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.

I 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%

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

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:

1. Skill Upgrade

2. Choose New Skill

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.