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《Silver Nucleus》Chapter 5 - ??? - The Seed of Free Will

The random lashing became more fluid and the tendrils more solid. Though still borderline transparent, the tendrils of energy lashing out were solid enough to draw scratches into the compressed material around the crystal.

Though the crystal succeeded in something new, something it only knew due to that unexplainable feeling of improvement within itself, it lacked the sensory apparatus to understand such progress.

Rather, it became more erratic. All it knew was the pressure was still increasing and nothing it accomplished so far managed to slow that down. [Lesser Energy Circulation] continued to feed power to the crystal and as if having a sudden thought, the crystal froze in its tendril movements.

Hit by what could only be called a eureka moment, the crystal referenced the [Lesser Energy Circulation] which saved it once before. Though it failed under this new strain, the idea of what it did seemed to resonate with the crystal.

The erratic tendrils that once whipped against the oblong cavity became more controlled and reached out to the surroundings. They creeped around what minor debris the crystal scratched off and dragged the material to the crystal’s nucleus.

Though unable to sense much about its environment, the crystal held an instinctual understanding that it was resting on something, most likely due to it being in contact with the crystal’s nucleus. In the same fashion it felt the energy pressure suffocating it, and now the small debris the tendrils pushed up against it.

The crystal attempted to use [Lesser Energy Circulation] on the loose soil, however found the results entirely unsatisfactory. Despite that, the crystal continued to experiment with the material as if driven by some hidden motivation.

[ Criteria Met: Attempting trait unlock of Lesser Spatial Storage. ]

[ Success. Acquired Lesser Spatial Storage 1. ]

The loose soil disappeared from the surroundings and though subtle, the crystal felt the pressure ease a little. Curiously, it also felt something within itself become… More.

The crystal held no understanding of what happened, not to a detailed degree, however it understood the basics revolving cause and effect. It consumed the material and as a result, the energy pressure decreased.

That was enough for the crystal to push forward. It spent the next few weeks repeating the process of lashing out at the surroundings and consuming the material. Each time it did, it felt itself somehow become more and the pressure decreased.

As one would expect though, such methods are useless against the rocks forming the mountain range it called home. This endeavour to escape the pressure increased the small cavity by a few centimeters in diameter, however it soon found that the energy tendrils no longer scratched at the surroundings.

In fact, it was unable to register much about what the tendrils were abrasive against from the start. The crystal only knew cause and effect. The method it used up to this point had become useless.

This trend was something now embedded into the crystal’s wiring. Each time it found something that worked, it was temporary at best. It felt such foreshadowing at the instinctual level. Though the pressure surrounding it was no longer threatening, the crystal understood from its past experiences that it was only a temporary reprieve.

Rather than wait for pressure to threaten it once more, the crystal used what little intelligence it built up to continue experimenting with whatever it had available. From the outside looking in, perhaps anything sufficiently advanced would claim the minor experiments acted upon by the crystal were nothing special.

After all, who in their right mind would treat scratching at dirt and eating it as anything but the act of a child? However, to the crystal, such actions were groundbreaking. Each time it moved a tendril, its control over them gained clarity. Each grain of soil it consumed was another insight into itself.

The wiring of the crystal’s internals were torn apart and recreated over and over. Each remapping denser than the last, each connection more robust, and perhaps most importantly, each new connection boosted what meager intelligence it held.

Such experiments continued for weeks until the energy pressure started pressing down upon it once again. Though not too threatening yet, the crystal now understood the concept of time well enough to know the threat was coming.

Provoked into action, the crystal used what meager brains it developed so far and went with the one strategy that worked so far. It used what control it had over the energy to construct relatively thick tendrils that extended into the ground below it.

[ Criteria Met: Lesser Energy Tendrils leveled up. ]

While experimenting, it found the tendrils capable of penetrating the area below it. At its discretion, it could phase its extensions through the material or turn them more solid for lashing out with.

The shaky control it held was good enough for the crystal to dismantle the compacted earth and rock in depressingly low quantities. However, even as futile as it seemed, the crystal only knew such things to be progress when all else failed. As such, it pushed on.

Another few weeks passed by. Under a continuous erosion of the tendrils, the crystal found the pressure surrounding it slow its encroachment. Different from the instant results in the past, it discovered for the first time the basic concepts of prevention and planning.

[ Criteria Met: Attempting unlock of unique skill Degenerate. ]

[ Failed. Request denied. ]

On this day, a sudden change occurred to the crystal. It became more proficient in using the tendrils to break apart the material below it and as if to reward it, the crystal felt the euphoric burst that often preceded improvement and yet, it was denied such a thing moments later.

The crystal held no concept of anger, however its capacity to think was something already developed beyond instinct. Not yet a true thought, however the crystal understood something such as frustration. Under the negative influence, the crystal came close to aborting its current method.

As if by saving grace, or perhaps motivated by some unknown pressure, the crystal chose to ignore the negative feedback and continue to push on. As it did, it felt the same feedback as before.