I was lowered head-first into the Astral Gate. As soon as I could see it, I was glad I did not drop. The Gate was suspended about five stories up in the air, with nothing closer. If I go in, how am I going to get out? I can’t fly. My Hunters Step needs to step on something. All around me was a flat plain. No trees, no grass, nothing as far as the eye can see. Nowhere to hide.

I couldn’t see any monsters either, but the strange magic's smell was strong and moving.

I need to make a decision. Moon girl is coming. Will she sense Ardisia’s vines if I stay here? Probably. Why can’t I get a break?

I told Ardisia to let go, and she did. She brought her vines around to the front to cushion my landing so I didn’t hurt anything.

I immediately ran away from beneath the gate, lay flat on the ground, and engaged Blend, holding my aura tight. The ground was not dirt. It looked like a slab of unbroken rock. It was also dark. I hadn’t realised it before because it was night outside, but it was dark. The sky had little lights that looked like stars, but there were no moons, so this was not Pallimustus’s sky. Would there be a day? I didn’t know. The archipelago astral never had a night, so there was no guarantee.

I waited. I was a couple of hundred meters from the gate. I clamped hard on my aura and waited. I could not see the gate, even though I was looking right at it. I only knew it was there because of the smell of the magic.

Then, a Moon girl appeared, and her wings spread out, stopping her descent. Her wings were beautiful. Shaped like a moth’s wings, they were translucent and gave off a glow like a full moon. She flew a short circle and then went back up the gate.

I paused. Was that it? Or is it a trap? Has she gone to get the others, or does she think I am not here and gone away? I stayed where I was silent and Blend on full, waiting for… for something to happen but hoping nothing did.

I waited almost an hour before deciding to move. I walked in the direction immediately away from the gate, but I soon lost the smell of it. I will never find it again if I keep doing this. I had no idea how I would get back up to it, but it would be a disaster to lose it. I walked back towards it and used my claws to scratch an arrow to it. Right. I am reasonably certain I am in the clear.

I need a safe place to sleep. I haven’t seen anything here, even though I have smelled a lot. There are no monsters, nothing. I do have breathable air. That is not always the case, but I am glad of it. If I had stayed in the shaft, I would have been caught. If I had come here before removing my collar, they would not have investigated, but I probably would have broken something falling in.

They were all bad choices. I am here now, and I need to see the dangers in this place. I can’t see anything, but I smell a lot of magic. Are the monsters here pure magic? I sit and ponder. Nothing has attacked me. That is good.

I examine the ground. Solid stone. I get a hammer from my pack and test it. The stone chips and crumbles. It is like granite in its harness. It will take a long time to dig a cave from this.

If the beings here are not attacking me, is there any need for me to attack them? I don’t see any need, and I probably only have one effective skill anyway. Two, if you count Kai being able to attack the incorporeal.

Could I open my garden here? I am reluctant to without knowing what this place is invested with. Did the protection against others entering include incorporeal, magical monsters? I can take non-sapient magical plants and items. I don’t know. I decided not to risk it.

Ok. I am tired, and my mind is slowing down. I created some large shields and fixed them together with Resin to form a shelter. Kai and Ardisia would stand guard while I crawled into my shelter, which was probably only for my psychological comfort.

I took another Spirit Coin, and I soon fell asleep.

I don’t know how long I slept, and I don’t know if I dreamed, so at least I know I didn’t have nightmares. I started the day with stretches and body weight exercises to try to get my muscles firm again.

Then I meditated. Then, I meditated with the Tranquil Axe.

I pondered how to get back up to the portal. In the end, I decided it was not going to be too difficult. A tower of Shields and Resin and using Hunter's Step should do it. It will just take time. I will start on the Shields shortly, so they are ready. I sketched a simple square tower that Hunter's Step can run up vertically. I can even make them in sections, and I only need them to get me high enough for Ardisia’s vines to grab the edges. I probably want them about two-thirds of the way up, to be sure. I started creating the rectangular shields I needed. They would all be the same.

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The question is, when should I leave this place? I don’t trust it, so I need to be ready to leave as soon as possible. There were monsters here. He could smell them but couldn’t see or feel them. Did that mean they couldn’t see or feel him? I wasn’t trusting that. I didn’t even know what rank they were.

I didn’t want to anger them by trying something stupid like Rend. I might end up squashed like a bug.

What about an aura? Can my aura sense them? Up until now, I have kept my aura locked down tight, but maybe I can feel them with my aura. I slowly loosened my aura and let it expand in the area around me.

At first, there was nothing. Most of my aura skills are about me hiding, not me sensing others. I thought briefly about the Weaponised Aura course I was going to take at the academy. I will be surprised if I ever get back to do that. I don’t even know where in the world I am.

Now, I need to practice the Sensing part of the Aura Control and Hunters courses I took. I thinned out my aura and just tried to sense fluctuations. Then I did it again, as I sensed nothing. Thinner. Lighter.

While at first there was nothing, at second, third, fourth and fifth, there was also nothing.

Did these things have auras? I don’t know, but all monsters that I have read about have auras. That does not rule out the possibility that there were monsters that were different, and I hadn’t read about them. Or maybe they had not been discovered yet. The universe is a big place.

I made the first floor of tower shields in four walls that I could connect easily. I did seem not to have the mana regeneration I used to. It could be an effect of my capture, and I need recovery time, or it could be an effect of this place.

I exercised, meditated and ate. I used my new wall of shields for shelter and slept again. I did the same the next day, although I had no idea how long I had actually spent here, I called it a day.

Last night, I decided to change my aura, and when I smelled an entity close by, I concentrated on sensing it. I knew it was there, but I was sure I didn’t have the aura sensitivity to sense it. By the end of the day, I was sure I was feeling something. The first time, I was afraid it was my imagination playing tricks, but by the fifth time, I was sure. My sensitivity was improving.

‘Day three,’ and I was up to the third story and was pretty sure I was able to get out with only an hour or so putting everything together. I would do another layer just to be sure. I was also sure my mana regeneration was dropping, so I was on a timeline. I worked late as I was hoping the dropping regeneration was an effect of the monster, but I was seriously hoping it was not permanent.

On day three, my aura picked up the difference between the invisible monsters. They were iron right up to silver, and I am not sure, but there might be gold ones higher up. They had no shape as such. They were concentrations of mana that emitted a very light aura. And they were sucking out my mana.

Day three was a long one, and I started building my tower on day four. My physical health was improving, even as my mana regeneration was dropping. I was using Hunters Step a lot to build the tower, and I noticed the loss of regeneration. The tower was slightly pyramid-shaped, as the bottom was twice the area of the top. It was the middle of day four when I finished the tower, went to the top, and lept so Ardisia’s vines could grab well up in the hole. She hauled me up through the gate, and I suddenly felt refreshed. Mana regeneration was back. Good. I was relieved and pleased. I stayed just above the gate, created my arch in the wall, and fell into my garden.

Ardisia put her roots into the wall of the hole and stayed on guard, and Kai climbed to the top. What I was calling the middle of day four was actually the middle of the night. I don’t know how many nights I was down there, but I now felt safer.

I ate and slept for a long time. When I got up, the sun was high in the sky. I exercised in my garden and went for a swim in my pond. Then I meditated. My Shield skill went to Bronze rank, which was not surprising. That put my Plant Essence completely to bronze, and the only two skills left at iron were Blend and Quick Sharp.

I felt for the shield's skill and what it could do now. Obviously, it was now bronze rank wood, but I also had a much greater range of shapes and sizes. I could create a shield with spikes, sharp edges and any shape I really wanted. And size. I could now create a shield wall. The bigger it was, the more mana it cost. Seriously, I could have done with this skill yesterday for my tower. I added it to my list.

* Shield {wood stone} Bronze 1

* Iron Rank: Create solid wooden shields of various sizes at the current Rank.

* Bronze Rank: Shields can be manipulated to create different shapes, including spikes and cutting edges. Creates a Shield wall. Size depends on the mana used.

Now I need to decide what I am going to do. After today, that is. Today, I am going to rest and tend my garden.

I have several choices, but I don’t know how many days I was down there or how long the terrible three will look for me. I need to leave it a while yet. I am relatively safe here. They have checked it twice, so I am staying for a few more days.

I also have an astral space where I can train my aura sensitivity. I should be able to use the tower to enter and exit, so I don’t suffer too much mana drain. I can live in my garden here and spend my days training in the space.

Once I am sure they are gone, I can hunt this area and level the last two skills to bronze. I don’t think they will take much. This will let me look around and see if I can spot any civilisation. My only worry is the mana level of the area. If I am in a silver rank or higher area, I can die easily. However, I think being a bronze rank will make my travel to the nearest town more survivable. Then, I can find out more about my captors and perhaps hunt them down and get to the bottom of this. They are certainly not getting away with it, along with whoever their boss is.

Right, the plan is in place, and it's time to garden. The good thing about my garden is there is no need to weed anything.