Brownie, save Minty! Forget this vexing human!

It had taken a full day to reach this point.

「 Evolution is successful. The Lv. 20 Odelrous Tree has evolved into a Lv. 1 Dielweiss Tree. 」

Wait, back to level one?! Wasn't this more like rebirth than evolution? Rialyne scowled at the system announcement. "You didn't tell me that I would restart back at level one…" Her tone had a dangerous edge to it as she addressed the Cardinal System. Apparently, it took him 221 days to cultivate the tree up to level 19 before she had awoken.

Cardisys uneasily laughed in response. "Don't worry, getting back up to Lv. 20 won't take too long! It'll be quicker this time around because your rank and base stats increased! Also, all the absorbed stats are retained. Look here!" He brought up the updated status window.

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Soul Inhabiter: Rialyne

Host: [ Dielweiss Tree ] Lv. 1

Rank: [ Gold ]

Evolution at 30 levels.

Next Level: 0/10 EXP

Domain: 1,859,561,227 HP (72846 Self)

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— STATS —

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HP: 500 (72346)

MP: 70 (3123)

PATK: 20 (1022)

MATK: 20 (598)

PDEF: 20 (903)

MDEF: 20 (774)

SPD: 20 (1486)

FLX: 20 (1552)

Absorbed Stats: 81,804

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Free Basic Attribute Points: 3

Basic Attributes:

STR: 10

AGI: 10

INT: 10

VIT: 10

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Free Special Attribute Points: 1

Special Attributes:

LUCK: 3

CRIT: 5

ARM: 3

BLK: 1

PEN: 1

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Free Resistance Points: 1

Resistances:

FIRE: 5

ICE: 5

WATER: 10

EARTH: 8

WIND: 10

DARK: 8

LIGHT: 10

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Sure enough, all the absorbed stats were preserved. If they hadn't, Rialyne would've wrung her hair, err cell body, in frustration. Even though she cultivated herself less with Sap than the domain plants, she needed a formidable core battle force, so those extra stats were vital. Should the Dielweiss Tree fall, much like the reigning castle in a kingdom, her domain would surely and swiftly fall, too.

Also, she absolutely loved looking at that almost 2 billion Domain HP number. Even though she was still limited to 5 meters from the furthermost edges of her domain, because she spread out to the max, naturally, the area of the rings outward grew at its maximum. And when the ring area's targets had less HP than what she was able to successfully capture, Rialyne merely filled in the gaps of her web starting from the center out.

In this manner, she covered a radius of 100 meters all around herself after 19 additional uses of Engrain since the first time. A little more than a third of the domain consisted of trees because they had the highest individual HPs while a third were bushes and middle forms of plant life. Grasses made up the remainder. This might seem like a large percentage, but grass was really dense and numerous after all.

She also gained three more skills from some two trees and a bush. She received less than expected, however, as it appeared that the Gold ranked, conveniently close Asterine Tree was special. Most plants didn't have combat skills as they were sedentary beings after all.

Rialyne peered at her old skills and her new ones which were all automatic and able to be used by the whole Domain.

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[ Synthesis ] Lv. 1/10

Rank: [ Silver ]

Mastery: 639 / 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 27.

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. 2/5

Rank: [ Mysterious ]

Mastery: 109 / 10000 Proficiency

Effect: Absorb the life of defeated creatures and gain 30% of their HP and basic attributes, up to five targets at a time.

MP Usage: 30

Cooldown: 4 minutes

Description: Survival of the fittest at its best. +1 Proficiency per 100 points of statistics absorbed. Resistances can be gained upon Lv. 3, and Special attributes can be gained upon Lv. 5. Absorption rates increase to 50%, 70%, and 100% upon leveling. Additionally, the number of targets can be increased to 10, 15, and 20. Also, the sum of all the targets' total HP must be no more than 35% of the current domain HP.

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[ Engrain ] Lv. 1/10

Rank: [ Epic ]

Mastery: 126 / 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. 2/5

Rank: [ Mysterious ]

Mastery: 1176 / 10000 Proficiency

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

MP Usage: 50

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 5x, 7x, and 10x upon leveling.

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[ Magic Blast ] Lv. 2/5

Rank: [ Bronze ]

Mastery: 2391 / 10000 Proficiency

Effect: Deal 125% of MATK as damage, and 125% of INT as HP damage. Two hits.

MP Usage: 50

Cooldown: 5 seconds

Description: A two layered attack that allows bonus HP damage directly after initial contact. +1 Proficiency gained for every use. Damage increased by 25% and number of simultaneous blasts increased by 1 for each successive level up.

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[ Thorn Missiles ] Lv. 1/5

Rank: [ Common ]

Mastery: 773 / 1000 Proficiency

Effect: Shoot 10 thorns at a maximum range of 4 meters in a cone. Each thorn deals 5% of PATK as damage. Able to inflict [ Bleed (Minor) ] status.

MP Usage: 15

Cooldown: 15 seconds

Description: Barrage enemies with needle-like thorns. Each thorn has a 1% chance to cause [ Bleed (Minor) ] status. Minor bleeding causes 1% HP loss over a 10 second period. +1 Proficiency gained for every use. The number of thorns per attack increases by 10 for each successive level up. The range increases by 1 meter for each of the first two levels and 2 meters for the last two levels.

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[ Constrict ] Lv. 1/5

Rank: [ Common ]

Mastery: 345 / 1000 Proficiency

Effect: Choke a target and deal 40% of PATK as damage. Able to inflict [ (Minor) Paralyze ] status.

MP Usage: 20

Cooldown: 20 seconds

Description: Squeeze a target with multiples vines. The attack has a 1% chance to inflict the [ (Minor) Paralyze ] status, making the targets unable to move for 1 second. +1 Proficiency gained for every use. Damage increases by 15%, paralyze chance increases by 1%, and length of paralyzation increases by 0.5 seconds for each successive level up.

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[ Iron Bark ] Lv. 1/5

Rank: [ Bronze ]

Mastery: 18 / 1000 Proficiency

Effect: Reinforce defenses of all in the Domain in a radius of 5 meters. PDEF and MDEF increase by 100% for 1 minute.

MP Usage: 100

Cooldown: 10 minutes

Description: Even plants without bark will develop temporary, iron-like bark. +1 Proficiency gained for every 15 seconds of the skill being active. For each successive level up, the range increases by an additional 5 meter radius, the defenses increase by 25%, and the active period increases by 1 minute.

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The Sap skill increased significantly due to being used not only on herself but for the captured plants cultivated. Also, Magic Blast grew greatly as it could be constantly used by everything in her domain.

Synthesis was heavily bound by time, so proficiency grew negligibly. Engrain as well grew slowly since it was based on the percentage of the previous domain HP size rather than a numerical stat amount like Sap.

Rialyne also used little of Vengeance. None of the creatures or monsters encountered really called for such a strong attack skill. After all, the amount dealt was based on how much damage she suffered first. Still, she had practiced it a little since the proficiency points were rather easy to obtain.

Actually, she even tried exploiting the +1 proficiency for every target annihilated on swarms of flies. But it seemed that the targets had to be sufficiently strong enough to count. Additionally, another requirement was that the targets had to have attacked her at least once before.

None of this was explained in the description, but she supposed the reasons why it had these requirements could be deduced from the name of the skill. Getting revenge usually entailed being attacked by someone formidable enough to really injury them.

As for the new skills, they were mostly ordinary. She liked how two of them could cause status afflictions while the other was a defense skill. It would probably be some time before she expanded her domain far enough to encounter plants with better ranked skills.

After all that evolution build-up, Rialyne's excitement and motivation dimmed upon it being complete. She wondered just how long it would be until she exited these woods. Sighing, she didn't even realize that her contracted hawk, whom she so very creatively and fittingly named "Brownie" because well, it was mostly brown, returned with reconnaissance.

The bird of prey screeched urgently as he landed on one of the Dielweiss's branches.

"Skree skreh skreeep skree skree," it unintelligibly informed Rialyne who looked over at Cardisys for translation.

"Ahem! Brownie says that Minty, um, has been captured by ahh, some fool in the forest."

Upon hearing that Minty, a cute rabbit she had contracted, was captured, Rialyne bumped herself against a ceiling of cells in angst.

"Where is she?!" Rialyne demanded Brownie, who actually could understand her—she found this one way communication rather stupid when making contracts with animals.

The hawk flew back to the site where Minty got caught up in a hunting net. Rialyne could view the forest through Brownie's eyes. Seeing the rabbit in the net, she was glad that Minty hadn't been caught in a more dangerous trap like a steel vice.

She ordered Brownie to tear through the rope Minty was hanging from on a branch. But just as the last thread came loose and Minty plopped safely to the ground, the trapper returned.

Witnessing the escape of his next meal, the boy, who was no older than seventeen, leapt frantically after the rabbit.

Rialyne gasped, exclaiming, "My bunny!" She angrily glared at the modestly dressed young lad in wide blue trousers, a loose white shirt, and tall brown boots.

A blaze lit up in the hawk's eyes on behalf of her emotions.

"Brownie, do it."

The hawk shrieked a shrill battle cry and soared upwards a short elevation before viciously plummeting toward the boy with outstretched talons.

"What the—?!" The boy narrowly dodged the ferocious strike, and Brownie only came away with a few chestnut colored hairs from his head. "—f*uck!"