Weeks passed, and things had settled into a new normal.

Ember was learning to live without her late owner. And after weeks of living among other humans and interacting with so many different personalities, she had been craving for more. So she made sure she would spend at least three hours every day doing just that, along with two hours of physical training, spending the rest of her time training her magic or speaking with Merida, who was going through her own struggle adapting to the new normal.

The doll would spend hours on end contemplating the world around her, sometimes spending several minutes staring at specific trees, patches of snow, or clouds. It did not help either that now that they were on their own, Merida had dropped the illusion revealing her permanently blank smiling face and dead beady eyes, looking effectively absent and lifeless.

The only real change that happened during that time had been Ember's steady progress in learning new cantrips combinations and repeatedly relearning her old ones.

She experimented a lot with sensory cantrips, trying to find something better to replace the three she had been using so far. Especially Mind Tracking, which she felt was too situational a cantrip to deserve a permanent slot, and Akashic Whisper, which felt more like an obligatory cantrip rather than a useful one.

But in the end, all she found were synesthetic cantrips changing her ability to perceive the world around her like Blind Sense. Or specialized variants of cantrips she already had, like Akashic Sleuth. This new compound cantrip was completing Mind Tracking by allowing her to find out what her target did in a particular location by studying perturbation in the ambient primordial essence instead of where they went next by tracking their specific magic signature.

So, in the end, she just replaced her Mind Tracking cantrip with the Disarming Tail Wagging she wanted and proceed training that cantrip on every human she encountered, subtly convincing them with critical effectiveness to spend some minutes of their precious time playing Frisbee with her instead of whatever they had in mind.

She also experimented on other cantrips, especially the least useful ones, including some of Merida's suggestions but to no avail. Nothing was quite as good as she already had or too specialized for simpler needs. After all, she just wanted to balance her cantrip between sensory, utility, offense, and defense, using the most useful ones for each slot she had.

Not counting Akashic Sight, which she had for free so long she kept the Akashic Knack specialization, Akashic Whisper was still her most useful sensory cantrip, allowing her to perceive any sentient creatures within the cantrip radius without fail. She already felt like she had the best possible defense and attack cantrip and felt like she could not afford to lose them even temporarily by experimenting on those. Though she already confirmed with sensory composite cantrip that those, too, could be recombined to create even weirder variants. And finally, she was currently satisfied with the sheer utility of disarming wagging tail and had yet to find a better utility combination to replace it.

Seeing her diligently work to advance her magic, Merida informed her that there were 45 secondary cantrips and 990 tertiary ones she could make out of the 10 primaries she knew so far, not accounting for the fact she still had 22 primary cantrips yet to uncover.

But a canine body apparently had hundreds of organs or combinations of organs that might be valid targets for a magic of one kind or another. So, though Merida tried to drop off a few hints, she either could not understand them or did not know what to make of them. Though she did know that the answer should be somewhere right in the middle section of her body, as she had unlocked none from her lungs or her gutts so far, she had no idea what she was missing, holding her back from her next breakthrough.

Not wanting to see her friend lose her spirit again at the lack of actual progression, Merida had promised to help her breakthrough to the next tier instead while also warning her it wasn't the right season yet and that they would have to wait until spring to gather the necessary materials, whatever it might be.

And so they were on the eve of the final update, waiting in the garden for that very moment Merida anticipated the most. Ember stayed with her companion only to humor her, turning the whole thing into some of their bonding moment.

'So, how long do you think it might be?' Ember asked for the penultimate time, running through the clearing to keep her body temperature while Merida looked at the stars intently — as if she could divine some answers from their slow motions in the night sky.

It should be any moment now. Please wait for it.

Merida had also dropped using illusion to talk too, which somewhat buggered Ember too, compared to humans' incessant blabbering, which made her late owner feel like a weirdo, now that she thought about it, always so silent unless she precisely needed to communicate something. She had not been so different compared to Merida, which was also a puppet of few words, except when magic was involved.

Congratulations, Earthlings Old and New!

The eighth and final system update is now complete, and all exceeding energy would now be spent severing all ties with the demon-ridden Galorian's dimension. All portals and rifts between worlds will be closed in the next few weeks, and every attempt to fight back this protocol will be met with extreme system prejudice and tagged for subjugation and/or total extermination.

To the old Earthlings, rejoice!

The overall pollution contaminating your air, water, and soil accrued for the last few million years had been halved and sent off-world restoring your world to what it was about the early twentieth century. You should be grateful you got to avoid a mass extension event and got a second chance to do better this time, all for a very minimal price to pay.

To the new Earthlings, repent!

You have been allowed a second chance in a brand-new world. The ambient primordial essence had been halved too. That means half as many monsters and senseless competition for the same magical benefits! Let the past be in the past, and don't be too greedy this time! This world might be a new cradle but a cradle you are not ready to leave yet.

Finally, to all Earthlings, Old, and New, play nice with each other!

You have much to learn from one another, and cultural exchange doesn't have to happen exclusively on the battlefield. Your magic is what you make of it, and there are plenty of tools to help you achieve peaceful coexistence or beneficial symbiosis too. Don't forget your place. May your descendance be plentiful on your path to ascension. And praises to the gods above and below.*

'What about pollution and that cradle thing? I don't get it,' Ember reacted as she finished reading.

Again, she understood every word, but none of those made sense to her.

Mission: Biodiversity Safeguard

As a high-magical potential [Keystone Predator] within your current biome, you have been selected to participate in the system ecological subroutine.

Your mission activities are:

1. To regulate and protect [Keystone Mutualists] and [Keystone Engineers] from other predators. Priority: Maximal

2. To regulate other non-keystone herbivores species from overpopulation. Priority: High

3. To prevent other non-keystone carnivore species from overextending their niche. Priority: Medium

4. To exterminate or contain any invasive species. Priority: High

The current state of your biome is determined to be: Poor.

This assessment is above average for your current region: Terrible.

Your objective is to improve the state of your biome by participating in mission activities. You will be personally rewarded for each new tier of improvement achieved during your lifetime based on your participation. Rewards will be passed on to your current and future descendants.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Acting against the spirit of your mission, such as intentional negligence or sabotage, will result in immediate exclusion. Healthy competition among [keystone predators] is, however, encouraged so long they do not result in extermination or aforementioned sabotage of other species' competitors.

Upon accepting the mission, the targeted evolution card [Intelligent Carnivores (T3)] would evolve to better align your predatory instinct with the spirit of the mission and tier up as a sign-up bonus. This card evolution would not cause any spontaneous evolution and would carry on if swapped for any other evolution card in the carnivore tree.

Would you like to accept this mission? Y/N

'Merida?' Ember called immediately upon receiving the second, unexpected notification.

Uhhh? That's indeed unexpected.

Sapient species and those living among them are typically excluded from those kinds of missions as urban biome are de facto excluded. I'm a sapient, and we have been living indoors, less than a kilometer from the city, this whole time.

'That’s it?' Ember asked. 'Your answer is "I have no idea"?'

I lost some system credentials when I acquired a body. And I lost some more when I awakened and reached True Sapience. I have minimal authority within the system, and only when I act as your system assistant. Your question is way beyond what I have the right to access, so yeah, I don't know.

If you want me to make an educated guess, I would say it must have something to do with being the first of your kind. You might have additional information upon accepting the mission.

'Is there any demerit to accepting it?' Ember asked, prudent.

You might be unable to afford to chase after any animal you want, such as squirrels. I'm pretty sure squirrels are considered Mutualists, although I can't double-check that information to be sure anymore. Or maybe you can give them a good scare without taking the penalty so long you don't kill them? Or too many of them?

Educated guess: Regulate and protect means that you are supposed to kill some of them whenever their population becomes unsustainable. But you should otherwise defend them, so causing them no harm and preventing others from doing so.

'Why the hell would the system want me to protect squirrels?' Ember asked again, dumbfounded.

If I recall it right: squirrels are hoarding food and burying it underground. When a squirrel dies or forgets about some behind, new trees and undergrowth are sprouting. So squirrels might be mutualists for trees, helping them reproduce in exchange for food and shelter.

'Sound far-fetched,' Ember mumbled, unconvinced. 'Even if it were true, I would understand protecting baby squirrels, but adults?'

I don't know the answer to your question, but I know humans' attempted to rationalize those principles to establish hunting regulations have failed. In comparison, while simplistic, the system approach of 'All or Nothing' is tried and true.

'So, immediate restrictions on what I can and can't do for plausible benefits in the future?' Ember summarised, feeling like it wasn't worth it. She lived in the present and could not care less about some distant future she could not envision.

Though there is an immediate benefit: Upgrading [Intelligent carnivore] from tier 3 to tier 4 would have immediate benefits. If anything, with a second Tier 4 evolution card, you would jump from mid-tier 3 to low-tier 4.

'Come again?'

The sign-up bonus would make you stronger, faster, and smarter. Not that you need the last part.

'How stronger and faster are we speaking?'

Low tier 4 is two steps ahead of the curve. So that would be about twice as much as currently under the effect of Balanced Mind, only permanently and at no extra cost.

That made the offer deviously tempting. She did not know about strength, but her speed under Balanced Mind was already something else. She had no frame of reference, so twice that was insane and beyond comprehension.

Your current top speed is 13.4 meters per second. Under Balanced Mind, it goes up to 20.1 meters per second.

The estimated top speed after reaching low tier 4 should be around 30 meters per second and goes up to 45 meters per second under Balanced Mind. While those are estimations, there are animals who can achieve 30 meters per second without magic.

'Are you telling me I'm actually slow?' Ember barked, indignant.

Canines have fantastic stamina and pack hunting but invest very little in the speed and strength department.

'So I'm slow AND weak.' Ember pouted.

While it might not be much of a consolation, you might be the smartest non-sapient on earth at this very moment.

Deciding that the pros outweighed the cons, Ember finally accepted the mission.

Mission: Biodiversity Safeguard.

Species: Lesser Common Arcanine

Breed: ????

Biome: ???? — Status: Poor

Region: Cascadia — Status: Terrible

Unknown error due to unidentified breed and biome overlap between Taiga and Urban. Due to human experimentation prior to the system to create a hybrid biome having been ongoing, experimentation within the system had been allowed. Sapients have been registered as both potential [keystone engineers] and [invasive species] for this new biome within the region of Cascadia and left to be determined manually. Due to its low population, the unidentified breed will be artificially recreated for the experiment within the Cascadia ecoregion.

Assisting and protecting sapients [keystone engineers] against sapients [invasive species] have been set to maximal priority.

The experiment will be considered a failure if no significant improvement is achieved within 5 years.

The experiment will be otherwise extended until all urban biome within the region of Cascadia has been converted.

Upon total conversion, the experiment would be considered successful and expand globally.

'Merida, why do I feel like I got scammed?'

Ember was feeling terrible about this, mainly cause the system did not give her any detail of what might happen if she failed.

I can assure you I knew nothing about this.

And yeah, I think we just became the system pet project, no pun intended.

'So what I'm supposed to be doing?' Ember asked, unsure what to do with this new information.

I think that one is straightforward. You want to meet and greet sapients amenable to that cause and recruit them. Then you will have to assist and protect them against potential hostile sapients.

'So, same as every day except I'm supposed to recruit them? It's not like I can go out and tell them: Hey, let's improve Cascadia together. What do you say? I can't talk. So how can I possibly do that?' Ember started ranting before Merida interrupted her.

You just did. I was invited to the mission as you asked me. And my first mission activity is to invite other sapients to join in.