Seated at the table where he'd often interacted with Eon, Rory found himself contemplating.

Attributes first, or skills?

With each Ascension, he'd been offered skills related to his vocation or things he'd done. Some were weird, while others were rather mundane, but they always were a thing to look forward to.

Attributes were straightforward and boring, a foundation for strategizing one's future.

Skills first, then.

Instantly, his interface was populated, and several skills appeared.

"Huh." That was all Rory said, looking at his first option.

Runic Bones: Pushing one's knowledge of Inscription beyond a level few others can even dream of, you've peered into the scholarly arcane and dedicated yourself wholeheartedly. Now, turn that skill inward as you inscribe upon your very bones.

Warning: Selection will reduce the variety of skill offerings gained through Ascension that do not pertain to Inscription.

"Yeah, that's something alright," Rory muttered. He couldn't lie; it sounded like a secret master-level skill many would kill for, obtainable only by being one of the most dedicated to the art of Inscription.

Of course, Rory was cheating. Being the sole practitioner of Inscription meant he was automatically the best around.

Yet he was about to do something that future followers of the school of Inscription would be horrified by.

"Hard pass." Rory snorted. The idea of being able to add inscriptions into his very bones somehow sounded like it had some rather insane potential for improving and augmenting himself. Still, he didn't like the warning that it would potentially limit his ability to gain other skills unrelated to Inscription. After all, he was the Architect of the Precursors, not the Inscriber of the Precursors.

"Up next is… oh, a boring one."

Exotic Tailor: Unlike any old tailor, an exotic tailor has practiced making clothes and light armor from all sorts of strange and exotic materials. Grants some innate knowledge of tailoring and increased frequency of non-ascension acquisition of tailor-type skills.

"So, basically, because of that blood-weave, I get offered a skill to make similar stuff more easily, and I… learn skills outside of Ascension more easily? It could be interesting if it weren't for the fact that it only applies to tailoring. Pass."

Looking further down the list, Rory's eyebrows rose steadily until he shook his head, thoroughly peeved.

"Okay, whose fucking idea of a joke is this? Was it you, Eon?"

As for what had so thoroughly annoyed him?

Blood Mandate: An Architect for the future builds a world as they imagine it. What better world to imagine than the one you rule over? A mandate to rule, a mandate to lord, gained not through the divine but through blood and blood alone. Those who stand beside you will see their bloodlines anointed, and those who oppose you shall see their bloodlines water the soil beneath your feet. Blood Mandate grants no immediate effects and, in return, gains access to the Sovereign system, which allows for evolution as a ruler, be it the noble Monarch, the just Iudex, or the iron fist of an Overlord.

Notice: Due to the basis of the Sovereign system being unlocked through Blood Mandate, the Overlord route will be heavily favored.

"Seriously, what the fuck?" Rory shouted into the void, wringing his hands. "I know I said I'm not some Dark fucking Lord, and here I am being offered 'How to Become a Dark Lord 101' as if I was joking!"

In fairness, as much as Rory was annoyed, he couldn't deny any curiosity. There was also the fact that he had some idea for why it had been offered in the first place. After all, he had been dabbling a lot in blood sacrifices and other dubious activities.

Still, straight to a Dark Lord skill? Not even any other in-between blood-related skills?

That part was the head-scratcher. He'd expected to see a blood-based skill, just not one that was so straightforward about its intent to send him down the route of an overlord.

When you think about it, maybe it isn't just because of all the blood stuff I've been up to.

Skill offerings weren't precisely random, or at least not totally. Which meant there must have been some prerequisites he'd fulfilled. The first was evident; he already had blood affinity and related skill.

The second was likely the routine monster sacrifices he'd performed to bolster his bloodwood tree creation.

And the third?

It took a moment of thought before it slowly dawned on him.

"My settlement." Rory sighed. "I'm the leader of a settlement. And potentially, the 'largest' settlement."

While he hadn't expanded his camp in some time, he instinctively knew he could have had he wanted to, having earned quite a large amount of land surrounding his camp. If space still counted as part of his 'domain,' he had a large settlement to his name, to the measure of half a mile in any direction.

It sounded correct to Rory, yet it still seemed a bit… weak to be offered something as special sounding as Blood Mandate. If Rory didn't know any better-

"You're trying to use me as a guinea pig for a new idea, aren't you?" Rory suddenly realized as his eyes narrowed, locking onto two specific words in the description.

Sovereign system.

He'd never heard of a 'Sovereign system' before, and while Rory being clueless about stuff wasn't new, Rory had a feeling the Sovereign system was an idea that Eon had likely devised on the spot, recognizing a potential avenue to test some new game-styled system out, this one based on ruling and all that fun stuff.

Even realizing he was being used as a test bed for an idea by the sort-of-an-Ai-possibly-a-god Eon, Rory momentarily considered it. He had no doubt the Sovereign system would likely be something with a hell of a lot of potential, especially since it seemed almost the perfect pair with his vocation.

And yet?

Yet Rory wouldn't falter.

"I already told you," Rory said as he finally moved past the demonic lordship skill. "I'm not a Dark Lord."

Glad to have made that clear—even if Eon made no attempt to respond to his defiance—Rory took in the fourth option, eyebrows raising in purer curiosity this time around.

Scholar's Retreat: The art of war is the art of brutes and barbarians. A scholar knows that to fight is to lower oneself to the level of savages, and thus, a scholar will only reach for the instruments of war when in dire straits. By trading the ability to gain combat-type skills through any means aside from direct endeavors, the Scholar gains the ability to augment their Cognition and a passive increased rate of non-combat skill acquisition.

Warning: Combat skills will be permanently blocked from appearing through ascension skill selection or other skill offerings.

"Now that's something heavy," Rory uttered as he let the offered option sink in. "Blocks all combat skills from being obtained, except through old-fashioned elbow grease and effort."

Realistically, it was a stupid idea even to consider the skill. If monsters continued to grow more and more powerful, gaining a wider variety of abilities, combat skills would likely become the bread and butter of this new universe.

Yet Rory found himself thinking about it more than he probably should have.

"How about I put a hold on it for now," Rory told himself, dismissing the option for the time being as his eyes drifted to the final offering.

"Right, because, of course."

As if to spit in his face, for the first time in his life on Aelia, Rory had finally been offered a combat skill.

Right after being offered an option that would block combat skills for good.

Hawk Eye: Through the fire and flames, you've-

"Alright, that feels like it's from somewhere." Rory suddenly interrupted his reading. It sounded vaguely familiar, something he'd likely heard around his grandparents, but Rory couldn't quite place it.

"Ehh, guess it's not that important, now, is it?"

Hawk Eye: Through the fire and flames, the Hawk Eye has survived trial and tribulation. It was not the sword or the spear that carried the Hawk Eye through, but the way of the bow and arrow. Surpassing even the trustworthy bow, the Hawk Eye has proven dedicated to ranged combat, utilizing even the most particular and exotic missile weaponry. Seeing what even the most trained of archers cannot, the Hawk Eye combines a dedication to ranged warfare with a powerful vision. Grants Trajectory Projection and Minor Missile Manipulation.

"Damn," Rory whistled. His first combat-type offering and it seemed damn impressive. If he understood it correctly, because he'd preferred to use bows and sometimes railguns, it had assessed him as some sort of archer type during his time in their new universe. Even the repeated mention of the eye part and having a powerful vision sounded like a clue as if by having a vision-based skill, in his case, Eye for Potential, he'd fulfilled the requirements to be offered Hawk Eye.

"Not just that," Rory mused. "It sounds like I'd get two skills for the single offering."

Trajectory Projection sounded like something that would allow him to "see" the trajectory of an arrow, or perhaps any ranged weaponry he used, without shooting a test shot first. As for Minor Missile Manipulation, well, that sounded self-explanatory, the ability to potentially alter the path of a projectile to some degree.

Both probably utilize Pneuma if they're active skills. The only reason Essence Spark doesn't is because my specific affinity makes it drain from my vital energy instead.

The choice should have been obvious. He'd finally been offered a combat-type ability. Not just that, it sounded as if it had two sub-skills.

Which was precisely why Rory threw his hands up in exasperation.

"You're joking, right? After everything I've overcome without a single offered combat skill, NOW you offer me something? I already cleared ten waves straight! I already beat the Watcher! I reached A5 without any! So NOW you offer me one!"

Rory was ranting; he was aware. Even if he knew he was ranting, it didn't change his irritation that after more than a year of struggles, when he'd just finally started to find his footing, all without a combat skill, only now had he been offered one.

"You know what? Fuck you." Rory grunted, his hand snapping out and selecting an option before he could think it through, annoyance urging him forward.

Instantly, the interface changed, and a new screen appeared, his skills displayed.

Eye of the Scholar

Rarity: Uncommon. Skill Level: Low

A scholar must have a discerning eye and a thirst for knowledge. While active, it enhances Cognition to a variable degree. Does not function while in combat.

As Rory stared at the skill, his moment of heated impulse began to dawn on him, regret already filling him.

Alright, maybe not my best decision.

Over a year of struggle had gotten to him. In a single moment of rash judgment, he'd just locked himself out from ever receiving any combat skills through means that weren't old-fashioned training.

"When in doubt, leave it for Future-Rory to solve," Rory sighed. Was it perhaps irresponsible of him to think that way?

Yes.

Did he care?

…Maybe a little.

Trying not to overthink what he'd just done, Rory thought about his newest skill. Eye of the Scholar was, as it said, meant to boost his Cognition. Sadly, it couldn't be used in combat; it would have been a cheap way of avoiding future Cognition investment, but that didn't make the skill useless. In fact, that was far from the case. While Cognition didn't make you directly smarter, it did enhance your thinking speed. If a regular human could only process three or four things a minute, a human enhanced with greater Cognition could have double, triple, or quadruple the train of thought.

Again, it didn't make someone directly smarter. Still, if you could spend half the time planning something out, it also meant you'd effectively be able to consider twice the ideas.

This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

Which was almost like being more intelligent, if in a roundabout, brute-force fashion.

Semantics? Perhaps, but for someone who had now locked themselves outside of regular combat skills, he'd need it to plan, consider problems, and even focus on crafting endeavors.

Almost like I'm some sort of… Architect.

Even Rory wanted to roll his eyes with himself, the attempt at humor falling flat.

"Well, I guess next is attribu- huh?"

He'd been prepared to move on now that he had handled the Vocation expansion stuff. That was until a message suddenly popped up on his interface.

Skill modification possible: Eye for Potential and Eye of the Scholar

Two or more synergistic overlapping skills detected. Skill interplay is possible.

Proceed? Y/N

"That's new," Rory scratched at his chin as he looked at the message. It wasn't the first time one of his skills had been changed. Runic Inscription had been turned into Ancestral Inscription, but this was the first time he'd received a notification about it and the ability to decline the change.

Maybe because it involves more than one skill?

Seeing no reason not to accept, Rory mentally tapped the Yes option as his interface updated, a spinning circle that vanished a moment later.

Skill Modification successful:

Eye for Potential and Eye of the Scholar merged. New skill obtained. Higher rarity was maintained.

Eyes of the Dokkalfar-kin

Rarity: Rare. Skill Level: Low

A scholarly eye that peers into the world's mysteries and another that sees the potential within all things. When brought together, they form the eyes of the Dokkalfar. While not of the Dokkalfar, one may become like their kin by obtaining their sight. Grants three stages of ocular release. Stage one allows one to either see through the darkest of nights, perceive the world's potential, or enhance one's understanding of whatever they lay eyes upon. Stage two allows for semi-perfect ocular release, allowing dual ocular effects. Stage three provides full ocular release, enabling all three effects to be used in tandem. Mental strain increases with each stage of ocular release.

Ocular releases: Potential Recognition, Cognition Amplification, Luster Capture

"Damn, that's a lot to take in," Rory said as he reread the information of the new skill. "I retain the old features of Eye for Potential and Eyes of the Scholar, and I even gained the ability to see in the dark easier… I wonder if that last one was an add-on because of the light capture goggles I made?"

All in all, Rory was more than pleased. The fact that the skill rarity hadn't increased was a bit of a bummer; three features in one sounded like something that deserved a higher rarity.

Then again, Ancestral Inscription allowed Eon to intervene directly and save me, so I suppose trying to reach past Rare requires some rather insane qualities.

Waiting several seconds to see if any other sudden surprises would appear, Rory finally dismissed his skill-related interfaces.

It was finally time to move on to the next part of his Ascension to A5.

Attributes.

Attributes, oh attributes. They were the bread and butter of Ascension, the blueprint or outline for one's future. Rory's early ascensions had all been in quick enough succession that he hadn't ever had to sit with the consequences of his choices for long, but this was the first genuinely long-term decision. Years would be spent in A5, and a poor choice could extend the time frame significantly or even lead him to his demise.

Don't be rash.

On the other hand, it was the first Ascension for which Rory didn't feel unprepared. He had spent months getting the hang of the ropes, which gave him an idea of what to expect and a general understanding of each attribute. With actual gear and resources, Rory could afford to push his limits if it meant maximizing the potential returns.

"So," Rory muttered. "How do I want to do this?"

Strength, Durability, Flexibility, Cognition, Pneuma, and Growth were his choices, and the ultimate question was how he divided his attributes between them. Going down the list one by one, Rory contemplated the pros and cons.

Strength is the most straightforward, as always. Hit harder, run faster, etc.

While it was the most straightforward of the attributes, it was also the one Rory was least interested in. He rarely relied on raw strength for much of anything, and if it ever got into a situation where it came down to a battle of strength, well, he was right screwed anyway.

Next, Durability.

Durability was significantly more interesting, if not for the reasons one might expect. As the name suggested, durability was just how much punishment a person could take. Claws that would tear an average human in half may not even leave a scratch with enough durability.

But that wasn't the reason Rory found durability compelling. It was the fact that durability was partially linked to recovery rate, and that was significantly more useful when he considered that his primary crafting skill, Essence Spark, utilized his blood affinity, which also directly drained him from his life force. So, while the extra defensive properties of durability were an obvious benefit, it was for crafting purposes that he found himself more concerned with the attribute.

Flexibility.

Much like strength, Rory wasn't all that concerned with flexibility as an attribute going into A5. Flexibility was more of a supporting attribute; without flexibility, you'd eventually reach the point where the raw strength of your body would be too much for your joints to handle. With tendons unable to take the force of each movement, every step, every simple action would shred your tendons and ligaments. It was like durability, just for the connective tissues, as durability was also necessary to support the strength attribute. There was another benefit to flexibility, outside of preventing injury to one's own body or prancing around like a gymnast, though, which was that it also seemed to affect coordination, and for someone who was primarily a crafter who also lacked the aid of machine precision, that increased coordination could come in handy.

Moving on from the purely physical attributes.

Cognition was the attribute Rory could admit the most interest in going into A5. With his new and improved skill, Eyes of the Dokkalfar-kin, there was a specific mention of how one potential usability was in boosting his Cognition. Rory didn't yet know if it was a flat or percent increase; in either case, an increase in Cognition could prove helpful. If it were just a flat amount, increasing his Cognition would likely reduce the 'strain' the skill inflicted on him, allowing him to sustain it continuously. If it were a percent increase, then an increase in his Cognition attribute would result in an overall more considerable increase. Most importantly, Cognition was to the mind what Strength was to the body, and Rory's "build" was definitely focused more on the advantages of his mind than his body.

The only issue was that Cognition was one hundred percent a supporting attribute. Unless there was something he wasn't aware of, it didn't make him any more powerful in a fight. Aside from processing the flow of a battle faster, it didn't matter much if his physical body couldn't keep up.

Next up, Pneuma. If strength is the main attribute of the body, then Pneuma is the main attribute of the… not the body. Hmm, not my best phrasing.

Ignoring his poor description, Pneuma was one of the odd attributes. He'd asked Eon about it once and hadn't received much of a straight answer, having still not tapped into Pneuma yet. Fast forward to now, he had a far better idea of what the attribute did. Pneuma was a lot like a garden hose. Your talent with Pneuma was the pressure of the hose; the more talented you were, the more pressure you could output. Yet, the raw volume was still limited by the actual circumference of the hose. Increasing the Pneuma attribute wouldn't necessarily make you better at using magic. What it would do was ease the burden of channeling more Pneuma at any moment, increasing the circumference of the hose. For Rory, who had realized his actual skill at using Pneuma was rather… lacking, the attribute wasn't likely to change much for him; perhaps he could fill a bounded circle faster with less of a headache. Outside of that, he didn't see much worth for him.

Finally, Growth.

The most conceptual of the attributes, Growth traded some of your current potential in return for greater returns in the future. It was an attribute that seemed to favor the crafter type; a combatant lowering their power potential would heavily reduce their growth rate. Being a higher tier would also result in weaker monsters giving next to no ascension energy; a combat-focused ascender could theoretically find themselves stuck without a way forward. Crafters could circumvent such a problem by relying on crafting to gain ascension energy and ignoring their temporary reduction in strength entirely. Alternatively, they could rely on their creations to shore up potential combat weaknesses.

Honestly, I'm shocked that Eon made the interplay of attributes so… fair?

Glancing over the attributes, Rory began to form a plan.

My' least needed' attributes are Flexibility, Strength, and Pneuma. Growth is probably the best option; I expect an extended stay in A5 regardless. Adding a few years onto that so I have enough attributes in A6 to keep up is worth it. I'm left with Durability and Cognition, which I'd give equal importance to, just behind Growth.

With the general weighting of the attributes determined, Rory began sliding the attribute density sliders around until he felt satisfied. Growth, being most important, received a full forty percent of his total A5 attribute density. Durability and Cognition ranked second and received twenty percent each, leaving him only a final twenty percent remaining. Three attributes left to consider: Rory had to decide how to split it between Strength, Flexibility, and Pneuma.

Of the three, strength is probably the most useful. If not for combat, then for manual labor, which I always find myself doing. Chopping down an ordinary Sol's Glory is like hacking through a steel beam, and juvenile Bloodwoods are even worse. I can only imagine a slightly more mature Bloodwood may be impossible to chop down if I don't add at least some strength.

Nodding along with his own assessment, Rory cranked the slider up ten percent, leaving a final ten percent remaining.

Two attributes remain, ten percent. Honestly? It's probably easiest to just split it evenly.

Attributes distributed; Rory gave it a once over, double checking.

Growth is 40%, Durability and Cognition are 20% each, Strength is 10%, and Flexibility and Pneuma are 5% for both.

Confirming the distribution, Rory blinked in surprise. The dark void was replaced with a dark cave as he was returned to real space.

Technically inaccurate, I've been here the entire time; I was mentally unavailable.

Realizing he'd made a mistake pushing his Ascension while in an unknown cave, Rory shrugged it off; there was no point in worrying about things already done.

"So…. Now what?"

Rory found himself stumped by the question. Sure, the obvious answer was, 'Keep growing.' There were more ascensions in the future and a long road ahead.

But the question was, where was the long road to go? Ignoring the esoteric question of 'why,' there was also the question of his short-term goals. He'd cleared a ten-wave streak, beaten the Watcher, and even reached A5, even if A5 hadn't been a specific goal.

So, now what?

Stumped, Rory sat down, resting his chin on his hands as he crossed his legs and contemplated.

Well, what do I know?

He was still on a vastly unknown planet. His exploration had, at most, taken him a few miles out. Based on the hints Aelia had dropped; the planet was far more extensive than Earth had ever been. The extent of his exploration was like visiting a single state park and assuming you'd explored all of Earth.

But that's not a goal, just an observation.

"Well, what about here?" Rory prompted, glancing around. "I cleared floor one, but how deep does it go?"

Floor one had consisted of only two rooms; the first room had been directly responsible for many of Rory's creations, given that it was the only source of metal he'd found. If the first room -which didn't even involve him fighting any monsters- was already that valuable, what goodies could be found deeper?

It was worth careful consideration. There was also the teeny, little issue that Aelia had indirectly told him about some time ago: while the monsters of the surface were generally lower level, that wasn't the case going deeper.

I wonder why? Maybe because the closer to the planet's core, the more energy there is to sustain them since Aelia herself is still a low-tier planet?

As it stood, it would remain an idle theory unless he intended to pester Aelia directly. Rory also doubted that Aelia would appreciate being bothered over something so irrelevant.

What matters is that trekking further into the Maw is probably equally lucrative as it is dangerous.

"Goal one," Rory announced, satisfied with the general direction of his thoughts. "Explore deeper into the Maw."

It still wasn't the most substantial goal, but it was something.

What else?

As for his time on Aelia, there hadn't been much else. Aside from crafting, the only other thing he'd done was tackling the waves that he could summon to assault his settlement.

Now that I mention it, I wonder…

Ever since Rory had cleared his tenth consecutive wave, he had avoided interacting with the wave summon feature. While Rory had no proof of it, he had an instinctive belief that there would be a difficulty spike the next time he engaged with the waves, a spike he hadn't been ready for.

What about now?

Two specific events had somewhat distorted his experience with the waves. The first was the appearance of the Nike Fox. Until his fateful battle with the Iaslisk of wave ten, the Nike Fox had far and away been the most powerful monster he'd fought, something that remained true until the fateful tenth wave. The reason that the Nike Fox had appeared in the first place was more of an accident than anything. It had unfortunately been passing through the area just as he activated the monster beacon, where it had been forcibly drawn in to attack. At least, that was what Aelia had made it sound like when he questioned what precisely the Den Mother's Nucleus was and why it was inside the deceased Nike Fox.

That, combined with a few revelations he'd had since suddenly made several things make a lot more sense.

First, the Nike Fox had likely been somewhere in the fourth tier of monsters. Outside the Iaslisk, every other monster had been weaker by a considerable margin, by his approximations somewhere between tiers one and three, the strongest being late-stage tier threes in wave nine. The only reason he'd survived the encounter was that the Nike Fox hadn't had its heart in the attack; it had wanted nothing more than to use its recently acquired Den Mother's Nucleus.

As it had neared his settlement, the fox had likely sensed how much weaker he was in comparison. Gauging him weak enough to be of little threat, the Nike Fox had been taken off guard by the Akashic Record of his bow, which let him strike with a speed and power it wasn't prepared for.

In retrospect, damn, I was lucky.

All that was to say that had it not been for the chance encounter with the Nike Fox, the monsters within the first ten consecutive waves would have likely maxed out at a low tier four with the boss of wave ten. Instead, he'd gotten Eon and Aelia meddling and tossing a tier eight at him to gauge whether his railgun inventions were overpowered.

And spoiler alert, they were.

So, if the first ten waves were meant to range from tiers one through four, would the next' bracket' be tiers five through eight?

Pattern-wise, it made sense, but time and power-wise, it seemed a rather drastic jump. Ten waves, increasing that many tiers in only ten weeks. There was no way you'd be able to go from a tier five monster to a tier eight monster by week ten unless you were already tier eight.

Unless?

If ascensions took ten times as much energy to increase, why not the waves? The first bracket was ten waves, ten weeks, doable with tiers one through four. But, if the second 'bracket' of waves was tiers five through tier eight, perhaps it was one hundred weeks of consecutive waves and not ten.

Rory once more had no actual proof that he was on to something. The only 'proof' he could point to was that Eon had initially been created from his mind. Thus, there was a fair chance that his gut suspicions would be, at the very least, comparable to reality.

So, rather than ten weeks, it's a hundred consecutive weeks, nearly two years. Seems fair if I think that A5 will take me around seven to ten years.

Thinking about facing one hundred waves, a kernel of an idea began forming within Rory's mind. He suspected he knew what the second bracket's final boss was, assuming it capped off with a tier eight boss.

A rematch with the Iasilisk.

Again, Rory had no actual proof. Yet, it seemed fitting to Rory, and if it seemed fitting to Rory, Eon was probably in agreement.

And this time, I'll be expected to handle it with my strength and not the borrowed firepower of a weapon I probably shouldn't have had access to.

A single shot from Big Momma was comparable in power to tank fire. Yet, the Iasilisk had eaten up hundreds of rounds from Big Momma. Even as an A5, with his blood-weave and Blood Legacy bow, Rory doubted he could so much as scratch the monster, even if he sacrificed the entirety of his life force to empower the Blood Legacy effect.

Goal number two. Rory half grinned, a sort of crazed look of someone realizing the enormity of a looming goalpost. Clear one hundred consecutive waves and beat the Iasilisk. Properly this time.

It was oddly fitting, for his goals had effectively repeated themselves, still centered on the Maw and some far-off wave.

Pushing himself off the ground and feeling surprisingly good, given the recent improvement in his Durability attribute, Rory dusted himself off. While the idea of immediately exploring deeper within the Maw occurred to him, his blood-weave bodysuit had disintegrated amidst the battle with the Watcher, leaving him painfully exposed.

It's time to return.

While his material bounty was relatively small in stature, only the hunk of crimsonite to prove his triumph, his Ascension to A5 was already worth the visit.

That's another semi-goal. I still need to figure out how to travel between these spots faster.

A combat-focused Ascender would likely have a much higher overall investment in Strength than Rory had opted for. They could probably clear a journey that took Rory two hours in half the time, if not less.

"That's two and a half goals, then," Rory muttered as he left behind the Maw. Stopping shortly in the first cavern, Rory rummaged around and packed some common-grade Pneuma-Enriched ore into his pockets before beginning his trek back home.

I can never have enough metal, even if it's only a common grade.

The journey back was relatively uneventful, for which Rory was thankful. Several times, he heard some monsters just out of sight in the undergrowth. Still, they largely avoided him, his presence as an A5 repelling the common weaker monsters on its own. Taking his sweet time, when Rory finally returned, the suns overhead were nearing the horizon, and night was quickly approaching. Standing beneath a tree just a few feet from the clearing surrounding his settlement, Rory silently observed his home.

Maybe it's time I started doing more work with this as well.

The walls surrounding his settlement were made of the same wood as the rest of the forest, the ever-present Sol's Glory. They were further protected by a shell of clay-like tile, which had done well repelling the attacks of minor monsters.

Yet they would need an upgrade if he wanted to tackle a second bracket of waves composed of stronger monsters.

Rory glanced toward his ritual growth site, where a young Bloodwood was growing. Even with all the supporting growth rituals, it took three weeks for a Bloodwood to grow enough to be harvested for usable resources.

And I will need a fair amount of Bloodwood if I want to use it as the basis of the wall upgrades. Not to mention how much I would need to expand my settlement at any point.

Just when he began to feel like he wasn't in a resource crisis, he was met with the abject reality that showed otherwise.

It's always something.

Rory sighed, stepping out from the forest as he walked toward his camp.

He had a long road ahead of him.