Phin yawns. The vibrant hues of dawn splay out across the cloudless sky, looming over the eerily silent wilderness. Damn it - I've got to focus. Now that we've entered the Midnight zone, any minor misstep can trigger a Flora to awaken. He furrows his eyebrows, gaze set upon the narrow path in front of him.
Having reassumed their typical formation, Unit 00 proceeds in a column, with Phin - the newbie - nestled between experienced Botanists. They expertly navigate through the dense foliage at a jarringly quick rate - testament to their unit's prestige.
'We'll soon enter the Abyssal zone,' Willow announces. 'Phin, now's a great time to begin entering data.'
'Yes, Captain!' Phin reaches into his bag and produces a small, leatherbound journal. I've already been documenting some Florae we've encountered - but this is different. If we really are entering the Nightmare zone, the Florae there are so rarely observed that many of their encyclopedia entries are unfinished!
Phin steps over a stray vine, but as his foot lands, an unfamiliar shadowy wisp appears at the corner of his eyes. Wha- ? Even without looking at it directly, he can feel its blood-red eyes burning into his Terrasuit.
In a flash, his balance shifts abruptly to the left, sending him toppling down. With a panicked shout, he tumbles into a clump of branches.
'Oh, dear,' Drasil lazily sighs. He turns towards Willow. 'Full radius extermination?'
'Don't be brash, Dietrich,' Willow chuckles. 'You know damn well these Grade IIIs aren't networked.'
Networkability refers to a trait possessed by many higher grade Florae - typically IV and beyond. They are able to manipulate their roots to form networked structures with weaker Florae, gaining control of them. In this way, Botanist work grows vastly in complexity - even crucial details such as networking are invisible to the naked eye.
With lethal swiftness, the branches trapping Phin convulse and constrict, lifting him into the air. In a flurry of colors, concealed buds bloom into full carnivorous splendor - vibrantly colored petals lined with razor-sharp teeth.
'Help!' Phin screams, clawing at the branches. His seax knife dangles loosely in his pocket, just out of reach. Shit! I can't move my arms at all! Phin panics. In a swift move, a sharp, stem-like appendage swings across, preparing to decapitate the young Appraiser.
No... it can't end like this - not this early! Phin braces for his demise, but unexpectedly, the Flora's crushing grip slacks. With a thud, he lands on the ground. He coughs violently, cradling his bruised midsection. The branches that had just bound him now lie limp on the ground. The Flora's grotesque abdomen, now exposed, bears a small, round hole oozing sparkling liquid.
'Not bad, eh?' Eri beams at Willow, sheathing her sniper rifle. It clicks into the scabbard slung over her back, silently hissing.
'Well, your selected trajectory has definitely improved - I can tell you've been researching Floral critical points. However, your choice of engagement lacks premonition and will likely get you killed later on,' Willow bluntly states.
Eri pouts. 'Aw, c'mon. Can't I have some praise just once?'
'You did have your praise. I applauded your angular precision.'
'Yeah, but... most of it was criticism.'
Willow smiles and pats Eri on the back. 'Criticism helps you grow - a big head doesn't.'
Meanwhile, Phin groans, still down on all fours. Oh man... that hurt like a bitch. I'm lucky to be alive at all - if I didn't have an entire unit of Botanists by my side... he swallows painfully. Miraculously, the torturous aching begins to soothe, and he is able to find his balance. The Terrasuit - it's automatically healing my wounds! It must be imbued with the Seed magic of a very strong Flora, he realizes.
'Are you alright, Phin?' Willow approaches him, nudging the Flora's corpse with her foot.
'Y-yeah. Sorry about that - it's recently, I've found it difficult to focus. It's like my mental state is permanently volatile now,' Phin apologizes.
'Hm.' Willow tilts her head, glancing behind him. 'As we continue to the Abyssal and Nightmare zones, you'll definitely have to be careful - no sugarcoating it. You're the government's prized possession and also important to us, since you're now a member of our unit.'
'Yes. I understand, Captain.' Phin bows his head, sighing deeply. His personally selected seax weighs heavily in his pocket. If only I'd acted quicker... I wouldn't need anyone to save me.
'However, don't feel dejected - even a situation like this has presented us with a great opportunity!' Willow smiles, pointing behind him.
The dead Flora has already begun its disintegration process, a biological process akin to organic breakdown but accelerated a thousandfold. The tiny dust particles now drift away in small clouds, leaving nearly nothing behind.
'Huh?' Phin swivels around, tracing her line of sight. On the ground, a small, elliptical object pulses dimly. An alluring assortment of runes dot its almond-shaped shell, crackling with energy. I completely forgot - Florae drop their Seed when they die!
'Try Appraising this one,' Willow suggests. 'It's a precursor to you future tasks - as we enter uncharted territory, we'll rely on your Appraisal-borne data for guidance.'
Phin nods as he retrieves the Seed. It sits nicely on his palm, emitting a dull hum. Alright - just as before. Almost immediately the familiar blue genetic threads emerge from the Seed's outer shell, winding into the air. Deploy interface.
[Lurchlock: Vinculosa nodulata]
| → Potential: (+) 0.51%
| → Encoding: ⊏⊎⊙⌁⊞◌⊓⊏⊘⊐⊞⊞⊐⊙⊎⊞
| → Greed Skill: [???]
| → Greed Mastery: [N/A]
'Got it!' Phin signals with a thumbs-up. Lurchlock's a common Flora in these parts - the only truly valuable information here is its genetic encoding. He quickly copies down the sequence of glyphs in his notebook, handing it to Willow.
'Fascinating...' Willow peruses the page. 'Your proficiency with Genetic Appraisal is climbing rapidly!'
'Wow... that's really cool!' Eri peeks from behind her shoulder, gazing in wonder at the alien language. 'This is the first time I've actually seen the ability at work.'
Not long after, the rest of Unit 00 begins crowding Willow and Phin, immersed in curiosity.
'Settle down, everyone,' Willow laughs. 'You will have many opportunities to witness our Flora Analyst's ability.' She clears her throat, adopting a serious expression. 'Vale, Garnier, run a comprehensive data collection within this area.'
'Yes, Captain Shirasagi.' Two of the Botanists hurry away, stopping temporarily to retrieve various handheld gadgets.
'Is this for multimodal pattern analysis?' Phin asks, drawing from his extensive background in academia.
'Yes, good eye,' Willow nods. 'If we can decode genotype-environment patterns, we could predict entire biome compositions from a single kill - something no one's ever done before.'
Phin feels a warm rush of fulfillment. At least I can still be of use, he thinks, relieved. However, a nagging sense of unease grips his conscience. But I'm convinced what I saw wasn't a hallucination... The image of the shadowy creature is still fresh in his mind - its eerily bright red eyes. Wait - I've seen that thing before... in one of my dreams!
He recalls the surreal dream of the pre-Mutation Earth, in all of its jarringly serene splendor. But there's no way...