I search for something better than wood to make my new home. I have already done more harm to the forest in a month than in my entire life back on Earth.

It's not like they were part of Pando. To bring so much destruction is anathema to whom I'm trying to become, and in some ways, it’s from who I am.

There aren’t many options. Out of everything clay is the choice. And that is what I use to make my abode. I run to the river searching for the best clay I possibly can. Not too far away I find a decent deposit right by the river. There is much more than I would need. Unless my goal was to build a mansion.

So the cycle begins. An entire day goes by with me bringing buckets of clay grabbing handfuls of it and layering all-round the walls I have begun to form.

With a deft touch, the shape I have in mind starts to form as mana leaves my hands. The spell I have slowly takes form.

I do my absolute best not to consciously think about the exact placement of each rune. I try to let instinct guide me as much as possible.

This is the way for now. It won't be the right way to do things in every case. If you have the time, complex and carefully thought-out works of magic will make sure every smidge of Mana doesn't go to waste.

But my gut is telling me this is the path for a while. If you are in a fight, this instinctual use of mana is much better. It gives great flexibility. You can have a few more well-developed spells in your core discipline for combat and anything else, just make something up on the fly. There is no time for complex and precise calculations. You need to rely on instinct to react in time. That is what this practice is about developing my instinctive use of magic.

I barely take notice as for the first time I manage to fuse two elemental runes. I had experimented with it a little, but so far I could only use the basic effects. And this combination was exactly what I needed to be able to call upon nature magic, water, and earth. So far all I had was mud and it was already an improvement, true nature magic was a little more advanced.

From a technical standpoint, all my actions were just about the same as all my previous attempts, but my mindset was entirely different. The longer I spend under the system, the more mindset seemed like a critical part of the puzzle. Soon I might even be able to do more than this basic meld. That would bring a big smile to my face.

Wielding both elements allowed me both more flexibility, and strangely much more mana efficiency.

Given that the spells people are using to make pottery were already very good, this was the icing on the cake. I can keep going with barely a worry concerning my mana pool. Both elements came together to make a whole greater than its parts. I layer the clay over and over forming my chosen shape.

Looking at the half-foot thick and 8 foot tall walls all around me I start the slope, so to form the roof. But thinking it over again, I decided to reinforce the roof, and end up cutting a few thick tree branches. Tying everything together, the resulting shape is like a mud hut without the overhang. It looks to be one solid piece of clay, smooth the touch.

In this simple exercise over a day goes by. My entire body was covered with drying clay and the result of my work in front of me.

I look at the last of my system messages:

Made a house: 324 Exp.

Acquired skill, Lv. 6 construction.

Now you show up, didn't I build plenty of stuff before?

I ignore the slightly strange time the skill chose to appear and how much it increased in only a short time and go clean myself. The system sometimes has a mind of its own when it comes to when to give a skill, and what activities increase them the most.

Happy with a little corner to call my own, for the first time I go to sleep with absolutely nothing on my mind.

Deep down I knew it would change, but I simply let go of everything.

Whatever I needed to accomplish was for later. Failure was something to avoid, but you can't live thinking about how you could fail. You only live if you focus on the ways to succeed. In most cases that is a small change in perspective, but it is essential.

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After an entire month, tonight is the first time I dream again.

And ohhhh, what a glorious time to dream.

_________------------_______

I hear another leader of the revolutionaries calling me: "Hey Greg, why didn't you attack when I gave the signal."

At his words, I think over how yesterday went. With no compunction, I answer, given he was just a little more senior in our organization, not my superior or anything.

"Were you in the same place as me? Because I went to the meeting and absolutely nothing went wrong. The guild had plenty of money, and the fact that fucking robot didn't let anyone extract a single extra copper coin from the guild was the icing on the cake. Doesn't matter what trouble we tried to cause if nobody else joined us."

Insistent on his point of view I hear him trying to convince me still.

"You are wrong. The result may not have been quite as good as we hoped for, but I doubt many would oppose us. We have done quite a lot of groundwork."

"You are correct in a sense, but we only have one chance, and this was not it. Let's wait for the next opportunity while increasing our support base. Most of our village is just sheep, but this time the guild had much more money than I expected. But that is not a problem. I have a good idea for new allies."

"Who are you talking about? The Smith's apprentices are out of reach. They are far too loyal to Nash and giving his involvement with the guild for who knows what reason, they would be the last to come to our side."

Hearing the cursed name I mash my teeth. Nash had everything handed to him in a silver spoon. He deserved a reality check. He was leaving the city again, probably for at least a few days. That is one less wrench in the cog.

Yao Ming distracts me from my thoughts with a question.

"And who are these mysterious new allies?"

Pretending I wish I could tell him, a smile peeks through my facade and I feel the satisfaction as I answer him.

"Let me see if things will pinout first, otherwise it will be a moot point."

He doesn't like my answer and we part ways there. But it's not like I would allow him to muck it up my negotiations. If I managed to contact the people I have in mind I would be at the top of the food chain in this village. A better position than everyone, even Nash.

He was a sucker, he could have become the guild master. A position above Charlie. He just needed to put in the work. When the change came to me, I would not let things pass me by.

_________------------_______

The season passed and the third solar revolution was nigh.

Sometime today, probably soon after the first rays of the sun, I would see the next trial.

The encounters with new forms of life were getting harder, but between each encounter, I also grew. By now my outer limbs were farther from my core than they had ever been. Each sunray hitting me provided more energy than ever before, and my growth was only accelerating. All that was also not alone. The moving beings above me, or animals, were also growing in numbers and strength.

I only needed to hold out until my friend came back, he knew much more about the business of other moving beings and would be able to deal with them much better than me.

My reserves and resource replenishment rates were through the roof. It was enormous compared to anything before. I could nourish all my limbs with the food I gathered from the soil in a fraction of the time.

Vigor, the energy that filled the beings above me was also more plentiful than ever before.

As the sun gets stronger, on the outer edges of my domain, the invaders mass together. With reckless abandon and no care for their safety, they charge in the direction of my oldest roots.

They destroy some of my youngest and weakest limbs, but that is just a result of their frantic pace. Anything in their path gets obliterated.

As they approach, I notice the differences. They are neither similar to the animals I have grown used to nor the small beings similar to my friend.

A new species. They also move on two feet, but their height is close to my friend’s height.

Preparing for the moment my new friends above would pounce; I gather the two kinds of energy I intend to use.

Both the old and the new.

They end up meeting each other in a place where the modifications I made to a few of my trees wouldn't be useful.

The animals start flanking maneuvers to reduce the number of enemies.

From wolves to bees, all work together in a way never before seen. This group also has a couple of people capable of using the new energy I have encountered.

From seemingly thin air, fire appears and is thrown around. These new enemies also have started to learn about this new energy it seems. Without practice, I can do little to defend against it, but in the path of each of the fire sources, I place a good amount of water droplets.

More water might have turned the fire nearly harmless, but I still wasted too much of the energy to last the whole battle.

The droplets in the path of the hundreds of fireballs blunted most of the damage against my new friends, and my limbs were nearly immune to this level of attack.

This frustrates the enemies above and the efforts of the dozen casters are redoubled. The combat is furious but short. A few of the more aggressive animals ended up severely injured given how many times they were hit and two end-up as more food for the soil.

This, however, is not the end of it. There will be more attacks today. Luckily this was the worst of it. The enemies coming spread out during the day are much less of a threat as long as everyone is alert. Otherwise, a few more of my friends will join in the soil, and perhaps another few hundred bees.

Doing my best to fill with vigor all the animals above, and getting started on healing the injured ones, the little of my new resource is dwindling. Luckily it always comes back in less than a day, independent of any effort.

My perception turns to the surroundings, and I wait for the trickle of enemies trying to injure and kill me and my friends.

Come back soon my friend.

Watch.

Heal.

Watch.

Grow.