~~~~~Lante's P.O.V~~~~~

For as far as I can remember, I was an orphan. My caretakers told me they found me in a basket in front of the orphanage one day. With me in the basket was a locket that had the name Lante engraved on it so I was named Lante. No one including myself has been able to unlock the locket for me till now but I always have it on me. It is the only thing I have that is probably from my parents.

Living in the orphanage wasn't bad. I even made friends with some of the orphans.

When I was six Big Cycles old, our rations were reduced but it wasn't by so much that we would be starved.

A Big Cycle later, our caretakers informed us that The First Noble, the ruler of our country said the orphanage was useless to him so he would no longer support us. The orphanage was closed soon so we became street kids.

As a street kid, I experienced the true meaning of starvation. We couldn't just stay and starve to death so we started stealing from the locals. I had a male friend who was called Phel. Phel and I teamed up to steal. One of us would cause distractions while the other steals.

The locals were fed up with us the orphans. One day, Phel and I went out to steal and things went wrong in the worst possible way. Phel was caught and he was beaten to death by the locals in front of me to set an example. The last words Phel shouted out was "Live for the both of us!"

Before he shouted out, I had unlocked plant magic while I was watching him. I wanted to rush in and save him but I stopped when he shouted so.

He knew I would have also thrown away my life if I tried to save him. He saved me and I swore on that day that I would do my best to survive and live for the both of us. That is why I am alive and that is why I keep on living.

The locals already knew my face so I left the city and went into the forest. Most people have to learn long spells before they can use magic but I bridged that gap with emotions. I tried saying a lot of things while trying to use my magic and taught myself some magic when I was in the forest.

The spells I liked most were 'Grow Fast For Me .....' and 'Ripe for Me....' then I'll insert the name of the plant or fruit. No one taught me it wasn't advisable to eat or drink things conjured from magic.

I lived at the edge of the forest. I was afraid of the powerful animals living inside the forest and I was afraid of going back to the city. I kept on eating plants that I had forcibly grown using magic and by the time I was eight cycles old, I was turning into a magic beast. There was too much mana in my system.

Luckily, a powerful plant mage who was passing by saw me. She almost killed me thinking I was a magic beast.

I was losing my mind, my body had started changing, turning me into a human-plant hybrid but the moment I saw death staring into my eyes I shouted; "Please don't kill me. I don't want to die."

Magic beasts are plants and animals that have absorbed more mana than they should. To the point that the mana starts to change their form into bizarre creatures almost akin to monsters.

When she heard my cry, she stopped and asked me; "Are you a Xerxi?". I said yes and after observing me for a while, she took me out of the forest and nursed me back to health.

She taught me a lot. I was her apprentice for two Big Cycles. I told her about my past and she didn't judge me. She understood I did what I had to do to survive.

Whenever we met new people I acted in a way that they would like me. She understood that I acted that way because I didn't want to get into anyone's bad graces. I wanted to live and I did everything I could to ensure I'd live to see the next day.

When I reached ten Big Cycles in age, she gave me some money and a few essentials and set off to continue her journey.

I always called her Mistress but her name is Igne. While I was serving as her apprentice, she signed me up as an adventurer and I helped her subjugate monsters and magic beasts.

After she left, I kept on working as an adventurer until I was asked to join The First Noble's special corps. I knew he was the reason I had to suffer and I almost turned into a magic beast because of that but I accepted.

They could have killed me if I rejected so I started serving the one person I hated the most. I did my best to stay in everyone's good graces by clever use of my lips and actions. Because of that, everyone liked me during the training in the training camp for the special corps.

The First Noble knew he wasn't governing well. He knew the citizens may revolt. That is why he asked his special corps members to recruit any talented person they found. He pays those in the special corps well but if you are not enticed by the wealth he may capture your family and let you serve him anyway.

At last, it was time for my first mission. An influential noble had been invited to the capital. The noble had to come because the messengers of the gods were coming to visit our nation and he couldn't be rude to them. After the messengers left, we were ordered to tail and capture or kill the noble's children because they were criminals who had offended The First Noble.

I knew it was a farce. Most of us the newbies knew it but we had to follow orders. In the end, my party was asked to chase the small child. As someone who doesn't want to die, I felt very sorry for the child but Ache said killing them now would be a mercy for them as The First Noble would first torture them and execute them anyway if we captured them. Also trying to capture them will be harder and it would lead to more casualties on our side. Even Au, the veteran agreed.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

In the first confrontation, before the siblings split up, I helped in killing some of them. In the second confrontation, after we resolved ourselves to kill them, I helped in killing a few of them.

We met a very powerful entity who prevented us from finishing our mission. That entity was as handsome as he was powerful. Just his presence and aura were able to force me, a person who has lived in the forest alone for more than a Big Cycle piss myself.

We followed him into his mysterious house or lair or whatever those otherworldly buildings were.

It is my habit to speak and act in the way I think will make someone like me so I tried to act that way but he immediately realised my intentions.

I am now his subordinate. After I became his subordinate, my stats increased from;

Name: Lante.

Race: Xerxi.

Level: 15.

Health Points(HP) = 29981.

Mana Points (MP) = 6698.

Strength (ST) = 2251.

Speed (S) = 45.25.

Durability (D) = 690.

Stamina (E) = 7976.

To;

Name: Lante.

Race: Lower Divine Xerxi.

Level: 15.

Health Points(HP) = 74953.

Mana Points (MP) = 16744.

Strength (ST) = 5634.

Speed (S) = 113.1.

Durability (D) = 1731.

Stamina (E) = 19946.

Skills: [Intermediate Fast Growth], [Intermediate Binding Vines], [Paralyzing Thorns], [Intermediate Healing Flower Cradle], [Intermediate Vine Manipulation], [Plant Magic Boost], [Earth Magic Boost], [Water Magic Boost], [Intermediate Bark Shield], [Intermediate Sylvan Sense], [Vine Barrier], etc.

Resistances: [Advanced Mana Resistance], [Advanced Magic Attack Resistance], [Intermediate Starvation Resistance], [Intermediate Poison Resistance], [Intermediate Plant Magic Resistance], [Intermediate Earth Magic Resistance], [Intermediate Water Magic Resistance], [Basic Physical Resistance].

Titles: [Starved Orphan](Greyed), [Surviver], [Plant Mage], [Sweet Lips], [Actor], [Rox's Subordinate].

My stats have increased by a lot. I feel like I can beat ten of the previous me easily. My [Fast Growth] skill lets me grow plants rapidly.

No... Before that, I have to talk about the type of mage I am. I am a [Plant Mage]. Normally, before you can become a [Plant Mage] you have to first study earth and water magic and become both a [Water Mage] and an [Earth Mage] then you combine both natures to become a [Plant Mage].

Earth, Water, Fire, and Air are basic natures. Based on your affinity with them, you may be able to learn all or none of them. By combining multiple basic natures or adding an attribute to a basic nature or natures you get an advanced nature magic.

According to my knowledge, attributes are concepts like heat, cold even growth that can be added to nature magic. I think of attributes as any other magic that is not considered nature magic.

Getting back to me, I was lucky enough to be born with the talent to use plant magic, a powerful form of magic that only a few can use which is also an advanced nature magic.

Since plant magic is above both earth and water, I got both [Earth Magic Boost] and [Water Magic Boost] as extras when I gained my [Plant Mage] title.

I currently have a few earth and water magic skills though I barely use them. Plant magic is more superior so I focused on improving my plant magic. It is also why I was conscripted into The First Noble's special corps.

Getting back to my skills, most, of them are self-explanatory except for my [Sylvan Sense] which I use to sense presences in the forest. I don't know why it is called that way.

I have two advanced resistances although I am below level twenty because of my ordeal in the forest when I was around seven Big Cycles old. I am currently thirteen cycles old,(Thirteen Big Cycles are equivalent to seventeen Earth years.), but I am yet to forget my struggles at that time. Maybe I never will.

My [Mana] and [Magic Attack] resistances completely cancel out the magical aspects of magic attacks used by people below level twenty unless they put a lot of mana behind their attacks making me the natural nemesis of mages below level twenty.

Resistances are basically resistances and not immunities otherwise an intermediate spell shouldn't be able to harm me but I am afraid my new Lord will be able to shatter common sense and beat me with my skills like he did the others. Frankly, I don't know how to beat me with my attack skills but I'll try.

My [Starvation Resistance] and [Poison Resistance] really helped me during my ordeal cycles.

*******

Lord Rox stood ten metres away from me looking calm and collected. He told me he had reduced his stats to my level so I should do my best.

I immediately touched the ground and used my [Intermediate Binding Vines] to try and bind him. He can withstand direct attacks but he'll need physical strength to get out of the bonds if he gets caught.

He tried to evade but he wasn't fast enough. I was about to use [Paralyzing Thorns] on him to incapacitate him but I realised he had taken control of the vines I attacked him with. I remember him advising Ache that his skills were more optimised so he shouldn't have tried to keep up with him in skill usage.

I decided I would not fight with him over the control of those vines. Since he supposedly has more optimised skills compared to me, I have to use my trump card. I have special seeds in a pouch in my pocket. I use them when I have to make my attacks more physical or when I need a specific attribute of a specific plant.

I took a poisonous vine plant seed from my pouch and used [Fast Growth] on it. He is resistant to poison same as me but it should still be able to slow him down if it touches him. After letting the vine plant grow, I started controlling it using [Vine Control].

I attacked him using ten different vine tips and he used the magical vines to defend. Unfortunately for him, my vines were more powerful because they are actual plant vines giving mine both magical and physical attributes. I started pushing him back but it seemed as if he was just observing me.

Why is he still calm when I am winning? He doesn't have seeds and he can not take control of the vines I am using.

I especially prepared these seeds for myself and only me. No other [Plant Mage] can take control of them. If they do, they will be poisoned and their mana will be drained. Why is he so calm?

Just when I thought I had cornered him, he made a bag of seeds appear out of nowhere, same as he let food items appear during the banquet.

That is cheating, I say.

Then he let all of the seeds in the bag sprout together. In no time, his plants had grown about a hundred metres tall.

I shouted; "I surrender!" when I saw the tip of the hundred metres tall vine plants that had merged together rushing down at me. Not even my [Bark Shield] which is ten times stronger than steel could have blocked that.

That was scary. My handsome new Lord doesn't cease to amaze me.