Looking over the messages, I see a few new interesting classes.

Pando’s Carrier - Uncommon +3% All Stats +0.1 All Stats/Lv. +5% Connection to Pando Inner Mage – Rare +6% to All stats +0.2 All Stats/Lv. +5% Connection to Inner World Nature Mage - Scarce +4.5% to All stats +0.15 All Stats/Lv. +5% Connection to Nature Rune Mage – Rare +10% to Intelligence +0.5 to Intelligence/Lv. +3% to All stats +0.1 All Stats/Lv. +5% Understanding and use of runes Enchanter – Rare +10% to Intelligence +0.5 to Intelligence/Lv. +5% to All stats +0.2 All Stats/Lv. +5% Connection to Inner World Runic Blacksmith - Scarce +10% to Strength +0.5 to Strength /Lv. +1.5% to All stats +0.05 All Stats/Lv. +5% Ease in implementing runes on your creations

All of that is really cool, but as I read each one, there is nothing compelling me to take them. My gut doesn’t react at all, and I take it to mean, there is nothing really right for me there.

There are a couple of choices that seem attractive. Like Pando’s carrier, but I don't think I should choose it. I’m happy at the number of classes that favor the all stat increase but find it a little strange. Almost everyone else was getting classes that favored one or two stats. Here I was getting all my classes eighter hybrid or spread out.

I keep scrolling through until I find the last message relating to classes. And this is the one that sends into a doozy.

You have met the requirements to Unlocking a Sub-class: Pando’s Carrier - Uncommon +1,5% All Stats +0.05 All Stats/Lv. +2,5% Connection to Pando

What could have unlocked this for me? To that, I have not a hint of an answer. Only guesses entirely based on assumption. After a moment, I think about the fact, I’m looking at a unique class. Even if someone else chose a class somewhere with the same name, it would not be the same one. This confirms to me, this was created for me. That doesn’t mean I have to chose it, especially as a ‘main’ class. But after another few moments of thought and paying attention to my instincts, I go for it.

Choosing this sub-class, I feel the Aether around me. Foreign Aether slowly streaming to me. Not a lot, just barely a thread, and as it touches my own Aether the feeling is unmistakable, very faint in magnitude, but without natural equivalent in its flavor.

It almost feels like a grand runic work with each of the lines shrunk to a microscopic level. And it is that that enters my body integrating almost seamlessly with my own internal Aether. I’m at the same time both amazed and frightened. If what I felt is even remotely correct, an Aether construct with at least a few billion components just became part of my own makeup.

After a few moments, I feel nothing different, so I open my Stat Sheet and look it over.

Name: Nash

Level:10

Titles:3

Class: [Expand]

65644/0 EXP

Strength

25

Soul

35

Constitution

22

Agility

24

Dexterity

24

Endurance

32

Perception

27

Intelligence

29

Willpower

44

Health

393/393

262

/day

Mana

520/520

51,64

/hour

Stamina

256/256

3,87

/min

Looking over everything, I see only Willpower increased visibly. After a little bit of math, I figure out that most of the bonuses were close, but not a full point. It’s no great loss given it increased my Pools and regen. And while we had no definitive proof, these partial stats worked in every way that mattered, they just weren’t down on this screen.

I go over everything one last time before closing the screen and finish my run back to my house.

Having observed a little of the inner workings of the system strikes me deeply. I was working with a few dozen runes on paper, while it could create billions or trillions on command. It did not mean that such works were totally outside of my scope. Any processor on a phone or computer was the work of billions of intricate and carefully designed parts, and while it had humble beginnings, we had long surpassed this mark, and the zeros only kept pilling up.

Trillions, quadrillions, and eventually beyond.

The long journey, with barely a rough direction in which to start, could have seen daunting, but all I felt was the possibilities. The joy of the journey, and the purpose in reaching for something greater. There was a whole array of supporting capabilities I would develop along the way, but it was clear now. Aether is the ultimate goal.

They tried to deny me Aether, but I would not only master it but teach others about it. All they needed was to learn to walk with weights attached to their feet.

Even now, after a couple of steps in mastering this wonderful energy, there was a little drag trying to stop me, but nothing would stand in my way.

I try to center myself on the rest of the way home, but before running too far from the village I have another thought. A nice and tidy solution to something running in the back of my mind, though there could unanticipated problems with it, I started to run in a new direction.

I quickly open the prompt that tells me the size of my inner world.

Inner world: 16.07 Meters diameter

The change in unit is a bit unexpected, but that is just the system’s indecision for you. I send most of my awareness to the inner world. And as I saw in the last couple of days, there is a small increase in the height of the sphere, now more like a short tube with rounded ends. I continue running for a while until coming to another place with herbs, though these don’t seem to do anything. They affect neither our health nor mana and while a few think they may have a little effect on stamina, we have yet to see any proof.

The taste is also a little strange, something between beetroot leaves and laurels, but a couple of people were gathering them for seasoning. And that is what most think is their actual purpose. We didn’t have any great variety in foods, if each of them had a definite system-clear use, we weren’t privy to it. Supporting this idea was the fact other villages, like Sarah’s, had about half a dozen of these ‘non-system’ herbs.

After only a few moments of thought, I take the shovel from my inventory and start sending most of the soil in. Midway through, after some thought, a couple of the shrubs also go in their own corner.

As I add more and more soil, slowly changing the boundaries, to not collapse the soil inside, and end up with thousands of thin root strands riped and exposed to open air, instead of the current happily growing seed.

The whole ordeal takes only 2 hours, a far cry from the entire day in the first night, but as I work, I realize something that may even be a better choice. If I can alter the format, making it wider would be even better.

The total volume seems quite fixed, but the format is easy to change.

I don’t take this very far, keeping the highest point at ten meters, but even that lets me form a flattened sphere, akin to a squished ball of almost 20 meters diameter.

This is turning out even better than I expected.

----------------------------------

A few miles later, I stand on top of the nest where the confrontation happened days ago. The time is almost up as the sun will not be up for long. I start to call while extending my mana sense along with a couple of thick tendrils of mana to extend my range.

It takes a lot of concentration, but I reach almost 50 meters from me. While activity is present, there are fewer rabbits than last time around here. I continue to call for them, and while they are at first hesitant to come, slowly a few seem to remember me, and soon, most of the nest is above with me.

Communication on the abstract level humans are used to is far from what they understand, but with a thin stream of mana, I touch the head of the biggest rabbit around me. No idea if he is any kind of leader, but let’s try anyway.

I send images along with simple concepts, and while at first, nothing happens, as my Aether cycles, and I start to get a better sense of how these little furry things think, the simple exchange is growing until finally, I get in return something completely beyond the ordinary impressions from before. A vivid and complete mental picture is sent back at me.

The surprise almost sends me reeling, which would inevitably break the tenuous connection, but I manage to hold on. Though only images and concepts are traded, and I’m almost surprised at the depth and complexity of some of his thoughts.

Humans may tend to think themselves superior, and in the end, I was not much better, but that is just because of specialization and barriers in communication. I doubt anyone else in the village could have described and understood even a tenth of the knowledge he had about the properties soil had, or the instinctive understanding of their physiological necessities.

It is them that another rabbit joins in. Through means unknown to me, they must have communicated. A smaller and older female stops and puts her head on my other hand. Almost immediately she tries sending something, but it takes a few tries to get it. Them both being connected to me, something a little strange happens, and before clear mental pictures come my way, they start to trade impressions in a very different way from what I understood. In less than a minute the rapid back and forth is over.

The female, presenting a thinner patch of hair in her body, which was just about all I knew about determining age in rabbits sends a few very clear mental images to me. Images even sharper and more concise than what I had been receiving from the first one. What I expected to take a lot of cajoling back and forth is presented in a plater to me.

I send one last and defining picture in my mind as I speak out loud:

“Come in.”

As the words rang through the forest, I form a small portal at my feet. Barely a foot tall, just enough for them to comfortably enter, and the older female is the first one to brave the new place.

In the back of my mind, there was a little doubt about the survivability of the inner space, but there is no adverse reaction as she enters takes a quick look around, and leaves. A couple of yelps are enough to send every single one of them running and in only a minute or two, over a thousand of the furry creatures are running around and playing inside. After only a moment of thought, I take a couple of small branches and tie them together to make a makeshift placeholder for the portal.

I stick the 8 inches tall structure in the ground on my inner world, near one of the edges. And open the portal for a few moments, a single small rabbit comes through after a moment. But quickly comes back inside. I then shut off the portal as he gets further away.

The run back to my home is peaceful, and a big smile is planted on my face throughout the journey. I keep another little part of my attention on the little portal, and whenever a rabbit stands around for more than a few moments, I open a portal out.

It shouldn’t take long for them to learn. As the sun disappears, I feel a strong pull on the thousand rabbits inside. I let most of them go but hold for just a moment on a few. Being inside my own pocket of space gives me incredible control, and after letting go, it seems clear to me that I could keep them all there if I wanted. I probably won’t, unless they ask to remain in my inner world around the clock.

In another few minutes, I’m at my house, and different from my usual habits, I go to sleep early. Just enough to put my body and mind to rest. In barely a minute I’m snoring away. Sleeping like a baby.