Chapter 42: Ascension

A few minutes after the creature had drunk its fill, it fell into a deep slumber. Lucius couldn't blame the thing, who knows how long it had been searching for help? How long it had been afraid for its life.

~But why is it falling asleep here?~ he grunted, as he realized that he would have to drag the sled all the way back to the camp and take care of the creature while it slept.

"It's pretty, isn't it?" one of the leaflings asked once it noticed Lucius staring at the creature. It seemed to have mistaken Lucius's loathful death-stare, for a stare of admiration.

Lucius reluctantly accepted his circumstances and absorbed some water before leaving for the camp. He supposed he might as well have a photosynthesis session since everyone was already together.

*

"Okay gather around," Lucius shouted out, his arms still burning from all the pulling he had been doing.

At least it helped supplement his stats growth, as he got another 19 points into strength on the return journey. However, the stamina points he gained this time around were considerably fewer, which made him ponder if perhaps absorbing water had any effect on it.

~Today might be the day that he evolves,~ Lucius thought to himself as Pagan excitedly touched him with the tip of his leaf. After a few minutes the entire commune was ready, and Lucius closed his eyes to begin.

"Okay," he whispered, ridding his mind of stray thoughts before calling upon his crux. Calling the crux out of his body seemed to be getting easier and easier with every session, as he could now call it forth a fraction of a second faster than he could just a few days ago. Which quantitatively didn't seem like much of a big difference, but still made him a little proud at the progress.

The first five minutes of photosynthesis went smoothly, without anyone dropping out. It seemed that even those that were being left behind were slowly becoming more durable with every passing session.

After about 10 minutes though, a quarter of the leaflings had reached their limit, and passed out. Another 10 minutes, and the number of leaflings still clinging on was halved. 5 more, and only a handful of them remained. These were the largest leaflings in the commune, and apart from Ghost, Pagan, Hannibal and Alpha, there were four more unnamed ones as well.

At this point, an impending sensation began welling up within Lucius. He could feel that he was close to something, something just out of reach. Maybe if he pushed a little longer... a little more, he would finally reach it.

However, 30 more minutes passed, and still nothing. The feeling kept growing stronger... more powerful but that was it. At this point, everyone else had dropped out, and only he and Pagan remained.

20 more minutes, and though the feeling was now palpable, whatever it was he was supposed to be reaching out for still felt distant.

This was the longest he had ever done photosynthesis, and it was starting to take its toll. His body felt like it was burning, and his mind like it were melting. Every second felt like it was stretched to an hour, and the once blissful sensation began to make him feel like he was bloating, as if at any second he could explode.

Another 10 minutes went by, and Lucius could feel himself slipping out of consciousness. His connection to the outside world seemed to have been completely severed, as he could no longer hear the forest winds blowing, or feel the muddy floor beneath him. It was a wonder how Pagan was still conscious despite all this.

*

Lucius wasn't sure when it had happened, but he was almost certain it had happened. The sensation had come to pass, and he was now unconscious. He knew this to be true because he was once again in the white void that he had visited while he was poisoned.

The burning ball at the center of this weird space pulsated with blinding intensity, almost as if in greeting.

~This place again huh?~

[Evolution of a secondary creature has commenced.]

[Rewriting creature's genome...]

[Genome has been successfully rewritten to accommodate for the evolution process.]

~So he finally did it? He evolved,~ Lucius thought to himself in great delight, as he processed the system notifications that had been force fed into his mind.

[A System Event has begun due to the unexpected secondary evolution.]

[Rewriting user's genome...]

~Huh? Wait what's going on?~

[Genome has been successfully rewritten to accommodate for the evolution of more secondary creatures.]

~What are you doi-,~ his thoughts phased into nothingness as the world around him went dark once more.

*

He wasn't sure how long he had been out for, but when he finally came to, he felt... different. Though it seemed he was still in the weird mind space, as the massive burning ball was still floating right in front of him.

[Updating system information...]

[Species has been updated: Leaf Being -> Leaf Being Guardian.]

[『Skill Tree』 has been updated.]

[『Quests』 has been updated.]

[『System Shop』 has been updated.]

[...]

[Evolution complete.]

And with that, Lucius was thrown out into the outside world.

"He's awake." It was the same familiar voice that always seemed to say the same thing every time the system put him down for the count.

~Atleast she doesn't have her foot in my face this time,~ he thought to himself as he opened his eyes to find Ghost and Alpha standing in front of him. Surprisingly, he was in the shed, and right next to him was the insectoid creature, still sleeping merrily.

"How long?" Lucius asked, trying to stand up, but finding that he was still too dizzy.

"Ugh, my head hurts," he grunted.

"Four days," Alpha replied.

"Four days, huh? Not that bad," Lucius responded.

"Any threats?"

"None," Ghost replied this time.

"It's good to see you weren't too worried about me," Lucius jested.

"I wouldn't even be surprised if you didn't wake up the next time this happens," she replied with a scowl, before leaving the shed.

"I don't think she quite liked that joke, huh?" Lucius said once she had left, before sitting up.

"What about Pagan? Has he woken up yet?" he asked, just now remembering about the evolution.

"About that... we thought that maybe you might know," Alpha responded.

"What? What do you mean? Where is he?"

"You might want to come to have a look," Alpha, replied.

After taking a moment to gather himself, Lucius tried standing up, but found that his balance was all over the place. He couldn't quite place it, but walking felt harder... more complex.

"What the?" he grunted, trying to stand up but falling over each time. "What the hell is going on?" he asked, using the side of the shed to pick himself up.

"Something doesn't feel right," he whispered, turning around to see why it felt like something was moving him from side to side.

"What the?" It all made sense now, wagging behind him was a tail like limb. Before its only function seemed to have been to absorb water, but now it was longer, nearly the same length as him, and it had a weird flower-like object with bright yellow petals at its end.

"When did I?..." Lucius whispered, looking to Alpha as if for an answer.

"That's not the only thing," Alpha responded, gesturing up to Lucius's head. Lucius felt the top of his scalp, and felt two wood-like projections protruding from his head.

"Horns?" he asked, to which Alpha just nodded in response. "Can you stop wagging, for leaf's sake," Lucius shouted, grabbing at his wagging tail with both hands before falling over due to the sudden imbalance.

Since his tail was about the same length as him, and seemed to have the same density as the rest of his body, it shook him around quite a bit as it wagged. To the extent that standing still was impossible.

~I feel like a toddler,~ he grumbled inwardly.

"I don't think I'm going to be able to walk like this," he said after trying and failing to stand a few more times.

"Don't worry, Captain. I can call a few leaflings to help me take you to Pagan," Alpha replied, already calling out for his men.

"To Pagan? Won't it be easier to bring him here? He's probably still way lighter than me even with his evolution right?" Lucius asked, crawling back onto the sled.

"Ahh, you'll see why once we get there," Alpha replied after thinking for a moment.

A few minutes passed and a group of leaflings came into the shed and stood next to the harnesses.

"Ahh, let me hook you guys up," Lucius said, realizing that they couldn't do it themselves.

"It's okay, we got it," one of the leaflings responded, before two of them picked up a harness with their foot, and placed it around Alpha's waist area. Normally such a movement would require great flexibility and control, but perhaps the leaflings already had all this due to their lack of other limbs.

"Ahh, so is this how you brought me here?" Lucius realized, imagining that the leaflings probably rolled him into the sled using their feet, and pulled him here.

"Indeed," Alpha replied as the other leaflings were hooked up to the harnesses as well.

The journey took a while, which was to be expected as Lucius weighted quite a bit relative to the leaflings, and the fact that they had to stop a couple of times to take a quick breather.

"The river?" Lucius asked once he realized where they were going. Alpha merely shook his head, and continued pulling.

When they finally reached their destination, Lucius found a pod sticking out of the ground, with the same colored petals at the tip of its tail, surrounding the green capsule.

"You're kidding right?" he asked, staring at the structure in confusion.