When I woke up all I saw was a big light, looking down I couldn't see my body or feel it. All I saw was a big white room that didn't seem to end at all.
As I tried to process what was happening around me. Suddenly in front of me a large vintage tv appears out of nowhere in front of me, and then with a sizzling sound a glitched image of text began to appear.
"We are sorry to have to inform you, but you have died. As your merit exceeds the standards, you have earned the right to reincarnate in one of the random worlds under our control."
'Dead? Merit? Reincarnate? Random world?' I didn't understand anything, but the screen didn't stop.
"Your merit score is: 101. Therefore you have won the right to 1 random roulette wheel, with no chance to try again."
Before I could understand what was happening, the Tv was replaced by a slot machine, and then the very retro-looking machine started playing with a happy vintage and iconic music of cassino.
The first symbol was a colorful ball similar to planet Earth. The second was a symbol of a star, and the last was a symbol of a lotus flower.
Then the slot machine disappeared in a white smoke with a "puff" sound and in its place the Tv appeared again and started emitting a text.
"Congratulations host! You have gained the opportunity to Reincarnate in the world of: Asthena. With the randon gift: Star store. With the species: Nymphaea! Your transfer will begin immediately!"
Then everything started to melt, the walls, the TV, and even myself, everything melted like wax and mixed into a whirlpool soon I felt myself like sinking into the mud, unable to scream or even understand what was happening, and then everything went dark.
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When I woke up again I couldn't see anything, my surroundings seemed to be full of something, and I felt trapped in something.
'What is happening?' My head hurts, my body feels completely numb, and I can't remember much, all I can remember is being in the white room, watching a TV and a slot machine, and then everything disappeared.
'I... I died? Where am I....Asthena? Where is this?... Who am I?' My head was fuzzy and sore, and I couldn't tell what was happening, but my instincts were telling me that I should do something now.
Trying to move I couldn't do anything, it was like having your body completely anesthetized and still being conscious, no matter how much you try to move, nothing moves and everything seems scary.
'What I need to do?' I tried to search my memories, but soon I started thinking of a word.
'Status?'
Information Name: ----- Level: 1 Gender: ---- Age: 0 Years Hp: 5.1 Sp: 2.4 Mp: 0.2 Race: Lunar Nymphaea
Attributes Str: 0 Vit: 1.7 Def: 2.1 Dex: 0.5 Spe: 0 Magic: 0.1 Hp Regen: 0.2 MpRegen: 0.01 Luck: 0.2
Skills
[Root Growth] - Lv 1
Use your Sp to make your roots grow
[Nutrient Absorption] - Lv 1
Absorb nutrients from decomposed materials
[Photosynsis] - Lv 1
Use water and nutrients to create Sp
[Blooming] - Lv 1
Create flowers that can bear fruit
[Lunar Conversion] - Lv 1
Use your leaves to convert moonlight into MP
[Summon Nymphs] - Lv 1
Use your MP to summon and maintain water nymphs that can protect you.
[Filtering] - Lv 1
Use root formations and SP to absorb nutrients present in the water and filter it
Titles
-={Reincarnated}=-
Get a permanent bonus of 100% XP gains
'Oh- Uh... So I'm a Nymphaea? Is that a plant?...' My brain seemed to be working again, I still didn't remember many things, but I was beginning to understand my current situation.
I tried to focus on my [Root Growth] skill, and soon my mind was filled with a lot of information, the information to use the skill.
'So... I just need...' Following my instincts, I try to stretch myself out, until I start to feel something, and it feels like I've broken something, then I can feel a cold, wet sensation, which makes me feel cold and wet. it gave the idea that I was in the water, and I could soon feel that I had successfully created a small root.
'Good enough.' The process made me very tired, and I felt sleepy and heavy, so I soon fell asleep.
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Lotus Year 1
A few days had passed I think? And in the meantime I remembered some things, I think I was a human being in my "other life", I don't remember my name, or what I looked like. But I think I was a human being.
I don't really know what to do with these memories, they are so broken and fragmented that I can't do anything with them, so I just used them to guide me in my new life.
I used my abilities to grow my roots, and now I knew that I was at the bottom of some type of lake or water source, my body was a small seed with several roots that curled around the ground, connected to what appeared to be a black seed. , and a plant stem that grew upwards, I could see everything around me, with a 360° degree view, it was quite confusing at first, but I soon got used to it.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
I tried using more skills, like [Photosynsis], [Blooming], [Lunar Conversion], [Summon Nymphs] and [Filtering]. But my instincts told me that I needed to grow first to be able to use these skills correctly.
I was able to use the [Nutrient Absorption] skill, absorbing the nutrients from my seed, and remains from the bottom of the lake, I could see some little creatures that paid me a visit from time to time, which seemed to be fish, insects and animals that live in the lake. water, I think I'm in a lake because I saw what looked like tadpoles, which is an indication of fresh water. But maybe they were just geriatrics that can live in salt water.
Time passed, and I continued my journey towards the surface, one day I would get there.
One day.
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Lotus Year 2
It seems like a few days have passed, maybe weeks, my sense of time seems horrible. I wake up, eat, grow, sleep and then repeat the cycle, going on and on without stopping, my roots had spread across a good part of the lake, and every now and then something would fall on top of them, which helped me grow.
My nutrient supply in my seed was running out, so this made me very worried, so I started using the [Filtering] skill. Even though it contradicts my instincts.
The skill created some "fruits" on my roots, which then grew until they looked like sponges, these sponges then absorbed the dirt and nutrients contained in the water, and gave me a good supply of food.
I don't know what's in that water, but it looks dirty, everything is very green and slimy, and it seems to be full of insects and things like that, maybe I'm in a swamp, or something like that.
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Lotus Year 3
I finally reached the surface! My stem could finally see the outside world, and what I saw was a lot of plants, trees, and algae growing around the surface of the lake, I was very excited about this, and I grew my first leaves.
The leaves looked like normal lotus plant leaves, but they had some cool bluish spots that glowed in the dark. These leaves grew attached to my main stem, and my stem just served as a connector for everything.
The leaves took a lot of energy, and I was getting worried that I wouldn't survive, but when the first leaf opened, and I was finally able to "feed" myself for the first time, it was incredible.
It was like a wave of energy that slowly recharged my body and made me feel incredible, made me feel how precious life was and how little things should be appreciated.
When night fell, things got more serious. As soon as the moon appeared in the sky, the blue spots on my leaves began to glow even brighter, and I could feel my body being energized with a different type of energy.
'Is that the MP?' Magical energy, something I had never touched before, and now I was generating this new magical energy.
'What if I...' Activating my skill [Summon Nymphs]; I could see the water around my leaves start to tremble, and soon a small bubble of green water rose up and began to float around.
'That's it?' The nymphs didn't look like much, but as soon as the water bubble spotted an insect that was resting peacefully on my leaves, it began to vibrate and then shot a small blast of water that knocked the insect into the lake.
'Oh!! Thank you lady nympha!' I could feel the nympha was sucking my Mp, but nothing I couldn't handle nowadays.
'Status'
Information Name: ----- Level: 1 Gender: ---- Age: 3 Years Hp: 21.2 Sp: 12.8 Mp: 2.3 Race: Lunar Nymphaea
Attributes Str: 0 Vit: 21.5 Def: 8.1 Dex: 0.8 Spe: 0 Magic: 0.1 Hp Regen: 0.8 MpRegen: 0.01 Luck: 0.2
Skills
[Root Growth] - Lv 6
Use your Sp to make your roots grow
[Nutrient Absorption] - Lv 4
Absorb nutrients from decomposed materials
[Photosynsis] - Lv 1
Use water and nutrients to create Sp
[Blooming] - Lv 1
Create flowers that can bear fruit
[Lunar Conversion] - Lv 1
Use your leaves to convert moonlight into MP
[Summon Nymphs] - Lv 1
Use your MP to summon and maintain water nymphs that can protect you.
[Filtering] - Lv 3
Use root formations and SP to absorb nutrients present in the water and filter it
'Wow!! 3 years?! When did all this time pass?!' I hadn't opened my status in the meantime, because it didn't seem like a long time, but 3 years had passed by me like it was nothing.
'At least I gained a lot of skill levels'
'Wait a minute... What about my "gift"?' I had received a "gift" in the white room, but until today I didn't pay attention to it.
'Damn... If I'm not mistaken, what was it? Mania store? Mana Store? Star Store?'
As soon as those words came to mind, a new tab appeared for me.
Notice
You have accessed the "Star Store" feature for the first time! Therefore, you will receive an explanation of its uses and purposes!
Star Store
When using Star Store services, you can convert points into skills, titles or XP. To earn points you must generate them by collecting stellar mana, or by converting common mana into stellar mana.
Star Store Star Points: 0
Random skill: 40 Star points - Or more
Random Title: 500 Star points - Or more
Conversion: 10 MP - 0.1 Star Point / 1 Star Point - 10 XP
'Damn!!! That's quite nice! But it's too expensive!! I can't afford it... I don't even have 10 Mp, so I would need around... 4000 thousand mana points to gain just a random skill?!' This thing would take days, months, years to fill.
'It's not like I have anything else to do I guess...'
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Lotus Year 4
Star Store Do you want to use 40 Star points for a random skill?
The last year has been busy, in the morning I create leaves on the surface and more sponges underwater, at night I focus everything I have on generating Mp, and then I convert everything into star points.
After a long time, and a repetitive process, I finally got the first 40 points, at that point I already got a lot of leaves, and my roots spread across the bottom of the lake, my leaves were very good at competing for space, growing on top of algae and other vegetation, killing them and taking their place, so it was an easy task to dominate the surface of this lake.
The sponges made my surroundings brighter and healthier, causing the dark green water in the lake to be slowly converted into purer water. Currently the water was still very green, but if I spread my roots further across the bottom of the lake, and create more sponges, it will only be a matter of time before this lake becomes a source of drinking water.
'Yes' was my answer to the star store purchase, and soon I received my random product.
Notice
You have gained the skill [Mud Critters]
Notice
[Mud Critters] - Lv 1
Use your MP to create and mantain mud minions, who can fight for you.
'Oh... This is basically the same thing as water nymphs, the difference is that these are made of mud.... I spent 1 year of my life for this?