Alright. Exploration. Yeah… Maybe not yet. Because That achievement gave me something. I did not know the system would reward me for random things. What else can I do that might give me rewards? Because if I just got a little function out of a simple brain exercise, what else could I do that could give me bigger rewards? Wait! Of course! The quests! Time to give that tab a more in-depth look.

The screen opens back on the same tree-like arrangement with most of the quests being either grayed out or just a question mark. Only one single quest is highlighted:

Humble beginnings.

From sticks and stones will your future be drawn.

Gather 'large wooden sticks' 0/10

Gather 'Rock' 0/10

Rewards: 10xp; 1 Exp. Candy XS, activating WAYLA feature

Oooh, shiny! I should have looked earlier. Welp, better get going then. I should be able to easily gather the sticks in the forest, and stones should not be too hard to come by right?

I enter the forest, my eyes looking all around for the coveted sticks and rocks. The forest become darker the deeper I go. I quickly lose sight of its edge and even the sound slowly fades. Birds still sing, but the rustle of leaves drowns their song, making the atmosphere eerie and surreal. I find it strangely relaxing, but the occasional shiver from some random sound does make me a bit jumpy. The fact that I swear I saw a strange pair of red on yellow eyes darting in a bush does not help.

I quickly find a couple of sticks, as well as a rock. More sticks follow soon, and I end up with far too much to hold. Didn't I have an inventory? I DO! and it's empty! Now how do I fill it?

The inventory screen appears as a four rows of nine cells. They are all empty. Now this inventory is part of the system… Do I need to use my left hand? I put most of the sticks down and take longest one I have in my left hand. The uneven piece of wood becomes a brown stick icon in the lower left of my inventory screen. But it is still outside… How do I get it in? I reach and tap stick icon. It pop out and then stick to my finger. I go outside the box the icon stops just at the limit. It simply hoovers between two cells. The stick in my hand is still there. I bring back my hand and the icon immediately sticks back to my index. Finally I plop it into one of the cells.

And I almost jump in surprise as the stick in my left arm turns bright blue and dissolves into tiny cubes of light. The cubes are then sucked into the now opened aperture in my left hand. The aperture closes and I now have one stick in my inventory. Wow. that's awesome. I quickly gather the rest of the sticks and stones.

And come to a rather annoying realization. A couple of annoying realizations actually. First: it takes a lot of time to sort things out. I can only hold so many sticks at once. Then I need to drag them to the others to stack them. And there come the second realization: Not every sticks I pick up are sticks. Sometime the system label them as Oak branches when there is too many ramification or leaves on it, or as oak chunks when they are too small or look closer to pieces of bark. I can trim the bigger branches to sticks by hand, but it takes time. And as I continue to gather, the same problem pops up with rocks. More specifically, I have not found a single rock. Oh I have found stones chunks, pebbles, even a singular flint piece, but not a single rock.

The sound of leaves rustling together distracts me from my search and experimentation. The sound is too close to be the wind in the trees. I look around and comes nose to nose with a little bundle of leaves. The burmy yellow eyes look at me from the inside of its leaf-covered shell. We both blink at each others in curiosity. A louder rustling noise makes me look up and up above me, a small colony of burmy with a singular wormadam look down on me. They are all holding to a branch by a long black stem growing from their head. The wormadam eyes me cautiously, her bigger and flower covered body trembling a little.

Maybe I should leave this area. "Sorry for bothering you." I whisper. The wormadam nods, only her long green tipped nose and floppy ears moving. I move on and look a bit more around. I have had quite the lucky strike with my encounters to this point. Who knows how long this will last. Let us hope it will for a bit longer. I still need to find rocks and some food. I have enough sticks for now. Although if I find any more I will definitely keep them. They might be useful for later.

I continue to explore and finally locate my first rock. A piece of stone bigger than my fist. The moment I take it, the inventory display confirms it. That is a rock. Cool, only nine more to find.

I keep getting deeper into the forest, I can hear the constant sound of pokemons all around me. Mostly flying types, bug types and grass types. The forest itself seems to be mostly oak. Their brown trunks growing up to a five or so meters and then extending into a thick canopy of bright green leaves. I pass bushes and more glittering flowers. Out of curiosity, I touch one, not uprooting it. It registers as a red mystical flower. Uh… No specie name or anything, just 'red mystical flower'. I spot a more common looking flower and touch it. This one registers as a 'lily of the valley'. So that red glittering flower really is just named a 'red mystical flower'. I spot another glittering flower, this one purple, looking like a mushroom cap made of petals. It registers as 'purple mystical flower'. I will need to check, but I believe I can safely say the glittering flowers are called mystical flowers.

I get back up and resume my search. I slowly gather the rest of the rocks. It actually takes me longer than I though. It is harder than it seems to find decent sized stone chunks in a forest. I did find an opening in the ground leading to an underground cavern at some point that helped me acquire the remaining ones. I did not go down too far, it was too dark.

Alright, quest completed. Next one! Also, rewards! I open the quest menu and open the 'Humble beginnings' quest again. A claim button has now appeared next to the rewards. I click it and… not much happens. A quick glance at my inventory tells me the Exp. Candy has landed there, but the 10xp? no idea. Same for the WAYLA feature, although I have a small idea where that thing might be. A quick trip through the screens and my suspicions are confirmed. I have it in the ODO screen. I enable it and look around. And see nothing different. Does it work? I check and yes, it should be, it has the mention 'enabled' next to it.

I think for a minute and then try something. I concentrate on the mystical purple flower. A little screen pop up and a blue digital-like glow lines the entire flower. Yes, I am looking at at a mystical purple flower. A little mention makes me frown however.

'Unlock tier 2 for more details'

That thing has tiers? Where do I unlock that? I return to my main screen and notice two things: the ten xp points have gone to the 'Experience' line and a once grayed mention no longer is. 'Body Upgrades', the lowest option on the upper right, is now accessible. Was it tied to the experience? Maybe, let us see what's in there.

The new screen is a list of options. Or it will be a long list of options. Most of them are only marked as a line of question marks, but I have some that are available. I can upgrade all two of my main statistics, coolant and Power, as well as my repair efficiency. I'll return to that last one later. Most upgrade are shown as percentages and it only costs one xp point to get point one percent in each of the three stats. For the same price and the same result, I can also upgrade my generator efficiency.

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There is also the WAYLA tier 2 upgrade, for 5 points. I might as well grab it. I look back at the flower and… 'Mystical purple flower: A flower radiating weak magical energy. Can be picked up by hand'. That was… underwhelming. I look at a tree. 'Oak tree: requires at least wooden tier axe to harvest'. That's it? I did not expect that much for a tree but that's it? I should have looked before I bought the upgrade. Was the harvestability mention there before? Then again a tree is just a tree right? Not much special thing to discuss.

Now I know what I am looking at, and I know how to acquire xp, or experience. It is noted as Experience on my main screen.

But something in the 'Body modification screen has picked my curiosity. Healing factor? What healing factor? I return to the body modification screen and tap the 'Repair efficiency' line. A little box of text appears. 'Lowers the heat generation and power consumption of the nanite auto-repair system'. I blink. What are nanites? Really small machines capable of repairing almost any damages and heal most injuries in a matter of minutes or hours for the worst kind. Hello again unlocking memories. Do you go somewhere like the pokedex entries? Oh yes you do. A new tutorial has appeared. Yep, nanites or nano-machines are coursing throughout my entire body, constantly repairing and fixing issues that crop up. They passively consume power and can go into overdrive if I injure myself. Overdrive consume twice to ten times the usual amount of power and produce heat. Wow, I might have more to worry about than just power shortage and overheat in the end. I'll need to keep a closer watch of my power. Speaking of, I am one and a halfish square down. Hum… I really need food. I have some time, but I do not want to end up without power.

Let's see what the next quest is, maybe there is something that could help me there.

Your first tool

No need for hands with a body like yours, but tools will help you gather greater materials

Craft a 'Crude hatchet': 0/1

Rewards: 10xp; 1 Exp. Candy XS, activating auto-gather feature

Uhuh. I like the sound of auto-gathering. Now how do I craft? Because I have not the slightest idea on how to make a hatchet. I get all that I have gathered out and look at them pensively. I have stone, I have sticks. I can kind of envision the crafting of one but… what if… No… I would need some sort of string or something, and even then the result would barely hold together. I sit there, thinking. Then something hits me. "No need for hands…" I look at my left hand. "Do I not need to do it manually?" Maybe not… But then where? I quickly gather all the supplies I got out of my inventory and then notice it. There, on the side, almost hidden, is a little icon of a two by two table. I click it a yet another screen appears. Four cells, an arrow and a single cell. Wait. Wait wait wait wait wait wait wait. Is that what the recipe option is for? A quick look and yep, that's it. Sitting on the recipe screen is a single new line: 'Crude hatchet' as well as the material needed, two sticks and a stone. I return to my inventory screen, bring up the crafting screen and put the materials in. And nothing happens.

They need to be in a certain configuration uh? Yup. One stick on each cells of the right column, a stone on the top-left cell. And I get a hatchet icon on the cell after the arrow. I click it and almost jump in surprise. My left arm starts to make a whining sound It last for barely a second, then a microwave ding follows. The crafting screen is now empty and I have a hatchet in my inventory. Okay quests and system, up to now you only had my curiosity. You now have my full attention. What is next?

Complexity up Part 1

2 by 2 is nice, but will only carry you so far...

Craft a 'wooden hammer': 0/1

Craft a wooden saw: 0/1

Craft 'wooden pliers'

Rewards: 10xp; 1 Exp. Candy XS

Oh… And I have nothing in the recipe tab. Uhhh… Hold on I have a hatchet now. Let's see what it looks like. I take it out and... Yup. That's a crude hatchet alright. It seems to hold only with some wood fiber, a wish and a prayer. The shaft is almost unchanged except for the rock stuck on one end, splintering it. The whole is wrapped in crude fiber... Wait it's actually just strips of wood! Yeah I have no idea how this is going to hold. Now I presume I need more materials... Maybe go for trees? I will not be able to fall the big ones if the WAYLA harvestability requirement are any indications, but maybe if I find smaller ones?

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Mewtwo is giddy. The more he experiences in this strange world, the more he learns. He can make objects float, he can float himself! The two crystals have been joined by four more. He now has blue, green, red, yellow, black and white crystals orbiting around him. He can feel the constant effort he has to make to keep them afloat, but he relish it. The more he keep them, the easier he can feel that sixth way to feel the world.

The tunnel he is in is damp, the humidity cling to his skin. The earthy and stale atmosphere is starting to become an afterthought after breathing it for so long. He no longer feel the uneven ground beneath his feet as he now float and go toward the distant sunlight. The growls and rumbles of creatures and pokemons no longer makes him jump. They ignore him, and he ignores them.

He has almost reached the exit. He can taste the fresher air. He lands and decide to finish the climb exit on foot. He prefers caution. Just because nothing has attacked or endangered him does not mean it will do the same outside. As he walks, one of the rocks he steps upon starts to shift. He look down and jumps back in surprise. One of the rock just sprouted arms. And eyes! A geodude!

The rock pokemon shouts in anger. Mewtwo raises his arm in a placating manner. Then he realize something. Can he talk? He tries, but only growls and hisses escapes his throat. This seems to stir the geodude even more. He launches himself, trying to tackle Mewtwo. Mewtwo floats up, barely evading the move.

Can I grab him? He tries to use his powers, he feels his invisible sense of touch wrap around the geodude and lifts him up. They come eyes to eyes, yet Mewtwo realize this situation will barely last. Just holding the pokemon drains him faster than anything else he ever did. He fling him away, and the geodude impact violently against the tunnel wall. I did not mean to throw him this hard. His strength bewilders him.

Mewtwo pants with slight exertion. I just held him for a few seconds, yet it feels as if I have just ran up this tunnel. The geodude rights himself up and wraps his arms around his body in a defensive curl. He then charges again. Thinking himself safe, Mewtwo simply watches the rock-type roll in his tackling charge. The geodude fling himself against a slightly angled rock and comes barreling into Mewtwo. He is too surprised to react and get hit straight in his stomach. It is his turn to impact a wall and he crumple on the ground. He can barely breathe. He looks up in time to see the geodude going straight for him again. He manages to roll out of the way and catches the rock-type in his psychic powers again. You like to roll around so much? Let us see how much you truly like it?

Mewtwo focuses his powers and make the geodude spin on himself. Faster and faster, the rock type quickly become dizzy and release his curled form. Then Mewtwo releases it and the poor rock type slams into the ceiling. Once he lands on the ground with a thud, he does not rises again. Mewtwo gulps. Did he kill the poor thing? He cautiously approaches and nudges the pokemon with his psychic touch. He is still breathing, only unconscious. Mewtwo sight in relief. He did not want to kill. He had not even wanted to fight.

He looks around, the cave walls now sport little cracks where he and the geodude impacted. A bruise is forming on his stomach, turning his already purple skin there a deeper shade. He picks his crystals back up on his telekinetic hold. They were thankfully undamaged during the fight. He then resume his walk toward the surface. He looks toward the marker as he climbs, 7.3km. His 'Frend' has gone quite a way.

After a few more minutes, he finally exit the cave. He shield his eyes and wait for a moment. Once his eyes are finally adapted to the bright outside, he beholds a seemingly endless meadow. No, not that endless, he can see a forest in the distance, with the marker slowly moving through it. All around him is a field of grass, with the cave he just exited looking like a strange dark wound in a sea of green. He can see pokemons frolicking around and even a distant flock of birds. They seem to be pidgeys led by a pidgeotto.

He looks once more toward the marker. It has gone even farther, almost reaching 8km away. He will need to speed up if he wants to catch up.