Filling his lungs with fresh air, feeling dirt beneath his boots once again, and brushing his hands against the rough bark of the region-specific trees, made Synexus feel like he was home.

  After leaving Port Palm, it had been three days of hard travel. Only moving through the woods instead of staying on the road. Everyone was to remain cloaked at any given time. When they slept, one person was always left to keep watch and they slept on the cold, hard dirt. Synexus loved every minute of it. This was how he had grown up.

  As for the others, they had to get acclimated to the life once more. It had been a few years since most of them had been away from civilization for an extended period of time. Even with the island they had the mansion to keep them safe. Here, only their skills would save them from the ire of whatever lurked in the wilderness.

  Zuls was the exception to this. After her trial she had become quite the survivalist and she was often at the front of the group sending out her aura from her gained achievement to boost all the class chosen’s stamina regeneration which was the only reason why they had gained so much ground in only three days.

  Shell was obviously tired, but she always kept a positive attitude and played a tune to keep spirits high. Somehow, she could contain the notes so only the group could hear them. Her mastery and integration of music into her own class was something anyone should look at for inspiration.

  Kumo took to the skies with her Cloud Walking ability and kept a lookout even though in three days she hadn’t spotted evidence of any other people. By all evidence, they were completely alone.

  It had been another hard day of walking, and they had covered another 90 miles or so. Synexus was up on the rotation of keeping watch, so he walked around and grew small detection plants at given intervals. He had created them from using some of the plants he had logged during the trial. The communication aspect of the fungus with the wire vines as roots combined with the light throwing aspects of the flowers makes a perfect warning system. If any being with mana approaches the perimeter, the flowers will communicate with each other through the wire roots and then start to throw light between each other as the warning system.

  While all his friends slept, he looked up towards the foliage of the incredibly tall trees that made up the forest they were hiking through. Every now and then, if the angle was just right, he could see a star through the canopy. Of course, he wasn’t just stargazing, inside his Progress Garden he was constantly working on his skills. Gene edits, manipulating materials, growing plants, repairing materials that he would mess up during failed manipulations. It was all happening in his soul at all times. Each level was taking so much to achieve now, and he had to get stronger. Of course, his hard work didn’t go unrewarded.

  Extreme Repair has hit level 30!

  Extreme Repair has evolved into Instant Repair!

  Instant Repair: Using your mana to copy the elemental makeup of materials, you’ll be able to instantly repair small to medium damage. Larger damage will take time and much more mana.

  Mana Sense has hit level 30!

  Mana Sense has evolved into Mana Perception!

  Mana Perception: You’ve learned had to see mana. Now you’ll be able to sense mana with any form of perception. The ease at which you can perceive mana will be determined from the level of this skill and your perception stat.

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  Mana Perception had surprised Synexus since he could already feel mana, so he wasn’t sure if he could now hear mana or taste mana or smell mana. To his surprise it simply meant he was more attuned to mana while using any of his senses. It wasn’t that he could sniff and tell that something had a specific type of mana or something, he could just use any of his senses to be more aware of mana. He found it hard to explain the difference, but he knew there was one. Another big difference with it was when using his sensors he could now get information on mana where as before it was only aether that he would log.

  Gene had told him that as his abilities progress he would need to do more complicated feats with them to gain levels, and he knew that meant that he needed to start working on animal genes more and he needed to log more people’s genomes. He just struggled with that fact and was hesitant to start going down that slippery slope. Helping an animal grow another eye is one thing, but experimenting with one’s genomes? There had to be a line with his abilities, and he had to have the willpower to not cross it.

  Kumo had suggested he buy some chicken eggs or experiment with fish since they are barely alive, but he still had his reservations. He would have to get over them and on this particular night within his Progress Garden, the edit on a chicken egg started. It was still early in the process, and he was only making small changes such as the genes that regulate its size, how long it would take to start laying eggs, and the rate at which it could lay eggs. If he was going to make a mass of altered chicken, then he was going to do it right. This first one would be able to produce eggs quickly. Another would be able to fertilize them quickly. Then going forward, he would start to alter them further. His Progress Garden would be a chicken sanctuary.

  He had stocked up on some fish as well and kept them in a small pond within the garden. It was one of his favorite places to think about and he would enjoy starting work on the fish once he figured out what he wanted to edit. That was always the hardest part for him. Did he want fish with heightened intelligence? Maybe some that breathed air instead of water? Some type of plant/fish hybrid that could swim underground? He knew that his class meant endless possibilities and on peaceful nights like this one, he liked to examine all those possibilities.

  The night passed without incident and the group moved on towards Goldhill once more. By Vorin’s estimations they would arrive in another week, but they wouldn’t stay long. It was unsafe to stay anywhere that had a teleportation gate going forward. Synexus was fine sticking to the woods. Shell had grown fond of small towns while in her trial, and the others didn’t seem to care much either. They only needed to go through Goldhill to stock up on supplies or see if there were any outstanding messages for them from Gale.

  During their walk the next day, Zuls approached Synexus about his hesitations with working on animal genes.

  “You’re a good person, Synexus. Your intentions are pure and you struggling with these ethical dilemmas says more than you know. Not everyone would.”

  “So, you think I should push further into these edits?”

  “Yes. That’s the short answer. Do I like the idea of you experimenting on helpless animals? Absolutely not, but my class is not your class. This is what you need to do in order to progress further. I also see it as you being able to help a lot more animals and people in the future. As long as you’re not doing anything cruel to the animals by altering their genes to make them live miserable lives, which I don’t think you’d do, then I think you’re fine.”

  “That is surprising coming from you, but it is true that this practice and experimentation could lead to me being able to more confidently help others when it’s needed in the future. My only hesitation is that I’ll lose sight of the line and progress will be my only driving force.”

  “Well, if it makes you feel better. If you ever cross the line, I will stop you myself. That isn’t a threat. I just care about you too much and I know any one of us here will prevent you from losing yourself. That’s a promise.”

  Synexus was a bit taken back by her bluntness. “Thank you. That is actually oddly comforting.”

  She nodded before turning to address the group with her daily endurance aura peptalk. “I’m thinking we are moving pretty slow today. Come on everyone let’s pick up the pac…”

  Zuls didn’t get to finish on account of the projectile that barely missed her head and stuck itself deep into the ground. Looking up, the class chosen realized they were under attack.