《The Deadliest Blade of Grass》Ch. 15 - I Have Mana!

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— POV Mathias —

Well, at least I'm still considered Bermuda Grass. I don't have any fungal resistance yet, I don't want a repeat of the Irish Potato Famine to happen to me. Which does remind me, I should get some pathogen resistances. Well, each in its own time. I'm aware of those types of responses I should use, I'm more worried about responding to elements I don't understand, like fantasy creatures and magic.

For my energy storage options, I've managed to get that situation under control. I've grown a central "Potato" beneath my main body, plus a smaller one under my extended body. I've also added 3 small storage tubers around my main potato, so that if something does attack my roots, it should attack the smaller ones first, giving me enough times to remove most of my energy from my potatoes and not losing it to the attack. And yes, I've filled those potatoes with as much Cyanide as they can hold. If something DARES to eat one, they will surely die. I've also upgraded my main body and extended body with spines. Fuck anything else that tries to eat me. I'm still vulnerable to slimes, but I've reduced the chances of them finding me by a lot. Looking down at myself from my tallest leaf, while I glow slightly, the bulk of my glow is underground and hard to see.

Also, huzzah! Though I'm at 0 Growth points again as I'm working to rebuild my root network and my energy storage areas, I've had a major breakthrough! Well, two breakthroughs really. One: I've managed to map out my area, and it's pretty much exactly what I thought it looked like from my root network. I'm in a small glade, it's fairly peaceful, on the side of a hill with some sort of spring in the middle of the glade. I think the water is slightly acidic, so trees don't grow very well right next to it. A cool similar effect can be seen in volcano calderas, where the ash that was spewed out took many generations of grass to slowly reduce the PH of. What I know now though, is that the water is pretty tasty. While keeping a look out for slimes (Yes, I can see them now, little blobs of shit in my eyes), I carefully inserted a toot into the spring and drank from it. It seems now I don't have to worry about rain, I have my own private-ish water source.

The slimes seem to go up and down the stream from the spring, killing grass and some small insects. Seems my decision to keep my Slaughter Guards back from the deadly slime was the right decision. It just didn't seem like if something could be killing me so quickly, they wouldn't stand a chance. Plus, they aren't big enough to do much damage yet to my bigger enemies. I am happy to say though, that due to me constantly feeding them a ton of nutritious sap and them eating aphids, I am clear of aphids on my body and they are much bigger than any other beetles around. I feel so much better now, like a constant nagging in the back of my mind is gone.

I've seen an Owl creature fly over me, and I've found the larger herbivore that took a bite out of me, a stupid fluffy rabbit. It's cute and all, but I'm still not happy with it. Of course it could've killed me before, but for sparing me, I shall spare him. Or her. Whatever.

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My second breakthrough is much cooler. Because of and my now TWO mana (yea, that's right, TWO!) mana, I think I've learned some magic!!! I can move my mana around my body too, and it seems to be able to strengthen the area I'm energizing slightly, but only temporarily. I've tried infusing my cells with it (Like wuxia stuff) by I don't know, it doesn't seem to be changing anything. I'm not sure if it's because I am doing it wrong, I don't have enough mana, or it's not possible here. On the shelf that idea went.

But, somehow in the past hour, I've gained a new ability too! So I guess three breakthroughs. The fabled ability! It's made it easier to move my mana around, and I can sorta move it from my body into the air around me. And it is beautiful! The most I've managed to do with with it since I got this new ability was to move some dirt grains around. It's tiring though, and wastes my two mana really quickly.

Ok ok, I've had four breakthroughs. I think I'm understanding mana a bit more. Thanks to my admittedly overpowered , I can see where mana comes from. It exists in everything here, and I can see some small pools in the rabbit and the owl that follow their bodies. None in the bugs or grass around me, but some in the trees too though. I am, of course, an anomaly in that regards. Mana seems to spontaneously emit from everything too. But by far the largest amount of mana particles or energy, not sure which (just like photons, make up your mind), is emitted from the ground and from the sun. Just like radiation. I wonder if anyone else knows of this? It looks exactly like radiation, alpha or beta radiation in fact. Relatively slow, but doesn't decay further like regular radiation. The stream also is carrying a good amount of mana, probably why the slimes stay near it. From what I know, slimes live on mana and whatever they roll over.

The mana generation qualifies for more research, but unfortunately I don't generate my own mana so I don't know exactly how that works. I seem to only passively absorb mana from my surroundings. Truly sad. Well, now that I have a root in the spring, my passive regeneration has doubled to 2 points per hour, equaling my full mana reserve!

Now what to do though? For the most part, once again, I'm "Safe" haha. Sight, I should stop saying that. And oh, my root network is back to normal, and with that my Growth points is slowly ticking back up. I've snaked roots over by the slimes again, but they haven't noticed or gone after me yet. Things are looking up. I should share my success with my minions. I don't really have a use for my mana yet, and I want more guards for my body. Since the most I've managed to do was move some dirt around with my mana, I'm gonna do that.

Let's see, how does a bug hive look like? Eh, I'll just make a couple of tunnels and a slightly larger chamber in the middle. I will strengthen the wall with my roots…. And in the central chamber I'll have a table-like area where I will have a constant supply of sap (lower concentration of caffeine, and mostly for nutrition. They need to do more things to gain more caffeine than sit around haha).

Oooooooooh. I wonder if they like mana? Some mana infused bug defenders would be kick-ass! Ok, for SURE now I'm going to add some mana to the sap underground. I'm not going to up here, it might attract attention of the eating variety. So first I'll bulk up my current Slaughter Guards, then I'll make their children my minions, until I develop them all into the perfect followers. But I am a kin God - as they protect me, I shall in turn protect them from threats that they cannot face, like the deadly slimes. I shall protect their young, so that none shall go hungry. I will guide them to a higher existence, bringing them up from their base form, and give them a utopia such that this world has never seen before.

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Hmmm, thinking about that, what should I do for my future vision? Should I regain my human form, and change the world that way? That's fucking scary though, I would more than likely be giving up a lot to attain that form again. Maybe a Dryad or something? Or a Spirit? Hmmm…… Maybe just a bush, burning maybe? Lolol. Maybe I could make a homunculus and guide it around like a robot? That would be F'ng sweet. Decisions, decisions. Ah, I'll sleep on it after guiding my bugs in to rest. I have a good feeling about my future. :)

— POV Fate —

No no no no no no! That stupid idiot brother of mine! That stupid grass-man is twisting fate more and more! Doesn't he see what will happen if he regains a movable form, or attempts to build a homunculus!?

This is bad, real bad. I can't see how to fix this. The world would be plunged into chaos, with most species going extinct. I can feel so many strings of fate fizzling out one by one. It's so sad, and depressing. I've watched these mortals grow up from a baby, attaching their fat to each new life. And now so many are undone, and so few are needing to be put on in the future.

War. A war that starts and doesn't end for centuries, but the outcome never changes. Each species seen as a threat is somehow reduced to nonexistence. Again, and again, and again. This abomination should have been taken care of before he entered our world, our precious world.

'Hic'

"Brother, I think it's time. Quickly, how do I look? We need to go see Karma and Sin. This has gotten to big for us to handle."

"Fate, I can't see. Can you heal me really quickly? My healing has slowed down since you've been keeping an eye on me lately."

"Oh, right." 'Sniff' "Sorry about that, but you did really fuck up. Ok, there, now come, we need to get gifts and think of a way to explain-"

— POV Sin and Karma — Lots of context switching here. Will use (name) to denote thinking and speaking, with Italics for whispers.

(Sin&Karma) "That won't be necessary Sister."

(Karma) "We know exactly how you both have mishandled poor Grim's mistake."

(Sin) "And Grim, might I say we are both disappointed in you."

(Sin&Karma) "Very disappointed."

(Grim) "…..I'm sorry….."

(Karma) "We both were expecting something like this to happen. Why didn't you come to us when there was first a mistake?"

(Sin) "And you, Fate, you know how slow you are compared to us. Why did you try to keep this from us and solve this yourself?"

(Grim and Fate) "……Sorry……"

(Sin) "Ah, I wonder what mother would think of this whole-"

(Grim) No…. Anything but letting her know.

(Fate) No…. Why would they risk bringing her wrath down here? Even they could get struck!

(Karma) "Brother… come now, stop teasing them. Look, they're already tearing up."

(Sin) "Sigh. What to do with you two though. Sorry Karma, I was just having a little bit of fun."

(Karma) "And that is why you get into trouble more often than the rest of us, though you get out of it if you want to."

(Sin) "Anyways, what should we do? You know I never work for free. Karma might, but it's highly unlikely. Trust me though, you'll need my help Fate."

(Fate) "Why are you asking me? It was Grim's fault! Not mine!"

(Grim) "Don't blame me! I did my job! Fate, just accept your fate." I hope that dig won me some points from-

(Sin&Karma) "It didn't"

(Grim) What, how did they know!? Did they learn how to read minds!?

(Karma) I love my brother Grim, but sometimes he's just sooo funny! He looked so happy and sneaky there for a split second. Silly boy, now he looks scared, and sweat is dripping down his forehead.

(Sin) And this is why I don't hang around you very much. You're so easy to read and manipulate, at least Karma is a challenge. And poor Fate, if you fixed that mean personality and brushed up your intelligence too, I would hang out with you too like we all used to.

(Sin) "Ha. We've been watching you two for awhile now. We know how you manipulated our poor brother! Isn't that right Grim? Ah, don't look so happy now, you're not off the hook just yet. You'll have to pay too."

(Grim) "What, like a favor? Shouldn't this be easy for you two to fix? Please don't call Mom."

(Sin) "Easy for us, impossible for either of you."

(Karma) "And not just a favor. A promise is our price. The next time Mother comes down, no matter the situation or who did what, if either Sin or I are really to blame, you must take the punishment. One for each of us. If you take this offer you two, then when Mother comes down, for we know she will, this is a colossal problem for her world, then we will help deal with her."

(Grim) "You know what, I think we should take our chance— mmmmmppphh"

(Fate) "Shut your damn mouth fool. We don't want them upping the ante. At this rate Mom will be down shortly and will punish us for centuries! Of course we'll take that offer! Thank you so much you two, you're lifesavers!"

(Sin) "Oh, sorry Fate. You have to add something extra for us to help you specifically. We remember last time you tried to throw us under the bus in front of Mom. You'll have to play us in board games for the next hundred years at least. I know Grim will join too though, out of pity at least." Ha, she hates losing. She hates playing Karma or I at games. And even we get tired of having super challenging battles of wits. This will be good stress relief, and who knows? It might rekindle familial bonds!

(Fate) ………This is torture. I hate playing games with them. I don't understand half of the moves they make, and then the game is over :(. "Fine. I understand. I'll do it. But you'll have to explain your plan so that Grim can understand it." And me too. I'm going through that torture without knowing what I'm paying for.

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