When Phoenix One landed, they did so in an area well outside where the ‘plant people’ were doing their work. They could see the towering figure of the giant tree in the distance, the forest gradually encroaching on their position, but not the faintly elven creatures creating that effect.

“You sure about this, Captain?” The security officer spoke up as he and Captain Alice stepped out of the craft. This wasn’t the same man who had joined the Eagle Five project. Although they had wanted to recruit him, he had sworn vehemently that he would not go back to Sorii.

“Sadly, it’s protocol, Mires.” Alice shook her head. “At least, that’s what the eggheads back home said.” Egghead was a somewhat derogatory term among demons for younger people, as if they had just hatched. Despite her youthful appearance, Alice herself was well into her sixties, so it wasn’t unusual for her to use terms like that.

“Pretty sure they’re just making it up as we go.” Mires shook his head with an annoyed huff. The two of them were both wearing their EVA rings to protect themselves from the still-quite hostile atmosphere of the barren world.

“Maybe, but it’s part of the mission. If we can get their cooperation, we can finish terraforming a full century ahead of schedule, at least.” As the two of them spoke, they began moving towards the growing forest.

It took them roughly ten minutes of walking before the shadows of the trees began to loom over them. Soon after, they could see a figure poking its head out from behind one of the trees. The person had green skin with extrusions similar to leaves covering its body to offer some form of modesty. From its general shape, it seemed to be a female, with milky white eyes and thin branches extending out of the back of her head.

Alice focused, and a thin disc flashed into existence in her hand. She placed that disc into a small device strapped to her wrist and held it up. Soon, the device began speaking in Alice’s voice. “Hello, this is our first time meeting your race. We would like to take this chance to get to know you. Quest Objective, introduction to an individual capable of speaking for your people. Quest Reward, establishing a peaceful line of communications.”

The figure’s mouth opened in a silent gasp as she heard the voice, running over with her eyes locked on the device. It was clear that she didn’t understand the words that Alice and Mires had been speaking, but she had somehow understood the thing on her wrist.

Alice began to channel her ki, preparing for a potential assault while Mires clenched his fists. However, when the figure arrived in front of them, she reached down to hold Alice’s hand, the other hand touching the device on her wrist.

The first thing that the demoness noticed was the coolness of her skin. It was clear that the species wasn’t warmblooded, if there was any blood in them at all. The second thing, however, is what really caught her by surprise. A voice speaking into her mind. Are you a child of the tree as well, tiny arm creature?

“Oh, joy… this is going to take a while.” It was painfully clear at this point that this was no advanced race that had begun colonizing Sorii during their absence. No, they were about as far from advanced as it could get.

Within the world of Lorek, Jana had her eyes closed as she sat atop a mountain. She allowed herself to be lost in meditation, only enough awareness spared for her surroundings to warn her of an approaching monster. She was currently stuck at a bottleneck in both her cultivation and levels.

From what Jana knew, she should be a peak-Ancient realm cultivator. All she needed was to find the next step, just some kind of hint about how she should advance. At the same time, her monk levels had halted at five hundred and ninety-nine.

Yet, this proved to be just what she needed, the spark to fuel her advancement. She had been unable to find a guide that described how to proceed forward into the next realm, yet this ‘World System’ had given her a clue. The moment she hit her current level, a system prompt appeared.

Analyzing cultivation method. Bottleneck confirmed.

You have reached the pinnacle of your current realm. Preparing automated cultivation hint.

One thought becomes ten laws. Ten laws become a thousand truths. A thousand truths confirm the heart.

As soon as Jana read those lines, she knew that it had something to do with her advancement. Immediately, she secluded herself atop a distant mountain, establishing arrays to help protect her. All the while, her mind was focused.

One thought becomes ten laws… ten laws become a thousand truths, and a thousand truths confirm the heart…

She brought it! Trials’ voice rang out through the bond, shattering the focus of the many dungeon cores who had been studying their own divinity. Mother finally brought her gift!

The one she promised before?

Mother brought us a gift?

Show us! Numerous voices rang out at once. However, the next voice that spoke up was one that only rarely talked within the dungeon community.

She shared it with me. There was an air of mystery to this voice that attracted the other cores. Thousand Arms, Ten Thousand Threads, a Single Heart. This is a technique that Mother designed for us.

She gave it to you, Tower? You don’t even have a Master yet! One of the voices spoke up in confusion.

It’s true! Trials confirmed. Mother told me she gave the technique to Tower, and wants him to teach it to us.

Why didn’t she just tell Tower to tell us, then… The previous voice asked. It was… unusual for such a gift to come through Tower, rather than Trials. It had to be known that Trials, as far as anyone could tell, was the first dungeon. He was always doted on by Mother, and so often used as Mother’s voice within the dungeons.

She wishes for me to act as the core of the technique. Tower explained. If it works… we should be able to obtain our divinity as soon as we have a Perfection to study.

“You guys want someone with a Perfection?” Petra asked, sitting atop a tall building as she dangled her legs over the ledge of the room. In her lap, she carefully held her AC unit, speaking with the core of her own dungeon.

Yes, that’s right. Unlike many of the dungeon masters, Storm felt as though Petra could be trusted. If not with their whole plan, at least a part of it. We need to study how the body is composed when in a perfect state.

“I take it that’s why that Tower of Perfection guy appeared?” She muttered aloud, gazing up at the stars.

Exactly. Unfortunately… it seems like there are too few people that have gained that level. There was a tone of helplessness to the dungeon’s voice as it spoke with her.

“Yeah, I only really know of a few.” Petra nodded. “One… no, two of them are gods now, so that won’t work anymore, huh? Hmm… what do you even need that for, anyways?”

That… we’re trying to create a Perfect dungeon core. By now, Storm knew that there was a being with Petra that could discern lies, so it chose to give a half-truth. By all technicality, that is what they needed a Perfection for, it was just not their end goal.

“Oh! If that’s all, why not just say so?” Petra asked with a bright smile. “Would it be alright if I just tell you how to do it? I’m sure you guys can run all sorts of experiments with your monsters to get it right.”

You know how to reach Perfection!? Storm was truly shocked when he heard that. Given how few beings there seemed to be in that state, the dungeons had all assumed that it was a closely guarded secret. They thought that anybody who managed to discover the method would keep it to themselves.

“Oh, sure. There’s this guy that wrote a big report on the entire process, like, years ago. It’s just that nobody does it because they are worried about failing.”

Why don’t you do it, then?

The dungeon’s curiosity was understandable. A being as strong as Petra could easily overcome many difficulties. However, she simply shook her head. “I can’t train new classes on my own, and big sis Thelsa said that she isn’t prepared to do it yet.”

Then, could you teach us…?

“Sure!” She nodded her head with a bright smile, pushing off of the ledge. Her wings spread out behind her as she began gliding down towards the busy streets below. “Let me get to a computer, and I’ll pull the report up for you guys.”

Two hours… it took two hours just to convince the plant woman that the device on Alice’s wrist was not just some tiny creature, and was a tool that they were using to communicate. They never thought that they’d have to actually explain what ‘tools’ were, but such was the situation they found themselves in.

After they finished the explanation, the woman looked around, walking over towards one of the nearby trees and placing her hand on it. A few moments later, she came back, motioning for the two demons to follow her.

The three people began walking deeper into the forest, where other plant people began watching them. Oddly, all of these individuals held female body shapes, something that the two demons quickly took note of.

Roughly halfway through their walk, some of these individuals began following the group, forming a small entourage. They were obviously curious about the new people, though the fact that they did not speak audibly was a bit off-putting. Instead, every now and then one of them would reach out and touch another, similar to how the one who had spoken to Alice had communicated.

“Hopefully, they can be taught to speak.” Mires spoke up as they walked. “It’ll be hard for them to really fit in if they can only communicate through touch.”

“Maybe we can work on a device to translate their thoughts to words.” Alice shrugged. Such items were not entirely uncommon, though none quite like that. “As long as they aren’t hostile, it won’t be too bad.”

“Yeah, speaking of… how have we not seen any monsters yet?” Mires’ question raised a valid point. Ever since landing, the only creatures that they had seen were these plant people. According to the data that they had from Eagle Five, there should have been a large number of monsters within the world by now.

“That’s a… good question.” Alice nodded her head, before repeating the question via another Quest Disc.

Their guide turned to look at them curiously, walking over and touching the captain’s arm. Are you talking about the food-beings?

“Okay, yeah… they did it. Mires, stay on your guard. I think the plants might be omnivores.” Admittedly, that was probably not what Mires wanted to hear at the moment, his eyes scanning around to look at the different plant people walking with them.

Mires began circulating his ki, doing his best to keep himself in a state of readiness while also maintaining his calm. Soon, the two demons were brought before the trunk of the tree at the center of the forest. A trunk that stretched a kilometer wide, and literally scraped the skies.

Hanging from the branches above were countless fruits in various stages of their growth. Those on the lowest branches seemed to have already fallen, green shells littering the floor. The next level up had slowly swaying blue fruit two feet wide. The skin of the fruit was translucent, and it was filled with a strange liquid while a humanoid shape curled up within.

The next level possessed far less fruits, each one only half the size of the blue fruits. Their skins were opaque, however, so Alice and Mires couldn’t see what was inside.

Finally, there were only three fruits on the highest level that they could see, though there were perhaps more in other areas of the tree’s branches. Three golden gourd-shaped fruits, only a few inches thick. Their exterior seemed to almost shimmer with a faint light.