I spent most of the following day building another two of the longhouses just like the one that I had already built and even managed to find the time to make a bunch of hammocks like the one that I was sleeping in as well.

I knew that it was unlikely that I would be able to make enough places for people to sleep in the next week and a bit if there was going to be anywhere near the number of refugees that I was expecting. But I was still hopeful that the kids, elderly and the sick or injured would have a roof over their heads when they got here.

My scorpion helped me out with moving the larger pieces of wood that I was using to make the longhouses while the Dragonfly patrolled the area in case more dangerous monsters started to get close. I also ordered the various Gels from the Gel Colony to go around and collect the large leaves that I was making the hammocks from.

There was still no sign of Tane waking up, but there was only a day or two to go before he did. I was honestly starting to miss having someone to talk to. Even though our conversations usually ended up with me explaining something to the tree.

By the end of the day, I was so exhausted from all the work that I had done that I fell asleep without even taking the time to check my Skill Increases. So, after I’d had breakfast the following morning, I decided to remedy that and sure enough almost all of my Skill Increases were for my crafting Skills which was great as far as I was concerned. Although it was pretty clear that my Skill Increases were starting to slow down a bit now since I had basically been doing the same thing for a day instead of trying different things.

Skills increased!

Laborer increased to Lvl 12.

Growth Rate increased by 1 Strength.

Rock Spear increased to Lvl 5.

Growth Rate increased by 1 Intelligence.

Mana Manipulation increased to Lvl 24.

Nature Shaping increased 15.

Growth Rate increased by 1 Intelligence.

Swarm Control increased to Lvl 17.

Create Giant Dragonfly increased to Lvl 4.

Calm Mind increased to Lvl 16.

Available Aspect points increased by 10

Total Aspect Points: 10

With a thought I placed all 10 of the points that I had earned into my Aspect of Willpower 2 and confirmed my decision. Once again, my internal world appeared around me as the real one faded away.

This time the first creature that I noticed was something that vaguely resembled a spine covered caterpillar. Suddenly this hideous creature paused and raised its head slightly as it spotted something. This unfortunate creature was perforated by almost a dozen spines a split second later as the caterpillar like creature fired them out of its body with surprising accuracy.

The perforated creature hadn’t even had time to scream before the spines had killed it, but it was the strange liquid that I could see leaking from its wounds that caught my attention.

“Does it have some sort of poison on those spines that acts in a similar way to spider venom?” I muttered to myself as the creature slowly ambled over to its victim. Sure, enough the caterpillar thing bent down and started sucking the sludge up with a tube-like proboscis that extended out of its face. My stomach turned slightly at the sound of the thing drinking its prey and I was suddenly thankful that I wasn’t going to have the option of buying a thick shake or smoothie any time soon.

“Yeah, that’s just nasty,” I groaned as I returned to the real world. I knew it wasn’t any different to what spiders did but there was something about the noise that it had made and the grisly way that it had killed its prey that put me off. Once I had recovered from my sudden bout of nausea, I crossed my fingers that this creature wouldn’t be one that I got a summoning Skill for and started reading through the notifications.

Aspect of the Willpower 2 has reached 27/50

Your drive to succeed has reached the point where others sit up and take notice when you’re doing something whether they like it or not. History is full of those like you who have driven others to succeed by their mere presence. Will you use this power for good or ill?

+ 3 Charisma

Aspect of Evolution (World of the Swarm) has reached Lvl 327!

A new species has appeared in your internal world. While this creature doesn’t look that dangerous compared to others it produces a powerful neurotoxin that it secretes onto spines which it then fires at its prey making it an incredibly dangerous predator.

Neurotoxin Skill Unlocked!

Constitution increased by 2!

Growth Rate increased by 1 Constitution and 1 Perception!

I let out a breath that I hadn’t even been aware that I was holding when I discovered that I hadn’t unlocked another summoning Skill and brought up the information on my new Neurotoxin Skill with a thought.

Neurotoxin (Specialized) Unlocked!

Neurotoxin allows you to coat objects in a powerful poison that causes damage on contact followed by a small amount of damage over time. Cost: 25 SP/min.

Growth Rate increased by 2 Constitution!

“Well, that does seem interesting,” I remarked. I could see more than a few uses for this Skill. I didn’t have that many ways of increasing the damage that I could do with my weapons so something like this was exactly what I needed to make it worthwhile for me to continue using them instead of focusing quite as much on my magical abilities as I had been up until now. In fact, it finally gave me a real reason to use the throwing kunai that I had made the other day which was nice.

Closing the notification, I stood up and wandered over to one of the longhouses that I had built yesterday. Inside the longhouse was a massive pile of leaves that I had started making hammocks with. Sitting down I started fusing the leaves together into yet another of the hammocks that I had been making while also looking through the compound eyes of my dragonfly as it flew through the trees searching for any signs that more monsters were encroaching on our territory.

It was quite exhilarating being along for the ride as the dragonfly flitted through the air with its surprising grace. Even though its wingspan had grown to over two meters long at this point the dragonfly could weave through the trees with impressive ease. At the moment I was only along for the ride and I was glad of that because there was no way that I was going to be able to directly control the dragonfly well enough to perform the feats of agility that it was performing right now. I was well aware how agile dragonflies were back on Earth which was so impressive that they were even compared to helicopters thanks to their ability to fly in any direction and the Giant Dragonfly was no exception which was somewhat surprising to me since this was supposedly more primitive than modern dragonflies.

While the dragonfly was scouting out the area the scorpion and Gel Colony were out gathering more materials for me to use to make more hammocks and longhouses. I was quite thankful that I had these other things to distract me from the rather boring task of using my Nature Shaping Skill to make hammocks. I knew that it was a necessary task but unfortunately that didn’t mean that it was an exciting one.

About an hour later I decided that I had made enough hammocks to fill up this longhouse and started making thread to tie them up with my Spider Silk Skill. Since there was so much more room in the longhouses than there was in the hollow that I was sleeping in I could put up twenty hammocks in this one longhouse alone. Unfortunately, that did mean that it was quite cramped inside, but it was still better than sleeping outside on the ground.

I spent most of the rest of the day making yet another longhouse with the help of my scorpion. My MP regen still wasn’t high enough for me to use Nature Shaping for any real length of time but that just meant that I had more time to get used to controlling the Dragonfly and meditating so I didn’t really mind all that much. In reality the only reason that I could even make buildings like this was because I had my minions, specifically the scorpion to help me. Normally things like that required a team of people with tools and simple machines but thanks to my Nature Shaping Skill I make things without tools and I could use my minions to replace the machines. It still wasn’t that easy to do but thanks to the System it was getting easier.

By the time night fell I had managed to complete the next longhouse and most of the hammocks to fill it which meant that I now had places to sleep for about 50 people now. However, I decided that I wouldn’t be making hammocks for the next longhouse that I built since that didn’t seem like a good thing for injured or elderly people to be sleeping on.

Since I had once again worked myself to exhaustion, I ate my simple dinner of meat wrapped in one of those large edible leaves that Tane had pointed out to me once more and went to sleep. While the simple fare was tasty enough, I was really looking forward to finding out what Yajashian food was really like. The oatcake things that the Admin had given me had been really good if very sweet so hopefully that wasn’t just a fluke and there would be plenty of things that I would enjoy being able to eat in the future.

Because I was so exhausted, I managed to fall asleep practically instantly which was yet another thing that I wouldn’t have been able to do before arriving on this world. Being able to fall asleep easily might’ve been a much more mundane thing than learning how to use magic but that didn’t mean that it wasn’t something that I was grateful for.

The following morning when I woke up a smile crossed my face. Hopefully Tane would be waking up either this afternoon or tomorrow and I was looking forward to talking with my friend again. Once I finished eating my breakfast, I made the rest of the hammocks that I had started making the other day.

After I was finished making the hammocks, I had to go out and help the scorpion collect more wood since it was having to go pretty far afield to find wood that we could use to make the longhouses. The Dragonfly still hadn’t noticed anything unusual so it looked like I was going to be able to make the longhouse that I wanted to make as well as some simple mattresses that I would just set up on the floor for those who were to injured or old to use the hammocks. In reality, I would probably need to make another longhouse that had mattresses instead of hammocks because I had no idea how many Yajashians were going to come to this world and what condition they would be in. I had considered just making mattresses for all of the longhouses, but hammocks took less time and materials to make so I decided that they were the more efficient option considering how much MP it took to make even one hammock let alone something like a mattress.

Eventually we collected the materials that we needed to make another longhouse and started building it. My ability to control the scorpion completely as well as directly see through its eyes like they were my own made moving things around until they were exactly where I needed them to be extremely easy which also meant that I didn’t have to waste any time checking everything.

We were nearly done when a loud cracking sound came from behind me causing me to nearly fall off the ladder as I tried to turn and see what was making the noise. What I saw actually did make me fall off the ladder with a crash as it stepped away from Tane’s trunk.

The thing in question was something that resembled a wooden manikin made out of living wood and as I picked myself off the ground it took a single step forward and collapsed onto its face.

“Tane, is that you?” I asked as I quickly made my way over to help the thing up. It turned its head to regard me for a few moments before the familiar voice of my friend echoed inside my head.

“Indeed, it is,” Tane replied with a mental sigh. “Using this body is quite a bit more difficult than you make it look.”

“Well, I’ve had years of practice using a similar body,” I chuckled as I reached out and grabbed Tane by the shoulder. “I’m going to help you up now.”

“Alright,” Tane replied, and I carefully pulled the manikin thing upright.

“Now, I’m going to hold you while you move so that you can get used to moving in this body then we’ll sit down and you can explain what’s going on,” I said, and the manikin’s featureless face regarded me silently again for a few moments.

“Very well,” Tane replied.

I spent the next few minutes trying to get Tane to walk properly which was an incredibly odd experience because the body that Tane had created could literally bend in any direction at any point which meant that there were more than issues with balance to think about. We also had to work out where Tane was going to bend the legs and the shape of the wooden body changed several times as we worked the kinks out but eventually Tane managed to walk for several meters, and we decided that was good enough for now.

“These bodies of yours are weird,” Tane remarked as the tree’s new humanoid form just sort of collapsed like the proverbial puppet that got its strings cut.

Over the course of our little walking lesson the basic body that Tane had created out of their own living wood had developed something that might eventually become features. They were still blurry and poorly formed but they were there which was incredibly odd to look at.

I’m sure that they are to you,” I agreed with a smile. “But they’re all that I know. I’m sure that you’ll get used to it soon enough. Now, would you mind explaining how came by this ability.”

“Well, like I told you, I fell dormant when I used my ability to increase your strength but that doesn’t mean that I was completely unaware of what was going on,” Tane replied. “So, while I couldn’t communicate with you in any way, I knew what you were doing. Eventually I decided that it would be wrong of me not to do something while you were struggling so hard to survive and prepare for the future.”

“So, you started to use the System?” I guessed. “And that’s how you obtained this ability?”

“That’s right,” Tane agreed. “Apparently this ability is known as Living Puppet and as you can see it allows me to make a body out of my own wood called an avatar which I can control like an extension of myself.”

“Well, that’s pretty cool, what else can you do?” I asked interestedly.

“I have that Skill that you told me about,” Tane’s new body replied. “Mana Manipulation so I can learn to use magic like you can. As well as several abilities that I can use to increase your strength. Although I’m sure that you’ll be pleased to know that these ones won’t cause me to go dormant like the one that I’ve already used on you.

“Okay,” I nodded thoughtfully. “So, you have some Buffs and the potential to learn other magical abilities. Alright I can work with that. What else can you tell me? What about the Stats of that body that you’re using?”

“I can tell you that all of my Stats other than Intelligence, Wisdom, Willpower, Constitution and Perception are all limited to 10 at the moment,” Tane replied. “But according to the description of my Living Puppet Skill I can increase that later on.”

“Alright,” I nodded. “And what about your other Stats?”

“Well, those are the same as they were in my true form,” Tane replied. “I have 136 Intelligence, 122 Wisdom, 111 Willpower, 94 Constitution and 109 Perception. But I haven’t used any of the Stat Points that have been building up over the years yet since I wanted to get used to things first. I haven’t used any Aspect Points either since I didn’t know what to use them on.”

“That’s pretty impressive,” I said. And it was, considering that Tane hadn’t been using the System for what were probably thousands of years of the tree’s lifespan which suggested that Tane had somehow subconsciously been using the System to increase their Stats. Either that or the System was distributing them by itself. Maybe that was something that I could ask the Admin about at a later date. “We can go over your Aspect Points and Unassigned Stat Points when you’re ready. Just let me know.”

“Of course. So, what are we going to do now?” Tane asked. “Do you want me to help you with whatever it is that you’re doing?”

“While I do appreciate the offer, I’m not sure how much use you would be with your current physical Stats,” I replied. “But why don’t I start teaching you some basic spells and you can practice them while I work?”

“I think that I’d like that,” Tane agreed. “I was hoping that you would teach me whatever it was that you were doing to mold things that you touch though.”

“Sorry Tane, I’m pretty sure that ability is something that only my species can do,” I apologized. “Although I suppose that there would be no harm in giving it a try if you really wanted to. In fact, I suppose that it could be possible for you to learn to shape your own wood since that’s basically what you’re doing right now. However, I still want to teach you a couple of basic spells for self-defense and so that you can get a feel for consciously using your mana.”

“Alright that sounds like a good idea,” Tane admitted. “So, what are you going to teach me first?”

“I was thinking that I would teach you Mana Bolt and Mana Barrier first and then teach you how to meditate if you don’t know how to already,” I replied and was then forced to explain the concept of meditation to Tane.

“Well, that sounds a lot like what I do when I go dormant,” Tane pointed out once I was done explaining. “Maybe it’s a bit like that?”

“Hmm, perhaps,” I nodded thoughtfully. “I guess we’ll find out when we move onto that. But first we’re going to go over Mana Bolt and Mana Barrier. I haven’t used Mana Barrier as much as I probably should be, but you should recognize Mana Bolt.”

“That’s the ball of energy that you can throw at your enemies correct?” Tane asked and I nodded in agreement. “Then yes I think that learning that will be easy enough. I have seen you use it several times.”

“Alright do you want me to cast the spell so that you can take one last look, or do you want to try it right away?” I asked.

“Do you think that you can cast it slower?” Tane asked. “That way I can really sense what you’re doing.”

“Sure, I can do that,” I nodded as I raised a hand and started creating a Mana Bolt. However, unlike normally where I was trying to cast it as quickly as possible, I slowed it down as much as possible and built the spell one layer at a time. It was at this point that I really realized that I had never really thought about what I was doing when I was casting the spell since I had first tried to create my own spells. As such with my current level of knowledge I was able to see several flaws in the spell as it was right now and started to fix them before realizing that Tane probably wouldn’t be able to mimic my level of control so doing that right now wouldn’t be helpful to them.

As soon as I finished creating the spell Tane raised their own hand and soon a flickering ball of blue energy appeared over their hand. A wave of satisfaction washed over me as Tane fired the bolt into the air where it exploded a few seconds later.

“Well done,” I congratulated my friend. “Now let’s move onto Mana Barrier.”