Reincarnated As A Plant Life
chapter-120

"These spider legs, are they like your primary legs now? Do the ones on your body not work?" Lucius asked as he and Ghost walked towards the river.

Ghost was currently holding the arachnid baby in a bear hug, whispering shrieks to it.

"Hmm, they work just fine," she replied after a moment of thought, dropping the baby to the ground before retracting the spider legs.

Lucius checked behind her back to see where they had gone, and found a sort of hard shell that he assumed must be what housed them.

~This is odd. When I first got my tail I had to learn how to use it, but she can just do things like this upon waking up? Interesting,~ Lucius thought to himself.

"And the shrieking that you're doing. Can you speak uh... arachnid tongue now?" he asked as Ghost continued talking to the baby.

"Oh, this? I'm just making random sounds, they don't mean anything," she replied.

"So, how long was I out," she asked, putting the baby on the ground.

"A week maybe? I was gone for some time myself, and I lost track of time while I was there," Lucius responded, just as they had reached the river.

"A lot has changed since you were out, as you can see, I've evolved. And as an effect, have become a hunter now," he said, showing off his claws.

"Oh, is that why I look like this?" Ghost asked, staring down at her body.

"About that. During your evolution I had the chance to give you the genes of the arachnid, perhaps I should've confirmed with you first, but I assumed it was the best course of action at the time," he replied, wondering if perhaps she felt a little alienated as she looked vastly different from the others.

"But since we are all hunters now, you won't have to worry about being different," he added as she got into the river, using her spider legs to anchor herself to the banks.

"Have the others evolved yet?" she asked after a moment of silence. She was still staring at her body, at her legs, feeling her skin. There were traces of disgust sometimes, but she did a good job hiding it.

"Hannibal and Alpha have completed their evolutions, they are currently having their cruxs installed," he replied. " And the rest of the commune is in their incubation stage," he added.

"Have you used these... genes on anyone else?" she asked, apparently having already come to terms with her body, or at least having decided that she just had to live with it.

"Are you not comfortable in your new body?" he asked, sitting on the edge of the river as she washed herself off.

"It's not that I'm not comfortable... it's just that... don't I look scary?" she asked.

"Scary? Have you seen me?" Lucius said grandly, before standing up, whipping his tail on the ground.

On all accounts, he looked like a literal demon. He opened his mouth wide and showcased his many rows of unorganized teeth, that still had chunks of meat stuck to it.

"Besides, this little guy seems to like you, and soon, our commune will be filled with creatures with all sorts of different appearances," he replied.

~This feels like I'm explaining puberty to my daughter,~ he thought to himself, remembering how the guys in his squadron would complain about how awkward the talks always were.

He then went into detail about the changes he had made to the commune, mainly the departments, premiers, and the newest addition of the 400 shrooms.

"Can we really trust these creatures?" she asked as she got out of the river.

"We can't," he replied immediately.

"Right now they seem to be obedient out of fear. I don't exactly understand what happened, but Pagan seemed to have traumatized them. Anyway, we'll be using them as a workforce for now. I'll take in their children since they can be manipulated more easily, and maybe a few of those who prove to be trustworthy," he explained.

Unlike leaflings, the shrooms had kids, it must've been due to the fact that they were second-tier creatures whereas leaflings were first-tier. Though that made him wonder where exactly other leaflings came from. He remembered Alpha was about to explain it to him once but had been interrupted midway.

"So which department do I fall under?" she asked after a moment of thought.

"A secret division in Pagan's department. I'm going to have you act as a spy for the shrooms for now. And after you complete a few missions, I'll set you on a growing enemy to our southwest," he replied.

"A growing enemy?" she asked, as they walked back to the camp.

"There's a creature with a crux, gathering an army. I'm currently too busy to keep tabs on it right now, and frankly, I'm afraid if I fall, then there will be no one to lead the commune," he explained.

"Gathering an army? So, is he trying to create something similar to what you have planned?" she asked after some thought.

"No, his army is filled with brainless slaves, that's to say, he rules over the undead."

A look of confusion crept up her face, but she quickly understood the danger that such a creature would pose.

"I can start keeping tabs on it right now if you show me where it is. I had been practicing while I was still a leafling," she said.

"You mean all the times you thought you were sneaking around me? No, that level of hiding won't do. Besides, you're going to be out before the end of the day. I want to get you fitted with a crux as soon as possible," he explained.

"Already? Don't you think I'll be of more help if I stay around while Hannibal and Alpha are still getting theirs?" she asked.

"No, Pagan is more than sufficient. I need to increase the strength of the commune as fast as possible, and from the looks of things, you're the greatest asset so far," he explained, right as they reached the main camp.

~If I can fit her with the radiant index, then she'll become a very reliable asset,~ he thought to himself as he looked at her stats.

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─────⋅☾ Player Details ☽⋅─────•

[Ghost Elwood ]

[Level 1: 0/100]

[Leaf-Arachnid [healthy-hybrid] lvl.1- [0/100]]

[Sunlight's Blessing +5]

─────⋅☾ Stats ☽⋅─────•

[Agility: 60 (65)]

[Strength: 10 (15)]

[Stamina: 10 (15)]

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~With cowling and a bit of stat increase, she should be able to surpass me in at least speed, judging from the way she was built,~