Jiran took his time digging through the remains of the beasts. He cut off the best pieces of meat and wrapped them in conka leaves, to preserve the meat until he could dry it.

He used some vines to wrap up his pile of food and gently slung it over his shoulder.

Just as he was about to set off toward the river he realized the bear might have a cave nearby. Following the bear's massive tracks turned out easier than he expected. Its weight, increased from the considerable Density it had absorbed, left behind large tracks in the dirt.

Five minutes into his hunt, Jiran spotted movement in the boughs of a nearby tree. He hoped whatever was up there was the same villain that had alerted the bear to his presence.

Without a moment's hesitation, he raised his hand and shot a bolt of electricity in the direction of the movement.

A squeal of pain preceded a small black-furred creature plummeting to the forest floor. With his hand coated in insulating mana, Jiran cautiously approached the downed beast.

It looked like an oversized monkey except the tip of its long tail had a scorpion stinger.

This little punk must be what alerted the bear. I bet it threw some feces near my location, hoping the bear would leave it some tasty Jiran scraps. Pretty clever actually.

Should I finish it off? It looks like it's still breathing. Hmm, I'm not too thrilled about this thing leading more predators to me. Hey, that's not a bad idea!

If I can set up a good defense and this thing brings the beasts to me, that would save me from the worry of being ambushed while stumbling around in the woods. I don't like the look of that stinger though, if he sneaks up on me while I'm sleeping. Yeah, I'll just nip this bud now.

Jiran swiftly shaved the stinger free from the tip of its tail. It was attached with solid cartilage so his cut didn't cause any bleeding. Jiran was glad he didn't need to feel remorse, since he doubted the beast would even feel any pain from his actions.

He then unwrapped one of the more burnt pieces of meat and left a trail of morsels behind.

Jiran continued his bear hunt. Soon they began intersecting with older paw prints. He hoped he was getting closer to the heart of its territory.

Around an hour later, the tracks led him to a large tree at the peak of a small hill. Clear markings of the bear's territory could be found on every tree, trunk, and meter of ground.

Circling the hill, Jiran was elated to find an opening that led into the ground. The cave looked large enough for him to easily walk in while standing up. It was carved out by the huge claw-tipped paws of the previous occupant.

Finally! I've got water, shelter, and food. What are my next priorities? Defenses and recharging my mana. Another shaping attack would be good in case I run into a beast that’s resistant to lightning. And finally, figure out this cube.

If I complete the cube early, I wonder if Samris or Lenton would pull me out of this hellhole. Probably not. They clearly want me to learn basic survival.

Deciding not to waste any time, Jiran gathered as many dry sticks and leaves as he could. He placed them on the ground in a dense, circular pattern radiating out from his makeshift home.

Climbing each of the nearby trees, he snapped off their branches one by one. Jiran added the withered limbs to his alarm system and placed the wet healthy ones in the suns' heat to dry.

Jiran left a single nearby tree with its limbs intact. If he was right about his monkey neighbor being a vindictive opportunist, he wanted it to have a safe route to lead predators to him.

With his defenses as strong as he could make them before nightfall, Jiran focused on recharging his mana. Each Densoon wave gave about five percent. He only needed a few more to be fully recovered. He decided to take out the cube from Lenton while he waited.

The square object had four visible strings of metal, each around two centimeters thick. They wrapped around each other in a dazzling pattern that was hard to follow. Like a classic Blacksmiths puzzle box, there was surely some trick to opening it.

Jiran tried poking and prodding the different bands of metal with his mana. He pulled, spun, and shook the cube with no result. He even shocked it with a small current which also failed.

Don't get frustrated. Stop and think. What's the purpose of the cube?

To teach me about shaping.

The cube has four different colored cables of metal. Red, white, green, and blue. Red should be fire if we follow typical RPG mechanics. Might as well give that a try.

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How is fire represented in the body? The body produces heat. Movement causes friction; heart beating, muscle fibers rubbing against each other, carbs and fats consumed for energy. All sources of friction he could use to create an optimal mental image.

Since images of molecules worked the best with lightning, I'll start with that. Oh, and I guess I don't want to burn my hands again so I'll use an image of lowering the movement of the molecules in my hand.

With his plan formed, Jiran pushed mana into his hand while holding the image of millions of his cell's movements slowing, but not halting. He knew he was onto something when his hand grew cold, his fingers numb.

With the mana-flow taking control of the shaping, he moved to the next mental image.

Jiran pictured the molecules and atoms in his body moving rapidly, bouncing into each other's electromagnetic fields, repelling and attracting in a chaotic jumble. He then applied mana into his palm just below the cube.

A red flame the size of Jirans head burst forth from his palm. It completely enveloped the now floating cube. In a panic, Jiran cut off his flow of mana to both shapings.

Both his hand and the cube were fine. His skin never felt a trace of heat. The red coiled metal of the cube had begun to peel itself back from the other filaments of the cube. However, it was caught by a strand of white metal that prevented it from moving further.

Success! So I was right. Each color likely represents an element. I'll need to apply those elements in the correct order. Which should unwrap this mess of a cube.

The next step is figuring out all four elements. White might be ice or air. Green could be air or growth. Blue is water or ice.

Ice first, that should be easy.

Repeating his previous experiment in reverse Jiran protected his hand with a layer of warmth, then pictured his molecules and atoms coming to a near stop. Not wanting to overdo it again he purposefully didn't imagine them fully halting.

The result was a misty cloud of freezing vapor enveloping the cube. Once more the cube began floating as soon as the shaping touched it.

The ice had activated the white strand of metal. The cable peeled away from the cube until it was stopped by the green band.

After his success, Jiran let go of the shapings and the cube was reformed.

Jiran went through the same experiments with air. He imagined particles of different gasses in the atmosphere entering his lungs and circulating through his bloodstream. As he predicted, the green metal peeled back.

Great, let’s try some good old H2O.

As blue activated on the cube, Jiran decided to take a break. He had spent several hours fine-tuning his mental images to be the right strength for the cube.

Too much fire and he couldn't see the cube. Too much ice and he froze it solid. Too much wind and he blasted it out of his cave where he had to search through the stacked dried brush for the small object.

With darkness approaching, he stacked some of the larger leaves into a pile and tried to get some sleep.

He was predictably restless without a lookout, unless one counted the monkey, who was likely watching him. Jiran didn't think a clever beast that wanted to eat him made for a good sentry.

Regardless of his paranoia, sleep eventually came. He woke up before First Father, screaming at the top of his lungs. His dream of being eaten by a giant bear turned out to be just a mouse running over his leg on the way back into its tiny burrow in the dirt.

I'm not helpless anymore, I don't need to be so afraid.

What am I even afraid of? I know how to regenerate damage with mana if I get hurt. I can probably kill anything out here with one attack. Even if lightning doesn't work, I have fire, ice, and water now too.

I need to overcome this on my own. That's probably why Samris and Lenton left me out here, to learn first hand that I'm not denless any longer.

Feeling restless, he decided to do his usual morning workout.

With a spear in hand, he danced through his warm-up routine. Mana pushed against his muscles with every movement, and soon he was sweating profusely.

He had never added a weapon to the stretches Samris had taught him. Evidently, they were designed with weapons in mind, as the flow and cadence of the exercises were not impacted in the least.

First Mother soon joined First Father as Jiran ran through the forest to the creek at full speed.

After refilling his water skin and cleaning himself up at the creek, he headed back to camp.

All that psyching myself up and I didn’t run into a single beast, figures.

The monkey hadn't even tried to steal his food while he was gone. As if the forest recognized his dominance, silence followed him wherever he went. Even the bugs and birds stilled at his passing.

Jiran shrugged off the strange behavior of his wild forest habitat, and got back to playing with the cube.

Jiran adjusted his focus to the cube and how excited he was to develop new shapings.

There’s something about getting to play with actual magic that makes this insane world so worth it. Now, where did I leave off last night?

I've figured out the elements needed. Now I just have to combine them in the correct order to unwind the tangled coils.

Easy, right?

It was not easy.

Holding two shapings was simple enough, three was an order of magnitude more challenging.

As soon as Jiran tried to tie off the second, and start on the third, his first shaping unraveled leaving him with burnt flesh on his hand.

Jiran instantly realized he couldn't afford to waste any of his shapings on protecting himself. He needed to adjust the image so it was strong enough to activate the cube, but weak enough not to hurt him.

He instinctively wanted to create the most optimal and mana-efficient shapings but had to restrain himself, since they were far too powerful.

His recent fight had proven how dangerous a fully imaged shaping could be. The cube helped him slowly curb those tendencies, until he had four different elemental shapings that wouldn't blow him up accidentally.

Having the time of his life, Jiran lost himself in the mental image training. The feeling of mana flowing through his body provided all the drive he would ever need to keep pushing forward, to unlock the secrets of the magic of Madra.