Jon strolled throughout the forest seemingly without a care in the world. The young human walked over grass and leaves while resting the two-metre-long spear on his shoulder. Humming a soft tune, the human juggled a handful of fragments in one hand, ignoring the System notifications for integration.

"I cannot believe I managed to obtain another Fragment Of Heart. I thought that you said that the chance of obtaining one was one in ten thousand Rana?" said Jon, tapping the length of Assail against his shoulder.

"Beginners luck," the bodhi tree muttered, a tinge of envy in her voice.

Ashvattha Rana remembered that it took her over three years to obtain all her universal fragments. Three years after obtaining her sixth and final Mana Core and after spending close to half a decade trying to obtain her first five Mana Cores with enough fragments to fill their available slots.

Not only had Jon managed to obtain all his universal fragments within a matter of weeks, but the bastard had found additional copies of the Fragment Of Heart and Fragment Of Mind, giving the latter away for free to one of his fellow companions.

If Ashvattha Rana still remained within the Nine Mountain Realm, the bodhi tree would have been able to exchange the two fragments for a dozen other fragments of her choice. Valuable ones such as the Fragment Of Resurrection or Fragment of Resurgence. Powerful fragments, such as the Fragment Of Manifestation or Fragment Of Anima.

Fragments that expanded upon her existing physical and magical abilities. Fragments Of Magic which could amplify the effects of other abilities with the Spell Trait, or Fragments of Master which could increase the effectiveness of abilities with the Technique Trait.

All of these could have been hers if she was just born at the right time.

Letting out a sigh, the bodhi tree glanced towards the other fragments in Jon's possession. While she was pleased that Jon had discarded his reservations about slaughtering beasts and animals for their fragments, she suspected that was perhaps the only reservation the human had abandoned.

'An Incarnation Mana Core would not suit Jon. The abilities manifested from such a Mana Core would have too much overlap, throwing his build and abilities off balance. While the issue might be solved after reaching Baron or beyond, there is absolutely no guarantee that he will be able to attain such a Rank, even with all the advantages granted to him through the System Introduction.' Rana thought to herself, rustling her leaves in displeasure.

Whenever Ashvattha Rana asked about his next Mana Cores, the human would just smile before giving her a small wink.

It aggravated her to no end that Jon would not tell her the plans about his desired Mana Cores and fragments. Not to mention that she was unable to tell Jon out about the existence of Wonder Fragments and Memento Source Fragments until he discovered one for himself.

Once Jon did discover these two additional sources of power, there was no way he would progress from Mortal to Knight without obtaining one for himself. The fact that both Wonder Fragments and Memento Source Fragments were limited to one per Rank did not help Ashvattha Rana in the slightest.

Even she did not manage to possess a Wonder Fragment until she became a Lord. And while she did obtain a Memento Source Fragment after becoming a Knight, she had done so at great cost to herself. Giving up the opportunity to obtain several Knight Title Fragments in return for the Memento Source Fragment.

There was nothing she could do about it, so the bodhi tree focused on what she could do instead.

"Have you thought about integrating "that" fragment Jon?" Rana asked, watching as Jon caught the fragments in his hand, knowing that she was referring to one fragment in particular.

Jon glanced down towards his hand, eyeing a certain white coloured gemstone in his hand. Jon had obtained this fragment after defeating an annoyingly regenerative slime creature. The creature, which Jon had only ever seen in fiction and books up until that point seemed to regenerate from just about any ability that Jon could throw at it.

It took the combined might of his [Rhapsody Of The Cold Star], [Requiem Of The White Star], [Wrath Of Green, Piercing Wood Eruption], Longinus-Lancea Spirit and Assail to defeat. Jon had stacked enough instances of [Cold Requiem] and [White Rhapsody] to produce the penultimate effects of either ability.

Whatever ability that slime creature manifested from this fragment, increased both its resistances and regenerative capabilities beyond what Jon had seen for a sentient creature. Perhaps that was just the intelligence and skill of the creature in question, but Jon thought it was more than that.

"Fragments Of Prana are often quite fickle in abilities they can manifest Jon. Even if you integrate it into your Wood Mana Core, its effects vary from individual from individual. The most common manifestation is an increase to regenerative power, and you already have [Green Is The Flesh, As Red Is The Blood] for that," said Rana, causing Jon to nod while tapping Assail on his shoulder.

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Jon had given quite a bit of thought into whether he wanted to integrate this Fragment Of Prana into his Wood Mana Core. While he thought he might have been imagining things, the human felt the faintest sense of yearning from the Fragment Of Incarnation within his Wood Mana Core.

The only other time Jon had felt such a thing, was when he thought about integrating the Fragment Of Heart.

The Fragment Of Heart was the first fragment which he was certain would manifest some sort of obvious mutation, although considering the conceptual weight behind the fragment, knew that it would be localized to just his one single internal organ.

After seeing how the Fragment Of Marrow did not physically mutate or change Wilheim, Jon felt more secure integrating his own Fragment Of Marrow. While the changes brought about from the Fragment Of Eyes and the Fragment Of Shadow were a pleasant surprise, neither of them dramatically mutated nor shifted Jon's physiology.

'Not to mention that if I am right, then the effectiveness of [With Thou In Hand, Wood Shalt Live Forever] should be increased as well. Combined with [Green Is The Flesh As Red Is The Blood], and I do not think anyone at the same Rank would be able to kill me… at least, other than specialists like Avahni', Jon paused his stride, dismissing Assail and plucking the Fragment Of Prana out of his hand.

Holding the pure white gemstone, Jon looked down towards the System notification.

Fragment Of "Prana" discovered.

Would you like to integrate this into your Wood Mana Core, Ice Mana Core, or Spear Mana Core?

Y/N

Letting his finger linger over the choices in front of him, Jon could not help but ask Avahni another question.

"Rana. Do you think… that I am being paranoid after encountering that blubberous Knight Ranked creature?" said Jon, looking up towards the tree canopy.

While he had not seen the abilities and strength of that ashen-skinned abomination, Jon had certainly felt the presence that it commanded. Its physical capabilities aside, the fact that it could cause the uninitiated shrubs and flowers around it to wither and die left a striking image within Jon's Sea Of Knowledge.

The fear that shook his mind and body just from glancing at it caused Jon to stop breathing. While Rana had said that it was just the manifestation of an ability with the Aura Trait combined with a Nightmare Mana Core or Fear Mana Core, there was something about that did not sit well with Jon.

Perhaps it was the fact that he was unable to remove its image from his Sea Of Knowledge, but neither himself nor Rana could feel any trace of foreign spiritual energy attached to him.

The bodhi tree did not say a word but could feel the turbulence within Jon's Sea of Knowledge. While anger stirred up enormous waves capable of drowning out other emotions and experiences, fear was much more subtle.

Rana could see that numerous whirlpools had formed within the Sea Of Knowledge. Some larger than a car, while others the size of a gumdrop. Nevertheless, all of them sucked in all the other emotions that Jon was capable of feeling, leaving behind a dull empty feeling within him.

For the first time in his life, Jon felt afraid of fighting. Even if he did not admit it, Rana knew that this was the case.

Taking a deep breath, the bodhi tree answered.

"No. I do not think you're being paranoid Jon. Perhaps nervous, fearful, or even scared, but not paranoid. It is not necessarily a bad thing either. Quite a few things within the small realm desire to kill you and it is up to you whether or not you want to remain the one being hunted, or the one doing the hunting," said Rana, causing Jon to furrow his brows.

Rana did not think he was being paranoid, but scared?

Jon did not believe that he could fear anything that he could understand. He was not afraid of moving out after completing high school. He was not scared of the possibility of living on the streets until he could find a place to live. He was not afraid at having to find his own way in the world without anyone to guide or help him.

Self-sufficiency did not have room for being scared. Independence did not care whether you were scared. Being forced to leave his siblings and the place that he called home did not fill Jon with any sense of fear because he knew it in his heart that he would be fine, with or without them.

'Perhaps it was this, that made the System choose me over other candidates,' Jon thought to himself.

Fear was irrelevant. Fear would not clothe him. Fear would not feed him. Fear would not pat him on the back and tell him that he did a good job.

Jon paused his stride, letting out a deep sigh feeling his shoulders sink several centimetres.

"I'm not right Rana. I do not think I'm okay," he muttered.

He did not allude to anything more, but Ashvattha Rana understood his meaning. The bodhi tree rustled her leaves and branches, her presence slowing down the whirlpools within Jon's Sea Of Knowledge.

"But you're not alone Jon. You never will be, not so long as I am here," she replied.

Jon nodded, manipulating his Sea Of Knowledge to conceal the emotions on the water's surface. Even if Ashvattha Rana understood what he was feeling right now, he was not quite in the mood to talk about it.

Taking a deep breath, Jon accepted the integration notice, selecting the final slot within his Wood Mana Core for his Fragment Of Prana.

[Fragment Of Prana] [Green Shall Become The Ode To Eternity] (Wood, Immortality, Mutation, Ability, Passive, Enhancement, Buff)

Effect (Mortal): Transform the mortal nature of ones lifeforce into an Yaochi-Jade Prana. The Yaochi-Jade Prana is a pseudo-spiritual amalgamation of physical lifeforce, wood natured spiritual energy and the various resistances manifested from abilities and Mana Cores.

Dramatically increases the quality and quantity of natural life force. Dramatically Increases the effectiveness of all abilities with the Recovery Trait. Moderately increases resistances towards poison-related and blood-related damages, afflictions and debuffs. Slightly increases longevity.

Reading the effects of [Green Shall Become The Ode To Eternity] caused a smile to appear on Jon's face. Its subsequent effects were not quite what he imagined them to be; however, the main effect was perhaps the greatest compliment to [With Thou In Hand, Wood Shalt Live Forever].

Repeating the effect description out loud, Ashvattha Rana found herself unable to comment, not thinking that the Fragment Of Prana would produce another ability with the Mutation Trait.

Not only that, but it managed to rectify the worries that Jon originally had about the Archetype Green.

The bodhi tree glanced towards the Sea Of Knowledge that dwelled within Jon's mind. Despite the sound of joyful waves lapping on the surface, she could still feel the enormous swirling undercurrents beneath its surface. The problem had been satiated but not resolved.

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