Zunzutoxsian stood over the small tree in his favorite training spot by the mini pond waterfall and once again began to talk.

  “Look at that Little One, we’ve finally figured out how to manifest you outside of my body. Before you were feeding off my own mana, but now you can live off the atmospheric mana. However, you will still be able to merge into my body when needed.”

  “Yes, creator. It’s an odd sensation. Normally my roots feel the warmth of your body, but this grass is welcoming. I feel more attuned to the natural environment this way.”

  “Interesting!” He took out a notebook and started burning mana onto the pages to form words. “Now our research can begin in earnest. I’ve learned a lot from changing your foundation and I believe we should continue to add plants to your genome.”

  “I concur. With each new addition, my knowledge becomes greater, and my understanding expands. I’ve also produced two seeds for us to plant to begin more efficient research.”

  “Fantastic! That’s great to hear. We shall venture deep into the natural areas of the world and plant them, so your other selves may conduct research by logging more genomes.”

  Leaves rustled before the tree walked on roots to its creator’s body and got reabsorbed. The duo left for the deeper wildernesses found on Zax’xian.

  ***

  A pattern repeated while Gene and Synexus watched the memories play out. Zunzutoxsian began to manually edit in every plant genome into his plant companion. The tree was visibly growing and gaining more knowledge. A few days would pass in the memory while the duo completed more and more research. Then the System would flash them forward a year or so to see the next important memory.

  Synexus found it incredible how much work went into forming his class path. Gene had informed him during their last memory that it had been ten years since he had been created and Zunzutoxsian still hadn’t made the finalized will pathways for the original Gene Editing skill.

  The owl watched with an intense look on their face like they were doing their best to stay in the moment. A chance to relive your favorite memories shouldn’t be passed up after all.

  Both of them continued to learn about the technical aspects of what Zunzutoxsian was doing with all this research and how he was turning it into the foundation of a class. When Gene originally lived this, his creator didn’t go into detail on what exactly it was he was doing. This was simply a learning experience for them both.

  ***

  After being inside the memory for nearly a month, they came to the last memory. By this point, Gene had informed him that it had been nearly fifty years since his creation. Zunzutoxsian had created dozens of variations to the skills needed to make his class possible, but this was the memory where it all came together.

  Standing in the middle of the council room, he summoned Gene from his body, and the tree was near their full height. Beautiful leaves lit up the council room, and the will pathways gave off a faint blue glow as if pulsating with mana. Synexus noticed that the pattern resembled the Gene he knew now finally. Before, there had been subtle differences.

  “My fellow Zaxillians, I come before you today to mark the end of my research and show you what has come from it.”

  Murmurs filled the room as well as an overwhelming sense of curiosity. This memory was after the Aether Forge incident, and he was being treated with much more respect.

  “This is a plant companion that I created several decades ago to help me with my research. They started out as a sapling living inside my own body and off my own mana. I came to the conclusion that the little one didn’t have a soul and therefore wouldn’t be able to form will pathways like you or I, so instead I burned will pathways into the very foundation of its existence. Its genome has been branded with these will pathways and now it has a set of passive skill enchantments.”

  More murmurs and interest followed in the silence as Zunzutoxsian paused for his fellow council members to examine the pathways on the trunk of the tree.

  “Since then, my companion developed its own sentience and learned to speak with me. This communication was a boon to my research as I could ask my companion directly what certain additions to their genome from other plants had done. I’ve now developed a full map of every plant’s genome or foundation on Zax’xian. However, I realized quickly that this wouldn’t be enough.”

  Anticipation was practically dripping from the air in the council room as there was another pause before he continued.

  “My companion had gotten so intelligent that I left the plant research to them while I moved on to the second step of the balance between nature and technology that I hoped to achieve. Naturally, this was to create a skill that mirrored the one for plants, but for matter itself. You’ve seen an application of this will pathway with the Aether Forge, but now I’ve gained mastery over it. Observe.”

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  Mana spun wildly around the great Zaxillian like a tempest of color before condensing before him into an exquisite chair in which he sat down in and waited.

  Voices began to rise all around him as his fellow Zaxillians were astonished once again. They wanted answers.

  Synexus was amazed as well. He had seen him start to log matter in some of the memories which had given him a few ideas of his own, but to create matter out of mana was another thing all together. For a long time, he had an inkling that his Extreme Repair skill would eventually get to the point that would make this possible, but to see it confirmed was incredible.

  The Grand Mind of the council spoke.

  “I, the Grand Mind of Zax’xian, am perplexed. I thought this was only possible with the use of the Aether Forge.”

  “In a sense it is. I used the same will pathway or the same idea of the will pathway to power the forge. However, I now was able to burn this will pathway into a permanent skill on my soul. There are some drawbacks. First off, it takes an extreme amount of my own mana this way. Secondly, I can’t make anything too complex. The forge would still need to be used for already enchanted items and more complex materials. Finally, it takes time as you saw to create even something like a chair.”

  “That’s still incredible. Many in the wider universe will have questions about this skill. We already have pressure on us about the forge.”

  “I don’t intend to make this public. In fact, I hope to keep this within the council. I simply needed to show you this skill since it was the second stage on the path to fulfill my vision of balance.”

  “How many stages are there?”

  “Three in total. You see, I always loved being out in nature, but our people weren’t tailored toward nature like some other races. Our pre-disposition has always been technology. Nature always seemed primitive and after a certain amount of progress, some view it as outdated. However, I wanted to show how a balance could be more than either of its parts. Look as us, for example, we are natural entities born from another, yet, we have integrated technology that it too became natural, and it has made us stronger.”

  Nods and a sense of approval filled the chamber.

  “So, the first step was nature, the second was matter, and the third had to be technology. That was the easier part for me since we’ve grown up around technology our whole lives. We all know machines like the back of our hands. Our second language is advanced coding. This constant technological advancement will always be a part of who we are. I’m asking that we embrace our other half more. The half born of nature.”

  The Grand Mind looked at Zunzutoxsian questionably. “What does that mean exactly?”

  “I’m glad you asked. I’ve used my inherent knowledge of technology combined with the study of matter and the infinite potential of plants to secure our future. Behold!”

  From a dimensional bag on his hip, he produced several plants. One was a tree that seem to grow metal, another was a wire that grew by itself, several mushrooms were thrown into the crowd so they could feel the connection between them, dozens of lilies were produced and they seemed to be sending information between each other like synapses of the brain, and of course there was a humanoid plant providing information about each plant to the council.

  Complete shock and amazement erupted from the crowd as they all took turns inspecting the plants. Many got up and joined Zunzutoxsian on the floor to get a better look.

  “Zunzutoxsian, what type of metal is this growing on the tree? I don’t believe I’ve seen it before.”

  “Ah, good question. That is what I call Living Metal. Another creation of mine. I was able to take Zaxillian Silver ore mix it with Core Steel add in some properties of Battery Stone and then combine all that with the growth potential of plants to create a living metal. We will be able to shape it into whatever we need, and it will grow with mana. It’ll be great for armor or weapons, so it will get more powerful as we do. It’s also incredibly easy to enchant due to being mana conductive.”

  “Incredible!” One council member said.

  “Unbelievable!” Another said.

  Then the Grand Mind spoke. “If we could grow these plants in mass, we could design new technologies that will send us forward centuries. The idea of growing wires instead of having to craft them is amazing. The time we will save. This Living Metal could also be an offering for the wider universe. Zunzutoxsian of the First Research, you have outdone yourself yet again.”

  “Whatever is needed of me for the continued success of Zax’xian.”

  A strong sense of joy, acceptance, and affirmation filled the air as they all continued to inspect the plants with eyes and sensors alike.

  Synexus turned to Gene who was inspecting the memory with intense focus once again.

  “Gene, does this mean my class will allow me to one day log machine code? I don’t believe I’ve seen any of that on Motholo yet, but I have heard merchants talk about more advanced technologies. During this trial I’ve also seen technologies that I’m not quite certain of how they work.”

  Gene sighed. “I was hoping this trial wouldn’t give much away about your class, but alas it was important to do so. If you so choose down the line, then yes eventually you will gain access to another collection skill. Of course, you can decide that when the time comes. Maybe you will want to take a different path.” The owl looked back at the memory before turning back. “Motholo does have some cities with advanced technology, but they are far and few between. Nothing as advanced as it is here.”

  “Incredible. Think of how this technology could help Motholo!”

  The owl chuckled. “You sound just like him. But remember, you need to be careful. If they learn of your existence, it could become a problem.”

  “If it does, I’ll be ready. I will not share the same fate as my people. I will master the three elements of my class and bring forth the balance of nature and technology that Zunzutoxsian saw. He really is incredible to put together three skills that seemingly have nothing to do with each other. Of course, now that I see it all come together, I think I understand.”

  “Oh, you do?”

  “Yes. Although different you can break them all down to a foundation. To a set of instructions whether that’s code, a genome, or a makeup of different elements. It’s like creation itself has a code.”

  “He always said the same thing. We all are a part of creation’s code.”