The beast sagged, dying as Haylock’s roots wrapped themselves around the much larger core. This one was three times bigger than usual, and it was taking Haylock longer to tear it from the monster’s body. When he did, the head rolled off as if something magical had been holding it in place this entire time, falling to the ground with a loud thump.

Pulling the core through his roots, the creature's body began to break apart, the power that held it together now gone, allowing Haylock access to the tender flesh inside. Legs and claws acted as if a seamstress had cut the threads that held everything, suddenly falling apart.

“We need to take these bodies and return home,” Mime said, taking a few deep breaths. “If another one of that level comes, we won’t be able to defeat it. You and your familiar are both injured.”

Haylock turned his attention to Fufu, covered in purple blood, steam, or smoke rising from his slightly burnt skin. The toxic blood had caused some damage to his pink hair, creating bald spots on Fufu’s upper body.

Can you get that one body and carry it? I’ll try to drag the other back.

Fufu grunted and moved to the monster Haylock had first used his new seed skill on. After the attack had taken off a major chunk of its body, it had never gotten up.

Using his roots, Haylock began pulling the body as he turned, facing the direction of Mimi’s property.

“You may not be able to take all of it!” Mimi shouted as she moved ahead of Haylock. “Time isn’t our friend.”

Unable to resist the urge to eat all the food, Haylock used his vines and roots, bringing the armored body close and trying to bite into the shell. Loud grinding noises came from his teeth chomping on it, but no real damage was being done.

Pausing for a moment, Haylock considered what he knew about crabs and lobsters.

Using roots, he pushed into the right side, expanding their thickness, and slowly, the membranes that held the body together began to stretch and crack, opening up a small section of the inside. Every moment that passed, his roots were draining the lifeblood from the body, and now, with a good size hole exposed, Haylock turned the creature's body sideways and lifted it up, bending his flower lower and using roots to push the meaty inside out the hole and into his open maw.

A retching sound came, and Haylock knew it was Nini from the sound. He didn’t care or pause. The sound of another creature coming from further south left him with little time to get what he could.

“We need to go!” Mimi yelled.

Frustrated, Haylock tossed the corpse aside and followed after the older woman, moving as quickly as he could. His roots brought to him from underneath the ground the wolf and bull corpses Haylock had pulled under. They found a new resting place inside the gnawing teeth and wet tongue that delighted in the taste of a fresh kill.

+ 150 SC

+ 150 SC

+ 323 SC

+ 100 Chi

*****

I’m so tired… how hard is it to digest all of this stuff?

“Don’t go to sleep on me,” Mimi said, noticing the way Haylock’s flower was dropping. “We need to work on the next part of all this training. You need to heal yourself. In battle, time for healing is rare, but it must not be spoiled when the chance comes. Now look at me.”

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Haylock’s yellow eyes watched Mimi, ignoring the glare she was giving, his eyes heavy from all the food he had consumed and the effort he had made.

She took out a knife and cut her arm.

“Watch my chi. See how it moves to the open area. Focus on how my body brings the injured area the needed power to heal faster.

Haylock could see the chi inside spinning faster. This time, instead of going over the entire body as it usually did, most of it raced toward the left arm she had cut and flooded the area with chi. Mimi’s blood began to slow down its attempt at escaping her body as skin meshed together, tiny fibers joining and then pulling the wound closed. In less than a minute, the cut was sealed, and Mimi wiped away the blood, showing a fresh scar.

“Don’t stop watching, I’m not done yet.”

True to her words, Mimi’s chi continued to flow to the wounded spot, and the pink scar turned dark. It was almost as if the skin had gotten a little thicker where it had just been sliced.

Mimi took a deep breath and let it out. Her chi returned to her core and started flowing around her whole body again, slower now than it had been a little earlier.

“That will take a lot of effort, and I do not enjoy doing that,” she said while glancing at Fufu, who was being cared for by Nini. The rabbit had returned to his normal size. “Doing so takes a lot of effort and can be good and bad. If one masters the art of healing, they can endure countless injuries, healing them all and making bones and skin harder and stronger. If they do it wrong, they can mess up joints and make it difficult to move. Usually, only those willing to race ahead and not take the time to strengthen their body over time are willing to risk that. As with all cultivation, there are shortcuts, but if you take too many, you may find yourself falling off a cliff you didn’t know existed.”

Mimi moved to where Haylock's vines hung limply against the ground. Touching the tips that had stopped oozing with her hand, she grunted disapprovingly.

“Before you go to sleep, you need to try to fix both of these, especially the shorter one.”

Haylock opened his mouth to say something, but realizing anything that came out would sound like a roar, he shut it, earning a smirk from Mimi, who waited to see him do what she asked.

Doing as she commanded, Haylock got to work, spinning his core and forcing his chi to travel to his wounded vines. Focusing on the left one first, Haylock immediately found out how much harder it was to focus all of one's chi on a specific spot. Like shoveling mud into a container with a hole back to the pile you were digging out of, the chi tried to move back to his body, not wanting so much forced into one area.

“Good, a little less, but good. Find the right amount to send. If you do too much, it won’t work as well.”

Mimi’s advice helped. Lessening the amount of chi Haylock tried to force there, remembering now that not all of Mimi’s had gone to her arm, just a lot more than usual. He had the chi continue to flow through his body but instead tried to slow down how it escaped the injured vine. Haylock found more channels inside him to push it through gradually.

The exhaustion he felt from getting that down was enough to make him want to sleep even more, but when his vine started to grow and his body began to absorb the chi, growing back the injured area, he almost passed out.

“Fight it!” Mimi shouted, sensing the sudden shift in Haylock’s body and the flow of chi. “Do not let how tired you are distract you!”

Her words were there but sounded so far away. His mind struggled with the effort required to continue pushing through the exhaustion. Inches began to grow back faster than he had imagined it would. Haylock soon saw a foot and then two feet return, the vine extending as it lay on the ground.

If Haylock had eyelids, they would be closing, his yellow eyes feeling dim as he gained another six inches in length.

Surely that’s long enough for her…

Once again, as if she could sense Haylock’s will to give in and quit, Mimi moved closer, rubbing his vine with her hand.

“Just a little more! You can do it!”

Her words and touch helped Haylock as he focused on Mimi and her gentle touch.

Soon, another six inches appeared, and then another. By the time Haylock had finally succumbed to the exhaustion, over four feet had been regrown.

“Good flower,” Mimi said, smiling as she patted his vine. “Sleep now.”

RePlant System Active

Day: 77

Daily System Credit: 1

Consumed Credit: 701

[Spend Credit?]

The sun felt amazing on him, and Haylock saw that his vines had grown a little more on both of them while he was sleeping. Inside, his core was spinning, brimming with chi, and he felt like a new flower.

I wonder what I should do–

[Seed of Nourishment Ready]

It’s ready! Now, how do you access the seed?

[Seed Dispersed]

A nine-inch seed fell from his face and onto the ground near his roots as if he had willed it to happen. He carefully picked it up using his vine, having to work a little bit to manage the task with something so small, and looked at it. The thing looked like a massive sunflower seed, except its shell was completely white.

I guess I’ll put it aside and wait for Mimi or Nini to come and see what they think about it.

Looking around the property, Haylock felt a cold wind blowing from the north.

His body shivered on its own, and the words Mimi had spoken echoed in his mind.

Winter is coming… I need to get stronger.