Predator's scent

The earth had grown silent. Not the peaceful silence of sunlit stillness, but the kind that comes before something dies.

I felt it in my roots first. A faint quiver, like breathless tension pulled taut beneath the soil.

The rodent's blood still clung to my thorns, sticky and hot, the scent mingling with the sour decay of the forest floor. That scent, I realized, was a signal. Not just to scavengers, but to something higher on the food chain. A predator.

~----~

[Unknown Entity Detected!]

[Proximity: Medium]

[Scanning…]

~----~

The system's text flickered in my vision, sharper than usual, tinged with red at the edges.

I froze; or, well, stayed rooted.

My thorns retracted slightly, tension pulsing through my being as my root sensors extended further to feel through the dirt.

What was it?

I didn't have eyes, but I could hear now. I'd gained that sense just before the rodent attack. And at the edge of that hearing, I caught it, something dragging against stone. Not walking, sliding.

A wet, slithering scrape.

Then a pause. Silence. And suddenly…

A sniff.

Loud. Close, too close.

Something sniffed the air near me. I didn't move a cell, I dared not. I didn't even think. If I had a heart, it would be beating rapidly like drums of war.

The system lit up again, startling the living soul out of me.

'Rot me sideways!' I cursed.

~----~

[Entity Partially Scanned]

[Classification: Rival Flora. Hostile. Evolutionary strain unknown.]

~----~

Flora? I was surprised.

I expected another beast. Not a plant.

And then I felt it.

A root.

Thin, wiry, and cold; it slithered over mine like a snake licking its prey. It wasn't just near me, it was touching me.

I shuddered. 'Creepy bastard!'

I nearly triggered a spike right there, but instinct told me that would be a mistake.

Unlike all the other plantoid beings I've met in this world, this thing was different. It wasn't dumb. It was scouting.

Another message appeared.

~----~

[New System Thread Unlocked: Territorial Instinct]

~----~

A submenu opened briefly. Three icons: Warn, Lure, and Engage.

I didn't know what they meant yet, but I had a feeling I would soon.

And then, after what felt like an eternity of waiting, hoping for the best while expecting the worst, surprisingly, the root withdrew.

No sound. Just that brief slither, and it was gone.

And yet… not.

Because even after it left, the air didn't go back to normal. The soil around me felt marked.

I had been touched.

Not a kill. Not a warning. A claim.

~----~

[WARNING: Area flagged by Rival Predator!]

[This territory is now contested.]

~----~

Seeing this new notification, I wanted to laugh.

'Great! Just great, what else did I expect?'

I don't know how long I stood there; paralyzed, not from fear but from calculation. The system was adapting fast, giving me new instincts, new urges. And now it was telling me I wasn't alone.

Another like me had evolved. Another plant, following a different path.

…

The next morning…

Time here is strange so I count days by relying more on feeling than anything scientific. It was unreliable, but to me, it was important.

It made me feel human. I don't know why it was important. Who knows? Maybe I'll stay a plant forever.

But for some reason, I wanted to retain a few things human in me no matter how small and trivial they seemed.

Sunlight returned. I felt its warmth, though it no longer satisfied me the way it once did. Not completely.

I had changed.

Predator, yes, but not dominant.

I needed strength. Biomass. I needed a kill, I needed to claim.

So I set to work. Slowly, carefully, my spikes extended, this time wider and lower. I rearranged my roots to form a funnel, a natural trap. If something came from that direction again, it would find nothing, until it was too late.

As I waited while carefully exploring my surrounding with my roots, I could not help but notice something.

I already noticed it earlier, but I didn't pay much attention to it at first.

A strange scent of decay… not animal. Ashy. A foreign root system that's already blackened, burned, and dead.

Earlier, nothing happened, but this time there was the briefest system ping.

~----~

[User #009 Terminated. Trial Slot Vacated]

~----~

'Huh?'

'User #009? What's that?'

'And what does it mean by terminated?'

I didn't pay too much attention to it. After all, this is just one of many things that are weird about this world and the system.

And then… I learned to bait.

A small part of the rodent's blood still clung to my thorn. While I waited in silent and tense boredom, my brain kept on calculating, thinking, and out of the blue, I felt the urge to do it.

I excreted the rodent's blood that still clung to my thorn on a small leaf pore, letting the scent seep into the soil.

A chemical signal. A message.

'Come find me'.

Something answered.

But not the rival plant. Not yet.

A beetle. No, a corpse beetle; armored, hissing, and fast. Drawn by my scent.

I didn't hesitate this time.

Spike. Pierced. Dragged. Crushed.

It happened in an instant. Its shell cracked like dry wood. Its legs twitched once, then went still.

I absorbed it.

~----~

[Biomass absorbed: 17%]

[Flesh-Touched milestone reached.]

[Skill Unlocked: Digestive Root (Basic).]

[Territorial Instinct: Lure level increased.]

~----~

Then…

The ground shook again. Just slightly. Just enough.

The Rival Plant had noticed.

A new message appeared.

~----~

[Contested Entity Response: ACTIVE]

[Prepare for confrontation!]

…

And below that.

[Evolution Threshold: Approaching]

~----~

I had no lips, but I imagined myself smiling darkly.

'Took you long enough bastard'.

'Want to starve me, you Photosynth-freakin'-sis?! Unfortunately for you, you'll have to kill me first!'

'Fertilize that, bastard!'

I didn't know when it would come. But I was prepared, and I knew this.

I wouldn't be prey. Not again.

I was ready to fight dirty.