“What happened?” I thought, “I can't find my eyes, and yet I can see?”. Looking around I could see the outlines of my surroundings as a colorful and granular mist collided and traveled past each obstacle. I tried to look down at my body but only saw a blobby shadow that the colorful mist traveled around. Turning back to where I was I could determine that I was in a forest surrounded by trees rocks and small bushes. “Well it looks like I have been transferred to somewhere else without a clear body… maybe I am dead? Or at least my physical body is probably dead.” I was surprisingly calm as I thought about this, I had felt no real attachment to my life previously and preferred reading books and digesting media in many forms. I can't seem to remember if I had a family or anyone close who I knew. Also if I was now a ghost I could read as much as I wanted to with little worries. Thus I felt surprisingly optimistic about this change in form. As I was thinking I saw a screen pop up in my mind.
Name: ????
Race: ????
Traits: mana vision, decay
STR: 0
DEX: 0
INT: 0
“Interesting, I must be able to see right now with mana vision, as for decay, I wonder what that does?” As if reading my mind(It probably was.) a new window popped up:
Trait: DECAY
An unusual trait that allows the user to decay any organic target and fill the user with energy. Either healing wounds, or satiating hunger.
“Oh cool! I should try this out!” I thought as I wiggled over to a small bush nearby.
Upon reaching the bush I engulfed it and felt my DECAY trait activate instinctually.
For the first few minutes nothing happened but soon I could feel the energy and life force of the bush be drawn into me and after around 10 minutes the flow of energy stopped and I rolled away from the bush leaving a dried tumbleweed in its place. After finishing my meal a few notifications popped up:
Venom Thorne Bush consumed,
Trait lesser Organic poison resistance gained 1/10
‘Well I guess the bush was poisonous Luckily I seemed to gain a natural immunity after eating the whole plant.”
Trait Photosynthetic capability gained 1/10
Trait Antioxidant defense gained 1/10
“These seem useful, I am not sure how beneficial being able to Photosynthesis will be though. But it is worth a try.” I then tried activating my new traits and found that Antioxidant defense was more of a passive buff against general illness and cellular degeneration. While Photosythetic capability turned the tent of my blobby body to green I felt a small stream of energy trickle through me. But by moving I immediately consumed a massively larger amount of energy than was being produced. So this Trait had no real large benefit unless I wanted to stand still for hours to recharge. “Well, back to eating!” I thought filled with excitement, I always found progression to be satisfying in video games, and now that I had a clear path to follow I began to move around consuming various plants. A few hours later I had gained many traits and also learned that consuming the same plant could give new Traits as well as more Trait levels. But the more I consumed of a single plant type the less and less I would gain from it. From a logical point, this makes sense and regardless there are plenty of different types of plants to eat. After this realization, I reviewed my stats:
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Name: ????
Race: ????
Traits: mana vision, decay, photosynthetic capability 10/10, Antioxidant defense 10/10,
[RARE]Toxin production 1/10, thorn 1/1.
It seemed like some Traits maxed out at 1 while others went up to 10. I was most excited about the skill of toxin production as I had consumed many poisonous plants before gaining it. I guess that some Traits are harder to gain and I needed to consume many of the same plants and pray to RNGesus that I got something rare. Once I went over my new abilities I decided to activate them and cover my body with woody thorns each producing a weak but still poisonous toxin that exuded from the tip. At this point, my body resembled a dark blob covered in spikes around the size of a golf ball. I had condensed my body as to take on a more solid form to support the thorns. While if I wanted to consume more bushes it would take longer I was much safer as I felt as if I could be blown away and disappear forever in my spreadout form. While now I felt like one of the pokey shells you could throw in Mario cart. I decided that my next course of action would be to explore my surroundings. Hopefully scouting out some more plants to eat and if there were any threats in this forest. Although I doubt given my appearance I would be a target for many creatures. This took much longer than I thought As I was as slow as a snail currently and it would take forever to move a substantial distance. After trying to move forward for around an hour I decided to stop my journey short at the base of a tree. Looking around the environment seemed to be pretty much the same. Given that I had moved probably around 25 feet from my previous position. After reaching the tree I tried using DECAY but I found I was unable to reach through the thick bark to extract energy. Looking around for more food I did see a few stray ants traveling past but I knew I would not be able to catch them with my current speed. Then I had an idea! Noticing the path the ants took I went as far up the side of the tree as I could holding on with my thorns then waited. After around 30 minutes an ant wondered close enough and I released my thorns rolling on top of the ant and pinning it down with my spikes. The ant furiously struggled to get away but it was no use, as I began to drain its life force.
TRAITS GAINED:
Forest ant genome 1/10
chitin exoskeleton 1/10
Lesser Strength 1/10
Lesser Acid resistance 1/10
I gained a lot from the ant the most important being the ants genome which allowed me to change my body from a blob into that of a large black ant which I immediately did. With this new form, I was able to actually move around efficiently! It was of course nothing close to the convenience of a human form and oposible thumbs but still a huge improvement. I spent the next hour or so working on modifying my body and adding poisonous thorns as well as learning how to control my body which I found quite difficult. Once done My form had changed to include a few large thorns on each of my legs and back as well as on my head. This should help deter birds from grabbing me which was my biggest fear as even if I managed to escape their claws I would be cracked open like a clam upon impact with the ground. Feeling confident I turned my sight to the few ants in my vicinity as they would be my first victims.