A small bird the size of a single flower flew through the air.
It was a hummingbird that lived on flower nectar. The hummingbird came to the neighboring flowers from early morning. It flapped its tiny wings hard, hovered in place, then stuck its beak into a flower. Nectar was sucked up.
Waaah. It drank nectar.
I shook my seed leaves to greet it. The hummingbird looked back and tilted its head. It stared at me, then flew away with a flutter. It seemed to have no interest in a sprout with no nectar.
But I'm interested in you, so please come again.
All right. Should I follow my hummingbird neighbor's example and fill my belly too?
I focused my mind on root work.
·Influence Radius
90cm → 106cm
·Production
270/d → 318/d
Ever since I became a Healthy Sprout, the radius I could see had grown quite a lot. The area where I had to spread my roots had grown along with it, so I had to invest more time than before.
But I wasn't worried. A plant's life has no such thing as a tight schedule. If I handled things one by one, step by step, I would reach my destination someday.
My roots poked at an underground rock. It was a rock that obstructed the smooth expansion of my territory. I could avoid it, but then I would have to detour from the straight path.
I've chosen you as my next target.
I stretched my roots out as if covering the surface of the stone. When I sensed cracks, I delicately dug into them. Fine roots filled the gaps between the cracks. The roots on the stone's surface pulled, while the fine roots inside the stone expanded.
Heave-ho. Heave-ho.
The rock made a faint sound. It was a tiny sound that no being aboveground would know about, but to a passing earthworm, it was a thunderous roar.
After rainwater flowed over it and dried again and again, the rock finally split. Cool underground air ventilated the space. My roots dug into the split gap and headed toward the earth on the other side.
Woohoo, the highway is open. That's one problem solved.
·Influence Radius
106cm → 130cm (Max)
·Production
318/d → 390/d
I freely released the nutrients I had focused in my roots. A vast amount of nutrients spread through my entire body, excluding the roots.
Roughly three days passed.
【Healthy Sprout Lv.3】
Exp: 0/1,500
[Influence Radius]
130cm → 170cm
The range I could see increased all at once.
A large area beside the yellow flower I had barely been able to see at the edge was revealed. A yellow scene filled my vision. Similar yellow flowers were in full bloom.
Waaah. My flower neighbor had a big family? And an enormous family at that. I could only see part of the area, but I didn't think the flower field was small.
No wonder it was beautiful. It must have grown up loved. I must be the happiest sprout, becoming neighbors with such a beautiful, harmonious big family.
Woohoo. Today is another happy day.
Suddenly, a plump, furry creature entered the flower field. It was a small white animal with red eyes. A rabbit.
Waaah. A rabbit.
So rabbits lived here too. This world is wonderful.
The rabbit sniffed at a flower.
Are you trying to enjoy its fragrance too?
It was not.
Its front teeth appeared, then cut the flower stem in two. The plucked flower went into the rabbit's mouth. The flower stem sticking out past its lips wobbled as it chewed, then disappeared.
Waaah?
The rabbit smacked its lips as it chewed.
And maybe because the taste satisfied it, it let out a squeak.
My seed leaves trembled at the cry.
Waaah. Rabbit......
Ra-rabbit.
I turned my attention elsewhere. As I kept my seed leaves neatly together, I felt an intense gaze. It was the rabbit, which had been eating a new flower. Its eyes went round, and it even dropped the flower it was eating as it approached me.
Wa, waaah......
The rabbit sniffed my seed leaves.
I know, I know. I look unusual, don't I? Since I'm dicotyledonous, I look exactly like a sprout, but I'm as tall as the neighboring weeds. I'm a huge, plump sprout, so huge you can't tell why I'm still a sprout.
The rabbit took a deep breath. The scent of my seed leaves was sucked right in. The rabbit shuddered in bliss.
My seed leaves trembled along with it.
Buuut, you know. Shouldn't a mysterious sprout like me be protected? I might be a natural monument. I understand that I look incredibly delicious, but for the sake of the world's future, let's hold back our desires together.
Hold it in. Hold it in.
You can do that, right?
The rabbit bared its front teeth. A drop of drool fell onto my seed leaves.
Yeah. I knew that wouldn't work.
But I have a method too. If you think you can eat me easily, you're in for a nasty surprise.
The front teeth charged in without hesitation.
So that's how it is. Fine. Come at me.
I brought out a level of concentration I had never experienced during my life as a plant.
The front teeth reached right in front of me. I pulled my seed leaves back with all my strength. My stem followed, bending limply. The front teeth grazed empty air. They clacked together.
One, two, hrah!
I released the strength in my seed leaves. My seed leaves returned to their original position, and my stem followed. My seed leaves swung like a whip and struck the rabbit's nose. A smack rang out.
The rabbit leaped backward in fright. It puffed up its fur, hopped a few times, shivered, then scurried away. It reacted as if it had seen a ghost.
Woohoo.
This is the result of the Grow Big Exercise. If you do it every day, you can even drive off rabbits.
Neighbors, I bravely drove off a rabbit. From now on, please call me the Rabbit Slayer Sprout.
I spread my seed leaves and basked in the sun.
Sunlight of the victor, thank you again today.
***
The day of the Rabbit Slayer Sprout is solemn.
Every day, I solemnly grasp the state of my root production sites, solemnly shake my seed leaves, then check the amount of sunlight and solemnly spread my seed leaves.
·Influence Radius
130cm → 152cm
·Production
390/d → 456/d
My roots spread through my entire underground view.
·Influence Radius
152cm → 170cm (Max)
·Production
456/d → 510/d
Ready. Nutrient release.
Nutrients raced through my whole body.
I grew taller, and my seed leaves grew thick and large.
【Healthy Sprout Lv.4】
Exp: 0/2,000
[Influence Radius]
170cm → 210cm
A wider yellow flower field entered my view. A water drop fell and shook one flower. Rain poured down, and the yellow big family swayed as they danced together.
Suddenly, pink petals appeared among the yellow flower field. One pink flower danced alone in the middle of the yellow waves. It was a beautiful dance.
Waaah. A pink flower.
You're the star of today's party. Wonderful.
I shook my seed leaves along with it to the rhythm of the rain.
A joyful day had begun.
All right. Shall I rummage underground again today?
I focused my mind on my roots.
This time, I planned to pursue root innovation.
Based on what I had realized so far, there was no need to spread roots densely through my entire underground view. It was better and cooler to spread them only enough to gather nutrients and leave some space here and there for air to pass through. It also consumed less nutrients and time.
Until now, like a proper sprout, I had instinctively favored dense roots, but the time had come to choose a harder path.
It may be exhausting right now, but once I get skilled at the work, it will definitely be a big help.
I pictured tree roots and stretched out my own roots. One thick root pioneered the underground. Once it had stretched far enough, smaller roots emerged from the large root and dug into the surroundings. It was a bold design that did not rely on sprout fine roots.
·Influence Radius
170cm → 192cm
·Production
510/d → 576/d
I was suspicious that I might miss areas because fine roots did not cover everything evenly. But it was only a matter of speed. The small roots leisurely absorbed nutrients from the surrounding area as well. That absorption power was possible precisely because they were not fine roots.
[【Hierarchical Root Network Design】 discovered.]
【Hierarchical Root Network Design】
Designs the underground area with thick roots as the central foundation. Reduces the resources and time required for root growth and grants an advantage in removing obstacles, but requires conscious design.
After seeing the effect, I redesigned my existing roots.
I cut off the nutrients going to unnecessary fine roots, necrotizing and removing them. For the core roots in major positions, I invested nutrients to thicken them, removing some parts and supplementing others.
The beauty of empty space.
By my current standards, I think it has become neat.
[Roots]
·Traits
【Resource Focus Strategy】 【Expansionist Root Plan】 【Hierarchical Root Network Design】
·Influence Radius
192cm → 210cm (Max)
·Production
576/d → 630/d
Grow, grow.
My body shot up. Now I could easily look down at the neighboring weeds. It felt strangely moving.
Roughly four days passed. The cool temperature of dawn arrived pleasantly.
【Healthy Sprout Lv.5 (Max)】
[Influence Radius]
210cm → 250cm
I reached max level.
[You have reached your growth limit. Please choose your next growth direction.]
=====
1. Perfect Flower Bud
2. Sturdy Sapling
3. A Sprout Exceptional from the Seed Leaves Up
=====
Choosing my future again, is it?
I had put it off once, so it was about time to seriously think about my future.
What would be best to become?
A flower?
After seeing the pink flower's exciting dance, my heart leaned toward becoming a flower. I don't know if I could dance that well, but I want to become a flower like that.
A tree?
There were no trees nearby right now, so I hesitated to choose it. If I had a wonderful tree as a neighbor, it would have been easier to imagine.
And so I......
[You have selected A Sprout Exceptional from the Seed Leaves Up.]
Since I can put it off, I'll just be a sprout.
【A Sprout Exceptional from the Seed Leaves Up Lv.1】
Exp: 0/5,000
Different from the seed leaves up, huh? Thanks for the compliment.
[Influence Radius]
250cm → 410cm
***
I examined my body.
Did something change about me?
When I became a Healthy Sprout, my seed leaves had gleamed with gloss. My body had felt stronger too. It definitely felt different from my body simply growing.
If I hadn't become healthy, I probably couldn't have become the Rabbit Slayer.
But this time, I couldn't feel much. My body had grown, but that was how it usually worked, so it wasn't a unique change. I peered around with both seed leaves and inspected even the space between them, but I really couldn't find anything.
Should I be satisfied with just receiving a compliment?
I discovered the change when I looked inside my body.
I felt something new within me. It was extremely fine and faint, but it definitely existed.
「Mana Lv.1」
·MP: 10/10
So it was mana.
Once I became aware of it, I could feel the existence of mana throughout my entire perception range.
The wind and air were full of mana. There was no mana in the soil or plants, but I could feel it from the hummingbird drinking flower nectar.
I have mana now. You know, the stuff that often comes up in webtoons.
I focused my mind on the mana. It was a faint energy, but I could move it however I wanted. The mana went down to my roots and back up to my seed leaves over and over.
But how do I use this?
I gathered it in my roots and watched for changes, but I couldn't really tell.
I imagined moisture, which was familiar to me, and pushed it all the way to the tips of my roots. There was no reaction for a moment, but then at some point the mana sprayed out and dampened the soil.
Waaah?
When I absorbed the mana, it returned.
Phew. I thought it had disappeared.
I thought carefully about how to use it. How was I really supposed to use this? If I had known this would happen, I would have read more webtoons.
Suddenly, a brilliant idea flashed through me.
I had a good idea. A really good idea.
This time, I gathered mana in my seed leaves. I imagined moisture and pushed it all the way to the tips of my seed leaves. Like with my roots, there was no reaction at first, but when I firmly believed it would work, moisture began to appear little by little.
A small water droplet dangled there.
Waaah. A mana water droplet.
[【Liquid Mana】 acquired.]
【Liquid Mana】
Materializes mana in liquid form in the material world. Increases mana stability and enables physical action.
「Mana Lv.1」
·MP: 10/10
·Traits
【Liquid Mana】
Huh? I see. I wasn't paying attention to that, but thanks for telling me.
I turned my mind away from the system and carefully lifted my seed leaves. The delicate movement I had trained with the Grow Big Exercise lifted the water droplet too.
I can do this without dropping it. Here goes.
I flicked only the tip upward. The droplet floated lightly, then settled softly back onto my seed leaf. Woohoo.
I tilted my seed leaf this way and that. The water droplet rolled across the surface and swallowed the dawn dew. The mana dew quickly grew plump.
Waaah. Plump dew.
I've never seen dew bigger than this. Wonderful.
I trembled my seed leaves in joy. The dew flowed off and wet the ground.
Ack.