Landing back on the island of obsidian, Blake had a laundry list of things to do before Napping for a few centuries. First, gaining a few more basic attack skills from various elements. Whatever edge that Blake had, it was reasonable to assume that long periods of sleep would render that edge mute. Basic survival was ensured by the tough body that was cultivated, but imprisonment or enslavement terrified Blake. Being a stone, if any powerful creature learned what Blake was, it could lead to centuries or even millennia of experimentation. Perhaps creating a civilization that revered rocks might help create a safety net for a bit? Either way, multiple attack skills would ensure that Blake could at the very least escape from horrible predicaments.
Second on the list was gathering a list of skills for daily needs. Without the need to eat or sleep, many of these concerns were alleviated. Things like communication were another thing entirely. Aside from the Administrator, who seemed to speak straight into one's soul, future intelligent creatures couldn't talk to Blake. And if they could, communicating to a rock might not look the best to outside viewers. Who knows how many millennia would pass before another intelligent being graced the world? Still, it was best to be prepared. A small part of Blake wanted some poor fool to stumble upon their resting place and be awed by such a great stone of unlimited power. Clearly the Magma Serpents were able to see the magnificence of them, so why not others?
Finally, defining the parameters for waking up from the nap needed to be carefully planned. This could come later, but at the very least Blake needed to see when water formed on the planet. Or if aliens showed up. If hitching a ride with them to explore the cosmos was out of the question, at least they could prevent all the resources on the planet from being stripped. Even though this molten ball floating in space was hostile, it was home from now. Having no knowledge of space travel, it would seem rather foolhardy to waste time flying through empty space till they crash-landed somewhere. Until they were powerful enough to pierce the veil of the dimension and travel across realms at lightspeed, this planet was the best pick.
Speaking of which, it had almost been two centuries that Blake had lived here and it never occurred to them that their home should have a name. This seemed ridiculous at first as there was nothing here to be inspired by. But even lifeless planets across the galaxy had names back on Earth. And Blake was technically a person living here. Why shouldn't they name it?
"A name huh? Shouldn't be that hard. Even Earth was named after…dirt. Huh, guess when something is big enough even calling it dirt can sound grand. How can I even work with that kind of background? Just smash some Latin around and get "Magilutum"? Or some Greek for something similar? Agh! Who cares! It will come to me when it comes to me. Even if I did name this place, unless I carve it into the side of a mountain, no one will call it the same thing that I do. And such a large billboard would be gone in a few millennia." Grumbled Blake in frustration.
This outburst actually dawned something else that Blake hadn't considered. Erosion. On this planet, anything that Blake made would be gone by the time they woke up. Mountains would reduce to sand, metal would rust to nothing, and continents would shift to swallow anything before sinking them into the sea. If Blake wanted to have anything semi-permanent, they would have to make something with a repair function. Or be in a place where no changes occurred for eras on end. Glancing up, the duel moons continued to form. Remembering that there would soon be no movement on the planet to kick up erosion, an idea formed. Once the moons were done forming and Blake could create a suitable barrier, a home should be built in the moon. The three biggest requirements for a lunar colony, namely food, air, and water, didn't concern Blake. Plus, any air would contain oxygen which could slowly react with materials that Blake used and corrode them. Smiling at finding a future base to create, the to-do list was tackled.
For the skills, Blake discovered that elemental magic wasn't as cut and dry as many games had made them. Take fire, the planet's current most abundant element. While it could be highly destructive, it also had a side to it that could sustain spells of various elements. The Fireball combustion was the inspiration to this discovery. Certain elements were compatible with others. The most obvious were the subcategories of the main four. But earth and fire were more complementary than at face value, as was wind and water. Yes, even water could use fire particles to enhance itself or bring about different phenomenon. Steam explosions, on the small scale that Blake used, needed both elements for the phenomenon to occur. These experiments allowed for Blake to make multiple types of offensive tricks. However, due to the limited number of various particles, the System didn't acknowledge that a skill had been made every time. Thus, the main elements that Blake had created skills for were fire, metal, earth, wind, light, dark, gravity, time and space. The lack of water on the planet made it impossible for any practical use. There wasn't any atmosphere on the planet either to allow a charge to be made for lighting either. Finally, wood needed organic life, so it was also out of the question.
All in all, about a dozen skills were created and mastered over the next decade. This only scratched the surface of a single school of magic, but it would have to be enough for now. If Blake were lucky, they could kickstart the natural evolution of the world every so often. Purchasing items and analyzing them of their components would make Blake a master of transmutation. The plan was grand, but only until the world was ready for a change. For now, though, it was time to go shopping.
Bringing up the Point Store, there were a few skills that Blake hoped to purchase. A communication skill and a sharing skill. Going through the store, it seemed like this plan needed to be done in steps. However, soon the Store's unreasonable prices would seem like dirt to them with the power of Napping. This time period without anything alive on the planet, save for the elementals, was the easiest to snooze away to gain power. Checking over everything, the following prompts described what Blake had added to the cart.
"Skill: Telepathy (Lv. 1). Allows the user to communicate to another through the soul or mind of another. Limited by language and intelligence of target. Needs a target and user with an INT of 10 or higher to establish a connection. Higher levels allow for multiple targets to be conversed with. Can evolve. Cost: 30,000 system points."
"Perk: Skill Share: Allows a participant to connect to the soul of another and share experience with them. This goes both ways. Cost: 100,000 system points"
Glancing at the cost of these abilities, Blake gave a knowing grin. Without hesitation, "Telepathy" was bought. This should solve the issue of conversation in the future. The "Can evolve" tag gave them hope that higher levels of the skill could prove infinitely more useful over time. For now, there was a single group of individuals that met the criteria for "Telepathy". As the skill activated, an invisible strand of magic energy wound its way towards the shore of the island. It didn't take long to find a target as the Magma Serpents had approached the island hoping for the powerful rock to reappear. Reaching for the closest one, Blake connected to the soul of the fire elemental. Yet not a word was spoken.
Blake had no interest in conversing with the Magma Snakes. From what they could tell, any highly territorial, aggressive, and proud species wouldn't make for a great conversation partner. For leveling up the skill though, constant use was the key. If quality use of the skill wasn't available to raise the skill, then quantity would have to do. Essentially, if "Telepathy" was a phone, Blake's use of the skill 'kept the line open' without actually talking. The mana expense was negligible as well. Being next to the Mana Geyser restored Blake's mana at a good enough clip that their total mana was essentially capped at 8,000 instead of 10,000. Once the skill started to level up, it would become more efficient to use until the upgrade. As a test to see if the skill was still in use while Napping, Blake took a short one hour nap. Upon coming to, the "Telepathy" skill had raised by one.
"This is perfect! I can raise skills without worry. Now to set up the Napping parameters. Let's see. Wake me up after a century passes unless something approaches me from 50 meters away, a skill gains a new use or maxes out or I somehow move more than 1 meter from this spot. Set up the Timer to ensure that I know how much time has passed. And start."
With a blink, a decade went by. Looking at the Timer to confirm it, Blake saw that the Telepathy skill had added another individual to connect too. Repeating the process from earlier, another Magma Serpent was added to the network. The continued stop and go Napping strategy leveled up the skill to the max after connecting to 10 Magma Serpents. However, the upgrade cost was 1,000 points more than Blake had on them.
Finally, it was time. Blake cackled while setting the new parameters for Napping. It was time to start looting the Point Store.