Dew formed on my seed leaves.
I rolled the droplet around and swallowed the dew. Moving fluidly, I washed the opposite seed leaf clean as well, then rested the droplet on my seed leaves.
Warm sunlight heated the droplet. The mana-mixed moisture flew away, and only part of the mana joined me completely.
·MP: 30/20
I think I've gathered all the excess I needed.
I looked at the numbers suspiciously, then tilted my seed leaves. The droplet fell with a plop and wet the ground. When I absorbed it through my roots, the excess mana caused a change.
·MP
20 → 30
·MP: 30/30
Wow, it increased.
It feels reassuring, which is nice. It means the droplet will be three times as big from now on, right? Wonderful.
But one question arose.
Why does this work? What's the principle?
【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.
The purest mana closest to nature. That made sense, since I had captured mana resting in dew using only the natural principle of liquid condensation.
I understood that much. Clean dew was so close to nature that simply washing my face with it refreshed my mind.
But what did it mean to circulate mana through the natural order of sky, earth, and plants and accept it?
Even after thinking about it, I couldn't understand for certain.
But even if you don't understand the deep principle, repeating the form can lead to understanding.
As I repeated the dew face-wash every dawn and watched the dew on my neighbors' petals flow down, something suddenly occurred to me.
I see. Dew is the act of the sky's cold energy settling on plants.
Some of it returns to the sky, but some flows down and wets the ground. A plant's roots absorb the moisture, then send water vapor out through its leaves.
The sky descends to the earth, then returns to the sky through plants.
The Natural Circulation Method was the act of imitating this cycle. Gather dew, wet the earth, absorb it, and release it as water vapor. It manifests nature's circulation inside a small body.
If, within the revolving cycle, sky, earth, and plant are only temporary distinctions, then mana can remain in the earth and in plants just as it remains in the sky.
If I guided it to remain in the plant, that was the Natural Circulation Method.
Suddenly, the surrounding scenery felt different.
Until now, I had enjoyed the swaying of grass blades, the dance of petals, and the song of leaves. But perhaps I had only been seeing a one-sided impression.
Rather, all of this was a single connected scene. Just as flowers gather to make a flower field, and the shadow of clouds gathers on the flower field to hold the sky, we are all connected to one another.
Wonderful.
Even if we are far away, even if I can't see them right now, we were all neighbors. Neighbors living beneath the same sky and on the same earth.
Truly, the world is beautiful.
And all of us in it are beautiful too.
***
I finished my dawn face-wash and dropped the dew.
The Natural Circulation Method changed my body.
·MP
30 → 40
Woohoo. The sky has stayed within me.
There was more than one piece of good news.
Even while enjoying my dew face-wash, I had continued other work. Since gathering dew took a long time, results had actually built up on this side.
【A Sprout Exceptional from the Seed Leaves Up Lv.4】
[Influence Radius]
730cm → 890cm
My level had already risen to 4. My field of vision had widened as well, but there was no major difference in itself.
·Influence Radius
656cm → 890cm (Max)
·Production
1,968/d → 2,670/d
My roots had also expanded their territory as much as possible.
Since I had released the nutrients I had focused in my roots, my body was now growing rapidly. I think about five more days of basking in the sun should do it.
The sun set, and the moon rose. The stars faded, and when I felt the sunlight, I repeated my dew face-wash.
My stem grew, and my seed leaves grew larger.
One day, my level rose.
【A Sprout Exceptional from the Seed Leaves Up Lv.5 (Max)】
[Influence Radius]
890cm → 1,050cm
Woohoo. I reached max level.
[You have reached your growth limit. Please choose your next growth direction.]
=====
1. Greedy Sapling
2. Mana-Infused Sapling
=====
The flower route had disappeared from the choices.
Was it because I had strongly imitated tree roots with Hierarchical Root Network Design? It was a shame. But I had already decided my path would be a tree. I suppose I have to let go of what I must let go.
Instead, I examined the two futures given to me.
First, Greedy Sapling.
Isn't that future a little negative from the name alone? Why would this future be mine?
I silently looked back on my actions so far.
With the desire to see a wider world, I had stretched my roots out without hesitation. I had embraced as many resources as possible and occupied as much land as possible.
Namely, the Expansionist Root Plan.
Wa-was I really that greedy......?
I think I was greedy.
I didn't want to compete with the neighboring plants for no reason, so I had expanded by driving my roots deep underground. But it was true that a mysterious sprout like me had eaten up all the area where another could newly be born.
I don't think it was bad enough to call evil, but it makes me feel like reflecting. If I don't reflect now, I also feel like something about me might go terribly crooked.
I intended to maintain my roots' expansionist behavior itself. But from now on, I want to listen to my surroundings a little more.
Then what remains is......
[You have selected Mana-Infused Sapling.]
My body slowly began to change.
My stem grew and increased my height.
The paired seed leaves shifted and transformed into leaves, then branches stretched out. Next, many branches sprouted, and countless leaves unfurled.
Neighbors, I became a sapling.
【Mana-Infused Sapling Lv.1】
Exp: 0/1,000,000
「Mana Lv.2」
[Influence Radius]
1,050cm → 7,450cm
The world grew wider.
***
A vast yellow flower field covered one side of my territory to the very end. The pink flower still bloomed alone.
When I turned my head to the other side, trees came into view beyond the grassland and past the neighboring sapling. They were adult trees with thick trunks and lush leaves.
Wonderful. That place is a forest.
If there are trees beyond the yellow flower field as well, then this place is in the middle of a forest. If there are no trees, then this place is the boundary between a plain and a forest.
Either way, it's wonderful. I really do seem to be a lucky sprout. Though I'm a sapling now.
I looked over the system window.
Exp: 0/1,000,000
One million?
After staring blankly for a moment, I looked at something else first.
[Influence Radius]
1,050cm → 7,450cm
It widened enormously all at once.
Until now, every time I grew into a new name, the increase in my Influence Radius had grown by four times. But as a sapling, it had grown by forty times.
Saplings are good. I felt like I understood the advantage of a life whose path had become clear. I could grow to my heart's content toward the direction I wanted.
If my roots grow as far as this range, I think I can handle a million.
It'll take more time, but a plant's life is relaxed by nature. If I taste sunlight and get wet with rain, it will pass in no time.
All right, next.
「Mana Lv.2」
Woohoo. Becoming a Mana-Infused Sapling raised my mana level.
I observed the mana inside my body. The amount of mana had not changed. But I sensed the mana itself more keenly.
I feel like I can do something.
Just like last time, I gathered mana in my roots. My root production did not increase. But when I wrapped liquid mana around the outer surface of my roots, it stayed moist instead of being absorbed by the soil as before.
I poked an underground pebble with a mana-covered root. The pebble dented with a soft crunch, and cracks spread across its surface.
Waaah. I became an excavator root.
A good idea flashed.
Then would it work on branches too? Leaves too?
Why had I wanted to become a tree? Because the sight of a dew-covered sapling shaking its branches, playing the wind, and making a rainbow was beautiful.
It wasn't a dawn with dew left behind right now. It wasn't raining either. But I had liquid mana.
All right. Let's try it right now.
Mana formed in tiny drops on my leaves like dew. It was dew, but sturdy mana dew that didn't flow down. Since I imitated very tiny dew, I could fill many leaves, if only a little.
I shook my branches in time with the blowing wind. Cool wind brushed between the leaves. The sound of leaves covered the world. It was the sound of nature, bustling and yet quiet.
Waaah. It feels like I'm flying through the sky with the wind.
Each leaf stirred the air and fluttered freely. Though the leaves were bound to branches, the partner dancing with them was wind that had wandered the world.
I see. I thought the neighboring sapling was simply playing the wind, but each leaf had been dancing like a flower. Flowers and trees weren't different at all.
The wind had not come to the party alone. It brought mana and allowed it to mingle with the dew. The dew swallowed the mana and grew in volume.
Huh?
Mana was filtered from the wind passing through all my leaves. My sharpened senses soothed the mana that, startled by the unfamiliar dew, tried to leave.
The capture procedure that had gone atmosphere → dew → droplet was simplified to atmosphere → dew.
[【Large-Scale Liquid Mana Capture Technique】 acquired.]
【Large-Scale Liquid Mana Capture Technique】
Captures pure mana from nature with a dense, wide liquid mana filter. Allows mana beyond the limit to be gathered on a large scale, but requires understanding of large structures.
I was a large structure?
Because I'm a tree, even if I'm young?
***
I shook my branches.
·MP: 47/40
Woohoo. This is incredibly fast.
I feel like I've become a wind turbine.
The feeling differed depending on the wind and weather, but there was an enormous difference between passing through dew and me playing the role of dew myself.
·MP: 50/40
I shook my branches all at once. Dew scattered, and a small rainbow appeared. Mana was purely refined as it passed through sky, earth, and plant.
Mana beyond the limit was absorbed and changed my body.
·MP
40 → 50
In that case, I should give nutrients to my branches too.
If I cover a wider area of the sky, I should be able to capture more mana. When I checked, mana capture amount appeared for my branches as well, just like it did for my roots.
Of course, roots are the foundation, so roots first.
As before, I focused nutrients in my roots and enjoyed the song of the wind.
Raindrops fell, and the shadow of clouds spread over the flower field. The wind was gradually growing stronger, so it seemed to be a dark cloud.
This is exactly when I should operate the wind turbine at maximum output.
A deep-rooted tree does not sway in the wind, but instead spreads its branches. I spread my branches wide. My leaves opened broadly.
The raindrops increased and became a downpour. The wind blew fiercely and shook my branches. My leaves swayed dangerously. My trunk ached from the strong resistance. I sank my roots deep and held firm.
Is it the rainy season again? Summer's really here.
The yellow flower field that embraced itself and endured the rough wind would someday lose its petals and bear fruit. If I can see the flower field fade and then bloom splendidly again, I'll truly be a lucky one.
Suddenly, light flashed. A roar followed, shaking the atmosphere.
Waaah, lightning.
To think it's this powerful. Incredible.
Light shone over the world in scattered bursts. It wasn't striking the ground, but it seemed to be moving actively inside the dark clouds.
Suddenly, I felt ticklish static electricity on my leaves. As they resisted the fierce wind and repeatedly struck one another, static electricity had formed naturally.
Waaah, static electricity.
Static electricity......?
Light flashed.
A vertical bolt of lightning struck down and hit my body. The vast energy of nature crossed through my entire body.
Waaah?
Mana resisted, and a roar followed. The cry of thunder and lightning covered my mind. The principle of nature crushed and tempered the mana.
[【Natural Circulation Method】 reaches 【Grand Natural Circulation Method】 for an instant.]
The mana abandoned artificial resistance.
It opened a path for the energy that had come from the sky to circulate into the earth and helped its journey. The lightning that descended from leaf to branch traveled down my trunk, passed through my roots, and spread underground.
For an instant, a small existence connected sky and earth.
[You played an important role as a connecting link in the circulation of great nature. Your existence touches mystery.]
The hologram window flashed.
【Divinity Lv.1】
My mind drifted far away.