Chereads / The life-story of a cactus! / Chapter 6 - 5- Carving a 'root' to success!

Chapter 6 - 5- Carving a 'root' to success!

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I've been giving everything I've goot, trying to dig at my 'parent' stem with my one remaining good root.

After all, due to the 2 meters distance between me and him, every other root I try growing would take to long, and I'd be dead before I could even reach him.

In the begginning, it was hard to drill through his stem, but I found a way to make it easier for me....'Spinning'!

Indeed, as funny as it may sound, spinning a branch at 16 cm per hour (level 5) does allow me to reach further into his stem, even if only a little.

Either that or it's just my mind playing trick on me, fooling me into believing I'm actually doing some kind of progress, cause you see...

My 'parent' is a total monster. Just from what I can feel with my root, he has at least 10 cm thick cuticle.

Cuticle which, unlike my oily soft own, is rock solid. The worst part? Beneath that he has THICK, and I mean THICK , epidermis.

I would bet an arm (if I was still human), that without my main root connected to him, I'd NEVER be able to breach his epidermis

As ifto prove that, I'm having so much trouble WITH my main root that I even had to resort to rotating it.

Imagine what I'd have to do without it! Might as well just kill myself instead of waiting to die.

Well... either way. I've fortunately been able to make some progress. I've successfully reached his mesophyll layer, which means that I'm able to absorb a part of his nutrients and water....

Given the abundance he has, that will probably keep me alive for a while... I can only assume he has a high level 'photosynthesis' skill.

Otherwise, it just wouldn't make sense for him to have this much nutrients on just a part of his body, even if it's his main stem.

After all plants spread the nutrients throughout their body, not keeping it on the same spot.

The same as humans destribute nutrients digested in our stomach through the veins.

While I was thinking that, I suddenly felt something against the hair on my 'root'...precisely the thing I was thinking of, VEINS!

Yes! I've finally hit his veins! Why am I so happy, you ask? Well, it's because, if I want to fully parasite him, I'll need to spread through his veins!

You see, the way parasitism seems to work on this world is... different from earth.

Back on earth a parasite, is someone who steals nutrients (or something else) from a host, without giving anything back.

In a way you could alredy call me a parasite, after all I'm sucking on his veins and mesophyllic layer for sustinance.

Unfortunately, this world "system" operates differently, in this world 'parasite' is a 'class', and just like in games, classes have requirements.

In this case I'll have to parasite, 5% of my 'parent' stem, but, how can I parasite a percentage of a being?

After all, you're either Parasiting something or you're not, there's no such a thing as parasiting a percentage of a thing.

The answer is easy, even if absurd, taking over his body.

Indeed, 'parasiting' in this world is the same thing as 'body-snatching' on my old one.

How does one do that? You see, my body naturally releases an aura of sorts.

It's not a skill, because it's something every creature on this world has. Of that I can assure you off, because...

My 'parent' can do it too, in fact theoretically he could even 'parasite' me.

After all due to my root connection with him, I'm filled with his aura.

BUT, unlike one would be misled to belive, THAT IS NOT an issue !

Reality and theory are different soem scientists used to say and as if to prove that.

Due to my 'parent' aura and his non existing consciousness, him being fully driven by instincts and all that, he sees me as a part of his body instead of a potential parasitic prey.

Therefore he won't atack me even of I'm drilling through him, after all, you wouldn't cut your own arm just cause it sometimes slaps you, would you?

Even though I'm filled with his aura, I still can release my own, and that, allows me to spread my OWN aura through him, without being noticed.

I can spread this aura through my roots, my spikes and any other part of my body.

The problem? He is too damn hard, so my roots can't dig through his epidermis or his Cuticles... So I thought, what if I don't have to spread aura through my roots?

What if I use the fact he sees me AND my aura as a part of him? Couldn't I just use his veins?

And that brings us here, my roots hairs are touching his veins.

In other words , my roots which carry my aura, are touching his veins, that transport nutrients and water, TROUGH ALL OF HIS BODY!

Hahahahah, I CAN ALREDY SMELL that evolution.