I quietly slipped into Haelley's chamber. Even without entering her room, I was able to see her lying in bed with my |tactician| trait's special sight. Perhaps I should just call it "tactical sight" because that was what it really was in my opinion.

Haelley was sleeping soundly with a blanket on her.

I still remembered that not too long ago, we used to sleep in the wilderness. Correction, she used to sleep in the wilderness. She didn't use a blanket because it was warm outside. Well, to be honest, I had some trouble gauging temperature because technically my body temperature was usually the same as my environment. Still, it didn't mean I was cold-blooded. It was just how my body was.

Anyway, I was floating next to her bed, gazing at her sleeping face.

I definitely look prettier.

It seemed that in the recent battle, she received a battle scar on her cheek. For a girl, that was surely disastrous. Would it affect her chance of getting married, even as a princess?

I was appalled by it. I disliked imperfect things. A tiny imperfection is perfectly fine but a large burn mark on a girl's face was just too sad.

I wish I could heal it. Ehh... I'll ask Smoothie? She should be good at this!

No matter how detailed memories of knowledge I received from Smoothie, certain magic just wasn't easy to execute. I wouldn't dare mess up on something like this. With Smoothie's high precision ability, removing a scar with magic should be a piece of cake.

Indeed, indeed. I'll ask Smoothie. I'm sure she'll be more than happy. Oh perfect, she could do that on their trip together! It's like I planned this all along? Will I get a new trait, like, |mastermind|? No, right? I don't think it exists.

Speaking of traits, not all traits were related to combat. For civilians or regular folks with professional jobs, I had seen those with utility traits such as |engineer|, |designer|, |chef|, and etcetera. However, in general, just having even one trait was somewhat rare. It was a fact that traits and abilities were more common in combatants.

I digressed. The important matter here was about Haelley.

"Berry, what are you doing here?"

She whispered with her eyes closed. That seriously startled me. If I had a heart, it would already be at my throat.

"Kah! You're awake?"

Her eyes opened before slowly getting up.

"Yes. You didn't say, so I waited."

"You pretended to sleep?" My jaws dropped.

"Yes!" She said cheerfully.

To think I was fooled, impossible! Who are you? What did you do with Haelley?

"Ah, fine, let me just tell you why I'm here then. I'm here to ask a favor of you. Can you please take Smoothie with you to her original body so she can evolve? I'll be away underground to help the kingdom with clearing out invaders. This is time sensitive."

"Okay."

"In exchange for your help, I can ask Smoothie to see if she can heal your injuries with magic and I can give sweet nectar and money. How about it? I even asked Vorte; he said it is up to you."

"A scar is nothing. I help..."

Then her face showed contemplation as if something else was troubling her.

"Great, umm... Is there something wrong?"

"I need to ask my kin. They say they protect me."

"Ah, escorts, as expected of a princess."

"I'm just Haelley."

I nodded, "Agreed, Haelley is just Haelley then. Anyway, that's really all I have to say. I'll come again tomorrow night. Goodnight, sleep well."

"Okay. Goodnight!"

I didn't really accomplish everything I needed to accomplish. I still had to wait for Haelley's answer after she asked her kin about this escort business. Hopefully by tomorrow night, everything would be resolved.

Smoothie was currently wandering around the inner city by herself for some reason. This city was quite safe I assumed but I went to fetch her anyway.

"Mother, where have you been?"

Gah! Why is everyone so on guard tonight?

She noticed me while I was secretly trailing behind her. Certainly, it was no secret anymore. My fun was ruined.

"Business as usual! I'm a very busy person, you know? Being busy means being important!"

"Haelley didn't give a reply, did she?"

"No, I'll find out tomorrow night. Well, that's assuming I haven't been sent away already."

"I know where she lives."

"Right, you can sort it out between yourselves! Ah yes, have you learned much about healing magic? Any spells for removing scars?"

"Not specifically, no. Mm... I see, she was injured?"

"Yes and I'm hoping you can heal her as a return favor for helping you reach your plant body. You need to evolve soon, right?"

"I can take my time, no?" Her expression was that of confusion. Under normal circumstances, she could take decades if she liked but because of me, time wasn't on our side.  

"No, there's little time. If we don't act soon, you might lose your plant body. I want you to evolve enough to live without needed a plant body. Listen, you might already know; I'm close to evolution. I cannot say what action that demon would take the moment I do."

She breathed out and seemed to now comprehend what I meant. "I understand. It also seems my ability can't predict anything related to that demon. Our best action is to take swift preventative measures, but..." She trailed off while gazing at my eyes.

"But?"

"No, nothing." She shook her head followed by a broad grin.

It wasn't something rude, was it? Haa... Except I can't put that past her. Then it was definitely something rude! One of these days, I'll get you for it!

"Whatever, go read your books. I'm done here."

"But I want to stay with you! You always leave me alone these days." She pouted with a frown while pulling on my arm. 

I'm bad with children... Kuhhh... Oh. Oh! What a brilliant idea! I'll fight evil with evil!

"Eh, how about I germinate another seed so you can have a sibling to play with? You won't be lonely anymore, right?"

"Then I can't hog you to myself. Please, Mother, just spend some time with me!

And, I want to spend some time by myself. I mean, I just spent so much time with that old fella.

I sighed in resignation, "Fine, just for a bit. By the way, did the medicinal ingredients arrive yet?"

Earlier I had I asked Kanoko for some things I might be able to replicate. Even though I couldn't replicate organic matter perfectly, if there was any useful material that could be isolated via my ability, then that would be fine as well. At least, these medicines wouldn't end up wasted.

"Yes, they just arrived."

"Good, let's go back!"

When we returned, there were bags of plant materials carefully labelled lying on a table and on the floor. Since I had explained earlier, only small samples were provided. They couldn't possibly spare too much for me especially after a war where wounded soldiers still required these precious medicines.

The process of absorbing these samples were fairly quick.

Let's see, anything new? Anything...? I wonder if I can create vitamins? Those should be easily doable for a plant right?

Suddenly, just with that thought alone, a new category was added into one of my many [creation] panels. It was as if the ability itself was learning and adding things to enhance itself.

There were a few other items that were isolated but I couldn't specifically decipher what they were used for. Experiments were needed to examine these compounds and I simply didn't have the time for that. Regardless, some things were easily isolated and identified by me. Everything else was decomposed automatically by my ability as usual.

Ehh... Nice? I can sell vitamin supplements now? I guess it makes sense since I can replicate poisons and specific flavors. That's good to know.

I synthesized a few vitamin pills in my hands. They also seemed quite cheap to produce which was nice. With my ability, I could add various flavors to enhance their taste. This would sure sell well if this was in another world because there was no demand for pills. Folks here would probably ask if these things were edible.

Hmm... Speaking of food stuff, that task Kanoko gave me to produce alcohol. Let's leave it to Smoothie! She can predict which actions will lead to fermentation! I'm genius!

"Smoothie, I have a fun job for you. It's really important!"

"It's just more work, no?"

"No, it's very fun! You get to create a new things with me. Didn't you say you wanted to spend more time with me? This is your chance!" I clapped my hand while beaming a brilliant smile.

"Yes! I help!"

What a simpleton!

blanksphere

Extra/explanation: There are some differences between traits and abilities. In the system here, normally, traits operate first. Abilities come second and magics come third in terms of priority. So it's something like trait being the closest shell of the soul core, abilities being the second shell, and magic the outer shell. Usually there's no conflict so the priorities rarely matter.

The traits forged by the system influences the soul to varying degrees. This feature can be a double edged sword.