Gaia observed the ants with mixed feelings as they carried their wounded sisters out of their nest. She felt bad for them putting them in danger like this, but she was nervous too. What if her healing magic didn’t activate the way she wanted, or if it wasn’t strong enough to save the ants? Suppose she had picked an entirely wrong evolution, and was now stuck with some other type of magic she couldn’t use to save the ants?

No, that last part probably wasn’t true, she was quite sure of that. She had chosen this evolution solely because she had been sure it would enable her to help the ants. Surely, that meant she was able to heal them, right? Besides, she now had a good reason to believe that healing magic was a thing in this world, just like in games back on Earth, after seeing in action in the strange dream she had.

Gaia had thought about the dream while waiting for the ants for a while now, and she was pretty sure it wasn’t exactly a dream after all. The whole scene had just felt too real to her, too detailed, but if it wasn’t a dream, what was it then? Gaia had thought about it for a while, and she had come up with only one other theory. That it hadn’t been a dream after all, but a memory instead.

Now, there were a lot of things about this theory that didn’t make sense to her, one of which was how exactly she was able to see others’ memories, but it was the only explanation she could think of, so she went with it. One thing she did know now was that healing magic existed in this world, and that at least one other tree was able to use it.

That conclusion only led to more questions, like for instance, if that tree was a person from Earth as well, or if there were more people like her in this world, but those questions had to wait for now. The ants had placed the wounded in front of her and taken a step back to give her some room. Gaia looked up and was suprised when she saw more larger ants than before.

It appeared that while she had been evolving, two more ants had done the same, bringing the total number of evolved ants in the colony up to six, counting in Scarlet. Gaia noticed they looked a little different from the Daredevils, apart from their slightly smaller frames.

The two evolved ants still had their smooth exoskeletons, whereas the Daredevils’ looked much more sturdy and pointy. This confused Gaia a little, but since there were more pressing matters at hand now, so she made a mental note to remind herself to ask Scarlet about it at a later time.

Speaking of the ant queen, Gaia noticed to her suprise that Scarlet had left the safety of the nest to join the rest of the ants observing the occasion. Gaia didn’t ask her why she had come out in the open like that, because she already knew the answer. Scarlet was worried for her children of course, and she wanted to be there when they woke up. Gaia respected that decision and didn’t make a fuss about it.

She did wonder about Scarlet’s evolution though, which didn’t seem to have changed her at all. She was slightly bigger maybe, but she hadn’t undergone the drastical changes like the Daredevils had, at least not any that Gaia could see from the outside.

Not that that meant anything though. For all she knew, Scarlet had somehow mastered arcane magic and was now able to cast purple lightning from her antennae, capable of turning entire cities to ash. Another thing she would ask the ant queen at a later time.

Gaia looked around while the ants waited patiently for her to begin. The entire colony, aside from a few ants tending to the brood inside the nest, were staring at her with their compound eyes, and Gaia couldn’t help but feel a little nervous. She had never felt comfortable being the center of attention, which hadn’t changed after coming to this world.

She had to remind herself that these were ants staring at her, not people, but the feeling didn’t go away entirely. She tried to ignore it by clearing her throat and focusing on the wounded ants.

She slowly stretched one of her newly acquired and thin branches, placing it on top of the wounded Daredevil’s destroyed eye, just like the unknown tree in the strange memory had done with the small animal. She closed her eyes to help her concentrate and tried imagining the healing mana flowing through the ant’s eye, but she didn’t have to look up again to know that nothing had happened.

She tried again, a little more nervous this time, and tried envisioning the green light glowing on the tip of her leaves, but once again, nothing happened. Gaia was beginning to doubt her earlier decisions now, wondering if she should have practiced before actually trying to heal the ants. She tried a few more times, but all attempts had the same result.

Gaia was about to burst into tears, when she suddenly remembered something. In the memory, when the unknown tree had healed the small creature, she had felt a strange sensation through her body, which she had never felt before. She had wondered what it was at the time, but she hadn’t given it much thought afterwards. But suppose for a second that the feeling was of imprortance in the process?

Perhaps it was required to activate the healing magic or something. That didn’t really explain why she had felt it too, but Gaia was willing to try anything at this point. The ants still hadn’t moved an inch, but Gaia felt their gazes fixed onto her, their only hope of survival. They had helped Gaia in the past, and now it was her turn to help them.

‘No,’ Gaia thought, as she put her leaves back on the ant’s eye. ‘I would have helped them anyway. I would have tried saving them, even if they hadn’t helped me so many times, just like that unknown tree helped that animal. I would have saved anyone who asked.’

Just when the thought had left her mind, the same sensation as before exploded through Gaia’s entire body. She gasped, just like she did the first time, but here eyes were still fixed on the Daredevil, whose eye slowly started closing again. The intense feeling lasted a few more seconds before dissapearing again.

Gaia first looked at the Daredevil, who was looking completely fine now, the large wound on its eye completely gone as if it had never been there. Then she looked at her leaves, where green light had shone from only a few seconds ago. She wanted to laugh and cry at the same time, but since she was unable to cry as a plant, she just laughed.

“I did it,” she chuckled, still not believing what had just happened a few moments ago. “My god, I did it. I can use magic.”

All ants cheerfully started high-fiving each other with their antennae while the other Daredevils started carrying the healed ant back into the nest. The healed Daredevil was still unconscious, but Gaia had a feeling that it wouldn’t take long for the ant to wake up. She turned to Scarlet, who just looked happily relieved as she nodded.

“Yes Mother, you did it. Do you need a moment to rest? Because I can-”

“No, it’s okay,” Gaia interrupted her. “I’m still fine, and besides, I can sense you want to save the others as soon as possible as well, so let’s just get on with it.”

“My apologies, I didn’t intend to sound impatient,” Scarlet said respectfully, but Gaia wasn’t offended in the slightest.

“No worries, I don’t mind in cases like these. Anyway, there are a lot more of them to be healed, so this might take a while. Are you sure you want to be out here the entire time?”

“Yes, I do. Is that a problem for you?”

Gaia smiled at her response. Scarlet was stubborn, just like a queen should be, but Gaia approved of her desire to be with her children.

“Not at all,” she said as she focused back on the wounded ants, bracing herself for more of the healing to come.

---

It took Gaia almost an hour to fully heal all of the ants, and by the time she was finished, she had finally got the hang of her healing powers. She could fully whip up an ant in under three minutes now, or at least as long as they hadn’t lost any limbs, which were a lot harder to heal apparently.

She had healed a few ants with some of their legs missing, but healing them only resulted in a clean stump at the end of the severed leg. The ants didn’t seem to mind at least and could still perfectly walk with only five or even four legs. Gaia couldn’t help but smile when she saw the first ant standing up and walking again like normal.

She did notice something, and that was the more she healed, the more tired she became, which was a bit strange for her. Fatigue wasn’t something she had felt before ever since coming to this world, the only times she had slept at all were the two times she had evolved.

At first the fatigue wasn’t that noticeable, but after closing the wounds of the last ant, which was the Daredevil with a large slash wound on its back, she didn’t have enough energy to do anything anymore. She didn’t pass out like she expected to, but simply found herself unable to move. She could still shift her vision like before, but doing it it gave her a headache, so she stopped doing it.

All of the ants were healed now, even the ones with only minor wounds, and Gaia felt satisfied despite her tiredness. She sensed Scarlet tried to say something to her, but since Gaia was too exhausted to hear her, the ant queen left her shortly after to return to the safety of her nest. Gaia didn’t mind being alone though. This was the perfect time to find out about the changes her evolution had bestowed upon her after all.

First and most noticable change of all, her size. Gaia observed her surroundings, and after a bit of measuring and calculating, she came to the conclusion that she was about thirty centimeters tall now, just about tall enough to peek over the grass, as she had noticed before. Her stem, which had become as thick as a branch, split in four smaller twigs, each carrying about eight leaves in total.

Her vision had obviously improved tremendously as well, making it possible for her to make out the shapes of clouds and the sun with a little effort. It wasn’t much compared to her human vision, but it was still a literal eye-opener for her. Watching as the birds flew over low to the ground, she felt her heart being filled with both joy and a little bit of jealousy.

---

About an hour later, Gaia finally felt awake enough to ask Scarlet some more questions. She still felt a bit sluggish, but her curiosity won over her desire to relax, so she decided to call out to the ant queen.

“Scarlet, are you there? I would like to ask you some more questions, if you don’t mind,” she asked cautiously, like a child waiting for its mother to stop talking on the phone to tell her something.

“Of course Mother, I am happy to assist. What is it that you like to know?” Scarlet’s voice came from underground, which surprised her a little.

Normally, Scarlet’s voice simply resounded through Gaia’s head when she spoke, but now, Gaia could sense the direction Scarlet was in as well. Now that she thought about it, she had felt the same when she talked to Scarlet before, after her evolution, although she had failed to notice it at the time.

“Hey, I can tell which direction your voice is coming from? How’s that possible?”

“It is quite simple in fact,” Scarlet answered calmly. “Evolution doesn’t just improve your body, it improves all of your abilities as well. Since your way of conversing is reliant on magic, it is only logical that your communicational skills improve with every evolution.”

Gaia gaped as she processed the words in her mind carefully, in case she misheards something. Since that wasn’t the case, she bombarde dan array of question on Scarlet.

“Wait, does that mean I was using magic the whole time? And I didn’t even know about it?! Why didn’t you tell me about it?! What kind of magic is it anyway?!” She exclaimed.

“It appears you have been able to use magic from the start, or from your first evolution at least. That certainly would explain why your ability to converse has improved. I don’t know what type of magic it is you are using though. Sadly, magic isn’t my strong point at all.”

Gaia was still a bit overthrown by the fact that she had been able to use magic for a few weeks now without noticing it herself, but she managed to get a hold of herself. Prompted by her unsatiable hunger for information, she decided to let the subject rest for now and ask some more questions instead.

“Another thing I was curious about was the evolutionary options I had. When I evolved for the first time, I only had one choice, but this time, I had four. Is there a way I can influence possible future evolutions or open up more paths?”

“You can, actually.” Scarlet said to Gaia’s surprise. “It’s much easier to explain by giving an example though. Let’s say for instance that you have been poisoned a lot of times in the past. Once you start evolving, an option which includes a certain resistance against poison will surely present itself. The same works with other demands as well. A shortage of soldier ants in the colony caused those three individuals to be able to become soldier ants.”

“Ah, I was wondering about that. So the other ants I saw that evolved aren’t soldiers like the Daredevils are?”

“Indeed. The behaviour and the desire to become soldiers has opened up the opportunity for the ants you call Daredevils to become soldiers, which wasn’t the case for the other two individuals, who simply became stronger workers,” Scarlet explained, and Gaia thought for a second.

“So basically, the soldier’s evolution is rarer than the larger worker’s evolution, since there are more requirements to fulfill in order to unlock the evolution, whereas the larger worker’s evolution is just a standard evolutionary path, is that what you’re saying?” Gaia summed up.

“You could say that, although in this case, the rarity isn’t of much concern to the colony as a whole. Both soldiers and workers are needed in order to keep the colony running. For individual creatures however, choosing a rarer evolution might be the difference between life and death. It depends on the situation.”

“That reminds me, you have evolved too, right?” Gaia asked, changing the subject a little. “You don’t seem to have changed all that much though, so how did that turn out?”

“Now that is a good question,” Scarlet said and Gaia detected a hint of pride in her voice. “I didn’t know about this either, but apparently, it is possible for us to evolve into higher species entirely.”

Gaia could hear the delight in the ant queen’s voice, but she didn’t understand why Scarlet was so happy about changing into a higher species. Wasn’t that just the same as normal evolution? She repeated her question out loud, and Scarlet passionately began explaining.

“There is a difference between evolving and turning into a higher species, yes. Although evolving increases your strength in more than one way, it doesn’t influence your progeny. Let’s say for instance, I evolve twice and decide to mate with a male ant, who has evolved twice as well. Our offspring would still result in the same ants as the ones we would have produced if we hadn’t evolved at all.”

Gaia began to see the greater picture now.

“So by changing your species, the base strength of your children would increase automatically since you are a higher species than before, is what you’re saying. I can see how that would be nice to have, especially since you have lots of children. So what now, are you a different species already?”

“Not yet,” came the reply. “It would appear that changing your species is more complicated than simply increasing a being’s strength, so it can take multiple evolutions in order to change completely. Right now, only my inner organs have been improved, so it’s hard to notice it from the outside, but I have definitely changed.”

Scarlet seemed really happy about her choice to become a higher species, and Gaia had to agree with her on the choice. The long term benefits were immense, and Gaia couldn’t wait to see how the next generation of stronger ants would look.

“I see why you would want to choose a better species over some evoltions now, but I have one more question. Why was there no such choice for me when I evolved? I probably wouldn’t have picked it anyway, but I still think I should have recieved the option, right?”

Gaia couldn’t see Scarlet directly, but she felt her confusion through their telepathic connection.

“Well, that would be because you are one of the final species of course,” she said as if it was common knowledge. Gaia blinked a few times before she responded.

“I’m what? Do you mean my species can’t increase any further because there is no other species above me?” Gaia asked, a bit confused. “Is that even possible? And besides, how do you know this for sure?”

“I can’t explain it either, I just know,” Scarlet said flatly. “All I know is that you are a being of the highest caliber, armed with the potential to become the mightiest creature alive. Although you are still young, your power will only grow over time, and you are capable of reaching heights us ants could never even hope to achieve.”

Gaia was speechless after hearing the ant queen’s words. She had come to the conclusion already that she wasn’t a normal plant, but she hadn’t expected this in the slightest. A being of the highest caliber? Gaia wanted to respond with a sceptic answer at first, but the longer she thought about it, the more Scarlet’s words made sense to her.

The reason she was emitting potent mana. The reason the insects followed her orders. Was it all because she was one of the final species? Gaia didn’t feel particularly strong though, even a normal ant could probably take her out if it really wanted to. So she couldn’t be a higher species than Scarlet, right? Unless…?

“Say, have you noticed anything different since I evolved? Has the potent mana I’ve been emitting increased at all?” She suddenly asked Scarlet.

“Yes, a few things have changed, one of which is the amount potent mana in the air. The concentration has about doubled, I would say. I also feel healthier and stronger when I’m close to you, especially on the ground. I believe there are some other things as well, but I can’t say for sure though. Why do you ask?”

“I knew it,” Gaia said. “I’ve changed a lot more than I first realised. That really sucks though, since I have no idea what I’m really capable of. As far as it stands, I can only heal others. Damn, that’s a lot of potential wasted.”

Gaia was really bummed out especially about that last part in particular. Who knew what kinds of magic she could use besides healing, or how important it could be for her and the colony’s survival? Well, she didn’t, and that really was a problem.

“I need someone to teach me how to use magic,” Gaia concluded out loud. “Although finding someone capable might turn out to be more difficult than it sounds.”

“I’m sure an opportunity will present itself eventually,” Scarlet reassured her. “For now, I have something that will surely lift your spirits. A worker has informed me we have a surplus of spider corpses, so you can have some instead. That way you can evolve even faster, isn’t that nice?”

Gaia made a sour face after hearing the masked malicious pleasure in Scarlet’s voice. Bracing herself for what was to come, she reluctantly agreed.