REGION: The Barripatch Islands

The residents of the Barripatch Islands are known to be agents of chaotic neutrality. Species, both monster and humanlike, that are born here bear the Primary Name of Power: Barripatch. Many among the known world identifies this title and its owners as a Region Name of Power, yet this location's connection to the deity known as ---ERROR/:INSERTING KNOWN DATA--- GREY STICKMAN ----ERROR/:END---- is unarguably augmenting it into a Deity Name of Power.

Among Brogdar's landmasses in the known world, Barripatch itself is largely unexplored and houses a vast majority of primarily flora species. Most well-known are the nomadic, air-carried seedlings of the Hinderbush that bring Thorn Grass to various nations along the Northern and Dividing Oceans. All attempts to make landfall on the islands are recorded to have failed, yet charters and careful seawork have estimated the main island to be as large as forty miles wide and tall in a nearly perfectly circular shape. The bordering islands are believed to be at a total of fourteen in the count, yet changing sea levels and flows have led scientists to believe many islands periodically submerge every century while others rise.

What little is known about the Barripatch Islands is that they themselves are wholly unknown in a world where progress has lead to the creation of countless nations and powers. It is older and known to most societies either within five-hundred miles of it or with access to long-distance sailing. And even those blessed by ---ERROR/:INSERTING KNOWN DATA--- FACELESS RED AND BLUE PILLAR ---ERROR/:END---- are unable to evoke wisdom from their gods as to its purpose. However, it is believed that if there has ever been landfall, it has swiftly lead to the escape of legendary beasts or creatures that reside there.

It is believed the end of the world will begin with the Barripatch Islands being connected with the mainland, where its populace will send the world into a chaos unlike any strife in known history. From this chaos, those of neutral law shall come forth to quell it and ultimately lead to the Era of Neutrality.

Codex entry Name of Power discovered.

Codex entry Era of Neutrality discovered.

Stats Feature Unlocked: Name of Power: Barripatch.

Kaden can't quite fathom the unending flow of alerts and beeps sounding across the menu; countless new Codex entries, as well as a new option, danced across what little of his free vision was left. A quick glance at Name of Power didn't really explain a whole ton but it made it apparent that he should at least investigate it further.

Names of Power

Divided into three types, Names of Power are similar to Titles but are often born or bestowed upon someone only by gods. The three types are as follows:

✦ Primary, which are considered to be Deity or Regional. These are often born to a person and can often be determined by someone or something's species. Not all regions bear the ability to grant Names of Power, but those of importance or connection to the Gods do.

✦ Secondary, those granted by gods through rituals. Unlike Primary, these Names of Power can be used as a status symbol outside of titles to garner aid. Legendary heroes and villains alike are granted these.

✦ Anomaly, the Names of Power believed to be born or found on individuals chosen by the gods. Unable to be seen or verified by any known means. Unlike Secondary Names, these names come without rituals and could be considered either the most extremes of either fortune.

While they do not grant stat changes traditionally, they can influence the growth rate of individuals in various ways. If any Names of Power conflict, they will give way in correlation to Primary beneath Secondary beneath Anomaly. As anyone can be born with a Primary, they can replace it with a Secondary. Those who bear a Secondary may only lose it to an Anomaly. All Names of Power can be tracked in an individual's statuses and seen with certain skills or, rarely, magic.

Jesus... who'd think that the Barripatch entry alone could give me the chills. Also, how am I supposed to be some chaotic neutral normie, but you're telling me the place my species came from is supposed to be prophetic? Not to mention how weak I am! Or, at least, how weak I feel. Stupid... Stickman dumbass. That aside, I swore I saw something about an error a moment ago... what was all that about? Is it possible that Stickman and the others have names that I simply don't or can't know yet?

As frustrated as he was, Kaden couldn't help investigate his new "Name of Power". It didn't change any of his stats, but if he had brows to furrow then they'd be doing so after reading it.

Name of Power: Barripatch [Primary]

Born in the Barripatch Islands, creatures and species bearing this Name of Power are believed to be agents of neutral chaos.

Avatars of the ///GREY STICKMAN///, those bearing this name bear great fortune. Yet, in turn, they bring ill fortune and change for Brogdar.

So then that'd mean I was born in the Barripatch Islands? I remember it mentioned airborne seedlings... so it's likely that although I woke up in Kave, my 'birth' would have taken place back there. So... then... does that mean I'm actually fairly close to the coastline? If that's the case, couldn't I potentially find some seafaring town's ruins? If I remember correctly from reading the Great Plains entry, there should be something surrounding us.

As encouraging as these discoveries were, his new information bore some caution into the reincarnated plant. Travelling was easily doable in his larger bush state; for starters, he could protect his core more easily and maybe improvise a mobile attack pattern due to its spherical shape. Ranbi wasn't exactly intimidating, either, and apart from a few other species that he hadn't discovered yet, there were likely to be no surprises tumbling along killing them. The pond's benefits aren't worth scoffing at, but if he were able to locate a town ruin he may be able to find something that survived the last 300 years of abandonment. At the rate things were going, this new Codex was going to get juicy thick with new information in no time with every discovery he made, no matter its size!

However, his mind continued poking his vision back to the Codex's other new entry. The menu navigation was easy enough to get back to it, but the Era of Neutrality wasn't so easy to open up.

If I'm an agent of chaos, that'd mean I'm here to bring great change... but an era of neutrality? The way it comes off makes it sound like some otaku fantasy or... chuu... chuunibii? I don't remember the word but it's like kids who have too much fantasy in their life to the point they think it's real. Like imagination off the line. If this Era is like that, wouldn't it make it something really lame or obscenely outrageous? I mean... the way the Barripatch codex reads, it sounds like it'd be a time of war. Reading it now, I might end up somehow leading to it happening... right?

... I can't read it.

Kaden closed the menu, choosing to instead turn his attention to his surroundings. With the addition of his new skill, it was likely a good idea to focus on using Growth and expanding his kill-net and protective surroundings. The grass getting bitten or chewed up was unlikely to hurt him much now that his new body was very centralized. If his thinking was on point, however, he still needed to find a way to relocate and fast. Using water was effective but if they really did set fire to the plains every century, then it was possible the mention of three hundred years had been specifically counted.

Nugget! Come on!

The one-eyed stomper turned its attention to Kaden and understood; as great as their new home, it needed to wait. All the lengthy danger-strands began rolling and coiling inward with carefully timed precision, linking around Kaden's new form like a grass coat. Kaden had performed this trick enough that his body seemed to instinctively use Uproot. Yet as his bush's form rose, he was remarkably quicker; unlike the grassroots, the wooden roots were like true fingers that tore and clenched at the dirt. If it wasn't for his camera-like view, he could insist that it was the first bodily reminiscent thing of being a human!

But when the ball was formed around his new main body, Kaden found out a new benefit to his increased stats and wooden digits. The feeling of water around them masked it at first, but he could flex them. Kaden's bush trunk could serve as an actual hand; sure, it had a lot more fingers (roughly eleven that were usably large) but if he wanted to he could squeeze the ranbi directly with this.

So he did; he wormed one of the corpses out of his spherical form and rolled over, wreathing one of the smaller ranbi in the roots. Even though he wasn't rooted in as he might normally be, they tore deep into its body... and sapped the little decomposing fucker of colors, weight, and nutrition.

Holy shit! You're kidding me!

He dropped the far skinnier corpse and repeated it with a larger one; this one too imitated the same loss of mass and remaining healthy color, clacking loose of the roots in Kaden's apparent shock.

Am I... consuming the ranbi directly!? If so, then that means I don't even need to root in! Given I can squeeze them with my roots, that also means I don't need to plant myself and wait for them to decompose. I can actually bypass all of that and squeeze the little shits of their nutrients!

Nugget questioningly nudged the corpses, watching as Kaden set about to spend the day discarding of their ranbi cargo. Whether it was due to how powerful he was or how he had been bleeding them all this time, no ranbi came for the first time in his stay in Brogdar. The pond was sullied but in its place, each body contributed nutrients to Kaden's form like a tasty meal. But the best part was that it wasn't merely satisfying to twist the remaining life out of them and no longer carry around corpses.

It meant that he could discard all of the bodies... and travel much faster. With only Nugget inside - who could be hoisted and kept from tumbling about with a bit of focus - Kaden could actually make good on his hopes of exploring. The Codex's answers alone wouldn't satisfy him; he needed to be a proper isekai protagonist and discover just how deep his involvement in this world was. Never getting out and doing his own thing had long kept him held back, but no more. He'd handle the bodies and turn in for the night, knowing that after two weeks his adventure had finally begun.

Tomorrow, Operation Explore Kave begins... and, maybe, I may find something to utilize in evolving or training Nugget. If I evolved, surely he's getting close to evolving too, right? Taking on adventures now, when our grind is starting to plateau, seems like the obvious and smart choice!