It was a screen. Just a floating, blue screen. I’ve used AR before and just like that this hovered in the air before me. Sort of fixed in place. I tried moving my gaze about and the screen followed. The screen itself looked like a very simplified character sheet. Very bare bones. But I suppose it got the point across.
Name: Cy
Species: Wisteria, Seedling
Experience: 0/100
Class: N/A
Profession: N/A
Health: 100/100
Stamina: 100/100
Mana: 100/100
Skills
Growth
Level 1
Effect: The user can spend mana to increase their growth speed temporarily.
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Control: At this level, the user can choose one direction or area to focus their growth.
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Stamina Cost: 5 per minute of accelerated growth.
Photosynthesis
Level 1
Effect: During daylight hours, the user passively absorbs sunlight to produce energy, restoring a small amount of mana and stamina over time.
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Rate: Restores 1 mana and 1 stamina per minute while in direct sunlight.
Nutrient and Water Absorption
Level 1
Effect: The user can draw nutrients from the soil, nearby organic matter, and water sources, absorbing vital minerals and nutrients needed for growth and health.
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Rate: Absorbs and converts nutrients equivalent to 1 health point per hour, supporting overall growth and well-being.
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Additional Benefit: In nutrient-rich environments, the rate of absorption can increase, providing a more substantial health boost.
Pheromone Manipulation
Level 1
Effect: Can produce basic pheromones that attract or repel certain creatures within a small radius.
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Range: Limited to a small area around the plant.
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Control: At this level, control is limited to simple attraction or repulsion, not complex emotions or behaviors.
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Stamina Cost: 10 per Use
Poison Production
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Level 1
Effect: Produces a toxin that causes mild numbness and irritation upon contact or ingestion.
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Range: Limited to direct contact or a very short-range dispersal around the plant.
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Control: The user can control the concentration and flow of the toxin.
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Stamina Cost: 5 per use
Illusions
Level 1
*Warning: Skill Granted without Prior Requirements.
Effect: Allows the user to create small, simple illusions that can affect sight, sound, and smell. These illusions are limited in size and complexity but can be highly convincing within their scope.
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Duration: Illusions last for up to 10 minutes or until the user dismisses them.
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Range: Illusions can be cast within a 30-foot radius of the user.
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Mana Cost: 10 per Illusion
‘Cy? Why just Cy?’ It wasn’t even my full name. Just a nickname. Granted most everyone called me by it. Even my parents had. Oh. Right. My parents. How hadn’t I thought of them yet? ‘Do they know I am dead yet?’ The thought stuck in my head and drew my attention away from the sheet. I had been so sucked into focusing on the trials and tests, I hadn’t spared a thought for them. After that it had only been because of a random thought that I did think of them.
My life had been comfortable. No particular highs or lows. I had been content with it all. There hadn’t been anything in particular that I had been striving for. My relationships were healthy, if not overly exciting. There hadn’t been anyone ‘special’, which I couldn’t tell if that was something I should be sad about or thankful for.
I was brought out of my thoughts by the steadily increasing heat around me. The occasional stirring of wind kept it from being overwhelming. ‘God its hot. And so dry.’ What I would give to be able to lick my lips and wet them. Can’t do that without lips. Or a tongue.
My gaze shifted from the character sheet, and I glanced around me. No. That wasn’t accurate. It was more like when I had been a sphere in that all white space. I could see all around me, all at once. The difference was that I couldn’t see nearly as far. In fact, I could only ‘see’ up to a few feet away from me. I was in a dry bed of packed dirt and sand. Packed wasn’t right, more like baked.
My perception was like a sphere or dome around me where I could see up to the edges of the dirt bed and could feel the area below ground around my roots. Yeah, roots. Beyond that range of perception, everything grew blurry. Like trying to see without glasses. Or wearing your friend’s glasses to find out their eyesight is terrible. Just barely at the edges of my perception I could see the dirt bed ended and was encircled with stone. The stone itself, from what I could see, was too angular and smooth to be naturally forming. ‘Am I in a garden?’ I looked at the dry earth around me. ‘Or remnants thereof.’
‘This is a little weird, right? Maybe I did end up going to Hell and this is my personal cell? A plant in Hell’s Garden. Oh… OH! Right! I’m a plant! What kind of plant am I again?’ My mind tried to recall what I had read on the sheet. No sooner did I think of it that the screen popped up into my field of focus once more.
Species: Wisteria, Seedling
Class: N/A
‘So, I am a wisteria?’ I tried to remember what a wisteria looked like. Vaguely I recalled a vibrant tree with bunches of upside down lilac or lavender looking flower towers… or something. Lots of flowers on a tree. ‘I was turned into an overgrown flower? Of all things? Why?’ My mind reeled through the countless tests I had gone through. Nothing about it had stuck out to me that would lead to this. I couldn’t even recall any test that had to do with flowers or plants at all. ‘Didn’t the angel… demon… thing say something about my body? That’s right, something about not surviving the transfer and limiting my options.’
…
…
‘The FUCK! Admin! Beta… person! What the hell is going on here!’ What was its name? Alpha…? ‘Alpha Tester Administrator! I want to speak with you!’
Silence. A faint stirring of wind barely rustled my leaves before it dissipated.
‘GAH!’ I put all my frustration in that cry. My leaves rustled and stiffened briefly before dropping in elegant, if delicate arches. I muttered and cursed to myself as I felt my frustration, pity, and more than a little despair boil through me. ‘Wait… I don’t see any flowers.’
I turned my focus towards the center of my perception, where I stood. I was a very thin, woody stem that was a bright and shiny green. At my thickest point I was just a bit thicker than a pencil, and that was near my base. The entire height of me was, at best guess, a foot or so. Starting about an inch from the top and spiraling down from there were four branches that grew out of me.
No, that wasn’t right. My roiling emotions started to subside as I focused more closely on myself and ‘flexed’ inside my body. Feeling it out as best I could. They weren’t branches. ‘Oh! I remember this. Leaflets. The entire ‘branch’ is the leaf.’ Each stem had four to eight leaflets on them, alternating up the sides for the length of the stem. Each leaflet was about an inch long and half that wide, giving them a roughly pointed oval shape.
My leaves arched rather elegantly, which just kinda added to the delicate and fragile look I had. I was a very rich, vibrant green. Almost glossy and new. Once again, I looked at the hot, dry, and dusty bed I found myself in.
‘This is not going to be easy…’ Looking up, perhaps a little but not totally pleadingly. ‘Did I ever say how patient and handsome you were? Administrator?’