My first memory is that of being bored.

The life of a seed is easy, there is plenty of food and the soil is quite comfortable. But something about having an idle mind nagged me.

I felt like it was odd that I knew things, but how do I even have a baseline of normalcy without experience. It wasn't long before I noticed the "link". There is so much information there, and focusing on it there is more than just the one... There are several creatures who I am learning things from without even realising it.

I can also feel strange sensations from them, the emotions feel right, but the way they breath just feels wrong and sight is such an alien experience.

It is not like I know nothing about my surroundings. I can feel the soil with my roots. The dampness, the nutrient availability, and even the slight acidity can be felt by my roots. My stem can feel the breeze, whether the air is clean or dirty, the humidity, and the temperature. It is distinctly different from the way they percieve thier surroundings, even if there are some similarities.

I spen a few days just observing them, feeling the adrenaline when Pythana sprints, Slimerene's endless hunger, Ratina being enthralled by the power of her magic, Nasby feeling like the sturdy wall that will never fall, and Auxentius enjoying the power but always worrying about dangers he cannot even sense.

I cannot get a clear view of what is going on, just trace images or feelings here and there with the occasional idea or concept being grasped.

I lose track of the time while watching them, but I eventually decide to try something else.

Magic, I already know how it feels to use it by observing them, but as I try to locate my own magic, I feel a familiar interference. Am I really going to be locked out of magic?!

Analyze Show known information about an object

....Cheeky bastard... Now I see why Auxentius feels like the menu might be messing with us.

What else am I supposed to do, move my roots around? Wait maybe I should try that....

Root maneuvering LV1 Allows roots to move in a burst of motion, damage based on STR, duration based in stamina

This is nice and all, but I am still not level 1 and have 0 strength so the skill is completely useless to me. I use it anyway and I can feel some change in my roots, but can't move them at all. I try to focus on just what this changed feeling is as it isn't quite the same as magic, and try applying the sensation elsewhere.

I end up getting one more skill out of doing this on my stem.

Harden LV1 Increases defence and lowers mobility of a selected area. Defence increases 10%, mobility decreases 80%

I also end up getting a notification after a few minutes.

You are now LV1! A new world of opportunities awaits you.

I pull up my new menu.

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Name N/A Race Angiosperm, hermaphrodite Age 0 LV 1 Class Flower sapling Rank 0 HP 10/10 MP 6/6 (+0.01mp/sec) Strength 2 Intelligence 2 Dexterity 1 Willpower 2 Stamina 4 Wisdom 1 Luck 47 Charisma 1 Skills  Harden LV1: Increases defence and lowers mobility of a selected area. Defence increases 10%, mobility decreases 80%     Titles Planted by Auxentius: +1 stamina, luck, and willpower     Race skills  Root maneuvering LV1: Allows roots to move in a burst of motion, damage based on STR, duration based in stamina    

Now that I think about it, trying to use magic without any MP and less than 10 HP might not have been such a good idea...

But now that I do have MP I try it again.

Magic perception Ability to sense the mana of your surroundings

Now to learn the other essentials.

Magic manipulation Able to alter the shape and properties of mana

Magic sense Able to make a field of mana that will detect objects within it, Uses more MP/second the larger the field

Finally I can sense the shape of my surroundings, though only in my immediate surroundings for a short while. I only have 6 MP and it doesn't last long, I use root manipulation next and I can wriggle around a little bit, but not much else.

It is slow growing, over the next few days I learn the basic manipulation skills, but my MP is too small to form a ball skill out of the elemental mana.

Soil manipulation is great though, I can cycle in fresh soil whenever the nutrients in my nearbly soil dry up, and I can push the nearby grass roots out of my territory.

However, soon I encountered what would be my gratest foe in the future...

A beetle. Not some giant beetle, or some magical abomination, just a regular old beetle. I didn't pay much attention to it at first, but then I learned my mistake.

It BIT me, tore out a chunk of one of my 2 leaves and started chewing on it. This was my first direct experience with pain and it hurt like hell. I smashed that beetle with the full force of my roots and crushed it with everything I had.

LV up

It was this experience today that lead me to set my goal. Bugs must be exterminated, genocide every species that eats plants cause if one of them is this painful when they bite me then I shudder to think what would happen if a swarm of them was crawling around me while biting off chunks of me. I don't care if the other plants use them for pollination, I AM GOING TO WIPE THEM OUT.

But it isn't enough to just kill the ones I encounter, oh no, I need to exterminate them at thier sources and wipe them out all at once after making the preperations. Luckily I have some information regarding this from the link, I believe it is called systemic genocide? Unfortunately only ants and bees have a hierarchy you can manipulate to turn them against each other the way people do, but there is another interesting stratagy for killing bugs, a fungal parasyte that controls their minds and makes them kill themselves at high places to better spread spores.

If I could slowly spread an infectious fungus that targets all insects in the woods, I could wait for all of them to be infected before killing them all in one fell swoop! There seems to be a forest with mind controlling creature nearby, maybe I could learn a thing or two from them....