Silence wrapped around me like a second skin.
Buried deep beneath the earth, I could hear the faint heartbeat of the world — a slow, dying rhythm that echoed through the stones.
I focused inward, trying to make sense of the strange sensations filling my senses.
Tiny threads extended from me — roots.
I could feel them pushing into the damp soil, drinking in nutrients, searching, hungering.
The [Genesis Garden] ability was active, but I had no idea what to do with it.
Okay, Akira, I thought to myself, think. You're basically a magic seed now. Plants need water, soil, sunlight... and magic, apparently.
I tried reaching out through the soil again, this time deliberately.
Immediately, a flood of raw energy slammed into me — wild, chaotic, untamed.
I nearly lost myself in it.
The mana here was broken — tainted by centuries of war and decay.
If I absorbed it recklessly, it would crush me before I even had a chance to sprout.
Careful, I warned myself. Filter it. Purify it.
The first ability I unlocked, Soil Purification, hummed faintly in my mind.
Guided by instinct, I activated it.
The effect was subtle at first.
A tiny ring of earth around me lightened, dark energies seeping away into nothingness.
The mana smoothed, becoming gentler, more stable.
Relieved, I absorbed the purified mana into myself — and immediately felt stronger.
My roots dug deeper, spreading outward, claiming more territory.
System Notification:
[Genesis Garden]
Soil Purification Level 1 → Level 2!
Mana Root Extension Level 1 → Level 2!
New Ability Unlocked: [Mana Pulse]
A gentle warmth filled me as the new ability activated.
[Mana Pulse]... I could sense the surrounding area even better now — like sonar made of magic.
I "saw" broken ruins buried deep under the soil.
Shattered bones of long-dead creatures.
Streams of wild mana twisting through underground caverns like angry rivers.
And something else...
Something wrong.
To my right — if directions even made sense underground — a knot of corrupted mana pulsed violently, like a festering wound in the earth.
It was alive.
Without thinking, I sent a pulse of pure mana toward it.
The moment my energy touched the corruption, the entire cavern shuddered.
Something stirred in the darkness.
Warning:
Wild Mana Beast detected.
Threat Level: Minor.
Approach with caution.
A crack split the ground nearby.
From it crawled a creature — a twisted mass of roots and stone, barely held together by magic.
It had no eyes, no mouth, just a gaping hole where its core pulsed darkly.
It lunged toward me — or rather, toward the faint life energy I radiated.
Panic surged through me.
I couldn't run. I didn't even have legs yet!
All I could do was defend.
I poured mana into the ground around me, commanding my fledgling roots to react.
Vines burst upward, slashing toward the Wild Mana Beast.
The creature howled — a soundless scream that rattled my very core.
It fought back, thrashing, ripping at my roots.
But my roots kept regrowing, stronger, faster, weaving a cage around it.
And then — snap!
One of my vines pierced the creature's core.
The beast twitched once... and dissolved into dust, scattering like ashes into the soil.
System Notification:
You have purified Wild Mana!
Soil Purification Level Up!
Mana Root Extension Level Up!
Sprout Summoning Unlocked!
Breathing hard — if a Seed could breathe — I allowed myself a moment of pride.
I'd survived my first battle.
A faint glow surrounded me, warm and bright.
Instinctively, I knew: I was ready to grow further.
I directed my mana inward, focusing on the new ability: Sprout Summoning.
Tiny green shoots erupted from my core, wriggling joyfully into the surrounding soil.
Each sprout glowed faintly, little beacons of life in the darkness.
I had created life.
Real, tangible life.
A laugh bubbled up inside me — or at least, the memory of one.
For the first time since dying, I felt truly, undeniably alive.
And yet, deep beneath my growing roots, something ancient stirred.
Something that had been waiting a long, long time for a new World Seed to awaken.
My journey had only just begun.