A sharp spike of pain lanced through my entire being. I tried to thrash but realized belatedly that I didn’t have any limbs to do it with. My body wasn't grown at the moment because… I couldn’t remember. What was I just doing?

  My last memory was of finishing the boat to leave the island we were stuck on. But even that felt fuzzy, like it had happened a long time ago. It was as if my memories had just been severed from that point up until now.

  The cool touch of Winter was so thick in my circuits that I could almost taste it. It seemed to soothe the pain that had been coursing through my entire existence. Inside my System a blinking alert was trying to pull my attention towards it.

  [Follow the Quest. Don’t take Autumn out of our inventory until either we Ascend or the wood snaps. Don’t turn back on your own. You promised me you wouldn’t.]

  The message resounded with power. Did I write that? What happened?

  “Novi? Where are you? What’s going on?” I sent to her.

  Silence was the only response to my question. Where the hell was she? Her side of the system was… completely locked down, I couldn't access it at all, and my message to her was stuck at an impenetrable barrier. What the fuck?

  I started the regrowing process and immediately noticed another issue: I could feel air rushing past my newly formed flesh. Which meant I was in free fall.

  Rushing Mana through the form of the [New Growth] Skill, I pulled myself back into existence as fast as possible. It felt like I had a lot more power at my disposal than I remembered. Falling at terminal velocity really puts things into perspective. When my eyes finally came online, I saw myself looking down over a vast world that seemed to expand in every direction. The ocean I expected to see was nowhere in sight, despite the fact that there was absolutely no curvature to the horizon.

  Meaning it was a massive flat surface, likely designed to be that way by the gods who created it. The Zones were all stitched together independently, and I was pretty sure the sky was different above every Zone I'd crossed so far. Meaning the sun in the sky was either fake or some kind of weird set of overlapping suns that individually warmed each Zone.

  Flipping my body around, I saw a massive serpent floating in the sky above me. The scales on its body were the size of buildings. It looked like—

  Something yanked me back into an orientation such that I was looking towards the ground, and the image of the serpent fuzzed in my mind. It took me a moment to realize I had forced myself back into position. Right… I was under Oath to not turn back. With myself, I was pretty sure? With my System itself?

  I guess I just didn’t think it was being that literal.

  Somehow, I had issued a [Covenant of the Unbound] order through my System. Meaning I had gotten a lot better at operating it.

  Looking at where I’d likely land, it was a massive steppe next to a forest that seemingly went on forever. Opening my Minimap, there was an odd fuzzing over whatever path I took to get here. I could see the island and my current location, but nothing in between. That was likely the Oath taking effect on my vision. Falling at terminal velocity really puts things into perspective.

  I had travelled ninety-five percent of the way to my original spawn point already. Why I needed to wipe my memory before I arrived, I couldn’t even speculate.

  The fall wasn’t ending any time soon, so I opened my System.

  [Extended Status]

  Name: Ellie Winters

  Species: Runaspriggan (I-99)

  Class: Neophyte Conduit (I-99)

  Profession: Greenweaver (Wrought I-99)

  Titles: [Realm Balancer], [Wondersprout Enhanced Physique], [The First to Listen], [She Who Renders Famine Upon The Hungry], [Plot Armour], etc

  Catalysts: [Shielding Veins of the Citadel] [Argent Bastion - Support]

  [Stats]

  Might: 276 (+55%)

  Wit: 897 (+65%)

  Spirit: 964 (+95%)

  Fortitude: 516 (+60%)

  Arcana: 883 (+60%)

  Grace: 297 (+55%)

  Eidetic Drops: 0

  Permissions: [User (Visible)] [Observer (Hidden)]

  [Skills]

  Species Capstone: [Distributive Astral Core Network]

  Species Skills: (8/10)

  [Arcane Interface (Basal)]

  [Adaptive Growth (Wrought)]

  [Mana Simulations (Wrought)]

  [The Roots That Bind (Error: 3245 Tier not Found)]

  [Evasive Reflex System (Wrought)]

  [One With Mana (Basal)]

  [Soul Storage (Wrought - Growth)]

  [Combat Simulations (Wrought - Growth)]

  Class Capstone: [None]

  Class Skills: (8/10)

  [Mana Conduit (Basal)]

  [Verdant Corruption (Basal)]

  [Argent Flow (Emblazoned - II - Growth)]

  [Artificial Aura Control (Basal - Growth)]

  [Symbolic Intent (Basal - Growth)]

  [Argent Cannon (Wrought - Growth)]

  [Soul Perception (Wrought)]

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  [Solid Flesh Ritualism (Basal)]

  Profession Capstone: [None]

  Profession Skills: (8/12)

  [New Growth (Wrought - Growth)]

  [Living Ritualism (Emblazoned - Growth)]

  [Biomagical Analysis (Wrought)]

  [Eryx Touched (Wrought - Growth)]

  [Artificial Anima (Emblazoned - Growth)]

  [Argent Cloak Construction (Emblazoned)]

  [Intertwined Grafting (Wrought)]

  [Eidetically Sensitive Constructs (Wrought)]

  Other: (4)

  [Friend of the Forest (Special)]

  [Covenant of the Unbound (Divine Gift)]

  [Greenventory? TBD (Wrought)]

  [Nature Herald’s Kind (Special)]

  Glancing through my Skills, I found myself frowning at the specifics. I could feel the information for every Skill in my mind, but for the life of me, I couldn't figure out how I received some of them.

  There was too much information for me to sort through at the moment, but I got the highlights. Noticing an extra Skill added to the Other category in addition to another dozen changes.

  [Profession Skill]

  Name: [Nature Herald’s Kind]

  Tier: [Special]

  Description: [As one wrought from the mind of the Primordial Herald of Nature you have embraced their being in heart and in spirit. True Domination is your only inherent goal.]

  Effect: [You Species gains attributes of being a Herald. Other Heralds will recognize you as one of their kin on sight, and the Evergreen’s Matriarch’s spawn will be predisposed to think of you amicably. Nature aligned Mana can be used as an extension of your Authority at a distance that scales with Spirit.]

  Note: [This Skill cannot be removed once chosen.]

  I had changed my future species into being a Herald somehow. While not knowing what a Herald even was, except for the fact that Syladine was one. I also finished that soul-weaving module… of which I could recall all of its contents. I also had access to a new Mana-derived language that played into artificiality as a concept, I was pretty sure.

  My Eidetic debt was resolved, likely through [Eidetically Sensitive Constructs] that I no longer had in possession, and my inventory was completely empty besides two items. Those items were Autumn and a small branch of Storygrove Heartgrain.

  Checking my System, I had five days until my soul went kaput and detached from this vessel. I let out a groan, unsure if that indicated how much time had passed or if I had received more damage at some point.

  All caught up, and having finished growing my cloak, I leaned downwards and sped up my free fall. Hopefully, the forest I was rapidly approaching was the Sylvan maw, and I could just go hop over to complete the Quest… wherever that house was.

  Maybe I could even pick up some of those things Autumn wanted to become a Sylvan. I couldn't remember what they were called, but I must have deleted it with the rest. Definitely didn't just forget like a bad friend, I would never do something like that.

  Scanning the steppes I was rapidly approaching, I noticed what looked like a band of horses galloping at clearly supersonic speeds, while their Grace made it so they barely disturbed the environment with their passing.

  One of the horses turned towards the forest and snatched up something from the ground before rejoining its group. Whatever it was, I couldn't quite see from this height.

  Looking further out, I could see some kind of settlement right at the forest's edge inhabited by what looked like tiny dots. It was surrounded by a high wooden fence that was likely built from some kind of incredibly durable wood from the forest.

  I couldn't wait to gain access to all those new materials.

  Near the end of my fall, I noticed the horses had turned to head where I was going to land.

  Uh oh.

  The closer I got to the ground, the larger they appeared as well, and when the ground snapped into focus, I could make out their full size. It was like a herd of elephants galloping towards me.

  Flipping myself over as I approached the ground, I let out a stream of Winter and froze it underneath myself, building a slide that shifted my vertical velocity horizontally. Reaching the ground, I slipped off and activated [Argent Flow], dashing off in the other direction. Glancing behind myself the band was right on my tail.

  There was a build-up of Mana cycling through the ground towards me. Instead of sticking around to find out what that was, I filled my body with an Avalanche for a quarter second before launching myself forward. The rock I had just been standing on reached up to try and grab me, but I was long gone by then, hurtling across the ground.

  I was actually able to handle the speed I was moving at for once. The added Wit from all those levels I gained before giving myself amnesia was incredibly helpful here. My footfalls were sort of like I was scrambling to keep myself upright, but I could see where I was going very easily.

  Looking back, the band was still gaining on me, even if I was out of range for their Earth-based Authority. Running in a straight line wasn’t getting me anywhere, so I veered towards the village. In the air around me, I went to start growing arrows made out of… There was a second where my Core had to check my material catalogue, only to realize it was completely wiped.

  Pulling from a backup, it dug the formulae out of my mind, resulting in a list that was far smaller than I remembered it being. Luckily, I still had the important parts that I just made, in the context of my memories. I likely had a lot more, but they were just gone now.

  The arrows were made of Rimeshrouded Cambium with Silver Whisperash cores, which I then flung at the approaching band. Mass-producing the arrows around me barely burned through my Mana, it felt like I had access to so much now.

  The rain of arrows with incredibly high inertia pierced their flesh, causing superficial wounds and slowing them down. Unfortunately, that ended when the ground itself rose up surrounding their bodies like armour.

  Closing in on the wall, I jumped into the air and triggered another personal Avalanche. The momentum built up until I let go, launching myself over the fence right as the band of horses crashed through where I had been standing.

  The air was suddenly alight with Mana as dozens of what looked like tiny elves repelled the horses from the top of the fence. Except I could innately feel where they were all standing, which meant they were plants.

  With a sigh of relief, I sat down, leaning against a building, watching the tiny people put out enough firepower to level a small city. A little fella with pointed ears and a leaf sticking out of the top of his head walked up and sat down beside me.

  “Might I know who you are, one who tastes of the plant mother?” he asked, little motes of light flitted out of his body and flew towards the defenders, where they were absorbed into their bodies. Dense packets of Mana, possibly?

  Also, did I taste like Syladine? When did he taste me?

  “Just a wanderer passing through, I was sent to find someone in the forest next to us,” I said in Nature, stretching and putting my hands behind my head.

  He was silent for a little while before speaking back in the same tongue, his voice carrying a seed of reluctance and disappointment, “There is nobody you will find in the Sylvan Maw by searching. I would suggest you turn back and return from whence you came.”

  “I already know who I'm looking for, actually, and definitely know she's out there somewhere. Young woman, sharp green eyes, antlers… are you okay?” I asked, only pausing because his aura was squeezing down on my own, penetrating into my skin. It carried no hostility, only fear.

  “Please, I beseech you. Turn back,” he muttered, his voice like a flower closing for the last time, having never been pollinated. In its future, only death awaited.

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