Strawberry Devil in a Fantasy World

"Mother, you're safe?"

"Of course, just who do you think I am?" I puffed out my chest proudly, "Now come with me, I want to show you something."

"I'm so glad you're safe."

"They stood no chance against me. Come with me. I want you to look at some things."

Given how fast I ended the battle, the two of us returned in a jiffy.

"How did you defeat them?" She asked.

"Guess!"

"Mm... Magic?"

"I can't use magic?"

"What do you mean?" She looked at me with a confused expression.

"What do you mean, 'what do you mean'?"

I too was confused.

"We fey beings can use magic at will."

"Huh? We can? Do you mean abilities?"

"No."

"You saw my memories. Obviously I've never used magic before. I've never seen you use magic either. Do you need incantations and stuff?"

"I don't know about that. [Soothsayer] doesn't explain it if I have never directly interacted with that system or knowledge base before."

"Then, why do you say we can use magic? Show me magic."

"I'm only aware of the basics which involves moving my body. A fey body like ours derived from plants is basically a type of magic. I don't have my plant body with me. But, Mother, you should be able to move any part of your body with only your will."

"What? How come I didn't know about this?"

"I thought you knew because you were controlling your vines just fine."

I think there was a grave misunderstanding.

"Can I make my leaves fly?" I asked.

"I don't know why you would want to do that but it should be possible."

A small leaf appeared via [synthesis] in my hand. Then, I added my intentions into it.

Alright. Fly, leaf, fly!

As if a turbulent breeze was passing by, that leaf shot up into the sky.

"Seriously? Why! Why! Such blasphemy. I did all those modifications with [transformation] when I could have used magic?" I cried out to the sky.

I couldn't help myself but to pinch her cheeks out of frustration. That battle could have been so much easier!

"Brat, tell me the important stuff early."

"Ow, ow, ow. Motheer, leet go oof mi cheekss! It hurrts. Sowwiee."

"Explain the details."

She rubbed her cheeks with her hands while pouting.

"You never asked before... Don't be unfair to me."

"Okay, okay, we have plenty of time to chat in the future. For now, explain to me anything you know about their suits and their weapons and why they're after us."

She touched the items in question with her hands.

"They are magitech equipments. Magitech is basically technology that requires mana to operate."

"Oh, so we're still in a fantasy world. Good, good," I nodded to myself, "Continue."

"The details are complicated, not something we can replicate. As for the reason they chased us this far, it might have to do with us being the first of our kinds. [Soothsayer] doesn't disclose private information so I think that's about it."

"What should I do with them? I'm thinking of equipping you with one of their rifles. You'll be able to defend yourself, right?"

"The mana requirement is high. I don't think I can use them without also carrying a mana core. "

"What's a mana core?"

"Highly concentrated mana used to power advanced magitech equipments," she pointed at the heavy duty metallic backpacks behind these soldiers, "It's in there."

"If you know that much, I can just power it, right?"

"Mother, are you going to carry that for me?"

"Uh... No..."

"Even if you do carry it, once it runs out, you can't charge it unless you can condense your mana first. It's not something you can learn in a few days. Forget about the rifles. I suggest you absorb everything here using [absorption] and make use of your trait, |integrator|, to strengthen your defenses."

"Hold that thought! What exactly does |integrator| do?"

"Instead of only relying on synthesis to create things based on your own biology, you can now integrate things into yourself that would normally be impossible."

"Oohh, so I can be a cyborg?"

"Not to that extent. You can integrate highly concentrate metals into your body. You can also combine this trait with [synthesis]."

"Woah, woah, woah there. I think this power up is a bit too quick. You mean I could have fought them with metallic needles instead of flimsy thorns?"

"No, it's not a complete overhaul. You're still a plant based fey being. Everything you synthesize will still be biologically based. The difference is you'll be able to incorporate new properties through [absorption] such as hardening your skin, or gain ability to use toxins, things of that nature."

"Oh, I get it. That's kind of a disappointment. Going by your explanation, I can absorb metals to integrate into my body but not to the point I could do anything useful with them."

If I could coat myself with metal armor, that would be super cool. How unfortunate that this trait failed to meet my expectations, or was I just too ambitious?

"Did you forget? You asked me what we should do with these bodies. There's refined metals here filled with mana. Just store them away."

"I see, I see! This will take a while."

Destroying the evidences, that was what I was doing. I planned to leave nothing behind, not even these clones would remain.

While utilizing [absorption] on the remains, I decided to ask a few more questions.

"What exactly is a fey body for us? It's too convenient. It has nothing to do with biology."

"It's an avatar. We are an extension or physical manifestation of the plant we came from. From your memory, you used to be translucent, no?"

"Yes, I do remember."

"That was your spiritual body, created purely from mana that allows you to interact with the physical world in a humanoid body. We are the mind. As you leveled up and evolved, your spiritual body resembled more of a physical body."

"Do other fey beings follow the same process?"

"No, only those born from fey plants. The reason we are superior is because at some point in our evolution, our fey bodies become basically indestructible."

I was already somewhat indestructible at this point.

"But you said those capable of soul eating can harm us. And, what about our plant bodies?"

"[Absorption] is similar to [devourer] in that both can eat away mana, and mana is a proxy for the soul. I'm not at your level but eventually I'll be able to create my plant body via my fey body, meaning at that point my plant body will no longer became my weakness."

"Oh, so at that point, we'll be super powerful and next to invincible? Awesome!"

"I wouldn't say that, but, unless the world turns against us, we'll be fine. Mother, I answered your questions. Now, answer mine! How did you defeat them without magic?"

"Fine, okay come, memory share."

I opened my arms for a well deserved embrace. Instead, she just grabbed my hand for a sideward handshake.

"Eh?!"

"No hugs for bad parent!"

"Awwh."

She had her eyes closed for a few seconds before she exclaimed, "Mother, I didn't know you were this creative."

"Rude, I'm a genius, you know?"

She turned away with a shrug, "Hmph! I'm sure it was a fluke!"

"It was not! Ugh."

Anyhow, I was onto the good part of [absorption]. A surplus of mana was flowing into me from the mana cores. Since I had funnelled a lot of mana from my clones, I redistributed it back to them. Once they were all full, I stored all excess resources in |gourmet|.

They're like battery packs. I like this.

Thinking about it, carrying a mana core around in that heavy container wasn't worth my effort. If I wanted to carry it, I would have to wear the suit. And since we were in the middle of nowhere, the mana core would eventually get used up as we travelled and I would have to dump them somewhere later on. Destroying them was probably the better option.

"I'm almost done here. Are we going to cross the canyon?"

"Yes. I think we'll be safe from pursuers. We just have to avoid entering any monster territories."

"I'll leave that to you."

Thankfully, that previous encounter was just a brief encounter. I didn't even see what kind of monster it was nor how the battle went between it and those three. They probably fired a few rounds to scare it off or something.

After a short rest, the two of us ascended from the bottom of the canyon.