The next morning, Greg, Chris, and Thomas returned to the Outside to hunt, or rather, their Awakened selves did, each leaving a body back at Andrew's as they planned on permanently living in the Outside from now on. Thankfully Greg could make a body for Thomas, so he didn't have to waste points on it, though the process was a bit finicky. Greg had to make the body, then Andrew had to remove the core, and finally Thomas would send points in to take control. A bit of a process, but hey, it worked.

"You know, it's kinda fucky that the one World where people can grow stronger at ridiculous rates doesn't naturally give you control over that strength." Greg commented. "What's up with that?"

"It's probably the fact that it's a purely physical strengthening." Chris replied. "Well, not purely, but the mental aspects of it are much weaker than in other Worlds. Just enough to make sure you won't hurt yourself, but nowhere near enough to give you any level of fine control."

"I get that. My question is why." Greg elaborated. "Why does this World need to keep people from being in full control of their own strength?"

"Because they're supposed to be Beasts?" Thomas offered. "Mental enhancements would lead to intelligence, which would mean you wouldn't have a bunch of Beasts running around, it'd just be a bunch of different people."

Greg blinked. "Huh… that would make it harder to hunt. Morally at least."

Chris anchored portal points to the two of them before they split up to hunt, Greg sending out some fairies as he took in the giant forest and got an idea. The Beast Tide had interrupted his experiments with his smoke back in Thomas's World, but weren't these tall, sturdy trees just brimming with vitality the perfect subjects? Greg started to make more smoke, dissolving large hollows underground, before sending it all into one of the giant trees, connecting to it. "That's a bigass fuckin' tree." Greg muttered to himself as he sent more and more smoke into it. Finally he got all the tree connected to his smoke, connecting himself as well before pulling on the tree's energy.

Greg took a deep breath as he became more, a feeling of… not power, but- vitality filling him. It was like he was smoke again, but reversed. When he was smoke, it was like no matter what he did, there was no cost to it, so he could go for as long as he needed to, but this… this felt like there was a cost, but he had more than enough energy to cover it, like no matter what he did, he'd always have more energy to use. And he was using it! Every part of his body was running at maximum capacity! "Oh I could get used to this." Greg chuckled, rolling his shoulders as he stalked deeper into the forest, eager to test his empowered state, while behind him, a few of the leaves on the tree began to brown. But it was a big tree. A few browned leaves wouldn't hurt it.

Greg's fairies found a… Boar? Or something close to it at least, rutting around in the undergrowth, and he immediately rushed over, activating the Human ability to connect with it and copy its ability, which felt like… momentum? He activated it, his eyes widening as his rush began to build into a charge, power building within him with every step, unable to keep himself from letting out a roar as he smashed into the Boar! It squealed as the both of them tumbled along the forest floor in a pile of flailing limbs, Greg getting a few more hits in before they hit a tree and broke apart, the Boar scrambling to its feet in a panic just in time for Greg to jump on it again, raining down blow after blow! The Boar bucked to try and throw him off, but Greg got a hand on its… mane? Keeping a tight grip as he continued to pummel the Beast. "Just die already!" Greg growled as he landed a powerful, momentum filled blow on the Boar's head, the Boar's movements growing more and more sluggish, before it finally collapsed beneath him.

Greg grinned as he grew claws to dig out the ability crystal, before pausing as he stared at the claws. "Ah… those would have been helpful…" He muttered. He'd gotten so caught up in the fight, he'd forgotten he didn't have to limit himself to a basic human form. Greg growled as his form shifted into his old favorite, the scorpocroc, clicking his mandibles a few times in excitement. It was good to be hunting again.

*

While Greg was reveling in the exercise of physical power once again, Thomas was playing with the Human ability, studying how the ability energy changed as he connected it to different Beasts, shifting his points along with it. It was the first time he'd seen an energy that could shift like his points, and he was trying to figure out why. Was it something innate to the energy, or was it something to do with the core? And if it was the core, then… could all energy shift? Was it just a matter of finding the right leverage? That led him to another thought he'd been considering. Both Andrew and Greg had abilities based around connecting their… stuff to things, Andrew with his possession thing and Greg with his body manipulation. Hell, Chris's thing was all about connecting his world to things!

So it got Thomas wondering if there was a way to connect his points to things as well. He'd already tried connecting them to his body, and that… wasn't a thing. Well, it was a thing in his World, but that was just how Essence worked. Pure points connected to the body didn't do anything. And since that was the case… could he connect his points to his energy? That made sense, right? He just wasn't sure how… the ability energy was spread throughout his body, as were his points, but they didn't mix. Literally, they wouldn't occupy the same space, leaving him at a bit of a loss. Was he going about this the wrong way?

Thomas sat down in the hollow of a tree and closed his eyes, focusing on the ability energy, focusing on connecting to it in some way, before pausing and letting out a groan as he realized something. He was already connected to the ability energy! It was his ability energy! Then again… Greg was already connected to his body, wasn't he? But he wasn't connecting himself to it, he was connecting it to his smoke… So what did he need to connect his ability energy to? If not his points, then… the system? Thomas blinked. That… made sense, didn't it? The system could change someone's entire body, why not their energy? It was just a small shift…

Thomas opened the system, creating a new page, considering what he needed to make this happen. It was just about changing the energy type, right? Converting it… he nodded, creating a convert energy option with a drop down menu containing all the energy types he knew. He frowned as no cost came up and the option remained grayed out, still missing something. He frowned at the page for a moment, before snapping his fingers in realization. It was energy conversion! He needed to select the energy he wanted to convert! He created another drop down for the energy types he had, just two: Human ability energy and points. Selecting Human ability energy, he set the other to… Monkey, why not. That still didn't do it, something still lacking, until he added an amount of energy to convert option, and finally he was able to convert one hundred Human ability energy into one hundred Monkey ability energy.

"Ha!" Thomas whooped in excitement. It worked! He could change his energy! He went to convert the Monkey ability energy back to Human, before pausing. One of the energy types he could convert his energy into was points. He selected the option to turn all one hundred Monkey ability energy into… ten points. "Huh… there's still loss?" Thomas frowned, before shrugging. That probably made sense. Points could do a lot more than Monkey ability energy could. Still, one point only made one ability energy… Thomas frowned. Some parts of all this still didn't make much sense to him. Thankfully he could still convert the Monkey ability energy back to a hundred Human ability energy, so he did, getting to his feet. Time to stop playing with the system and get to hunting.

*

Chris paused as a Fox jumped out of the underbrush, growling at him. "Hmmm… I already have one of you." He shook his head, shooing the Fox away. The Fox let out a yowl as it flashed forward in a burst of speed, going for Chris's neck. Chris snorted, casually backhanding the Fox, sending it sprawling as it yipped in pain. "Why'd you have to do that?" Chris sighed, crouching down beside it. "Now I have to decide whether I should keep you and give myself a headache or not. It'd be a waste to just kill you, so that's out… ugh, such a pain." He paused for a moment. "Ah, fuck it." He opened a portal, grabbing the Fox by the tail and chucking it in. He could always use more energy.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Chris wasn't terribly concerned with hunting, seeing as his limit was about four Beasts max. Not exactly arduous when you had the entire day to get it done. Maybe he could try to build up his mental energy so he could do more? Would that just take practice? Draining it day after day, like weight training… Chris shrugged. He'd have to see, now wouldn't he? For now, he'd focus on a different problem.

Expanding his world around him, Chris began to study the conflicts between the rules of this place and his world with a frown. The first, and most obvious, was gravity. His world said that a giant plane like this would crumble apart under the force of its own mass, that everyone around should be crushed under their own weight, but instead, gravity was just normal. Was it simply a constant in this place? Chris changed gravity to a constant in his world, but that still didn't feel right… gravity was still based on something, it just wasn't mass. At least, not in the way Chris usually thought about it…

Then there was the matter of light. There was no sun, so where was all this light coming from? It came across the land like a wave, rolling over it. Slight shadows were cast from the direction the light came from, but nothing on the level you would expect considering you couldn't see a source. But then again, you wouldn't expect there to be light if you couldn't see the source… yeah, he had no idea where to even start with that. Chris shook his head, continuing to make his way through the forest, but keeping his world out around him, studying how everything reacted as it passed through it. Maybe if he collected enough data, he could use Gaia's brain to figure something out.

*

Greg frowned, examining himself. It'd been a few hours now of drawing on the tree's energy, and… he could swear his body had changed slightly. He wasn't exactly sure how yet, but it seemed beneficial. Something about having every part of his body running at its peak seemed to push it to be… better. Stronger. More efficient. "Huh… well, whaddya think of that?" Greg chuckled. It was a small improvement, sure, but every little bit helped, right?

Honestly, he was loving everything about his new ability. Flying was awesome, and who wouldn't want to have all the energy they could want? But what was really great was the way it affected his mind. Usually, even when he was doing something he enjoyed, even reading, there was still a need for more. Except there couldn't be more. There was only so much a person could do at one time after all. But with the energy from the tree, he finally felt… satisfied. Like he didn't need to do anything more. It was actually kinda nice to not have to deal with his brain trying to drag him in twenty different directions for once. Maybe if he found a good tree or something to draw energy from back in Thomas's World, he could actually cultivate! Wouldn't that be nice?

Greg paused as he heard a stronger heartbeat nearby, clicking his mandibles to get a better view. Had his fairies missed a Beast? He activated his Human ability, and found the Beast nearby, with a… gravity manipulation ability? Interesting, but he was going to stick with the momentum ability he'd picked up. He could already manipulate his own gravity after all. Greg began to charge, building up his momentum as he rushed towards the Beast, crashing into it and… "Oh, I think I've fucked up." Greg muttered as the Beast didn't even budge.

"Andrew?" The Goat blinked, bahing at him. "Is that- crap, he wouldn't understand me. Why is he hugging me? And why do his forms keep getting creepier and creepier!?!"

Greg pulled back, surprised. "You know Andrew?"

The Goat's eyes widened. "You aren't- you- you understand me?!?" Greg grinned slightly, glad he'd bought the translation trait, or this Goat's bahs wouldn't mean shit to him. The Goat shuddered at the sight of the widening maw full of teeth and mandibles. "Don't do that! Fuck, And- wait, you aren't Andrew." She frowned. "Who are you?"

"I'm Greg, a friend of Andrew's." Greg introduced himself as he shifted back to human form. "Who are you?"

"Karen Linda." Karen/Linda introduced herself numbly. There was another shapeshifter other than Andrew?!? "How- how do you know Andrew?"

Greg cocked his head. "We're… connected, you could say."

Karen/Linda blinked. "C-Cathryn?"

"Eh? No, not like that!" Greg laughed. "No, it's- well, it's kinda complicated." He shrugged. "How do you know him?"

"We were teammates for our First Hunt." Karen/Linda frowned. "Are you- are you also- like him?"

Greg nodded slowly. "You could say that… kinda. Maybe. But also completely different at the core."

Karen/Linda narrowed her eyes. "Are you trying to confuse me?!?"

Greg paused. "I'm really not, but now I'm thinking I should." He chuckled.

Karen/Linda glared at him for a moment, before shaking her head. "Well at least you're as frustrating as Andrew." She grumbled. "Are you hunting out here alone?" She asked, looking around, before frowning. "Wait, you don't have a Bond, do you!?!"

"No?" Greg replied, raising an eyebrow at her.

"What are you doing so deep in the wilderness!?! It's dangerous out here! You could die!" Karen/Linda exclaimed.

Greg snorted as he suppressed a laugh. "Are you serious?"

Karen/Linda stared at him incredulously. "Of course I'm serious! What if a Beast Tide arrives?!?"

Greg blinked. "Wait, you really are- I thought you said you were a friend of Andrew's?"

"What does that have to do with anything?!?" Karen/Linda yelled.

Greg opened his mouth, before closing it with a hum. No need to pull a Chris right now. He ignored the pamphlet that appeared in his hand with a roll of his eyes. "Well, I think I should get going now." He coughed, returning to his scorpocroc form. "Nice to meet you, and have fun with the rest of your hunt, okay?" He added quickly as he rushed away.

"Wait!" Linda/Karen shouted, chasing after him and… rushing right past. "Eh?" She stumbled to a stop, turning to see Greg change directions. "Get back here!" She yelled.

"Never!" Greg yelled back, before shooting into the air.

"Stop!" Karen/Linda demanded, flying after him.

"Oh that is bullshit!" Greg cursed. Why'd he have to run into someone who could actually fly?!? Faster than he could even!

Karen/Linda pulled up next to him, fixing him with a glare. "Why are you running from me?!?"

Greg sighed, coming to a stop. This was pointless. "Damn it." A small portal opened behind him and a hand came out, poking him with the pamphlet. "I'm not giving her the damn pamphlet, Chris!" Greg snapped, and the hand pulled back.

"Huh?" Karen/Linda blinked.

Greg froze. "Uh, nevermind. Look… can you just drop this? I promise you I'm safe out here, you don't need to worry. No matter what happens, I'll be fine." He pleaded, a bit of frustration creeping into his voice. If he did have to worry about losing all his energy, he could just turn into smoke and hide underground or something. Ugh, cultivation was such a pain sometimes.

Karen/Linda gave him a suspicious look. "And how can you be so sure of that?"

Greg chuckled. "Because I'm always okay."

Karen/Linda scowled. "That doesn't mean anything!"

"It means I have a track record." Greg pointed out with a grin.

"I wish I had hands so I could throttle you!" Karen/Linda growled. "Or at least drag you back to the base camp." She added in a grumble.

Greg rolled his eyes. "Look, obviously I'm out here because I want to be. What do you care if I get myself killed? How is that any of your business? You don't even know me!"

"That doesn't mean I want you to die!" Karen/Linda retorted. "Who would just let someone get themselves killed?!?"

Greg paused. "Well, if I'd already given them adequate warning… I mean, you can't force people to make good decisions, you know? You can warn them, make sure they actually know what they're doing, all that good crap, but as long as they're mentally capable, their decisions, and the consequences thereof, are their own. That whole 'freedom of choice' thing. So could you just let me go and get myself killed already?"

Karen/Linda frowned. "Well… then since I have freedom of choice, then I decide to stay with you and keep you safe!"

Greg blinked. "Well, shit."