When I finally woke up, I felt like slapping myself. I mean I guess that I had been in shock after what had happened yesterday, but I should be doing a better job of using the time that I had. The area that I was in was only going to be protected for another six days now and I hadn’t even finished the first Aspect that I had been told to complete for goodness sake.

“Alright I have to make a plan,” I decided after taking a few deep breaths to ease my irritation at myself. This second chance at life came with several drawbacks but the fact of the matter was that I had essentially been hired to help people in a world where I could level up and learn skills like in a video game. I was alright at video games, but I needed to start taking this seriously. People’s lives depended on me surviving until they arrived, or they would have to deal with this hostile world having just lost their own.

I shook my head; it was quite ironic really. That was a similar situation to the one that I was in right now but at least I was an adult. I was willing to bet that there would be quite a few children and probably quite a few old people among the Yajash when they make it here and it was my responsibility to make sure that they had a safe place to live.

Finding a patch of bare earth, I started writing a list of the things I knew and the things I had to figure out so that I could formulate a proper plan with my finger while I chewed on one of the oatcake things that the Admin had left me. The first big thing was about my Soul Aspect, from what I could tell it seemed to be based off the evolutionary path that earth took, but I didn’t actually know that for certain or even what it meant. It would be easy to figure this out by spending more Aspect Points on Aspects, but it was still something that I had to find put more about.

Another big thing was the lack of a class section on my status screen, personally I was hoping that there weren’t classes as that would allow me to grow in a way that I had chosen for myself and the lack of a limit to the number of skills that I could learn seemed to suggest this, still figuring this out would be important to my growth so it made the list of things that I needed to figure out. The next thing was of course figuring out how learning new skills worked and what ones would work best for me. I was planning on primarily being a mage, so I also had to work out how to create new spells and increase my elemental affinities of course I wasn’t planning on limiting myself to just magic in combat either, so I also had to figure out what sort of weapon I was going to use and a way to craft it. It was also very interesting that my stat growth was mostly linked to my skills as well, it was actually a little scary thinking about how quickly I could grow if I got too many more skills and I was also very thankful that my status screen kept track of this as I had absolutely no confidence in my ability to keep track of it on my own.

Figuring out exactly what sort of things lived on this planet was also important as that would affect what weapon skills or spells, I learned to deal with them. My knife was all very well and good but there was a reason that people didn’t usually use them for hunting. Picking up the knife weapon skill was still a no brainer, but I wasn’t willing to just rely on it as my main weapon. For that matter I wasn’t planning on relying on always having a weapon either and made a small note about trying to learn some sort of martial art related skill as well.

Finding a way to figure out what things I could actually eat was the next thing on the list, I had access to clean water and some food which was why this wasn’t higher up the list but it was stull important, I also decided to put a note about figuring out what I could grow as crops for when the Yajash finally arrived. Figuring out what to do about shelter probably should’ve been higher up this list but for now I was at least protected by the strange blue barrier that covered the glade that I was in. Besides there wasn’t much I could do about it until I unlocked some sort of crafting skill, but I was pretty sure that if there wasn’t one that I could learn from the Aspect of the Yajash there would be one in the Aspect of the Pioneer, after all what sort of pioneer wouldn’t know how to make things?

Nodding at what I had put on the list, there was of course plenty of things that I could add but this would do for now, I already had some ideas for skills and spells that I needed but the next thing I had to do was finish the Aspect of the Yajash as this would give me new skills that might change the things that I needed to learn as well as the stats that I would receive. It would also add to my Soul Aspect which was perhaps the biggest mystery about the system. Exactly why did I have this Aspect, what did it mean and what Skills and stats would I receive from it?

Unlike yesterday I placed all 5 remaining points into Aspect of the Yajash, if I ended up seeing multiple visions at once it wouldn’t matter too much and if it did hurt me at all it should help with levelling Unbreakable Will.

As expected, I found myself once more in a forest but this time it was dark, far darker than I could see in fact, no wait things were getting clearer. Huh, I mean, it’s not as clear as it would be in the daytime, but I can see alright now. Just then I heard a snarl from behind me and my head turned to see something that looked a bit like a wolf, that is if a wolf had had jaws like a shark and front legs like a gorilla. My hand raised as the thing approached, but for some reason I wasn’t afraid and surprisingly it wasn’t because I was just along for the ride in this vision doing this just felt natural and sure enough the monster blinked in surprise and slowly approached and sniffed the outstretched hand before lowering its hackles and trotting away.

This vision then faded out to be replaced by two new ones, the first was another one related to my aspect of the Yajash as shown by the older looking Yajash man in front of me. He was holding a piece of some sort of stone and slowly running both hands over it and to my surprise he seemed to be moulding it like clay, once he had shaped this stone into a sort of blade shape he then picked up a piece of wood and proceeded to do the same thing before fusing the two together into some sort of tool before turning to me and telling me or at least the person who’s memories I was viewing to try and do the same thing. The person whose body I was in picked up and started channelling his mana into a piece of rock and started moulding it. It didn’t end up looking as well made as the older man’s tool, but it was still enough for me to pick up the technique. I finally had that crafting skill that I had wanted, and it seemed even more useful than I had expected. Once the tool was complete the older man nodded in satisfaction and went on to explain that this technique was the true source of the Yajash’s power, if we had mana, we could mould stone and wood with our hands. This technique could be applied to any form of crafting, from tool and weapon making to making buildings, at higher levels you could mould bone and other things as well with the only exception being metal and certain other things which were considered something that lead to losing contact with nature in Yajashian society. At higher levels you also only had to be in contact with the material to shape it with your will, I got the feeling that the old man in front of me was capable of this and had only used his hands to show me the technique at the level that I or rather the person whose point of view I was borrowing could use.

The other vision once again placed me in the ocean and the variety of organisms I could see had increased dramatically and after watching for a while I realised that some of them were storing the nutrients that they absorbed for later.

“What the hell!” I gasped as I returned to my own body, as expected I now had a headache, but I just couldn’t stop grinning, I now had a crafting skill as well as at least one more skill from my Soul Aspect that might help me survive longer without food which could be helpful. Checking the notifications that popped up in front of me did nothing to change this.

Aspect of the Yajash Completed!

The Yajash can move through even the darkest and most dangerous places unchallenged, some can even request the aid of those that live in these places, but you have not yet reached this point.

Dark Vision unlocked!

Perception increased by 2

Charisma increased by 3

The Yajash are master crafters capable of shaping their environment to fit their desires. This is their most powerful skill use it well and see your surroundings in a new way.

Nature Shaping unlocked!

Willpower increased by 4

You have now attained the complete inheritance of those who came before, becoming something different than you were before. Embracing your new nature will lead to greater benefits.

Vitality increased by 3

New Aspects unlocked!

Aspect of the Warrior 0/25, Aspect of the Mage 0/25, Aspect of the Crafter 0/25

Growth Rate increased by + 1 Strength, Endurance, Agility and Wisdom. +2 Coordination, Intelligence and Perception. +3 Charisma and Vitality. +4 Willpower.

Aspect Points: 5

Soul Aspect increased to Level 10!

Vitality increased by 2!

As time passes new forms appear that are capable of storing energy in chemical form allowing them to live for longer without access to nutrients.

Biomass Absorption Unlocked!

Growth Rate increased by +1 Constitution and Vitality.

Hot damn not only had I gotten a crafting skill that seems to be broken but I had also received another Skill from my Soul Aspect that seemed to work the way that I had hoped it would.

Dark Vision Lvl 1

This skill improves your ability to see in dimly lit areas. At higher levels it even becomes possible to see in complete darkness.

Growth Rate increased by 1 Perception.

Nature Shaping (Racial) Lvl 1

This skill allows you to shape natural materials such as wood and stone by using your Mana. At higher levels you will become able to shape a wider range of materials.

Cost 100 MP per minute (wood), 200 MP per minute (stone).

Growth Rate increased by 2 Willpower.

Biomass Absorption Lvl 1 (Rare)

This skill allows you to absorb Essence from the food that they eat and use that Essence to heal their body. This Skill also allows you to survive longer without access to food by using your stored Essence instead.

5 Essence can be converted to 10 Health over 10 seconds.

You can also use 5 Essence to increase the length of time that you can survive without food by 1 day up to a maximum of 5 days.

Growth Rate increased by 2 Vitality and 1 Constitution.

Well now this was all very interesting, Dark Vision was a simple but useful skill that I was sure that I would be getting a lot of use out if, but I was more interested in the other skills that I had received. First and perhaps most importantly Nature Shaping was very powerful but had an extremely high Mana cost meaning that I wouldn’t be able to use it for very long at my level but it was still the single most useful skill that I had and I had a hunch that using it would also help level my Mana Manipulation skill and increase my affinities. Last but certainly not least was Biomass Absorption which gave me both a method of healing which was something that I sorely needed and yet another method of gaining Essence. It also allowed me to spend Essence to increase the length of time that I could survive without food like I had expected which would also be very helpful going forward. It was really starting to look like the Skills that I received from my Soul Aspect were going to be very interesting ones indeed, although if things kept going the way that they seemed to be I could find myself in a rather awkward situation when the Yajash arrived if any of the Skills changed my appearance.

I still had some more Aspect Points that I could use but I figured that I had enough changes to get used to right now, so I decided to save them for later.

All in all, things were looking up, but I still had to figure out a few other things, such as what weapon would be most useful to me. I didn’t really know anything about the materials around here but there were a few simple weapons that I could create and more that I couldn’t. I didn’t have anything that I could use to make a bowstring nor was I confident of being able to use one with any accuracy so that was out. A spear seemed like a good option at first until I glanced up at the writhing branches of the trees above, then a chill ran down my back as I realised that wouldn’t work. No, I needed something with a cutting edge that I would work if there were predatory plants that I had to fight. After considering the idea of making one of those Aztec swords for a bit but then I realised that I was being foolish, not only did I have no real idea of how to make something like that there was a far simpler weapon that was literally made to cut down trees.

“An axe it is,” I muttered to myself. Remembering a book, I had read as a kid I decided to make a smaller axe more like a hatchet rather than a more traditional woodcutting axe as this would both make it easier to use with one hand and easier to make with my low levelled Nature Shaping Skill.

Now all I had to do was find materials to make the axe with. The blade was easy enough, there was plenty of stones around that I could use to make that, it probably wouldn’t last very long but with my new crafting skill that didn’t matter very much. There were plenty of more stones that I could use to replace it if I had Mana to spare.

In the other hand finding a piece of wood to serve as a handle was proving to be a bit more difficult, being in a forest there was plenty of wood but when the strange tentacle like branches broke off for whatever reason they were often contorted into odd shapes and then stiffened in a manner that reminded me of rigor mortis. I could fix this with my Nature Shaping skill but not only was the skill low level but there was no way that my mana would last very long while I was using it, so if I wanted to finish making my axe today finding a branch that wasn’t too contorted was important.

After about five minutes of searching I managed to find a suitable branch with only a very slight curve to it and glanced to my right at the softly glowing blue dome that was protecting me from the outside.

“Hmm?” I grunted in surprise before padding closer. “I can see through it today.”

The dome was now slightly translucent allowing me to see shadowy shapes on the other side, I was guessing that this was a sign that the dome itself was slowly weakening meaning that I would have to reach a point where I was willing to risk leaving its protection as soon as possible. At the moment I couldn’t make out any details but there were a few shapes that were moving around out there that gave me a bad feeling. I really needed to finish sorting out my skillset as soon as possible or I wouldn’t have any confidence in my ability to survive for even a few minutes out there at his point. There had to be a reason that the Admin had left me food and a knife as well as this dome after all.

Returning to the spot by the spring I sat down with the stick I had picked up and started to shape it. It was an odd sensation inserting my mana into the wood, I could literally feel underneath the surface due to my connection with my mana but everything else felt natural which kind of made sense since this skill was a racial skill of the Yajash.

I could feel my mana draining away as I ran my hands over the strange wood, unlike I had expected from its shiny appearance the wood was rough to the touch like sandpaper and I did my best to keep this property while a straightened the branch out further. The rough surface would make it easier to keep a hold of my new weapon, but only served to further my confusion. Exactly why these branches had this rough surface, was a mystery that would have to wait for another time however.

As I started to pull one of the ends apart, I ran out of mana. This was actually all part of my plan, I had to learn a skill that would increase my mana regeneration which I assumed would be something like meditation from the web novels I had read but without testing this hypothesis it would be difficult to know.

Of course, the problem was that meditation wasn’t really something I knew much about, but trial and error was how one learned many things in their life, so I crossed my legs, something that I hadn’t been able to do for a while due to damaging one of my knees in my old body and closed my eyes.

Breathing in deeply through my nose I tried to relax, the smells of damp earth and fragrant wood filling my nostrils. I had always enjoyed going out for walks in the woods that lay outside my family’s holiday house in Naseby and while some of the smells were different, they were similar enough that I soon relaxed completely and began to lose track of time my hands subconsciously running through the grass and earth that I sat on.

After an unidentifiable length of time I was brought back to my senses by a certain biological urge.

“Oh god dammit,” I grumbled grabbing a large piece of wood that could serve as a container that I quickly filled with water before going to do my business, after all the last thing I wanted to do was contaminate my only water supply.

“I really don’t like not having any soap,” I grumbled as I washed my hands in the water I had prepared earlier. As I did so I noticed a blinking symbol in the corner of my vision and focussing on it brought up a couple of notifications.

Meditation Unlocked!

This skill increases the rate that your MP regenerates when meditating. Using this skill may also increase affinities based on your surroundings.

+ 20% to MP regen when meditating.

Increases Growth Rate by 1 Wisdom

1 Aspect Point Awarded for unlocking Meditation.

“Huh,” I had expected that unlocking meditation would be more difficult but from what the description told me it was possible that the reason had found it easy might have had something to do with my Soul Aspect, it was hard to imagine a place closer to nature than here which could have had an effect.

It was also good to see that I could get more Aspect Points when I learned a new skill without unlocking it through an Aspect, even if it wasn’t a high ranked skill like my Unbreakable Will skill. I didn’t get any stat points from learning an unranked skill like Meditation, but I wasn’t going to complain. My Growth Rate was rising fast, a stat point here or there from learning new skills just wouldn’t make as much of a difference as levelling up, but that was always the way in RPGs.

I still wanted to get at least a couple more skills and level up some of the ones I already had before it was time to even think about trying to increase my own level. The stat increases that I had received from my Soul Aspect and Aspect of the Yajash were good but not having the right skills and magic could spell my end pretty quickly.

Returning to where I had been before the rude interruption, I picked up the piece of stone I had decided to use and started to work once more. The stone I had chosen to use as the blade of my axe was triangular with a razor-sharp jagged edge down one side meaning that I didn’t have to do very much to it which was a good thing considering how much Mana it cost for me to shape stone with my Skill and even then I’d have to work quickly if I wanted to get it done in one go.

Channelling my Mana into the stone felt different to wood, mana seemed to flow easier through wood which I guess explained why shaping wood cost half the amount of mana that shaping stone did.

Quickly I grabbed the point opposite the part I was planning on using as the blade and moulded it into a sharper point before making a notch where I was planning on attaching the handle, the spike would give me more options when using the axe and the notch would make it more difficult to knock the blade loose from the handle when it was completed, or so I hoped. If this weapon was a failure it wasn’t that big an issue because I could always make another one but if I made most of it right the first time, then it should in theory give me a bigger boost to my skills.

But even doing this was enough to deplete most of my mana once more so I decided to meditate again, it was even easier to reach the same relaxed state I had earlier this time around now that I had the skill and soon I was ready to finish making my first weapon, I grinned remembering the vision that I had been shown when I unlocked the skill. I was basically recreating that moment which was pretty cool when I thought about it.

Placing the stone into the split end of the handle I wrapped the two ends around it before sealing them back together. Having done this I examined the weapon that I had made.

“Well not bad for my first time, I suppose,” I said. It honestly didn’t look like much but that was to be expected from the first thing that I had created with this new skill of mine and it wasn’t like I couldn’t improve it later if I needed to.

As I thought this, I noticed a blinking symbol in the edge of my vision that was different from the one that I had noticed when I had unlocked meditation and focussing on it brought up a new notification that put a smile on my face.

Skills increased!

Nature Shaping increased to Lvl 2

Mana Manipulation increased to Lvl 2

Available Aspect points increased by 2

Meditation hadn’t levelled up but levelling up two skills just from making one little axe was still pretty good. Pulling up the skill information I found that the Growth Rate increase provided by these skills hadn’t changed.

“Alright, so either this won’t increase at all or I have to raise them to a certain level first,” I muttered as I stood up dismissing the notification. “Now let’s move on to testing this prototype I suppose.”