Just one more rune. This is all that is missing for me and in a few minutes I will be done. A horizontal line, a curved one connecting it to the next one, two crossings and…. there, that is it, I’m done.

Finally done.

I spring to my feet ready to leave. Now all I need to do is touch the blue floating crystal… I hope.

As my fingers brush against it, the distinct blue screen shows its face again.

Class trial – One with the world

Time: 43d 12h 16m 16s (1d 5h 18 m 04 s instance time)

Congratulations, you have passed your class trial.

Passing scores:

2 Puzzles unlocked: Class loses one rarity ranking.

5 Puzzles unlocked: Class maintains rarity ranking.

18 Puzzles unlocked: Class increases one rarity ranking.

Full puzzle unlock: Chance to try the next tier trial.

Why are there two times? Instance time… is the instance a type of accelerated space chamber? The very opposite of a hyperbolic time chamber?

If I’m understanding things correctly, I don’t have to worry about the village, I still have two days. Even if I take the next trial I still have a good chance of arriving on time. I try to pull up any other screens from the system, but it is an illusion, the system is not back, just this screen and as I find out seconds later after dismissing it, one more.

Do you wish to exit or move to the next trial?

Note: Player protections on the life of the system user will be lifted. Join at your own risk.

Exit Next trial

I look at the thin skin covering the bones in my hand. So translucent I can almost make out the bones underneath. I don’t have much more leeway. Should I be more careful?

Who am I kidding? Of course, I’m going to take it, I can’t leave the option on the table and forever regret it.

I click the next trial button and in a flash, I’m outside, right where I started all of this. What? I chose ‘next trial’. I even used my hand instead of relying on the mental command. What happened?

Everything is back in place. My connection with Pando’s seed, the system's resources, and everything I think to check, except I’m not where I was expecting to appear. I’m laying in my tiny hut protected from the environment on the same spot as when I entered the trial.

I open the system prompts intent on looking for answers. The other messages will wait for later as I quickly flip through looking for answers.

In a few minutes, I can contact the village and get them to tell me how long has passed. That was something at least. A glance outward confirms it’s night. Counting the time spent on the systems clock at the trial finish, I should have come out around noon, so some time has passed and I have no memory of it. Without some type of clock in my interface, I have no way of knowing how much time I lost without contacting the village or someone else.

I extend my hand and look down. I’m almost back to normal. My 170 pounds frame is back to about 160-165 instead of the very gaunt 130 at the end of the first trial. I close it into a fist and feel not only is my full strength back but that I’m even stronger than before.

Walking outside and with a jump in the air, I confirm my expectations. Higher strength, agility, and dexterity stats. I look for the most distant tree I can make out and notice how much more detail I see.

Increased perception. I fight off the desire to run around and try out my new capabilities. They should have had a modest but significant improvement.

As I flip to the next system prompt, I grind to a halt.

Tier 2 Challenge – Fail (All memories locked)

What? So the system really messed with my memories? No, I won’t allow that. It can’t just blank out parts of me. I’m the only one that can change my memories. I will get them back if it’s the last thing I do. My memories are MINE.

I look through my memories probing them, but things are firmly locked down. I remember simply showing up here. I take a deep breath and continue going over the relevant messages.

One with the world – Rare – Main class LV. 50 – Incomplete Tier 2 Trial

+5% to Perception +0.25 to Perception /Lv.

+4.5% to All stats +0.15 to All Stats/Lv.

+5% Better perception of the world

At least it did what it was supposed to do. A rare class. If I do well on the next trial, I might be able to increase the rarity again. Though from how hard it was just this single first layer, I should probably prepare more instead of diving in again half-cocked, I already failed the second trial and I wouldn't want to waste the chance again.

Curious about the size my inner world has grown to, I open it and stare in amazement.

Inner world

0.9*99*41*50/1000=

100 m diameter (caped)

53,7% Efficiency.

What? That is not fair. I do some quick mental calculations, and I arrive at over 180 meters in diameter. I focus on the word capped, then efficiency, trying to see if the system will give any more information, but nothing happens. I look through several menus, but no matter what I try, no new information is available.

Letting the matter rest for a little while, I think over my skill list. It is also ‘caped’ as the system puts it, at level 99. I will need to figure out what is happening there. But that can come later. I spend a few more minutes thinking and going back and forth through the system screens but nothing of note shows up.

I click on Expand the class menu and a few choices show up, chief amongst them:

You have met the requirements to Unlock a Secondary Sub-class:

Creator – Uncommon (50% Effectiveness)

+1.5% to All stats +0.05 All Stats/Lv.

+2.5% Connection to your creations (Bonus halved for creations of other people)

That, I definitely want this subclass. I didn’t even have this in mind when I chose my class. Nobody else has unlocked another secondary class. Are they unlocked at all the ‘transitions’ like levels 10, 50, and 100?

I attempt to feel all around me with my perception field and more information than I ever dreamed of floods my mind. I instantly let go as I fall to the ground holding my head as I spend a minute massaging away the sharp pain in my skull.

All the while, I can’t hold back a grin. I need to be more careful, but for an instant, I felt everything within a fifty-meter radius. The hut behind me, the roots underneath, the other side of the imaginary line separating the high level zone from the medium level one.

For a slip second, I felt more than ever before, but all at once without preparing myself was too much.

I look at the skills I was supposed to have gained from my class.

Perception Field. – Lv. 28

Provides an omnidirectional sense of all that is around the user. Skill level determines Range and Resolution.

Distance: 28 m

That is much less than the full 100 meters that assaulted me just a moment ago. Let’s try just for a moment to see if it is less painful.

I turn on the skill at the smallest possible size, one meter, and slowly expand it. It quickly grows to a dozen meters and more as hits the full 28 meters without any discomfort except the lingering pain. I notice a slight mental drag component to this skill. If I keep it up too long I would probably start getting the headaches I got with the last perception field when I used it too much, but it also provided quite a bit less detail.

I keep going through the log of my main class and I see another interesting message.

Level 25 - Upgrade Perception field.

So, what I’m feeling is actually the upgraded Perception Field? It seemed slightly better than what I got on the trial, but not by much. When I crossed the level 50 barrier will I get a new skill or will I be stuck like this again?

I look at my book, is your information trustworthy? Yeah, I think so. Classes sounded really important, and looking at how high my Exp counter was climbing after only months on the instance, high level people should be at least level 500 but probably much higher. I just hadn’t started to run in bottlenecks that would make the advantages afforded by classes obvious. Without the perception field, both the skill and the upgrade would have been of enormous help to me.

Anxious, I scroll thought he interface looking for the skills from my subclass.

Pando’s carrier.

Unlocked skill slots: 1 (50% of 2 skills.)

Nature Control - Level 10 unlock

Active Nature Connection - Level 25 unlock

So I have to choose one of these skills?

I look at them both not sure of what I should do for the moment, but after a minute the answer becomes obvious. Nature control.

I rely a lot on growing and moving roots around and I doubt that anything this active nature connection can provide would be better than what I already have, but the other skill is different. Even an increase of a few percent in speed for roots and branches growth is enough reason for choosing it and I may even be able to pay less attention to work with the roots. Something that will be very useful during fights.

So I pick Nature control and go to my next subclass straight away.

Creator.

Unlocked skill slots: 1 (50% of 2 skills.)

Imbue - Level 10 unlock

Create - Level 25 unlock

This time the choice is not so obvious. The names are too vague for my taste. I try to glean any other information, but this time, the system seems even more intent than usual on its stubbornness, and not even probing it with Aether reveals the slightest smidge of information.

After a couple of minutes, I stop and leave this choice for later. Maybe I can get some more information before picking one of the skills.

Next, I open my stat screen, what changes have the subclass, and levels brought me?

Name:Nash

Level:50

Titles:3

Class: One with the World

27.59 M/0 EXP

Strength

49

Soul

41

Constitution

47

Agility

48

Dexterity

54

Endurance

60

Perception

68

Intelligence

65

Willpower

80

Health

782/782

531

/day

Mana

1050/1050

96,34

/hour

Stamina

491/491

7,26

/min

Over a thousand mana and a massive increase in my soul stat. Hell, a massive increase in everything. I lay back and start going through all the other messages, but nothing very interesting shows up, so it only takes me another few minutes to empty my ‘inbox’. I shudder just thinking about the word.

Done with that, I contact the village and ask when the attack is supposed to happen again.

“It will be later today. Or rather tomorrow, I think it’s still before midnight.”

“Could you do me a favor and look at the clock?”

A few moments later he returns and says.

“Thirty minutes left in the day.”

“Is the attack going to be at noon?”

“Yeah, everything indicates that.”

“Thank you.”

Twelve hours before I need to arrive back at the village. That is plenty of time.

No longer worried about it, I start on something it can no longer wait, connecting to Pando’s seed. I deepen our connection, all my awareness goes to our bond and the space surrounding us as his concern starts to fade faster.

“Everything is fine. I’m back… So, what have you been up to?”

As I find out, he was also subjected to the temporal effects of the trial. He feels older and more mature having learned much more than I expected even though she was by himself. Could I find a way to cheese the system and get more of this accelerated training time? Though it’s more like leaving the slowed time zone. Why would the system even put us someplace where time passes slower?

Even with the little I learned of magic, I know we have no hope of creating a space to manipulate the forces of time and space, but allowing some of the real-time through in a small pocket of space sounds a lot easier and the runes I discovered on the trial should also help breathe life back to the currently stalled space/time research.

Opening my book, I start to go through it and confirm some of my hypotheses about the trial and the runes I copied. It might take longer than I was expecting and if it took too long the money needed to remain on the instance would start to be a concern, but I would try anyway.

During the time he was alone, Pando’s seed seems to have learned how to be much more frugal with his mana use, and even better, he was getting more efficient which he is more than happy to demonstrate.

After moving his roots and growing in different directions he finishes by drawing a hundred mana and forming a few droplets of water.

My eyes widen.

That… shouldn’t be possible.

The system has a stranglehold on mana and magic. Before, the only thing he could do was move mana and use it to increase his growth. I also had the distinct feeling that he wasn’t working with true nature mana, but being a plant himself gave some benefits, but this….this was real magic casting.

I was trying to bypass some of the restrictions, but it seems the little guy was ahead of me. Perhaps he will also be able to start engraving and doing all sorts of other stuff in time, but even just independent casting opens up a whole world. If he learned to be more efficient with mana, we could become a real team. My runes and the advantage of the inner world are enough to provide some benefits like another caster at my side, but it depended heavily on preparation, but his help will be in real-time.

With a smile on my face, I continue reading my book looking for any new information it could provide about the situation and my conjectures.

Half an hour later, after finishing the book and meditating on it for a while, I climb on my flying vehicle and start going around. The inner world may not have increased in size as much as I hoped for, but it still is dozens of times larger than before, with the very large requirements for soil that the size entails. Tons upon tons of dirt and other organic matter to decompose go into it.

I try to change its shape, but I fail miserably. The size is reached is all that is available. I idly wonder if this size limitation was always in place.

Shaking my head I look at Pando seed’s work. He managed to hold the dirt so the whole thing didn’t crumble against the bottom of the inner world.

I spend the rest of the night going to plenty of places, and in a hurry, pulling most of the soil and plant matter in the spots where herbs were growing. It will take me a long time to fill it all if I want to do it with just this prime soil, but better I start sooner rather than later. I would never finish if I kept putting it off.

The trip back to the village, even with my stops at a couple of dozen places takes me less than 6 hours and I arrive just as the sun is starting to peek through the sky. I have a lot to do if the attack is supposed to be at noon. Now let's get started.

As I cross the gates, I finally let my new sense spread fully while limiting the detail. Though I don’t use the knockoff version gifted to me by the system, but the one I attained myself and everywhere within fifty meters is within my awareness.

Yes, this is what I’m supposed to feel. Everything comes to my awareness.

In seconds even the more muted version starts being too much, so I start experimenting with even lower resolution while trying to bring more detail just in specific regions around me.

This is what the class is supposed to represent. To feel and know everything around me. To learn. To be aware.