First things first, I needed to finish the ritual.

I could deal with the fact that there was some kind of other monster living nearby and begin the process of sorting through all the memories later. Most of the sorting was already done by my other self, but I still had to sort through their sorted version.

I paused my thoughts for a moment just to make sure that made sense, and when I confirmed it did, I nodded to myself and continued.

I had established ownership of the oldest part of this land, now I just had to complete my domain. Most of what I was doing here was just following the nudges that [The Roots That Bind] sent me to perfect the ritual. Then, I added a bit of personal inspiration—a bit of flair to make it sell, which just felt right, even if it was useless.

I hoped this pissed the thing that killed my drones off, because it certainly annoyed me. On the skin of my hand, I began growing a linking circle to the ritual on the tree, turning myself into a node. Instead of detecting approaching people, I focused on anyone attacking me, including non-humans. This probably wouldn't work outside the domain I'd established, but within the circle network, it would have some sort of effect. I wasn't sure exactly what the effect would be, but I knew it would be rather violent.

At the same time, in Rootspeech, I started a chant, not a mage chant, obviously.

This was more like establishing the ritual and my vengeance upon whatever that was that attacked me. You could call it a witch's chant if you wanted. That would be less insulting. Actually, a witch would be a perfect descriptor, hmm.

"Winds bite sharp and cold, Flesh recoils, blood runs slow. Stillness falls, the hush of snow, Let all who reside here know."

I noticed in the bottom right corner of my vision that a small note had appeared labelled 'ON-CAMERA'. I decided to play for the camera a bit and began growing a knife within my cloak.

"Roots remember, frost obeys— This land will be Mine, now and always. Those who cross the forest Shall learn the truth of winter's bite."

I reached inside my cloak and disconnected the knife. As I grabbed it, I pulled it out and stabbed it through the circle on my hand into the centre of the circle on the tree, being careful not to damage any of the characters. Leaning my head against it, I let out a breath. That should establish a kind of fae presence in my character. Bargains for blood, even if I'm missing the blood… Actually.

From the inside of my hand, I began releasing Bloodroot Blood from the knife wound, and let it leak down the tree.

The Mana in the air seemed to vibrate as it took on a different flavour. I could tell the change was taking effect, but it was slow. Unlike my usual uses of [Covenant of the Unbound], I didn't throw all my Authority out in one burst. I integrated it slowly, word by word. Autumn was right, it was tricky to wrap each word in exactly the same amount of Authority. If I didn't have the amount of Grace or Wit that I did, I would have fucked up and taken whatever the backlash was.

I nearly dropped it at the last sentence, pronouncing the word 'truth' in Rootspeech is annoying, you had to specifically mimic the noise of a leaf unfurling in the morning sun. Those tiny sounds were always a bitch.

The 'ON-CAMERA' label vanished a few moments later, and I allowed myself to collapse, ripping the knife out of the tree with the hand it was stuck through as I fell. I really needed better Mana management.

Or maybe Authority management in this case. It was odd to think of it as a resource. I could technically build it up, but it was such a hassle preventing it from being released constantly, it was like trying to hold in a burp. You could do it, but it would be unpleasant and make your stomach hurt. I could see why stronger people didn't bother, and just allowed their aura to spill out constantly..

It might be a good practice to learn for the future, though…

With that in mind, I sent a small amount of my remaining Mana into my Authority Core and let the aura build up while restraining it. If I could learn to do this constantly, I could probably hold Authority back so that I didn't have to wait for Mana to build up in the Wondersprout material.

I also had two notifications sitting there, one was from one of the drones. Which makes me think, maybe I should separate myself into multiple vessels more often. It might help me level up faster with multiple minds.

Profession Level (Greenweaver) Increased +1 (5) +4 Wit, +2 Arcana, +2 Spirit, +4 Free Stats

Class Level (Neophyte Conduit) Increased +3 (34) +6 Wit, +9 Spirit, +6 Fortitude, +9 Arcana

Except I couldn't do that when I needed all my Wit in one place, like if I had to defend myself. Being able to think fast in a fight was pretty much essential. I didn't know how Warrior classes worked, but I doubted they could function without either high Wit or some kind of Skill to make up the difference. With how fast people could move, thinking slowly would be a death sentence.

Maybe I'd get a Skill that would make splitting it easier if I did it enough. Just something to think about, I supposed.

In the couple of minutes I had been sitting here, I noticed the air was beginning to grow colder. There was also a fine mist of Nature Mana floating in the air. I had no idea what the source of it was. The tree certainly wasn't outputting any. It was only involved in the active part of the ritual. The passive effects were something else entirely. Maybe it was the forest as a whole? I did lay a metaphysical claim to the entire area.

That gave me some ideas for the puzzle. I couldn't use [Covenant of the Unbound] because I didn't exist within the puzzle, but I could establish a defensive ritual… Also, I had that material that absorbed environmental Mana that I could power the rings with.

Popping open the puzzle, I began designing a solution as a reverse version of what I had built here. Anyone who crossed into the Manor grounds who wasn't wearing a ring linked to the ritual itself would be struck down by Corruptive Nature Mana. I went with my standard [Verdant Corruption] to save on Mana costs from using a ritual to add an intent.

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Starting the puzzle, I watched the bandits close in on the Manor grounds. The moment one crossed the threshold of the ritual, their flesh began to rot, and mould grew on their skin. As they screamed, other bandits went to try and help, but they were also caught up in the ritual as the domain established itself in a defensive position and the area of effect widened, encompassing the entire crew.

Soon, twenty-five rotting corpses were sitting outside the Manor, and I hadn't even lost a single gardener. Woo! Good game, easy, didn't even have to fire up a second brain cell.

The next puzzle reversed the position, now I had to equip a team of bandits to… Get past my own defenses, which had a new code sequence for the protection that I can't see. Great. I'm glad I did so well.

I let out a sigh. At least I got a few levels out of it.

Profession Level (Greenweaver) Increased +5 (10) +20 Wit, +10 Spirit, +10 Arcana, +20 Free Stats

More than a few levels, wow!

Milestone Achieved: Second step on Eryx's path. Completed a task assigned by Eryx to perfection. Species Level (Runaspriggan) Increased +5 (48) +5 Might, +15 Wit, +20 Spirit, +10 Fortitude, +15 Arcana, +10 Grace

And I'm still doing the path out of order. I can't even remember if I did the first step yet. I guess completing the bonus objective was worth it. Also, why didn't the sixth step tell me what I did right? None of this makes any sense.

I shouldn't be too surprised, the system was apparently unfinished. Why would I expect it to work correctly or consistently?

I assigned the Free Stats to Spirit to help my regeneration, then opened up the Skill selection. I was looking forward to this one.

[Profession Skill Option] Name: [Biomagical Analysis] Tier: [Wrought] Description: [As the chosen one to take on the mantle of becoming the Greenweaver material analysis will forever be a necessary tool in your kit. Despite your Core's inherent analysis capabilities, you still lack a depth of understanding of exactly how your plant-derived materials function. Enables you to identify, categorize, and annotate the structural, energetic, and soul-based traits of plant-derived substances. Also provides insight on how Mana can be used to affect phytogenic material composition through Intent Shaping. The quality of information scales with Wit.]

Oh yeah, that's what I'm talking about. A Skill entirely devoted to gathering information on materials and allowing me to change their properties. The Intent Shaping bit also told me something, that term was too broad just to be used for specific intents. Perhaps I could imbue materials with other intents than corruptive? Obviously, corruption brought evolution along with it, so it would be easier to use on its own, but it was something to think about.

[Profession Skill Option] Name: [Growthform Stabilization] Tier: [Wrought - Growth] Description: [A Greenweaver must learn to protect what they have built. Any constructs they have created may be assigned a stabilization field. This will prevent damage, ensure Mana overload is less common, and anchor the construct to a chosen location. Stabilized plants will become incredibly resistant to external interactions. Interior Mana flows will become impossible to disrupt with the influence of Authority.]

Well, the Authority blocker was already incredibly useful. It was too bad I couldn't use this on myself unless I wanted my shell to be locked in a single location.

I could probably use this to protect specific installations from being affected by attackers. It would definitely be useful in puzzles where Authority became a big issue, I knew I'd been completely fucked up multiple times by someone else's Authority, including the other monster in this part of the Zone.

[Profession Skill Option] Name: [Assigned Growth Pattern] Tier: [Wrought - Growth] Description: [The role of a Greenweaver is not merely to construct artifacts on their own. They must also have the will to shape the world to their desires. Allows any construct grown using one of your Skills to be planted and assigned a task. The construct will attempt to grow into a plant and fulfill the task you have assigned it to the best of its abilities. It is recommended that the construct be equipped with the necessary tools for survival. Otherwise, it will perish before the task can be completed.]

So I could just create plants that would then do whatever I wanted them to? Could I assign them to defend an area? What were the limits of the Skill? Were there even any limits?

What would happen if I assigned it to myself, I was covered in plant material, would it then follow specific instructions? I mean, I could already kind of do that with [Living Circuits], but not to this extent. It sounded like I couldn't use this as an alternative to [Living Circuits] either, because I can only specify one task for the plant. So I couldn't have it both grow an artifact and defend an area because that's two tasks. But I could assign it to protect an area just on its own, maybe? I had so many questions that the Skill didn't answer.

Why are they all so good? Is this what I get for obtaining a higher-tier Profession?

While trying to figure out which one to pick, a notification forced itself into my vision.

[Scheduled Update Imminent]

A system update is now scheduled to begin.

Time will be temporarily paused within the Plane during this process to ensure stability and prevent soul desynchronization.

Please stand by.

Do not attempt to interact with unstable Zone structures or initiate major actions until the update is complete.

Estimated Pause Duration: [22.325 minutes]

Progress will resume automatically once the update concludes.

Thank you for your patience. Update will begin in thirty seconds.

Oh, right, that was supposed to happen today. I guess I'll pick after it's done.

I sat there and waited for the update to begin. The moment thirty seconds had passed, it felt like something sharp was jammed into my soul for the second time in my life. I tried to wiggle in pain, but my body was frozen in place.

Why is my mind still active? Gods damn it, who designed this?

The sharp implement was moving around, and I could sense it was altering something fundamental within me. There seemed to be a specific location within my soul where the system was located, as it kept poking at the same spot, making minor adjustments.

I sat completely frozen in place while my mind writhed in agony.

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