In good spirits after finding humans, I decided to defeat monsters and grow in order to take on a human form.
I could easily defeat the green giants, now identified as goblins. When encountering monsters, I could either defeat them with my voice or, if they merely fainted, touch them to make them my meal.
'If necessary, I can get decent nutrients just by burrowing into the ground, so having no worries about food is convenient. Maybe being a mandrake isn't so bad after all...?'
Somehow, I seem to be accepting this situation. Although I despaired the moment I realized I had become a mandrake, now that I've found a goal, I'm not so pessimistic anymore.
As I was moving along in good spirits, I was suddenly attacked by something from the side.
"UWAAAAAAAA!!??"
Something sharp dug into my body, sending pain through me. Screaming in pain, I noticed through my violently shaking vision that I was being bitten by some kind of beast.
The beast heard my scream up close and collapsed to the ground. The fangs detached due to the recoil, but the place where they had pierced was very painful.
'It hurts... Something like blood is leaking... Ugh... Please heal quickly, don't mandrakes have any healing abilities...? Can't I make some amazing medicine...!?'
I just wanted to heal this wound quickly. I wanted medicine. As I wished for this, a sound different from the level-up sound echoed in my head. A short "pikon" sound. ...I remembered hearing this sound before. It must be a sound that means something different from leveling up, but what could it be?
'Huh, it doesn't hurt anymore. ...Some kind of... sparkling liquid is coming out of the hole... Scary...'
What was originally flowing from the hole was a green liquid, presumably the mandrake's blood. Now it had become sparkly and glowing, creating an eerily strange sight. Moreover, the hole was visibly closing up.
'Could this be... medicine? So I can produce it inside my body.'
So the previous "pikon" sound was a signal that medicine had been created? No, I had heard this sound before, but this was the first time I had produced medicine, so that couldn't be it. It must have some other meaning.
I think I heard this sound before when I was running around screaming after being pulled out by a goblin.
'Hmm... I don't see the connection. If this were a game, there would be a log, or at least text display showing what's happening... I wish I had something like a status display function.'
Then another "pikon" sound rang out, and suddenly text appeared in my field of vision. It read "Acquired [Status Display]," which startled me so much that my legs gave out and I let out a small scream. ...Please don't surprise me like that. Mandrakes scream easily.
'This world is even more like a game with statuses... Well, if I can get useful information from this, that's helpful. I want to see my status.'
As I wished for it, a large amount of text appeared in my vision. It seemed to be displaying my status. I carefully examined it while organizing the information.
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[Species] Mandrake (Mutant)
[Level] 86
[Vitality] B
[Magical Power] Immeasurable
[Skills] Diffused Voice, Drug Production, Status Display
[Evolution Points] 62
[Description]
A top-grade mandrake raised with dragon blood, containing abundant magical power. As a material, it can be used to create any kind of medicine, but it has undergone a unique evolution allowing for quick movement, making it difficult to capture.
Death by curse awaits those who hear its voice, so countermeasures are essential. It possesses the ability to diffuse its voice, enabling it to attack with sound from distances beyond visual range.
※If allowed to grow further, it has a high possibility of becoming a calamitous monster, making it highly dangerous.
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The description was very game-like, or rather, strangely human-oriented rather than being a description from my perspective. It felt almost like a system designed to be shown to humans.
"So I'm treated as a material... Wait, am I able to speak properly now?"
Somehow I had become able to speak properly. It was only a few hours ago that I had unintentionally killed a bird and tried to apologize. Monster evolution seems to happen quickly. ...But the ability to speak isn't displayed as a skill.
'The short sound seems to indicate skill acquisition. But if it's just a change in body shape, it doesn't seem to count as an acquired skill. These webbed hands are clearly something ordinary mandrakes don't have, but they're not listed as a skill.'
The hole seems to have completely closed. However, looking down at my body, there's a dent in it. It's right where the beast bit me, but I wonder if this won't heal.
'...Wait a minute. This... isn't a dent caused by being bitten...'
Curves had formed on the brown daikon shape that could be described as bump, narrow, bump. Such an unnecessarily defined waistline.
Such a thing would at most be useful as a joke to post on social media for laughs. And there are no smartphones or blue bird social media here. Well, the blue bird social media doesn't exist in my original world anymore either.
'I did want a perfect figure, but not like this... It's just ridiculous until I become more human-like in size and shape...'
I slumped to the ground in disappointment, and my fingertips touched the beast lying next to me. The immediate sense of deliciousness reminded me of my hands' ability to consume others just by touch, even when I wasn't intending to absorb them.
This isn't listed as a skill either, so it must be a characteristic of mandrakes or plant-type monsters. It's the natural order of things for the root part of a plant to absorb nutrients.
'But with this, I can't touch other living creatures with my hands. I wonder if there's something I could use besides these root hands...'
After thinking for a while, I remembered that the upper parts like leaves, stems, and flowers don't cause problems when touched. Otherwise, goblins wouldn't be able to grab my head and pull me out.
'If I could grow something like vines that I can freely move from this upper part...! And if I grew many thin vines to make them look like human hair...!?'
As I wished for it, something like green threads fell from my head. I could move them freely as I wished. It was certainly too much to process if I tried to move each one individually, but it wasn't too difficult if I bundled them together like thick ropes. You could call them vine whips for clarity.
Glancing at the displayed status, I noticed that the Evolution Points had decreased from 62 to 61. ...It seems these points can be used to evolve myself.
'So it takes 1 point for each change. ...I wonder how these points accumulate. But with this many, I might be able to transform into a human shape!'
However, it's unsettling to make changes without being able to check them in a mirror. I should move to a place where I can see my reflection before changing my form.
After moving for a while, I found a clear water pond where beautiful flowers like water lilies were blooming, and eagerly peered into the water surface.
The reflection showed a monster with uneven, messy hair standing on end, a brown body with strangely prominent curves, and two pitch-black eyes peering through gaps in the green hair. Of course, I screamed. ...It looked like a cursed doll with a strange presence that one might find in a garbage dump, and it was truly frightening.
'At... at least it looks like a doll... that's progress... progress... At least it has "person" in its description...'
I should be happy that I've evolved from a brown daikon into a cursed doll, as it's one step closer to a human form. ...That's what I'd like to think.