Chapter 4

After a solid week of hunting insects, birds, and other small land-dwelling critters, I was now at 178 tokens, even after finally purchasing the Mutation Illuminate for a cost of 5. Illuminate was cool; it could be applied to both my flower petals or the center and also to my mushrooms. With some experimentation I found I could modify already created mushrooms as well. All the white parts of the mushrooms will now glow a pale blue at night, while the Healing shrooms will have the green part glow green. I gave the Hallucinating Ki shroom a yellow-golden light on the star.

I could've probably been more tactical with the illumination, like maybe making only the poisonous ones glow to attract things to them first, but the aesthetics part of me, which likes customizing everything, got the better of me. With that done, I dove into the Skills I could buy.

Part of me still wanted to get Devourer, which still required the Monstrous Height skill first, but having Maw and Root Control, I was getting by just fine. Monstrous Height was still a good skill to get since it would allow me to grow much quicker since I'm guessing I'm about a foot tall right now. It seemed at face value that growing taller was a great idea, but since I had time, I decided to give it a good pondering.

First, being taller allows more customization, larger thorns, and larger roots. On the other hand, it will likely attract the attention of larger creatures, and I'm not sure I'm strong enough to fend off one of those. Perhaps, I should focus on my defense options first, especially with finishing my parameter fencing.

Here's an idea. I can move the earth with Terrakinesis, which means I could create pitfall traps. Place sticks at the bottom with some poison shrooms, although they wouldn't be sharp. However, if I'm to use these on larger animals, I'd need to make very deep traps, and the current radius my roots are covering is only a little over four feet. I need to grow larger to spread out farther to create larger traps. But I need larger traps first to secure my safety before becoming a juicy large target… ugh…

I decided to look for any skill that would help with any of my current skills or mutations that would allow me to fend off larger enemies before I acquired the Monstrous Height skill. This took a few days or weeks, and there was lots of reading and planning to do.

I ended up taking a skill called Deep Roots, which allowed me to double the size of my current Root Network without increasing my flower's height. Since this was a T1 I had overlooked, it only cost me 30 Tokens. Next, I took a skill called Ensnare and Impale, each costing 150 Tokens off the T3 list. Now I know what you're thinking. He doesn't have that many Tokens… Ah, but I do. I spent a week researching and planning, but I wasn't wasting my energy each day.

Ensnare would launch spider-like thread from my roots to wrap a target suddenly, and Impale was a modification Skill for Terrakinesis, which allowed at level 1 a single stone spike to shoot out of the ground. Currently, said spike was only about three feet long, but it was incredibly sharp. Also, I could leave the spike or retract it. This solved my unsharpened stick problem for my pitfall trap. I was starting to get into the heavy energy cost phase of my skills, which meant for the next several weeks, all I would do is water myself, grow my roots out, and increase my energy output. I wanted to be able to summon many spikes back to back if necessary, and that meant I needed to get above 150 Energy soon.

It took only a month and a half to increase my energy enough to be sure I could defend myself if I decided to grow larger, which I did. Since I had already doubled my roots to an eight-foot radius and had begun digging pitfalls, the process would speed up greatly with a much greater height. So, I purchased Monstrous Height and activated it. Using Astral Eye, I watched as I rapidly grew to about six times my current height, which if my guestimation is correct, I am now taller than when I was in my old life.

I didn't waste time, though, and began to push my roots out further, flowing around my pitfalls, by using the Root Control and Deep Roots skills. When purchasing sticks, I could customize them first, which is how I made them sharp or dull, but I could also modify their length. Before, my roots weren't strong enough to move large sticks, but now I could. So, I started purchasing enough sticks to create a second parameter and to fill my pitfalls with. I was flush with tokens, so why not?

I also had enough leftover Tokens to pick up Transfiguration at 700 Tokens. I had no information about what it was, but I figured at that cost, it had to be good.

Skill: Transfiguration

Description: With the use of a new Modification

tool, you can now modify various aspects of your

flower and roots.

Ooh… now this is fascinating. I can modify my Stem, leaves, roots, and even certain parts of my main flower. Although, I can't change the petals. Oh well. The first thing I did was give myself long wire-like tendrils to my Stem that I could control like my roots but above ground. On the ends of the strands were spear-like hooks that could help grab things.

The second thing I Transfigured was my roots. It occurred to me that single thick roots were great, but what if I could hollow out a few of them and pump something toxic through? Like spraying water through a water hose, but with a little more kick. So, with some testing, I ended up taking Acidic Roots. Each modification cost Energy, and I was flush for the day since it was a new morning.

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

Now, Transfiguration could do much more than simple, small changes like I had done thus far. It could, with enough Energy, even create things like Death Beams. But I lacked the thousand Energy to create that, and I chuckled at that thought. Instead, I waited till the next day to use all 150 Energy to modify my leaves to create the Evil Eye. Most of the time, the leaves would look like two leaves had been sown together and had something round inside, but when it opened, it would reveal an eyeball that would cast a spell called Layered Curse. The spell would attempt to inflict three curses: Pain, Suffering, and Dread. Success rate depended on Mental Fortitude and Resistance to Magic or Ki attacks. Currently I had 12 leaves all around my Stem, which meant I had every angle pretty much covered.

Pain was a direct physical affliction, whereas Suffering was a mental affliction. But Dread, while also mental, was more based on fear, which caused a debilitating effect, weakened their defenses, and stalled the enemy's actions. Each curse, however, had its chance of success or failure.

Aside from the Death Beams that I wanted, another option at 600 Energy was a modification for Heaven's Light. This Transfiguration would allow my center to shine brightly into the heavens and then rain down healing waters upon me and my allies. I'm not sure how a flower can gain allies or if that refers to things like summons or creations, but the description sounded cool, and you can't go wrong with supernatural healing.

Best estimate: I might be able to get there by the end of winter if I focus on nothing else. The good thing was that I could feel the climate changing to colder temperatures, which indicated winter was coming. The reason why winter is a good thing for a flower is that typically, the major predators, which include those pesky herbivores, tend to hibernate. The obvious downside is that I'd likely die also unless I can find a way to protect myself from the extreme cold.

Hitting 200 energy output put me to the next stage of the Terra Realm. At Terra Stage 4, I unlocked T4 Skills and Items, along with two new Mutations I could acquire. Those two Mutations were Hydra and Factory. And believe me, I was extremely intrigued by those names. Too bad the System won't give me descriptions… stupid System…

However, my salvation came in the form of new Spore options. Now, besides Mushrooms and Bulbous Attachments, I could create Ferns, Moss, Liverworts, and Algae. However, it was Liverworts, specifically a Phoenix Liverwort, which was native to this land, that had a unique ability to convert moisture into heat to survive. While winter was technically too cold for moisture, I still had Hydrokinesis skill. I would have to convert the ice into vapor to fuel the Liverworts, but eventually, the heat they gave off should sustain them. If the cold got to be too great, I would step in and ensure they don't die off. The first step, though, was to cover every available inch of my circle of influence in Liverworts.

Over the next two months, I finished both parameter fences and the dozen or so pitfalls, which I covered with thin roots to hold a layer of dirt and grew Moss over to hide them. Finally, I ensured I had enough heat being produced as the Winter formally kicked off with a blizzard. In that time, I'd like to say I epically fought off many large beasts, which I was so worried about and planned excruciatingly for, but it never happened. Still, better safe than sorry, am I right?

Now, the snow falls relentlessly, and I wage a desperate battle with my liverworts and Hydrokinesis against the bitter, chilling winds and heavy snowfall. It's a peculiar sight, I'm sure, my little patch of space glowing defiantly amidst the vast expanse of white. But I am determined to survive, to thrive even in the harshest of winters.

Okay, it's been a few days into winter's wrath, and I'm doing well. My little oasis is defiant against the snowstorm. It's like I created a little greenhouse without the actual glass building. I love magic. The ground freezing sucked, though. Terrakinesis became more Energy-intensive to use unless I first used Hydrokinesis to thaw the ground. Regardless, I'm using more Energy than I'm used to. However, since I'm not snagging treats, I have Energy to spare. In fact, I have more Energy to spend than I have need to use. Seriously, is there not one critter that hunts during winter?

Finally three weeks later, when the storm finally calmed down to an occasional gentle snowfall, I noticed small footsteps in the snow. I still only get about 18 minutes of Astral Eye, but during that time, I see that there is actually a creature that stays active during the winter. My pitfalls are a little outside my range of heat generation, which means there are enough layers of snow to prevent them from being effective for smaller creatures. That's fine. They were intended for larger monsters anyway.

Then, one day, I caught a glimpse of the creature, which reminded me of a rat and a bunny but was pure white. It was actually hard to spot if I hadn't noticed the trail it was leaving. The creature seemed to be a scavenger of sorts but stayed clear of what it didn't understand, which was my location. However, I needed the substances and needed a way to attract and trap this new prey.

The creature was too small to trigger the pitfalls but too smart to bypass my fences to get to what smelled like delicious mushroom food. It seemed cautious of the strangeness and didn't want to tempt fate. I understand that, but here's the thing, I need to eat. Well, not really, but the gains to my progression are vital to my survival.

It's time to roll out Operation Kill Ratbit. See what I did there? The first thing is to lure the dumb animal to the strangeness, which will be its demise. Clearly, mushrooms are not what they crave, so does that mean it's a carnivore? One would think a winter creature would eat anything it could find, but perhaps not.

I can't grow meat-based food, nor can I summon it from the shop, so I have to try another way. I started to grow my roots out past the parameter, leaving just a tip to poke out of the ground and snow. Then, when playing around with the Spore Creator, I landed on Ice Algae, a special kind of algae that grows thinly along the surface of the snow and soaks up the sun's rays.

This algae grows fast but doesn't allow for much customization due to its thin nature. However, I can use it as a sensor. The ratbit doesn't seem to mind walking over it, and when it does, I'll feel it and activate Ensnare, then Root Control, and drag it up and over my fence to be passed off to another root that will deliver it to my Maw. Sounds like a great plan. What could go wrong?

The damn ratbit's claws sliced right through the thread like it was tissue paper. I should've used Impale immediately. So stupid. It would be another four days to get another shot at the creature. But this time, I had another idea already set up. This time, I added one spore mutation to the algae in the form of tiny bulbous attachments. When the rodent walked across my algae, it burst the little bulbs and then released a toxic miasma that quickly paralyzed the creature. Now, with it too numb to move, I skewered it with Impale and then worked on getting it in my belly. Figuratively speaking. Burp.

However, I did keep parts of it to see if I could use them to lure more prey; otherwise, this would be a long winter indeed.