Growing so fast feels kind of weird to Novus, and one anomaly he noticed was his seed. Other grasses don’t have it and probably can’t store materials like he can, he doesn’t know whether it’s due to the seed itself, namely Liliana used a special seed instead of a normal one, or his presence somehow change it, considering he doesn’t have a skill for it means that it’s probably natural.

[ Like my fast growth, even though that one is purely due to the active use of the skills. Now it would take me quite a long time to evolve to something other than grass but it is halved due to the effect of growth passives, it would give me bonus level every 5 skill levels instead of every 10 and an extra skill point every time I max out a skill. Which to a humanoid is overpowered, no wonder monsters are stronger than a human of the same circle, and best of all is that now, I’m kind of considered one.]

[I wonder what skill monsters have, it can’t be growth, it sounds too plant ish? Maybe adapt? Anyway I need to work on my growth as fast as possible and start developing skills, preferably find some way to automate active growth and photosynthesis.]

[ For my rapid improvement the past 3 days I managed to get 4 in growth and 3 in photosynthesis, which makes a nice 1 extra level which will put in grass, not that I have anything else, and by the looks of it is no wonder there are so little rare plants, it might have taken me a three days to make such progress but most plants are acting only on instinct with no real thought in what they do. Even if they max out the two skills they need to actively try and improve them for the skills to gain an increase in grade. And if they didn’t have luck in that they need at least 3 more lesser skills to max out before they could evolve in to something else, and that’s a whole other unicorn sitting under a rainbow with golden horseshoes kind of luck for a plant.]

With those thought Novus, continued to rapidly expand and improve his body, although he stopped drilling downwards with his roots when they reached 20cm or so, so that his leaf can catch on, he still made them thicker to support bigger flow in the future and make them stronger and more resilient.

When expanding his roots to the sides, he noticed that he was getting less materials further he went, which isn’t surprising considering that a patch of grass has quite an intertwined network of roots, his intentions set on making himself part of the whole. On the up side he was getting more feedback the more he integrated himself, which gave him a better feeling of the grass field as a whole, he couldn’t feel individual blades of grass like he could his bit it was as close as he could get.

The most surprising thing was a secondary root system a few centimeters under the ground. It was a sort of fusion of roots from different grasses, he was wondering if he should connect to it but decided not to for the moment, you never found something even remotely similar in his previous lives. And he was getting quite a bit of info with just intertwining his roots with others, he couldn’t even imagine what he could feel when he connected. Honestly he was a bit afraid.

Although he has close to two units of willpower and grasses have 1/100000 of it at best, but there were tens of thousands of grass blades, and he didn’t like his chances. For all he knew once he connected with the network they would bleed him dry or kill him due to his unique nature. And he didn’t dismiss those thoughts, his paranoia is what kept him alive. Even when he was kind of dead that one time.

For now, he would grow, and secure his position. On the up side he was damn sure the plants already knew what he was and how fasts he grew, if he could feel them just by touching roots what’s to stop them from doing the same? Well he would worry when the time came, for now he had growing to do, and he was quite enjoying it.

***

A few cycles ago a new soul joined the collective, it was new and unique. All the individuals normally couldn’t think for themselves but when all of them did so together it brought a semblance of a mind, they are one yet still many, working for the betterment of the whole. When one is injured, all that can, help it heal. When one is in danger all help to protect.

The mind knew this new individual was special, in just a few feeding cycles it grew faster than any other, when its roots got too long it would grow its leaf, it even spreads it roots close to the network. But it didn’t become part of it. The mind was curious why it didn’t, we all help each other we are many yet we are one.

The mind used the new connection the unique one made and tried to feel it, it didn’t sense hunger, malice or any emotion to suggest it would hurt the collective. What it felt was a happiness, curiosity and a bit of fear, emotions of a mind close to its own. It spiked the minds curiosity, it always tried to grow as a whole, but this lonely grass grew for itself, it didn’t do it in a way that hurt those around it, the collective felt an emotion it never did before it felt empty, it felt lonely.

The fear the new one felt was not directed at some predator but the collective itself, it made it sad but it somehow understood. The new one didn’t need the collective to grow so it was afraid that the collective would be bad for it, like it would devour its will and self. But the collective knew it never devoured the minds of its own. Most grasses chose to be merged to the collective for it to becomes stronger, but most just wanted to grow in peace and ignorance, only helping with food for those who needed, in expecting the same help in return.

So the hive mind did the only thing it could, it tried to gently welcome the new one in to the fold, first it would make a tiny connection, one small enough to feel each other’s minds then try to show it means no ill will. This was a first for the mind, it never tried to connect to already highly intelligent being other that the forest, but it was both confident and happy at the new edition it will add, maybe it won’t become part of the collective mind but it will become part of the group, and one thing it knows is that two blades of grass are better than one.

****

On his fifth day Novus finally grew his leaf to 6cm. It wasn’t big as the average blade of grass in the glade but it was getting there, he was starting to grow his leaf, so that it can refine two to three times the input it gets from the roots, after all he can’t photosynthesize during the night.

His roots on the other hand were progressing quite lovely, he made them two times thicker, which surprisingly increase the input by more than a small margin he expected, not surprising considering he only grew them on length the first few days. So now he has to invest almost twice as much in roots to grow them properly and the deeper they go the bigger they need to be.

Just as he was enjoying the sun rays on his skin while making nutrients, his instincts were going bazonkas for some reason, you don’t get to live in forest full of monsters for two years without developing some form of sixth sense. But for some reason it wasn’t very strong, like there was some danger close by but it was just taking a nap. He stopped his work and used the senses of the whole glade to look sense around. Although he could see, he could feel the individual blades of grass if he focused very hard.

For a few minutes he didn’t notice anything weird, no unnatural movements which displace the grass, nothing. The feeling was still there so he sensed everything about himself. Nothing weird there either, finally he took a look underground via the glade roots. Nothing he looked around and nothing, when he was about to return to work and ignore thinking it was probably some hungry rabbit looking at him he saw a root from the fused system slowly growing towards his, it was slow and would take a few hours but it was quite fast, maybe a maxed out grow skill with active use.

He didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t degrow his roots or move them, he was a plant so the only thing he could do was try to drain the soil around him for every nutrient he could get and refine them in to food to store, he hoped he didn’t need the food, mainly due to the fact he didn’t know how to use it to defend himself other that reinforce his body and roots a bit.

He waited and waited and finally after six hours close after sunset, the root system connected to his. He was prepared for a parasitic mind, for a war of attrition trying to devour him. But what he wasn’t prepared for was a warm and bubbly feeling simply translated as ‘Hi’.

Lest just say that for the rest of the night Novus was a bit shocked at his own idiocy, the grasses collective mind wasn’t made of intelligent species, only plants and plants don’t know what is to want kill something, they like to stay in one place and just grow and enjoy the sunshine. Not murder plants just for resources, well some do but those don’t grow in lush green glades.

When the time came close to sunrise, Novus felt a bit of concern in his mind a foreign emotion. Concern

[I’m such an idiot, I guess living under the whims and cruelty of humanoids made me quite paranoid, this mind is even purer than a child, it is the collective stats of most of the meadow given form. Hell it even was worried about me going blank and was sending as much nutrient as it can trough the connected root. And so far this is all it need to connect our minds so if it wanted to do something it wouldn’t scheme it would just do it.]

He quickly sent a feeling of apology and appreciation to the mind, he even started to feed back the nutrients it gave him, he didn’t need them, and had plenty in storage due to his paranoia, he never went below 50% hunger after all.

[This is going to be a long day, by the looks of it all grasses are part of the collective, but not all are part of the hive mind, so due to the connection I need to merge most of my top layer side roots, since they barely give me any resources, this will increase the circulation of resources between me and the other plants, and give me better access though the whole glade, maybe I can teach the mind a few tricks and learn a few myself, never been a part of such a tightly knit group before]

And with that the new day began.

***

The predators waiting around the glade felt their hair stand on end, all of them knew how weird this place is but all accepted the danger in order to wait and find the thing they felt almost a week ago. But know things have changed, usually when small critters like rabbits and mice try to eat the grass in the glade, the grass itself will slowly surround the critter and start constricting him choking the life out of him.

And today the feeling of danger increased more than double, like the glade itself became more. But none of their mind could fathom why and how, but all knew one thing it wasn’t worth it. Even if they could use their brute strength to rip the grass apart while searching for it, while it tried to constrict them, they would tire out eventually and that’s when the end comes.

None chose to take the risk, and all left the glade in peace.