I woke out of my dreamless sleep feeling much better. My head felt clear, perhaps clearer than it had ever been in my entire short life, and I was full of energy. It took me a moment to realize why.

There were no Concepts pressing on me beyond the ones I carried. The room Belua had left me in seemed like a void to Sense Concept. It wasn't void of mana, but every drop of mana in the room was pure untainted energy. I didn't know such a thing was possible.

It struck me that the lack of Concepts made everything around me feel fake. I liked feeling that my mind was largely free from the small influences of the world around me, but it also made me feel vaguely unsettled. It was a good thing that I didn't grow hungry in Belua's Realm, because otherwise the lack of elemental mana would have been quite a problem.

I yawned widely, stretched, and took in my surroundings. I was alone, the room seemed so very large to my squirrel form, but I thought it probably wasn’t really that big. There were two recliners facing a fireplace with a small table between them. The walls were lined with bookshelves.

I impulsively felt the need to have a look at what a goddess would keep in her realm to read. When I tried to shift to my demihuman form so I could have an easier time snooping, Assume Form was unresponsive. I tried to shift my core, thinking light mana would help me figure out what was going on. Nothing happened.

I had to fight off a brief urge to panic. It occurred to me that it may have always been like this in Belua's realm. I had never felt the need to shift, or use any abilities at all while I visited. It was only in this room, bereft of the realm's influence that I even thought to try.

I looked towards the only door, it was closed. I had to fight another moment of instinctive terror when I realized that I was trapped in the room I had been left in. I doubted the door was locked, but it opened with a simple round doorknob. It would be far above my head in my current form. With my stats, I could possibly jump that high, but I would have no good way of gripping the knob if I did.

I was in the middle of trying to force my breathing to slow when the door opened. The goddess did not enter, but looked at me with concern from the other side of the doorway.

"Are you alright, little one? I was told it was best to leave you alone and do my best to keep your mind insulated for a while. I can only vaguely monitor you from out here, but I could sense your fear through my mark."

I tried to respond to her with mind speech, but though I could see her, I couldn't sense her to make a connection. I let out a series of frustrated squeaks, before hopping down from the recliner and bounding across the carpeted floor to see if getting near her would help.

The moment I crossed the threshold of the door, the normal state of the world slammed into my mind. The various mana types flew over to greet me, and Belua's Concepts bore down on me like a weight.

I lost control of my body in shock at the sudden weight of it all, the world around me seemed to grow even larger as I slid into the goddess' clawed foot. She reached down and gently picked me up. I recovered quickly, it wasn't like being inundated with Concepts was a new experience, it was a return to the ordinary. It was simply going from the complete lack in the room that caused my momentary issue.

I settled calmly in her hand, noting with a slight ping of regret that whatever had kept her aura of comfort from affecting me seemed to have worn off, at least partly. I could only see love and concern in her eyes when I met them.

Of course, it was also quite possible that she really was looking at me with those emotions. Her own Authorities would likely push her toward actually caring. The remnants of my anger with her might be the culprits for me seeing the worst in her eyes before my nap.

I decided, for better or worse, to see if she could give me some answers as to what was going on.

I packaged up my entire experience since I fell asleep in the real world, and sent it to her. I was confident that she could easily parse through it all, and I wanted her to answer the many questions I had about what was going on.

"Ah, well easiest first. Your abilities don't work in my realm because System granted abilities are intentionally limited here. It is rare that someone I invite here betrays the intent of this place, but it can happen. The Concepts that flood the meadow are not mind control, after all, it's far from impossible for someone to ignore them if they feel they have sufficient reason. The lack of System assistance helps lower the potential for escalation. This may be a realm of the mind, but being hurt in this place has the potential to ripple back to the real world."

She reached over with what, from my perspective, was her giant hand, and gently scratched the top of my head. She seemed to be considering something, then her face scrunched up and she sighed.

"I trust you, and I want to do you a favor, but giving you access to your abilities would be unfair to the others. I must be fair, you understand. There's quite simply not a good enough reason to make an exception for you there, I'm afraid. Though, I can alter your avatar to anything I desire while you are here, so, perhaps if you find yourself uncomfortable in the form you are in, you can pray to me through your mark?"

Being a baby squirrel was a rather terrifying experience, I sent her my desire to be my normal mana beast self. She acted immediately, and I found myself in a form that she had to use both arms to hold.

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"Ah, there we go, you have grown more resistant to the Concepts of the realm in this form, I see."

I cocked my head to the side, and felt what she meant. The most noticeable thing was my apparent age. I wasn't a cub anymore, a quick check showed me that I had tufts of mane growing in. I also realized that I was far more able to focus, and think clearly than I usually was in the goddess's realm.

"I can't tell you what you are doing with that energy, or even exactly what it is unless you figure it out for yourself. There are rules even gods must follow, the creators of the System do not want certain information to spread you see. I also can't tell you… if I think it's worth the risk of Concept contamination to do what you did. Your admin friend's hands are currently similarly tied."

I got the feeling that it was definitely worth it, even if I accidentally attached a new Concept to my form. Incorporating the power from those cores had obviously helped insulate me from outside influence. I wondered what that would mean for me when I channeled elements, I wasn't quite sure that counted as an outside influence, since I opened myself to them.

In addition to the evidence of resistance, if the System didn't like it, I definitely wanted to do it some more. I licked my lips, looking forward to the next day's hunt far more eagerly than before.

Belua nodded, and smiled at me, her fangs seemed to glint strangely. "I should tell you that… because of my concern about the possible growth of your resistance to my realm's Concepts, and certainly for no other reason, I am going to make sure you appear in a location I will set aside for you. I'll make sure it's large enough for you, comfortable, and free of Concepts. I wouldn't want to waste my godly energies on someone they don't fully affect of course. I will make sure you have the ability to stretch your legs outside if you want though, it's a shame I won't be able to keep the outside Concept free. Your lady friend will be sent there as well, don't you worry." She winked at me.

"Of course, if you figure out how to selectively allow yourself to be affected by the realm's Concepts, I'll move you to the play area too. I mean, I wouldn't want you to be cut off from them, play in your various forms is valuable practice."

I blinked at her, was she trying to give me a target to help me figure things out? I might have imagined it, but it seemed as though she had a slightly pained look on her face for a split second after she spoke, almost as if giving that hint caused her some discomfort.

I hadn't the foggiest how the energy made me resistant, I didn't want to risk breaking that resistance by accident. But it seemed like it was something she thought I should do.

I wondered if Torill knew anything about the energy that I was working with, and if she would be unable to talk about it if she did. I would ask, the worst that would likely happen would be her being unable to answer.

"For now, I regret to inform you that your recent creation in the forest has attracted some unsavory attention. I think you can handle it on your own, no need to bother those two fine young men. I've given you as much extended time as I can, it is time to wake up, and protect them."

I opened my eyes, feeling well rested despite the fact that Torill had barely made it to the apartments from the guildhall. I must have been asleep for minutes at most.

I could feel Belua's command pulling me subtly towards where I knew my little grove of special trees was. Some instinct that was much stronger than Belua's commands current influence pushed me to go quickly. I had to defend what was mine.

I startled Torill by leaping from her arms, I spread my arms during the jump and shifted to my sky terror form.

"Angel, what's going on?" I heard her shout at my retreating form.

I managed to slow just long enough to share my absolute need to protect that grove, before switching my core to air, and using the mana to shoot off into the distance.

I was circling over the softly glowing white leaves of my trees in minutes. I double checked Sense Mind as I flew low over them, there was nothing there. The concentration of life mana that lingered around the trees seemed to have acted as a beacon for the monsters Belua had sent me to deal with.

They might once have been a herd of deer, if the antlers on the largest one were any indication. They were long dead now, the scent of carrion that they were emitting was making me drool.

The former animals were so thoroughly decayed as to be almost unrecognizable, there seemed to be huge chunks of them missing too. They were trying to eat my trees, the thought enraged me.

I didn't think about how the air element hadn't been very good against that death wolf I had encountered just after entering the real world for the first time. I was definitely Hasty in my decision to attack.

120 Putrescent Stag

95 Decaying Doe

102 Hungering Cervid

92 Rotting Deer

50 Plagued Fawn

Being entirely honest, it was unfair to the mana to blame my lack of strategic thinking on it.

My instincts, combined with Belua's command were the real culprits, they filled me with a protective frenzy at the sight of the damaged trees.

Thankfully I was a much different beast now than the last time I faced a death attuned enemy. The local air mana was whipped into a frenzy with me, and the Aspect I was channeling shifted to the one I had used to tear apart the small primates. I was surrounded by slicing air.

It wasn't even a fight. High level though they may have been, the bodies of creatures corrupted by death in the way these were, were weak. My own experiences channeling death mana had shown me that. It only took a matter of moments for them to be thrown away from the trees and taken apart by the swirling winds as I flew through them.

I was too fast for the explosion of death mana that occurred after their dismantling to attempt to attach itself to me. Circling back around, I realized my true mistake. My trees were in more danger than ever. I could see the field of death mana blooming from the crystals in the midst of the mess I had left behind.

The sight prompted me to switch my core to light, I had to think about how I should deal with what I had unleashed. I wasn't sure I could channel life mana quickly enough to keep my lovely trees from becoming corrupted. I could only hope light mana would illuminate the answer. I did not want to wait and see if my creations could fight off the death mana, they were too young.