The next ten-day week progressed with two days of combat training, two of spell experimentation, a day off, then repeat. Acacia still wasn't all that good at fighting, but the crew deemed her "passable". The system seemed to agree.

  Skill: [Warstaff Combat] acquired.

  [Warstaff Combat]

  Level: 1 Tier: A

  You have an increased understanding and instincts for combat using warstaves and other staff-like weapons. This skill also slightly supports combat with other polearm weapons, and minimally supports general combat.

  You have learned a non-magic skill without the aid of the system. Level up!

  You have acquired your first non-magic skill. Level up!

  +10 Attribute points.

  [Growth Spurt] achieved rank 3-B.

  All in all, she was satisfied with her gains over the week. She decided to put seven points into Strength, and the remaining three into Constitution. Both Attributes were important for combat, and this distribution brought them up into mostly round numbers, which pleased her.

  Species: Dryad lvl 6 (clade: Awakened Plants)

  Class: -

  Health: 200/200

  Mana: 180/180

  Attributes:

  Strength: 20

  Toughness: 20

  Constitution: 15

  Mind: 11

  Spirit: 18

  Presence: 12

  Traits: [Sapient Plant 1-A], [Tree Heritage 1-C]

  Skills: [Growth Spurt 3-B] [Spell Weaving 2-A] [Spell Devouring 1-B] [Warstaff Combat 1-A]

  There were a few things she still didn't understand about the system, like the "Class" line, or how to level her Traits. Fortunately, she had a group of experienced people ready to answer.

  "Yeah, Traits are harder to level than Skills. You'd need to do something really impressive that pushes the limits of the Trait, or consume some sort of magical treasure that resonates conceptually with the Trait. Fortunately, the system itself also offers Trait upgrades when you reach certain thresholds, and if you manage to merge Traits, the resulting Trait will be higher level and tier than its components." Scalpel explained.

  "Wait, you can merge Traits?" She asked.

  "Yeah, Skills too, though similarly to levelling Traits, you need to do something extraordinary. And the Traits and/or Skills have to synergize in some way for the system to offer you the option. Worst of all, since everyone's system is personalised, the Citadel has yet to figure out a consistent way for people to do it. A shame, as merged Skills and Traits are much more powerful than the sum of their parts."

  "Do you have any merged Skills or Traits?"

  "One. The Skill I use to manipulate my rope dart. It's called [Soul Bond]. I actually had to imbue the dart with a tiny shard of my soul. Worst pain I've ever felt. But the result was well worth it."

  Seeing as the weapon could probably pierce through a tank, Acacia agreed.

  "How does this class work, then?"

  "You can get a class when you hit level ten. You'll get a selection of choices based on your accomplishments and preferences. Some get more, some less, but the minimum is three. A class has its own level, but those aren't the same as your species level, or 'main' level, as some call it. Class levels are gained a bit faster and you don't have to keep accomplishing new things as much to get them. However, you can't have your class level get higher than your main level. You'll just suddenly stop getting levels when you hit that limit. Classes also offer additional rewards like Skills more often than the main levels, which do so every ten levels. The exact amount differs by the class. Finally, class levels give less Attribute points than main levels, and some of those points are pre-assinged. So a combat class might get two points after levelling, but one of them is automatically put into Strength. Classes are a huge boon, but choosing a wrong one can make you stuck with abilities you don't actually have a use for, so some people wait for their choice until later, so they can unlock more options."

  "Wow. This is complicated."

  "Yeah. Imagine if we were one of the poor folks who settled the Barren in the first place, with no idea how any of this works. They had to figure all this out on their own. Thanks to them, we don't have to."

  Acacia nodded. "I'm pretty sure I'd like to take a class related to runes, but I'm guessing I'll need to actually learn a bit about them to even get the choice. Either way, it's time to go, yeah?"

  They both left Scalpel's bed. He got his equipment on - which amounted to a satchel and a detrolite chainmail shirt covering his torso. He usually didn't wear the armor within the city, as he felt more comfortable naked if he could help it. Acacia didn't share the sentiment, but she also had no clothing due to her lack of funds. She simply regrew her "decency leaves" and grabbed the reinforced detrolite warstaff she had bought the day before and followed him to the edge of the sector.

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  The rest of the crew, save Krag, was already waiting for them by the maglev. The vehicle looked much different than the one Acacia arrived in the Citadel on, though. It was smaller, lacked a roof, and the hull was patched in many places with riveted metal pieces, forming a chaotic tapestry of mismatched colours.

  Rocebo was currently under the vehicle, tinkering with some mechanisms Acacia had no understanding of. The engineer looked damn good doing so, though.

  "Hm. Everything seems to be in order. Alright, now we'll just have to wait- oh, speak of the devils." Rocebo said as she stood up, noticing the two approach.

  "So, what's the plan?" Acacia asked. "Do we just fly around a bunch until we find something that's not grey?"

  "The maglev is fitted with a mapping tool connected to the Citadel's database for scavengers. Scouts and diviners provide locations for any rifted material. Once a location has been emptied of useful material, the scavenger team responsible for emptying it is required to mark it in the database as such." Vessel explained, its large form taking up the whole driver's cabin.

  "How do you determine who gets to scavenge a site in the first place, though?" Acacua continued her prodding as she sat inside the vehicle's back compartment. While not as big as the scout maglev, the space was large enough to snugly fit the whole crew and a large amount of cargo. Seeing as they weren't hauling anything yet, the scavengers didn't bother saving space, though.

  "Okay, here's the division of labour," Scalpel turned to Acacia as the maglev lifted off the ground and the back door closed, "first, I take the map tool and find a site. Vessel drives us over. Clive scouts the area for anything that moves or could potentially move, and if se doesn't spot any trouble from the distance, you go in first, with Vessel and Rocebo behind you to check for traps and the like. Me and Clive will be covering the back, and step in if something attacks you. Your main task is to protect Rocebo and Vessel at all costs. You can heal, so- shit! We forgot to cut you open!"

  "Excuse me?" Acacia tilted her head.

  "When someone joins our crew, Vessel and I do an inspection of their internals so we know how to treat you. Healing magic is, well, magic, but the better you understand what you're healing, the more efficient you can be at it. For example, healing a mechanical life form is much different from treating someone carbon based."

  "Can perform the inspection when we reach the first location." Vessel proposed.

  "Do we really have to?" She asked. "I don't like the idea of anyone messing around in my guts."

  "It will be as non-invasive as possible. We have anaesthetic, so you won't feel a thing, either. And hey, you don't know exactly what's going on underneath your bark, so you'll learn from this, too. It's better to know whether you can be killed by losing you heart before something stabs you in the chest."

  "I had similar hangups. Refused at first. Almost died. You should do it." Clive added.

  By the time the maglev stopped at their destination, Acacia agreed with their points and, with some trepidation, laid down on a white tarp Vessel unfolded on the maglev's floor.

  "Suppress your healing if you can." Vessel instructed, before inserting a syringe into her arm. As it pressed the plunger in, Acacia felt foreign mana spread all over her body. It had an "flavour" of numbness. She felt whatever passed for her nervous system shut down almost entirely.

  "Anesthetic administered. Starting the inspection."

  The many dozens of Vessel's limbs surrounded her body, most of them holding blades of various shapes and sizes. The view filled her with dread, but she tried her best to remind herself she was among friends, and Vessel would never intentionally harm her.

  It was difficult to hang onto that thought when the blades sunk into her body.

  She really did not feel any pain. She barely felt anything. In a way, that was almost worse. Her limbs also refused to move when she tried to slouch as twitch, so all she could do was lay there and listen to Vessel as it analysed her inside and out.

  "Blood-analogue closely resembles tree sap. Viscous, sticky, hardens fast when exposed to oxygen. Nutrient rich, pumped slowly."

  "Muscle-analogue made of elastic wooden fibers. Tensile strength high, but contract and expand relatively slowly."

  "Nervous tissue sparse, consistent with typical 'flesh' lifeforms. Connects to dense brain cores in the head, upper chest area, and lower torso."

  "Eyes composed of glass-like resin, likely crystallised blood-analogue. Inner ears composed of similar resin. Both organ sets are connected directly to the head brain."

  "Leaves are capable of photosynthesis, but mostly decorative in such small quantities."

  "Endoskeleton consists of thick rods compose almost entirely out of pure carbon. No skull present. Torso protected by plates of the carbon material. The plates are elastic to a degree."

  "Heart is twice as large compared to usual humanoid proportions. resembles a hydraulic piston. The components are made out of muscles tissue, with some reinforcement of the pure carbon bones."

  "Lungs exhibit a similar piston design to the heart. Volume lower than standard humanoid proportions, which is counteracted by the ability to exchange gas through the skin."

  "Stomach consists of the 'root' tissue that is also present at the ends of the legs. No excretory system, the lower portions of the stomach coated in a slurry of inedible refuse. Suggestion: use shapeshifting to resolve this issue."

  "Summary: the body will respond to healing targeting plants. Overall, compared to other humanoids, the body is sturdier, but slower, both in movement and metabolism. Due to a lack of an excretory system and a filtration system, dealing with toxins might prove difficult, but due to the nature of the blood, venoms should spread slowly."

  The biomechanical alchemist then took out a series of concoctions from its interior and poured them all over the hundreds of incisions it made in Acacia's body. As the alchemical liquids seeped into her wooden flesh, she felt the numbness leave her and the wounds close.

  The whole procedure took about three hours, which was much quicker than she expected. Then again, her surgeon was working on several areas at once.

  Acacia wasn't surprised her body lacked something as essential as waste disposal. It had been created by the instinctive magic of her injured soul, it was a miracle she hadn't died on her way to Citadel.

  She slowly stood up, and stretched her limbs.

  "That wasn't as bad as I expected. Alright, so I need kidneys and an asshole. I have no idea how to do that. Well, the asshole is easy, but I have no clue how to set up blood filtration."

  "Can help after we return to Citadel."

  "I'll take you up on that. Now, where's the site?"

  She grabbed her staff and jumped out of the maglev. The healing potions had left her invigorated.

  She didn't wait long for the answer to her question. Before her was a three story building mad eput of red brick. The third floor was partially missing, as if cut diagonally by some sort of infinitely sharp blade.

  Or the edge of a dimensional rift.

  "No movement detected within. Structurally sound. Interior dense with ambient mana. Third story had a runic array, damaged in rifting. Entry on the other side." Clive reported.

  Acacia nodded, impressed with the scout's senses once again.

  "Alright, so, everyone behind me, yeah?"

  Scalpel nodded, and the rest of her crew arranged themselves in a rough formation behind her.

  Acacia approached the opposite side of the structure, where a plain, two wing door stood upon a few steps. The structure looked disturbingly... normal to her. She expected some alien geometries and exotic materials.

  I guess I got lucky with my first one. Or unlucky.

  She extended her staff and knocked on the door with it. The limited training they put her through emphasised caution. When nothing happened, she slowly made her way up the stairs, activating her mana sense. When the door exhibited nothing unusual, she pulled it open.

  The dense mana Clive warned about poured out of the building and hit her. She finally got her first taste of otherwordliness, as the ethereal energy felt unlike any she had encountered before in the Barren. It was vaguely aspected with some concept she had no frame of reference for. Something... structured, some kind of doctrine, maybe? But as a single concept, instead of a bevy of interlocked thought-flavours she would expect such a thing to require.

  "What is this concept?" She asked others.

  "Some kind of ideology, ingrained so deeply into a people's way of thinking they can express it as a single thought. Tells us the culture of origin had some sort of deep dogma. They might have some sort specific security systems checking for 'virtue' or something like that. There's another thing this means, but you should be able to figure it out on your own." Scalpel explained.

  Acacia thought for a moment. Plentiful mana, yet imbued with a concept. Not ambient mana leaking out of people from their day-to-day thinking. This was channelled purposely, and considering the concept imbued into it, it was for some communal ritual purpose.

  "Whatever people owned this building had just left after a ritual, or, more likely, they are still there."