My routine remained as it had been up to this point. I dedicated time to revamping my cavern in the background while focusing on my experiments. In particular, my interest at the time revolved around energy control.

Though I didn’t have much experience in detailed control, it didn’t mean I couldn’t obtain it. I created a few Inferior Pure Energy Crystals while messing about with [Lesser Energy Manipulation]. My experiments continued for months and at some point, a fresh notification graced me.

[ Criteria Met. Lesser Energy Manipulation leveled up. ]

[ Criteria Met. Lesser Energy Manipulation evolved into Minor Energy Manipulation. ]

A burst of information flooded my mind, its strength roaring through mature wirings built up to this point and tearing them apart. My [Lesser Energy Tendril] was canceled and I felt [Lesser Energy Perception] slipping. The world turned black and it was as if my senses were rebooting from scratch.

As my mind began working once more, I found my territory to be something more organic to me. The land I looked through to gaze at the world became more responsive. I found myself capable of deforming the terrain slightly without utilizing any skills and perhaps even more interestingly, there were ‘things’ inside my terrain I could feel.

Unlike the bipedal creatures at the hillside, I found these creatures to be far smaller. Some had 4 legs, others 6, some 8, and amazingly, I even found some with over 40. Despite ‘knowing’ these things were inside my territory though and having a general grasp on their characteristics, [Lesser Energy Perception] was somehow unable to perceive them.

Despite how much I focused at any single point, I could only make out energy flowing around the area. Perhaps saying I couldn’t ‘see’ them was inaccurate. I was able to see the void they created in the energy floating around my territory, however the creatures themselves were a mystery to me.

‘Just another thing to experiment with.’

The curious things were added to the ever growing list of things to explore. As it stood, I returned my attention to [Minor Energy Manipulation]. Things I struggled with before became more fluid now. Where I once required a day or so to create 2 to 3 Inferior Pure Energy Crystals, I now only needed a few hours or so. Beyond a doubt, my proficiency increased with the new evolution.

Despite these newfound improvements, I somehow understood I was still unqualified to touch those sparks. Such was life, however. Rather than waste the creatures en masse, I chose to instead focus on improving [Lesser Energy Perception]. The training was rather dull and though it required an exorbitant degree of attention to train, however I managed to entertain myself after discovering the joy of landscaping.

In particular, cavernscaping, if such a thing existed. It happened one day while I was creating Inferior Pure Energy Crystals. My attention was focused on the energy being condensed when a splash of ‘something’ distracted me. That moment of distraction was enough to shatter the incomplete crystal, however such a thing was useless to me anyhow considering the pile of them surrounding me.

Another splash resounded. I managed to locate the source this time. Far above my crystal, I found a very fine fracture in the granite that was leaking water. Each drop landed atop my crystal, however the strangest thing occurred. Every drop that hit sizzled before disappearing. My [Lesser Energy Perception] watched the newfound attribute disperse into the surroundings.

To my surprise, it was far more fluid than the terra attribute. Despite being outnumbered, the terra attribute energy appeared to repel the new energy. [Lesser Identify] was, of course, used immediately.

[ Lesser Identify: Aqua Attribute Energy ]

Energy aligned to water. Fuels water aligned magic and skills.

I discovered a new energy! My excitement peaked at the discovery. Though I knew there were other attributes and I could see them at a distance, for whatever reason, I was unable to utilize [Lesser Identify] on energys too far from my crystal. As the area was flooded with terra attribute energy, I had been unable to draw in any other sources.

With this new found source, I focused on my territory and tracked the fracture to the water source. It seemed to originate from the mountain crest. Earlier, [Lesser Identify] already explained the concept of snow to me, so it wasn’t too surprising to see snowmelt make its way into my cavern. What was surprising however, was that it carried enough aqua attribute to allow me to sense it.

Heavens know my [Lesser Energy Perception] was weak. Even with intense focus, I was still only barely able to make out the rough edges of energy while creating the Inferior Pure Energy Crystals. That was enough to inform me that without an exceedingly dense amount of an unknown attribute nearby, I wouldn’t be able to sense it. It was unfortunate that my territory didn’t extend all the way up the mountain.

Without being able to verify, I could only assume the snowmelt ran across a crystal similar to the Advanced Terra Crystal and carried the eroded energy down to me. Regardless of the how, I now had access to aqua attribute energy, even if only a little. How couldn’t this become priority number one?

It didn’t even require thought as I used my [Lesser Energy Tendril] and territory control to expand that fracture into something more profound. Weeks of effort later and that drop was now a trickle. It landed on my nucleus, however as it didn’t harm me in any way, I didn’t care too much about that. Rather, I found it more interesting that the water landing on me would sizzle and disappear with time.

A quick query of the database returned the concept of evaporation to me. The initial drop only took a moment to evaporate, however the constant stream didn’t fare much better. It was only allowed a moment on my nucleus before it boiled off into the air. Such was enough observation for me to continue my work. If a trickle wasn’t enough to collect it, then maybe a stream? If not a stream, then perhaps a river?

The effort took quite a while to complete, during which several major ‘events’ happened once more. Two events in particular happened. The first resulted in the new creatures getting absorbed into the old. They repelled the new ones without much effort as far as I could tell, however my focus on their event was minor at best.

The second event, however, was quite grand. These new creatures were bipedal as well, however to call it one sided would have been an understatement. All the events I witnessed up to now were drawn out for days and each side dispersed each other at a rather even rate.

Though I wasn’t paying as much attention, I did notice the event kick off. I turned my focus away for only half a day or so and when I checked back in, I couldn’t find a single old creature left. The territory was inhabited by the new creatures and they were already starting to tear down the old creature’s homes in order to place their own.

These new creatures were interesting. My cursory glance found different types of energy circulating inside them. Even more interesting, they seemed to sense my perception somehow. At first, I thought it was a coincidence, however as I focused on some of the brighter creatures, their behavior was swift and erratic. It became something of a game for me to play around with them from time to time.

The group would bunch up each time I gazed into them with [Lesser Energy Perception], or they would spin around to look at the mountain if they were alone. It was a fresh reaction and as I expanded the trickle into a full on river over the next few years, my game with them elicited some rather strange behaviors.

The creatures constructed small buildings at the start of the hills leading up to my mountain. From time to time, they would gather in small groups around these small buildings and leave behind energy rich things. [Lesser Identify] provided results such as ‘pears’, ‘oranges’, and ‘bananas’, however I never could figure out why they would just leave such things in the small buildings.

The items were stolen off by other creatures through the night. It seemed like such a waste to me. My interest in them dropped a bit as I focused more on my cavern and so I only looked into them from time to time from that moment on. Originally, my interest in the ‘sparks’ was the priority, however I realized quickly that I made a major mistake. I was flooding my cavern.

Without an exit, the water pouring down on my crystal splashed out to the side and accumulated at the back of the cavern. That was fine for a while, however after a week or so, I noticed the water level reached a height that allowed it to run through the cavern entrance I created long ago. A deep fear struck me at the possibility that a new river appearing from the mouth of a cavern would draw the attention of the new creatures.

Such things couldn’t be allowed to happen. I only created that entrance to allow the excessive pressure to disperse and potentially draw in the other energy attributes I noticed floating around. What a shame that it didn’t work. Not only did it fail to work, I wasn’t able to close the entrance after opening it. There was just too much terra attribute energy flooding the cavern for any other attributes to have a chance.

Regardless of my screw up with the cavern opening, the priority was to prevent it from being noticed as much as possible. Using the minor control I obtained over my territory, I depressed the ground surrounding my nucleus. It was enough to buy me time and dig out a path underground. Luckily, I managed to connect my cavern to another cave system a few hundred meters away.

As the outlet was behind the river falling on my crystal, it didn’t seem to affect the water already settled in the depression and only drained the excess out. I found myself rather lucky at the result. A rather unexpected occurrence happened as well. The Inferior Pure Energy Crystals that I created dissolved into the water. [Lesser Energy Perception] was locked onto the process as the crystals dispersed the unattributed energy into the mini lake. I found the energy reacted with the miniscule amounts of aqua energy in the lake and were slowly converted over.

In such a fashion, I found myself with an abundance of aqua attribute energy pushed up against my nearly submerged crystalline nucleus. As a reminder for later, I brought some of the hazy water into my [Lesser Spatial Storage]. On the same note, I enacted [Lesser Energy Circulation] and focused on the aqua energy. As expected, that familiar euphoria hit me.

[ Criteria Met: Attempting skill unlock of Lesser Aqua Assimilation... ]

[ Success. Acquired Lesser Aqua Assimilation 1. ]

I felt another branch of circuits construct themselves into existence within me. As if released from a long drought, the circuits soaked up the Aqua attribute energy without limit. Just as when [Lesser Terra Assimilation] was unlocked, I felt ‘something’ become far easier. My thoughts and ideas revolving around aqua attribute became less about theory and more instinctual.

My introspection delivered another series of pleasant updates.

[ Criteria Met. Lesser Energy Perception leveled up. ]

The world became more vivid. The mysterious ‘things’ I could only see the absence of in my territory were now something of an outline rather than a vague blur. I turned my consciousness to my territory to see my world in the new ‘high definition’ vision of mine only for my attention to snap together at the entrance of my cavern.

What a mistake. How could I let my attention be distracted for so long? At the entrance of my cavern, [Lesser Energy Perception] revealed 7 creatures that entered. This might be the first time that I, as a ‘me’ with understanding, felt threatened.