Waking up in my hammock was… an interesting experience. I had used hammocks before, mostly for reading outside on a nice sunny day but this was the first time that I had actually slept in one. Once I picked myself up off of the extremely hard floor of my makeshift home I limped outside. Thankfully the only one who had witnessed my shame was Tane and it wasn’t like the tree cared that I had fallen out of the hammock onto my arse.

However, once I was outside, I realised that I had another problem. I had forgotten to save some food for breakfast.

“Ah shit, where was that fruit tree again?” I grumbled as I brought up my map. Thankfully I had actually noted with my Mapping Skill yesterday so finding it was easy enough “Ah, there it is.”

Once I had made my way over to it and picked a few pieces of fruit to have for breakfast I heard a strange chirping sound behind me that nearly made me leap out of my skin. Spinning towards the sound my eyes widened briefly in surprise before I burst into laughter. “Oh, it’s just you!’ I chuckled as I spotted the source of the sound which was the strange bat-like creature that had stolen fruit from me the day before. “You can get your own fruit today mister.”

As I spoke the strange creature turned its head to one side so that it could look at me directly with one of its eyes in an extremely bird-like action which only made me smile wider.

Turning around I started heading back towards Tane and was surprised when the bat-like creature shot past me and landed on a tree in front of me.

“Following me home, are you?” I asked as the creature turned its head to watch me again. “Well I suppose I don’t mind.”

Sure, enough the thing did follow me all the way back to my cooking area where I sat down and started eating the fruit under its interested gaze. I didn’t blame it for being interested in me, after all the feeling was mutual. This thing was obviously quite intelligent. Perhaps even on the level of parrots back home which would make a certain amount of sense since they seemed to fill a similar ecological niche. That was a guess of course but my gut was telling me that it was a good one. Especially since Tane was keeping anything dangerous from approaching. To be honest it was kind of cute, in an odd sort of way.

Taking a bite of my breakfast I watched as the thing crept along the branch that it was on towards me while keeping its head turned to one side so that it could look at me making me almost spit the fruit out of my mouth.

Back when I was a kid there was a cockatoo that lived at the local gardens and it would sidle up to you in exactly the same way if you had food on you.

“Oh alright,” I chuckled after taking another mouthful of fruit before tossing what was left over to the thing which launched itself into the air and snatched it up before tossing it into its mouth. Once it had successfully caught the fruit it spun around in an impressive display of agility and landing back on the same branch that it had been on before turning to glare at me in irritation before swallowing.

“Whoops, sorry that was a little bit low,” I chuckled as I picked up one of the other pieces of fruit that I had picked and took another bite.

Once again, the creature started shuffling from side to side as it watched me with its beady little eyes.

“There are plenty more of these back on the tree you know,” I grumbled. But when I got to the last bite I sighed and tossed it to the thing. This time my aim was much better, and it only had to hop to the side slightly so that it could catch the piece of fruit.

“So, what am I going to call you?” I muttered to myself as I looked at the thing. After thinking about it for a bit I nodded slowly to myself as I decided on a name. “You’re a Black Darter.”

‘Did you make a new friend?’ Tane asked suddenly. The tree had been strangely silent since I had woken up, so I was mildly surprised when it was finally speaking to me.

“Eh, something like that,” I replied with a chuckle then froze as I remembered something. “Actually, that’s not a bad idea.”

If I recalled correctly one of the notifications for my Aspect of the Yajash had mentioned something about being able to tame monsters and while there was quite a lot of crossover with my summoning Skills, there was no reason for me to at least attempt to tame the Black Darter.

Taking one of the two remaining fruits a tore a chunk off and tossed it on the ground in front of the tree where the Darter was sitting and when it flew down to pick it up, I tossed another piece so that it landed a bit closer to me. Noticing the movement, the Darter turned towards me and looked at the new piece of fruit curiously as it swallowed the one that was already in its mouth.

Once it had swallowed the first piece of fruit it looked up at me warily for a few seconds before slowly moving closer. This time when it moved it crawled forwards on its folded wings like a bat. I was guessing that this was because it was a little bit harder to spot if it held its body closer to the ground. Of course, it could also be because it needed to hold itself horizontally so that if it needed to take off it didn’t need to lean forward to fly properly.

As soon as it started to eat the next piece of fruit, I tossed another one which attracted its attention once more. It was now clearly on guard as it crawled closer but crawl closer it did. This time when I threw the piece of fruit it only glanced at it before turning around and launching itself into the air. It was obvious that it was more difficult for it to take-off by the ground, but it did manage to do so, and I was left sitting there by myself as it landed in its tree again and turned around to look at me once more.

“Eh, it was worth a shot,” I muttered to myself. Apparently, this was going to be a bit more difficult than I had hoped. While the Black Darter probably wouldn’t even be as useful in a fight as the Amoeba was it would be able to scout much better than the Amoeba would ever be able to and it would be better company which was also a plus.

“Tane, what can you tell me about that species?” I asked once I had finished my breakfast. The Darter was still watching me from the nearby tree, so it was pretty easy for Tane to work out what I was talking about.

‘Well that’s quite a young member of that particular species,” Tane replied. ‘They grow to nearly twice as big as that one. As they grow, they start to develop a taste in meat. In fact, the things that you hunted the other day are their main source of prey.”

Okay, that was definitely interesting. If the Black Darter could grow to a size where it saw a Bug as prey, then maybe it could be useful as a hunting partner as well as a scout. Of course, even if that was the case, I was certain that I would gain access to minions that could easily kill a fully-grown Black Darter. On the other hand, that wasn’t really why I was interested in taming it. Don’t get me wrong Tane was pretty good company but even if it was intelligent it was a tree and was obviously lacking somewhat in the empathy that flesh and blood creatures had. But the most important reason of all was just that I wanted a pet. Back on Earth my parents had a dog that I looked after whenever they went away on trips and I really enjoyed her company. Even if she did have a bit of a tendency to get up to mischief when I was at work.

Now that I had finished breakfast, I had a choice to make about what I was going to do this morning. I could spend some more time working on the statue. I could also try and come up with some more spells. I could even go hunting for Bugs which should be much easier now that I had my Gravel Shotgun spell.

In the end I decided that I would make some armour out of Tane’s fallen branch before going hunting. I had managed to kill several Bug last time I had gone hunting but I had also been injured fairly badly and if I was attacked by a larger group than the one that I had fought the other day then I could be in trouble even with my new spell.

Heading over to the massive branch I considered what I was going to make. Obviously, I would need something to cover my torso. This was especially important because I still didn’t have a replacement for my shirt so if I was hit with a stream of acid like I had been yesterday then I could be in real trouble. In the end I decided to make something simple for now that basically looked like a short sandwich board that was slightly conformed to my body. All it would do was protect my front and back, but I couldn’t think of anything better that I could make at my level of skill without spending several hours experimenting. Eventually I might be able to use my Nature Shaping while I was fighting so that any armour that I was wearing moved with me without sacrificing either speed or protection, but it would be a very long time before I would be able to do something like that.

I was also tempted to make some sort of helmet since my head was even more vulnerable than my body, but I didn’t really have any real idea how to make something that would both protect me while allowing me to keep my full range of movement and vision. Something like what people wore in kendo or fencing matches was an option but those sorts of things both prevented you from moving your head freely and made it hard to see things that weren’t directly in front of you because of the nature of the sports that they were used in. Padded headwear was also an option but something like that wouldn’t protect my face so there wasn’t a lot of point in that either. Try as I might, I couldn’t think of something that I could make with my current level of skill and resources that fit my requirements.

I also wanted to make some bracers to protect my arms if I needed to block attacks. Even with my Cellular Regeneration Skill I needed to avoid attacks like the one that had nearly amputated my hand the other day. Unlike the body armour I was going to make the bracers wrap all the way around my forearms without so much as a seem since I could use my Nature Shaping to remove them.

Making the bracers was easy enough. All I had to do was take two thin strips of wood and wrap them around my arms before moulding them together. No, the thing that took time was making something that I could use to bind the two sides of my body armour together. Eventually I decided to combine some of the long grass that I found nearby into a sort of cord that I then fused to both sides of the armour. Once I had done this, I used my Nature Shaping to mould the armour to my body slightly so that it wouldn’t move around so much.

In the end I decided not to make a helmet to wear. It was risky to fight without head protection but losing my ability to keep track of my surroundings properly would be just as if not more dangerous, so I decided to put it off until I figured out a better way of doing things.

Once I had made sure that my range of movement hadn’t been compromised and everything was comfortable, I decided to check my Skill Increases one last time before going hunting again.

Skills increased!

Mana Manipulation increased to Lvl 16

Growth Rate increased by 1 Intelligence

Nature Shaping increased to Lvl 9

Telepathy increased to Lvl 7

Minion Control increased to Lvl 7

Available Aspect points increased by 5

Total Aspect Points: 10

Bringing up my Aspects Screen I hummed to myself as I placed 8 points into the Aspect of Intelligence which would complete it.

Sure, enough shortly after confirming my decision I found myself surrounded by water with a strangely familiar shape in front of me. The thing in front of me looked like a nautilus at first glance but unlike a nautilus which had a smooth shell this creature had a rough shell that was covered in ridges. It was this one difference that triggered a memory in me. This creature was an ammonite, an extinct form of cephalopod which if I remembered correctly was actually more closely related to modern squids and octopi than the nautili that it resembled.

As I realised this my surroundings changed, I was still surrounded by water but from how shallow it was combined with the fact that I could see land on both sides of me clearly told me that I was now in fresh water. In front of me I could see something similar to a plant that one might see on land swaying as the current of the river that we were in pushed it towards me. It would seem that my internal world had its first type of fresh-water algae. Not long after this my point of view moved out of the river that I was in and onto land.

Looking around I found that land had changed considerably since I had last seen it. I could see something that looked similar to an insect crawling along the ground only to suddenly leap through the air when it was surprised by something which seemed to be hunting it. The insect-like creature disappeared into the distance completely losing the predator.

Aspect of Intelligence 1 has completed!

Intelligence is also tied to many knowledge-based or crafting Skills and when combined with other Stats can allow you to more easily spot the weaknesses of an enemy. Due to this people who increase Intelligence often find themselves increasing their Wisdom and Perception to make the most of these benefits.

Intelligence increased by 1!

Wisdom increased by 1!

Perception increased by 1!

Growth Rate increased by 4 Intelligence, 1 Wisdom, 1 Perception and 20 MP/Lvl.

For completing this Aspect, you may choose a Skill from the list below. (Some Skills may combine Skills that you already have into a new one)

Ecology (Rare)

This Skill increases your ability to learn about fauna and flora in their natural habitat.

Or

Enchanting (Rare)

This Skill allows you to imbue objects with Mana to increase their effects or add new ones.

Cost: Base 100 MP+ 30 MP/min.

Aspect Points remaining: 2

Soul Aspect increased to Level 175!

A new type of cephalopod that looks similar to a nautilus has appeared in your internal world. This new creature is known as an ammonite and shares several ecological niches with its distant cousins.

Freshwater algae have also evolved in your internal world and is now spreading and growing so that they can make the most of these new waterways.

On land two more new types of arthropod have appeared on land. One type is the springtail, a group of hexapods similar to, but largely unrelated to insects.

Coordination increased by 1!

Toughness increased by 2!

Constitution increased by 2!

Agility increased by 2!

Well that was certainly interesting. Once again, I had received quite a decent number of Stats and a fairly large boost to my Growth Rate.

“More importantly what Skill am I going to choose?” I wondered to myself as I looked at the two options that I had for completing Aspect of Intelligence 1. “I am guessing that Ecology combines my Zoology and Botany Skills but at the moment I get more Stats from those two Skills than I would if I combined them together so I’m not sure what the point of that would be…”

“Yeah Enchanting is definitely the best option,” I decided. “Although I would be interested in seeing if I could get the Ecology Skill by myself instead of having it unlocked by simply pressing a button.”

Having made what had turned out to be a fairly easy decision I brought up the description of the Skill to see whether I could figure out how to use it.

Enchanting (Rare)

Enchanting (Rare)

This Skill allows you to imbue objects with Mana to increase their effects or add new ones.

Cost: Base 100 MP+ 30 MP/min.

Growth Rate increased by 2 Intelligence and 2 Wisdom.

Nope. Nothing. With a sigh I decided to shelve working out how this Skill worked until later and brought up my Stat Screen.

Status

Level 2

Exp: 34%

HP: 219/219

MP: 322/322

HP Regen: 23 per minute (+1)

MP Regen: 19.1 per minute

SP: 133/133

Essence: 21

SP Regen: 18.1 per minute

Control Points: 27.8 (17.8)

Str: 12 (+12/Lvl)

Agi: 33 (+12/Lvl)

Con: 31 (+ 4/Lvl)

End: 18 (+8/Lvl)

Tou: 32 (+7/Lvl)

Int: 42 (+39/Lvl)

Coor: 31 (+8/Lvl)

Vit: 28 (+8/Lvl)

Wis: 26 (+19/Lvl)

Will: 41 (+26/Lvl)

Per: 26 (+18/Lvl)

Cha: 18 (+8/Lvl)

Additional Growth Rate: +14 Unassigned Stat Points/Lvl. +40 MP/Lvl. MP regen increased by 1/min per Lvl +5 Control Points/Lvl.

Unassigned Stat Points: 0

“Alright then,” I said once I had finished checking my Stats and clambered to my feet. “Time to go hunting!”