Silence.
Silence was all that answered me. Well, no. I always hated that in life. ‘No answer is an answer.’ Not even close. It’s just rude. There could be exceptions. Like the Admin could be giving someone else the tests right now. He, canonized now, had said there were others he needed to test. Or he could be busy working on something. Or he might not be able to answer me. Like a scientist watching a mouse in a maze.
Not gonna stop me from thinking he is a dick though.
I let out a sigh, which presented itself as a slight drooping and rustle of my leaves. Nothing overly pronounced or obvious. I didn’t suddenly stiffen and then shiver from top to bottom like an animated character getting the willies. Just a slight droop and rustle. Nothing more.
‘There has to be something I can do, right? I mean swaying in the breeze is fun and all, but… what do plants do?’ I wasn’t keen on simple standing there. Slowly growing, even with bursts from my skill, trapped in my own mind. I pulled up my sheet again, hardly even having to think about it for it to pop up. With more attention, I started going over it once more.
Name: Cy
Species: Wisteria, Seedling
Experience: 0/100
Class: N/A
Profession: N/A
Health: 100/100
Stamina: 100/100
Mana: 100/100
‘Well, some of this is pretty straightforward. My name is Cy. Check. I am a wisteria, apparently. Check. Class, not applicable? Why wouldn’t that be applicable? Don’t you start off as first level something or other?’ Then there was the experience, which was currently zero out of a hundred. ‘So, if I gain experience, traditionally I would level up my class, right? But I don’t have a class, so would I gain one once I get a hundred xp? Hmm.’
Health, stamina, and mana all seemed pretty straight forward. Especially looking at the skills. Spend stamina or mana to use a skill. Don’t lose health, or ya die. Speaking of skills, growing, and potential class changes.
Growth
Level 1
Effect: The user can spend stamina 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.
‘So, I can run it for twenty minutes. And I can choose where and what to grow? I’m a bonsai that shapes itself.’ I put the skill under a mental list for ‘potential fun’ before looking over the next couple skills. ‘Then Photosynthesis regens my stamina and mana, which, quick mental math, would take almost an hour and a half to get it back to full? Are there any passive regenerations?’ I double checked the sheet at a glance. Nothing said anything about passives or regeneration at all. With a mental shrug, ‘I guess I will have to spend some to find out.’
I looked around at myself before choosing my smallest leaf, which only had four leaflets on it. I focused my attention on it. Then I activated the skill. My focus split for a moment between the two. It was like trying to flip a pancake while drinking from a glass of water at the same time. From the base of my stem there was a small pulse. A warm energy glided up my stem and out into the leaf I was focused on. With my divided focus, I watched the five points disappear from my stamina.
Immediately I cut off the skill, so as to not loose any more. My focus rebounded and I watched the leaf intently. The leading leaflet was ‘pushed’ to the side as from the tip of the leaf’s stem new growth began to form. It steadily pushed forward about a quarter of an inch during the entire minute.
On one leaf, it had grown! Actually and truly! To the naked eye. It had visibly grown. It was very fascinating to watch. If I continually channeled the skill for the full length of time, then perhaps I could have evened out the leaf and had just as many leaflets on it as the next leaf. On the other leaf… ‘That’s it? Huh? Faster than an actual plant, I guess. But still…’
The energy that had coursed up through me had stilled and faded as the minute ended. I turned my focus back to my sheet. I let another minute pass, and my stamina remained the same. Ninety out of one hundred. ‘Photosynthesis isn’t a passive then…’ I waited a few more minutes, and just the same, the stamina stayed where it was. ‘Looks like there isn’t any passive regen of stamina at all. Hmmm, at least not anything quick. Which I guess is the point of the skill.’ I gave it a few more minutes, about ten in total just to be sure, and activated the Photosynthesis skill itself with my physical sigh.
‘Oh fu-uh-hu-uck!’
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My leaves shuddered as they soaked in the sunlight. It just felt so… so good. I sat there, gently swaying back and forth. The light around me seemed to haze and blur, little motes of light and sparkles seeming to float about me. It felt like laying out on the grass, in the sun on a perfect summer day. Just a pure, carefree sort of bliss. It was so warm and comforting, pleasurable even. Very pleasurable. So much so that I didn’t even begin (yet) to lament the ‘losses’ of my self-beloved cock and balls.
I vaguely noticed my stamina had refilled, yet the skill was kept running. An activated passive? Hey, if it helped to keep me topped off, I could not think of a reason not to keep it going. Especially with how nice it made me feel. ‘Maybe I can use Growth and Photosynthesis at the same time, eh? Something to try out. Later.’
I lost track of time in the pleasure and warmth of the light. I was healthy. I was comfortable. I was safe. It didn’t even register with me as the light began to fade. That is until I felt the skill quietly shut off. Everything came into focus once more with the feeling of waking up from a nap. I shook off the blurriness and looked around my space. ‘If that is the closest I will come to sleep, it will be well worth it. That was incredible.’
It was dark, or rather night, as there was still some light. It filtered down from above. I couldn’t sense any light anywhere else. ‘I truly am alone, then. Or if this is someone’s garden, they haven’t discovered fire.’ The light from above was a silvery white that seemed to twinkle and sparkle. All above me was a kaleidoscope of dark blues, purples, black, and silver. ‘This is amazing. A little lonely, but hey, it’s the first day. Maybe being a plant won’t be so bad…’ I sat in comfortable silence for the first time since I died.
Which of course meant that it wouldn’t last. Yup. I had, in fact, spoke too soon.
I quickly focused my attention on the movement that was happening at the edge of my perception. It kind of flickered in and out at the very edge of my range. Whatever it was, it was small. Well, smaller than me. The flickering reminded me of a moth, jittering and darting about a porch light. For a brief moment it stopped. Then stepping off the stone ringing me and onto my dirt path, was an ant.
A very big ant. It was just a little bigger than one of my leaflets. I concentrated my focus on it. It was the three segments that ants were supposed to be. Head, middle, and butt. If you wanted to get technical: the head, thorax, and abdomen. The head and thorax looked fairly typical for an ant. Antennae, big eyes, mandibles, and six legs. There was a very fine hair that grew from the plating on its head and thorax. It was short and sparse, but still noticeable.
The abdomen was where the ant got… weird. It was a fat oval, fairly proportional to the rest of the body. As in it was about the same size as the thorax and head combined. Unlike the other two bits, however, it was smooth. Smooth and shiny. Shiny and colorful. Bright and vibrant, even in the dark of the night, swirls of color decorated its abdomen. It was like looking at a stained-glass window.
‘Hey little guy. Aren’t you pretty. Or handsome? No, beautiful. You are a beauty. Yes you are. Oh hey, whatcha doin’?’ The ant stood there as I ogled it, its antennae waving in the air. With a skittering step, it started to move a few steps a little off to the side. Pausing. Waving. Then skittering forward again, but in the opposite direction this time. It was a quarter of the way across my plot of dirt when I realized that despite its side to side, it was coming straight towards me.
‘Oh shit. Nonono. Go. Shoo. Go away! Uh, uh! What do I do?’ I didn’t like the look of those mandibles. They may be perfectly proportioned for its face, but they looked sharp. Sharp and plants did not mix well. Especially since there are a great many ants that eat plants by cutting and mashing them up.
In a panic, I pulled up my sheet. Skipping over everything at the top, I reached the three skills I hadn’t gone over yet. Pheromone Manipulation, Poison Production, and the Beta Skill: Illusions. Immediately the Beta Skill was dismissed. Either the ant wouldn’t notice the illusion, or I wasn’t going to be able to make something convincing enough in time. Plus, I didn’t like the look of that ‘warning’. That left Poison Production and Pheromone Manipulation. My leaflets stiffened as I hurriedly poured over the two skills. The ant steadily worked its way closer to me. Both of them seemed like good defensive options. I could even do the poison at range! Somehow… I brushed it aside. ‘I will have to experiment with it later! Da-da-da! Ah! Here we go!’
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
‘Basic pheromones that attract or repel certain creatures within a small radius. Perfect!’ Quickly reading it over to myself. ‘That is the one! Yes!’ Mentally I mashed the skill over and over until I realized my stamina kept draining. ‘Oops.’ I saw my stamina drain by ten points. Then ten more, and more, and more. The energy from the base of my stem started to move again. It flowed from the base of my stem and up to my leaves, before gliding along them and out into the leaflets.
My leaves rustled. Then began to itch. ‘Can’t! Scratch! Gah!’ A bloom of air rolled off my leaflets. To my perception it looked like a wave of gas. The bloom rippled out through the air to spread out over my space and beyond. It looked thick and heavy. As I watched, it rolled forward and over the ant. The reaction was immediate. Its antennae went wild as it screeched to a halt! I could even see slight grooves in the dirt where it dug its feet in. It started to back up, antennae still waving wildly before it spun about and raced off, out of sight.
The energy inside me roiled and a glance at my stamina showed that it was thirty out of a hundred! Slowly the energy started to calm down, the flow reversing until I once again stood in silence. I was no longer producing the pheromone, but I could still see it in the air around me.
‘Good to know it doesn’t just disappear right away.’ Had I panicked a little early? Possibly. But it was better to be safe, than sorry.
As I let myself relax, I gazed up at the night sky. Or what I could see of it. It was a blurry Monet of the night sky. But it was still beautiful. Thankfully, I did not sense or see any ants coming back. Hopefully, the pheromone I had put off would last for a little while. As I began to review my first day, and night, as a wisteria I decided to glance at my character sheet once more.
Health: 100/100
Stamina: 30/100
Mana: 100/100
‘That was a lot of unnecessary stamina.’ I was kicking myself mentally. I didn’t know what would happen if stamina or mana reached zero, but if they were anything like health, then it probably wouldn’t be good. I was about to dismiss my sheet when something caught my eye.
Experience: .4/100