[Since the Fall: 4/25/809 - 6:23:21]

[Skill Leveled Up: Meditation (2) -> (3)]

[Skill Leveled Up: High Mind (2) -> (3)]

Dei woke with a start, gasping for breath while his eyes darted to and fro, studying his surroundings. He found that he was safe, still in the cave he was in when he went to sleep. The crystals were starting to brighten, but they were still a little dim right now. He was safe. Nothing else in here.

Taking a deep breath and slowly releasing it, he brought his heartbeat back under control.

It had been two days since he first started meditation, and his Visible Presence was coming along nicely. He got up to check his makeshift garden.

His moms satchel previously held many plants she thought were useful, which he now inherited. He didn’t know how to store them, per se, but he tried growing them again. He knew a little bit about growing plants from stalks, by cutting the bottom off and planting it in water until it formed roots, but none of these had needed that, as all their roots were intact.

He did notice that these plants were much hardier and grew more rapidly than earth plants, quickly taking root. He attributed that to the fact that most of them were high level plants. That's right, after identifying them he realized that each plant had its own levels.

Anyway, he had planted them off to the side of the cave in the hopes that they would grow rather than die. His mom picked these plants as they were supposedly useful to the community, but he suspected that he wouldn’t be able to get the full use from them. Despite that, he could get the basic uses from them. He identified the first of seven types of plants his mom had left him again, the plants putting up no resistance to being identified.

[Firm Root Grass - Level 133

Firm Root Grass is a special type of grass that plants deep, nutritious roots in the loose soil they naturally grow in. These roots have a high attunement for Health, leading to mildly regenerative properties

HP: 810

MP: 135

Physical: 135

Mental: 9

Spiritual: 10

Magical: 10]

When he first identified it, he noted how its HP multiplier for Physical was six, but its MP Multiplier was only one. Also, he thought it was funny that it had a higher mental stat than the beetle, but he was starting to realize something about these stats. They were relative to each species, each creature. This plant had a high Physical stat, and that made it stronger for a plant. Dei was stronger for a human, specifically a human kid. He still wasn’t as strong as an adult, despite a high Physical Stat, because the Physical stat wasn’t some magical- okay, it was magical- it wasn’t some cheat to becoming infinitely strong. It multiplied the muscle he already had.

He suspected 8-12 was the “average” for most creatures. That meant that the beetle he identified before… was a total idiot. Not just that, but it was lacking in spirituality and magical abilities completely.

He identified other [Greengrow Beetles] though, and all of them had a similar distribution of points. High physical, absurdly low everything else. He realized that the difference was in the environment. The reason the beetles were so stupid for beetles was that they were a niche species. They didn’t suffer from predators, challenges, or obstacles. They just kinda lived, which made them very very dumb. They never reached their full biological potential. The [Firm Root Grass], on the other hand, had grown up in a forest, competing with other plants for nutrients that were not guaranteed, leading it to becoming its biological average.

The grass focused on Physical because it had to become stronger than the grass around it, magic playing a very small part in its life. Over time, its species had somehow given up portions of its soul that went to MP, focusing it on HP instead, leading to a special variant of grass.

Each of the plants his mom had collected fit some sort of niche in the environment, giving it certain low-tier abilities. The Root Grass grew in loose soil, like a bog or sand, so he had planted it in mud which he would have to water frequently to keep loose. He wasn’t afraid of it overtaking the regular grass of the cave, as it struggled to grow in solid soil. The next three plants were much like the [Firm Root Grass] in that they were only slightly magical.

[Pepper Bark - Level 135

Bark of the Pepper Bark Tree, infused with Fire mana. In small, diluted doses, works as an incredible spice. In its pure form, it causes agonizing pain when ingested.]

Spicy bark, got it. It also didn’t have stats, most likely because it wasn’t the actual plant. He had a good five or six pounds of the stuff.

[Rubbergum Fruit - Level 1

Hosting a highly squishy outer layer, the fruit will protect the seeds inside by being completely chewable, yet never allowing the skin to break]

It felt similar to a soft rubber, like an eraser that had heated up a bit too much. Yet Dei found that he couldn’t rip it apart with his hands, the skin itself being elastic and durable. He was pretty sure it was only level 1 as his [Identify] was measuring the seeds within the fruit, rather than the tree it came from. He suspected some big herbivore would eat this fruit, and the entire thing would pop out unharmed on the other end.

[Golden Glow Fruit - Level 1

Grown from the Golden Glow Fruit tree, these small fruits are chock-full of Light mana. Bitter yet safe to eat, the fruits will slowly mature while on the vine, the Light mana growing in density until it becomes volatile. When the light mana becomes too high for the fruit to contain, the bottoms of the fruits explode, launching it into the air and sending the seeds to a different location]

It was magical, yes, and impressive, yes, but he remembered a plant on Earth that repeated the same without mana at all, so it was less significant.

The next plant was where they started getting interesting.

[Floating Lily Sprout - Level 112

Floating Lilies are a special kind of water lily found in freshwater ponds prone to rapid droughts and floods. Their stalks are an incredibly dense yet hollow metallic-like substance. When the pond the lilies reside in floods, the roots retract into the stalks, and the lily fills the stalk with air, allowing for it to float above the water. When the pond the lilies reside in enter periods of drought, the lilies quickly dig their roots into the soil, balancing on their long stalks to stay above the pests that would normally devour the sensitive and highly sweet lilies on top. Through flood or drought, the lilies always float, giving them their name.

HP: 489

MP: 326

Physical: 163

Mental: 65

Spiritual: 11

Magical:10]

This one, he dug three small indents in the ground to plant the three sprouts he had, and linked up the indents with the small creek. They would drain as fast as they filled, but the lilies always had water. While he couldn’t recreate the flooding aspect, he could try and keep them alive until he found somewhere outside the cave for them to live. He was also excited about the part that said the flowers were sweet, but they weren’t flowering right now, so he had no way to know.

At first he thought he would need to split the stems to create roots for them, but he found out their roots had just been tucked away. Good thing too, as his moms knife failed to cut the metallic green stalks, which is what clued him in to identifying it before planting it. He found that it had more total stat points than the [Firm Root Grass], so he believed it was an uncommon plant while the root grass was common. On top of this, it was a weirdly intelligent plant, which he attributed to the fact that it had to decide whether to retract its roots or not.

The third plant he decided to not allow to grow in the cave.

[Hanging Shade Moss - Level 152

Hanging Shade Moss is a parasitic moss that feasts on the trees they attach themselves to, until the trees fall over, spewing spores further out to land on other trees. The moss begins its life as mutually beneficial to the tree it resides on. It is filled with Shadow mana that is toxic to being ingested, and this Shadow mana drives off insects while obscuring the tree on which the Hanging Shade Moss resides, slowly coating the trunk and branches while allowing the leaves to gather sunlight. Once all but the leaves are obscured, the Hanging Shade Moss begins draining nutrients from the tree in order to kill it, thus restarting the cycle.

HP: 216

MP: 216

Physical: 108

Mental: 64

Spiritual: 75

Magical: 93]

Not only did he not have a tree to hang it on, he didn’t even want it in his cave. He went into the crag leading into the cave, yet still within the protective bubble, and dug into the stone. It was weirdly easy, the stone coming free in handfuls like clay, when he remembered he had a racial bonus for digging

[Digging (Major) - Passive

Slight in-born hyper-specialized earth affinity gives +600% digging speed]

After digging deep enough, he buried the massive pile of moss he still had in the hole and blocked it up, just to be sure it wouldn’t infect anything else. It was apparently squished somehow in the bag, as it had expanded greatly after he placed it on the ground and left it there for around a day.

It had been another day since he buried it, and he would bring it out if he ever decided he needed it. The next plant was also scary, but he was afraid to bury it like he had the [Hanging Shade Moss]. He had a dozen of them, and they looked like foot-long angler teeth with roots on the bottom.

[Biting Flesh Trap of Allure bulb - Level 233

Biting Flesh Traps are plants that slowly compact themselves flat to the ground, blending in with the terrain around them. When animals step on them, they shoot up, biting into the flesh of the creatures, drinking the blood that falls to the ground. If left to fester, fields of Biting Flesh Traps are capable of slaying monsters by impaling them repeatedly.

This particular strain has evolved, attuning itself to the Heart affinity. It will use such an affinity to entice animals to walk onto it, then fill them with fear after they are injured so they run away, allowing the Biting Flesh Trap of Allure to drink the blood in peace.

HP: 356

MP: 356

SP: 356

Physical: 178

Mental: 44

Spiritual: 9

Magical: 112]

He felt some sort of resonance between him and the plant, and he realized that he was actually able to sense the Heart affinity using his Soul affinity. More than this, he was able to control it. While it was very specialized to attacking other creatures' minds, it actually had an absurdly low Spiritual stat, leaving it vulnerable to being controlled in turn.

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He didn’t want to plant it yet… but wouldn't dismiss planting it completely.

This one, he actually went a step further, searching its soul using his [Identify of the Stout Protector] to sense how long they could last without being planted, and still being strong enough to grow.

[Plant will perish without soil in approximately: 5-7 years]

It would do him well to remember that he could identify more than just the basic information of a soul.

He scanned the Pepper Bark and both fruits, seeing how long they would last just to be sure.

The bark would last [Indefinitely], so it wouldn’t rot. The Golden Glow fruit would only last [3-5 days] though, so he decided to eat those soon. He only had four, so it wouldn’t be a big deal. And the six rubber fruits would last [10 months-1 year], so he had time on that one.

Finished checking on his garden, verifying that all his plants he wanted to be healthy were, he made his way to the center of the cave to [Meditate].

He wasn’t able to meditate on two concepts at once, instead having to alternate. That wouldn’t be an issue for long though: with all the new fog around his soul, it was getting easier and easier to use [High Mind]. He still wasn't at a point where his Presence could absorb the full weight of the Skill, but it didn’t feel as uncomfortable to use it actively now, and he could use it faster.

The levels were slow coming too, but those would become faster when he could actually use his Skills for more than a few seconds at a time.

With more studying as well, he also confirmed that his Soul was indeed not healing. Whatever his mother had done to him had healed him for a time, but now it seemed the cracks might be permanent. At least until he could find some sort of soul healer, or get a Skill dedicated to healing souls. His mother had a Skill for healing Souls, obviously, so he knew it was possible.

Before his Presence training, Dei might’ve felt despair at the fact that he wouldn’t be able to wait around for his soul to fix itself, as the path forward would’ve become impossible without his Skills behind him. Or at least much more difficult. Now though, there was the slimmest of hopes, and he would hold onto it until he could reach the place he called home.

Standing up from the grassy bed he normally slept on, he made his way over to his moms bag, getting the typical breakfast rations. He still wasn’t confident in repeating the last time he worked his body to the bone, but it would absolutely be a path forward if he needed more Physical stats fast.

He still needed to bring his stats into balance, as his Physical was much lower than the other two, but he would save that for when he could work out and meditate at the same time. He thought it should be possible, as meditation was more a state of mind than an active undertaking, but for now he needed to sit still and focus to bring himself into that state of mind.

After his small yet somehow hearty breakfast, he checked his Interface, as he started doing right before beginning his [Meditation].

[Name: Dei Grrata

Race: Human (Gem Dweller Variant)

Class: Prodigal Detector (Level 34)

Profession: Pondering Sage (Level 2)

Achievements: Void Walker, Soulspeak, Beyond Understanding, No Rulers Above All, Bearing the Burden, Slayer of Mountains

Contracts: Soul of the (IIIIIIII)

HP: 26/26

MP: 26/26

SP: 26/26

Stats:

Physical: 13

Mental: 27

Spiritual: 24

Magical: 28

Affinities:

Kindness: Mid-Rare, 57%

Wrath: Mid-Uncommon: 0%

Soul: Low-Uncommon: 58%

Inner Skills:

Kindness: Pandora’s Box (Contained) (50) (642/2000), Call for Help (9), Good Samaritan (1)

Wrath: Pandora’s Box (Unleashed) (2), Growing Pains (19)

Soul: Astral Projection (1), Connection (1)

Mana: Meditation (3)

Confluence: Identify of the Stout Protector (1)

Outer Skills:

How About a Demonstration?, Fine-Tooth Comb (2), Vigilance (1), In Tune (1), Commune with the Universe (2), High Mind (3)]

Aside from the levels in [Meditation] and [High Mind], he also noticed that his [Pandora’s Box (Contained)] Skill was slowly building up mana as he meditated.

[583/2000 Wrath

7/2000 Kindness

52/2000 Soul]

It seemed that meditation would gradually increase his connection to Soul, while also producing a small amount of Soul mana. Something else he discovered though was that he could will his affinity to not increase. After it had increased by 3% in one day, he started dreading the idea of increasing it to the point where he would lose himself. His affinities stated that he could counteract Soul’s affect on him by increasing his natural affinities, but Soul was just so easy to increase compared to the other two in the environment he found himself in. On top of this, his attunement to Soul made it twice as fast.

Despite that though, after he resolved in his mind to resist his affinity for Soul increasing, it just flat out stopped. While it was true this might be giving up power, even a valuable tool for him, he wasn't going to change his stance until his Wrath was a bit higher than Soul. True, Soul would be a valuable tool at higher levels, but Dei himself wasn’t a tool, and he wouldn’t let his personality be overtaken.

Sighing at the complications of his life, way too much for some however-many-month old, he sat back down and started meditating, or tried.

He found that he was too restless. He couldn’t bring his soul back into view, as he couldn’t calm his mind at all. He wasn’t a fool, he knew the issue was how long he had been sitting in this cave. Way, way too long. Like a week and a half. He was starting to get stir-crazy.

As stupid as it might've been, Dei needed to see outside the cave, just a small bit.

Standing back up, he made his way over to the cave entrance and looked through. It was a dark crag, a split that marred the perfect, homely, peaceful feeling of where he’d now found himself. He’d ventured into it to bury the poisonous moss, but now it seemed so much more mysterious with his intention to actually step outside.

One look at the dark cavern quashed his desire to leave, so he turned right back around, sat down, and successfully started meditating.

An hour later though, he was pulled from the peacefulness by errant curiosity. Even if he was scared of leaving, that fear was overshadowed by boredom.

Bringing himself back up to the entrance, he looked at it again. This time, he didn’t turn around immediately, and squeezed himself through.

He could tell, through [Tremor Sense], where the bubble that concealed him from the outside world started and ended. It was only slightly into the crag, maybe five or six feet, and he paused at the wall, tempted to turn back.

‘Just put a single foot out, for just a few seconds. Just enough to get a feel for the outside world’ he told himself.

His mind would be able to handle tremor sense better, with more than triple the Mental stat than his first time. He didn’t think he was in danger of being overwhelmed again, but he didn;t want to risk it. One foot, for a few seconds. That was all he would do.

Slowly, he raised his right leg, and placed it down on the outside of the bubble. Immediately, the world opened before him. He couldn’t calculate exactly how far [Tremor Sense] let him see, but it had to be at least ten miles before things became too fuzzy to make out.

Before he could lock on to any details though, he quickly retracted his leg back into the bubble, scraping it slightly on the rock around him.

Panting hard in the dark cave, he didn’t move any further back to safety. He just stood there, right at the edge of the outer world.

When he was calm enough, he realized that he had been able to scan the outside world for a few seconds without feeling overwhelmed at all. It felt natural, like a missing part of his body had finally returned. He hadn’t even noticed that he had some sort of phantom limb until now, as the tremor sense organ was not part of his previous body.

Now that he knew though, he could feel discomfort in his mind. The bubble in this little cave protected him, but it made him uneasy too. He felt trapped, his body yearning to be able to see for miles, scanning his surroundings. Since his [Tremor Sense] was being suppressed, he felt blinded, despite the fact that he had never used it before at all. The feeling didn’t stem from his conscious mind, but his primal instincts the System had built into him when it upgraded his racial abilities.

He huffed. That made things much more difficult. While he could naturally suppress the instinct, he also knew that it wasn’t as easy as it sounded. It was going to bother his meditation. Even if he was technically safer in here, he didn’t feel safer because of the weird new instinct.

He wasn’t going to be an idiot though. He would spend as long as he could in this cave, instincts be damned. If he had to go insane in here if it meant living, he would.

Still though, it didn’t hurt to take a peek every now and again, satiating his new sense so that he could continue his meditation.

Now that he confirmed his mind wouldn’t immediately be overwhelmed, he decided to place his foot outside of the cave for longer. Lifting up the same leg, he placed it confidently down outside the bubble, and felt a world open up before him.

There was so much to see, so much to listen to. While he couldn’t actually hear anything, sounds made vibrations, and he could imagine the sounds across everything.

Looking at the mass of caves, it felt unnatural to his Earth imagination. He was deep, deep underground, there shouldn’t be this many caves, but there were an uncountable amount. More than that, there were two cave systems that rarely intersected. The first cave system was the one he was connected to. It was dry, with the familiar moss and walking creatures he had seen a few times with his mother.

The other one was some underground river that occasionally overlapped with the dry one to create pools for the land creatures to drink.

The harmony between the two was staggering, almost intentional. The water system was like a massive underground river, constantly flowing to the point he couldn’t see into it. The vibrations emanating from the water was too strong, impossible to see through. When he focused too hard on it, he found himself becoming woozy as his [Tremor Sense] strained to filter out the noise.

He simply couldn’t believe that these systems were accidental. They looked like two systems in the body, weaving around each other. If the water caves were some massive circulation system, the dry caves were a nervous system. At the same time, neither tapered down to smaller points to ‘deliver’ nutrients anywhere. The caves were genuinely not alive to his senses. He tried to [Identify] the stone walls just to confirm, but his identify completely rebounded off. He could tell that it wasn’t because the wall was “resisting” his identify, it just never had a soul in it. The walls were not part of some massive creature like he initially feared, it was solid stone.

So, while it might look like two systems interweaving, perhaps there was something else at work. To him, the formations didn’t seem natural, but he was working off of earth knowledge. Was there something that natural mana did to stone? Something that made the cave systems form like this? That was as good a guess as any, and what he would run with for now. If the entire planet was alive, he didn’t even know what he would do.

Calming himself with deep breaths, Dei refocused on the dry systems he could look into. There were pockets of open area, but for the most part the caves were tunnels, corridors that widened and narrowed in various places.

When he tried to focus on any part, he struggled to filter out the noise. He saw now that his little cave was so quiet.

He decided to try something new. Using [Fine-Tooth Comb], he gave it the instruction to focus on the area 100 feet out around where the crag met the main cave system.

His mind focused on a much smaller area now, relieving him of most of the pressure that built up. In his little area he saw… not much. One hundred feet in either direction of a random corridor. There were other cracks in the wall too, so the crack he hid inside wasn’t unique. By all intents and purposes, it was exactly the same as every other cave system.

When looking at where he hid from outside, Dei noticed that it wasn’t just some empty space like he thought it would be, but the field also camouflaged itself. It just looked like nondescript stone.

Back to the outer cave system, there were only two things “of note” around him. Two patches of wildlife. About forty feet to the right from the crack leading to his cave, there was a random shrub with caterpillars on it.

On the edge of his designated area for tremor sense to his left, he also noticed a patch of moss and a couple plants on the walls.

That was all for the area directly around him.

Curiosity sated, he moved back into the safety of his bubble, quickly scurrying back into the gem-lit room. He smiled, feeling much better than he had since he started meditating, and opened his new notification.

[Skill Leveled Up: Fine-Tooth Comb (2) -> (3)]

Clearing his mind, Dei sat back down in the center of the cave and continued to meditate.