My knife slid gently across what would soon be the edge of my new ax. Was it the fourth or the fifth I'd made since coming to Kernstalion? I'd lost count, and the one I remembered best was still the first one Agga had given me.

The story Libidi had told me was still on my mind, as was their request. A world that had been destroyed due to some conflict between deities that no longer existed. It sounded awfully familiar. Some sole deity remained, partially destroyed, but was still worshipped by name, which from what I knew, meant she had to still be around. They described a nasty world filled with monsters and covered in a miasma that shrouded the entire globe addling the inhabitants' minds. According to Libidi, most were downright evil, the rest spiteful, and capricious. Only the Isirow were mainly normal. Well, if you forgot the fact that they used pain as sustenance like I did a dumpling.

Besides, that's probably what all of the other races on their world might say, I thought. 'We are normal. The rest are the horrible monsters.'

I was sitting on the log I was carving, listening to the rustling of the leaves beyond the wall, upon which only a few guards patrolled. If not for my almost perfect night vision, carving now would have cost me a finger at a minimum. Fortunately instead, the large bladed ax with the extra-long handle was quickly turning from a piece of malleable wood into a soon-to-be deadly weapon. Absently I held it out to test the balance, noting the left blade was still a few grams too heavy. The handle was long enough to hold with all four hands, meaning I could move it faster and harder after I got used to it.

A second livable planet around a sun. I mentally shook my head as I remembered how Libidi had described Leralion. Okay, perhaps not comfortably livable.

I shaved some more off the blades until I was happy with the balance, then began casting Harden Wood. I had some experience with hard types of wood, but as I continued casting and casting and the drain that showed I had reached a level over equilibrium still hadn't happened, I shook my head in wonder. Eventually, a slight drain came, and I removed the last Harden Wood by casting Soften Wood before holding the ax out in front of me.

The blades gleamed like dark black metal, and the handle was warm and smooth in my hand. I'd carved a crosshatch pattern in it, as the grain was so smooth I might let the ax slip mid-fight otherwise. Holding my new ax, I grabbed the ax Rathica had made me and the others. Its edge had blunted, and it had smudges across it. Still, I could easily fix it, but I wasn't going to. Although a deity had made it, it was obvious that Rathica hadn't put too much effort into it. I put it back down, deciding to keep it as a backup weapon. With how I kept losing my weapons left and right, who knew when I'd suddenly need a replacement.

Taking a look around, I knew it was almost time for the next training session, hopefully, the last. After that, I'd need to get some sleep. I'd been awake for a long time. I jumped off the still unmoving and unfinished, soon to be dragon statue, put the ax to its flank, and walked around it. It wasn't done yet, but it was already becoming much better than anything I'd made in a long time. At the very least, the thing I'd put the most effort in that was big and wasn't a statue to Rathica.

A soft tap from behind made me turn around, and I found Libidi standing there. It wasn't that I could now distinguish her, but because I'd asked her to come to get me when it was time. I nodded, grabbed my ax, and followed her.

"How can you even lift that," Libidi asked as she gazed at the ax that was gleaming in the moonlight. I was slowly getting used to her cold, detached voice.

"A high strength."

I didn't elaborate, still not sure if my plan was the best idea. As I followed her into my wagon, we found Dibidi was already sitting there, beside the chair.

"Right," I said as I closed the door and decided I'd have to see where this went. "I've had some time to think about what you asked. After we reach the coast, I'll find a vessel leading north, and you two can come."

Dibidi smiled coldly, as did Libidi, and I sighed, hoping I wasn't making a mistake.

"You're not making a mistake," Libidi said calmy. "We will be useful."

I moved towards the chair and sat down, wondering what Rathica would have to say about all of this.

"Alright, this will be the last time I do this for a while. After this, expect no more than once a week," I said.

The two Isirow didn't respond, and I took a deep breath before closing my eyes.

Here we go again.

I sighed, and formed the first mental hand gesture.

A long while later, I opened my eyes again with a shudder, my face sweaty and my hands cramped from clasping the chair's armrests. Taking a look beside me, I saw Libidi and Dibidi lying in a stupor.

I'm never going to get used to this, I thought as a loud ping came from my status window. I opened it immediately.

> Your mindscape has expanded

> Your mindscape has crossed the first boundary

> To increase the cap of an attribute, enter your mindscape

> To choose a skill to increase, enter your mindscape

> To choose a resistance to increase, enter your mindscape

Holy shit, I thought as I gazed at the list. What does the second milestone grant? For a moment, I was tempted to continue my crazed training, then shuddered. The pain, although slightly offset by Libidi and Dibidi, was still too much to have to deal with on an almost continual basis.

Perhaps there's another way, I thought as I closed my eyes and stepped into my mindscape.

A soft breeze was the first thing I noticed, and although I had no face, I was still able to sense it. The small status window hovered to the side, two sets of buttons below some text.

> The Mildasir tree has grown to fit your mindscape

> Mindscape barrier strength increased

> Raparion has begun growth of a small vegetation ecosystem

> Upon completion it will provide food to the beings that reside in your mindscape

> Choose one of your skills to increase by a level of one, up to a cap of five

> Choose a resistance to increase by one, up to a cap of five

A shortlist of skills and resistances followed, a button behind each.

Beings? I thought for a second, wondering if that was Par or someone else. Without waiting, I selected the button behind Chaos Resistance.

> Chaos Resistance 0/0

> Chaos Resistance gained

> Chaos Resistance 0/1

Oh right…

I groaned. I'd forgotten that I had to level the resistance. How was I going to do that? Would being infected with Chaos Poisoning be enough to trigger it? I'd have to ask Par about that.

Feeling a lot more secure than I had in a while, I ignored the skill choices and looked around. The barrier was much farther away and much higher also. The last time I'd been in here, it had been roughly sixty feet across, now it was five hundred, and it felt even bigger.

The tree was still in the center, but it had grown alongside the mindscape and was now a towering behemoth. A few smaller ones stood near it, and Par was hanging on the side of the massive tree. He now had a bloodred mohawk that stretched all the way to the tip of his tail. He jumped off, sprinting towards me. Nothing remained of the oddities that had plagued him before.

"You did it, mortal!" he shouted. "I've begun growing some more things to make living here more pleasant, and if you could gain some more Karma for me to work with, that'd be great!"

I blinked in surprise at the audacity of his request, then barked out a laugh. "Sure, I'll pick some up from the local grocer when I'm there."

Par just looked at me before hopping back to the tree. "Have you decided if you will continue training?"

"I'll do one training per week," I said. "But there's something more important first. How do I get my Chaos Resistance up?"

"Do you really know nothing? How did you ever increase your Demon Poison resistance?" Par asked as he climbed into the large tree.

I floated after him.

"By standing in the bloody rain," I said, snickering at my own bad joke.

"Well, that's how," Par said matter of factly. "Just take some Chaos damage, that should work."

I sighed, sad that my bad joke was either ignored or had gone unnoticed.

"Will the Chaos Poison I have now work?"

"Of course not!" Par said, looking at me with his beady eyes. "If you let that flare up, it will kill you! Just find something with a minimum amount and wear it on your skin or something."

Of course, I thought as I ignored Par and looked at my very short list of skills. My first thought was that I really needed to use the time during this trip to gain more skills. Then I recalled that I only had four skills I could learn.

> Ax master 5/10 [increase]

> Vengeful Mount 1/1 [increase]

> Location Sharing 1/1 [increase]

Interesting, I thought, as I gazed at Vengeful Mount. It was a skill I used a lot and one of the few I had. Increasing ax mastery at this point felt like a waste, especially as it would only go from ten to eleven. Location sharing seemed far too utility, and as I looked at it, I felt some distaste. It was taking up one of my valuable skill slots, and I barely used it. No, Vengeful Mount seemed far more interesting. Besides, how was I going to increase the skill beyond this point? It seemed capped at one. Curiosity mixed with my reasoning took over.

Show daddy something cool, I thought, and I slowly and deliberately clicked the button behind it.

> Increased Vengeful Mount

No, 'are you sure', confirmation? I thought, slightly annoyed—such a poor user interface. Then I saw the lines that appeared below, and I wished I had a face to grin with.

> Vengeful Mount 2/2

> Duration increased

> Drawing in a Vengeful Spirit inside a large or humongous body will enable you to ride it. The Vengeful Spirit will behave as an intelligent, well-trained mount. When there are no other Vengeful Spirits, the summoned mount will remain indefinitely. Upon summoning a Vengeful Spirit, the mount's spirit will disappear.

The text had changed from before. I was sure it had only said large when I initially got the skill, and I was damn sure it hadn't said intelligent. But the thing that was most useful was the fact that I could have it around indefinitely. The mount outside was meant to also help in a fight, and with it around, I could finally sleep while having someone guard me!

I do wonder what the difference between large and huge is supposed to be, I thought as I closed the small windows.

Par was hanging from the side of the tree, looking at me.

"So, leaving again, I presume?" he said in a flat voice.

I ignored him and tried to recall what Rathica had said I should ask him before she left. Something about him teaching me everything I needed to know, whatever that was supposed to mean. I'd asked about it before but forgot with everything that had been going on, and Par hadn't brought it up.

"Rathica said you should teach me what I needed to know. What did she mean?"

Par sniffed, then skittered up to the lowest of the trees and lay down on it. I followed him, noticing that his claws actually left marks on the tree. It was definitely lifelike.

"What do I care what that youngling said?" Par said. "Probably about things like this," he padded the tree, "and milestones."

I felt like telling him I'd tell Rathica if he didn't speak up, but that somehow made me feel like a little child telling a bully he was going to tell his mom. No, if I was going to have him in my mindscape, I would need a way to deal with him myself. I faintly recalled that I'd managed to attack him with the barrier during the time he was transforming into his current shape. I focused on the barrier, trying to make it attack Par. For a moment, nothing happened, then the light in my mind-scape dimmed as a thunderous cloud marred the barrier above us. Lightning crackled across the previously pristine milky white surface.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Par said as he looked up. "Come on! No need to get angry!"

I was about to pull back and tell him to stop playing around when one of the bolts blitzed at the tree, leaving only an afterimage in my mind. Something exploded ahead of me, and my small cloud shape was sent tumbling back. I began calling back the barrier while spinning away, trying to calm it. When my sudden flight came to an end, and I had control over my movement again, I looked at the tree, getting a very bad feeling.

A part of the tree was scorched, and a hole sat in the previously beautiful green canopy. The branch Par had sat on was snapped off, just a cracked stump remaining, the rest on the ground below. A crater sat there, and as I watched, a small figure came out, falling on his ass he stared at the sky.

"Screw you, mortal! They said I'm crazy and dangerous, but I've never heard of someone trying to destroy their own Mindscape Keeper!" Par shouted, his voice shaking slightly.

Taking a look at the tree, I hoped it would fix itself eventually, and the crater seemed problematic. Still, it didn't seem like a good idea to say I was sorry, so instead, I moved towards Par.

"I will zap you again if you keep holding back on me," I said. "You are supposed to be the Keeper of my Mindscape, whatever that means. Tell me the things I need to know!"

Par looked up at me, the rage on his small rodent face turning to surprise, and then he burst out laughing. He fell on his back, his body shaking violently.

I looked at the former god of anger and fear, wondering if he had finally snapped.

Par's laughter lasted for a few minutes before slowly abating, and he got back up on his feet. I noticed that his long red mohawk had a small black scorch mark on one side.

"I've not had this many interesting things happening for eons," Par said as he looked at me. "Fine, you dangerous little mortal, I'll try and be as forthcoming as I can. But you know very well there are things I can't tell you. Even now that I'm your Keeper, I'm still bound to some rules."

"Good. And also? Stop calling me mortal," I said. "My name is Est."

Par sniffed as he shook his head. "Sure. I'll do that when you reach milestone three. Until then, mortal, go out there and see if you can make a name for yourself. Preferably with your titles. That's the easiest way to increase your Karma."

The small ex-deity turned squirrel turned around and looked at the damage.

"You made a total mess of this place! Bah, it's going to take a while to repair it."

Perhaps I should just blast him again, I thought. Then I sighed.

"Fine. I'll be back tomorrow night. I'll be here every night from now on, so this time, figure out the things you can tell me!"

I didn't wait for a reply but stepped out of my mindscape.