There was still much I didn’t know, but the outline being painted was clear. The system is an automated almost living entity. It permeated and interacted everywhere there was Aether. I learned a little about Aether. I used to call it Mana, but now I know it is called Aether, though that is almost all I knew about it.

Fun fact, mana existed but was something else entirely.

The council was amongst the oldest, richest, and strongest creatures in the universe. It wasn’t explicit in the book, but it was clear they kept all the new worlds squarely under their thumbs. While some of the luckier ones eventually managed to get control of most of their resources back, the highest-grade resources were rarely allowed to come into the open market.

If the council had anything to say about it they would never be sold outside their circle, but money tends to open doors and not everyone with money was cozy with the council. I looked over everything carefully and much was left unsaid, but I was fairly sure of my conclusions.

Their control of resources ensured their continued growth while nearly stopping anyone else rivaling them in power. Though I guessed that what gave them power also shackled them. T council tried their hardest to change the system's rules in their favor, but it seemed there was always a counterbalance.

The system had an internal balance. It always sought to be fair towards its sentient users. It however did not think like a living being, so with time and patience, it could be manipulated into taking a hundred and giving back only ninety-nine. The system grew with a twisted mindset about what was fair-trade. And as it grew more and more complex any changes also became harder.

All that aside, it wasn’t all bad news, I already had a couple of ideas of things I could do to mitigate the problem. We still have years before the first adventurers, settlers, and prospectors start to show up on Earth. And I had something the council tried very hard to keep from the new kid in the block. That much was obvious.

If they didn’t attempt to suppress information, how the hell a mythic ranked title would give something that at the start pretty much amounts to a collage of newspapers and snippets of conversation. And that was considering that my gut told me I was far more powerful, in the way the book measure such things, than anyone expected.

I had both this title and the strange soul stat. There was absolutely nothing about either of those in my book.

A couple of minutes after with a defined plan in mind, I set out running in the direction of the guard post. The book goes into my inventory. Too bad I can only put the book on it. Imagine what I could do with a proper inventory.

On the way, I keep going through the prompts to get to my stat screen. I dismiss the 60 or so new skill prompts and finally see a different message:

Before you proceed select between:

-All base stats locked at 10

-Keep current stats (you can lose stats selecting this mode)

This can only be changed until transit to starting area in 1h 12min 17s

Without hesitation, I select the only real option, the second one. While the first option may look enticing for most people when they compare their stats in both modes, it’s intentionally misleading. Even the fact you can’t see your stats before selecting one of the options is a way to screw people over.

While there are a few edge cases where locking your attributes would be beneficial like if you were dying, it also locks one of the two most important stat growth options few new users like us.

All this situation royally pisses me off. Who do those council bastards think they are? Trying to screw over most of the known multiverse. They should have cared for everyone, and promoted peace and growth, not created …this… perversion of the system.

I notice a slight tug on my emotions seeking to calm me, the system attempting to correct for this whole mess the council created. After all, it would not be very fair if the whole world went to hell in a handbasket because of panic. The system seemed to do a good job, keeping the panic down while allowing people to still reason. It did not act as a chemical sedative, that could be even worse than the panic

This only lasted until the mass hysteria died down. Usually a couple of days. As the final pieces come into place on my mind, I set out at a full sprint to the ranger's cabin.

I see two of the rangers there.

1h10min22s

As I look at them and stare directly into their eyes, I try to convey the seriousness of the situation. I focus on all the craziness in my head and channel it.

“Michael, Miranda. There is no time to explain, it’s a matter of life and death. We need to get the message out before it’s too late.”

I enter the office, and pull the book out of thin air and start to set up a copy profile to scan multiple pages on the copy machine. As the process begins, I turn and start speaking.

I stare at them, and it seems I finally get through. For a moment they can’t breathe. Every moment is precious, but this needed to be done right.

“Do you have some kind of protocol if you know that an EMP or something similar is set up to wipe communications lines in 5 minutes?” Their eyes bulge even more.

“Is that what…” I cut them off.

“We don’t fucking have time, but kinda, most if not all communications will drop in a few minutes. The protocols?”

“Not really, but I got an idea or two.” Says Michael.

“Ok, I need to get a message out to as many people as possible, use all the ways possible in the most effective way possible. The most important thing is that as many people know the message: ‘Keep your current stats. The other option is a trap.’” I pause for a moment and let them absorb my words before pressing on.

“Don’t complicate things, just keep it simple. I know it doesn’t make sense right this second, but it soon will make sense to everyone. The military can’t do jack-shit except spread the word. Talk to every one of your forest guard buddies, other branches of the government, whomever you think can help.”

Stolen story; please report.

They, a bit stunned, just going along with it. I finish quickly and the copier is now printing a loop of pages. All the information in my book is now going to spread a little. Through the interface, I send the scans to my email.

On the computer, I connect to the server at my house. Going to the social media page for Pando. I send another copy of the Images with a bold “Keep. your current stats. The other option is a trap. Spread the word. We have 5 minutes.” and link it to #Pando and #Magical Forest. I also put a must-print tag on it.

1h 5m 14s

Looking over my e-mail list, I send the same message with a nasty piece of software that reads the entire contact list and resends the message to everyone. Most of that happens through my server and it should avoid some of the spam blocks in place.

1h 2m 01s

Even the chance it may save a single person is enough. I’m more optimistic than that, but even so little would bring joy to my heart.

A sliver of information may save a life, a few nuggets may save a town, but thousands at the right place and time could save our civilization.

I look at Pando’s main page and am a bit surprised.

* 50K views –

I absentmindedly stare at it while furiously thinking about the best course of action. Absentmindedly I open random pages on wikis and internet forums and start pasting the message. I listen to the rangers trying to ascertain if there is anything I could do to help. But they seem to be doing pretty well. Anything I tried to do was liable to impair their coordination and concentration. In the end, they coopted dozens of other rangers in reach of this station’s radio and were coordinating efforts to spread the word.

1h 0m 19s

Someone says on Pando’s page: “The system is coming” and then the internet goes down.

1h 0m 13s - The computer shuts down.

1h 0m 10s - The photocopy machine goers stop mid-page.

0h 59m 59s – The LED lights turn off

I look back to the rangers and wait for a minute. Their mouths hang open for a moment, then they start moving incredulously without making a sound. After perhaps third seconds Michael says:

“Is this real? How did you know?”

“Yes, it is real and not relevant at the moment. We have less than an hour to spread this information as widely as possible.” I say while holding a few of the copies I managed to print before the printer craped out. Turning to Michael I extend one of the copies to him before continuing:

“For all we know, the radio may suddenly stop working. You take this and read it on the radio. Make sure they know it is only to be repeated if it can be passed on accurately. Otherwise, tell them to just concentrate on the initial message. That is the most important right now. The rest can be figured out when we go to the starter zone.” I turn to the other ranger and say: “Miranda, I got a job for you.”

Over the next minute, I explain to her that we need to spread this information as widely as possible. She should give a copy of what I printed to everyone around and make sure they read it. I help her finish stapling all the pages properly in the next two minutes.

55m 02s

I leave running at record speed to the grove’s heart. I know the designation isn’t something inherent to Pando. But I still called it that. After so long, I couldn’t see it any other way. The human mind is an interesting puzzle.

Getting there I place my hand on the biggest tree and realize that Pando is, even more, awake than I ever saw him before.

Maybe the arrival of the system also affected him deeply. I delve deep within this tree. Throughout the root system, I can see that the tree has slightly higher levels of Aether, and is increasing it at a slow but steady pace. So much Aether that I can sense as Pando draws more of it within himself. For years what entered Pando was so thin, I couldn’t feel it.

I sit beside him and gift about half of my Aether to him, with my pool having being supplemented by the system, I had more than Pando, and so I share it with him. I ignore all the system messages, give a quick goodbye, and take a cutting from the very heart of the grove. As I do that Pando seems to send a ‘telepathic thought’ through our link.

What he sends now is orders of magnitude stronger than our past communication. With a smile plastered on my face, I sense his happiness for me, sorrow for my departing one last gift, a seed. I extend my hand and wait for it to fall squarely in the middle of my palm.

Having taken care of that, I begin running to the closest edge of the forest to the north. That is the best option for expansion given the terrain around.

As always without my shoes, I only need to drop one of the cuttings I break off with my hands and dexterously plant it with my feet. I send my well-wishes without stopping for a single instant. I ran as I had never before. I have a mental map of the area and with it in mind plot the most efficient track. I feel Pando starts sending me his Aether and in an hour, I might have more than before gifting some of it to Pando.

As I go along one of the spokes towards the outer tendrils, I zig-zag and try to give the best short to medium-term benefits to his growth. As I read the book, I know well that the system, guided by the council, tends to eliminate the most relevant historical sites from any new world.

It doesn’t say why, but I can very well imagine. Probably has something to do with Aether. Possibly to fuel the transformation that is about to come. Whatever they used to convince the system I know that Pando will survive. It has lived for thousands of years and it will live long after I’m gone. Though a little doubt tries to creep in, I firmly stamp on it.

I have taught him as well as I could. Not to think in the way of a tree, that he already does that better than any other.

I have taught it to think in the ways of humans, with all our selfishness and greed. Given what I learned in the book, it seems at least most humanoid species think fairly similar to humans. They might have vastly different cultures, but the core of most sentient beings tends to not change too much between races.

I really should come up with a better pronoun to reference Pando. The occasional “It” no longer applies to him. Or to her, or maybe something new in between those pronouns. Perhaps a new name is in order as well. I table the whole line of thought as not important for the moment. Right now I need to pay attention to the immediate problems.

The system would probably be more concerned with Stonehenge and the Pyramids. Though I doubt any of them will have the resilience from the system attacks that my beloved grove has. If the system focuses its efforts there, Pando will be fine.

As I think I realize I was lucky. My goals towards expanding Pando in the most efficient way possible were pretty aligned to maximizing his power and defense against the system. At least that was my best guess. I’m making a few assumptions here, but I’m pretty sure I’ve got it right. Just small leaps of logic.

I finish planting the last cutting about 10 miles from where the heart of the grove is. So I start to run back. I can feel myself starting to get tired. I’m now too far away to receive help and I need to spend my vigor liberally.

I have run and trained for years now and these 10 miles round trip from the edge is nothing I haven’t done before. The only detail is the pace I’m keeping. It is too fast. I can also feel myself getting faster. Not by a huge margin but noticeably. Probably some effect from the system.

The minutes are ticking away and at the moment I’m at the furthest reaches of the root system Vigor starts to flood back into my system. When that happens I’m longer almost dropping from exhaustion, but I soon am running even faster. With larger and larger steps, each time my feet hit the ground, I am faster than the last step. Soon I’m running at 25, 26… 30 miles an hour… and beyond.

I pour every iota of my being into putting one foot in front of the other, aiming straight to the middle of Pando. Aiming towards what is probably where the first tree from the grove was born thousands of years ago.

I put such single-minded focus into it, I don’t even notice hundreds of people staring at me along my path. They notice because they see a man slightly glowing that fits the description of the Magic-man that walks the forest.

Before this, all evidence they saw were the rumors that children told of him. What draws their attention to me is not only the glow but that I’m running faster than anyone has a right to.

As the world fades away I see the tree in the same place the original tree was. I also see the faint outline of a much bigger tree, something to rival General Sherman. So I imagine I’m seeing Yggdrasil.

Probably not, but why it wouldn’t be? With this thought, a seed is born in my heart that will take root. Suddenly a wave of exhaustion hits me and I stumble but manage to keep running.

0h 00min 01s

When I’m only two steps away all my momentum is stolen away and I simply stop mid-air. Confusion fills me. I see a couple of people around me in the same form. I try to touch the ground to propel myself towards Pando, but it is too far away.

I extend my hand as far as it will go and reach for the heart of the forest, but I’m still over a yard short. This final second ends in a blink.

With fury and sorrow in my heart, the only thing around is a black void trying to close in on me. But it will not succeed.