The world flipped as Aiden was hit square in his chest so hard he went head over heels backwards. Vines, dirt, and leaves filled the air as the plants entwined around his legs shredded and flung into the air.

  Looking up, he saw a snarling wolf's face nose to nose. With a screech he crab walked backwards to get away from the pissed off shadow wolf.

  Gigi kept pace with him, her nose never moving more than a few inches from his own and her hot breath burning his face.

  "It's stopped Gigi! Let up!" came the trilling notes of Ria's voice from somewhere higher up.

  At that moment an explosion of pain in the back of Aiden's head made him squawk as he flopped flat on the ground, his arms and legs unresponsive. Staring up through the pain he saw a wide tree trunk stretching into the sky. Lying in a daze, staring up past the tree trunk into the blazing blue sky, he felt as if the world was spinning. He rolled onto his side as his stomach convulsed and he threw up a darkish black and brown mix.

  A few minutes later he pushed away from the pool of stinking vomit and held his pounding head. "I don't feel right!" Aiden lamented.

  Gigi didn't answer but looked back over her body.

  Aiden sat up and leaned to the side to see past her. The area where they'd been standing was filled with vines and brush. It looked completely out of place. It practically screamed, 'Hey, something interesting is right here.' He sagged, realizing he'd made the interlink chamber's entrance more visible than doing nothing to hide the tracks he and Bram had left.

  Gigi stepped back, sat down, and started tearing vines off her legs. Some of them ripped free with traces of blood on them.

  "Sorry," Aiden mumbled, feeling foolish. He hadn't meant to entangle Gigi, or himself for that matter. The spell had felt intoxicating, like a heady drink after weeks without water.

  "Like we said pup," Gigi's voice a predator's growl, "you don't know what you are doing. You need to calm down, listen, learn, and above all take it in small strides."

  Gigi’s words stung. His legs still felt numb and he inspected them. A thick set of vines were entwined around his legs, and as he pulled them away, both cloth and skin were torn free. He'd rushed without thinking, letting his emotions rather than his head guide him. Eldric had taught him to remain calm, using his mind and muscles together. And Bram had said more times than he could count that magic was dangerous if not controlled with precision.

  Ria landed on his lap, fixing him with a stern look. "That was a good idea. You just need it to be a little less—"

  "Energetic," Gigi barked. Amusement had returned to her eyes, and Aiden released a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

  Ria started cawing her bright laughter so loud Aiden winced. "But, gods it was hilarious to see you trying to get away from Gigi."

  Gigi started her low growling, giggling. "He did sound like a scared baby bird."

  Aiden felt his face burn and leaned back against the tree. The tree's support felt calming and he let himself press into it. A strange sensation heated his skin. He let his breathing steady as he focused on the tree's warmth and reached for it in his mind.

  Gigi and Ria started talking about something, but Aiden was happy to take a moment to recenter himself. He ignored their chatter and took some deep, slow breaths.

  The warmth spread, easing the pain, wrapping Aiden in a tranquility he hadn't felt in months. Time stretched, and he let himself breathe. He considered the past week.

  The forge had been his world—steady, safe—until Ria entered his life. Clever, mocking, impossible to catch. Chasing her had led to the ruins, to an ancient chamber untouched by time, to secrets buried in stone. He could have spent years happily unraveling its mysteries.

  Then Cassian and his soldiers came.

  Lord Cassian Janith burned Lapidara, cut down its people like they were nothing. Eldric. Tilda. Bram. Aiden had fought, but he was only a smith’s apprentice, and Cassian’s blade found its mark. He should have died in the dirt alongside them.

  But he'd refused to die and with Ria's and Gigi's help he'd escaped.

  Carried through the forest by the great shadow wolf, guided by the powerful bird who had seen too much, he was brought back to the mysterious chamber and given a choice—a chance to grow. Ria had asked him to accept the power.

  Power or death. A path forward or an end.

  Aiden had nothing left to lose. There really hadn't been a choice.

  But, no, that wasn't true, he'd refused to die once already.

  He'd pulled Tilda out of the burning town away from the soldiers. He didn't know if he'd saved her. But, he'd chosen to fight. He'd decided not to give up.

  Accepting the powers of a Seeker was a choice. If he'd said no, he was sure he'd still have been healed.

  Now, as his heart slowly pulsed, his breathing deep and rejuvenating, he felt it — the forest, the earth, the hum of something vast and ancient, connecting him to a world bigger than he'd ever imagined.

  He wasn’t done yet.

  Far away he heard that odd system bell ring and the system spoke to him. Except it sounded soft and distant.

  "Bing! Forest Husbandry is level 7."

  "Well, well. You've learned something. Yes, the forest is powerful. Yes, plants do have something to give. Congratulations on discovering what any tree could have told you for free."

  "New Skill Acquired: Nature’s Meditation (Rare), Level 1."

  "Oh hurray! You can now root yourself in place, heal, recover, and — most importantly — actually think. Most people don't take the time to think. They think they think, but really they don't. Now you are learning to think, which is a real surprise. Your experiences will now settle, temper, and forge themselves into something useful. Next time, try learning things without almost bleeding out."

  "Bing! Nature’s Meditation is level 2."

  "Bing! Nature’s Meditation is level 3."

  Aiden was floating. Not literally—his body was still leaning against the tree—but his mind drifted in a serene rhythm, woven into the forest's presence. His breath slow, his heart steady like a hammer shaping metal in the forge, tempering his thoughts into clarity.

  For the first time in days — maybe ever — he felt fantastic. The pain, the exhaustion, the weight of grief… all tempered into something, solid.

  Then, a voice shattered the tranquility.

  “AIDEN!”

  The sound slammed into his perceptions like a metal cracking ping during quenching.

  Aiden jerked as a wave of pain — completely unrelated to his wounds — pounded in through his ears.

  A second voice, deeper and even louder:

  “YOU BETTER BE ALIVE OR I’M DIGGING RIA'S GRAVE!”

  Aiden gasped as his eyes snapped open. The canopy of dense forest swaying above him. The gentle open air he remembered floating in resolved into leaf-covered earth that he sat on leaning against the steady warm support of an ancient tree. "What?"

  He blinked blearily getting his mind focused on his surroundings.

  A shadow loomed over him. A very large shadow.

  Gigi stood over him with bared teeth — not in a snarl, but in a way that was somehow worse like the wolf was considering whether chewing Aiden out or chewing on him was the better option.

  Ria, flapped aggressively on his shoulder, pecking at his head with sharp little jabs.

  "OW! Stop that!" Aiden swatted at her, but she dodged effortlessly.

  “You stopped breathing!” Ria squawked, “We thought you were dead. What in the eight hells happened?”

  “I wasn't dead.” Aiden groaned, rubbing his temples. "I think I was meditating. And you didn't have to yell so loud, that hurt."

  "Next time I’ll just bite you!" Gigi barked, shaking out her fur.

  Aiden pushed himself up, standing, stretching, and taking stock. His wounds were gone entirely. Not even a twinge of soreness. He felt stronger, sharper, as if every fiber of his being had just been shaped and hardened.

  Ria finally stepped back on his shoulder with an irritated flick of her tail feathers. “What the urdin did you just do?"

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  Aiden blinked at her, clearing the last fog from his mind. "I... I don’t know exactly. I felt—connected. Like the forest, just let me in on some kind of secret. I gained three skill levels. Three of them in a new skill called Nature’s Meditation."

  Gigi snorted, ears twitching. “Skeed.”

  Ria whistled sharply. “No way you gained something that fast. That kind of skill mastery takes years to develop!”

  Aiden frowned, searching inward, and there it was. The knowledge, fully formed. The skill, settled in his bones like he’d had it his whole life. "It lets me heal, recover, and sort my experiences."

  Gigi's ears flattened. “Seriously? No training, no grueling practice, no weeks of effort? Even the most exaggerated tale I've heard about Seekers' abilities to gain skills fast isn't even close to this."

  Aiden shrugged. "Maybe it was something that lady did."

  Ria and Gigi stopped and stared at him, "What lady?" they asked together.

  "I haven't had time to tell you both what happened when I was in the magic circle. There was this lady who talked to me. She sounded tired, like she just woke up. I think she's the one who made me a Seeker."

  Ria and Gigi exchanged a quick glance. Then Gigi moved in closer and laid down, putting her enormous head on her front paws, facing Aiden. "We got a little time. Maybe give us the short version."

  Ria fluttered up to the top of Gigi's head and settled down using Gigi's fur like a nest. "Think it through and tell us what happened when you connected to the system."

  Aiden rubbed his face, still adjusting to reality. “Alright, it is all very strange.”

  Ria fluffed up and watched him intently, eyes sharp. “Try us.”

  Gigi's ears flicking forward. “If you start saying you saw the gods, I’m leaving.”

  Aiden let out a breath. “No gods — at least, I don’t think so. But something happened.” He gestured vaguely at himself. “I said yes to whatever that chamber was offering, and the next thing I know, I’m standing inside it, completely fine — no wounds, no blood, just… there.”

  Gigi’s tail flicked. “Standing? In the chamber?”

  “Yeah, that’s the weird part. The whole place was alive, the walls moving with symbols — magic, I think, but not like Bram’s magic. And then this deep voice — cold, formal — told me I’d been ‘initiated’ as a Seeker.” Aiden frowned. “Whatever that means.”

  Ria’s feathers ruffled. “That is normal, it is the initial Seeker message from the system.”

  Aiden kept going. “Then there was this woman — not a voice like the first one, but real, I think? She sounded… frustrated. Kept calling me ‘Engineer,’ asking for some command authorization. Said I’d ‘finished someone else’s work’ like I had a clue what I was doing.”

  Ria froze. “You talked to someone? She spoke with you? Not just reading some message?”

  Aiden nodded. “Yeah, she gave me a passphrase, something to unlock a ‘system lock’—whatever that means—and then she said she pushed something through before she stopped.” He exhaled. “And that’s when I got all this.” He motioned at himself again. “Skills, abilities, knowledge I didn’t have before. Like… I just know things now.”

  Gigi let out a deep growl. “That’s not normal.”

  "What did she say exactly about repairing the node?"

  "She said she couldn't answer my questions because of a system lock, in node 2 8 5 5. She told me to get there, and say an incantation."

  Gigi grunted. "System node 2 8 5 5? Do you know where that is Ria?"

  "Haven't a clue." Ria chirped.

  Aiden pointed northeast. "It's about 200 miles that way."

  Gigi and Ria stared at Aiden.

  "How the urd do you know that?" Ria finally asked.

  Aiden had been asking himself that exact same question already. "I don't know. I just do."

  Ria's eyes darting over Aiden. “You’re saying you just… know? That’s not how this works.”

  "Aiden, share your abilities with us please." Gigi rumbled.

  "What?"

  "Oh good idea Gigi," Ria chirped. "Aiden, think about your statistics or stats."

  He did, and his view was cut off by the now familiar system information text. "Got it." He said.

  "Now think about the idea of settings." She said.

  "What does that mean?" He asked.

  "Everything in the system has user settings, they are like how much you have the forge door open, or how much you want to pump the bellows. Except they control how the system shows you things and how it works for you."

  Aiden considered the idea and a new page appeared over the lists of his abilities. The title said 'Statistic Settings,' "I got it." He read down the list. "Visibility Mode: Contextual Alerts. Format Style: List View. Stat Details: Expanded Stats. Sharing: Private. Notifications: Visual Prompts. Theme: Classic"

  "Good," Ria trilled, "now concentrate on the sharing setting. And change it to 'personal party.' And then set it to full instead of limited view."

  He concentrated and another page appeared.

  [M] -------------------- [X]

  Sharing & Privacy

  Private Mode: Only you can view your stats. (Default setting.)

  Personal Party: All individuals designated trusted allies can see your stats.

  Party View: All party members can see key stats (Health, Energy, Status Effects).

  Full Share: Grants permission to specific individuals to view your full stats sheet.

  Manual Share: One-time permission to another entity, allowing them to see your stats.

  --------------------

  Again he thought about personal party and yet another page appeared offering him to set the personal party view to full, limited, or custom. He mentally accepted full and all the pages vanished except for his stats view.

  "Got it." Ria said.

  Aiden took a moment to scan his stats, they'd changed again.

  [M] -------------------- [X]

  [Status]

  Name: Aiden

  Species: Human

  Class: NPC

  Level: 0

  Titles: None

  Ranks: Unranked

  --------------------

  [Characteristics]

  Strength: 9

  Agility: 7

  Fortitude: 6

  Intellect: 23

  Resolve: 14

  Aura: 3

  Charisma: 6

  Perception: 8

  Recovery: 7

  Regeneration: 3

  Material Defense: 3

  Energy Defense: 2

  Magic Defense: 8

  Psychic Defense: 5

  Endurance: 12

  Health: 36

  Resilience: 89

  Energy: 65

  --------------------

  [Abilities]

  Forest Kinship (Rare)

  Nature's Language (Legendary)

  Spatial Awareness (Epic)

  Universal Voice (Rare)

  Inventory (Rare)

  --------------------

  [Records]

  Animal Steward (Basic)

  Trapper (Basic)

  Blacksmith (Skilled)

  Wizard (Basic)

  --------------------

  [Spells]

  Verdant Dominion (Epic): level 2

  --------------------

  [Cantrips]

  Plant Growth (Rare): level 2

  Laundry Day (Common)

  --------------------

  [Skills]

  Animal Psychology (Rare): level 3

  Blacksmithing (Rare): level 8

  Forest Husbandry (Rare): level 7

  Handling Difficult People (Rare)

  Instinctual Translation (Unique): level 3

  Inventory Management (Common)

  Leatherworking (Common): level 8

  Metalworking (Rare): level 8

  Nature’s Meditation (Rare): level 3

  Tool Crafting (Rare): level 8

  Weapon Maintenance (Common): level 8

  ...

  --------------------

  Again, the skills listed went on forever, and Aiden only registered a few before closing the interface out.

  Ria and Gigi didn't talk, staring off into the distance for a bit.

  Finally Gigi made a soft howling noise, "Ria, this is beyond strange. Did you read the description for Spatial Awareness?"

  Ria whistled back, "I did and I'm pretty sure Spatial Awareness and Universal Voice and Nature's Language are what that strange lady gave him."

  Aiden shrugged. “I don’t know how it’s supposed to work. I just know it happened. And I feel—" He searched for the right word. “Forged. Like everything I’ve been through just… settled. Made me something more. Also, my intellect, resolve, and recovery have changed. But, I don't remember getting any messages about that.”

  Gigi shook her head, her deep voice serious. “This isn’t some blessing, pup. Power like this? Always comes with a price. And stats don't just go up without some kind of leveling up.”

  Ria let out an incredulous squawk. "It sure isn't normal. How did they change?"

  Aiden frowned. "I'm not going to lie. I feel fantastic. Intellect went up eighteen points, resolve went up nine points, and recovery went up four points."

  "Characteristics only go up when you do something that affects them or level up. You haven't had time to do either." GIgi growled.

  "But, those could be nine level ups." Ria said.

  Aiden quickly did the math, "you mean I get two additional points of intellect, one point of resolve and half a point of recovery every level up?"

  Gigi snorted, "Nine! Nine level ups in what? An hour? That's insane!"

  Ria was still looking off into the distance, "he's gotten nine levels in skills and spells in the logs."

  Gigi froze, her mouth hanging open. Her eyes glazed over as she too looked off into the distance. Finally she said very softly, "no skeed! You're right."

  Ria shook herself and stood up. "We can recheck this when he gets more levels. But, it looks like the system is so broken he's getting class level benefits from skill leveling."

  Gigi stood, "He's classless. And if he isn't gaining class levels how in the hells are we going to get our levels back?"

  Ria ruffled her feathers. "I don't know. And right now it doesn't matter. We have to work with what we have."

  Aiden shifted uncomfortably. "You're making it sound like gaining these levels is bad."

  Ria made a low whistle. "Honestly? It might be."

  Aiden sighed. "Look, I don't feel like it is. I actually feel great."

  Gigi grunted, watching him with sharp eyes. "Don’t get too comfortable, pup. Power never comes free. And this broken leveling might trigger a system intervention."

  Aiden exhaled slowly, rolling his shoulders. "Well, free or not, I need these skills to survive against Cassian..." He clenched his fists, the reality of everything crashing back onto him. "Besides, this is more useful than you might think."

  Ria chirped excitedly, "If this is true, we can get Aiden up in stats fast. We just need to train him on new skills."

  Aiden smiled, "I like the sound of that. Let's start with getting this mess I made cleaned up. What do I have to do to fix it?"