A day begins with dew.
When the damp dawn air touched my seed leaves, dew formed on them. I waited until it gathered softly, then carefully tilted my seed leaves. The mana droplet rolled around and swallowed the dew.
As it absorbed the drops one by one, the mana dew grew before I knew it, and my seed leaves became clean. Even my mind felt refreshed, as if I had woken up in the morning and washed my face.
This feels nice.
The cool shower of rainfall also made me feel good, but the carefully completed dew face-wash put my heart at ease.
It was also pleasant to rest the plumpened dew on my seed leaves after washing my face and bask in the sunlight. As the dew evaporated, it coolly tickled my seed leaves.
Sometimes the breeze from a fan is more welcome than an air conditioner's wind in midsummer. The coolness gently tickling my seed leaves made me feel the kind presence of the sunlight.
Thank you for the warm sunlight again today.
However, apart from gaining this daily starting routine, I also gained a worry.
I feel like the mana droplet got bigger.
Of course, it had gotten bigger because it held dew.
But once the dew it swallowed evaporated, only the mana droplet should remain, and it should return to its original size. Yet as I repeated the dew face-wash every day, the mana droplet felt strangely larger.
It wasn't just my imagination.
·MP: 11/10
The numbers are weird. As far as I know, the number on the left is the amount I have, and the one on the right is the limit, right? I don't know why I'm holding more than the limit.
My curiosity was resolved when I stopped simply enjoying the dew face-wash and observed the droplet.
Looking closely, dawn dew contained mana from the atmosphere. As the mana droplet swallowed them one by one, the mana mixed in and increased its size.
Its scale grew, but it was in a rather unstable state. As if telling me not to get greedy all at once, most of the mana evaporated and returned to the atmosphere. Only the part that assimilated remained completely.
Waaah, the droplet got bigger.
[【Liquid Mana Capture Technique】 acquired.]
【Liquid Mana Capture Technique】
Uses the condensation force of liquid mana to capture pure mana from nature. Allows mana to be gathered beyond the limit, but requires long patience.
Wonderful. Then I can grow the droplet with my dew face-wash, can't I? Washing my face in the morning with a giant droplet sounds really refreshing.
I love this.
Every dawn, I focused on the dew face-wash.
***
Even while doing my routine, I did not stop pioneering underground.
A thick root dug into the earth. Smaller roots split off along the way and spread in every direction.
A rock blocked the thick root at the front line. I pushed against it here and there as if probing. This rock has a clean surface without any cracks.
In that case, the strategy of inserting fine roots into cracks, widening them, and splitting it would be difficult. Normally, I would have had to give up and detour.
But I had already achieved Hierarchical Root Network Design. The difference between before and after my design innovation was as vast as heaven and earth.
I examined the rock's length and width. Once I identified the elongated part, I stretched out my roots. Thick roots grabbed both long sides. Smaller roots split and tangled, firmly fixing the rock in place.
Thanks to reducing my fine roots and growing my thick roots all this time, my root strength had increased. Enough that I wasn't afraid of rocks.
I put strength into my roots. When I applied force to both sides, a faint stone noise rang from the rock. Its surface trembled, and cracks formed. The rock shattered with a roar.
Highway opening successful again today.
Woohoo. I'm strong enough to break rocks now.
·Influence Radius
210cm → 344cm
·Production
630/d → 1032/d
My roots pushed aside the stone debris and completely conquered the area.
·Influence Radius
344cm → 410cm (Max)
·Production
1032/d → 1230/d
Now then, nutrients. Take the highway and come by direct delivery.
Nutrients spread through my entire body except my roots.
About four days passed.
【A Sprout Exceptional from the Seed Leaves Up Lv.2】
Exp: 0/10,000
[Influence Radius]
410cm → 570cm
My seed leaves grew larger and plumper. A single seed leaf was bigger than a cluster of yellow petals from my neighbor. They were so large I wondered if a dicotyledonous sprout was allowed to be this big.
My field of vision widened another level as well. Becoming A Sprout Exceptional from the Seed Leaves Up made the radius of my vision grow by a considerable amount.
When I checked the direction of the flower field, the entire expanded radius was filled with the yellow big family. They really are a family with many members. At that size, they might be something beyond a family.
I checked whether there were any neighbors similar to the lone pink flower, but everything was yellow. In the middle of the yellow-dyed flower field, the pink flower was still blooming alone. You are beautiful again today.
This time, I examined the weed area on the opposite side. There was no major difference there either, only countless small grasses whose names I did not know covering the ground.
But when I looked carefully at the edge of my vision, I discovered a very small difference. A shadow fell over the grass. It was shaped like a sapling.
Waaah. There was a tree in the neighborhood too.
I couldn't see its actual form yet, but it was truly right in front of me.
To think I could finally see a tree. Every time the moment came to choose my future, my heart had leaned only toward flowers, but I had been hesitating because maybe that was only because flowers were all I had around me.
I wonder what I could do if I became a tree. Though a tree can't show off a dance as dazzling as a flower's, it must be able to do something just as wonderful.
The first thing that comes to mind is shaking branches. On a day when a cool wind blows strongly, there would be no more joyful moment in the world than shaking my branches and playing music with my leaves.
After discovering the sapling's shadow, I observed the surrounding shadows I normally ignored even while managing my roots.
There was no big difference for several days. But one day, I saw the shadow of a bird I had missed until then. The bird shadow flying over the flower field in a flash was a sight I would have missed if I had not been paying attention.
Waaah. It's a bird.
Not a tiny hummingbird on the ground, but a bird spreading its broad wings and racing through the sky.
The flower field was the sky.
I thought I couldn't see the sky with my spherical field of vision, but that wasn't true. The sky had already come out here to greet me. I had simply given up on it.
When rain came, the shadow of clouds fell over everything.
Thank you for giving me rain again today.
Today is an even more special day because I can greet you while looking at you.
***
Raindrops wet the ground. Raindrops that had held the sky and descended to the earth came all the way underground and wet the world.
Nutrients mixed with the moisture flowed in through my roots. When I returned the nutrients to my roots, the thick roots gained strength and stretched out. Soil was pushed aside, and pebbles opened the way.
·Influence Radius
410cm → 522cm
·Production
1230/d → 1,566/d
Woohoo.
So many nutrients came in that my seed leaves trembled. It was clearly an excessive amount for a sprout to eat.
I feel like I'll get an upset stomach. But I'm a mysterious sprout, so I'll be fine.
At first, I was a sprout smaller than the weeds, but now I was a large dicotyledonous sprout bigger than a flower. I had plenty of digestive power.
Besides, I had transcended being mysterious. I was a clean sprout who even did dew face-washes.
I proudly lifted my seed leaves.
·MP: 16/10
A mana droplet rested loftily on my rainwater-covered seed leaves. It had grown a full 1.6 times larger.
I did not stop pioneering with my roots either.
My innovated root design covered the underground.
The awkward design from the beginning gradually accumulated experience and became sturdy. Although I was a sprout, my hierarchical root network imitating tree roots was comparable to that of a small tree.
·Influence Radius
522cm → 570cm (Max)
·Production
1,566/d → 1,710/d
At least call my roots a tree.
Around the fifth day of growing my body.
【A Sprout Exceptional from the Seed Leaves Up Lv.3】
Exp: 0/15,000
[Influence Radius]
570cm → 730cm
At the edge of my vision, the sapling came fully into view.
The sapling was larger than a flower but smaller than a tree. It was a modest size, the kind one could put in a pot, and about as tall as a deer. Its thin trunk and branches shook lush leaves.
Wonderful. It is a little tree itself. After ten years pass, and then a hundred, it will definitely grow into a magnificent tree.
Seeing that made me think growing into a tree might be good too. The sight of its lush leaves swaying pleasantly in the wind was truly beautiful.
As I watched in a daze, the sun set and night came. Moonlight receded, sunlight arrived, rain came and stopped, and the wind blew.
The lush leaves played the wind. Dew scattered and made a small rainbow.
Truly, beautiful.
I had only watched that sapling for a very short time. Yet the desire to become a wonderful tree like that blazed like sunlight.
I want to play the wind too.
That sapling made only a small rainbow, but I want to make a rainbow greater than that. I want to shake lush leaves on branches that reach all the way to the sky and play the wind.
I can do it. I'm a mysterious sprout, after all.
***
Deeper, like a deep-rooted tree.
I devoted my whole mind to redesigning my roots. Since I had chosen my future as a tree, I could not leave the roots I had made with such vague feelings as they were. I boldly removed the fine roots I had left while considering the possibility of becoming a flower.
When I maintained only the absolute minimum and achieved a true Hierarchical Root Network Design, my territory briefly shrank. But as I endured and focused on large roots, the range absorbed by each root expanded, and I could instead increase my occupied area.
Once I became able to boldly pioneer underground with only thick roots, my speed even became faster than before.
·Influence Radius
570cm → 656cm
·Production
1,710/d → 1,968/d
Although I was a sprout, so I couldn't make them truly like tree roots, this much deserved to be called tree roots. It was a great achievement that would never again appear in sprout history.
Feeling proud, I shook my seed leaves. The droplet rolled around.
Suddenly, I felt a gaze. It came from the sapling's direction. When I checked, a white, furry creature stepped on the sapling's shadow. A rabbit stared at me as it chewed on a blade of grass. An ominous shadow covered the rabbit.
Could that rabbit be......?
A plump white body, upright ears, and red eyes.
It was perfectly identical to the rabbit I had fought with my life on the line. When I moved my seed leaves slightly, the rabbit's nose twitched.
The rabbit that had given me the title of Rabbit Slayer Sprout had returned.
If it wanted to enjoy the fragrance of flowers with me, I had no intention of being wary. But the rabbit showed off its strength with the terrifying act of chewing a blade of grass. The grass blade was mercilessly chewed up and eaten.
You haven't changed. But you came back too late.
They say that in the wild, animals puff up their fur and bodies to scare their opponents. Following the rules of the wild, I spread my seed leaves wide. The droplet rolled across my seed leaves.
·MP: 20/10
A full two-times droplet.
Back then, all I could do was the Grow Big Exercise, but now I can do more. If you attack me, you'll be in for an even nastier surprise than before.
I rolled the droplet as a demonstration. I rolled it entirely across one seed leaf, then moved it to the other leaf and rolled it there.
While I was at it, I flicked my seed leaf, and the droplet bounced.
Woohoo.
The elegant seed-leaf handling of a master.
This is the greatest display of power in sprout history.
How is it? Aren't you afraid?
The rabbit's eyes went round. Its front teeth poked out foolishly, and drool streamed down.
......Right. I see. From your perspective, I must look like a fresh sprout with even water drops on me. I failed to think from the rabbit's point of view.
The rabbit approached. Perhaps wary, it kept its distance and smacked its lips.
To come even after being beaten once. I can feel your resolve not to back down from my seed-leaf whip.
Do I look that delicious? But I have truly changed a great deal while you were gone. As advice, you should restrain a momentary desire.
The rabbit leaped with all its strength. Its front teeth flashed.
Yeah. As if you would give up.
I quickly flicked my seed leaf. The droplet flew through the air.
Do you know this?
A lump of mana hurts when it hits.
My seed leaf struck the falling droplet. A sharp impact rang out. A watery trajectory shot forward. It collided with the white beast, and the liquid exploded. The rabbit's fur rippled.
The white shape spun and fell helplessly. The grass flattened under it with a sound.
I shook out my seed leaves.
I didn't want to do this. But I'm not foolish enough to let you take me quietly.
After I waited a moment, the rabbit struggled to its feet. Then it limped away in a hurry. Farewell.
I recovered the mana soaking into the ground through my roots. An amount of mana I had never experienced circulated inside my body and caused a change.
·MP
10 → 20
This is......?
[【Natural Circulation Method】 acquired.]
【Natural Circulation Method】
Circulates mana beyond the limit through the natural order of sky, earth, and plants, allowing it to be accepted. Grants the purest mana closest to nature, but requires complex procedures and long patience.
Waaah?