Congratulations! You have reached level 30! Please select your level reward from the options below:


    <ol>


    <li>Skill Upgrade</li>


    <li>Choose New Skill</li>


    </ol>


    I mentally hovered over the upgrade option before something occurred to me. Since I understood what everyone was saying as long as I was linked mentally to one person present, did I really need to be able to hear? I mean, I would have been able to detect the giant chicken a lot sooner if I could, but other than that, what benefit would that provide me?


    I pondered the need for sound for a while before I remembered Club mumbling something under his breath that I couldn’t hear because Dagger also couldn’t hear. If I had the ability to hear everything inside my range, then I wouldn’t have to rely on someone else’s hearing to communicate. Though I would still need to be linked to respond.


    Screw it. I don’t want to be dependent on others to hear.


    I upgraded Domain of Awareness, focusing on being able to hear everything in my little bubble.


    Domain of Awareness (U) has been upgraded to Domain of Awareness (U)!


    I was immediately able to hear the rush of wind through my leaves along with a whole host of other noises that I would identify later. I pulled up the skill description to ensure everything was as I wanted it to be.


    Domain of Awareness (U): Passive. User can see as far as they can reach. Every noise that crosses the boundary of the user’s domain is able to be heard by the User, including sounds outside of the user’s range of sight and touch. Nothing is able to hide in the user’s Domain.


    That at least explains why I’m able to hear the sound of what has to be crickets and other bugs when I can’t see any in my little bubble. I also heard the caw of a crow a few seconds before I saw its shadow fly through my area.


    This would make communicating with others a good bit easier, and I would be able to spy on anyone in my domain without having to be connected to them through Telepathy. I didn’t really expect to need to spy on people, but it doesn’t hurt having the ability.


    I spent the next few days just enjoying Sunbathing and playing with my vines. It was a fun and relaxing week.


    A few more regular sized birds made a nest up in my branches over the next few days. All 5 of them were green and gray parakeet looking birds, no more than 10 inches long with beaks that were pretty short on their face. I thought they were rather cute, and I really enjoyed listening to their small chirps throughout the days.


    On the third day of my new tenants living in my canopy, I sent a mental probe to the one who I guessed was ‘in charge’, though I didn’t know if birds had alphas or anything similar. I just aimed at the largest one, really.


    When I made the connection, the bird stiffened a bit. I could tell it was about to fly away, so I sent it soothing emotions and thoughts of relaxing in the sun. That seemed to do the trick as I could feel my new friend ease his nerves.


    Unfortunately, the birds didn’t really communicate via words, but they were decently expressive through their emotions and mental pictures in the link I had with them. I learned that they were a small family pod, with the one I first made contact with being the father to the three smallest one, and the second largest one was the mother. Apparently, some Goblin threw a club at their last nest the day before they made their way to me. I highly suspected it was Club and Dagger’s doing. They did manage to get one of the baby birds, but the rest of the family got away.


    On the less depressing side of things, I learned that I was in the middle of a large clearing in a forest and that there was actually a dirt road a few hundred feet to the east of me. The clearing I resided in was a large circular one that was about 20 feet wider than what I was currently stretched out to. It was actually almost perfectly circular, with me in the center. I’d have to ask papa bird to assist me in some experiments later to get a more accurate picture.


    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    I thanked the bird for the information he gave me and let him go back to his business. He and his mate went about rearranging their nest some more to properly fit their family. Apparently, the baby birds were just barely old enough to fly, and they struggled greatly to get to me from where they were before.


    Day 4 of my new friends living in the nook between my highest branches lead to a slightly horrifying picture. The birds found my resource berries. I was struggling mentally between if I was going to let them take my berries or not, but decided to allow it, as long as they didn’t go overboard with taking too many at a time.


    The feeling of the berries being plucked was strange. It didn’t hurt me at all, but since the birds couldn’t remove the whole berry at one time, it felt like I was mildly draining resources to fix the berry until it was completely eaten. The Health Berries were the worst, since they were being healed as the birds ate them, they took longer to be eaten. Thankfully they stopped at 3 berries each. If they had gone for more, I would have had to intervene.


    The Resource Berries were fully restored within an hour of being eaten, which I guess was a great thing to see. But it was still disturbing to think about someone steeling my Health like that. Sure it was excess, but still.


    I connected myself to the father bird as they all finished eating. He seemed grateful for sharing my bounty with him and his family, so I couldn’t even be mad. He seemed like a decent enough guy just doing the best with what he had. I repressed my thoughts on the matter and sent a feeling of being welcome to them as long as they moderated themselves. The bird just bowed his small head and sent another wave of appreciation.


    I guess I can’t be mad if he eats them in the future now. I wonder if they even realized the resource benefits that they offered.


    I mentally shook my head, which resulted in my branches swaying slightly. They did that often when I was thinking seriously about something, though I didn’t realize how loud the sound was of hundreds of leaves shaking all at once. The birds seemed to be on edge for a few seconds as I shook, but quickly calmed down as they realized it was just me. The family had gotten used to my antics over the last few days.


    They days came and went like this, the birds enjoying peace in my canopy, me enjoying the chirping of my new friends, them eating my berries, me struggling to come to terms that it wasn’t stealing as I had given permission. I just had to remember that I regrew the entirety of what they ate in under an hour each time. It was still a mild struggle though.


    After two months of the family living in my tree, I was able to watch the 3 younger birds leave the nest. They still came back every few days to hang out with the family, but they spent much of their time outside my domain. A month after they left for an extended amount of time, they never returned, and it was just the two parent birds left.


    I ‘talked’ to the parents for a bit about how they felt about their babies leaving the nest, and the dad seemed proud while the mom seemed more nervous. She knew they needed to leave and get some levels under their belt, but it was still dangerous and she would continue to worry about them for the rest of her life. Dad bird gave a mental shrug and flew down to eat a worm he spotted wriggling up from underground.


    We talked for a bit longer, but they didn’t seem to have much more to say on the matter, so I left them to be alone. I wondered what level the two were, but also didn’t want to offend my only consistent friends I’ve had in a few years. Being alone was nice and all, but I did miss having the occasional encounter with people I liked.


    The next few months went by pretty quickly. I practiced my Vine Control and used Rapid Growth to extend my roots out further so I could maybe see the edge of the clearing eventually.


    I had a realization as I was growing them out though. My Domain of Awareness didn’t extend when I grew my 100-foot-long vine. The description was clear that I could see as far as I could reach, so shouldn’t I be able to see 100 feet away from me in every direction?


    I shook my head and went back to growing my roots. Rather than spread out just below the surface, I decided to extend the entire root system. It took way more Stamina to do it that way, but I wasn’t exactly lacking resource regeneration right now, so I figured it was worth it.


    Rather than spend every waking second extending my roots, I decided to spend 50% of my Stamina every morning as the sun rose and another 50% every night when the sun set. I was perfectly able to regenerate the spent Stamina, so I went with it. At the rate I was going, I would be able to see the edge of the clearing in just over 8 more months. I had a goal in mind, and I wasn’t exactly in a rush to meet it. I took my time and grew it out, 1 inch every day.