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. Tomorow 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.