[Name: Bazileus Maximilian Alexander Daqueduc

Unspent Skill point: 1

Racial Class: Grass - Level 3

- Growth - Level 7

- Photosynthesis - Level 2

General Skills:

- Improved senses - Level 4

- Meditation - Level 3

- Mathematics - Level 4

- Outworlder - Level 1

- Visualization - Level 6]

Bazil was rather pleased with its growth, for the last three days it had almost entirely focused on its Growth Skill and was nearing the end of its initial nutrient reserve. Fortunately, it had managed to establish a small but rather efficient root system. It would be a hard brake on its growth when it would finally empty its starting nutrients, but it wouldn’t stop it from continuing to grow.

On the other hand, or branch, the small stalk and leaves it had managed to bring on the water’s surface, in cloud filtered sunlight, provided Bazil with energy, but the plant had felt a growing impression of fatigue in itself among the past few days. Even if its Photosynthesis Skill was now level two and brought the plant more energy, it wasn’t enough to offset the tiredness it felt in its fibers.

Fortunately, when using its Meditation Skill to rest its mind, Bazil also felt like this fatigue was not that high. Visualization Skill and imaginary harem were also helpful for its mind’s health.

It only left the water supplies, for the moment Bazil was far from deprived of this resource. Water was still pouring from the sky more often than not, and it was flowing on the ground in an unknown direction. There was probably a river or some kind of pool nearby, Bazil was extremely interested in this as it would procure it with a large amount of water for the future. It had started to grow a root in the same direction as the flowing water as a way to ease a future securing of the resource.

For now, it was waiting for its first weekly meeting with Greeny while browsing the Skill store. It only had the solitary unspent Skill point for now and wanted to keep if for latter, but it was still curious about what was up for sale in it. When it had looked at it the second day, it had mainly been empty and disappointing, but it hoped that after a few days, it would have unlocked more Skills to buy.

[Skill store:

- Skill level up

- Torture

- Seduction

…

- Botanic

- Gardening

…

- Running

- Chemistry

- Physics

- Cooking

- Cleaning

…

- Writing

- Singing

- Poetry

…]

Mainly it started with Skills that would be interesting to Bazil for its future plans but that it had absolutely no use for the moment and that it thought it could easily unlock without having to spend a Skill point on it. And the further down the list it went, the less interesting the Skills seemed to be. So it was still mainly useless for Bazil.

It had theorized that the available Skills in the store were for now based on experiences it had from its previous life on Earth and that it would probably fill up in the time to come.

The only two Skills that were enticing to him in its current situation as a plant and that it could see a use for were the Botanic and Gardening Skills. But Bazil was afraid of wasting its only point on it now.

Bazil had tried to unlock the Botanic Skill like it had unlocked the Mathematics one, by remembering all it knew about plants. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough, Bazil had forgotten most of what it had learned at school about plant science, and unlike for mathematics, it couldn’t simply make mental calculus to unlock and train it.

[Hey!

I’m back!

I’ve had a boring week.

Let’s talk about you.

I’m glad to see you’ve grown so much!

Keep this up and you’re going to be a big and strong tree in no time!

So, want to tell me how your week was?]

No problem, there wasn’t a lot anyway. But I’d just like to ask a few questions before since our time is short. If you don’t mind, of course. Bazil really didn’t mind telling Greeny about its week, it had been extremely uneventful and it assumed she already knew about what it was doing anyway. It would talk to her of course, if only to stay sane and to keep her happy, but it had a few things that it wanted to ask first.

[Go on, shoot.

But don’t forget there are things I can’t tell you.]

What does the Outworlder Skill do?

[You’re starting strong…

I can’t tell you.

Trust me, I’d like to tell you!

But Hirtole doesn’t want me to!

Bugger!]

Then, are the Gardening and Botanic Skills good picks for me right now? Or can I get them easily?

[They’re easy to pick.

But maybe not for you.

And they could certainly help you grow better.

I say buy them!]

Any advice on which to take?

[Dunno.

It depends on what you want.

Botanic is more about knowing stuff about plants.

And Gardening about taking care of them.

I don’t have the right to tell more…]

Humm, thanks. I think I’m gonna take the Botanic one, and maybe the other one later. You’re really helpful, you know that? Bazil said, it had to be wary of antagonizing Greeny, it was not only its best source of information, even if limited, but also the only being it could talk with. She was also a powerful being and kind of its connection with the System. It could not afford to alienate her.

And now, let's talk. Two hours a week is a short amount of time. And slow as I am it passes too fast.

[Don’t worry about that silly!

When you grow up, you’ll be able to think faster!

Even if you’re already really fast for a plant!

So, tell me.

What did you do during this week?]

For the remaining of the talk, Bazil exchanged words with Greeny, explaining to her what it’d done and how. There wasn’t a lot to tell and as it was kinda uselessly trying to hide a part of it, the lewd exercising of the Visualization Skill for example, there was even less.

Bazil also managed to extract a bit of information about the local environment, nothing much, just that there wasn’t a lot of plants around him. It meant it wouldn’t have a lot of competition growing up, but that the growth itself would be hindered by the environment. Unfortunately, anything much was forbidden knowledge.

After what felt like far less than two hours to Bazil, Greeny had to left and it ended alone with its thoughts. In its current situation, it was starting to grow lonely. Oh, Bazil never really liked to be around most people, as it couldn’t do to them what it wanted to do, be it good, bad, or a twisted mix of both. But it sure liked to have the choice to be around people or all alone. In a way, it was grateful to Hirtole to allow Greeny to talk to it two hours a week. Without that, it would probably grow crazy, or crazier. And even if she sounded more serious when talking about the System her carefree attitude was lifting Bazil’s spirit.

Its distorted perception of time was both a good and a bad thing in this particular situation. Bazil didn’t feel like a full week had passed since the last time it had talked to Greeny. But on the other side, it sure as hell didn’t felt like a two-hour chat.

Bazil would really have to find a way to improve its time perception. And to find someone else to talk too.

Anyway, now that its weekly chat was passed, Bazil had to make its decision about the use of its only Skill point. It had already told Greeny that it would probably take the Botanic Skill. The Gardening Skill could be useful to help it grow, as Bazil guessed it was the Skill to pick if you wanted to take care of plants and have them grow like you wanted them to. But it already had the Visualization Skill to help it in that regard.

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

And the Botanic Skill may not be as useful to grow nice and all, but it would grant Bazil more knowledge about plant life in general, Greeny had confirmed this part. So this Skill could help Bazil better choose the stuff it wanted to try to grow. After all, it had already thought that it could produce and use drugs of all kinds to further its goals and a botanist was more likely to know about those things than a gardener.

It could also take the Chemistry Skill later on and improve on its drugs quality, potency, production, and all that.

For a bit, Bazil went back to its Visualization Skill improved of a dreamed harem and how the uses of aphrodisiacs would help it bring the females in it to be dependant on sex with the sentient plant. It didn’t worry about its lack of a dick, back on Earth it had consumed enough hentai to have a good idea on how to use creepers as tentacles. And it assumed that by the time it would be able to get a harem, it would have found a way to enjoy sex, the plant it was was unable to orgasm.

But enough of that for now. It had experienced with its Growth Skill and let it work on its own when focusing on other Skills and it had discovered that if let to work autonomously, the plant would still grow, but not grow the shape it wanted and really slowly.

After letting its thoughts wander a bit more, Bazil finally stopped procrastinating and made the jump spending its Skill point.

[New Skill: Botanic - Level 1.]

After buying the Skill Bazil felt a little something picked at its mind. It reminded it of the feeling it had when striking the Bargain with Gronarityuerocjequa The Purveyor but far more subtle and subdued. When the sensation left its mind Bazil realized it had a small amount of new knowledge about plants and the vegetable kingdom.

It immediately searched for anything about drugs and found some highly disappointing stuff. It had access to chemical substances knowledge concerning plants alright, but the amount of said knowledge was quite low and basic. Bazil now knew a bit about some urticant substances, or about how to make its sap a bit sweeter or even about a way or two to make reserves of nutrients. Nothing to kill its enemies or enthrall females.

Bazil tried to rationalize the situation by reminding itself that it was only a level one Skill and that it would probably be able to grow it by using the knowledge provided. So it immediately started to produce some urticant substances to coat its stem and the leaves on top with it, maybe it would be enough to deter the smaller predators it was worried about.

The process wasn’t easy, not being entirely covert by the Growth Skill but needing all of Bazil's focus to combine it with the Botanic one. It also consumed a higher amount of nutrients than normal growth. Even though the Growth Skill level was improving the ratio between energy and nutrient consumption and plant matter creation, the cost of making some very mild poison was higher than the very first bit of Bazil’s growth.

It actually consumed so much of it that Bazil felt the tiredness it had felt previously growing again in it. Realizing it had missed the occasion to ask Greeny about this, Bazil searched through its newly acquired knowledge if there was anything about this. It didn’t expect much but for once had a good surprise. The information it wanted was there, waiting for it. In its current situation, it would never have thought of such a simple explanation.

Bazil was a plant, but still an organic life-form and as such it needed sleep.

Simple sleep.

Bazil didn’t know plants needed sleep to stay healthy, it always thought they only needed sunlight and that the more of it the better.

It bothered it a bit as it would lose time to train its mental Skills and that during its sleeping time it would grow like a normal plant and not in the form it wanted. Not that it could really grow in the shape it would like for the moment.

Another mild downfall of sleep was that it would be more vulnerable to external danger. But since it was highly vulnerable to it now, being unable to actively defend itself, it wasn’t a big difference.

The one really good side of sleep would be that it would allow it to see its weekly meeting with Greeny come faster.

Reflecting on the need to sleep Bazil decided to first finish to infuse its aboveground body parts in urticant and then to take a well-deserved nap.

[Skill Growth has reached level 8.

Skill Botanic has reached level 2.

Racial Class Grass has reached level 4.]

The improvement of the Skills and of the Class granted Bazil with a better understanding of the knowledge it had about plants and the substances they could produce. It provided it with a better urticant. But Bazil was now too tired to work on it, Now it knew it was sleepy it was even harder to resist sleeping.

Bazil started using its Visualization and Meditation Skills to rest its mind and put it in a good disposition to allow for lewd dreams and let go of its focus.

The following day, as Bazil thought it was, it woke up well-rested and with a clearer mind than the previous days. It had a good night full of dreams with lots of boobies flying around for it to pinch, grab, caress, kiss, and whatever else it wanted. The fact that the breasts were floating there with no females attached to them didn’t seem weird when sleeping, but it kind of did now.

Now that it was awake Bazil noticed that it had indeed grown in its sleep, but so little that it removed its worries about growing in an unplanned way. It even happily noticed that the bit of stalk and leaves that had grown were already infused with the same concentration of urticant as it had left the rest of its upper body with before sleeping.

Bazil then had a choice, it could focus on growing more or try to change its weak poison for a milder one revealed by the new level of Botanic, or it could try some of the other new possibilities that the Skill had unlocked for it.

Seeing that it had gain levels in two Skills and its Class by doing something new but plant related, Bazil decided to keep doing it. Something new and plant-related that was.

The Grass would grow a nutrient stocking organ. But before that, it would devise how to do it. This kind of stuff would probably attract some unwanted attention, as it was often that very part that interested plant-eating creatures. So Bazil didn’t see a reason not to make it tastier by sweetening it. But it would also make it with an outer layer of a highly concentrated dose of its more potent urticant. It would also grow it in the middle of its root system to hinder the progression of anything trying to reach its reserves. This way it may deter any unwanted guests.

Bazil could also put urticant in the entirety of its future reserves organ and root system, but the Botanic Skill was telling the sentient plant it would hinder their primary functions, mainly gathering and stocking water, nutrients, and energy.

Once the idea formed Bazil used its Visualization Skill to crystalize it in its mind and started to actively grow it. And as soon as it had begun the Grass noticed that the cost of growing this was lower than it had expected. Even the last levels gained did not explain the reduced amount of energy and nutrients consumed to grow. Was it because of the nap? Was a tired plant consuming more energy to grow? It kind of made sense. Then all of its previous calculations were probably biased by its lack of sleep, be it by the higher consumption rates or the fact that being unknowingly sleepy could throw off its math.

Bazil rapidly recalculated its growth to resources consumptions ratio and found out that if it slept regularly it would end up with more to work with than if pulling all-nighters for full weeks like previously. That was good news.

[Skill Growth has reached level 9.

Skill Botanic has reached level 3.

Skill Visualization has reached level 7.

Racial Class Grass has reached level 5.]

At the end of the day, Bazil had managed to grow a kind of bulb in its root system. It looked awfully similar to a potato to Bazil’s perception of itself, but it would be the kind of potato for which it would be an absolute necessity to peel the skin first. Or else the fucker eating its resources stockpile would suffer from a mild stinging in its mouth. Actually, now that it thought about that Bazil was reminded of pepper. Would some irritating people find its urticant to be pleasantly spicy? Especially if there was some kind of Poison resistance Skill. Bazil was certain of the existence of such Skills as resistances and couldn’t wait to get one for fire.

All plants were naturally weak to fire, being kind of made of wood. So Bazil would jump on the occasion to acquire a Fire resistance Skill.

As planned Bazil’s bulb was encased in a tightly woven net of urticant roots that would slow the recuperation of its treasure from unwanted attentions.

The notifications about the level ups were good. Bazil had managed to level all those Skills quite quickly when combining them and that meant it was on a good track to grow strong. But what really interested it was the following notifications.

[You have reached level 5 in a Class.

Choose one of the following Skills:

- Nutritious

- Poisonous

- Strengthen structure

You have gained a Skill point.]

For starter Bazil had obtained a new Skill point. It was a great thing as it could buy a new Skill such as the coveted Chemistry or Gardening ones for early use, or Seduction for far later. Or, has Greeny had told it once, Bazil could keep the Skill point to help break through a level cap. And if it would gain a Skill point every five levels in a Class, it was good.

But the other part of the notification, the one about a Skill to choose was kinda disappointing. It had already managed to be poisonous by itself, so what would the Poisonous Skill do? Give it access to more nocive substances to grow in its body? Diminished the cost of doing it? Those would be good stuff indeed, but for now Bazil wasn’t really interested, it could already do that, why waste the opportunity to get another more interesting Skill?

The first Skill was a no. Bazil had no intention of becoming more nutritious. It already was enough with its potato-like thing and had no interest in being more enticing to potential predators. Well, being nutritious could be interesting in the far future, it could feed its harem girls with its own body, an enticing thought. But first Bazil had to survive.

Bazil then was more interested in the third Skill. Strengthening its structure would mean being harder to damage. It would be the best solution for its current situation and a good thing for the entirety of its life. Maybe it would grant Bazil knowledge on how to form bark or thorns. For now, the Botanic Skill didn’t provide the information and Bazil failed to use the Growth Skill in a way to do it each time it tried.

[New Skill: Strengthen structure - Level 1.]

Bazil felt a weird sensation coursed through its fibers as they were magically rearranged to be stronger. It was kind of a numbing in all of its body, like being slightly inebriated. Fortunately, it passed quickly and Bazil was left to inspect the changes.

Thanks to its level three Botanic Skill and level four Improved senses Bazil managed to see the slight differences in the arrangement of its fibers. But unfortunately, it wasn’t able to understand them. Anyway, it decided to focus a bit on its growth to see if the new structure would automatically apply, and the sentient plant was pleased to see that it was despite a higher consumption of resources.

Driven by curiosity and following a hunch Bazil decided to look at the Skill store again. It wanted to see if anything new had appeared.

The result was once again kind of disappointing. The Grass was starting to feel tired of all those disappointments. The list of available Skills hadn’t grown with the exception of two notably new Skills. The Poisonous and Nutritious Skills. While Bazil was glad to see that those Skills weren’t lost to the archives, it would have loved to see some new and interesting ones.

But for now, it would have to focus on its continuous growth and on expanding its reserves. It knew the rain wouldn’t last forever and had to either stock enough water or find a new source of it.