would accompany them as far as I could, by attaching my extra-long vine to the back of the golem puppet I made to act as the mana supply, then puppeteering the thing that way. It wasn¡¯t much, but I managed to elongate it an extra 200 feet, making it 300 feet in length total. It did take most of my Stamina pool, but I deemed the cost worth it.


    With my means of escort procured, the group and I headed out. I was completely unaware of what to expect outside of my Domain of Awareness, but I was extremely excited to find out.


    We walked to the edge of my domain, and I hesitated. This was the extent of what I have known for the last 3 years, and I was suddenly getting quite nervous. Everything beyond this point has been a blur of colors, with no distinct figures. It was mostly a blend of white and green, but it was still my home.


    I sent the signal to the golem to take the next step.


    The edge of my Domain expanded to accommodate the golem¡¯s body. The next two feet of land were exposed. Beyond was still a blur, but I was able to see an entire few inches extra.


    The next step was taken, and more land was revealed.


    I was able to see the edges of possible life.


    The third step revealed a ring of trees all around me. They stood tall, most being taller than I am, averaging around 40 feet. I had felt pretty secure with myself, given how fast I had thought I was growing, but I guess I still had some room to improve.


    I could still hear Lilly and her group ahead of me, so I knew my little hesitation hadn¡¯t left me too far behind. I quickened my pace, making adjustments to my course as needed. There was one point where I had taken a step fully into another tree. I thought a quick apology and went around it.


    This went on for a good two minutes, my world growing exponentially. It was insane to think how little I truly saw until now.


    There were hundreds of trees surrounding me, and evidence of at least 70 different ant piles. I saw a multitude of berry bushes that I was interested in sampling at a later date, and to my glorious surprise, I saw a single bee fly past in the opposite direction from which I was walking. That meant that if I grew my vine out far enough, I might just be able to catch one for monster bee farming/taming.


    When I reached the end of my extended reach, I informed Lilly and the Laughing Vipers. They were watching behind and stopping every few seconds to allow me to catch up until now.


    ¡°This is as far as I can go. You are all strong, so I know you can make it home. Goodbye, all.¡±


    With that, and a few hugs of the golem, they left. I could still hear them for a few seconds, then half a minute after they left my line of sight, I heard Lilly call out, ¡°BYE WILLOW! I¡¯LL SEE YOU AGAIN!¡±


    I made the golem wave then turned it around and brought it back to my base of operations. That¡¯s when I noticed an absolute travesty. The range of my Domain of Awareness was shrinking as my creation returned.


    I brought up the skill description again to take a proper look at things.


    Domain of Awareness (U): Passive. User can see as far as they can reach. Every noise that crosses the boundary of the user¡¯s domain is able to be heard by the User, including sounds outside of the user¡¯s range of sight and touch. Nothing is able to hide in the user¡¯s Domain.


    Okay, that¡¯s some bull right there. I can ¡®reach¡¯ 300 feet away from me at this point, so I should be able to see in a 300-foot radius from myself. Why the hell is the range shrinking when I take my vine back. Do I have to be actively reaching the 300 feet for it to count? That¡¯s ridiculous!


    Complain how I might, the radius continued shrinking until my vine passed the point where my roots reached underground. At that point, I curled my now even longer vine back into my branches and thought about what I should do next.


    It became obvious to me what my next plan was as soon as my vine settled. I was too damn short.


    Ever since I made the hobbit-hole for Lilly, my vines and lowest branches were all touching the ground underneath them. It was obscene that people would have easy access to my berries, so I needed to grow. And I had just the skill for the job. It was time to test the limits of this Body Manipulation skill.

 Chapter 30

    In order to keep my branches off of the ground, I needed to either get rid of the hobbit hole, which I refused to do for now, or stretch out my trunk. Since I only had one viable option, I needed to figure out how exactly I can do that. So far, all of my growth has been adding on to the top of current height, not elongating what I already had. This would be delving into new territory for me.


    Before I started working on my trunk, I needed to test how reliable this option would be in case something went wrong. I focused on one of my more average length vines. I sent my mind to the spot where the vine connected to my branch. From there, I activated my Body Manipulation skill and tried stretching the vine out.


    It was an extremely uncomfortable process. It felt itchy. And I haven¡¯t felt itchy this whole lifetime.


    The skill took very little in terms of resources, and it worked well to add an extra inch to one of my vines. I think this will work!


    I focused my mind on the part of my trunk that was sticking out between the very top of the hobbit hole and the base of my lowest branch. I activated the skill, focusing my intent solely on what I wanted to happen. My whole body suddenly burst out in the most discomfort I have ever felt. It was all wrong. I immediately shut the skill off and everything went back to normal. I examined the area where I was focusing on, and there was no change at all that I could see.


    I tried activating the skill again to the same effect and temporarily gave up on the idea. It didn¡¯t hurt or anything, but it was a lot more uncomfortable than I was willing to put up with for now. At the very worst, if someone were to try to steal my berries, they¡¯d have to get through my golem, Earth Magic, Water Magic, and then all of my vines. I was pretty secure at the moment. Not to mention my newly found Mental Magic.


    Hmm... I kind of want to see if I can get Air Magic and Fire Magic so I can be an elemental tree. Shout out to a certain cartoon character from my past life.


    I chuckled a bit then went back to examining my body. I had done a pretty good job getting Improved Digestion through focusing on improving my root systems, so what would happen if I were to do the same for my trunk and branches? Would something happen to Photosynthesis if I were to try applying the same thought process to my leaves?


    Well, no time like the present to find out, right?


    I switched my focus from just to the one spot of my trunk to an expanded vision of my entire trunk. I looked at the flowing veins of water and nutrients in my body and saw some very little flaws here and there, but nothing major really struck out at me like before with my roots. When I had examined them, I could see all the flaws in ways that nutrients from the soil were tracked up my body and I was able to fix it one at a time. My issue here is that I don¡¯t quite know how to fix these flaws.


    After staring at the issue for a few moments, I started getting a mild magical sense. I couldn''t quite tell what it was, so I just went with it. I pushed some of the mana that was resting inside my trunk and let it flow. The mana followed the flow of the water and other sappy materials inside of me and helped it move faster up my veiny xylem. I could feel the pressure increase a bit on the walls, but it was just enough to strengthen my wooden parts. It felt like my blood pressure was going up back in my old life after having an anemic episode.


    After a few minutes of pushing the mana all throughout my body to emulate that effect, I got a notification.


    New skill [Mana Circulation (R)] has been obtained!


    Ooh, this seems useful. And it¡¯s rare?! Awesome! My whole body feels amazing right now! How did I get by while feeling so crappy before?


    I pulled up the skill description, hoping to see that it was a passive skill. I truly felt the best I ever have at this moment.


    Mana Circulation (R): Active.


    Damn...


    I continued reading.


    Mana Circulation (R): Active. The user circulates their mana, boosting mana regeneration, mana potency, and general mana usage. Circulating mana also strengthens the user¡¯s body, making them tougher and harder to damage.


    HA! I really just got another resource regeneration skill? Freaking hilarious. Because I don¡¯t have enough of that as is. Well, the hardened body aspect is a pretty awesome battle boost at least. It would work great with Vine Control if I ever need to strangle something again. Although, between my golem and my 3 schools of magic, I doubt it will come to that anytime soon.


    Despite the skill being an active one, it really didn¡¯t take much effort to keep it on all the time, so I went ahead and left it as is. I felt a small mental drain, but nothing physical. I doubt anything will go wrong, right?


    Anyways.


    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    I went back to trying to fix my Xylem problems and saw that even with Mana Circulation on, I still had some inefficiencies. I could see little splinters getting in the way of the flow, causing it to go slower than it could. That being the only solvable issue I had at the moment, I went through my entire body and used a bit of Body Manipulation mixed with some Wood Crafting to get it all smooth out. I was surprised at how well those two skills synergized. Although it made sense when I took the time to think about it. Maybe I should try combining them?


    With that done, I started to feel a bit mentally exhausted. I guess I was wrong about having no consequences with keeping an active skill on constantly. I turned Mana Circulation off and decided to call it a day. The sun was getting low, as was evidenced by my domain getting a bit darker, and this was still the first day after they left. I was rushing for no discernable reason, when I had every right to take it slow.


    I spent the next three days watching my xylem do their jobs. It really was a thoughtless process, but it was something that helped me pass time, and I knew that If I could fix the issue, something great would happen.


    I was interrupted a few times by packs of Orcs, which I took as a break from my attempt at self-improvement to enjoy dismantling each group with practiced ease. I took turns between practicing my Mental Magic and cutting them up with my lovely golem. It was honestly kind of fun, though I hated to admit it. I was starting to enjoy killing these things.


    It was my fourth morning of working on ¡®fixing¡¯ my trunk when I started to get another magical sense. This time was a bit different, but still extremely similar to Mana Circulation, in the sense that I was still circulating something.


    Mana Circulation started as me pushing my mana through my body, and everything else just went along as a byproduct of the pressure. This time, I was sure to focus my efforts on moving the water and nutrients itself. I started to activate the previous skill a few times as a result, but made sure to clamp down on the idea of the water moving. I was closer to using Water Magic at this point more than anything. Not quite, but still on the cusp.


    As I forced my body to work harder, I started feeling an unnatural shift in my xylem and phloem. I could feel them start to wiggle in a way that felt reminiscent of a water hose untangling due to the pressure inside building up so much. It was an intense mental strain to keep the pressure up while everything was being finalized in my body, but I managed to keep it up. The creaking noise it caused was very off putting, but it was totally worth it.


    I felt a similar high as when I first got the Mana Circulation skill, in that I felt that same bodily high as before, at least when I had to stop struggling. In the end, I was successful, and rewarded with my second skill since Lilly left. The pings of notifications went unchecked while I had a moment.


    Damn, I miss having someone to talk to. I used to love the solitary life until she came around. I really need to let go, though. Agonizing over her will lead me nowhere.


    I connected to my golem and had it violently shake its head for me. It was the best I could do, and it did help a little.


    I pulled up the notification and the subsequent skill description, trying to be more excited than I really felt. I was surprised to see I had more than just the one skill notification waiting on me.


    New skill [Improved Blood Flow (U)] has been obtained!


    Error! Skill is incompatible with race.


    Adjusting skill to match User [Willow] Race [Tree].


    New skill [Improved Sap Flow (U)] has been obtained!


    Okay, that was weird. But I guess it worked out?


    I opened the skill description, pretty sure of what I was about to see.


    Improved Sap Flow (U): Passive. The user has twisted and turned and all around improved their circulatory system. This has led to an increase in regeneration of all resources. Due to racial adjustment, skill also increases rate of growth. The growth rate bonus increases depending on user¡¯s overflow of resources.


    That¡¯s a pretty wordy skill. But damn, that¡¯s pretty overpowered for me. This would be my third passive resource regeneration skill I have, and if I turn Mana Circulation on, it¡¯ll be even higher. This is insane.


    I spent the next few minutes contemplating the implications of the skill effects before dismissing the skill description. It was only then that I saw I still had one more notification left to check. And it explained just how freaking awesome I am, along with why it was so strong of a skill.


    Congratulations! You have discovered a new, never before seen skill! Due to being the first being to discover said skill, it will be slightly improved for you and you alone.


    I discovered a new skill! I guess it makes sense, since I doubt any sapient tree would be willing to put themselves through that whole ordeal I just went through. Sure, it might not have been painful per se, but it sure as hell wasn¡¯t very pleasurable either.


    I tested the new skill out by flexing my vines and playing around with them a little. I had to admit that it had been a while since I had practiced with my vines, so I used this as a chance to completely unwrap and twirl about.


    As I had my array of vines swinging about, I was able to feel each one a bit more clearly. I tested it out by sending a strand of my mental energy into one to gain better control, and I could feel the flow of my sap much more vividly than before. It was surprisingly pleasurable. I was almost able to taste the sugars, nutrients, and water flowing through me. It was beautiful.


    After reveling in the glories of my unique skill for a full day, I thought about what I should try to do next.


    The waves of Orcs over the last few days had only been increasing, and their bodies had been starting to stack up. On the plus side though, I had gained a large amount of experience, going so far as to get pushed all the way over 35. I hadn¡¯t even noticed!


    I pulled up my status to take a proper look at my progress.


    User: Willow Race: Tree


    Level: 35 Exp: 2240/3500


    H:100% S:100% M:100%


    Skills: Photosynthesis, Iron Bark, Domain of Awareness, Rapid Growth, Vine Control, Fire Resistance, Improved Digestion, Resource Berry, Wood Crafting, Water Magic, Earth Magic, Body Manipulation, Mental Magic, Mana Circulation, Improved Sap Flow


    Having killed 30 Orcs granted me 9000 Exp, and I hadn¡¯t even been paying attention to my surroundings much. I guess I needed to take stock of what¡¯s going on around me more. I had been so engrossed in my monotony of self-improvements that there was much to look at.


    For starters, my roots now extended past the edge of the clearing. That means I have some new permanent neighbors to explore.

 Sorry for the delay

    I didn''t realize the chapter want scheduled already. I''ll be posting it before the end of the day!


    Again, sorry for the wait! I appreciate each and every one of you!


    I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit I need to reach the word limit


    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

 Chapter 31

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

 One more delay

    Today''s chapter will be delayed until tomorrow, then next week will be two chapters!


    I''ve been having a crazy February, but I''ll be back to normal scheduling after this, sorry y''all


    I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred words  I need five hundred


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 Chapter 32

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 Chapter 33

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 Chapter 34

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 Chapter 35

    Elsewhere


    ¡°GOD DAMNIT!¡±


    A man was seen throwing a rather impressive tantrum. He just finished brutalizing one of many chained up goblins in a dungeon. The rest were off to the side, cowering in fear that they would be next.


    ¡°I prepared for months, no YEARS, and it¡¯s all been for NOTHING!¡±


    He slammed his hand down on the corpse, making the gruesome scene slightly worse. He turned to face the closest goblin.


    ¡°Do you know how much planning it takes to time everything right? To make it look like my giant just happened to be a part of the environmental level shift? I had to consult so many augers, holy men, and soothsayers, that these god forsaken dungeons hold more worth than my coffers!¡±


    The man sat back from his fit and looked around in disgust. He saw his bloody hands and wiped them off on the towel he had prepared before entering the holding cell. When he turned his back, a few of the goblins lunged at him, trying desperately to escape. Unfortunately for them, their restraints kept them from reaching their target. The man just laughed in response.


    ¡°Serves you right, you mindless beast...¡± he mumbled under his breath as he left. He washed his hands in a water basin by the stairway leading up from the dark room. Very few people were privy to its location, and he was the only one to actively come here, besides some guards who occasionally brought new subjects.


    Refreshed, the man climbed the stairs and walked through the hidden exit to enter the decorated halls of a castle. While it might not have been much to a noble, it was far fancier than anything Willow had ever seen before, this life or last. Despite this, the mystery man kept walking along, clearly numb to the treasures he walked by.


    Maids, butlers, and other servants gave the man a wide berth, bowing deeply as he passed them. They all knew that he wasn¡¯t exactly right in the head, but they also knew that he wouldn''t needlessly kill in public, meaning as long as they didn¡¯t outright disrespect the man, they would be fine.


    When the lord made it to his office, he was greeted by his personal butler. The gray-haired man bowed to greet him, then he presented a silver tray with three letters on it. The lord just walked past him, and he followed his lord into the room.


    ¡°What is it, Alfred? I''m not in the mood for my sister¡¯s shenanigans. My plans have been thwarted, and I need to make more to compensate. This isn¡¯t the time for the usual busy work.¡±


    His butler nodded his head and tucked two of the letters into his vest pocket.


    ¡°My Lord Ostlan, the scryer you propositioned this morning has responded. Shall I read it for you?¡±


    Ostlan, as the lord was apparently called, just sat in his chair and waved his hand dismissively. He swiveled in his chair to turn his back on the man and looked at the numerous shelves of books that were now in front of him. Despite all the knowledge they contained, his plan to take over the meager Flora City to the south, and the vast forest between them, has failed.


    Alfred opened the last remaining letter and started to speak after a moment.


    ¡°It appears that the... asset... is trapped under a vast amount of dirt, and it appears to be encased in a coffin of sorts. She states that the asset is buried in a clearing approximately halfway between the two cities, and that its burial spot is marked by a large, ever-growing tree. There also appears to be an unusually large number of Orc corpses buried in the same clearing. The woman goes so far as to recommend abandoning the asset, claiming that the amount of mana saturating the area rivals that of a death zone.¡±


    Ostlan laughed. ¡°She dares to give ME a recommendation? Toss her in the dungeon for the rest of the day and threaten to take her precious hands the next time she insults me so. I don¡¯t pay for speculations, I want FACTS! And I want to know how my nearly immortal pet was captured!¡±


    Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Ostlan turned and banged his hand against his desk. The paper on top slid to the side and almost fell off before he snatched it from midair. Looking at it, he saw it was a copy of his pet¡¯s status sheet that he had written down to boost his confidence in times of worry.


    Name: Atlas  Race: Giant


    Level: 50 Exp: 1,200/15,000


    H:100% S:100% M:100%


    Con: 201 Agi: 1  Str: 51


    Int: 1  Wis: 1  Car: 1


    Skills: Regeneration, Pain Resistance, Iron Skin, Piercing Resistance, Iron Stomach, Enhanced Endurance, Paralyzing Shout, Domineering Presence, Enhanced Strength


    He knew that as long as he had control of his monstrosity, there was nobody that could stand up to him. At least, none from the nobles. The royals had a monster of their own.


    He had bought every dark magic item, every pill of enhancing whatever, and every damned elixir he could find to bolster his trump card. Since he was the master of this monster, he could tell that something had happened to it. Through the bond they shared, he could tell that for a while, the monster was on the brink of death, which alone shouldn¡¯t have been possible. Then something else happened. He could tell that his monster was still technically alive, since he hadn¡¯t gotten the kill notification, but it also wasn¡¯t responding to its master''s commands. It was as if... it lost its mind.


    Atlas had been Ostlan¡¯s tamed monster ever since he was hatched. Ostlan had bought him at auction for dirt cheap, since nobody dared to attempt outbidding their Lord. Since then, Ostlan had trained the baby giant, pouring hours and days into making sure his monster was as strong as possible. Many villages had gone missing, all going to the growth of his not-so-little trump card.


    As Atlas¡¯s master, Ostlan was also able to control his skills and what the level bonuses went towards. From the very first level his pet gained, Ostlan dumped everything into increasing his pet''s regeneration. He wanted him to be nigh on immortal. Unfortunately, the skill still held a weakness to fire, but it was trumped by reaching Legendary status at level 40. It took an entire 16 level skill bonuses to reach that point, after which Ostlan started investing in his monster¡¯s enhanced strength. The skills his little pet got along the way were just the cherry on top.


    Needless to say, Ostlan was not about to give up on such a large investment.


    The still maddened lord tossed the sheet on top of one of the many stacks of probably important documents that he didn''t care about at the moment. He then brought out fresh parchment and started writing.


    He needed to release his troops from their readier positions. He had been expecting a cry for help from the southern city that he planned to turn into a siege of his own to gain control. Since his plan was foiled, he no longer had need of a full army at the ready.


    Next, he needed to find out what being was strong enough to be able to take down his pet. Given how high-level Atlas was, the person who brought it down had to be of a higher level as well. He could tell from the bond that it was only a few minutes between the start of the fight and the end of the fight, which means that they had to be at least in the mid-sixties, but that was just speculation. They did catch his monster off guard, after all.


    Also on his docket was finding a way to free his pet. He could always buy a new monster egg from one of the markets, but the resources needed to bring it up to par with Atlas¡¯s strength was too much to consider for now. His vaults were empty, and he needed to wait on tax revenues to come in before he could embark on any more misguided schemes of his.


    Ostlan had too much to do and too few people to help him do it.


    ¡°Alfred, clear my schedule for the day. I won¡¯t be getting much done other than this, and I need to concentrate. Also, bring me a roster for the Adventurer Guild. I might be needing them to scope the area out. I¡¯d rather not waste any soldiers when everything is so uncertain right now.¡±


    Alfred bowed and left to do his lord¡¯s bidding. He shut the door behind him, leaving his lord alone, with just the guards outside his door.


    <hr>


    Willow had been enjoying his sunshine mediation for only a single day when he started feeling weird. There was an uncomfortable feeling at the top of his canopy, where the new growths were coming in. Dismissing it as probably just a woodpecker or something, he went back to his trance-like state.


    That lasted for all of 12 hours until he started feeling excruciating pain running through his entire canopy.

 Chapter delay

    It''s been a crazy busy week, so I''ll have to delay the chapter until Sunday evening. I''m thinking of changing the schedule to Sundays in general at this point, given how often I''ve had to delay. Thoughts?


    I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count I need to hit the word count


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 Chapter 36

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    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

 Chapter 37

    I think I need a personal rebrand. I mean, the Ants were literally all trying to kill me, so I feel perfectly fine with having wiped them out. Speaking of which, I still haven¡¯t found a single ant pile or colony around the clearing. I can see about 80 feet outside of my clearing now, since my root system has grown tremendously, but I haven¡¯t found any evidence that Ants ever existed. Strange.


    Anyways.


    I was fine wiping them out since they started the attack on me first. And I was fine killing the Orcs that were attacking Lilly and the Laughing Viper trio. So why am I starting to feel guilty about all the other Orcs I¡¯ve killed? I mean, I was told they were violent monsters, so the more that I killed, the less would be around to kill other sapient beings, right? I should be in the moral clear, yet I still feel a pit in my metaphorical stomach whenever I think about the Orc corpses underground.


    I feel that I¡¯ve been getting too... active... lately. It was fine when I was just practicing magic and trying to get my golem going, but I think it¡¯s been getting out of control with the killing. I think I need to embrace my role as a tree more. But that doesn¡¯t mean I can¡¯t be a magical tree.


    Maybe I should get back into trying to learn more magic? I¡¯ve partially embraced the magical tree position already, when Lilly and gang were here. It wouldn¡¯t be hard to get back to it. I think I¡¯ve made enough body modifications for quite some time, so I can easily justify dropping the incessant need to farm Exp through killing monsters. Besides, the Photosynthesis upgrade is already doing that for me.


    With renewed determination, I dove straight into learning new magic. Since I already had Water Magic and Earth Magic, I only needed fire and air to complete my basic elemental collections. After that, well... I might turn back to figuring out how to create Golems.


    I wonder what would happen if I learned a skill by myself that I was waiting for my level ups to teach me. Would I get a refund for my previous wasted level skill bonuses, or would they just be wasted?


    Tossing the thoughts of wistfulness out of my mind, I decided to start with Air Magic.


    Earth Magic was easy for me to get a hold of since I had spent the entirety of my time on this planet partially buried and feeding off the various minerals and other organic stuff in the dirt. I was intimately familiar with the clearing and everything in here. It was almost like flexing an arm, even easier than learning how to use Vine Control.


    Water Magic was also easy for me to learn because the ¡°water¡± I was trying to practice on came from the filter juice of my Resource Berries. It was full of my mana already, and I went above and beyond by flooding it with even more mana. I¡¯m not sure I¡¯ll be able to reproduce such an effect to learn Fire Magic, but it might be possible to do for Air Magic.


    The first step in my brute force method to learning Air Magic will be to flood the surrounding air with my mana. So that¡¯s what I did. I activated my Mana Circulation skill to give me some extra oomph, then from every branch, vine, leaf, and fruit I had, I unleashed a torrent of mana.


    I did my best to control the mana, making it stay in a somewhat proximity to my trunk. It seemed to work for a short bit, but it took immense mental effort. After the mana reached a certain threshold though, it started to just spill out and away from me. And as the mana started to flow away from me, the air started to flow with it, as if it caused a current.


    I waited with bated breath.


    And waited. And waited.


    Damn. I was hoping that that would be enough to trigger the skill notification. I guess since it was an unintentional movement of the air, what I did wouldn¡¯t be enough. I need to make it flow with a purpose.


    The aura of mana swirling around me had dissipated a little while I waited to see if I would get the Air Magic skill, but it was easy enough to replenish and regain control. Looking at my status, I barely used 20% of my mana so far, so I was fine to use more.


    I pulled up my resources to look at what I had used.


    H:100%    S:100%    M:81%


    As I watched, the mana counter ticked up another percentage. And then another, and another.


    Oh. So, it¡¯s not that I used 20%, it¡¯s just that my regeneration was so high that it only looked like I used 20%. Sweet!


    I poured some more mana into the air around me and took control of the mana again. This time, I moved the mana in a bit of a whirlpool around me, similar to what I did to earn the Water Magic skill, but on a much grander scale.


    The result was devastating.


    I started off with a small push, which was just enough to cause a small breeze and earned me the skill. However, I felt that I could do more with what I had already put out into the air around me. I kept the push going and kept a tighter grip on the mana I was controlling. This time, the mana stayed in a small vortex around me, spinning faster and faster.


    As the mana picked up speed, so did the breeze that followed it. The wind whirled around my canopy, going faster and faster. My vines started swaying in the wind, only to be tangled up in each other. They all eventually wrapped around my trunk as much as they could. I hadn¡¯t gotten the chance to elongate them since I had my growth spurt, but they were still flung around a good bit.


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    The air around me was harder to control than either the dirt below me or the water within me. I was able to fine tune my control with practice over each element, but I wasn¡¯t sure I¡¯d be able to do the same with Air Magic. The breeze I was picking up started to affect the rest of the wind around my area as well, turning it into a gale.


    Soon after, as I kept pushing my mana faster and faster, I had reached the point where I was tearing at the ground and making minor dust storm. I reinforced the ground with a bit of Earth Magic, which helped keep it down. Unfortunately, the more mana that I pushed into the ground, the less mana I had to push into the air. I settled on reenforcing the ground with my roots as well before turning my attention back to the tornado I was creating.


    That¡¯s exactly what it was. It was a tornado. I had to admit that I was quite proud of my magical achievement. It turns out that I wasn¡¯t the only one though.


    Through your achievements in creating an artificial ¡°Act of God¡±, your skill [Air Magic (U)] has been upgraded to [Air Magic (R)].


    Apparently, my tornado counts as an ¡°Act of God¡±. I was supremely proud of myself for that. The increase in rank of my skill is just the cherry on top.


    I kept my tornado going for a few minutes to see if anything else would happen, but when nothing did, I started turning my mana in the opposite direction. This forced the air to slow down and eventually come to a complete stop. When I was sure that everything was back to normal, I looked around to see how much damage was done. Tornadoes were a widely destructive force regardless of how well controlled they were.


    What I saw hurt my heart a little.


    It turns out that my little act of God tore up a bunch of the trees around me. Most of them survived, but none of them got by without at least a little damage.


    I zoomed my focus on the tree nearest to me, which happened to be the tree I had first made mental contact with a while ago. Our roots were a bit intertwined, since I had spread out a lot while growing. That made it easier to check on its wellbeing, since it was pretty much a constant presence in my mind, given we were always touching.


    Unfortunately for the little guy, I had torn off a few of its smaller branches. It was easy enough to tell which branch was his (yes, I started calling it him) due to the way they broke off. Luckily, all it took was using a bit of Earth Magic to make a dirt puppet to grab the broken pieces and a second puppet to bring over a few Health Berries that I dropped to the ground to heal it up. It only took a few minutes for each branch, and then it was over. The tree was back to normal.


    I only had to do the same thing to another eighty trees around me to fix everything back to how it was before I started this fiasco. It was my fault these guys were hurting, so I should be the one to put them back together. Thankfully, I did get a reward for my work.


    Due to your efforts in assisting the injured, you have earned the skill [First Aid (U)]. Due to being the one who caused those injuries, skill has been demoted to (C) rank.


    Damn. The system is sassy, huh? Well, it does have a point. I did cause those injuries to the trees. I guess that¡¯s fair.


    When I was done healing everything up, I returned the dirt puppets to the ground and removed the root spikes from the surface. The spikes were what helped keep the ground intact while the tornado was going. I didn¡¯t want to leave them there for someone to get hurt on by accident.


    Now that everything was back to how it was before I started my elemental experiments, I had to decide between pushing forward with more elemental experiments, trying to make a golem again, or just taking a nap for a bit. It wasn¡¯t like I was in a rush, right?


    Well, rather than trying to figure out the nuances of making a proper golem, I decided it was time to make a few more wooden puppets. I had plenty of fun making the last one, so I¡¯ll try making a few different versions this time around.


    <hr>


    Nearby


    Brom had just sat on a log near a small cooking fire to warm his lunch when he felt a strong magical presence.


    He had set out earlier that day to complete the mission his brother had brought him. It was a simple recon mission, needing only to provide some information about a clearing with a large tree in it. These were the simplest ones, but due to the level shift in the area, the Lord of the city wanted higher level adventures to take this job. Apparently one of his men had gone missing in the area, and he wanted to know more about what he was up against.


    One of his ¡°men¡± he says. Like everyone who¡¯s someone doesn¡¯t know about Ostlan¡¯s pet giant. The number of villages that had gone missing just to fuel that beast''s growth is disgusting. I can excuse the missing murderers and rapists, but innocent people died for that thing. I can¡¯t say I¡¯d care if it died. Though I know how high its regeneration is. It even survived an attack from me, though it wasn¡¯t a serious one.


    Brom shook his head and focused back at the direction of the source of the mana he felt. The magnitude truly was consistent with that of a death zone. Those things were terrifying, being known to spawn rare and deadly variants of monsters. They didn¡¯t follow the normal rules, spawning monsters much stronger than they should for the area they are in. Even if this forest just went through a level shift from rank F to rank C, a death zone in the area could pop out rank A monsters. That could be devastating if not properly taken care of.


    Brom ate his lunch as he watched the direction of his target. It was still a few miles away, which is why he wasn¡¯t overly concerned, but the strength of the signature just kept growing. Soon enough, he started to see signs of it changing the weather.


    It started off with him seeing the clouds move. They started to swirl around above his target. Soon they formed a downward tunnel that quickly grew into a full-fledged tornado. It was a violent, but short-lived tornado, but one that he was sure would cause a lot of local damage.


    What Brom was disturbed by was how centralized it was. It was almost as if it were an artificial tornado, caused by someone who wanted to cause a bunch of damage to a specific spot. Almost as if they were... hiding... something...


    Crap, that¡¯s the area I was supposed to search.


    Brom checked the map that was the result of one of his skills, and sure enough, that area should be exactly where his brother and his lord sent him to search.


    Brom stuffed the rest of the rabbit meat he was eating into his mouth and kicked a bunch of dirt on his fire. Needed to leave immediately if he were to have a chance at catching whoever cast such a spell. If he acted quickly, he could get there before the perpetrator left. That spell had to cost quite a lot of mana, and that should leave them largely exposed for now.


    He grabbed his bag and took off in a sprint. He still had around 10 miles between where he was and where he was supposed to be, but he was fast. Very fast. In fact, it would take a level 50 human who had invested the entirety of his free stats into agility. There were very few people like that. In fact, most people capped at level 15, since few people actively hunted monsters.


    Brom reached the point where he could see the clearing in only 5 minutes. What he saw left him with more questions than he has had in his entire life.