Chapter 4

Well, it's been a while. Half a year at least would be my guess.

I have mostly been living according to my initial plans, with a few brakes every now and then.

There were a few more exiting events as well of course. For example, I found a humanoid! It didn't fit any race that I knew of, fantasy or otherwise, and it was unfortunately very much dead. It did however have leather clothes and a knife, therefore proving the existence of intelligent species as well as suggesting what their level of technology may be. Besides, after I overcame my initial reservations, he turned out to be an excellent research subject.

In the end I still haven't gotten any new skills, but I leveled up the existing ones quite a bit.

StatusSpeciesStone pine variantName–Health100%Level3———Stamina529Mana107/107Strength0 (9%)Vitality1 (31%)Agility0 (2%)Intelligence0 (0%)Unused points2

SkillsPassiveActiveStrong soul (human) level 1

- adaptation level 2

- self-aware level 8

- ethereal consciousness level 3

Soul Perception level 19

Internal Mana Control level 13

Species Specific level 12

Analyze level 10Telekinesis level 9

- attract/deflect level 15

Growth Control level 23

Phagogenesis level 20

OK. So first of. Stats!

I gain 1 point every level and as far as I can tell, they don't do anything. I have only tried vitality, but basically, putting a point in strength probably wouldn't actually give you extra strength. It does however appear to give you insight on how to better utilize the strength you do have and you gain the potential to become stronger. For example when I reached 100% at vitality nothing happened, except that it wouldn't increase any more and stamina now had a cap over which it couldn't go. When I allocated to point though, the percentage went to 10% and it suddenly occurred to me that I can just store energy a bit differently and the limit to stamina was therefore moved back. I'm still not sure how that increased potential is reflected physically though or where the new knowledge comes from. Maybe already knew it, but didn't realize? You know, the subconscious is a know-it-all and all that.

Anyway another interesting thing is, that I can rename skills. That's where the Analyze comes from. See, it turns out that Identification is great for understanding things easier, but horrible for actually identifying them. So I changed it to something I felt was more appropriate.

I also wanted to rename Telekinesis, but couldn't come up with anything. As to why? Well, it's apparently impossible to move anything bigger than half a millimeter and even that's stretching it. The sub-skill is great for controlling small amounts of liquids and gasses though.

Now enough about that and lets move on to my new body.

Yep, I did it! I deviated from my original plan quite a bit, mostly because I would not have been able to grow anything bigger than half a meter for a few years at least, but it's pretty much complete now and I'm rather pleased with it.

Anyway it is a little under half a meter tall and very lithe. It looks more animal than human, but with definite human characteristics. Kind of like the beast races from novels, but more animal.

I tried to go for a mostly feline feel, with small ears and thick fluffy tail, but for some reason it has some mouse like features as well.

The feet look mostly animal with pads and claws, but they have good traction, I hope, and shouldn't pose a problem when climbing.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

The hands are thin with fairly long fingers and sharp retractable nails. They are mostly human in function, but I did plan to use them quite a lot when moving.

Oh, and I have 6 eyes.

One pair which I pretty much copied from the humanoid. They are pitch black, with a blue tint and are a little better than the eyes of humans as I know them. This consists mostly of better visibility at night and a bit more distance. The motion vision should be better as well, but I have no way of testing that.

The other two pairs are much smaller look like little red stones. They were a pain to make, but are now at the outer side of the first pair and are mostly used for infrared and ultraviolet vision respectively.

Aside from the oh so wonderful colors, this means that I have an almost 300 degree field of vision even in complete darkness.

An illustration

[So the picture didn't quite come out how i invisioned it. Too human for one, and it's hard to see the size (hence the mouse). I also didn't know how to keep the form, but make him more plant-like (more gnarly?). Just use it as inspiration.][Edit: just discovered that google doesn't work well with sharing pictures so I'm postng a link instead]

What else … I look, for the most part, like a mammal, but I'm still mostly plantlike in physiology. For example, I can eat and have lungs, but I can just breath through my skin and my tail can function as a root. I simply stick the end into the ground and grow the web-like roots I had in the beginning. The lungs are there so I can speak or at leas make some noise as well as draw in air for smelling. I spent quite a while figuring out the most sensitive nose design that I could still close off when I don't want to smell something. Same with the tongue to some degree.

I also learned this neat trick that allows me to switch between two different furs and unlike it's original user, I can use one of them to photosynthesize.

The new body also has a wonderful brain, if I do say so myself. I used the mana conduits, because that was easiest and integrated them into what is a combination of the brain structures of various different animals fitted into the basic structure of (a minimized version of) the humanoids brain.

At first I had trouble connecting to it, the same way I couldn't actually see or feel with the first nerves, but then I found this weird mineral almost 20 m below ground. It seems to act kind of like a vessel.

I, or I suppose a part of my soul enters it and from there it connects to the brain. I have never fully immersed myself in it so far though so I don't know if my soul “fits” in it completely. And let me tell you, moving the mineral, cleaning it of granite, reshaping it and then integrating into the brain correctly was NOT easy. It took me almost 3 months just doing that!

Now then. Everything should be ready.

Lets do this!

… and I can't move. Or see. Or anything.

Haa … can't be helped. Lets see if I can find out what …

… O.K. … it appears that I can't leave this body anymore …

Back in a bit.

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Three weeks. That is the ammount of time it took me to open my eyes. Yep. TRHEE F***ing WEEKS! At this rate it's gonna take me another year!

Aaarghhhh!

Haa … well, at least I know that this body can move, and by the end of the second week I started to feel too.

The reason I can't leave has probably something to do with fully entering that strange mineral and I think I figured out why I'm not running around righ about now as well.

Three things: I haven't moved for over a year, this body is radically different from what I had before, and it's also brand new and therefore lacks any muscle-memory whatsoever. I mean even babies move before they are born and it still takes the combination of strong instincts, which I don't have, and constant training for months until they gain some resemblance of control over their bodies. So yeah …

Oh one more thing. Apparently my species is now

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Next chapter finaly has some (slight) action and story progression.  Unfortunately I still haven't finished it completely though so it might come a little late.

Also do you want more pictures? I always thought they ruined the folw a bit, but I can porbably put them in a spoiler box or something.