I don't know how long it's been.
A few sleep-cycles, maybe.
Or more.
But I can feel something new taking shape.
It isn't forced.
It doesn't hurt or feel uncomfortable.
It simply begins—
a slow surge from the base of my core, swelling upward like water drawn toward sky.
And then the system responds.
⊹ SYSTEM UPDATE ⊹
Level Up: Level 2 → Level 3
Vital Sap Capacity Increased
Ability Point Gained: +1
New Trait Unlocked: Photosensitive Leaflet (Active)
The moment it finishes…
I feel the change.
Not in my roots.
Not in my vine.
Above.
Something tiny unfurls from the top of me.
Delicate. Unsteady.
But it opens.
A leaf.
My first leaf!
Yay! Wow. . . What's a leaf?
It's small—so small.
Barely a sliver of skin and light.
But it quivers in the air.
Air.
That's what this is.
The nothing that's something.
The space above soil, the strange realm where warmth lives.
The light doesn't just touch it.
The leaf… drinks it.
And I feel it.
⊹ Root-Soul Interface Update ⊹
Sunlight Exposure: Detected
Leaf Integrity: Stable
Photosynthesis Efficiency: +10%
Visual Hue Sensitivity: (Dormant)
A rush rises up through my stem—warm, golden, and quiet.
It isn't sound.
It isn't color.
But it's presence.
And it reaches something inside me.
Is this what it means to look toward the sky?
I don't see.
But I can imagine something brighter than anything I've ever known.
A wind stirs.
Light flickers.
Then—
a droplet.
It lands on my leaf.
And everything changes.
The sensation is instant.
Cool.
Pure.
Soft pressure on a part of me I didn't know existed until now.
It rolls slowly from edge to edge like a gift too gentle to be held.
The system doesn't speak.
But something in me does.
I tremble.
Not from fear—
from something else.
Something closer to…
grace.
The water isn't just wet.
It is felt.
And that feeling…
matters.