In the end, Rialyne settled on all the berry bushes within her range as well as a nut-bearing tree. The three bushes combined for a total of 11,352 HP while the tree took 3,768 HP because it was still small and growing. That only left 4,880 for the grasses, but each blade of grass was only 1-5 HP.
However, a thousand some grasses wasn't enough to fully trace a thin web across a 5-meter radius, so she ended up having to push the initial 20,000 HP to a couple thousand higher, leaving her at around a 50% success chance. She should've dropped one of the bushes or tree, or settled for lower life forms like ferns or other fronds, but Rialyne figured now was as good of a chance to test out that Luck stat.
Before beginning, however, Cardisys briefly explained battling to her as well as the two types of damages.
"Damage is dealt as attack divided by defense times half of the attack. Damage is not rounded and is the lowest calculated whole number. The other kind of damage that can be dealt is called HP Damage. These types of attacks bypass defenses and directly lowers the HP by a set, numerical amount."
She bobbed her body in understanding. She expected that the system and this world would have a damage formula if statistics could be visibly viewed.
"Okay Cardisys, Odelrous Tree, let's see what you can do."
Rialyne activated Engrain with a powerful shout and intently concentrated on her web structure and four large targets. The Odelrous Tree responded to her command, and thin twines of energy poured out and grasped their ordered targets.
The grass was easily taken like stealing candy from a baby, and the energy twines then coalesced upon one of the berry bushes. This was exactly as Rialyne had hoped. Instead of attacking all the targets at once in an automatic method that was at the mercy of RNG like in a video game, she was able to direct her forces in a form of strategic maneuvering that would allow her possibly greater success.
One bush fell, and then another, and another… Soon, only the little tree was left. But by this time, most of her preset forces were exhausted. She had a hundred less than planned to capture it.
[ Asterine Tree ]
Lv. 5 [ Gold ]
HP: 3,768
MP: 346
Even though the tree was only one fourth of her level, it was a rank higher than the Odelrous Tree. She would have to be extra careful with this one.
As her twines snaked around the tree, she stilled her mind and directed all her senses at the tree. Immediately, she could feel the target tense up upon being surrounded and suffocated. It stiffened and hardened its bark, and Rialyne prodded it from numerous locations.
Its physical defenses weren't as high as expected, so she exerted more pressure. But just as she did that, a burst of magical energy from the little tree demolished a small section of her forces.
「 —30 HP 」
Surprised at the attack and higher than expected damage, she heightened her wariness and prepared for follow up strikes. Even though the damage was still negligible, if her forces suffered more strikes, then she wouldn't have enough strength to overpower the target's defense.
That was the dilemma while battling. The total defense stat was applicable for all units sent out, but the strength was limited to whatever was sent to battle. This was why, even if she suffered damages during battles, she could recoup them as long as she won in the end.
As reckoned, the Asterine Tree shot more magical bursts, but the anticipating twines speedily dodged them. Even though the target had a trump card of magical attacks, the Odelrous Tree still had far higher speed and flexibility, resulting in high dodge.
Soon, the Asterine Tree ran out of mana, and Rialyne captured it.
「 Battle has ended. [ Engrain ] is successful. + 6 Proficiency gained. 22,184 HP added to Domain. The skill, [ Magic Blast ] has been acquired. 」
"A skill?" Rialyne thought out loud. She wondered if it was the magic attack that the Asterine Tree had used against her. So taking over plants meant that she gained their skills, too? She smiled at the conjecture and brought up the status window of the captured tree.
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[ Asterine Tree ] Lv. 5
Rank: [ Gold ]
Next Level: 152/160 EXP
HP: 450 (3318)
MP: 127 (219)
PATK: 18 (48)
MATK: 42 (38)
PDEF: 25 (61)
MDEF: 37 (42)
SPD: 12 (69)
FLX: 20 (94)
————————
STR: 9
AGI: 8
INT: 21
VIT: 16
-
FIRE: 14
ICE: 14
WATER: 13
EARTH: 11
WIND: 6
DARK: 4
LIGHT: 11
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"Hmm? Where's the Magic Blast skill?" Rialyne tipped her body at her question. Since she supposedly acquired the skill, did that mean the skill now belonged to her instead of the Asterine Tree?
Cardisys confirmed her unspoken thoughts. "The skill now belongs to you. Along with Synthesis and Sap, now Magic Blast can be automatically used by everything in the Domain."
Rialyne lit up. "An automatic attack skill? Awesome! This is just like tower defense then!"
Her mind flicked back to when she played occasional video games. She was a casual gamer back then, but she had missed the recreation ever since the fire and ensuing events.
Excited, she brought up the skills screen, and sure enough, the skill was listed underneath Vengeance.
_________________________________
[ Magic Blast ] Lv. 1/5
Rank: [ Bronze ]
Mastery: 44 / 1000 Proficiency
Effect: Deal 100% of MATK as damage, and 100% of INT as HP damage.
MP Usage: 20
Cooldown: 5 seconds
Description: A two layered attack that allows bonus HP damage directly after initial contact. +1 Proficiency gained for every use. Damage increased by 25% and number of simultaneous blasts increased by 1 for each successive level up.
_________________________________
"Nice, so I also gained its proficiency too? It doesn't look like it had to defend itself that much while growing. I probably was its biggest enemy. And no wonder that first hit hurt so much, the skill deals HP damage."
Rialyne gazed at her increased domain HP of 56870, satisfied with her conquering. She preferred Engrain over Sap. It was unfortunate that she could only activate Engrain once an hour.
Oddly enough, she felt like the Luck stat had no apparent purpose or effect yet. Even though her success chance was supposed around 50%, the battle went a lot smoother than initially expected. Cardisys attributed this to Rialyne's strategies.
Sighing in contentment and yearning to battle again, she proceeded to explore her widened territory and cultivate the new bushes and tree using Sap. Although the captured plants couldn't speak, she somehow felt less lonely. She laughed sarcastically at the thought that she was becoming like one of those lonely people who would take care of plants like pets. Heck, she was even talking to them in the form of encouragement as they grew…
Soon, another hour passed. And another battle began. This cycle repeated, and her territory expanded. She encountered and defeated stronger creatures until finally, she level 20.
「 The level requirement for Evolution has been reached. Evolve? [ Yes ] [ No ] 」
"Hell yes!"
Rialyne smacked the [ Yes ] button, and the Odelrous Tree illuminated a brilliant gold…