After half an hour of playing ball, throwing expensive Essence-fruits for his pet slime to catch, Nic came to a few conclusions about Gwungo’s abilities.

The first was simply that Gwungo was scary. The odd little lifeform was infinitely malleable, and there was no energy source Nic could apply, not fire or poison or anything else, that Gwungo couldn’t learn to drink up.

There were limitations. Gwungo could only ‘adapt’ to one threat at a time, and while it was easy for him to protect his own body, it was much harder for him to protect Nic. Enough fire, cold, or anything else, and some of it would begin to slip through.

He wasn’t much good against pure physical force, either. The hardest he could make his body was equivalent to a light-weight steel; not useless, but not terribly strong at Nic’s level.

The one thing Nic hadn’t tested was his Primordial Mist.

As for his ability to stretch and bend, Nic could only imagine all the uses for those. Gwungo could actually change size by ‘storing’ his mass as Essence, essentially self-cannibalizing until he was small enough to fit in Nic’s pockets.

“Did I do good?” The slime eagerly asked, snaking itself over and around Nic’s fingers playfully. “I’ve never done so many things before!”

Nic gave him a gentle squeeze, watching the slime’s liquid body bend outwards from the pressure until his eyes bulged. “Yeah, you did good, little guy.”

“Good-good. I am tired, Maker-Mine. I wish to dream about silly things…” And like that, the little slime was out. ‘Sleeping’ meant curling itself as small as possible and becoming a loose clump of clay-like flesh, full of strange pulsating organs in pastel colors and fanciful forms. Nic shrugged and pushed the dormant Gwungo into a pouch on his belt.

One more thing to note…

The slime tired out easily.

As Nic returned to Sunfire and Redjaw, he found that the massive lindworm had laid itself down to sleep as well; or at least, Redjaw was trying to sleep. It was slightly hampered by Sunfire scrambling up and down its back, letting out bright, chirpy little birks and spitting out tongues of flame.

“That’s new.” Nic noted.

“We selected a Truefire Stonefruit for his prize.” Sofia appeared by his side, answering the unspoken question. “It’s a body-tempering treasure that replaces the usual benefits of enhancing Physical Strength with an increasing affinity for fire.”

Nic nodded. Those kinds of treasures were common lower on the list- some fully replaced the normal benefits of growing your strength, while others simply added a minor side benefit each time you enhanced your body.

It was a good choice. Sunfire wasn’t ever going to be as intimidating as Redjaw; his temperament was simply wrong for the task. But if his mastery of fire continuously improved, he could still be useful in his own way.

---

Nic returned to town in time for the last of breakfast, collecting a bowl of heavy root stew flavored with flecks of insect meat and a stock of shellfish. He perched atop a stack of rough-spun reed ropes as he ate, watching the people come and go.

Sofia was doing a good job of organizing them. Credits were doled out for an ever-growing list of tasks, and spent back into the town via a longhouses full of goods; Nic had contributed parts of his stash of fruits and herbs to stocking up the town stores, and was steadily reclaiming that investment. Add to that the numerous medicines Sofia had people gathering for in the forests of Winterhome…

And you had a working economic engine.

But Nic cared less for what this all did for him - a reasonable trickle of valuable goods he could sell on for Credits - and more for what it did to the town.

Suddenly everyone had somewhere to be. Something to do.

They watched the town grow up in blisters of wooden scaffolding, houses being constructed by the day thanks to the Shard-blessed strength of the workers. They felt the rhythm of boots stomping through the floating quays of the city…

And like music pulls people in, luring them to tap their toes and hum along and finally dance, they too fell into the rhythm of Winterhome.

The doubt and fear that had infected them like a sickness slowly bled away, replaced by hard work that left them no time to worry and the warm feeling of doing that work side-by-side with countless others; they were part of something, something alive and just starting to breathe, and that sense of being connected was the cure for the days of isolation and nights full of terrors that had tormented them since the System arrived.

The city is cultivating, Nic thought idly.

---

Nic had chosen to spend the day in lazy enjoyment, following a group of hunters who ventured out past the bounds of the city to plant gathering arrays in the woods. It was simple work and gave him time to think...

Essence 18,315 / 18,315

+ 19.27 per Minute

(3.212 Base)

100% Local Modifier

+ 200% Node Dominance

+ Devoured an E-Class enemy (200%)

+ Consumed a F-Class treasure (100%)

+ Rested in toxic environment (300%)

Demonic Essence &%##!~

Titles -

Witness of the New Dao

---

Ferocious Beast

(Rewards 18,500 First Wave Credits to your killer. Increase bounty by 500 with each Native you kill. Each dawn, gain credits equal to one tenth of your bounty.)

Cultivation Base (Unranked)

X Physical Strength (0/6,000)

III Mental Acuity (842/8,000)*

II Spiritual Clarity (2,316/4,000)*

II Regeneration (322/20,000)

He flicked his cultivation map open casually for the third time in as many minutes, considering carefully. Filling his strength to the maximum limit appealed…

But so did giving some attention to his Shards. Focusing too much on his core abilities seemed almost like a trap when his Shards provided all of his tools…

Totemic Petroglyphs (F)

Creates tools of bone, rock, and leather that contain the spirits of the fallen, calling them to your aid. A high-quality magical shard.

V Base Enhancement (Complete)

I Add Essence Efficiency (346/2,000)*

Additional Secondary Slot (0/50,000)

Summoning Limit (0/50,000)

Spirits of the Earth (Complete)

Shard-Crafting (0/100,000)

Totemic Petroglyphs in particular was falling behind. Right now, his resonant greatsword was better than anything he could craft, and using Gwungo as armor replaced his need for defensive tools entirely.

If he didn’t integrate a new Secondary Shard and raise it to an E-Class soon, he’d fall behind the treasures he was acquiring by going out to adventure. At that point it would be better to sever it entirely and start fresh.

But he just closed his cultivation map again, happy to waste a few minutes gathering Essence to make the decision properly...

In the distance, the hunters drove another territory marker into the earth. A subtle warp flickered through the air as the natural energies of the world bent around the formation-marker.

The basis of the array to gather energy for Winterhome were arm-thick stakes driven into the ground, carved with the simplest forms of runes; they were designed to shape the energy below the soil and guide it towards the Settlement. They looked like primitive totems, carved into snarling beasts, curling serpents, and similar imagery.

Trudging through the woods, they found that relatively few creatures were even willing to make a show of defending territory. For better or for worse, they knew they lived in the shadow of Winterhome, and several times the beasts would ignore the humans entirely and instead approach Nic.

With Inkspur on his shoulder, Nic held court in the wilds.

His first guest was an eyeless mixture between a sloth and owl, with dark tan feathers extending down its long arms and a white-masked face. It brought out a strange white fruit with a single Dao Mark at its core, clearly nervous, almost shivering in fear.

White Pearl Fruit. F-Class // Natural Treasure. Grown only from trees under which a being has experienced enlightenment, these fruits carry a taste of nostalgia and memory, reminding you of the sweetness of life. Can aid slightly in comprehension of the world.

It wanted to trade.

Nic didn’t hesitate to bring out the golden pine pills he’d gotten from Baby Boots, as well as several other small things. In the end he traded off dozens of minor fruits and herbs, alongside a satchel to carry them in, which the sloth-owl seemed the most excited about. Delicately folding its prizes away it climbed into the trees.

Only then did the hunters breathe out. As nervous as the poor beast had been, the humans had been equally afraid. Both sides had been effectively trained by the System to react with violence.

Meeting peacefully put everyone on edge.

The next time beasts approached, they came in force. Lizard-like creatures that marched on their hindquarters, small, claw-tipped hands clutching the air. Feathers ran along their muzzles, above scales of ash-gray and shocking bright orange.

They keened and yelped at the hunters, trying to frighten them off, but fell silent when Nic stepped forward. The poisonous presence he’d acquired from witnessing nuclear fire poured off him, and the beasts retreated.

Only their pack leader remained, although it twisted its neck and shuddered under the wind of poisonous energy that flowed from Nic.

He restrained his presence again and called Inkspur onto his shoulder. “Tell them that the people of Winterhome are off-limits. If they want to join us, they can join us. If they want to leave us be, they can leave us be…”

“But try to bother us again and I’ll cut them down.”

The beast’s golden eyes flickered as it took in the threat, and then, in its own croaking language it replied. Inkspur translated, “You have found yourself a place among the Natives. I have my people. We will not meet again.”

“Good.” Nic said firmly.

“But you should know, there is a spirit. It has a path like yours…”

Nic raised an eyebrow. “A spirit?”

“A ghost that infects what it touches, turning flesh to glass, wood to steel. If you kill it, all the forest will be safer. If you do not kill this ghost, only a matter of time until it seeks you out..”

The lizard slid back into the undergrowth and vanished. Nic sighed, turning back to the hunters.

“I have to go deal with something.” He said through Inkspur. “Keep an eye out.”

Drawing open his cultivation map one final time, Nic made a decision. Tomorrow, he’d focus on raising Petroglyphs. Today, he pushed his body to its natural limit.

With a feeling of surging power, Essence flowed into his Physical Strength nodes, filling them until they broke through and grew deeper, becoming hungry maelstroms of Essence that collapsed back down into new, perfectly solidified nodes.

Because there’d always be a bigger idiot that needed a stronger punch in the face.