Gunther woke up to the sound of birds chirping and the light of the sun, entering his bedroom. He groaned, wondering what time it was. It was too early to wake up, that was certain. He opened his eyes to look at his alarm clock and only then noticed he wasn’t lying in his bed at home, but in his tree in Elovar. Slowly becoming fully awake, Gunther began to remember all that had happened the day before.

‘It really has been a crazy day, huh? Well, it’s time to see what today will bring.’

Of course, Gunther wasn’t really happy with the situation he was in, all alone in a world he didn’t know, but he knew there was no point in complaining. It was time to decide how he would spend his time the coming days. A plan was essential, if he wished to survive this new, dangerous world.

‘Shelter is taken care of for now, as well as water, my food supply is limited, but will hold for about a month I think. Maybe I should focus on getting stronger then? Or perhaps exploring the area?’

When he thought some more about it, Gunther realised becoming stronger was his best bet. Exploring the area would help if he had to escape in case something more dangerous than a killer bunny appeared, but the risk of running into exactly that creature while exploring was to great. 

‘Gaining strength it is then, cue in the epic montage!’

To his immense disappointment, Gunther didn’t hear any montage music starting, nor did he somehow start moving on his own. ‘It was worth a shot...’

“Now then, how to start gaining power.” Gunther mumbled, thinking about all the paths he could take. Having no class to limit him was great in a way, but it also meant he had to choose from literally every possible option out there. All support or crafting skills were out if he wanted to be able to survive for long. Building a literal fortress would of course help, but for one, he didn’t have the stone for it and secondly, he would never be able to finish such a thing before his food ran out. 

‘That leaves me with melee, ranged or magical combat. A summoner skill would be awesome as well, but I have no idea how to even start at that. Taming animals would be cool as well, but seeing what a single bunny did to me, it somehow doesn’t seem like a great idea.’ Gunther mused, another thought coming up while thinking of the bunny. ‘I don’t think I could really handle all that blood another time, so maybe melee is not the best idea. If I don’t want to be throwing rocks at stuff, ranged will at least have to wait until I have a bow and since I don’t know how to make one, it seems I will have to become a mage.’

Gunther had always been kind of interested in magic while on Earth, so that may have influenced his decision a bit, but he really believed it was his best option as well. He noticed he had earned himself two points in wisdom and one in intelligence during his decision making.

‘Maybe it is because I decided to go into the mage direction, or just a coincidence, but it is a nice boost nonetheless. Now to decide which direction I should go in.’

After some consideration, Gunther decided manipulating the world around him would be the best way to go. The main reason for this decision was the fact that his knowledge from Earth seemed to be able to boost his skill levels. Applying his understanding of physics to influence the world around him, would surely give him an edge in comparison to manipulating the arcane energies into a spear or stuff like that. The fact that every first attempt at casting magic had resulted in him harming himself influenced his decision a bit as well. He just didn’t seem all to adept at casting magic like that.

Now Gunther just had to decide where to start. The options which seemed the most viable right now were manipulating water, earth, wind or wood. Life or death could maybe be done as well, but Gunther didn’t know enough about magic to try life and after his experience with necromancers, death magic wasn’t all to appealing to him. He didn’t even consider time or space magic.

‘Wind magic or manipulation might be hard to get to a point where I can damage anyone with it, since I’ll probably have to condense it into a wind blade. Water might be good, but it would leave me powerless if I’m away from the river, since I don’t think using the water in the air will be viable anytime soon. That leaves me at earth or wood magic. Being in a forest, there is enough of both. Wood would help me with upgrading my home as well, but might be harder. Earth seems pretty decent overall, but is just a bit boring. Wood it is then.’

 After these and other thoughts, Gunther decided to start with trying to manipulate wood, although he fully planned to at least try his other options as well at some point. Having decided on a plan for the foreseeable future, Gunther decided it was time to get out of his tree. Stepping outside, he noticed it was still early in the morning. Now that he wasn’t in danger or hurriedly looking for a place to sleep, he noticed it was spring. Tiny green plants having sprouted in the area.

‘Normally, the smaller plants don’t really stand a chance in a forest like this one, with the trees blocking a lot of the light. Maybe they can live of mana or something like that.’

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

It was just a passing thought, but it was still kind of interesting to think about. Moving on from that minor observation, Gunther began to think about how he would be able to manipulate the wood around him. It would be best if he could somehow constrict his enemies with the roots of the trees around him and then use the dead wood on the ground to finish them off. He didn’t know how much of that would be possible though.

Gunther thought it might be possible to feel the mana of the tree and try to manipulate that, so he went back to his cozy room and lied down inside. Now surrounded by wood, Gunther tried to open up his senses to the mana around him. He knew how to feel for his own mana and tried to extend that feeling to his surroundings. He eventually got into some sort of trance, completely at peace and slowly becoming one with his surroundings. He didn’t know how much time had passed, but at a certain moment he felt what he was looking for.

The feeling was very faint, but it also felt powerful. Strong yet flexible, full of life and energy and very old somehow. He didn’t know what made him think those things, but somehow he just did. He also noticed it felt somehow damaged, rough at the places where the feeling started. Gunther then decided it was time to open his eyes and saw that he had gotten some notifications.

Active skill gained: Meditation lv 1!

Doing nothing and thinking of nothing on purpose, the paradox of meditation.

By immersing yourself in the world around you, you have gained the skill Meditation.

Makes time feel like it passes faster and increases regeneration of all kinds.

Let’s you influence your perception of time at higher levels,

increases regeneration further at higher levels.

‘That certainly seems useful, although the fact that I basically skipped a part of the day could be bad. I don’t have unlimited supplies after all.’

Active skill gained: Mana Sense lv 1!

By look at ones mana and see his soul.

By feeling the mana around you for the first time, you have gained the skill Mana Sense.

Enables you to feel the mana around you.

At later levels you sense mana with more clarity,

sensing mana becomes more natural to you as this skill increases in level,

though an active skill, using this one will at one point be as much a conscious action as using your eyes to see.

‘This is awesome, a completely new sense!’ 

Though Gunther thought it awesome to gain this new ability, he also was a bit scared, because it was once again a reminder that this place was very different from Earth. The notifications were not done however.

Passive skill gained: Wood Attunement lv 1!

Wood is strong and almost as old as life itself. You somehow gained a connection to this element.

By immersing yourself in the element of wood, you have gained the skill Wood Attunement.

Lets you understand the element of wood and control it slightly,

higher levels let you control and understand it better.

“Yes!” Gunther exclaimed, glad that his plan had worked. He got outside of his tree and noticed the sun was higher up in the air and the temperature had risen during the time he had been meditating.

‘Something to consider next time I use the skill.’

He had also gotten some notifications telling him his Meditation went up to level 3 and his Mana Sense had leveled to 2. His wisdom stat had gone up by 1 as well.

Gunther laid his hand on the wood that had been his bed that night. With the help of his Wood Attunement, he felt a slight sense of hurt and pain. It was as if the tree was wounded. Gunther realised he was the reason the tree was in pain, he had used explosives to make a pretty big hole on the inside after all. On Earth, Gunther knew, the core of a tree consists of dead wood, even if the tree itself is alive. He hadn’t even considered the possibility that it would be different here. Even if it weren’t, he had still carved a hole in the side of the tree.

Remorseful, Gunther tried to think of ways to help the tree and heal it. Thinking of his knowledge from Earth, Gunther tried to sense the ‘vascular system’ of the tree. He knew trees use a concept similar to blood and veins to transport the needed nutrients throughout it. Using that knowledge it was pretty easy to find the phloems, veins, of the tree. The hard part was using his newfound power to make it grow back. Even harder was convincing it to grow back in the way he wanted. Gunther didn’t want to block off the entrance to his own home after all.

Using his mana, Gunther send out the intent to make the tree regrow itself in the shape he wanted. Starting with the outer edge, he commanded a single phloem to grow up and reconnect at the top of the opening. Instead of making it do this straight up however, he forced it to grow in an arc, as close to the edge of the opening as possible. Supplying the tree with his own mana to grow, he guided it, pushed and pulled, begged it to follow his command, until it was finally done.

Gunther fell to the ground exhausted. He hadn’t used up much mana, just 14 points, but the amount of mental energy he had spent was not something quantified in this world. Even after all that, he had only reconnected one single bit of wood. Deciding he would find some more efficient way later, he got back into the tree and started meditating. Since the skill had said it boosted regeneration of all kinds, he hoped his mental exhaustion would be lessened as well. With those thoughts, he drifted off into a trance again.