NOVEL NEXT Chapter 4 – My Eyes!
The changes in my status was huge.
My level dropped? What, why? I'm starting fresh again?
Only then I noticed that there was an extra word tagging along.
A fey? Is that like a fairy? I'm fairy now? A lesser one is still a fairy.
My traits and abilities were upgraded. That was quite nice. As for my description, it was as I expected, I was a dangerous hooligan. Thankfully there were no death counters showing up in my status. If that was showing, it would be in the hundreds.
I didn't know what |cloning| really meant here. Did that mean I could duplicate my bodies?
I tried to feel my body for any changes.
Hmm... Nothing? Nothing!? Are you for real!? Seriously? And I'm level 1 now.
This feeling of disappointment struck me like lightning. I wasn't even in the mood to feel depressed.
God, you must be trolling me. I didn't even go that far.
Some time had passed since my evolution into a fey plant.
Is it me or am I moving faster? Well, there's only me so it's just me. Maybe the effects of evolution has set in? I should try something.
I tried tugging, squeezing and all sorts of movements I could think of.
Pop.
Eh? Eh!? EHHH!? I'm out?
I was actually seeing my physical body. It looked nothing like strawberry plant that I remembered. The leaves and fruits bear some resemblance but the flower was a different story. I wasn't sure if it had to do with two evolutions and mutation but there was no way I could call something like that a flower.
I was quite aware that my biology knowledge was beyond terrible. Still, was there a flower that looked something like this? Ugly wasn't the right word either. It was downright creepy. The only resemblance it had with a normal strawberry flower was that the centre was yellow and there were petals. Nectars and pollens were in the centre which was all good. As for the petals, there were six per flower. Those were like huge jaws with the tip of each petal having short sticky tendrils like a fly trap. Yes, a mutated fly trap was the closest I could describe it.
Anything careless that touched the sticky tendrils would be caught in my traps. That made a whole lot of sense as to why some kept getting stuck to my flowers.
The leaves weren't much friendlier looking. Needles, lots of dangerous looking barbed needles were growing out of those thick green leaves. If I was a human, I wouldn't want to touch it for the life of me. I might as well be called a strawberry cactus.
The only parts that appeared the most normal were the stems. They were just slightly furry with soft needles. I was kidding, the strawberries looked most normal. There weren't any spikes or needles on the reddish strawberries. The glossy look and the sweet scent must have been enduring for any passerby.
Looking closely between the stems and leaves, those tiny creepy crawlies I had been referring to looked like some type of beetle. Originally I thought they were ants but this was a fantasy world after all.
Finally, my immediate surroundings, I was within a sparsely populated forest. There were some trees but none of them were close to me. Shrubs and grasses covered majority of the forest floor.
This body is quite nice. I can see super well.
Perhaps it was better to call it a fey body? I had a green humanoid body with arms and legs. On my back were two pairs of red and white fairy wings. My hair was blonde. All of the colors on me were from the colors of the strawberry plant itself. Overall, my body was somewhat translucent since this wasn't a physical body. I doubted others could actually see me.
I looked downward at my fey body.
Nothing? Nada. I know I'm a plant but seriously? Any gender is fine. This feeling of lack thereof is unsettling. Maybe I'll develop one later, maybe? With evolution thing, you never know.
I tried flying around to see if there were any limits on this body. As I did, I saw some flies dashing my way. They were relentless as if trying to smash into me.
Woah there, woah there! You can actually see me? What in the world is going on? Buzz off!
I hurried back to my plant body before anything dangerous could target me. I seriously didn't want this fey body to be injured. Who knew what would end up happening to me if my fey body was eaten?
If I understood my situation correctly, then this fey body was where my consciousness was. Once I had left the plant body, it was still alive but it was now only reacting subconsciously. I could feel both bodies. Either way, I didn't want either one to be injured. Therefore I decided if I needed to rest or sleep, I would do so inside the plant body.
It took me some time to get used to entering and exiting the plant body. All that time spent was super worth it! Reason? I could now see what I was killing, not that they looked tasty or anything.
Let me clarify, those pollinators weren't bees as I originally believed. It would be odd if bees were universal, it really would be. Seriously, what were those flying things? They looked like flying maggots with their winged squirmy body.
My appetite. All gone.
There were some other familiar looking flying critters that looked like bats and birds or maybe both. Honestly, none of them looked tasty. To me, this was an ugly world. The only thing here that looked tasty were my strawberries, but I couldn't eat myself right? What would I even call myself? A cannibal? No, no, no, that was taboo.
A lot of time I just sat under my leaves and thinking about nothing. I had nothing to worry about, nothing at all. I was too tiny to be noticed so there was no issue with me sitting around.
Actually, when was the last time this place rained?
I totally forgot about it since I was being offered liquids for my sustenance for nearly as long as I could remember. Looking around, I might as well be living in the desert. All the shrubs and grasses were all dried up. The only ones that remained green were the trees and my leaves.
Isn't this really bad?
Before I could ponder much more, one of the creepy crawlies I had been sheltering crawled up next to me.
