Lucas set out for his tree hollow immediately after breakfast the following morning. He had less than forty-eight hours left till his System unlock, and he was determined to make the most of that time.

It was earlier in the morning than the last time he'd made this journey. The sky was overcast with clouds, blanketing the atmosphere so completely that it still appeared quite dark out. Most people would probably spend this day inside if the weather did not take a turn. He would have to stick clear of any guards to avoid the inevitable questions of where he thought he was going.

Luckily, the hampered light would help him go unnoticed. Lucas would still have to put forth effort to avoid the guards' stat-boosted perception, but they were still human. Nobody would be performing at full marks at the end of a long shift through the night.

Shame I didn't have the time to bake something to keep me warm while I'm out there, though.

Bundled up in multiple layers of clothes, the cold wouldn't be the worst problem for him. There was a difference between 'not being the worst' and 'not being an issue at all,' however. There was no use in lamenting over what could have been. Lucas made the choice to go out into this biting weather, and being as early as possible was the priority.

The ground was quickly progressing into a muddy state, and his boots squished and squelched as he made his way north. Lucas stuck to the driest areas to reduce the marks of his passing he left behind whenever possible. He did a fair job on that front and stuck to the pathways that saw the least amount of travel.

To remind himself of what task exactly he would soon be undertaking, Lucas started mentally rehearsing the mana formations for each separate bone, tissue, and system of his body.

Bones were among the easiest formations, though that did not qualify them as easy overall. It got complicated when it came to the marrow held within, and he was highly incentivized to get that part right as it was a key component to his body's response to infections and the like. Lucas made sight of the north gate by the time he was satisfied with his memorization of the complex mana pattern.

Instead of pushing on ahead, Lucas found someplace comfortable to sit and wait for the next patrol to pass without being seen. The spot he chose was an old, worn down shed attached to a building a little ways down the wall. From behind a stack of firewood, he watched the gate and moved on to the next mana formation he'd be using.

Muscles--not all of them used the exact same pattern, technically, but the handful that were used for this system of the body were relatively uncomplicated and of very little variance. The most crucial thing to keep in mind when going over this area was that each pattern targeted specific muscles, and no other would work for this specific targets. That, and the muscle formations had to tie into the ones for his skeleton perfectly. It would be a small trial to get every pattern perfectly matched, but not even worth mentioning compared to the difficulty other bodily systems would give him.

Like the one composed by the vast majority of his internal organs and tissues, his guts and skin and so many other things. If the mana formations for his muscular system would present a small trial, comparable to a hill, this would be a mountain. Every differing organ and tissue had an equally differing formation. They numbered in the dozens and it had taken Lucas a very, very long time to witness them all from just watch his mother work. At least he hoped he had them all, because he didn't have any more time to research.

At least these formations tie in with each other a lot more than ones from different systems. Makes it easier to keep them all in mind, and may even let me deduce whatever areas I might be missing--like building a puzzle or reading a map.

A loud scraping caught his attention and he looked out to see the gate opening as the last patrol returned to the village. Once they were all back within the walls and dispersed, Lucas came out from his hiding spot and continued with his journey. It was the work of a minute to bypass the gate again--which almost made him question its security before he remembered it was meant to guard against anything coming from the other direction--and he took off at a sprint for the tree cover.

Once Lucas was sure no one might see him from atop the wall, he slowed back down to a walk. He had a lot of thinking to do before he made his first attempt at a full-body mana manipulation and transformation.

The next system he mentally rehearsed was quite a bit different from the one before. Much easier overall to put together in his head, but it shared the trait of unique mana formations that were closely linked together. It was the system made up by his heart, lungs, blood and veins. The relevant mana patterns were quite easy to remember and the most familiar to him. They were the first ones Lucas committed to memory and the most rehearsed, seeing as the majority of injuries his mother had to treat in the village--and therefore the majority of what he'd seen--touched on this bodily system.

Instead of moving on to the next set of patterns immediately, Lucas took a moment to appreciate his walk. The weather may not have been the best, but overcast skies added their own definition of beauty to the world around him. He was often lost in his focus and didn't give things the appreciation they were due, like this tranquil walk in the quiet woods. The path was not yet muddy and the air was just starting to warm up as the sun crested the horizon, albeit from behind the cloud cover.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Being out here was freeing, in a way. True, he made use of the tree hollow because it allowed him to do things without being disturbed, things that other people might not let him do--like conduct an experimental plan that could potentially have consequences that will stick with him for the rest of his life, for example--but that wasn't what he was referring to in this moment. Being out here was freeing because it put everything into perspective. Out in these untamed woods and uncharted world, life seemed so much bigger. All his worries did not melt away, but in this moment they did not matter; they were smaller.

I may not be able to imagine what life would look like beyond the village, but maybe it wouldn't be so bad to find out.

A life of adventure and discovery. A life that people tell stories about. It would be incredibly dangerous, there could be no mistaking that, but all things were possible with magic and preparations. It was just one more reason to get the best Class and Skills he possibly could.

Lucas entertained that thought some more. If he wanted to set off and explore all of Anki one day, he would need more than the Class he was currently working toward. He'd need to know how to hunt to provide food for himself, and all sorts of other skills that would make him self-sufficient. He would also need some better way to move around than just his feet, otherwise he would die of old age before he'd seen everything.

I wonder if there are Skills that will let you fly like a bird, or maybe move from one spot to another in the blink of an eye--that one would let me come back to the village whenever I want and see mom as well. That sounds really powerful, so they may not be something I can just get right out of my unlock, but surely at higher levels it is possible?

Most of all, Lucas needed to know more about the world. Heck, he wasn't even sure the rest of Anki spoke the same language that was spoken in the village. The place was pretty isolated. Maybe it had been that way for so long that the spoken word of the rest of the world had left them behind.

It could be argued that that sort of knowledge could be gained by just going out there. He could find out for himself, and just learn the hard way, but that was just and excuse to be lazy and avoid doing the work now that would save him the trouble. No, it was better, safer, to get as much of that knowledge as he could from the people of the village. His mom wasn't born there, so surely she could help?

If she ever allowed me to go out there, anyway.

Lucas stumbled on that intrusive thought.

That's not exactly fair, she is incredibly accepting of most things I want. Mom would probably just make sure I was as prepared as reasonably possible, and maybe not all on my own, before she gave her permission.

Lucas might be more hesitant to leave one day than he was admitting to himself. It was a very big decision, so reluctance to make it was understandable, but he needed to be completely honest with himself as to his stance on the idea before it was even possible,

Maybe...after I get that transportation Skill. That way, it wouldn't really be like I was leaving. I could come back every single night if I wanted to, as if I was only off seeing to a day's work.

All that was for the future though, and Lucas stopped before he could truly get ahead of himself. He had arrived at the tree hollow some minutes ago, but was yet to crawl in as he was once again lost in his focus. It happened literally all the time--even when he was deliberately trying to be present in the moment and world around him. He hadn't even had any of that bitter tea this morning.

Lucas set that behind him and proceeded into his hideout. Though he did not bring any hot food on this journey, he did bring a pouch full of dehydrated fruit and meat to reinforce his supply of nuts. It was only a small portion of the amount they had gotten at the market yesterday, for the house, but it was plenty for this place. He didn't want to bring much anyway, and risk some wild, foraging creature locate it and take his entire stock.

He settled in and got his mind set back onto the business that drew him out here. He only really had one more system of his body to go over, but it was the most difficult and the one that posed the most risk if he messed something up when he enacted his plan. It was the system centered on his brain, that which controlled his body--or in other words, his very connection to the world around him. Or so he learned in his mother's lessons.

Now that he thought about it, his lessons never really touched on the subject of the soul. That was also part of his connection to the world around him, through its connection to the System. It was either an entirely separate branch of magic from healing, or not very well understood in general. That would make sense if people weren't supposed to tell others about what their Class evolution space appeared as.

Anyway, the brain. It was the most complex part of any person's body, and there was so much to learn and know about it that he had once questioned how his mother's tome could have so much information on the topic. How had people even discovered this? Countless years of study and the help of the System, as Lucas had been told, could teach people many things.

There was only one large healing mana formation that targeted the brain, but it was just as complex. Lucas spent over an hour on that one alone before he deemed his recollection of it satisfactory. Then he moved on to the many smaller patterns that targeted the parts of his body that linked every other system to the brain. That took nearly as long, as it was akin to joining all the other patterns he'd gone over together--arguably the most important part of his mental preparations. In the end he took out a pad of paper he brought with him to help complete the final image.

He was now, more or less, ready to get it over with. Any further action would be unnecessary and only serve to exhaust mentally and physically, and thus was counterproductive. Lucas still had some worries about his plan--namely if he should actually do this out here, away and hidden from the only [Healer] that could help him in the worst case scenario, but the truth was it was now or never.

Lucas checked the timer one last time before beginning.

[Time left till System unlock: 1:16:01:37]

Ok, here goes nothing.