He didn’t want to become some abomination of wood. He wanted to stay human.

He gritted his teeth as the change continued. His body obeyed his will. His hands, while still having a somewhat wooden texture, retained the same color as before. His hands returned to their usual form and his legs decreased in girth, reverting from the trunk-like form they had taken.

Amber tears of rage streamed down Elijah’s face as he slammed his fist into the branch he was on before his body gave out and he fell unconscious.

Transformation into Woodman successful.

Connection to the Nexus established.

Chapter Begin

Elijah awakened with a groan, his whole body hurt as he rose. His mutation came to his mind as soon as he came to and he began inspecting his body. His previous anger threatened to resurface but Elijah calmed himself. The modifications to his body were grotesque.

A wooden texture had spread over his skin and his body was feeling heavier. Elijah’s eyes widened in shock before he wiggled his fingers. At least they respond as usual. His hands were slightly larger than before, while his arms were thinner. Instead, he looked fitter, his muscles more compact. His shoulders were as broad as before. He tensed his arms as his eyes traced the brownish veins on his arms.

Elijah felt out of place inside his own body as his gaze moved toward and rested on his legs. He remembered their trunk-like form from earlier. Fortunately, they hadn’t changed much. Wiggling his toes confirmed that his feet didn’t feel weird either. They grew slightly though, and damaged his shoes. He took a few steps back and forth on the branch, noticing the additional weight his footsteps carried.

His hair also remained the same apart from the slight change of color from a pitch black to an auburn brown.

Elijah hesitated for a moment before he looked into his pants only to let a relieved sigh escape his mouth.

Thank god.

His mood took a turn for the worse when he remembered the voice he had heard before. It said something about having absorbed ambient essence and some kind of trait he seemed to have awakened. A woodman. He thought while clenching his fists. He could go mad again. His body was altered without his consent and he was pulled into a new world.

Next, Elijah thought of the Nexus the voice mentioned. An icon appeared at the corner of his vision causing him to flinch in surprise. After some hesitation, he focused on the tiny silhouette of a tree which grew into a transparent wood panel floating in front of him. He flinched again.

Elijah Oak

Tier

1

Race

Human - Woodman

Health

590 (4.7/min)

Mana

140 (1.1/min)

Stamina

250 (2.5/min)

Strength

7

Constitution

34

Endurance

8

Dexterity

7

Intelligence

4

Willpower

6

Perception

5

Charisma

4

Luck

5

Attribute Points

40

Perks

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Perks available. Choose now?

Skills

Woodman’s Constitution

Innate Wood Manipulation

Summon Wooden Minion

As he studied the panel, Elijah noticed his race. He felt relief at still being considered human. At the same time, he didn’t know what to think of having his race listed as partly being a woodman. Or what to think of his situation in general. He clenched his fists for a moment before he continued to study his status.

Nothing I can change about that now. If the average for a normal human was five, I’m pretty good, all things considered. Thirty-four. His eyes landed on his constitution before he looked at his wooden arms. Reasonable.

I can probably distribute the points to increase my stats. I already have a few assumptions but I should learn exactly what each does first, though. And the skills seem to be the same ones I heard from the voice already.

With no other things left to do, Elijah decided to try out his new skills. The first skill was obvious. Woodman’s constitution was responsible for his transformation into a wooden humanoid. It was the skill he disliked the most. Nonetheless, he couldn’t help but feel some excitement. Who hadn’t dreamed of game-like supernatural abilities?

The next skill was innate wood manipulation. Manipulating his own body, wood or not, was something he wouldn’t want to do. Instead, he decided to try out his abilities on the branch he was standing on.

Elijah crouched down and put his hands on the wood, closing his eyes to concentrate. Here goes nothing. He was surprised when he felt something. It was like a long-lost connection to the wood below him which returned only now. He honed in on that feeling and lingered on it for a few seconds before he willed the wood to rise.

The following feeling could only be described as essence flowing through his spirit. It felt similar to the stream of essence he sensed before his transformation but this time it came without pain. If he was honest, Elijah expected nothing to happen but as he opened his eyes he saw the wood obeying him.

A small spike of wood formed in front of him. He stared at his hands with a mixture of amazement and disbelief. No way. He had succeeded. Wanting to explore the ability more, Elijah raised his right hand and saw how the wooden spike continued to grow to half his height.

Amazing. He had never felt something like this before and was eager to explore the full extent of his abilities. Next, he tried summoning a wooden minion. Unsure how to proceed, he concentrated on the same connection to the wood around him again. Elijah closed his eyes again and focused his thoughts on the spike.

He envisioned it transforming into a living creature before he opened his eyes and stared in wonder as the wooden spike began to shift and change. Branches sprouted out from its side, connecting to arms and legs while the tip formed into a head. A single twig grew on the head before three leaves sprouted from there.

Elijah stared at the wooden creature he had created. It stared back in silence. It was smaller than the spike, reaching only about a third of its creator’s height. Elijah hesitated to approach it but eventually put his hand on its head. Its golden beady eyes traced Elijah’s hand but it didn’t react to the movement.

“Take a step forward,” Elijah ordered and it obeyed. It felt surreal, seeing a wooden construct move so easily as Elijah had expected its movements to be more sluggish.

For the next few minutes, Elijah experimented with the creature. It was able to follow simple commands and seemed to be able to understand what Elijah told it. He tried to summon another one but the attempt failed and the twig Elijah held remained unmoving in his hand. Maybe when I get stronger?

Interacting with the wooden construct changed Elijah’s mind and he decided to try and manipulate his own body as well. If this world was anywhere near as dangerous as fantasy worlds in fiction, he had to use everything he could to survive. As he always had been.

He spread out his hand and looked at his index finger as he willed it to change. The transformation mirrored his hesitation as solely the tip of the finger turned sharper.

Elijah couldn’t help but stare at his finger for a minute. He would never have thought that he would change into something like this. Even if his status still called him a human, Elijah didn’t consider him one anymore. His friends would agree.

Can I even go home? He glanced at his minion before he pushed the thought away.

“At least I’m not alone.” He sighed as he stood up.

Let’s see what perks are. Mentally selecting yes, a list of perks grew from the small tree icon at the edge of his view. It had the same design as his status sheet.

Perks

Planar Gift

Bestows the ability to choose two more Tier 1 perks as a reward for crossing into a new plane of existence and increases adaptability

Craftsman

10% bonus for crafting, repair, and engineering

Keen Senses

10% bonus to perception, awareness, and accuracy

Photosynthesis

10% bonus to all regenerations

Lucky Charm

5% bonus to luck and loot quality

Tree of Life

10% bonus to health and mana pools

Ancient Wisdom

10% bonus for learning and knowledge-related skills

Forest Guardian

10% bonus to all minion stats and abilities

Sapling Growth

10% bonus to strength and dexterity

Roots of Strength

10% bonus to any two attributes of choice

Treants Might

10% bonus to spellcasting and magical abilities

Sap Trap

Throws a sticky sap substance to immobilize enemies and trap them

Leaf Shield

Summons a protective shield of leaves to block incoming attacks

“At least this I get to choose for myself.” Elijah thought as he read through the list. Taking Planar Gift is an obvious choice. Normal people probably get to choose only one perk so choosing two would be an immense advantage.

After choosing his first perk, Elijah hesitated. These perks would be his lifeline in this world. He couldn’t choose them on a whim.

He began reading through all the perks and their descriptions.

Craftsman was out immediately. While he would benefit from the perk when creating new weapons, his current abilities were enough. The perk wouldn’t improve his survivability that much, which was what he needed the most right now.

The same went for Forest Guardian, Lucky Charm, Sap Trap, and Leaf Shield. My body should be hard enough to block any attacks for now. I don’t plan on being hit anyway. And I’m not sure of what use increasing my luck would be now that it’s already too late for any lucky event after all I experienced. He snorted at the ridiculousness of his situation. Forest Guardian seems like a useful perk but I don’t want to strengthen my minions and leave me weak.

Keen Senses, Photosynthesis, Tree of Life, Ancient Wisdom, Sapling Growth, Roots of Strength, and Treants Might. Between them, the obvious choice would be Photosynthesis. It improved all regenerations by 10%, which seemed useful to have.

After choosing that perk, Elijah discarded Keen Senses, Tree of Life, Ancient Wisdom, and Treants Might. While useful, they improved aspects of his status he wasn’t familiar with. Tree of Life increased his health but it didn’t feel right for him to increase that. Other perks would benefit him more in his situation. Ancient Wisdom was self-explanatory and Treants Might, while tempting, was focused on another area Elijah currently knew nothing about.

That left Sapling Growth and Roots of Strength. He thought about choosing Sapling Growth as he wanted to boost his physical attributes anyways, but he reconsidered his decision as he looked at his wooden minion.

Physical attributes are more valuable to me now, but what about later? I’ll choose strength and another attribute. Elijah discarded Sapling Growth and chose Roots of Strength. I should choose an attribute that could become more important in the long run. Maybe intelligence? It would probably increase my mana pool. Just as he wanted to finalize his decision, he opted for willpower instead. If his general knowledge about video games could be trusted, willpower probably improved the regeneration of mana. In the end, it was more important to be ready for the next fight as fast as possible.

With a mental confirmation, Photosynthesis and Roots of Strength appeared in Elijah’s list of perks. Elijah looked at the changes on his status sheet and wasn’t quite sure what to feel about making such decisions without certainty but he had no other choice. Choosing these perks now could decide if he lived or died. He decided to get moving and climbed down the tree.

On the ground, he and his minion began collecting a few smaller branches. He needed a weapon and tried to merge them into a wooden blade.

At least I tried. Elijah couldn’t help but smile as he looked at the result before shaking his head and deciding to change it. He formed the shaft of his new weapon first. The majority of the branches he found, went into the shaft as he made it as compact as he could. He willed the wood to contract more and more before he reached his limit.

After that, he began working on the tip of his weapon. The wood they collected merged into a solid ball, which Elijah connected to one end of the shaft. Instead of using a bladed weapon, he decided to create a mace for blunt damage. His new weapon was about 3.2 feet long and a good fit for Elijah’s height of 5.8 feet.

He swung it around a few times and added a grip for his hand. The weight of his mace was about 33 pounds and felt comfortable in his hands. While he could handle a few more pounds, he was running low on mana and needed to regenerate some before adding further changes.

Now armed and with his minion by his side, Elijah set off to explore the forest. He would return at night to sneak into the camp.