3 The Cardinal System

The now panicky shining cell was smacking the much larger Rialyne cell in an effort to snap her out of a long daze.

"Hey now, stay with me, stay with me!"

Rialyne slowly returned to consciousness and quietly surveyed her surroundings again. Yup, this was inside some kind of plant all right. And seeing as the shiny cell said it was a tree. Then, it was a tree.

"…"

Oh hell, what was she resolving so calmly?! This was inside a tree for goodness sake! She was sure she had just died along with the hundreds at her school, so how exactly did she end up here?

The shiny cell seemed to have read her change in reactions accurately for it politely coughed and spoke again.

"Ahem, let me introduce myself. I am the Cardinal System; you may call me Cardisys for short. If I had to identify my gender, I am—"

SMACK!

Rialyne slapped a viscous arm-like appendage against the shiny cell.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!"

Cardisys's eyes blazed…greener.

"Sorry, sorry. I just wanted to test out this body since I thought I can only float around," Rialyne apologized, and although somewhat true, she also just wanted to get back for the smacking Cardisys had done earlier. Yeah, she was just that petty. It was probably some of the lingering feelings of vengeance starting to trickle over after the initial shock at her new circumstances.

The shiny cell glared her with suspicious orbs but continued on.

"As I was saying, you may refer to me as a 'he.' As for what I do, I unfortunately have the task of helping you become the (unfit) ruler of this world. This is how you can pull up the status window and view the available actions."

Rialyne's eyes glowered at the 'unsuitable' side comment before turning to the status window.

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Soul Inhabiter: Rialyne

Host: [ Odelrous Tree ] Lv. 19

Rank: [ Silver ]

Evolution at 20 levels.

Next Level: 8/2621440 EXP

Domain: 34612 HP (Self)

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— STATS —

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HP: 560 (34052)

MP: 73 (1312)

PATK: 48 (436)

MATK: 24 (227)

PDEF: 36 (389)

MDEF: 34 (275)

SPD: 60 (561)

FLX: 40 (692)

Absorbed Stats: 37944

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Free Basic Attribute Points: 38

Basic Attributes:

STR: 24

AGI: 25

INT: 12

VIT: 22

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Free Special Attribute Points: 9

Special Attributes:

LUCK: 4

CRIT: 7

ARM: 7

BLK: 3

PEN: 3

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Free Resistance Points: 19

Resistances:

FIRE: 11

ICE: 5

WATER: 40

EARTH: 21

WIND: 40

DARK: 11

LIGHT: 23

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— SKILLS —

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[ Synthesis ] Lv. 1/10

Rank: [ Silver ]

Mastery: 632 / 1000 Proficiency

Effect: Consume 1 energy stack and restore 10% of HP and MP. Able to synthesize 3 energy stacks per day. Store up to 100 energy stacks. Total energy stacks stored is 31.

MP Usage: 0

Cooldown: 10 seconds

Description: Trees can restore themselves using the energy created from photosynthesis. 1 energy stack will be consumed automatically if HP reaches 0. If none are available, the tree will die. +1 Proficiency for every energy stack used. With each additional level, 1 energy stack will restore 10% more, 1 more energy stack will be synthesized per day, and 100 more energy stacks can be stored.

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[ Sap ] Lv. 1/5

Rank: [ Mysterious ]

Mastery: 363 / 1000 Proficiency

Effect: Absorb the life of defeated creatures and gain 20% of their HP and basic attributes, one target at a time.

MP Usage: 10

Cooldown: 5 minutes

Description: Survival of the fittest at its best. +1 Proficiency per 50 points of statistics absorbed. Resistances can be gained upon Lv. 3, and Special attributes can gained upon Lv. 5. Absorption rates increase to 30%, 50%, 70%, and 100% upon leveling. Additionally, the number of targets can be increased to 5, 10, 15, and 20. Also, the sum of all the targets' total HP must be no more than 25% of the current domain HP.

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[ Engrain ] Lv. 1/10

Rank: [ Epic ]

Mastery: 0 / 1000 Proficiency

Effect: Takeover surrounding plant life within 5 meters as part of your domain. Inside your domain, you can travel through and cultivate the successfully captured plants.

MP Usage: 100

Cooldown: 1 hour

Description: Your root, er route to world domination! The greater the total HP of all the targets in comparison to current domain HP, the more difficult the takeover. If unsuccessful, some statistics, starting with absorbed ones, will be lost. +1 Proficiency per 10% of previous domain HP added. Range of possible takeover increases by double of the previous level to a max of 640 meters.

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[ Vengeance ] Lv. 1/5

Rank: [ Mysterious ]

Mastery: 1914 / 1000 Proficiency

Effect: Inflict 2x the total damage received to any targets. Total damage resets after each use.

MP Usage: 30

Cooldown: 2 minutes

Description: Skill gained upon awakening due to Soul User's previous painful life. +1 Proficiency gained for every use and every target annihilated with it. Return damage inflicted increases by 3x, 5x, 7x, and 10x upon leveling.

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A deadpan expression glazed Rialyne's eyes at the absurdity of a system interface inside a tree. Although, the absurdity of the whole situation was a level far beyond this mere interface.

"So," Cardisys continued after Rialyne finished viewing the status window, "it looks like you're very close to evolution, and you can level up your Vengeance skill. I can't believe you received so many proficiency points in your previous life! Just what did you do?"

Rialyne's cell color darkened as she remembered the arson and bombing. "You don't need to know."

Cardisys's light wavered at the her grim response, and he watched as she manually leveled up Vengeance by clicking, or really, it was dabbing, the [ Skill Level Up ] button to the right of the level number.

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[ Vengeance ] Lv. 2/5

Rank: [ Mysterious ]

Mastery: 914 / 10000 Proficiency

Effect: Inflict 3x the total damage received to any targets. Total damage resets after use.

MP Usage: 50

Cooldown: 2 minutes

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"Ah-heh, well anyway, I suggest defeating some nearby creatures and using Sap to leech their life. It'll increase your EXP was well as your skill proficiency."

Rialyne sighed; it seemed like she wouldn't escape from slaughtering beings any time soon. A shred of conscience pricked at her, but she waved it off. Above everything else, Rialyne was best at strategy and planning.

As the Soul User, she could see everything surrounding her host tree, so she began locating some potential targets. But before she viewed much of anything, Cardisys spoke up again.

"Before using Sap, however, I would allocate your free points. Although Sap gives more statistics than attribute points gained from leveling because it's a Mysterious ranked skill, until you raise the skill level, you can't increase special attributes or resistances."

Cardisys displayed the mortal rank order of equipment, skills, and creatures.

[ Legendary ] > [ Epic ] > [ Dark ] > [ Mysterious ] > [ Gold ] > [ Silver ] > [ Bronze ] > [ Common ]

Then he gestured for her to do the allocation by emitting a narrow light upon the [ + ] button next to the left of each attribute and resistance name.

Rialyne deliberated on the best build for a tree. It felt really odd to consider something as bizarre as this, but she seriously considered what statistics would best befit a now sentient, essentially predatory plant.

She had enough HP from Sap—that skill really seemed OP to her—so she focused on attack first and speed second. As for special attributes, she felt she needed more luck considering her unlucky past life. In general, she tried to balance the statistics by raising the ones with lower points.

Her statistics changed to the following.

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HP: 710 (34052)

MP: 103 (1312)

PATK: 78 (436)

MATK: 54 (227)

PDEF: 51 (389)

MDEF: 49 (275)

SPD: 79 (561)

FLX: 53 (692)

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Basic Attributes:

STR: 24 [ + 15 ]

AGI: 25 [ + 8 ]

INT: 12 [ + 15 ]

VIT: 22

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Special Attributes:

LUCK: 4 [ + 5 ]

CRIT: 7

ARM: 7

BLK: 3 [ + 2 ]

PEN: 3 [ + 2 ]

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Resistances:

FIRE: 11 [ + 5 ]

ICE: 5 [ + 9 ]

WATER: 40

EARTH: 21

WIND: 40

DARK: 11 [ + 5 ]

LIGHT: 23

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Satisfied, she moved onto the next task of using Sap. Rialyne quickly zoned in on several small creatures, namely birds and rodents, as well as insects and other plant life.

HP and MP bars, levels, and ranks were displayed underneath their species' names. The information hovered over each of the living creatures when she slightly focused on them, and she saw that the animals unsurprisingly had the highest HP.

Grass was pointless to defeat as it was essentially crushing the bug of the plant world. Additionally, they helped with erosion and improved water quality, so hurting grass did more harm than good.

Insects had more HP than grasses and other minor plant life, but it would be more difficult catching them than small animals. Unless, of course, they landed on her.

"Hey Cardisys. Is there any way I can automatically sap the life out of insects that land on me rather than individually sapping them?"

The chartreuse cell glowed brightly. "Huff! Obviously! I've been doing those kinds of menial tasks while you were dormant! How else do you think you grew to such a level with all that HP?"

Rialyne rolled her nonexistent eyes. This Cardinal System sure had personality. If she didn't need the little guy she might've strangled him. He reminded her of a spoilt, arrogant child. But, having Cardisys carry out these small tasks was a welcome load of her back. Also, it was a bit of a stupid question to ask; however, in her defense, she had mostly glazed over the status screen earlier.

She then eyed a plump, strong-looking squirrel on one of her branches as her Sap target. It had the highest HP of all the little creatures nearby.

[ Greyir Squirrel ]

Lv. 17 [ Common ]

HP: 374

MP: 11

Unsure how to properly activate the skill, she glanced over at Cardisys. He noticed the questioning look and immediately explained that all she had to do was to shout the skill name as a command.

"SAP!"

Rialyne felt very silly saying this; if she could blush, her face would have shown a smattering of deep pink. Cardisys snickered at the gullible Rialyne. It actually wasn't necessary to verbally command the skill for it to work. One only had to command it inside their head. But he didn't tell her this as he found the whole trickery very entertaining.

In the proceeding moment, viscous strands like vines shot out of the bark and tightly wrapped around the now panicky squirrel. It jumped away too late, and its body hung freely in the air. The strands then seemingly melted and covered the squirrel. Its encased body quickly began disappearing. From start to finish, the whole process took less than three seconds.

She gained 74 HP, 18 MP, 12 PATK, 7 MATK, 10 PDEF, 9 MDEF, 20 SPD and 32 FLX. Based on 20% of its stats, this was rather a tough little squirrel. Without the previous Sap absorption, the critter would've whooped her ass.

When she questioned Cardisys about the reasonability of this, he informed that a sapling grew into maturity mostly based on the external strength it harvested rather than its own. Such was how most plants grew stronger.

Also, all plants had some form of the Synthesis skill. Animals couldn't restore their peak performance as well as plants could. They usually only could restore themselves somewhat after eating or resting and fully restore after sleeping into the next day. So trees, at the top of the plant chain, could easily overpower most forest creatures.

Rialyne squinted her gelatinous eyes. It still seemed somewhat convoluted to her, but what really made sense in this world?

(( A/N (because I broke 500 word limit booo):

Extra long chapter, hope you enjoyed~!

I didn't split it up like I usually would because I felt it flowed better this way when introducing the whole system thing.

This is my first time writing in this style and employing a system. I hope I can make the system more unique as a tree. Let me know if anything is confusing after this chapter! ))

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