“First things first I have to work out how I’m actually going to fight these things though,” I continued as I felt a wave of gratitude wash over me. “It sounds like these things will just be able to shrug off most of my attacks.”

“Alright that seems like a sensible idea,” Tane agreed eventually. “May I ask what you had in mind?”

“I’m thinking some sort of acid attack,” I replied. “My weapons aren’t really made for taking something with a thick shell out. In fact, even the Bugs were pushing it because of how bad my weapons are and the things that you want me to kill have tougher shells, right?”

“That is correct yes,” Tane agreed.

“Right then this hopefully won’t take too long,” I said as I closed my eyes and started to construct a new spell. I had been thinking about making something like this for a while and already had some idea of how I was going to go about doing it.

Concentrating I started to mix Water Mana, Earth Mana, and a tiny amount of Nature Mana into a ball within my hands while focussing on the effect I wanted this spell to have. Now that I had my Enchanting Skill, I was convinced that intent had a lot to do with the way that making new spells and possibly even learning new Skills worked.

Mixing together all of these different types of Mana was pretty difficult especially considering that I had to keep tinkering with the quantities while keeping my vision of what the spell should be capable of in mind.

Once I was certain that I had gotten the mixture of Mana types right I opened my eyes to see an orb of some sort of greenish liquid floating in between my hands. With a grin I thrust my hands forwards and with a flex of my will the ball of what I was really hoping was acid shot forwards and splattered over a nearby rock. To my delight the rock immediately started smoking as the liquid started to dissolve it.

“Yes! I exclaimed happily. From the feel of things this spell used up quite a lot of MP but that was okay for a first attempt. I also wanted to make an attack that was more like my Stone Spike or Mana Bolt spells as well as this one which could spread over a relatively wide area when the ball of acid hit something, so I closed my eyes once more and started concentrating.

The next time I opened my eyes there was a much smaller globule of the same liquid that the previous orb had been made of floating at the end of my fingers where I usually created my single target spells and after looking around for a new target I fired it. This time when it struck the rock that I had fired it at the acid burned a small hole into it instead of coating the rocks whole surface. I nodded happily at these results. While the first spell was more powerful than the second one and could be used against multiple opponents it also used much more MP which was why I had made two spells instead of just one.

“Right then let’s have a look at the descriptions,” I muttered to myself as I brought up the information on the two spells that I had just made.

Caustic Bomb Unlocked! (specialised

Creates a ball of acid that explodes over an area dealing a small amount of damage over time. Costs 60 MP

Growth Rate increased by 2 Intelligence

2 Aspect point awarded for unlocking Caustic Bomb

Acid Arrow Unlocked!

Creates an acid projectile that can deal a small amount of damage over time. Costs 35 MP

Growth Rate increased by 1 Intelligence

1 Aspect point awarded for unlocking Acid Arrow

Both of the spells were pretty much exactly what I had wanted. It was a bit unfortunate that Caustic Bomb still only did a small amount of damage over time, but it would still be very useful. They both would in fact. At least in situations where what I was fighting had high defence because it would be pretty useless while I was hunting Bugs.

“Is that all you need to do?” Tane asked when I closed the notifications.

“No actually,” I replied as I brought up my Aspects. “I need to do a couple of other things. Thankfully it shouldn’t take me much longer.”

Skills increased!

Enchanting increased to Lvl 4

Biomass Absorption increased to Lvl 2

Mana Manipulation increased to Lvl 18

Digging increased to Lvl 6

Growth Rate increased by 1 Endurance

Minion Control increased to Lvl 10

Growth Rate increased by 1 Willpower

Create Giant Amoeba increased to Lvl 6

Check Skill description for more details

Create Primitive Scorpion increased to Lvl 2

Condense Water increased to Lvl 5

Growth Rate increased by 1 Willpower

Meditation increased to Lvl 8

Botany increased to Lvl 8

Observation increased to Lvl 8

Nature Shaping increased to Lvl 10

Growth Rate increased by 1 Wisdom

Can now shape bone for 75 MP/min

Running increased to Lvl 15

Growth Rate increased by 1 Agility

Available Aspect points increased by 20

Total Aspect Points: 23

With a thought I placed the 7 Aspect Points that I needed to complete the Aspect of Willpower 1 and confirmed my decision. As soon as I did this the world around me changed and I found myself in the oceans of my internal world once again. From the looks of things my internal world was now in the middle of the carboniferous period. I could tell this was the case because not only were there plants that basically looked identical to the ferns that existed in more modern times as well as trees that almost resembled conifers. But the thing that really sealed it for me was the massive dragonfly that flew past me. From the looks of things its wingspan was about the same as my arm span and the only time period that I could think of where a dragonfly that big lived was the carboniferous period. In this time period the dragonfly which if I recalled correctly was called a Meganeura was one of if not the top predator.

I really hoped that I would be able to get a Skill that allowed me to summon one of those. Of course, the only problem with that might be that if I did get a Skill like that it might only allow me to summon a dragonfly nymph that would grow up to be that big. It was hard to tell how that would work out. Not that that would be a problem now that I had a body of water big enough for a giant dragonfly nymph to live in.

The giant dragonfly was not the only oversized bug that I could see, and I started to hope that I would be able to do something to make it so that my internal world continued along this particular evolutionary path soon if not immediately.

Aspect of Willpower 1 has been completed!

Those who choose to specialise in Willpower are among the toughest opponents to put down. They can handle pain far greater than any other and will not stop until either those who have wronged them have perished or they have. Many of those who increase their Willpower also increase their Toughness and Charisma so that their unnatural ability to ignore damage can strike fear into those who oppose them.

Willpower increased by 1!

Toughness increased by 1!

Charisma increased by 1!

Those with great Willpower will often find themselves succeeding even where those who are smarter or stronger could. Naturally, this often causes them to be either hated by those around them or inspiring people.

Growth Rate increased by 4 Willpower, 1 Toughness, 1 Charisma and 0.4 MP regen.

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)

Dominate

This Skill allows you to dominate the mind of a weak-minded enemy for a short period of time. Costs 65 MP.

Empowering Aura

Creates an aura that slightly increases the Stats of nearby allies. Costs 20 MP and 20 SP per minute.

Remaining Aspect Points: 16

Soul Aspect increased to Level 200!

Your world has now truly entered a new era in evolution. Forests cover the land and the first large predators now roam even the skies. Chief among these is the giant dragonfly which is the fastest living creature in this primitive world as well as its apex predator.

Agility increased by 1!

Growth Rate increased by 1 Agility!

Create Giant Dragonfly Unlocked!

Well now this was interesting. Not only did I have a new Skill that allowed me to summon a giant dragonfly I had to choose between two different Skills for completing the Aspect of Willpower. Thankfully picking between the two Skills was pretty easy. No way in hell was I going to pick something like Dominate. Not only did it seem to be something that was ridiculously easy to abuse but I could create permanent minions with my summoning Skills anyway. Besides Inspiring Aura would hopefully work on my minions and if it did then it would be much more useful and using it wouldn’t make me uncomfortable.

Once I picked Inspiring Aura, I brought up both of my new Skills.

Inspiring Aura! (Rare)

Creates an aura that slightly increases the Stats of nearby allies. Costs 20 MP and 20 SP per minute.

Growth Rate increased by 2 Willpower and 2 Charisma

Create Giant Dragonfly Unlocked! (Primordial)

This Skill allows you to create a giant dragonfly from Essence that will follow your orders.

Cost: 50 Essence

Requires an upkeep of 30 Control Points.

Growth Rate increased by 1 Unassigned Stat Point

Well it was definitely going to take a while before I could use Create Giant Dragonfly, but I was excited to see what it could do. On the other hand, Inspiring Aura should be useful right away. But I probably wouldn’t be able to use it for very long because of the cost.

Once I had gone over the two new Skills, I brought up my Create Giant Amoeba Skill to see what was going on there.

Create Giant Amoeba (Primordial) has reached Lvl 6!

Having reached its first milestone, you may now pick a mutation for your minion from the selection below. Please bear in mind that this will cause the same mutation in the amoeba in your internal world and may have unintended consequences.

Caustic Spray: Allows the amoeba to spray acid at its enemies.

Or

Essence Devourer: Allows the Amoeba to transfer some of the Essence of anything it devours to your Essence Pool.

Now this was definitely what I would call interesting. I had been hoping that my amoeba would be able to learn new abilities as the Skill levelled up, but I hadn’t actually expected to be able to choose the abilities that it would learn. The warning about the mutation that I chose also affecting my internal world wasn’t actually that surprising, but it didn’t really change what I was going to pick.

While Caustic Spray would be an extremely useful ability for the amoeba to have. Especially considering that I had just made two spells that did something quite similar but, in the end, I chose to unlock the Essence Devourer Mutation. I wasn’t sure what effect choosing this mutation would have on my internal world, but I knew that being able to gain even a small amount of Essence from anything that the Giant Amoeba devoured was too good an ability to miss out on. I was planning on eventually sending my minions out hunting on their own occasionally which would mean that I would likely end up missing out on getting any Essence from anything that they killed.

Once I had done this, I brought up my Aspect Screen once more and after considering my options for a few seconds I decided to put my remaining 16 Aspect Points into the Aspect of Wisdom 1.

As soon as I did the world changed around me again and I found myself at the bottom of the ocean once more. Looking around for a bit I saw a shelled creature that resembled a crab walking across the ocean floor picking up various pieces of detritus or smashing the shells of shellfish against rocks so that it could get at the soft flesh within. I also got to see a new type of plant was now growing in the forests that now existed on land. These plants resembled the modern seed-bearing ferns that I was familiar with from my time living in New Zealand.

Aspect of Wisdom 1 has reached 16/25!

Those who choose to specialise in Wisdom can use their magic more often than anyone else and often use this to turn the tides of battle.

Wisdom increased by 3!

MP regen increased by 2!

Remaining Aspect Points: 0

Soul Aspect increased to Level 216!

Crabs have evolved in your internal world and now wander the ocean floor. The powerful claws of these new creatures make them both dangerous predators and their thick armour makes them unappetising as prey for most creatures. The first true ferns have also appeared in your internal world and now grow over the forest floor absorbing any light that trickles down from above.

Toughness increased by 2!

Growth rate increased by 1 Toughness!

Constitution increased by 2!

Growth Rate increased by 1 Constitution!

Well now that was a decent number of Stats. I didn’t get any more Skills, but that was fine.

“Right one last thing Tane,” I said out loud as I brought up my Stat Screen again.

Status

Level 3

Exp: 7%

HP: 278/278

MP: 596/596

HP Regen: 25.2 per minute (+1)

MP Regen: 40.6 per minute

SP: 201/201

Essence: 21

SP Regen: 21.6 per minute

Control Points: 39.4 (9.4)

Str: 29 (+13/Lvl)

Agi: 46 (+14/Lvl)

Con: 41 (+ 6/Lvl)

End: 34 (+9/Lvl)

Tou: 44 (+9/Lvl)

Int: 81 (+42/Lvl)

Coor: 31 (+8/Lvl)

Vit: 36 (+8/Lvl)

Wis: 51 (+19/Lvl)

Will: 50 (+35/Lvl)

Per: 44 (+18/Lvl)

Cha: 27 (+11/Lvl)

Additional Growth Rate: +16 Unassigned Stat Points/Lvl. +40 MP/Lvl. MP regen increased by 1.4/min per Lvl +5 Control Points/Lvl.

Unassigned Stat Points: 0

Nice things were looking really good now. I could still use a little more Constitution and Endurance but other than that the new Aspect that I was investing in now should fill in some of the more glaring holes in my build.

“Okay,” I said as I got to my feet and checked all of my equipment. “I’m ready. Point me in the direction I need to go.”

A relieved Tane immediately started giving me directions. It was pretty obvious that the tree was very unsettled by finding these creatures nearby or it probably wouldn’t have asked for my aid. On the way I also asked for any other information that Tane had on these creatures and the tree had complied.

Apparently, these creatures burrowed into the ground and ate the roots of trees. They also lived in groups that could have up to 50 individuals which was a bit worrying. Tane had told me earlier that they weren’t very dangerous and that this particular group was much smaller than normal having only 15 members but the idea of fighting that many opponents at once was still a little intimidating even with my two minions along for the ride.

About an hour later Tane told me that I was approaching the area where it had sensed the group of creatures and a couple of minutes later, I saw a small group of things that looked sort of like overgrown slaters sitting outside a small burrow.

“I take it that’s them?” I asked the tree telepathically.

“Indeed,” Tane replied.

“Okay if I attack the ones that I can see will they retreat into the burrow or will the others come out?”

“They’ll come out,” The tree replied.

I nodded slowly as I ordered my two minions to slowly take up positions where they could intercept anything that tried to attack me and started casting my new Caustic Bomb spell. Unlike my other spells this one actually took a few seconds before I could actually cast it which I was guessing was because of it requiring me to mix three different types of Mana together.

As soon as the globule of acid had formed in between my hand I stepped out from behind the tree and hurled it in the direction of the barrow. The ball of caustic liquid flew across the distance in the blink of an eye and landed on the ground directly in front of the entrance to the burrow. The two slater-things started hissing angrily as the acid splashed over them and I could see that the caustic liquid was eating through the armour that protected them.

My two minions also attacked the scorpion was able to lock down one of the monsters on its own by holding it back with its claws. Seeing this I immediately told my amoeba which was struggling much more with the one that it was fighting to attack that one as well which allowed the other one to charge towards me hissing angrily. Hopefully, the caustic liquid that allowed the amoeba to eat anything that it enveloped would be effective on the monster’s shell but for now just slowing it down would have to do.

I drew my kunai in preparation for melee combat as the massive slater like thing closed in on me. Now that it was closer, I could see that Tane had been right about its mandibles. It looked like it would be able to bite through my leg with ease. Decided to test the waters a little I fired a Mana Bolt at it and nodded slowly when the glowing blue projectile just skidded off its armour and slammed into a nearby tree with a loud cracking sound.

That was basically what I had been expecting to happen, but I figured that it had been worth a try. Thankfully, a shell thick enough to completely deflect a spell like that had to be pretty heavy which would explain how slow this thing was. Even moving at full speed, it was slightly slower than me jogging.

Deciding to slow it down even further I cast my Sticky Bog spell creating a pool of viscous mud that it now had to wade through which would allow me to kite it easily while keeping an eye on both of my minions as well was watch the entrance to the burrow so that we weren’t caught off guard by the rest of the creatures.

I quickly checked up on my minions as the thing that was trying to attack me started thrashing in panic as it sank into the thick mud that I had created. From the looks of things some of the other monsters had attempted to leave the relative safety of the burrow but had turned back when they had stepped in the pool of acid that was still smoking on the ground outside of the entrance. As for my two minions they seemed to be doing relatively well. The giant slater thing was too big for my amoeba to engulf entirely so it was forced to devour it bit by bit instead. The monster was thrashing wildly against the claws of my scorpion as it was slowly being eaten by the amoeba, but it was unable to break free of the more powerful minion.

Seeing that things were going well I turned my attention back to my own opponent and started firing Acid Arrows at it from a distance. I aimed for its face which didn’t seem to be as heavily armoured as the rest of it and soon it was screaming in pain as the acid started eating into its flesh. Seeing that I was finally doing noticeable damage I made my next move.

Since it was still stuck in the mud that I had conjured the monster was unable to do anything as I ran up and leapt onto its back before casting Mana Edge on my kunai and activating Stab. The blade of my kunai easily penetrated the severely damaged shell that protected its head and penetrated whatever passed for this things brain killing it instantly.

“Like I thought,” I muttered to myself as I hopped off of the things back onto solid ground. “I was definitely right to make this weapon. The enchantments seem to be working as well.”

It was actually impressive how well that had worked. Even if I had weakened the things armour with Acid Arrows before finishing it off its shell was still pretty tough. If I hadn’t enchanted my kunai first, I doubted that I would’ve been able to kill it with that one hit even if I had used both Mana Edge and Stab at the same time.

“Well then what to do now,” I mused as I turned towards where my minions were fighting the other monster that had been guarding the entrance to the burrow. By this time my amoeba had dissolved two of its legs and a small part of its shell. However, despite the massive pain that the creature must be in my scorpion didn’t seem to be having much difficulty keeping it under control. Every time the monster tried to overwhelm it the scorpion simply allowed itself to be pushed back creating a rather odd spectacle as they danced around the entrance to the burrow.

Quickly checking my MP, I decided that after killing this one we would retreat for a bit. In reality we would be able to kill at least one more if we really tried but it wasn’t worth the risk of a bunch of them all coming out of the burrow and overwhelming us with their superior numbers. In fact, I decided that making that less likely would be a good idea so as I made my way back towards the burrow, I conjured another ball of acid with my Caustic Bomb spell and tossed it at the entrance. This time when it exploded some of it washed over the monsters that were crowding the entrance causing them to chitter in pain as they retreated slightly back into their burrow.

As soon as I was close enough, I started firing Acid Arrows again. Since the scorpion was in the way I wasn’t able to hit the monster’s head, so I focussed my attention on a small area of the things side instead. I ended up running out of MP before my attacks penetrating the shell, but I hoped that I had weakened it enough that I would be able to break through with my melee weapons.

Ordering both of my minions to hold the thing as still as possible I drew my axe and started hitting the weakened portion of the monster’s armour over and over again. Every so often I used either Stab or Chop, but I could see that I was barely making a dent.

About two minutes later after a particularly vicious swing the head of my axe broke completely off of the handle leaving me staring at the broken weapon in shock before tossing it away. There was little point in keeping it now since I could create a new one easily enough. That didn’t meant that I wasn’t pissed off though, I had just finished Enchanting the thing for god’s sake!

Gripping the handle of my kunai in both hands I stabbed down with all the force that I could muster. This time the blade scored a line in the thick shell and I reared back and stabbed down again. After repeating this a few times, I activated Mana Edge and Stab. This time I finally managed to reach the softer flesh underneath making the monster start bucking from the sudden pain.

Ignoring its obvious distress, I fired a Mana Bolt at the exposed flesh to make the hole in the shell bigger and then with the last of my MP I fired a Gravel Shotgun blast. This time the monster’s whole body stiffened as the small pieces of stone shredded its insides. Before anything else could happen, I ordered my minions to follow me before turning and sprinting away as fast as I could.

“What are you doing?” Tane asked. I could swear I could hear irritation in the trees telepathic voice, but I ignored it for a moment while I looked back over my shoulder to check that we weren’t being followed.

“The three of us can’t fight all of those things in a straight fight,” I replied telepathically. “So, we’re retreating for now so that we can recover from that small skirmish. This is a tactic from my world called hit and run and is used in many situations but especially when a smaller force has to fight a larger one.”

“Sounds like this will take a long time,” the tree replied but I could ‘hear’ that Tane sounded less irritated now.

“Well not necessarily as long as you think,” I sent back with a smirk on my face as I looked at the blinking symbol in the corner of my vision. “I get stronger through fighting but they’re already down two members.”

Now that I had Levelled Up some of my Skills, I had enough Aspect Points to finish my Aspect of Willpower 1. I probably didn’t have enough to get the next lot of bonuses from my Soul Aspect, but every little bit would help.

A smirk made its way across my face. These monsters were exactly what I needed to get stronger than I already was. As far as I could tell they weren’t that dangerous in a fight, but they were tough enough that most of my attacks didn’t really do much damage to them. This meant that I could use them to grind for Skill Levels and Aspect Points for a bit.

I just hoped that things were going to continue going this well.