Chapter 74: Flora was anxious

Flora was having a very hard time. It started yesterday when she got her first taste of real essence in over a century.

She had been completely fine up to this point not needing much essence. Granted, it reduced her power to a fraction of a fraction of its former glory but that was okay, she did not need much of her power to conduct her current cushy job.

Besides, the school would not be so peaceful if the power of a legendary monster at tier 7 was necessary.

To put it into perspective her tree, which was so massive that it covered the entire roof of the 30-acre greenhouse with its canopy and still looked like its growth was being stunted, was less than a 10th of a percent of its original size.

Even the fabled and unnaturally powerful women of human society, the pinnacle of human might, kneeled before their absolute power.

To say that she was currently crippled would be the understatement of the highest magnitude. At her current level, she was no better than a mythic monster at tier 5, a far cry from her original.

But it had some very necessary benefits. The foremost of which was that she needed very little to survive. As she was now, she could survive on the gruel fed to all the monster girls to keep them active.

Sure, the fact that most plant girls required a quarter of the normal essence, her included, also helped.

But the point of her long-winded thoughts was that the gruel was no longer helping.

She even figured out why it was happening.

Many plant girls could go into a form known as the seedling stage, which drastically reduced their essence consumption at the cost of extreme loss of power.

Although not desired, because once you took this 'seedling' form it took a long while for a plant-based monster girl to grow back to her full power(it would take her decades if not longer), most vegetarian monster girls in society were a seedling.

What was interesting was how a seedling started growing back... namely when it came into contact with enough nutrients where it believed it could grow back.

"Of course, he can bind tier 7 monster girls, he is a hero-born with a tier 5 monster girl as his first bond. Do the math."

The nutrients necessary for her to start 'germinating' was to have access to a tamer who could create a tier 7 bond.

No wonder her instincts went so wild. Her crippled tree saw a source to grow and of course, it would force her to act.

Now that her body had the nourishment it had started 'growing'.

It was imperceptible currently as it was using most of what it got to start fixing some old wounds...

But it would not take long before it started growing in earnest. This gave Flora about two years before it became too noticeable and the school acted.

She had too many secrets and she knew she would never again see the light of day.

Which meant she had to start seducing this new student and fast. Binding someone at her power even in her weakened state was going to take a while, and the bond had to be at the minimum of tier 2 so she could turn Simon into her tree.

This was where she had the wall and the source of all her frustration. She had gained all the information readily enough but both incursions to his house and the class he was supposed to be at the hope of a 'chance' encounter had both turned up empty.

The university had listed him as blessed with an asterisk, which meant he was still subject to normal classes.

The gruel was not even working as a stop-gap measure and she needed to establish a relationship with him and fast.

If she went feral, it would be very very bad. The entire demi-plane shattering under her power bad. Her guaranteed death level bad.

Also, she was sure that the boy was young and very impressionable, she needed to influence the boy as soon as humanely possible. Otherwise, on the contingency that they bond, the boy would have a 'tier 7' legendary monster at his command.

When the planar university found out there were things were going to be very complicated.

All of this could be stopped if she stopped the germinating process and force herself to stay in her seedling form.

It was definitely the easier option and one she would have normally preferred.

But her past made that impossible.

She rubbed the grotesque glowing scar at the center of her chest hidden well between her inhumanely large boobs and a layer of carefully crafted soft trunk with one of her green delicate arms.

The scar was already showing signs of healing, the numb pain she called a constant companion noticeably lighter. The pain itself was not a problem, her pain tolerance was that of a plant meaning it was among the highest of any being.

But the fact that there was a way to heal it had her monster girls in a frenzy and it was taking all in her power to not just take Simon into her tree and fuck for a millennia.

So many things were stacked on top of each other that she had to do something, and the 'easiest' path was to bind Simon. Even if the thought of binding a to-be hero made her want to vomit a little. But that was only a small part of her will and experience, everything else was so overwhelmingly in favor that she had to act.

"Miss Flora?... Why are you in front of my home?"

The source of all her current problems and its ultimate solution had just made himself known and she had to pounce.