The girl's bare feet sank into the soil.
Qimeng was so excited she nearly cried.
Because she could finally walk.
"Ahh~"
An unfamiliar girl's voice slipped from her throat.
She spread open her pale, slender palms.
And once again examined this body that now belonged to her.
Withered roots lay scattered around her feet.
Emerald-green magic power coiled around her ankles.
She turned to look behind her.
That frail little sapling stood there, level with her own height.
That was her original body.
"Finally... I did it."
Qimeng reached out and touched the trunk, a smile spreading across her face.
Even now, all of this still felt like an illusion, like a dream.
Not long ago, she had been nothing but a tree, passing the days by rooting and absorbing magic, counting the bugs crawling underground to kill time.
Aside from spacing out, there was nothing else to do — that suffocating boredom had nearly driven her mad.
But she knew very well she wasn't ordinary.
When she'd first awoken from the cycle of reincarnation and been reborn as this demon tree, she had awakened the trait [Devour All Things], becoming a tireless plundering machine.
Day after day, she drained every last drop of magic power from the surrounding ley lines.
Finally, today, she had poured her entire hoarded reserve into a single point, splitting this perfect offshoot from her main trunk.
That had been a masterpiece that consumed all of her stockpiled reserves.
Even as an offshoot, its base stats were several times that of an ordinary creature.
Now, everything had changed.
She now possessed a body that could move freely — she could walk, she could run — and she could carry her cheat-like plundering skill deep into this forest.
Qimeng tried taking a step.
The soles of her feet pressed into the soft earth and dead leaves, her body swaying naturally with each stride.
She let go of all restraint and simply broke into a run across the forest clearing.
Wind brushed past her ears, black hair flying wildly behind her, sunlight pouring over every inch of the girl's body.
In this moment, the feeling of truly being alive was almost too exhilarating to bear.
After running some distance, she stopped to catch her breath.
To an ordinary human, walking might be an instinct they were born with.
But for a tree, this was a miracle.
"Almost forgot."
Remembering something important, she stirred the magic power within her body, quickly gathering the moisture in the air around her.
A mirror of water rose up before her.
A black-haired, green-eyed girl was reflected within it.
Perfect features, well-proportioned — quite pleasing to look at, all things considered.
"Not bad. Looking lively."
She stroked her own cheek, the sensation against her palm delicate and real.
"This texture... it's actually pretty impressive."
She turned to the side, examining her silhouette.
Her waistline was just right, her legs long enough, and her bust size was exactly on point.
After all, she had designed this skin herself.
As for proportions, she'd tried going bigger once and found it threw off her balance, so she'd simply kept this current version.
Looking pleasing to the eye was what mattered most.
Qimeng turned in a circle in front of the water mirror.
The more she looked, the more satisfied she felt.
In her past life, as a man, she hadn't cared about appearance at all — a mirror had been nothing more than a tool for straightening up.
Now it was completely different, since she'd be wearing this face to meet people from now on.
She flashed a victory sign at her own reflection.
"Starting today, you are the world's cutest demon tree miss."
The girl in the water mirror flashed a brilliant smile back.
Qimeng flexed her joints, producing a faint cracking sound.
If her past life had been imprisonment, then this was true rebirth.
She glanced once more at the original sapling — that was the main body, while this girl's body, split off from it, was the second body.
"Now then, let's test my range of movement."
She strode off toward the depths of the forest.
Ten meters.
Twenty meters.
The magic power inside her flowed steadily.
Thirty meters.
Forty meters.
Suddenly, a hollow feeling struck her chest.
"Hm?"
She stopped to check her condition.
The magic power that had been flowing so smoothly a moment ago had begun to stutter.
Qimeng frowned and forced herself to take another step forward.
Instantly, her perception blurred.
The magic power was still there, but she could no longer control it freely.
"I see."
She turned back to look at the tree.
Through the connection of the underground root system, she had just stepped to the very edge of her territory.
She retreated a step.
That drained, hollowed-out feeling vanished, and her body felt light again.
"So the roots are like a charging dock."
As long as she stayed within the coverage zone, she was in control.
The moment she wandered too far, this body became nothing more than a pretty, empty shell.
"A root domain, huh? Reasonable enough, I suppose."
She let out a breath of relief.
At least it wasn't some troublesome curse.
As long as she didn't wander off carelessly, it'd be fine.
Just as she was about to turn back, the bushes suddenly rustled.
A rustling sound approached — something was coming.
Qimeng stood still, her gaze locked on the direction of the sound.
Two long ears poked out first.
Then a head covered in gray fur.
Red eyes.
Ferocious fangs.
Clearly not some harmless herbivore.
The two of them stared at each other across the bushes.
"A rabbit?"
Qimeng tilted her head.
The next instant, the gray-furred rabbit kicked off the ground and lunged at her, incredibly fast.
"Wait, aren't those fangs in the wrong place for a rabbit?"
Qimeng sidestepped, dodging.
The demon rabbit's pounce missed, and a thick, bloody stench filled her nose.
An absurd thought crossed her mind.
"If a rabbit bites me, does that count as eating meat, or eating vegetables?"
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