When morning came, I affirmed my decision. I, being stubborn wasn't going to help in any way shape or form. After mulling over my choices all night long, I decided to travel around the world and put the Strawberry Empire on hold for now. It was a temporary truce with the world, only temporary. 

I had to become stronger, much stronger. I had to be strong enough to eventually force De Planck's hands and eliminate anyone who would get in my way. Once I was strong enough, conquering the world would be a simple matter.

"Let's head west!"

"Actually, Mother, we should go north. That's where the birds were heading. West is where the majority of the mortals races live."

"Oh, right let's head north then."

"Also, I feel the need to clarify something about leveling up."

"What is it?"

"For plant fey like us, the easiest way to become stronger is actually just growing as a plant. We naturally gain stats as we grow just like how I was able to reach my current state so quickly."

Her growth had something to do with the overly amazing fertilizers she received from those elves.

I wonder if De Planck's gardeners could give me some too. Wait, bad thought! I don't want to ever make a deal with him again, not until he becomes my servant!

"Smoothie, why are you telling me this now? I leveled up so much from killing things. Are you saying I was needlessly killing things?"

"They did help you grow faster mostly because they became fertilizers."

"But, what about the times I immediately leveled up from killing things?"

"Most of them were coincidences like when you received that warm liqu-"

"Stop! Stop! I get it, I get it. Fertilizers, right?" I halted her before she could spout any more embarrassing stuff out in the open. My pride wouldn't be able to handle such a crushing blow with Haelley still listening to us.

This is no good. Was everything just a misunderstanding? No but, clones grow and they help me level up. If that's the case, why do I need those flowers if I don't need most of them to fruit? They were such a waste of resources.

The only thing I was sure was that using 'absorption' to kill trees gave me the quickest level ups. Those couldn't have been coincidences.

"What about the grasses and trees?" I asked.

"They were fellow plants. You promised not to kill more, no?"

If I understood her correctly, then killing plants might give me more level ups because I was a plant too. However because I made that promise with Haelley, I wasn't supposed to kill more. I could still use my [absorption] ability but I just had to be super careful not to kill. Recently I had only absorbed the excess reservoirs from the trees and left them completely healthy. 

"Ahno... How I can level up faster?" Haelley interrupted, our two person question and answer session.

Smoothie replied, "Haelley, as a winged beast, you need to fight stronger opponents. This is why we are going north where most of your kinds gather. Mother and I can level up while we travel because our plant bodies will continue to grow."

"Thank you, Smoothie."

"Wait, brat, if your plant body dies, do you stop growing?"

"Duh! Even though I can't clone myself, even if just a part of me survives, I can live on. If you let me, I can live in your clone bodies to preserve myself."

"I didn't know you were this vulnerable. Well, I don't mind you living in my clones. I got plenty of those around."

I won't even ask you to do any chores for staying in my houses for free. I'm such a indulging parent. 

"Mother, you're just abnormal. I'm actually very strong for a plant fey. In the first place, plants rarely evolve into fey plants, and extremely rare for any fey plants to grow strong enough to reach just half my size."

"I see."

So you're just a fluke, the good kind, of course.

It really made sense now why De Planck said I was the only plant fey he had contacted with. Most of them probably would have died in their infancy. Honestly, I would have died from that forest fire if I didn't have the |cloning| trait. In a sense, I supposed luck had a lot to do with survival, something like "survival of the luckiest". In other words, I was lucky, very lucky!

God, looks like I haven't been forsaken. If things go well, maybe I'll treat you to some strawberry wine, just maybe. Not a bad deal, right?

To travel northward, I asked Haelley to carry both of us but I was denied. Apparently, I was the straw that broke the camel's back, not Smoothie.

"Lucky..." I murmured as I tagged behind the two of them.

Haelley was carrying Smoothie on her back while I had to use my own wings to fly. Occasionally, Haelley would fly very high above to survey the surrounding areas for potential dangers, obviously without carrying Smoothie up. Our wings, especially Smoothie's wings, might as well have been screaming "we're over here!" That was just how conspicuous our wings were with its partial light reflecting property.

"Can't you use [rapid transport]? I'm tired."

It had just occurred to me that my stats had dropped a bit after flying for prolonged periods of time. I kind of figured that there was no way I could move around with zero energy costs. Somehow, the law of energy conservation existed in this world in some form. This world sure was complicated.

"I only use for short distance. Mana cost is high."

"Let's take a break. Mother, you need to replenish yourself."

Once we landed, I hugged a big tree to recharge myself.

"Bwaaah! I'm feeling better already."

"Berry!" Haelley concerned voice reached my ears.

"I'm controlling myself! I really am. Have some faith in me, won't you?" I retorted.

"Okay."

That actually got me thinking. I could use [absorption] anywhere with living things to replenish myself. Now that we were away from our plant bodies, how would Smoothie replenish her energy?

"Smoothie, how do you replenish yourself?"

"I have [producer], remember?"

"I know that, but it just let you create immaterial things, right?"

"Yes, and that was what I did."

"I'm not following...?" I cocked my head in confusion.

I felt like something was amiss. That feeling of unease as if it was something I was supposed to know, something super obvious.

"I produce stats by being under the sun."

I couldn't even call it a cheat. A plant, producing something by receiving sunlight, wasn't that photosynthesis? Was this the magical version of photosynthesis? Earlier she told me that ability could somehow assist me in modifying my appearance so that threw me off. Perhaps it was a rather versatile ability.

"Oh. I had no idea. I totally misunderstood that ability. Smoothie, how fast can you produce stats?"

"It's slow but enough to sustain me. If I couldn't keep myself alive, I wouldn't have came with you."

How come I never thought about it? My pride, Be strong! We'll overcome any adversary coming our way.

"Ahh... I see. I see. Let's get going."

"No. Berry is rested. I need rest too," Haelley insisted as she laid down flat on her back. Since we weren't in any rush, taking prolonged breaks was alright with me.

"Smoothie, I didn't see your memories much, but can [producer] be used to improve base stats?"

"Yes, only negligible amounts. It would take many years of continuous boosts to have any noticeable differences. For me, leveling up naturally would be the easier way."

I sighed, "I wish I could have that ability."

"You can't have both [synthesis] and [producer] at the same time."

"Did [soothsayer] tell you that? I mean, the plant fey beings need some love too. We're probably the weakest compared to the other races."

"That's not true. If we can survive until the final stages of evolution, we can become the most powerful beings in this world, even the demons wouldn't match us."

Basically, we're all about the late game but none of us had ever reached late game because of our early game sucked!

Actually, I wouldn't know if any plant fey managed to reach the final stages of evolution. I just assumed it because De Planck would have already met someone like that.

"What are the final stages of evolution like?"

"That depends on the paths we choose."

Huh, spoken like a sage, leaving out all the fine details while being perfectly correct. That [soothsayer] sure is potently smooth with the talks.

Honestly, I was still not convinced that Smoothie was coming up with most of the things she said. When she had shared her memories with me, I took a decent look at that strange ability, [soothsayer]. Although I didn't fully understand the scope of that ability, it felt strangely familiar to me. Yes, it was something that reminded me of my previous life but I wasn't sure which part. As I tried to recall my past life, it was as if those memories were fine sand slipping through my clumsy fingers.

What was I thinking again? Hmm... Oh well, it was probably nothing important.

blanksphere

Here's another chapter of my random babble. Compared to chapter 1, the style seemed to have changed a bit. Perhaps, the MC is growing? Or deteriorating? Anyway, |traits| and [abilities] will be boxed differently. Thanks for suggestions!