NOVEL NEXT Chapter 16 – Smoothie
With thousands of clones around, it became hard for me to track which was which. The only thing I cared about was that as long as at least ten of them allowed me to use [strawberry substitution], then I was good.
Today, I wanted to see what my original plant body clones was now like. It had been quite a while since they first sprouted after the big forest fire. That place really held a lot of my memories of when I first started in this world --- the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Even though my wings were larger, my flying speed was still nowhere near that of Haelley. Hence, instead of me asking her to slow down, I grabbed onto her ankles as she zipped across the sky. It was unfortunate that I was no longer small enough to grab onto her shoulders because I would get in the way of her flight movements.
It was a short trip from where we were staying just awhile ago. Well, a short trip for the bird lady was still a long journey for me.
"Ah, home sweet home...?"
I released my firm grasp onto Halley's ankles.
Something wasn't right. That was my first impression as the two of us hovered high up in the air.
I checked again using my ability [supply chain] to ensure I had arrived at the correct location. To triple check, I used the upgraded trait |parallel bodies| derived from |cloning|. This allowed all my plant bodies to synchronize to the highest level on top of the original |cloning| trait. In addition, I was able to have a better grasp of my bodies' states. I honestly didn't think things had gotten so out of hand over here.
You're kidding me. Where did I go wrong?
The main reason we hadn't landed was because there weren't any flat ground to land on. Below us was a huge dense jungle, one dominated with a certain plant I was too familiar with.
"Big flowers."
Certainly, big enough to swallow me whole.
Anyone who dared to venture into this place was just asking to be become fertilizers. I certainly wouldn't want to be here even though I was probably the main cause of it.
"Yes. About that."
The issue was that I couldn't feel many of the strawberry plant growth here and they didn't synchronize.
Ah crap, I remembered. I just remembered! It must be that seedling I abandoned. It's like a weed of the worst kind. This is ridiculous. Maybe I should just cull it with [absorption]?
The two of us lowered ourselves onto the top of a tree just barely peaked above the dense jungle.
"I'm thinking of just killing it. That'll help me level up real quick."
"No. Bad Berry. You promised not to do it again!" She scolded me.
Ah, did I? Was it a promise?
"Sorry. I don't know how else to deal with it. Do you have a better idea? It's technically part of me so I think I have the right to clean it up, right?"
There was no way I could just dive in without getting caught somewhere, either the flowers or the spiky leaves.
"I..." She trailed off with her voice as she appeared to be brainstorming something.
"Look Haelley, if that thing keeps growing, it'll kill the forest. Just look at this poor tree we're standing on."
That little push from me seemed to worked because immediately she answered with, "Ah! Okay. I approve."
Kuh, to think I needed approval from someone else, I miss my loner life, but I'm done talking to myself. Beetles are no good either.
Speaking of beetles, I hadn't see any of them. They had probably all died out or they were hiding at the ground level.
I touched the stem of a tendril that had crept up the tree branches.
[Level 21 Fey Plant;
Species: Strawberry Smoothie;
Physical: 34/34;
Spiritual: 89/89;
Traits: Bewitching, Rapid Growth, Bond;
Abilities: Charm, Producer, Soothsayer;
Description: A plant fey that has high growth potential.]
It had some nice stats, really nice stats.
That species name though, to think it was a legit evolution, just wow. It even has abilities that I don't have. What an excellent brat! Bye! And, thanks for the free levels.
Just when I thought that, a small hand emerged from that stem I was touching.
"Wah!" I gasped as I pulled my hand back.
"Berry, you okay?"
"I don't know. A hand just came out of nowhere."
"I protect you!"
The two of us watched as a small figure half my size slowly separated from the stem and animated itself. It had shoulder length mint green hair, fair white skin. Its fairy wings were translucent and brilliantly colored. Once it had fully emerged, the little creature with strawberry pink eyes set its gaze on me with pure and innocent eyes.
This was clearly the seedling I abandoned. There was no other explanation.
Isn't it super pretty? Why do I feel like I'm inferior to it? If I knew, I would have picked the "smoothie" option.
"Haelley, what am I supposed to do with this thing?"
"Another Berry!" She exclaimed.
"No, I am Berry! There's only one Berry here."
"Berry is friend. That means small Berry is also friend."
I checked its status again now that it was out of the plant body.
[Level 21 Fey (Plant);
Species: Strawberry Smoothie;
Physical: 5/5;
Spiritual: 69/69;
Abilities: Charm, Producer, Soothsayer;
Description: A plant fey that has high growth potential.]
It had almost the same stats as when I just evolved into Strawberry Trickster. It had less abilities than me. As for the description, god must be laughing at me. I wanted high growth potentials myself! However, it was too late to turn back time.
"This little thing probably can't even talk," I pointed at it who was just sitting on her knees atop a tree branch.
"Berry! You should be nice. She is cute."
This little doll certainly was cute which basically threw a wrench in my plan. Now I had no will to kill it.
"I can speak."
"Say what?!" My jaws just dropped after hearing it say something.
"I can speak."
"How? How in the world? That's impossible."
Astonished? Super astonished. It even repeated itself so it wasn't a fluke. No one should have taught it to speak. A being didn't just suddenly knew how to speak. Seriously, even Haelley had to learn common language from me ignoring the fact that I could somehow speak it fluently.
However, Haelley didn't look surprised at all. I figured she probably short circuited or something. That was probably the best explanation I could come up with. Unless, perhaps, she thought all strawberry fey beings could speak fluently. Obviously, there was no way that could be true. There was only one genius, and that was me.
Which ability or trait is the cheat? Which one? Well, it's not that I needed such an ability in the first place. It's just that this seem super unfair, you know? I want a cheat too!
"|Bond|. It allows me to receive knowledge from you through touch," it stated that as if this was a matter of fact.
Oh true, there's this |bond| trait.
"Does it work on everything?" I asked.
"Only with progenitor, my parent, my mother."
Oh, oh, I'm not too young to be a parent! I'm genderless. I'm sorry, but I can't be your mother. But, what's with this progenitor business?
As if reading my thoughts, I received a verbal reply, "You have the trait |progenitor|. No?"
"Did you just read my thought?" I cried out. And, when I checked my status, the trait was now there even though it wasn't there before. "What else do you know about me?"
"Give me a name and I'll tell you! No?"
Oh my goodness, this cheeky kid.
I gave it some thought. Naming things wasn't my forte so I looked through its status. What better way to name someone than with their species name?
"Smoothie, that's your name now. Live with it."
"Thank you, mother!" Smoothie clasped its hands in joy.
"You should know we have no gender so I can't be a mother!"
"Do you really want to be called a nanny? No?"
"Shut up. How did you learn about that?"
"Ahno... Sorry to interrupt, I'm hungry," Haelley chimed in.
"You go hunt, Haelley. I'm having a family conference with Smoothie."