As I made my way back across the field towards the forest the sun started to peak over the hills behind me revealing to me for the first time that this world’s sky was a pale shade of lilac which struck me as rather odd. The sunlight also revealed the true nature of the creatures that I had avoided while I was crossing the field.

I could now see that the creatures had eight legs and a short neck that they had curled up close to their bodies their bodies while they were sleeping. As the sun rose further in the sky they started to wake up and uncurled their necks revealing their visages which were almost as disturbing as that of the thing that I had killed yesterday. They had long faces with hard looking lumps of what might have been bone sticking out of their cheeks almost reminding me of some unholy cross between an anteater and some sort of dinosaur. As far as I could see they had no eyes and their long faces ended with an open hole that a very longue tongue would slip out of every now and again. These creatures also had leathery greenish skin that looked a bit like a rhino’s and had bony looking protrusions sticking out in places that looked a bit odd to me but probably protected their organs from attacks.

As I jogged past them, I noticed that they were using their long tongues punch holes in the leaves of the strange plants that dotted the landscape making me stop to take a closer look. I couldn’t see any way that something like the long slender tongues that these creatures had were able to tear holes in the massive leaves of these plants but after watching them for a few seconds I saw a glint of light on the otherwise dull flesh of the tongues and I finally understood what was going on. The tongues had some sort of spike on the end which was probably hollow allowing them to drink whatever liquids that these plants contained. As I watched I found myself really hoping that they were only vegetarians. That looked like a really nasty way to go.

Activating my Observation Skill, I saw that even the weakest of these creatures that I could see was Level 11. It was a tiny thing compared to the others around it making me assume that it was a baby and the strongest was Level 33. The Level 33 creature was even larger than the largest and most powerful Shelled Crawlers that I had seen outside of the barrier. However, unlike a Shelled Crawlers I was pretty sure that I wasn’t going to be fast enough to outrun it if it decided that I was a threat.

Realising this I decided to increase my pace back to the forest and held out my hand so that the Amoeba could latch on seeing as it couldn’t even move half as fast as I had been able to even before I had Levelled Up. And if it couldn’t keep up then there was no way that I would be able to, now that I had Levelled Up. I was much faster than I had been then and now I even had enough Strength to move at my full speed even carrying the Amoeba which was even heavier than it had been the other day.

“Jeez what have you been eating?” I grumbled at the amoeba which seemed to be heavier than I remembered after accounting for my aforementioned Strength increase as I ran across the strange bluish grass that covered the plains towards the shadows of the forest which was looking increasingly more alien in the morning light. Checking my map once more I made sure that I was going to be entering the forest in a different place than where I had exited it. Hopefully if I did that it would make following me more difficult for anything that might be tracking me.

As I entered the treeline, I took one last look behind me to see that several of the creatures were facing my way sending chills down my back as I stared right at their eyeless visages. I knew that they couldn’t see me or at least not in the same way that I could see them but for some reason that actually made it even more disturbing. Thankfully they were just standing there like they were only paying attention to me because they were curious about what the hell I was, instead of wondering whether I was food or not. It was still pretty unnerving though, so I turned back around and headed deeper into the woods leaving the creatures behind us.

As it was now daytime, I decided to take things slower than I had last night and proceeded at a jog instead of running at full speed. As far as I could tell I wasn’t being followed right now so running would only attract unwanted attention. This would also allow me to have a closer look around at my surroundings which was especially important since even last night I had only been able to see a bit of my surroundings with my Dark Vision. I had spent almost my entire time on this new world inside of the Barrier so finding out more about the things that lived here was a higher priority than ever.].

Unlike last night the jungle now positively seethed with life. There were things that mostly resembled insects that both crawled on the ground and flew through the air. However even if they filled the same ecological niche as insects, they weren’t actually insects. While they definitely seemed to have an exoskeleton like an insect did for most of them that was where the resemblance ended. Some of these creatures had as many as 10 legs, 5 or even 6 body segments, multiple sets wings and I was pretty sure that I spotted one with two heads. I had even seen several of these bug-like creatures that were about the same size as my leg. This leg-sized creature was yet another hideous example of the alien life-forms living on this planet that turned out to be Level 6 when I checked with my Observation Skill. As soon as I saw its Level, I immediately created some space between while increasing my speed before it decided that I looked tasty. I might’ve been able to defeat an injured Level 4 monster yesterday but even with my size advantage I had no confidence about beating something 4 Levels higher than myself. Especially when it looked like it could easily slice clean through my leg with its mouthparts.

I also saw more of the pterodactyl type things that I had seen caught in the webbing last night. This time they were flying through the air like very manoeuvrable birds. These were almost as varied as the insect things were and some of them were almost as beautiful as they were strange. Their diets also seemed to be very varied much like the diets of birds back on Earth were. I saw some of them eating some of the smaller insect-like creature, others eating the fruit that hung from some of the nearby trees and one particularly large individual snatching up what might be this world’s version of a rat into the air before flying off out of sight.

There were also a variety of other creatures as well ranging from something that looked a bit like a furless squirrel the size of a bobcat. This strange creature had multiple tails that it used for both mobility and to attack anything it came across. I saw one of them spear two of the pterodactyl creatures when it leapt between two different trees and then proceed to tear them both to shreds with the razor-sharp claws on its front paws before devouring what remained.

Despite how disturbing that had been it paled in comparison to something else that I saw as I jogged through the forest. No, the most disturbing thing I saw was something that I had suspected existed since I had seen the branches of the trees that surrounding the clearing move. A predatory plant.

The one that I saw looked like the unholy cross between a glowing pitcher plant and a Venus fly trap. Each of the parts that looked like a Venus fly trap sat on the end of a long vine that could move freely like a tentacle and had a strange spike in the centre. It also had more vines that had giant thorns on the end that were covered in nasty looking hooks like some sort of harpoon.

“Yeah that’s a big fat nope,” I said quietly then flinched when one of the vines with what looked like a Venus fly trap on the end turned towards me almost like it had heard what I had just said. Come to think of it there were people that said that plants reacted to noise back on Earth, but I wasn’t sure whether or not that was actually true. Still I felt that getting any closer would be a bad idea, so I kept moving.

Eventually I spotted a small sunny looking clearing which I decided to take a short break in. Hopefully I would finally get time to actually enjoy the effects of my Photosynthesis Skill. This was especially important since I was running low on food and didn’t know where I was going to get more right now. On the bright side however, I had felt a small amount of energy filling my body when the sun had risen earlier. However, that might have just been me feeling the weight of the stress lifting from my shoulders when I realised that I had managed to survive my late-night dash through the forest.

Coming to a halt in the middle of the clearing I flopped down onto my back as the last bit of adrenaline drained out of me. I had been moving basically non-stop all night and for most of the morning now, so I was completely exhausted. I was also hungry and thirsty. Luckily, I had methods to deal with this. Deciding to have a drink first I raised my hands and cast my Condense Water spell and soon I was enjoying clean, cool water that quickly quenched my thirst.

Once I was done rehydrating myself, I poured some more water on the Giant Amoeba which wriggled happily as the liquid sank in through the membrane that protected its insides from the outside world. It had been starting to sag a bit in the past couple of hours and I knew from the link between us that it needed to absorb more water so that its entire body wouldn’t collapse like a water balloon with a hole in it.

Next, I opened up the bag that had once contained the remaining cake things that had been my main source of sustenance since I had arrived to discover what I already knew. When I had been sent flying through the air in my fight last night I had landed on the bag and shattered its contents into tiny fragments. In a lot of ways this would actually allow me to ration out what remained more easily. Taking a small handful to munch on as I looked around the clearing to make sure that we were alone.

Once I had finished eating the crumbs that might be the only food that I ate today I closed my eyes and leaned back to bask in the sun for a little bit longer. As it turned out the sensation of energy filling me wasn’t the stress fleeing from my body with the rising of the sun but had in fact been my Photosynthesis Skill. After enjoying this for a few minutes longer I decided to check my Skill updates which were probably getting pretty backed up now.

Skills increased!

Running increased to Lvl 11

Growth Rate increased by 1 Endurance

Trapping increased to Level 3

Dark Vision increased to Lvl 5

Growth Rate increased by 1 Perception

Zoology increased to Lvl 5

Growth Rate increased by 1 Intelligence

Mapping increased to Lvl 6

Growth Rate increased by 1 Perception

Mana Manipulation increased to Lvl 11

Botany increased to Lvl 5

Growth Rate increased by 1 Intelligence

Spell Targeting increased to Lvl 5

Growth Rate increased by 1 Intelligence

Axe Mastery increased to Lvl 3

Chop increased to Lvl 2

Knife Mastery increased to Lvl 2

Dodge increased to Lvl 3

Mana Edge increased to Lvl 2

Observation increased to Lvl 3

Minion Control increased to Lvl 4

Create Giant Amoeba increased to Lvl 3

Available Aspect points increased by 33

“Holy shit I should go on late night runs through the forest more often,” I muttered to myself as I took in the long list that had appeared in front of me.

It was honestly a bit ridiculous especially considering I only got in one fight so most of the Skill increases are more from support Skills like Running. Also, my Intelligence Growth Rate was now 21 which meant that I would get 105 more MP from the increase to my Intelligence alone the next time I Levelled Up. I had certainly come a long way in the short time since I had arrived in this world.

Apparently running through the woods like this while paying attention to my surroundings was really good for my Zoology and Botany Skills as well my Dark Vision and Mapping Skills had also undergone significant increases. I still had to work on my Axe and Knife Mastery Skills but that could probably wait until I found something around my Level to hunt. If I was going to be fighting against something with a higher Level than me than I was going to use every advantage that I had and at the moment the only advantage I really had over anything was my magic.

Looking at the large number of Aspect Point that I now had I decided that not using at least some of them would be an obvious waste considering how far I still had to go and that I didn’t know what I would actually find when I got there.

So, I placed the remaining 7 points that I needed to use to complete my Aspect of the Summoner and confirmed my decision with a grin on my face. I had a really good feeling about how this was going to work out for me, especially considering that this would put my Soul Aspect over Lvl 100. Considering what had happened when my Soul Aspect had reached Lvl 50 then this should be a really good thing from me.

Then I once again saw the world speed up around me until I was surrounded by creatures that were even stranger than some of the others that I had seen either in my internal world or in the forest outside. Try as I might, I couldn’t see anything that I recognised from my own world. Had the course of evolution in my inner world finally diverged from what it had been on Earth?

As I wondered this the vision faded to reveal the notifications that usually popped up but left me with a strange sense of nervousness. Shaking this strange feeling off I turned my attention to the glowing blue screens that had appeared in front of me.

Aspect of the Summoner has been completed!

A Summoner must also be able to see as much of the battlefield as possible so that they have the knowledge needed to command their forces.

Perception increased by 1!

Willpower increased by 2!

Control Points increased by 5!

Growth Rate increased by 4 Willpower, 3 Charisma, 3 Intelligence, 1 Perception and 5 Control Points/Lvl

Remaining Aspect Points: 26

Soul Aspect increased to Level 110!

In this time period there are many strange new organisms have evolved and many more will continue to do so as life struggles to discover the best method to ensure survival. Many of these will die out as more dangerous creatures hunt them or they will die out to natural events, but some will live on and may become the dominant species in your internal world.

Unassigned Stat Points increased by 2!

Growth Rate increased by 1!

Now this was a significant power increase for me, especially when it came to Control Points. My Growth Rate had once again undergone a significant increase which was going to be very useful to me. My Soul Aspect had a lot of very interesting and slightly ominous things to say to me this time as well.

The last sentence of the notification for my Soul Aspect seemed a bit odd to me but then remembered that there had been a series of strange fossils that had been found in something called the Burgess Shale. These strange organisms had been far different from anything else that had been living at the time and according to some people if they hadn’t all been wiped out in some sort of natural disaster the course of evolution on Earth could have been very different. I wasn’t actually sure if that was true or not but if I was reading the notification right then I was probably going to find out.

More and more my Soul Aspect seemed to have been chosen specifically for me. I had always been interested in things like Ecology ad Zoology back when I had been in school. Unfortunately, due to certain events beyond my control I had been forced to give up on the idea of studying them at university.

Just as I was starting to relax, I was interrupted by loud roar that almost seemed to make the ground shift underneath me. However, when I looked around the clearing, I saw that this must have just been my imagination because the trees that surrounded weren’t moving like they would if there had been an earthquake like the one that I had imagined. Still I decided that sticking around was just going to be a bad idea.

From what I could tell the roar had come from behind me and slightly to my left which meant that I was unlikely to run into had been able to roar that loud unless it was hunting me. So, I just grabbed the Amoeba which was quivering like a dog in a thunderstorm and started running. It looked like using the rest of my Aspect Points would have to wait just a little longer.