Their plans changed a little. Trillia asked if they could stay a little closer since she wanted to see the actual eruption of mana happen. Tormash obliged, finding them a nice little hill not too far from where they had been. It was about ten or so minutes outside the mana border near the ravine. Tormash was staying extra alert to ensure he could have them all flee should the serpent show up.

By the time they got to the hill, Trillia's wish came true. Everyone felt the mana in the air grow incredibly dense. For Tormash, Trillia, and Amelia, their sliver of divinity made it near impossible to breathe. Their heads all turned towards the ravine to watch the mana rush upward and form a wall. Trillia thought it was beautiful, incredibly destructive and dangerous, but also absolutely beautiful. It looked like a rainbow of mana that was coalescing to form the wall itself. The light being shed by the wall lit up the area for hundreds of feet along the ravine, turning night to day.

Trillia was fascinated. The wall only lasted a minute or so. Her eyes ran along the length of it, stretching as far as the eye could see. She noticed something slightly off. Not wanting to lose her place, she grabbed Tormash's hand. Pointing to where she was looking, glancing briefly at him, she saw that he was already looking in the same spot. Her brother narrowed his eyes, mumbling a skill. She couldn't hear it, though. That was the other effect of the wall. While it was "firing" sound was heavily dampened. It made no noise itself, but everything else acted screwy around it.

However, the thing Trillia pointed towards stood out to the two because it was a small break in the wall, only near the base. Tormash wanted to run and leap towards it to try and discern its source. But he didn't dare get that close to the ravine while the wall of mana was present. He may have been a mighty warrior, but even he'd die in a few seconds if exposed to that much raw mana. Plus, there was the ever-present danger of the serpent.

Once the light show ended, Tormash quickly escorted them all further back. They didn't just camp out an hour away. They marched until Amelia and Trillia were exhausted before camping. The only words spoken were when Tormash urged everyone forward and called for camp. Something about his demeanor had changed. Trillia was taken aback. Her warm, caring brother vanished into a cold hard, orc scout. She didn't really blame him. Something made a break in the wall. Something could traverse the ravine somewhat safely.

Trillia and everyone else's guess was on that behemoth they had met. It was walking next to the ravine after all and didn't seem to mind in the slightest. Anyone else would have been dead from mana sickness if they spent so much time leisurely walking along the ravine. That was, after all, the leading issue with sending scouts over the ravine and to the distant city of Kincairne. The run-up, over and past the opposite mana border, meant you had to have a capacity of several thousand mana and have that capacity start at zero. Even if you had all of that. Could somehow cross the ravine with no skills. Most people still landed with severe mana sickness that was extremely debilitating.

They made camp, Tormash pulled out rations for all of them.

"I can stave off sleep for a week if need be. I'll keep watch. Everyone else, rest. I will wake you all in five or six hours, and we will march back to the camp with no more detours. Sorry for cutting this short, but this information needs to be delivered immediately."

The girls all nodded. They ate in silence, each with a head full of questions. Trillia was curious about the mana wall, of course. She also really wanted to get closer to the ravine to see it. But most of all, she was interested in the behemoth. She'd never seen something so large and powerful, yet so...docile. Trillia remembered being stunned. Her eyes turned toward her brother, and she broke the silence.

"Why was it's stunning effect so weak?"

Tormash eyed her carefully. He had pulled out another book. Not the one he wrote monsters and animals in, but something to take scout notes with.

"It wasn't. It didn't try to stun you Trillia. You are referring to when it scanned us correct?"

Trillia nodded. As did Tormash.

"That wasn't a skill meant to stun us like Mom's aura. That was just its version of [Scan] or the variants of that skill. Its ability and mind are so powerful that using even passive, non-hostile skills on us leaves us stunned. When it spoke to me telepathically, I was stunned for five seconds. I have an evolved version of [Iron Will] that is at level seven. Even Mom and Uncle Cordaos, with skills that intentionally stun people. Can only stun me for two or three seconds."

Somewhere along that explanation, Trillia had stopped breathing. The thought of something using a basic scan and stunning its target was terrifying. It looked so cute, though. Maybe a little giant sure, but certainly cute. If it wasn't more than twenty feet tall, with movement that made your head hurt. Really cute. Maybe a smaller version could be found. Tormash had gone back to writing. Trillia thought about maybe taming a baby behemoth. She reminded herself to ask the monster tamers of her tribe to teach her that skill as well.

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As fantasies of riding her pet behemoth into battle, and scaring all the tiny little orcs and minotaurs below her, played through her mind. She drifted off to sleep.

Her dreams, however, were not of such things. Instead, as she dreamed. She sat at the mana border. The behemoth sat a dozen feet inside. The fifth eye on top of its head glowed as it spoke to her mind.

Words weren't formed. It was just as Tormash had explained. Instead, it imparted a feeling of curiosity. Towards her in particular. She got the feeling it thought her mana was something it hadn't seen yet? Or maybe it was interested in learning about? Trillia didn't understand telepathy with a beast beyond her comprehension. Nor did she understand how it was in her dreams. She imparted those emotions and feelings toward it. A bit of fear slipped into those feelings as well.

The reply nearly felt like an attack. An overwhelming amount of images, emotions, and intent flashed through her mind. Her physical body, which lay there sleeping, had little drops of blood in her nose. The mental version of herself took a deep breath. The reply was an apology. The beast was simply curious, and so when they slept, it reached its mind out to hers. It had initially wanted to talk to Tormash, but he was still awake. Apparently, using telepathy at such a range was easier if the recipient was sleeping.

More images and intent flowed into her mind. The more she did this, the more she got used to it, and the less her brain hurt. Her understanding of its meaning was also increasing. The beast wanted to study her mana. It felt it was familiar in some way it didn't understand. Trillia imparted emotions of fear. Fear about the ravine, fear about the mana. She tried to 'explain' mana sickness to the creature.

It took a few minutes for the creature to reply. This time it asked her if she could safely sit on the outskirts of the mana border. She sent images of a large serpent, as well as her memories of Tormash's verbal warning. The response came, and in her mind, she saw the sun rise and set seven times. So its hunt would be finished in a week. She was about to nod and confirm she was interested when a thought crossed her mind. Now she sent images of the wall to the creature and the opening they had seen.

The response was immediate. A memory of the creature forming a bridge of light and simply walking across the ravine. Another image appeared in her mind that caused her head to pound in agony. Her physical body now had little streams of blood from her nose and ears. She could feel the telepathic bond weakening as her brain couldn't take much more. She forced herself to press on. Rapidly imparting a myriad of memories and emotions.

Trillia's goal was to ask the creature for help crossing the ravine. In exchange, she'd let it study her mind. It responded with hundreds of images. Plants, liquids, and creatures. Things Trillia could barely perceive. A book flashed through her mind, and she sat up with a scream. Tormash was at her side in an instant to calm her down. Trillia's only response was to yank the book from him. She began scribbling the images in her head. Tormash saw the blood on her ears. Despite it being his scout book, something told him to let her work.

They had been asleep for four hours, and Trillia didn't feel very rested with her mental conversation having happened. Still, she managed to get everything written into the book that the beast imparted to her. At least as best, she could. Her orcish wasn't very good after all. But the things she couldn't write in orcish, she wrote in the language the system showed her. The gentle hum of blue in her peripheral vision told her she had gained a skill.

General Skill: [Lesser Mind Magic Resistance] Level 0 Obtained!

General Skill: [Lesser Mind Magic Resistance] Level 0 -> Level 1

General Skill: [Rudimentary Telepathy] Level 0 Obtained!

General Skill: [Rudimentary Telepathy] Level 0 -> Level 3

Species: [Mortal]; [Orc] Level 8 -> Level 9

Trillia sat there, breathing heavily after she finished writing. The creature's telepathy had done a serious number on her. Her health had nearly dropped to zero, and her mana and stamina were at zero.

When the four of them stood to march, Tormash carried Trillia. She didn't object and quickly fell back asleep. When she next woke up, it was to the sound of voices. The city guards were opening the gate and waving them through. Tormash and Ba'Shoon were both very easily identifiable. One of the guards asked if a healer was needed, seeing Trillia's bloodied nose and her being carried. Tormash shook his head.

The four of them made their way to the large tent that served as a sort of command tent. Tormash had sent Amelia to get her father and Ba'Shoon to get Mort and Lurog. Tormash barged into the tent without announcing himself, and Amara immediately stopped speaking. Both she and Varga looked at him, their eyes drifting toward Trillia. Amara's eyes opened in panick as she rushed over.

"What happened to her?! You said you'd keep her safe Tormash!"

Amara scooped Trillia up and set her on the table. Trillia's resources had mostly recovered by this point, but something still felt off. Normally she'd be petrified of her mother. But her mind just couldn't muster the fear and terror. Looking at her status, she was a new debuff.

[Mentally Exhausted]

You have strained yourself beyond your abilities mentally. You will regenerate health, mana and stamina much more slowly. All skills and spells will take twice as many resources to utilize, in addition to taking twice as long to activate. While under this affect you are immune to fear based effects, and as well as any other condition that requires mental faculty to work fully.

That explained it. Evidently, the behemoth's little chat had nearly killed her. She wasn't angry at it, however. It didn't know it was damaging her that badly. It just wanted to talk. Trillia grabbed her mother's hand, causing Amara to freeze. She was getting tired again. She could feel her old friend darkness coming to claim her.

"Listen to Tormash. Wrote it all down. I love you mom, sorry you scare me."

It looked as if she wanted to say more. To get those feelings out while she could, while she was too exhausted to be afraid. But darkness and the need for rest won. She passed out into a deep slumber.

This time, her dreams were, in fact, of her riding around on her very own behemoth. Scaring everyone with how tall and mighty she was.