Reincarnated As A Plant Life

Lucius stared at the notification for a moment, a little disappointed as he recalled that such microtransactions existed within the system.

~I'll absorb some sunlight after this,~ he decided to himself, before paying attention to the chieftain walking before him.

The chieftain seemed to have gotten a lot smaller since the last time they had interacted. Still, Lucius recognized that it was not the chieftain who had changed; it was him, a reminder of how behind the rest of the commune was in terms of evolutionary progress.

But then again, with the level of absorption he was at right now, it would probably only take two or three sessions to get everyone evolved. Which would be a necessary boon to the construction of the new camp they wanted to build.

~Hmm, I wonder how the shrooms will turn out after evolution,~ Lucius mused, contemplating the potential outcomes.

He had already observed variations in the evolution of the leaflings, and even then they were the same species as him. What now would become of the shrooms—would they become leaf-shroom hybrids, or would their evolution take a more natural course?

~I suppose I can only wait and see, he thought to himself,~ as the chieftain took a turn into one of the more shadowy passages of the hideout.

Before entering this section of the tunnel system, the lighting runes had been placed every 2 or so meters away from each other, as it could get quite dark down here. However, in this section, the runes were more spaced out, leaving quite a few regions of pitch-black darkness.

After walking for a while longer, Lucius could sense an energy presence somewhere ahead, and a moment later, the grizzly figure of a bear-man came into view.

At this point, the chieftain was a bit ahead of him, not because he was faster, but rather because Lucius had a tendency to follow others from a distance, perhaps a side effect of his previous life, and the life he had to live since coming here.

The chieftain began gesturing something to the bear-man, who in turn gestured something back to him.

Hmm, so this is how they interact with each other when a crux-bearer isn't around, Lucius noted to himself, stepping out of the shadows he had been shrouded in and into the bear-man's line of sight.

The bear-man instantly bowed once he recognized Lucius, letting the two through without exchanging any more gestures.

The rest of the passage sloped downwards, and from the relatively rough texture of the ground here, it was clear that it wasn't traversed often. No doubt only a few eyes had ever peered at what the chieftain was about to show him.

The tunnel was slowly becoming darker and darker as the runes became more and more spaced out.

"What's the reason for it being so dark down here?" Lucius asked, before calling out his solar crux. He didn't bother to activate solar vision since there probably weren't a lot of life forms releasing radiant energy down here.

"The thing we have created is very sensitive to light. It is hard to control if it is not kept in the dark," the chieftain replied.

~What exactly am I about to be shown?~ Lucius thought to himself, already preparing a spell chain in his head in case things went awry.

"Among the chieftains that the Lighted One has conquered, I am by far the most practised in using the Shri'killian's control... Elmando. It was many lunar cycles ago when I first started this project," the chieftain began explaining out of nowhere.

"At first, I had no interest in such things; back then, I thought the only way for me to be recognized was to excel on the battlefield. But it became clear to me... and all the others that without your gifts, that would be impossible," he continued.

Lucius listened in interest, as someone in his position, he knew very little about anyone who was not in the council. Not out of disinterest, but rather because he didn't have enough time on his hands.

So small anecdotes like these were valuable resources for him to peer into the lives of the more ordinary members of the commune.

"But one day while I was moving materials in Asclepius's lab, I noticed a strange feeling coming from one of her flowers. It felt like the pull of Elmando, but... stronger," just as the chieftain said that, Lucius could feel a strange pull coming from up ahead.

It was unlike anything he had ever felt before.

It wasn't anything powerful; in fact, he doubted it could even pull a cart. However, two things made him stop in disbelief.

For one, who could sense that the source of this pull was coming from further ahead, meaning that it was causing this pulling force from quite a distance.

And secondly, it was pulling on sentient creatures. Sure Lucius had somewhat explored the concept of using Elmando to try and manipulate sentient creatures before; however, the effects were not what he had expected.

Yet this... thing was doing it, and at a constant rate, no doubt.

"What is it?" Lucius asked, his tail swinging above him on high alert.

He was wary of whatever object or creature was capable of Elmando this powerful.

"I don't know what it can be called. However, it will cause the Lighted One no harm. It is one of his creations," the chieftain replied, a concerned expression on its face as it stared at Lucius.

"Didn't you say that this was your experiment?" Lucius asked, looking at the chieftain skeptically. He held out on pushing any hostility in his tone or gaze; however, he had to admit that the chieftain was starting to seem suspicious.

"I-I only helped it get to where it is right now. However, my skills have reached their limits, for it to continue growing it requires someone stronger..." the chieftain started explaining, which only served to confuse Lucius even more.

"It-it truly is your creation, Lighted One. Shall we proceed?" the chieftain asked.

~I can't sense any strong presences coming up ahead, and the chieftain's energy signal doesn't seem to be showing any sort of hostility,~ Lucius thought to himself, before reluctantly gesturing for the chieftain to continue.

The deeper in they went, the stronger the strange pull became. At a certain point, even Lucius's crux was beginning to distort due to this strange force, which proved to stoke his curiosity and skepticism even more.

"Here it is, Lighted One," the chieftain said, gesturing towards an opening that led into a pitch-black room.