Jon sat beside his campfire, gazing towards the crackling embers.

The taste of grilled meat filling his mouth, satisfying the hunger than grumbled within his stomach. Although the blueish-feline was not quite as tasteful as the hound-faced bear he had fought days before, the beast possessed its own unique flavour which the human and lutin could appreciate.

Wilheim on the other hand, seemed somewhat apprehensive after the first bite of the creature. The floresiensis had eaten meat with his two other companions before but found the appearance of their dinner tonight… heretical at best.

'It seems that cats within Wilheim's culture are creatures of worship. He must be torn between his religion and the hunger rippling through his stomach right now,' Jon thought to himself, gesturing for Avahni to retrieve some of the leftover meat from a previous hunt.

The freckle-faced short man took the leftover meat with a massive grin on his face, putting his barely touched skewer back near the campfire. The three humanoids sat metres from the riverbank, listening to the sound of twigs snapping amidst the open flame.

Thinking back to the conversation he had with Rana, Jon licked his lips, before throwing the small skewer in his hands into the fire.

'Mind. Marrow. Spirit. Incarnation. Heart. And Transcendence. Universal fragments. Rana did mention that there were lesser versions of each of these fragments, often manifesting similar abilities, while sometimes manifesting horrifying mutations.'

'Psyche. Bones. Anima. Manifestation. Core. And Evolution. While these were significantly more common, these fragments could not guarantee the manifestation of a certain ability, or certain effects. If anything, I should try and avoid integrating these fragments.' Jon thought, grabbing another skewer and biting into it. About as much grace and elegance as hound tearing into an old bone.

Jon knew that he still possessed the four chances to obtain a fragment of his choice from his mandatory task rewards. If Jon wanted to, he could obtain the remaining four universal fragments that Rana had mentioned, integrating them into his remaining empty ability slots.

Jon did refrain from immediately doing do, instead moving his attention towards the Baron Ranked task rewards.

Baron Rank rewards: Choice of one Mana Core.

The eighteen-year-old suppressed the urge to gulp. Even hours after completing the first mandatory task, Jon was still in awe of the associated task reward. It was an opportunity on par with the one he had received while within the Pure Room.

Considering that the majority of mandatory tasks mentioned "series of set rewards", it only made Jon more excited about the potential Mana Cores he could obtain. While he was a little bit regretful, Jon knew that he could not use the rewards after integrating six Mana Cores, he still felt the need to obtain the highest level of reward for each of the mandatory tasks.

At the very least, it meant that so long as Jon completed his tasks with the utmost proficiency and effort, he would be able to claim three more Mana Cores of his choice from the rewards of other tasks.

'There is no sense in integrating the Mana Cores within my pocket if I can obtain whatever Mana Core I desire from the task rewards. While I admit that the idea of a Dragon Mana Core is extremely cool and overpowered, it might not be the most compatible with my current abilities.'

'My Knowledge Mana Core possesses only Passive Trait or Mutation Trait abilities. It gives me a certain level of utility and flexibility which I can appreciate the more abilities I possess. My Ice Mana Core on the other hand possesses a combination of Mutation Trait and abilities and offensive Techniques which are primarily used during combat. The Wood Mana Core is a bit of a jack-of-all-trades, combination of close-to-mid range offensive abilities and a single self-healing ability'. Jon let out a small sigh, ignoring the strange looks Wilheim and Avahni gave him.

Given that he was blankly staring at the air in front of him, the pair just assumed that he was staring at his status page, resuming the meals in front of them.

Jon had integrated more than a third of the total number of fragments he could possess.

The faintest traces of a combat style were beginning to form every time he completed a hunt, his understanding of spiritual energy and the rapid development of his physical qualities allowed Jon to perform staggering feats of movement and extraordinary applications of force.

And above all else, he enjoyed fighting in close combat.

While he appreciated the utility and function of his single ranged Spell [Wrath Of Green, Piercing Wood Eruption], Jon best enjoyed his abilities when his body was moving and his heart racing.

While a Dragon Mana Core would amuse the child-like sense of wonder within him, Jon was not so idealistic as to let himself be ruled by his curiosity and admiration.

'I am not rejecting the idea of a ranged ability. Ranges abilities are fine, especially if I ever need to fight underwater, or against enemies that can fly. However, without pouring an immense amount of spiritual energy into [Wrath Of Green, Piercing Wood Eruption], I cannot make an effective use of the ability outside of stacking debuffs against a stationary target,' Jon did not regret integrating any of his fragments but hoped that he would be able to change the ability in the future, potentially when he increased his Rank and became a Knight.

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With the current abilities that Jon had in mind, in addition to the four universal fragments that Rana had mentioned, Jon came up with a short list of potential Mana Cores.

'Space Mana Core.'

'Spear Mana Core.'

'War Mana Core.'

'Incarnation Mana Core.'

'Immortal Mana Core.'

'Dream Mana Core.'

These seven were the Mana Cores that Jon considered obtaining using his Baron Ranked reward. Each of them was useful or powerful within their own right, and if he could play his cards right, his final three Mana Cores would be chosen from the list right in front of him.

While Jon personally felt attracted to the Incarnation Mana Core the most, the young man eyed the Spear Mana Core the most.

Without a shadow of a doubt, the integration of a Spear Mana Core would increase his physicality and combat prowess. Depending on what fragments he could integrate, Jon would manifest abilities increasing the durability or penetration capabilities of his spear, or perhaps even a Spell that could rain spear-shaped spiritual constructs on an enemy at range.

Not to mention that Jon already possessed [Behold Thy Luminous Spear, Clad In Green Radiance]. Despite having possession of Assail for no longer than a day, Jon already knew that the beautifully carved wooden spear would be one of his most valuable abilities.

The War Mana Core was a close second, followed by the Immortal Mana Core.

While the connotations between "Immortal" and "Wood" were quite distant from one another, Jon found that the latter related to "life" and "growth" over merely "plants" and "nature".

If Jon could obtain specific fragments to enhance such qualities, he could see it acting similarly to an Immortal Mana Core. Even though Jon had already integrated three fragments into his Wood Mana Core, one of them was a Fragment Of Regeneration. If he could obtain a Fragment Of Renewal or perhaps even a Fragment Of Rejuvenation, he would be able to push the direction of his abilities towards something more sustainable.

A Space Mana Core and a Dream Mana Core were quite niche, although Jon thought that possessing a storage ability would be nice, in addition to some sort of teleportation ability or spatial displacement ability.

And although he would never admit it out loud, Jon knew he was quite a prideful individual. A Fragment Of Superbia would probably possess quite a level of compatibility with him.

Finishing off his dinner, Jon offered to take the first watch, allowing Avahni and Wilheim to rest after their meals. The lutin and floresiensis had been practicing their vocabulary and grammar over dinner, while Jon seemed off with the fairies, constantly staring at his status page.

Avahni has asked him if there was anything wrong, but Jon could only shake his head, trying his best to ease her worries.

"Task… reward. Choice… unsure," he replied to her.

The green-haired humanoid could only nod, giving Jon a thumbs up. Now that Avahni was in possession of the ability [Mine Is The Rivers And Oceans, The Seas And Rain], Jon was now somewhat apprehensive to use his Minerva-Sagacity Eyes to peer into her status page.

It did not stop him from trying, allowing him to observe her new abilities, specifically, one born from a Fragment Of Spirit being integrated into her Fire Mana Core.

[Fragment Of Spirit] [Thou Art The Monarch Of Ash And Life] (Fire, Spirit, Mutation, Spell, Enhancement, Buff)

The name was certainly grand enough and brought the total number of abilities in Avahni's possession to twelve, just one ability less than Jon himself.

Jon watched as Avahni stirred within her sleep, Ru Luan Di shifting its head to glare at Jon, causing him to give the summon a wry smile, softly apologising to the summon. The fat ginseng summons continued to stare at Jon for a few more moments, before letting its head droop down low, returning to whatever form of slumber a ginseng could possess.

"It is quite rare for a child of the Ginseng King to appear outside of the Nine Mountain Realm. I wonder what possessed this creature to accept the System request to become a summon?" Rana's voice echoed throughout Jon's mind, causing the human to perk up, listening intently at her words.

"Child of the Ginseng King? You mean what Ru Luan Di is?", Jon asked.

"Yes. The Nine Mountain Realm is what the inhabitants of the ninth integrated universe call their trichiliocosm. The Ginseng King refers to both an individual and a completed Title. The Title of "King" refers to someone that has exceeded a certain Rank, one that even I could have only dreamed of while at the absolute peak of my power," Rana explained.

Jon glanced at Ru Luan Di, traces of trepidation flashing across his face.

"I just observed Avahni, or the individual rather who has contracted the child of the Ginseng King. He won't be too upset with me, will he?" Jon asked the bodhi tree within his head.

"That depends, is the individual who has contracted the ginseng hostile towards you?" Rana queried, causing Jon to shake his head in response.

"If anything, I think I would consider Avahni a friend of mine," he replied.

"If that is the case, then you should be fine. Ginsengs are notorious for their lackadaisical nature and behaviours. While there have been exceptions, the vast majority are quite loyal towards their summoners, causing the demand of Fragments Of Ginseng to always be high, regardless of what Mana Core one possesses."

"What abilities did you observe on her status page, if I might ask?" Rana asked.

Jon paused for a moment, not seeing the harm in telling Rana what fragments Avahni had integrated. After mentioning her most recently manifested ability [Thou Art The Monarch Of Ash And Life], he could almost imagine the expression of befuddlement on her face, if her tone was any indication of her mental state.

"I'm sorry… did you just say, seven abilities with the Summon Trait?" Rana almost shouted, her voice echoing throughout Jon's Sea Of Knowledge.

The human nodded, shrugging his shoulders while adding another log to the campfire.

"Yeah, but I mean that should be relatively common, right? She has integrated a bunch of fragments with connotations relating to plants and beasts. It is only natural that she would manifest numerous abilities with the Summon Trait," Jon answered.

The violent shaking of leaves and branches could be heard throughout Jon's conscious mind. While not unpleasant, the human furrowed his brows hearing the seriousness behind Rana's tone.

"Jon. Statistically, the average individual will possess only a single summoning ability. Two, or even three summoning abilities is considered uncommon. More often than not, only a Fragment Of Summoning or a Summon Mana Core would guarantee any sort of summoning ability. And with the restriction of no duplicate fragments per Rank, this limitation prevents individuals from obtaining multiple abilities with the Summon Trait".

"The most I have ever seen with my own leaves and branches, is a man from the thirtieth integrated universe. After attaining Lordship, he was granted the Title of Broken Jade Dynasty, possessing a total of twenty summoning abilities. This individual exceeded the Baron Rank and ruled over a planet using his almost two dozen different summons!"

Taking a deep breath, Jon could visualize the emotion on Rana's leaves.

"Jon… this woman Avahni. She is not normal. Not in the slightest."

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