(Phew, I managed to survive another day.)
About a week has passed since I defeated my nemesis, Ebi. Since then, it’s been difficult to level up through photosynthesis alone, but fortunately, it seems that my nemesis Ebi wasn’t a unique specimen, and there were many more of them. I was able to gain experience by defeating the Ebi that came near the surface of the water. As I expected, I found that my magic skills improved more by defeating enemies and using magic in practice than by practicing in a vacuum.
And today, after defeating five Ebi, my level is displayed as 10.
(Oh, something has been added to the list.)
Race: Moss
Name: None
Rank: G
Level: 10 Evolution Available
HP: 14/14
MP: 4/14
Attack Power: 0
Defense Power: 10
Magic Attack Power: 14
Magic Defense Power: 14
Agility: 0
Skills:
Special Evolution
Language Comprehension
Chant Annulment
Item Box Lv3
Appraisal Lv3
Thought Acceleration Lv3
Life Detection Lv4
Magic Detection Lv3
Hostile Sense Lv4
Auto HP Recovery Lv1
Mana Auto-Recovery Lv3
Light Magic Lv3
Water Magic Lv4
Space-Time Magic Lv1
Gravity Magic Lv1
Photosynthesis Lv4
Titles:
Reincarnator
Skill Collector
I discovered an “Evolution Available” item next to my level on the status window. There was no such item before, so it must have appeared when I reached level 10.
(C-c-could this be!?)
Perhaps the maximum level for moss was 10. Now that I’ve reached the maximum level, the effect of my skill, “Special Evolution,” must have been triggered.
I took a few deep breaths to calm my excitement, and then focused on “Evolution Available.”
□ Please select an evolution path.
・Weed
・Medicinal Herb
・Poisonous Grass
Oh! It seems I can evolve as expected! Let’s see, there are three evolution paths to choose from. Weed, medicinal herb, and poisonous grass… Even after evolving, I’m still a plant…
Well, I didn’t expect much since I’m evolving from moss…
There are many animals that eat plants. There might even be strong monsters that eat them. It seems that surviving as a plant would be more difficult than surviving as moss in a pond with few enemies. However, not evolving is not an option. If I don’t evolve here, I’ll be moss forever. I won’t be able to achieve my goal that way. So, I have to think carefully about which one to choose…
First, let’s “Appraise” each one. Let’s start with the weed.
Weed… A common plant that grows everywhere. It has no special abilities, but it has strong vitality and is difficult to wither.
Hmm, hmm. It may not be very promising in terms of fighting, but it might not be bad for the purpose of survival. Herbivores would prioritize eating more delicious plants or plants with some kind of effect over weeds, and humans wouldn’t bother to come and pick weeds. Also, the fact that it has strong vitality and is difficult to wither is not bad as a condition for survival. Or rather, in this world, weeds become a race.
Anyway, next is the medicinal herb.
Medicinal Herb… A plant that contains ingredients with healing effects. It is a raw material for healing potions.
I see, the effect is as expected. If I were to obtain one, I would aim for a healing herb rather than a weed. And that is probably why the medicinal herb has a low chance of survival. I might learn some healing skills, but even so, the risk is too great. This is probably not a good evolution path.
Finally, there’s the poisonous grass.
Poisonous Grass… A plant that contains poisonous ingredients. It is a raw material for poison.
This effect is also exactly as I imagined. However, it seems to have a much higher chance of survival than the medicinal herb. After all, no animal would intentionally eat a plant that contains poisonous ingredients. There might be some odd monsters that would, but there wouldn’t be that many.
The possibility of being harvested by humans seems higher than that of weeds, but it’s been about two weeks since I reincarnated here, and I haven’t even detected any humans or animals with “Life Detection” yet. In other words, the possibility of humans coming here may not be zero, but it is extremely low. If I can make it to the next evolution in the meantime, I think I can survive.
So, I decided to make my next evolution path “Poisonous Grass.”
(Alright! I’ll go with “Poisonous Grass” for my next evolution!)
The moment I thought that, my body was enveloped in light. It wasn’t hot, but I could feel my body changing at the cellular level. My size also seemed to be gradually increasing.
When the light subsided, I had transformed into a pair of purple-spotted leaves about 10 cm tall. (I can’t see it myself, though.) And conveniently, the place where I was growing had changed from the rock to the edge of the pond. If I had been growing on a rock, my roots wouldn’t have been able to take hold and I would have withered quickly. I wonder if this is thanks to the Goddess-sama. I’m grateful.
Now that I’ve evolved, let’s check my status right away.
Race: Poisonous Grass
Name: None
Rank: G
Level: 1
HP: 8/8
MP: 12/12
Attack Power: 1
Defense Power: 8
Magic Attack Power: 15
Magic Defense Power: 15
Agility: 0
Skills:
Special Evolution
Language Comprehension
Chant Annulment
Item Box Lv4
Appraisal Lv4
Thought Acceleration Lv4
Life Detection Lv5
Magic Detection Lv4
Hostile Sense Lv5
Auto HP Recovery Lv2
Mana Auto-Recovery Lv4
Light Magic Lv4
Water Magic Lv5
Space-Time Magic Lv2
Gravity Magic Lv2
Photosynthesis Lv5
Poison Generation Lv1 New!
Titles:
Reincarnator
Skill Collector
Evolver New!
Hmm. My HP and defense power seem to have decreased because I’m level 1, but my magic-related stats have actually increased. I’m honestly happy about that. Furthermore, my agility is still 0, but my attack power is 1. Does that mean I can do physical attacks if I try hard enough? I can’t imagine what kind of attack I can do, though.
My rank remains G, but I’ve gained one skill and one title. When I checked them, I found…
Poison Generation… You can create poison within your body. The strength of the poison changes depending on the level.
Evolver… A title given to those who have evolved even once. You can inherit the abilities you had before evolving, except for those unique to your race.
Oh! Both of these are useful effects! “Evolver” is especially helpful. I thought that the skills I got at the beginning wouldn’t disappear even if I evolved, but I thought that the skills I got later would disappear when I evolved. It’s a very welcome effect for me, a collector, that they remain.
Poison generation is not only a means of survival, but also has the potential to become a weapon to defeat enemies. Currently, my only means of attack is magic, so I thought it would be difficult if I encountered an opponent that magic didn’t work on, but if I have poison, I might be able to do something about it. I need to quickly think of a way to send poison to my opponent without being eaten.
Furthermore, by evolving, the skill levels have all increased by one. It’s great that even the skills that I couldn’t use and couldn’t level up have increased! Now I can see the possibility of using gravity magic and space-time magic. Good. It seems my choice was not wrong.
Well, that’s enough status checking for now, let’s check the new skill I got next. I thought “Poison Generation” in my head. Then, I saw poison slowly being secreted from my leaves.
(I was able to create poison, but at this rate, the only way to send poison to my opponent is to be eaten. If that’s the case, even if I poison my opponent, I’ll die too, so it’s meaningless. I have to think of a way to send poison to my opponent without being eaten…)
At first, I thought about how to somehow shoot the poison, but it seemed impossible. I couldn’t come up with a good idea, but while practicing magic, I came up with a good method.
It was to generate poison inside “Water Edge”. This way, I can freely shoot it, and I can send poison through the wounds caused by “Water Edge”. It’s a perfect two-birds-with-one-stone strategy. I’ll call it the “Poison Edge” strategy!
I started practicing right away after coming up with this method. However, this practice was difficult, and I didn’t succeed at first, but I managed to master it in about three days.
Thanks to photosynthesis, my level had increased by one, but it was lucky that no animals or monsters appeared during that time.
However, I, a former human, am a fickle person, and once I completed the magic, I couldn’t help but want to try it out as soon as possible. I continued to wait for prey while leveling up and raising my skills.
And finally, the time came to test the results of my special training.
Peeking out from the depths of the forest was a rabbit about 20 cm long. No, I must not be deceived. I learned from my experience with Ebi. That’s not a rabbit, it must be a Rabito!
Race: Rabito
Name: None
Rank: F
Level: 12
HP: 25/25
MP: 3/3
Attack Power: 16
Defense Power: 12
Magic Attack Power: 3
Magic Defense 3
Agility 31
Skills
Jump Lv3
Damn! It was that one, huh…
I’m not entirely convinced about the name, but as expected of an animal, its level, rank, and stats are several levels above me, a poisonous grass. Especially its agility, which is 31. If it found out I was an enemy, I’d be kicked to pieces in an instant. I need to attack from a blind spot and make sure it doesn’t dodge.
The Rabito is eating grass normally a few meters away from me. Good. I’m really glad I didn’t become grass. From the way it occasionally raises its head to be cautious, I can infer that there are animals or monsters that prey on this Rabito.
(I might be in danger if I don’t level up and evolve soon.)
Whether a carnivore would eat me is another matter, but even though I have poison, I’m just a grass, so if I get stepped on, it’s game over. It looks like a tough battle will continue until I can move on my own.
As I was looking for an opening, the Rabito suddenly started running towards one spot as if it had found something. It seems it found its favorite grass and started eating it with great enthusiasm.
(That’s a medicinal herb. I can’t believe it’s the Rabito’s favorite. Good. I’m really glad I didn’t become a medicinal herb.)
I praised myself for choosing to evolve into a poisonous grass, and then I floated two Poison Edges behind the Rabito, which was engrossed in eating the medicinal herb.
(Go!)
The two water blades containing poison hit the Rabito’s back and hind leg, as aimed. It didn’t quite cut it off, but I managed to inflict a wound that was not shallow.
The Rabito seemed surprised by the sudden attack and tried to escape, but the wound on its hind leg was too deep, and it couldn’t move as it wanted.
Species: Rabito, Poison
Name: None
Rank: F
Level: 12
HP: 5/25
MP: 3/3
Attack Power: 16
Defense Power: 12
Magic Attack Power: 3
Magic Defense: 3
Agility: 31
Skills
Jump Lv3
When I appraised the Rabito again, its HP had decreased to 5, and “Poison” appeared next to its species name. It seems my plan to inject poison through the wound worked.
The Rabito tried desperately to escape, but its movements gradually slowed down due to the poison, and finally, it stopped moving completely.
(Good. If it was just Water Edge, it might have escaped. This poison is really useful after all.)
I praised my choice again, thinking that choosing poisonous grass was the right decision, both in terms of survival and evolution.
After that, I tried to see if I could store the Rabito in my Item Box, and I was able to store it without any problems. I tried it just in case since there was a bit of distance, but I’m glad it worked out.
I don’t have a use for the Rabito’s materials right now, but I’ll keep them just in case they might be useful after evolving.
Oh, more importantly, I should have leveled up quite a bit by defeating an opponent stronger than me. Let’s check it out now.
Species: Poisonous Grass
Name: None
Rank: G
Level: 12
HP: 18/18
MP: 16/34
Attack Power: 12
Defense Power: 19
Magic Attack Power: 37
Magic Defense: 37
Agility: 0
Skills
Special Evolution
Language Comprehension
Chant Annulment
Item Box Lv5
Appraisal Lv4
Thought Acceleration Lv4
Life Detection Lv5
Magic Detection Lv4
Hostile Sense Lv5
Auto HP Recovery Lv2
Mana Auto-Recovery Lv4
Light Magic Lv4
Water Magic Lv6
Space-Time Magic Lv2
Gravity Magic Lv2
Photosynthesis Lv5
Poison Generation Lv3
Titles
Reincarnator
Skill Collector
Evolver
Giant Killing New!
Oh! My stats have increased significantly, and I’ve gained a new title!
Giant Killing… Defeat an opponent with a higher rank and a level difference of 10 or more. Increases stats when fighting stronger opponents.
This is quite a useful effect. It seems like it will increase my chances of survival even when my level is low after evolving.
But still, an opponent with a level difference of 10 or more. Thinking about it carefully, I might have been a bit reckless. It was good that the poison worked well, but if it hadn’t, I might have been defeated instead.
Considering that, it seems I should be more cautious when attacking. I was a little too excited about discovering a new attack method. Since I have Appraisal, I’ve decided to be more careful from now on.
Now that I’ve tightened my helmet after the victory, I’ll go back to my usual skill training.