Chapter 14 – Clothing

There were three options given for my next evolution:

[Strawberry Twister] or [Strawberry Joker] or [Strawberry Reaper].

My first thought was, God, I ain't picking "Joker". Who do you think I am?

The first option also sounded like a joke to me. That was definitely some sort of food name.

That left me with the final option. Actually it sounded really cool except I wasn't a fan of dying. I was very hopeful that it would grant me some new abilities that would be useful in combat.

Well, whatever, Strawberry Reaper it is!

I flew to the nearest clone and merged with it before coming out to examine my new status.

[Level 31 Fey (plant);

Species: Strawberry Reaper;

Physical: 23/23;

Spiritual: 131/131;

Traits: Bewitching, Devious, Rapid Growth, Parallel Bodies, Gourmet, Reaper;

Abilities: Absorption, Charm, Supply Chain, Strawberry Substitution, Synthesis;

Description: A deadly plant fey that kills anything it touches.]

Ohoho... new ability! And, new traits!

Just seeing the gains from this evolution got my blood pumping! That was, if I had any blood in my fey body. Speaking of my fey body, I had grown larger again. Now, I was about the size of a ten year old human child. My silky blonde hair had extended down to my upper back reaching the base of my wings. It was kind of tough seeing exactly what my wings looked like but they had lost some of their vibrant colors. Now there was black trim around them but the patterns had remained the same. In any case, I still considered my wings to be fairly pretty. Finally, there was the change in my skin color from light green to a pale white, the human kind. Honestly, I kind of liked the light green color because this new color just looked unhealthy.

Maybe some sunshine will do the trick?

As if the world was trying to be consistent, I was still genderless. Anyhow, I was used to it by now.

I should clothe myself before I start visiting human settlements.

There was also the problem with my wings. I seriously doubted any humans wanted to deal with anyone not from mortal races. I wasn't going to rip my own wings off, no, not a chance. This made me wish I could transform like that fox lady and De Planck.

Now, about my clothes, what to do.

It was odd but I was already used to flying around buck naked. Right, it was all because I had no private parts!

The night was long. So, while I was generating a brainstorm, I was casually walking around using [absorption] on the trees in the proximity. There was a saying, "practice makes perfect." Plus, there wasn't anything else I could do. And, strangely, or obviously, this ability didn't consume my "spiritual" stat. I couldn't ask for a better way to spend this time honing my ability.

By the time Haelley had woken up, it was as if she slept through a season. Nearly a hundred trees had partially withered, their leaves yellow and still falling. For some of the unfortunate trees, their life had been sucked out completely. Really, all that was my fault because I just couldn't stop myself. It definitely wasn't addiction, it definitely wasn't!

On the positive side, I leveled up quite a bit! That might have been completely due to [absorption] stealing energy, possibly the illusive "experience" stat. To my disappointment, even though I somehow zipped past level 41, there were no evolutions and I wasn't sure why.

"Berry?" Haelley looked at me with profound confusion.

"I'm Berry. I evolved while you were sleeping."

"Trees? What you do?"

"I used my ability to absorb."

"Bad Berry. Precious forest, gone, I'm sad," she said while tearing up.

Oh crap, I should have known! She was one with the forest and I literally gobbled it all up in a single night. Apologize? Apologize. I still needed her.

"I'm sorry, Haelley. I won't do it again, okay?"

I didn't know how to comfort her at all.

Just looking at my actions, I wasn't too different from a demonic being, killing the forest for some sweet level ups. It was too late to regret it. If there was something I could do, anything, I would have thought of it by now.

Abilities, abilities... huh wait, oh right, I was absorbed last night to examine that new ability, [synthesis]. I don't even know what it does.

"Haelley, can you tell me how often does one evolve?"

Sniffle. Sniffle.

"Depends on species and levels. I evolve at fifty."

Fifty? She's currently at thirty-two which meant she wouldn't evolve at forty. I guess all hope isn't lost for me.

"Thanks, I have this new ability, it's called [synthesis]. Do you know what it does?"

I knew I was being such a jerk, asking her questions at a time like this. However, it was because I remembered studying a course in university and the professor said  something about distractions being a great antidote to everything unpleasant, like some kind of escapism.

She thought about it before answering, "I think. It let you create from what you have."

Hmm... creating stuff sounds nice.

"Great, thanks!"

"You try take from ground and create."

"Are you sure? I don't want to do more damages to the forest than I already have."

"Yes. Okay here. No problem," she gave the nod of approval. Even though she approved, I was still going to be careful. The only issue was that I didn't know what to synthesize.

I don't know. Hmm... how about just some leaves and stems? It's probably plant related.

I kind of had a gist of how the ability worked. Intention was the key. I began pulling up nutrients from the ground through my feet, and into my left palm. Bit by bit, a sprout poked out from my left palm, almost like how my clones sprout themselves.

"It worked!"

"Your stat dropped."

When I checked my spiritual stat, it really did drop but only by two points.

I wonder if I can produce strawberries like this. Better yet, maybe this will solve my clothing problem. I'll finally be civilized!

There was an issue associated with that. If I only synthesized plant fibre, there was no way I could turn them into fabrics, and needless to say, clothing I could wear.

"Uh, Haelley, do you know how to weave and knit?"

She cocked her head, "what that?"

Now I really wished I had learned some useful life skills in my past life. Coming from a civilization too advanced certainly had its demerits. With a few clicks of buttons, everything I needed came to me.

"I want to make clothing."

"Why?"

"I want to talk to the mortal races."

"Mortal races bad! I come with you."

Suddenly, she was all worked up. I didn't get it but perhaps she had some bad experiences with them. For one, I certainly had a bad experience but I wouldn't say all mortals races were bad. There were bound to be good ones.

"Why are they bad? Can you tell me?"

"Mortals destroyed forests to build. My home was gone. I get stronger and learn their language. One day I destroy their cities and rebuild my home."

"What about your family?"

"Killed by bad men. After, I served De Planck and grew strong," again she became teary, but this time with determination showing in her eyes.

So that's why she was with De Planck. Perhaps I underestimated the mortal races from my previous encounter.

"How strong are mortals? What are their stats like?" I asked.

"Some very strong. Highest I saw, one level 85 mortal with "physical" and "spiritual" stats above 300. I lucky to survive. They have very strong weapons that shoot into sky."

That's crazy! And they have anti-aircraft weaponries? The one I saw was only level 9 and I thought he was strong. Since this is a fantasy world, maybe they have heroes and whatnot.

"What about their citizens?"

"Level 3? I stayed away. When I approached, their warriors chased me."

Could it be? They have detection devices set up or do some of them have detection type abilities? Hmm... I need to see for myself one of these days.

Anyhow, I needed to proceed with my initial plan. Talking all day wasn't going to change anything. I had lots of work to do, the first being that I needed to visit more kobold villages on that mountain. This time, instead of using clones, I practiced creating clones using that new skill [synthesis]. Whenever I was low on "spiritual" stat, I would draw a tiny bit from the surrounding trees. As long as I didn't overdo it, Haelley was okay with it.

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