Lotus Year 16
After a few days I finally managed to get back to the surface of the lake, and what I found was a desolate land left behind.
There was ash and burnt wood everywhere, black earth and tree remains emitting smoke, my leaves, vines and roots that touched the surface were completely burned, and all that was left were charred pieces scattered randomly across the lake.
'I can get back on my feet, the important thing is that I'm alive.'
The damage was horrible, but I wasn't dead. Did I have big losses from this? Of course. But nothing I can't recover over time. The lake is dirty? I can clean it in no time. Did my cuties nymphs die? I can make moreof them. Did the lake water evaporate? I can refil it forever.
As I began to create some small plant branches that in a few days would give rise to new leaves, I used my control over the water to push myself a little above the water level of the lake, leaving my core exposed to the surface.
Taking the chance, I take a look around me and realize that the thick weeds and invasive vegetation had completely disappeared. And in its place a pile of burnt trees and scorched ground was placed.
'That is good? Or bad?' Now I no longer have the problem with wild vegetation dominating the lake's surroundings, but a fire never seems to be a good thing.
Taking advantage of the rest of Mp I had, I started to summon some nymphs, and without delay small bubbles stained with ash emerged from the water and began to patrol my surroundings.
'I need to save MP in case I need to use my water manipulation powers, so just 3 nymphs for now.'
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Lotus Year 17
Warning
The hero [Lucios] killed the Demon Lord of Chaos
I was resting in my pond, just cleaning up the remains of the fire and practicing my water manipulation. But out of nowhere I received a notification that had nothing to do with me.
'Demon Lord? Hero Lucios? Who are these guys?'
It seemed important for me to have received a notification, but it didn't change my life at all. I was more concerned about leveling up my skills and getting more star points.
I survived this crisis, and because of that the lake also survived. Some animals in the lake died during the fire, but they were just frogs, insects, and some tadpoles. The fish had fled to the bottom of the lake as soon as they felt the temperature increase, so everyone was fine.
This made my lake a point of life amidst the ashes, there were many birds that came here every day to eat fish, frogs and toads. And some wild animals that came to drink and bathe in my waters.
These animals looked like boars, wolves, rats, monkeys, jaguars, and even a bear. All these creatures came here almost daily and enjoyed the waters of the lake.
This made me a little angry sometimes, because these creatures entered my pure, crystal clear waters with their dirty, stinky bodies and contaminated everything. But I could purify the water quite easily and they helped me level up because of that.
If the water remained pure for the rest of my life, the purification skill would stop evolving, so having these animals and dirt that falls into the water daily helped me a lot in raising my skill levels.
And to be honest, I think there is a great symbiotic relationship happening here between us. These animals constantly fought with each other for sovereignty over the lake, as the first appearances of grass and plants to appear were around me and nowadays the lake is the only place within a 4km radius with live trees, grass, and undergrowth.
The other places also had all of this, but the amount around the lake was much higher, the nutrients and humidity here were very present thanks to my clay guardians who fertilized the soil and my water nymphs who replicated the rain phenomenuon almost daily to keep the place always humid.
The nymphs began to adopt this strategy, and it seemed like it was due to the fire. I don't know how these new nymphs know something they've never seen before, but they made a point of keeping the land around the lake very moist, and even created a cloud of steam every day, generating a dense fog every morning.
This made the surroundings of the lake an environment prone to life, frogs were the luckiest, as my leaves and vines gave them good cover, and my waters were the ideal place for their offspring to grow, there was no chance of the water source drying up, and it was full of algae, plants pieces, and animal remains for the tadpoles to eat.
This large number of frogs attracted a large number of fish and birds. The fish hunted and ate the tadpoles, and the birds ate the fish and frogs and due to the large number of birds, several predators were always on the lookout, whether wolves, Jaguars or small felines.
The wild boars came here to cool off, rub themselves in the mud and eat the undergrowth at the edge of the lake, along with several other herbivores that did the same, which attracted even more predators.
So it's quite common for me to wake up and see a pool of blood at the edge of the lake, or a half-eaten corpse floating in my waters while being devoured by fish.
It's just the cycle of life, there's nothing to do about it, just accept it and keep dancing to the music.
And the music never stops to play.
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Lotus Year 18
Information Name: ----- Level: 20 Gender: ---- Age: 16 Years Hp: 84.4 Sp: 38.8 Mp: 32.5 Race: Lunar Nymphaea
Attributes Str: 0 Vit: 63.2 Def: 25.2 Dex: 2.9 Spe: 0.1 Magic: 1.2 Hp Regen: 3 + 1.5 MpRegen: 0.14 Luck: 0.8
Skills
[Filtering Roots] - Lv 7
Create roots capable of purifying water and absorbing nutrients.
[Celestial Absorption] - Lv 7
Absorb the magical power of celestial bodies through the process of photosynthesis, generating MP and SP
[Blooming] - Lv 6
Create flowers that can bear fruit
[Summon Nymphs] - Lv MAX
Use your MP to summon and maintain water nymphs that can protect you.
[Clay Guardians] - Lv 8
Use Mp to create and maintain clay guardians capable of generating essential nutrients for the soil using MP.
[Lotus Blessing] - Lv 1
Bestow a blessing upon an allie that increased luck and fortune.
[Hard shell] - Lv 6
Use your Sp to make the surface of your shell harder
[Create Water] - Lv MAX
Use Mp to create pure water.
[Waste Wipe] - Lv 7
Use MP to purify dirt and harmful substances
[Lily Pad Shield] - Lv 1
Create Lily Pads that can serve as resistant shields, Lily Pads cannot generate energy.
[Solar Beam] - Lv 1
Use a flower to generate a concentrated beam of energy capable of causing massive damage, the solar beam must be charged and its strength is limited by the intensity of sunlight.
[Poison Point] - Lv 2
Use your Sp to create poisonous spikes
[Lotus Scent] - Lv MAX
Use Sp and MP to emit a scent capable of attracting prey and calming them
[Thorn Trap] - Lv 2
Use Sp and MP to create root traps that activate on contact.
[Water Absorption] - Lv MAX
Absorb and store large amounts of water in your body.
[Vine Whip] - Lv 8
Create thin vines to lash out at enemies and inflict minor damage.
A few more years had passed, my lake became a calm and peaceful place, at least for me it was. Even in the face of daily conflicts over the sovereignty of predators over this hunting ground.
Now I had around 2312 star points accumulated, I was at level 20, and I had some skills that could be fused into a single Skill. So to start the day I started thinking about the possibilities of mergers.
'[Summon Nymphs] and [Create Water] seem like they were made for each other, if I do this I can create much more powerful water nymphs. But [Lotus Scent] and [Summon Nymphs] also look tempting... Could I create some kind of mermaid with that? Water nymphs that attract prey to the bottom of the lake? But I might end up creating scented nymphs... which doesn't look very good to me. [Summon Nymphs] and [Water Absorb] can also work, I would create nymphs that can store and carry more water in their bodies. But what if I fused [Create Water] and [Water Absorb]?'
After thinking a bit, I decide that I will fuse [Summon Nymphs] and [Create Water] and save my other 2 max level skills for later, when I have more options.
Notice
Do you want to fuse the skills [Summon Nymphs] and [Create Water] ?
'Yes!'
Notice
The skills [Summon Nymphs] and [Create Water]had fused in the skill [Undine's Embrace]
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Skill
[Undine's Embrace] - Lv 1
Use Mp to summon water-type elementals, the result of the summoning will depend on the sacrifice offered and the level of the host.
'Wow!! This is so much better than I thought!! It's a skill to summon elementals!! I don't even know what elementals are, but they seem to be stronger than my water nymphs!'
The sacrifice part worries me, but if it's an energy sacrifice then it's understandable, since it seems like it takes a lot of energy to summon an elemental.
After analyzing the skill a little, information about what I should do soon appears in my mind, it's nothing very specific, but just the general process to summon an elemental.
'So I just need...' Following my instincts and the skill manual, I start to activate the skill and pump my mana into it, then I can see the waters of my lake start to vibrate until a small whirlpool forms. After pouring almost all my mana into the skill I can see the mill disappearing and in its place a large water bubble similar to my nymphs appears, then in front of me this water bubble begins to take the shape of a water fish and begins to swim through the sky as if we are underwater.
'Amazing!! I summoned an elemental! What can he do?' Without letting me wait long, the water fish swam calmly towards a small rodent that tried to hide in the grass, but then the water elemental began to create a ball of water around its mouth and fired the ball at the rodent, transforming it in a bloodstain on the floor.
Notice
Your summoned elemental killed a [Moxi Rat] you gained 1.6 XP
'Incredible!! They are very expensive, but much more powerful than a nymph!'
I would need a few more days to be able to summon another one of these water fish, but for me they are very worth it, the summoning cost is high, but I'm not spending anything to keep it here!
For my next goal, I look at my large amount of star points and think about what to do with it all.
Star Store Star Points: 2312.2
Random skill: 140 Star points - Or more
Random Title: 2000 Star points - Or more
Conversion: 10 MP - 0.1 Star Point / 1 Star Point - 10 XP
Now that I know the advantages of leveling up, I can exchange all of this for a lot of XP, but I don't know if this is dangerous, a fast growth can sometimes be really dangerous.
I could also buy a truckload of new smaller skills, go all in on a single big skill, or try a new title.
'I will spend 500 points on a single skill and 1812 points on 6 smaller skills.'
Big skills were risky, but I got my only offensive skill by spending a lot of points, and I can't use it masterfully, so I'll try to get a powerful fighting skill, or just a super powerful skill.
Star Store Do you want to use 500 Star points for a skill?
'Yes'!
Notice
You have gained the skill [Aquatic Allies]
Skill
[Aquatic Allies] - Lv 1
Use Mp to summon a variety of aquatic creatures that can serve as your allies.
'Another summoning skill? I can't even test it now because I'm out of mana...'
The skill seems cool, but it was more of a summoning skill, it's always good to have more guardians, but I wanted skills that worked on me.
Star Store Do you want to use Star points for x6 skill?
'Yes!'
Notice
You have gained the skill [Mist Veil]
Skill
[Mist Veil] - Lv 1
Conjures a veil of mist to obscure the vision of invaders
Notice
You have gained the skill [Lotus Light]
Skill
[Lotus Light] - Lv 1
Use Mp to create a small light source in lotus flowers
Notice
You have gained the skill [Water Echo]
Skill
[Water Echo] - Lv 1
Use Mp to create small sounds at any nearby water sources.
Notice
You have gained the skill [Floral Flourish]
Skill
[Floral Flourish] - Lv 1
Makes plants around you grow faster
Notice
You have gained the skill [Pond's Reflection]
Skill
[Pond's Reflection] - Lv 1
Use Mp to reflect any image in a large body of water, as long you have viewed it before.
Notice
You have gained the skill [Kelp Keep]
Skill
[Kelp Keep] - Lv 1
Use Sp to create small amounts of highly nutritious algae
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Lotus Year 19
I was in my lake, last year several flowers and plants grew around the lake thanks to my new abilities, there was a large amount of a blue-green algae that grew inside the lake, this algae was my algae, and they were slowly dominating the algae that was in the lake previously.
The fish, snails and worms love this algae so it wasn't difficult for me to create an area around my roots where the fish lived, I took the opportunity to have my clay soldiers build small caves with the mud and rocks from the lake, and I reinforced them with my roots, creating a large number of tunnels and small holes that the fish used as hiding places among the algae.
Life continued very well for me, I slowly expanded the lake, increased the level of my skills, and generated star points. The lake also now had small creatures that looked like axolotls, these little creatures were summoned by me, and had the ability to grow indefinitely. In other words, now they may be the size of a sardine, but in a few years these little guys could become the size of a crocodile.
I also had 5 more water elementals living in the lake, they patrolled all day, and when they wanted to rest they just dissolved in the lake water and then resurfaced later if necessary.
Life was very peaceful here, there was still the problem with animal conflict in the region, but nothing that was really scary.
Then, one morning, I started to hear what sounded like the clanking of metal, and after a while the noise got closer, until a large group of armed people appeared at the edge of the lake.
'What are they? They appear to be human...'
The guys were all dirty and wearing heavy metal armor, I could see them leaving what looked like backpacks on the ground and then they started to set up a camp.
They cut down some trees, uprooted some plants, and erected several cloth tents. Then I could see them taking off their armor and revealing what looked like human people, but they had strange colored hair and some had unusually colored eyes.
These humans then began to make themselves at home, setting up wooden benches and lighting a fire, then I saw what appeared to be a long-haired human approaching the lake with a water sack in his hands.
As soon as the human got close, they began to move my leaves aside to access the lake water, and stopped momentarily when they saw the crystal-clear water like glass inside the lake.
The water was so pure that you could see the grains of sand at the bottom of the lake, and every stone in the lake was so clean that it didn't look like a lake you would find deep in a forest, but rather something in the garden of a castle.
After seeing the water at the bottom of the lake, the girl slowly walked away, looking nervously in the direction of the lake and her surrondings, and began talking to a large man in armor.
The guy then walked towards me and looked at the lake, he moved some of my leaves away with a stick and then picked up a stone and threw it into the deepest part of the lake.
'What is your problem!'
I wanted to start shooting lots of solar rays at these guys, but the trees that grew in the middle of the lake had ended up at the bottom of the lake after the fire, so I no longer had a support to grow flowers, and even if I had the right angle to hit them, I don't have enough mana to launch a long attack so unless I wanted to show them a show of tricks, I was stuck.
The man just waited after throwing the stones, and after a while he assessed that I was not a threat. I don't know what had happened, or why my pure water had scared these guys away, but it seemed like it had already passed.
When I finally started to calm down, the man shouted to other people in the camp, and soon a thin young boy with chains on his arms and legs was brought in. The big man then took the water sack from the long-haired human and made the water go down the chained boy's throat.
When he saw that the prisoner was refusing to swallow the water, he grabbed his jaw with one hand, and ordered another soldier to cover the boy's nose with a cloth. Then the strong man put the water sack in the prisoner's mouth, and almost made him drown with the water making he drink it by force.
Then everyone moved away from the prisoner and waited about 3 minutes, when they saw that nothing had happened to him, the human woman seemed very happy, but the strong man grabbed the prisoner by the neck and threw him into the lake as if he were a sack of potatoes.
When the prisoner fell into the lake, I could feel how my water elementals were planning an attack, but I suppressed them because I didn't want to attract these people's attention.
The prisoner tried to swim and hold on to something, but his bound hands and legs didn't help much, i could feel his movements slowing down over time, and when it looked like he was going to drown, the human woman lassoed him with a whip and pulled him to the edge of the lake. The strong man then began to inspect the prisoner's body, looking for anything, and after a while he signaled to the human woman and she dragged the prisoner back to a tree where she tied him.
'Were they testing the water in the lake? What should I do if they started attacking me?'
I didn't like this new company, I didn't like their presence, their attitudes or how they treated the prisoner. I don't know why, but seeing them treating such a small human being made me angry.
Soon the strong man walked away and another human came carrying a bunch of water canteens, so it seemed like they chose me as "safe lake".
As night fell I could see more and more of these humans without their metal helmets, some had normal hair with brown, white, yellow, and reddish colors. But others had very unusual hair, like green, purple, pink, and blue. I don't know if it's dyed or if their hair is really like that, but it felt like these guys weren't the same humans I know.
I could see them playing around the campfire, some people had animals on their shoulders, others carried staffs, swords and hammers. And some did tricks for their colleagues, like levitating leaves and playing with flames. I even saw a woman with short green hair make a man trip over a root that she made appear out of nowhere.
These humans have powers, and different types of powers, it's very interesting, but I didn't dare reveal my existence. It was very difficult, especially when these humans started to enter my lake naked, they cleaned the dirt from their bodies, took water to clean clothes, armor, and things like that, took water to make food and drink and I could even see a man with a blue mantle bottling my water in a glass flask.
They are very inconvenient! They drink the same water where they bathe and wash clothes!! They don't care about my leaves, crushing and tearing them, and I have to hide the pain to not attract attention, they scare the animals that came here before and they even stay up late making a lot of noise!!
They are the Worst Neighbors of all