Yet again, shadowy figures hunted me in my dreams. Unlike in the many nightmares that had come before, I didn’t try to run. I stood my ground as the horrors of the night rose up from the undergrowth.

A host of spectral black monsters slowly stalked towards me. Each was a mess of teeth, claws, and eyes, yet I was not afraid.

With a wave of my hand, dozens of glowing runes manifested in the air before me. The shadowy terrors recoiled from the magical barrier, hesitant to approach.

With another wave of my hands, motes of light slowly manifested in the air around me. As I pointed forwards, beams of light tore through my spectral foes.

With their companions falling, the remaining shadowy monsters charged. My glowing runes destroyed all that they touched, letting very few of the fiends past.

I was ready for them. With a flick of my wrist, a spear of golden light formed in my hand. With sweeping flourishes and fluid strikes, I slew one terror after another.

As the horde dwindled, one last monstrous figure rose up from the treetops. The horned titan loomed above me spreading its wings in challenge. This time I wasn’t going to run or hide.

I was going to fight.

The dream faded as I leapt into the air to face my monstrous foe.

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I woke up in a wonderful mood. I couldn’t remember the last time I had felt so well rested. After a carefully portioned breakfast of snake meat, I started walking.

The light drizzle that made it through the upper reaches of the canopy did little to dampen my spirits. I had many things to be happy about. I was more well equipped to handle any of the many terrors of the jungle than I had ever been before. I had a full belly and plenty of magic paint for sigils. To make things even better, I was also on my way to meet people I had never even seen before.

I wondered what these other people might be like. I expected they would all be quite impressive. The number of updates my codex link found just from being near them implied that they had probably had the system for a very long time. If I had been able to gain this much power from only a few ten-days with the system, there was no telling what others had been able to accomplish.

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I was quite eager to find out.

As I walked through the undergrowth, I focused more on my mana perception. It was quite interesting feeling how the mana flowed through the various plants and insects I passed by.

I paused to examine a butterfly sitting on a flower. Focusing on the mana, I found the already beautiful insect captivating. Tiny mana forms drifted along the creature’s colorful wings, locking into place briefly with each little flutter.

Comparing the insect’s mana to that of the flower it sat on, I saw many similarities and differences. I had no idea what any of the little mana forms did, but I still found them fascinating. Perhaps with time I would be able to make out enough details to decipher the natural magic of the world around me.

Walking along, I noticed that even the mana in the air moved in particular ways. Some of it drifted about randomly, but most of it followed a very straight path angled down towards the ground.

After a few marks of walking, I found that the path of the mana slowly changed its angle. At midday, the mana was moving almost straight down. Glancing up, I realized that the mana was flowing down a path directly from the sun.

Remembering how pushing mana into straight lines had helped disperse the chaotic mana from the wraith, I wondered if that was the reason they hid during the day. The clean, straight path of mana in the sunlight would have probably influenced turbulent mana in a way that was very bad for a creature entirely formed of chaotic mana.

That would have explained why my attempts to fight the titan’s wraith with light didn’t do much. If I was right, it was the mana in sunlight that hurt wraiths, not the light itself.

I felt a little embarrassed that my attempt to drive off a titan had been entirely based on a likely mistaken assumption. At least it somehow worked out in the end.

I was pulled out of my contemplation when I spotted movement in the distance. I immediately hid in the foliage as I tried to figure out what I was looking at.

There were quite a few small, green creatures running through the jungle ahead. They all looked like miniature drakes, with tiny arms and strong little legs.

I couldn’t imagine one or two of the little creatures being much of a problem, but I did not want to try my luck with the entire pack. There had to be at least a couple dozen of the little reptiles roaming about.

Fortunately, something else seemed to have the pack's attention, because they were all running in the same direction as fast as their little legs could carry them. I cautiously watched the little green hunters vanish into the distant undergrowth.

I felt bad for whatever poor creature had drawn the pack’s attention, but I was glad I wasn’t the one being hunted for once.