Another day, but no ranbi!

It was now Day 4 - or 5, depending on how one looked at it - since Kaden arrived. The egg had kept up its games until Kaden decided to let it knock all the ranbi over last night to rest. Sleeping for him wasn't exactly the same. In fact, sleeping for him was far from normal; instead of closing his eyes and losing connection to the world around him, Kaden could keep seeing everything even while resting. He didn't dream but felt lulled into an almost "energy-saving" mode. Part of him chalked it up to his new plant origins but in a way, it made a lot of sense that he no longer experienced human sleep while in his plant-like form. As surreal as it was, he actually preferred dreaming to the staring at stars.

But this morning was going to be different and he knew it immediately; there hadn't been a single ranbi sighting once in the last three hours. They normally struck him around breakfast and lunch, yet hadn't even scouted his position. He wanted to get a chance to test out Vice - as the help menu didn't work on it - but without a living target it didn't seem to work. Unlike magic, it seemed like he'd need a proper victim to use Skills. Of course, it was possible he simply lacked prerequisites to use it on simple objects. Given he lacked feet, he didn't expect himself to walk. Grabbing things was also far from traditional since he had to entangle it nice and slow. Kaden's new body had a lot of flaws that made simply fighting the herbivore menace off a complete toss-up.

Crack!

Kaden panned his camera down, seeing the egg had fallen over. Last night, he'd left the bodies down; but this morning he had been preparing to arrange them, only for the active egg to throw itself over expecting their game.

No! No, no, no! You bastard! You better not have broken! I swear, I'll-

His ranbi senses tingled and he left his words unfinished. Kaden spun his camera upward and confirmed that the ranbi had finally come. But it wasn't just a small group this time. Instead of there being five at most, as he had seen before, there were thirteen plain-eared ranbi and two stripe-eared. The threat they possessed wasn't too daunting - as he was an area-of-effect combatant - but something stood out in the back. Something easily twice the size of the other ranbi, with orange coloring around its thighs and red rings around its eyes and button-like nose. But most terrifyingly, that same damn smirk that all ranbi had.

Motherfucker.

For now, Kaden had to forget about the egg. The quest didn't pop up telling him he failed so maybe the egg was okay. With his body barricade and few hours of solitude, he'd amassed an extra five feet of diameter. So in comparison, the battle looked something like this in Kaden's head.

Kaden

Level 5 Barripatch Thorn Grass

20ft diameter

Isekai plant advantage! Ranbi

x13 Level 1 Plain-Eared Ranbi

x2 Level 2 Stripe-Eared Ranbi

Unknown Level Big Ranbi Warrior

Even if I pad the stats and try to make my side of the table look impressive, there's no other way to put it; these guys outnumber me and I don't know how strong that big one is. But I have one advantage in my sheer size; I don't hurt myself when I uproot and disconnect all the rest of myself. The last few times I've uprooted part of my body using Earthy Grasp, it didn't hurt me. The only real danger came from having no MP. But now... now I have SP, too!

It wasn't as if he had anything to prove his predicament was much better than before reaching level five. Vice cost a total of 2 SP and his regeneration was about 1 SP per five minutes. That meant it would take him an hour to regenerate his 10 SP. While he could cast it five times in quick succession, it had a much longer cooldown compared to either of his spells. He could cast Earthy Grasp five times and have it ready to go in only 10 minutes with his 1 MP per minute regeneration rate.

I guess I really am a spellcaster... but that's fine. If it's like this, I-

The egg cracked again and Kaden couldn't help but look at it. The egg was slowly opening, fracturing by the moment.

It's... it's hatching! That just means- OW!

Resetting his viewpoint to the ranbi, the first wave of the little fuckers had hit. Unlike before where they rushed blindly, they were lined up and methodically chewing their way in. Not only that, but the striped ears and the larger one were staying back with a reserve. They'd sent only six of the thirteen forward.

Testing me for weaknesses, huh? Have they somehow been watching the progress of their brethren? The only advantage of this big body is that they need to chew through more of the barripatch to actually hurt me. So far, I've lost a single HP instead of one per bite. Forget the egg... my fight is here! If it can hatch then I might level-up mid-combat again!

Kaden focused in on the middle pair of the six chowing rabbits, mustering the skill from his mind.

Vice

While stamina isn't using magical power, the execution of Skills is functionally the same; they're willed forth with their command no differently than magic.

Vice is a General Skill, meaning it can be used with or without a weapon. It costs 2 MP and requires a target, but can include multiple targets that are within the start point and target of your vice. This means that if you were a squid with tentacles, you could spread all your arms wide and swipe them, hitting anything that any of the arms comes into contact with via Vice.

Vice!

The grass on the outskirts immediately swung in, collapsing toward the group of six. One-by-one, they were swept up in his hold and slammed into one another. Unable to bite, they instead squirmed... but his body seemed to defy his own expectations. Rather than release them or simply stop, it struggled tighter; each sickening pop of the ranbi's bones made him cringe, watching their bodies fall limp as the grass finally coiled them into a mangled ball. Kaden immediately let them go, all of them flopping out and collapsing in different directions. None of their allies were stunned but he sure as hell was.

H-How was I so strong!? I mean... I've been able to snare them but it was always due to how many grasses I had wrapped around them. At this rate, I'd say... I'm about as strong as a human child when they all work together. Squeezing the life out of them shouldn't have been so easy, but...

Kaden had lost about 2 HP in the short assault... yet it had already regenerated one back from his title. Even if it wasn't the most impressive feat, it was scary just how his hard-earned farming had suddenly exploded in value. Compared to the level one to two climb the ranbi went through, he gained an ability that actually gave him tools for doing more than growing and flinging his foes around in his own body! But that's also when he realized what his own growth represented; it wasn't just what he could do but what could happen to anyone who surpasses level five. And given what he saw between a level one plain-ear and a level two striped-ear, this made a lot more sense now. That big chubby bastard in the back wasn't just bigger and slightly different colored.

That ranbi... he's also level five!

The egg cracked again but Kaden didn't look down; instead, he immediately leaped to action.

Growth!

The damage dealt by the little mowers mended and not a moment too soon; as the grass came crashing up through the earth and sent their bodies flying, the two stripe-eared and the remaining seven plain-eared ranbi spread out and charged. Four and one of the striped went toward the right while three and the other flanked left; the large ranbi squealed and charged straight forward, crashing into his new grass. His HP dropped an immediate six, leaving him at only 17, but only a moment later the corpses of the six came falling. Three struck the large ranbi and bounced off harmlessly, while the others sailed free entirely.

Earthy Grasp and Vice!

The spell flew out, dropping him to 10 MP, while the second use of Vice came a moment later; he pulled the left flank together around their stripe-eared ranbi and immediately crushed them, tightening his freed-up grass so that instead of being released, they flew off in a tumbleweed-like horrorshow. Even though it was a fatal crack session all over again, Kaden didn't get any time to relax since he was removing parts of his body. Viscera was now sailing through the air as his vice crushed and cut, tearing at the ranbi with his thorns unrelentingly. He had enough for another combo but instead knew he had to preserve his mana. No isekai protagonist won without some method to attack.

Vice!

He snapped the stripe-eared ranbi up and in an instant, it was tangled up and unable to freely chow down on Kaden. The other ranbi - merely plain-eared - were not going to be able to get too far or do too much damage. Spread out as they were, they couldn't safely eat him in a manner that would actually threaten him. His true opponent was their leader; with only 4 SP and 10 MP, his options for attacking were limited. It meant he had only two Vice uses and a single use of Earthy Grasp before he exhausted himself. He couldn't track how much EXP he was earning either, so it was impossible to plan for a level-up. Given the level disparity and the amount of grinding it took to reach level five, this group alone wasn't going to be enough just after achieving it. He needed to kill the big one and rely on his regeneration to stall for time to cast Vice or Earthy Grasp to finish off the others.

Vice!

The first use of his skill clasped his grass tightly around the ranbi's head; its neck was much thicker and its hide tougher, barely giving him any purchase. Only a few thorns clasped in, doing little more than dragging and stalling the bigger ranbi in his tracks. All of this battle was going on below and within him, yet it felt like it was a war on a massive plain; his large scale body didn't change how colossal this miss-match seemed. An herbivore against plant, vying for control and trying to kill one another. Apart from the fact plants didn't often have a way to fight back against animals, Kaden had to admit that this felt far more dangerous than before.

Especially when his grasses pulled up and the ranbi resumed its deadly march toward his innermost rooted grasses, tearing and pulling up the snaring barripatch with it. His HP immediately tanked another seven points.

Damn, only 10 HP left... why couldn't I have been a more healthy green!? This isn't good... I... I don't think I can win this.

Mentally gritting his teeth, Kaden felt different than the last time this feeling came on. He had been gambling on a level-up against the striped-ear, yet now he had no back-up. It would all come down to this last move.

Vice! Earthy... Grasp!

Kaden's command and mana flowed wildly, snaring the body of the large ranbi once more. His previously uprooted grasses re-rooted and bound with his reinforcements, tightening and entangling it further just before the wall smacked its legs. The fat, smug fucker rolled right over with the tearing grasses uprooting along with it. It rolled over and had nearly two inches of grass entangling it. It had been stopped after wading deep into his body; he was only feet from the egg at this point and Kaden didn't have anything else.

But once more, the ranbi broke free; it snapped and chewed at the detached grasses and any that tried snaring around it. It didn't care that the other plain-eared were squealing as they got caught. It had come to eat Kaden and was going to damn well do it.

No... not like this! I... I didn't even get to be an isekai hero! I don't have a harem, o-or even a true love! Damn it! When I reincarnate, I'll-

Crack!

Kaden looked down and, lo and behold, the egg had been the source. But he only saw the lower half of it. He hesitatingly scanned his body, unable to find the other half... until a quest alert fired.

Protect the Egg! - Quest Update Now that the egg has hatched, Nugget needs protection! Keep it safe until it's ready to shed its shell!

H-Huh? Nugget? Who is-

Kaden felt the wind roll over him stronger than ever before, yet there was a problem; the wind originated from where the ranbi was. He panned his camera up in time - the sweet pops of the plain-eared ranbi breaking their own necks trying to push further into him - to see the last vestiges of the winds fading. It wasn't the wind that Kaden had felt but a shockwave; the large ranbi was lifeless and crumpled... with the most dumpy-looking piece of shit he had ever seen standing atop it. A one-eyed, blue-skinned, black and white shell-wearing ranbi slammer. It was at least three feet tall - about the size of a toddler or small child - but was far more girthy, quite reminiscent of a peg. It didn't even have feet or hands; instead, it stood on two muscular stubs... and gave him a big blink, despite the fact Kaden lacked any physical form that he knew of. It had no mouth, no ears, or nose yet if Kaden had learned one thing, that meant very little in a fantasy isekai world.

T-this... is Nugget!?