Materials (Conti)

I barely paid attention to the words I was speaking as the world unraveled into patterns of light and darkness. I saw Tukson, a body of color contained within a dim mortal shell. I saw the store around us, left marked by traces of the many lives that had passed through its door, however briefly. Light and power bubbled up from the ground beneath us and streamed down from the skies above, immense patterns painted on the sky, remnants of God only knows what.

And I felt the rose beneath my touch. It was a small and simple thing, a slowly growing light. It wasn't large and seemed unlikely to ever become so on its own—no, it was a rose out of season, grown only for its beauty and doomed from the start. A morbid thought, yet already I could feel the growing touch of death upon it, from its roots to its crimson blossom.

I looked past that, beyond the traces left on its physical form into what lay beneath. It was alive, of course, but in a way the felt different from how Tukson was alive—only natural, I suppose, due to the differences between plants and animals. Still, it was alive and I could feel the light of it growing throughout its form, itself something strange yet familiar. I touched that light with my own, power flooding out of my and setting the structures of the rose alight with the bright color of my Aura, shining brightly even as it pooled somewhere deep within, filling it even as it burnt away what concealed its own light. In a sudden flood, red light flashed throughout its form, leaving it bright to senses and when I opened my eyes I saw that light sheathing its form for a moment before being draw back within.

Left Blooming Alone

LV. 1

?

"Oh," I said after a moment. "It has a level and a title now."

For a moment, we were silent, as if waiting for something to happen. With the red light of its Aura drawn back within its mortal frame, the rose was left looking…exactly the same as before. I wasn't entirely sure what I was expecting, as simply awakening one's Aura didn't generally change who you are or what you looked like, but…

"Kind of anti-climactic," Tukson said, scratching an ear.

I was about to open my mouth to agree when I was distracted.

A skill has been created through a special action! By connecting deeply with the living creatures of the world, the skill 'Natural Bond' has been created!

A skill has been created through a special action! By promoting life within plants, the skill 'Green Thumb' has been created!

Natural Bond (Passive) LV1 EXP: 0.00%

By developing a connection with forms of life around you, a bond has been formed with the natural world. Only possible for those closely attuned to nature.

Increase the effectiveness of Survival and Stealth by 10% in natural surroundings.

Increase HP regeneration by 10 per minute in natural surroundings.

Increase MP regeneration by 10 per minute in natural surroundings.

Slightly increased closeness with natural life.

Slightly increased resistance to natural poisons and diseases.

Reduce all penalties from natural surroundings by 30%.

Green Thumb (Active & Passive) LV1 EXP: 0.00%

The ability to promote life within plants through the usage of Aura (MP). By converting Aura into a usable form, plants can be made to grow and thrive. Only possible for those closely attuned to nature.

Spend 1 MP to gift 1 Experience Point to target plant.

Enhanced plants regain an additional 10 HP regeneration per hour after use for a number of hours equal to the skill's level.

Increased closeness with plants.

Cannot enhance plants beyond user's level.

"—Oh," I mused, furrowing my brows.

"Something wrong?" Tukson asked as he noticed my expression.

"I…" I paused. "I have no idea. I got some new skills and…Give me a second."

Ignoring the fact that I still didn't really know how the Hell 'closeness' worked—much less with plants—the skills were pretty straightforward. Natural Bond seemed like a pretty damn good Passive technique, if one limited to, I assumed, places that weren't urbanized. Still, it wasn't hard to find places where the natural world reigned supreme in Remnant and as a Hunter especially, I was more than happy with the bonuses. As something that I didn't have to pay anything for, it was pretty great.

Green Thumb, however, left me a bit more confused. I mean, I guess it made a certain kind of sense? I'd never actually considered how magically causing a plant to grow would manifest in terms of my power, but if we considered experience the trait of growing up, I supposed maybe it wasn't that odd? Presumably, causing some form of permanent growth in an unnatural way would take the form of either stat boosts or else leveling and I wasn't sure how stat boosts would be represent, since it would depend a great deal on the plant. Leveling as one grew up made sense with what I knew as well, even if I'd never considered it in such a way before; it certainly seemed to be the case with, at least, small children.

Except…to be honest, I had no idea what leveling up meant for anyone who wasn't me or a member of my party. I gained five points every time I leveled up, in addition to a boost to my HP and MP, because I was a game character. I'd started at level one for presumably the same reason, even if that was 'usually' the level of babies and small children.

But other people didn't suddenly get points they could distribute however they wanted to improve themselves. No, more than that, they didn't truly have 'levels' to begin with; those were just markers that my power ascribed to them based on…what? Power? I wasn't sure. It might have had some relation to stats, but I didn't think that was all there was too it; if it did, and I assumed five stat points per level was the norm, then Adam should be far higher than the low forties. No, even beyond his stats, in the right situations Adam's power allowed him to hit far above his weight class, such as when he'd wiped out most of the Giant Nevermore's health in one hit. There was a charge time, but in terms of both stats and threat level, he was…

So I wouldn't say level was just because of stats, nor would I say it was solely because of how big a threat someone was—and the latter especially was something complex and situational, besides. Similarly, people besides me couldn't increase their levels solely by killing things and getting experience, so when they leveled up like Blake and Adam both had, what it meant was…

…I had no idea. The entire system was weird. It made a certain kind of sense when applied to me, but for other people? Adam, Blake, and even Penny all seemed stronger than their levels alone might indicate, but that could have just been because I had no idea what their levels indicated.

So what the hell would it mean for a plant? Would it just make it grow to adulthood? What if I kept using it? If it reached adulthood at level, say, two, what would happen if I raised it to level ten? Or even higher?

Beyond that, converting MP directly to experience sounded really amazing—and it was, to an extent. But at level thirty, I now required millions and millions of experience points to go up a level, which translated to…well, a lot of MP. The skill was only level one so the conversion ratio might change, but…

Well, even so, I was surprised by the existence of such a skill. Was it limited to plants? Balance-wise, I guess it would make sense if the use of such a skill was limited to things that were normally immobile and mindless, but…my power wasn't usually balanced. Still, I certainly hadn't found a way to use such a skill on myself…did that mean anything? Or…

I sighed and shook my head. I loved my power, truly I did, but sometimes I wished it came with an instruction manual or something.

Still, instead of wondering pointlessly, why not just see for myself? First off…

"Observe," I said focusing on the plant.

Race: Rose

Sex: N/A

Level: 1 Next LV: 00.0

Age: 1

STR: 0 DEX: 0

VIT: 2 INT: 0

WIS: 1 LUCK: 15

Specials: Animasynthesis (Passive).

Points: 0

Not really surprising for a rose, I guessed, except for the Luck. The only thing that stood out about it was…

I tapped its special ability.

Animasynthesis (Passive)

The absorption of shed Aura (MP) as a form of sustenance. For every point of Aura spent nearby, gain one experience point.

Range: 1 meter.

"Huh…" I mused, frowning. "But is that a Semblance or just something normal for awakened plants…"

Either way…would that mean it'd get double experience for each point I gave it? Already, I was thinking of ways to make use of such an ability—because I certainly spent enough MP to make such an ability useful. A meter wasn't that great range-wise, but there were ways around that. If I perhaps wore the plant…I'd need to set it up carefully, but I could heal and sustain it, so there should be a way…perhaps if I attached it to my armor? If it absorbed the MP I burnt on a daily basis, it'd grow very quickly indeed. I had no idea what growing would do for it, but it was a tempting idea. In a normal game, I'd assume there'd be some benefit, like some hidden bonus reward to getting it high enough or some special power. Here…I had no way of knowing and the skill itself didn't give an ability to actually control plants, but I could make use of this somehow, I was sure. An Elemental, perhaps, or maybe…

I was getting ahead of myself. I shook my head again, focusing as I reached out to touch it and feed it my power—and then hesitated once more.

"No," I murmured. "If I'm going to do this, then why not…"

Why not go all the way? Or at least try to? I could test the alternative later, but why not see how ridiculous this ability could be?

"Create Party," I said, continuing once the window had appeared. "Invite Rose."

I was sure if 'Rose' would be enough, but a window appeared in front of the plant, fading an instant later as the rose entered my party. I guess creatures that couldn't make the choice for themselves automatically consented to party invites?

And with it in my party…

"Green Thumb," I said, pouring most of my remaining MP into the rose. It shook for a moment before suddenly sprouting, twisting, and growing larger and larger. Roots speared through the plastic cup around it and shifted the bag as flowers blossomed and spread. Thorny stems fell to hang from the shelf, reaching—almost grasping—but finding little else to cling to.

Left Blooming Alone

LV. 2

?

I looked at its profile again and smiled in satisfaction.

"Okay," Tukson mused. "Mildly less anticlimactic. Still kind of disappointing, though."

"Just wait," I said, smiling as I pulled the bag up around the plant's sides. It was far too big to fit completely inside of it anymore, but it made carrying it a bit easier even though I had to channel aura to keep it from punching holes through it. "I'm interested, now. I've got no idea what this means, much less what it could do, and I want to find out."

Tukson sighed.

"Just…tell me if it starts eating people so I have a chance to run away, okay?" He asked.

"Bah," I said. "You'd never escape. Before long, it'll be a higher level then you are."

"Wait, what?" Tukson asked, suddenly frowning. "No. What? You're joking, right?"

I chuckled and picked up my new project before turning to go.

"We'll get you to level twelve in no time, baby," I told it, smiling down at it. "See you later, Tukson."

The book trader sighed loudly, shaking his head, but he waved goodbye as I unlocked the door and left.

"I'll call you if I hear anything from our friends," He said, lifting his voice as I went.

"Thanks!" I shouted back, closing the door with a foot. My hands were full of the thorny plant, but looking down at it, I couldn't keep my smile from widening. "Left blooming alone, huh?"

My voice was softer now, gentle even though it probably couldn't understand anything I said.

"That's a pretty sad title for such a beautiful flower," I continued. "But I guess it's not the season for you, is it? Still, instead of being alone…why not spend some time with me? And maybe…let's see if we can find some more friends, okay?"

The rose shifted slightly, even though there was no wind.

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