Skill Points: 3
"Skill points? What's that?"
Chen Xuan asked but to no avail, still not eliciting a system response, leaving him frustrated.
Getting used to the frustration brought on by the system, Chen Xuan looked at the panel, examining the corners and then the text, trying to find a use for the points.
After a moment of searching, he saw a small + symbol beside the skill points on his menu. Focusing on it more intently, a small pop-up box appeared, containing only a few lines of text.
Crown (high combat ability)+
Trunk (energy storage and health)+
Roots (energy absorption efficiency)+
Flowers (hypnosis and control)+
Size (overall size)+
Slightly stunned by the options available, Chen Xuan thought carefully as he looked over each option, hesitating slightly.
"Hah... OK... I should go for roots... but should I use all of them?"
Thoughtfully looking over each option, he found himself stuck between two options, the trunk and the roots.
"Ah, screw it, I'll think it over when I level up next."
In haste, Chen Xuan quickly pressed the roots option twice, pausing before pressing it a third time.
Upon being pressed, a warm current spread throughout Chen Xuan's roots, which numbered 32 with one main tap root.
Each of the roots strengthened slightly but didn't increase in size. The warm current spread slightly, feeling like a slight tingling.
Once the warm current finished dissipating, Chen Xuan sighed slightly, feeling comfortable, like just getting out of a hot spring.
Opening the panel calmly, Chen Xuan looked down at the root size before flicking back to the fallen tree beside him, finding that his roots were close to the tree but not too close.
"Let's expand it so I can get some of those nutrients."
Sending the last point to the overall size, Chen Xuan felt his whole body heat up. However, unlike before, Chen Xuan felt an uncomfortable feeling slowly building.
Eventually, it built into a deep pain throughout his whole body, like his whole body was being stretched and pulled.
The pain mixed with the comfortable heat, creating a slight balance, but still made Chen Xuan grit his teeth.
After a dozen breaths, the feeling disappeared, his body returning to normal.
Feeling his vision had grown, as well as his body feeling bigger, Chen Xuan looked at the panel to find the exact increase.
Crown Radius: 1m
Trunk Height: 0.5m
Root Radius: 1.3m
Trunk Diameter: 2.7cm
"Good... more than I expected, enough to reach the dead tree."
Now done with his upgrades, Chen Xuan found himself once more bored and alone in the forest, with only trees visible around him.
Chen Xuan sat there for hours, doing nothing but watching the surrounding wildlife.
In the late afternoon, Chen Xuan saw another notification pop up, surprising him as he would usually receive it only once a day.
+0.015 Life Energy
"What? Why 0.015? Because of the tree?" he muttered as he looked over at the dead tree, it being the only explanation he could think of.
"Well... it doesn't really matter," he muttered as he waited.
Bored once more, he looked at his panel, trying to find something to do, finally discovering the next required life point level.
Life energy: 0.03/1.2
To Next Level: 16%
After waiting for about 11 days and a bit, Chen Xuan finally gathered enough points for another level up, wasting no time in upgrading, once more feeling the warm energy spread through his body.
Once more gaining 3 skill points, Chen Xuan opened the panel again, thoughtfully looking at it.
Wanting to go with the same choices as before, Chen Xuan hesitated.
After some deliberation, Chen Xuan put 1 more point into roots before putting another into flowers, using up 2 of his points and leaving himself with only 1 point left to use.
"I'm begging you, system, just make this upgrade good."
Once the energy in Chen Xuan's body dissipated, his body was left with a few scattered flowers, looking slightly colorful but not too vibrant.
Sweating lightly and not wanting to have wasted one of his points, Chen Xuan focused on the flowers, feeling them as an extension of his body.
Looking around for something to test it on, Chen Xuan saw a small ant nearby, focusing on it, as the flower closest to the ant slowly unfurled.
Revealing the deep red and pink insides of the flower, the unfurled flower had a slight hypnotic effect, causing a certain attraction.
As the ant saw the deep and colorful flowers, it slowly walked towards the flower as if in a trance. The ant, as well as any other surrounding insects, slowly approached the flower.
"Well... it works at least... I wonder what happens when it's upgraded more?"
Without hesitating anymore, Chen Xuan put his last point into the crown, having a slight idea of what to do.
Upon upgrading, Chen Xuan's crown slowly strengthened, his leaves becoming shiny and more vibrant while his branches strengthened, becoming tougher, as strong as a half-grown tree.
While being strengthened, Chen Xuan's branches also became more flexible so that he could move them, albeit slowly.
Once the energy dissipated, Chen Xuan was left with branches now able to move slowly and with a slight strain.
Attempting to move his branches, Chen Xuan slowly moved one of his branches, using a small branch at first to test it to make sure it wouldn't break.
The smaller branch slowly moved, feeling like an arm he could move around. However, it was only able to move at 0.1 m/s, practically not moving.
Sighing to himself, Chen Xuan grumbled, "Tch, should've expected this much," clicking his tongue as he slowly reached down a branch to a hypnotized ant.
After a few seconds of moving, Chen Xuan's branches were finally able to reach the small ant, managing to pierce it with surprising ease and without any resistance from the ant as it was fully hypnotized and in a trance.
Smiling widely to himself, Chen Xuan was happy with his choices, glad that he could now do something... anything other than waiting endlessly.
Once the ant was pierced, he slowly brought it to the base of the tree before using another branch to slide off the ant's remains, wanting to use them for nutrients.