Ch.12 My Instinct Told Me to Do It, So I Did

What are the instincts of humans as living beings? It's generally said to be the desire for competition, self-defense, and reproduction, but this applies not only to humans but to most animals.

So what about trees? Trees are living things too, aren't they? They're alive.

What am I trying to say, you ask?

I feel like some biological instinct inside me is telling me that now is the time to go.

This is a realistic game, and I think the trees in this game want to leave behind offspring and seeds just like in real life.

If that tree is normal, then yes. But I'm a tree that can move.

If I want to act on this instinct, there's no guarantee that something unusual won't happen.

I honestly don't know what's going on right now, but I feel like I can do it now.

I'm starting to feel a bit uneasy... If I hold back, it gets more and more uneasy... Hmm... Ha, what can I say, there's no need to worry. I have to do it... What would happen if I do it?

Ah, I have no idea what would happen but I'm going to do it! I'm being told to do it! I'll do it!

Funuaaahh!

The moment I released my power, everything turned white and I felt light and fluffy. It was so bright that I instinctively closed my eyes .

The brightness didn't last very long, maybe 10 seconds.

I felt the amount of light behind my eyelids and decided it was okay. I opened my eyes and the scenery I always see looked bigger .

"Huh!?... Huh...?"

The view is different from usual...?! Surprise 1.

I can talk... Wait, I have hands?! Surprise 2.

I stretched out my arms and hands to confirm their presence, and was surprised when I looked down to see my naked body.

But why am I naked?! Wait, I have a body?! Surprise 3.

"Ha, haha... it doesn't hurt... but... It's my real body..."

Surprise led to more surprise.

So I pinched my cheek, but I didn't feel any pain. Instead, I felt a tingling sensation.

But I can touch things, I can feel the sensation of touching and the sensation of being touched. This is certainly real.

I freeze for a moment due to the information overload. I close my eyes and take a deep breath.

I took a short breath and, I managed to calm down.

That uncontrollable instinctive urge. I could imagine some kind of power being released, something coming out from inside and gathering in one place. Even though I couldn't see it.

I turn around and see a tree (me). I can sense that my small body is connected to the main body by something. I wonder what connects us? Is it magic or something?

Even when I was a grass, I thought that I was absorbing something other than air and water.

In any case, both my main body and this body are me, and I can now move this body because my consciousness is in it.

I look at my body again.

The hair is mid-length and dark brown...no, almost black. It's 80:20 black to brown ratio. There are brown tufts here and there. It's kind of stylish. It's the same color as my real body (tree trunk).

About 15cm tall? Maybe a little taller? I have no way of measuring it, so it's probably around that height.

And it's a completely female body.

It feels a little strange because my first life was as a human male, but I've never really cared about gender to begin with. Well, I don't have any particular preferences for gender, so I'll do my best as a female fairy for my second life .

Okay, so, I became grass, then a tree, and finally a fairy. Wow.

Huh? Why do I know that I'm a fairy? This is a fairy forest, you know?

Also, my appearance is similar to the fairies I occasionally saw when I played this game in my first life.

I remember meeting the rare fairies in the royal capital, and seeing them flapping their wings and flying just like me now.

I've been flying ever since I opened my eyes.

I can fly and move with ease, just like a second nature. I wonder why? Is it because I am that kind of species?

"Well, let's think about that later. I can move around now, but I can't be naked."

I want some clothes. I'm not an exhibitionist.

My small size means I could probably use leaves to cover my body, and if it were hidden it would look like THE fairy, but I think it would make myself look even wilder.

A wild fairy appears.

I look up at my main body but no other good ideas come to mind.

That's a problem. Should I just do the leafy wild thing?

"...Wait a moment. Is this body made out of magic?"

I'm sure... that's right, that's right. I think the fairy I met at the event said something about a magical body or something.

If that's the case, then if I trace it back to its origin, it's a body formed by things that were released from the main body and gathered together, so if I focus on returning through this connection to the main body... I'll be back.

If I really wanted to return to my main body, I could return my consciousness from my fairy body to my main body.

Now I'm back to seeing the scenery I've been seeing for approximately 300 days.

Yes? Of course I was counting. The reason is that I wanted to know exactly when the beta distribution ended and the official release date was.

I was anxious about when the players would arrive. I thought I'd just been reincarnated as a tree, so if they set me on fire I'd die instantly. That's the kind of fear I had.

It was important to know the time and date so that if players came, I could protect themselves from such things.

But this is how I got a mobile body, a fairy. With this, I can go anywhere, and because it has a mouth, I can learn water-related magic and deal with it. Thank you god for giving me this body.

…But no, if I had been reborn as a human instead of a tree, I wouldn't have had to worry so much to begin with. I'll take back my thanks after all. I'll just be grateful that I was given a second life.

So, I'm imagining my power gathering in one place to create a body. Yes, the body can be created with magical power, so the idea is that clothes can be created at the same time.

While I'm at it, why not try to become a man at the same time?

Hmm hmm... ugh!!

"...Ha...!"

When the light calmed down and I opened my eyes, I once again felt the floating sensation and the difference in perspective. Looking down...

"Yeah, I'm not naked anymore. I guess I can do it after all."

However, my body remains the same female form as when I turned into a fairy earlier. It seems I cannot become a male body.

Is it possible that the main body is a female tree, and therefore it cannot produce a male body?

"Whatever, it's good to be back."

This time, I was also imagining the clothes, but for some reason I couldn't create them exactly as I imagined. Why?

Just as women's bodies are fixed, are my clothes also fixed? Or do I need to train for it or something? Hmm, this is something to consider.

I looked at my body again. The dress I was wearing was a frilly, off-the-shoulder dress. It had strings that crossed around my neck to keep it from falling off?

If I check inside, I can see that I'm wearing underwear as well. It's a simple three-piece outfit. There are some slight touches, but it's just an all-white outfit.

Well, as long as I'm not completely naked, it's fine. I'll be happy since I avoided the wild tribe course.

But you know, I never thought I'd learn the secret of the fairies in a place like this.

When I was playing this game, fairies weren't something you encountered that often, and if you did, you were lucky.

To begin with, they rarely come to towns and other bases, and when I met them it was for an official event. In reality, though, they may have visited frequently and I just hadn't been able to see them.

So, this time I learn a secret about the fairy tribe: their true form is wood, and their fairy form is merely a split body.

This is what it felt like to actually become a tree and a fairy.

Since both are the same individual, I'm not sure if it's okay to think of them as separate from the main body fragment, but I decided to call them that for ease of understanding.

There was no problem if the fairy body was "killed", so I concluded that if the main tree dies, I will be considered dead.

Therefore, this main body (tree) must become strong enough to avoid dying.

Now that I have a body that can move, let's level up.

But before that, since I have a mouth now, let's do something I've been wanting to try frim the beginning.

I can do it now! let's go!

"Status!"

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〘Fairy Tribe〙

They are a race that possess the ability to dwell on trees, and move and act using small bodies made of magical power as if they were another body.

They are not seen very often, but they do appear quite frequently in various areas.

They have almost no lifespan, and are immortal as long as their supply of magical power continues.

A relatively rare NPC

They're not a monster so don't attack them, or soldiers will come flying at you.

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Author's note :

Finally, our protagonist changes into a fairy.

She survived for 300 days without being killed. (It is said that no one came because it was a hidden area.)

The reason why her hair is black with little of the brown that is typical of wood is because, as you already know, is the influence of her main body.