I spent the last few years adapting to my skills and environment. I spent every moment examining a new unknown thing with [Lesser Identify] and slowly but surely, I expanded my knowledge.
Though it took me a while, I finally came to understand that the expansive cavern was actually something fundamentally different. My cavern was either encased in material or hollowed out, however that expanse had only a ground. It was clear that the expanse was something very different from the cavern system I claimed.
Trees, grass, insects, animals, and materials the crystal never came across within its own caverns. Lost in the new discoveries, I found myself busy for quite a long time. The study time I put in granted me a few level ups in skills across the board. I even managed to improve on some of the skills.
Most importantly though, I discovered a method of tracking time. With careful observation, I found that the vegetation in the expanse went through periods of activity and dormancy. My perception couldn’t reach far enough to see what they were reacting to, however I realized the activities reached their respective alternating peaks at a standard rate.
Though I didn’t have a unit for that time, the database memory provided something I could attach to it. The sense of time I had might not match up to the memories though, so I could only assign a similar value to the observed peaks. It’s something I’m sure I’ll have to correct later since I can’t observe this ‘sun’ yet. I feel confident I’ll be able to in the future, however as of now, my ‘vision’ as I’ve learned to call it was limited strictly to perceiving the energy inside and flowing through things.
I aligned the ‘days’ the database knew of to the inactive and active cycle of the plants. I just assumed it to be 24 hours per cycle for now, something I could easily correct in the future. My new reference for time allowed me to calculate what the database referred to as years, months and days. A few notable events occurred during those days.
6 years from the moment I associated time to the circadian rhythm of the plants, the first major event visited me and my territory. I knew not where they came from, however bipedal creatures capable of flying through the air set up structures near me. At first, I lived in fear of them as they seemed to dig into the side of my territory. I felt pain from their excision, as if the territory itself were my body.
Panic took over me, however I found my health didn’t decrease. It was at that moment I realized that though I shared a degree of senses with the land, it wasn’t actually me. Such transformative information enabled me to experiment in ways I hesitated to before.
I went to work on my territory, using my tendrils to carve out the cavity I started with into a real cavern. The material was all consumed by me. Stored inside with [Lesser Spatial Storage] and then further broken down by [Degenerate]. The energy gained by such activities fed into [Lesser Energy Reactor] and [Lesser Energy Circulation] which allowed me to restore my nucleus to peak health.
Interestingly enough, I found that my crystal’s size increased as I consumed more and more of my territory. The implications were rather obvious, however without a proper understanding of the world, I chose to restrain my size to a few meters wide. As [Degenerate] worked on materials within my [Lesser Spatial Storage], I experimented once again in hopes of discovering a greater use for it.
To my pleasure, I found [Lesser Chemistry] level up during the experiments. Rather than absorb the energy with [Lesser Energy Circulation], I deviated it into another material using [Lesser Energy Manipulation]. What was once a jumble of quartz and mica [Degenerate] split apart from the granite debris became “Inferior Pure Energy Crystals”. The new crystals seemed to emit energy in similar fashion to the “Advanced Terra Crystal” that injured me long ago. With this, I found I could ‘inject’ energy into things.
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The discoveries provided massive boons to my [Lesser Energy Circulation] and [Lesser Energy Manipulation] skills. During my experiments though, another major event occurred. Tremors reached me that felt exceedingly familiar. When I directed my attention to my territory, [Lesser Energy Perception] found hundreds of bipedal creatures rushing at each other. A few were of types I’d never seen before, while the rest were ones who burrowed into my territory.
My [Lesser Energy Perception] showed densities of energy inside those creatures that would have brought shame to even the “Advanced Terra Crystal”. I watched as they exchanged energy within my territory. Each discharged various degrees of energy at the other while the receiving creature absorbed it and dispersed itself into the surroundings in a plume of energy, or sent its own energy to negate and overtake the priors. It was rather entertaining to watch from my perspective as I didn’t understand what was happening.
Back then, I thought it to be only an exchange of energy between the creatures similar to how I transmuted the quarts into an energy crystal. My territory back then extended only through a small part of the mountain range, the fringes of it I could hardly even control beyond sending my perception there. As [Lesser Energy Manipulation] grew in levels, I found my territory could expand in tandem.
In my quest to discover new things, I pushed my territory into the hills that the creatures started settling in. After the last energy exchange, the caves they excised seemed to become abandoned. Instead, I found new areas carved out in the hillsides. I poked and prodded at the caves curiously and found they were designed in such a way that the energy was converted into terra affinity much more easily. Not only that, the shape of the caves introduced a strange flow to the energy that sent it into a lazy spiral around its edges.
I studied the new cave systems for a long time before implementing something similar to where my crystalline nucleus resided. During my alterations, another energy exchange happened, this one far more grand than the others. I saw the familiar exchanges near my mountainous territory, however for the first time, I saw the exchange between the more dull energy creatures in the hills. They remained on the ground, exchanging energy back and forth in a far more subtle way that those in the air, however it was at a level I could monitor closely with [Lesser Energy Perception].
As my [Lesser Energy Perception] was leveled beyond what it was last time and the energies were at a degree I could monitor in near real time, I realized for the first time something was wrong. Many of the dull creatures dispersed into the surroundings as I expected, however I noticed a series of creatures ignoring the fight. They were of varying sizes, however many appeared to contain only miniscule amounts of energy. They were so dim , in fact, that I was nearly incapable of seeing them.
I discovered them only after following a series of creatures rushing across my territory. They appeared to drag another creature along with it and after reaching the cave the dull creatures were residing in, the group dispersed the energy from the creature they pulled with it. After that, I saw the group in the cave system become energetic and run about. I found it entertaining to watch. It reminded me of the energy cycles I made back in my cave. By converting energy from one attribute to none, I managed to create a strange cycle of energy rising and falling.
Such humorous thoughts lasted only for a moment though. A few of the dull energies were dispersed into the surroundings and as if on cue, the others stopped flitting about. I watched some of the stronger energies take the dull ones and perform a strange dance. My fascination made me forget even about relying on [Lesser Identify] as I saw the energy flowing from the duller of the two creatures into the stronger. The transfer of energy was eraddic in the weaker one until it was all absorbed. The once energetic thing no longer moved after that and the other creature moved onto the next one.
I focused on the creature that stopped moving and found trace amounts of energy still inside it. Though it appeared to be fading over time, I still found it curious. Within that creature, I found deposits of a foriegn energy to it. The original energy appeared to be tangling against the newer, however they merged in the end, forming a new energy different from the two sources. The results excited me as it was the first time I’d ever seen such a thing and it might have implications on how I could convert energy in the future. My excitement soon died out though as the final energy in the first creature dispersed, and with it, the new mixed energy dispersed as well.
It felt wrong. I felt wronged. It was as if something were taken from me. A chance, perhaps? A discovery? I wasn’t sure what it was, however I knew now that the energetic creatures were stealing the energy from the less energetic ones by force. The process wasn’t too different from me when I used [Lesser Energy Manipulation] to draw energy from the “Advanced Terra Crystal” into my own, though clearly the source energy wasn’t strong enough to hurt these creatures.
The event ended a few days later. With my territory extended so far, I was able to see for the first time what occurred after the event. It was something that made me realize for the first time I could detest methods of energy transfer.